England v India: first women’s T20 cricket international – live

Latest updates from 6.30pm (BST) start in Chelmsford
The Spin: finding treasure in an old Lancashire cowshed

1st over: India 7-2 (Bhatia 5, Rodrigues 0) That was the last ball of a pr-etty eventful first over.

Two wickets in the over! After getting off the mark with a streaky mishit over the off side, Shafali Verma drags Bell towards mid-on and is caught by the stooping Alice Capsey.

New '60 Minutes' head Nick Bilton says Paramount's CBS News hired him to pivot the show before ratings decline

Nick Bilton is a former New York Times columnist and has made several documentaries for Netflix, where he worked with CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss.

Treasury Department is weighing a $250 bill with Trump's image

The department said it is preparing for the banknote in response to legislation proposed last year.

How reality TV has shaped American culture

Reality TV is one of the most beloved and controversial genres to emerge from the 20th century. For the "USA to Z" series, Vladimir Duthiers takes a look at how it has shaped American culture.

Supreme Court sides with Black death row inmate who alleged discrimination

The Supreme Court divided 5-4, with Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Brett Kavanaugh joining the three liberal justices in the majority.

Former senior CIA officer took home gold bars and millions in cash, FBI says

David Rush, a former senior CIA officer, is accused of theft and making false statements. The trove of gold and cash went missing from his CIA storage space — but it was found in his Virginia home.

Some artists drop out of Freedom 250 concerts shortly after lineup released

Some artists announced for the Freedom 250 concert series in Washington, D.C., this summer, say they won't be performing.

Mythos was the critical trigger for IBM's open-source cybersecurity push, Krishna says

IBM has signed Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan and Bank of America onto its open-source cybersecurity effort called Project Lightwell.

CFTC bid to vacate order against Winklevoss' crypto exchange 'very unusual': ex-agency chief

Gemini's founders, Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, were donors to the 2024 election campaign of President Donald Trump.

Netanyahu orders Israeli army to seize ‘70% of Gaza Strip’, violating ceasefire deal

Speaking in West Bank settlement, Israeli PM, who is fighting for political survival before elections, says ‘we are squeezing Hamas’

• Middle East crisis – live updates

Benjamin Netanyahu has said he has given orders to the Israeli army to seize control of 70% of the Gaza Strip in a move that threatens to torpedo an already fragile ceasefire and create catastrophic humanitarian conditions in the already devastated territory.

Under the US-brokered ceasefire in October, the Israeli army withdrew to a demarcation line which gave Israel direct control of 53% of the occupied territory. Since then, Israeli forces have steadily advanced their positions westward into the Hamas-controlled half of the strip, and declared an ever-expanded no man’s land west of that, within which they claim the right to decide who can enter and open fire on anyone perceived as a threat.

Canada get payback on USA to reach world ice hockey championship semi-finals

• Canada beat USA 4-0 to reach world semis

• Goaltender Jet Greaves stars with shutout

• Finland beat Czechs to book last-four spot

Canada cruised to a 4-0 win over reigning champion the United States to book their spot in the semi-finals of the International Ice Hockey Federation World Championship on Thursday, surviving a third-period onslaught to gain some revenge over the Americans, who beat them in this year’s Olympic final.

That 2-1 overtime loss in February was a painful one for the Canadians, who crashed out of last year’s worlds at the quarter-final stage after suffering a 2-1 defeat by Denmark in one of the greatest upsets in the sport’s history.

FIFA's World Cup ticket sales outraged fans. Now they are under investigation

FIFA has always had a peculiar way to sell tickets to the World Cup. It never faced any major issues — until prices soared for the 2026 tournament.

Olivia Rodrigo responds to babydoll dress criticism: ‘It shows how we normalize pedophilia in our culture’

The pop singer said that suggestions that a recent outfit was ‘childlike’ were rooted in sexist attitudes toward women

Olivia Rodrigo has responded to controversy over a recent babydoll dress she wore while performing on stage in Spain.

The singer faced backlash online after she wore a short puffy dress with a floral pattern while performing her recent single Drop Dead at Barcelona’s Teatre Grec on 8 May. She also wears a similar style dress on the cover of her upcoming album.

Carney calls for new US-Canada partnership to ‘help make America great again’

Canada prime minister urges greater economic cooperation between the two countries in speech delivered in New York

Canada’s prime minister, Mark Carney has called for a new relationship with the United States to “help make America great again”.

In a speech delivered in New York on Thursday, Carney said that there should be a “true partnership” that reimagines cooperation in specific sectors challenged by global competition.

‘True trailblazer’: British author and activist Maureen Duffy dies aged 92

Duffy wrote novels, plays and poetry, campaigned for gay rights, and was a ‘tireless advocate’ for authors’ rights

Maureen Duffy, author of more than 60 works and a pioneering activist for gay rights and writers’ rights, has died at the age of 92.

Duffy was awarded the inaugural £10,000 Royal Society of Literature (RSL) Pioneer prize last year by Bernardine Evaristo, who described her as a “true trailblazer in every sense of the word”.

U.S. and Iran reach temporary deal — but Trump hasn't signed off yet

The latest military and economic actions come as President Trump insists he feels no pressure to make a deal with Iran before November's midterm elections.

WSL lands record four-year deal with CBS Sports to broadcast games in the US

• Paramount+ will air 183 matches per season

• Deal is major uplift in valuation of TV rights

CBS Sports has signed a four-year deal to acquire the rights to broadcast the Women’s Super League live in the US from next season until the end of the 2029-30 campaign.

The new deal will see the Paramount+ streaming service air 183 WSL matches a season, while the CBS Sports Network will show one live match a week, with select matches also airing on CBS Sports Golazo Network.

