Trump says 'I love the inflation' after consumer price index hits 3-year high

President Trump suggested that inflation would drop when the U.S. war against Iran ends, and said, "we've been taking out millions of barrels of oil."

Wall Street needs a crash course in the token economy ahead of AI IPOs. SpaceX offers a preview

When OpenAI and Anthropic make their IPO prospectuses available to the public, investors are going to have to learn about a whole new economy.

Alabama nitrogen gas executions are cruel and unusual punishment, judge says

A federal judge banned Alabama from executing an inmate by nitrogen hypoxia, calling the method unconstitutionally cruel.

Graham Platner wins Maine Democratic primary, will face Sen. Susan Collins

The primary victories set up a race that could be key to Democrats' hopes of winning control of the Senate.

Inflation topped 4% in May as CPI surged to highest level in 3 years

The Consumer Price Index rose last month at a 4.2% annual rate amid a spike in U.S. energy prices.

Honda recalls 880,000 vehicles over possible rear suspension issue

The recall affects certain Honda Pilot, Ridgeline, Passport, and Acura MDX vehicles sold in 23 states and the District of Columbia.

Company that bet big on Trump-backed crypto says its fortunes have improved

AI Financial Corp. says it has mitigated some of the concerns that prompted it to say earlier that it may not be able to stay in business.

Musk rejects claim he has incited disorder in Belfast – UK politics live

X owner retweets post by Reform’s Matt Goodwin saying it is ‘not social media that’s inflaming tensions’

• Man charged with attempted murder after Belfast knife attack

• Tell us: how have you been affected by the situation in Belfast?

Hadi Alodid refused legal representation and made no reply to charges which were put put to him through an Arabic interpreter as he appeared in court charged with attempted murder following the Belfast knife attack, the Press Association reports.

The 30-year-old, with an address at Duncairn Avenue in Belfast, appeared before the city’s magistrates’ court on Wednesday morning.

He is charged with the attempted murder of Stephen Ogilvie on Monday, with threatening to kill an NHS radiographer on the same day and with the possession of a knife.

World Cup 2026 news: latest from the camps; UN urges US immigration ‘re-think’; Messi returns – live

• News and buildup as World Cup countdown continues

• Player guide | Bracketology | Wallchart | Mail us here

The US isn’t the only World Cup host where politics and football are colliding messily, albeit that they’re being handled more sensitively. There have been protests in Mexico, where a demonstration blocked an avenue leading to Mexico City’s Azteca Stadium for hours on Tuesday, AFP reports.

Teacher protests in the capital have been ongoing and thousands took part in Tuesday’s protest, which was led by a breakaway group of the CNTE union following a week of demonstrations that President Claudia Sheinbaum has called a “provocation.” “As if to say, ’Look at how bad the situation is in Mexico,’” she told a press conference.

Middle East crisis live: US going to hit Iran ‘hard’ again today, says Trump

President speaks to reporters, claiming the US was close to a deal but Iran is ‘playing us for suckers’

• Middle East peace talks in doubt amid overnight strikes

If the US genuinely wants a deal it will have to engage with Iranian demands on sanctions relief, says Danny Citrinowicz, the former head of the Iran branch of Israeli military intelligence.

Today’s exchange of strikes shows how easily both Iran and the US can slide towards another round of escalation, says Citrinowicz, who is now a nonresident fellow at the Atlantic Council.

If Washington is unwilling to accept that reality, it should recognize the likely alternative: continued confrontations with Iran that could eventually spiral beyond anyone’s control and lead to military conflict under less favorable conditions.

Even a limited military campaign designed to weaken Iran would not fundamentally alter Tehran’s negotiating position. It has not happened in the past, and there is little reason to believe it would happen now. Iran emerges from the latest exchange of blows convinced that it can absorb pressure and respond to attacks.”

Legal and moral responsibility of all countries in the region (especially those located along the southern shores of the Persian Gulf) to prevent the US military and Israel from using their territory or facilities to plan, organise, execute, or support hostile actions against Iran.

Trump signs $70 billion immigration funding bill after months of delay

The $70 billion package will fund Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection through the end of President Donald Trump's term.

‘It was so terrifying’: care workers tell how they were trapped at home by Belfast mob

Sumayah Nakazibwe and Stella Ariokot were frightened they would be next as fires took hold on neighbouring houses and rioters set cars alight

For four hours, Ugandan care workers Sumayah Nakazibwe and Stella Ariokot were barricaded into their house near Crumlin Road in north Belfast, smelling smoke leaking into their homes, and watching flames lick the walls of neighbouring properties.

“It all started like people were just marching, young boys between the age of nine and 20,” Nakazibwe said. “They were all putting on black, and masked.”

Pay what you wish: the restaurant where customers can eat for free – if their conscience lets them

Ever since the Post Modern Times cafe in Minneapolis ditched its price list, half the customers have chosen not to pay. It’s still making a profit

Name: Pay what you wish.

Age: Popular since the 00s, but dating back to at least the 80s.

Bill Gates appearing before House committee investigating Epstein

Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates is sitting for a transcribed interview as revelations about his relationship with Epstein have rocked his philanthropic foundation.

Rainfall and landslides last year in Indonesia killed 7% of world’s rarest great apes – study

Critically endangered Tapanuli orangutan population falls after extreme weather – fuelled by climate crisis – in North Sumatra

Extreme rainfall and landslides fuelled by the climate crisis killed 7% of the remaining population of the world’s rarest great ape, a study has found, prompting fears for the species’ survival.

The research suggests 58 out of the remaining 800 critically endangered Tapanuli orangutans (Pongo tapanuliensis) were killed after more than 1,000mm (39in) of rain fell over four days in Indonesia’s North Sumatra province in November 2025. This equates to 11% of the local population and 7% of the entire species.

Michigan court overturns man's conviction in plot to kidnap Gov. Whitmer

In a 3-0 ruling, the Michigan Court of Appeals on Tuesday overturned a conviction against a man in connection with the 2020 plot to kidnap Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.

Trump doubles down on Pulte for intelligence post, calls for short-term extension of foreign surveillance law

Unless Congress acts, a key provision of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act will expire at the end of this week.

David Harbour on Lily Allen’s West End Girl album: ‘It wasn’t my experience’

Stranger Things actor makes first public comments about his ex’s revealing hit album which tracks the dissolution of a relationship

David Harbour has spoken about his ex Lily Allen’s tell-all album West End Girl for the first time in a new interview.

