Angry about fraud or an unsafe product? Here’s how to file a federal complaint

It’s always worth lodging a complaint, despite government budget cuts, layoffs and the rollback of regulatory oversight

It might feel right now like there’s no one looking out for US consumers. But a wide array of federal, state and local regulators and watchdogs are tasked with targeting company fraud and deception.

If you have an intractable problem with a company, it is always worth filing a complaint to every relevant government office, consumer advocates say – despite government budget cuts, layoffs and the steady rollback of federal regulatory oversight.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) takes complaints on general product and service fraud and scams here. It often refers cases to other agencies and collaborates with states on investigations.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) handles complaints within the financial services industry, including credit scorers and non-bank lenders, here and still appears to be actively contacting companies to resolve issues, despite cuts.

You can search the Consumer Product Safety Commission’s database of product recalls and warnings here and file a complaint about an unsafe product here.

Report airline travel delays, baggage problems and discrimination at the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) consumer protection office.

The FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center takes complaints about criminal activity online, including fraud, here. The bar for the FBI to launch a criminal investigation is generally higher than at agencies that handle civil complaints.

Register complaints about moving companies, trucks, buses and other transport here.

You can request an “external appeal” of a health insurer’s coverage denial in some states; a federal appeals process was suspended by Health and Human Services on 1 July. More information is here.

Published: July 18, 2026, 4:00 am

Eye masks, cherry gel and an afternoon kiwi: Ezri Konsa, Katarina Johnson-Thompson and other top sports stars on how to get a good night’s sleep

The England defender wears a tracker, the heptathlete is experimenting with kiwi fruits – and world champion swimmer Adam Peaty swears by hours and hours of history videos …

Katarina Johnson-Thompson

Published: July 18, 2026, 3:30 am

‘An overnight success after 25 years? Delicious’: Ted Lasso’s Hannah Waddingham on sexism, stunts and stardom at 51

The actor seemed destined for a long but unflashy career in musical theatre – until a role as a football club owner in the TV hit changed everything. She talks about her new Hollywood era, calling out misogyny and why she’s ‘more than just camp’

Hannah Waddingham clears her throat. Her voice is a little scratchy. Two days before we meet, the star of Ted Lasso hosted the TV comedy show Saturday Night Live UK. She took part in almost all of the sketches that night, from a skit about “two top-heavy, Reading-based drama teachers” called Janet, to a musical number about how many glasses of wine to drink at a bar, to a bit in which she played the stern northern leader of a speed awareness course. In her opening monologue, she zipped through a variety of accents and impressions. “You see?” she told the cheering crowd. “Range! Range.”

I should have remembered this line when making small talk. We are tucked away in the hidden private dining room of a hotel in London, the city where the actor was born and raised and where she still lives with her young daughter. When Waddingham walks through the lobby, people notice her. She is tall, striking, and wearing the pulled-down baseball cap that is an actor’s day-off uniform. During lockdown, Ted Lasso – the amiable football series in which she plays Rebecca Welton, the owner of a fictional team called AFC Richmond – made her famous on both sides of the Atlantic. In 2021, it won her an Emmy award for outstanding supporting actress in a comedy series. At 47, after a long but unflashy career on stage and screen, there was a sense that her time had come.

Published: July 17, 2026, 10:00 pm

Trump, not Iran, is the world’s greatest danger. He’s a one-man weapon of mass destruction | Simon Tisdall

As the bombing starts again, it’s clear the president has dragged the US into a limitless fiasco – and the world into an economic quagmire

Feckless and clueless, Donald Trump is lost in Iran, unable to find a way out of the disastrous war he started. Once again, the US military is pummelling the country and, increasingly, its civilian infrastructure. As before, this unlawful bludgeoning strengthens the resistance of a hardline regime that cares little for its people’s suffering. How often have Trump and Pete Hegseth, the Pentagon’s wildling lord of bones, hailed a bogus victory? The president claimed this week to be “winning big”. No one believes him. Even as it counts the vast human and economic cost of his Persian folly, a watching world scoffs at US impotence.

Control of the strait of Hormuz, closed due to Trump’s belligerence, is now the White House’s limited, elusive objective. The grander US and Israeli war aims – eliminating Iran’s nuclear programme, degrading its regional militias, regime change – are less attainable than ever. It’s Trump’s craven leadership that renders US forces ineffective, not the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. If Iran really is the existential menace he claims, the logical course would be all-out conquest. When George W Bush decided Iraq posed unacceptable dangers, he invaded with 170,000 ground troops. It was a catastrophe. But at least Bush had balls.

Simon Tisdall is a Guardian foreign affairs commentator

Published: July 17, 2026, 10:00 pm

Natalie Imbruglia: ‘I forget the words to my own songs on stage. You’d be surprised how few people notice’

The singer on struggling with the English weather, a secret celebrity crush, and her terror of tinned spaghetti

Born in Sydney, Australia, to an Italian father and Australian mother, Natalie Imbruglia, 51, joined the cast of Neighbours at the age of 17. In 1997, she released her debut album, Left of the Middle, which gave her the global hit single Torn. She releases her seventh studio album, Algorithm, on 4 September. She lives in Oxfordshire with her son.

What is your greatest fear?
As an Italian, tinned spaghetti. As a child, I was once served it at someone’s house. It was quite frightening.

Published: July 18, 2026, 2:00 am

The hill I will die on: Parisian waiters are not rude – they’re just badly misunderstood | Helen Massy-Beresford

After living here for years, I can see through that old stereotype. My tip: if your server is not full of bonhomie, why not try saying ‘bonjour’?

Parisian waiters are professionals, providing an excellent service – they are not rude or unfriendly, just sometimes slightly misunderstood. No, really, hear me out. We’re all familiar with the trope of the rude Parisian waiter, looking down their nose at your inferior wine choice. They have been called “brusque and unwelcoming”, “snooty and rude” by travellers who voted Paris the unfriendliest city in the world. But after living here for many years, I’m struggling to think of an experience that really lives up to the stereotype. Harried and busy, sometimes, yes. But rude? No.

So why do Parisian waiters (and let’s face it, Parisians) have a such a bad reputation? Partly, it’s about misunderstandings. Good manners and greetings between strangers in France are quite formal and can (and did, to this Brit, arriving in 2007) seem a little frosty. There are golden rules that many visitors unwittingly break and the big one is “bonjour”. Or rather, a lack of “bonjour”. Going into a shop or a restaurant in Paris (or anywhere in France) and not greeting the staff is incredibly rude. That means many waiters or shop staff in touristy areas are actually, by French rules, being snubbed thousands of times a day. No wonder some of them feel a little grumpy.

Helen Massy-Beresford is a British journalist and editor who lives in Paris

Published: July 17, 2026, 9:00 pm

Wife of US heir and activist donor on fighting his extradition to US: ‘It’s incredible that this can happen’

Stella Schnabel says Trump administration is falsely accusing James ‘Fergie’ Chambers of contributing to Hamas

Although her husband, James “Fergie” Chambers, had been locked up in Spain for nearly a week, Stella Schnabel didn’t break down and cry until Thursday, when she finally got to speak to him for several minutes – enough time, she said, “for us to say we love each other and for him to say: ‘Tell the kids I love them.’”

Spanish authorities, operating on a US extradition request, arrested the 41-year-old Chambers, a US citizen and wealthy donor to leftwing and humanitarian projects worldwide, last Friday in Ibiza. He has been transferred to a prison in Madrid. The Trump administration’s Department of Justice is seeking his extradition for alleged financial support of Hamas, according to a spokesperson for the Spanish high court.

Published: July 18, 2026, 4:00 am

Iran attacks US allies in Middle East as renewed conflict enters second week

Kuwait says civilian sites and infrastructure targeted, Jordan downs missiles and sirens sound in Bahrain as Iran responds to US strikes

Iran launched a wave of attacks against US allies in the Middle East, as the renewal of US strikes on Iran entered a second week and fighting escalated over the strait of Hormuz.

Kuwait has accused Iran of targeting civilian sites and vital infrastructure in the country, such as a power and water desalination plant. Kuwait, which is extremely arid, relies on desalinated water for about 90% of its drinking water.

Published: July 18, 2026, 9:24 am

Israeli ministers announce plans for new illegal settlements in Gaza and West Bank

Defence minister seeks three ‘Nahal’ outposts in Gaza as top commander says Israel now controls 65% of the strip, violating Trump ceasefire deal

Israel’s defence and finance ministers announced plans for three illegal settlements in Gaza and more than $400m (£300m) in funding to expand construction in the occupied West Bank, as Israel’s military commander for the region celebrated violent outposts as his “security partners”.

With national elections scheduled for 27 October, Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right coalition is racing to expand control of land in occupied Palestine and drive out Palestinians before its mandate expires.

Published: July 17, 2026, 11:00 pm

Air quality warnings remain in place across US as wildfire smoke continues to swathe country

Rain could alleviate conditions in mid-Atlantic and north-east, with World Cup final expected to go ahead on Sunday

Warnings of dangerous conditions are expected to remain in place on Saturday across swathes of the US, amid uncertainty about where the heavy wildfire smoke swirling from the Canadian province of Ontario and the US state of Minnesota will head next.

Some parts of the US mid-Atlantic and north-east regions will continue to endure poor air quality until Saturday afternoon, where there is a high chance of thunderstorms, which could bring some reprieve from the poor air but come with other risks like flash flooding and high winds. Meanwhile, parts of the midwest and Great Lakes regions will continue to see dangerous air quality.

Published: July 18, 2026, 7:13 am

Federal court strikes down New Jersey ban on assault rifles and large-capacity magazines

Ruling comes as supreme court is set to consider whether bans on semiautomatic rifles violate US constitution

A federal appeals court on Friday ruled that New Jersey’s bans on assault firearms and magazines that can hold 10 or more rounds is unconstitutional.

