Argentina v Egypt: World Cup 2026 last 16 – live

⚽️ World Cup kick-off time: 12pm EDT/5pm BST, 2am AEST
⚽️ Player guide | Bracketology| Golden Boot | Email Scott

You wait all day for one Ed Aarons post … then two come along at once! Just as I was trailing his preview piece, Ed gets in touch with this communiqué from Georgia.

The atmosphere is building at the Atlanta Stadium, where temperatures are already in the 30s. Thankfully it’s fully air-conditioned inside. As you might expect, there are thousands of Argentina fans here to see if the reigning champions can book their place in the quarterfinals but not all have managed to get tickets. One has even cycled all the way from Buenos Aires to be here so let’s hope he gets lucky. There’s also plenty of Pharaohs fans wearing Mohamed Salah shirts. Can the Egyptian King inspire them to a famous victory?

Wimbledon 2026 quarter-finals: Osaka v Muchova; Auger-Aliassime v Djokovic; Sinner and Gauff win – live

Quarter-final action, under way in SW19 from 1pm (BST)
Wildcard Fery extends Wimbledon fairytale | Mail Tanya

Now a love hold for Struff, who’s started pretty well and leads 3-2 He looks confident, but he’s not yet been put under pressure and I wonder if he can offer more testing returns. Even if he needs to stand back to give himself a better look at Sinner’s serve, he has to try and dig into it rather than hope e can struggle to a tiebreaker.

Nana Sinner appears to have been busy knitting Jannik’s top; that, or Nike have rinsed him with gear yet again.

Bernie Sanders joins Democrats’ calls for Graham Platner to drop out of Maine Senate race as window to replace him narrows – live

Calls grow for Platner to drop out of Senate race after sexual assault allegation; Platner must end campaign by 13 July for Democrats to replace him on ballot

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Donald Trump said he had a “very good talk” withVladimir Putin, ahead of arriving in Turkey.

This comes amid a wave of recent Russian strikes across Ukraine that have killed at least 21 people. The US president said that he also spoke with Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy ahead of the Nato summit.

England v India: third men’s T20 cricket international – live

Live T20 updates, 5.30pm BST start at Trent Bridge
Gary Naylor’s county cricket review | Email James

Righto, here come the players. Jos Buttler and Phil Salt to open up for England with the bat. Arshdeep Singh for India with the ball. Let’s play!

Pre game reading:

Tour de France 2026: Mads Pedersen surges clear to win stage four in extreme heat – live

‍♂️ Official stage start time: 12.10pm BST/1.10pm local
‍♂️ Carcassonne to Foix (181.9km) | Stage three report
‍♂️ You can follow us on TikTok. And also email Andy

174km to go. 14 riders have gone up the road, including Jasper Stuyven and Mads Pedersen, but the chase is on.

No ITV coverage also means no goosebump-inducing theme tune. Enjoy it one more time:

The post race analysis on Ch 5 is much weaker than the ITV4 used to be because it’s non-existent. Dreadful.

Starmer accuses Farage of ‘desperate stunt’ as he says he will resign and then stand in byelection – UK politics live

Reform UK leader to stand again, saying people of Clacton ‘should be the judges of my actions’ and party will cover byelection cost

Q: Do you think the parliamentary commissioner for standards should investigate Nigel Farage’s gifts from George Cottrell?

Badenoch said that was a matter for the commissioner.

[Farage is] hinting at press regulation. For all of the criticism and the attacks, and I would even say abuse that I’ve got from the press, I’ve never once recommended curbing our free press. I think this is one of the amazing things about this country.

I would be very worried about a Reform government using government power to control the press. I don’t think that that would be right.

Nige throws the world’s biggest temper tantrum before grand byelection reveal

The Reform leader was determined to fight for the right to receive gifts from Thai crypto billionaires and convicted fraudsters

It’s the heavyweight contest of the year. The Establishment v the Establishment. Or as the former City worker who is given £5m trifles would like you to see it, Nigel Farage versus the Establishment. Yes, Nige has had enough and he’s not taking it any more.

He is the People’s Nige. The man who chose to resign as an MP and call a byelection as a matter of principle. And that principle is the right to receive gifts from a Thai crypto billionaire and benefits in kind from a convicted fraudster without declaring them.

Gotham FC's governor says club's move to NYC is "the next chapter"

Gotham FC's announced Tuesday the women's soccer team is moving home games​ from New Jersey to the Etihad Park stadium in Queens, New York.

Trump renews Greenland threats at NATO summit, says U.S. could remove troops from Europe

NATO fell into a crisis earlier this year as Trump demanded that the U.S. must take control of Greenland on national security grounds.

Video shows "well fed" great white shark eating whale off Rhode Island

A great white shark was captured feeding on the carcass of a humpback whale near Rhode Island, in rare video footage.

Far more real estate agents now report seeing a balanced market, CNBC Housing Market Survey finds

Agents who reported at least one price cut to active listings dropped dramatically from prior surveys.

Marine Le Pen’s presidential bid hangs in balance as court orders electronic tag

Ban on running for elected office reduced but ankle tag would make campaigning logistically difficult

The French far-right leader Marine Le Pen’s 2027 presidential bid is hanging in the balance as she was sentenced to wear an electronic ankle tag after being found guilty of embezzling European parliament funds.

The Paris court of appeal upheld Le Pen’s ⁠conviction ⁠but shortened her ban ⁠on running for elected office, potentially reopening a narrow path for the far-right ​leader ‌to stand ‌in the 2027 presidential race.

Prince Harry could face £50m legal bill after losing phone-hacking lawsuit against Mail publisher

Duke of Sussex and other prominent figures lost their case over claims the newspaper used unlawful methods to source stories about them

Prince Harry and six other prominent figures are facing a legal bill of up to £50m after losing their case against the publisher of the Daily Mail over claims it used unlawful methods to source stories.

In an emphatic ruling that is likely to signal an end to new litigation relating to the phone-hacking scandal era, the high court dismissed all the group’s claims, stating that the claimants had not proved that any information had been obtained unlawfully.

Men’s average testosterone levels have halved in last 50 years, say scientists

Exclusive: Researchers warn of ‘major crisis in male reproductive health’ partly driven by obesity and diabetes

Men’s average testosterone levels have halved over the past 50 years, according to scientists, who say society is facing a male fertility crisis.

Total testosterone levels in men declined by 54% between 1972 and 2019, according to data presented at the annual meeting of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology in London on Tuesday.

Stellantis to sell small Fiat Topolino EV for $13,995 in U.S.

While the Topolino resembles a small car such as the Fiat 500, the EV is actually a quadricycle that functions more like a golf cart.

