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

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

This week on "Sunday Morning" (July 12)

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

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

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

Sen. Lindsey Graham dies after "brief and sudden illness"

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

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

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

England v India: women’s Test, day three updates – live

Updates from the one-off women’s Test at Lord’s
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43rd over: India 159-1 (Mandhana 69, Bhatia 44)

Oh, drama first up! Lauren Bell, with the very first ball of the day, clean bowls Yastika Bhatia. Except she doesn’t as the bails don’t fall off! An absolute beauty from Bell beats Bhatia and clips/thumps off-stump on the way through but nothing doing.

Jannik Sinner v Alexander Zverev: Wimbledon men’s singles final – live

• Live updates from match starting at 4pm BST

• Get in touch: you can contact Daniel on email

Our players come down the stairs and out on to Centre Court. It looks beautiful out there.

I’m pleased to report that the coolest man in the post-Borg era , Stefan Edberg, is in situ; I’m even more pleased to report that Raye is in the row behind. I’d very much like for them to become friends.

Tour de France 2026: Mathieu van der Poel wins heat-shortened stage nine – live

• Updates on the shortened stage from Malemort to Ussel
• Get in touch! Email Tom with any and all Tour thoughts

Christian Prudhomme pokes his head out of the sunroof and waves his little yellow flag. Stage nine is underway…

The riders are rolling out of Malemort, racing begins in earnest in 5km.

World Cup 2026: England set up Argentina semi, Haaland’s father says Norway ‘robbed’, Senegal sack Thiaw – live

⚽ All the latest as the quarter-finals conclude
⚽ Player guide | Bracketology | Golden Boot | Email us

Sidebar, Whatever bears such a striking resemblance to Neil Innes’ I’m Free to be an Idiot that the former Monty Python collaborator received a songwriting credit and a share of the royalties in an out of court settlement.

Wonderwall might be the England team’s Oasis song of choice, but surely they change it up to this more apposite (and far better imo) number.

Who will replace Lindsey Graham in the Senate?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Starmer to use last week in power to push through Hillsborough law

Stalled legislation aims to prevent cover-ups and help families seek justice after major disasters

Keir Starmer is expected to use his final week in office to push the Hillsborough law through its remaining stages in the Commons after months of delays.

This bill aims to strengthen support for families seeking justice after major disasters and create new offences for officials who deliberately mislead the public or seek to block accountability.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

• Read more in the kindness of strangers series

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

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

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

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

Most new Wimbledon champions have a bucket list of things they want to do, gifts they would like to buy themselves or family, or even future goals of winning more grand slam titles. But Linda Noskova is not your average first-time major winner. The 21-year-old Czech is surely the first woman to win Wimbledon with a nose ring – “I was maybe counting a little bit [on] someone having some things to say about it, but no one said anything bad” – but she intends to use her newfound platform for good.

“This is definitely one of the main [reasons] why I’m playing tennis,” she said, while munching some pasta in a small interview room at Wimbledon, a few hours after her triumph. “I want to have the voice not only on court but off court to possibly make a difference about some stuff. If I’m going to start with literally, recycling or helping nature, or helping people in need in different countries, it’s all on my bucket list.”

Tom Gauld on bookshop offers – cartoon

Lindsey Graham, key ally of Donald Trump, dies after sudden illness aged 71

Republican served in Senate since 2003 and was sharp Trump critic before becoming one of his most loyal backers

• Lindsey Graham dies aged 71 – latest updates

• US politicians and foreign leaders pay tribute to Lindsey Graham

Lindsey Graham, a longtime US senator and key ally of Donald Trump, has died from a sudden illness, his office said on Sunday. He had just turned 71.

Graham’s abrupt death will send shock waves through Washington and the Republican party. He had served in the Senate since 2003, representing South Carolina, and was running for re-election in November.