Keir Starmer defends policy choices in rebuttal of Blair’s criticism

PM says predecessor misunderstands government’s successes and ‘very different’ situation compared with 1997

Keir Starmer has dismissed Tony’s Blair’s argument that his government is on the wrong track, saying he is implementing the policies needed for today, not the very different situation faced by the former prime minister in 1997.

“You won’t be surprised to know that I don’t agree with much that Tony says about what the government is doing,” Starmer said during a visit to an apprentice training centre in west London.

Nearly 500 seriously injured in e-scooter collisions in Great Britain in 2026

Ten people, all of whom were e-scooter riders, were killed in collisions compared with six in 2024

Nearly 500 people were seriously injured in collisions involving e-scooters in Great Britain last year, government statistics have shown.

The Department for Transport (DfT) said there had been an estimated 1,484 casualties in crashes involving electric scooters, compared with 1,390 in 2024.

UK recall alert issued for car seat base that poses risk of injuries to children

Office for Product Safety and Standards advises stopping use of Maxi-Cosi FamilyFix Slide Pro bases immediately

A baby car seat product that poses a risk of injuries to children because of a malfunctioning safety indicator has been recalled by its manufacturer.

Maxi-Cosi is recalling all of its FamilyFix Slide Pro bases from buyers, information on the Office for Product Safety and Standards (OPSS) website shows.

Ex-judges push to look into "anti-weaponization fund" deal

A group of 35 former federal judges asked a court to reopen a legal dispute between President Trump and the government, calling the deal to create a $1.776 billion "anti-weaponization fund" potentially fraudulent.

Milan restores bull mosaic’s testicles worn down by pirouetting tourists

The artwork in a 19th-century shopping arcade has been damaged by visitors honouring an unusual tradition

A floor mosaic of an anatomically detailed bull in one of Milan’s grand arcades is getting a sensitive makeover after being worn down by thousands of passersby honouring an unusual tradition.

Legend has it that grinding your heel on the bull’s testicles at the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II guarantees you will return to the city.

CBS News ousts top 60 Minutes producer as part of broader shake-up

Former NY Times journalist Nick Bilton will replace Tanya Simon as executive producer of the Sunday newsmagazine

CBS News on Thursday announced major changes for the Sunday newsmagazine show 60 Minutes, appointing the former New York Times tech journalist Nick Bilton as executive producer for the show’s 59th season, which begins in the fall.

Tanya Simon, the daughter of legendary 60 Minutes correspondent Bob Simon, has been ousted as the show’s top producer, a role she was given after the resignation of longtime executive producer Bill Owens in the spring of 2025.

Australian woman charged over travel to Syria to join Islamic State

The arrest came eight months after she returned to Australia with her children from Lebanon.

Alan Milburn is right, a young generation has been betrayed. Forget Tony Blair: we must attend to this | Polly Toynbee

The new and excoriating account of the dire prospects for UK young people is a call to action. It could be the Beveridge report for our time

The diagnosis is dire. Alan Milburn has published the first part of his forensic report on the lives and chances of young people, their fate after leaving school or college, the inadequacy of their health, education and pastoral care, and the reluctance of employers to hire them. This is a “moral crisis”, he says. There are now more than a million young people not in work, education or training (Neets), and Milburn expects that number to rise to 1.25 million without radical change. The government needs a “big idea”, he tells me. This should be it, “the spine, the purpose”.

Perhaps he was expected only to solve the particular problem of left-behind and lost Neets. What he has delivered instead is an excoriating overview of how badly this young generation is treated altogether. A sense of shock reverberates through every well-written page. Why have children and young people had such a low priority in resources and political concern, especially since 2010? There has been institutional neglect, loss of youth and careers services, chaotic non-communication or data exchange between dislocated silos, small schemes coming and going. Milburn describes a catastrophic failure: it needs a whole “system reset” and no more “tinkering”.

EU to discuss potential restrictions on Chinese imports amid fears of overreliance

Concerns among commissioners in bloc that surge in imports could lead to decline similar to that of US rust belt towns

EU commissioners will meet on Friday for crunch talks aimed at imposing new restrictions on imports from China amid growing concern that Beijing is fuelling conditions for US-style rust belt towns in Europe.

The surge in imports of everything from electric cars to key components in machines, medical devices and foodstuffs has been dubbed China Shock 2.0, potentially mirroring the experience in the US 25 years ago when Beijing joined the World Trade Organization.

DOJ investigating whether Trump accuser E. Jean Carroll committed perjury

The Justice Department is conducting a criminal investigation into whether author E. Jean Carroll committed perjury in connection with her civil lawsuits against President Trump, sources familiar with the matter said.

Supreme court sides with Mississippi man on death row in racial bias case

Terry Pitchford, who was 18 when convicted of murder, argued that Black jurors were excluded from his trial

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The US supreme court on Thursday ruled in favor of Terry Pitchford, a Black man convicted of capital murder and on death row in Mississippi, who claimed that his conviction was due to the jury having racial bias.

The justices sided with Pitchford in a 5-4 vote.

Orthodox Jewish women in Israel may now take a rabbinic exam, like men

Until now, only Orthodox Jewish men in Israel have been allowed to take exams to become rabbis. After a long campaign, women can now also take the test - but still can't become rabbis

Magnier snatches stage 18 bunch sprint to seal hat-trick of Giro d’Italia wins

• The 22-year-old Frenchman set up by teammate Stuyven

• Vingegaard keeps pink jersey after attack on final climb

Paul Magnier of Soudal Quick-Step completed a hat-trick of victories in this Giro d’Italia by winning a bunch sprint on stage 18 in Pieve di Soligo.

The 22-year-old Frenchman was perfectly set up by his teammate Jasper Stuyven in the final few high-speed turns and powered to the line, after 171km of racing, ahead of two Italian sprinters.

