Sellers are pulling homes off the market at the fastest pace since 2020

Frustrated sellers are pulling their homes off the market at an increasingly high pace, as demand weakens and bidding wars wane.

French Open 2026: Auger-Aliassime v Cobolli as quarter-finals continue – live

Updates from Wednesday’s quarter-final matches
Email Katy | Shnaider stuns Sabalenka | Kostyuk through

Make that four, although the Pole is make to work for the hold, saving a break point at 30-40. Chwalinska is giving Kalinskaya so little rhythm and the Russian is totally befuddled in the next game as Chwalinska zips 15-40 ahead. Now Kalinskaya is trying to get in on the drop-shot act … but it’s not her natural game, it doesn’t work and Chwalinska charges forward before dispatching a winner into the open court! It’s now 5-1. Phew.

The 5ft 5in left-hander Chwalinska, who makes up for her lack of height and power with intelligence, is drop-shotting and slicing Kalinskaya into submission here, and it gives her a break point at 30-40. Kalinskaya saves it with a big backhand – but soon enough it’s break point again and after a nine-shot rally Kalinskaya’s forehand drifts wide! Chwalinska breaks for 3-1 and that’s three games on the spin.

Bessent says he is performing IRS commissioner duties amid Trump tax settlement scrutiny

Democrats pressed the Treasury chief over whether other taxpayers affected by the leak that included Trump's tax returns would receive similar treatment.

It’s not just Rosamund Pike who struggles with badly behaved theatre-goers. I was nearly beaten up by a hen party | Polly Hudson

They text, they chat, they throw popcorn: some people would rather do anything than just sit and watch a show. And my friend and I have the mental scars to prove it

Rosamund Pike probably lost a fan last weekend, while simultaneously gaining many more. The secret texter she called out without identifying presumably wasn’t too thrilled to be unnamed but shamed at the end of Pike’s play Inter Alia, but for everybody who has ever had a bad trip to the theatre, it was a good point, well-made and about time, too.

After the final curtain, Pike returned to the stage to explain: “I am trying to tell you a story, and I’m feeling you, and I hope you’re feeling me too ... Maybe it was very important, and maybe you’re a doctor, and you’re saving someone’s life, and I hope you are, but we do see these, we do feel them.”

Marcia Lucas obituary

Film editor who won an Oscar for her work on Star Wars, which she nevertheless referred to as ‘a kids’ movie’

In February 1977, George Lucas screened a rough cut of his science-fiction fantasy Star Wars, devoid of any music or special effects, to a select audience at his home in northern California. Among those in attendance, reported Peter Biskind in his book Easy Riders, Raging Bulls, were studio executives from 20th Century Fox, colleagues such as the screenwriter Gloria Katz and the director Brian De Palma. Katz recalled that the screening was greeted by “stunned silence”. De Palma was heard asking: “What is this shit?”

Lucas’s wife Marcia, who had edited Star Wars with Richard Chew and Paul Hirsch, was in tears, convinced the film was doomed. Katz advised her: “Don’t cry when there are people from the studio there.”

Men are worried about their fertility. Enter the regrettably named trend of spermmaxxing

Sperm counts have fallen sharply in recent decades, fueling anxiety, misinformation and a flood of fertility advice

I’m sorry that I have to be the one to tell you this, but according to reports, men are engaging in a practice known as “spermmaxxing”.

Spermmaxxing, according to the many articles on the subject, is a way of increasing the quality and quantity of one’s sperm. The approaches range from the sensible (get more sleep, eat nutritious foods) to the more dubious (eat raw garlic, dip your testicles in ice water).

Social Security checks could be cut by $500 a month in 2032, report finds

Beneficiaries would continue receiving payments if Social Security's trust fund is depleted, but checks could shrink by about 24%, according to a new report.

One killed and 63 wounded in Iranian attack on Kuwait’s international airport

US and Iran exchange more strikes across Gulf region, jeopardising efforts to secure a new ceasefire

• Middle East crisis – live updates

Kuwait’s military said Iranian strikes that hit a terminal at its international airport killed at least one person and wounded 63, as well as causing significant damage in the first deadly attack on the Gulf since a ceasefire on 8 April came into place.

The attack came as the US and Iran exchanged fresh missile and drone strikes, further jeopardising efforts to secure a new ceasefire agreement between Washington and Tehran.

Fired 60 Minutes correspondent Scott Pelley says CBS told him to inject ‘falsehoods’ into reporting

Veteran journalist says executives pushed unverified claims and gave politicians a say in interviews

The longtime 60 Minutes correspondent Scott Pelley, who was fired by CBS News on Tuesday after clashing with the network’s new management, issued a public statement accusing the network’s new executives of silencing employees and claiming they instructed him “to inject falsehoods and bias” into his reporting.

“‘60’ has been the number-one program in America for decades because our beloved audience finds integrity, quality, and humanity in our stories,” Pelley wrote in the lengthy statement he shared on social media on Wednesday morning.

Senate prepares to move forward with reconciliation bill after lengthy delay

Senate Republicans are preparing to move forward with a package to fund the Department of Homeland Security's immigration agencies as soon as Wednesday.

Mina the Hollower review – squeaky fresh fun full of vintage magic

PC, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2, Xbox; Yacht Club Games
This brilliant adventure creates a whole world from one character with a unique ability

You could mistake Mina the Hollower for something found on the liquid-crystal display of a Game Boy Color around the turn of the millennium. Like the pocketable Zelda and Pokémon games of the time, it presents a kind of snow-globe reality that you peer into from above, relying on imagination to decipher each two-colour clump of pixels into a tree, or a skeleton, or a cloaked mouse wielding a hammer twice her size.

This is Mina, our hero: she jumps, she moves at a clip, and she can delve downward into the soil or floorboards, tunnelling underfoot for a moment or two before popping back up, like an inflatable forcibly submerged in a swimming pool. This is her signature move, perfectly elastic in sensation – the way the released button springs back against your thumb! – and in application. The burrow-jump is an excavation tool, unearthing any treasure you happen to dig through, and a navigational one, used to hop over gaps, reach high-up spots and nose into tiny hidden spaces, where more treasure almost invariably awaits.

Former officer in hiding after being falsely linked to Henry Nowak arrest

Christi Hill and male police officer misidentified in Vickrum Digwa case on AI platforms including Grok

• UK politics live – latest updates

A former police officer has been forced to flee to a safe space after she was falsely accused online of being involved in the arrest of Henry Nowak.

Christi Hill, who served as a police constable for 12 years, has criticised social media and AI platforms, including Elon Musk’s Grok, for spreading the false claim that she was one of the officers who arrested Nowak as he lay dying after being stabbed by Vickrum Digwa.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman to meet with lawmakers, Trump officials in D.C.