The Stranger Things actor, who is on the Emmys trail for the HBO crime drama DTF St Louis, separated from the singer in early 2025 after they married in 2020. The couple filed for divorce months after their separation.

The most 'inclusive' World Cup ever? Doesn't look like it ...

When the best referee in Africa is barred from working at the World Cup after being denied entry at the border, claims of this being an inclusive tournament ring hollow.

Omar Abdulkadir Artan was supposed to make history this week, becoming the first Somali referee to officiate at a World Cup, instead, he is watching from home.

In this video, Morgan Ofori digs into a historic year for African nations against the backdrop of US travel bans.

Pump-action soap dispensers are a disgrace – and I won’t put up with them any longer | Adrian Chiles

Enough is enough. Either give us a simple squeezy bottle that actually works or bring back the tried-and-tested solid bars

Even as I pick it off the shelf, I know it will let me down. I rate the chances of it working no better than 50/50. So why do I buy it, when the dead hand of impending disappointment taps so insistently on my shoulder? I speak of something so simple, so common and so mundane that this must be the very reason we keep buying the wretched things even though at least half the time they don’t work. They’re too trivial to make a fuss about. This must change. We must fight back.

I speak of pump-action dispensers on small plastic vessels of liquid soap, hand creams and a whole range of products that, in most cases, will not end up being dispensed via the dispensers with which they are supplied.

Bill Gates tells House panel 'I should have never met' with Jeffrey Epstein

Gates reportedly prepared for his testimony with the help of Jake Greenberg, who previously was the Oversight committee's chief investigations counsel.

Nevada GOP Gov. Lombardo projected to face Democrat Ford in highly competitive race

Democrats are aiming to unseat Nevada GOP Gov. Joe Lombardo in one of the country's most tightly contested gubernatorial contests this year.

Trump asks Congress for short-term FISA extension amid impasse over Pulte role

President Trump said he's asking Congress to approve a short-term extension of a key spy authority to "provide time for the selection and confirmation of a permanent" director of national intelligence.

Oversight chair working to have Blanche testify in Epstein probe

House Oversight and Reform Committee Chairman James Comer said he wants Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche to appear before lawmakers in July.

UFC champion says he has been banned from White House fight over criticisms of Trump

Sean Strickland claims he was not cleared to attend the UFC event because he ‘made fun of Israel and Epstein’

The only current men’s US UFC champion says he has been barred from Sunday’s fight card on the south lawn of the White House because he dared to criticize Donald Trump, Israel and Jeffrey Epstein.

On Tuesday night, middleweight champion Sean Strickland wrote on X that he had been informed by the Ultimate Fighting Championship that he had not been cleared to attend the event by the White House.

Taiwan drills with U.S. rocket system, firing in China's direction

The drill on Wednesday marked the first time the U.S.-supplied HIMARS system has been fired into the Taiwan Strait.

‘A poisoned chalice’: will Doctor Who survive Russell T Davies’s exit?

The lowest ever viewing figures, an identity crisis for the show and a confusing Billie Piper-based cliffhanger – whoever takes on the BBC fantasy drama has quite the job on their hands …

The announcement that the BBC has abandoned the planned Doctor Who Christmas special, and is ending its partnership with showrunner Russell T Davies and Bad Wolf production company, will not have come as much of a surprise to many fans. It has been rumoured for some time. Aside from the gossip, the fact that no filming appeared to have taken place for a programme that traditionally requires a lengthy post-production process had already suggested something was up.

The BBC has said the show remains an important part of its portfolio, stating it wants to ensure that “when the Tardis lands once more, it does so in all its glory”. While it isn’t inconceivable that Bad Wolf might bid to make the show under a new regime, Davies appears to have hung up his Tardis keys for good, posting on Instagram: “Now I’m as excited as anyone to see what comes next!”

England boosted by five-run win over India in final T20 World Cup warm-up

• Sciver-Brunt back to ‘normal self’ with half-century

• Jones: ‘I feel everything has been ticked off’

England’s World Cup preparations concluded with a five-run win in their final warm-up against India at Cardiff, in what will be a vital confidence-booster ahead of their tournament opener against Sri Lanka on Friday evening.

England hit 171 for six, including a half-century from Nat Sciver-Brunt - the most time the England captain has spent at the crease since she suffered a calf injury six weeks ago. “She looks back to her normal self after a little bit of a break,” teammate Amy Jones said, after sharing a 70-run partnership with her skipper. “It was great to see her whacking it everywhere.”

There are no guardrails now on the right of UK politics: where Restore Britain goes, others will follow | Owen Jones

In the UK – and across the west - incendiary language and white supremacist policies are entering the political mainstream

What qualifies as too rightwing these days? It’s a question I’ve considered often in recent years. But it takes on even greater urgency when contemplating the rise of Restore Britain. Founded by multimillionaire businessman and former Reform MP Rupert Lowe, the party enjoys the active support of far-right tech bro Elon Musk, the world’s richest man. If Nigel Farage strikes you as a wet liberal, then Restore Britain may be the party you’ve been waiting for.

Its mission, it says, is to “reverse mass migration”. That means deporting not just undocumented migrants but “legally resident foreign nationals” who live in social housing, claim benefits or supposedly “fail to integrate” – a strikingly elastic category. Lowe himself declares that “millions and millions” need to leave or be made to leave. Officials and politicians “who knowingly placed dangerous third world savages in our communities” will be imprisoned.

Owen Jones is a Guardian columnist

Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.

Croatia World Cup 2026 team guide

Luka Modric and friends are aiming for one last hurrah but a Tottenham defender is providing hope for the future for England’s group opponents

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.

‘Russian’ manicures are on the rise – but experts say a lot can go wrong

More customers are seeking out meticulous e-file manicures, but there are concerns about the risk of infection with the cuticle-raising beauty treatment

A drill with a speed of 35,000 revolutions per minute sits on Alina Huck’s orderly work station. The drill bit is the length of an almond, and as soon as it touches the client’s nail it whips up a fine dust of dead skin.

“It’s definitely a satisfying experience,” says Huck, a Sydney-based nail technician who has spent nearly a decade specialising in e-file manicures, also known as Russian manicures.

The truth about my famous ‘Party girl Kate Moss’ shot: Greg Brennan’s best photograph

‘The tabloids will always try to sensationalise. But it was 6.30pm. If Kate really had been falling out the door blind drunk, it’s not a picture I’d particularly want to take’

I have photographed Kate Moss a fair few times. The first time was probably around 1990, during the Johnny Depp days. I also shot her with Jefferson Hack and many of her other boyfriends, but it was only on official occasions, Topshop launches and things like that.

