‘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

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 claims. In some cases, his claims were not supported by those documents. Here is a look at some of the key claims that could mislead the American public.

Published: July 17, 2026, 1:04 pm

World Cup of memes: Japan fans, Beckham unbothered and a simmering bromance

A tournament with more teams and more games has been filled with euphoria, heartbreak, and these weird and wonderful viral moments

As a Japanese supporter exclaimed to a television camera, “Texas is good, everything is big”, we knew the World Cup had started. In those early euphoric moments, seeing the palpable joy when everything is still possible, it seemed Japan fans were the MVPs of memes.

They came in their thousands, dressed in sombreros and Mario outfits, tossed into the air like confetti and line dancing with the Dutch. Then the heartbreak arrived.

Published: July 17, 2026, 8:00 am

Smart glasses are deeply creepy. Why are celebrities like Kylie Jenner endorsing them?

Meta touts safety features – but for women, the dangers of these recording devices are obvious

Imagine if every time you left the house, you couldn’t be sure that the stranger you met at a bar – or even the person walking by you in the street – wasn’t secretly recording you. It sounds like something out of a Black Mirror episode, but let’s face it, the era of wearable technology is fully upon us as everyday accessories have been developed to help track health and fitness data, receive smartphone notifications, and provide hands-free accessibility.

So when Meta announced their AI glasses a few years ago, it wasn’t too surprising that one of the biggest (and most embattled) tech companies on earth had begun cashing in on our obsession with watching others. And their AI glasses have already raised serious concerns over privacy, personal safety and even our sense of agency.

Published: July 17, 2026, 5:00 am

Twelve days nursing my father in the ‘dying room’ taught me the value of planning for death

Dying is difficult, a nurse told me. It might have been even more appalling had Dad not been clear about his wishes. Yet most of us remain deeply reluctant to outline how we want the end to go

My father spent the last 12 days of his life unconscious, unresponsive, in a hospital bed on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast.

My mother sat beside him night and day, holding his hand. I massaged Dad’s legs, horribly swollen, the effects of oedema – a buildup of fluids. His mouth fell open, dried out; I swabbed it constantly in an attempt to keep it wet. Sometimes his breath was a gurgle. My brother and I took turns sleeping on a stretcher in his room – the “dying room” was what hospital staff called it.

Published: July 17, 2026, 8:00 am

Trump has declared war on elections in the name of protecting them | Austin Sarat

The president’s Orwellian speech on Thursday was just the latest instance of his denialism. It is up to us to resist

On Thursday night, Donald Trump did it again, trashing another American tradition with his primetime address from the White House’s East Room about election integrity. Other presidents have used such speeches in times of national emergency, to announce major new policies designed to improve Americans’ lives or to honor American traditions.

Not Trump.

Published: July 17, 2026, 11:33 am

DHS chief threatens states that refuse Trump’s election demands after president’s widely condemned speech – live

Markwayne Mullin follows up on president’s unproven claims as Democrats accuse Trump of ‘working to rig the midterms’ in advance

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• Trump makes unverified claims of China ‘election meddling’

Trump also took to Truth Social today to claim that there were “great reviews” of his address to the nation on Thursday – where he repeated baseless claims undermining the electoral integrity of the 2020 election, and the safety of the election process at large in the US.

During his speech, Trump also tried to unveil new information – with scant evidence – that China’s interfered in the race that he lost to Joe Biden. This despite assessments from intelligence officials that no foreign actor, including China, attempted to alter any technical aspect of the 2020 voting process.

Published: July 17, 2026, 1:45 pm

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, 1:52 pm

Fifa flies Portugal’s World Cup team on plane used for ICE deportations

Aircraft that transported team to match is same one used to deport dozens of Venezuelans to Cecot mega-prison

A plane used by the Portugal men’s soccer team to fly to a World Cup match is the same one used daily for the Trump administration’s mass deportation campaign, and brought dozens of Venezuelans to a Salvadoran mega-prison last year against a judge’s orders.

Video shows Portugal flying on a Global Crossing Airlines (GlobalX) aircraft en route to Dallas on 4 July ahead of their match against Spain, with the plane’s tail number, N837VA, clearly visible. A review of flight records for that Airbus shows it flew removal-related flights both the day before and after flying the Portuguese athletes.

Published: July 17, 2026, 7:01 am

Trump administration to grant $12m to groups founded by UK conservatives Jacob Rees-Mogg and Toby Young

Exclusive: Grants are part of controversial package criticised as misuse of public money to influence European politics

Donald Trump’s state department intends to allocate $12m to organisations in the UK founded by the prominent Conservatives Jacob Rees-Mogg and Toby Young, the Guardian can reveal.

The intended grants, revealed in US government documents, are part of a package of support for European groups viewed favourably by the Trump administration. Some former US officials have criticised the funding as a misuse of public money to seek influence over foreign politics.

Published: July 17, 2026, 8:43 am

More Canadian wildfire smoke shrouds US midwest, mid-Atlantic and north-east

109 million people face another day of poor air quality as smoke from blazes in Ontario drifts over the US

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Tens of millions of Americans are enduring another day of smoky skies, irritated eyes and bad air quality, as Canadian wildfire smoke spread again over huge swathes of the US, affecting about 109 million people across the midwest, mid-Atlantic and north-east.

The pungent wildfire blanketed cities such as Chicago and Detroit, where residents on Friday were warned to stay indoors and reduce activity levels after the air quality index reached a “hazardous” 361, according to the government website AirNow.

Published: July 17, 2026, 1:31 pm

CDC and FDA link lettuce at Taco Bell in five states to cyclospora outbreak

FDA investigation identified a single supplier of the lettuce, but federal warnings did not name the company

Federal health officials have identified lettuce from Mexico served by Taco Bell locations across five US states as a source of the widespread outbreak of the diarrhea-causing parasite cyclospora.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) confirmed the source late on Thursday and warned consumers not to eat shredded iceberg lettuce from Taco Bell restaurants in Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and West Virginia.

