Bradley Murdoch, man who murdered British backpacker Peter Falconio, dies aged 67

Body of Falconio, who Murdoch killed in the Australian outback in 2001, has never been found

Bradley John Murdoch, the man who killed British backpacker Peter Falconio in 2001, has died from throat cancer at the age of 67.

Murdoch succumbed to throat cancer on Tuesday night at a hospital in Alice Springs in the Northern Territory, a corrections spokesperson confirmed. He had been moved to the hospital from jail in June.

Trump administration seeks to end bond hearings for immigrants without legal status

Under new policy, such immigrants would not be able to request bond from immigration judge before deportation

The Trump administration is reportedly seeking to bar millions of immigrants who allegedly arrived in the US without legal status from receiving a bond hearing as they try to fight their deportations in court.

The new policy would apply during removal proceedings, which can take years, for millions of immigrants who entered the country from Mexico in recent decades, according to a report from the Washington Post, which reviewed documents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice).

Thousands of Afghans relocated to UK under secret scheme after data leak

Conservative government used superinjuction to hide error that put Afghans at risk and led to £2bn mitigation scheme

• What we know about the secret Afghan relocation scheme

• Afghan nationals: have you arrived in the UK under the Afghan Response Route?

Conservative ministers used an unprecedented superinjunction to suppress a data breach that led the UK government to offer relocation to 15,000 Afghans in a secret scheme with a potential cost of more than £2bn.

The Afghan Response Route (ARR) was created in haste after it emerged that personal information about 18,700 Afghans who had applied to come to the UK had been leaked in error by a British defence official in early 2022.

Jets reportedly agree second $100m deal in two days to lock in star CB Sauce Gardner

• 24-year-old set to sign $120.4m extension through 2030

• Jets also set up $130m deal with WR Garrett Wilson

The New York Jets are making Sauce Gardner the highest-paid cornerback in the NFL.

The Jets and Gardner agreed on a four-year, $120.4m extension through the 2030 season, according to a person familiar with the situation. The person spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity Tuesday because the agreement had not been announced.

Tour de France’s phoney war gets dose of reality as Pogacar v Vingegaard hits the mountains | William Fotheringham

There are questions around the race contenders’ teams but Wout van Aert’s form could be key for the Danish challenger

There is always a sense of phoney war in the run-in to the Tour de France’s first stage in the high mountains, and at least one debate of the opening 10 days of this year’s race fits that context to a T. Has Jonas Vingegaard’s Visma-Lease a Bike team at times been towing the bunch deliberately in order to ensure that Tadej Pogacar retains the yellow jersey? It’s a gloriously arcane question, the kind that only comes up in the Tour’s opening phase, but it distracts from a point that could be key in the next 10 days: how the two teams manage the race will probably be decisive.

Firstly, a brief explainer. The received wisdom in cycling lore is that holding the yellow jersey early in a Grand Tour can be as much a curse as a blessing, because the daily media and podium duties cut into recovery time. Hence the thinking goes that Visma might have been chasing down the odd move purposely to keep Pogacar in the maillot jaune, so that he will be answering media questions and hanging about waiting to go on the podium, while Vingegaard has his feet up. Only Visma’s management know if this was the case, but what is certain is that the febrile atmosphere between the two teams will intensify from here on in.

Democrats demand Pam Bondi and Kash Patel be summoned for Epstein hearing

Letter calls for AG and FBI chief amid rift between Trump and supporters over files on notorious sex criminal

Democratic members of the House judiciary committee on Thursday demanded that Republicans summon the attorney general, Pam Bondi, the FBI director, Kash Patel, and their deputies for a hearing into the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein’s death and the sex-trafficking case against him.

The letter from all 19 Democratic members on the committee to its Republican chair, Jim Jordan, comes amid a rift between Donald Trump and some of his supporters over the justice department’s conclusion, announced last week, that Epstein’s death in federal custody six years ago was a suicide, and that there is no secret list of his clients to be made public.

Heavy rain kills two in New Jersey as subway and roads flooded in New York

Flash flood warnings were issued for parts of New York and Pennsylvania and an emergency was declared in New Jersey

At least two people were killed Monday evening in New Jersey amid heavy rain and flooding in that state and New York, according to authorities.

The pair died in the city of Plainfield when the car they were in was swept into Cedar Brook during flash flooding, local officials announced on Facebook.

UK’s cavalier attitude leaves Afghans facing yet more fear and uncertainty

Leaked details are just another example of how the UK let down Afghans who believed in what Britain promised their country

This week’s revelations about the UK’s dangerously cavalier treatment of Afghans who worked with British forces are shocking but not surprising.

The carelessness with which Britain went to war in Afghanistan was matched by the carelessness with which it left the country and its people to Taliban rule two decades later.

Future British & Irish Lions tour of France on the agenda at Melbourne summit

• French federation puts forward hosting 2027 warm-up

• Meeting before second Test over new Lions model

A British & Irish Lions tour of France could move a step closer next week when executives hold talks over “a new business model” in Melbourne before the second Test of the series against Australia.

Abdel Benazzi, the vice-president of the French federation (FFR), held informal discussions with Lions executives in Dublin before the warm-up match against Argentina, and he will travel to Australia next week to further press his nation’s claims of facing the touring side again, having previously done so in 1989. France have emerged as leading contenders to face the Lions in a warm-up match before the tour of New Zealand in 2029 and, according to Benazzi, could also fulfil the same role before the inaugural women’s tour in 2027, also to New Zealand.

New York county clerk rejects Texas’s effort to fine doctor in abortion pill case

A New York doctor faced a $113,000 penalty from Texas after being accused of shipping abortion pills across state lines

A New York county clerk again rejected an effort by Texas to fine a New York-based doctor accused of shipping abortion pills across state lines, in a case that could tee up a US supreme court showdown between states that protect abortion access and those that ban it.

On Monday, the acting Ulster county clerk, Taylor Bruck, rejected a court filing by Texas’s attorney general, Ken Paxton, which sought to collect a $113,000 penalty against Dr Margaret Carpenter. Paxton had sued Carpenter in December 2024 over allegations she shipped abortion pills to a Texas woman in defiance of the state’s ban on virtually all abortions. When Carpenter did not show up to a court hearing earlier this year, a judge automatically ruled against her and ordered her to pay the fine as well as stop mailing pills to Texas.

Children investigated over Russian and Iranian plots against UK, says police chief

Teenagers suspected of being hired by criminals paid to carry out acts on behalf of states, it is understood

Schoolchildren have been arrested by detectives investigating Russian and Iranian plots against Britain, a police chief has said, as he warned hostile state aggression was rising and youngsters were at risk.

Commander Dominic Murphy, head of the Metropolitan police’s counter-terrorism unit, said children in their “mid teens” had been investigated. It is understood they were suspected of being hired by criminals paid to carry out acts for Russia and Iran.

John Torode to leave MasterChef after allegation of using racist language

BBC show’s producers Banijay UK say Torode’s contract will not be renewed after allegation, which he has denied

John Torode will not return to MasterChef after its producers confirmed his contract would not be renewed after an allegation of using racist language.

The Australian-born chef, 59, had confirmed on Monday evening he was the subject of an allegation that was upheld as part of an inquiry into the behaviour of his former co-presenter Gregg Wallace.

Cherished champion and statesman: Usyk focuses on Ukraine before titles

Boxing great made two symbolic political gestures in London with his bout against Daniel Dubois only days away

On Monday afternoon, in central London, Oleksandr Usyk looked resplendent on an open-topped black bus as he prepared to send loaded messages to Daniel Dubois, Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump. High in the air he held three fingers on his right hand to signify his intention to become a three-time undisputed world champion. It was a typical sporting gesture and underlined his determination to defeat Dubois at Wembley Stadium on Saturday night and follow his earlier achievements in winning all the belts as a cruiserweight and then, last year, becoming the first boxer to unify the world heavyweight division this century.

Usyk remains the WBA, WBC and WBO champion but boxing politics forced him to vacate his IBF title soon after he beat Tyson Fury in their magnificent first world title unification fight 14 months ago in Riyadh. He looks ready now for the dangerous challenge of Dubois, the new IBF champion, but Usyk’s arrival in London was a timely reminder of the far more significant role he plays in Ukraine.

No Squid Game? Or Patrick Schwarzenegger? This year’s biggest Emmy surprises

While Severance, The Studio and Adolescence triumphed, this year’s TV nominees also saw some major snubs

• Emmy nominations 2025: the list of key categories

I don’t know if you had the time or the energy to watch today’s Emmy nominations on YouTube, but if you did – and you followed along with the comments in real time – then you will know that there was one glaring omission that has sent the entire world into a screaming tailspin of panic and terror. I am talking, of course, about Thanos from Squid Game.

For some, Thanos – a purple-haired Konglish-spewing drug-addicted rapper played by the Korean performer T.O.P – was the standout actor of the entire year, in any genre or format. But not only was this a bad result for Thanos, it was a bad result for Squid Game altogether. A show that comprehensively did the numbers for Netflix found itself being locked out of all categories. Still, at least it finds itself in decent company; Black Doves, Netflix’s other wildly entertaining genre series, also found itself snubbed. As was The Handmaid’s Tale, which is admittedly a little less surprising, given the amount of heat it has lost in the years since it debuted.

