Trump made $1.4bn from crypto in one year. Is Justin Sun the man who helped him do it?

The entrepreneur is known in Washington as the financial power behind the president’s crypto fortune. How did Sun’s business love-in with the Trump family spiral into dueling lawsuits?

The most infamous financial scandal in US presidential history – the 1920s Teapot Dome affair – involved then president Warren G Harding’s interior secretary, Albert Fall, taking roughly $400,000 in bribes. Adjusted for inflation, that’s about $6m today. Last year, Donald Trump made at least $2.2bn; his single year of income is on the order of 200 to 300 times larger than the bribe that defined “presidential corruption” in the American imagination for a century.

It’s taken for granted that Trump flogs items like Bibles and gold sneakers as a way to wring more money from his loyal base. But of the president’s $2.2bn, at least $1.4bn came from his crypto businesses. That’s an extraordinary achievement, even for an unscrupulous sitting president. How exactly did he do it without any prior background in crypto?

Published: July 16, 2026, 9:19 am

Pete Hegseth wants testosterone for his soldiers. Finally, some gender-affirming care | Arwa Mahdawi

The defense secretary has announced a screening program for troops. Get ready for a high-T Department of War

One day perhaps Pete Hegseth will make the news for doing something worthwhile, something that makes his mother proud. One day perhaps we’ll see a headline about the defense secretary that doesn’t involve allegations of sexual misconduct or bigotry, claims about past drinking on the job, possible war crimes, Christian nationalism, or his weird fixation on male facial hair.

Alas, today is not that day. Rather, we are gathered here today because Hegseth is very het up about testosterone. On Wednesday, the defense secretary proudly announced a new screening program for “war fighters” 30 and older that would ensure they had the “right testosterone levels”. In a video posted on X, captioned “the High-T Department of War”, Hegseth explains: “By addressing these health markers early, we’re keeping you on the leading edge of lethality.”

Arwa Mahdawi is a Guardian columnist

Published: July 16, 2026, 4:00 am

A House vote makes it clear: Israel’s support among Democrats is starting to buckle

More than 100 Democrats voted to cut military aid to Israel as US public opinion shifts – Republicans are noticing too

Somewhere in the days before Wednesday’s vote, Hakeem Jeffries, the House minority leader, sat down and wrote his caucus a letter urging Democrats to reject an amendment that would strip security assistance to Israel. For most of his tenure as Democratic leader, that kind of internal whipping operation would have been unnecessary, because the outcome would have been assumed.

His own second-in-command voted the other way anyway.

Published: July 16, 2026, 11:19 am

A voyage of discovery: an idiot’s guide to reading The Odyssey

Christopher Nolan’s film adaptation of the ancient Greek epic has sparked a new appetite for an old classic. Here are the translations, podcasts and audiobooks that make the Homeric world more approachable

The Odyssey was once all Greek to me. I struggled to keep up with the characters, the mass of heroes and villains, the swarms of sons and daughters. I found the Homeric formula – repeated stock phrases passed down from the oral tradition – confusing and tiring. The prose in my 1946 EV Rieu translation, revised by his son DCH Rieu, felt laboured and laborious. I have put the Odyssey down, several times, in the course of my life. But, like Sirens, difficult books tend to have a hold on us. The recent film adaptation pushed me to once again try reading the Odyssey, so I decided on a new approach. I spoke to classicists and conducted research, aiming to render the inaccessible accessible.

To read the Odyssey, start by avoiding the Odyssey. “Begin with contextualisation” – get to grips with themes and content – Antony Makrinos, associate professor in classics at UCL and director of the Summer School in Homer 2026, told me. He sent me an exhaustive list of recommendations, and I found myself in the British Museum, mid-heatwave, learning about Mycenaean civilisation and ancient Greece. I cooled down that evening with a Simon Armitage documentary, Gods and Monsters: an intriguing assessment of our flawed hero.

Published: July 16, 2026, 5:45 am

‘A sublime, breezy confection’: writers on their 2026 songs of the summer

The annual rundown of Guardian writers picking their most played tracks of the season goes from club-ready pop to sunny tech house

• Check out a Spotify playlist of the choices

Kim Petras’ greatest song to date is also the best outsider country song in recent memory: if Ethel Cain and Lana Del Rey could ever put the beef behind them and duet, the dusty gutter romance of Jeep is exactly how you’d want it to sound. The song creates a flyover state love story in a strangely effective union of hyperpop and Americana, creating a windswept fantasy of “doing some middle America shit” with your man: Four Loko-fueled hookups, gas station canoodling and screaming along to rage music beneath the stars. The truly audacious thing is the bridge, a whispered and impressionistic slur that feels like Petras is eight drinks deep, doing donuts in her car until everything blurs. It’s total make-believe, but Petras is so good at making you feel her longing that it gets me choked up. When she recently came out at a Charli xcx show to perform Jeep unannounced, it already felt like an anthem. Owen Myers

Published: July 16, 2026, 2:00 am

Trump’s Board of Peace drops full Gaza recovery plan in favour of tiny pilot scheme

Revised plan aims to ‘keep something going’ amid fears Netanyahu may gamble on new all-out offensive before Israeli elections

• Middle East crisis live – latest updates

The Gaza recovery plan being pursued by Donald Trump’s Board of Peace (BoP) has shrunk dramatically from an ambitious blueprint for the reconstruction of the whole territory to a small pilot project in the south of the strip.

Even the envisaged pilot scheme – involving a temporary camp for a tiny fraction of Gaza’s 2 million displaced people, with a Palestinian administration, police and a small international security force – is not expected to take shape before the end of the year.

Published: July 16, 2026, 6:58 am

Air quality plummets in 20 US states as smoke from Canadian wildfires spreads

Millions of Americans face air quality alerts from Minnesota to New York as authorities urge people to stay indoors

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• Tell us: have you been affected by the spread of wildfire smoke in the US and Canada?

Smoke from wildfires burning in south-central Canada and parts of Minnesota is spreading across the US, prompting air quality alerts in more than 20 states with millions of Americans expected to face unhealthy air conditions this week.

The smoke from the more than 180 active wildfires in northern Ontario briefly made Toronto’s air quality among the worst in the world on Wednesday. By Wednesday night, the smoke had spread across several US states, from Minnesota, where multiple wildfires are also burning, to New York, blanketing the skies in haze and worsening air quality.

Published: July 16, 2026, 7:49 am

Leavitt defends Trump’s fixation on lost 2020 election ahead of president’s primetime address – live

White House press secretary returns to briefing room to defend president amid reporting that his 9pm address will be about US elections

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The average price of diesel fuel in the US has increased again to more than $5 a gallon, according to the AAA, and the average price of gas is almost $4, returning to their highs before the June memorandum of understanding between the US and Iran.

It’s a reminder to consumers and truckers of the costs of the Iran war and the unpredictable rhetoric from both Washington and Tehran. A year ago today, the AAA says, the average price for a gallon of diesel was $3.72, almost a dollar and a quarter less than it is now.

Published: July 16, 2026, 1:44 pm

‘Enemies of civilization’: top Trump officials attack leftism at event

Marco Rubio and Stephen Miller took aim at only leftwing activism at meeting of 66 nations against political violence

Top Trump officials on Thursday hosted a gathering of 66 nations to discuss the supposed threat of leftwing violence, and launched a series of diatribes, harsh even by the standards of the Trump administration, against leftism.

The conference, convened by Marco Rubio, the secretary of state, and attended by Stephen Miller, a top Trump adviser, and Scott Bessent, the treasury secretary, was billed as a “ministerial on the resurgence of political violence”, but the focus was solely on crushing leftist violence. It came as Donald Trump ramps up his efforts to label his political opponents, and a rising number of politicians identified with the Democratic Socialists of America as “communists”.

Published: July 16, 2026, 12:53 pm

Largest landlord in the US accused of civil rights violations

Fair housing complaints accuse Greystar of refusing to take tenants who use federal rent vouchers

Greystar, the largest owner and manager of apartments in the US, systematically flouts local laws designed to make housing affordable to the poor, according to civil rights complaints filed with authorities in six states and the District of Columbia.

The complaints – filed this week with government agencies in California, Hawaii, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, Virginia and Washington DC – accuse Greystar of 114 violations of state and DC fair housing laws. They allege that the company refuses to accept federal housing choice vouchers (also known as Section 8) in places that require landlords to accept them.

Published: July 16, 2026, 11:09 am

Earth-like exoplanet could have life-supporting water on its surface

Scientists discover the first confirmed atmosphere around rocky planet outside our solar system that is within the habitable zone

The search for life outside our solar system has taken another twist as researchers revealed they have discovered an atmosphere around an Earth-like planet 49 light years away that could have liquid water on its surface.

Atmospheres have previously been found around gas giant exoplanets as well as “sub-Neptunes”. There have also been signs of such envelopes around rocky exoplanets that sit outside their star’s habitable zone – a region in which liquid water could exist on the planet’s surface, and hence potentially support life.

Published: July 16, 2026, 11:00 am

Cool, calm and creepy-crawly: reporter unfazed by cockroach cameo on live TV

Rachel Menitoff praised for her professionalism as giant insect lands on her during on-camera report

Viewers of a now-viral video are sharing their amazement at a TV reporter who maintained her composure during a live broadcast after a huge flying cockroach unexpectedly landed on her mid-report.

Rachel Menitoff, a reporter for Los Angeles station KTLA News, was covering dangerous conditions caused by extreme heat from Sherman Oaks, California, on Wednesday during an evening live shot. Her report took an unexpected turn when a giant insect interrupted the segment.

Published: July 16, 2026, 9:32 am

General Mills recalls 736,000 Pillsbury rolls over glass contamination fears

FDA notice warns of ‘potential foreign material’ as recall covers two types of frozen bread roll dough

General Mills is recalling nearly 736,000 Pillsbury bread rolls over concerns they could contain glass, according to a notice issued by the US Food and Drug Administration earlier this week.

