Updates from the third day of the WTC final at Lord’s
Hello for the final time from Lord’s for this World Test Championship final. Yes, it’s only Day 3, but surely, surely, this Test finishes today.
The sun is shining bright and the forecast is the best for the week. Australia have only Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, and Josh Hazlewood to bat, in a match where wickets have fallen readily. They lead by 218 right now. So unless there is an extraordinary partnership, South Africa will either chase the runs today or be bowled out trying.
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© Photograph: Ben Whitley/PA
© Photograph: Ben Whitley/PA
The late Beach Boys musician created a sound that became synonymous with the state’s breezy, laidback vibe
In July 1963, Jan and Dean’s Surf City spent two weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100, making it the first surf rock song to top the charts. Co-written by Brian Wilson, the tune describes a halcyon place where there’s always a party brewing and the romantic odds are in the narrator’s favor – two girls for every boy!
In this rock’n’roll era just before the Beatles shook up the US, surf culture had gone mainstream via films (the Annette Funicello-Frankie Avalon vehicle Beach Party) and music (the ferocious guitarist Dick Dale, quirky hits like the Surfaris’ Wipe Out). Wilson’s own Beach Boys were arguably the driving force behind this movement, having debuted in late 1961 with Surfin’, a single that doubled as an early mission statement: “Surfin’ is the only life, the only way for me.” The fresh-faced band members struck wholesome poses in magazine ads, wearing matching plaid shirts while standing in a line clutching a surfboard, as they sang pristine, intricate harmonies that radiated warmth.
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© Photograph: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
© Photograph: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial news
Budget airline Wizz, whose shares are down almost 5% today, says it has suspended flights to Tel Aviv and re-routed flights affected by closed airspace in the region for the next 72 hours.
The jump in the oil price today, following Israel’s attack on Iran, is a “bad shock for the global economy at a bad time”.
For the average consumer, they will be looking at more income uncertainty. They will be looking at higher petrol prices, and in the UK, they’re probably looking now at higher risk of taxation in October.
So whatever way you look at it, it’s negative short term, it’s negative longer term.
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© Photograph: Ahn Young-joon/AP
© Photograph: Ahn Young-joon/AP
(Lío Press)
Zurich-based musicians Benedikt Merz and David Hänni meld krautrock, punk and big beat into tripped-out, swampy grooves that reach dizzying heights
After almost three decades of friendship, Zurich-based musicians Benedikt Merz and David Hänni moved into a studio together in 2019. They found common ground over their shared love of psychedelic music and spent long, woozy nights jamming together. But while one wanted to focus on live electronics, the other secretly wanted to start a band. The outcome was Dâdalus & Bikarus, a project which sits somewhere between these two worlds, welding elements of krautrock, punk and big beat into tripped-out dancefloor rhythms.
Their second album, Off the Shelf, captures the obsessive energy of those early nocturnal experiments, which they’ve since built a reputation for in their live shows. Anchored by drawn-out loops, each track slowly builds tension to dizzying, near-erotic heights. On Erebros, this takes place across a hefty 11 minutes: led by propulsive drums and a scuttling bass riff, the track pushes and pulls, eventually developing into an angular acid-punk workout. In Kill Your Feed, another standout, a simple drum sequence gradually kicks into a shuffling Madchester-esque groove, with plenty of feedback along the way. For all their repetition, the instrumentals are moreish and never dull, thanks also to the ominous sirens and metallic clangs scattered throughout. Merz’s vocals are similarly enticing, channelling Peter Murphy’s moody drawl at points, and gruff EBM-style yelps at others.
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© Photograph: Publicity image
© Photograph: Publicity image
Today’s rumours are eyeing the weekend
Alejandro Garnacho will be allowed to leave Manchester United this summer if the price is right. One surprising potential suitor is Aston Villa, who could make a move for the winger. They took Marcus Rashford on loan from Old Trafford last season, revitalising his career somewhat in the progress, so Garnacho may feel it is a move in the right direction away from the current dead end.
It will be a busy summer at United as Ruben Amorim attempts to assemble a squad that has the vague chance of fitting into his 3-4-3 constraints. One key area where improvement is required is centre-forward. A potential plan to source an actual goalscorer could see United offer up Joshua Zirkzee to Napoli as part of a deal for Victor Osimhen. There could, however, be some very serious competition for the Nigerian as Liverpool may also fancy a nibble.