There was a period when whatever she did, 200 photographers would turn up. For her 33rd birthday, I was asked to cover her party at the Dorchester hotel. Then I got a call saying she was at the Donmar Warehouse theatre watching a matinee of a play with Rhys Ifans in it. “Could I go over there and get a picture of her leaving before arriving at the birthday party?” When I got there, there must have been 200-250 people outside. They had the front door surrounded – photographers, camera crews, fans, you name it. It was absolutely packed. I quickly realised that getting a decent picture was going to be very difficult.

Letter from Kyiv: The messed-up day-to-day of living under Putin’s cruel air war

People have absorbed violence and terror into their lives. Somehow, they keep going – quietly rescuing, evacuating, replacing, mending, adapting … and sometimes saving tiny animals

It was a glorious balmy night, and I was walking home from dinner. I’d just eaten fried red mullet from the Black Sea on a pavement terrace, listening to the cries of the last swifts as darkness crept over the city. A couple of blocks from where I was staying, there was a curious sight: a couple and their dog were standing over a hedgehog, which was standing seemingly irresolute in the road. I wasn’t sure the couple were doing the right thing by shining their phone torches at the poor creature, but their intentions were clear enough: they were trying to protect it and chivvy it out of the way of the traffic. As a car bore down, I flung myself into the street, like a latter-day Roberta from The Railway Children, and waved my arms to get the driver to stop. At the same time, the couple’s dog gave an encouraging bark to the tiny animal, which scuttled across to the opposite pavement, and into the safety of a yard.

Everything always feels heightened in Kyiv, and I was apt to overthink into this moment many metaphors of escape, protection and destruction. Hedgehogs, by the way, are a surprisingly common sight in Kyiv. So too are the “hedgehogs” made from metal beams welded together in a three-dimensional star-shape, a highly effective obstruction for tanks. (The other favoured tank obstructors are known as “dragon’s teeth”, because of their resemblance to monstrous molars rising from the ground.)

Why Ecuador, Japan and Norway are the dark horses at this World Cup

It was Morocco in 2022, Croatia in 2018 and Costa Rica in 2014. Which team will make an unexpected run in 2026?

By WhoScored

Every World Cup needs a dark horse: the team nobody quite planned for, that disrupts the natural order and is remembered more vividly than the finalists. Morocco did it in 2022, beating Spain and Portugal on their way to becoming the first African side to reach the semi-finals. Croatia produced a fairytale run to the final in 2018. Costa Rica topped a group that featured three former champions – England, Italy and Uruguay – in 2014 before eventually losing to the Netherlands on penalties in the quarter-finals. And South Korea, who had never won a match at a World Cup, went all the way to the semi-finals in 2002. With 48 teams at this year’s tournament, there are a few candidates to make an unexpected run to the latter stages.

Consumer prices rose 4.2% annually in May, highest in three years

The consumer price index was expected to show a 4.2% gain from a year ago, according to the Dow Jones consensus estimate.

Everton ordered to pay Burnley nearly £40m in Premier League relegation legal case

• Burnley relegated in 2022 after Everton breached PSR

• Everton ‘angered’ by verdict and have appealed

Burnley have won a landmark legal case against Everton for breaching Premier League financial rules, with the Merseysiders ordered to pay nearly £40m in compensation. It is the largest financial penalty ever imposed on a Premier League club.

The verdict by a Premier League independent disciplinary commission – comprising the same three-man panel that deducted Everton 10 points over the same breach in November 2023 – has widespread ramifications for the competition and increases the likelihood of more clubs taking legal action over profitability and sustainability rules (PSR) offences.

‘Anger is a part of healing’: a witchcraft retreat in the Irish woods is attracting US women to speak to the dead

In an age of spiritual isolation, witches are forming covens that defy the oppressive natures of man and church

On the floor of a sun-drenched room in a 200-year-old Irish estate, a group of 15 witches gather to commune with the spirits. Everyone has someone they want to talk to – dead ancestors, forest fairies, the witches who came before them – and the room has the same expectant charge as the first day of school. Some of the witches wear long black capes and bandannas. Some wear Columbia fleeces, spaghetti-strap tank tops and Adidas sneakers.

Isabella Ferrari, known as Penny the Witch, guides the women as they make divination maps, sheets of paper covered with “yeses” and “nos” that work like Ouija boards: the witches ask their questions and the spirits guide the crystal pendulums in their hands towards the answer. One of the women, Tara Monte, screeches as her pendulum begins circling uncontrollably. “Isabella, do I stop this? Someone really wants to talk to me.” Later, she will confess she believes it was her archangel Michael letting her know yes, her parents were proud of her. Yes, they still loved her.

U.S. bars entry of FIFA World Cup referee from Somalia

Federal immigration authorities barred a Somali soccer referee who was slated to officiate the FIFA World Cup from entering the U.S. over the weekend, citing "vetting concerns."

Rep. Nancy Mace fails to advance in GOP primary for South Carolina governor

Pamela Evette and Alan Wilson are heading to a runoff on June 23 in South Carolina's Republican primary for governor.

Trump says Iran will 'pay the price' and claims they have 'taken too long' to agree to a deal

The president's comments came after U.S. forces on Tuesday evening launched strikes against Iran.

Stokes out of second Test with New Zealand over nightclub incident as Root made captain

• Stokes in talks with agent and advisers over his future

• Atkinson also left out with Barker and Archer set to play

Joe Root will captain England in next week’s second Test against New Zealand after Ben Stokes and Gus Atkinson were left out of the squad for breaking the team curfew as they celebrated victory in the first game of the series on Sunday night.

While the England & Wales Cricket Board continue their investigation into that incident Stokes, the team’s full-time captain, is being given some time to consider his future. He is reported to have spent Wednesday in meetings with his agent and advisers debating whether to permanently stand down as captain, or to end his international career completely. He may still choose to do neither, with the former England captain Michael Vaughan having joined those backing him to stay. “Yes, he broke a curfew,” Vaughan said. “Is that a sacking offence as England’s Test captain? I don’t think so. A short suspension would be fine, but this is not a big enough incident over which to lose the captaincy.”

Amazon trucking expansion sparks freight stock sell-off

Amazon has been spinning out more of its in-house logistics offerings for others to access, posing a growing threat to industry incumbents.

