Turkey v USA: World Cup 2026 – live

⚽️ Kick-off time: 7pm local/10pm EDT/3pm BST/12pm AEST
⚽️ Third-place table | Player guide | Tables | And mail Beau
⚽️ Follow live coverage of Paraguay v Australia as it happens

Questions for readers:

1. Who’s your favorite all-time Turkey player? Mine: Hakan Şükür, “the Bull of the Bosphorus.”

Paraguay v Australia: World Cup 2026 – live

⚽️ Kick-off time: 7pm local/12pm AEST/3am BST/10pm EDT
⚽️ Third-place table | Player guide | Tables | Mail Jonathan
⚽️ Follow live coverage of Turkey v USA as it happens

Jonathan Liew considers the impact of this World Cup being the most individual > collective in tournament history.

… something does feel qualitatively different this summer: a tectonic shift driven partly by events on the pitch and partly at the behest of the industry itself. This is a World Cup swimming in star names, and never have those star names been so unapologetically, unquestioningly invoked. France do not beat Iraq; instead Kylian Mbappé throws down the gauntlet to Erling Haaland, Harry Kane and the rest. According to Google, Miroslav Klose’s goals record has been searched more at this tournament than in the year he set it. At times the group phase has felt like an inconvenient distraction from the real business of the Golden Boot race. (Can Lionel Messi lift the one trophy he hasn’t won yet?)

The state of Israel vs the children of Gaza | First Dog on the Moon

A United Nations inquiry tells us Israel continues to commit genocide by deliberately targeting Palestinian children

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Paris to ban drinking alcohol in public as hospitals hit heatwave breaking point

Ban kicks in at noon on Friday as police chief says hospitals in the French capital have reached ‘saturation point’

Parisians will ⁠be temporarily banned ​from drinking alcohol in public as hospitals in the capital buckle under a deadly heatwave ‌gripping France ‌and much of Europe.

“We are reaching a saturation point in hospital facilities,” the head of Paris police, Patrice Faure, said on Thursday. He warned the new measures, which include a ban on alcohol takeaway sales, were needed to stem increasing hospitalisations.

Mangione's attorneys discussed possible plea deal but talks fell apart, sources say

Mangione​ is facing both state and federal charges for UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson's murder in December 2024. He has pleaded not guilty in both cases.

Former Las Vegas youth pastor dies days after being charged in wife’s fatal fall

David Vander Meer was recently arrested for the death of his wife in national park 20 years ago after new information revealed

A Las Vegas man and former youth pastor died dead days after he was arrested and charged with murdering his wife, who plummeted thousands of feet to her death while hiking in Utah’s Zion national park in 2006.

At a scheduled extradition hearing on Thursday, a Las Vegas judge announced that David Vander Meer was deceased, according to KSNV.

Ukraine war briefing: Zelenskyy declares 40-day Russia blitz to ‘influence the aggressor state’

Ukrainian strikes continue to shut down Russian oil refineries and starve Crimea of gasoline and power; Belarus relay stations silenced. What we know on day 1,584

Rescue teams race to Venezuela amid fears thousands killed in earthquakes

US among countries sending help to search for survivors on north coast, where dozens of buildings flattened, as official death toll reaches 235

Rescue teams are racing to Venezuela’s shattered northern coast after almost simultaneous earthquakes reduced dozens of buildings to rubble, killing at least 235 people but with thousands more fatalities feared. Officials said at least 4,300 people were injured as search and rescue missions continue.

The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, said the defence department would help search and rescue teams deploy to the affected region after Venezuela’s main gateway, the Simón Bolívar international airport, near the capital, Caracas, was badly damaged by 7.2 and 7.5 magnitude quakes less than 40 seconds apart, late on Wednesday afternoon.

Xi Jinping has hosted more than a dozen leaders this year, as ‘middle powers’ look beyond the US

China’s leader wants to promote his alternative to the current world order, and his efforts are being assisted by a capricious US

Xi Jinping meets Bangladesh’s new prime minister on Friday, the latest in a wave of world leaders to visit Beijing this year as the Chinese leader builds his influence and economic ties, and seeks to “shift the balance of power” away from the west.

Xi’s meeting with Tarique Rahman comes less than two weeks after the Chinese leader welcomed Myanmar’s military chief-turned-president, Min Aung Hlaing, in Beijing.

Japan and Sweden both reach World Cup last 32 after Elanga’s strike seals draw

Thank goodness this is Dallas and not Gijon. There was ultimately no disgrace in a draw that served everybody, even if one might have forgiven Graham Potter and Hajime Moriyasu for shaking hands at half-time. At that point most onlookers may have fancied calling it all off too but a much sparkier second half served up two moments to cherish and left Sweden, who had risked throwing such a promising campaign away, certain of a spot in the last 32.

Japan were already confident of theirs and, as runners-up, will face Brazil in Houston on Monday. It is a mouthwatering knockout clash that surely has no business being contested at so early a point in the competition. In fairness a lower finish may have served them no better and they can be spurred by the precedent set by recent history. Back in October, after all, they thrillingly beat Carlo Ancelotti’s side in Tokyo. They will feel able to do it again and there was no point risking the third-place lottery here.

Netherlands power to win over Tunisia and set up last-32 meeting with Morocco

The Oranje bus had better get a move on. A comfortable victory over Tunisia after being sent on their way by a record-equalling 12th own goal of the tournament and further strikes from Brian Brobbey and Jan Paul van Hecke sealed top spot in Group F for the Netherlands ahead of Japan.

Their prize is avoiding a meeting with Brazil in the last 32, with Ronald Koeman’s side now set for a mouthwatering showdown with Morocco in Monterrey instead. Having arrived in southern Texas almost a month ago and already taken in games in Dallas, Houston and Kansas City, the specially converted double decker that has become a fixture at recent major tournaments now faces a journey of more than 1,000 miles before Monday’s game in northern Mexico. It is a challenge that Koeman is clearly wary of.