The recall covers two frozen bread roll products: 3,080 cases of Hard Roll Dough, with 180 rolls in each case, totaling 554,400 rolls, and 1,260 cases of Kaiser Roll Dough, with 144 rolls per case, totaling 181,440 rolls. The FDA notice states the products may contain “potential foreign material (glass)”.

Published: July 16, 2026, 11:03 am

‘Disorderly’ intruder removed from NBC’s Today show after security breach

Unauthorized interloper was arrested after reportedly hurling racial slur at host Craig Melvin

A man was arrested after breaking on to the set of NBC’s Today show on Thursday morning and allegedly hurling a racial slur at a host.

NYPD officers at New York’s midtown north precinct responded to a report of a disorderly person at the show’s 30 Rockefeller Center studios shortly after 9am.

Published: July 16, 2026, 11:06 am

How Trump’s ‘original oil guy’ boosted US-Israel ties and played down risks of Iran war

Fracking billionaire Harold Hamm is co-chair of a non-profit that has aggressively pushed for US energy dominance

Tycoon Harold Hamm is one of the US’s most successful oilmen, the son of Oklahoma sharecroppers who hit it rich as a “wildcatter” and pioneered fracking techniques that drove the shale boom in 2008 that reversed declining US oil production. Donald Trump describes him as a “long time” friend and is said to have called him his “original oil guy” behind closed doors.

The Continental Resources founder has also faced scrutiny from climate advocates and groups and some Democratic lawmakers over his influence on Trump and role in pushing him to go all in on planet-heating fossil fuels and gut climate rules.

Published: July 16, 2026, 5:00 am

Ex-DoJ lawyer fired by Todd Blanche urges senators to reject nomination

Liz Oyer tells of how she refused to ‘rubber-stamp a political favor’ in gun rights case involving Trump ally Mel Gibson

• US politics live – latest updates

Liz Oyer, a former pardon attorney, condemned Todd Blanche, Donald Trump’s pick for attorney general, over his Wednesday testimony to the Senate judiciary committee. Blanche fired Oyer after she refused to recommend restoring firearms rights to the actor and Trump ally Mel Gibson, who was previously convicted of domestic violence.

“I declined to rubber-stamp a political favor for a friend of the president, and it cost me my job,” the former US pardon attorney told the committee on the second day of Blanche’s confirmation hearing.

Published: July 16, 2026, 12:50 pm

‘A first step to fascism’: critics denounce Trump administration replacing slavery exhibit at George Washington’s ​home

Replacement of panels with version that’s sympathetic to enslavers comes amid effort by Trump to dismantle diversity initiatives

Critics say the Trump administration acted under the “cover of darkness” to replace an exhibit exploring the lives of nine enslaved people who lived at George Washington’s ​Philadelphia home with a version that is overly sympathetic to enslavers and that whitewashes the country’s origins.

The installation of new information panels followed a six-month fight between the city of Philadelphia and the Trump administration over an enslavement memorial at the President’s House, the former home of both Washington and his presidential successor John Adams.

Published: July 16, 2026, 4:00 am

Kalshi to offer betting on drug trial results and FDA regulatory decisions

Move comes as prediction platforms rapidly gain popularity and offer opportunities to bet on virtually anything

Kalshi is expanding its wagers to include bets on drug trial results, an expansion into new predictions territory as platforms continue to rapidly gain popularity and offer opportunities to bet on virtually anything.

The betting platform said the expansion into clinical trials and FDA regulatory decisions will help surface information on drug trials that otherwise goes unreported. A publicly listed contract on a drug trial would produce a “continuously updated, public probability that reflects the weight of the evidence, rather than the preferred message of the trial sponsor”, the company said.

Published: July 16, 2026, 1:45 pm

Democrats allege Trump administration stalled US-Canada bridge opening as a favor to billionaire donor

Delay seen as move to protect interests of Matthew Moroun, the owner of nearby Ambassador Bridge and a Trump donor

The Trump administration for months blocked a $4.7bn publicly owned bridge between Detroit and Windsor, Ontario, a move critics allege is a quid pro quo for a billionaire Donald Trump donor.

A ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Gordie Howe international bridge connecting Detroit and Windsor was initially scheduled for early June but was abruptly cancelled amid dispute between US and Canadian officials. On 10 July, Canada announced it reached a deal with the US, and the bridge will open on 27 July.

Published: July 16, 2026, 4:00 am

‘They said I had to kill him’: the Haiti gangs forcing children into a life of brutality

With the state shattered, armed gangs offer food, shelter and perilous safety to young people – but at a terrible cost

When Davensky was eight years old, he was kidnapped from school. An armed gang pulled a black bag over his head, dragged him from class and threw him into a truck. He was taken to an unknown location, stripped and locked inside a refrigerated room. Some time later, his captors handed him a gun.

“They pointed to another child and said I had to kill him. It was a test. They said if I didn’t pull the trigger, they would cut off my fingers,” he says, speaking in quick bursts. “I did it.”

Published: July 16, 2026, 5:00 am

Three missing after boat capsizes near Alcatraz during family ashes scattering

Rescuers continue search after one person and dog confirmed dead in boat capsizing in San Francisco Bay

Rescuers searched a massive area for three missing people on Wednesday after a boat carrying 20 family members and friends in a memorial service capsized in the cold, fast-moving waters of San Francisco Bay near Alcatraz Island, authorities said.

US Coast Guard captain Jared S Toczko said rescuers have cumulatively scoured 950 sq nautical miles (3,260 sq km) and would end rescue efforts after sundown on Wednesday.

Published: July 15, 2026, 3:57 pm

Buzz off: this pop-up screen shelter provides a safe retreat from bugs and mosquitoes

I tried repellents, mesh hats and natural remedies, but this inexpensive screen tent beats them all to keep insects out

• This $380 foldable kayak fits in my Prius and goes from backseat to lake in 10 minutes

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When I lived in Arizona, I used to think mosquitoes were a minor annoyance. Then I moved to Nova Scotia.

Blanketed with lakes, rivers and streams, Canada’s east coast is also thick with mosquitoes, biting gnats and flies of every size. My wife Tracey grew up here and rarely gets bitten. When I step outside, bugs swarm me like frantic paparazzi. Worse, I’m slightly allergic, so mosquito bites quickly swell into itchy lumps that linger for a week.

Published: July 16, 2026, 12:15 pm

Hits don’t lie! Shakira’s 20 best songs, from World Cup anthems to megastar duets – ranked!

As the Colombian pop supremo prepares to perform at Sunday’s final, we rate her greatest work, including gossipy takedowns and lycanthropic lyrics

Of Shakira’s World Cup anthems, it’s the joyfully ludicrous Waka Waka from the 2010 tournament in South Africa that bangs hardest. Featuring Afro-fusion band Freshlyground, the Colombian superstar redraws preened football superstars such as Ronaldo et al as soldiers on a frontline.

Published: July 16, 2026, 5:39 am

The secret lives of flight attendants: ‘British passengers always drink like they’ve never drunk before’

Lewd propositions, drunken tirades, groping, grumbling and grubby behaviour – cabin crew have to experience it all, at altitude. They open up about the horrors they’ve seen from passengers and colleagues

Last week, right at the start of this year’s holiday season, a 30-year-old drunk British holidaymaker tried to kiss a male flight attendant on a plane, spent a week in Mallorca presumably thinking his actions were consequence-free, and was then arrested on his way back through Palma airport. In February, Jet2 banned two passengers from the airline for life after a mid-air brawl on a flight from Turkey to Manchester, and last week BA had to cancel a flight back from Barbados, because (some) members of the crew were still too drunk from the hotel bar to operate it. There’s a connection between these incidents, and it’s not just as flight attendant Thomas, 27, puts it: “Well, drunk Brits – you know how that goes”.

The term “air rage” was coined in the 90s, but the behaviour it describes went through the roof post-Covid. In 2021, the number of reported incidents in the US was greater than in the previous three decades combined. A new category of misdemeanour had appeared – mask non-compliance.

Published: July 16, 2026, 2:00 am

Seth Meyers on the second Trump presidency: ‘No one feels better, everyone’s miserable’

Late-night host covered the dire state of the US economy and how the president is distracted by other priorities

Seth Meyers discussed Donald Trump’s many weaknesses as president as the US economy continues to tumble.

On Late Night, the host started by covering how Donald Trump responded to the death of his longtime loyalist Lindsey Graham, joking that he was an “empathetic president who knows when to use a deft touch” before playing footage of him speculating on the cause of death.

Published: July 16, 2026, 8:07 am

Our sensitive teen daughter’s self-worth is tested by social media and peers. What should we do? | Leading questions

The more unusual you are, the more unusual it is to find people like you, writes advice columnist Eleanor Gordon-Smith. But as she grows older, her social world will shift

• Read more Leading questions

Our teen daughter is a deeply sensitive, perceptive kid who longs for close friendship but often feels sidelined; she reads slights quickly, ruminates and compares herself harshly. Her 16th birthday was heartbreaking: the in-person warmth and social-media love she expected didn’t materialise, and she’s crushed. We try to parent with both empathy and backbone, validating her feelings while nudging her towards agency: widening her circles, getting busier and repairing frayed ties without begging for approval.

But how do we wisely accompany a teenager whose self-worth is repeatedly tested by imperfect peers (in her mind at least) and the distortions of online recognition? What practices, language and boundaries help a highly sensitive adolescent convert disappointment into dignity and build friendships rooted in mutual regard rather than constant self-surveillance?

Published: July 16, 2026, 8:00 am

‘From the father of the guy who made Obsession’: is the nepo dad the new nepo baby?