Billionaires John and Laura Arnold commit $2.6 million to study online sports betting risk

John Arnold and Laura Arnold, who run Arnold Ventures, are investing $2.6 million for university research into potential harms of online sports betting.

Return of the Berlin Wall: how the barrier that divided Germany is splitting south London

Would you install 2.75 tonnes of reinforced concrete in your garden, a fragment of the most notorious symbol of the cold war? Herne Hill resident Steven Thorpe did – and the neighbours are not happy

Name: The Berlin Wall.

Age: Sixty-five years old.

IOC lifts suspension and paves way for Russia to compete at LA 2028 Olympics

• Suspension had been imposed after invasion of Ukraine

• Decision on Russian anthem and flag still unclear

The International Olympic Committee has lifted the suspension on Russia that was imposed after the invasion of Ukraine, paving the way for the Russian team to compete at the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028.

Only a handful of Russians were able to compete at the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics and this year’s Milano Cortina Winter Games as authorised neutral athletes, after an IOC vetting panel checked whether they had offered any public support for the war in Ukraine.

‘Like a miracle’: hidden gold saves Lancashire church from closure

Anonymous gift of nine Britannia coins worth nearly £30,000 was discovered in a bag beneath the altar

Unable to raise the £750,000 needed for urgent repairs, St Wilfrid’s church in the town of Melling, Lancashire, looked likely to shut its doors after more than 700 years.

But on Good Friday the church was saved from closure by the discovery, in a plastic bag hidden under the altar, of a box with nine gold Britannia coins worth nearly £30,000.

Catnip lotion as effective as Deet at repelling mosquitoes, study finds

Researchers testing a cheap, homegrown oil in Uganda found what cats knew all along – it worked as well as the artificial chemical used globally

A homegrown catnip lotion has proven “just as effective as Deet” as a mosquito repellant in trials carried out in Uganda.

Catnip, or Nepeta cataria, is a common herb from the mint family. The chemical in the plant that causes feline euphoria – nepetalactone – also has insect-repelling properties but this has not previously been commercialised.

Walmart cuts prices on thousands of items, including beef and soda

President Trump praised Walmart and said the lower prices are the result of "my Administration's request to celebrate our great Country's 250th birthday."

Dolly Parton musical set for Broadway this winter: ‘a dream come true’

After a run in Nashville, Dolly: A True Original Musical is set to open in New York in December

Dolly Parton will celebrate turning 81 with the opening of a musical about her life on Broadway later this year.

Dolly: A True Original Musical is billed as “a remarkable journey through the life of this trailblazing woman” and is set to begin previews at New York’s St James Theatre on 7 December before opening on 19 January, the singer’s birthday.

Nara Organics infant formula linked to another case of botulism

The FDA is urging parents and caregivers to immediately stop using a Nara Organics-brand formula after several infants contracted botulism.

Tall tales: the gumtree in art – in pictures

A new exhibition at Melbourne’s Potter Museum of Art celebrates the cultural and ecological significance of the eucalypt. Translating as ‘breathing for us’ in Woi Wurrung, the show Ngarn Wa’ngal brings together more than 160 works that capture this defining feature of the Australian landscape. Ngarn Wa’ngal: Art of the Gum Tree opens on 10 July; admission is free

• Young Archie competition: Australia’s portrait prize for child artists – in pictures

Pore substitute: can AI be trusted when it comes to skincare advice?

There are more than 3,000 conditions in dermatology, experts warn – and chatbots’ recommendations can be flaky

• Read more in the Antiviral series

Who among us has not, in a moment of panic or curiosity, consulted the internet in search of solutions to a medical ailment?

Increasingly, people are turning to AI for health advice, and skincare is no exception. Purpose-built apps promise to identify that rash, while people are sending selfies to AI chatbots seeking “full skincare analysis” and personalised regimens of treatments. On Reddit forums, people post before and after shots of the results from their AI-recommended skin routines.

Washington records world’s worst air quality for a city after 850,000 Fourth of July fireworks

Hourly concentrations of particulate matter rose to 6.7 times their pre-fireworks levels, according to an analysis

Washington DC residents breathed in “unhealthy” air for hours after a 40-minute Independence Day fireworks show over the National Mall on Saturday night, with the country’s capital briefly recording the worst air quality of any major city in the world.

The highly emitting display, which the president called “spectacular”, came as the Trump administration rolls back an unprecedented number of pollution controls.

Record wildfires in Europe show failure to adapt carries a mounting cost

Scientists call for better land management alongside reduction in greenhouse gases causing the crisis

When storm after storm battered the Mediterranean at the start of the year, drowning fields and sending water spurting from plug sockets, few people were fretting about fires.

But just four months later, the murky brown floods that swamped towns and fouled homes across western Europe have given way to angry red blazes and choking black smoke. Rampant wildfires burned 28,000 hectares (69,160 acres) in France and 50,000 hectares in Spain as of 1 July, more than double the average for that time of year, and more land has been charred by bigger fires in the week since.

Europe doesn’t need to worry about Andy Burnham. He has the makings of a great ally | Jessica Berlin

Defence strategists fret about the next PM’s inexperience. But he knows about local resilience. That’s the kind of skill Nato urgently needs

I recently asked a senior Labour figure what Andy Burnham’s defence agenda might look like. “He doesn’t really have one,” came the reply – offered not so much as a criticism of the UK’s prime minister in waiting, as a statement of fact. Given that Keir Starmer’s resignation came after a mutiny within his own government over inadequate defence spending, some may view Burnham’s lack of direct defence experience as a worrying liability.

But beyond the UK, Starmer was at least viewed as a statesman for his commitment to the defence of Ukraine. Leaders in western Europe’s other capitals may now fear that Starmer’s untested successor will be more focused on “No 10 North” than on Nato and European security.

Jessica Berlin is a strategy adviser and a non-resident senior fellow at the Center for European Policy Analysis

From James Van Der Beek to Carrie Fisher: TV’s greatest posthumous performances

New Legally Blonde prequel Elle features a lovely appearance from the late Dawson’s Creek actor. Here are some of television’s other fantastic post-death appearances

Those watching Amazon’s Legally Blonde prequel series Elle were treated to a surprise recently, as the show offered a posthumous appearance by James Van Der Beek. The actor, who died in February aged 48, had a fun little role as a crooked school district superintendent. As with most of his roles since Dawson’s Creek, Van Der Beek’s performance was bright and happily self-aware.

However, Van Der Beek is far from the only actor to have appeared on screen after their death. Here are some other standout posthumous performances.

Amazon raising at least $25 billion in bond sale, won't issue more debt in 2026

It marks Amazon's latest debt raise as it looks to buttress its massive investments in artificial intelligence.

