Ecuador also qualify for finals with 0-0 draw in Peru
Uruguay need one point after beating Venezuela
Brazil and Ecuador have secured spots at the 2026 World Cup, taking the second and third of South America’s six automatic qualifying berths after the champions, Argentina, booked their ticket in March.
Brazil beat Paraguay 1-0 while Ecuador drew 0-0 in Peru as both teams climbed to 25 points with two matches to play, beyond the reach of Venezuela in seventh place. Uruguay (24 points), Paraguay (24) and Colombia (22) occupy the remaining three automatic qualification positions before the final two fixtures in September. Venezuela (18) would earn a playoff spot against a team from another confederation by finishing seventh.
Richard Hunter, head of markets at interactive investor, says this week’s talks in London between the US and China “represent progress”, despite the lack of detail about what was agreed:
“Apparently constructive talks between the US and China have put markets on a firmer footing, as investors hope that the worst of the tariff turbulence may have passed.
Details of the framework which has been agreed in principle were patchy and in any event yet to be signed off by both Presidents. Chinese exports of rare earth minerals are likely to have been high on the agenda, although at this stage it has not become apparent what China may have negotiated in return.
“Markets will likely welcome the shift in tone from confrontation to coordination. But with no further meetings scheduled, we’re not out of the woods yet. The next step depends on Trump and Xi endorsing and enforcing the proposed framework.
“It’s important not to mistake this tactical de-escalation for a full reversal of strategic decoupling. The underlying competition around technology, supply chains, and national security remains very much intact. New issues can always emerge, and the real test will be how far this “new old deal” is implemented.”
Mayor Karen Bass issues curfew for one square mile area in downtown, beginning at 8pm local time on Tuesday until 6am local time on Wednesday
The Guardian has been reporting on the protests against ICE raids in Los Angeles, as Donald Trump ramps up his administration’s efforts to detain undocumented migrants.
My colleague Robert Mackey has fact-checked a speech President Trump made at military base Fort Bragg, which contained lies and conspiracy theories about LA.
Trump falsely claims protesters are bearing foreign flags as part of a ‘foreign invasion’
In his deeply partisan speech at Fort Bragg, Trump made the baseless claim that the protests against immigration raids in LA are being led by paid “rioters bearing foreign flags with the aim of continuing a foreign invasion”.
I love her and find her sexy but can’t climax when we have sex, and am getting increasingly worried about it. Is treatment available?
I think I have a problem sexually. I can ejaculate alone when I masturbate, but not with a partner. This is becoming a problem as my partner is complaining about my inability to ejaculate when I am with her. I am now over 30 and it is starting to get me worried. Is there any treatment or help I can get? I really love this woman and find her sexy, but I am not able to get to the point of ejaculation.
The transition from solo sex to satisfying partner sex is not always easy. Some people become so accustomed to particular types of touch, pressure or strokes during masturbation that they find switching to the different sensations with another person extremely challenging. In addition, some people require intense focus to achieve orgasm or ejaculation, and the anxiety or distraction of intimacy with a partner interrupts their usual process.
Pamela Stephenson Connolly is a US-based psychotherapist who specialises in treating sexual disorders.
If you would like advice from Pamela on sexual matters, send us a brief description of your concerns to private.lives@theguardian.com (please don’t send attachments). Each week, Pamela chooses one problem to answer, which will be published online. She regrets that she cannot enter into personal correspondence. Submissions are subject to our terms and conditions.
Team featuring Jeremy Guscott and Mike Catt won Bath’s most recent title before professional era changed the game
It doesn’t take long to realise that one of England’s greatest attacking minds is still as sharp as ever. Asked what is keeping him busy at the moment, Brian Ashton, now 78, shoots back: “Staying alive.” There are many ways to emphasise how long it has been since Bath won the title but a two-word riposte from the man who led them to the league and cup double in 1995-96 does it better than most.