President Donald Trump signed an executive order about AI this week, which Altman voiced support for.

Campaign to deliver ‘biggest complaint Fifa has ever received’ launches before World Cup

• ‘Reboot Fifa’ calls for investigation into Infantino

• Complaint to be sent to ethics committee after World Cup

A quest to deliver the “biggest complaint Fifa has ever received” is being launched by campaigners a week before the World Cup.

With fans concerned over safety and the cost of tickets at the tournament, and complaints ongoing against Fifa from human rights organisations and football competitions, a class action-style complaint is calling for an investigation into the president, Gianni Infantino.

Tunisia World Cup 2026 team guide

Having stormed through African qualifying without conceding a goal, can Sabri Lamouchi lead the Eagles of Carthage out of the group stage for the first time?

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

California bank hostage situation ends after suspect shot dead

The suspect was pronounced dead at the scene early Wednesday morning, the Bakersfield Police Department said.

Football Daily | Will AI bring heavy-metal football back to Liverpool?

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It was only a matter of time before one of football’s big clubs placed their future in the hands of AI. Happily for Liverpool, they’ve plumped for a man with those initials rather than a rapidly growing technology that has been expertly designed to fill billionaires’ pockets. Yep, Andoni Iraola has verbally agreed to replace Arne Slot as Liverpool head coach and will go from walking on water at Bournemouth to hearing – maybe even singing, though he doesn’t look like a touchline lungs man – You’ll Never Walk Alone before every home game. The last time Liverpool appointed a Spanish manager, they were champions of Europe within a year. And Iraola will inherit a stronger squad than Rafa Benítez did in 2004 – albeit one that was put together by a manager whose style of play is very different to Iraola’s.

Tonda Eckert’s ‘For everything that has happened I want to apologise’ non-apology manages to completely miss the point. Things didn’t ‘happen’, Tonda, you and your staff ‘did things’ and you should be apologising for ‘everything that we did’. I am reminded of Ronald Reagan’s infamous ‘mistakes were made’. Of course, one should always make allowances for people with limited English skills, but what is Eckert’s excuse?” – Carl Zetie.

Interesting riff on the ‘You’re Tim Payne’ song. Personally, I wouldn’t classify Carly Simon as either ‘soft rock’ or album oriented rock (Football Daily letters passim). She’s more in the singer-songwriter genre for me. By the way, her sister Joanna was an acclaimed opera singer. Nessun Dorma, anyone?” – Mike Wilner.

This is an extract from our daily football email … Football Daily. To get the full version, just visit this page and follow the instructions.

Private payrolls grew by 122,000 in May, stronger than expected, ADP reports

Unlike prior months, where job growth was concentrated in healthcare and a few other sectors, gains were more broad-based.

​Why is Europe still not ready for extreme heat?

​The first heatwaves of the season reveal how ​ill-prepared governments across the continent are to protect people from increasingly dangerous temperatures

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Meteorological summer has begun, ushered in with scorching heat that struck before spring was up. Although western Europe is now mostly free from last week’s heat dome – which shattered temperature records for May in the UK and Ireland – it is already bracing for yet another sweltering summer. Oppressive days, restless nights and furious fires are brewing. On Tuesday, the World Meteorological Organisation warned us all to prepare for the imminent return of the warming weather pattern El Niño.

Scientists have not worked out how many people died during this latest bout of hot weather, but one environmental epidemiologist’s early modelling pegged it at 250 extra deaths in the UK alone on the weekend before temperatures peaked. The full death toll is likely to be particularly high because the heat struck before people had properly adjusted their behaviour to stay safe in the heat.

Trump says Iran agreed to not have nuclear weapons, but 'they can change their mind'

The president was speaking to the New York Post's "Pod Force One" podcast in a wide-ranging interview.

Shnaider stuns Sabalenka and Chwalinska into French Open semi-finals on day of shocks

• No 1 seed has final-set meltdown to lose 6-3, 5-7, 0-6

• Tension and windy conditions add to player’s woes

Ninety minutes into her 14th consecutive grand slam quarter-final, it seemed like nothing could stop Aryna Sabalenka from another straightforward day on-court. Even in gusty conditions and after a few nervous games while closing out the opening set, the world’s best women’s player seemed to be cruising as she established a 6-3, 4-1 lead.

Instead, that moment marked the beginning of one of the most shocking collapses of Sabalenka’s career. Arrested by tension and unable to play with any semblance of freedom, the top seed fell apart. She was overcome by a supreme fighting performance from the 25th seed Diana Shnaider, who recovered to produce the greatest win of her career by defeating Sabalenka 3-6, 7-5, 6-0.

YouTube overtakes Netflix in average daily viewing around the world

Analysts say Alphabet-owned platform’s evolution is one of the defining media shifts of the decade

YouTube has overtaken Netflix in average daily viewing among users around the world, according to analysis that reveals the digital platform’s ever greater media muscle.

A major shift to watching YouTube on television has fuelled a growing rivalry between the world’s pre-eminent digital and streaming platforms. “YouTube is not just cat videos any more,” Netflix’s co-chief executive, Ted Sarandos, said recently. “YouTube is TV.”

Is there a pianist in the house? How audience members – and fellow musicians – have saved the show

A Sydney screening of La La Land with live orchestra was rescued by a brave (and skilled) amateur pianist. What happens when classical performers, or their instruments, suddenly collapse? Plus, Tavener’s mystic pantomime finally gets to the stage

Music’s equivalent of catching a home run at a baseball game happened on Saturday in Sydney, when a 21-year-old university student jumped in to save a performance of the movie La La Land with live orchestra. The band’s keyboardist had fallen ill and couldn’t perform in the second half. Unable to find a replacement at such short notice, the conductor Justin Hurwitz (winner of two Oscars for the film’s music) asked the audience if there was a pianist in the house. Sterling Nasa answered the call, and performed in the second half, improvising a solo, and not getting a tempo change or key signature wrong.

It’s a great story – and incredible that an audience member had the requisite sight-reading and technical skills to carry it off. Could it happen in a classical concert? There have certainly been moments here too when an audience member has saved the day. The best of those stories comes from the summer of 1974, when the London Symphony Orchestra and Chorus brought Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana to the Proms, conducted by André Previn, with the baritone Thomas Allen among the soloists. You can actually hear the shocking moment from the live radio broadcast when Allen collapses into the cello section in an episode of the BBC World Service’s Witness History. He had fainted and was carried off the stage. After a brief pause, Previn chose to keep going rather than stop the performance.

UK government to pay £1.3bn to help fund Universal Studios theme park in Bedfordshire

Chancellor hails deal saying it will create tens of thousands of jobs in the construction, hospitality, creative and technology sectors

• Business live – latest update

British taxpayers will provide £1.3bn in funding to help the Hollywood studio giant Universal build its first theme park in Europe.