Published: July 17, 2026, 1:10 pm

‘Laws were broken’: multistate effort to stop Paramount’s $111bn merger heads to court

Attorneys general from 12 states are suing to block the Paramount-Warner Bros deal they say violates antitrust law

A last-ditch effort to block the merger between Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros Discovery (WBD) is heading to court as 12 Democratic state attorneys general attempt to stop the $111bn deal they say violates antitrust law and reduces competition in both the film and cable television industries.

The lawsuit, which was filed on Monday, faces a crucial hearing on Friday to determine if a judge will temporarily pause the deal or allow it to continue toward approval. The merger was already approved by the Department of Justice in June.

Published: July 17, 2026, 4:00 am

‘Master yachtsman’ who fled 2005 trial for sexual assault arrested off US coast

Ronald Fischer, 70, was sentenced to life in his absence after telling lawyer he planned to ‘enjoy life in another country’

A “master yachtsman” who went on the run for more than two decades after fleeing a sexual assault trial in Rhode Island, which resulted in his conviction despite his absence, was captured on Thursday on a sailboat off New Jersey’s coast, according to authorities.

Ronald L Fischer, 70, had been considered one of Rhode Island’s most wanted fugitives before his arrest, state police officials said in a statement on social media. And his case had been mentioned repeatedly over the years on the true-crime television program America’s Most Wanted.

Published: July 17, 2026, 9:30 am

Amazon Web Services customers receive bills for up to $1.5tn after global glitch

One UK man whose bill is usually less than £1 says he ‘almost had a heart attack’ when he saw £5.8bn invoice

People always suspected big tech was greedy, but not quite like this. Patrons of Amazon Web Services have been landed with panic-inducing monthly bills running as high as $1.5tn for subscriptions that usually cost less than the price of a cup of coffee.

From Bangalore to Bolsover, the bills have been causing alarm after a computer glitch resulted in the astronomical invoices being dispatched around the world by Jeff Bezos’s company, which provides data and cloud services to millions of customers, from students and small charities to big businesses.

Published: July 17, 2026, 8:13 am

California braces for its sharkiest summer in a decade – but experts say don’t panic

Young great white sharks are returning in large numbers, but researchers say humans are not on the menu

Surfers, swimmers and fishermen across California will be sharing the waves with an influx of visitors this summer: young great white sharks.

Juvenile white sharks are already appearing along the coastline, fleeing warmer than usual waters in Mexico during what’s expected to be an incredibly strong El Niño.

Published: July 17, 2026, 3:00 am

Dismissal of Ukraine’s defence minister highlights wider issues for Zelenskyy

Mykhailo Fedorov, celebrated by many for innovative, tech-driven approach, was sidelined for military old guard

Volodomyr Zelenskyy’s abrupt dismissal of Ukraine’s youthful and innovative defence minister, Mykhailo Fedorov, at precisely the moment Kyiv appeared to be gaining advantages in several spheres of its war with Russia has exposed, not for the first time, a troubling flaw in the president’s leadership.

The move, which has startled senior European officials and caused consternation, and demonstrations, in Ukraine, is all the more shocking given Fedorov’s role in pushing a clear strategy to prosecute the war, leveraging Ukraine’s rapidly developing technological advances in drone and missile technology.

Published: July 17, 2026, 6:42 am

Sinkhole on Sunset Boulevard: broken water pipe floods LA-area hotspot

Businesses and traffic in West Hollywood doused after century-old pipe bursts belowground

A century-old water pipe buried below a bustling boulevard in a Los Angeles county city burst early Thursday, sending a shock of water spewing into the streets and snarling traffic as several major roads shut down.

The 36in riveted steel pipe’s rupture left a protruding sinkhole and cracked pavement in West Hollywood. Images of the aftermath showed local metro buses partially submerged in murky brown water.

Published: July 16, 2026, 6:53 pm

Remains of LA millionaire missing since 1981 identified after more than 40 years

After Thelma Gaston disappeared, her companion was convicted of second-degree murder

Authorities in southern California announced this week that, after more than 40 years, they had identified the remains of a Los Angeles millionaire missing since 1981.

The Riverside county sheriff confirmed in a statement that investigators, using genetic genealogy and dental records, had determined the remains found in a rugged area near Sugarloaf Mountain were those of Thelma Gaston.

Published: July 16, 2026, 1:59 pm

‘The pigeon came to them seeking help’: California firefighters give oxygen to suffering bird

A crew in the San Francisco Bay Area city of Oakland spotted a pigeon ‘in distress’ after a vehicle fire

Heartwarming footage of California firefighters treating perhaps their smallest patient on record has captivated the internet.

A crew in the San Francisco Bay Area city of Oakland spotted a pigeon “in distress” earlier this week after a vehicle fire, and jumped into action to assist.