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

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

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

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

Nature: Cape May National Wildlife Refuge

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

7/12: Sunday Morning

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

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

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

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

The couple were on holiday in the region and were thought to be out hiking when they were caught up in the wildfire, which has so far killed 12 people and burned more than 6,000 hectares (14,800 acres). At least 23 people are missing.

Ukrainian drone strikes force Russia to suspend shipping in Sea of Azov

Vital maritime corridor closes after 90 vessels – including shadow fleet oil tankers – are attacked in under a week

Russia has been forced to suspend shipping in the Sea of Azov after 90 vessels were targeted by Ukrainian drones in less than a week.

Ukraine’s drone forces chief, Robert Brovdi, said on Sunday that his units had hit 10 tankers and four ferries overnight, as well as a major oil refinery in the city of Syzran. There had been several strikes on electricity substations in occupied Crimea, he added.

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

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

Britain’s biggest community solar farm forced to shut over grid overload fears

Timing of Devon switchoff ‘could not be worse’, says board, as members face an estimated £2m in lost revenue

Britain’s biggest community solar project has been forced to shut for the duration of its first summer by the government’s energy system operator to avoid overloading the local grid with renewable energy.

The north Devon solar farm was ordered to shut weeks before record high temperatures across Europe led to power supply warnings, due to concerns that the large amount of rooftop solar in the area could destabilise the power grid by triggering a “thermal overload”.

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

President Trump has triggered a firestorm of lawsuits over his plans to remake our nation's capital, as opponents fight to preserve it.

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

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

France and UK to increase staffing at border controls in effort to avert travel chaos

Disruption at Channel crossings expected to rise amid new fingerprint and facial recognition checks

France and the UK have agreed to increase staffing at border controls in response to warnings of travel chaos caused by new fingerprinting and facial recognition checks.

Disruption at Channel crossings is expected to rise sharply next weekend at the start of the summer holiday season, with MPs saying there would be “utter chaos and miles of tailbacks” unless the EU’s entry-exit system (EES) is fixed or checks are suspended.

A child transforms a North Carolina neighborhood

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

Book excerpt: "They Stole a City" by Lauren Collins

The New Yorker writer's new book examines how, in 1898, white supremacists staged a coup against Wilmington, N.C.'s multi-racial government – a case study in the sabotage of American democracy.

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

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

Football Daily | Was Tuchel and Bellingham really a Keane v McCarthy moment?

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Breakfast in America was a happy place for an Englishman this Sunday morning. Thanks to Jude Bellingham, (very probably) a hanging cable and a remarkable cameo from Djed Spence that brought back the ghost of Nobby Stiles, Norway were squeezed past in Miami. Lord Nelson, Lord Beaverbrook, Winston Churchill, Anthony Eden, Clement Attlee, Henry Cooper, Lady Diana and Maggie Thatcher could rest easy.

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

In 1898, Wilmington, N.C., was a prosperous integrated city, where Black and white North Carolinians shared political power and leadership positions. But white supremacists took back control of the city's multi-racial government at gunpoint, and launched a wave of violence that killed scores of Black residents. That little-known history is the subject of The New Yorker journalist Lauren Collins' new book, "They Stole a City." She talks with Lee Cowan about her hometown's darkest chapter – the only successful coup in our nation's history.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Brendon McCullum ‘gutted’ after being sacked as England Test coach

• ECB moves after Ben Stokes’s retirement

• McCullum will stay on as white-ball coach

Brendon McCullum has been sacked as the England men’s Test coach, with the England and Wales Cricket Board opting for a completely fresh start for the side following the recent retirement of the red-ball captain, Ben Stokes. The decision came one day after McCullum guided England to the top of the T20 rankings, and he will continue to coach the men’s white-ball teams.

McCullum said he was “gutted” after being told his services are no longer required, and he will not be involved in preparations for the three-match series against Pakistan in August and September.