It is well documented that the dawn of professionalism was not kind to Bath, how it both enabled their rivals to catch up and derailed the country’s dominant side in the following years. As the former full-back Jon Callard has put it: “Bath got lost in professionalism, sometimes players forgot the value of the shirt.” In the final throes of the amateur era, however, Bath were the trailblazers.
“Fenerbahçe have finished runners-up for the fourth season in a row and 26th time in the Turkish top flight (since 1959),” weeps Emre Öztürk. “Which teams have been runners-up most times? Is my team second in that list, too?”
Fear not, Emre: Fenerbahçe are among the also-rans in this particular competition. But they are Turkey’s greatest runners-up: they’ve assumed the position 30 times overall, 26 since the introduction of the Süper Lig in 1959. That puts them well clear of Galatasaray (19 overall, 11 since 1959) and Besiktas (19/14).
Erin Patterson has denied leading health officials on a “wild goose chase”, and that she foraged death cap mushrooms two hours before buying a food dehydrator, a Victorian court has heard.
From gay penguin parents to snake orgies, a biology professor looks at sexual adaptation in the animal world
In 1998, Roy and Silo, a pair of male chinstrap penguins at Central Park Zoo in New York, were given an abandoned egg to incubate after zookeepers observed them performing mating rituals together. For 34 days, they took turns sitting on it. When the egg hatched, the story became a viral sensation. The New York Times celebrated “A Love That Dare Not Squeak Its Name”. Roy, Silo and their daughter Tango became the subject of a LGBTQ-friendly children’s book, And Tango Makes Threeby Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell.
Biology professor Nathan Lents remembers receiving copies of Tangoas a gift when he and his husband became foster parents. Fast-forward to the present day, and Tango tops Pen America’s list of the most frequently banned picture books in the US. It was part of a high-profile lawsuit in Nassau County, Florida, and was designated for pulping by officials in Singapore. In 2025, it’s apparent that “conventional categories for gender identity and expression, and sexual attraction and romanticism, are just not cutting it any more”, Lents writes. Queer, non-binary, transgender, polyamorous – terms that were perhaps once obscure are here to stay. But at the same time, a powerful backlash is under way.
In her new book, Vanished, the history professor picks apart the political and philosophical dimensions of species loss
Would you bring an extinct species back to life if you could? If so, which species would you pick? Prof Sadiah Qureshi has taken to asking her friends, students and complete strangers this question because, she says, their answers reveal a lot about how we understand extinction.
Some choose a dinosaur, others pick a species like the dodo, killed off by humans. Almost no one chooses a plant or insect.
During a period of deep personal turmoil, Marjolein Martinot took her camera down to the riverside in southern France – and began to feel connected again
Tony Burke’s moreish, messy debut thriller about an iron-pumping cannibal who sparks a turf war between drug gangs excels in narky repartee
‘It’s basic detective work,” says veteran smalltown cop Stanton (Charles Dale), trying to justify pressurising a lead about her love life. “Very fucking basic,” says Patch (Andrea Hall), a London colleague who has come to the sticks because of a possible connection with a grisly serial killer. That’s the narky style of this ramshackle but moreish Welsh thriller, which takes place in the coke-sniffing milieu of endemic poverty and petty criminality, under ubiquitous sallow street lighting, in which everyone’s looking for an out.
Patch is right about the serial killer: drifter Sion (Craig Russell) has pitched up in town and blags a cleaning job at a local gym. A traumatised ex-squaddie with an inferiority complex, he takes offence at the group of hoodlums lording it over the machines. So he hammers in the skull of bouncer Dwayne (Kai Owen) and stores some choice morsels in a freezer; an extra protein source for his iron-pumping. But Sion is oblivious to Dwayne having recently cut in on a drug deal with rival Albanian gangsters – so his seemingly brutal murder threatens to kick off a turf war.
At least 225 Palestinian journalists have been killed in Gaza since 2023. One was the son of Wael al-Dahdouh, who also lost his wife, two other children and a grandchild. Here, he talks about regaining his sense of purpose amid the desolation
Purpose was never something Wael al-Dahdouh struggled with. Even when struck by personal tragedies, the Palestinian journalist would take his place in front of Al Jazeera’s cameras to report the news from Gaza.