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© Photograph: Rob Newell/CameraSport/Getty Images
© Photograph: Rob Newell/CameraSport/Getty Images
Federico García Lorca’s poems were printed anonymously in 1983 after being hidden away by family for 50 years
In the autumn of 1983, dozens of carefully chosen readers received an envelope containing a slim, red booklet of sonnets that had been locked away since they were written almost 50 years earlier by the most famous Spanish poet of the 20th century.
While those behind the initiative gave no clue as to their identities, their purpose was made abundantly clear in the dedication on the booklet’s final page: “This first edition of the Sonnets of Dark Love is being published to remember the passion of the man who wrote them.”
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© Photograph: Alvarellos.
© Photograph: Alvarellos.
Narendra Modi visits Ahmedabad crash site where at least 265 people died, with one passenger on Boeing jet surviving
Rescue teams with sniffer dogs were combing the crash site of a London-bound passenger jet that ploughed into a residential area of Ahmedabad in India, killing at least 265 people onboard and on the ground.
One man on the Air India Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner – carrying 242 passengers and crew – survived Thursday’s crash, which left the tailpiece of the aircraft jutting out of the second floor of a hostel for medical staff from a nearby hospital.
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© Photograph: Sam Panthaky/AFP/Getty Images
© Photograph: Sam Panthaky/AFP/Getty Images
If it goes ahead we will see the construction of a surveillance state that is in some ways worse than the US
Canada got duped. We avoided electing an outright Trump sympathiser, but we still elected a prime minister who will align our policies with the United States. Despite all the anti-Trump rhetoric and celebration of the idea that Canada was independent and had no desire to be like the US, we are now passing Maga-inspired legislation.
The newly elected Mark Carney government tabled a border bill that will give law enforcement sweeping powers in obtaining citizen’s data, and will align Canada with the US’s refugee policies. Bill C-2, or the Strong Borders Act, is presented as a border security bill. However, its reach extends beyond border applications to nearly all legislation.
Erica Ifill is an economist and award-winning political columnist
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© Photograph: Canadian Press/Shutterstock
© Photograph: Canadian Press/Shutterstock
The world No 1 colourfully described his Norway experience and his desk fist-bang against Gukesh Dommaraju
“Winning by half a point after a lot of results go my way doesn’t feel like a statement,” was how Magnus Carlsen summed up the Stavanger tournament, where he finished just half a point ahead of Fabiano Caruana. The centrepiece of the event was his second game with India’s world champion, Gukesh Dommaraju, in which Carlsen banged the table in frustrated rage when his winning position slipped away.
Carlsen said that “the Armageddon games were atrocious” but pointed out that he had scored plus two in classical and claimed that he had played the best chess. He did, with the glaring exception of round six and the table fist-pump.
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© Photograph: Gonzalo Fuentes/Reuters
© Photograph: Gonzalo Fuentes/Reuters
Already controversial because of extra fixtures and Fifa involvement, the new tournament in the US is likely to be played in temperatures above 30C
Across this weekend, the US National Weather Service is predicting “moderate” heat risk for Miami and Los Angeles. With temperatures likely to exceed 30C, the agency warns “most individuals sensitive to heat” will be affected, a group that contains those “exercising or doing strenuous activity outdoors during the heat of the day”. This weekend is also when the Club World Cup begins.
When Lionel Messi and Inter Miami kick off the tournament on Saturday night against Al Ahly of Egypt it will be 8pm in Miami and, although the humidity is predicted to be high, the day’s peak temperatures will have passed. Paris Saint-Germain and Atlético Madrid, however, will play under the full height of the California sun on Sunday, with their Group B fixture a midday kick-off at the famously uncovered Rose Bowl in Pasadena.
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© Photograph: Mario Tama/Getty Images
© Photograph: Mario Tama/Getty Images
Manager is flexible but a slow starter with limited experience in Europe, and arrives as the love still lingers for former manager
Brøndby appointed Thomas Frank as manager in June 2013 and did not win any of their first eight games of the 2013-14 season. Brentford appointed Frank as manager in October 2018 and lost eight of their following 10 games. So nobody should panic if Frank begins slowly at Tottenham.
In reality, though, the first couple of months will be a major challenge for the Dane. These are not easy circumstances for anybody to take the Spurs job. Usually a manager takes over after a run of poor form, with fans and players ready for a change and a regression to the mean in the offing. Spurs have been on a run of poor form: one win in 12 league games over the final three months of the season, but in that time they also won the Europa League, which means everything is seen in a different light.