Oil prices rise more than 2% after attacks on tankers in Strait of Hormuz

Brent and U.S. crude futures rose after a report of an Iranian attack on commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz.

‘Women were currency’: How reparatory justice is spotlighting gender-based violence

In this month’s newsletter: placing Black women and girls at the forefront, celebrating the Manchester experience through Vimto and preserving Gullah Geechee land

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Sarah, Betty, Doll, Nan – just a few of the names commonly given to enslaved African women during the transatlantic slave trade.

We know that they would have suffered unspeakable sexual violence. But now that history is being given greater prominence.

Video shows moment roof collapses as flash flooding slams East Coast

Parts of the East Coast are cleaning up from a series of storms that brought flash flooding and widespread damage. Meg Oliver reports.

Bombs explode near Damascus hotel housing Macron on Syria visit

Blasts did not interrupt French president’s visit but are setback for Syrian leaders’ attempt to project stability

Explosions rocked Damascus near the hotel where French president, Emmanuel Macron, was staying on Tuesday, wounding at least 18 people, Syrian authorities said.

Macron was in the presidential palace for a meeting with the Syrian president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, when two improvised explosive devices detonated near the Four Seasons hotel where Macron was reported to be staying.

Trump lauds Erdogan, announces lifting sanctions as NATO summit begins

Amid simmering tensions between the U.S. and some NATO allies over Iran and Greenland, President Trump will continue to press other countries to boost defense spending.

New lawsuit alleges U.S. shared asylum application details with Iran

A lawsuit alleges the Trump administration is divulging details of Iranian asylum seekers to the government of Iran.

The US had the biggest opportunity in the history of American soccer. They wasted it | Alexander Abnos

The USMNT’s run at a home World Cup had attracted people who usually ignore soccer. Instead of triumph, they saw a humbling at the hands of Belgium

In the closing moments of the United States’ 3-2 win over Portugal at the 2002 World Cup, ESPN commentator Jack Edwards took a moment to remind viewers who had stayed up all night of the profound result they were witnessing. From his perch in Suwon, South Korea – where he was watching the first match of a campaign that would end in a quarter-final that remains the high-water mark for the modern US men’s national team – Edwards delivered a soliloquy that cut straight to the heart of the profound role World Cups play not just for the US men’s national team, but for soccer as a force in American life.

“The players on that 1950 team that beat England … this [result] is about the foundation that they laid,” Edwards said in his booming bravado as the hour crept toward 7am ET. “This is about the thousands of American families who have helped this sport grow, and the people in those pockets all over the country who have stuck with soccer. And it’s also for those seven- or eight- or nine-year-old kids, who are going to hear about this result when they wake up in the morning and rush outside, and knock a ball against a wall, and dream of something even greater than this.”

Curry, bagels … and AI? Londoners fight plan for huge datacentre in Brick Lane

Residents and council say creating affordable housing is more urgent than ‘high-frequency trading’ in nearby City

Campaigners in east London are opposing plans for a datacentre in Brick Lane that they say will worsen the area’s housing crisis and drive long-term residents away.

The road, famed for its curry houses and 24-hour bagel shops, is the latest flashpoint in the rapid rollout of datacentres across the UK that aims to meet demand created by artificial intelligence.

Burnham urged to ditch ‘dangerous’ UK-US NHS drug deal

Exclusive: health groups call on expected next PM to rip up agreement, which analysis suggests could lead to 229,000 excess deaths by 2036

• UK politics live – latest updates

Andy Burnham is being urged to scrap the UK-US trade deal on medicines as health organisations and doctors’ groups warn it is dangerous and prioritises pharmaceutical company profits over the lives of NHS patients.

Ministers have defended the agreement, signed last December, as a way of helping British drug exports to the US avoid tariffs and giving patients access to potentially life-extending drugs that would otherwise be denied.

Pamplona revellers and a Nato summit: photos of the day – Tuesday

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

Rivian stock falls more than 10% as company sells 75 million shares to raise capital

The capital raise occurred during extended hours trading following Rivian shares increasing 8.1% on Monday after increasing 19.2% last week.

Chanel brings beanstalk to catwalk in fairytale Paris couture show

Storytelling collection opens with mousseline skirt suit and ends with simple black dress in spirit of label’s founder

The first model on the Chanel catwalk was wearing a sheer mousseline skirt suit and carrying a tiny century-old leatherbound book of fairytales that once belonged to Coco Chanel herself. With the Lord of the Rings soundtrack booming through a stage set of giant parasol-scale poppies and lupins as tall as giraffes, the clothes narrated the stories in the pages. A row of buttons on the spine of a dress began with an ugly duckling, and ended with a swan. A Goldilocks minaudière handbag was fashioned in the shape of a golden sleeping bear. The lining of a jacket was hand-painted with a scene from Puss in Boots.

But Matthieu Blazy, holding the same book in his hands backstage after the show, told reporters that his favourite fairytale was the rags-to-riches story of Coco herself. “She climbed the ladder to find her golden goose, by making clothes for real women. Her clothes were never parodies. They were rooted in life,” Chanel’s creative director said.

AI actor Tilly Norwood set to star in first feature film

AI-generated actor Tilly Norwood is set to star in her first feature film, with her creator saying that "art will be imitating life."

Italian businessman questioned over bombing at investigative reporter’s home

Valter Lavitola suspected of planning bomb attack on Sigfrido Ranucci, for which four people have been arrested

Italian prosecutors have placed a businessman and former journalist under investigation for allegedly masterminding a bomb attack at the home of Sigfrido Ranucci, a prominent investigative reporter.

Valter Lavitola was supposedly friends with Ranucci, the host of Report, an investigative programme aired by the state broadcaster, Rai, and is being investigated on suspicion of trying to cause mass murder.

Shahrnush Parsipur, Iranian author of Women Without Men, dies at 80

The revered writer and political exile’s publisher says her ‘legacy in literary history can’t be compared to anyone else’s’

Shahrnush Parsipur, the celebrated Iranian writer whose subversive works of feminist fiction saw her repeatedly imprisoned, has died aged 80.

A pioneer of women’s literature in Iran, Parsipur excoriated the country’s patriarchal culture in novels including Women Without Men and Touba and the Meaning of Night. She was imprisoned four times, under the Shah and then the Islamic Republic.