He returned to work almost immediately after his wife, two of his children and his toddler grandson were killed by an Israeli airstrike in October 2023. He showed the same determination seven weeks later when he was himself injured, and his friend and colleague Samer Abu Daqqa killed, as they reported on the aftermath of an Israeli airstrike on a school.
I felt peace flood over me as I realised I no longer needed to seek validation from others. Rather than saying yes to everything, I became more open, present and patient
‘Are you afraid of dying, or are you afraid of not living?” Last year, I was sitting in a circle of strangers – half Buddhist monks, half morbidly curious members of the public – when someone asked one of the most profound questions I had ever heard. I was at a “death cafe”, at my local Buddhist centre in south London. A plate of biscuits was passed around while people nursed mugs of hot tea. At 29, I was one of the youngest attending the informal chat about death and dying, which was part of an initiative to encourage more open conversations about the ends of our lives.
During the session, people reflected on the lives of those they had lost. Stories were shared about the joyful moments they had had together. A woman asked me why I would want to come to something like this, at my age. I looked around before revealing more than I had ever told my own friends and family.
Accused held senior positions with Democratic Progressive party including one who worked for Lai Ching-te, Taiwan’s president
Taiwan prosecutors have charged four former staffers in the ruling Democratic Progressive party with spying for China while they worked in senior positions.
The four include a former aide to Lai Ching-te, when he was vice-president and for a time during his current presidency, and a senior staffer to Joseph Wu, then foreign minister and now national security chief.
Year 5 children’s punctuation pun scoops top prize in the Beano’s Britain’s Funniest Class competition
A joke about punctuation has been chosen as the funniest in a competition run by the Beano comic.
Year 5 pupils at Riverley primary school in Leyton, east London, won the accolade with their joke: What do you call the fanciest punctuation? An a-posh-trophe.
What the chancellor has considered when setting out investment to improve services and security through to the next election
Rachel Reeves will announce her highly awaited spending review on Wednesday amid pressure on the government to invest in national security and public services and to reboot the UK economy.
In what will be a defining policy announcement of the current parliament, the chancellor’s address to the Commons will outline Labour’s day-to-day spending plans for the next three years up to the next general election.
A spicy-sweet broth with oily fish and a seasonal variation on a classic Korean side
When we first came across today’s main course, described in Chang Sun-Young’s classic A Korean Mother’s Cooking Notes as “hard-boiled mackerel”, we were as sceptical as we were intrigued. While the idea went against every fish-cooking mantra we knew, a large, fatty fish actually stands up rather well to a fairly long boil, and the process firms it up nicely, so you can pick up chunks of fish while leaving the bones (essential to give body and flavour to the broth) in the bowl. Our all-time favourite version of this dish was at the now defunct Jeju Hang restaurant in Seoul, where they served it with plump, broth-imbued half-moons of Korean radish and a condiment of fermented cutlass fish innards, as well as perfectly steamed rice. The salad, meanwhile, is a seasonal take on one of Jeju Hang’s side dishes (the original used seaweed instead of asparagus), and its mild, nutty, herbaceous flavour is the perfect foil to the sweet, spicy fish.
Militia led by Yasser abu Shabab says Israeli troops stepped in to defend the militia gang backed by its forces
Hamas has killed 50 fighters in recent months from a Palestinian gang armed by Israel in Gaza, according to a statement released amid reports that Israeli troops directly intervened this week to protect the faction.
According to media reports in Israel, clashes between Hamas fighters and members of a militia led by Yasser abu Shabab, known locally for his involvement in criminal activity, erupted early on Tuesday in Rafah.
Year 9 students in South Australia are about to debate whether “the ‘tradwife’ movement is good for women” – but the topic has sparked fierce discussion before the debates have even started.
The topic will start being debated next week as part of the third round of Debating SA’s competition, for which all schools in the state are eligible.