With Dane Cook set to star in his new film, Curry Barker’s dad joins Lana Del Rey’s dad and Tom Holland’s dad in a new wave of nepo daddies

A generational shift is happening in Hollywood. The two big breakout films of the spring – Backrooms and Obsession – were made by a pair of plucky young YouTubers who found themselves granted the keys to the kingdom. Both of these films took more money than the most recent Star Wars, the most recent superhero movie (Supergirl) and the most recent Spielberg. It is arguably the biggest shake-up of the film industry since the rise of New Hollywood in the 1970s.

But perhaps the biggest change is tangential to all of this. This week it was announced that Jeff Barker – the father of Obsession direction Curry Barker – is making a film of his own. Medium Rare is a horror short that will shoot this summer and star Dane Cook and the Oscar-nominated actor Lesley Ann Warren. This will come hot on the heels of Good Tape, another horror short of Barker’s that is currently in post-production.

Published: July 16, 2026, 8:07 am

‘He annotated my letter from Spielberg’: readers pay tribute to Sam Neill

From teeing up a marriage to inspiring a career and giving 144 bottles of wine to his birthday band, the star’s admirers share their fondest memories

• Sam Neill’s final interview

• Tributes to Sam Neill from Charles Dance, Lindsay Duncan and Peter Webber, Jane Campion, Gillian Armstrong and Miranda Richardson

I bloody loved Sam Neill. I first saw him in Reilly: Ace of Spies, and even as a kid, I recognised his quality. For me, he was always the best thing in whatever he was in. To do that consistently over decades is some achievement. You could see the twinkle when he was being Sam. He might have taken his work seriously; I never felt he took himself seriously. That made him very lovable. Shirley, 55, West Yorkshire

Published: July 16, 2026, 7:00 am

Move over Soccerey Bally: how Striker the dog became a 1994 World Cup hero

The tournament’s mascot came to herald the ubiquitous, commercial aims of a growing international spectacle

Deep within a dark warehouse in Hillsborough, North Carolina, there sits a severed head. Encased in plastic, perfectly preserved and seemingly begging to be reanimated, it belongs to an American soccer legend.

For a seismic summer 32 years ago, Striker the dog was more ubiquitous than any of World Cup 94’s players, plastered all over billboards, Coke cans, key chains, caps and hundreds of other items. Kids carried around Striker dolls. Grown men played Striker-themed pinball machines and Super Nintendo games and posed for photos with the pup in stadiums.

Published: July 16, 2026, 8:30 am

Keir Starmer wants Fifa investigation into Argentina players who held Falklands banner

• Spokesperson says islands belong to the UK

• ‘PM wishes both teams well for the final, especially Spain’

Keir Starmer supports the idea of Fifa investigating Argentina players who displayed a banner touting their country’s claim to the Falklands Islands after their World Cup semi-final win against England, Downing Street has said.

Starmer, who watched the match while travelling to Ukraine by train for the final overseas trip of his premiership, endorsed a call by Peter Kyle, the business secretary, for Fifa to investigate what rules may have been broken.

Published: July 16, 2026, 5:11 am

US Soccer’s JT Batson deflects on Trump’s role in Balogun saga: ‘The president is the president’

• USSF chief exec focuses on ‘incredible support’ of fans

• Won’t say if federation regrets Trump involvement

• US president called Fifa to lobby for red card review

US Soccer Federation chief executive JT Batson made his first public remarks Thursday about the controversy surrounding Donald Trump’s involvement in this summer’s World Cup, participating in a media roundtable with US Soccer chief operating officer Dan Helfrich and Fifa head of global football development Arsène Wenger.

Before the United States’ last-16 encounter with Belgium, Trump revealed that he had made several calls to Fifa president Gianni Infantino, lobbying for a review of US forward Folarin Balogun’s red card in the last-32 match against Bosnia and Herzegovina. Fifa eventually suspended Balogun’s ban but denied that Trump’s repeated calls had influenced that decision.

Published: July 16, 2026, 11:45 am

Tuchel ‘100%’ invested in leading England at Euro 2028 despite semi-final failure

• Manager under fire for manner of 2-1 defeat by Argentina

• ‘There is enough to improve and I am happy to do that’

Thomas Tuchel says he is “100%” committed to leading England at Euro 2028 and finding the “extra level” for glory that eluded his team at the World Cup.

The manager is under fire for the manner of Wednesday’s 2-1 semi-final defeat in Atlanta. His switch to a back five for the final quarter at 1-0 up did not work, Argentina scoring two late goals to advance into Sunday’s final against Spain.

Published: July 16, 2026, 11:00 am

White House says Donald Trump will attend World Cup final

• Infantino has said US president will hand over trophy

• Spain v Argentina final is set for Sunday in New Jersey

Donald Trump will attend Sunday’s World Cup final between Spain and Argentina, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Thursday.

“We look forward ⁠to the final match on Sunday, ​and I know ‌the president ‌looks forward to attending,” Leavitt said. “This is a fitting conclusion to a tournament that showcased America’s ability to host the world on the grandest stage.”

Published: July 16, 2026, 11:09 am

Players ‘puzzled’ by tactics but Tuchel left himself no other option with his squad picks

The England head coach took a risk by selecting injury-prone players and ignoring creative options such as Foden, Palmer and Gibbs-White

When Thomas Tuchel became England’s head coach he spoke repeatedly about wanting his side to adopt a Premier League style. He wanted intensity, pace, full-throttle football. Tuchel offered clarity, his analysis was precise and his squad for the World Cup was built around the idea of overwhelming opponents with physicality and relentless running.

There were roles for specialists and places for individuals who could be trusted to bring the vibes. There were like-for-like alternatives in various positions and Tuchel was granted a lot of leeway. He was bold with his choices and could respond to questions about omitting the creativity of Phil Foden, Cole Palmer, Adam Wharton, Morgan Gibbs-White and Trent Alexander-Arnold by arguing that he had a vision and was going to stick to it.

Published: July 16, 2026, 1:18 pm

England had Lionel Messi under control … until one decisive and subtle shift

It was a statistically weird game for Argentina’s talisman against England, full of outliers. It didn’t matter

Thomas Tuchel will have prepared for every eventuality before England’s match with Argentina. He will have considered how his team could prosper in attack while remaining solid in defence. What to change if they scored first or if the opening goal went against them and, like so many managers before him, he will have put plenty of thought into how best to deal with Lionel Messi.

For the first hour he was largely peripheral, with the data showing how England were limiting his involvement in dangerous areas. Messi’s only possession in the centre of the penalty area was snuffed out by an Elliot Anderson tackle shortly after Anthony Gordon had scored. The proportion of the distance he covered that was defined by Fifa as sprinting speed (at least 20km/h) was 4.3%, lower than against Switzerland (4.6%) or Egypt (5.4%) in the previous two rounds.

Published: July 16, 2026, 9:24 am

The Open 2026: Rory McIlroy makes slow start, Suber takes early lead at Birkdale – live

️Updates from the first-round action at Royal Birkdale
️Official leaderboard | R&A gets tough | And mail us

Bob Mac aside, it’s still a wee while until some of the more fancied stars take to the course. Time for a little scene setting, then. Ladies and gentlemen, on the tee, Ewan Murray …

A fast start for Bob MacIntyre! He sends his opening tee shot into the rough down the left, and only just finds the front of the green with his second. But he rolls in a 45-footer and birdie is not a bad way to start the week! Oban’s finest already has three top-ten finishes at the Open on his resumé, including a tie for seventh at Portrush last year. Keep an eye out.

Published: July 16, 2026, 1:14 pm

Tim Merlier surges to Tour de France 2026 hat-trick on stage 12 but crash hits sprinters

• Soudal Quick-Step rider pips Kooij and Philipsen

• Tadej Pogacar safely retains yellow jersey

The likely final sprint stage of this year’s Tour de France was won by Tim Merlier, of the Soudal Quick-Step team, who added victory on the banks of the Saône to his wins in Bordeaux and Bergerac.

In what has been a Tour of rare opportunity for both sprinters and breakaways, the final hour of racing was manic in its intensity and peppered with constant but futile attacks, until the riverside finish came into view.

Published: July 16, 2026, 10:31 am

Lando Norris vows to overcome 10-place grid penalty at Belgian Grand Prix

• McLaren’s fourth change of power unit exceeds regulations

• Reigning champion eyes overtaking opportunities

Lando Norris believes he can still be competitive at this weekend’s Belgian Grand Prix, despite a 10-place grid penalty. The defending world champion will nonetheless have his work cut out at Spa after his McLaren team took a new battery for his car, the fourth, one more than is allowed.

Norris is fifth in the world championship, 82 points behind the leader, Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli. He and McLaren have endured a series of failures from their Mercedes power unit this season, including “terminal” issues with the power electronics unit, a part of the battery. One failed in China, one was withdrawn in Japan, repaired but failed at Monaco.

Published: July 16, 2026, 10:45 am

Stars, stakes and still some controversy: Gotham’s record-setting night sums up state of NWSL

The Queens Classic – Kerr’s return, Lavelle’s stunner, wildfire smoke and all in between – shows how far the league has come and also where it can still improve

Ten years ago, a National Women’s Soccer League game at a baseball stadium was a sign of just how far the league had to go. A match during the 2016 season was played at a minor-league ballpark on a woefully small pitch, dubbed “shocking and embarrassing” by the league’s own stars.

Come 2026, NWSL games at ballparks are showpiece events. Attendance records were shattered at Chicago’s Wrigley Field and San Francisco’s Oracle Park in the previous two seasons. Wednesday night added another milestone: Gotham FC’s 1-0 win over the Washington Spirit on a hot, hazy night at Citi Field, the regular home of Major League Baseball’s New York Mets, drew the second-largest crowd in league history (42,175) and set the record for the most attended women’s sporting event in the city’s history.

Published: July 16, 2026, 3:57 am

MLS return storylines: Berhalter’s future, Son’s goal drought and what’s next for Messi?