Comcast, the US media company that owns NBC Universal and Sky, had been considering a number of countries in which to build its first European theme park.

‘It’s a relief … I’m irrelevant!’: Rufus Norris on life after the National Theatre

He stood down as boss of the NT – and threw himself into kayaking, writing and DIY. The veteran director talks about his new start aged 60, mourning his mother – and directing Death of a Salesman in Turkish

There were several big endings for Rufus Norris in 2025, all crammed into the same few seismic months. Firstly, the close of his tenure as director of the National Theatre after a decade at the helm. That planned ending collided with the loss of his mother, who died three weeks before he left the NT. On top of that, a significant birthday concluding his 50s.

So what did Norris do after turning 60, on the other side of the Big Job, alongside the grief of losing a parent? DIY, plenty of kayaking and a house move, it turns out: “It felt important to have a complete break,” he says. “I’m a bit of a workaholic, but I’m also a bird of simple brain so I can as easily lose myself in how to build a shed or do up a place.”

Stokes defends Archer’s Test absence and warns strictness risks England exit

• Critics have called situation ‘ludicrous’ and ‘frustrating’

• ‘Jofra may not play for England if handled differently’

Ben Stokes has defended England’s decision to excuse Jofra Archer from the start of the Test summer so he could compete in the Indian Premier League, saying a more militant approach risks a situation where “players like him might not play for England again”.

On Wednesday Archer was strongly criticised by the former New Zealand bowler Simon Doull, who described his absence as “absolutely ludicrous” and “completely wrong”. The former England batter Mark Butcher has previously said it was “absolutely ridiculous”, while Michael Atherton described it as “incredibly frustrating”.

Europe unveils tech sovereignty package amid growing concerns over reliance on U.S. tech: 'We want to be sure nobody has a kill switch'

The proposals include new acts to bolster advanced chip manufacturing and homegrown cloud computing.

Football seems to have forgotten about fun: the World Sevens has brought it back | Tom Garry

We all have a tendency to take the game far too seriously – this seven-a-side tournament provided the perfect antidote

As much as it is tempting to romanticise about Bill Shankly’s most famous quote, he was wrong. Football is not more serious than life and death, and over the years far too many of us seem to have taken the former Liverpool manager’s words a little too literally and stopped being able to enjoy football for its primary purpose: fun.

Whether it is clubs writing letters of complaint because a referee – a fallible human like all 8 billion of us – has made a mistake or the rage on social media that a pundit’s opinion might be skewed towards – shock – their former club, isn’t it time we chilled out a bit?

Greetings from Porto, whose lanes are lined with colorful textiles

Linen scarves, cotton aprons and dishtowels adorn the entrances to souvenir shops, many of which are run by Bangladeshis whose home country shares Portugal's rich tradition of textile manufacturing.

White House Correspondents' Dinner rescheduled for July 24

Prosecutors have accused Cole Allen of attempting to assassinate the president when he allegedly attacked the White House Correspondents' Dinner on April 25.

Martin Scorsese accused of ‘throwing artists under bus’ with AI storyboards

The director defends investment in and use of AI-generated storyboards, saying the immediacy of communicating his vision to cast and crew is ‘creatively freeing’

Martin Scorsese’s announcement that he has invested in an AI company and uses the technology to create storyboards has triggered a backlash from fellow members of the film industry.

The New York Times reported that Scorsese had been appointed in 2025 as a partner and adviser to Black Forest Labs, a German-based venture that specialises in text-to-image generative AI.

Meta is trying to sell AI agents to businesses in latest effort to diversify away from ads

The Meta Business Agent will be included in the company's Meta One paid subscription offerings.

U.S. Coast Guard investigators in Bahamas to search for evidence in missing American case

U.S. Coast Guard investigators are in the Bahamas to start a new search for evidence of missing American Lynette Hooker. One official says the probe now includes the possibility that Hooker was murdered. Cristian Benavides reports.

Twins in a spin at the great British seaside: Sophie Green’s best photograph

‘In a really simple way, this photo captures that intense colour and joy of being at the seaside with your loved ones’

Our British seaside has such a distinctive look: the bingo halls, the buckets and spades and pinwheels, and all the amazing colours of the funfairs. I find them the most amazing environments. I love that visually super-charged, maximalist style.

The seaside is nostalgic to all of us. My grandpa lived in Pembrokeshire and we’d go and see him when I was little. The beach provokes this childlike sense of wonderment. It is a space that anyone can be a part of, friends and family, whatever age, whatever background. It unlocks the connection to nature, which inspires freedom and fun. There are not really any rules, and it’s playful – the funfairs, the arcades, splashing in the water. We don’t have many outlets for play, especially as adults.

Trump names controversial housing official Bill Pulte as acting intel chief

President Trump on Tuesday announced he's tapping housing official Bill Pulte to serve as the acting director of national intelligence to replace Tulsi Gabbard.

Man with apparent bomb barricaded with hostages inside Southern California bank

Police say a man barricaded himself inside a bank in Bakersfield, California, on Tuesday and appeared to have a bomb strapped to his body. The suspect also took several people hostage. Jonathan Vigliotti has the latest.

Stormy weather and a footballer protest: photos of the day – Wednesday

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

Cape Fear review – Amy Adams and Javier Bardem’s immaculate update is a wild, wild ride

Bardem has the absolute time of his life terrifying everyone in this remake of the classic thriller. It’s a masterclass in tension, sublime directing – and never forgets the power of a jump scare

“Ever look around and wonder if we deserve all this?” a woman asks, standing by their sprawling mansion’s swimming pool with her handsome, ripped, fellow lawyer husband.

“No,” he replies.

Cape Fear is on Apple TV on 5 June

Race for California governor deadlocked as primary results across US trickle in

Republican Steve Hilton and Democrat Xavier Becerra lead the field as votes continue to be counted

• The Democrats to watch after Tuesday’s primaries: from army doctor to Paralympian

The key race for California governor remained deadlocked as vote counting continued across the US on Wednesday morning following primary elections to decide who would run in several critical districts in the US House and Senate in November, in a midterm year expected to favor Democrats.

In California, it was the Republican Steve Hilton, a former UK political operative and Fox News host, who had the most votes, with roughly half of the ballots counted for governor. For the Democrats it was Xavier Becerra, the former health secretary, who led the field after a tumultuous campaign. The California system is such that the two candidates who receive the most votes then face off in the general election, no matter which party they are from. Many Democrats in the state held on to their ballots until the last minute, so the early results were expected to favor Republicans.

