France v Senegal: World Cup 2026 – live

⚽ World Cup news: kick-off 3pm EDT/8pm BST/5am AEST
⚽ Player guide | Bracketology | Golden Boot | Email Daniel

You may or may not have seen the wonderful new Senegal kit, printed inside-out. What a beauty!

Yes, yes, don’t worry, it’s coming. It is of course, impossible to mention our dear departed without also mentioning this goal.

England v Ireland: Women’s T20 Cricket World Cup 2026 – live

• Play starts at 6.30pm (BST) at the Utilita Bowl

• Get in touch: email Tanya about the game

Nat Sciver Brunt:“We’ve seen some really good chases at this ground and are looking forwad to seeing how it goes. We showed great composure in the first match.” They are unchanged from the opening game against Sri Lanka.

The sports minister Steph Peacock has been at Southampton today as part of a taskforce looking to grow women’s sport.

SpaceX gets assist from DOJ in effort to toss NAACP air pollution lawsuit

The DOJ is asking a Mississippi federal court to dismiss a lawsuit filed by the NAACP against Elon Musk's xAI, now owned by SpaceX.

California’s tectonic systems at highest levels of stress in 1,000 years – study

San Andreas and San Jacinto fault systems in ‘critically loaded state’, increasing chance of ‘big one’ quake in future

Southern California’s San Andreas and San Jacinto fault systems are at their highest levels of tectonic stress in 1,000 years in what scientists describe as a “critically loaded state”, according to a study published earlier this month.

“Our results show that stress levels on multiple fault segments are now at or above the highest values seen in the past millennium and that the region may be capable of a large through-going rupture involving both fault systems,” Liliane Burkhard, the lead author of the study published in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth, said in a statement.

US justice department charges five men over alleged plot to attack White House UFC event

Multiple arrests made in ‘multi-state operation’ to disrupt alleged plot to kill government officials at Trump birthday

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Law enforcement officials disrupted an attempt to attack the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) cage fighting event staged at the White House on Sunday with guns and explosive-laden drones, and multiple people were in custody, federal US authorities said.

The Department of Justice charged five men over an alleged plot to carry out an attack to kill government officials and others attendees at the “UFC Freedom 250” event on Sunday.

Iraq v Norway: World Cup 2026 – live

⚽ World Cup news: kick-off 6pm EDT/11pm BST/8am AEST
⚽ Player guide | Bracketology | Golden Boot | Email Beau

Beau will be here shortly. In the meantime, here’s Nick Ames on Norway’s return to the World Cup:

If Norway’s highly fancied generation need a warning from history they need only look back 32 years and study the lessons from another searing, suspenseful American summer. They had raced through qualifying at England’s expense to reach their first World Cup since 1938; their top players were starting to make it in the Premier League and through the euphoria shone a confidence that a place in the knockout stage, at least, was there to be seized.

Justice department announces charges against five men for alleged plot to attack UFC White House event – live

DoJ accuses five men of procuring weapons to attack event held for Trump’s 80th birthday on the South Lawn on Sunday

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Speaking to NBC News earlier, JD Vance claimed that nuclear inspectors will “absolutely” be allowed back into Iran as part of the deal with the US.

“Yes, absolutely,” Vance said. “In fact, one of the core parts of the agreement is that the [International Atomic Energy Agency] and the United States are going to help Iran destroy the highly enriched stockpile, and that’s something that’s spelled out very clearly” in the memorandum of understanding, he added.

Snap unveils $2,195 AR glasses as CEO Evan Spiegel bets on post-smartphone future

Snap is launching its first AR glasses geared toward the broader public instead of developers.

Fed Chair Warsh expected to withhold 'dot' from central bank's interest rate outlook

The central bank's Federal Open Market Committee is set to release its quarterly update of where individual officials expect interest rates to head.

What to expect as Kevin Warsh leads his first Fed interest rate meeting

New Fed Chairman Kevin Warsh is stepping in at a critical juncture for the U.S. economy, with inflation at its highest level in more than three years.

Trump signals he could send details of Iran deal to Congress

The peace deal announced Sunday is meeting lukewarm reactions from Congress, including some allies of President Donald Trump.

Feds reveal new details of alleged plot to attack White House UFC event

The FBI said it disrupted an attempt to attack Sunday's UFC America 250 event at the White House, with court records detailing an alleged plot to use small drones carrying explosives.

Russian frigate fires warning shots at British yacht in Channel

Shots fired within 500 metres of vessel near Isle of Wight amid heightened tensions between London and Moscow

A Russian warship fired warning shots within a few hundred metres of a British pleasure yacht sailing across the Channel on Tuesday morning amid a period of heightened tensions between London and Moscow.

The rare incident took place at 11.40am more than 20 miles south of the Isle of Wight and less than 40 miles north of Normandy, France, when the yacht, identified as the private vessel Bright Future, sailed close to the Admiral Grigorovich and ignored at least one warning.

Tim Weah greets US media barbs at Socceroos with eyeroll: ‘It’s going to be a lovely game’

• Former USMNT players have disparaged Australia

• Australia and US face each other on Friday

Former US players, perhaps caught up in the swell of confidence brought about by the team’s 4-1 romp over Paraguay in their World Cup opener, have fired barbs at Australia, their next opponents. The Socceroos have fired back. And current US players are having none of it.

“All this talk is just nonsense to me,” US winger Tim Weah told the media on Tuesday, seconds after rolling his eyes and giving an incredulous look when told about comments from US pundits describing Friday’s match as a “layup”, or that the Australian team itself is “average”.

Trump trusts Fed Chair Kevin Warsh. It matters for more than interest rates

New Fed Chair Kevin Warsh is expected to hold interest rates steady this week, but President Donald Trump’s trust gives him room to pursue longer-term changes.

Potential first tropical cyclone of the year developing in the Gulf

Forecasters have issued an advisory for the potential first tropical cyclone of the 2026 hurricane season, warning it could develop into a tropical storm by Wednesday.

All change for the Oval as England hope for normality after extraordinary week

It is rare to make five changes after winning by more than a hundred runs, but this has not been a normal week between Tests for England

These past 10 days must have been curious for New Zealand’s cricketers, as their restful mid-series downtime was occasionally interrupted by news of England’s latest convulsions. “I guess it probably wasn’t necessarily what we were expecting,” deadpanned their captain, Tom Latham.

At least most of his own side got a chance to relax. “A lot of guys have had some good family time, they’ve had a bit of time off to refresh the bodies, refresh the minds and get ready for what we’ve got coming up,” Latham said. “We’re not necessarily used to a big break like that, but guys did their own thing, some guys got away. So we’re ready to go.”