It marks the first time a federal appeals court has struck down a state ban on such weapons, and comes as the US supreme court is set to consider whether bans on semiautomatic rifles violate the second amendment in the fall. Just last week, another federal appeals court upheld Illinois’ ban on semiautomatic weapons.

Published: July 18, 2026, 8:03 am

Gianni Infantino unlikely to face IOC sanctions over Balogun red card scandal

• Donald Trump spoke to Fifa president before ban lifted

• Human rights body FairSquare sent complaint to IOC

Gianni Infantino is poised to escape without sanction after complaints he breached rules on political neutrality in his dealings with Donald Trump over the Folarin Balogun affair.

The International Olympic Committee this week received a formal complaint from the human rights organisation FairSquare regarding Infantino’s conduct after Trump revealed he had called the Fifa president asking him to review Balogun’s ban from the USA’s last-16 tie against Belgium. The ban was subsequently suspended for 12 months after an unprecedented ruling from Fifa’s disciplinary committee.

Published: July 18, 2026, 4:00 am

US launches seventh night of Iran strikes as Hormuz conflict escalates

Central Command says attacks were designed to ‘continue degrading Iranian military capabilities’

The US military said it had launched a seventh consecutive night of strikes on Iran on Friday night as fighting escalated over the strait of Hormuz.

US Central Command, in a post on X, said the strikes, which began at 7pm GMT, were designed to “continue degrading Iranian military capabilities”.

Published: July 17, 2026, 11:03 pm

North Dakota men who discover they were switched as newborns sue hospital

Kyle Bylin and Jeremy Morrison uncovered the truth after Bylin received an at-home DNA test as a Christmas gift

A DNA discovery has led two families to accuse a North Dakota hospital of changing the course of their lives after learning two newborns were allegedly switched at birth nearly four decades ago.

Kyle Bylin uncovered the truth after receiving an at-home DNA test during a Christmas gift exchange. The test connected him with his biological aunt through a genealogy platform, prompting her nephew, Jeremy Morrison, to take his own DNA test. The results confirmed the two men had been raised by each other’s biological families.

Published: July 18, 2026, 9:23 am

‘It’s only going to get worse’: wildfires forcing firefighters to make impossible choices

As the climate crisis fuels more intense blazes, pushing them to new parts of the world, those tackling them are forced to ration resources and decide which to fight

César Alcaraz had only just become a firefighter in the late 1990s when he found himself ambushed by a fast-moving blaze. Barely able to breathe and with no more water left in his truck, he and his colleagues fled an inferno ravaging Spain’s Montgó mountain region, wishing their bosses had sent more support.

But nearly three decades on, as an officer with Alicante’s provincial firefighters, Alcaraz has more sympathy for the agonising choices that commanders have to make. When wildfires overwhelm an area, his job resembles that of a doctor in an emergency room with too few ventilators.

Published: July 18, 2026, 8:24 am

Idaho mom charged with murder says vaccines killed her twins. Doctors say it’s not possible

Children’s Health Defense, the anti-vaccine group once led by RFK Jr, still stands by Andrea Shaw after her indictment

An Idaho mother charged with the first-degree murders of her 18-month-old twins has blamed their deaths on vaccines they received eight days before they died. But doctors who reviewed details about the case at the request of the Guardian say vaccines did not kill them.

“This was not a close call,” said Dr Jake Scott, a clinical infectious disease physician at Stanford who specializes in vaccine science. “I can say with confidence what didn’t happen here. It was not the vaccines.”

Published: July 18, 2026, 4:00 am

Trump’s deep public health cuts hinder response to record US cyclosporiasis outbreak

Experts say layoffs, reduced disease surveillance and Medicaid cuts have made the foodborne parasite more difficult to track and contain

As soon as Michigan detected the first sign of cyclosporiasis cases in late June, health officials swung into action, notifying federal agencies and releasing a notice on 1 July ahead of the holiday weekend alerting home cooks and commercial kitchens alike to the risks of potentially contaminated produce. They worked through the holiday weekend and haven’t had a day off since.

Even so, cyclosporiasis can take weeks to appear, which means officials in Michigan can’t tell yet whether their warnings have helped.

Published: July 18, 2026, 6:32 am

Why is Trump risking midterm disaster by resuming an already unpopular war with Iran?

Less than a month after hailing a ceasefire, Trump resumed strikes on Iran, a move experts warn could prolong the war and hurt Republicans ahead of midterms

For half a century, Donald Trump has performed a public high-wire act based on high-stakes risks and shattering time-honored norms to get what he wants.

The approach has paid off handsomely, helping him survive multiple bankruptcies to reach billionaire status and numerous legal and political scandals to be elected US president twice.

Published: July 18, 2026, 2:00 am

San Francisco police find wreckage of boat that sank as body identified

Tondra Madruga named as second victim in deadly capsizing as police continue search for two missing people

Police on Friday discovered the wreckage of a boat that sank this week in the San Francisco Bay after recovering the body of a missing person the day before.

The body was identified as Tondra Madruga, 58, also known as Tondra Miller, the San Francisco medical examiner said. She was one of three people missing after the Volare, a 49ft (15m) cabin cruiser, sank on Wednesday afternoon with 20 people onboard after being hit by a wave and capsizing. The group was on the boat to scatter the ashes of a loved one.

Published: July 17, 2026, 5:39 pm

Paul Pelosi faces hit-and-run charge after he allegedly crashed into parked vehicle

Husband of Nancy Pelosi has traffic infractions in California stretching back at least to 2011, according to public records

Paul Pelosi, husband of US congresswoman and former House speaker Nancy Pelosi, is facing a misdemeanor hit-and-run charge after he allegedly crashed into a parked vehicle and left the scene in early July, the Napa county district attorney announced on Friday.

No passengers were in the struck car, authorities said, but the vehicle was left with “major” damage. A spokesperson for the Pelosi family told several outlets in a statement that Paul apologized to the owner of the vehicle and was assuming responsibility for the damage.

Published: July 17, 2026, 5:12 pm

Faced with inadequate US healthcare, Black women fly to South Korea: ‘It could save your life’

Black women who feel minimized or dismissed in the US are traveling thousands of miles for South Korea’s patient-first approach

For years, Americans have crossed borders in search of affordable healthcare, whether it be for dental work in Mexico, prescription drugs in Canada, or hair transplants in Turkey. But a new destination in medical tourism is gaining momentum among Black American women, who are increasingly booking flights to Seoul, South Korea, for something else: care that feels inclusive.

South Korea holds a reputation as the global capital of cosmetic dermatology and plastic surgery. But many visitors are discovering comprehensive preventive medicine, extensive diagnostic testing and appointments that are more affordable and easier to access than in the United States. “Our clients have told us they want to know what’s actually going on in their body,” says William Ban, the co-founder and COO of Himedi, a preventive health platform that connects American clients with comprehensive diagnostic screening in South Korea. “They arrive in Korea and access a level of diagnostic thoroughness with same-day imaging, comprehensive panels and specialist review that would take months and significant out-of-pocket cost to assemble in the US, if they could access it at all.”

Published: July 18, 2026, 4:00 am

Six great reads: flight attendant confessions, culture wars and Sam Neill’s final interview

Need something brilliant to read this weekend? Here are six of our favourite pieces from the last seven days

Published: July 17, 2026, 10:00 pm

18 things worth buying from Nordstrom’s anniversary sale – from Our Place, Away and more

Nordstrom’s annual sale is live from 18 July to 9 August and includes more than 9,000 items – here are the ones we endorse

• Yeti Rambler v Owala FreeSip: which trendy water bottle actually deserves the hype?

• Sign up for the Filter US newsletter, your weekly guide to buying fewer, better things

Need better cooking gear for your next back yard gathering? Quality travel gear to make the remainder of summer count? From 18 July to 9 August, Nordstrom is treating customers to its long-awaited yearly anniversary sale, when it offers significant savings on top brands across home, fashion, beauty, travel and more.

Below, out of more than 9,000 sale items, we found the 18 Nordstrom deals that we personally (and professionally!) endorse, having put them through the ringer in thorough tests and reviews. Read on for our favorites from Le Creuset, Parachute, Away and more.

Best wellness deal:
Owala FreeSip Twist 24-Ounce Insulated Water Bottle

Best travel deal:
Baboon to the Moon Weekender Bag 32L

Published: July 18, 2026, 7:15 am

Cuba edges toward breakdown as power cuts and US meddling push society to brink

As Cuba swelters under six-month oil blockade imposed by US, tempers are fraying and unrest is growing

When Cuba’s national grid collapses, as it did for the third time in 10 days on Tuesday, a collective groan spreads across its cities and people wonder, again, whether the island’s antiquated electricity system may soon become unrecoverable.

The 777-mile Caribbean island of 9.5 million people has been sweltering under a six-month-long oil blockade imposed by the US, part of a pressure campaign to bring down its communist government. But the parlous state of Cuba’s infrastructure goes far further back.

Published: July 18, 2026, 6:14 am

‘We are preserving a tradition’: how Ghana’s sensationalist film posters became collectible art

Hand-painted works are often wildly unfaithful to the movies they portray – reinterpretations that sometimes resulted in threats, insults and even physical attacks from viewers who felt duped

Sitting on his porch in Teshie near Accra, Heavy J dipped a brush into red oil paint and dabbed it carefully on to his canvas – a flour sack – adding blood to a knife being wielded by a man. Higher on the canvas, he had started on an outline of a skull.

Heavy J was creating a poster, but not as you might have expected for a horror film. Instead, it was for the animated fairytale The Little Mermaid. The man with the knife wasn’t a killer but the film’s kind-hearted prince, Eric. The skull was also unrelated to the story. “We add more to make people interested,” said Heavy J, whose real name is Jeaurs Affutu.