Thomas Tuchel insisted England should not panic over their World Cup prospects despite being humbled 3-1 by Senegal one year and one day before the tournament starts.
Tuchel suffered the first defeat of his reign at the City Ground and England their first loss to African opposition in 22 matches as Senegal ran out deserving 3-1 winners. Jude Bellingham had a goal controversially disallowed at 2-1 but, after the laboured win against Andorra in World Cup qualifying on Saturday, there was no disguising the paucity of England’s latest performance under their German coach. England were booed off for the second game in succession.
It may be a strange time of year for an Australian, and a strange tournament structure, but the decider is vindicated further each time it is played
In Australia it is winter, and it is footy season. AFL, NRL, the works. The autumn was passing strange, with unnervingly high temperatures and the Gold Coast Suns in the top four. But now it is June, and feeling more as it should, with nights in the southern half of the continent dipping deep into single degrees. The Raiders must be breathing out steam on Canberra mornings, half remembering dreams of ending a premiership wait. And strangely positioned among all this, the Australia Test team is getting ready to play cricket.
Australian winter tours happen, but outside the occasional Asian or Caribbean jaunt this century, they’re confined to quadrennial visits to England. Two years ago, the first time Australia qualified for a World Test Championship final, that match came directly before an Ashes series. As well as turning the supposed culmination into an incongruous appetizer, it also made the WTC final melt into the Ashes summer.
It is a ‘queer Xanadu’, a sliver of sand where weekend-long revelling takes place in fabulous modernist beach-houses. As Fire Island gets its mojo back, we celebrate the Speedos-wearing architect who defined its look
Posters advertising a “bear weekend” cling to the utility poles on Fire Island, punctuating the wooden boardwalks that meander through a lush dune landscape of beach grass and pitch pine. It’s not a celebration of grizzlies, by the looks of the flyers, but of large bearded men in small swimming trunks, bobbing in the pools and sprawled on the sundecks of mid-century modernist homes. You might also find them frolicking in the bushes of this idyllic car-free island, a nature reserve of an unusual kind that stretches in a 30-mile sliver of sand off the coast of Long Island in New York.
Over the last century, Fire Island Pines, as the central square-mile section of this sandy spit is known, has evolved into something of a queer Xanadu. Now counting about 600 homes, it is a place of mythic weekend-long parties and carnal pleasure, a byword for bacchanalia and fleshy hedonism – but also simply a secluded haven where people can be themselves.
Romance, excitement and sustainability – continent-crossing sleeper trains should be a hit. It’s time for the EU to catch on
As Europeans woke up to the joy of travel post-lockdown, it looked as though we were in store for a resurgence of continent-crossing night trains. Sleeper train fans hailed a “night train renaissance” and a “rail revolution”, combining some of the nostalgia for an old way of travelling with modern climate and sustainable transport concerns.
The long-distance European train journey might be slower than a short-haul flight, but it is surely better in terms of the environment and the traveller experience. For those on a budget, the prospect of saving on a night in a hotel appeals too.
As a companion to the Guardian’s Missing in the Amazon, Jon Watts, global environment editor, goes in search of answers to the question Dom Phillips was investigating when he was murdered: how can we save the Amazon?
In episode two, Jon meets the people trying to make sure the rainforest is worth more standing than cut down – from a government minister attempting to establish Brazil’s ‘bioeconomy’ to a startup founder creating superfood supplements and a scientist organising night-time tours hunting for bioluminescent fungi. Jon explores new ways of finding value in the forest and asks whether they will be enough to secure its future survival
Copernicus data shows month was 1.4C above estimated 1850-1900 average used to define pre-industrial level
It has been an exceptionally dry spring in north-western Europe and the second warmest May ever globally, according to the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S).
Countries across Europe, including the UK, have been hit by drought conditions in recent months, with water shortages feared unless significant rain comes this summer, and crop failures beginning to be reported by farmers.