US and Iran exchange strikes as Tehran declares strait of Hormuz closed again

Tehran launches retaliatory attacks across region after hit on container ship draws US aerial bombardment

Iran has declared the strait of Hormuz closed after six days of hostilities with the US, reversing an agreement signed last month that was intended to restore maritime traffic through the waterway and pave the way for a broader peace deal.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) announced the closure on Sunday after an intense exchange of aerial bombardment with the US, although the US said some ships were continuing to cross the waterway.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Nothing to suggest Ann Widdecombe death politically motivated, say police

Officers say they are not looking for anyone else after arrest of man, 28, on suspicion of murdering ex-Tory politician

Police have said there is nothing to suggest the death of Ann Widdecombe was politically motivated.

Speaking at a press conference on Sunday morning, the assistant chief constable of Devon and Cornwall police, Matt Longman, said detectives were open-minded about the motive for the killing, but stressed there was no evidence to suggest it had been politically motivated. He also said it was not being treated as terrorism.

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

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

How to plan for an election that leaders are trying to subvert

The White House is working to change electoral rules in its favor. Protectors of democracy must have a counterplan

The second Trump administration is systematically eroding the institutional foundations of competitive elections without formally abolishing them. They have a plan to achieve what scholars of democratic backsliding call “electoral subversion”: changing electoral rules in their favor. Protectors of democracy must have a counter-plan of their own.

The White House’s approach to electoral subversion has multiple fronts. The administration has rewarded those who used violence to disrupt the last transfer of power, disabled the federal agencies charged with protecting election integrity, moved to extend executive control over voter registration, and threatened to withhold terrorism prevention funding from states who do not change their voting rules.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Emma, 34, London

Occupation Thinktank comms director

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

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

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

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

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

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

Democrats split as Israel’s war in Gaza dominates US midterm races

Tensions between progressive and moderate camps of Democratic party on display in key Senate race in Michigan

The Israel-Gaza war created gaping divisions in the Democratic party and contributed to a resounding loss in a critical presidential election year in 2024. Two years later, the issue continues to dominate races across the country, as progressives try to seize on Israel’s falling popularity and a broad anti-war sentiment ahead of November’s midterms.

A recent debate among two Democrats vying for one of the most competitive US Senate seats in the country openly displayed the tension between progressive and moderate camps of the party.

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

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

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

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

Tommy Robinson’s Musk-funded Russia trip spurs call to defend UK democracy

Ed Davey voices concern about the Musk family foundation taking the far-right activist on a visit to Moscow

The UK must do more to defend its democracy after it emerged that Elon Musk’s family foundation had taken the far-right activist Tommy Robinson to Russia, Ed Davey has said.

Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, was brought to Russia by the Musks, the billionaire tech mogul’s father told the Guardian.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Some are raising ethical concerns about political text messages using AI

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

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

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

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

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

First patients enrolled in record-breaking Ebola treatment trial in DRC

Two drugs are being trialled in the Ituri region in a programme set up just six weeks after the outbreak was declared, with hopes it will reduce mortality rates

There is no approved drug to help the medical teams scrabbling to save lives in the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo – but there are hopes that could change within months as the first patients are enrolled in a treatment trial.

It is a record pace to set up and start this kind of research, scientists said, with patients enrolled just six weeks after the outbreak being declared a public health emergency of international concern by the World Health Organization (WHO) on 17 May.

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

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

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

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

Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Trump ally and foreign policy hawk, dies at 71

His office said Graham died Saturday night after a "brief and sudden illness." The Republican senator was instrumental in enacting Trump's policy and staffing priorities.

‘Super’ El Niño could cause global food price shock lasting into 2028, analysts say

Weather cycle threatens harvests worldwide, adding to inflation already fuelled by the Iran war

Economists are warning that a “super” El Niño weather cycle this year could cause a severe shock to global food prices lasting into 2028.

As the Iran war pushes up world food prices to the highest level in three years, economists said supply chains faced “two shocks at once” stoked by extreme weather linked to global heating.