Published: July 17, 2026, 9:00 pm

Into the Wild inspired my life of adventure – but I learned the wrong lessons about freedom

The film helped me realise that getting out into nature would also allow me to escape my anxieties, but I started to see the costs of constant escape

It’s 5.30am, and I’m waking up on a granite slab overlooking the Domeland Wilderness, with nothing but forest, stone and silence for miles. I am 44 days into hiking the Pacific Crest Trail – a journey of about 2,650 miles from the Mexican border to Canada through desert scrubland, pine forests, deep valleys, volcanic terrain and alpine mountains. Each day, I walk about 20 miles with everything I need for the next four months on my back.

I was 16 when I first watched Into the Wild, the film telling the true story of Christopher McCandless, an adventurer who gave up his middle-class life to live in the wilderness. I’d always had a sense of adventure and was enticed by the idea of breaking away from expectations and moving through the world on my own terms. I began to fantasise about escaping my north London bubble to live somewhere as remote and unknown as the wild American landscapes in the film.

Published: July 18, 2026, 4:00 am

Who won the World Cup? – Stateside with Kai and Carter

The 2026 World Cup final has not happened yet, but we already know that there were some clear winners (and total losers) during the tournament. And we’re not just talking about what happened on the pitch. Ahead of Sunday’s game, host Carter Sherman speaks with Max Rushden – host of the Guardian’s Football Weekly podcast – about Argentina’s win over England in the semi-finals, why Lionel Messi is probably “the greatest footballer ever", and what we should be looking out for as Argentina takes on Spain in the final. Then, Guardian US soccer editors Alexander Abnos and Ella Brockway break down some of the most memorable moments of the tournament – and decide who (or what) won the World Cup vibes contest. Spoiler: it's not Donald Trump

Published: July 17, 2026, 1:53 pm

World Cup 2026 latest: Trump criticises Tuchel, buildup to France v England and Spain v Argentina final – as it happened

Donald Trump criticised Thomas Tuchel for England’s semi-final loss

I’m still getting my head around the 2007 photo of Lionel Messi, 19, bathing Lamine Yamal, four months, for a Unicef calendar shoot.

Sid Lowe has done some digging to find out how it all came out …

The photograph was taken around Christmas 2007. Sport newspaper was putting together a charity calendar on behalf of Barcelona and Unicef, a studio set up in the away dressing room at the Camp Nou. Each player had a month and appeared with a child. Ronaldinho, the star, was July. Messi was January. Lamine Yamal was four months old. His mum, Sheila, had put him into a draw to take part. Monfort got the idea the night before when bathing his daughter, taking a plastic tub and a rubber duck with him. Although the baby was tiny and Messi was timid, with Sheila’s help he got a shot he was happy with.

Published: July 18, 2026, 10:58 am

‘Where did they go?’: homeless people feel force of America’s brutality in World Cup clean-up

Fifa says football brings the world together but the unhoused in Atlanta feel targeted and completely excluded from the tournament

“A lot of our community has been pushed out by the World Cup. We’re not just dollar signs, we’re more than that. We’re people and we’re frustrated that they’ve chosen to treat us less than human.”

“They dropped me off there in the middle of the night. They call them Mormon centres or whatever, but it ain’t nothing but a warehouse of cops. It looked like a Fema camp. When I saw it, I left, I walked all the way back here. It’s because of the World Cup. They’re trying to make it look good for tourists. They don’t want the eyesores around.”

Published: July 18, 2026, 8:15 am

Infantino’s Faustian bargain with Trump has stained football’s biggest stage

The Fifa president sought influence with the US leader. Instead, Fifa’s president has entangled football in politics and wounded the game’s credibility

Ever since the United States won the rights to co-host the 2026 World Cup, Fifa president Gianni Infantino has worked to ingratiate himself with Donald Trump at all costs, supposedly to secure preferential treatment for Fifa from the American government. Predictably, he suffered the same fate as everyone who has made a Faustian bargain with the US president: he learned that cozying up to Trump always backfires, tarnishing the entire sport along the way.

I love soccer because, at its best, it is inclusive, democratic and accessible to everyone. So do billions of other people; the sport’s universal cultural impact truly lends it the potential to be a force for good that “unites the world”, as Fifa loves to say. We saw this force in action at the start of the World Cup when, despite Trump’s hardline anti-immigrant and anti-foreigner policies, the prevailing sentiment showed that visiting teams and fans found most Americans really are warm and welcoming people.

Nathán Goldberg Crenier serves as the elected vice-president of the US Soccer Federation. This editorial represents his personal opinions and does not necessarily reflect the positions or views of US Soccer.

Published: July 18, 2026, 2:00 am

Shackle Rodri the metronome and Argentina’s passion play can floor Spain | Jonathan Wilson

The World Cup final is a classic clash of the process team against a side riding an emotional urge to fulfil Messi’s destiny

In the 37 minutes between England going ahead against Argentina and falling behind, they had 12% possession. It’s fair to assume that in the World Cup final Spain will provide a rather different challenge. They do not suffer the Mafeking tendency of the English, seeking to re-enact some famous siege every time they take the lead. The finalists have averaged 64% possession so far in the tournament. Spain could hardly be more different to England: their way is not of panic but of process.

There is a clearly defined Spanish style, as there has been since Vicente del Bosque replaced Luis Aragonés as Spain manager in 2008, and arguably before. In that, perhaps, there is hope for England. Spain once were even greater underachievers but Aragonés inspired the revolution against the furia roja orthodoxy. The result has been three Euros and a World Cup in the past two decades, with perhaps another to come on Sunday.

Published: July 18, 2026, 10:00 am

Football Daily | France v England in the third-place playoff: the game nobody wants to play

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Saturday’s rebranded “bronze final” between France and England in Miami might feel like a modern, Gianni-coded exercise in squeezing the product dry, but the third-place playoff is a staple of World Cup history, even if it remains the game nobody wants to play in. The very first TPPO came in 1934, Germany defeating Austria 3-2 in a match engulfed in murky, menacing geopolitics. Thankfully, the fixture quickly became a more knockabout affair – Brazil swaggered on to the world stage by beating Sweden 4-2 in 1938, and France put six past West Germany in a nine-goal feast of football 20 years later. Just Fontaine scored four that day, later to be joined by Thomas Müller, Davor Suker and Toto Schillaci in using the fixture to pad their Golden Boot stats – a tactic Kylian Mbappé might want to try against a punch-drunk England side and pip Lionel Messi to another personal accolade as a result.

I seem to recall that the GWC has been hosted by three countries, who advanced to the same stage of the competition, making them at least equal as far as ability to compete is concerned. So, surely, any presentations at the final should be represented and handed over by Canada, Mexico and USA USA USA, on behalf of Fifa, and not only by Donald Trump?” – Dave Butler.

So Donald Trump will be attending the GWC final … what further imaginary award will Infantino pull out of the hat for him at the end? The Ballon d’Orange perhaps?” – Phil Taverner

Re: naming the 2030 World Cup (Football Daily letters passim): split across three global power zones, it sounds like an Aldous Huxley dystopian vision. How about Brave New World Cup?” – Daniel Solomons

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

Published: July 18, 2026, 4:46 am

God’s will? Destiny? Lionel Messi, Lamine Yamal, that photo and the World Cup final

The boy in the baby bath has unbelievably become the successor to Messi at Barcelona and now, maybe, on the world stage too

“Maybe Lionel Messi has picked up lots of babies, maybe it’s chance, but for those of us who have faith, who believe in something beyond, ‘chance’ is God’s pseudonym when he doesn’t want to sign his name,” Luis de la Fuente says. “In life, everything happens for a reason. Sometimes it’s true that the circle isn’t closed, but in my view there’s something else, something … I don’t know, mystical, spiritual.”

Contemplate the scene, gaze upon the image of this World Cup, and you may be inclined to agree with Spain’s coach, to reach out and touch faith. How else to comprehend this? You will have seen the picture and will certainly see it again, and still it won’t make sense.

Published: July 17, 2026, 12:00 pm

America’s World Cup report card: some As for atmosphere, but F for affordability

How did the United States do in its second swing at hosting the men’s showpiece event? The stadiums were mostly received well. The accessibility, less so

Come rain or smokescreen, Sunday will bring the 2026 World Cup to its bombastic end. The load-bearer of the co-hosting North American trio, the United States held 78 of the tournament’s matches across its 11 host cities. Only two contests remain: the third-place game in Miami, and the big one in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

Before the dust truly settles and focus shifts to the six-nation, three-continent centennial in 2030, how did the United States fare in its second swing at hosting a men’s World Cup?

Published: July 18, 2026, 2:00 am

The Open 2026: Fox equals major record, McIlroy blasts DeChambeau, and day three updates – live

️Updates from the third round at Royal Birkdale
️Official leaderboard | Mail Scott with your thoughts
️McIlroy lashes out at DeChambeau over penalty row

It’s the same old story for Rory McIlroy: he just can’t keep any momentum going this week. He follows that chip-in eagle on 9 with bogey at 11. Back to -1, and a second Claret Jug continues to hover out of reach. At least he’s got one. Jon Rahm has a strangely underwhelming record at the Open: a couple of high finishes in 2019 and 2023 without ever really looking likely to win. And it’s threatening to happen again. He carves his opening drive over the bushes to the right and out of bounds, and starts with a double-bogey six. His fume is internal, but it is real, registering eight-and-a-half out of ten on Bryson DeChambeau’s patented R&A-o-meter™.