Australian musicians sound warning note after Nick Cave, Kylie and many more slurped into AI training tool

‘It’s all just rendered useless’, Something For Kate’s Paul Dempsey says as AI scrapes millions of songs to learn how to make music

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Paul Dempsey and Bernard Fanning are among big-name Australian musicians upset that their original songs have been found in datasets used to train artificial intelligence.

A dataset search tool recently created by US publication The Atlantic reveals millions of creative works have been scraped from the internet to train the disruptive technology.

The 2026 FIFA World Cup schedule and how to watch

With 104 World Cup games being played in the U.S., Canada and Mexico, it's like "a Super Bowl every single day for five weeks," U.S. team captain Tim Ream told CBS News.

WNBA suspends Alyssa Thomas for hitting Caitlin Clark's throat

No foul was initially called after Alyssa Thomas' fist made contact with Caitlin Clark's throat during a game between the Phoenix Mercury and Indiana Fever on Wednesday.

LA investigating construction at warehouse involved in massive fire

Los Angeles building inspectors have launched an investigation into alleged unpermitted construction at a warehouse that erupted in flames last week — its second fire in two years.

Nonprofit lawn-mowing organization hopes to mow the White House lawn for America 250

A decade ago, Rodney Smith Jr. noticed an elderly neighbor struggling to cut the grass. After stopping to help, he founded the Alabama nonprofit Raising Men & Women Lawn Care Service. Now, he's hoping to honor the president for America's 250th birthday. Tony Dokoupil has the story.

Supreme Court sides with Monsanto in case over cancer risks from weedkiller

The Supreme Court ruled that Monsanto cannot be held liable under state laws for failing to warn consumers about the alleged cancer risks of its weedkiller Roundup on its label.

U.S. playing for pride, momentum, a potential record in World Cup match against Turkey

The U.S. Men's National Soccer Team is facing Turkey in a match that, no matter the outcome, will be their last before moving on to the next round. But the stakes are still high, as Nicole Valdes reports, including pride, momentum and a potential record.

Supreme Court lets Trump strip deportation protections from Syrians, Haitians

The Supreme Court on Thursday said the Trump administration can move forward with its efforts to strip more than 356,000 Syrian and Haitian immigrants of temporary protections.

Apple raises iPad and MacBook prices, blaming cost of chips amid AI boom

Company says it cannot shield customers from memory and storage chip costs – and iPhone hikes could be next

Apple raised iPad and MacBook prices on Thursday, saying it could no longer shield customers from soaring memory and storage chip costs driven by the AI industry’s data center buildout.

The move does not affect Apple’s cash cow, the iPhone. But it would take the starting price of the ⁠Neo, its lowest-priced laptop, from $599 to $699 mere months after launch.

Trump has testy meeting with GOP senators, telling Cassidy to sit down

President Trump met with Republican senators soon after canceling plans to sign bipartisan housing affordability legislation at the Capitol.

Supreme Court issues two big wins for Trump's immigration policy

The Supreme Court handed down rulings in a pair of immigration cases on Thursday. Jan Crawford is following the decisions.

On Trump shouting match, Sen. Bill Cassidy says, "Unfortunately, I raised my volume to match his"

Louisiana Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy got into a shouting match with President Trump in a private meeting on Wednesday, telling him the administration has not been honest with the American people about the conflict. Cassidy spoke with Margaret Brennan and Ed O'Keefe reports.

Detroit Lions player arrested on charges of armed robbery and kidnapping

Terrion Arnold, a 23-year-old defensive player for the Detroit Lions and a former first-round pick and all-American at the University of Alabama, has been arrested on charges of armed robbery and kidnapping. He is denying it all. Tom Hanson reports.

Major wildfire rips through moorland close to Greater Manchester

Blaze on Tintwistle Moor, Glossop, has burned more than 500 square metres, forcing road closures and smoke warning

A major wildfire close to Greater Manchester has torn through large areas of moorland for more than 24 hours, forcing road closures and smoke warnings as fire crews battle to bring it under control.

The blaze, on Tintwistle Moor, near Glossop, has burned an area of more than 500 square metres of moorland and woodland, with thick plumes of smoke directly affecting the villages of Tintwistle, Hollingworth and Woolley Bridge.

Judge orders DOJ to either unredact more Epstein files or explain why it can't

A judge on Thursday ordered the Justice Department to either release unredacted versions of several files on the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein or explain why it can't do so.

Phoebe Bridgers: Lost Boys review – ghosts, guns and guileless youth on generational songwriter’s return

(Dead Oceans)
The US singer took years off after becoming ‘world-weary’ of public life – and in the meantime, her silvery balladry reshaped pop. Her return is an ornate reinvention

In the press materials for Phoebe Bridgers’ return, the 31-year-old US singer talks about taking time to make her third album after coming to feel “a little world-weary” about public life. Who could blame her? Bridgers became a figure of invasive parasocial behaviour from fans after her spooked, sad second album, 2020’s Punisher, resonated with life under lockdown and made her a superstar. In recent years, young women making introspective and ornate indie-rock songs have risen to startling, pop star levels of fame and scrutiny – and none more so than Bridgers, her Boygenius supergroup with Julien Baker and Lucy Dacus, and their peer Mitski. When Bridgers was rumoured to be engaged in 2022, fans possessed by her devastating music rued her happiness; when she started a new relationship, the gossip mill churned. In 2023, she castigated the so-called fans who aggressed her in an airport while on the way to her father’s funeral.

Even her recent analogue return has prompted reactions that might have a less self-possessed artist wondering why they bother. Last month, mysterious posters started appearing in small towns across the US advertising surprise $1 Bridgers shows in intimate venues later that night, before a concluding gig at New York’s gigantic Madison Square Garden. Phones were banned, along with any kind of recording device, including pen and paper, to stop audience members from writing down lyrics from her third album and sharing them online. The backlash to this – some fans accused her of ableism – prompted its own backlash, a tiresome Russian doll of discourse that’s still dragging on.