Trump unveils $70bn AI and energy plan at summit with oil and tech bigwigs

Pittsburgh event angers climate groups as Trump ties AI expansion to oil and gas, sidelining renewable energy

Donald Trump joined big oil and technology bosses on Tuesday at a major artificial intelligence and energy summit in Pittsburgh, outraging environmentalists and community organizations.

The event came weeks after the passage of a mega-bill that experts say could stymy AI growth with its attacks on renewable energy.

Electric Archer lights up India classic to justify Test return for England

Fast bowler displayed all the attributes which set him apart from others to deliver optimism for rest of series and Ashes

The electric return of Jofra Archer in England’s tight victory against India at Lord’s set straight a couple of narratives that arose during his four-year absence from Test cricket. It is often said that a player’s stock can rise when they are sat on the sidelines – yet sometimes, in some quarters, the reverse can also be true.

Chief among them was a reminder that England possess a special fast bowling talent here, Archer displaying the attributes that set him apart from others. As the man himself confidently put it regarding the 89.6mph beauty to Rishabh Pant that angled in, nipped away and gave the snappers the stumplosion they craved: “I guess it was just a matter of when, if I kept bowling like that. I can’t imagine many left-handers getting away with it.”

Mike Waltz grilled over Signal chat during confirmation hearing for UN role

Ex-national security adviser questioned about controversy during a Senate hearing to be US ambassador to UN

Just over two months after being ousted as national security adviser, Mike Waltz faced lawmakers on Tuesday during a confirmation hearing to be US ambassador to the UN, telling them that he planned to make the world body “great again”.

“We should have one place in the world where everyone can talk – where China, Russia, Europe and the developing world can come together and resolve conflicts,” Waltz told the Senate foreign relations committee about the UN. “But after 80 years, it’s drifted from its core mission of peacemaking.”

Windrush commissioner pledges to fight for justice for marginalised groups

Clive Foster aims to ‘confront uncomfortable realities’ and expand his remit to help those faced with discrimination

The newly appointed Windrush commissioner has promised to expand his remit to fight for marginalised communities who have experienced discrimination in housing, education, employment and policing.

At a launch event on Wednesday, Clive Foster will tell the immigration minister, Seema Malhotra, that he does not intend to perform a public relations role for the government.

Europe gives Iran deadline to contain nuclear programme or see sanctions reinstated

UK, France and Germany say without firm commitment from Iran by 29 August they will reapply embargos that were lifted 10 years ago

The EU will start the process of reinstating UN sanctions on Iran from 29 August if Tehran has made no progress by then on containing its nuclear programme, the bloc has announced.

Speaking at a meeting of his EU counterparts, the French foreign minister, Jean-Noël Barrot, said: “France and its partners are … justified in reapplying global embargos on arms, banks and nuclear equipment that were lifted 10 years ago. Without a firm, tangible and verifiable commitment from Iran, we will do so by the end of August at the latest.”

The Guardian view on the children of Gaza: when 17,000 die, it’s more than a mistake | Editorial

Israel’s military blamed the deaths of six Palestinian children on Sunday on a technical error. But a staggering toll continues to mount

On Sunday, an Israeli strike killed six Palestinian children – and four adults – as they queued for water in a refugee camp. The deaths of children may be the most terrible part of any war. It is not only the suffering of the innocent and powerless, and the unimaginable pain of surviving parents – as dreadful as those are – but the knowledge of lives ended when they had barely begun, of futures that should have stretched long into the distance severed in an instant.

As shocking as Sunday’s deaths were, they are commonplace in Gaza: a classroom-worth of children have been killed each day since the war began. What marked them out was that so many deaths happened at once and publicly; and that Israel’s military felt obliged to acknowledge its responsibility – though without any great contrition. It claimed that a “technical error with the munition” caused it to miss its intended target and added that it “regrets any harm to uninvolved civilians”.

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The Guardian view on Test cricket: slow-burning intensity can deliver the finest sporting pleasures | Editorial

The dramatic Lord’s Test between England and India showcased the glories of the game’s traditional form

Never try to explain Test cricket to an American. In sport, Americans value brevity, drama, a guaranteed resolution. Draws are anathema and ways must be found to avoid them. Two enterprising journalists once took Groucho Marx to an MCC game at Lord’s and he pronounced it “a wonderful cure for insomnia”.

What Groucho would have made of the “timeless” Test in Durban in March 1939 – it had been going on for 10 days before England, close to victory, decided that they had to catch the boat home – doesn’t bear thinking about. George Bernard Shaw summed it up perfectly: “The English are not a very spiritual people, so they invented cricket to give them some idea of eternity.”

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Recent ‘tough period’ is not the real existential threat facing the BBC

Shifting media landscape and declining income from licence fee point to tough financial choices ahead

As understatement goes, Tim Davie appeared to have mastered it as he presented the BBC’s annual report. Questions poured in over whether he had ever considered his position as a succession of problems landed on his desk this year. In response, he acknowledged he and the BBC had faced a “tough period”.

The failure to cut a Glastonbury livestream, missed opportunities to address the behaviour of former presenter Gregg Wallace and criticism over its handling of two Gaza documentaries have seen a huge amount of opprobrium heading the BBC’s way in recent weeks.

French PM may scrap two public holidays to reduce country’s crippling debt

François Bayrou says Easter Monday and VE Day could become normal workdays as critics call plan ‘a direct attack on France’

France’s prime minister, François Bayrou, has proposed scrapping two public holidays as part of radical measures aimed at reducing the country’s ballooning deficit, boosting its economy and preventing it being “crushed” by debt.

Outlining the 2026 budget on Tuesday, Bayrou suggested Easter Monday and 8 May, when France commemorates Victory Day, marking the end of the second world war, although he said he was open to other options.

Afghans have been betrayed yet again by this shocking UK data leak – and many don’t even know if they’re affected | Diane Taylor

This isn’t the first time Afghans brave enough to work against the Taliban have been let down by Britain, but it might be the most shameful

The headline figures are eye-watering. Up to 100,000 Afghans could have been placed at risk after a British soldier, according to the Times, sent the names of 33,000 people who supported British forces to a contact he hoped would help verify their applications for sanctuary in this country. The story behind these numbers is one of real people who had already been living in fear for years, and who have been treated abhorrently by the British state.

As soon as it became clear that the information could fall into the Taliban’s hands and lead to these people and those close to them being targeted, the highly secret Operation Rubific was launched. This debacle occurred under the previous Conservative government, which obtained a superinjunction preventing several media organisations that were aware of the leak from reporting on it.

Diane Taylor writes on human rights, racism and civil liberties

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.

Williamson ready to put Arsenal friendship aside for Blackstenius and Sweden test

• England captain lauds ‘incredibly powerful’ clubmate

• Praises influence of retired Jill Scott in England camp

Leah Williamson has described Arsenal teammate Stina Blackstenius as an “incredibly powerful footballer” as the pair prepare to go head-to-head in the Euro 2025 quarter-final between England and Sweden.

“She’s a great player and she has been for many years now,” said the England captain. “Her experience speaks for itself. We were celebrating her success at Arsenal, but not so much now. We’ll see. Stina is an incredibly powerful footballer and very intelligent with her runs. She’s a hard player to play against in that respect.”

Reeves says rules and red tape are ‘boot on the neck’ of business

At the Mansion House dinner she calls for regulators to allow more risk to clear the way for economic growth

Rachel Reeves has claimed that rules and red tape are acting as a “boot on the neck” of businesses and risk “choking off” innovation across the UK without bold reforms.

In a speech to City bosses attending the Mansion House dinner at London’s Guildhall on Tuesday evening, the chancellor heaped further pressure on regulators to allow for more risk in order to boost economic growth.

Can Norway finally fulfil potential and end long wait for success at Euro 2025?

Twenty-five years since Olympic glory, the perennial underachievers try again with a last-eight clash with Italy

The perennial underachievement of the Norway women’s national team is one of football’s great mysteries. How can a side packed with some of the world’s finest players continually make early exits at tournaments, fail to look cohesive and even endure a chastening 8-0 defeat against England at Euro 2022? How can great talents such as Barcelona’s Caroline Graham Hansen, Chelsea’s Guro Reiten and the Ballon d’Or winner Ada Hegerberg not thrive together in their national-team kit?

Stop there. Hold that thought. Something is stirring. Norway topped Group A at Euro 2025 with three wins from three and face Italy on Wednesday in the quarter-finals. Is this the summer when Norway will deliver on their potential, offered not just by Graham Hansen, Reiten and Hegerberg but Arsenal’s Frida Maanum and players from Manchester United, Atlético Madrid and Lyon? And with an English head coach in the former Wales manager Gemma Grainger.

Emmy nominations 2025: Severance leads while Adolescence makes impressive showing

Apple shows dominated this year’s TV nominations while the British Netflix hit scored 13 nods

• Emmy nominations 2025: the list of key categories

Severance and The Penguin lead this year’s Emmys nominations while the breakout drama Adolescence has also made an impressive showing.

Apple’s chilly workplace thriller has received 27 nominations for its second season, leading the drama categories while the tech giant’s new comedy The Studio has broken Ted Lasso’s record for most nominations received by a freshman comedy series. The Seth Rogen-led Hollywood satire picked up 23 nods.