Ryan Fox speaks to Sky. “The game plan was to be aggressive … I hit driver a lot … your strategy changes with the wind around here … I had a couple of interesting shots on the back nine and kinda got away with them … pretty happy with 62 in the end, that’s for sure … had a lot of fun with [Xander Schauffele] … he played really well too and we kind of fed off each other … was pretty happy to make par [on 18] from that fairway trap … I haven’t really put four rounds together [at the Open] … hopefully this is a sign … I’m in a pretty good place to give myself a chance so we’ll see what happens!”

Published: July 18, 2026, 12:15 pm

Josh Kerr makes athletics history by shattering one-mile world record in London

• Time of 3min 42.66sec betters El Guerrouj in 1999 by 0.47

• Kerr becomes seventh British man to hold record

Having put himself out there in the manner that he did, Josh Kerr left nowhere else to go. He had to deliver on Saturday. You call your shot, you take it. So he did. And boy, was it spectacular.

For the first time in 27 years there is a new one-mile world record-holder. On the morning of this London Diamond League meet, Sebastian Coe – a three-time mile world record-holder himself – described Morocco’s Hicham El Guerrouj, the incumbent, as the greatest miler in history. If that fact remains undisputed, the record books will now show Kerr’s name above El Guerrouj as the man who ran one mile in 3min 42.66sec. Just as he said he would.

Published: July 18, 2026, 7:56 am

Pogacar attacks ⁠on steepest climb to clinch fourth ⁠Tour de France stage win

• Slovene now 4min 30sec ahead of Vingegaard

• Paul Seixas takes lead in young rider classification

Tadej Pogacar’s rapacious appetite for stage wins was in evidence yet again in the climbs of the Vosges on Saturday, as he raced to his fourth victory of this year’s Tour de France at Le Markstein.

Pogacar’s attack came 1.6km from the summit of the final climb, the Col de Haag, and 7.5km from the finish line and once again left Jonas Vingegaard, Paul Seixas and Remco Evenepoel in his wake.

Published: July 18, 2026, 8:58 am

Mercedes’ Antonelli outpaces Verstappen to grab F1 Belgian GP pole

• Russell will share second ​row with Ferrari’s Leclerc

• Norris ‌third fastest ‌but has a 10-place grid penalty

Kimi Antonelli has suffered a run of no little bad luck of late, but the Italian teenager demonstrated it had left him entirely unfazed as he produced a dominant lap to secure pole position for the Belgian Grand Prix.

The 19-year-old’s composure and control at Spa-Francorchamps on Saturday was something to behold as he flew round the circuit in the Ardennes mountains with ease, comfortably beating the Red Bull of Max Verstappen into second place. Notable was the manner in which he did so given Verstappen had benefited from having a tow from his teammate, Isack Hadjar, who willingly sacrificed his laps given he had a 30-place grid penalty to come.

Published: July 18, 2026, 8:39 am

Caitlin Clark pours in career-high 45 points as Fever edge Storm in thriller

• Clark records first 40-10 game in WNBA history

• Career-high 45 sets new Fever franchise record

• Indiana survive late rally to beat Seattle 110-107

Caitlin Clark scored a career-high 45 points and had 10 assists for the first 40-10 game in WNBA history, and the Indiana Fever beat Seattle 110-107 on Friday night.

Clark, who had four steals and two blocks, also became the fastest player in WNBA history to make 200 career three-pointers, doing it in 74 games, breaking the previous mark of 81 games set by Katie Smith. Her 45 points were also a franchise record.

Published: July 17, 2026, 7:33 pm

George Russell ready to keep chasing down championship leader Kimi Antonelli at Spa

Antonelli’s lead in the F1 drivers’ standings looked insurmountable after Monaco, but now Russell is potentially within one race win of wiping it out

Squaring off at this weekend’s Belgian Grand Prix, Formula One’s leading title protagonists Kimi Antonelli and George Russell are embroiled in an increasingly tense head to head.The teenager and his experienced Mercedes teammate facing each other as well as each addressing their own approach to a championship still very much up for grabs.

The 19-year-old Antonelli appeared to have an iron grip on the lead, having secured five straight victories, the last at Monaco, after which he enjoyed a 68-point lead over Russell. However, with Antonelli enduring some bad luck during the past three rounds and Russell taking a strong win in Austria, that gap has reduced to 25 points. A seemingly insurmountable chasm has suddenly become all too bridgeable and with it the title race is on again.

Published: July 17, 2026, 8:52 am

Josh Kerr ‘not scared of failure’ as he targets one-mile world record in London

• ‘I like goals that are lofty and sport needs moments’

• Keely Hodgkinson races in 800m in Diamond League

A bullish Josh Kerr has insisted he is in the shape of his life and “not scared of failure” as he attempts to break the one-mile world record at Saturday’s London Diamond League.

The former 1500m world champion and double Olympic medallist has developed a reputation as an admirably straight‑talker throughout his career, unafraid to state his ambitions publicly. Few have ever been so lofty as the one that awaits this weekend, though, as he attempts to surpass the great Hicham El Guerrouj’s one-mile mark of 3min 43.13sec that has stood since 1999. An entire generation of athletics fans were not even alive to see it happen.

Published: July 17, 2026, 8:59 am

Trump has normalized crypto. Is it the path to the next financial collapse? | Eduardo Porter

Cheerleading by the president, who made $1.2bn last year off uninsured currency, does not bode well for US economy

The scale of the graft is decidedly off the charts, but the revelation that Donald Trump raked in a personal fortune of $2.2bn during his first year in office should come as no surprise. The president didn’t even try to hide his venality. Not only did he refuse to sell businesses and put assets in a blind trust, as other presidents have done to limit opportunities for self-dealing; the quid pro quos with foreign governments and assorted magnates were exposed for all to see.

It is troubling that the president of the United States would so nonchalantly deploy his official powers to profit from dealings with money launderers and Middle Eastern princes. It is perhaps more so that the supposedly robust checks and balances upholding American governance proved powerless to stop him. (Here’s waiting for the supreme court to define Trump’s dealings as “official acts” in order to exonerate him.)

Published: July 18, 2026, 3:00 am

When Trump accuses others of wrongdoing, you can bet he’s up to something himself | Arwa Mahdawi

Thursday’s speech about election integrity was a case in point, as the president seeks to undermine the system

America’s mad king is spiraling. Donald Trump’s approval ratings are mired in the 30s as the Iran war rages on with no end in sight. As prices rise and the US’s reputation tanks, Trump is building self-serving monuments and putting his face on new $1 coins to ensure he leaves a lasting legacy. Don’t worry, Donald, we’ll never forget you! Your name will forever be associated with corruption, crime, and a nationwide outbreak of explosive diarrhea.

When the going gets tough, Trump tends to go into full-on victim mode. This week was no exception. On Thursday, the president gave a televised primetime speech in which he rehashed all his usual grievances. A random jab about trans people? Check. Boasting about how he’s single-handedly made America great again? Check. Demonizing the media? Check. Complaints about how unfair it was he lost to Joe Biden in 2020 coupled with accusations about Chinese interference and misinformation about election integrity? Check. “No country can be great without fair and honest elections,” Trump announced. “If there can be no trust, there can be no greatness. Unfortunately, the system we have falls catastrophically short of that standard.”

Arwa Mahdawi is a Guardian columnist

Published: July 18, 2026, 5:00 am

Nelson Mandela held a mirror to humanity – and showed us what solidarity means | Zohran Mamdani

In a speech given on Wednesday in honor of Nelson Mandela Day, New York’s mayor reflects on what Madiba can teach us in a fractured era

What a privilege it is to be together to honor the leadership of the Nelson Mandela Foundation. For 27 years, this organization has insisted that Madiba’s legacy belongs not only in museums, but in movements for freedom too. I would like to recognize a man whose legacy lives on in the millions that he inspired.

Madiba lives in every protest for justice, every call for democracy, every march with a righteous demand. Madiba lives in every township and slum where dignity remains just out of reach, and he lives in each person who reaches for that dignity, who works all day and then returns home with food for the hungry and medicine for the sick. Madiba lives each time someone bears witness to oppression, or want, or misery, and does not accept it as inevitable, but rather as something that we each can fight. So many of us are only where we are today – can only conceive of the principled as possible – because Madiba showed us the path.

Published: July 18, 2026, 5:00 am

The Paramount-WBD merger: bad news for Hollywood, great news for Tennessee? | Dave Schilling

Yet more consolidation means one less studio, inevitable redundancies and a blow to this city’s cultural heritage

There are simply too many companies in the world. Apple, Google, Amazon, Ryanair. I’m probably forgetting some. How could I not? There are so many companies. Thankfully, here in Hollywood, we’re culling the herd. My memory says thanks. My career, on the other hand, does not.

After Disney swallowing up 20th Century Fox (which is now just called “20th Century Studios”, making it sound like a company that makes gramophones), Discovery merging with Warner Brothers, and Skydance buying Paramount, you’d think the industry would be done kneecapping itself through strategic acquisitions. Wrong again, friend. Warner Bros Discovery – swimming in debt and loaded up with depreciating cable TV assets – put itself on the market only three years after its last merger. First they went to Netflix, then to Paramount, after Netflix realized they like profit too much. Now a Paramount-WBD merger is progressing. All of this means one less movie studio, inevitable redundancies and more consolidation of vision.

Dave Schilling is a Los Angeles-based writer and humorist

Published: July 18, 2026, 4:00 am

Madeline Horwath on free airport wifi – cartoon

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Published: July 18, 2026, 3:00 am

Memphis rallies for progressive Democrat after four fatal shootings by taskforce: ‘Fight of our lives’

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ayanna Pressley and Summer Lee join rally to support Justin Pearson’s bid for Congress seat

More than a thousand people rallied for Justin Pearson, a Democratic state representative running for Congress, in the wake of four fatal shootings by members of the Memphis Safe Task Force over the last two months.