Little Brother review – Netflix comedy is neither weird or funny enough for star Eric André

The surreal comedian struggles to sell a middling and mostly conventional film about an uptight realtor whose life is upturned by an unpredictable figure from his past

The specific, unforced strangeness of Eric André’s comedy hasn’t been an easy fit for Hollywood. His surreal and frequently hilarious late-night series The Eric André Show was an unpredictably odd and often violently catastrophic mix of awkward celebrity interviews and daring, dangerous on-the-street pranks and his manic, anything-for-the-bit energy marked him as someone execs would be unwise to entirely ignore.

But André didn’t really feel like someone who desperately needed industry approval and broader acceptance or the inevitable comedy vehicle that would come with it (those projects are also admittedly far less common than they once were). There was an attempt in 2020, a hidden camera hybrid comedy called Bad Trip that saw André lead a fictional narrative playing out in real locations with real people unwittingly cast alongside. But Covid forced a theatrical play into a Netflix premiere and while it had its moments (the zoo-based sexual assault is a work of crude genius), the format was a gamble that, for me, didn’t completely pay off (it was as hit-and-miss as a sketch show). The film’s looseness did at least feel like a more natural fit for André than his follow-up for the streamer, the far more conventional and far less amusing comedy Little Brother, the closest he has come to “fitting in”.

Trump's obsession with SAVE America Act drives Congress into standoff

The president and his conservative allies have stymied other legislation as they unsuccessfully try to pass a voting regulations bill that lacks even simple majority support in the Senate.

6/25: CBS Evening News

Hundreds dead in devastating back-to-back earthquakes in Venezuela; Europe swelters under heat dome.

Plata’s golden touch against Germany sends Ecuador into World Cup last 32

Sí, se puede – yes, we can – was the chant that rang out from the 55,000 Ecuador fans as their team’s final group match kicked off. Despite a flat start to their World Cup campaign, there was a genuine belief that an upset against a full-strength Germany was possible. They had no other choice: having been shut out by Eloy Room’s heroics for Curaçao, Sebastián Beccacece’s side had to win to progress.

This time, a stirring performance earned La Tri a famous victory against an error-prone Mannschaft. Gonzalo Plata’s 77th-minute strike sparked wild and emotional celebrations, assuring their place in the last 32 as one of the eight best third-placed team.

UN agency pauses ship evacuations through strait of Hormuz after vessel struck

International Maritime Organization says safety guarantees must be confirmed before ships can move again

A United Nations agency has paused the evacuation of ships through the strait of Hormuz after the British military said a vessel was hit by a projectile off the coast of Oman following the passage of several tankers that used a route backed by the UN.

The head of the UN’s International Maritime Organization said on Thursday that the plan to move stranded ships out of the Persian Gulf through the strait would be on hold until the agency could confirm safety guarantees for the ships on the evacuation list and in the region.

Côte d’Ivoire into World Cup knockouts for first time as Pépé finishes off Curaçao

Côte d’Ivoire surviving the World Cup group stage for the first time, in the year of our football gods 2026, is one of those titbits that sounds like it shouldn’t be true, and yet here we are. An underwhelming 2-0 victory over Curaçao, courtesy of Nicolas Pépé’s double, put the Ivorians through to the last 32 as Group E runners-up.

“Celebrate this historic qualification, like we should,” the Ivorian manager, Emerse Faé, told his compatriots afterwards. “Once we’re done celebrating, we want to go as far as possible in this competition. This is a young group. They’re all at their first ever World Cup. They’re playing well. There is a lot of solidarity in this group.”

Democrats probe Trump's troubled $16 million reflecting pool renovation

President Donald Trump has attempted to spruce up Washington in advance of the country's 250th anniversary.

6-alarm fire destroys old industrial building in Allentown, Pennsylvania

A massive fire in Allentown, Pennsylvania, forced nearby residents to evacuate their homes Wednesday night.

Night Swimming by Sharon Kernot review – a sharp, sexy and tremendously satisfying thriller in verse

As in Dorothy Porter’s The Monkey’s Mask, the form is perfectly suited to the story: of a sleep-deprived woman unravelling as she’s haunted by her past

One of the most striking aspects of Sharon Kernot’s verse novel Night Swimming is its portrayal of insomnia, in both its physical strain and its maddening psychological effects.

January Clare Colson, Kernot’s protagonist, has suffered bouts of insomnia alongside intense parasomnias – sleep paralysis, sleepwalking, hallucinatory nightmares – since the death of her best friend, Julie, at the age of 16, and she survives largely by self-medicating with red wine and sleeping pills.

How much water does AI really use?

The heaviest demand on America's water supply isn't data centers or AI. It's from everyday uses such as growing food, watering lawns and flushing toilets.

Manchester City agree £116m fee with Nottingham Forest for Elliot Anderson

• England midfielder eager to move to Etihad Stadium

• Forest eye Lucas Bergvall as potential replacement

Manchester City have agreed a deal with Nottingham Forest to sign Elliot Anderson for £116m, a record for a British player.

Forest’s owner, Evangelos Marinakis, had insisted any deal for Anderson would have to eclipse the £125m Liverpool paid to sign Alexander Isak from Newcastle last summer.

Charities condemn ‘arrogant’ plans to house asylum seekers at former military sites

Planning permission has been sought for three additional military sites

Home Office plans to use three more former military sites to house thousands of asylum seekers have been condemned as “arrogant”, “costly” and “a political fix” by refugee charities and local stakeholders.

Planning permission is being sought to build “basic” accommodation at MOD Bicester in Oxfordshire, RAF Barnham in Suffolk and RAF Linton-on-Ouse in North Yorkshire, a statement said. These new sites could house 3,750 claimants, the government has claimed.