Sinner blames illness rather than extreme heat after crashing out of French Open

• Italian says five-set Cerúndolo defeat ‘tough to accept’

• Zverev is new favourite for men’s title

Jannik Sinner described his ­second-round loss at the French Open and the physical difficulties that ­scuppered him as “tough to accept” considering his form. On Thursday, the world No 1’s body betrayed him as he suffered a monumental 3-6, 2-6, 7-5, 6-1, 6-1 defeat by Juan Manuel Cerúndolo of Argentina.

“It’s tough to accept because of the position where I’ve been in and everything considered, but now I have a lot of time to recover,” he said. “I won’t play any tournament on grass before, most likely. Now I really need some time off, recover completely, also mentally, and then be ready to go again for Wimbledon.”

Image of Thai police in sparkly dresses with handcuffed suspect turns out to be AI fake

Picture was created by administrator in charge of station’s Facebook account who wanted to create ‘friendlier image’

It was an arresting image and an irresistible story. A group of tough Thai police officers – five men and one woman – all wearing elaborate festival-style dresses, surrounding a drug dealer they had caught while undercover.

The image, released by local police, was so compelling that it found its way on to the front page of the UK’s Daily Star, as well as in picture stories in the Telegraph, the Sun and the New York Post.

Arsenal owners promise to strengthen squad even if Champions League is won

• Josh Kroenke says there will be no ‘standing still’

• Extending Mikel Arteta’s contract the ‘utmost priority’

Josh Kroenke has promised that ­Arsenal will strengthen their squad even if they are crowned European champions for the first time and said rewarding Mikel Arteta with a new contract is an “utmost priority”.

Arsenal, who face Paris Saint-­Germain in the Champions League final in Budapest on Saturday, spent more than £250m last summer on players who helped them win a first Premier League title for 22 years. Kroenke and his father, Stan, the club’s ­American owners and co-chairs, watched ­Arsenal at Crystal Palace on Sunday and brought the trophy on to the pitch before it was presented to the captain, Martin ­Ødegaard. They are expected to be at the final.

Should I let my nine-year-old daughter wax her moustache?

Teaching body positivity is one thing. Helping a child navigate social pressure – while preserving agency – is another

Hi Ugly,

My nine-year-old daughter has become aware that she has a moustache. (I’m a hairy Italian, this is her birthright.) It’s more noticeable than anything her friends have, and visible in pictures.

Why is this column called ‘Ask Ugly’?

How do I respond to my friends when they criticize their own weight and looks?

How should I be styling my pubic hair?

How do I deal with imperfection?

Call of controversy? Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 imagines a revived Korean war

Infinity Ward’s new game in the storied shooter genre embraces change with a potentially controversial real-world setting

There was a time when Call of Duty (CoD) regularly courted controversy. In 2009, Modern Warfare 2’s infamous “No Russian” mission saw players (optionally) shooting screaming civilians in a Moscow airport. In 2022’s entry, a drone strike mission that drew chilling parallels to the real-world US assassination of Iranian general Qassem Suleimani two years earlier was featured. The series has not always been straightforwardly palatable.

In recent years, however, the world’s most popular shooter game has largely swapped grit for melodrama, following the misadventures of a troop of larger than life elite soldiers. For 2026’s Modern Warfare 4, however, Activision’s shooter series and its developer Infinity Ward are back in tabloid-baiting territory.

Water-related deaths rise to 11 amid UK heatwave

Bodies of two teenagers recovered by emergency workers following separate incidents in Kent and Oxford

The number of water-related deaths during the UK’s recent heatwave has risen to 11 after the bodies of two teenage boys were recovered in Kent and Oxford.

Emergency workers recovered the body of a 14-year-old boy from the River Thames near Donnington Bridge, Oxford, at about 5.30pm on Wednesday. Thames Valley police said the boy’s family had been informed and that his death was being treated as “unexplained but not suspicious”.

Rico Verhoeven seeks rematch with Oleksandr Usyk after contentious stoppage

• Converted kickboxer takes unified champion deep in WBC title bout

• End of round bell may have rung before referee stopped fight

Rico Verhoeven, the Dutch former kickboxer who has switched to boxing, wants an apology as well as a rematch, after being stopped one second before the end of the penultimate round in a WBC title bout with unified world heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk last Saturday.

The stoppage was controversial, with Verhoeven feeling he could have continued and some replays suggesting the bell may have rung before the referee signalled the end of the fight — only Verhoeven’s second since switching to boxing — at the Pyramids of Giza in Egypt.

What Jill Biden said about her husband's debate performance then — and now

Jill Biden told CBS News "Sunday Morning" that her husband's performance in the 2024 debate "scared me to death." But her comments at the time did not reflect those concerns.

Airlines, hotels warn against Trump admin threat to international flights to 'sanctuary cities'

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said the Trump administration is considering pulling international flight processing in "sanctuary cities."

Dell wins a $9.7 billion Pentagon software deal after donating to Trump accounts

The purchase comes after Dell spent considerable time courting the White House and after President Trump urged purchases of the company's computers.

Mosquitoes can become attracted to insect repellant, study suggests

The insect may learn to associate the chemical Deet with a ‘blood meal’, researchers say

It is a spray used worldwide to protect humans from mosquito bites, but now research suggests Deet can become attractive to the insects if they associate it with feeding.

Deet – which has the chemical name N,N-diethyl-meta-toluamide – is widely used in insect repellants, with the UK Health Security Agency recommending products with 50% Deet as the first choice to protect against mosquito bites.

Core inflation hit an annual rate of 3.3% in April, as expected, Fed’s preferred gauge shows

The PCE price index for April was expected to show an annual inflation rate of 3.8% for all items and 3.3% for core.

So dumb it just might work: can these dumbphone evangelists convince you to dump smartphones?