Farage’s plan for equal pay legislation may cost female workers money, say unions

General secretary of TUC calls Reform proposal ‘a smokescreen for slashing women’s rights’

• UK politics live – latest updates

A law proposed by Nigel Farage to “strengthen women’s rights” could cost female workers money by removing equal pay for work of equal value, unions have said.

A proposal, made by Reform UK days before the Makerfield byelection, to introduce a “women and motherhood protection act” that it says will restore equality before the law has been described as “shameless and deceptive”.

Former NFL star Aldon Smith’s brain to be donated for CTE research after death at 36

• Player died suddenly after charity work on Saturday

• Off-field incidents, suspensions affected his career

• 49ers statement: ‘His smile lit up every room’

The family of former NFL star Aldon Smith is donating the player’s brain to the Boston University CTE Center to research the effects of repetitive brain injuries.

The 36-year-old died suddenly on Saturday, hours after delivering pizzas to a homeless charity in the San Francisco Bay area. No cause of death was given and Smith’s family has hired attorneys Harry Daniels, Bakari Sellers and Wayne Kendall to investigate his death.

The Guardian view on defending Europe in a new era: collaboration is the key | Editorial

The recent abandonment of plans for a Franco-German fighter jet sent a disastrous signal. Strategic autonomy will be jointly achieved or not at all

It has become a truism to assert that Europe needs to fast-track its own strategic independence in a volatile world. A recent paper from the European Council on Foreign Relations describes the continent’s leaders as grappling with “a ‘Schrödinger’s NATO’ moment, in which America remains formally inside the alliance while behaving as though it were not, just as the Russian threat looms larger”. Donald Trump’s United States has become at best an unreliable and at times reluctant ally, as Vladimir Putin’s revanchist ambitions have exposed the need to strengthen Europe’s defences.

But if the goal of greater autonomy is to be achieved, far better coordination of resources and cooperation between national defence industries will be required. Neither has been much in evidence this month, with France and Germany abandoning a joint £100bn project to build a new fighter jet as part of an updated Future Combat Air System. Originally launched by Emmanuel Macron and Angela Merkel in 2017, plans for the jet were pulled as a result of irresolvable disagreements between Dassault, the French aviation company involved, and Airbus, the European aerospace company whose defence unit is based in Germany.

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.

McIlroy fears ‘false economy’ created by LIV Golf could put PGA Tour events at risk

• McIlroy not a fan of planned two-tier system for events

• Fleetwood and Åberg drawn with world No 2 at US Open

Rory McIlroy believes the “false economy” created by the threat of LIV Golf may now be putting some well-established PGA Tour events at risk. The world No 2 and current Masters champion said he felt people had lost sight of how good the tour was before it too had a huge cash injection.

When the Saudi breakaway started luring away some of the top talent on multimillion-dollar contracts ­during the early years the PGA Tour’s response was to restructure, ­creating eight signature events each with smaller field and prize funds of $20m (£15m), plus generating a number of associated financial benefits.

Toronto police say dozens of shootings are linked to ‘multilayered’ gun-for-hire network

Young adults and teens are being recruited through apps like Telegram and paid to carry out attacks, officials say

Police investigators in Toronto have said that dozens of shootings – including one at the US consulate in March – are linked to a “multilayered” gun-for-hire network that is also responsible for attacks on synagogues around Canada’s largest city.

Toronto’s police chief, Myron Demkiw, told reporters on Tuesday that young adults and teenagers are being recruited through encrypted messaging apps such as Signal, Telegram and WhatsApp by “bad actors” and paid by the networks to carry out the attacks. Shooters are required to film their attacks in order to get paid.

Artist defends Churchill video at National Portrait Gallery after being accused of ‘barefaced lie’

Helen Cammock says her comments blaming wartime leader for Bengal famine were intended to create ‘dialogue’

A Turner prize-winning artist accused of telling a “barefaced lie” about Winston Churchill in a video piece installed at the National Portrait Gallery (NPG) has defended her work, saying it was intended to create a “dialogue” about figures in the gallery’s collection.

Helen Cammock’s 40-minute moving image piece called Persistence has been at the centre of a row about the role Churchill played in the Bengal famine of 1943.

The Guardian view on the global baby bust: people are having fewer children – even where they say they want more | Editorial

Indian fertility has fallen below the rate required for population stability, in further evidence of the unexpectedly rapid decline in births internationally

The global fall in fertility rates has arrived faster and spread further than anticipated. Two-thirds of people now live in countries that have slipped below the replacement rate – 2.1 births per woman – required for a stable population. Last month, India revealed that its fertility rate had fallen to just 1.9. The world’s two most populous nations, which pursued cruel and coercive policies to cut births, both face shrinking populations. China’s fertility rate is now around 1, and births last year fell below 8 million – just over half the number projected when the “one child” policy was axed 10 years ago, and comparable to the total in 1738, when its population was 150 million.

It’s further proof that what was seen as a phenomenon of rich nations has spread far beyond them. East Asia led the way. But Albania and Chile have far lower rates than the US or England and Wales (themselves experiencing record lows of 1.6 and 1.4).

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.

Iran’s top envoy says peace deal with US dependent on Israel’s withdrawal from Lebanon

Abbas Araghchi says war ‘not fully come to an end’ without Israeli forces leaving territories occupied during present conflict

• Middle East crisis – live updates

Iran’s top diplomat has said a peace deal with the US would require Israel to withdraw from Lebanon, as concern grows that Israel could undermine diplomatic efforts to finally end the Middle East war, with Donald Trump even criticising his ally and war partner as irresponsible.

“Without the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the territories they occupied during this war, the war has not fully come to an end,” said the Iranian foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi.

From camel coats to guochao: Max Mara woos China’s luxury brand consumers

Fashion house pays tribute to Chinese style with its 75th anniversary catwalk show in Shanghai

“New York may be the city that never sleeps, but Shanghai doesn’t even sit down.” For the British designer Ian Griffiths, who encountered this line in the New Yorker, it summed up why China’s biggest city was the right place to celebrate Max Mara’s 75th anniversary.

“Max Mara is a product for metropolitan women, and it would be patronising to assume that a metropolitan wardrobe should be western-centric,” Griffiths said.

Can Trump be convinced to back Ukraine? - The Latest

Donald Trump has urged Russia to ‘make a deal’ with Ukraine as the leaders of G7 countries meet on Tuesday and try to put the conflict back at the top of the agenda. European leaders are hoping to capture Trump’s attention for long enough to speak to him about Ukraine, with the US president’s focus more on the US-Israeli war against Iran. Nosheen Iqbal speaks to the Guardian’s Europe correspondent Jon Henley.