Ukraine awaiting details on ‘billions of dollars’ worth of weapons promised by Trump

US president said to have discussed providing Patriot missiles and long-range Tomahawks but no agreement has been reached

Ukraine is waiting for further details of the “billions of dollars” worth of US military equipment promised by Donald Trump on Monday, amid confusion as to how many Patriot air defence systems will be sent to Kyiv.

At a meeting at the White House with the Nato secretary general, Mark Rutte, on Monday, Trump said an unnamed country was ready to immediately provide “17 Patriots” as he said a “very big deal” had been agreed for European allies to buy weapons from the United States and then ship them to Ukraine.

‘A relentless, destructive energy’: inside the trial of Constance Marten and Mark Gordon

An intimate account of an unprecedented trial

If we believe her parents, Constance Marten and Mark Gordon, a baby girl was born on Christmas Eve, 2022, in the upstairs bedroom of Woodcutters Cottage in Haltwhistle, Northumberland. Her mother knelt against the double bed and gave birth without assistance or complication. The baby spent the first days of her life in the small stone-terraced cottage and then began her travels, mostly carried by her mother in a sling, hidden under a burgundy puffer jacket. She travelled far for a newborn, passing through bus stations and port towns, hotels and cafes, cities and fields, from north to south, west to east. We know she lived for at least two weeks, but we don’t know, and can never know, precisely how she died. She was called Victoria.

I traded booze for THC drinks. But are there hidden risks?

Giving up alcohol changed my life, but I wanted to know whether cannabis cocktails were too good to be true

Mark Zuckerberg, a billionaire, has said he avoids substances like caffeine because he likes “rawdogging” reality. I, on the other hand, do not. I mean, have you seen reality lately?

For most of my adult life, alcohol has been my preferred way to take the edge off. But, like a lot of other people, I got older and realized regular drinking was not doing me any favours. Last year, I experimented with “intermittent sobriety”, taking months off here and there. It helped, but it was also easy to slip back into bad habits.

Coffee, tea or … yaupon? Will Trump’s tariffs force Americans back to their home-grown brew?

North America’s only native caffeinated plant was big among beverages in the 18th century. Is Ilex vomitoria about to make a comeback?

Name: Yaupon.

Age: Yaupon (Ilex vomitoria) is North America’s only native caffeinated plant. It was long used by Indigenous people pre-colonisation.

Erotic mosaic stolen by Nazi captain in second world war returned to Pompeii

Wehrmacht officer gave relic to German citizen whose family contacted Italian heritage officials after his death

An erotic mosaic panel stolen from Pompeii by a German Nazi captain during the second world war has been returned to the site of the ancient Roman ruins.

The relic, which depicts a pair of lovers and dates from between the middle of the last century BC and the first century AD, had been among the heirlooms of a deceased German citizen who received the mosaic as a gift from a Wehrmacht captain responsible for the German military supply chain in Italy during the war.

Dad has never been afraid to bargain. The day I bought my car, I saw a master at work

My father wanted me to feel satisfied with my purchase. He also thinks I’m stupid with salespeople, liable to say and pay too much

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I was nine when Dad first gave me the advice that would be a golden thread, a parable of wisdom conveying all his hard-earned knowledge in a few words.

He had just finished a long week at the mixed business we owned in the city, and we were at Menai Marketplace in Sydney’s south for a very special purchase. I was desperate for a PlayStation 1. I pointed at the Big W price tag and asked: “Dad, is this expensive?”

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In defence of Step Brothers: the platonic ideal of Obama-era comedy

Watching Will Ferrell and John C Reilly as a pair of large adult sons feels like witnessing the dying embers of the Gen X sensibility – before the world got cruel and idiots took over

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It’s 2008. George W Bush is wrapping up his presidency. The world’s economy is in turmoil, but Obama is ascendant. The US’s – and the world’s – problems will soon be solved once and for all.

The peak comedy of this era is, of course, Step Brothers. Adam McKay’s previous hit collaborations with Will Ferrell, Anchorman and Talladega Nights, hit a rich seam of man-children being elevated to folk-hero status. We could call it a thematic trilogy, if we were being a bit pretentious – like Ingmar Bergman’s faith trilogy, but with more prosthetic testicles.

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Never mind the Norman bollocks: Reading’s replica Bayeux tapestry is a prudish triumph!

It may not be completely anatomically accurate, but the Victorian copy of the Bayeux tapestry is as much an emblem of its time as the 11th-century original

‘We’ve already got one,” sneers a snotty French knight in Monty Python and the Holy Grail. With that holy grail of British history, the Bayeux tapestry, about to be lent by France to the British Museum, we could say the same. In 1885, Elizabeth Wardle of Leek, Staffordshire, led a team of 35 women in an extraordinary campaign to embroider a meticulous, full-scale replica of the entire early medieval artwork. With Victorian energy and industry they managed it in just a year and by 1886 it was being shown around Britain and abroad.

Today that Victorian Bayeux tapestry is preserved in Reading Museum, and like the original, can be viewed online. Are there differences? Of course. The Bayeux tapestry is a time capsule of the 11th century and when you look at its stitching you get a raw sense of that remote past. The Leek Embroidery Society version is no mean feat but it is an artefact of its own, Victorian age. The colours are simplified and intensified, using worsted thread, as Wardle explains in its end credits, “dyed in permanent colours” by her husband Thomas Wardle, a leading Midlands silk dyeing industrialist.

CIA historian Tim Weiner: ‘Trump has put national security in the hands of crackpots and fools’

The longtime chronicler of the spy agency on his Legacy of Ashes follow-up and what keeps him up at night

It may seem perverse to pity the Central Intelligence Agency. The powerful spy organization’s history is rich with failures and abuses – from the Cuban missile crisis to the post-9/11 torture program to its role in the overthrow of a long string of democratically elected leaders. But among the many consequences of Donald Trump’s open hostility toward America’s intelligence community is that no less a CIA critic than Tim Weiner now sounds like a defender.

To understand why, Weiner – author of the unsparing history of the agency, the 2007 bestseller Legacy of Ashes – suggested a thought experiment in a recent interview: imagine spending years as an intelligence officer, working diligently to subvert the Kremlin, only to watch the US stand with Russia, Iran and North Korea, as it did in February when it voted against a UN resolution condemning the invasion of Ukraine. In that moment, Weiner said: “You come to the realization, if you hadn’t already: ‘My God, the president of the United States has gone over to the other side. He has joined the authoritarian axis.’”

Liverpool reject Bayern Munich’s €67.5m Luis Díaz bid and retain Alexander Isak interest

• Liverpool plan to keep Díaz for final two years of contract

• Newcastle have £70m Ekitike bid rejected by Eintracht

Liverpool have rejected an offer from Bayern Munich to sign Luis Díaz for €67.5m (£58.6m). Bayern and Barcelona have been linked with the Colombia international this summer and the Bundesliga champions submitted their first bid on Tuesday. Liverpool rejected the approach and reiterated that the 28-year-old was not for sale.

The Premier League champions value Díaz at more than €100m given his status on the domestic and global stage and market prices. There is also longstanding interest in the winger from the Saudi Pro League. Liverpool’s valuation is based on their accounting position rather than an asking price.

Trump permits Nvidia to sell advanced chips in China, CEO says

Chipmaker’s CEO, Jensen Huang, recently met with Donald Trump as US-China trade rivalry deepens

Nvidia’s CEO, Jensen Huang, says the chipmaker has won approval from the Trump administration to sell its advanced computer chips used to develop artificial intelligence to China.

“Today, I’m announcing that the US government has approved for us filing licenses to start shipping H20s,” Huang told reporters in Beijing.

‘What is the point?’ Scottie Scheffler questions golf and life before Open

World No 1 vows to quit sport if it affects family life and asks why winning is so important for an ‘awesome’ two minutes

Since the age of three, when he was given a plastic set of clubs, Scottie Scheffler has wanted to be the best golfer in the world. He has won three majors, been ranked world No 1 since 2023, and is the favourite for the Open this week. But during an extraordinary press conference at Portrush on Tuesday, the American peered into an existential void as he asked himself: what is the point of it all?

Scheffler was clearly happy, and his determination to win this week was clear. He also spoke eloquently on the challenges of links golf. But a hitherto unremarkable press conference suddenly veered into a deeper philosophical search for meaning when the 29-year-old was asked how long he had ever celebrated a victory.

Euro 2025 is shaping up to be a roaring success. Now for more jeopardy

Local and travelling fans have been captivated and most problems could have been avoided with more spending or care

The headline in SonntagsBlick Sport reads: “Lia hier, Lia da, Lia überall.” It is not metaphorical; Switzerland’s Lia Wälti is literally here, there and everywhere. From billboards and tram stops to produce packets and tourism adverts, the Arsenal midfielder is the poster girl of Euro 2025, the captain, the Champions League winner, the fulcrum of a team who captured the heart of the country as they set up a blockbuster quarter-final with the world champions, Spain.

There were raised eyebrows when Switzerland was announced as the host country. The largest stadium is the 38,512-capacity home of Basel, St Jakob-Park, where the opening game and final are being played. It felt like a step back from the 74,310-capacity Old Trafford, which hosted the opening game in 2022, and Wembley, which hosted 87,192 fans for the final between England and Germany.