Ushida Findlay review: the mighty culture clash that gave us the dazzling Soft and Hairy House

V&A Dundee
When Kathryn Findlay and Eisaku Ushida joined forces, a sensual kind of architecture was born – resulting in a hairy blue pod in Tokyo and a starfish beach palace in Qatar

‘The future of architecture,” pronounced Salvador Dalí on meeting Le Corbusier in 1922, “will be soft and hairy.” Fast forward over 70 years to Tokyo, and his surrealist prophecy was the stimulus for the Soft and Hairy House, one of a series of startlingly expressive dwellings designed by the talented Scottish-Japanese architectural partnership of Kathryn Findlay and Eisaku Ushida. Melding diverse design cultures – Celtic coiling and Japanese “rawness” – overlaid by an interest in the natural world, as well as fractal geometries and chaos theory, the pair contrived a uniquely sensual and surreal architecture.

Completed in 1994, the Soft and Hairy House was based on a classic courtyard plan form, radically reworked for pre-millennial Tokyo, its softness accentuated by plumply rounded contours, its hairiness by a shaggy fringe of greenery embellishing the roof. A bright blue, porthole-percolated bathroom pod intruded into the courtyard like a giant fungal entity. The interior was suggestive of the glamorous dream space of a Hollywood star, with soft draperies and seductive lighting.

Trump arrives in Turkey as NATO is strained by Russian attacks, U.S. impatience

Trump frequently vented about NATO members' refusal to heed U.S. calls for help clearing the Strait of Hormuz during its campaign against Iran.

Blind woman ‘livid’ after Wetherspoons pub asks for guide dog’s ID

Chain apologises after staff at Hartlepool pub demand proof customer’s companion is genuine guide dog

A blind woman felt compelled to leave a Wetherspoons pub after staff demanded proof that her guide dog, Rosie, was a genuine guide dog.

Joanne Hewitson, 31, said she was “livid” and “shaking” after her experience going for breakfast at a pub in Hartlepool. The pub chain has apologised for the incident, with a spokesperson saying an error was made.

Evidence found behind Cracker Barrel helps solve 1985 cold case murder

Ohio police say they've solved a man's 1985 murder using old evidence, including items found soon after the killing behind a Cracker Barrel in Georgia.

There's no treatment designed for the Ebola strain ravaging DRC. But now there's hope

The strain of the virus that's responsible for the current outbreak has no specific treatments or preventive measures. Three new clinical trials could provide possible breakthroughs.

Belgium unites to enjoy national team’s World Cup success over USA and Trump

• Fans across Belgium watched 4-1 win in early hours

• Victory ‘a real slap in the face for Trump and Infantino’

Belgium fans reacted with jubilation after the national team trounced the USA in a World Cup game that was overshadowed by the controversy over Donald Trump’s lobbying to overturn the suspension of the striker Falorin Balogun.

Belgium’s prime minister, Bart De Wever, has yet to comment on the national team’s triumph, but the official Instagram account of his cat offered a sardonic, albeit indirect sign of satisfaction. Maximus, De Wever’s beloved cat, was shown lying on a rug holding a soft toy in the image of the US president. “I slept really well last night. And you?” reads the speech bubble in Dutch.

New York man sues ICE for sending officers to his house after he emailed agency head

David Streever had emailed acting ICE director after an immigration officer fatally shot Renee Good in Minneapolis

An upstate New York resident sued US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for sending federal officers to his house with a warning over an email he sent to the agency’s one-time head.

David Streever, who is a US citizen, was on a trip to Finland when two officers showed up to his Rochester home in June and presented his wife with a warning notice informing him that the email he sent months earlier was considered a threat, his attorneys said. Streever sent the email in January to Todd Lyons, then the acting director of ICE, after an immigration officer fatally shot Minneapolis resident Renee Good in a confrontation caught on video during an anti-ICE demonstration.

The Invite welcomes heterosexual polyamory into cinemas. It’s about time

As a non-monogamist, it’s refreshing to see a film that reflects modern attitudes to non-conventional relationships, instead of using them as a punchline or cautionary tale

What is the chief obstacle that must be overcome in most modern-day big-screen romcoms? Lack of attraction? Misaligning schedules? Or, perhaps, heteromonogamy? If that wasn’t the dominating norm of human relationships, many movie plots would be much swifter to resolve. What if Elizabeth Olsen didn’t have to choose between Callum Turner and Miles Teller in Eternity? Or Twilight allowed Bella to be in a throuple with Edward and Jacob? Even though both films have fantasy narratives, their predestined outcome is as real as it gets – a man and a woman (re)marry and live happily ever after.

For a long time, alternative relationship structures were relegated to fan fiction, undeserving of mainstream fictional representations where conflict and resolution are both inscribed in coupledom. Even the films that challenged mononormativity, such as Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice, sustain the cautionary tale: opening up your relationship will eventually break it. As a practising non-monogamist, I yearn to see my values represented on screen as something more than a cautionary tale. Recently, the love triangles of Past Lives (implied) and Challengers (consummated) have suggested that perhaps Hollywood itself may be opening up. Then came The Invite, a poly-romcom just in time for the Week of Visibility for Non-monogamy.

Ukrainian drones hit Russia’s largest oil refinery as Zelenskyy says Siberia now ‘within reach’

The attack underscores Kyiv's enhanced long-range drone capabilities and comes on the eve of a crucial NATO summit.

Here's who won — and lost — under Trump's "big, beautiful bill"

A year after President Trump signed the sweeping tax and spending package, its effects on households, businesses and federal programs are increasingly evident.

Why is Trump attacking ‘communists’? Because he’s run out of cards to play | Robert Reich

With the economy, foreign policy and immigration all going poorly for the president, he’s scrambling before the midterms

Trump has run out of cards to play in the midterm elections, which is why he’s now talking about the “communist menace”.

He can’t talk about the economy because prices continue to rise faster than wages, which means most Americans are getting poorer. He can’t talk about foreign policy because his war in Iran has been a debacle, his tariffs an utter failure, and he obviously hasn’t settled the war in Ukraine on “day one”. He can’t talk about immigration because his raids and mass deportations have become so unpopular.

The secret to great cafetiere coffee | Kitchen aide

Electronic scales are a non-negotiable, say connoisseurs. Add a pinch of patience, some trial and error, and you, too, can master the French press

What’s the best way to make coffee using a French press? Mine always ends up too watery or too strong.
Yoanna, St Andrews, Scotland
“Coffee is one of those rabbit holes where it really depends how much money and time you want to spend,” says Ben Kovar, head of coffee at Campbell & Syme Coffee Roasters in north London and Hertfordshire, but a little investment goes a long way. “A grinder will make a big improvement. If you’re just brewing for you and, say, your partner, I’d recommend a hand grinder, because you’re not then paying for the electronics – you’re just paying for a good set of burrs.” (Comandante is Kovar’s go-to.) Of course, adjusting the grind size allows you to make coffee in a host of ways, but if Yoanna plans to stick with a cafetiere and has a good local cafe, Kovar would be inclined to head there instead. “Obviously it’s nicer to grind fresh at home, but they’ll most likely be using a top-end grinder, so that’s probably going to taste better so long as you use up a bag every two weeks. Plus, it’s nice to have a dialogue with your local barista.”