In Albania, anger grows against the government for supporting a Kushner-linked luxury resort

Albania's government has given preliminary approval to plans for the luxury resort along a stretch of coastline, prompting daily protests and legal challenges by environmental groups.

France to ditch Palantir’s AI data tools in favour of domestic provider

Move to ChapsVision is to avoid ‘strategic dependencies’, says PM amid concern about reliance on US-controlled tools

France’s domestic intelligence service is to ditch AI data tools from the US tech company Palantir in favour of a domestic provider in an effort to avoid “strategic dependency”, the prime minister, Sébastien Lecornu, has said.

“We must use our own AI models; we cannot accept new strategic dependencies in ‌the digital sphere,” Lecornu posted on social media. “We cannot rely on tools developed by foreign powers. France must have its own tools.”

Trump further guts Education Dept. by shifting oversight of special ed, civil rights

The moves to the federal departments of Health and Human Services and Justice, respectively, would further dismantle an agency that President Donald Trump has vowed to close.

EU and UK announce summit to discuss ‘reset’ in post-Brexit relations

Meeting was delayed over details of youth mobility scheme allowing under-30s freedom to work and study in each other’s territory

The EU and the UK have announced they will hold their next summit to discuss the “reset” in relations between London and Brussels on 22 July.

The summit, which will be held in Brussels, has been delayed several times, with talks over a youth mobility scheme allowing under-30s to work, travel or study in each other’s territory deadlocked in recent weeks, fuelling speculation the summit would be postponed until the autumn.

Rebecca Hendin on the new US-Iran deal – cartoon

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Cate Blanchett promises ‘creative rumpus’ in new role: Oxford professor

Oscar-winning actor hails ‘electrifying opportunity’ to present lectures and seminars in contemporary theatre

The Oscar-winning actor Cate Blanchett has promised to cause a “creative rumpus” in her latest role, as visiting professor at the University of Oxford.

The Australian star is the latest in a long line of celebrated thespians to be appointed as the Cameron Mackintosh visiting professor of contemporary theatre at St Catherine’s College, Oxford.

Trio of senior defence figures accuse Starmer of underfunding military

PM hit by three-pronged attack from ex-defence secretary, former defence minister and chief of defence staff

Keir Starmer is leaving British troops underfunded and unable to carry out the operations he expects from them, according to scathing remarks delivered in parliament on Tuesday by three senior defence figures.

The prime minister came under fire in separate interventions from his former defence secretary John Healey, the former defence minister Al Carns and the country’s current senior military officer, Rich Knighton.

Labour MP bringing back assisted dying bill urges House of Lords to finish its job

Lauren Edwards dismisses party internal concerns and criticises ‘anti-democratic’ way bill was halted

The Labour MP Lauren Edwards who will bring the assisted dying bill back to the Commons has said she will not be dissuaded by concerns about Labour divisions, saying MPs should allow the House of Lords to finish its work on the bill after it was blocked from a vote by peers.

It also can be revealed that the Labour MP and disability rights campaigner Marie Tidball is to co-sponsor the bill, alongside the former minister Alex Davies- Jones.

US screwworm cases rise as outbreak spreads beyond initial contamination zones

Twelve animal cases have been confirmed so far among cattle, goats, sheep and a dog in Texas and New Mexico

Screwworm cases are rising in the US as the outbreak spreads beyond the initial contamination zones.

Twelve animal cases have been confirmed so far, a significant increase from the first case detected in a calf in south Texas on 3 June. The growing number of infections has alarmed agricultural experts, who warn that a wider outbreak could have serious consequences for the Texas beef industry.

'The Lost Founder' profiles a brilliant lawyer who helped craft the Constitution

Jesse Wegman's book tells the story of James Wilson, a largely forgotten founding father who lived a colorful life and died as a Supreme Court justice on the run from the law and creditors.

Enjoying the World Cup? Well it’s time for England, but this is a team less weighed down by its past | Barney Ronay

Tuchel’s multicultural squad are less burdened by narrative than previous teams and can embrace the chance to live in the moment

Nice World Cup you’ve got there. Be a shame if something … happened to it. The opening acts of this bloated, roided-up summer tournament have been surprisingly fun, light and sparky.

Surprising, that is, if you’ve absorbed much of its doom-laden buildup. Football always does this. There is a reason this sport has become humanity’s great brain-wipe distractor ray, the tool of mega-brands and jumped-up administrators with a Football Jesus fetish. You can stretch it thin, loan it out to despotic regimes. But the games will still be good. Football remains an indestructible substance.

SpaceX to buy AI coding assistant Cursor for $60 billion

The deal comes just days after SpaceX went public in the largest IPO in history, raising $75 billion to help fund its expansion.

Live with a partner? You may be sharing more microbes than you think

A large study finds you may share about a quarter of your oral and gut microbes with the people you live with. Should you worry? We asked the experts.

Why do you always feel like you have to pee when swimming?

It doesn’t matter if you drink less or use the restroom beforehand. Experts say it happens to all swimmers

I’m midway into my hour-long swim when it hits: I really have to pee. This always happens. It doesn’t help to curb my morning coffee or use the restroom beforehand. My bladder doesn’t care.

Why does this happen? “It’s a normal physiological response by the body to being immersed in water,” says Dr Stavros Kavouras, assistant dean, professor of nutrition and director of the Hydration Science Lab at Arizona State University. And it’s not just me: “It’s something that happens to all swimmers.”

Toy Story 5 review – Pixar franchise needs new batteries

A sinister new tablet threatens the honest-to-goodness toys’ existence, but Buzz, Woody and Jessie’s big tech moral battle feels compromised

The fifth episode of the Toy Story franchise is as slick and smooth as you like, as glitchless as Toy Story 6 or Toy Story 7 might be … or will be. As a piece of family-entertainment content it has the unblemished sheen of a brand new smartphone. But at heart, it has gone dead. For all the intensive, high-energy creative work that has clearly gone into this film’s every frame, the jeopardy, the novelty, the ideas and the passion are lacking; the crucial Toy Story theme of mortality feels underpowered, and the film even calamitously loses its nerve with its own big idea – those squeamish about spoilers had better look away now – the sinister way addictive tech devices are undermining the imaginative play that kids once had with honest-to-goodness toys.

Here a creepy tablet device called Lilypad (voiced by Greta Lee) enters the children’s world, but ultimately proves to be capable of sentimental self-sacrificial heroism when it comes to their mental health. Really? At least Lots-o’-Huggin’ Bear, the villain from TS3, had the courage of his evil convictions.

The World Cup reminds us that the way to a visitor's heart ... is through their stomach

The action inside the stadiums isn't the only thing capturing the attention of international visitors. Turns out, they're discovering the delights of Buc-ee's, Waffle House, Wawa and free soda refills.