The league is back in play after a six-week pause for the World Cup. We spotlight seven players to watch after their stints with their national teams

The 2026 MLS season resumes Thursday, cleverly holding its return on the days between the World Cup semi-finals and third-place game. Fans of any of the league’s 30 teams will be trying to recall the state of affairs after a six-week pause, with more than half of the regular season still to be played and the Leagues Cup further congesting the schedule.

The league was curiously absent from the World Cup, only cited during the broadcasts viewed by millions if a commentator named an involved player’s club and whose reach largely depended on the in-market efforts of its franchises. And yet, through the quarter-finals, MLS ranked sixth in total minutes by its players, the highest of any league outside Europe’s big five. Twenty-two of MLS’s 30 clubs had at least one man make a tournament squad.

Published: July 16, 2026, 3:00 am

Why did Manchester United pay Chelsea £48m for Andrey Santos?

Michael Carrick’s first signing is a surprise, but the Brazil midfielder will help the team deal with Casemiro’s exit

By Opta Analyst

Andrey Santos moving from Chelsea to Manchester United was not on our summer transfer window bingo card, but the Brazilian has become Michael Carrick’s first signing. United desperately needed reinforcements in midfield, especially after Casemiro’s departure and Manuel Ugarte’s long-term injury, so deals for Santos and Youri Tielemans will be welcomed by fans.

Tielemans looks like particularly good business – he captains Belgium, has made 244 appearances in the Premier League and was available for £35m – but Santos is a more curious choice. He was often a backup player for Chelsea last season as they finished seven places and 19 points behind United; he is not the finished article, and played for one of United’s rivals. Since Alex Ferguson retired 13 years ago, United had only signed four players from their “big six” rivals: Juan Mata, Nemanja Matic, Mason Mount (all Chelsea) and Alexis Sánchez (Arsenal).

Published: July 16, 2026, 4:43 am

Why does the US want to ‘dismantle’ the international criminal court? | Kenneth Roth

Marco Rubio has offered nonsensical rationale in attacking the court. The Trump administration’s real goal is impunity

With the pointless war of choice in Iran going poorly, the Trump administration has declared a virtual war on the international criminal court (ICC). Secretary of state, Marco Rubio, vowed on Monday to “dismantle” the court as a supposed threat to US sovereignty. His rationale is laced with sophistry. The administration’s real goal is to secure impunity for war crimes, even those committed on the territory of ICC member states.

In a Wall Street Journal op-ed and a video posted on X, Rubio conjures up a dystopia in which local American officials such as police officers or border patrol agents “could be dragged before an international court, tried by judges from random countries across the globe, found guilty under international laws we neither consent to nor control, and then imprisoned thousands of miles from America”.

Published: July 16, 2026, 2:00 am

The federal government isn’t America’s only authoritarian institution | Jan-Werner Müller

Backlash at Yale to its negotiations with Trump shine a light on the danger of smaller authoritarian structures in civil society

As news started to spread of Yale’s leadership negotiating a deal with the Trump administration, the university’s faculty, students and alumni sprang into action to oppose any settlement. What the president and lawyers intend remains unclear. In the case of Harvard, it appears that Trumpists – and Trump himself, for that matter – might have been leaking about concessions being imminent partly to put pressure on the university. What is clear is that the Trump administration has embarked on a wide-ranging investigation of Yale, accusing it of discriminating against white and Asian students. But in any case, the battle over Yale’s response reveals a troubling pattern. Many of us had thought that the US possessed a robust civil society that could act as a counterweight to an overbearing government and resist authoritarian encroachments. What few reckoned with: its institutions themselves can be run in a fairly authoritarian fashion – universities being a prime example, with deleterious consequences for democracy as a whole.

The argument for the freedom-preserving role of civil society has been known at least since a French aristocrat travelled the US in the early 19th century in order to uncover why American mass democracy, unlike democracy in his native country, appeared stable and peaceful. Alexis de Tocqueville ended up singing the praises of how Americans are always associating with each other to discover and, if necessary, defend common interests. That wisdom still resonates in lived experience today, starting with birdwatchers and the PTA.

Jan-Werner Müller is a Guardian US columnist and a professor of politics at Princeton University

Published: July 16, 2026, 5:00 am

‘Cool, suave and weirdly shy’: Miranda Richardson remembers Sam Neill

Sam had such ease about him and I just loved the way he seemed to cruise through life. But he confronted his mortality with real courage

• Sam Neill’s final interview and his life in pictures

• ‘A true gentleman’: actors, directors and leaders pay tribute to Sam Neill

• Jane Campion remembers Sam Neill

When I first met Sam, I thought he was handsome, cool and weirdly shy. He was always a rare combination of suave and down-to-earth: this great, democratic guy with no bullshit. I just loved the way he seemed to cruise through life. He had such ease about him.

Acting was just one chunk of his life: there was always a lot of other stuff going on. He couldn’t wait to get back to his farm and his wine and his animals. I remember when we were making Merlin in 1998, he kindly took me out for lunch. We had a really delicious bottle of pinot noir, and he said that was what he was aiming for with his winery Two Paddocks.

Published: July 16, 2026, 4:10 am

Cyclospora is easy for doctors to miss. The US made it even harder to spot | Robert B Shpiner

Last year the federal government downgraded active surveillance for this parasite. Now thousands are sick

A patient arrives after two weeks of relentless watery diarrhea, sometimes 20 episodes a day. She has lost weight and cannot keep fluids down. Her stool tests come back negative. Unless someone thinks to order an assay that includes Cyclospora cayetanensis, she may leave without a diagnosis and stay ill for weeks longer.

Cyclospora is easy to miss in a clinic. Many routine stool tests do not include it, so a clinician must consider the parasite before the laboratory will look for it. You find it on purpose, or you do not find it.

Robert B Shpiner is a clinical professor of medicine in pulmonary and critical care at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA

Published: July 16, 2026, 3:00 am

Christopher Nolan’s Odyssey used occupied land as a film set. That feels like a betrayal | Mohamed Sleiman Labat

The decision to shoot in Moroccan-occupied Western Sahara, where the Indigenous people can’t tell their stories without fear of imprisonment, helps erase our own brutal journey

• Peter Bradshaw’s five star review
• A classicist’s verdict

The simple act of holding a camera in my homeland of Western Sahara can be a crime. When Sahrawi film-makers and journalists attempt to document everyday life under Moroccan occupation, they can often end up in prison cells. For the Moroccan regime, a camera in the hands of a Sahrawi threatens its official narrative that Western Sahara is part of Morocco.

In contrast, when celebrated international names in the film industry wish to capture an ideal picture for an epic journey, and decide that our land is exotic enough to shoot the desired scenes, they are welcomed, escorted and granted access by the same authorities that usually deny us that right.

Published: July 15, 2026, 11:48 pm

Ben Jennings on Andy Burnham’s imminent arrival at No 10 – cartoon

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Published: July 16, 2026, 10:27 am

The most beautiful act of resistance I’ve seen: Madrid tenants fighting landlords with art | Leah Pattem

When an investment fund bought their building, the residents of Tribulete 7 protested in the only way they knew how – through radical creativity

Spain’s housing crisis finally came for the tenants of Madrid’s Calle Tribulete 7 when their block was sold to an investment fund. Feeling pressured to leave by rent increases and aggressive construction works that flooded some apartments, they did everything they were supposed to do: organise meetings, contact the tenants’ union and find a lawyer. They also protested, spoke to journalists and created an Instagram account to spread the word. But they also did something I’d never seen before.

They opened up their homes to the public and invited musicians to play inside, in the very flats and shops that were suddenly at risk. A month later they flipped this concept on its head and took their furniture out on to the street. There the tenants cooked, knitted, played chess in their dressing gowns, worked from home and bobbed in their armchairs to a local band playing a brass version of Freed from Desire. It was a spectacular theatrical performance of everyday existence, but also a fight for their lives.

Published: July 15, 2026, 9:00 pm

The Guardian view on Keir Starmer’s farewell: a dignified departure and a necessary one | Editorial

The outgoing prime minister was on good form during his sometimes emotional last PMQs. But Labour MPs were right that change was needed

Mercifully for a prime minister whose defenestration was swift and brutal after Labour’s catastrophic local election results in May, Sir Keir Starmer’s valedictory week has offered several opportunities to point to what he got right. Sir Keir’s steadfast record in corralling international support for Ukraine – and ensuring Britain stayed out of Donald Trump’s illegal war on Iran – will be looked on favourably by history. A minute’s applause in Paris on Monday, from leaders of the “coalition of the willing” countries, was well deserved.

On Tuesday in the House of Commons, Andy Burnham paid tribute to the outgoing prime minister for his role in drafting the bill that finally became the Hillsborough law this week. On Wednesday, serendipitously, the England team’s World Cup exploits allowed Sir Keir to indulge his passion for football during his final prime minister’s questions.

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.

Published: July 15, 2026, 10:22 am

Political crisis and protests in Ukraine as Zelenskyy defends sacking defence minister

President says he had to choose ‘one side or the other’ after breakdown of relations between ministry and military leaders

Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, has defended his decision to dismiss the country’s popular defence minister, Mykhailo Fedorov, and confirmed reports that relations had broken down between the ministry and the country’s top army leadership.

Speaking at a press conference in Kyiv with the British prime minister, Keir Starmer, Zelenskyy said there had been a “challenging dialogue” between Fedorov – widely seen as a reformist and moderniser – and the military’s commander in chief, Col Gen Oleksandr Syrskyi.

Published: July 16, 2026, 11:25 am

Drugmaker Merck announces approval of new cholesterol-fighting drug

Lipfendra can be taken in conjunction with or an alternative to statins, the most prescribed medication in the US

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The drug giant Merck on Thursday announced it had received FDA approval for a daily pill that can be an alternative to statins for treating high LDL levels, or so-called bad cholesterol. The new pill, Lipfendra, is a version of a drug called a PCSK9 inhibitor.