Football Daily | Desiré and Guéla Doué lead way at World Cup bursting with brotherly love

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In case you missed it last week, there was a brilliant bit of camerawork in France’s warm-up match against the Côte d’Ivoire in Nantes. After the African side drew level through Guéla Doué, the camera immediately panned to his younger brother on the opposition bench, Desiré, as the unusued French substitute wore a wry smile as he watched the Côte d’Ivoire celebrations.

If I’m still here today, it’s because the French team has won a lot of games. Otherwise, it could have ended before, whether I decided it or it was decided for me” – Didier Deschamps gets his chat on with Luke Entwistle as he heads for a swansong with Les Bleus at the GWC, discussing a legacy that no one – bar, perhaps, himself – would dare dispute.

Re yesterday’s Football Daily: you are invited for lunch. The host does not allow your son to come, treats your wife with scorn, and asks your daughter to leave midway through. When you are ready to leave, he detains your wife and presents you with a hefty bill. Does it sound strange? Welcome to GWC 2026!” – Krishna Moorthy.

Please pass on my thanks to David Squires, once again, for giving me the spine to metaphorically crumple up and toss into the waste bin this entire GWC spectacle. It was a bit shy of four years ago when a Squires cartoon depicting the deplorable working conditions of immigrants in Qatar gave me the strength to say sod off to the entire enterprise – and I had been watching games since the 1970 final, the first televised here in the USA USA USA. But I admit, as these games have drawn near I have felt myself weakening, looking for some rationale to justify paying attention once again. Then yesterday you presented us with his latest cartoon. It was the perfect reminder of what is truly the essential character of Fifa, my country’s political leaders and as a result, the GWC. So thank you Football Daily, and thank you David Squires!” – Mike Fichtner (and others).

Jürgen Klinsmann may well have seen Maradona’s warmup (yesterday’s Football Daily letters). He could conceivably have started one of his dives in Stuttgart, and ended up in Munich” – Mike Rice.

Re movable corner flags at the GWC (Monday’s Football Daily): shame Fifa hasn’t gone the full hog, and introduced movable goalposts. Might have helped England should they be forced into another penalty shootout” – Callum Taylor.

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

Video shows family’s car slowing before Israeli troops shot dead Palestinian baby

Footage appears to contradict Israeli military’s account of killing of seven-month-old Sam Abu Haikal in West Bank

Footage has emerged that appears to contradict the Israeli military’s account of the shooting that killed seven-month-old Sam Abu Haikal in his mother’s arms, showing the family’s car slowing near a military post before soldiers opened fire.

On Friday, the killing of the infant by Israeli troops in the occupied West Bank caused outrage, after soldiers opened fire on the family’s vehicle despite it having complied with an order to stop. Sam was killed and his mother, Daniyah Abu Haikal, and father, Fahed Abu Haikal, were both injured.

First trailer for Aaron Sorkin’s Facebook sequel The Social Reckoning

Oscar winner Mikey Madison and Jeremy Strong to star in film focused on fallout from whistleblower Frances Haugen

The first trailer for Aaron Sorkin’s eagerly anticipated follow-up to The Social Network has landed.

The Social Reckoning has been described as a film that isn’t a “straight sequel” but one that will still revisit Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook.

Super Micro stock falls 13% on $7 billion financing plans as company touts AI server orders

Super Micro is the latest company tied to the AI boom to announce that it's tapping the capital markets.

Marty the moose and Le Mans hypercars: photos of the day – Wednesday

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

No fairytale: what happened to the real children behind fiction’s best-loved characters?

Peter Pan, Christopher Robin and Alice in Wonderland … being the star of a classic story might seem like a dream, but there’s a dark side, argues the author of The Children

I’d loved the children for years before discovering they were real. I can almost summon the magic I felt when I first saw the photographs that proved it: the little boy clad in an approximation of hunters’ skins, posing victorious. The dark-haired girl with the offset gaze, her interior expression that of a person just growing used to being looked at.

And – this is the one that really kills me – the big-eyed, dimple-chinned seven-year-old in a soft sweater and tenderly mummish haircut, clutching the teddy bear that would end up even more famous than he would.

Flash flooding and destructive storms slam Midwest like a "horror movie"

In southern Indiana, torrential rain triggered severe flash flooding Tuesday, swallowing streets and damaging homes. Meanwhile in central Michigan, a tornado with winds up to 90 mph damaged dozens of homes. Rob Marciano reports.

Inflation tops 4% for the first time in 3 years on spike in gasoline prices

Inflation has surged to its highest level in more than three years since the U.S. and Israel launched their war on Iran, triggering a surge in gasoline prices.

Exciting transfer window will only exacerbate women’s football’s wealth gap

Alexis Putellas leads a host of stars expected to arrive in the WSL but smaller clubs will still struggle to keep pace

The whistle has blown on the 2025-26 season for the vast majority of women’s teams around the world, and attention now turns to the hullabaloo of the transfer window and another summer of rising wages, transfer fees and agents fees.

This summer’s activity is likely to see the gap between the haves and the have-nots widen further. Last summer there was an 83.6% increase in global spending on transfer fees in women’s football year-on-year, according to Fifa. This included headline-grabbing moves such as London City Lionesses’ £1.43m purchase of Grace Geyoro from Paris Saint-Germain, albeit London City have denied the figure is that high, and Arsenal’s landmark first £1m deal – the signing of Olivia Smith from Liverpool.

This is an extract from our free email about women’s football, Moving the Goalposts. To get the full edition, visit this page and follow the instructions. Moving the Goalposts will be sent out once a week, on Wednesdays, in the close season but will be back on Tuesdays and Thursdays from September.

Sardinian beach bans umbrellas for people aged 10 to 65

Incredulous Italians ask if they should bring grandparents to beach to stay safe, after unpopular move in Villasimìus

Umbrellas have been banned on a beach in Sardinia for anyone between the ages of 10 and 65 in the latest flashpoint in Italy’s long-running beach disputes.

The measure was among several imposed by local authorities at Punta Molentis beach in Villasimìus, on Sardinia’s south-east coast, as part of an initiative to protect its pristine environment.

‘Not just a singer’: Argentinians queue for miles to mourn biggest rockstar most of world has never heard of

Hundreds of thousands gather to remember Carlos ‘Indio’ Solari, who inspired cross-generational devotion, especially among working class

The line stretched for more than 7km (four miles). Mourners sang rock songs, waved banners, and carried speakers blasting music while smoke rose from makeshift barbecues and vendors sold T-shirts bearing the image of a bald man with sunglasses.