Carvana is expanding into new vehicles. The implications could reshape the U.S. automotive retail market

Carvana has bought seven new vehicle franchises since last year that primarily sell Stellantis' Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep and Ram brands.

Starmer carries on regardless as G7 leaders ponder question of leaving gift | John Crace

‘I am going to fight on,’ said the PM. Perhaps his delusion was more deep-rooted than the others had feared

Shortly before he arrived in Évian at the beginning of the week, Emmanuel Macron set up a new WhatsApp group for world leaders. Keir Starmer wasn’t included. Call it the G6, if you like. The idea was to have a safe space to discuss how best to deal with the UK prime minister. Should they confront head-on that this was going to be his last G7? That next year’s outing would be an athleisure occasion with Andy Burnham (T-shirts just a tad on the small size)? Should they club together to buy him a leaving present? A French World Cup football shirt signed by all of them?

Or was it best not to mention it at all? Just proceed on the basis that this was a perfectly normal occasion and they would all soon be meeting again at another global get-together. Nothing to see here. A quick competition for a photo opportunity with President Zelenskyy, a few jokes, promises to make the world a better place and then everyone goes home without acknowledging that Keir is about to get booted out of their select club. At least Starmer was bringing his wife, Victoria. Maybe she would get to say a few goodbyes.

The war with Iran is making oil changes pricier. And a deal won't solve it

The U.S. may be the world's biggest producer of crude oil, but that's not the case for motor oil. The cost of lubricants is soaring, and even a tentative deal to end the war won't solve the problem.

What Jared and Ivanka want, Jared and Ivanka get? Not if Albania’s ‘flamingo revolution’ has any say in it | Arwa Mahdawi

Hundreds of thousands have taken to the streets to block the Trump-Kushners’ plans to build on a nature reserve. But they’re not the only billionaires acting as if the whole world was for sale

Have the Albanians even said thank you once? It’s been moan, moan, moan for weeks now on the streets of Tirana just because Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner want to displace some flamingos and pave over a protected nature reserve to build a luxury resort. Judging by all the protests, the commoners simply do not understand what visionaries the Trump-Kushners are. Nor do they seem to understand Javanka were the ones who discovered Sazan island in the first place. It had just been sitting there, rotting in the sea, until our contemporary Christopher Columbuses spotted it from a yacht back in 2021 and swam to the island to explore. “We went on a hike, barefoot all the way up to the top, and we were just captivated,” Ivanka recounted on the David Senra podcast in May.

She really put her barefoot in her mouth with that one. Kushner’s Albanian real estate adventures are not new; the country’s government granted Atlantic Incubation Partners, an LLC linked to Kushner, “strategic investor” status in 2025 shortly after Donald Trump won the election. But while anger has been brewing for a while, Ivanka’s tone-deaf comments were the final straw. Her podcast interview has been credited with drawing international attention to the project, and supercharging local rage. Turns out people don’t appreciate it when a foreign nepo baby waxes lyrical about “discovering” your land. Nor are they thrilled when billionaires want to take over your country’s largest island, which is public property, for private profit.

Yum! Brands sells struggling Pizza Hut in $2.7 billion deal

The sale will split ownership of the pizza chain between a U.S.-based private equity firm and a Chinese restaurant company.

Everything Game of Thrones did, HBO series Rome did better – including not fumbling the finale

The short-lived series had blood, guts, sex and epic stakes. It also had a ride or die friendship in a pair of foot soldiers

A sprawling cast of richly flawed heroes. Epic stakes. Elaborate sets. A family-man hero whose definition of good is skewed by the cruel world he lives in. Animated opening titles with a catchy theme song. Blood, guts, sex and a bit of incest: everything Game of Thrones did, Rome did better.

Rome was one of the most expensive TV shows ever made when it launched in 2005; its two-season run was shot on a massive, immersive outdoor recreation of the ancient city in Italy’s famous Cinecittà studios, and spared no expense on costumes, props or fake blood. When it came out half a decade later, Game of Thrones would follow in Rome’s footsteps with its puzzle wheel of plotting across factions and alliances, shocking betrayals and Shakespearean dialogue punctuated with c-bombs.

Naked cycling: is it ever acceptable to ride a rental bike in the nude?

The World Naked Bike Ride is designed to draw attention to the vulnerability of cyclists in the city. But this year’s London event is in the news after half the riders used rental bikes

Name: World Naked Bike Ride.

Age: 22.

UK social media ban could cut lifeline for disabled children, campaigners warn

Activists say blanket ban could prevent teenagers from finding peers and role models with similar conditions

Disability activists have said banning under-16s from social media risks cutting off a “lifeline for friendship” for disabled children and could push them into social isolation by preventing them from making connections online.

Charities and high-profile figures in disability advocacy said they were concerned that a blanket ban on social media would disproportionately affect teenagers who may not be able to meet people easily in real life or find peers with similar conditions.

US lawmakers fight Trump cuts to $386m ocean monitoring program: ‘supreme stupidity’

Lisa Murkowski, a Republican senator, joins Democrats in bid to stop dismantling of Ocean Observatories Initiative

• US politics live – latest updates

A group of Democratic senators and one Republican, as well as two Democratic House committees, sent letters on Monday to the National Science Foundation asking it to reverse course on its plan to dismantle a sprawling ocean monitoring network, with House lawmakers going further and accusing the agency of acting illegally.

The Ocean Observatories Initiative is a network of more than 900 ocean sensors built at a cost of $386m. Over the last decade it has tracked ocean circulation, marine ecosystems, climate change and extreme weather, producing data freely available to the public and informing more than 500 scientific publications. The project was slated to run another 15 to 20 years.

Heavy rain slams Texas, trapping drivers and damaging roads

Millions of people in Texas and other areas of the Gulf Coast face a major flooding threat. Days of torrential rain have created dangerous driving conditions and left roads damaged in some areas. Jason Allen reports.

Wombles set to return after 27 years as IP deal opens door to comeback

Litter-picking creatures emerge from underground for global franchise targeting nostalgic adults and gen Alpha

Move over Paddington Bear. After almost 30 years off screen, the Wombles – the furry, litter-picking creatures who live beneath Wimbledon Common – are set for a comeback.

The characters, whose motto is “Make Good Use of Bad Rubbish”, are being revived after the consolidation of the brand’s intellectual property rights under The Blair Partnership, which will oversee its global development.

London’s Shaftesbury theatre to be renamed after Judi Dench

James Bond actor, who is only the second non-royal woman to be celebrated in this way, called the honour ‘truly overwhelming’

Dame Judi Dench is to have a West End theatre renamed after her, becoming only the second non-royal woman to be honoured in such a way.