The water you use will dramatically impact the taste of your coffee, too, Kovar says: “Filter coffee is 98% water, after all. You might have spent a lot on a grinder, but if you’re using London tap water, say, it’s going to be too hard and not very nice.” A filter jug is a good starting point, but the main thing is to soften the water slightly. And don’t use the kettle straight off the boil: “Wait 30 seconds, then use the very hot water.”

The other bit of kit you’ll want is a set of scales. “You need to know what the main variables are, so how much coffee you put in, how much water, and use a timer for the brew – if you buy bespoke coffee scales, they usually have one built in,” Kovar says. (If you don’t want to fork out, though, standard kitchen scales will work just fine.) Kovar uses 60g coffee for each litre of boiled water: “So, if you’re brewing 250ml, which is typically one cup, use 15g coffee.”

James Hoffmann, barista and author of The World Atlas of Coffee, then lets the coffee brew for four minutes. “Now grab a tablespoon and stir the crust that forms on top of the coffee. A lot of it will start to fall away, and you’ll be left with a few bits on top – some foam, some floating bits. Scoop those off and discard.” Then he does nothing at all for at least another five minutes. “When you do eventually push in the plunger, don’t plunge all the way to the bottom, otherwise you’ll stir up the sediment all over again.” You want the plunger to sit just on the surface of the coffee, then pour it gently. Ideally, decant the entire cafetiere in one go, Kovar adds, because, that way, you’ll get a consistent brew.

Got a culinary dilemma? Email [email protected]

‘A very angry gay man’: activist’s 11-year fight to overturn Trinidad’s homophobic laws reaches final hurdle

Privy council in London to decide on Jason Jones’s challenge to legislation against same-sex intimacy

An LGBTQ+ rights activist will make legal history this week when his decade-long battle to remove Trinidad’s homophobic laws culminates at the privy council in London, which remains the Caribbean island’s final court of appeal.

When Jason Jones takes his case to its judicial committee, it will be the first time that judges at the centuries-old British institution have ever decided a case to decriminalise same-sex intimacy – in this case ruling on sections of Trinidadian law that derive from the “buggery law” introduced by the UK to its colonies during the British empire.

Woman accuses Graham Platner of sexual assault. And, NATO summit begins

Graham Platner is facing calls to end his bid for U.S. Senate in Maine after a woman accused him of sexual assault. And, Trump made his dissatisfaction with NATO clear ahead of its summit this week.

EU rejects suspending biometric border controls despite 20 ‘difficult spots’

Officials admit new post-Brexit EES system is ‘not perfect’, as airports and airlines voice fears over delays

The EU has rejected calls by airports and airlines to suspend the implementation of new fingerprinting and facial recognition border controls even though it admits there are “20 difficult spots” with queue chaos.

With only a week to go before the peak summer holiday season starts, EU officials said the new entry/exit system (EES) was “not perfect” but would tell travel industry representatives that a full suspension was “not needed” and “not possible”.

Woman suspected of Monaco bombing found shot dead near Kyiv

Anastasiia Berezovska was being sought by police over attack that seriously injured a Ukraine-born businessman

A woman suspected of carrying out last week’s bomb attack in Monaco that seriously injured a Ukraine-born business tycoon has been found shot dead near Kyiv, in the latest twist in a case that has shaken the wealthy Mediterranean principality.

Ukrainian prosecutors said on Tuesday the woman had been found with a gunshot wound to the head and that two men had been arrested in connection with the case, including an officer with Ukraine’s military intelligence agency (HUR) and a former law enforcement officer.

‘An absolute triumph’: first reactions to Christopher Nolan’s Odyssey are ecstatic

Following the film’s premiere, critics are already calling the historical epic a best picture Oscar contender. Here’s what they had to say

The Odyssey, Christopher Nolan’s three-hour version of Homer’s epic poem, world premiered in London on Monday night, and critics who saw the film there and at early screenings in the US have been sharing their takes on one of the year’s most hotly anticipated films.

“Christopher Nolan’s Odyssey is a colossal origin-myth story of postwar disillusion and a loss of innocence witnessed by the dead,” wrote the Guardian’s Peter Bradshaw, ahead of the reviews embargo lifting next Wednesday and next Friday’s worldwide release.

Tehran teemed with Khamenei mourners, but divisions – and demands for change – remain

Many of the millions who turned out for funeral wanted to show their opposition the killing of their leader, regardless of their broader views of the regime

As the multipurpose, multinational funeral of Iran’s former supreme leader Ali Khamenei moved to the Jamkaran mosque in the holy city of Qom, and then to Najaf in Iraq, Iran’s leadership was weighing the mandate it had been given by the millions who have taken to the streets of Tehran over the past three days.

Some hailed the moment as a referendum from the streets showing support for the clerical establishment, and called for the strategy of confrontation with the west to be intensified. Others said it was more about a wider national pride that was conditional on demands for change and an end to the war being met.

‘It affected my confidence in my pussy’: gen X punk legends rage at menopause festival

At Menopunkapalooza, riot grrrls sang and rallied around a topic still taboo today: women’s health during midlife

The music festival Menopunkapalooza began with the ceremonial application of an estrogen patch to the backside of Built to Spill and Prism Bitch drummer Teresa Esguerra. It ended with riot grrrl pioneers Calamity Jane tearing the roof off Portland’s Crystal Ballroom as they performed for the first time in 35 years.

What happened in between was 750 festivalgoers, a dozen pillars of the Pacific north-west’s punk rock scene, and a team of medical professionals singing, laughing and occasionally raging about a topic still taboo in 2026: women’s sexual health during menopause and perimenopause, and the promise of hormone replacement therapy (HRT).

Half of Americans struggle to afford groceries and gas, exclusive poll finds

About 57% of polled Americans also believe economy is worsening in grim portrait of cost of living crisis, according to Harris survey for the Guardian

Ninety-five per cent of Americans believe the US is suffering an affordability crisis, as many report trouble with the rising cost of groceries and gas, according to an exclusive new poll conducted for the Guardian.

The survey, conducted by Harris Poll, paints a bleak picture of how people feel about the US economy amid the war in Iran and ahead of the key midterm elections this fall.

Why oil investors fear the next toll fight could be the Strait of Malacca

The prospect of fees to transit the Strait of Hormuz has sparked alarm, not least by investors who fear it could be replicated in other maritime corridors.

Graham Platner faces calls to leave Maine Senate race after sexual assault allegation

Graham Platner is facing growing pressure to end his campaign for U.S. Senate in Maine after Politico reported an allegation of sexual assault. Platner has denied the claim.