Published: July 16, 2026, 2:59 pm

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

The Odyssey: is Nolan adaptation worth the hype? - The Latest

Christopher Nolan’s star-studded take on Homer’s Odyssey has received rave reviews from critics and is one of the most hotly anticipated films of the year. The three-hour Imax blockbuster has an estimated budget of $250m and a star-studded cast including Matt Damon, Zendaya and Tom Holland. But will it live up to expectations? Annie Kelly speaks to film editor Catherine Shoard

Published: July 17, 2026, 9:34 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

The week around the world in 20 pictures

Israeli airstrikes in Gaza, wildfires in Europe, ICE in Maine and the World Cup semi-finals – the past seven days as captured by the world’s leading photojournalists

Published: July 17, 2026, 10:34 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

‘At times I felt I’d bitten off more than I could chew’: Christopher Nolan on sweeping the Oscars, making The Odyssey – and getting a puppy

How do you follow Oppenheimer? By spending $250m bringing Homer’s epic poem to the big screen in Imax. Today’s most powerful director talks big swings, trauma-bonding and the healing powers of chocolate labrador Charlie

‘I’m in that moment of sheer terror,” says Christopher Nolan, sitting in a suite at the Corinthia hotel in London, in a slightly rumpled suit, next to a pot of tea. Outside, crowds jostle, hoping to catch a glimpse of one of the stars within – Matt Damon, Tom Holland, Lupita Nyong’o. It is the day before the world premiere of Nolan’s latest film, an adaptation of Homer’s epic poem the Odyssey, and the last day of waiting before audiences decide whether the biggest gamble of Nolan’s career has paid off. The film, which reportedly cost $250m (£185m), doesn’t just need an audience to show up. It needs the entire moviegoing world to do so.

“It never gets any easier, because I make films for audiences and the audience tells me what it likes,” he says. “They finish the film. I don’t have anything to hide behind. I can’t just be like: ‘Oh, people don’t get it.’ Those aren’t the films I make. What does the audience make of it? Do they turn up? Do they like it if they do turn up?

Published: July 17, 2026, 12:00 am

Knuckle hop and two-foot high kick: the Olympics for Alaska Natives breathe new life into ancient games

The annual World Eskimo Indian Olympics draw hundreds of Indigenous athletes to partake in traditional games and celebrate their heritage

As Nicole Johnson prepared to compete in the Alaska sports arena, she visualized propelling into the air and kicking the ball with both of her feet simultaneously. The Iñupiaq athlete was partaking in the Arctic game of two-foot high kick, long practiced by her community of northern Alaska Natives. When she kicked the ball made of seal skin that dangled from a kickstand, the crowd erupted in cheers. That day in July 1989 at the World Eskimo Indian Olympics (WEIO), Johnson set the women’s world record in the sport by striking the target at 6ft 6in.

For this year’s event, at age 57, she will compete in the dene stick pull, where she and another participant will hold on to the center of a stick covered in grease and attempt to wrest the object from their opponent.

Published: July 17, 2026, 4:00 am

Smoke, travel and Trump threaten New York’s grand World Cup finale

Wildfires, transport issues and the appearance of the president could overshadow the final for a city that has embraced the tournament

The thick smoke that has engulfed New York and much of the eastern seaboard over the last few days has drawn wry smiles in Dallas and Los Angeles, where locals will watch on with a sense of schadenfreude when the World Cup final takes place in the New York New Jersey Stadium (usually known as the MetLife Stadium in New Jersey) on Sunday.

The Dallas and Los Angeles stadiums, which were passed over when Fifa awarded the final in February 2024, are more impressive venues without the same climatic risks as New York, which was chosen because of its global appeal and favourable timezone for European television audiences.

Published: July 17, 2026, 1:21 pm

Fox’s US World Cup summer: wild mispronunciations, Corden’s sad beers and Lowe’s excellence

The broadcaster’s tournament coverage was a mix of flat and fizz. It could also have been a long farewell with World Cup rights up for grabs

Goodbye, then, to Fox, to its band of upbeat Brits and grown men dressed in suits and sneakers. Goodbye to constant cutaways to Gianni Infantino in the stands, his eyebrows a mournful tipi, his nude head sprinkling under the summer sun. Goodbye to Landon Donovan and his special gift for announcing every celebrity sighting (“And there’s Javier Bardem and Penélope Cruz”) as if delivering the results of a colonoscopy. Goodbye to Rebecca Lowe saying “OK, OK” whenever she’s needed one of her on-set personalities to zip it so she can throw to a break. Goodbye to the momentum graph, which only flashed on screen when a match’s momentum needed no explanation; goodbye to “no golden goal” on the scorebug during extra time, referencing a rule that has not been in force at a World Cup for 24 years; goodbye to the connected ball, which never seemed connected when we needed connection most.

Goodbye to Geoff Shreeves, Fox’s middle-aged Oliver Twist chirruping on the sideline for the approval of his American masters. Goodbye to Tom Rinaldi, to his pocket squares and his “lyrical” meditations on balls and planets and stars or whatever. Goodbye to Chef Nick, now forced to rein in the extravagance of his early contributions (kangaroo corndogs, fufu chicken tikka masala) in the face of the tournament’s gastronomically subdued final four. And goodbye to Jameis Winston, the Fox fan correspondent, whose distressingly antic and sweaty stadium dispatches gave him the unvarying appearance of a man being electrocuted in the middle of a baptism.

Published: July 16, 2026, 10:00 pm

VAR ‘fixes’, AI slop and perpetual outrage: the World Cup in the age of conspiracy | Karim Zidan

With cries of malfeasance and injustice over referee decisions, Fifa actions and even Argentina’s run, the tournament is a mirror of a theory-pilled society

“Life is unfair.”

This was the first thing that Hossam Hassan, Egypt’s fiery coach, told the media after his country’s devastating 3-2 loss to Argentina in the last 16. The legendary striker turned manager had been minutes away from orchestrating one of the greatest upsets in World Cup history. The Pharaohs were up 2-0 against the defending world champions. Then, late in the second half, Argentina staged an extraordinary comeback, scoring three goals in 13 minutes, bringing Egypt’s storybook run to a sudden end.

Published: July 17, 2026, 9:15 am

‘Leo has surpassed Diego’: after two decades Argentina embraces Messi

The little maestro has hitherto lived in the shadow of Maradona who has for so long coloured the soul and defined the passion of football in Argentina

It is time to consign Diego Maradona’s Hand of God to a museum piece. For 40 years that moment and Maradona’s unforgettable “goal of the century” coloured the soul and passion of Argentinian football. Today things are very different, and the main reason is Lionel Messi. By asserting himself over the memory of Maradona, Messi is establishing a new Argentina.