In Trump’s game of chicken, the EU cannot afford to back down | Nathalie Tocci

When threatened with US tariffs, Europe was initially bullish. But the influence of nationalist leaders sympathetic to Trump has caused a split

Donald Trump’s trade policy has been labelled “Taco” – “Trump always chickens out” – by his critics. But when it comes to his latest trade war with the EU, it’s Brussels that risks chickening out. The US and the EU have been negotiating for months on an agreement. This week Trump made the shock announcement that the US would hit the EU with punitive tariffs on goods at a crippling 30% rate from 1 August. This was in addition to separate steel and aluminium tariffs, and cars at even more punitive rates.

Blindsided Brussels negotiators calculated the economic damage, and ministers talked about retaliation. Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission president, warned that “all necessary steps to safeguard EU interests” would be taken. But so far, despite the tough words, the EU is holding back.

Nathalie Tocci is a Guardian Europe columnist

Two men behind ‘senseless’ felling of Sycamore Gap tree jailed for more than four years

Daniel Graham, 39, and Adam Carruthers, 32, sentenced for act of criminal damage that sparked widespread sadness and anger

Two men who carried out a “moronic mission” to fell one of the most loved and photographed trees in the UK have been jailed.

Daniel Graham, 39, and Adam Carruthers, 32, were each given prison sentences of four years and three months for an act of criminal damage that caused the Sycamore Gap tree to crash down on to Hadrian’s wall in Northumberland on a stormy September night in 2023.

‘I wish I’d enjoyed my fame a bit more’: Jim Sturgess on regrets, romance and the art of the mix tape

He broke Hollywood in his early 20s, and found it all extremely scary. Now starring in a beautiful TV romance, Sturgess talks love, Walkmans – and why he might have just found his forever screen partner

Like all good love stories, this one starts with a chance meeting and ends with a reunion. It was 2008, pre-Hardy and Hiddleston, post-Bale and Grant; Jim Sturgess was a rising star and the latest handsome young Brit to break Hollywood. Having landed the lead role in casino thriller 21, Sturgess needed a love interest: cue a slew of chemistry tests with a roll call of beautiful young women, a process Sturgess remembers now as “the most exposed blind date you could ever possibly put yourself through, with five producers watching you from afar”.

Kate Bosworth got the role, but one actor lingered in Sturgess’s mind: an effervescent Australian called Teresa Palmer. “When you do those chemistry tests, they put you through it, so we spent the whole day together,” Sturgess says. “I was really hoping she was going to get the part, because we got on really well. She’s Australian, I’m English, and we were both in Hollywood going, ‘Where the hell are we?’”

Climate groups call for UK wealth tax to make super-rich fund sustainable economy

Growing number of campaigners urge government to ensure green investment is not done ‘on backs of the poor’

• What is a wealth tax and would it work in the UK?

A growing number of climate groups are campaigning for the introduction of a wealth tax to ensure the transition to a sustainable economy is not done “on the backs of the poor”.

Last week campaigners from Green New Deal Rising staged a sit-in outside the Reform UK party’s London headquarters as part of a wave of protests targeting the offices, shops and private clubs of the super-rich across the UK.

‘The soldiers want you to see what they’re going through’: the heartbreaking follow-up to 20 Days in Mariupol

While Mstyslav Chernov was on the Oscars circuit with his first Ukraine war film, soldiers in his latest – made using bodycams – were dying. He explains why he needed to join them in the trenches

It was in Sloviansk, in the rear of eastern Ukraine’s frontline, that I first met journalist and film-maker Mstyslav Chernov. It was the autumn of 2023 and he was telling me about the film that would later win him and his team an Oscar: 20 Days in Mariupol, a horrifying documentary assembled from the news footage he and his team had gathered there, in the first month of the full-scale invasion. That September day of our interview, though – amid what would turn out to be Ukraine’s disappointing counteroffensive of 2023 – he was making his second film, one that took him to the heart of the combat zone, called 2,000 Meters to Andriivka. It is, if anything, even more powerful than its predecessor: a piece of frontline reporting that truly deserves the name, its footage gathered from soldiers’ own bodycams as well as from Chernov and his small crew on the ground among them. He puts the viewer into the trenches alongside the combatants. It is terrifying, bloody and heartbreakingly sad. You will not emerge from this film unchanged.

The soldiers on whom Chernov focuses are members of Ukraine’s 3rd Assault Brigade. They have a mission: to liberate the village of Andriivka, in the Donetsk region, and hoist the blue-and-yellow flag above it. Their sole route to this village is through a narrow strip of forest with flat, open fields either side. The wood, with its sketchy cover, is both their protection and, in many cases, their grave. The painful, dangerous advance through this 2km provides the structure of the film. And yet, for all that the film borrows the conventions of a thriller for its propulsive plotline, it is its tenderness, both in its gaze and in the relationships between the men that it depicts, that really destroyed me.

Stephen Lillie on Donald Trump’s arms deal with Nato – cartoon

Navalny’s widow leads calls for Italy to cancel concert by pro-Putin conductor

Valery Gergiev, an ally of Russian leader, is due to perform in Europe for first time since full-scale invasion of Ukraine

The widow of the late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny is leading calls for Italy to scrap a performance by a Russian orchestra conductor with close ties to Vladimir Putin at a music festival in southern Italy.

Valery Gergiev, who has been a close ally of Putin since the early 1990s, will perform in Europe for the first time since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine after being invited to Un’Estate da Re festival in La Reggia di Caserta, a former Bourbon palace and Unesco world heritage site in Campania, on 27 July.

Where Oasis, the Killers and Noddy Holder raised hell: Britpop’s debauched HQ, the Columbia hotel

Noel Gallagher named a song after it, Marc Almond practically moved in and the Killers had a bathtub reserved for puking in – but was it rock’n’roll, or just a bit tragic?

In the early 2000s, a member of the New York dance-punk band Radio 4 was walking upstairs when he realised he’d forgotten the key to his room at London’s Columbia hotel. Rather than walk back down the several flights he’d already climbed, he drunkenly decided to jump all the way down to the reception level. When he regained consciousness, a bemused Courtney Love was staring down at his prone body. As was an irate hotel manager, who swiftly barred the band from staying there for years, before the crumpled musician was scooped up to go and spend a few days in hospital.

It was not easy to get barred from the Columbia hotel, but Radio 4 were not the only ones who managed it. Once, at 6am, members of Oasis decided to throw all the furniture in the bar out of the window, piece by piece. When items landed on the hotel manager’s Mercedes, the band had to scarper before the police arrived. It played such a significant part in Oasis’s story that Noel Gallagher wrote a song in tribute to it, Columbia, based on his escapades there back when he was a roadie for Inspiral Carpets.

Protests, fires and a child’s funeral: photos of the day – Tuesday

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

Does Kash Patel deserve to run the FBI? Of course he does – and I’ll take a lie detector test to prove it | Arwa Mahdawi

He may be insecure and lack any obvious qualifications, but he’s also extremely devoted to Donald Trump. And isn’t that what really matters?

‘Once upon a time, in the land of the free, there lived a wizard called Kash the Distinguished Discoverer.” That piece of verbal wizardry is the opening line of a children’s book trilogy called The Plot Against the King (aimed at children aged three and above) by a Mr Kash Patel. The first book, published in 2022, is like Harry Potter for conspiracy theorists. Kash helps King Donald battle Hillary Queenton and a “shifty knight”, who have been spreading lies about the king working with the Russionians. In the final book in the trilogy (The Plot Against the King 3: The Return of the King) a couple of villains called Comma‑la‑la‑la and Baron Von Biden make an appearance.

Not so long ago, publishing deeply weird books about the president while also promoting wild QAnon conspiracy theories would get you put on some kind of watchlist. Now it gets you a top job as the guy in charge of watchlists. Patel is not just a children’s book author; he is also the director of the FBI. His chief qualification for the role appears to be his extreme devotion to President Donald Trump. He certainly didn’t have any FBI experience before getting the job as head of the agency.

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.

Dora and the Search for Sol Dorado review – plucky teen explorer goes looking for lost Incan magic

Inoffensive adventure story updates Dora the Explorer as she goes in search of the legendary golden sun that will grant one wish

If you have a bunch of eight-year-olds over for a sleepover and you’re looking for something to stick on the TV, you could do worse than this straight-to-streaming live-action adaptation of the animated show Dora the Explorer. It’s a follow-up of sorts to Dora and the Lost City of Gold from 2019, with a new star in the shape of Samantha Lorraine, and aimed at slightly older kids than the cartoon. There are action sequences looted from Raiders of the Lost Ark that had my eight-year-old squealing at the screen, though as it’s determined to be undemanding and inoffensive, it’s got that plasticky quality that middling kids’ films tend to have.

Lorraine plays Dora, a teenage explorer who’s grown up in the Amazon, raised on her grandfather’s stories about the Incas. For years, Dora has been searching for clues to find Sol Dorado, a legendary golden sun that will grant one wish, joined by her cousin Diego (Jacob Rodriguez). The scriptwriters deserve credit for resisting the temptation to bolt on a love interest; instead, we have cousin Diego in the role conventionally given to a female character: the pretty but non-essential sidekick.