As part of a growing anti-tech movement, startup dumb.co is pushing flip phones as a way for young people to find ‘social and spiritual freedom’

“They aren’t as dumb as they look,” our facilitator said, referring to the dark gray flip phone in his hand. He just as easily could have been talking about us, the 28 New York residents before him who had signed up to use the device for the entire month of March. He explained that the relic was loaded with WhatsApp, iMessage, Google Maps, Uber, Microsoft 2FA – nothing like my seventh-grade flip phone.

We each had paid $75 to participate in Month Offline, or MO, a program that challenged us to swear off our smartphones entirely. Another $25 went to dumb.co, the company behind MO, for the so-called dumbphones we would use as we navigated daily life.

I’ve finally hit my midlife crisis. How do I know what I’m meant to do?

Knowing time is finite is not easy, writes advice columnist Eleanor Gordon-Smith, but you’re not alone in this feeling

• Read more Leading questions

I think I’ve finally hit my midlife crisis. People always talk about it as something dramatic that you should somehow prepare for, but for me it arrived quietly. And now that it’s finally staring me in the face, it feels like the end of my days.

I had a career in social care that I eventually abandoned after being completely burnt out by the pandemic. I moved into a different sector hoping I’d feel inspired again, or at least freer, but I don’t. Now I’m burnt out all over again, unemployed, and completely unsure what I’m supposed to do with my life.

There is no greater joy than watching the unique and freaky ways my friends connect with each other | Rebecca Shaw

In a world determined to isolate us, it is such a pleasure to connect two people I know and love and watch their friendship take off

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Last week I went to a beloved friend’s 40th birthday, and I got to witness something I deeply believe about friendship distilled in one room.

Sitting around a table full of mutual friends, screaming and laughing in a way that would usually be annoying, the subject of how everyone had become friends with the birthday boy came up. I’ll call him Ben.

“In each of my friends there is something that only some other friend can fully bring out. By myself I am not large enough to call the whole man into activity; I want other lights than my own to show all his facets.”

Rebecca Shaw is a writer based in Sydney

Direct, intense … selfish? What are Barcelona getting in Anthony Gordon?

Some Newcastle fans are pleased to cash in but the winger’s pedigree in the Champions League is unquestionable

José Mourinho was a man on a mission. Once the final whistle blew, he made a beeline for Anthony Gordon and not only embraced the England winger but whispered four words in his ear.

“You are too much,” was the message from Benfica’s manager after his side lost a Champions League match 3-0 at Newcastle last October. Gordon had scored one goal, created another and terrorised Mourinho’s defence in the course of the sort of performance that explains why Barcelona are paying £70m for his turbo-charged talent.

Dormitory fire at Kenyan girls’ school kills at least 16 students

Parents face anxious wait for updates after blaze tears through Utumishi girls academy in Gilgil, Nakuru county

A fire has ripped through a dormitory at a girls’ school in Kenya’s Rift valley, killing at least 16 students.

The fire broke out just after midnight at Utumishi girls academy in Gilgil, Nakuru county, about 76 miles north-west of Nairobi, police said.

A girl’s best friend: Marilyn Monroe remembered by her closest confidants

Four days before what would have been her 100th birthday, Hollywood legends look back on their friendships with a woman who, underneath the studio sheen, was warm, supportive and empathetic

You can judge a woman by the people she surrounds herself with. For the last few months I’ve been talking to the people Marilyn Monroe surrounded herself with, during her eventful 36 years on earth. Ostensibly and primarily, I was doing this to make a radio documentary, which begins on what would have been her 100th birthday. But I also had a secret secondary motive: I wanted to find out if – maybe in another life – Marilyn and I might have been friends.

The first thing to say about Monroe’s friends is that she had a lot of them. The fact that more than six decades have passed since her death, and it’s still possible to find enough living people to interview, tells you something. This is all the more surprising because MM (as she’s sometimes referred to in fan circles) seems far too much the archetypal, immortal screen goddess to do anything as ordinary as have mates. And while it’s possible to imagine her trailed by a harem of pathetically adoring men – like Tom Ewell’s character in The Seven Year Itch – her sex-symbol image means people find it harder to envisage her having real friendships with women.

CVS to restore coverage of Zepbound, add Eli Lilly's obesity pill to drug plans

CVS will add Zepbound coverage on Oct. 1, and start covering Lilly's newly approved Foundayo pill on June 1.

Exclusive discounts from CBS Mornings Deals

On this edition of CBS Mornings Deals, we show you items that will help improve your everyday lifestyle. Visit cbsdeals.com to take advantage of these exclusive deals today. CBS earns commissions on purchases made through cbsdeals.com.

Kimmel on Spencer Pratt in the LA mayor’s race: ‘Wasting our time and money to get back on TV’

The late-night host warned viewers about the Trump-esque rise of the ex-reality TV star campaigning to be LA’s mayor

Jimmy Kimmel spoke about Donald Trump’s fawning cabinet and how his ascent to the White House is now being emulated by another desperate reality TV star.

On Jimmy Kimmel Live!, the host said that as Trump is now depressed given his falling approval rating and the war in Iran, he “assembled team circle jerk for an emergency tongue bath”.

France overturns law classing people as property – 178 years after it abolished slavery

National assembly votes to repeal Code Noir under which enslaved people were beaten, raped and killed

For almost 180 years after France abolished slavery, the Code Noir (Black Code) allowing enslaved humans to be treated as property and worked, beaten, sold, raped or killed, remained in place.

On Thursday, the country’s bitterly divided national assembly voted unanimously to repeal it, in a rare show of political unity.

Donald Trump shares draft Iran peace agreement with Israel and other allies

US president’s move comes as both sides try to prevent fresh ceasefire breaches scuppering a potential deal

• Middle East crisis – live updates

Donald Trump has circulated a draft peace agreement for the war with Iran among allies including Israel as both sides try to prevent fresh breaches of the ceasefire escalating out of control and scuppering any deal.