King and Queen will not live at Buckingham Palace after £369m refit

Charles and Camilla to remain at Clarence House and are said to want the public to have more access to ‘monarchy HQ’

• King Charles’s tax bill: what did we learn and what is still in the dark?

• Crown estate makes more than £1bn profit for third year running

King Charles and Queen Camilla will not move into Buckingham Palace when £369m of buildings works to update it finish next year, preferring to remain at Clarence House, their London home nearby.

The announcement came as it was revealed the king paid £12.9m in income and capital gains tax in 2024-25 on his personal income, known as the privy purse, making him among the country’s top 100 taxpayers. Prince William paid £7.76m for the same period.

Chicago Fed President Goolsbee says inflation is too high; Williams sees price pressures easing

In a live CNBC interview from his home district, Goolsbee declined to speculate on where he thinks interest rates are headed.

6/25: The Takeout with Major Garrett

Trump calls for House Republicans to unify; Supreme Court hands down decisions on major immigration cases.

Taylor Swift wedding venue speculation fueled by MSG permit

There appear to be new clues about the location of Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce's wedding.

Hundreds of veterans snag free World Cup tickets

A program for veterans, current military and first responders secured almost 5,000 free tickets for World Cup matches.

Micron soars 15% after blockbuster earnings, lifting some chip stocks

The company's revenue more than quadrupled from $9.3 billion a year earlier to $41.46 billion, it reported on Wednesday

Microsoft lifts price of Xbox consoles due to soaring component costs

Microsoft said it's increasing the price of Xbox game consoles after Apple announced price hikes for MacBooks and iPads.

New Zealand bemoan lack of ‘clinical nature’ despite dominating England

• New Zealand reach 361-4 on day one of third Test

• Devon Conway admits ‘struggles’ after knock of 157

When New Zealand last played at Trent Bridge, Tim Southee was in their team and Luke Ronchi in their dressing room. They batted first, scored 318 for four on the first day, 553 in their first innings, and lost. Four years on, with eight members of the 2022 side still in their squad, they finished the opening day on 361 for four but may have an old, bad memory impinging on their jubilation.

“There’ll probably be a few guys in the New Zealand changing room with that in the back of their minds. It’s always there in the memory bank,” said Southee, now England’s bowling coach. “In reality it’s a very different team compared to 2022, it’s different cricket, it’s a different surface,” said Ronchi, still the Kiwis’ batting coach. “That hasn’t really come into it.”

What made the deadly Venezuelan earthquakes different

It appears the two big earthquakes in Venezuela that occurred in rapid succession may have involved two separate fault lines. Several faults intersect in this tectonically complex region.

Video from inside plane shows crash in Alaskan wilderness

A plane carrying 10 people crashed deep in the Alaskan wilderness on Monday. Engine problems forced it down, hundreds of miles from the nearest major city. Kris Van Cleave has new video from inside the plane.

Apple and Microsoft are raising their prices as chip costs soar

Apple is raising the prices of some MacBooks and iPads, while Microsoft is raising Xbox prices as semiconductor costs surge.

Iran behind attack on cargo vessel near Oman in Strait of Hormuz, U.S. official tells MS NOW

"The only crop we're harvesting is what you planted: decades of mistrust," Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said in a social media post.

Boxer Joe Cordina charged with assault over Cardiff petrol station incident

• Former boxing world champion to appear in court in July

• Cordina’s WBO bout against Abdullah Mason called off

The former boxing world champion Joe Cordina has been charged with “assault and threatening a person with an offensive weapon” after an incident at a petrol station in a Cardiff suburb in February.

The 34-year-old, a two-time IBF super-featherweight champion who was due to face Abdullah Mason for the WBO lightweight title next month, is set to appear at Cardiff magistrates court on 7 July.

New evidence casts doubt on RFK Jr testimony before Senate

Kennedy repeatedly said 2019 Samoa trip had ‘nothing to do with vaccines’. An email from his then colleague says they were on a vaccine-related ‘mission’

New evidence has emerged that Robert F Kennedy Jr was on a vaccine-related “mission” when he visited Samoa ahead of a deadly measles outbreak in 2019, raising further questions about whether the US health secretary lied to the US Senate when he said the trip had “nothing to do with vaccines”.

Records obtained by the Guardian show Kennedy’s colleague told Samoan officials in an email that he and Kennedy were coming as part of a mission to study the island nation’s medical records in the aftermath of a “discontinuity in vaccinations”.

Supreme court conservatives accused of advancing ‘white-supremacist agenda’

Lawmakers and advocates condemn ‘disastrous’ decisions that allow Trump officials to strip away migrant protections

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Lawmakers and immigration advocacy groups on Thursday sharply denounced two US supreme court rulings that allowed the Trump administration to strip certain immigration protections and fundamentally reshape the asylum system.

Dozens of groups, advocates and members of Congress called the court’s decisions “disastrous” and “cruel”, while the Trump administration, Republican lawmakers and anti-immigrant groups celebrated the rulings.

Photos: See Venezuela destruction after earthquakes

The earthquakes were Venezuela's largest in over a century.

Big Tech is all in on AI. Now all they need is customers.

Technology companies are betting trillions of dollars that consumers will open their wallets for AI services. But what if Big Tech is wrong?

Newcastle hit with demand for £3.2m over ‘deliberate’ failure to pay tax on transfers

• Club owe HMRC £1.9m in tax and handed £1.25m penalty

• Relates to investigation of transfers under Mike Ashley

Newcastle United have been hit with a demand for £3.2m from HM Revenue and Customs over a “deliberate” failure to pay tax, according to official disclosures that relate to a near decade-long investigation into player transfers under the club’s former owner, Mike Ashley.