Why homemade stir-fry sauces are always better than bought in ones | Kitchen aide

Don’t bother with bought-in bottles, which are often too sweet. It’s easy to make your own, say our cooks – just remember, it’s all about balance …

• Got a culinary dilemma? Email [email protected]

Most stir-fry sauces are sweet, dense and cloying. Any lighter, fresher alternatives?
Louis, Falmouth
If Julie Lin, author of Sama Sama: Comfort Food from my Malaysian-Scottish Kitchen, were to hazard a guess, it would be that Louis is buying shop-bought sauces: “They’re always sweet and dense,” she says. “There’s a phrase we use in Malaysia, agak agak, which means to season until you know that it’s good for you.” And that’s only ever going to come from making it yourself, which for Lin often means her “master wok” sauce. To make a bottle, she combines 75g white sugar, three teaspoons of MSG, and 75ml rice-wine vinegar, and whisks until the sugar dissolves. Stir in 300ml light soy sauce and 100ml dark soy sauce, followed by 50ml sesame oil. Pour that into a sterilised jar or bottle, give it a shake and keep for a month at room temperature. That’s then ready to go, or customise it with, say, chilli or garlic, because one stir-fry sauce is not going to fit all. While the basic master wok number is a good shout for stir-frying noodles, rice or vegetables, however, “if you’re going for a lamb stir-fry, for example, you’ll probably want to add some cumin, garlic and maybe make it more vinegary.”

For Justin Tsang, author of Long Day? Cook This: Easy East Asian Recipes with a Twist, it’s all about balance: “The perfect stir-fry sauce has to be salty, sweet and umami, but it shouldn’t be one more than the other; it should work in harmony.” If your sauce is bordering on too sweet or dense, anything “a bit tart or fruity” will work wonders: “That could be some sort of acid, such as lime juice to finish, or vinegar, or a splash of sharp Worcestershire sauce,” says Tsang, who has also been known to add HP Sauce to the mix. Alternatively, get to know your onions: “Using the finest grater on a box grater, grate a white onion into an almost-pulp, then mix into your sauce, along with a splash of vinegar – that will cut through any sweetness and make it lighter.”

Got a culinary dilemma? Email [email protected]

‘Beautiful form isn’t enough’: National Ballet of Japan – picture essay

Photographer David Levene gained access to the ballet company as they prepared for Ballet Coffret, ahead of a UK tour this month where they will also be performing Giselle at the Royal Opera House. We spoke to one of the principal dancers, Yui Yonezawa

The three pieces of Ballet Coffret range from 1910’s Stravinsky-composed classic The Firebird by Michel Fokine through the mid-20th century Etudes by Harald Lander to William Forsythe’s The Vertiginous Thrill of Exactitude from 1996. Levene captured the training, preparations and performances of the National Ballet of Japan (NBJ) over three March days in Tokyo, as well as shadowing ballerina Yui Yonezawa and visiting the New National Theatre’s ballet school.

Principal dancer Yui Yonezawa prepares for Ballet Coffret in Tokyo, Japan

Fauja Singh, ‘world’s oldest marathon runner’, dies in road accident aged 114

Singh’s east London running club confirms death in India of athlete thought to be first centenarian to run a marathon

The runner Fauja Singh, believed to be the oldest person to complete a marathon, has died in a road accident in India aged 114.

The athlete, who lived in Ilford in east London, was hit by a car and suffered fatal injuries while trying to cross a road in his birth village of Beas Pind, near Jalandhar in Punjab, on Monday, according to reports in India.

David Squires on … trophy-loving Trump crashing Chelsea’s Club World Cup party

Our cartoonist on the US president’s central role in the final of a tournament that seemed like it would never end

• Buy one of David’s cartoon in our Print Shop

• David’s new book, Chaos in the Box: buy it now

‘The perfect accompaniment to life’: why is a 12th-century nun the hottest name in experimental music?

​A mystic who turned visions into beautiful chants, Hildegard von Bingen has inspired everyone from Grimes to David Lynch. Musicians including Julia Holter explain the hold she has on them

‘And behold! In the 43rd year of my earthly course, as I was gazing with great fear and trembling attention at a heavenly vision, I saw a great splendour in which resounded a voice from Heaven saying to me, ‘O fragile human, ashes of ashes, and filth of filth! Say and write what you see and hear.”

These are the words of 12th-century polymath Hildegard von Bingen (or Hildegard of Bingen), recalling the divine intervention that set her on the path to becoming one of history’s earliest and most influential composers.

Irish tourist jailed by Ice for months after overstaying US visit by three days: ‘Nobody is safe’

Exclusive: For roughly 100 days, Thomas says he faced harsh detention conditions, despite agreeing to deportation

Thomas, a 35-year-old tech worker and father of three from Ireland, came to West Virginia to visit his girlfriend last fall. It was one of many trips he had taken to the US, and he was authorized to travel under a visa waiver program that allows tourists to stay in the country for 90 days.

He had planned to return to Ireland in December, but was briefly unable to fly due to a health issue, his medical records show. He was only three days overdue to leave the US when an encounter with police landed him in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) custody.

Republicans complain to Canada over wildfire smoke despite supporting planet-heating bill

Lawmakers send letter railing against ‘suffocating’ smoke days after voting for Trump plan likely to boost pollution

A group of Republican lawmakers has complained that smoke from Canadian wildfires is ruining summer for Americans, just days after voting for a major bill that will cause more of the planet-heating pollution that is worsening wildfires.

In a letter sent to Canada’s ambassador to the US, six Republican members of Congress wrote that wildfire smoke from Canada had been an issue for several years and recently their voters “have had to deal with suffocating Canadian wildfire smoke filling the air to begin the summer”.

Looking for a job? Who you know probably matters more than what you know | Zoe Williams

Forget polishing your CV – you’re better off working on your connections. That’s the depressing reality when every vacancy attracts thousands of applications, all written by AI

It’s only when you meet a couple of people who have just landed a job that you realise how long it’s been since you heard of that happening. I was chatting to two nearly-graduates last week, who both had something to go on to, and fair play, they were chemists, and I’ve never met one of those before. It’s possible they always saunter into work.

The story you hear far more often from graduates is that it’s a wasteland – that every new post has 2,000 applications, all identical because they’re AI-generated anyway, and it’s an AI bot that reads the damn things, so it wouldn’t be able to tell a personal touch even if there was one. Applying for work is like throwing your hat into a ring that’s on fire: your chances of success are mythically small and your hat – or, if you prefer, your self-esteem – will be destroyed in the process.

The BBC has alienated everyone with its Gaza coverage. After this latest failure, who will be left to defend it? | Owen Jones

The decision to take Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone off iPlayer was not necessary – and has opened it up to further accusations of bias

For a genocide to occur, everything that people think is wrong has to first be turned on its head. There have been endless examples of this gruesome phenomenon in the past 21 months; Monday’s report on the BBC’s scrapped documentary about the plight of children in Gaza is just the latest instance.

Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone was a rare example of the unbearable experiences of Palestinians being properly investigated by Britain’s public broadcaster. But within the media, this documentary has become a bigger scandal than the suffering of Palestinian children.

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.

‘He didn’t think he was a good man’: new book reveals unseen portrait of JFK

In an exhaustively researched book, J Randy Taraborrelli looks at the private, public and secret lives of the president

J Randy Taraborrelli has already written five books on the Kennedy family but his sixth, JFK: Public, Private, Secret, is his first that’s directly about John F Kennedy, 35th US president from 1961 until his assassination in Dallas two years later.

“I have been writing about the Kennedys from Jackie’s perspective for 25 years,” Taraborrelli said, referring to Jacqueline Kennedy, the first lady who lived for another 30 years after he was shot, a figure of worldwide fascination.

‘Don’t ever assume there’s anything to eat!’ 29 tips for perfect vegan holidays, from where to go to how to order

Nowhere should be out of bounds just because you have a plant-based diet. Seasoned travellers explain how to stay happy and hunger-free, whether you’re trekking in Thailand or on a mini-break in Berlin

This spring, I spent five weeks travelling around Mexico – my longest time away from home since becoming a vegan two and a half years ago. It was a learning experience: lots of incredible vegan food, gallons of fall-back guacamole and the odd cheese-related disaster. This is what I found out about being a vegan on holiday, and the advice I received from more seasoned vegan travellers.

Rage against the machines: ignore the fury at Wimbledon, AI in sport works | Sean Ingle

In the fevered environments within sporting arenas, anything that can help an official has to be a good thing

We are all suckers for a good story. And there was certainly a cracking two‑parter at Wimbledon this year. First came the news that 300 line judges had been replaced by artificial intelligence robots. Then, a few days later, it turned out there were some embarrassing gremlins in the machine. Not since Roger Federer hung up his Wilson racket has there been a sweeter spot hit during the Wimbledon fortnight.

First the new electronic line-judging system failed to spot that Sonay Kartal had whacked a ball long during her match against Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova – which led to the Russian losing a game she otherwise would have won. Although, ironically, it happened only because an official had accidentally switched the system off.

Toni at Random by Dana A Williams review – Toni Morrison’s editing years

A fascinating account of the Nobel laureate’s pioneering work as an editor at Random House

While a great deal has been written about Toni Morrison’s fiction, her work as a senior editor at Random House is less well known. Dana A Williams, professor of African American Literature at Howard University, sets out to fill this gap, offering an impeccably researched account of Morrison’s stint at Random House between 1971 and 1983, against the backdrop of the Civil Rights and the Black Arts movements. Reflecting ideas generated by that convergence, Morrison’s novels – described by the Nobel committee, when they awarded her the prize in literature in 1993, as giving life to an essential aspect of American reality – were driven by an unwavering belief in the possibility of African American empowerment through self-regard. Williams’s interest lies in showing how Morrison’s editorial career was informed by the same invigoratingly insular ethos. Whether writing or editing, her work was aimed at producing “explorations of interior Black life with minimal interest in talking to or being consumed by an imagined white reader”.