Crowds packed New Direction Christian Church in the city’s Hickory Hill neighborhood in support of Pearson, who is running in the now-fractured ninth congressional district’s Democratic primary.

Published: July 18, 2026, 9:22 am

‘It becomes inevitable’: the toxic mix fuelling deadly political violence around world

After killing of a British former MP, experts say dehumanising rhetoric, declining institutional trust and disinformation fuelling a global problem

On 9 July, the body of Ann Widdecombe, an uncompromising, staunchly conservative former UK government minister turned TV personality and spokesperson for the radical-right Reform UK party, was found at her home in south-west England.

Two days later, a man was arrested in South Yorkshire. Believed to be previously unknown to the local police force and thought to have acted alone, he is suspected of driving 270 miles (435km) to the 78-year-old politician’s home and causing her catastrophic blunt-force injuries. Police have been examining whether a leftwing or single-issue cause may lie behind her killing.

Published: July 18, 2026, 5:00 am

‘He became a sensation’: Manchester pays tribute to abolitionist Frederick Douglass

Annual lectures will discuss work of writer and campaigner who ‘revitalised the anti-slavery cause’ in Britain

He was one of the most important figures of his time, an author, orator and American statesman who was born enslaved. But some of the most important years in the civil rights leader Frederick Douglass’s life were spent in Britain.

This month marks the 180th anniversary of a series of lectures Douglass gave in Manchester, speaking at venues across the region.

Published: July 18, 2026, 2:00 am

Arizona teen hailed for helping save woman with dementia wandering in 103F heat

Fire crew in Gilbert to honor Royal Cothrun, 14, for helping elderly woman who became disoriented amid heatwave

An Arizona fire department is formally honoring a 14-year-old boy who recently helped save an elderly woman with dementia after she wandered miles off course amid potentially lethal temperatures, saying the teenager demonstrated “heroism … quick thinking and compassion”.

Royal Cothrun was riding his bicycle in June in the town of Gilbert when he encountered Theresa Morgan as she struggled to walk through 103F (39.4C) heat with a grocery bag dangling off one arm and a purse on the other, according to authorities as well as reporting by the local news outlet KNXV.

Published: July 18, 2026, 3:00 am

Democrats call for investigation into ICE officer shooting in Maine after new reports emerge

Lawmakers press for review of hiring practices amid a spate of ICE-related deaths within the same week

Democratic lawmakers are pressing for a review of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) hiring practices and continuing calls for an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the killing of an immigrant in Maine by one of the agency’s officers after news media reported allegations of past violent and threatening behavior by the officer, according to his family members.

The Associated Press, the Portland Press Herald and National Public Radio (NPR) all identified the officer in question as David Brouillette, information that the publications attributed to his family. The outlets also reported allegations that Brouillette had a history of mental health issues and had purportedly subjected his ex-wife to violent, threatening behavior.

Published: July 17, 2026, 3:51 pm

Germany’s CDU party chair resigns after using surrogacy to become parent

Jens Spahn had criticised ‘rented wombs’ and his party is strongly opposed to surrogacy, which is banned in Germany

A senior German politician and ally of the chancellor, Friedrich Merz, has resigned as chair of the Christian Democrat (CDU) party after he and his husband used a surrogate mother to become parents, a practice he has criticised in the past and his party is vehemently opposed to.

Surrogacy is banned in Germany, a policy Jens Spahn refused to relax when he was health minister in 2020, so he and his husband, Daniel Funke, used a surrogate mother in the US.

Published: July 18, 2026, 8:09 am

One person dies amid legionnaires’ disease outbreak in New York City

Officials haven’t released additional information about the person’s identity, age or details on when and how they fell ill

A legionnaires’ disease outbreak that has sickened dozens of people in New York City has claimed its first life, health officials said Friday.

Officials didn’t release additional information about the person’s identity, age or details on when and how they fell ill.

Published: July 17, 2026, 4:40 pm

Kidnapped US Forest Service employees released after more than 12 hours, say authorities

Two men arrested after taking federal employees hostage in Shasta-Trinity national forest

Two US Forest Service employees were released early on Friday morning after being held hostage for more than 12 hours, authorities in far northern California said.

Law enforcement officers arrested two men for the alleged kidnapping near Gumboot Lake in Shasta-Trinity national forest, Jeremiah LaRue, the Siskiyou county sheriff, told reporters on Friday afternoon.

Published: July 17, 2026, 2:43 pm

Burnham risks Labour backlash if he reverses ban on new oil and gas drilling

Party manifesto pledged to honour existing North Sea exploration licences but not issue new ones

Andy Burnham risks his first confrontation with Labour MPs if he announces new oil and gas drilling licences when he becomes prime minister, insiders have warned.

Speculation is rife that Burnham will announce some new plans for drilling in the North Sea after he is installed in Downing Street on Monday.

Published: July 18, 2026, 9:26 am

Climate change driving more rains that lead to deadly flash floods, experts say

Over the last month, states across the country have experienced record rainfall and flash flooding

Climate change is driving increasingly common bouts of heavy rain in the US that cause deadly and damaging flash floods that will only become more frequent and intense as the crisis worsens, experts say.

A year after deadly flooding in central Texas that swept through a children’s summer camp, the state and other parts of the United States are again experiencing unusually heavy rain. Over the last month, states like Alaska, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, Ohio and Pennsylvania have all experienced record rainfall, causing flash flooding across the country.

Published: July 17, 2026, 3:00 am

Weather tracker: Thunderstorms strike across Europe amid record heatwave

Storms are typical during intense heat but this week’s have been extreme. Plus, deadly monsoon rains in Bangladesh

Hailstones the size of golf balls have been seen in French villages as, on top of the exceptional European heatwave, thunderstorms have struck across parts of Europe.

While thunderstorms are typical during and after a period of extreme heat, the storms across countries such as France, Germany and Poland have been particularly severe, bringing flooding, strong winds and heavy showers with large balls of hail.

Published: July 17, 2026, 1:35 am

Five claims Trump made in primetime address not backed up by evidence

US president offered litany of misleading and false claims during Thursday speech on alleged threats to US elections

Donald Trump offered a litany of misleading and false claims during his Thursday speech on threats to US elections, and released previously classified documents to try to support his specious assertions. In some cases, those were not supported by the documents. Here is a look at some of the key statements that could mislead the American public.

Published: July 17, 2026, 1:04 pm

‘Run, Darline, run!’: Trump endorses Lindsey Graham’s sister for full Senate term

Sister of the South Carolina senator who died last Saturday has not previously held any elected office

Donald Trump on Friday said he had encouraged Darline Graham to run for a full six-year term representing South Carolina in the US Senate, after she was sworn in to office earlier this week following the sudden death of her brother, Lindsey Graham.

In a post on Truth Social, Trump said he spoken to Darline Graham at the White House. “I asked Darline, for the Good of our Nation, to run for the U.S. Senate in the Special Republican Primary,” he wrote.

Published: July 17, 2026, 1:42 pm

Republicans threaten Canada with sanctions over drifting wildfire smoke

Fires are also blazing across the US and the Trump administration has repealed several climate protections

US Republicans are threatening to sanction Canada and Canadian government officials after smoke from devastating wildfires has drifted across huge swathes of the US, creating hazy conditions and dangerous air quality for tens of millions of Americans.

Donald Trump on ⁠Friday blamed ⁠his country’s northern neighbor for ​the smoke spreading from ⁠wildfires and said he planned to call ​Mark Carney, the Canadian prime ‌minister, ‌ to ‌ask about Ottawa’s plans for dealing with the blazes.

Published: July 17, 2026, 3:32 pm

Indian activist linked to Cockroach party moved to hospital after 20-day hunger strike

Sonam Wangchuk has been fasting to demand the resignation of India’s education minister because of alleged irregularities in medical exams

Delhi police forcibly moved activist Sonam Wangchuk to a hospital on Saturday because of health concerns after 20 days of his hunger strike to protest against India’s examination system.

Wangchuk, 59, has been fasting since 28 June to demand the resignation of India’s education minister, Dharmendra Pradhan, over alleged irregularities in examinations to study medicine.

Published: July 17, 2026, 9:37 pm

US hits civilian infrastructure as it expands strikes against Iran

Tehran bombs US allies in Middle East after US attacks on bridges, energy facilities and key port

The US hit bridges, energy facilities and a key Iranian port on Friday, expanding its aerial campaign against Iran, and prompting swift Iranian strikes against US allies in the Middle East.

US airstrikes hit bridges in Iran’s southern Hormozgan province, killing at least seven people, Iranian state TV reported. The bridges were a key transit point for Bandar Abbas, Iran’s main port. Further US airstrikes brought down a tower in Chabahar port on the Gulf of Oman that the US military claimed the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) used to facilitate attacks on vessels in the strait of Hormuz. The US also targeted key electrical infrastructure and Iranshahr airport.

Published: July 17, 2026, 9:06 am

What will Keir Starmer do next?

Outgoing PM has joked about cookery classes and cutting hedges, but does the international stage beckon?

As his time in Downing Street comes to an end, Keir Starmer has been joking with friends about what he might do after he stands down as prime minister.

He has teased that he might take a cookery course. “He needs it, he only makes two meals,” one friend said. Another not entirely serious suggestion was cutting his father-in-law’s hedge in the expectation that if he did well, he could graduate to lawns.

Published: July 18, 2026, 4:00 am

Ukraine war briefing: Protests of Fedorov’s dismissal continue as Zelenskyy tries to repair rift with Poland

Thousands gather outside ⁠presidential office for second day, following surprise government reshuffle. What we know on day 1,606

For a second day, thousands of Ukrainians have taken to the streets to protest against the sudden removal of popular and innovative defence minister, Mykhailo Fedorov, who has clashed with the more conventional military chief of staff, Oleksandr Syrskyi. Several thousand people gathered outside ⁠the presidential office after Fedorov was not reappointed in the surprise government reshuffle. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has defended his decision, saying he was forced “to choose between sides [when honestly] what I want most is unity”.