Sixty thousand love letters and counting: volunteers help sift through vast German trove of devotion

Team is working to digitise archive of correspondence donated by public, charting relationships, social history and evolution of language

After four decades together, Tatiana and Steffen Missbach still write each other love letters. “A good love letter is specific – not only declaring your feelings but also, you know, ‘good luck at music practice, I’ll be thinking of you’,” said Tatiana, 66, a retired personnel manager. “If he’s leaving early on a work trip, I like waking up and finding one at the breakfast table waiting for me.”

Steffen, 68, a car appraiser, said it was his way of giving Tatiana “something to hold in her hands for the time that I’m not there, when I can’t be here to speak the words”.

Pilot of fighter jet downed over Iran previously shot down in Kuwaiti incident

About a month after ejecting during the friendly-fire incident, the pilot was on a mission over Iran when his jet was hit by a surface-to-air missile, prompting a daring rescue operation.

Mortgage rates are easing slightly, but homebuyers are retreating

Mortgage rates fell slightly last week, but neither current homeowners nor potential homebuyers were inspired. Demand for mortgages fell overall.

Big tobacco uses cigarette playbook to help sell ultra-processed foods, journal reveals

New issue of the American Journal of Public Health focuses on parallels between marketing for cigarettes and UPFs

The new issue of the American Journal of Public Health focuses on ultra-processed foods, and reveals that big tobacco companies used strategies that helped them sell cigarettes to sell ultra-processed food products, including Lunchables, geared toward children.

The parallels between ultra-processed foods (UPFs) and cigarettes include not only how UPF products were formulated and marketed to drive excess consumption, but also the growing body of evidence linking UPFs to a variety of health risks. For UPFs, these include cardiovascular diseases, certain cancers and cognitive health decline.

Four migrant workers reportedly burned alive in their car in attack in Italy

Petrol station attack in Calabria throws spotlight on widespread exploitation of foreign farm labourers

The exploitation of farm workers in Italy has come under the spotlight again after four men – three Afghans and one from Pakistan – were allegedly burned alive in a car at a petrol station in Calabria.

The attack was captured by a surveillance camera at the garage in Amendolara, close to Cosenza. Two Pakistani nationals have been arrested on charges of aggravated murder, according to public prosecutor Alessandro D’Alessio.

Josh Turek wins Iowa Democratic Senate primary that could shape Democrats' path to Senate majority

Iowa's Senate primary where state Rep. Josh Turek beat state Sen. Zach Wahls could be critical as Democrats look to take back power in Congress.

How to turn spent coffee grounds into barbecue sauce – recipe | Waste not

Spent coffee grounds add depth to a smoky-sweet, intense barbecue sauce that’s a knockout with pulled mushrooms, grilled veg and meat alike

Three pillars underpin my cooking style – pleasure, people and planet – and I believe that all three need to be taken into account to make a truly delicious and nourishing meal, hence the title of my most recent book, Eating for Pleasure, People & Planet. Today’s recipe is taken from one of the tastiest recipes in the book, Venezuelan corn cake arepas with “pulled” oyster mushrooms and this sweet, umami-rich and intense barbecue sauce, all topped with a refreshing kohlrabi and mango salsa.

Takeaways from Iowa's primaries. And, DOJ nixes Trump's 'anti-weaponization' fund

Polls have now closed in six states that held primary elections yesterday. Here are the key takeaways. And, the Justice Department has scrapped plans for Trump's "anti-weaponization" fund.

Delhi fire blazes through hotel building – video

A fire in a building in south Delhi has killed at least 21 people, police say. The blaze hit a hotel in Malviya Nagar, a residential neighbourhood popular with students and young professionals

CBS News fires longtime 60 Minutes correspondent Scott Pelley

CBS News has fired longtime 60 Minutes correspondent and former "CBS Evening News" anchor Scott Pelley one day after he had a tense and confrontational exchange with new 60 Minutes executive producer Nick Bilton.

From God of War to Until Dawn – seven reveals from last night’s PlayStation event

The PS5 era has been in some ways disappointing for Sony – on Tuesday, the company revealed a slate of games they hope will change that

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PlayStation’s future has looked a little uncertain these past few years. Although the PS5 has sold well and been very profitable, the brand is far from the runaway market leader it was in the PS2 days. Earlier this week, Game File dug into Sony’s most recent earnings reports to illustrate how PlayStation has been selling fewer and fewer of its own flagship games since a peak during the pandemic. About 54.1m copies of games either developed or published by Sony were sold in the 2018 financial year; in 2025, it sold 32.1m.

Sony has put out some great homegrown games since the PS5 was released in 2020, from Astro Bot to Ghost of Yōtei, but it has also had some expensive and very public failures and cancellations; PlayStation boss Jim Ryan, who retired in 2024, placed big bets on live-service games and only a few panned out (hello, Helldivers). Sony also seems to have rolled back on releasing its single-player PS5 games on PC after a polite interval of time, suggesting it wants to preserve what advantage and exclusivity it has.

Leftwing US pair refused entry to UK will address Oxford Union remotely

Home Office barred Cenk Uygur and Hasan Piker on grounds their visit was ‘not conducive to the public good’

Two leftwing US political commentators who were banned from entering the UK will still speak at the Oxford Union via livestream.

The Home Office told Cenk Uygur and Hasan Piker their presence in the UK was “not conducive to the public good” when they attempted to come to London to attend this week’s SXSW London event.

France's Macron invites Sam Altman to attend G7, OpenAI tells CNBC

French President Emmanuel Macron has looked to win over tech bosses amid hopes to boost AI capability.

Antibiotics use in livestock could rise by a third in next 15 years, UN report warns

Governments urged to act to prevent potentially disastrous impacts on human resistance to medicines

The use of antibiotics on livestock will rise by nearly a third in the next 15 years without government intervention, according to new global estimates, with potentially disastrous impacts on human resistance to essential medicines.

Animal husbandry accounts for close to three-quarters of global use of antimicrobial medications and in many countries their use is poorly monitored. Some herds are routinely dosed and in many countries antimicrobials are used to increase the growth of animals bred for meat.

Amazon faces lawsuit over Ring facial recognition software

A Virginia man is suing Amazon over Ring's "Familiar Faces" feature, alleging the technology violates people's privacy.

Kidnappings, threats and ‘protection fees’: how can Mexico confront rise in deadly extortion?

With corrupt police on the streets and shopkeepers forced to pay gangs, president has vowed to tackle crime that now affects all parts of society

It was about 11pm and Luis* was about to get into an Uber to go home when the police car pulled up. One of the officers frisked him and produced two plastic bags with what looked like drugs: one contained some sort of powder, the other little crystals. Luis had never seen them before.

Luis, who asked not to use his real name for fear of reprisals, insisted that the drugs weren’t his, but the officers didn’t seem to care. They shoved him into the back of the police truck and drove into the night.