An impressive 2–1 semi-final victory over England showcased a revitalised Argentina who go into Sunday’s final against Spain relying on a simple, powerful weapon: excellent football.

Published: July 17, 2026, 1:31 pm

Goooool v goal: English speakers flock to Telemundo for lively World Cup coverage

The Spanish-language broadcaster has won over millions of US viewers with its energetic commentary during games

Soccer fans looking to watch the 2026 World Cup on US television have been presented with two very different options this tournament.

The first is Fox Sports, a cousin of Fox News owned by the same parent company and the sole network airing matches in English in the US. Audiences tuning in to Fox, which acquired the exclusive English broadcast rights in 2015, are met with coverage that reflects the network’s “America first” aesthetic, with promos for pro-Donald Trump talkshows, advertising breaks during games and the frequent, grating presence of host Alexi Lalas.

Published: July 17, 2026, 9:30 am

The Open 2026: DeChambeau handed two-shot penalty, Herbert leads after day two – live

️Herbert misses putt for 61 but still tops leaderboard
️Official leaderboard | Mail David with your thoughts

An opening birdie for the 2011 champion Darren Clarke. He’s +2. Apropos of nothing, and just because I happen to have the stat to hand, so may as well share it, Clarke is joint holder of the record for most appearances by an Open champion before his first victory. That’s 19, after his 2011 win, and he shares the number with Phil Mickelson (2013). Nick Price (1994) is next on the list.

Birdie for Jackson Suber at 2, and the leader stretches his advantage at the top! He tugged his drive into the rough down the left, but got a decent lie, and was able to wedge over the flag from 90 yards to 12 feet. One fairly straight roll later, and he moves to -6. Meanwhile Laurie Canter nearly aces the 4th. His tee shot lands just past the bunker guarding the front left and serenely glides to kick-in distance, though it was never threatening to drop, always on a route below the hole. The 36-year-old Englishman is -2.

Published: July 17, 2026, 1:50 pm

Tom Pidcock surges up standings while Mauro Schmid wins Tour de France stage 13

• British rider moves into fourth in general classification

• Schmid claims first Tour win after mass breakaway

Tom Pidcock leapt up the overall standings in the Tour de France, briefly climbing as high as second place, after a fulminating stage to Belfort ended in a first Tour win for Switzerland’s Mauro Schmid.

Pidcock was one of the key instigators of a mass breakaway that formed on the rolling roads of the Jura and Doubs, on the long approach to the 9km climb of the Ballon d’Alsace, overlooking Belfort.

Published: July 17, 2026, 10:18 am

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

Adam Silver says it’s unfair to make Caitlin Clark ‘political football’ in WNBA debates

• NBA commissioner: Issues aren’t largely about officiating

• Flagrant foul incident in June sparked criticism

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Conversations about WNBA officiating and Caitlin Clark have now expanded to include NBA commissioner Adam Silver.

Silver said Thursday that Clark has become a “political football” amid debates about officiating and physical play in the WNBA, spurred by a recent play involving the star guard and Phoenix Mercury forward Alyssa Thomas.

Published: July 17, 2026, 5:47 am

Dominik Szoboszlai signs Liverpool deal as Aston Villa go for João Gomes

• Contract to 2031 one of his ‘top three’ life moments

• Leeds close to signing centre-back Muharemovic

Dominik Szoboszlai has given Liverpool and their head coach, Andoni Iraola, a significant boost by signing a new contract to 2031. The midfielder, who was the team’s best performer during a difficult final season under Arne Slot, has two years on his deal and mentioned several times last season that there had been no real progress over an extension.

After months of negotiations between Liverpool’s sporting director, Richard Hughes, and Szoboszlai’s representatives, the 25-year-old has signed the deal.

Published: July 17, 2026, 8:02 am

The summer of the underdog: why outsiders are the most compelling sights in sport | Natalie Tan

Thanks to Arthur Fery, Maja Chwalinska and Cape Verde, we have been blessed with a glut of unexpected stories of late

“Where has he been?” Gary Neville said of Vozinha, the Cape Verde goalkeeper. “We should have met him before.” Should you have, really? Met him before? Surely that would have defeated the point. The appeal of the underdog, after all, is that a month ago you wouldn’t have been able to name them. They’re supposed to come out of absolutely nowhere and they have: what with Arthur Fery, Maja Chwalinska, and Cape Verde, we’ve been spoilt for choice these past two months.

Fery’s Wimbledon semi-final loss to Alexander Zverev brought a great underdog story to an end. The four teams left in the World Cup are also the four highest-ranked teams in the world. But the long shots will linger for a while. Ranked 114th, Fery is the lowest-rated player to make it into a grand slam semi-final since … well, since Chwalinska the Polish qualifier, also ranked 114th, made a similarly astonishing run at the French Open. Chwalinska took it a step further: she beat Diana Shnaider to secure a spot in the final, becoming only the second ever qualifier in the open era, man or woman, to do so.

Published: July 17, 2026, 12:00 am

Chastity, nodding and enormous pores: will women also love Nolan’s Odyssey?

Christopher Nolan’s epic adaptation has been met with almost universal acclaim – from mostly male film critics. Might women find the journey less comfortable?

Long ago, almost as long ago as Homer composed The Odyssey, I was a film critic on the Sunday Telegraph. People sometimes ask me how sexist the scene was then, back in the bronze age mid-noughties, when male critics outnumbered female by about eight to one. Well, there wasn’t any sexism. It was actually totally fine and everyone was really nice.