The move, which comes just as Kyiv appeared to be gaining some advantages in its war with Russia, has exposed a troubling flaw in the president’s leadership, and startled senior European officials. As Guardian senior international correspondent Peter Beaumont writes, the move is shocking because Fedorov had successfully leveraged drone and missile technology. “With hindsight, the conflict between the two men and their ideas about how to fight the war was inevitable: between an older – and old-school general – micromanaging a bruising war of attrition against a more numerous foe, and Fedorov, with his tech-driven, more improvisational approach that appeared in recent months to be showing dividends.”

Meanwhile, Zelenskyy on Friday took steps to repair a rift with key ally Poland over his decision ⁠in May to name a Ukrainian army unit in honour of second world war fighters who killed Poles. Zelenskyy pledged to expand investigations into those killings by the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, a pro-independence armed group, and open intelligence files. Zelenskyy ⁠told a meeting of senior officials that improved ties were critical in view of Poland’s help to Ukraine against Russia. Polish prime minister Donald Tusk wrote on X that Poland was “ready for a serious and friendly dialogue on the issues that unite us and those that divide us”.

A Ukrainian drone attack on a logistics centre in the town of Kotovsk in western Russia killed seven people and wounded 24, while more than 370 drones were launched towards Moscow overnight. Governor of the Tambov region, Evgeny Pervyshov, said on Saturday the workers were killed when enemy UAVs hit a Wildberries logistics centre.

In Moscow, the mass drone attack was mostly neutralised by air defence forces, the Russian capital’s mayor, Sergei Sobyanin, said on Saturday, with 64 enemy UAVs destroyed on approach to Moscow.

In Russia, authorities cracked down on dissent, detaining a blogger who criticised President Vladimir Putin and the war in Ukraine, and fining ⁠an anti-war politician, a warning to Kremlin critics that Putin would brook no opposition ahead of September’s parliamentary election. The president and the dominant United Russia party are under pressure because of a slowing economy and fuel shortages triggered by Ukrainian attacks on oil refineries.

The blogger, Ilya Remeslo, was detained on Friday on suspicion ⁠of spreading false information about the Russian army, the TASS state news agency reported. RIA news agency quoted Remeslo’s lawyer, Sergei Badamshin, as saying the blogger denied the charges. Separately, Boris Nadezhdin, a politician who attempted to run against Putin in the 2024 presidential election on an anti-war ticket, was fined 1,000 roubles ($13) for displaying “extremist ‌symbols”. The case was among a series of steps against Nadezhdin that could signal more serious consequences if he continues to criticise the government.

Russia continued its attacks in the Black Sea, hitting two Ukrainian port cities on Friday that killed three people, Ukrainian ⁠officials said. Russia has repeatedly attacked Ukraine’s maritime export arteries during the war, but the strikes have intensified in past weeks and focused on deepwater ports that handle grain and other cargo.

A Russian drone attack on port infrastructure at the southern city of Mykolaiv damaged three civilian foreign-flagged vessels, ⁠regional prosecutors said. One of the strikes, early on Friday, killed two Ukrainians on board a foreign vessel, they said. Another man was killed in a Russian attack on ⁠Odesa, Ukraine’s biggest seaport, local officials said.

Odesa Regional Governor Oleh Kiper said a later Russian strike hit a ​Marshall Islands-flagged vessel in one of the ‌Odesa region ports, damaging the ‌vessel, triggering a fire and injuring four of its 17 crew members. The strikes have led to a partial halt ​in grain shipments and an almost complete suspension of grain purchases at port terminals, traders and analysts say.

Published: July 18, 2026, 7:25 am

‘Maybe the best pumped-up sequel ever made’: James Cameron’s Aliens hits 40

The director’s more-is-more approach to the 1986 sequel gave us seat-edge action and an indelible performance from a rule-breaking Sigourney Weaver

James Cameron loves tough female characters. That seems like a given now, after three Avatars and two particularly muscular arms belonging to Linda Hamilton in Terminator 2. Even the lushly romantic Titanic is about a supportive, sweet-natured boyfriend lending his love the extra smidge of strength she needs to live a rich and iconoclastic life without him, until she’s freely chucking diamonds into the sea at 100 years of age. But in Cameron’s 1984 de facto feature debut The Terminator (after a Piranha sequel that he attempted to disown), T2’s Hamilton is stalked and appropriately terrified by Arnold Schwarzenegger’s slasher-like killer robot. She’s a great character who gets majorly pumped up for the sequel in 1991. By then, Cameron had plenty of practice: he had already written and directed Aliens, maybe the best pumped-up sequel ever made, which turns 40 this week.

Ellen Ripley, introduced as the warrant officer onboard the ship Nostromo in Ridley Scott’s 1979 sci-fi horror picture Alien, is already a great character by the end of that film. But while the anecdote about James Cameron pitching a sequel by appending a dollar-sign to Alien’s title, concisely showing what a simple pluralization could do, has perhaps overtaken the buffing up of Ellen Ripley in the most-circulated lore about this movie, she’s really the first subject of Cameron’s great plussing. Without betraying the simplicity and resilience of her character in the first film, Cameron reintroduced Ripley as a survivor, landing on Earth almost 60 years after the events of the earlier film. (In a deleted scene restored in the film’s longer special edition, Ripley even learns that her daughter has died in the interim – as an adult, given that Ripley was in cryosleep for decades.)

Published: July 18, 2026, 2:00 am

Hagitude author Sharon Blackie: ‘At 60 I wasn’t ready to give up, I was just starting’

The writer of cult hit If Women Rose Rooted is on a mission to bring folklore to modern readers. She talks about confronting her fears, communing with nature – and the power that comes with age

Like many of the wise women in her books, Sharon Blackie lives miles from anyone. Hers is the only house on the road winding through a valley deep in the Yorkshire Dales. The River Eden runs along the bottom of her garden, which overlooks the ruins of a castle built, as legend has it, by King Arthur’s father. The writer shares this romantic idyll with three border collies, six sheep, nine hens and her husband, David Knowles, a former RAF Tornado pilot.

It seems an appropriate setting for an author who is on a mission to bring fairytales to modern readers. Blackie runs spiritual retreats and workshops at the nearby Broughton Sanctuary and publishes a popular Substack called The Art of Enchantment. Her books, including word-of-mouth hits such as If Women Rose Rooted and Hagitude, are a beguiling mix of memoir, mythology and eco-feminism – manifestos for a better way of living.

Published: July 18, 2026, 1:00 am

Pompeii: Out of Time With Tom Hiddleston – the tale of ordinary Romans’ hopeless heroism is tearjerking television

The Avengers star teams up with real-life scholars for a look at the eruption of Vesuvius. At points it’s elegiac and moving, at others it’s majestic and brutal

It’s always funny when documentaries strategically pair a possibly boring topic with a famous face, just to sex them up. A History of NCP Car Parks By Tinie Tempah, say, or World’s Deadliest Sleep Disorders With Anna Maxwell Martin. So when I saw that Tom Hiddleston was hosting a National Geographic investigation into the destruction of Pompeii in AD79 (Disney+, from Thursday), there was no way I wasn’t watching.

The actor has famously sauntered through life’s most vaunted way stations: Eton, Cambridge, Rada, Kong: Skull Island. Privilege and perceived smugness have long been sticks to beat him with. It’s harder to argue he’s not qualified for this job, having earned a double first in classics. Here, he slips into the role of undergraduate detective. A real-life scholar is forced to cosplay as his don during their interview, addressing Hiddleston by surname, issuing prim little reprimands. Hiddleston even translates Latin headstones in the first episode. I don’t know what the ancient Roman for “screw it, I’m leaning in” is, but I think that’s what it means.

Published: July 17, 2026, 11:00 pm

Seth Meyers on Trump 2.0: ‘Every day is a constant stream of humiliation’

Late-night host criticised the Trump administration’s obsessions with testosterone and wet magnets as more important issues are ignored

Seth Meyers took aim at Donald Trump’s bizarre priorities and obsessions as many Americans continue to struggle with rising costs.

On Late Night, the host said that despite the failing US economy, the president is instead “laser-focused” on “important stuff” such as “magnetic catapults and sperm counts”.

Published: July 17, 2026, 7:29 am

‘It’s a spiritual experience’: docuseries goes behind the spectacular chaos of Burning Man

In HBO’s four-part series The Man Will Burn, the psychedelic, uber-expensive festival is granted a deep dive

In 1986, a group of starving artists seeking release amid a devastating economic downturn built an oversized wooden stick figure, hauled it on to a San Francisco beach and set it ablaze as police officers and passersby looked on in disbelief. Forty years later, Burning Man is the festival to end all festivals – a sprawling spectacle of music, art and self-expression that draws tens of thousands to the Nevada desert every summer for community, catharsis and spiritual connection. It is a pilgrimage for Bohemians and billionaires, a byword for a particular strain of woo-woo hipsterism, a countercultural institution wrestling with the contradictions between its libertine ideals, corporate reality and the regular presence of lightning-rod figures such as Grover Norquist, the conservative strategist, and Elon Musk’s brother.

The only way to truly grasp the meaning of the place, it seems, is to take the trip –figuratively at first, then literally once fully immersed in Black Rock City’s psychedelic, anything-goes culture. “It’s such an immersive experience that it seems that it would be impossible to capture on film or convey what it feels like to be inside a city that exists for a week, that’s imagined, built and sustained entirely by the people inside,” says Jehane Noujaim, co-director of The Man Will Burn, a new docuseries that premiered on HBO this month on the festival.