‘He was like a zombie’: Tom Pidcock on racing Pogacar, his Grand Tour hopes and leaving Ineos

The British rider and unvarnished free spirit is in a good place heading into the Tour de France next month

When Tom Pidcock talks about how it feels to chase down the greatest cyclist of his generation, his language is so vivid you can almost taste the salt-baked sweat on Tadej Pogacar’s jersey.

But as we discuss the pair’s epic duel at the Milan-San Remo classic in March, and what it was like when a bloodied Pogacar went nuclear on the final climb, Pidcock can’t help but smile. “Up the Poggio, when I was following his attack, it was like racing a zombie,” he says. “He was white, white skinsuit, white shorts cut up, blood. He’s a demon. It was incredible.”

President Trump seeks control of science funding

The White House Office of Management and Budget is moving to take more control of billions of dollars in federal grants. Critics say the proposed change would jeopardize the integrity of U.S. science.

Peabo Bryson, singer known for Disney movie hits, dies at 75

Peabo Bryson, a two-time Grammy-winning singer and songwriter known for Disney movie hits "Beauty and the Beast" and "A Whole New World," has died at age 75.

Pulte appointment as spy chief would give a Trump attack dog access to a trove of intelligence

In his role atop the housing finance agency, Bill Pulte has used his access to mortgage records to refer some top Trump opponents for prosecution.

Trump threatens tariffs on 60 trading partners including UK and Canada over ‘forced labour’

Proposal for 10-12.5% levies, to also include EU, Taiwan and Australia, would allow US president to skirt court-imposed limits

Donald Trump has threatened tariffs of between 10% and 12.5% on 60 trading partners including the UK, the EU and Australia over alleged forced labour failures, in the latest attempt to revive his signature trade policy.

The EU immediately hit back, saying it expected the US to respect the tariff deal it entered into last July and arguing that stealth tariffs breached the spirit of that agreement.

As the tech mega-IPO race heats up, has OpenAI missed its moment?

With rivals racing to market to raise ‘eye-popping sums’, the spotlight is now on the AI sector’s one-time ‘poster child’

A year is a long time in AI. Just 12 months ago, Sam Altman was predicting his company OpenAI would build a super intelligence and fundamentally remake society. Now the boss of the ChatGPT developer is walking back those ideas after failing to make money from ads and erotic chatbots.

Meanwhile, rivals are storming ahead with plans to expand and go public on the stock market, in what is widely expected to be a season of record-setting initial public offerings (IPOs).

The ‘fricy’ flavour sensation: why spicy fruit is the sweet hot taste of this summer

We’ve had swicy. We’ve had swavoury. Now a new fusion of flavours is flying off the shelves. So what do these South American-inspired drinks and dishes actually taste like?

When the balance of fruit and spicy flavours is right, “I love it,” a fellow customer at a dessert cafe in London tells me as we wait to be served. It’s 26-year-old Hannah’s third time visiting Mango Twist in Seven Sisters, which sells South American-inspired slushies and fruit bowls. She’s here, like me, to order one of its “fricy” (fruity and spicy) offerings: the “Volcano” slushie, which is the cafe’s take on the traditional Mexican chamoyada, a mango and chilli drink.

Hannah has family in the US, so is familiar with the Mexican sweet treats that are commonly available there; as a child she was “obsessed” with the flavours. So when she found out about Mango Twist, “I was like, ‘I need to come here,’” she says.

Ukrainian drones strike a St. Petersburg oil terminal ahead of Putin visit

Ukrainian drones struck an oil terminal in St. Petersburg and set it ablaze, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, as the city hosted an annual economic forum promoted by President Putin.

Deprivation, resilience and a giant bunny: Polly Braden on capturing the ‘beauty and bleakness’ of young lives on the coast

In the Guardian’s Against the tide series, the documentary photographer got to know some ‘amazing’ 16- to 25-year-olds living on the fringes of England and Wales, and now her work is the centre of a new touring exhibition

It was while reading a landmark report about the poor health of people who live on the English coast that documentary photographer Polly Braden had her big idea. “I was just blown away by it,” she says. “I thought: this is about England. And it affects all of us.”

At the same time, as a single mother of teenagers, she had become interested in the lives of young people who had grown up under austerity, lived through a pandemic and were becoming adults during a cost-of-living crisis.

‘A kind of reconnecting with the past’: the Met celebrates the art of the portrait

In a new exhibition, work from artists including Pablo Picasso and Wifredo Lam offer different ways to see what a portrait can represent

What exactly is a portrait? At its simplest, it might be an attempt to depict oneself or someone else via a painting. But then consider German expressionist Max Beckmann’s masterpiece The Beginning, a triptych of scenes from his childhood, or Cuban artist Wifredo Lam’s Ídolo, a melange of forms based around the goddess Oyá. Rooted more in memory and myth than a mere physical likeness, these pieces stretch just what we might decide counts as a portrait.

Works such as the Beckmann and the Lam – as well as cubist abstractions, an ornate hand mirror, and one of Joan Miró’s pieces of “painting-poetry”, — are all portraits as defined by The Met’s new show The Face of Modern Life, which gathers close to 80 works from the museum’s permanent collection. A boisterous and effusive selection of work from one of the nation’s most storied museums, this show gives audiences a peek into the museum’s estimable archives and a chance to wonder just what defines this seemingly simple but truly elusive form.

Police want to decide which journalists can cover the Delaney Hall protests. That’s not their job | Adam Rose

New Jersey police must not deny streamers press freedoms

The line of New Jersey state police blocked every exit on the street. Clear plastic riot shields covered helmet to knee.

A few dozen people were stuck inside their formation, known as a kettle. Some were protesters defying a curfew order, which was intended to quell demonstrations at a nearby ICE detention facility. But most appeared to be journalists who were just there to do their job.

‘The story of Hong Kong is the sound of it’: the cross-cultural joy of the city’s Cantopop music

Emma-Lee Moss, AKA singer-songwriter Emmy the Great, has written a memoir rooted in her love of Hong Kong’s east-meets-west pop. She picks her favourite tracks

Emma-Lee Moss, a singer-songwriter who released four albums as Emmy the Great, was born in Hong Kong to an English father and Hongkonger mother. She lived there until she was 11, when her family moved to England, one of many who left Hong Kong before its transfer of sovereignty from the UK to China in 1997.

Even as a child, Moss understood the significance of the handover, which returned Hong Kong to Chinese control after 156 years as a British colony. “Thanks to our British passports, we would avoid the greatest schism our city had ever known – and its consequences, which were unwritten,” Moss writes in her memoir, My Cantopop Nights. Later, as a touring musician, Moss played gigs in Hong Kong, where she reconnected with her childhood love of Cantopop – predominantly Hong Kong music that blended Chinese and western pop sensibilities. In 2017, she moved back there to write her fourth album. That year, which marked 20 years since the handover, saw thousands of pro-democracy protesters on the streets after activists including Joshua Wong, Nathan Law and Alex Chow were imprisoned. Amid the unrest, Moss sought to capture Hong Kong’s sound and spirit through her music.