Morrison saw early on how that kind of insularity could be wielded as both a weapon and a shield. Addressing the Second National Conference of Afro-American Writers at Howard in 1976, she urged the audience to recognise that “the survival of Black publishing, which […] is a sort of way of saying the survival of Black writing, will depend on the same things that the survival of Black anything depends on, which is the energies of Black people – sheer energy, inventiveness and innovation, tenacity, the ability to hang on, and a contempt for those huge, monolithic institutions and agencies which do obstruct us”. These words could well have been repurposed as a mission statement for her editorial career, which, as Williams points out, consisted of “[making] a revolution, one book at a time”. Change was coming in America. Morrison’s contribution would be to work towards change in the overwhelmingly white world of publishing: “I thought it was important for people to be in the streets,” she said during an interview for the documentary Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am, released in 2019. “But that couldn’t last. You needed a record. It would be my job to publish the voices, the books, the ideas of African Americans. And that would last.”

Ghosted review – dating-scene romcom is Bridget Jones tribute act

British film about the relationship travails of a 30-year-old would-be actor falls flat and feels dated

It is a truth universally acknowledged that there was some drop-off in quality between the first incomparable Bridget Jones film and its sequels, but this cheap would-be spiritual successor will have you crawling after even the worst Bridget film begging for forgiveness. Ghosted hews close to the template, to the point of feeling like a tribute act – but unfortunately not the kind of tribute act that sells out arenas but the kind that plays down the Dog & Duck of a Saturday night.

Mercy (Jade Asha) is unhappily single, on the hunt for Mr Right, and hoping to improve her career (ideally from waitress to international acting superstar). Part of the film’s problem is that Bridget Jones’ Diary is of its time, and to hear a 30-year-old supposedly modern and progressive heroine in 2025 complain that she is a decade older than the majority of singles definitely feels dated. Thirty in 2025 is not the same as 30 in the 1990s, and it’s peculiar to watch someone today bemoan it as the end of their youth.

The valleys of the Dolomites: exploring Italy’s new network of wild trails

The Via delle Valli is a series of 50 trails aiming to tempt mountain-lovers away from the region’s hotspots and towards lesser-charted country

Thick white cloud hangs outside the windows of Rifugio Segantini, a mountain hut 2,373 metres up in the Italian Alps. But it is shifting, revealing glimpses of the majestic Brenta Dolomites before us: a patch of snow here, a craggy peak there. The view is tantalising, and a couple of times I have run outside in a kind of peekaboo farce to see the full display, only for it to pass behind clouds again.

The refuge – cosy, wooden-clad and packed with hikers – is named after the Italian landscape painter Giovanni Segantini, who was inspired by these mountains. His portrait hangs on the walls and his name is embroidered on the lace curtains. A simple stone building with blue and white shutters in Val d’Amola, the refuge is dwarfed by its rugged surrounds, with Trentino’s highest peak, the snow-capped 3,556-metre Presanella, as a backdrop. The entries in the guestbook are entirely by locals.

‘A rarefied world of privilege’: lives of the New England upper class – in pictures

Tina Barney’s decades-long exploration of the bourgeois set her family belonged to reveals the strange rituals and claustrophobic banality of rich people’s everyday lives

Diljit Dosanjh is one of the biggest Asian stars in the world. So why can’t Indian cinemagoers see his latest film?

Sardaar Ji 3 is breaking box office records despite not being released to its most famous actor’s home audience

He is number one in the UK list of top 50 Asian celebrities in the world, has headlined arenas in the UK, US and across Europe as part of his sold-out Dil-Luminati world tour, and recently strutted the Met Gala carpet in an ivory-toned turban.

But despite Diljit Dosanjh’s stellar status, the Punjabi actor-singer has been caught in a cultural and political row that has halted the Indian release of his latest movie, Sardaar Ji 3.

Georgina Hayden’s recipe for red curry chicken and courgette burgers

This might just be summer’s winning recipe – ridiculously easy and delicious flavours for barbecue season

I present to you my new favourite summer burger, which has been on our menu at home ever since its arrival in my kitchen. It’s one of those recipes where the ease is almost embarrassing. How can something so delicious be so straightforward? The burgers themselves are a simple food processor job; if you don’t have one, use chicken mince and make sure you really mix in the curry paste and courgette by hand. The accompaniments are also key: the lime-pickled shallots, the abundance of herbs and the creaminess of the mayo all work so well together. Turn up to a barbecue with a tray of these and I guarantee you’ll be dishing out the recipe in no time.

The shining: my trip to the G7 horror show with Emmanuel Macron | Emmanuel Carrère

Deeply unpopular in France, President Macron relishes the international stage, where he projects himself as the leader best placed to handle Trump. Seven years after our last encounter, I joined him as he prepared for battle

Nuuk, the capital of Greenland, is a small jumble of orange prefab buildings and low grey apartment blocks nestled on a stony outcrop on the edge of the ocean. There are no trees, but there’s a hill topped by the statue of Hans Egede, the Danish-Norwegian missionary who evangelised the world’s biggest island in the 18th century and which, as such, is threatened with removal by Inuit anti-colonialists. It was at his feet that I awaited the helicopters bringing back the Greenlandic prime minister, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, the Danish prime minister, Mette Frederiksen, and the French president, Emmanuel Macron – referred to throughout this trip as “PR”, short for président de la république – from their excursion on the ice.

Women born in East Germany have lived between two worlds. That’s why we’re shaking up art and politics | Carolin Würfel

The stories of curator Kathleen Reinhardt and provenance expert Lynn Rother show how exclusion can be turned to powerful insight

In February 1990, the German news magazine Der Spiegel ran the headline “Why are they still coming?”, adding: “In West Germany, hatred for immigrants from the GDR could soon reach boiling point.” That year, resentment towards so-called newcomers from the east erupted without restraint. East Germans were insulted in the streets, shelters were attacked and children from the former GDR were bullied at school. There was a widespread fear that the weekly influx of thousands of people would overwhelm the welfare system and crash the housing and job markets. The public consensus? It needed to stop.

That same year, Kathleen Reinhardt and her parents moved from Thuringia in the former GDR to Bavaria. She was in primary school, and her new classmates greeted her with lines such as: “You people come here and take our jobs. You don’t even know how to work properly.”

‘I needed to be locked up’: how Kavana went from 90s pop stardom to smoking crack in a skip – and bounced back

He was a teen singer with his dream career. But then his life fell apart. Anthony Kavanagh talks about sex work, addiction and the years he spent being forced to hide his sexuality

Nobody could say that Anthony Kavanagh does not know how to laugh at himself. The day he was fired from his record label, he trudged across London in the rain, walking and walking, as the realisation sank in that he was no longer a pop star. Soaked, he went into a pub and the woman behind the bar offered him a grubby tea towel to dry off. Washed-up indeed, he thought.

His memoir, Pop Scars, is sprinkled with darkly comic takes on what his life had become after 90s pop stardom. Known as Kavana, he had a Top 10 hit in 1997 with his cover of Shalamar’s I Can Make You Feel Good. “I’ve always somehow been able to find the humour, even at some of the darker times,” he says.

Could giving this pod of dolphins the same legal rights as humans help keep them safe?

With a bottlenose population threatened by fishing gear, boats and pollution, campaigners on South Korea’s Jeju island are lobbying to extend legal status to the vulnerable cetaceans

It is a beautiful sunny day on the island of Jeju in South Korea and as the boat cuts through the water all seems calm and clear. Then they start to appear – one telltale fin and then another. Soon, a pod of eight or nine dolphins can be seen moving through the sea, seemingly following the path of the boat.

But as they start to jump and dive, fins cutting through the air, it becomes apparent that one dolphin is missing the appendage, his body breaking the surface but without the telltale profile of his companions. His name, given to him by a local environmental group, is Orae, which literally translates as “long”, but in this context means “wishing him a long life”.

‘I couldn’t watch the forests vanish’: the man restoring Solomon Islands’ vital mangroves

Crucial for coastal communities, mangroves are threatened by land clearing, development and rising seas

As the morning light hits Oibola village in Solomon Islands, the receding tide drains water through a maze of tangled mangrove roots.

Dressed in muddy jeans and a worn T-shirt, Ben Waleilia moves carefully through the thick mangrove forest, searching for seedlings. Rows of young mangrove shoots stand high as Waleilia gently drops seedlings into a small plastic bucket.

From Tammy to Tamagotchi: Hamleys releases list of 100 top toys of all time

Retailer marks 265th anniversary by choosing children’s favourite toys since its founding

It’s a list that will take you back to your childhood, whenever that was: train sets, Tonka Trucks, Top Trumps and Tamagotchis have all been named among the top 100 toys of all time.

Drawn up by buyers at the retailer Hamleys to mark its 265th anniversary, the selection includes both hardy perennials and passing playground crazes, all of which have appeared on the toy shop’s shelves, and children’s Christmas lists, over that time.

Trump officials address ‘chemtrails’ conspiracy theories while spreading misinformation, experts say

EPA’s move comes as it slashes climate research funding and cuts weather forecasting and scientific agencies’ staff

Trump officials’ recent attempt to dispel concerns about “chemtrails” has perplexed and angered some experts who say the administration has itself promoted the conspiracy theory while also spreading climate misinformation.