Published: July 17, 2026, 2:00 am

‘They car-bombed my house – there’s not much more they can do’: the astonishing podcast taking on illegal bloodsports

After 20 mutilated animal corpses were left outside a rural primary school, the creators of award-winning podcast Buried began investigating – with a little help from Chris Packham. It plunged them into organised crime, the dark web and Line of Duty-esque rumours of police corruption

In 2024, a village in Hampshire woke up to something truly disturbing. A mound of dead animals had been dumped outside a school, and blood oozed out on to the streets before children’s classes started for the day. There were about 20 carcasses, including rabbits, hares, pheasants, a fox and a muntjac deer with its head severed. The village was dumbfounded, and the biggest question was: why?

The husband-and-wife investigative journalist team of Dan Ashby and Lucy Taylor – the pair behind the award-winning BBC podcast series, and now forthcoming documentary, Buried – found themselves wondering the same thing. Their new 10-part podcast, Buried: Dead Rabbit, delves into this and finds them plunged into the shady world of illegal bloodsports. Specifically, hare coursing – where dogs hunt hares to kill them, an activity that has been banned in the UK since 2005 – and its links to organised crime and the dangerous, violent characters who are terrorising villages across the country.

Buried: Dead Rabbit is on BBC Sounds now.

Published: July 18, 2026, 5:00 am

Jill Scott review – joyous phones-free show is a taste of how all concerts should be

Kings Theatre, Brooklyn

The queen of Philly soul is in phenomenal form in a saucy and effortlessly virtuosic show celebrating 26 years in music

At one point during her triumphant phones-free show at Brooklyn’s Kings Theater, Jill Scott takes a moment to introduce Dwayne Wright, her bass player and co-musical director who is known to his friends, the queen of Philly soul informs the 3,000-strong audience, as the “pussy whisperer”. The crowd cracks up, but she’s not done. “I want you to close your ears and listen with your vagina,” she instructs, as Wright launches into a deep, toe-curling run on his instrument. “Kegel to the music!” she whoops. “You come to a Jill Scott concert and you become a virgin again.”

Perhaps Scott is emboldened by the no-phones policy tonight; ours were stashed in Yondr pouches upon entry à la recent Jack White and Phoebe Bridgers concerts. But the emotionally attuned, pointedly political and proudly horny soul singer probably doesn’t need any help in getting loose. Despite my initial grumbles, the technology ban turns out to be an inspired decision in an evening that feels deeply connected, as if we’re at a summer block party hosted by the neighborhood’s most charismatic character.

Published: July 17, 2026, 9:09 am

Add to playlist: the nervy breakbeats and acid delirium of Silverwingkiller and the week’s best new tracks

The industrial dance duo make music for this summer’s heatwave: filled with dread and jangling with pent-up energy

From Manchester, via Peterborough and Shanghai
Recommended if you like Crystal Castles, Mandy, Indiana, acid house
Up next Festival dates including East London Block Party, Brighton Psych Fest and End of the Road

Salford’s Silverwingkiller sound how this summer’s heatwave feels: delirious, dread-filled and jangling with pent-up energy. Named after the Chinese title for Blade Runner, they build pummelling industrial dance music from nervy breakbeats, the acid sounds of the Roland TB-303 synthesiser and the shared sense of creative freedom that James Baca and Yushang Ni discovered on moving to Greater Manchester, from Peterborough and Shanghai respectively.

Published: July 17, 2026, 4:00 am

The best recent crime and thrillers – review roundup

The Runner by Scarlett Thomas; The Madman by Henning Mankell; Everything She Didn’t Say by Jane Casey; The Spy and the Snake by MJ Robotham; Murder at the End of the World by Akane Araki

The Runner by Scarlett Thomas (Scribner, £16.99)
Part thriller, part romantic suspense, Thomas’s latest novel begins in Cyprus, where 34-year-old Jay is literally on the run from someone who wants to kill him. Jay (not his real name) is well used to evading hitmen: the attempts on his life began at university, when a Japanese man arrived at his flat with a samurai sword. People have been trying to murder him ever since, the contract on his life traded like a commodity, in bitcoin. Now his only apparent ally is the mysterious Ellie, although – given his track record – it’s quite possible that she’s trying to off him, too. Just before the reader’s sense of intrigue turns to irritated bafflement, the action rewinds to Jay’s childhood in Kent, and the reasons slowly become clear in this quirky, exciting tale that takes in exorcism, dictators, high finance, con artists and marathons along the way.

The Madman by Henning Mankell, translated by George Goulding and Sarah de Senarclens (Mountain Leopard, £25)
Written in the 1970s and published in English for the first time, The Madman is set in a Swedish town in the late 1940s. The country’s wartime neutrality-on-paper continues to divide: the town’s pro-Nazis want the past forgotten, but the communist sympathisers, bitter about having been interned, want a reckoning. When a letter to this effect appears in the local paper, those accused, including the director of the town’s sawmill, claim that newcomer Bertil Kras has been stirring resentment for political ends. When the sawmill burns down, Kras is blamed for that, too, and the disintegration of the life he has tried to make provokes an existential crisis. An older Mankell might have been more concise, but the slow build towards inevitable disaster makes for true emotional depth, and the theme of othering, isolating and penalising people for their opinions remain horribly topical.

Published: July 17, 2026, 4:00 am

Andrew Motion: ‘Wilfred Owen became a kind of sacred text for me’

The former poet laureate on growing up with Lawrence Durrell, rereading Henry James and getting to grips with the genius of Alexander Pope

My earliest reading memory
My parents were country people who thought that looking after or chasing animals was more fun than reading: my father used to say that he’d read half a book in his life (The Lonely Skier by Hammond Innes), and while my mother got through three or four novels a year, she didn’t expect me to do anything equivalent. But I do remember enjoying something my grandmother gave me – My Father’s Dragon by Ruth Stiles Gannett. I must have been seven or so, and thought it was amusing and ingenious.

The books that changed me as a teenager
At my first school, I somehow got my hands on White Eagles Over Serbia by Lawrence Durrell, which my parents thought was unsuitably violent. I never finished it, but enjoyed carrying it around as proof of how grown-up I was. Then, at my secondary school, my history teacher read us some Wilfred Owen (we were studying the first world war), and the poetry-lights in my mind immediately flickered on. When I subsequently bought Owen’s Collected Poems it became a kind of sacred text for me (it still is).

Published: July 17, 2026, 2:00 am

Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse - Konami classic rises again from Paris sewers and Joan of Arc is a boss

Evil Empire creatives explain how it is playing to today’s ‘metroidvanias’ and honouring the original’s legacy with much fresh slaying to be done

Since the last Castlevania game hit the shelves (2014’s Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2), Konami’s dormant series has unexpectedly spawned a hit genre. With an entire generation raised on “metroidvanias” – a portmanteau of Metroid and Castlevania – millions of players have only ever seen the games inspired by Konami’s seminal games. Now with Belmont’s Curse, launching in October, Castlevania is finally dashing back to console, where Konami hopes to reclaim its side-scroller throne.

Set 23 years after the events of 1989’s Castlevania 3 – the same setting as the hit Netflix show – Belmont’s Curse shakes off the series’ 3D ambitions and takes the Belmonts back to basics. Dispatching players to the demon-infested streets of 1499 Paris, you’re placed in the tattered boots of Trevor Belmont’s daughter, Rose. As a bishop pleads with the Belmonts to rid Paris of the ancient evil besetting the city, Rose heads into the sewers, longsword in hand, and her demon-slaying adventure begins.

Published: July 17, 2026, 12:00 am

The Guide #252: Christopher Nolan forces ​all rivals to flee as he dominates the battle of the blockbusters

In this week’s newsletter: Is Nolan our last superstar director? Every one of his films is an event, clearing the release schedules and selling out cinemas

This July, competitors are running scared – like Ithacans fleeing the cyclops Polyphemus – from The Odyssey, Christopher Nolan’s humongous staging of Homer’s epic poem. The only significant alternatives you’ll find at the cinema in the week of its release are a handful of Aardman rereleases and an astoundingly poorly reviewed adaptation of Animal Farm. The tumbleweeds roll on into next week too, where the star attraction is a cheapo horror film capitalising on Pinocchio’s public-domain status. Only by the 31 July does a blockbuster tentatively poke its head above the parapet – we commend you for your bravery, Spider-Man: Brand New Day.

No other film-maker is able to make studios retreat from the battlefield like Nolan, such is his clout. Sure, other directors might be able to attract sizeable numbers of moviegoers by dint of their name on the poster – Paul Thomas Anderson, Tarantino, Scorsese – but none of them are operating on the same “event cinema” scale, selling out cinemas for months on end. Modern-day Spielberg, with a fair wind behind him, might come close, but that depends completely on the project: flashy sci-fi movie that harks back to his golden era of ET and Close Encounters – perhaps; semi-autobiographical paean to the wonders of moviemaking – not so much. Nolan doesn’t tend to experience that variability: everything he stamps his name on will reliably hit.

Published: July 17, 2026, 11:00 pm

‘I dreamt of a show where the audience becomes horny’: the Swedish puppet play starring bonking barbies

Malmö Dockteater is adapting Jackie Collins’s debut novel about the swinging 60s using anatomically enhanced dolls. Puppets help you explore sex in a different way, they say

Erik Holmström holds up a naked, headless Ken doll. Most of the figure is as you’d expect: lean muscles, smooth skin. But lower down, something’s different. Between those hairless thighs is a small plastic penis nestled in a tuft of hair. “It’s real hair,” says Holmström, the director of Malmö Dockteater (that’s “puppet theatre” in Swedish). Performer and puppeteer Kajsa Ericsson jumps in. “Not real pubic hair,” she clarifies.