What the Hellenic! Why is Christopher Nolan’s new Greek epic entirely devoid of Greeks?

Set to be this year’s biggest blockbuster, The Odyssey’s cast has been selected to ‘represent the world’. Fair enough – except that one key country seems to have gone completely unrepresented …

There are the American accents, gleaming body suits and a muddy Dunkirk palette. And then there is Lupita Nyong’o as Helen of Troy, a casting choice that recently drew racist attacks from the usual moaners of the internet, including Elon Musk, who complained it wasn’t authentic. Authenticity matters. He’s just focusing entirely in the wrong place. To many Greeks, what concerns us most about the first look at Christopher Nolan’s adaptation of Homer’s Odyssey is the whereabouts of Billy Zane.

Zane, like other beloved members of the Greek diaspora in Hollywood, has recently appeared on “Alternative Odyssey” lists on the Greek side of social media, as well as over dinner table debates from Patras to Palmers Green. (Theo James, Jennifer Aniston, Hank Azaria, and Dave Bautista are among the other nominees.) Greek and Greek Cypriot media platforms are writing open letters. It’s a symptom of feeling left out by Hollywood, again and with no explanation, from our foundational mythologies and epics, with a cast list that features not even a token –opoulos, –edes, or –iannou. Not a single Greek.

Ukrainian drones hit St Petersburg as ‘Russian Davos’ opens in city

Energy and military sites targeted as guests gather for economic forum where Putin is due to speak on Friday

Ukrainian drones hit energy and military sites in St Petersburg early on Wednesday, hours before international guests gathered for the city’s flagship economic forum, in a blow to Vladimir Putin.

Several long-range drones crashed into oil storage facilities after Russian air defences failed to shoot them down. There were loud explosions and black smoke rose high above the city from the blazing oil terminal.

NBA finals 2026 predictions: will Wembanyama and the Spurs halt the red-hot Knicks?

Will New York end their long wait for a title? Our contributors pick the winner, key players and dark horses before the season’s grand finale tips off

Where to even begin? Victor Wembanyama, the brightest young star in the NBA, appears on the biggest stage imaginable (in this galaxy, at least ... I’m not sure how big the stages are where he comes from), while one of the most storied franchises in American sports has its return to relevance cemented. And, maybe most importantly of all, The Garden, baby! CDL

James Ellroy: ‘It’s satanic to me, the dependency people have on computers’

The outspoken crime novelist talks his provocative new book, his hatred of technology and why the film adaptation of LA Confidential is a ‘turkey’

James Ellroy does not own a computer, his publicist explains, so will a phone interview be OK? When the self-proclaimed “mad dog of American crime fiction” picks up his landline at the appointed hour, it transpires that he has never owned a mobile phone either. Nor sent an email. Nor figured out how to turn on his ex-wife Helen Knode’s TV set.

“Everything is very complex and it’s satanic to me, the dependency that people have on computers,” Ellroy, 78, says cheerfully in a bass baritone drawl from his pad in Denver, Colorado. “I don’t engage in internet chat and I understand there’s all this crazy shit on the internet and people with the most outlandish beliefs on God’s green Earth.”

The doctor who mends broken brains: why there is room for hope after a stroke or head injury

The neurologist Orlando Swayne doesn’t suggest everyone can recover. But he does argue that early, targeted and intense therapy can sometimes bring about life-changing improvements – and we have a moral obligation to provide it

Claire was in bad shape. She had been brought to the ward on a stretcher and hoisted on to a bed where she lay curled up in a ball. She was unable to speak, her eyes flat and face expressionless. While she could move her right arm a little, her left arm and both legs were immobile.

Life had changed dramatically for Claire, a mother of three in her late 30s, many months earlier, when she collapsed while on a night out with friends. A weakness in an artery at the base of her brain had ruptured, spilling blood around her frontal lobe. She was taken to hospital, where surgeons removed two side plate-sized pieces of bone from her skull to relieve the pressure on her brain. She spent months in intensive care.

Thank God for Pope Leo. He’s the leader our world desperately needs | Arwa Mahdawi

Even for nonbelievers like me, the pope has become a reassuring – and all too rare – voice of moral clarity

Do you remember the early 2000s, when Silicon Valley buzzed with idealism and tech bros told us they were going to save the world? “Don’t be evil” was Google’s unofficial motto; its 2004 IPO prospectus declared that doing “good things for the world” was more important than “short term gains”. Mark Zuckerberg similarly wrote in Facebook’s 2012 IPO letter that the social network was “built to accomplish a social mission – to make the world more open and connected”.

As was obvious to anyone paying attention, this was all performative bullshit. Nevertheless, it’s hard not to feel nostalgic about that period of time – which came to a definitive end in 2018, with the Cambridge Analytica scandal. By and large, billionaires and CEOs still cared what the hoi polloi thought of them. They were self-aware enough to realize that, even with all their billions, there’s a lot more of us than there are of them.

Sali Hughes on beauty: the best facial self-tans for summer

Think self-tan is too much effort – or too risky? Not any more. The latest products are so simple to use you can just go with the glow

I can’t be without a facial self-tan in spring/summer. Keen to offload heavier coverage foundations that can slip, slide and suffocate in the sunshine, I reach for a subtle tanner as a warmer, lighter and, truly, easier base layer for makeup.

People wrongly imagine self-tan to be too effortful, fiddly and risky, and understandably wonder where to slot it into their skincare routine, but a new crop of facial self-tanners simplifies both these issues.

Thieves are targeting the world's copper. This phone company is fighting back

The value of copper is rising, and thieves can make money by stripping it from phone poles, streetlights and EV chargers. But those thefts cost the rest of us.

Upcoming billing change could make pregnancy pricier

Come January, pregnancy care physician billing codes will change from a bundled system to an à la carte one.

Perplexity CEO tells CNBC one metric will determine who wins the AI race

Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas said that whichever company can provide the "most taken value per watt per user" will be the AI winners in the future.

Sen. Warner warns of risks from Pulte's intelligence appointment

NPR's Steve Inskeep asks Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence committee, about mortgage chief Bill Pulte's move to acting director of national intelligence.

California's primary for governor is undecided as candidates vie to be in the top two

Republicans and Democrats all compete together in the unusual primary to set the one-on-one race in November. Two Democrats and one Republican were in close contention.