Kansas woman convicted of double murder after three trials

Mike Sisco and his girlfriend Karen Harkness were gunned down in her Topeka, Kansas, home in 2002. Authorities believed it was a crime of passion. Sisco's daughter set out to help prove it was her mother, Dana Chandler, who was responsible.

To make wine is to believe in the future: the Ukrainians growing grapes on the frontline

In the midst of unexploded Russian rockets and buzzing drones, Ukrainian winemakers are keeping vines and hope alive

As winemaker Mykhailo Molchanov pottered about trimming foliage from his vines on a warm early-summer day, his dog Direktor at his heels, it was hard to imagine a more idyllic scene.

The Molchanovs’ organic vines are planted directly into the richly biodiverse grassland for which southern Ukraine is renowned – hence their label’s name, Steppe Wines – amid the silvery feathergrass and wild salvia.

Switzerland hit out at VAR after ‘mistaken identity’ check ends in Breel Embolo red card

• Attacker shown second yellow card for simulation

• Argentina topple Swiss with two goals in extra time

Fifa match officials’ novel use of the term “mistaken identity” reared its head again in sensational circumstances during Saturday’s World Cup quarter-final between Argentina and Switzerland, leaving the Swiss forward Breel Embolo in tears and the European side a man down for a total of 67 minutes against the defending champions.

“It’s completely not understandable,” Switzerland’s head coach, Murat Yakin, said afterward. “I know that they will protect their referee but this rule destroyed the game today.”

Conor McGregor’s UFC return ends after 69 seconds with knee injury: ‘I am beyond dark here’

• Bout with Holloway in Las Vegas finishes in first round

• UFC chief Dana White: ‘We’re assuming a blown ACL’

• Irish star’s last fight before Saturday was five years ago

Conor McGregor’s return against Max Holloway at UFC 329 in Las Vegas ended at just 1:09 of the first round Saturday night because of a knee injury.

Fighting for the first time in more than five years, the 37-year-old McGregor flew across the ring with a flying left roundhouse kick when the bout started and landed awkwardly on his right knee.

The South African trailblazers seeking to change how wildlife documentaries are made

National Geographic explorers create dive lab after finding too few black film-makers telling African wildlife stories

When Pragna Parsotam-Kok and Noel Kok made a wildlife series for South African TV in 2015, they were struck by how challenging it was to access animals to film and how few other African wildlife documentary makers there were.

Their response was to set up the not-for-profit Nature Environment and Wildlife Conservation Trust (NEWF) and to host a conference for African wildlife film-makers, the first taking place in 2017.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Alvarez's 112th-minute goal helps lift Argentina past Switzerland 3-1 and into World Cup semifinals

Julian Alvarez sent defending champion Argentina into the World Cup semifinals with a long-range strike in the 112th minute against Switzerland.

Toronto shooting: two dead and four injured at Salsa on St Clair street festival

Police say two people exchanged gunfire in shooting that mayor called an ‘irresponsible act of violence’ in festival attended by families

A shooting near a Toronto street festival killed two men and wounded four other people on Saturday evening, police said, adding that what initially prompted an active-shooter warning was an exchange of gunfire between two people targeting each other.

Toronto police deputy chief Frank Barredo said investigators recovered two firearms after the shooting, which was reported at 8.12pm near St. Clair Avenue West and Arlington Avenue, where the Salsa on St Clair festival was underway.

My holiday from hell: we were 20 drunk teenagers in a Sicilian villa. I would like to apologise to our host

Excited to be away from home for the first time, we spent a riotous week partying, while the owner and his elderly parents understandably – and often audibly – seethed

Twenty British 16-year-olds rent a remote Sicilian villa for a week of partying and late-night binge drinking. It sounds like a holiday host’s nightmare. Well, anyone’s nightmare. Add in the fact that the host was staying on site with his elderly Italian parents, as the teenagers partied on without a care for their own welfare or anyone else’s. This wasn’t a holiday from hell for my teenage self, but I’m pretty sure it was for our hosts.