Meet 'Project 2029' — and its war on the annoyance economy

Remember Project 2025? Democrats are building their own governing blueprint, and one proposal takes aim at the "annoyance economy": robocalls, endless hold times, hidden fees and other everyday frustrations.

Israeli officer shown throwing stun grenade into car during West Bank raid

Border police officer under investigation after CCTV footage shows him shouting at car’s occupants and throwing device

Israeli police have opened an investigation after CCTV footage showed a border police officer throwing a stun grenade into a car carrying young Palestinians during a raid on the Qalandiya refugee camp in the occupied West Bank.

The footage from Sunday, released by the Israeli rights group B’Tselem, shows an officer approaching a car and shouting at its occupants.

Senate Democrats push Trump-affiliated companies for answers about IRS settlement

Democratic Sens. Elizabeth Warren, Chuck Schumer and Ron Wyden are probing whether companies affiliated with the Trump family are included in a DOJ deal to resolve a lawsuit brought by President Trump.

Why does JD Vance keep saying loony things? | Margaret Sullivan

Scratch their surface and you see exactly what he’s trying to do: stand up strong for intolerance and corruption

Given how impetuous Donald Trump is, his vice-president, JD Vance, strikes some Americans as a more stable alternative. A good bet, some of the Maga faithful believe, as the 2028 Republican nominee for president, and the eventual occupant of the Oval Office.

Every bit as rightwing as Trump but more serious and predictable – that seems to be Vance’s pitch to the public. And he clearly wants to be president; he’s as ambitious as they come.

Margaret Sullivan is a Guardian US columnist writing on media, politics and culture

So it’s Trump 1, Belgium 4 – and the world rejoices. Nothing like failed chicanery to bring us together, is there? | Marina Hyde

Joy is unbounded and when it dies down perhaps the guilty will be held to account for cheating and facilitation: perhaps they won’t. Still, enjoy the moment

Oh dear. Such a shame to see the US lose at football after their insanely embarrassing president cheated for them. Still, it really brought the world together. The last time this many people cheered on a Belgian resistance, it was 1914 and the Germans had just crossed the Meuse. As you’ll be aware, the USA were dumped out of their own World Cup on Monday night by a wholly superior Belgium, after Donald Trump boasted that he’d personally intervened in three phone calls with Fifa president Gianni Infantino to get the red card shown to USA striker Folarin Balogun rescinded. Yes, the US cheats at football. Pass it on.

You’ve heard a lot about shithousery during this tournament. We have even, excruciatingly, seen a few American commentators attempt to use the word in conversation. Guys, please, just – no. It’s not for you. You have ’erbs, “a couple things”, and “a ways to go”. But let’s call the events of the past few days by the name they deserve in all the languages of the world: Whitehousery.

Marina Hyde is a Guardian columnist

David Squires on … England’s World Cup classic in Mexico and a Trump novelty

Our cartoonist looks at the big stories from the World Cup as England reach the last eight but the US slump out

• Buy David’s cartoons | Some of his favourite works

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

Newcastle close in on signing Ajax generational talent Sean Steur for £23m

• Howe rebuilding side after Tonali and Gordon exits

• Widely hyped as Amsterdam club’s next De Jong

Newcastle are close to completing the signing of Sean Steur from Ajax for about £23m. The two-footed central midfielder is only 18 but has been widely hyped as the Amsterdam club’s brightest emerging midfield talent since Frenkie de Jong.

While De Jong left for Barcelona in 2019, Steur, who can operate as a No 6 or a No 8, seems almost certainly Tyneside bound. At St James’ Park he is likely to start next season competing with Lewis Miley to fill Sandro Tonali’s old central midfield role and will be given time to adjust to the Premier League’s physicality.

Chinese AI models are gaining ground with U.S. companies as OpenAI, Anthropic costs surge

Recent model releases from Chinese companies including DeepSeek and Z.ai are seen by many as highly competitive compared to leading U.S. frontier systems.

‘You never truly quit’: how RuneScape survived to 25 – and beyond

The massively multiplayer online role-playing game has grown into a virtual social space and part of daily life for thousands of players

In a small stone chapel, on the edgelands of a medieval wilderness, two women are getting married. The attenders are draped in rainbow capes, glowing armour and top hats. A scantily clad, muscular man with angel wings officiates the ceremony. Over the heads of the two brides hover the words “I do” in bright yellow text. This is RuneScape, a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (or MMO) set in the Tolkienesque realm of Gielinor. Turning 25 this year, it has, over its lifetime, become a crucial virtual social space and part of daily life for thousands of players.

Lancashire-born Amelia, one of the pixelated newlyweds, met her wife on a dating app but first bonded through their love of the game. “Our first and second date was pretty much exclusively talking about RuneScape,” she recalls. Four years later they were married, shortly followed by their in-game ceremony. Morgan – a 26-year-old from the Midlands – is one of Amelia’s closest friends. They met through the game and run UWU Girls together, a RuneScape clan that Morgan founded in a bid to cater to players across the gender spectrum. “We do IRL meetups, and for a lot of these women, it’s been their first meetings with strangers online – and that’s the same for me.”

The Breakdown | Will anyone stop the Springboks completing a Rugby World Cup three-peat?

Door is ajar for Rassie Erasmus’ side to surpass All Blacks when leading sides converge on Australia next year

The best sports teams constantly look to reinvent themselves. Their core principles remain in place but, crucially, they never, ever stand still. To do so is to risk slipping backwards relative to their competitors and arrive at the worst of all possible outcomes: a poorer, less successful version of themselves.

The ultimate example in rugby, until now, has probably been the All Blacks. For decades it was not only about winning the next game, but underlining their position, to quote one of their motivational whiteboard slogans from 2013, as “the most dominant team in the history of the world”. When you are chasing that kind of rarefied target you don’t allow the grass grow beneath your jandals.

Talking about death: how a father and brother found solace in the ‘living graveyard’ of an airline disaster

The film-maker Don Edkins lost his son Max in 2019, in the Ethiopian Airlines crash that killed 157 people. With Max’s brother Teboho, he has made a documentary, not about the crash, but about their mourning

It was, says Teboho Edkins, “a film I didn’t want to make”. On 10 March 2019, Edkins’ brother, Max, was among the 157 people killed when Ethiopian Airlines flight ET302 crashed minutes after taking off from Addis Ababa airport.

For Teboho, making a documentary about the disaster seemed impossible: “It’s not a sexy subject. At first, I really didn’t want to do it at all.”

Houseplant hacks: can butterworts control fungus gnats?