For decades the go-to therapy to treat high cholesterol levels has been statins, the most prescribed medication in the US. But statins come occasionally with side-effects like muscle aches and they sometimes don’t drop cholesterol levels enough to meet recommended levels.

Published: July 16, 2026, 1:45 pm

‘A masterpiece in every way’: The Odyssey earns near universal acclaim as full reviews published

Christopher Nolan’s epic was given five stars by the Guardian, Independent and Telegraph, while the New York Times called it a ‘monumental adaptation’

Christopher Nolan’s $250m Imax blockbuster version of Homer’s epic poem the Odyssey looks set to be among the director’s best-received of his career, and could be a frontrunner for next year’s best picture Oscar.

The Guardian’s Peter Bradshaw was among the vast majority of critics who awarded it five stars, calling it a film “with thrilling ambition, boldness, seriousness, generosity and flair. There are some broad-brush moments in the dialogue, yes, but even these are applied with a muscular flourish.”

Published: July 16, 2026, 10:16 am

Musk’s xAI sues user who allegedly used Grok to create child sexual abuse material

Case is one of first brought by an AI company against a user ⁠for allegedly using a tool to generate child abuse material

Elon Musk’s artificial-intelligence startup xAI has sued a South Carolina man arrested ⁠earlier this year on charges of sexually exploiting minors, alleging he misused the company’s AI system Grok to ⁠create child sexual abuse ⁠material.

xAI ​alleged in the lawsuit, filed in federal court in Texas on Tuesday, that Terry Harwood violated the company’s ⁠terms of service. The case is one of the first brought by an AI company against one of its users ⁠for allegedly using an AI system to generate child sexual abuse material.

Published: July 16, 2026, 8:19 am

Mafia law gives Italian families right to break free from life of crime

Wives and children offered new identities to try to stop gangsters recruiting down the generations

Children and young adults raised in mafia families will be given a chance to break away from organised crime under new legislation in Italy that aims to stop the intergenerational recruitment of gangsters.

In an unprecedented effort to sever the family chain, the Italian state will offer children aged under 25 and other close relatives of mafia bosses a chance to start over: a new home in another city, a new school and, if necessary, a new identity.

Published: July 16, 2026, 9:08 am

Inquest reopened into death of 14-year-old boy after ‘TikTok blackout challenge’

Landmark high court ruling calls for fresh inquiry into Jools Sweeney’s death to allow for previously omitted social media evidence

The inquest into the death of a 14-year-old boy, whose mother believes he died after a TikTok challenge gone wrong, is to be reopened in a landmark ruling by the high court.

Jools Sweeney, a schoolboy from Gloucestershire, died in April 2022. His parents, Ellen Roome and Matt Sweeney, believed social media played a role in his death, pointing to the popularity of the “blackout challenge” online at the time.

Published: July 16, 2026, 9:12 am

Uganda calls for travel restrictions to be lifted after last Ebola patient discharged

Country begins 42-day countdown to outbreak being declared officially over, as numbers continue to rise in neighbouring Democratic Republic of the Congo

Uganda has started lobbying countries to lift Ebola-related travel restrictions after discharging its last confirmed Ebola patient from hospital.

The discharge of a Congolese national from the Mulago national referral hospital’s isolation centre in Kampala on Thursday triggered the start of a 42-day countdown required by the World Health Organization before Uganda can officially be declared Ebola-free, provided no new infections are detected.

Published: July 16, 2026, 4:33 am

Brain implant helps paralysed man to feed himself and drink from cup

Keith Thomas can move arms and hands, and feel sensation of touch after ‘double neural bypass’ and months of training

A man who was paralysed from the chest down in a swimming accident six years ago has been able to feed himself and drink from a cup thanks to a brain implant that bypasses his spinal cord injury.

Keith Thomas of Massapequa, New York, could not lift his arms off his wheelchair when he agreed to trial the technology in 2021, but after surgery to implant electrodes in his brain and many months of training, he was able to move the limbs again.

Published: July 16, 2026, 8:00 am

Hal Williams, actor best known for Sanford and Son and 227, dies aged 91

The actor, who also appeared in The Waltons and Private Benjamin, died at his home in California

Hal Williams, the actor best known for TV roles in Sanford & Son and 227, has died at the age of 91.

His representative confirmed that Williams died on 15 July at his home in California.

This article was amended on 16 July 2026. It was originally stated that Sanford and Son ran from an incorrect number of years

Published: July 16, 2026, 6:49 am

‘We are waiting with bated breath’: Super El Niño forecast could make 2027 hottest year on record, BoM says

Most Australian capital cities have at least 80% chance of unusually warm and dry spring as climatologists watch developing system with increasing alarm

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The El Niño climate phenomenon linked to record global temperatures and now locked in place in the Pacific Ocean could develop into the strongest on record, according to Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology.

Climatologists are watching the strengthening El Niño with increasing alarm, saying the forecasts from climate models in the coming months are “mind blowing” and “astounding”.

Published: July 16, 2026, 8:00 am

Food scraps and mushrooms: the closed-loop garden behind the world’s first community-powered sauna

R-Urban Poplar in London is a ‘living lab’ where locals can experiment with ways of taking charge of their food supply

On a stiflingly hot and dusty morning at the height of the summer’s third heatwave, traffic thunders down the A12 arterial route through east London. A high, red-brick wall rises by the road. What few passersby will realise is that this ivy-topped wall shelters an urban oasis, within which sits an unprecedented sustainable project.

The world’s first “community powered” sauna – heated by food waste from residents of the neighbouring housing estate – is set to open here.

Published: July 16, 2026, 6:00 am

Revealed: how Europe’s most powerful farming lobby killed EU’s pesticide law

Exclusive: High-level documents show how Copa Cogeca worked to weaken legislation to protect climate and wildlife

• Europe live – latest updates

Newly revealed documents from inside the most powerful farming lobby in Europe show how it delayed, gutted and overturned some of the most sweeping farming reforms in EU history, including a plan to cut pesticide use in half.

Copa Cogeca describes itself as the voice of 22 million farmers across the continent, and enjoys unrivalled access to EU lawmakers. It has even been described as a “partner in policymaking”.

Published: July 16, 2026, 4:00 am

Robots, AI and drones: how the Dutch navy is using tech to transform its sea defences

Uncrewed systems are the future for armed forces and the Netherlands is leading the way ‘to keep people out of danger zones’

On each side of the target ship, a black vessel keeps a watchful distance. Defender 1 and Defender 2 are the eyes and ears of the navy – but they have nobody onboard, and their paths are controlled by a computer system.

This is the future of the Royal Netherlands Navy, according to Capt Sjoerd Feenstra, head of the expertise centre for unmanned systems. He is leading a five-week mission, off the coast of Den Helder in the north of the country, to test the limits of systems that operate without the human touch.

Published: July 15, 2026, 9:00 pm

D&D players raise millions in real-life campaign against ‘corporate elite’

Brennan Lee Mulligan’s Dungeons and Dragons push is part of a wider trend using tabletop games for political action

Just before their election day, six Los Angeles city council candidates stood on stage at Hollywood’s Fonda Theatre. But they weren’t there for a debate or a black-tie gala. They were there to play Dungeons and Dragons.

Comedian Brennan Lee Mulligan guided the politicians through a short D&D campaign to defeat corporate villains and an evil dragon. Hundreds of enthusiastic fans in the crowd pledged additional donations up to $150 each to give the candidates what is called an “auto crit” for maximum damage to the dragon.

Published: July 16, 2026, 4:00 am

Drained reflecting pool reveals Trump’s ‘American flag blue’ liner is now closer to gray

Trump’s effort to revamp the landmark stretched well past the goal of having it ready by the Fourth of July

The newly drained Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool’s bottom surface has noticeably faded since it was lined with a protective coating in a color Donald Trump called “American flag blue” this spring.

An Associated Press reporter and photographer viewed the fenced-off reflecting pool on Wednesday from the top of the Washington Monument. The new liner appears grayer than when the pool was repainted and refilled with water in early June. Debris that had been visible earlier this week after the pool was drained is now largely gone, after work crews removed it.

Published: July 15, 2026, 4:28 pm

Brazil vows to retaliate if US imposes 25% tariffs on some of its products

President Lula’s office says US move is result of pressure on White House by family of predecessor Jair Bolsonaro

Brazil has vowed to retaliate against Washington’s decision to impose 25% tariffs on imports of some Brazilian products.

The office of the president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, described the tariffs as “a regrettable milestone” in the history of relations between the two countries and said they were the result of pressure exerted on the White House by the family of the far-right former president Jair Bolsonaro.

Published: July 15, 2026, 10:01 pm

R Kelly formally appeals to Donald Trump to commute his 31-year prison sentence

The R&B singer was found guilty of racketeering, sex trafficking and producing child abuse images, with his lawyer lobbying the US president for more than a year

R Kelly has formally appealed to the US president, Donald Trump, for a reduction of his 31-year prison sentence for racketeering, sex trafficking and child abuse images, in a filing to the Department of Justice.

The 59-year-old R&B singer, whose full name is Robert Sylvester Kelly, was found guilty in 2021 of leading a criminal enterprise that recruited women and underage girls for illegal sexual activity and pornography, for which he was sentenced to 30 years in prison. In 2022 he was found guilty on three counts of child abuse images and three counts of child enticement and sentenced to 20 years in prison, which he is serving nearly entirely concurrently but for one additional year.

Information and support for anyone affected by rape or sexual abuse issues is available from the following organizations. In the US, Rainn offers support on 800-656-4673. In the UK, Rape Crisis offers support on 0808 802 9999. In Australia, support is available at 1800Respect (1800 737 732). Other international helplines can be found at ibiblio.org/rcip/internl.html

Published: July 15, 2026, 7:20 pm

Former boss of Italian motorways sentenced to 12 years over Genoa bridge tragedy

Giovanni Castellucci among 32 people convicted over the 2018 Morandi Bridge collapse, which killed 43

Thirty-two people, including the former chief executive of Italy’s motorway operator, have been convicted over the 2018 collapse of a Genoa bridge in which 43 people died.