It was 2013 and, for many of us, it was the first time we had been away just with friends. Let loose from familial constraints, it was easy to get carried away. I arrived a few days later than the others but was the main contact with our host, Pablo. This meant that, before I even set foot in the villa, I received a string of messages threatening to kick us out. The police had apparently already been called after two late nights of nonstop boozing.

‘We were kids dressed as gangsters, running riot’ – Alan Parker’s Bugsy Malone at 50, by its cast and crew

Jodie Foster hated her 6am starts, Parker couldn’t stop swearing, Dexter Fletcher was traumatised by his haircut … There was as much drama off-screen as on during the making of this classic movie

When Bugsy Malone was released 50 years ago, no one had seen anything like it. The wise-talking, rip-roaring spoof poked fun at gangster films with extravagant musical numbers, a cast made up entirely of child and teen actors, and “splurge guns” shooting cream instead of bullets. It was hilarious, startlingly original and a delight to watch.

Scott Baio played plucky Bugsy, a broke boxing promoter who gets tangled up in a turf war between two rival gangs led by Fat Sam (John Cassisi) and Dandy Dan (Martin Lev). Jodie Foster, the most experienced of the cast, played the femme fatale Tallulah. Most of the other young actors were unknown, although many would go on to become celebrated TV and film stars.

The Westies review – this violent New York mob drama is like Peaky Blinders meets The Sopranos

Expect bloody chaos in this drama about a real-life 80s Irish-American gang – featuring JK Simmons as a gang leader – and their dealings with an Italian-American crime family

The Peaky Blinders effect lingers on. More than a decade after Tommy Shelby’s debut, TV still loves a real-life gangster crew, especially with Blinders creator Steven Knight having recently repeated the based-on-truth trick with A Thousand Blows. What other IRL historical crime crews are still available? All this time, the Westies, an Irish-American gang operating in 1980s New York in a fractious alliance with the Italian-American Gambino crime family, were right there. It’s the Irish mafia and the actual mafia in a two-for-one deal.

Along with co-creator Michael Panes, the man to score this apparent open goal by making Peaky Sopranos is Chris Brancato, a showrunner whose resume includes Narcos and the quietly excellent Godfather of Harlem. With some sturdy players in the cast, The Westies is … OK. It’s fine. It’s good! Whaddaya want from me, uh? I said it was fine.

Julián Álvarez’s extra-time stunner sinks 10-man Switzerland to send Argentina into semi-finals

Did anyone think they would do it the easy way? If Argentina are to win this World Cup they will only get there via rollercoaster. A seemingly straightforward night’s work against Switzerland became their tournament in microcosm, threatening to squander it all before finding salvation through a moment of unfettered genius.

Just this once it did not come from the left boot of Lionel Messi. In fact, with his side labouring towards penalties midway through the second period of extra time, Messi had just been denied by Gregor Kobel when the decisive thunderbolt was unleashed. Switzerland were unable to clear their lines and the recently introduced José López, taking possession on the left, passed backwards to a hitherto anonymous Julián Álvarez.

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.

Messi and Argentina survive another close call to reach the World Cup semifinals

Argentina was taken to the brink in its first two knockout games. In Saturday's quarterfinal against Switzerland, the Albiceleste survived again to advance to the semis, where they will face England.

New Library of Congress exhibit features rare draft of Declaration of Independence

A rare draft of the Declaration of Independence, now on display at the Library of Congress, was written by Thomas Jefferson and contains edits from fellow Founding Fathers Benjamin Franklin and John Adams.

Ukraine war briefing: Zelenskyy decries housing of weapons in civilian area after Russian strike kills 10

President says tragedy must never be repeated after secondary explosions from strike devastate residential area on Kyiv outskirts. What we know on day 1,600

200 young campers rescued as flooding hits parts of Missouri and Kentucky

A historic rainfall event has left communities across several Missouri counties underwater and prompted water rescues, including an evacuation of a summer camp.