Ambivalence by Brian Dillon review – an odd man out

The critic’s memoir’s is a portrait in determination to go against the grain and ‘pursue a life in words and ideas’

Brian Dillon lost his parents early, his mother when he was 16, his father at 21. He writes of them in passing here, as he did in his first book, In the Dark Room, but with little overt display of grief. Narrated in the third person, with young Dillon a removed he rather than an emotionally manipulative I, this isn’t a weepy orphanhood memoir. It describes instead his awkward Dublin education, as he struggles to carve out an identity for himself and to accommodate his passion for avant garde music and literature within academe.

He grows up surrounded by the books acquired by his father, who left school early and went to university late. He reads them avidly and adds to them with library borrowings and purchases of his own. But, to begin with, his greater attachment is to music magazines and to David Bowie, whose excitingly ambivalent sexuality echoes his own. His father speaks of duty – to homework, weekly mass and getting a decent job. But his commitment is to jouissance, if only he can find it.

Sweden World Cup 2026 team guide

With Graham Potter at the helm and Viktor Gyökeres finding form, hopes are high after playoff success

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

A bird has better protection than an Afghan woman. Welcoming the Taliban to Europe is a slap in the face | Fawzia Koofi

The EU must enact laws to stop gender apartheid and end impunity – not invite the perpetrators to Brussels. For Afghan women and girls it is a matter of survival

The Taliban in Afghanistan recently arrested three of my family members, kept them in captivity, tortured one, and confiscated my house. It was to silence me. I was about to write to European diplomats to seek support for the release of my innocent family when I heard the shocking news that the EU is inviting Taliban officials to Brussels.

After nearly five years, what has changed in Afghanistan to make life better for its women and its people? Five years with no official schools for female students beyond sixth grade, while thousands of religious schools have been established across Afghanistan, where girls may attend without restrictions. Five years of bans on women becoming doctors, while maternal and infant mortality have skyrocketed. Five years of exclusion from the job market, leaving women to beg on the streets.

Iran and the US trade strikes in the Persian Gulf, further testing the ceasefire

Kuwait briefly shut the country's main airport after Iranian drones heavily damaged it and killed one person, the latest in a series of attacks by Iran and the U.S. that have tested a fragile truce.

Wimmy Road Boyz by Sufiyaan Salam review – an electric debut set on Manchester’s Curry Mile

Written in breathless multilingual prose, this coming-of-age meets state-of-the-nation novel is an incredible literary performance

Three twentysomethings “drive and dream of an impossible night on an endless street. moving as a massive through mad sticky traffic, destination: where else? manchester, wilmslow road, the curry mile, yo!” Thus opens Sufiyaan Salam’s high-octane debut novel, written largely in gen Z lowercase – and you’re in for a ride.

The Boyz are British Pakistani friends in their early 20s. Immy is “something of a bad-boy muslim slut who don’t never text back”; Khan is “the mogul mowgli himself … the type to recite Warren Buffett epigrams like they’re hadiths”; and Haris has “a mind that never switches off, philosophy subreddits doing bares”. Each is looking for an escape – from their past, present, someone else, or themselves – and they come together for one night “cruising and bruising in a hire car towards what might just be the natural elastic endpoint of a friendship beginning to fray”.

Affection review – memory loss thriller that keeps you guessing benefits from winning performances

Terrific acting, especially an intriguingly ambiguous turn by child actor Julianna Layne, ground this twisty little horror debut

When Ellie (Jessica Rothe) wakes up in bed in a house she doesn’t recognise, next to a man she doesn’t know, she naturally assumes the worst, in debut feature director BT Meza’s creepy thriller. Understandably, she freaks out, and is even more disconcerted when a little girl calling her mommy appears, distressed that Ellie doesn’t know who she is either. Has she been kidnapped? Why would this girl play along with the kidnapper’s ruse? At this point, Bruce (an excellent performance from Joseph Cross) intervenes, reassuring his daughter and explaining to Ellie that she has memory loss. He is her husband, he says, and Alice (Julianna Layne) is their little girl.

If you’ve ever watched a film before, you’ll know there are twists and turns coming. This nifty little movie keeps you guessing and when it eventually shows its hand, there’s still plenty of mileage left in the characters. Layne gives a beautifully calibrated performance as Alice; it’s initially genuinely difficult to work out if she’s an innocent caught up in a terrifying situation or somehow in on whatever is happening – and that’s exactly what this character needs. With a film that wants to tease the viewer as to exactly what genre we’re watching, it’s ideal to see a kid played with a degree of ambiguity.

Pot shot takes top spot in World Food Photography awards 2026 – in pictures

A selection of winning images from this year’s World Food Photography awards sponsored by Tenderstem. The photographs offer insights into the lives of people around the world through the lens of food, from growing, farming and harvesting to cooking, eating, celebrating and surviving

• A free exhibition of all 203 finalist images is at the Mall Galleries, London, from Wednesday 3 June to Sunday 7 June

Microsoft unveils new AI models to lessen reliance on OpenAI and lower costs for developers

At its Build developer conference, Microsoft announced a series of generative AI models to try and crack a market controlled by OpenAI, Anthropic and Google.

A moment that changed me: I became an uncle – and it helped me heal from childhood bullying

My ‘niblings’ gave me a positive reason to return to the home town where I’d experienced homophobia as a boy. Over time, they transformed my sense of family and self

When I found out I had become an uncle, I was 22 and on a year abroad as part of a languages degree, living in Madrid. I’d spent much of my time there having raucous fun on the city’s gay scene, dancing till the early hours then sloping off with Spanish men. It felt a long way from my family life back home in Bolton.

As this was 1997 – a time before mobile phones – calls from landlines had to be rationed to once a week. But my mum phoned to tell me my sister had gone into labour and then, two days later, the phone rang again with the news that I had a nephew. It felt like an abstract concept, not quite real.

Crispy toffee brownies and carrot cake blondies: Kate Jenkins’ fun family bakes

Crisp chocolate bars that are great to make with children’s help, plus a spicy carrot twist that transforms a traditional blondie

When it comes to having fun with the family in the kitchen, my brownie recipes deliver every time. The toffee crisp number brings crunch and nostalgia, while the carrot cake blondie offers a softer, spiced twist that even veg-avoiding kids love. Both are simple crowdpleasers and perfect for little hands in the kitchen. Best of all, they’re not just for children; grown-ups will happily claim the last square, too.

‘They beat me until I lost consciousness’: growing reports of brutal arrests, torture and deaths in Iran’s prisons

Testimonies from political prisoners and journalists arrested in crackdowns since the war have started to emerge as regime’s internet blackout lifts

Iranian writer Hamid Asefi wasn’t home on the afternoon of 5 March when armed intelligence agents stormed his Tehran apartment, breaking down the door with a sledgehammer and axe. After going unit to unit looking for him, they finally encountered him as he returned to the building.