The Shaftesbury theatre will be known as the Judi Dench theatre from February 2027 in celebration of the actor’s “unparalleled contribution to British theatre and the performing arts”.

Tom Holland confirms that he and Zendaya are married

The actor told Esquire magazine the couple have ‘a relationship that will stand the test of time’ and his family ‘were all there’ for the wedding

Tom Holland, the British actor best known for playing Spider-Man, has offered confirmation that he and co-star Zendaya have already got married.

The wedding of the couple, who have been together for some years and got engaged in December 2024, has been the subject of intense speculation, further fuelled by a red carpet remark by Zendaya’s stylist, Law Roach, in March 2026, that the ceremony had already taken place.

Pop albums are drowning in 'narrative.' What happens when we go in cold?

New albums by Lizzo and the rising artist Imani Imani are both "event" records — but one arrives with arguably too much backstory, the other with almost none.

People in Albania: share your thoughts on the recent ‘not for sale’ protests

We’d like to hear from Albanians about how they view the protests against a planned luxury resort

For the last two weeks, Albanians have been protesting against a planned luxury resort backed by a company linked to Jared Kushner, the son-in-law of Donald Trump, near Vlora.

If it goes ahead, the development would occupy parts of an environmentally sensitive area which includes the uninhabited outcrop of Sazan and wetlands and coastal habitats in the surrounding marine national park – home to the Mediterranean monk seal and more than 200 bird species – including flamingos and Dalmatian pelicans, according to BirdLife International.

Even if Iran benefits from this deal with Washington, any peace is likely to be temporary | Sina Toossi

The regime has learned it must extract concessions rather than promises from the US, but any permanent deal still depends on ending the war in Lebanon

To understand why Iran agreed to the memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the United States to end the war, one must first understand how Iranian leaders believe they emerged from the war itself. For Iran’s leadership, this conflict did not begin with military strikes. It was the culmination of a years-long campaign of sanctions, covert operations, assassinations, economic pressure, and efforts to weaken and ultimately overthrow the Islamic Republic. Even episodes of domestic unrest, including the anti-government protests that culminated in the deadly January crackdown, are often understood in Tehran as part of this broader struggle. That worldview has profoundly shaped how Iranian decision-makers interpret both the war and its aftermath.

This perception is critical to understanding the confidence now evident in Tehran. The objectives of the war were hardly a mystery. A week into the war, Donald Trump demanded Iran’s “unconditional surrender”. Both Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu openly called for regime change. The destruction of Iran’s missile capabilities, the dismantling of its regional influence, and the capitulation or collapse of the Islamic Republic were repeatedly presented as desired outcomes. None of those objectives were achieved.

Sina Toossi is a senior non-resident fellow at the Center for International Policy, where his work focuses on US-Iran relations, US policy toward the Middle East and nuclear issues

Survey confirms the struggle of working parents: 'No way to be two things at once'

A new Pew survey finds many working parents feel they cannot give 100% at either work or home. Benefits like paid sick leave and more affordable childcare could help.

How the fight over US datacenters is scrambling this state’s politics: ‘We don’t want it’

Josh Shapiro, Pennsylvania’s governor, squares off with state lawmakers over the facilities powering an AI boom

A controversial haunted house near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, taps into its dark history every fall to scare tens of thousands of visitors. In 1968, a local news station documented appalling conditions for disabled people in the red brick buildings on the banks of Schuylkill River. Residents were found naked and emaciated at what was then known as the Pennhurst state school and hospital. The institution shut its doors permanently in 1987 after a lawsuit over inhumane conditions.

By 2010, a Halloween attraction stood in its place, and Pennhurst asylum’s previous owner suggested during its early years that he wanted to spook guests by repurposing the hospital’s surgical lights and medical cabinets to use as props.

Yum Brands sells Pizza Hut to private equity firm LongRange Capital and Yum China for $2.7 billion

Yum Brands is selling Pizza Hut, capping off years of struggles for the pizza chain.

Sean Penn to direct January 6 drama with Bradley Cooper set to star

Oscar-winning actor to write and direct fact-based movie that will follow a police officer mixed up in 2021 Capitol riot

Sean Penn will direct a new film about the January 6 riot set to star Bradley Cooper.

According to Deadline, the star, who recently won his third Oscar, will bring what’s been described as a “passion project” to the screen and act as both writer and director.

This article was amended on 16 June 2026. An earlier version stated that Sean Penn had won two Oscars, not three.

‘Don DeLillo gave me his blessing’: film director Ben Rivers on how fan mail from the Underworld author led to his latest work

When Rivers received a surprise letter from DeLillo, it encouraged him to set the author’s one-act play in an adult-free, postapocalyptic world

Nine-year-old girls reciting the gnomic prose of Don DeLillo – it sounds like an extreme English detention, but for film-maker Ben Rivers this was the foundation of his new movie, and the culmination of an unlikely friendship with the literary titan. DeLillo is an almost mythical figure of contemporary literature. His prose is precisely hewn, his narratives sophisticated and his preoccupations uncannily prophetic: conspiracy, terrorism, nuclear power, hypercapitalism – the 89-year-old New Yorker has been ahead of the curve for much of the late 20th and early 21st century. Rivers, a 53-year-old independent film-maker based in London, has been a lifelong fan, he says. So he was stunned to receive a letter from DeLillo himself one day in 2017.

A mutual friend had sent DeLillo a DVD of Rivers’ 2015 film The Sky Trembles and the Earth is Afraid and the Two Eyes Are Not Brothers, a hallucinatory parable set in a semi-abstract Morocco, and the writer responded with a hand-typed letter. “He thought that the film was really powerful and he was looking forward to watching it again,” says Rivers. “It was a beautiful thing to receive and very meaningful for me, being such a big admirer of his.” Rivers later sent DeLillo another of his films: 2019’s Krabi, 2562, co-directed with Anocha Suwichakornpong, “and he also wrote back about that, saying that he enjoyed it”.

Struggling Pizza Hut restaurant chain to be sold in two deals worth $2.7bn

Yum! Brands, parent company of KFC and Taco Bell, to sell Pizza Hut as it faces dated stores and growing competition

The struggling Pizza Hut restaurant chain will be sold for $2.7bn by parent company Yum! Brands.

Yum! Brands said in February that it was considering selling Pizza Hut and the chain looked to close 250 US restaurants. The pizza chain has struggled with outdated stores and growing competition.

FDA issues warning letter to maker of popular baby bassinet

The FDA has issued a warning letter to Happiest Baby Incorporated, the maker of the SNOO, for a number of violations. The FDA alleges the company sold some unauthorized products and also cited unsanitary conditions. Shanelle Kaul reports.