The Tyneside club, who have been owned by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund since 2021, owe HMRC £1.9m in tax and have also been hit with a penalty of £1.25m, the newly released documents show. The bill emerged as a result of the tax authority’s regular publication of a league table of “deliberate tax defaulters”, with Newcastle featuring at the top of the most recent list, released on Thursday.

Supreme Court limits Roundup cancer suits against Bayer's Monsanto

Glyphosate, used in Roundup weedkiller, is the most commonly utilized herbicide in agriculture, and it has long been linked to cancer claims.

Judge says lawsuit against Trump DOJ 'anti-weaponization' fund will proceed

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche originally set up the fund as part of a settlement of a lawsuit by President Donald Trump against the IRS.

The World Cup 'Pride Match' Iran and Egypt tried to stop - video

Seattle’s World Cup committee is pushing forward with “Pride Match” celebrations this week despite backlash from Egypt and Iran, who have called for the cancellation of LGBTQ+ rights festivities around the game.

Last year, Seattle’s local organising committee, which is separate from Fifa, made plans for 26 June to be a Pride-themed match coinciding with the city’s annual Pride weekend.

In December, Egypt and Iran were drawn to play each other on that date in Seattle, causing a swift firestorm and condemnation from the two countries, as Sam Levin explains

• Seattle prepares for unlikely matchup as its World Cup Pride celebration: Egypt v Iran

Reflecting Pool liner was cut with knife or razor, parks official says

National Park Service official Frank Lands also said at least 70 fence post tops were thrown in to the Reflecting Pool.

The Guardian view on the Ockenden maternity review: lifting standards must be the number one priority | Editorial

Families are right to be angry about devastating care failures in Nottingham. Ministers must respond fast

The painful familiarity of key themes in Donna Ockenden’s review of maternity care failures must not detract from the urgency around this issue. The 400-page report published on Wednesday is a shocking catalogue of what went wrong at Nottingham university hospitals NHS trust. Its contents range from a excruciating case study of the errors leading to the death of baby Harriet Hawkins in 2016 – and the cover-up that followed – to trust-wide problems with staffing, culture and leadership. It also highlights flaws in the wider NHS, citing the finding of the 2022 Messenger review that political pressure can lead bosses “to look upwards to furnish the needs of the hierarchy rather than downwards to the needs of the service-user”.

Given its around 100 action points, implementation is a daunting prospect. Next week, Valerie Amos will add to these, and the more than 700 recommendations of earlier reports, with her own investigation of maternity care in England. Wes Streeting had pledged to chair a new taskforce and his resignation as health secretary alarmed campaigners. Whoever ends up in charge, a commitment to maternity care improvement must be non-negotiable, and firmly grounded in practicalities. The review points to a damaging split between strategy and operations in Nottingham. NHS England must avoid replicating this.

The Guardian view on EU talks with the Taliban: selling out the rights of girls, women and other Afghans | Editorial

Five years after the fall of Kabul, European states are anxious to send migrants back – regardless of what it takes and what awaits them

Days after Kabul fell to the Taliban in August 2021, the EU’s top diplomat stressed the need to protect women and girls. “Cooperation with any future Afghan government will be conditioned on … respect for the fundamental rights of all Afghans,” Josep Borrell pledged. The regime’s attack on women’s rights began immediately, and has only intensified. The Taliban have barred girls from secondary school and university, legalised child marriage, prevented women from travelling without a male guardian and excluded them from jobs, parks and bathhouses. Women have been literally silenced: their voices are forbidden from being heard in public, even from within their own homes.

A new criminal code introduced last year permits men to beat their wives; even if women are able to prove the use of “obscene force”, a husband may still be sentenced to only 15 days in prison. (In contrast, harming an animal could mean five months in jail.) And restrictions on work, movement and contacts are not merely oppressive. They are often deadly in a country gripped by a humanitarian crisis. UN experts have said that this “widespread, systematic and all-encompassing” assault on women’s rights may amount to “gender apartheid”.

Whistleblower Sarah Wynn-Williams sues Meta over attempts to ‘silence’ her

Former employee files complaint accusing company of ‘coercive surveillance’ and first amendment violation

The Meta whistleblower Sarah Wynn-Williams is suing the tech company over its efforts to “silence” her.

A 57-page complaint filed to a US district court in California on Thursday argues that an interim arbitration ruling sought by Meta preventing Wynn-Williams from publicising her memoir, Careless People, was “improper and unlawful” and a “blatant violation of the first amendment”. It also accuses the company of “coercive surveillance”.

New York prosecutors seek to drop Harvey Weinstein rape charge

Accuser declines to testify in fourth trial after May mistrial with prosecutors citing her ‘extraordinarily taxing ordeal’

Manhattan prosecutors on Thursday moved to drop a third-degree rape ⁠charge against Harvey Weinstein after the woman accusing the disgraced movie mogul of assaulting her said she did not want to testify in ⁠what would have ⁠been ​a fourth trial.

Weinstein’s third trial in New York state court over an allegation that he raped ⁠aspiring actor Jessica Mann ended in a mistrial in May after jurors were unable to reach a unanimous verdict.

Supreme Court strikes down Hawaii law restricting guns on some private property

The Supreme Court struck down a Hawaii restriction that prohibits concealed-carry permit holders from bringing their firearms onto private property that is open to the public, like gas stations, restaurants or shops.

‘I love this car’: Lewis Hamilton aims to build on Barcelona win at Austrian Grand Prix

• ‘We’re working cohesively, more tight-knit than ever’

• Austrian GP declared F1 heat hazard race amid heatwave

Lewis Hamilton is confident he and Ferrari can build on their first win together at the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix with the seven-time world champion bullish about how strong the team were and how comfortable he felt in the car heading into this weekend’s Austrian GP.