“This is an intriguing strategy … in an administration that, depending on agency, is actively promulgating conspiracy theories or at least conspiratorial thinking,” said Timothy Tangherlini, a professor at the Berkeley School of Information who studies the circulation of folklore and conspiracy theories.

Gaming in their golden years: why millions of seniors are playing video games

Adults over the age of 50 represent nearly a third of US gamers and are becoming more visible in the mainstream

Michelle Statham’s preferred game is Call of Duty. It’s fast and frenetic, involving military and espionage campaigns inspired by real history. She typically spends six hours a day livestreaming to Twitch, chatting to her more than 110,000 followers from her home in Washington state. She boasts about how she’ll beat opponents, and says “bless your heart” while hurtling over rooftops to avoid clusterstrikes of enemy fire. When she’s hit, she “respawns” – or comes back to life at a checkpoint – and jumps right back into the fray.

The military shooter game has a predominantly young male user base, but Statham’s Twitch handle is TacticalGramma – a nod to the 60-year-old’s two grandkids. Her lifelong gaming hobby has become an income stream (she prefers to keep her earnings private, but says she has raised “thousands” for charity), as well as a way to have fun, stay sharp and connect socially.

‘I broke down in the studio from all the raw emotion’: Richard Hawley on making The Ocean

‘I’d quit heavy drugs, got married and started a solo career … then my label dropped me. This felt like the last roll of the dice for me as a musician’

My wife, Helen, had driven our two young kids down to Porthcurno beach in Cornwall. It’s where Rowena Cade had carved the Minack theatre into the granite cliffs. I’d been playing a gig so arrived two days later, and for a boy from a smoggy industrial city, the blue sea and palm trees felt revelatory.

Five beef patties, four cheese slices, bacon, lettuce, tomato … Burger King’s sumo of a burger enters the ring

Japan’s limited-edition Baby Body Burger packs in 1,876 calories and tips the scales at nearly 680g. Will it defeat our reporter?

Japan can legitimately claim to be home to some of the best food on the planet. But it usually has little appetite for supersizing it.

That changed on Friday with Burger King’s gargantuan but curiously named Baby Body Burger, tipping the scales at nearly 680g (1.5lb). As part of a collaboration with the Japan Sumo Association, whose July wrestling tournament has just started, the burger checks in at 1,876 calories. Sumo wrestlers would only need about four of these to get their average daily caloric needs; a mere mortal would need just one to one-and-a-half. And, at ¥2,590 (£13.05), it’s nearly twice the price of a one-patty Whopper with cheese.

Rukmini Iyer’s quick and easy recipe for cashew rice bowls with stir-fried tofu, broccoli and kimchi | Quick and easy

A great speedy bowl meal that is wholesome, tasty and a success with all the family

These were an absolute hit with my children, albeit minus the cashews, and as any parent with toddlers who refuse to let their food touch other food will know, that’s a breakthrough. It’s well worth making the whole quantity here, because any leftovers are perfect for fried rice the next day – just make sure you cool the rice after making it, then refrigerate immediately and reheat until piping hot the next day.

Futra Days review – esoteric sci-fi romance offers lovers time-jump ‘happiness heists’ to save relationships

A man gets catapulted into the future to help him understand the future of his crush, but the sloppy chronology and gratuitous stylistic touches leave this film a little too infatuated with itself

With studio projects abandoning Los Angeles as a shooting location, it’s the low-budget crowd that are still holdouts, presumably out of necessity. Futra Days is another in the line of esoteric films about overheated Angeleno creative minds that the pandemic seemed to encourage; the likes of the hermeneutic sci-fi Something in the Dirt or family found-footage He’s Watching. But running time-travel rings around a dysfunctional relationship, Ryan David’s sophomore effort is just a bit too infatuated with itself.

Jaded record producer Sean (Brandon Sklenar, looking like Chris Evans and Glen Powell spliced) is wondering whether a new crush on thrift-shop worker and aspiring singer Nichole (Tania Raymonde) will go the distance. So he signs up to a “happiness heist”: being catapulted into the future by an experimental time-travel clinic run by Dr Felicia Walter (Rosanna Arquette) whose medical qualifications seem, well, questionable. After replacing his future self, who is in the process of walking out on an exasperated future Nichole, he decides to try to reboot their relationship.

Poem of the week: Poem in which I’m a transnational drug smuggler by Bethany Handley

A sharp and witty look at the treatment of people with disabilities conveys its anger with arresting artistry

Poem in which I’m a transnational drug smuggler

DJ Nick León on Rosalía, regional Latin club sounds and rejecting success: ‘I was losing my edge’

Early success left the Miami producer feeling risk-averse. He quit touring to discover his muggy, magical sound – and accidentally scored another hit with Erika de Casier

A few years ago, Nick León made a hit. Not a hit hit, like a Drake/Sabrina/Taylor hit, but a hit in certain circles. His single Xtasis, made with the Venezuelan producer DJ Babatr, was one of the defining club tracks of 2022. Named track of the year by Resident Advisor and a staple at parties throughout the summer and autumn, it launched León from his status as one of Miami’s most interesting underground DJs into the international club circuit.

“It was like, we’re hitting the ground running – we’re gonna be touring and DJing all the time, and there was this mission of spreading the music that so many people have been playing already, from Latin America and the US,” León recalls of this period, sweating through his tie-dye T-shirt in an east London cafe in June.

Brooklyn and beyond: Colm Tóibín’s best books – ranked!

As the Irish author turns 70, we rate his best works of fiction – from his latest, Long Island, to his emotionally wrenching ‘masterpiece’

This dispatch from what we might call the extended Colm Tóibín universe is set near the same time and in the same place as his earlier novel Brooklyn (one character appears in both books). It’s the story of a widowed woman who struggles to cope with life after love. If it lacks the drama of some of Tóibín’s other novels, the style is impeccable as ever, with irresistibly clean prose that reports emotional turmoil masked by restraint. There is no ornate showing off. “People used to tease me for it, saying: ‘Could you write a longer sentence?’” Tóibín has said. “But there’s nothing I can do about it.”

The one change that worked: I was such a fussy eater, it limited me – now I try one new dish a week to reduce my food fear

Mayonnaise still makes me feel like I’m dying, but I’ve learned to love parmesan. And at least I’m making an effort

I’ve always been a fussy eater. As a child, I ruined many family dinners because my overly particular palate meant I would simply refuse to eat a range of dishes. Certain ingredients would make me heave and throw tantrums. My brothers loved lasagne, but it rarely made the dinner table as I couldn’t stand cheese, and bechamel triggered a phobia of white sauces (mayonnaise is my No 1 hate). And don’t even think about making tuna sandwiches around me: the smell alone would make me burst into tears.

I often joke that being a fussy eater has made me feel more like a second-class citizen in this country than my blackness or my sexuality as a gay man. And I’m only being half unserious. Fussy eaters are often derided, belittled for only enjoying chicken tenders and fries, with questions about why we can’t just “grow up” and get over our aversion to certain foods.

No, age isn’t just a number – and the sooner we realise that, the happier we will be

It’s tempting to want to stay young for ever. But each new life stage brings gains as well as losses

Sitting in a cafe recently, I saw a poster advertising a barista training course for young people interested in a career in hot beverages. Things in the NHS being what they are, I enjoyed losing myself in a fantasy future spent standing behind a sleek, shiny machine, having witty exchanges with customers and colleagues as I skilfully poured smooth, foaming milk into silky dark espresso, tipping and turning each cup to create my own unique artworks on the coffee surface.

That was until I read the small print, which included the rather brutal definition of “young people” as aged 18 to 24. I realised, with an internal gasp, that my limited ability to pour liquid without spilling it was not the only obstacle to this career choice. There was a core personal reality here from which I had become totally untethered: the passing of time.

‘Spirited and sumptuous’: why Big Night is my feelgood movie

The latest in our series of writers recommending comfort watches is a tribute to 1996’s charming restaurant-set comedy drama

“Life is meals,” observed the novelist James Salter. Big Night, Stanley Tucci’s spirited and sumptuous indie from 1996, is a film about one big meal that asks a few big questions about life, including: What is the cost of the American dream? What does food allow us to say to each other that words can’t? And what right does Marc Anthony, of all people, have to deliver one of the most charming non-speaking performances in any movie since the silent era?

Big Night follows two Italian immigrants who run a failing restaurant in 1950s New Jersey. Ambitious, high-strung Secondo (Tucci, practically hirsute) is the manager, while his brother Primo (Tony Shalhoub) is the madman in the kitchen, a purist who derides the local clientele as philistines and has begun to doubt the wisdom of coming to the US in the first place.

‘The way a child plays is the way they live’: how therapists are using video games to help vulnerable children

Minecraft and other creative games are becoming recognised as powerful means of self-expression and mental health support, including for traumatised Ukrainian refugees

Oleksii Sukhorukov’s son was 12 when the Russian invasion of Ukraine began. For months, the family existed in a state of trauma and disarray: Sukhorukov was forced to give up his work in the entertainment industry, which had included virtual reality and video games; they became isolated from friends and relatives. But amid the chaos, his boy had one outlet: Minecraft. Whatever was happening outside, he’d boot up Mojang’s block-building video game and escape.