"Star Wars" lightsaber and more iconic film props going up for auction

Luke Skywalker's lightsaber from the "Star Wars" sequel "The Empire Strikes Back" is expected to sell for at least $1 million at an upcoming auction.

Trump denies U.S. will put 'any money' into Iran, as he meets allies at G7 summit

Washington and Tehran announced a memorandum of understanding had been reached over the weekend.

Fujitsu chair resigns after ‘woman-related inappropriate conduct’

Japanese technology company at centre of Post Office IT scandal is negotiating settlement with UK government over faulty software

• Business live – latest updates

The chair of Fujitsu, the Japanese technology firm at the centre of the Post Office IT scandal, has resigned after its board became aware of his “woman-related inappropriate conduct”.

The company said on Tuesday that Hidenori Furuta had stepped down after two years in the role.

From the pain of apartheid to luscious beauty: 10 of the best recordings by jazz legend Abdullah Ibrahim

The pianist and bandleader, who has died aged 91, had an inimitable style where bright, guileless melody met a fearless improvisational impulse

• South African jazz pianist Abdullah Ibrahim dies aged 91

Scullery Department (from Jazz Epistle Verse 1, 1960)

Born Adolph Johannes Brand in Cape Town in 1934, Abdullah Ibrahim spent his six-decade career defining the heartfelt sound of South African jazz. Making his professional debut as a pianist at 15 under the name Dollar Brand, it was his co-founding of the group the Jazz Epistles in 1959 that laid the groundwork for his journeying career. South Africa’s first Black jazz group, featuring trumpeter Hugh Masekela who would go on to become a star bandleader in his own right, the Jazz Epistles’ first and only album Jazz Epistle Verse 1 is a sprightly document of the South African take on bebop. Although album opener Dollar’s Moods is named for Ibrahim, it’s the record’s closing number Scullery Department that highlights his nascent skills. Heavy-swinging over a bluesy motif, Ibrahim’s playing artfully skips through an opening polyrhythm before taking a solo that refigures Thelonious Monk’s wonky melodic motifs into an earthy sense of groove that would go on to feature throughout his hundreds of recordings to come.

Extreme athlete known for performance with Madonna dies in Base jumping accident in Utah

Andy Lewis, also known for slacklining and tricklining, and Danny Joe Kregle of Arizona were killed in accident in Utah canyon

A weekend Base jumping accident in a Utah canyon killed two people, one of them a daredevil athlete best known for performing on stage with Madonna at the 2012 Super Bowl, authorities said.

The sheriff’s office in Grand county, Utah, confirmed one of the dead was Andy Lewis, an extreme athlete known for feats in Base jumping, a dangerous sport that involves parachuting to the ground after jumping from a tall fixed object such as a building, a bridge or a desert cliff overlooking a deep canyon.

From Shamrock Rovers to defying Spain: ‘rusty’ Roberto Lopes savours Cape Verde’s finest hour

Dublin-born defender’s display against Spain drew comparisons with Paul McGrath’s against Italy in 1994 but he says there is still room to improve

Rucksack on his back, Roberto “Pico” Lopes was standing on the corner of the narrow walkway way below the stands at the Atlanta stadium on Monday afternoon when the last of Spain’s players tried to make their way home. More than an hour after the final whistle had gone and they still couldn’t get past him, someone quipped. The centre-back from Crumlin reckoned he was “rusty” too here, yet he was at the heart of the greatest moment in Cape Verde’s history, one his coach claimed went far beyond football, and the kind of story only the World Cup can write.

It had taken a little while and a word or two to realise it. In the final minute when Spain had their 11th and last corner, Lopes had looked at the clock and seen that it was close. He had heard the final whistle go, heard the roar as it was confirmed that Cape Verde had held on, undefeated on their tournament debut. He had seen the tears and celebration, family and friends in the stands, As he went down the tunnel he encountered Ray Houghton, scorer of the goal in New York when the Republic of Ireland defeated Italy 32 years ago, and embraced him. It was, he said, “lovely”, but what all this meant hadn’t entirely sunk in yet.

A floating market and the Soweto uprising 50 years on: photos of the day – Tuesday

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

Elon Musk’s unprecendented accumulation of wealth

IPO mints Musk as world’s first trillionaire – now SpaceX is public, it will be harder than ever not to have a stake in its future

Hi and welcome to TechScape. Nick Robins-Early here, US tech and power reporter at the Guardian. I’m filling in for your usual host Blake Montgomery, who is out this week on vacation.

Today, we’ll be talking about the historic SpaceX IPO and the US government’s surprise order to limit the use of Anthropic’s most advanced AI model over cybersecurity concerns. I’ll also share a dispatch from Web Summit Rio, South America’s largest tech event.

SpaceX makes largest ever stock market debut, minting Musk as a trillionaire

After SpaceX’s huge IPO, Americans’ financial future will be bound to AI

How much money did Elon Musk make in SpaceX’s stock market debut?

European leaders urge Trump to host Zelenskyy-Putin talks

Call at G7 summit in France comes as Ukraine president tells US counterpart Kyiv is no longer losing on battlefield

• Europe live – latest updates

European leaders at the G7 summit have urged Donald Trump to try to break the deadlock over ending the Ukraine war by taking up the proposal for him to host talks in the US between Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Vladimir Putin.

The US president lamented “the great antipathy” between the Ukrainian and Russian leaders that made it difficult to reach a settlement, and vowed to do what he could. He said Moscow “should make a deal”, noting that it had “lost a great many people, just like Ukraine”.

‘My hair extensions caught fire in a shootout!’ Dolph Lundgren on playing He-Man in Masters of the Universe

‘The studio wanted me to wear less. They wanted to see my muscles. But we were shooting outdoors in winter – and I had to put Vaseline on to keep my body heat in’

Cannon Films had the rights to Masters of the Universe and thought: “Let’s get this new guy. He’s blond, has good pecs … He can wield the sword.” I was convinced to do it but only very reluctantly – I didn’t want to play a toy. There was lots of excitement but also lots of worry. I’d been Soviet bad guy Ivan Drago in Rocky IV and now I was going to be this American hero. I was nervous and afraid people weren’t going to like it.

MLB critical of Giants players who wrote Bible verses on Pride Night caps

• Players deny their decision comes from place of hate

• MLB says writing on caps is a violation of league rules

Major League Baseball has issued a statement critical of players who wrote Bible verses on their Pride Night hats after an incident at a San Francisco Giants game last week.

MLB celebrates Pride month during June and most teams choose a home game to acknowledge the LGBTQ community and its baseball fans. The Giants, who are based in a city with a large LGBTQ population, often make an extra effort.

Newsom says Justice Department is investigating him and his wife

California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, said the Justice Department is investigating he and his wife, Jennifer.