They were nice in Soho, anyway. Farther afield, less so. Particularly certain readers, when it came to certain films, made by certain directors. Quentin Tarantino, obviously. Ken Loach, weirdly. And Christopher Nolan. Question their genius and prepare for epic correction by a legion of self-appointed bouncers.

Published: July 17, 2026, 6:24 am

How has Donald Trump changed our view of reality? | Fiona Katauskas

Things are a lot less scripted now

• See more of Fiona Katauskas’s cartoons here

Published: July 17, 2026, 8:00 am

The White House’s guide to manhood: pop some T, restart a war and do WHAT with a corn dog? | Marina Hyde

Pete Hegseth wants to win the war on Iran with a secret weapon: testosterone. Meanwhile, JD Vance is worried about how to eat an ice-cream

Are the men of the Trump administration OK? Feels like it’s been a tricky week for some of them. On the one hand, you’ll note the US is already rebooting its Iran war. Clearly, many will feel this latest version of the conflict is coming too soon after the last one, with fans simply not given enough time to miss the IP. A lot like the live-action Moana currently falling off the screen in cinemas. On the other hand, defence secretary Pete Hegseth seems to have moved the defence department beyond even its latter-day renaming as the department of war, posting a video entitled “The High-T Department of War” in which he announced mandatory testosterone screening for US troops aged 30 and over. We’ll get to JD Vance being unintentionally aroused by footage of Joe Biden eating ice-cream in a minute. Or as soon as I can face it.

Even the lower-ranking White House operatives seem to be spinning out. You may remember the UK’s political betting scandal, where various police officers, campaign officials and aides to former prime minister Rishi Sunak were arrested or investigated for putting bets on the last general election date. Everything’s bigger in the US, of course, so in some ways it’s not a surprise to learn that the guy who operates Trump’s teleprompter has allegedly made $100,000 on Kalshi by placing bets on words or topics appearing in Trump’s speeches. He is currently on unpaid administrative leave, according to press secretary Karoline Leavitt, who yesterday added solemnly, “there are very strict ethical guidelines here at the White House”. A statement so hilarious that I refuse to believe Leavitt herself didn’t say it for a bet. Probably with Hegseth. “Dude, I know I can get it in. I back myself. And if I do say it, you owe me $1,000 and an off-the-books testosterone shot.”

Marina Hyde’s new book, What a Time to be Alive!, is out in September (Guardian Faber Publishing, £20). To support the Guardian, order your signed copy at guardianbookshop.com. Delivery charges may apply

Marina Hyde is a Guardian columnist

Published: July 17, 2026, 4:56 am

Rudeness! Manners! Whatever happened to being polite?! | First Dog on the Moon

Back in the day you had to be rude in person – now you can do it anonymously from home

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Published: July 16, 2026, 11:30 pm

The Hunt for Gollum is being criticised for its all-white cast. Blaming Tolkien is the wrong answer

The Lord of the Rings author’s debt to Norse mythology is simply irrelevant when it comes to the appearance of hobbits and elves on screen today

Casting has come a long way since the early 1980s when it was somehow still acceptable to sign up Max von Sydow to play Ming the Merciless in Flash Gordon in 1980, or hire Peter Ustinov as the lead in Charlie Chan and the Curse of the Dragon Queen in 1981 (despite protests at the time). These days, film-makers will have to defend an all-white cast in a medieval fantasy flick, which appears to be what has happened this week to The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum’s Andy Serkis.

Asked by the BBC why every major casting for the new film has been a white actor, Serkis appeared to lay the blame on his literary source material. “Tolkien himself was influenced a lot by Norse mythology, there’s a lot of that feeling,” he said. “The Shire feels very, very much like a very, a very white, you know … They’re not very concerned about what goes on beyond the borders of the Shire, but they know they don’t want people coming in.

Published: July 17, 2026, 5:59 am

The ghosts of Downing Street past may have some advice for Andy Burnham | Jonathan Freedland

The incoming PM has made a strong start – but there are several traps he needs to avoid. Brown, Blair and even Thatcher can show the way

The first piece of unsolicited advice I would offer to Britain’s incoming prime minister is: don’t take unsolicited advice. Don’t be one of those leaders who’s swayed by the last person in their ear. That’s what they used to say about Boris Johnson, that he was a cushion that bore the imprint of the last person who sat on him. Instead, Andy Burnham should study closely the experience of Johnson and the rest of his recent predecessors – and, let’s face it, there’s plenty of them.

He might start by thinking about the period that will begin the moment he steps into Downing Street on Monday. How he handles this opening phase of his tenure is crucial: you never get a second chance to make a first impression, and all that. To many voters outside Greater Manchester, Burnham is still a relatively unknown quantity. The view they will form of him will be largely shaped by what he says and does in the next few weeks. For much of the electorate, it will be the overture that decides their verdict on the show.

Jonathan Freedland is a Guardian columnist

Published: July 17, 2026, 9:19 am

The Guardian view on Andy Burnham: political poetry must become governing prose | Editorial

Larkin, Harrison and Shakespeare shaped Labour’s leader. Now comes the harder task: turning language into lasting change

Andy Burnham is finally Labour leader. After trying – and failing – twice to be elected by party members, he took the top job on Friday without a contest. Sir Keir Starmer remains prime minister until Monday, when he will tender his resignation to King Charles, who will invite Mr Burnham to form a government. Then the future that Mr Burnham has long imagined will cease to be a promise and become a test.

Much will be written about the man. But why does Mr Burnham believe what he believes? One clue lies in the Guardian’s letters page in 1991. Fresh from graduating in English at Cambridge, the 21-year-old Mr Burnham defended an “uncouth and uncultured” Philip Larkin from critics who dismissed him as “too parochial”. Larkin – a bigoted curmudgeon – is difficult to admire, but his poems are not.