New Jersey works to destroy firefighting foam laced with cancer-linked PFAS

New Jersey is one of more than a dozen states that are working to collect, remove and destroy all of their aqueous film-forming foam.

U.S. launches fresh strikes on Iran as Tehran says it has closed Strait of Hormuz

The U.S. and Iran have been exchanging strikes, with the U.S. military saying it hit 140 targets in Iran overnight, while Iran said it responded with fire toward Jordan and other Gulf states.

Blistering heat dome grips West and Northern Plains, fueling wildfires

Dry heat in the West and Northern Plains is fueling wildfires, including the Summit Fire north of Los Angeles. Gwen Baumgardner reports on the flames and evacuations. Andrew Kozak has the forecast.

Exhibit looks at how the Declaration of Independence evolved

A new exhibit, The Declaration's Promise, celebrates America's independence and showcases how phrases such as "all men are created equal," evolved. Nikole Killion has more.

Bipartisan housing bill becomes law after Trump refuses to sign it

A landmark housing bill automatically became law overnight after President Trump declined to sign it.

Congress passes housing bill without Trump's signature

The largest housing bill in years is now law without President Trump's signature. Ali Bauman reports on what the new housing law will do.

Seahawks sold to 49ers minority owner for record $9.6 billion

The Seattle Seahawks are being sold to the Khosla family in accordance with the wishes of late team owner Paul Allen, the team announced on Saturday.

Wallabies’ pop-gun revival under Joe Schmidt blown apart as France unload heavy artillery | Daniel Gallan

Plucky defeats decorated with patches of excellence will not cut it for Australia with a home World Cup now looming large

The camera found Joe Schmidt shortly after France had completed a 22-point swing. Australia’s coach had seen a 21-12 half-time lead obliterated in 16 brutal minutes. Schmidt, one of rugby’s sharpest minds, looked short of answers. The trouble was that the questions confronting him had obvious answers but almost impossible solutions.

Why had Australia’s discipline deteriorated? Because they were under pressure. Why had their tackle intensity and ruck speed fallen away? Because France had introduced fresh power from the bench. Why had the Wallabies gone from a nine-point half-time lead to a 13-point deficit in barely a quarter of an hour? Because one team had more large, skilful, Test-quality rugby players than the other.

7/11: CBS Weekend News

California's Summit Fire is 0% contained; there is an escalating war of words between the U.S. and Iran.

200 young campers, staff rescued amid record flooding in Missouri

More than 200 people at Camp Taum Sauk in southeastern Missouri were rescued after 6 to 12 inches of rain fell along the Taum Sauk Reservoir.

High energy costs from Iran war heighten pressure on struggling farmers

As the agriculture industry in Louisiana contends with major energy cost hikes brought on by the Iran war, some farmers are unsure if their businesses will survive.

The moment I knew: I was devising a plan to set up Martha with my friend – and realised I’d fallen for her myself

After meeting in then-Zaire in the 1980s, Steve Sherwood and Martha Meares became good friends. But when she planned to leave for England, he decided he wanted something more

• Find more stories from the moment I knew series

It was 1986, I was 26, had been travelling for two years, and was making my way through Africa. I was camping in the grounds of a run-down hotel, the only campsite in Kisangani, a city in what was then known as Zaire. On my first day in town I asked when the next River Congo ferry would leave. Tomorrow, they said.

Overland trucks would arrive and spend two to three days in town. A truck travelling from Kenya to the UK came, and its passengers put their stools in a circle to eat dinner. I asked to sit with them. Martha from Sydney sat beside me on the last spare stool. We spent most of that night chatting and laughing and got on really well.