8 killed in B-52 bomber crash at Air Force base in California

Eight people were killed when a B-52 bomber crashed shortly after takeoff Monday during a test flight at Edwards Air Force Base in California. The Air Force said the plane was carrying civilians and military personnel. Carter Evans reports.

Trump turns his attention to Ukraine ahead of Iran deal: 'I’m going to do whatever I can’

President Donald Trump said Tuesday that "Russia should make a deal" to end its four-year war in Ukraine.

‘Wow, it really worked!’: the 70s TV show that’s causing worldwide panic – 50 years later

When UK mockumentary Alternative 3 tried to spook viewers that scientists were vanishing as part of a sinister space plot it succeeded. Today, the resulting conspiracy theory has even seen Trump’s government launch an investigation

Over the past few months, a strange story has been seeping into the mainstream media from the more excitable corners of Substack and YouTube. Its claim: scientists whose work related to aerospace and nuclear research are either dying or going missing. According to an influential report in the Daily Mail in March, the disappearances form a “chilling pattern”: two, for instance, had worked together at an air force laboratory. The implications, in some accounts, are Hollywood sinister, with scientists working on top-secret breakthroughs running into dark forces who wanted to get hold of what they knew – or ensure their silence. And it all seems to have something to do with what we used to call UFOs.

On examination, these claims collapse. The “scientists” actually worked in disparate fields, from chemical biology to plasma physics. Several were actually administrators. Two had retired. One died of natural causes; another in a shooting spree. In any case, as the debunker Mick West pointed out, the “US top secret-cleared aerospace and nuclear workforce” is around 700,000, so normal mortality rates would predict far more deaths over the 22 months concerned – about 4,000. Nonetheless, Congresspeople have been warning darkly of threats to “national security”. The Trump administration has launched an investigation into a phenomenon that is often said to go hand-in-hand with something called “Alternative 3” – whose origins might end up surprising Trump and co.

Beyond the classroom: South Carolina educators use food to teach Gullah Geechee culture

New programs in the state work to teach high school and college students about Gullah foodways through hands-on projects

When students from Charleston county school of the arts in South Carolina entered a research institute on the African diaspora, staff greeted them with “welcome home”.

The field trip at the College of Charleston’s Avery Research Center for African American History and Culture was the culmination of a six-week English course about memoir. Students learned about the culture of Gullah Geechee people, the descendants of formerly enslaved West Africans who retained their customs, through the lens of food such as okra, red rice and beans.

The secret to a great TV dinner | Kitchen aide

It’s all about ‘easy bowl food’, and grub you can shovel in on the sofa without having to cut anything up

What are the best summer TV dinners?
Mel, by email
Few are as committed to teas on knees as Ella Risbridger: “It appals my parents, but I eat on the sofa just about every day,” says the author of The Kitchen Book. The key, she says, is not having to cut anything up: “One-handed cooking is a good way of thinking about it,” which is to say that Mel should be looking for meals that require only a fork, a spoon or chopsticks. “That’s easier to do in winter, because then you’ve got the likes of casseroles, soups and stews, whereas a lot of summer food is based on big sharing platters, which are not ideal, because, while you can put them on the coffee table, there’s lunging involved.” Said movement not only upsets the balance, but often also results in spillages: “I’m currently looking at a lump of bicarb sopping up a turmeric stain on my sofa,” Risbridger adds by way of confirmation.

Other considerations of the sofa supper include getting as many textures and flavours as possible into every mouthful. “Wherever you dig, you want to be getting something good,” says Zena Kamgaing, author of Dinner Time. That’s why pasta is a regular go-to: “It’s easy bowl food. On a hot day, say, I’ll do a no-cook sauce by blitzing mascarpone with sun-dried tomatoes, a little harissa and fresh basil.” Risbridger, meanwhile, is partial to US-style chopped salads, although Vietnamese-inspired numbers also feature regularly: “Invest in a julienne peeler, because that can make salad feel fancy, and put any kind of protein in it: salmon, sliced steak.” Add rice – “Cold salad and warm rice is a delight” – or deploy twirlable cold noodles. “If you’re watching telly, curtains drawn, you’re not looking for a beautiful plate,” Risbridger says. “You want the focus to be on the deliciousness, and I cannot stress enough that a Vietnamese salad is the optimum, because it’s beautiful, but not in a way that means you have to concentrate on its beauty.”

Got a culinary dilemma? Email [email protected]

2026 America’s Top States for Business: How we are ranking all 50 U.S. states

America's Top States for Business rankings reflect the measures states are using to attract corporations amid urgency to build new facilities across the U.S. 

To be America's Top State for Business in 2026, 'speed to market' wins

CNBC’s 2026 America’s Top States for Business rankings is a race as companies chase record investments in AI and defense in deciding where to locate.

‘We weren’t allowed to meet Oasis!’: Japanese punk band Otoboke Beaver on fun, feminism and famous fans

Dave Grohl spread the word about the ferociously funny quartet and now they’re supporting Foo Fighters in stadiums. Just make sure you switch off your phone’s flash if you go to their gigs …

They say brevity is the soul of wit and few bands have as much of both as Otoboke Beaver. Playing short, sharp songs packed with equal parts ferocity and black humour, next week the Japanese quartet will play easily their biggest UK gig yet, at Liverpool’s Anfield stadium supporting Foo Fighters.

“We met Foo Fighters at an overseas festival, and again in Japan,” says vocalist Accorinrin as we chat in a music bar in Tokyo’s Shibuya district, a couple of hours before Otoboke Beaver go on stage and eviscerate an audience at the nearby O-Nest. “Dave Grohl told so many people about us, which helped us a lot. He didn’t have to introduce a nobody band like us, but Dave is always looking for newcomers and he wanted to hook us up within the music industry.”

Experts alarmed as Trump launches broad-front attack on US voting rights

With election denialists installed in key positions, officials using series of measures to change voting rules

The Trump administration is waging war on voting rights using justice department lawsuits, FBI investigations and an executive order to limit voting by mail, moves mirroring the US president’s false claims he lost the 2020 election due to voting fraud, say election experts and ex-officials.

Since Donald Trump began his second term, numerous 2020 election denialists have been installed in key agencies such as the Department of Justice, the FBI and elsewhere to pursue widely discredited claims of fraud, which can intimidate election workers and voters in swing states that Trump lost to Joe Biden in 2020.

How Israel could complicate Iran peace negotiations. And, World Cup highlights

Israel has been sidelined in the agreement between the U.S. and Iran. It could spoil peace negotiations. And, it's been a thrilling start to the World Cup.

Mitch McConnell admitted to the hospital, spokesperson says

Sen. Mitch McConnell was admitted to the hospital Sunday morning, a spokesperson for the Republican confirmed to CBS News.