This doll is not just a prop of the company’s new show; it’s one of the stars. Malmö Dockteater has adapted Jackie Collins’s debut novel, The World Is Full of Married Men, into an experimental puppet production that leaps fearlessly into the explicit sex scenes that got the novel banned in several countries when it was first published in 1968. After performances in Malmö and Stockholm, the company is bringing the show to the newly refurbished Yard theatre in east London, where it will be performed in Swedish with English subtitles.

Published: July 17, 2026, 5:00 am

‘Some fantastic mischief lurking just around the grin’: Sam Neill by Tara Fitzgerald – a poem

Neill’s co-star in the 1994 comedy-drama Sirens remembers a man of rare beauty, generosity and delight

By the time I met Sam
He had already assumed a kind of mythic status in our household,
playing Reilly on Ace of Spies.
My stepfather was his boss.
11 years on and I get to work with him,
Playing Norman Lindsay (wryly).

He was
Electric-minded
Some fantastic mischief lurking just around the grin
The twinkle of his eye
An astronomical scintillation
No time for Acting
Too busy Being.
Present
(Before I knew what present even was)
There for the other actor
Made it seem so simple
Really asked the question
He could conjure anything
Puckish

So blessed to have had that time
The proximity
With the hope that something
Might rub off

Yes

His softly softly take

The first tasting of
Two Paddocks
Pinot noir
On a gentle evening
Chez lui
(Another case of his generosity)
The satisfying ritual of the swirling, the sniffing, the sipping,
The glass half-full
Raised
To the life fully lived

Fine unbuttoning of stories and some
Past glories
Never boastful
Never cruel

Only

A delight at the sharing
The wit and the wine
and the
Wrapping us all in his open embrace

Us, being a shimmer of sirens,
A bouquet of sheep shearers
And an exaltation of Hugh Grants.

(To be sure, the badinage that flowed on set was an art form in itself)

I’m looking at him now
Shooting his closeup for a scene in the garden,
Where the children
Watch a fairy show
Staged by the artist’s models.
His face flooded
With imagination,
With his own wonder,
His own childlike joy.

Published: July 17, 2026, 2:00 am

Back-to-school sales are unusually early this year. We found the 15 best deals for students and parents

Early sales on items ranging from headphones and chairs to a shoe rack and speakers can help ease the transition

• Sign up for the Filter US newsletter, your weekly guide to buying fewer, better things

If back-to-school sales seem to have kicked off earlier than usual this year, you aren’t imagining it: Amazon, Walmart, Best Buy, Nordstrom and other big retailers have already started advertising deals. Shoppers are electing to spread out spending over time to better manage their budgets amid the higher cost of everyday necessities such as food and gas. According to a poll by PwC, students and their families plan to spend upwards of $922 on back-to-school shopping this year, with 47% of families planning to spend more than last year.

If you’re among them, we found grade-A sales on the best back-to-school staples to help smooth you or your student’s transition into the new academic year. They’re all products we’ve tested and loved from brands such as Apple, Bose, Herschel and more.

Best college dorm deal:
Command Heavyweight Picture Hanging Strips, 16-Pack

Best tech deal:
Anker Laptop Power Bank

Published: July 17, 2026, 7:15 am

Blind date: ‘We swapped numbers. I think that sends out good vibes, no?’

Hugh, 55, a teacher and musician, meets Edie, 50, an independent advocate

What were you hoping for?
An exciting, exhilarating experience and a beautiful lady to talk to.

Published: July 17, 2026, 10:00 pm

‘We slept with three of the same women’: 12 people on what it’s really like dating a friend’s ex

Guardian readers tackle a thorny topic and share their stories of dating a friend’s ex – or a friend dating their ex

Life is full of big, messy questions. How should we spend our finite time on Earth? What is the nature of good and evil? And, thorniest of all: is it OK to date a friend’s ex?

This year, reality TV fans debated this question with vim and verbosity when it was revealed that Bravo reality stars Amanda Batula and West Wilson had started kissing (!) and dating (!!) even though West had broken the heart of Amanda’s best friend, Ciara Miller.

Published: July 17, 2026, 9:00 am

‘They remind us of youth, summer and fun’: the return of the ringer T-shirt

From M&S to Miu Miu, 50s US school gym staple adopted by 70s rockers is having its moment in the sun again

If the T-shirt is a ubiquitous sight on summer streets, fashion loves nothing more than changing up something very familiar. Enter, this summer, the rise of the ringer T-shirt.

A T-shirt shape but with contrast colour on the collar and ends of the short sleeves, the garment has been spotted at brands ranging from Marks & Spencer to Ganni, Hush and Levi’s.

Published: July 17, 2026, 7:29 am

Feline good: why kitten heel flip-flops are winning over flats-only gen Z

From Lily Collins at Wimbledon to the cast of Love Island, heels-averse cohort is stepping it up a notch

Gen Z, the flats-only generation, has finally succumbed to the heel – albeit a tiny one. Long vocally anti-heel, the cohort who were born between 1997 and 2012 have famously shunned millennials’ obsession with Jimmy Choos in favour of pancake-flat shoes, from the Adidas Samba “It-trainer” to the split-toe Margiela Tabi and so-called “French girl ballet flats”.

But they now appear to be embracing a potential gateway heel, typically measuring in the region of 1.5in (3.8cm) or the height of a triple-A battery.

Published: July 17, 2026, 10:20 am

‘Adversarial clothing’: are garments designed to confuse facial recognition systems about to go mainstream?

Designers say that as well as offering a degree of protection from surveillance, their clothes make a powerful fashion statement about the importance of privacy

As facial recognition technology is rolled out across Britain’s public spaces, a new generation of designers say privacy could be the next big fashion trend.

Companies have started incorporating “adversarial patterns” in their garments – carefully designed arrangements of shapes, colours and repeated motifs said to exploit weaknesses in some computer vision systems.

Published: July 17, 2026, 2:00 am

‘As individuals, we keep ourselves in cages, without connecting to others’: Jibak Bhattacharya’s best phone picture

On a break from work, the oncologist was struck by the sight of construction workers balancing on scaffolding for a new high-rise

There is no window in Jibak Bhattacharya’s consultation suite, in Kolkata’s Apollo multispeciality hospital. The oncologist took this photo in 2024 while on a break. “I often crave sunlight between seeing patients, so I step out on to the landing, which has a huge square glass window where you can enjoy the outside view,” he says. “Previously, it was unobstructed nature, but they are developing a high-rise now.”

Bhattacharya noticed the pattern made by three workers on the scaffolding, and how you could draw a line straight through it, as in noughts and crosses.

Published: July 18, 2026, 3:00 am

Rachel Roddy’s recipe for pasta with courgette, onion and raw tomato salsa | A kitchen in Rome

Hot summer days call for a pasta dish that’s treated like salad leaves – tossed gently through a fresh, room-temperature sauce

In her encyclopaedic but not at all stuffy book about Neapolitan food, Jeanne Caròla Francesconi provides half a dozen recipes for pasta with raw tomato sauces suitable for hot days. The one I always notice is vermicelli all’insalata, because of the arrangement of the words. Not the familiar insalata di pasta (pasta salad), but all’insalata (like a salad), which serves as a reminder that, as with salad, the important thing with this family of recipes is that the pasta is treated like leaves of salad and tossed gently but thoroughly with plenty of tasty and suitably cut condiments and dressing.

The dressing in this instance is the result of mixing two recipes that we used to make during cooking lessons on hot days at the old Latteria Studio: pasta with courgette, and pasta with double tomato sauce. The courgette softened in plenty of olive oil with spring onion is the warm part of the recipe, while a raw and juicy salsa of tomato, garlic and herbs provides the room-temperature element.

Published: July 18, 2026, 6:00 am

It’s time to admit it: my dog has a bigger social network than me

Accompanying my wife on a morning walk is a humbling experience – not least because our pet enjoys better name recognition than I do

I don’t normally do the morning dog walk; it’s my wife’s thing. But we’re going away for the weekend straight afterwards, so on this particular Friday it makes sense for us to go together. The park is more or less on the way out of town.

“Morning!” my wife sings, waving at someone in the car park.

Published: July 17, 2026, 10:00 pm

If a whale gets lost, can it find its way home? The kids’ quiz

Five multiple-choice questions – set by children – to test your knowledge, and a chance to submit your own junior brainteasers for future quizzes

• ​Submit a question

Molly Oldfield hosts Everything Under the Sun, a podcast answering children’s questions. Do check out her books, Everything Under the Sun and Everything Under the Sun: Quiz Book, as well as her new title, Everything Under the Sun: All Around the World.

Published: July 17, 2026, 11:00 pm

How do you actually shop local in New York City?

Shopping local ensures a future for cultures and communities, says Caroline Weaver, creator of the Locavore Guide digital directory

When I signed the lease for my new apartment in Brooklyn, the relief of having survived the brutal New York City real estate market was short-lived when my next task became clear: I needed to furnish the place.

My first instinct was to check everything off my list by shopping online. But the thought of waiting for deliveries and unboxing an endless mountain of packages seemed exhausting. And, I was moving to New York, where the streets are lined with a seemingly infinite number of stores.

Published: July 17, 2026, 5:00 am

Tell us: are you wearing the new Meta glasses?

If you’re wearing the new glasses, we want to know more about how you’re using them. We’d also like to hear from people about how they feel about others around them wearing the glasses

With over seven million pairs of glasses reported to have been sold by Meta in 2025, it is clear that their popularity is growing and we’d like to find out more about how people are using them.

There have been some concerns around nonconsensual filming and the data protection of users, however the glasses have proved life-changing for those with visual impairments and hearing loss.

Published: July 18, 2026, 3:17 am

Week in wildlife: a stuck raccoon, a hardy mouse and a well-camouflaged wildcat

This week’s best wildlife photographs from around the world

Published: July 17, 2026, 12:00 am