Jay-Z review – rap legend dazzles New York City with lavish spectacle, sharp bars and Beyoncé

Yankee Stadium, New York City

The rapper celebrates 30 years of his classic debut album Reasonable Doubt with eye-popping visuals and special guests in a love letter to hip-hop culture

The beauty of watching Jay-Z live is more than just watching him calmly spit bars that effortlessly prove why his career has been this long and brilliant; it’s also the complex but lovely feeling of watching an audience (and the artist himself) relive the past. It’s almost unfathomable that 30 years ago, Jay-Z was starting out as a relatively unknown rapper from Brooklyn chronicling his life as a hustler. Quite possibly the greatest pure MC of all-time – encompassing flow, patience, humor, live ability and his taste as an auteur – Jay built a career on restrained tales of wide-eyed dreams and braggadocious stanzas about financial gain.

His 1996 debut album, Reasonable Doubt, was the start of that career, and on Friday night, I’m at New York City’s Yankee Stadium as Jay-Z performs the album’s tracks in order, front to back, making it impossible to forget its legacy in a visually stunning show that splits the difference between close connection and grand spectacle. At times, with a wide, movie-like screen backing Jay that shows funerals of presidents, footage of Mike Tyson, or his wife, Beyoncé, cutting his hair at the ballpark, the show feels influenced by previous tours like Watch the Throne mixed with the street romance of the 2002 movie Paid in Full. Yet the care and attention to detail ensures that the 50,000-capacity venue feels intimate, for the folks who heard the album and felt seen through its songs of regret and paranoia.

New York Times journalists issued subpoenas over Air Force One reporting

The subpoenas were issued after the New York Times reported on alleged security concerns with the new Qatari-gifted Air Force One.

Trump administration subpoenas New York Times journalists over new Air Force One reporting

Outlet said journalists subpoenaed to testify before grand jury after story detailed security concerns with Qatar-gifted plane

The Trump administration has issued subpoenas to several New York Times journalists after the newspaper reported on security concerns with the president’s new plane, according to the outlet.

The Times said its journalists were subpoenaed on Friday by the US justice department to testify before a federal grand jury in Manhattan five days later, marking the latest effort by the Trump White House to compel testimony from journalists under the threat of penalty. Agents delivered some of the subpoenas to the Times reporters at their homes, the paper added.

‘A slap in the face’: small farmers say Trump is turning his back on them

The president wooed farmers in his campaign, but now the USDA is yanking funding, citing ‘DEI’ and wasteful spending

It’s just an eighth of an acre, but for Lawrencia Rogers, the plot where she grows broccolini, lettuce and beans on land once tilled by poorhouse residents in eastern Iowa is the closest she has come to living her dream.

Iowa is one of the most agriculturally productive states in the country, but getting into farming is not easy, particularly for people like Rogers who have no family connections to the business. It’s nonetheless been a lifelong passion for the 33-year-old Iowan: at age six, she planted a rosebush that’s still alive today, and managed to grow cantaloupe on a strip of dirt and chain-link fence next to the driveway of her grandmother’s house.

These are America’s 10 worst states to live in for 2026

Some states may have low costs and light regulation, but high crime and lack of healthcare are among important factors when people choose where to live. 

The best states to live in for 2026: No. 1 has a six-year winning streak

Return to office mandates and a decline in remote work have companies looking more closely at the quality of life in the place where they establish offices. 

As Democrats pick up the pieces after Graham Platner, many wonder: how did this happen?

The former US Senate candidate’s spectacular fall has upended the Maine Senate race and left voters fuming at the party

Almost exactly one year ago, Graham Platner, who has no political experience, was cherry-picked by out-of-state political activists.

According to a person familiar with the campaign, Daniel Moraff and Leanne Fan, who have made a name for themselves by recruiting populist candidates across the country, traveled to Maine and rented a house near Platner’s home in Sullivan to convince him to run for the US Senate. Throughout the process, Moraff became Platner’s “right-hand man”, the person described, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of backlash.