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© Photograph: Bradley Collyer/PA
© Photograph: Bradley Collyer/PA
Triple murder accused finishes giving evidence in seventh week of mushroom lunch trial
It was 12.40pm on Thursday, and Erin Patterson was striding from the witness box to the dock.
“Just wait there, Ms Patterson,” Justice Christopher Beale said.
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© Composite: Guardian Design/AAP
© Composite: Guardian Design/AAP
Christopher Luxon’s visit to Beijing comes as former NZ PMs warn the country must not become part of defence arrangements ‘explicitly aimed at China’
New Zealand’s prime minister will meet Xi Jinping on a formal visit to China next week, his office has confirmed, a week after an open letter signed by some of his predecessors warned against positioning New Zealand as an “adversary” of its biggest trading partner.
Christopher Luxon is scheduled to travel to Shanghai and Beijing, before going to Europe. His office said he will meet Xi and China’s premier, Li Qiang, for a visit focused on trade, but which would also discuss “the comprehensive bilateral relationship and key regional and global issues”.
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© Photograph: Hagen Hopkins/Getty Images
© Photograph: Hagen Hopkins/Getty Images
An immensely readable dive into the ‘predictive processing’ hypothesis, our best guess as to how the mind really works
The process of perception feels quite passive. We open our eyes and light floods in; the world is just there, waiting to be seen. But in reality there is an active element that we don’t notice. Our brains are always “filling in” our perceptual experience, supplementing incoming information with existing knowledge. For example, each of us has a spot at the back of our eye where there are no light receptors. We don’t see the resulting hole in our field of vision because our brains ignore it. The phenomenon we call “seeing” is the result of a continuously updated model in your mind, made up partly of incoming sensory information, but partly of pre-existing expectations. This is what is meant by the counterintuitive slogan of contemporary cognitive science: “perception is a controlled hallucination”.
A century ago, someone with an interest in psychology might have turned to the work of Freud for an overarching vision of how the mind works. To the extent there is a psychological theory even remotely as significant today, it is the “predictive processing” hypothesis. The brain is a prediction machine and our perceptual experiences consist of our prior experiences as well as new data. Daniel Yon’s A Trick of the Mind is just the latest popularisation of these ideas, but he makes an excellent guide, both as a scientist working at the leading edge of this field and as a writer of great clarity. Your brain is a “skull bound scientist”, he proposes, forming hypotheses about the world and collecting data to test them.
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© Photograph: Jose Luis Stephens/Alamy
© Photograph: Jose Luis Stephens/Alamy
From the Alpujarras to the Dolomites, our tipsters hike, camp and devour hearty mountain food in some of Europe’s most spectacular scenery
• Send us a tip on European wilderness – the best wins a £200 holiday voucher
After a gruelling journey from the UK, arriving at Alpe di Siusi during golden hour felt like stepping into a dream. Farmers turned hay in some of Europe’s highest alpine meadows, framed by jagged Dolomite peaks glowing in soft evening light. We can recommend staying at the Hotel Schmung, a family-run gem with delicious northern Italian food and direct access to scenic hikes. Rifugios provide great lunch stops along the trails. The peaceful setting, breathtaking views and freedom to explore on foot without needing a car make this a perfect base for the Dolomites.
Louise
© Photograph: Scott Wilson/Alamy
© Photograph: Scott Wilson/Alamy
Sale covering 56,000 square miles set to go ahead despite opposition from Indigenous and environmental groups
The Brazilian government is preparing to stage an oil exploration auction months before it hosts the Cop30 UN climate summit, despite opposition from environmental campaigners and Indigenous communities worried about the environmental and climate impacts of the plans.
Brazil’s oil sector regulator, ANP, will auction the exploration rights to 172 oil and gas blocks spanning 56,000 square miles (146,000 sq km), an area more than twice the size of Scotland, most of it offshore.
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© Photograph: Bloomberg/Getty Images
© Photograph: Bloomberg/Getty Images
Pioneering drug can halt advance of multiple myeloma for three times as long as standard treatments
Thousands of patients in England with blood cancer will become the first in the world to be offered a pioneering “Trojan horse” drug that sneaks inside cancer cells and wipes them out.
In guidance published on Friday, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) gave the green light to belantamab mafodotin, which can halt the advance of multiple myeloma for three times as long as standard treatments.
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© Photograph: Medical-R/Shutterstock
© Photograph: Medical-R/Shutterstock
The best of this week’s wildlife photographs from around the world
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© Composite: AFP/Getty Images
© Composite: AFP/Getty Images
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