Published: July 17, 2026, 9:33 am

The Guardian view on The Lord of the Rings: not a weapon in the culture wars | Editorial

The lack of diversity in the latest film is a backwards step. Adaptations of Tolkien’s epic must reflect our times

There is trouble in Middle-earth – again. So far, all of the actors announced for the latest The Lord of the Rings film instalment, The Hunt for Gollum, to be released next year, are white. Kate Winslet, Jamie Dornan, Anya Taylor-Joy and Leo Woodall join a cast that has already been criticised for its lack of diversity. “Tolkien himself was influenced a lot by Norse mythology,” the film’s director, Andy Serkis, who plays Gollum, said. “The Shire feels very white.”

Ironically, Serkis invokes fidelity to Tolkien to defend the casting, yet his “modern film version” of Animal Farm, which came out this week, plays fast and loose with Orwell by replacing the novel’s crushing conclusion with a hopeful one.

Published: July 17, 2026, 9:31 am

Andy Burnham promises to end Labour infighting as he becomes party’s leader

Government has ‘last chance’ to get it right, says incoming PM, while anxiety surrounds his choice of chancellor

Andy Burnham pledged to lead a united Labour government free of infighting and factional politics as he took over as leader, despite anxiety on the left of party about the prospect of Shabana Mahmood as chancellor.

Burnham, who will become prime minister on Monday, set out a distinctly leftwing vision for Britain. He promised to undo the Thatcherism of the 1980s, bring in more public ownership of utilities, find the money to fix social care and build a new generation of council homes.

Published: July 17, 2026, 11:55 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

Apple dethrones Nvidia to regain title of world’s most valuable company

Shift in pecking order illustrates that investors are reassessing outlook for artificial intelligence

Apple overtook Nvidia on Friday to become the world’s most valuable company, reshuffling the top ranks of tech heavyweights as investors reassess the outlook for artificial intelligence.

Apple was last valued at $4.88tn as ⁠its shares held steady, while Nvidia ⁠was roughly at $4.86tn, ​after a 3.5% decline.

Published: July 17, 2026, 8:01 am

A new entente? Bayeux tapestry’s UK arrival ‘closes loop’ on Brexit tensions

Culture secretary Lisa Nandy is among first viewers as epic embroidery is unpacked at British Museum, a landmark in Anglo-French diplomacy

In the decade after Brexit, the relationship between Britain and France has been defined by rows over fishing rights, Channel crossings and trade. Boris Johnson even mocked Emmanuel Macron, telling his French counterpart to “donnez-moi un break”.

This week, that fractious chapter gave way to one of the most significant acts of cultural diplomacy between the two countries in decades. Almost 1,000 years after it was created, the Bayeux tapestry arrived at the British Museum, transported from France under cover of darkness, the culmination of years of painstaking negotiations between London and Paris.

Published: July 17, 2026, 8:15 am

Brenda Fricker, Oscar winner for My Left Foot, dies aged 81

The acclaimed Irish actor started her career in Coronation Street and Casualty before a string of high-profile Hollywood roles

Brenda Fricker, who became the first female Irish Oscar winner for acting with My Left Foot, has died aged 81. Her agent Phil Belfield told the BBC in a statement: “We will never see her like again and the world is lesser for the lack of her … I was honoured to know, love and work with her and she will always have a place in my heart and in the heart of so many film and TV fans the world over.”

In My Left Foot, Fricker plays the mother of Christy Brown, whose cerebral palsy means he only has muscular control over one of his feet. The film, directed by Jim Sheridan, was released to enormous acclaim in 1989, winning the best actor Oscar for Daniel Day-Lewis as well as best supporting actress for Fricker.

Published: July 17, 2026, 7:48 am

Lindsey Graham’s death leaves South Carolina confronting complex legacy: ‘You loved him and you hated him’

The US state mourns its longest-serving senator while Republicans scramble to choose a successor

The South Carolina state house is a microcosm of the US’s contradictions. Outside there are memorials to the Confederate war dead and African American history. Below a statue of Strom Thurmond, a longtime US senator and racial segregationist, are the names of his five children including Essie Mae, whose mother, a Black maid, was 15 when Thurmond impregnated her.

Thurmond died at the age of 100 in 2003; his successor, Lindsey Graham, a lifelong bachelor who never had children, died last Saturday at 71. His sudden exit leaves a void not just in Washington but the state that molded Graham, elected him to the Senate four times and wrestled with his shape-shifting journey from Ronald Reagan Republican to Donald Trump sycophant.

Published: July 17, 2026, 4:00 am

Seven Americans quarantining at Kenya Ebola facility after US travel ban, says aid group

Aid workers are first known people to quarantine at facility, which sparked huge opposition in Kenya

Seven American aid workers who had been in Congo to fight the Ebola outbreak are quarantining at a new isolation facility in ⁠Kenya after the US government introduced travel ⁠restrictions, the head of a US charity ​employing them told Reuters.

The aid workers are the first known people to quarantine at the facility, which has sparked huge opposition in Kenya and is at the heart of a legal case in which a court has ordered the work to be ⁠suspended. Construction continued, however, according to US officials and satellite imagery reviewed by Reuters.

Published: July 17, 2026, 5:17 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

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

As the UK and Europe battle deadly wildfires, what lessons can Australia offer?

Knowledge learned over more than a century in Australia is being tested by worsening fires. It’s a familiar narrative around the world

The violent hot red flames of deadly wildfires across the UK and Europe and scenes of panicked communities fleeing homes could not, at least geographically, be further away for Jan Harris.

But sitting in her new home at Reedy Swamp in rural New South Wales in Australia, the 67-year-old has found herself in tears.