In a hushed courtroom on Thursday in the north-western Italian city, Giovanni Castellucci, a former boss of Autostrade per l’Italia, was sentenced to 12 years in prison, the highest in the case.

Published: July 16, 2026, 9:25 am

Uber driver who killed dog walker is also found guilty of trying to murder his landlord

Dawood Safi, 28, mounted a ‘frenzied’ and deadly rampage while in the grip of a psychotic episode

An Uber driver who stabbed a dog walker to death in a “frenzy of violence” while in the grip of a psychotic episode has also been found guilty of trying to murder his landlord.

Dawood Safi, 28, killed 49-year-old Wayne Broadhurst in the random knife attack last October, just minutes after attacking his landlord, Shahzad Farrukh, and a boy of 14.

Published: July 16, 2026, 11:10 am

‘We weren’t at fault’: British yacht couple bristle at ‘armchair sailors’ and Russian denials

Exclusive: Jane and Alan Kelvey reflect on close encounter with Russian warship a few hours into two-month sailing trip

They found themselves at the centre of an international incident, the close encounter between their small sailing boat and a Russian warship making headlines around the world.

A month later, Jane and Alan Kelvey are to be found berthed in a rainy harbour in north-west France, still taken aback by their brush with Vladimir Putin’s forces – but trying to get on with their fun sailing trip.

Published: July 16, 2026, 6:00 am

MI5 reprimanded for lying about ties with neo-Nazi informant who attacked girlfriend with machete

Watchdog’s review of case criticises handling of agent X, who exploited role with agency to threaten his girlfriend

MI5 has been reprimanded by a watchdog for lying about its relationship with a neo-Nazi informant, who had exploited his role with the spy agency to violently threaten his girlfriend.

The Investigatory Powers Commissioner’s Office (Ipco) criticised MI5’s handling of a man known only as agent X, and said some of its officers had initially misled the public about his true status.

Published: July 16, 2026, 6:21 am

‘The minute I had success, I stopped taking drugs’: John Waters on 60 years of screen carnage

As Hairspray and his ‘angriest movie’ Desperate Living are rereleased, the ‘Pope of Trash’ reflects on dead dogs, dirty rats, ‘that lunatic RFK’ and why there are no novelty dances any more

John Waters still remembers the day his 1988 comedy Hairspray was awarded a PG certificate. “It was horrible,” he says.

Until then, Waters, christened the “Pope of Trash” by the novelist William S Burroughs, was notorious for filming the unfilmable. In Eat Your Makeup, he recreated JFK’s assassination only five years after the event, casting the boisterous Divine in drag as Jackie Kennedy. He invented a blasphemous sex act called the “rosary job” in Multiple Maniacs, which also featured a rape-by-giant-lobster. Most repulsively, in Pink Flamingos, he persuaded Divine to scoff a fresh dog turd on camera.

Published: July 15, 2026, 9:00 pm

The Odyssey review – Nolan goes god-tier with breathtaking epic of men, monsters and moral metamorphosis

Doing full justice to the Homeric legend, Christopher Nolan amasses an epic cast to convey the true cost of war with film-making of thrilling ambition

• A classicist’s verdict: soulful hero flatters our times as women and nuance pushed overboard

• Nolan’s film shot on occupied land. That feels like a betrayal

Christopher Nolan reinvents the Homeric legend as a colossal origin-myth story of postwar disillusion, an epic ordeal of anguish witnessed by the dead and presided over by capricious deities who participate on almost equal terms with the humans. It speaks to the generational pain of PTSD; plenty of soldiers come home in person after any war promptly enough, but arriving back to their prewar state emotionally or spiritually can take years or decades and may never happen at all. The invisible odyssey of anguish is punctuated by flashback episodes, hallucinations, confrontations with the arbitrary gods of dysfunction. And all the time the spouses and children cannot move on with their lives.

This is a film with thrilling ambition, boldness, seriousness, generosity and flair. There are some broad-brush moments in the dialogue, yes, but even these are applied with a muscular flourish. It has gasp-inducing, Imax-sized landscapes of loneliness shot by cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema – who, incidentally, avoids the sea’s traditional cliched colour – and full-tilt battle sequences and fight scenes accompanied by the throbbing and thrumming of drums.

Published: July 15, 2026, 9:00 am

The Hawk review – Will Ferrell’s dated golf comedy just isn’t that funny

Ferrell’s brash ladies man and loser golfer could have been hilarious. But comedy has sped up over the last two decades, and all the genital gags and dodgy references fall flat

In the 2000s, American comedy had a rude awakening. While the preceding decade had been all attractive sophisticates bantering in big cities, the new millennium arrived in a miasma of crude, cartoonish buffoonery: Austin Powers, American Pie, Dude, Where’s My Car? These were, sadly, the sacred texts of a millennial adolescence.

In comparison, the work of the Frat Pack – a group of comic actors that included Ben Stiller, Will Ferrell, Steve Carell, Seth Rogen and Luke and Owen Wilson, plus writer-director Judd Apatow – seemed almost highbrow. By the middle of the decade, this cohort had funnelled ribald irreverence into much better films, including Zoolander, Dodgeball and Anchorman. Eventually, though, the worm turned; as chin-stroking dramedy and nerdy Marvel wisecracking took hold of the zeitgeist, this PC-needling silliness fell out of fashion.

Published: July 16, 2026, 12:01 am

Fleabag at 10: did Phoebe Waller-Bridge usher in a wave of female-fronted series – or straitjacket them?

The confessional classic opened the floodgates for a generation of brilliant female showrunners. But as risk-averse streamers tighten their purse strings, is the industry forcing women’s stories back into a box?

Ten years ago, Phoebe Waller-Bridge locked eyes with the camera and asked her audience: “Do I have a massive arsehole?” An unexpected punchline to a monologue about a booty call that went surprisingly – and literally – south, it announced Waller-Bridge as a new star of British telly. The half-hour comedy series Fleabag broke the fourth wall, and the internet. Its second season was even bigger, spawning countless thinkpieces discussing Andrew Scott as the “hot priest” and the sold-out Topshop jumpsuit worn by Waller-Bridge, which had a keyhole cutout revealing an aspirational slice of boob.

Both Fleabag and Waller-Bridge were praised for blazing a path that female showrunners and their feminist creations could later stomp down. It secured Waller-Bridge an exclusive deal with Amazon worth a reported $20m (£16m) a year. The show’s success certainly changed Waller-Bridge’s life. But, a decade on, as the British television industry has been reshaped by the rise of streamers, budget cuts and dwindling opportunities for new talent, how did it change TV?

Published: July 16, 2026, 12:00 am

Nia Archives: Emotional Junglist review | Aimee Cliff's album of the week

(Island)
On the Bradford-born producer’s self-assured second album, drum’n’bass rhythms power up angsty odes with shades of Arctic Monkeys, Kate Nash and myriad genres

Like another of the year’s biggest pop records, Olivia Rodrigo’s You Seem Pretty Sad for a Girl So in Love, the second full-length from the self-proclaimed “emotional junglist” Nia Archives is an album of two halves. The first documents its protagonist falling in love at breakneck speed; the second, the whiplash of sudden heartbreak. Unlike Rodrigo, Archives didn’t grow up starring on Disney Channel, a predestined route to success, but in Bradford, cutting her teeth on early 00s pirate radio, dancehall and landfill indie.

More than most major artists, Archives has carved out her own path. After leaving home at just 16 to move into a youth hostel in Manchester, she started teaching herself to make beats; eventually, she uprooted to Hackney and studied music production, and used her student loan to fund the promotion of her self-released debut single. Since then, she’s made history as the first electronic/dance act to win a Mobo in decades (after publicly campaigning for the inclusion of dance music at the awards in 2022). With her 2024 debut album Silence Is Loud, she became the first junglist to be nominated for three Brit awards, and the first to be nominated for the Mercury prize since 1997 – before she was born.

Published: July 16, 2026, 4:00 am

Shakira review – she-wolf roars again in playful victory lap from Colombian superstar

Prudential Center, Newark, New Jersey

Ahead of her World Cup final performance, the singer’s Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran tour whips through exuberant hits

In the dark of a sold-out Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, a screen lights up on a desert. Around me are girls and their moms in concho shell belts and coined hip scarves, and there are Colombia soccer jerseys and the country’s traditional vueltiao hats as far as you can see. An uncanny CGI figure of Shakira shakes loose the sand. She looks to be covered in a silvery oil slick. I immediately recognize the Shakira of the La Tortura video I saw on MTV’s TRL in 2005, her stomach flickering in fluid, controlled movements. She pounds the sand, and a silver-sequined Shakira emerges, first on screen and then on the floor.

“There’s nothing like when a she-wolf reunites with her pack,” she howls.

Published: July 15, 2026, 8:40 am

James Taylor review – 70s legend’s golden baritone shines best when stripped bare

Edinburgh Castle
The AI-style backing videos are terrible and his accomplished band can be overly slick at times, but Taylor’s civility and grace cuts through it all

James Taylor, in summer twilight, plays the lovely fingerpicked intro to Fire and Rain, a song he has been performing for decades – and the crowd cheers in recognition of a classic. But does the 78-year-old still feel those old songs? He sings them beautifully in his lulling baritone, but perhaps they no longer lift and soothe his heart quite like they do ours. Is the man on stage in front of Edinburgh Castle now just a heritage act at a heritage site?