In an attempt to speed up the negotiations, Pakistan’s foreign minister, Mohammad Ishaq Dar, will fly to Washington on Friday to meet his US counterpart, Marco Rubio.

First inflation report under new Fed chief shows prices still rising

The personal consumption expenditures price index, the Federal Reserve's preferred gauge of inflation, jumped due to higher energy costs.

Some U.S. states stand against AI data centers

The governors of New Jersey and Pennsylvania are seeking measures to limit the growth of AI data centers as community members decry their expansion. Jo Ling Kent reports.

The Trump Accounts app launches today. Here's what to know.

The Trump Accounts app allows parents to open new tax-preferred investment accounts for their children, including a $1,000 government contribution.

New evidence contradicts Brian Hooker's account of night his wife disappeared

GPS data appears to contradict Brian Hooker's account of his wife's disappearance in the Bahamas, a source tells CBS News. Cristian Benavides reports.

The Book of Birds by Robert Macfarlane and Jackie Morris audiobook review – a love letter to our feathered friends

This compendium of 49 of Britain’s threatened species features lyrical prose poems evoking each bird’s unique qualities and beautiful recordings of their distinctive calls

The Book of Birds delivers a stark warning in its introduction about the “great thinning of the skies … Dawns and springs are quieter; the air emptier. An ancient avian orchestra is falling silent.”

There are now 3 billion fewer birds in North America than there were 50 years ago, and 5 million fewer in Europe. Across the world, almost 50% of bird species are in decline. These figures are the galvanising force behind writer and illustrator Jackie Morris and nature writer Robert Macfarlane’s compendium of 49 bird species under threat in Britain. Each entry is a prose poem aimed at evoking the spirit and the unique qualities of each bird, among them the kingfisher, nightingale, nightjar, song thrush, tern, tawny owl and puffin.

‘Flavor is under siege in this country’: how food in America lost its taste

In the last century, industrialized farming has killed off delicious food – but a brigade of chefs, breeders and farmers are fighting to bring it back

Bill Tracy is clearly not one to brag, but after a while, it seems he just can’t help himself. “I did come up with something absolutely amazing actually,” he says softly. “Really quite amazing.”

Tracy has spent the last 40 years in the fields of Wisconsin as one of the US’s leading sweetcorn breeders, tasting up to 300 ears a day in search of the perfect corn that might one day sizzle on barbecues across the country.

Several U.S. airports to begin enhanced Ebola screenings

The State Department announced four airports will begin enhanced Ebola screenings for U.S. passengers who visited Congo, South Sudan or Uganda in the last 21 days. Mark Strassmann reports.

Chemical tank implosion may be deadliest Washington industrial tragedy as 9 remain "unrecovered"

Nine people remain "unrecovered" after a chemical tank imploded in Washington, officials say. Two deaths have been confirmed and several people were injured. Carter Evans reports.

Inside the luxury hotel at the center of Trump’s deportation deal with Equatorial Guinea

Migrants sent from the US are being held at the Bamy hotel against their will and pressured to leave for their home countries

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At first glance, the hotel looks like any other on this tropical island off the central African coast, with its palm tree-lined driveway, marble-floored foyer and portrait of the oil-rich country’s president hanging behind a mahogany reception desk.

Yet the eerily empty Bamy hotel is not a refuge for adventure-seeking tourists or international business travelers these days. Since late last year, only a small number of people have been staying there, and they aren’t on vacation. They are being held against their will.

‘True patriot’: White House pays bizarre tribute to Harambe 10 years after gorilla’s death

White House made lengthy post about gorilla shot dead at Cincinnati zoo after a toddler entered his enclosure in 2016

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The White House has posted on social media a tribute to mark Thursday’s 10th anniversary of the death of a figure it called “a true patriot”.

The hero was not a human, however; it concerned the infamous case of the 400lb western lowland gorilla that had been named Harambe, which was shot dead at the Cincinnati zoo after a toddler entered his enclosure and interacted with the animal.

Basílica sunset and Eid al-Adha prayers: photos of the day – Thursday

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

Ferrari CEO defends $640,000 price tag for its first fully electric car

Ferrari CEO Benedetto Vigna on Thursday said the cost of the manufacturer's new Luce model was a fair price to pay for innovation.

‘Hidden datacentre tax’ costing Irish households millions, report says

Datacentres used 22% of country’s electricity last year, pushing up household bills, study suggests

Energy demand by datacentres in Ireland has added hundreds of euros to household electricity bills in a pattern that could be replicated across Europe, according to a report.

Ireland’s growing number of datacentres last year used 22% of the country’s electricity, more than all urban homes combined, according to the Central Statistics Office. The equivalent figure in the US and UK is 6%.

American climber breaks Everest speed record, his team says

Tyler Andrews, 36, climbed the 29,032-foot peak in just 9 hours and 55 minutes, smashing the record of 10 hours and 56 minutes, his team said.

Austrian man who admitted plotting attack at Taylor Swift Vienna concert says he is sorry

Beran A, 21, apologises as court adjourns to consider verdict after alleged plan to attack fans outside stadium in 2024

A man who admitted plotting to attack a Taylor Swift concert in Vienna nearly two years ago told an Austrian court before the verdict in his trial that he was sorry.

The plot was thwarted but Austrian authorities still cancelled Swift’s three performances in August 2024.

Married at First Sight UK had ‘unhealthy’ focus on sex, say show’s insiders

Staff members claim hit Channel 4 show’s culture was ‘toxic from the top down’ amid allegations of rape by female cast members

Married at First Sight UK had an “unhealthy” focus on whether cast members were having sex, former and current workers on the show have said.

One former crew member said the culture on the hit Channel 4 show was “toxic from the top down”. The claims from crew members were reported by the BBC, which previously broadcast allegations from two female cast members that they were raped by their on-screen partners.