As evening fell, a drizzle set in, but the queue remained. At the end of the line in Avellaneda, outer Buenos Aires, stood a chapel containing the body of a rock star.

How an Iowa woman became a key witness in her own murder

The last words spoken by Angela Prichard, 55, an Iowa wife and mother who called 911 to report she was in danger, was the first clue investigators had to identify her killer.

Texas teen sentenced to 35 years for fatal stabbing at high school track meet

A jury in Texas found 19-year-old Karmelo Anthony guilty of murder in a fatal stabbing of a fellow high school athlete. Jonah Kaplan reports.

Faithful line streets for Pope Leo’s Sagrada Família blessing on centenary of Gaudí’s death

As completion of 144-year construction nears, questions swirl over resemblance of church to architect’s original plans

Ten hours before he was due to pass by, the faithful were already picking their spots along the route Pope Leo XIV will take on his brief journey to bless Antoni Gaudí’s iconic church, the Sagrada Família.

It has been a long wait but this evening, 144 years after work began, the pope will bless the basilica’s recently completed central tower in the presence of members of the Spanish royal family, the prime minister and hundreds of bishops.

Barking dogs at Iowa kennel provide key evidence in murder case

A surveillance camera captured the sound of dogs barking, helping authorities determine when Angela Prichard's estranged husband arrived at the location to wait for her.

Working remotely can hurt people's mental health, research finds

Although working remotely offers flexibility, it also takes a toll on people's mental health, experts said.

AI will help young workers 'mature' faster by automating grunt work, Thoma Bravo says, amid youth job crisis

"If you look at our associates, they're spending a lot less time doing models or comparables than before," Orlando Bravo, founder of Thoma Bravo, told CNBC.

AI backlash, single-player epics and Y2K nostalgia: eight trends from Summer Game Fest

From horror galore to Chinese action games, the key trends, trailers and surprises from Summer Game Fest’s many, many hours of streams and broadcasts

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Did you spend hours of your weekend watching a relentless series of video game adverts? No? I don’t blame you – Summer Game Fest, the collection of livestreams that has arisen in place of the giant annual E3 video game expo in Los Angeles, is extremely overwhelming. There are the bigger, longer shows: the PlayStation and Xbox streams, the main SGF show hosted by Geoff Keighley and Lucy James, Future’s duet of the Future Games Show and the PC Gaming Show. Each show is two hours long. Then there are all the indie showcases: cosy games, women-led games, Black voices in gaming, Day of the Devs. Between them, they show off hundreds of games that might pique your interest.

I picked out exactly 34 highlights here: the biggest news, the most interesting-looking smaller games. But from the barrage of trailers I was also able to discern some trends. Here’s what we can learn.

US diplomat found dead in Myanmar as police treat case as possible homicide

Thai woman is in custody in connection with investigation after man was reportedly found dead at a hotel in Yangon

A US diplomat has been found dead in Myanmar’s largest city, and members of the diplomatic community in Yangon say a Thai woman has been detained by police in connection with the investigation.

US officials in Thailand and the US embassy in Myanmar referred questions on the case to the state department, which confirmed the “death of a US government employee” assigned to the embassy in Yangon, but gave no other details.

Woman detained after American diplomat found dead in Myanmar

Police are treating the case as a possible homicide and have a Thai woman in custody, sources told The Associated Press.

Parents in Australia: is the under-16s social media ban working?

Six months after Australia introduced its world-first ban on social media for under-16s, we would like to hear from parents and carers about whether it is making a difference

Six months after Australia introduced its under-16 social media ban, supporters say it is helping to protect young people online, while critics argue many teenagers are still using social media and that the restrictions are difficult to enforce.

As countries including the UK consider similar measures, and the Australian government is promoting the ban as a model for others, we’d like to hear from parents and carers about how it has affected their families.

Trump is stripping Americans of their citizenship at a shocking rate | Moustafa Bayoumi

This month, the administration is seeking to denaturalize 17 people, part of an effort unprecedented in modern US history

I still remember my citizenship ceremony from 2011. There was a festive spirit among the dozens of us who were about to become the newest Americans, a kind of joy offset only by the anxiety of having to turn in our green cards first. For years, I jealously guarded that little card, which was not only not green but also something I was repeatedly told by authorities to carry with me at all times. They had to pry it from my fingers that day.

At my ceremony, which I wrote about at the time, a representative from the New York City commission on human rights explained to her captive American audience what civil rights protections we had, and the judge who swore us in as citizens encouraged us to exercise our vote, serve on juries, run for office, and speak out for our rights. We were each given a pocket constitution. The whole thing was a celebration of democratic values. I entered downtown Brooklyn that day as a resident alien. I left as a newly minted American citizen, equal in the eyes of the law to every other American citizen.

How to turn leftover dressed salad into an Asian lettuce omelette - recipe | Waste not

A viral trend based on an eastern classic, this rolled, multilayered dish is a fun way to use up wilting leaves that also looks impressive on the table

When I started looking into the idea of a lettuce omelette, mainly to use up leftover dressed salad, I soon found out that it’s something of a social media trend, as well as a classic Japanese, Chinese and Taiwanese dish. In the trending recipe, the egg whites and yolks are often separated, then the whites are mixed with lettuce and cooked first. This is rolled, then the yolks go into the same pan and, once they’re set, they’re rolled around the whites to make a beautiful, multilayered omelette with a white-green interior and a golden outside. It’s a great way to use up dressed salad, but fresh or wilted leaves will work, too, if those are all you have. I prefer bitter and spicy leaves such as mustard, mizuna and rocket, but everything works. Iceberg, for instance, is often used in modern Chinese recipes. Serve this plain, or with crispy chilli oil, soy sauce flavoured with minced garlic and ginger, miso mayo, or all three. To make miso mayo, mix 60g mayonnaise with a tablespoon of white miso paste, then stir in an optional teaspoon of sesame oil, some finely grated garlic and ginger, and a squeeze of lemon.

Hayes describes ‘experience I will never forget’ as Brazil given eight red cards in loss to USWNT

• Wilson sparks winner as US beat Brazil 1-0

• Marta slams referee for being ‘main character’

• Riot police surround match officials

United States manager Emma Hayes said she had “an experience I will never forget” after her side’s bad-tempered 1-0 win over Brazil in Fortaleza saw the home team handed eight red cards.