This pretty little plant is carnivorous, so when placed next to plants affected by the insect pest it can be an effective living flypaper

The problem
The fungus gnat is the pest that just keeps coming. You dry out the soil, set up sticky traps, maybe even reach for the hydrogen peroxide, and just when you think you’ve have won, they’re back. The adults are harmless but maddening, drifting around your face and laying the next generation in any damp compost they can find. And most controls only deal with one stage of the cycle and leave the rest to carry on.

The hack
Butterworts are small carnivorous plants whose leaves are coated in a sticky mucilage that traps tiny flying insects, including fungus gnats. Keep one or two among your collection as living flypaper, catching adult gnats before they can breed.

Stymied datacentre projects threaten global AI revolution

Large-scale datacentre projects around the world are being challenged or cancelled, as infrastructure’s energy demands ramp up

Datacentre planning proposals face all kinds of hurdles, from securing energy supply to high construction costs. But the 2,000 acre Prince William Digital Gateway site in the US state of Virginia had another problem: its proximity to a Civil War battlefield.

“If the development is allowed to proceed, the solemn nature of this historic site would become marred by sitting in the shadow of the monstrous datacentres, along with their associated electrical infrastructure,” said one legal brief against the plans.

Trump's NATO pressure campaign continues as summit begins

President Trump's arrival in Ankara kicks off another potentially tense meeting for NATO.

Heirs of 'odious' 169-year-old Supreme Court ruling see modern parallels

Descendants of Dred Scott and Chief Justice Roger Taney spoke about reconciliation at a church in the shadow of the Supreme Court last week as the high court wrestled with race and who can be an American.

Explosions rock Damascus, wounding 18, as French President Macron visits Syria

The French president's office said that Macron was safe and that his meeting with Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa would continue as scheduled.

Morning news brief

Graham Platner faces calls to end his Senate bid after sexual assault allegation, NATO summit begins in Turkey, U.S. men's run at the World Cup ends with loss to Belgium.

We Are Not Machines by Sarah O’Connor review – can dignity at work survive the tech revolution?

A Financial Times journalist ponders the future of labour in world increasingly dominated by AI and automation

It’s never been easy to land and keep a decent job. But it feels like it’s getting harder. In June, the number of job vacancies in the UK fell to a five-year low; headlines warn of a looming AI-employment shock. What might the future of work look like – and who or what will shape its terms? In her new book, Sarah O’Connor goes looking for answers in the modern collision of artificial intelligence, automation, and human labour.

This clash between human and machine – and the fight to secure decent working conditions even as the pressure to maximise production mounts – is nothing new. Neither are concerns about the health risks of repetitive factory work or the loss of creative craftsmanship and independent judgment in the wake of mechanisation. O’Connor has been a reporter at the Financial Times for nearly two decades, and although We Are Not Machines looks to the future, many of the threats AI poses to workers’ dignity and safety look a lot like reconfigurations of old battles. The book takes its title from the signs striking Swedish miners carried in 1969 as they protested their employers’ new methods of monitoring their output. “Vi är ej maskiner”, their signs read: “We are not machines.”

Life Support review – quietly devastating medics’ eye view of the war in Gaza

In the absence of foreign media, doctors are valuable witnesses to the Israel-Hamas conflict in Daniele Rugo’s documentary

Dying children and grieving parents are a fact of her work says Canadian paediatric intensive care doctor Tanya Haj-Hassan. “But Gaza is that continuously,” she adds, wiping away a tear. Haj-Hassan is one of several doctors who are interviewed in Daniele Rugo’s documentary about their medical missions to Gaza since October 2023. Doctors tend to be careful with their words and don’t instinctively reach for overstatement or exaggeration. But their measured accounts of hell on earth, along with clips from their video diaries, make this quietly devastating film almost unbearable to watch.

Israel does not allow foreign reporters into Gaza unless under military escort, so medics are valuable independent witnesses. Nick Maynard is a gastrointestinal surgeon who has been visiting since 2010. He has always seen destruction in Gaza, he says, but after October 2023, it was on different scale. On his first night, ER doctor James Smith tried to count the number of explosions; he lost track after several hundred. Reconstructive surgeon Victoria Rose arrived with 23 suitcases after putting a call to UK plastic surgeons for supplies. On a later visit she was permitted to cross the border with just one.

Madonna was always anti-nostalgia. But looking back on Confessions II has revitalised her music

The veteran pop diva has pressed rewind to move forward on her new record – and beneath the bangers fizz a host of emotionally charged memories

• Confessions II review – nostalgic dancefloor trip sparks her most vital album in two decades

“Madonna never reflects, she’s always moving forward,” Warner PR Liz Rosenberg told me in 2005, when after a frustrating few months laid up after a riding accident, Madonna re-emerged “like a bullet from a gun” with the glorious disco-driven Confessions on a Dance Floor, produced largely alongside Stuart Price. Madonna has always been militantly anti-nostalgia: continual reinvention is crucial to her artistic identity.

But arguably, Confessions was – until last week – her last great record. Constantly trying to push forward has not always worked for Madonna, with the multiple producers and genres of her 2010s output often proving inconsistent and confusing: the muscular funk of 2008’s Hard Candy, the busy powerpop of 2015’s Rebel Heart, 2019’s globe-straddling Madame X. Leaving Warner Records in 2007 started the decline: Madonna had struck hugely lucrative deals with Live Nation and Interscope, but pressure to recoup that investment meant an element of compromise in her practice and adapting to another contemporary pop innovation: songwriting camps and production by committee. In 2015, Madonna complained to Rolling Stone about “working with people who can’t get off their phone, can’t stop tweeting, can’t focus and finish a song”.

Best fans at the World Cup? How Colombia’s support powered the team to success

Néstor Lorenzo’s side face Switzerland in Vancouver on Tuesday and will be hoping for the same backing that has shocked opponents so far

Mexico City, Guadalajara, Miami, Kansas City – Colombia’s World Cup journey has gradually been heading north for three weeks. Thousands of their supporters now descend on Vancouver looking to see Néstor Lorenzo’s side try to reach their first quarter-final in 12 years when they face Switzerland on Tuesday. After Mexico and the United States, “yellow fever” is about to hit Canada.

This sort of fan migration, which has filled host cities with vibrant colour and joy, has not been seen since that last quarter-final in 2014, when Colombia supporters travelled in massive numbers to Brazil, not only owing to its proximity but also to the fact that the selección had not qualified for a World Cup for almost a generation before. James Rodríguez, the breakout star of that tournament, addressed the fans before travelling to North America as captain this year as there had been trouble when Colombia were in the US for the 2024 Copa América.