There is evidence for the prosecution. His live show has a slick professionalism that at times shades into tedium. The 11-piece backing band, including four backing vocalists, is packed with veteran sidemen whose smooth virtuosity can sound bloodless. As a result, the set’s better songs are generally those with spare instrumentation. Millworker has an austerity that suits its subject, the soul-crushing exploitation of labour. Taylor’s voice shines in its simple setting – a violin drone and martial beat.

Published: July 15, 2026, 2:30 am

Grief Is the Thing With Feathers by Max Porter review – a bravura rendering of bereavement

Actor Russell Tovey’s narration crackles with compassion and menace in this magical story of a widower and his young sons in mourning

Less than a week after the sudden death of his wife, a grieving man opens his front door to a giant crow who scoops him up into his wing and tells him: “I won’t leave until you don’t need me anymore.” Still in shock, the man is facing the prospect of raising his two young sons alone. The bird, which has previously been roaming around the family’s flat at night, has observed a household of “heavy mourning, every surface dead Mum, every crayon, tractor, coat, welly covered in a film of grief”. In that first visit, the man “woke up and didn’t see me against the blackness of his trauma”.

First published in 2015 and since adapted as a play and film, Grief Is the Thing With Feathers is an inventive and sharply observed novella by Max Porter which uses verse, dialogue and the supernatural to examine a family grappling with the loss of a wife and mother who had been “busy living, and then she was gone”. In a story that shifts between the perspectives of “Dad”, “Boys” and “Crow”, we learn the man is a writer who is working on a book about the poet Ted Hughes called Crow on the Couch.

Published: July 16, 2026, 7:00 am

‘I felt Holden was talking to me alone’: The Catcher in the Rye at 75

JD Salinger’s wry, subversive classic inspired novelist Joseph O’Connor to be a writer. He reflects on why this story of a disaffected teenager remains as fresh and transgressive as ever

In 1981, when I was 17, my first girlfriend gave me a paperback of her dad’s favourite novel. I’d never heard of it despite living in a home full of books. My parents loved the work of Edna O’Brien, Muriel Spark, John le Carré, Dickens. So did I. But encountering the first sentence of JD Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye made the world burst into colour.

“If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you’ll probably want to know is where I was born, and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don’t feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth.”

Published: July 16, 2026, 12:00 am

Up All Night by Imogen Willetts review – a seductive history of going out

From 18th-century pleasure gardens to Studio 54, the story of nightlife in all its hedonistic – and political – glory

In this fabulous alternative history of the modern world, the academic and “party historian” Imogen Willetts looks at the last 500 years of civilisation through the sometimes blurry lenses of its after-dark scenes, with fascinating results. She begins by trying to capture what it feels like to go on a big night out, focusing on a phenomenon that, in 1912, the sociologist Émile Durkheim labelled “collective effervescence”. In one passage, she explains this by referencing dancing as part of ancient tribal hunting rituals, listening to Charli xcx’s 365, or singing along to Sweet Caroline with tens of thousands of other people in a stadium.

This is no dry academic study, then, and its mix of historical research, critical theory and conversational references to pop culture makes for a bright and compelling read. What Willetts calls the “seemingly superficial act of getting gussied up to drink, dance, have fun and meet people” is, of course, much more than that, and she scratches away at the layers with skill. Nightlife can contain, or enable, rebellion, community, innovation, art, love, sex and political revolution. From Japan to France, from Shanghai to Germany, via many detours to the United States, she examines historical movements as they might be seen from dusk till dawn.

Published: July 15, 2026, 11:00 pm

‘People are picking the dumbest fights’: the tortured history of America’s culture wars

In a new book, Isaac Butler goes back to the 1980s to trace how battles started against the arts, from Piss Christ to Mapplethorpe, and looks at what we can learn for today

Isaac Butler is limbering up for an event at Politics and Prose, an independent bookshop and venerable Washington institution, but still has time to explain his arm tattoos.

They variously depict: a logo from his grandparents’ company in the 1960s; a satellite that his father worked on at Nasa; a “jaunty crab” for his wife, who finds crabs “hilarious”; an iris by Japan’s Utagawa Hiroshige for Butler’s daughter, Iris; a drawing of a scene from a production of The Seagull by the Russian theatre maker Konstantin Stanislavski; and an artwork by the American painter and photographer David Wojnarowicz that shows a house on fire.

Published: July 15, 2026, 2:00 am

Denshattack! review – time to get on board with kickflipping trains

PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch 2; Undercoders
Colourful, counter-cultural and captivating – this rail riding game set in a dystopian Japan is as weird as it is exhilarating

Every now and again a game appears with a premise so outrageous you stop in your tracks to take it all in. Denshattack!, a game about kickflipping trains across a dystopian future Japan, is the epitome of this feeling. Set in a post climate disaster world, people have retreated to corporate-owned domed cities to live out their days in air-conditioned, ignorant comfort. Save for a handful of outcasts, the rest of the country is a mess of broken infrastructure, where rival gangs battle it out on the ruins of Japan’s famously extensive rail network. Naive upstart Emi has one goal: become the best Denshattacker there is, one sick nosegrind at a time.

Taking the idea of an on-rails platforming game to its extreme conclusion, developers Undercoders have combined the best bits of the Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater series – grinding, flipping and spinning through an entire dictionary of tricks – with the anti-establishment message behind Jet Set Radio. The rivals Emi encounters showcase the history of Japanese misfits, pitting you against ageing rockabillies and violent girl gangs without a shred of judgment.

Published: July 16, 2026, 7:09 am

Zombies, gore and creepy kids – why we can’t stop playing horror games

As global anxieties multiply, ​v​ideo games from Resident Evil to Mouthwashing are providing rich source material to help decode society’s problems

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Horror is so hot right now. There’s Obsession, Evil Dead Burn and Hokum in the cinema, Widow’s Bay, From and Something Very Bad Is Going to Happen on TV, and, of course, a rotting smorgasbord of horror games including Resident Evil Requiem (pictured top) and Reanimal, soon to be joined by Silent Hill: Townfall, Silver Pines and Dreadmoor. We’re also seeing weird cross-pollinations, with horror movie studio Blumhouse making games, while games themselves become horror films and the whole backrooms genre infects every medium it touches.

So it was fascinating to attend last week’s horror and gaming conference at Falmouth University, in Cornwall: a gathering of students, researchers and lecturers, all engaged in the academic study of horror games. There were brilliant talks on zombies and posthumanism, the gothic in games, and the role of monstrous little girls in survival horror (there are a lot of them!). Subjects as diverse as masculine fragility, disability and ageing came up; Will Doyle, creative director at Supermassive Games, gave a great keynote on the art of creating horror in games using tools such as revulsion, spatial alienation and the human instinct of apophenia. I learned a lot about theorists such as Julia Kristeva and Mark Fisher, and about the technical similarities between indie horror games and film noir (for example, the use of darkness and creative camera techniques to “hide” budget restrictions). It was incredible fun.

Published: July 15, 2026, 7:00 am

Ava DuVernay to make Netflix documentary 14th on birthright citizenship

The film-maker behind Selma and 13th will focus on the 14th amendment for a new film out later this year as Donald Trump targets those protected by it

Ava DuVernay announced on Thursday that she has made a documentary for Netflix on the 14th amendment, which gave liberty and rights to formerly enslaved people following the civil war, and has come under legal attack from Donald Trump.

Netflix said on Thursday that it will release 14th later this year. The film will mark a return to nonfiction for DuVernay, the film-maker of Selma and Origin, and a follow-up to DuVernay’s 2016 film 13th, her examination of the legacy of the 13th amendment, which abolished slavery.

Published: July 16, 2026, 10:04 am

Madelon Vriesendorp review – sex-crazed visions of skyscrapers copulating

Sir John Soane’s Museum, London
The Empire State building is caught in bed with the Chrysler Building and a milk bottle turns into a dragon in the raunchy and cheekily provocative work of the Dutch artist and architect

In a high-rise New York apartment with a wide window that surveys the Manhattan grid below, the Empire State and Chrysler Buildings are in bed together. The Chrysler melts in a silvery swoon, shagged out, while the beacon atop the Empire State Building still glows fiery red and on the bedside table the Statue of Liberty’s arm holds up a torch suggesting more passion to come. But oh no! The lovers have been caught at it. At the door is the forbidding RCA Building, which has left its usual station at 30 Rockefeller Plaza to see this!

Madelon Vriesendorp’s 1975 skyscraper sex romp drawing Flagrant Délit – “caught in the act” – can be seen twice in her exhibition Mind Games: as a standalone print and as the cover of Delirious New York, the 1978 book by her ex-husband Rem Koolhaas that is both a surreal history of the city and a subversive manifesto for a new kind of modern architecture. Vriesendorp is what exactly? An architectural cartoonist? A cartoonist architect? She is certainly more than just a graphic prankster, and won the 2025 Soane Medal given to visionaries who have “furthered and enriched the public understanding of architecture”. Hence this show. And it all started with skyscrapers copulating.

Published: July 16, 2026, 3:04 am

Emergencies on planet Earth: images from the climate crisis – in pictures

From fierce flooding and escaped pigs to birds that can’t fly due to the weight of plastic in their stomachs, mankind’s biggest challenges are on stark display at Summit Photo 2026

Published: July 15, 2026, 11:00 pm

Sam Neill’s cause of death revealed to be pneumonia

Neill’s longtime representative says the actor’s family agreed to release the information due to ‘inaccuracies and outright falsehoods’ in media

• Gillian Armstrong remembers Sam Neill: ‘I can’t believe that the very next day he was gone’

• Sam Neill’s final interview and his life in pictures

Sam Neill’s cause of death was pneumonia, his longtime representative has revealed.

The 78-year-old actor’s “sudden and unexpected” death was announced on Monday, just three months after Neill revealed he was finally cancer-free since being diagnosed with stage three angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma, a type of blood cancer, in 2022.