Brazil head coach Arthur Elias and three members of his staff were dismissed towards the end of the second half before police in riot gear surrounded the match officials on the pitch at full-time after further flashpoints.

Weekly mortgage demand surges nearly 11% higher, despite volatile interest rates

Mortgage demand from both current homeowners and potential buyers rose sharply, even though interest rates climbed as well.

July 1 brings big student loan changes. Here's what you need to know

A popular (and generous) repayment plan ends, two new plans begin and many borrowers will see new loan limits.

U.S. and Iran exchange strikes. And, House passes ICE and Border Patrol funding

The U.S. and Iran have exchanged strikes after a helicopter was downed Monday near the Strait of Hormuz. And, House Republicans have passed a bill to fund ICE and Border Patrol through Trump's term.

UK’s stem cell transplant system may be putting lives at risk, report by MPs finds

System not fit for purpose due to poor infrastructure and planning, with minority groups particularly at risk, MPs say

The UK’s stem cell transplant system is potentially putting the lives of blood cancer patients at risk as a result of inadequate infrastructure and a lack of long-term planning, a parliamentary report has found.

A hematopoietic stem cell transplant, often referred to as a bone marrow transplant, is a medical procedure in which stem cells from a healthy donor are transplanted into a patient.

Golden goal: Siphiwe Tshabalala for South Africa v Mexico at the 2010 World Cup

The World Cup did not save South Africa. But for one second, it showed us the country we wanted to be

Before Siphiwe Tshabalala’s rocket from his left foot, before Peter Drury’s iconic commentary, before the wall of noise from thousands of vuvuzelas and before Shakira’s Waka Waka, there was Philip.

From the moment Sepp Blatter pulled out an envelope with the words “South Africa” inside on 15 May 2004, cynics voiced their scepticism. The country was deemed too dangerous to host a World Cup finals tournament. There were concerns about public transport, about power outages and stadiums that weren’t up to scratch. Could South Africa really pull this off?

‘A big pouffy dress is not really me’: the brides who got wed in a suit – long before Dua Lipa

When the singer got married in London last month, her skirt suit made headlines. But she was hardly the first to reject tradition. Here are the stories behind some other beautiful but unconventional outfits

For some people, wearing a big white dress on their wedding day feels as key as the rings. For others, less so.

When Dua Lipa wore a Schiaparelli couture white skirt suit as she wed the actor Callum Turner in London last month, she joined a long line of women who have opted for a suit. Not least Bianca Jagger, whom Lipa was speculated to be emulating – the model and activist caused a stir when she got hitched to Mick Jagger in 1971, wearing a Yves Saint Laurent Le Smoking jacket and bias-cut skirt.

LA fans, Mark E Smith’s sisters and Frank Skinner doing the quiz: inside the totally wired festival on the Fall

Featuring cover bands, walking tours and the poet laureate as DJ, The Fall: Futures and Pasts is the ultimate Fall fan experience. But can our writer get through Eat Y’Self Fitter at karaoke?

There has never been a group like the Fall. I use the word “group” advisedly, as I once made the mistake of calling them a “band” in the presence of Mark E Smith. The combustible singer immediately admonished me on the basis that a band was something that you’d get in Blackpool.

The irreplaceable Smith died in 2018 at the age of 60, immediately bringing to an end the group that he fronted for his entire adult life. The legend of the Fall lives on, though. They have arguably never been bigger, with interest maintained by a slew of reissues, multiple spinoff groups, a variety of podcasts and a steady stream of books; the nine-track Post Script, billed as the band’s “official final album” by former manager Ed Blaney, was announced last week and slated for a September release. So it’s an opportune time for The Fall: Futures and Pasts, a three-day all-Fall festival held at Manchester’s Band on the Wall venue last weekend, celebrating 50 years of the group and attracting fans from as far afield as Australia and the US.

US navy member sentenced to 44 years in prison for killing female sailor

Jermiah Copeland had admitted killing Angelina Resendiz, attacking another sailor and illegally recording another

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A member of the US navy has been ordered to spend 44 years in federal prison after admitting that he fatally strangled a fellow sailor in his barracks room, violently squeezed the neck of a second woman onboard an aircraft carrier and illegally made secret video recordings of a third, including while they were being intimate.

Meanwhile, the family of the petty officer whom Jermiah Copeland acknowledged murdering, Angelina Resendiz, has called for reforms within the armed forces meant to better protect women serving in the military.

China re‑centers North Korea ties as nuclear silence reshapes balance

Xi's silence on North Korea's nuclear program came as Kim tried to convince the world of the irreversibility of his country's status as a nuclear power.

Big agriculture is killing our bees. We’ll all pay the price | Jennie Durant

We’re thinking about the crisis facing pollinators all wrong. And we’ve come to a crucial moment

Last winter, commercial beekeepers lost more than 60% of their colonies – their worst losses on record. We tend to blame bee losses on separate, singular threats: pests, pesticides, habitat loss or extreme weather. But we’ve been thinking about bee losses wrong.

The real culprit is our industrial food system.

ICE denies having a protester database. But a letter to Congress sheds more light

In a previously unpublicized letter to Congress, the newly-departed head of ICE said the agency collects data on people suspected of potentially unlawful activity, which could include protesters.

David Sullivan’s contact with West Ham women’s and youth teams restricted since 2023

‘Temporary agreement’ in place since Football Association safeguarding investigation began three years ago

David Sullivan has faced restrictions on his contact with West Ham’s women’s and youth teams since 2023 because of a safeguarding investigation.

The Football Association began an inquiry three years ago after receiving a complaint, which the Guardian understands involves an allegation of sexual misconduct unrelated to football.

Humans prefer to walk anticlockwise, scientists find – but reason is unclear

From Spain to Japan, experiments have repeatedly shown a left-turn bias, but exact mechanic ‘is still an open question’

“I’m not an ambi-turner,” laments Derek Zoolander in the eponymous noughties satire about the world’s hottest male model and his rare catwalk hangup. “It’s a problem I’ve had since I was a baby … I can’t turn left.”

Now research suggests that the fashionista’s career-threatening quirk was even more unusual than previously thought. Tests reveal that when people are ambling about, they have a natural tendency to turn to the left and walk in an anticlockwise direction.