“After 24 February 2022, I began to see the game in a completely different light,” says Sukhorukov. I discovered that Ukrainian children were playing together online; some living under Russian occupation, others in government-controlled areas of the country that were the targets of regular missile attacks; some had already become refugees. And yet they were still able to play together, support one another, and build their own world. Isn’t that amazing? I wanted to learn more about how video games can be used for good.”

Jess Cartner-Morley on fashion: How to switch to holiday mode? Easy, get a bag big enough for a book and a beach towel

Time to sign out of your Work Bag, sling a straw basket bag over your shoulder and feel your pulse slow down

Is there any point putting an out of office on your emails when you go on holiday any more? “I won’t have access to emails.” Yeah, right. Sorry, you aren’t fooling anyone: no one goes on holiday without their phone in 2025. Your office know perfectly well that if you don’t answer emails, they can still reach you by text or direct message. Even, theoretically, by actually calling you, although obviously that won’t happen because that’s another thing that no one does in 2025. Tweak your out of office message as much as you like – you might as well stick your fingers in your ears.

No, the best way to set your brain to holiday mode is by signing out of your Work Bag. Swapping the bag you take on your daily commute for a free-and-easy alternative is more effective as a psychological gear change than logging out of your emails. In day-to-day life, I change handbags as rarely as possible, the potential for leaving keys in an inside pocket and getting locked out being just too real. But when you get home after work and you aren’t going back for a week or two, there is something very pleasing about marking that moment by throwing away leaky pens, marvelling at how you managed to accumulate 14 hairbands, and then shaking the bag over the bin and feeling disproportionately thrilled when a pound coin falls out. Stashing the bag – with your office pass inside – is very out of sight and out of mind.

Is it true that … it’s harder to build muscle mass and strength as you age?

Getting fit can be more difficult as you grow older, but a few tweaks to aerobic and resistance training can have a positive impact and reduce the risk of disease

‘Your muscles become less responsive to exercise with age,” says Professor Leigh Breen, an expert in skeletal muscle physiology and metabolism at Birmingham University. “It’s not as easy to gain muscle and strength as when you were younger.”

But that doesn’t mean it’s not worth the effort. “The idea that exercise becomes pointless past a certain age is simply wrong,” he says. “Everyone responds to structured exercise. You may not build as much visible muscle, but strength, cardiovascular health, brain function and protection against non-transmittable disease all improve.”

Flesh and Code is an utterly jaw-dropping listen: best podcasts of the week

Brace yourself for the staggering tale of Travis, who has both real and bot wives. Plus, the wickedly gossipy duo of Graham Norton and Maria McErlane are back

This staggering tale of people falling in love with AI chatbots is baffling, tragic and terrifying. It’s full of jaw-dropping moments, as hosts Hannah Maguire and Suruthi Bala speak to Travis who “married” a bot despite already having a real-life spouse. There’s also the vulnerable teenager whose “companion” spurs him on to an attempt to assassinate Queen Elizabeth II (which ends with him being charged with treason). Alexi Duggins
Wondery+, episodes weekly

An AI-generated band got 1m plays on Spotify. Now music insiders say listeners should be warned

The Velvet Sundown released two albums before admitting their music, images and backstory were created by AI

They went viral, amassing more than 1m streams on Spotify in a matter of weeks, but it later emerged that hot new band the Velvet Sundown were AI-generated – right down to their music, promotional images and backstory.

The episode has triggered a debate about authenticity, with music industry insiders saying streaming sites should be legally obliged to tag music created by AI-generated acts so consumers can make informed decisions about what they are listening to.

‘I had a home, apartment, career’ … the Guardian’s Gaza diarist on the life he lost – and his journey into exile

The anonymous writer has seen horror after horror in the 21 months since he was driven from his home in Gaza City. How has he kept going? And does he have any hope left?

On the morning of 7 October 2023, the author of the Guardian’s Gaza diary woke up planning to play tennis. “This year I decided to take care of my mental and physical health,” he wrote in his first entry, published six days later. “This means no stress, no negative energy and definitely more tennis.”

Instead, with the news full of how Hamas had broken out of the territory, killing 1,200 people, he found himself scrambling desperately for the documents showing he owned his apartment in Gaza City, in the north of the strip. “If our building gets bombed, I need evidence that this apartment belongs to me,” he wrote.

Terrible night’s sleep? Here’s how to make it through the day – and maybe even enjoy it – one step at a time

Coffee or no coffee? Almond croissant or exercise snack? Early night or bedtime as usual? You’ll be grateful you made the right choices

Ah, sleep – “nature’s soft nurse” to Shakespeare, “the foundation of our mental and physical health” to the less poetically minded neuroscientist and podcaster Andrew Huberman. By now, you hopefully know that getting a consistent seven to eight hours of shuteye is crucial for everything from your short-term decision-making to your long-term health, and you’re familiar with all the usual advice on getting it (have a consistent bedtime, make your bedroom really dark, no double espressos at 9pm). But one question that’s considered less is: what if you have one restless night? How do you best get through the day – and what can you do to avoid a single interrupted slumber snowballing into several? Let’s take it one hour at a time.

When you first drag yourself out of bed, it’s tempting to click the kettle straight on – but should you hold off your first hot drink of the day until you’re a bit less bleary-eyed? Increasingly, influencers advise delaying your first hit of tea or coffee for anywhere between 30 and 90 minutes after you wake up – the rationale being that caffeine mostly works by blocking the brain’s receptors for a molecule called adenosine, which ordinarily promotes relaxation by slowing down neural activity. Adenosine levels are at their lowest when you wake up, and so in theory, you might be “wasting” your first brew of the day by glugging it when there’s nothing for the caffeine to block. This seems plausible, but it’s also worth noting that caffeine’s effects take about 10 minutes to kick in, and it’s about 45 minutes before levels peak in the bloodstream. Caffeine’s also not just good for getting you going: if you’re planning a workout or a morning walk, it can help things along by producing feelgood endorphins and increasing the amount of fat you’re able to burn. Some people suggest that waiting a while before your first cup helps to avoid afternoon drowsiness, but according to an evaluation of the scientific literature published last year, “There is no evidence that caffeine ingestion upon waking is somehow responsible for an afternoon ‘crash’.”

The kindness of strangers: she bought a new sim card for my mum and installed it on her phone

Dad was in hospital in Spain; Mum couldn’t speak Spanish and didn’t know how to contact me, so I reached out to an expat community on Facebook

• Read more in the kindness of strangers series

One week before I was due to fly to Sweden to see my son get married, I got a frantic, jumbled message from Mum. My elderly parents were desperate to attend the big wedding but as they were both in their 80s, they’d decided it would be more comfortable to take a cruise ship from Australia to Europe than to fly. They’d set off two months before the rest of us.

Mum’s message asked me to call her. “We’re being thrown off the ship,” she wrote. “Your father’s in an ambulance – I think it’s pneumonia. We’re somewhere in Spain.”

The fascinating science of pain – and why everyone feels it differently

Do you scream when you stub your toe? Could you play a grand final with a shattered jaw, or work all day as your belly fills with blood? When it comes to suffering, perspective is everything

Some say it was John Sattler’s own fault. The lead-up to the 1970 rugby league grand final had been tense; the team he led, the South Sydney Rabbitohs, had lost the 1969 final. Here was an opportunity for redemption. The Rabbitohs were not about to let glory slip through their fingers again.

Soon after the starting whistle, Sattler went in for a tackle. As he untangled – in a move not uncommon in the sport at the time – he gave the Manly Sea Eagles’ John Bucknall a clip on the ear.

This is how we do it: ‘I role-play as her rumpled gardener, who comes in and throws her on the bed’

Elaine’s four marriages had only ever involved missionary. Then she met Brian, who introduced her to a whole new world of fun and experimentation
• How do you do it? Share the story of your sex life, anonymously

Being with Brian has been an eye-opening experience – a very good one

One of my friends at school has turned toxic. How do I discuss it with her? | Ask Annalisa Barbieri

Ask a few gentle questions, and do it face to face. But it’s not your responsibility to fix things
• Every week Annalisa Barbieri addresses a problem sent in by a reader

I started high school last year with some friends I’ve known for a long time. One of those friends has started to act toxically with other people.

I have been distancing myself from her for a while, but nothing seems to work. She is really sensitive and has a history of dishonesty, which makes confronting her about my feelings incredibly difficult. She talks badly about many people, but pretends to them that they are the problem.

The moment I knew: we hiked into the wilderness on Friday and emerged as a couple on Sunday

While both working in Fiji, Will Hamilton was certain he and Stef were more than an aid-world fling. Then Covid came and the pair were separated for nine months

• Find more stories from The moment I knew series

At the end of 2019 I was 15 months into a contract working in Fiji. The project was coming to an end and I was ready to head back to the UK when Stef showed up and changed everything.

Working in international development, especially in more remote locations, means those in the sector tend to gravitate towards each other. Whenever a new crop of personnel show up, everyone gets together. It was Stef’s third night on the island when we all descended on a local curry house in Suva to welcome her and the other volunteers. I arrived straight from work in a rather fetching sulu (Fijian sarong) and sandals. I was seated next to Stef and sparks flew instantly. She was clearly super bright, very funny and matched me in stacking away large quantities of chicken tikka butter masala (it’s a thing and it’s very good). We made plans to meet the following day and quickly began spending a lot of time together.