International Kissing Day: this sign is the best kisser, according to an astrologer
209.1 km from Lauwin-Planque Boulogne-sur-Mer
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I should point out that we have a bumper afternoon of sport on Big Website today. Rob Smyth has over-by-over coverage of the fifth day of the second Test between England and India:
If tennis is more your thing, Daniel Harris is across everything at Wimbledon. Follow that here:
Continue reading...© Photograph: Anne-Christine Poujoulat/AFP/Getty Images
© Photograph: Anne-Christine Poujoulat/AFP/Getty Images
Sporting No 9 agrees terms as talks over fee continue
Zubimendi in from Real Sociedad despite Madrid interest
Arsenal are closing in on the signing of Viktor Gyökeres from Sporting after agreeing personal terms with the Sweden striker. Negotiations remain ongoing over a fee for the 27-year-old, with Arsenal hoping to strike a deal for less than the £68m asking price.
Gyökeres has made no secret of his desire for a new challenge having scored 54 goals for Sporting last season and is understood to have made clear he wants to join Arsenal despite interest from elsewhere in the Premier League, including Manchester United.
Continue reading...© Photograph: Filipe Amorim/EPA
© Photograph: Filipe Amorim/EPA
Not only is nuclear essential if we want to reach net zero – it’s the key to tackling poverty, too
Money can buy comfort, but energy makes comfort possible in the first place. Energy is the great enabler of the modern world. It connects the globe by moving people and hauling goods. It loosens the grip of the weather by warming our homes in winter and cooling them in summer. It forges the steel that raises our cities and synthesises the fertilisers that keep half the world’s population from starvation. It increasingly empowers us by electrifying the technologies we rely on daily.
It is also the great enabler of socioeconomic development. Monetary wealth and energy abundance move in lockstep: plot a graph of GDP per capita against energy consumption per capita, and you’ll draw a straight line. Low-energy, high-income nations do not exist. Prosperity and energy are inseparable; you cannot have one without the other.
Continue reading...© Illustration: Elia Barbieri/The Guardian
© Illustration: Elia Barbieri/The Guardian
The rules of the institutions that define our lives bend like reeds when it comes to Israel – so much that the whole global order is on the verge of collapse
Sereen Haddad is a bright young woman. At 20 years old, she just finished a four-year degree in psychology at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) in only three years, earning the highest honors along the way. Yet, despite her accomplishments, she still can’t graduate. Her diploma is being withheld by the university, “not because I didn’t complete the requirements”, she told me, “but because I stood up for Palestinian life.”
Continue reading...© Illustration: Nicolás Ortega/The Guardian
© Illustration: Nicolás Ortega/The Guardian
Chefs have gone head over heels for the brown stuff. Some drown their burgers in it; others serve it with brioche and black pudding; one even turns it into ice-cream. What’s going on?
Pub roasts, grannies, Sunday lunch, Ah! Bisto!: gravy triggers nostalgic food memories for Britons like little else. But unlike complex French sauces, for example, gravy is brown and plain, not gastronomic alchemy. Its homely bedfellows – potatoes and pies – have had fancy makeovers, but gravy’s potential hasn’t been much exploited on the modern menu. Until now.
The nostalgic wave sweeping Britain’s food scene is reviving this ancient staple, but with a twist: gravy is going gourmet. It is appearing as a dip for burgers in London at the upmarket chain Burger & Beyond and at Nanny Bill’s. It is served with brioche and black pudding at Tom Cenci’s modern British restaurant Nessa in Soho, and even does a turn at Shaun Rankin’s Michelin-starred Grantley Hall in Yorkshire, where it is styled as beef tea and served with bread, bone marrow butter and dripping.
Continue reading...© Photograph: Tonic Studio
© Photograph: Tonic Studio
A third of emergency responses are to clubs, largely to attend to people having bad experiences with drugs
The ambulance service on the Spanish island of Ibiza says it is at risk of collapse because of frequent callouts to attend to clubbers having bad experiences with recreational drugs.
The local ambulance union says up to a third of emergency calls are to clubs, the largest of which has a capacity of as many as 10,000 partygoers, and are largely drug-related. It is calling on club owners to contract private ambulance services.
Continue reading...© Photograph: Leelu/Getty Images
© Photograph: Leelu/Getty Images
With two days of talks left, some want a quick UK-style deal to avert 50% tariffs while others want to play hardball
The EU is entering a crunch week with only two days of talks left to secure a trade deal with Washinton to avert Donald Trump’s threatened 50% tariff on its imports into the US.