Hamilton won in Barcelona to take his first victory for Ferrari and his first since the Belgian GP in 2024. He delivered a superb drive on a three-stop strategy and took advantage of a well-timed safety car but Ferrari too, under the leadership of team principal, Fred Vasseur, were in fine form. Their upgrade package in Spain was revelatory as the car genuinely had the pace to compete with the championship leaders Mercedes. Hamilton is now in second place, 41 points behind the title leader, Kimi Antonelli.

Rembrandt painting was altered to erase turban from man’s head, restorers find

Exclusive: Unknown hand covered up artist’s depiction of diverse crowd during influx of refugees to Leiden in 1620s

Layers of overpaint have been removed from a 17th-century painting, confirming that it was painted by Rembrandt and revealing that a turban on one of the figures had been replaced with a traditional Dutch soft cap.

A later anonymous hand had amended or sanitised Rembrandt’s original, apparently misunderstanding that its biblical theme – “Let the Little Children Come Unto Me” – is about tolerance, with Christ blessing children as well as adults. In the gospel of Saint Luke, Jesus rebukes his disciples for turning away parents who brought their children to him: “Suffer [allow] little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven.”

Trump meets defense CEOs as Iran operations strain U.S. missile stockpiles

The White House is pressing major defense firms to expand missile and munitions output as Iran talks and weapons stockpile concerns put new pressure on the Pentagon’s industrial base.

Ben Jennings on a new idea for ‘carbon capture’ – cartoon

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GM reveals 2027 GMC Sierra pickup with new V-8 engines, redesigned styling

The new GMC Sierra trucks are crucial to GM's sales and earnings, especially highly profitable luxury Denali and off-road AT4 models.

Unison chief endorses Ed Miliband for chancellor in a Burnham government

Exclusive: Head of trade union backs energy secretary to replace Rachel Reeves, but two other big unions are opposed

• UK politics live – latest updates

The boss of Britain’s biggest trade union has endorsed Ed Miliband for chancellor, as the race to take over the Treasury under a potential Andy Burnham government intensifies.

Andrea Egan, the general secretary of Unison, has backed the energy secretary, who is one of two frontrunners to replace Rachel Reeves in No 11, but who is being opposed by two other large unions – GMB and Unite.

Judge blocks Trump executive order on mail-in voting

President Trump signed an executive order in March requiring the creation of a list of U.S. citizens eligible to vote in each state and imposing stricter mail-in ballot rules.

Scenes of destruction after deadly earthquakes in Venezuela – visual guide

Rescue efforts under way after buildings reduced to rubble in capital and along northern coast

Hundreds of people are feared to have died and thousands have been injured in Venezuela’s largest earthquake in more than a century.

Two earthquakes of magnitude 7.2 and 7.5 hit 39 seconds apart near the town of Morón.

Oil price falls to pre-Iran war levels as more tankers exit strait of Hormuz

Stock markets on both sides of Atlantic up as concerns ease over prospect of another inflationary shock

• Business live – latest updates

Oil prices have fallen to pre-Iran war levels as more oil tankers exited the strait of Hormuz.

Brent crude, the global benchmark, fell to a low of $72.24 a barrel on Thursday, slightly lower than the day before the US and Israel launched missile attacks on Tehran on 28 February. Prices have fallen more than 20% this month.

The Bear review - this kitchen nightmare of a show dials it up to 11 for its last ever series

It’s won all the awards and now it’s going out in a blaze of comedy. Everything that could possibly go wrong for the restaurant does … but who cares when the fusion of tragedy and laughter is this good?

It may not be a gastronomic reference many midwestern gourmands would appreciate, but the last episode of the last season of The Bear was Marmite TV. Set in the back yard of the titular Chicago restaurant – transformed over the course of the show from a sandwich shop to a fine dining establishment by its talented and troubled head chef Carmy Berzatto (Jeremy Allen White) – the season four finale consisted of the cast shouting over each other about their respective grudges, oscillating between rage and misty-eyed sentimentality. A naturalistic exchange of complex emotional truths? A rare opportunity to flesh out TV characters’ psyches away from the demands of an actual narrative? Maybe. Or a plotless, unpleasantly cacophonous half-hour designed to entertain no one besides those unhealthily invested in the inner lives of Carmy, his protege Syd (Ayo Edebiri) and their ragtag bunch of fictional colleagues? Yeah, I didn’t love it.

Whatever your perspective, it’s hard to deny that The Bear is one of the shows that best encapsulates what was so great and not-so-great about peak streamer-era TV. The brainchild of writer-director Christopher Storer, the series always prioritised thematic richness and indie movie melancholy over focus-grouped crowd-pleasing or hoary screenwriting convention. As a result, it walked the line between uncompromising integrity and tedious self-indulgence – something only possible during a period, now passed, when platforms considered pouring money into auteurish shows a price worth paying for cultural clout.

My father left my mother for another woman. He wants us to start including her. Do we need to? | Leading Questions

He’s decided he wants to be with her, writes Eleanor Gordon-Smith – this means choosing between what feels fair and what’s best for your relationship

• Read more Leading questions

My parents got divorced four years ago, at which point my brother and I were both in our 40s, and our parents almost 70. They broke up after my mother discovered that my dad had been having an affair. The feeling of letdown was enormous, as if our father had suddenly become this person we didn’t recognise. He had always taught us to be fair and honest, and this made us question everything.

My brother and I have made a lot of effort to keep him included in our lives since then, especially for the sake of his grandchildren. However, we’ve only had one demand – that we get to see him alone. The Other Woman still feels like the cause of the breakup of our family. I feel an enormous amount of hurt and resentment about the lies and deceit, but I’ve made a conscious effort to not wipe out his positive impact on my life up to that point.

Judge blocks Postal Service proposal to restrict mail-in voting under Trump's order

A judge has blocked the U.S. Postal Service's proposals responding to President Trump's order, including not delivering ballots in states that don't turn over voter lists to the federal government.