Argentina’s ‘European’ self-image under renewed scrutiny after racist incidents in Brazil

Case involving seven-year-old boy is latest flashpoint in debate over race relations in Latin America

‘Argentina needs to end its fantasy of being a European country’: Lucrecia Martel on the story of a killing

A woman celebrating her 32nd birthday on a train journey in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais was horrified when a fellow passenger alerted her that an unknown man had been secretly filming her seven-year-old son.

When confronted, the man – an Argentinian tourist – initially refused to show his phone. But after being pressed by other travellers, the man admitted he had sent the images to a WhatsApp contact.

The race for oil: will Jamaica be the next country to drill and what does that mean for its green pledges?

With early tests suggesting the presence of crude oil, the Caribbean island has begun to debate whether it could justify becoming a producer

Jamaica is closer than ever to drilling for oil. Tests on samples from the seabed off the Caribbean island’s south coast earlier this year identified hydrocarbons, which suggest the presence of crude oil below ground.

Jamaica imports all its fuel, which costs about $1.5-2bn (£1.1bn-1.5bn) annually, depending on global oil prices. It is a persistent drag on an economy that generated $4.3bn from tourism, its biggest earner, in 2024.

‘Saaz is our gold’: the Czech scientists breeding hops that can survive a hotter Europe

Researchers are working to create new drought-resistant varieties of the ingredient that gives Czech pilsner its character

It is the country that drinks more beer per capita than any other but in the last few years Czechia has been hit by droughts and heatwaves, which make it harder to grow the Saaz hops, one of the key ingredients that goes into the country’s world famous beer.

At the Hop Research Institute, however, scientists are working to create new, climate-resilient hop varieties that have shown promise in overcoming Czechia’s heat and its strict traditionalism.

This is how close American households are to the financial edge

A new report shows that nearly half of U.S. households did not earn enough to cover their necessities in 2024.

The 20 best corridors in film – ranked!

Ahead of the release of Backrooms, we invite you to lose yourself in our list of the most terrifying – and most inviting – hallway scenes in cinema

John Cusack plays a hitman attending his high school reunion, where a kickboxing assassin attacks him in the corridor. The film is dark comedy, but the fight is deadly serious. Fun fact: Cusack’s trainer/opponent is the legendary Benny “The Jet” Urquidez, who memorably took on Jackie Chan at the climax of Wheels on Meals (1984).

In praise of polpette, Italy’s infinitely adaptable little balls

From bread and ricotta to vegetables and fish, there’s no single recipe for these beloved ‘meatballs’ – just your own way of making them

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While the Italian word polpette is generally translated as “meatballs”, it actually has a much broader definition than that. In fact, the literal translation is “little balls of polpa”, or pulp. And, yes, the word polpa is strongly associated with minced meat, so, for many people, the word polpette conjures up round or torpedo-shaped morsels of minced and seasoned meat fried or simmered in sauce. But polpa can also refer to an infinite range of pulps and mixtures of pulps made from vegetables, pulses, fruit, bread, cheese or fish, all of which can be shaped into balls, wonderful balls.

Whatever the pulp base, one thing is generally agreed on: once formed, let those balls rest for at least 30 minutes (and up to a few hours), so they firm up and are therefore easier to poach, simmer, fry, air-fry and so on. Beyond resting, however, freedom reigns: the type of pulp, the inclusion of bread, or eggs, or herbs, or seasonings …

‘I felt my humanity was bastardised’: Cynthia Erivo says reaction to Ariana Grande red carpet incident rooted in racism

Wicked co-star said reactions to the incident, which included suggestions she was Grande’s ‘bodyguard’, reflect an insidious view of Black women

Wicked star Cynthia Erivo has said that reactions to the incident at the Singapore premiere of Wicked: For Good, in which she stepped in to fend off a red-carpet invader who grabbed co-star Ariana Grande, revealed “the insidious nature of how we view Black women” and put her off campaigning for Oscars.

In an interview with Variety, Erivo said that she and Grande were “terrified” when Johnson Wen jumped a barrier at Universal Studios Singapore and rushed towards them. “Nobody moved. Nobody moved. So I moved because my brain went, ‘Get him away! Get him out of here!’ … And what people couldn’t see is that he wouldn’t let go [of Grande]. He wouldn’t let go. So I just kept pushing at him to get him off.”

Stocks are rallying despite the Iran war and stubborn inflation. Here's why.

The S&P 500 hit a new record on Wednesday, even as soaring gas prices fuel inflation and consumer confidence sinks.

U.S. strikes Iran again. And, DOJ charges Google staffer over Polymarket trades

The U.S. says it has struck Iran again as peace talks continue to end the conflict. And, the federal government has charged a Google staffer for allegedly using insider information in Polymarket trades.

A federal judge in D.C. declines to block Trump's executive order on voting by mail

A federal judge in Washington, D.C., has declined to temporarily block President Trump's executive order that calls for restricting mail-in voting. Another judge may rule on the order soon.

Who really controls the Williams F1 team? A bitter legal battle has put this question centre stage

Special report: Allegations of sexism, racism and expenses fiddling are flying in US courts, drawing in leading figures in motor racing and some famous names in music. But the precise role of Peter de Putron, a Jersey-based billionaire, is one of the most intriguing subjects

On the track, the Williams Formula One team are attempting to revive former glories through their talented driving team of Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz and the team principal, James Vowles.