According to the US treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, on Friday, the negotiations – which continued over the weekend – are focussed on 15 to 18 agreements with important partners, while Trump warned of import tax rates of up to 70% on others.
Continue reading...© Photograph: Olivier Hoslet/EPA
© Photograph: Olivier Hoslet/EPA
Much better display is needed against the Netherlands from a team with a habit of bouncing back under Wiegman
The England fans in Zurich have a new favourite song, replacing the word “Tequila!” with “Sarina!” It is a fun twist on a 1950s number from The Champs, written by the American saxophonist Chuck Rio. If the band’s name is fitting, for a few more days at least, for England’s status as defending champions, by full-time at Stadion Letzigrund against France the artist’s name was more in keeping with the mood among supporters, because Sarina Wiegman’s side are in genuine danger of being chucked out of Euro 2025.
England will point to Alessia Russo’s goal at 0-0 being ruled out for an offside that did not seem conclusive even from zoomed-in VAR images, yet the simple truth is this: if England do not improve markedly when they face the Netherlands on Wednesday, they will probably be out before they face Wales in their final group match. Defeat would spell the end unless France lose to Wales later in the day.
Continue reading...© Photograph: Nick Potts/PA
© Photograph: Nick Potts/PA
Faye Carruthers is joined by Suzy Wrack, Freddie Cardy and Beth Fisher to discuss England and Wales’ opening Group D defeats
On the podcast today: England’s Euro 2025 campaign gets off to a rocky start after a 2-1 loss to France in Zürich. Sarina Wiegman’s side showed late promise, but goals from Katoto and Baltimore sealed the points for Les Bleues. The panel discusses England’s tactical issues, France’s pace out wide, and the potential for a bounce-back against the Netherlands.
Meanwhile, Wales finally made their major tournament debut but fell to a 3-0 defeat against a clinical Dutch side. Beth Fisher joins us from Switzerland to reflect on a proud but painful day for the Red Wall and Vivianne Miedema’s milestone 100th international goal.
Continue reading...© Photograph: Eurasia Sport Images/Getty Images
© Photograph: Eurasia Sport Images/Getty Images
The American could next move for Sheffield Wednesday or Watford while Palace wait to see if dealings fall favourably
A champion skateboarder in his youth, John Textor has never been averse to risk. The American businessman even warrants a mention in Craig Snyder’s book A Secret History of the Ollie as “one of the few who beat eight-time world champion Rodney Mullen in freestyle competitions during the turn of the 70s”, but a serious head injury put an end to his competitive career.
Textor surprisingly turned his attention to football club ownership in 2021 when he bought a stake in Crystal Palace after making his fortune in digital technology and the next week could prove decisive for his latest venture.
Continue reading...© Photograph: Eurasia Sport Images/Getty Images
© Photograph: Eurasia Sport Images/Getty Images
Shop-bought rarely compares to the punch of homemade baba ganoush, and it really isn’t very difficult to make at home. Here’s how …
Public service announcement: baba ganoush does not require smoked paprika, acidity regulators or indeed any kind of preservative beyond lemon juice. There are some dips I will happily buy – tzatziki, taramasalata, even hummus, with due caution – but tubs of this smoky Middle Eastern aubergine dish always seem to be slimy and underpowered in comparison with the real freshly made deal.
Prep 15 min
Drain 30 min
Cook 40 min
Serves 2-4
© Photograph: Robert Billington/The Guardian. Food styling: Loïc Parisot.
© Photograph: Robert Billington/The Guardian. Food styling: Loïc Parisot.
From the site of the failed assassination comes a sharp-eyed account of Trump’s political gains – and Democrats’ failings
The Democrats’ famed blue wall is more the stuff of nostalgia than reality. On election day 2024, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin voted for Donald Trump for the second time in three elections. Barack Obama’s upstairs-downstairs coalition lies in ruins, as Democrats struggle to connect with working-class voters across racial and ethnic lines.
Last November, Trump came within just three points of winning a majority of Latino voters. Such Americans walked away from their presumed political home – in droves. A Trump endorsement by Roberto Clemente Jr, son of the late Pittsburgh Pirates baseball star, was a harbinger. Likewise, Trump posted double-digit gains among Catholics and Jews, once core constituencies in the Democratic party of FDR.
Butler is published in the US by Hachette
Continue reading...© Photograph: Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
© Photograph: Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images