The Supreme Court says the U.S. can turn away asylum seekers at the border

By a 6-3 vote, the high court ruled that federal law allows the government to stop asylum seekers from physically setting foot in the United States, effectively keeping them from applying for asylum. 

Trump can begin deportations of Syrian, Haitian TPS holders, Supreme Court says

Writing for the court majority, Justice Samuel Alito that under the TPS law, the president has unreviewable authority to end the program, without intervention from the courts.

The Viking chant that became Norway's World Cup rallying cry

Norway's long-awaited World Cup return is being powered by a viral Viking "rowing" chant that's sweeping the world, from Boston train stations to Times Square — and the heart of Norway's parliament.

Supreme Court bars 'vampire rules' on gun ownership

In a 6-3 ideologically divided decision, the high court said that requiring permission in advance is an undue burden on the right to possess and carry a firearm.

Perpetrators of LGBTQ+ conversion practices could face prison under new bill

Draft bill to ban abusive practices that aim to change someone’s sexual orientation or gender identity in England and Wales hailed as ‘historic’

Perpetrators of “conversion therapy” against LGBTQ+ people could face up to five years in prison under proposals hailed as a “historic and long overdue” milestone by campaigners.

The government has published its draft conversion practices bill, which would ban abusive practices that aim to change someone’s sexual orientation or gender identity in England and Wales.

Supreme Court backs Monsanto in its fight against liability from popular weed killer

The central issue in the Roundup case, filed by Missouri resident John Durnell, was who decides what should appear on a pesticide or insecticide label and whether a federal law overrides state claims.

Grand Theft Auto VI pre-orders open, but don’t expect a physical copy

The blockbuster launch is expected to dwarf the box office takings of the year’s biggest movies with one industry analyst predicting it could make $1bn within an hour

It is, quite simply, the most anticipated piece of entertainment since the Star Wars prequels and now, at last, you can reserve a copy. At midnight last night, Rockstar opened preorders on Grand Theft Auto VI, the latest title in the epic open-world gangster adventure series, five months before its 19 November release date on PS5 and Xbox Series S/X.

Prices have also been confirmed, with the standard edition costing $80 in the US, £70 in the UK, and €80 in Europe. An Ultimate Edition (£90/€100/$100) will include exclusive in-game cars, clothes and weapons – the developer has confirmed that there will also be in-game stores that are only open to Ultimate owners. Anyone who pre-orders the game will get a Vintage Vice City pack filled with 80s apparel and other nostalgic items, which look to be straight out of Don Johnson’s Miami Vice wardrobe.

Belittled, ignored or gaslit – now we know the true cost of not listening to pregnant women | Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett

The Ockenden report tells a terrible story of neglect. It’s a story that I – and far too many women I know – recognise

The findings of Donna Ockenden’s report on maternity services at Nottingham University hospitals NHS trust (NUH) are horrifying. Such is the scale of suffering on the part of mothers, babies and their loved ones that it is almost beyond contemplation. Harrowing details – a room filled with the smell of infection after a woman who was told to labour at home for six days was finally granted surgery; a student doctor being allowed to perform an emergency hysterectomy on a woman, and accidentally removing her bladder; a baby’s remains being disposed of as clinical waste – haunt you long after you finish reading. And then there are all those babies, who should now be exuberant, lovely children, who died because of poor care and neglect.

The victims and survivors, who campaigned long and hard for this review, don’t have the luxury of absorbing this information at their own pace, as I had to on Wednesday. They have lived with the brutal reality of it for many long years as they have fought for justice and accountability. These “mad grieving parents” – Sarah Hawkins’ description of how they were made to feel after the death of their daughter Harriet – did not give up in their quest for answers, and though they have been vindicated, I imagine there is a bitter aftertaste. Shamefully, nearly half of the senior members of staff at NUH refused to speak to Ockenden’s review.

Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett is a Guardian columnist

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

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

‘Delivery jobs are not for the weak!’ How British singer Kwn went from Amazon driver to global R&B star

After being dropped by her label, the vocalist became a courier to make ends meet. Now she’s back – with millions of fans of her pheromone-rich songwriting

Kwn has never been one to turn her nose up at a job. She has worked night shifts at Sainsbury’s and chopped vegetables with her dad, the head chef at the Ivy in London. But her first day as an Amazon delivery driver in 2024 was soul-crushing. Only two years before, the singer, who goes by K Wilson outside music, had signed a deal and released her debut EP, Episode Wn. Now, she had been dropped from her label and was broke. Sitting in her van at the end of the shift, Wilson burst into tears.

“Be nice to your delivery drivers,” says the 26-year-old, shaking her head in dismay. “It’s not for the weak. By the time I got home, I was shattered. I don’t want to make music. What the fuck am I even gonna write about? Delivering packages?” Wilson lasted five months. Then, after failed attempts to whip up industry interest in her music, she hatched a plan with her manager to sell her next single, Worst Behaviour, directly to fans for £1.99. Five hundred sales would generate about a grand – enough to keep them afloat temporarily. Within a week, they had exceeded their target tenfold. Within a few months, Wilson was in record label boardrooms, listening to music executives pitch her path to stardom.

Nothing kills the vibe like flip-flops: what to wear to a festival this summer

Whether it’s a surprisingly roomy bag, cargo pants or a don’t-try-too-hard jacket, we’ve rounded up the festival wear for men and women that’s worthy of an encore

• The new rules of concert dressing

You never really know what you’re going to get when it comes to festivals. Veterans know to be prepared for anything, come rain or shine. So, planning your clothing choices is as important as planning your lineup for the day. Nothing kills the vibe like wearing flip-flops or white trainers when the ground resembles more of a swamp than a field.

There is a certain freedom that comes with festival dressing, too. Everyone is there for the same reason – to listen to music and have a good time. If you’re looking to experiment with something different, festivals are the place to do it.