Who is Alaa Abd el-Fattah and why are British diplomats trying to obtain his release? Patrick Wintour reports
Laila Soueif, 69, has been on hunger strike in London for more than 250 days in an effort to secure the release of her son, the activist Alaa Abd el-Fattah, from jail in Egypt. As diplomatic pressure mounts, she is now in a critical condition.
Alaa’s sister Mona Seif describes to Michael Safi the toll that imprisonment has taken on her brother, her mother’s determination to do whatever she can to secure his release, and the difficulty of coming to terms with her mother’s decision to risk her life.
After two days of negotiations in London, officials say previous agreement struck in Geneva will be implemented, pending approval of Donald Trump and Xi Jinping
Officials from the US and China have agreed on a “framework” to move forward on trade after two days of talks in London stemming from their confrontation over tariffs.
The US commerce secretary, Howard Lutnick, expressed optimism on Tuesday that concerns about critical or “rare earth” minerals and magnets “will be resolved” as the deal is implemented.
Victorian woman, 50, has pleaded not guilty to three charges of murder and one of attempted murder after a fatal beef wellington lunch in Leongatha in 2023. Follow live
The political and cultural insulation of Japan’s beloved grain is falling apart, and experts warn the country’s relationship with the staple will have to adapt
It’s cheap, filling and a time-honoured way for office workers to calm their hunger pangs. Lunchtime diners at fast-food restaurants in central Tokyo are here for one thing: gyudon – thinly sliced beef and onions on rice. The topping is rich and moreish, but it’s the stickiness of the plump japonica grains beneath that make this one of Japan’s best-loved comfort foods.
Rice cultivation in Japan stretches back thousands of years. In the Edo period (1603-1868), a meal for most people meant a simple bowl of unpolished grain, while members of the samurai class measured their wealth in rice bales.
Latest prisoner exchange includes Mariupol defenders; European Commission unveils 18th round of sanctions. What we know on day 1,204
At least two people were killed and 54 injured in an overnight Russian drone attack on Kharkiv, Ukrainian officials said on Wednesday morning. “Seventeen strikes by enemy UAVs were carried out in two districts of the city this night,” said the Kharkiv mayor, Igor Terekhov. More than 15 apartments were on fire in a five-storey building and several houses were hit. Terekhov added “there may be people trapped under the rubble”.
Separately the death toll rose to at least three with 13 wounded after Russia attacked Kyiv and Odesa with waves of drones and missiles early on Tuesday. The civilian targets hit included a maternity ward and a cathedral. Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Ukraine’s president, voiced his frustration with Donald Trump by calling for “concrete actions” rather than “silence” after seven of the Ukrainian capital’s 10 districts were hit, writes Daniel Boffey from Kyiv.
Another exchange of prisoners of war took place on Tuesday, after a swap on Monday, pursuant to the only tangible deal struck at the most recent Ukraine-Russia talks in Turkey. Among them were soldiers captured in the battle for Mariupol over three years ago, said Ukrainian authorities. All of those freed had severe injuries and illnesses, including amputated limbs and vision problems. Russia’s defence ministry said it also received a group of soldiers.
Amina Ivanchenko was reunited on Monday with her husband, a PoW for 18 months, in the initial release. She said was grateful to Ukrainian officials for supporting her. “My struggle was much easier thanks to them. Our country will definitely return everyone. Glory to Ukraine! Thank you!”
The European Commission proposed on Tuesday an 18th package of sanctions against Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, aimed at Moscow’s energy revenues, its banks and its military industry. Among the measures, Jennifer Rankin writes from Brussels, the commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, has proposed that western countries reduce the price at which Russian oil can be sold to $45 (£30) a barrel, down from $60. Oil exports, she added, represented one-third of Russian government revenues. “We need to cut this source of revenues.”
The EU executive also wants to impose restrictions on doing business with the companies involved in the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 pipelines, to prevent them being revived; impose restrictions on doing business with 22 banks, cutting them off from the Swift financial messaging system; and add more ships to the banned “shadow fleet” list as well as sanctioning oil trading companies. The EU’s foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, said shadow fleet sanctions were having a marked impact. “When sanctioned, Russia’s shadow fleet tankers cannot dock in ports and Russia has to find new vessels. This costs some more and runs down their profits.”