One of the agents “drew his handgun, shouted at me to stop, and before I had time to respond, struck me forcefully on the back of the neck and spine with the butt of his weapon, dragging me into the apartment,” Asefi told the Guardian in a written interview.

Specieswatch: Scientists trace haunting sea thrums to humpback whales

Understanding whale sounds could help prevent strikes from ships and even aid in search for extraterrestrial life

If you stand on certain shorelines and listen carefully you might just hear deep rumbling noises. Sharp-eared fishers, lighthouse keepers and sea kayakers have been haunted by these late-night sounds for centuries and now, for the first time, scientists have recorded these thrums and pinpointed them to humpback whales, proving that whales have a far larger vocabulary than previously thought.

Fred Sharpe from the Alaska Whale Foundation and his colleagues set up land-based microphones to tune in to the mysterious ocean noises. Tip-offs from Alaskan coastal communities helped to narrow down the best recording locations. Along with the previously documented trumpets, blows and shrieks that humpback whales make, the researchers recorded very low frequency rumbles, a bit like distant thunder, and new sounds including pizzle, howl and hooting noises. The night thrums travelled through the air and could be heard up to 6 miles (10km) away.

Country diary: My family has lived near here for 300 years – no wonder it feels like home | Andrea Meanwell

Tebay, Cumbria: Some of my ancestors were fell pony hauliers and our farmhouse used to be a coaching inn. Might they have called in for a drink?

There is always some waiting around at lambing and calving time, so I like to have a project ongoing. Some years I have written books; this year I’m researching my family tree, in particular whether any of my ancestors may have visited Low Borrowdale farm when it was a coaching inn in the 18th century. I knew they had been involved in fell pony haulage around the north of England, but could they have called in here for a drink?

I’m mainly investigating the Binks family – my maiden name. Almost within living memory, there is my grandad’s grandad, George Binks, a fell pony haulier who lived in Great Asby from 1862 to 1934. My grandad told me which house he lived in, eight miles from our farm. Two more generations of George Binkses take us to 1785, when one was born in Middleton-in-Teesdale and died in 1840 at Kirkby Stephen, 11 miles away.

‘The CGI would have cost millions. I spent $2,000.’ Is Dreams of Violets AI slop – or the future of film-making?

It should have taken years, but Ash Koosha made a drama about Iran’s anti-government protests in weeks – and now it’s the first AI-made movie to screen at a major film festival. It could transform indie film-making, claims the director

Next week a breakthrough 75-minute drama about the brutal crackdown in Iran on anti-government protesters in January will premiere at the Tribeca film festival in New York. It is called Dreams of Violets and is based on journalism, video footage and eyewitness accounts. “I would say 80% of it is a recreation of events that actually happened,” says its Iranian-British director Ash Koosha. But Dreams of Violets is a work of fiction, not a documentary: a drama following a group of strangers caught up in the protests, who meet by chance in an alleyway. How on earth has Koosha managed to pull together a drama about the killings in less than six months?

The answer, it turns out, is by using artificial intelligence. Every image and character in Dreams of Violets is AI-generated. Koosha says he created the characters by describing their physical appearances, using people he has known in the past as references. It would be too dangerous to base characters on living people in Iran, he says. “Because of the security issue, it would not be safe for the characters to even remotely resemble someone.”

Clarkson’s Farm review – you might as well call him Jeremy Kardashian

From his multi-million pound beer brand to souvenir emporium flogging cufflinks, there’s such a cult of personality around the bumbling berk now that he’s basically morphing into Kim, Khloé et al. Stick to the farming, Jeremy!

By now, five series in, the fatal flaw at the heart of Clarkson’s Farm has become unignorable. Ultimately, this is meant to be a show about failure; about an oafish man who wades in to an industry he knows little about and mucks everything up.

Except, well, it isn’t that any more, is it? Because in real life, Clarkson’s Farm has become so successful that Clarkson has now essentially colonised the entire Cotswolds in his image. His Farmer’s Dog pub is now such an attraction that it recently had to turn a nearby field into a 360-space car park – the same as a large supermarket – to cope with demand. His Diddly Squat farm shop is a souvenir emporium, catering to anyone who wants to buy branded hats and cufflinks, or to own a jar of honey with Clarkson’s face on it. And this isn’t even mentioning his Hawkstone beer brand, which reported sales of £21.3m in the year to March 2025 and has a stated goal of putting Peroni “out of business”.

Clarkson’s Farm is on Prime Video

‘You can be made a laughing stock to millions’: can gen Z escape the fear of being cringe?

With the constant risk of being recorded, many young people are afraid of showing enthusiasm – let alone doing something so potentially embarrassing as dancing in public. Is there a way to set themselves free?

In a video posted to TikTok, where Katie Whitney has 2.5 million followers, she says to camera, bluntly: “This video is for Cynthia Erivo. If you’re not Cynthia Erivo … you can keep on scrolling.” Her demeanour then shifts, her voice becomes softer; more the way a person might talk to their puppy: “Hi Cynthia. Hi baby. Hey baby. How are you?” It’s toe-curling – or, in modern parlance, cringe – to watch. “I feel traumatised,” says one commenter. Others post photos of a stunned-looking Erivo and imagine: “What if the Wicked star were to actually watch this video?” Cringe!

Now 25, but having started making this kind of content – “weird skits” – at 20, Whitney is part of what is known online as CringeTok, a subsection of the internet that deals in content designed to make your toes curl. It’s in many ways a reaction to a fear of being “cringe”, which is seeping into all parts of life – from social media to classrooms to the workplace.

DOJ says it has superseding indictment against Southern Poverty Law Center

The superseding indictment does not contain any new charges or name new defendants from the original version, which was returned in April.

Supreme Court allows Alabama to use congressional map that dilutes Black vote

The ruling is a victory for Republicans, who have sought to retain their slim majority in the House of Representatives by redistricting in various states.

Spiced pumpkin and tamarind eggplant: cosy Bengali recipes from Kishwar Chowdhury

Melbourne MasterChef alumn and author shares two vegetable-focused, winter-friendly Bengali recipes: one with bhaja, another with begun

(Pictured above)

‘The ball won’t roll’: Mexico’s striking teachers threaten to disrupt World Cup days before kick-off

Teachers associated with the CNTE union are calling for salary raises and the reversal of pension laws

Striking teachers wreaked havoc on Tuesday in downtown Mexico City, a few days before the city hosts the first match of the World Cup, with protesters pulling down giant mannequins of football players, ripping off their clothes and setting them on fire on the city’s main Paseo de la Reforma.

They also set soccer balls alight and blocked main roads across the capital.

6/2: The Takeout with Major Garrett

Primary battles are underway in six states; acting AG Todd Blanche testifies before the House Appropriations Committee.