Iceage: For Love of Grace & the Hereafter review | Alexis Petridis's album of the week

(Mexican Summer)
The quintet add shoegaze, country and 50s rock’n’roll to their core indie-punk sound, resulting in songs that offset lyrical bleakness with gleeful, uplifting music

Iceage have always seemed like a band in a state of constant development. You might say that’s understandable, given the Danish musicians were in their teens when their debut album New Brigade was released in 2011: if you don’t change between the age of 18 and your early 30s, you’re probably in trouble. But rock music isn’t real life, and a less adventurous band might have been minded to stick with a good thing, given the reception New Brigade was afforded. Twenty-four minutes of hardcore blended with noisy Birthday Party-esque post-punk and a sizeable pinch of gothic gloom, it was praised so vociferously that the praise itself provoked heated debate, as claims any one band are the “saviours” of an entire genre are wont to do, particularly when said genre is punk.

Iceage seemed entirely unbothered about any ensuing weight of expectation. If they didn’t exactly sound like a completely different band on 2014’s Plowing Into the Field of Love, they were still doing things you would never have imagined the authors of New Brigade doing: piano ballads, country-rock and, on Abundant Living, attempting to join the dots between Howlin’ Wolf’s Smokestack Lightning and the ramshackle sound of frontman Elias Rønnenfelt’s favourites the Pogues. In 2018, Beyondless offered Dexys-style horns, New Orleans jazz and a track that sounded like mid-80s U2 equipped with a string section. By 2021’s Seek Shelter, they had a gospel choir on board and mixed anthemic songs – imagine Oasis mired in angst, gloom and distortion – with tracks that interpolated the Carter Family’s Can the Circle Be Unbroken? or bore the influence of French chanson.

U.S. street drug deaths keep dropping, but some Western states see deadly overdose surge

Researchers say some structural changes in treating addiction are helping, including wider access to overdose-reversing medication.

Ro Khanna is taking his economic message on the road. Will it lead to the White House?

Rep. Ro Khanna wasn't in the Rust Belt to campaign. But he could be soon.

Trump refiles $10bn lawsuit against WSJ over report on alleged Epstein ties

Legal action claims newspaper tarnished reputation by describing card to Jeffrey Epstein as bearing his signature

Donald Trump’s legal team has refiled its lawsuit over a Wall Street Journal story alleging that he had sent a “bawdy” letter to the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein in 2003, after a Florida judge had dismissed the case last month.

The move restarts a bombshell case that pits the US president against one of his key media allies, Rupert Murdoch.

The US keeps finding ways to justify state violence against Cuba | Daniel Mendiola

For centuries, the US has engaged in imperialist intervention in Latin America. The Castro indictment looks like its latest move

On 20 May, a federal court in the state of Florida indicted the former Cuban president Raúl Castro over his alleged involvement in downing two civilian planes piloted by US nationals in 1996. Castro was the defense minister of Cuba at the time, and aircraft with the Cuban armed forces carried out the attacks. The charges include one count of conspiracy to kill US nationals, two counts of destruction of aircraft and four counts of murder.

On the one hand, the indictment was not a surprise. Immediately after the Trump administration’s bombing of Caracas and extraction of the sitting Venezuelan president, Nicolás Maduro, in January – actions bolstered by a similar indictment against Maduro emanating from a federal district court in New York – numerous indicators suggested that Cuba was next on the list. The Castro indictment seemingly confirms these suspicions, though questions remain about what comes next: will US forces carry out a similar bombing and extraction operation in Cuba? Will there be a full-scale invasion of the island? Or will the threat of these actions be enough to force concessions that might, at least in the short term, satisfy Trump officials?

‘Instagram truly is the new LinkedIn’: why gen Z is using social media to get hired

In this competitive market, gen Z has started to turn to untraditional ways to land a job – including dating apps

Sibusisiwe Khupe, 26, entered the job market once again in September after a wave of unexpected layoffs at London marketing agency Wieden+Kennedy.

She knew landing her next full-time role was not going to be easy. Young workers have been hit hard by the weakening UK job market as vacancies fall and unemployment climbs to a five-year high.

Warren: State Department didn't seek TRANSCOM aid in evacuating Americans from Middle East

Democrats have been critical of the Trump administration's handling of Americans stuck in the region after the start of the Iran war.

An Ohio pastor-turned-lawmaker backs a Charlie Kirk American Heritage Act for schools

The bill says it would permit the teaching of the positive impact of Judeo-Christian values in U.S. history. Opponents say it offers a skewed view of history.

LG Energy Solution's shares surge as much as 16% after landing major U.S. battery storage deal

The deal comes as the South Korean battery company expands its energy storage systems business in the U.S.

Coke can hair rollers and Puerto Rican pride: the street photography of Janette Beckman – in pictures

Four decades of Janette Beckman’s images will be on view until 18 April 2027 at Seattle’s Museum of Pop Culture (MoPOP). The exhibit Rebels + Icons: The Photography of Janette Beckman will feature 700-plus archival and newly taken images. Among many iconic photographs, Beckman is known for photographing musical legends like Salt-N-Pepa and Run-DMC, and her striking approach to street photography

These swing voters are adding high gas prices into their political calculations

As part of NPR's Swing Shift project checking in with swing voters, these Americans are split on who is to blame for high gas prices but they all agree it has an impact on their personal finances.

‘Among the things he feared most was death’: the doctors and nurses dying on the Ebola frontline

Medics battling the incurable disease in Democratic Republic of the Congo working in ‘agonising’ conditions

When Dr Vladimir Maduali died of Ebola in the early hours of Sunday morning, he was the fourth member of staff at his hospital to be killed by the disease in as many days. Two days later, his colleague Dr Tibenderana Katho Blaise also died of the disease at the Bunia Evangelical medical centre, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Maduali graduated from the University of Bunia just three years ago and had been working in the Rwampara region, one of the areas of eastern DRC’s Ituri province worst hit by Ebola. The 30-year-old died at Rwampara’s isolation centre, where he had spent two days on oxygen therapy, according to his family.