Israeli ambassador to U.S. says Israel is 'not going to withdraw from South Lebanon'

NPR's Steve Inskeep asks Israel's ambassador to the U.S. Michael Leiter about the peace deal the Trump administration says it's made with Iran.

Brand Beckham always delivers with a PR opportunity. But Brooklyn’s turned up late, with the wrong order | Marina Hyde

Brooklyn Peltz Beckham appears in a new ad for DoorDash, just months after attacking the family brand’s love of self-promotion. Where will it all end?

I see Brooklyn Beckham is on his DoorDash privacy tour. After Prince Harry and Meghan “stepped away” from royal family duties, they embarked on what South Park famously designated their worldwide privacy tour. When Brooklyn stepped away from Beckham family duties – which oddly appear to involve a regal level of shared mission, public appearances and emotional repression – he declared that he wished only for privacy.

And so to his DoorDash ad, which dropped on Monday. Brooklyn is becoming quite the Greta Garbo of food delivery service ads, having previously done a collaboration with Uber Eats. But this latest one for DoorDash, owner of Deliveroo, is an eyecatcher. “You’re probably wondering,” he begins – and honestly, he’d be amazed at what I’m actually wondering. “You’re probably wondering why I’m watching the Fifa World Cup 2026 at home,” smirks Brooklyn, throwing down several World Cup tickets on a table that also features items including some letters. “It’s a long story,” he chuckles, before viewers are … tantalised, I think it is? … with the caption slogan: “It’s complicated. More soon.”

8 dead in B-52 bomber crash at Edwards Air Force Base in California, officials say

The aircraft was on a routine test mission at Edwards airfield, located in the western Mojave Desert, about 100 miles northeast of Los Angeles.

Serena Williams back at Wimbledon after being granted doubles wildcard with Venus

• Williams sisters have won six doubles titles at SW19

• French Open finalist Chwalinksa awarded wildcard

Serena and Venus Williams will rekindle their doubles partnership at Wimbledon this month after receiving a wildcard into the doubles draw. The All England Club announced the recipients on Tuesday morning in one of the most highly anticipated wildcard announcements in recent memory, considering Serena’s return this month after four years of retirement.

Serena, a seven-time singles champion at SW19, did not request a singles wildcard and the 44-year-old has remained coy about whether she plans to return for singles. Venus, a five-time singles champion, has also not received a singles wildcard. Venus has competed on the tour since her debut in 1994, only stopping due to health-related issues. She turns 46 on Wednesday.

David Squires on … a thirst for adverts and other notes from the World Cup so far

Our cartoonist offers up some observations after the tournament’s group games got under way in the US, Mexico and Canada

• Buy a cartoon | David’s favourite works of 2025

• And his latest book, Chaos in the Box: get it now

‘This will be timeless’: what art can we expect from Chicago’s $850m Obama Presidential Center?

Original works by 30 artists have been commissioned by the Obamas alongside vital pieces of memorabilia for visitors to appreciate

It is a tale of two presidents. On 14 June Donald Trump celebrated his 80th birthday by hosting a raucous crowd for Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) on the White House South Lawn. Four days later, on the eve of Juneteenth, Barack Obama will unveil a monument to his legacy that honours the audacity of art.

For the Obama Presidential Center on the South Side of Chicago, Barack and Michelle Obama commissioned original works by 30 artists from diverse backgrounds, a bold move never seen at such scale at a presidential library. It also forms a quiet rebuke of Obama’s successor, who has filled the Oval Office with stiff presidential portraits while plotting the demise of cultural stalwarts such as the Kennedy Center and Smithsonian Institution.

The era of trillionaires will be dire for democracy. Here is how we can fight back | Gabriel Zucman

There is a fundamental tension between extreme wealth and the very possibility of democracy. That’s because extreme wealth is always an extreme power

The stock market listing of SpaceX has led to an outpouring of celebration, from Wall Street to Silicon Valley. Yet those who rejoice in Elon Musk’s fortune surpassing the $1tn mark need to be reminded of a simple and vital truth: the mere existence of trillionaires is a major political and economic problem, probably the defining issue of our time.

Simply put, there is a fundamental tension between extreme wealth and the very possibility of democracy. Extreme wealth is always an extreme power. It’s the power to stifle competition, the power to shape public discourse, the power to influence policymaking, the power to buy elections, the power to stall social progress.

Gabriel Zucman is a professor of economics at the Paris School of Economics, a summer research professor at the University of California, Berkeley, and founding director of the International Tax Observatory. He is the author of We Need to Tax Billionaires.

BASE jumping accident kills 2 including well-known extreme athlete Andy Lewis

A BASE jumping accident in a Utah canyon killed two people including a daredevil athlete best known for performing onstage with Madonna at the 2012 Super Bowl, authorities said.

The peptide boom: how the US got hooked on unregulated ‘miracle’ drugs | On the Ground

Across the US, thousands of people are injecting themselves with unregulated peptides in pursuit of weight loss, muscle growth and younger-looking skin. Despite being labelled 'not for human consumption', the substances are readily available online and have surged in popularity among people disillusioned by traditional healthcare. To find out why so many Americans are willing to risk unknown side-effects for the promise of a quick fix, Adam Gabbatt meets the users and influencers driving the peptide boom, and investigates what's really inside some of these so-called 'miracle' drugs

The removal of Trump’s name from the Kennedy Center is a much-needed act of iconoclasm | Judith Levine

The desecration of a ruler’s symbols is among the oldest forms of political revolt

There’s a reason the first two of the Ten Commandments prohibit worshiping false gods and making false idols. And a reason iconoclasm – the desecration of the monuments of a hated ruler or regime – is one of the oldest and most powerful symbolic forms of political revolt.

The revolutionary power of iconoclasm is also why Donald Trump – who understands the manipulation of imagery as well as anyone on earth – has had a huge blue and white tarp draped across the facade of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts while the letters of his name are pried off under court order.

Judith Levine is a Brooklyn-based journalist and frequent contributor to the Guardian. Her Substack is Today in Fascism

The year of New York and the Thunder weren’t inevitable: 15 things we learned from the NBA playoffs

The NBA postseason remains a psychodrama of moments, memes and memories unlike anything in sport. We look back at the biggest takeaways

Sometimes it’s just your year. When infectiously optimistic young mayor Zohran Mamdani was elected this past fall, there was a palpable vibe shift in the city. That’s not to say that there’s a direct correlation between the New York Knicks being NBA champions and the era of buoyant positivity permeating the city, but it’s also not to say there’s not one. Other American cities will, inevitably, have their moment in the sun again soon. But 2026 is the year of New York (someone get that memo to the Mets).