Severe storms in China bring tornadoes and landslides that have killed 15 people

Chinese leader Xi Jinping calls for ‘all out’ rescue effort as death toll rises and 16 people ⁠remain buried after a ⁠landslide in the country’s west

The death toll from devastating storms in parts of China rose to 15 on Tuesday, with hundreds more injured and tens of thousands evacuated, state media reported, as the country’s leader, Xi Jinping, urged “all out” efforts to rescue people affected by the weather.

Thunderstorms and gale-force winds killed at least 11 people and injured 331 in the central province of Hubei, where “severe convective weather” hit cities, while tornadoes were reported elsewhere late Monday, state news agency Xinhua said.

Country People by Daniel Mason review – a joyful follow-up to North Woods

This fantastical journey through family, folktales and a world beneath our feet is witty, uplifting and gorgeously written

Daniel Mason’s latest novel sees him return to the verdant New England landscape that so captivated readers of 2023’s acclaimed North Woods. This time, though, he hops the border from Massachusetts into Vermont – and effects a deeper shift in the process. Where North Woods was a foray into history, telling the tale of a house and its inhabitants over three centuries, in Country People Mason turns his attention to literature and mines the rich seams of text, from myths to Milton to Shakespeare to Tolstoy and all points in between, that make up his novel’s foundations. This is, at its core, a story about stories; a tale about the tales we tell each other, and our children, and ourselves.

It’s also a far simpler thing: the linear account of a year in the life of a contemporary family. On the surface, this might look like a step back from the scope and ambition of North Woods, which spooled out over hundreds of years in a polyphony of forms and voices. But if Country People teaches us anything, it’s that surfaces are only ever a fraction of what we’re dealing with – or, to borrow from one of its three, gloriously baroque epigraphs: “for every terrestrial stream, there run a thousand below the earth. For each pond, a hundred inner seas.” The book’s action is driven, in fact, by its characters’ compulsive need to dig deeper: to burrow into their physical and metaphorical landscapes for meaning, for inspiration, and on occasion just for the hell of it. Sometimes the digging in Country People is literal; often it’s metaphorical. And occasionally – well, occasionally, it turns out, the boundary between the two isn’t as solid as it might first appear.

Fuel on the fire: why oil companies are profiting as the world gets dangerously hot

The scientific consensus is that burning fossil fuels drives the climate crisis, yet the world’s biggest oil companies are planning to increase production

As the world swelters in ever more dangerous heat, why are oil companies being allowed to turn up the gas instead of paying for the consequences of their greed?

That ought to be the question on everyone’s minds amid baking heat domes over much of the northern hemisphere, temperature records being smashed day after day, children dying in locked cars, hospitals filling with heatstroke victims and emergency services tackling wildfires.

Tomato tart and a strawberry and elderflower trifle: Sally Abé’s summer recipes

Sweet, herby tomatoes on crisp puff pastry, followed by a dessert that’s both fruity and floral – this is seasonal eating at its most delectable

Summer has to be the favourite season of any chef. I am so spoiled for choice right now with the bounty of beautiful British produce over the warmer months that I change the menu almost daily, so I don’t miss out on the chance to use all of it. If only the weather would keep up.

US airman accused of exposing himself to 16-year-old girl avoided British trial

Hannes Marschalek, who allegedly exposed his penis to four other women in Cambridgeshire, tried via US court martial

A US airman who allegedly exposed himself to a 16-year-old girl and four young women in England was able to avoid the British justice system after the US military was permitted to take control of the case, the Guardian can reveal.

Cambridgeshire police received complaints that the airman, Hannes Marschalek, had indecently exposed himself to the women as they walked past his home in Littleport, a small town in Cambridgeshire, in 2022.

FIFA criticized for lifting U.S. star's red card suspension after Trump phone call

Europe's soccer governing body and prominent commentators have criticized the decision, which allows Folarin Balogun to play against Belgium.

‘I felt my spine and body split’: the woman who was hit by a child on a Lime bike – and denied compensation

The collision was catastrophic. Jane Ouartsi suffered a fractured collarbone, two spinal fractures, a broken femur that took three operations to fix, and she had to learn to walk again like a baby. Why has no one taken responsibility for her life-changing injuries?

As Jane Ouartsi walked across a pedestrianised square in central London, on a Friday evening in early August three years ago, she linked arms with her partner, Dave Mathias, and told him how much she had enjoyed the afternoon they had spent together, eating pizza in Soho and visiting an art installation. It was the last time she can remember feeling properly happy and relaxed.

“We were walking quite slowly, talking about the art. It’s hard to remember exactly, but I think I was saying what a lovely lunch, and then all of a sudden there was a horrific impact,” she says. “I felt my spine and body split and I thought my life was over.”

Nato braces for difficult summit as Trump puts pressure on spending

Meeting of 32 member states comes at crucial time for alliance after tensions with US over Iran and Greenland

Nato leaders will gather in Ankara on Tuesday after a turbulent six months, hoping – in the case of the other 31 members of the alliance – to mollify an unpredictable Donald Trump, as Washington continues to pressure its allies to increase defence spending.

On Monday, Mark Rutte, Nato’s secretary general, called for the allies to present “clear, concrete and credible plans” to reach the organisation’s spending targets. “President Trump fully expects that all allies will step up immediately and get on the path to 5% and do it with urgency,” he said.

‘I can sense Sinatra enter my body and exit my lungs’: aboard the celebrity impersonators’ cruise

I joined Marilyn Monroe, Walter White, Ozzy Osbourne and other tribute artists on a cruise where imitation is its own art form

INT. DECK 7, LE CABARET ROUGE, 11.37pm

Frank Sinatra, palming a can of Sprite in one hand and the fist of his beautiful red-headed wife in the other, sat in a dark corner across from Jeff Bezos, who looked like he was waiting for him to say something. But Sinatra said nothing. He’d been mostly quiet all evening, and now in this cabaret he seemed even more distant, staring out past fog and strobe and Bezos’s strong bald head and into the large room where at least half a dozen men had basically shattered a bistro table trying to get a better look at Marilyn Monroe. Sinatra’s wife knew, as did Roy Orbison and Austin Powers, who stood nearby, that it was only minutes before he was supposed to go onstage, and that forcing any sort of conversation on him in this mood of focus would be extremely stupid.

Belgium knocks out U.S. men 4-1, ending the Americans' World Cup run in Seattle

Belgium defeated the U.S. Men's National Team​ 4-1 on Monday night in the World Cup round of 16 knockout match in Seattle, ending the Americans' hopes of reaching the quarterfinals for the first time in 24 years.

U.S. loses to Belgium 4-1; Balogun plays after Trump calls FIFA

FIFA reversed Folarin Balogun’s suspension after Trump sought a review, letting the U.S. striker play Belgium over objections.

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.