Published: July 16, 2026, 9:00 pm

‘We are waiting with bated breath’: experts alarmed as BoM says gathering El Niño could be strongest on record

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, 4:56 pm

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

‘Enemies of civilization’: top Trump officials launch sweeping attack on left

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, 2:09 pm

Philippines demands ‘racist’ Chinese state media video depicting Filipinos as monkeys be taken down

Philippine ​defence secretary denounces video referencing South China Sea dispute as a ‘disgrace’ to regional leadership

The Philippines strongly condemned state-run China Daily for releasing an AI-generated video that depicted Filipinos as monkeys, saying ⁠the “racist” imagery is “offensive, distressing and unacceptable” and drawing a firm line against dehumanising propaganda.

Manila demanded that the video posted on China Daily’s Facebook account on 10 ⁠July be ⁠taken down. The ​Chinese embassy in Manila did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Published: July 16, 2026, 9:50 pm

ICC staffer talks publicly about alleged sexual abuse by chief prosecutor Karim Khan

Female lawyer tells CNN’s Christiane Amanpour about alleged ‘escalation of attempts’ as second woman also speaks out

Two women who have accused the chief prosecutor of the international criminal court, Karim Khan, of sexual abuse have spoken out about their claims against the prominent British lawyer.

In an interview with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour on Thursday, an ICC staffer identified by her first name, Sarah, spoke publicly for the first time about her allegations, which have engulfed the court over the past two years.

Published: July 16, 2026, 3:39 pm

Taking salsa classes can improve mental health, Oxford study suggests

Researchers find dance reduced depressive symptoms and social anxiety in young people in eight-week trial

Salsa is one of the most popular dance forms, with hundreds of millions of followers worldwide. A mix of Caribbean, Spanish and African musical styles and rhythms, it is believed to offer many cognitive and physical benefits, such as improving cardiovascular health, muscle tone and posture.

Now a randomised controlled trial suggests it could also reduce depression and anxiety. Researchers at the University of Oxford and the Oxford Health NHS trust studied 121 young adults with mild to moderate depression and anxiety who were randomly assigned to a salsa dance programme or a control group.

Published: July 16, 2026, 10:00 pm

‘I’m sorry but I’m unable to speak’: hero of India’s Cockroach party weakens on 19th day of hunger strike

The climate activist and engineer Sonam Wangchuk, who has become the figurehead of anti-government protests in Delhi, is resisting calls to end his fast until the education minister resigns

As night falls on day 18 of his hunger strike, the lack of any sustenance except water shows. It is 7pm and Sonam Wangchuk looks weak. A physiotherapist sits beside him on the stage massaging his arms to soothe his aching joints. Propped up against pillows and bolsters, Wangchuk whispers: “I’m sorry, but I’m unable to speak.”

The activist and engineer has lost close to 9kg from a body that was spare and lean to begin with. Doctors say it is around this stage of a hunger strike that the body enters a state of severe starvation, breaking down fat and muscle, resulting in extreme weakness, impaired brain function and electrolyte imbalance.

Published: July 16, 2026, 8:00 pm

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 on 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 turned out to be an inspired decision in an evening that felt deeply connected, as if we were at a summer block party hosted by the neighborhood’s most charismatic character.

Published: July 17, 2026, 9:09 am

‘I’m not into leather at all!’: John Wood on privately photographing Glasgow’s gay underground, and the comparisons with Robert Mapplethorpe

He was a telecoms engineer by day – and documented the Scottish city’s leather scene by night. Now the 79-year-old has opened his erotic archives and received his first ever solo exhibition

What is the story behind John Wood’s photographs? Some might guess that his portraits, which capture male subjects in various states of undress, very often wearing black leather jackets, gloves and boots, were taken in New York in the era of BDSM photographer Robert Mapplethorpe and Studio 54. Or maybe they were created in a very different kind of darkroom – the type of spaces that inspired the homoerotic imagery of the artist Tom of Finland? If you were given a hundred tries, you’d probably never guess that these erotic, intimate, kinky portraits were taken in a converted attic in the West End of Glasgow, unbeknown to the world (and the neighbours) for decades.

The story of Wood himself is equally unusual. At 79, he is showcasing his first ever solo show at Celine gallery in Glasgow. To say it has been a long time coming would be an understatement: Wood has been making photographs since his teens, when he began teaching himself by studying the images in magazines. The portraits in the show span a 20-year period, from ‘Cal’, a small Polaroid of a man standing nude next to a white doorway, taken in 1982, to ‘June 2002’, a gelatin silver print of an unnamed man clad in a leather waistcoat, while a black leather military-style cap and a cigarette obscure most of his face.

Published: July 17, 2026, 1:19 am

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

The Five-Star Weekend review – Jennifer Garner’s escapist holiday drama is the perfect beach watch

This adaptation of author Elin Hilderbrand’s novel looks absolutely beautiful. It’s a warm, pleasant show whose approach to putting this group of female characters front and centre is highly refreshing

The Five-Star Weekend is the perfect beach watch, adapted by Bekah Brunstetter from the perfect beach read of the same name by bestselling beach‑read author Elin Hilderbrand. It blends schmaltz, melodrama, jokes and genuine feeling in perfect proportions throughout its eight episodes. It is escapist entertainment that contains, in its tale of five female friends unwinding and spilling secrets over a faultlessly curated long weekend in Nantucket, absolutely nothing to distress us. Come on in, it says warmly with every gorgeous shot of island coastline, the water’s lovely.

The weekend is organised by a tradwife-inflected culinary influencer, Hollis (Jennifer Garner), who has recently lost her husband, Matthew (Josh Hamilton), in a car crash. This all happens off screen; after the police arrive at the house to break the news, we cut swiftly to six months later. It’s the equivalent of a children’s book killing off the parents without a backward glance so the fun can begin.