Two killed in rare street demonstration over women’s rights in Afghanistan

A child reported among those killed when Taliban forces fired on crowds in Herat, who were protesting over arrests of women accused of violating hijab dress code

A Taliban crackdown on women’s dress code in Afghanistan has escalated into a rare mass street protest in the western province of Herat, with at least two people, including one boy, killed by security forces.

Officials made a wave of arrests in recent days targeting women and young girls accused of “improper hijab”. Residents say many families had received no information about the whereabouts or condition of those detained.

‘I’m disappointed and I’m not alone’: Matty Lee hits out at Olympic president’s ‘amateur’ stance on pay

Olympic gold medallist diver reflects on the financial and emotional challenges since retiring from the sport, and teaming up with his hero Tom Daley

“It’s like I’ve already got an open wound and you’re stabbing me in it,” Matty Lee says as, deep into our second hour at a beautiful old Edwardian swimming pool in Leeds, we turn to Kirsty Coventry’s recent comments that athletes should not be paid at the Olympic Games. In her role as the International Olympic Committee president Coventry, a former swimmer who won seven Olympic medals including gold in 2004 and 2008, has caused outrage among athletes.

The IOC confirmed in its own financial report that it made $12.4bn (£9.2bn) between 2021 and 2024 and so Lee, an Olympic diving champion, grimaces when he considers Coventry’s resistance to paying the people we want to watch – the athletes. It is sobering to consider her stance in the company of Lee who, without bitterness, has told me about his hidden world as a retired Olympic champion now struggling emotionally and financially.

Car bomb kills senior Russian military official near Moscow

Video appears to show Col Damir Davydov’s BMW bursting into flames and bystanders pulling him from wreckage

A senior Russian military official has been killed in a car bombing near Moscow, according to media reports.

An explosive device planted underneath a BMW detonated at about 5.30am on Tuesday as Col Damir Davydov was driving near his home in the city of Balashikha, the independent outlet Astra reported. It was the latest in a string of assassinations targeting Russian military officials and prominent pro-war figures since the Kremlin launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Japanese manga fans urge Trump to stop using characters in his online posts

Renewed outrage at White House’s use manga and anime imagery after US president is depicted as ninja Naruto

Japanese anime and manga fans are urging Donald Trump to stop using their favourite characters in his social media posts.

About 20,000 people have signed a petition on Change.org entitled Protect Japanese Manga, protesting against the official White House X account posting videos featuring unauthorised use of imagery from the popular Dragon Ball, Yu-Gi-Oh! and Naruto series. Angry fans have also been posting on social media.

The vanishing of Nicolás Maduro: how the former dictator is being erased from Venezuela

Billboards are being painted over and former allies seem eager to forget the man they once glorified

For years, his bewhiskered face stared down from propaganda billboards glorifying the supposedly revolutionary rule of a dictator who styled himself as “the protector of the people”.

The spin-doctored adoration was such that factories churned out plastic action figures exalting Nicolás Maduro as an “indestructible” and “iron-fisted” caped crusader nicknamed “Super Moustache”.

The best films of 2026 so far

Jessie Buckley is dug up to marry Christian Bale, while Ian McKellen and Michaela Coel are the double act of the year in Steven Soderbergh’s dark comedy. Here’s our round up of movie magic from the last six months in the UK, in order of release

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Should you send that midnight text? 11 essential rules for phone etiquette

What about using voice notes, or calling someone totally unannounced? Experts give their verdict on how to use your phone without causing offence

It is not news that many of us are addicted to our phones and nor is it a revelation that inconsiderate public behaviour now appears to be the norm, but when the two collide it can cause anger. Last week, at the end of a performance of the drama Inter Alia in London’s West End, the actor Rosamund Pike took to the stage after the curtain call to announce that she had seen someone texting during the performance. “I just wanted to say for anyone going to the theatre, it’s a huge thing that we’re trying to give you. 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.”

What is the correct etiquette when using your phone? Myka Meier, author of Modern Etiquette Made Easy, says: “It is always thinking about other people before yourself when you’re on the phone.” This also means being aware of how disabled people might use, and rely on, their phones. As an academic with hearing loss pointed out to the BBC after Pike’s comments, bans on phones in theatres, or public shaming, could exclude disabled people in audiences, such as those who use hearing aid apps and need to adjust the settings.

San Francisco immigration court shuts down, striking at heart of historic advocacy

The main San Francisco court was one of the busiest in the country, hearing thousands of cases a year. It was also one of the courts most likely to grant an immigrants' asylum application.

Bill Gates tells lawmakers he was not aware of Epstein's crimes

Gates is sitting for a closed-door interview before the House Oversight Committee about his relationship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Morning news brief

U.S. and Iran exchange strikes after Apache helicopter is downed, takeaways from Tuesday's primaries in four states, House Republicans approve a bill to fund ICE for the remainder of Trump's term.

The most inclusive World Cup ever? Tell that to Omar Artan, the Somali referee just banned by Trump’s US | Morgan Ofori

This episode feels symbolic of a World Cup where the global game has been sacrificed to Fifa’s cynical money-making – and Trumpian whim

Omar Abdulkadir Artan was supposed to make history this week, becoming the first Somali referee to officiate at a World Cup. Instead, he’s watching from outside the US, denied entry without explanation by the Trump administration. Welcome to the most inclusive World Cup ever.

Fifa, the game’s governing body, is projecting revenues of $8.9bn (£6.7bn) from this tournament – almost double what the 2024 Olympics made. More teams: 48, up from 32. More matches: 104 over 39 days. More markets, just how they like it. This is good business.

Morgan Ofori is a reporter, blogger and subeditor for the Guardian’s The Long Wave

Democrats rally round Platner in Maine as Trump reaffirms grip on GOP after primaries

Outcome of polls in four states offers mixed signals about direction of two major parties before November’s midterms

• Graham Platner wins Maine Democratic Senate primary – video

Progressives rallied round the controversial Graham Platner after his primary victory in Maine on Tuesday, while Donald Trump again exerted his grip on the Republican party, helping to defeat a politician who had pushed for the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files.

Primary elections were held in four states – Maine, Nevada, North Dakota and South Carolina – ahead of November’s midterms to decide control of both houses of Congress. The results offered mixed signals about the direction of the two major parties.

Omar Artan given hero’s welcome in Somalia after referee’s US entry blocked

• Artan deemed a threat to national security by US officials

• ‘I promise you that I will attend the next one’

The World Cup referee from Somalia who was denied entry to the US arrived on Wednesday in Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu, where he was received by a crowd of supporters and officials.