Published: July 15, 2026, 7:43 pm

‘People think you’ve got 10,000 cats’: the support group for hoarders

Many hoarders are scared to seek help but one UK housing association is taking a more empathetic approach

At one end of the table sits Tony*, who showers at his local leisure centre in Birkenhead every day. His landlord won’t fix his bathroom because of his hoarding. Then there’s Sarah*, who ended up homeless with her three teenagers after their landlord evicted them because of hoarding. In her new home the problem has started again, but she says she’s petrified to ask for help in case she loses her property.

Sian Cowley, 35, who has struggled with hoarding for decades, says: “I’ve lived without central heating for two years. A lot of us live without the basics like hot water, heating and cooking because we are too scared to get people in to do repairs because of the threat of eviction.”

Published: July 16, 2026, 2:00 am

The social media ban sceptic: are we getting it wrong on kids, tech and mental health?

Psychologist Candice Odgers has studied adolescent mental health for 25 years. She fears the current debate around smartphones obscures some of the biggest issues facing teenagers – from the impact of Covid to the health of their adult caregivers

The quickest way to make being online safer for children and teens would be to kick all adult men off the internet, the Canadian psychologist Candice Odgers believes. Men are the biggest perpetrators of sextortion and most likely to spread misinformation, she says.

Odgers is not recommending this as a policy for governments to adopt: “That would be crazy, right? It would be unfair.” But she is on a drive to puncture the prevailing narrative that the best way to address online harms is a social media ban for teenagers.

Published: July 15, 2026, 11:50 pm

I’ve spent years testing air purifiers – these three are the best to detox the air in your home

Wildfire smoke, pet dandruff and cooking fumes can all pollute the air in your home. Winix, Shark and Dyson make the top air purifiers to fix that

• The best bath towels of 2026 in the US, from fluffy to quick drying – tested

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If you live in affected parts on the US, climate change is making wildfire season more intense, adding more ozone at ground level. That means air quality is not a factor to overlook when it comes to your health at home. And beyond wildfire smoke, pollen, smoke, pet dandruff and cooking fumes are all particulates that can affect your home’s hygiene.

Lots of air purifier brands promise to improve air quality, but hide their performance behind jargon. But don’t worry: I’ve got over a decade of experience testing air purifiers, both in a home and lab setting, to help you cut through the marketing haze.

A pre-filter that prevents pet and human hair from prematurely clogging the main filter

A HEPA or HEPA-like filter that removes fine particulates from the air

A carbon medium for dealing with odors

Published: July 16, 2026, 9:25 am

These five summer-themed jigsaw puzzles are the perfect indoor activity when it’s just too hot outside

From maximalist pizzas to retro beaches, Piecework puzzles make you want to stay indoors. For a limited time, they’re all 20% off

• The six best US jigsaw puzzles

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

Is gen Z boring? We barely leave the house, hardly drink alcohol and rarely go on dates. Instead some of us are emulating the hobbies of our elders – crocheting, starting book clubs and even birdwatching.

Among younger demographics, “grandma hobbies” are cool. Perhaps that’s why I, a member of gen Z, recently felt called to pick up a jigsaw puzzle for the first time in over a decade. It came from Piecework, a puzzle brand that has become a Zoomer favorite.

Published: July 16, 2026, 1:07 pm

Reducing ultra-processed foods could prevent thousands of heart disease deaths, study suggests

Researchers in Canada say that UFPs could be ‘substantial and potentially preventable’ contributor to the disease

Thousands of people could avoid dying of heart disease by reducing ultra-processed foods (UPFs), experts have said, as a modelling study suggests junk food may be driving up to a third of cases.

Millions of people increasingly consume UPFs such as ready meals, breakfast cereals, protein bars, fizzy drinks and fast food.

Published: July 15, 2026, 3:01 pm

‘Please don’t lose another pound!’: Ozempic is upending the wedding dress industry

The ubiquity of GLP-1s is wreaking new havoc on bridal designers who must scramble to accommodate rapid weight loss

In bridal stores across the world, solicitous sales assistants are being trained to ask a new, blunt question: “Are you planning on losing a drastic amount of weight?”

Wedding season’s new disruptor is semaglutide, now used by 10% of engaged couples, according to a survey by the wedding planning platform Zola. In the same survey, 42% of couples said the ubiquity of GLP-1s has made them feel they should “look a certain way” for their wedding.

Published: July 15, 2026, 4:00 am

‘Zara death pants’: are these the world’s most dangerous trousers?

Wide-legged and flowing, they are causing a storm on social media, with people posting videos of the fabric getting caught in escalators and causing painful trips

Name: “Zara death pants.”

Appearance: Flowing, wide-legged, with a high waist, elastic waistband and front pockets.

Published: July 15, 2026, 9:43 am

Jess Cartner-Morley on fashion: forget delicate chains – this summer, make your jewellery big and bold

Fashion is getting braver with accessories again, so lean into it by embracing loud earrings and chunky pendants

This summer, I want jewellery that makes some noise. Real noise – earrings that swish, bangles that clatter – and visual noise as well. Stuff to wear when you want to be seen and heard. The total opposite, in other words, of the jewellery most of us have been wearing lately. Charming, delicate jewellery has become the default. Two necklaces of different lengths on fine chains. One has a heart pendant, the other an initial or a birth stone, am I right? Maybe a curated earlobe of tastefully small mismatched diamond hoops.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with this look. It is really nice. In fact, this is exactly the problem.

Published: July 16, 2026, 2:30 am

You be the judge: should my girlfriend stop buying so many flowers?

Damien says plants last longer, but Tolu doesn’t think things have to survive for years to be worthwhile. Who should turn over a new leaf?

• Find out how to get a disagreement settled or become a juror

Flowers are a fleeting gesture. Why not buy plants that last years instead?

Published: July 16, 2026, 12:00 am

Where tourists seldom tread, part 21: two northern powerhouses on the rise once more

Preston and St Helens were heartbeats of the industrial age, but their power faded. In the last of our series, we discover how their legacy is finally being celebrated

• Where tourists seldom tread, parts 1-20

This double act of “Lancashire” locations is my final celebration of Britain’s bypassed towns. My native county has dominated my life of late, and one key question asked in these columns has been: can you holiday right at home?

The French author Xavier de Maistre believed you could fit a journey inside a single room. And in Instructions on How to Climb a Staircase the Argentine-French writer Julio Cortázar turned a walk upstairs into a quest. An entire county offers enough adventures to fill a life.

Published: July 15, 2026, 11:00 pm

How to turn empty broad bean pods into a mouthwatering risotto – recipe | Waste not

Use the whole pod – husks, beans and all – for a rustic, nutritious version of a seasonal favourite

Tom Norrington Davies is a friend, fellow chef and one of the best yoga teachers I know, so you can probably imagine my pleasure on recently coming across his recipe for broad bean and mint risotto, which he wrote for The Eagle Cookbook in 2009. Like many restaurants, this legendary gastropub pods their broad beans to reveal the beautiful green bean inside; this is my zero-waste interpretation.

Published: July 15, 2026, 5:00 am

From Cambridge ‘impostor’ to New Labour star: Andy Burnham’s winding path to power

In the first of a two-part profile, Daniel Boffey traces the incoming PM’s early forays into politics and his rise to prominence – ultimately leading to him leaving London for Manchester

Andy Burnham had emerged victorious, but niggling doubts remained about his mandate. It was the summer of 1987 and the 17-year-old had represented Labour in a school hustings as Margaret Thatcher and Neil Kinnock were battling it out in that year’s general election.

“Andy was standing against another guy, a really nice guy who was the Conservative candidate,” said Steve Harrington, a former English teacher at St Aelred’s Catholic high school, in Newton-le-Willows, Merseyside. “Andy gave a speech, which was excellent, then the other guy came on to make his speech and Andy’s fans – unbeknown to Andy – snatched the plug out of the microphone. So they couldn’t hear what he was saying. Andy won by a landslide. Having said that, he probably would have anyway, as it was a heavily Labour area … But he was innocent, he hadn’t been involved in [the prank] and wouldn’t have been.”

Published: July 15, 2026, 10:30 pm

‘They want to break our will’: Gaza flotilla activist tells of rape in Israeli detention

Anna Liedtke files criminal complaint in Israel over alleged attack by female guards and says abuse was intended to silence campaigners

The third time Anna Liedtke was subjected to an illegal strip-search in Israeli detention, female prison guards forced her on to her knees, covered her mouth to stop her screaming and raped her, according to interviews and a criminal complaint filed in Israel.

She described hearing male guards laughing during the attack, which she believes they watched and may have filmed. It took place in an area separated from the prison hallway by a partially drawn curtain that her attackers had left open.

Published: July 15, 2026, 6:00 am

Trump’s barbed eulogy for Lindsey Graham reveals how fragile his ego is

In interviews and social posts, the loyalty-obsessed president couldn’t help but weave criticism into his praise

• This was originally published in This Week in Trumpland. Sign up to receive it in your inbox every Wednesday

Normal procedure in the immediate aftermath of an unexpected death is to shower the deceased with praise, irrespective of whether it is deserved.

Donald Trump, commemorating Lindsey Graham in recent days, has taken a different tack, sometimes extolling the South Carolina senator’s virtues but at other times rather diminishing the newly deceased 71-year-old.

Published: July 15, 2026, 9:54 am

Tell us: have you been affected by the spread of wildfire smoke in the US and Canada?

We would like to hear about the impact of the smoke spreading from the wildfires in northern Ontario, Canada

The smoke from more than 100 active wildfires northern Ontario has spread to cities across the north-east US, including New York.

Environment Canada issued health warnings on Wednesday after the sky over Toronto turned yellow with smoke and was ranked the worst in the world, according to IQAir.

Published: July 16, 2026, 9:40 am

Wildfire pollution and clowns on a pilgrimage: photos of the day – Thursday

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

Published: July 16, 2026, 5:24 am