Published: July 16, 2026, 3:00 pm

‘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

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

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

Loathe: A Stranger to You review

(SharpTone)
Granite-hard riffola collides with balm-like electronics and tinkling jazz piano in a thrilling fourth album of musical metamorphosis

Loathe took six years to make this fourth album, explaining they wanted to make it very special. Accordingly, A Stranger to You ventures far from the Liverpudlians’ metalcore origins to create an odyssey of mixed and colliding genres. Punishing riffola and slabs of industrial noise coexist with balm-like electronics, acoustic guitars, shoegaze, tinkling jazz pianos and guest rapper Bucki Sugar’s spoken-word narratives (“ever forward, forever motion”). Other guests include vocalist Olli Appleyard from Leeds rockers Static Dress, production duo Nowhere2run and – most unlikely of all – slinky jazz-soul producer Jordan Rakei.

Precedents for this sort of radical metal departure include Deafheaven’s Ordinary Corrupt Human Love and Linkin Park’s divisive but compelling A Thousand Suns, but, if anything, Loathe make even more musical handbrake turns. Block of Flats hurtles between gentle atmospherics and guttural vocals. The soaring Fortress Down and Meet My Maker suggest a slightly heavier Muse. Harder to Pretend recalls – of all things – Herbie Hancock’s groundbreaking early 70s jazz fusion, while The Way It Breaks haunts as effectively as Disintegration-era Cure.

Published: July 17, 2026, 12:30 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

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

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

The Red Mouth by Sheila Armstrong review – profound exploration of Ireland’s deep time

Sinister bogland discoveries haunt the intersecting lives of four characters in this meditative, exquisitely written tale

Almost 14% of Ireland is bog: vast swathes of moss-carpeted land, below which layers of ancient history have been compounded into mulch-black turf. Captivated by their otherworldly beauty, Seamus Heaney wrote some of his finest poetry about bogs – and the bodies discovered, perfectly preserved, in their eerie depths.

Sheila Armstrong’s exquisite second novel, The Red Mouth, also centres around two bog discoveries: the “monstrous, bog-black antler” of a great Irish elk, and the mutilated body of a girl who comes to be known as Belroe Woman. From here we follow the intersecting lives of those haunted, both literally and figuratively, by these excavations and the uncanny landscape that yielded them.

Published: July 16, 2026, 11:00 pm

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

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

‘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

‘I used to do acid on a Wednesday. I don’t have time for that now’: alt-pop star Steve Lacy on his struggles after huge hit Bad Habit

A Grammy nom at 17, a US No 1 ... then silence. With new album Oh Yeah? finally out after four years away, the genre-hopping artist explains the trauma and heartbreak that informed it

Since Steve Lacy became a Grammy-winning artist with a No 1 hit in the US, little has changed for him. His single Bad Habit was one of the biggest songs of 2022, leading to a sold-out tour across North America, Europe and Australia. But off-stage? He bought a new home in Los Angeles, but he hasn’t made any new famous friends. He doesn’t get hounded in public, because he’s a natural homebody. Besides, he’s not really that famous, is he?

“I think my name is bigger than my face, which is great,” he says, smiling mischievously. Sitting in a private room in a London hotel, wearing a Serge Gainsbourg T-shirt and jeans so ripped that they might as well be shorts, Lacy says he thinks he has pulled off the greatest trick of modern pop stardom: being one of the most celebrated musicians of his generation while remaining almost unrecognisable.

Published: July 16, 2026, 9:00 pm

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

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

‘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

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

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

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

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

I’ve spent years testing air purifiers – these three are the best in the US 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

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

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

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, advice columnist Eleanor Gordon-Smith writes. With time, her world will expand

• 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 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

More than a hairstyle: how locs at the World Cup have changed perceptions of Black hair on the global stage

Using tinted tips and undercuts, footballers are rewriting what ‘professional’ looks like in elite sport in the process

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At the World Cup this summer locs, or what are commonly known as “dreadlocks”, have become as ubiquitous as free kicks. Defenders pin theirs back for clear sight-lines; forwards loosen and shape theirs for the cameras.

Antoine Semenyo of Ghana paired his with a sharp undercut. Spain’s Nico Williams bleaches his tips. Belgium winger Jeremy Doku has a mix of blond tinted tips, cornrowed. England’s Eberechi Eze has a variant styled into cornrows, while his former Crystal Palace teammate (and soon to be similarly gutted opponent in Saturday’s third-place “bronze” play-off) France’s Michael Olise opts for a slickly styled taper fade, a technique that emphasises the volume of the locs on top. Manu Koné, also of Les Bleus, has sported braided locs, while Switzerland’s attacking midfielder Johan Manzambi has gone for jumbo locs in combination with rope-like, protective Senegalese twists.

Published: July 16, 2026, 11:00 pm

Experience: I’m a world champion foosball player

The 2018 final against Germany went to penalties – we thrashed them and won gold

I was 12 years old when I first played foosball – table football – in the summer of 1975 in Beirut. My home city was under siege, split by civil war. School was cancelled and roads were closed. We couldn’t get to the beach and the only place to go was the amusement arcade. Luckily for me, it was across the road.

Alongside billiard tables and games machines were a couple of foosball tables. I watched older kids play for hours, mesmerised by a game where you could outsmart an opponent two feet away, then celebrate in their face. You needed 20 pence, or qurush in Lebanese money, to play: 10 pence for the table and 10 pence for the winner. Money was scarce, so I made a deal with the guy who owned the place – if I cleaned the tables, I could play for free. With machine guns rattling on the nearby green line, which divided the east and west of the city, I’d stuff a towel inside the goal and practise until I was confident enough to play. I got really good. By the following summer, I was winning 10 games in a row.

Published: July 16, 2026, 9:00 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

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

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

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

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

Downing Street changeover and Bolivian skaters: photos of the day – Friday

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

Published: July 17, 2026, 5:38 am