Mistral to explore designing own chips, CEO says, as it ramps up infrastructure build

Mistral's semiconductor ambitions underscore the French startup's bid to control more of its infrastructure as it competes with OpenAI and Anthropic.

Kingfisher by Rozie Kelly review – lust at first sight

Shortlisted for the Women’s prize, this story of a writer’s infatuation with an older woman begins with bracing verve

Rozie Kelly’s frank and feisty debut novel, which has been shortlisted for this year’s Women’s prize for fiction, begins with a case of lust at first sight. Our unnamed narrator is a “beautiful” 35-year-old writer in a complicated but loving relationship with the equally beautiful but somewhat boring Michael. The object of his attentions is a famous poet, 17 years his senior, running a popular course at the same university that he, in a minor way, is also attached to. He hardly knows her, but he knows that he wants “to be inside her”. It’s all a bit of a shock. “A woman! What was the world coming to?”

So what’s so special about this one? Well, she’s smart, good-looking, well-dressed, not to mention rich and famous. It is this last fact that seems to exert, at least to begin with, the greatest hold over the infatuated narrator. “I wanted to be her, to be like her, to have her success and to know the people she knew.” But also, as he admits to himself as they sit quietly on a park bench watching the ducks, he would like to subjugate her, “to push her down, to render her imperious intelligence stupid with the weight of my body, with my younger, harder form”.

The Four Seasons season two review – Tina Fey’s brilliant follow-up is up there with 30 Rock

Poignant, hilarious, loaded with a super-sharp script … the second outing for this midlife comedy is even more fantastic than the first

Middle age is a brutal time of life. As those of us mired in it know, it’s perfectly suited to being mined for laughs (the unhinged type of laughs that are bound up with tears, crisis, and, inevitably, death.) But still too few comedy series take this pressured segment of time and squeeze it for all its acidic worth. Enter middle-aged joke machine Tina Fey, who with The Four Seasons – her zippy 2020s update of the 1980s film of the same name, co-created and written with Tracey Wigfield and Lang Fisher – has triumphed once again. The second season of her midlife comedy drama is even more perspicacious, poignant and hilarious than the first.

Again there are four fancy holidays split across the seasons, each one given two gag-packed episodes – a rigid but neat structural device that allows the big moments to happen off-screen. Meanwhile we get the aftermath soundtracked by an avalanche of Vivaldi and bracing jokes about sad lonely donkeys, secret vapes mistaken for thumb drives, and the tragicomedy of being an angry, unravelling fiftysomething man in a T-shirt printed with “Keep Calm and Fuhgeddaboutit”.

You be the judge: should my girlfriend stop trying to make our lives plastic-free?

Amy is worried about microplastics. Melanie says she can’t bin everything. Whose argument is toxic? You decide
• Find out how to get a disagreement settled or become a juror

I want to live a healthier life too, but removing all plastics is unrealistic and unaffordable

Humiliated by Iran, the US wants an easy scalp: keep your eyes on Cuba | Owen Jones

The decision to charge Raúl Castro is grimly reminiscent of the run-up to Trump’s military operation in Venezuela. Meanwhile, the Cuban people are suffering needlessly

The US war machine has turned its sights on Cuba. Marco Rubio, the Cuban-American secretary of state who has long craved the fall of the island’s communist government, made that clear again last week. While professing a preference for a “negotiated settlement”, he said the chances of a deal were “not high”. A couple of months ago, I saw up close the economic devastation already inflicted by decades of US siege – and, since January, by a crippling oil blockade introduced by Donald Trump.

The US has now charged the country’s former president Raúl Castro with conspiracy to kill US nationals, four counts of murder and two counts of destruction of aircraft over the downing of two planes in 1996. The evidence points increasingly in one direction: it is all grimly reminiscent of the indictment of Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro, used to justify his kidnapping by US forces.

Owen Jones is a Guardian columnist

Why Ferrari’s rocky EV launch may not be the disaster investors fear

Ferrari has endured a firestorm of criticism following the launch of its first fully electric vehicle.

We’re going on a Bosnian bear hunt … in Europe’s oldest forest

A guided walk in the primeval wildwood of Perućica, where wolves, chamois and the elusive brown bear roam

‘I know this bear. He knows me. We’ve met several times.” Our guide for the day points to a damaged sign in Sutjeska national park, at the beginning of the trail that descends to the forest of Perućica in south-east Bosnia. The wooden post is covered in scratches from large claws. “Bears are the sharks of the land, because they have the keenest sense of smell on the mountain. They are highly intelligent. I’m deeply persuaded that they know who is a friend and who is a foe. I come often to the forest, so this guy knows my smell. But there was one incident, a hunter who came here to kill, and a bear peeled off his face like an orange.”

With that image, Dejan Elez commands our full attention. A Bosnian Serb law graduate turned ranger and now mountain guide, he is a born storyteller and raconteur. My travel companion, Chris, and I are rapt as he describes the famous battle that was fought near here, when Yugoslav partisans broke through a German encirclement in 1943, taking the Wehrmacht by surprise under cover of a violent storm – “the wind was rising and the lightning was like a strobe” – but after that, Dejan’s narrative leads much further back in time, into the depths of one of Europe’s most ancient forests.

Studio Display XDR review: Apple’s pro display shines very brightly

Crisp 27in 5K Mac monitor is packed with features and some of the best HDR performance you can get for work or play

Apple’s new 27in Studio Display XDR is its best monitor yet, with an exceptionally bright and gorgeous 5K screen that wants to be the pro display for Mac-wielding content creators everywhere, with a price tag to match.

Built to be paired with the latest or high-end Macs, the Studio Display XDR costs from £2,599 (€3,099/$2,899/A$4,799), although it is a cool £3,000 if you want it with a stand. It sits above the standard £1,499 Studio Display and is £2,000 cheaper than the 2019 Apple Pro Display XDR it replaces.