Orchestral Works of Mel Bonis album review – full justice is done to her finely crafted and sensuous music

BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra/Rumon Gamba/Elizabeth Watts
(Chandos)
The French composer – a contemporary of Debussy’s – wrote slender but perfectly-formed pieces of beguiling beauty

The welcome rediscovery of Mel Bonis continues, and the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and conductor Rumon Gamba do full justice to her finely crafted, perfumed orchestral music on this new studio recording. Bonis was a classmate of Debussy, and the best of her works here compare to his in terms of instrumental intrigue, albeit on a smaller scale.

Bonis’s most ambitious works for orchestra were the Trois Femmes de Légende, written around 1909. In these beguiling, brief tone poems, Ophelia emerges as a kind of tragic water nymph, Salome as a princess from a far-off, exotic east. Even more mystery surrounds Cleopatra, who is portrayed in music that is sensuous yet uneasy, with quiet writing for the bass instruments underpinning her languid melody.

Darden Restaurants earnings beat estimates but Olive Garden growth weakens

Same-store sales growth at Darden's fine-dining restaurants and Olive Garden fell short of expectations.

A federal judge in Boston blocks key parts of Trump's order to limit voting by mail

A federal judge in Boston has blocked parts of President Trump's executive order to limit voting by mail. The Trump administration is expected to appeal the ruling.

Core inflation rate hit 3.4% in May, highest since October 2023, Fed’s preferred gauge shows

The personal consumption expenditures price index was expected to show a 4.1% annual increase.

Russia used Israeli firm’s tool to crack phone months after ties severed, report finds

Case of Andrei Pivovarov raises questions about how much control Cellebrite has over its own software

Russian authorities used tools from the Israeli company Cellebrite to break into the phone of a political prisoner, months after the company said it cancelled its contracts with Russia, an investigation by the University of Toronto’s Citizen Lab research unit has found.

The case raises questions about how much control Cellebrite has over its own software, which allows users to easily break into phones and examine their contents. The tools are sold worldwide and widely used by police forces in the UK and the US.

Golfers find two boa constrictors in one week on UK course

Pair of sick snakes discovered at club in County Durham presumed to have been dumped there by owner

For most golfers, the biggest hindrance they are likely to come across during a round is a strong gust of wind or getting their ball caught in a bunker. For golfers in County Durham, however, the obstacles players encountered were 2 metres long and covered in scales.

Two boa constrictors have been found on Blackwell Grange golf club in Darlington one week apart, with the first being found on 13 June during a children’s golf lesson when a 12-year-old girl’s shot landed directly on the snake.

Jackass: Best and Last review – kings of gross-out comedy’s final, funny farewell

So-called final outing for Johnny Knoxville and his daring, stunt-hungry pals might be close to a greatest hits reel, but there are enough laughs to warrant the nostalgia

The boy-men of Jackass, a three-season MTV comedy-stunt show turned periodic and beloved film series, have shown a willingness to engage in all manner of rectal probing in the name of shock laughs. (Perhaps most famously, Ryan Dunn, who died in 2011, inserted a toy car into himself before going in for an X-ray.) So it’s poignant to see the ageing crew take this to a natural next step in Jackass: Best and Last, where raspy-voiced fixture Steve-O submits to a prostate exam – performed by a wisecracking robot, of course. Later, the gang ingests the drug used to flush out digestive systems before a colonoscopy, and then attempts to play Twister with a grim, scatological timebomb looming. Cameraman Lance Bangs, as always, attempts to contain his retching.

It would be a stretch to describe this fifth and allegedly final Jackass film as reflective about the ageing process, at least any more than its predecessors. Even its sense of finality has been hinted at before: way back in 2010’s Jackass 3-D, Weezer’s nostalgic song Memories blasted over end-credits footage of the guys throughout the years, and 2022’s Jackass Forever had a similarly valedictory tone. In Best and Last, someone goes so far as to tease ringleader Johnny Knoxville about whether the audience can believe him about this being the last movie, given that he’s said that sort of thing before.

Pope Leo XIV to publish collection of early writings

Freedom Under Grace will feature previously unpublished homilies and addresses from 2001 to 2013, letting readers ‘observe the development of Prevost’s thinking’

Robert Prevost – now Pope Leo XIV – is set to publish a collection of his writings from the 2000s in English later this year.

Freedom Under Grace: Reflections on the Spiritual Tradition That Formed Me will be released in September, featuring unpublished homilies and addresses from Prevost’s time as prior general of the Order of Saint Augustine between 2001 and 2013.

Half-time report! It’s the 11 best TV moments of the World Cup so far

From Merlin the duck to Thierry Henry’s panic and the goalie who broke the internet, here are the tournament’s most glorious TV moments

The schedule-dominating football tournament has reached its midway mark, which means it’s time for isotonic drinks, orange segments and in-depth TV analysis.

From weepy cult heroes to watery bloopers, from panto villain to potty-mouthed pundits, here’s our highlights of the World Cup coverage so far …

What is in the Caribbean’s new slavery reparations manifesto?

Caricom Reparations Commission’s Hilary Beckles explains how it will help address the ‘residual legacy of slavery’

• Barbados prime minister announces manifesto for slavery reparations

One of the key outcomes of the recent reparations conference in Ghana was the launch of the Caribbean’s manifesto outlining the “moral, ethical and legal case for reparations” for the enslavement of African people.

The Caribbean Community Reparations Commission (CRC), which created the document, says it is a strengthening of an existing Caribbean Community (Caricom) 10-point plan for reparations from the UK and other former colonial powers, and a response to feedback from the public, organisations and political leaders.

Chevron says no quick fix for gas prices as Trump takes on Big Oil: ‘It’s going to take time’

Her comments come shortly after President Donald Trump ordered an investigation into Big Oil, accusing them of "gouging" consumers.