Omar Artan was due to be the first referee from Somalia to officiate at a World Cup after making Fifa’s final list for the tournament. He is one of Africa’s top referees and was named the continent’s best male referee in 2025.

Pollinators in peril: scientists reveal the hidden human health costs of the world’s disappearing bees

Crops and flowers rely on them for survival, but wild bees are declining – and crucial nutrients will go missing from our diets as a result

There are few ways in and out of Nepal’s Jumla district. The Karnali highway, considered one of the world’s most dangerous roads, provides the only land link, splicing through the Himalayas to connect Jumla’s terraced valleys to the rest of the country. As such, the 120,000 people that live there are almost entirely self-sufficient, with most of them eating and selling what they grow.

It’s a tenuous existence, plagued by food insecurity and malnutrition. In recent years, local beekeepers have bemoaned languishing hives and dwindling honey production, observing that roughly half of their bees seem to have vanished over the past decade. These concerns, however, ignore an even more insidious impact.

Lovers XXX by Allie Rowbottom review – a wild journey through the 80s LA porn scene

A young woman begins a career in the adult industry while, 30 years later, her friend tries to find out what happened to her, in an addictive, twist-filled story

Just as there is a lack of pornography made by women, there is a lack of books about making pornography written by women. Recent nonfiction titles such as Polly Barton’s Porn: An Oral History and Fiona Vera-Gray’s Women on Porn have sought to address the silence and moral confusion, while Rufi Thorpe’s novel Margo’s Got Money Troubles imagined a student mum paying her way with OnlyFans.

Now Allie Rowbottom, author of a memoir, Jell-O Girls, and a novel, Aesthetica, braves the dicey terrain in her sleazy, cinematic second novel. Published into a contemporary landscape where algorithms promote increasingly extreme content, Lovers XXX takes us to the so-called golden age of the Los Angeles porn industry, through the eyes of two teenage runaways who trade troubled homes for big-city dreams.

Mentors, muses and new music: conductor and composer Ryan Wigglesworth

The musician first visited Aldeburgh as a teenage fanboy. Now, he is at the centre of this year’s festival as its featured artist – and he’s opening with his favourite opera

Ryan Wigglesworth cuts a confident figure striding through the Royal Academy of Music in London. He’s been a professor here since 2019 – juggling his duties with his role as chief conductor of the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, guest conducting internationally, regular recitals as a pianist, and a busy schedule as a composer. Oh, and he’s also the father of three “boisterous” young children, whose sleepless antics have left him bleary and clutching his coffee this morning.

He sits at the head of the long table in the Academy’s oak-panelled boardroom, looking perfectly at home. Was he inevitably going to end up here?

Do we really need gigantic, noisy, water-guzzling datacentres ruining our communities? In this economy? | First Dog on the Moon

Excessive heat, pollution and making climate change worse just so you can ask the computer to draw a funny dancing cabbage

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Boogie Nights review – Paul Thomas Anderson’s porn epic is still gaudy, seedy fun

The writer-director’s second movie lacks some of the craft shown in his later work, but remains a stylish and energetic descent into the cocaine-fulled world of the 70s adult film industry

Masculinity was never more fragile than in Paul Thomas Anderson’s picaresque porn comedy from 1997, inspired by the life and times of 70s/80s LA adult movie star John Holmes. It’s a film that delivers the era’s jukebox slams on the soundtrack, though oddly not the Heatwave classic that provides the title. But Boogie Nights gives the male-gaze world of porn a taste of its own phallocentric medicine. How does it feel for a guy to be known and valued for just one thing, and then mocked and even hated when that one thing shrivels?

What happens, in fact, is that our detumescent hero symbolically turns to the more reliably priapic world of guns and crime, although not without first embarrassingly trying to make it as a singer. (David Foster Wallace, in his 1998 essay Big Red Son, about the Adult Movie awards in Las Vegas, compares the event’s musical interludes to the ghastly screeching in Boogie Nights.) Twenty-six-year-old Mark Wahlberg plays handsome young teen Eddie, or Dirk Diggler, as he is later professionally to style himself who, while working behind the bar in a nightclub in California’s San Fernando Valley in 1977 (where he supplements his income by jerking off in the kitchens at the bidding of paying voyeur customers) he meets silver-fox porn impresario Jack Horner, played with leathery assurance and style by Burt Reynolds.

Stolen Revolution by Bozorgmehr Sharafedin and Yeganeh Torbati review – Iran’s recent history explained

This account of the Islamic Republic and its discontents told via six contrasting lives should be required reading

It’s difficult in 2026 to talk about Iran without confronting a lot of crude certainty. The average non-Iranian gets their information in snippets, filtered by algorithms. The Iranian diaspora is too fractured and traumatised to educate everyone. And the regime has muffled the voices inside its borders, responding to every major uprising with internet blackouts that hide both the people’s rage and its own violent response. Meanwhile, its own network of misinformation spreads lies – that protesters are foreign instruments, that the unrest is manufactured by outsiders – exploiting legitimate western anxieties about intervention, Islamophobia, sanctions, oil and Israeli imperialism.

Bozorgmehr Sharafedin and Yeganeh Torbati’s powerful history of the Islamic republic is a badly needed corrective because it is at once an engrossing story and a balanced, meticulously researched primer on modern Iran (the clearest I’ve ever read). And it is dramatic, personal and often heartbreaking, told through six lives lived at the forefront of the Iranian people’s almost five-decade struggle with a corrupt regime that has stolen their freedoms, votes and many thousands of their lives.

A moment that changed me: I climbed a tower aged nine, alone – and discovered how I wanted to live

Up there by myself, I decided life might be best on my own. That thought has shaped my travel and relationships ever since

I grew up in Kenya and was nine when we went camping by the beach in Mombasa, with two other families. The constant games and laughter were new to me, as we were a quiet, rather insular family. I went bodyboarding, watched crabs emerge from holes in the sand, climbed all over rusty cannons in the old fort and bought colourful strips of kanga fabric in the market to make sarongs.

One day, my father asked some fishers to take us to the reef in their canoes. It was a good mile offshore: I wanted to stay behind with Mum, but Dad fixed me with a look and said: “You’ve got no sense of adventure, have you?” Then I knew I had to go, clambering shakily into the wobbly wooden construction, clinging on to the sides for dear life.

What next for BP? Leadership exits test investor confidence in board oversight

An executive exodus at BP has sparked intense scrutiny from investors.