The US president reiterated falsehoods and misleading statements to troops at the North Carolina military base
As Los Angeles braced for the arrival of new federal troops, Donald Trump on Tuesday reiterated a slew of falsehoods and misleading statements about the tensions in the US’s second-largest city.
In an address to troops at the Fort Bragg military base in North Carolina, Trump spread conspiracy theories, maligned California’s Democratic leaders and misleadingly portrayed protesters as part of a “foreign invasion”.
Claudia Sheinbaum responded on social media after Kristi Noem, Donald Trump’s homeland security secretary, accused her of “encouraging violent protests”.
Developed by a South Korean artist suffering burnout, this global competition challenges people to zone out for 90 whole minutes. When you have ADHD, it’s hard
I am someone who finds it extraordinarily difficult to sit still or be quiet. On one family road trip, my mother challenged me not to speak for 20 minutes, with a prize of $100 for my efforts. I lasted approximately 30 seconds. My ADHD diagnosis at 32 was the natural progression of my life.
The Space-out competition, held in Melbourne on Monday, was the ultimate test of whether I could fight my own nature and embrace nothingness. Created by South Korean artist Woopsyang as a response to her own experience of burnout, the competition has been running for more than a decade around the world with a simple proposition: a mini-city of competitors, all dressed as their jobs, sit in a public space doing absolutely nothing for 90 minutes.
Ex-Brazilian president admits in court that after Lula’s win, ‘we studied other alternatives within the constitution’
Brazil’s former president Jair Bolsonaro has denied masterminding a far-right coup plot at his trial in the supreme court, but he admitted to taking part in meetings to discuss “alternative ways” of staying in power after his defeat in the 2022 election.
In just over two hours of questioning, the 70-year-old said that after the electoral court confirmed Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s election victory, “we studied other alternatives within the constitution.”
Woman testifying in music mogul’s sex-trafficking trial as ‘Jane’ says she came to feel like a ‘cuckold’
Under cross-examination, Sean “Diddy” Combs’s ex-girlfriend testified Tuesday she took part in sex acts with male sex workers at the music mogul’s request because it made her feel loved by him, but now regrets what she came to recognize as the “cuckold” lifestyle.
The woman was testifying at Combs’s sex-trafficking trial under the pseudonym “Jane” to protect her identity. A day earlier, she revealed their three-year relationship had continued until the Bad Boy Records founder was arrested in September at a New York hotel, where she’d been planning to meet him.
Duckett hits 84 off 46 balls in 120-run opening stand
Harry Brook hit an unbeaten 35 off 22 balls, a quickfire cameo on a usual night, yet the slowest of England’s offerings in this record-breaking contest. His side piled up 248 for three, their highest total at home in this format, to set up a 37-run victory over West Indies in the third and final Twenty20 international.
Ben Duckett top-scored with 84 off 46 balls as he shared a rollicking opening stand of 120 with Jamie Smith, 135 brought up at the 10-over mark. The destruction calmed down a touch thereafter but West Indies were still invited to pull off their highest successful T20 chase. It never felt on even as Evin Lewis whipped away a first-ball six. Rovman Powell provided respectability with 79 not out off 45, but the reply demanded something gargantuan. The visitors depart without a victory across six white-ball matches.
Thomas Tuchel wanted smiles. He wanted a response after the lacklustre performance against Andorra in Barcelona on Saturday, albeit in a 1-0 World Cup qualifying win. What he got was another line to his brow, plenty to ponder as he begins what could be a long summer debrief. And more boos.
There was a bit of zip and personality from Tuchel’s team in the final 25 minutes of regulation time. He made attacking changes, with the Nottingham Forest midfielder, Morgan Gibbs-White – on his home ground – showing up. Eberechi Eze, who played from the start, was good. Morgan Rogers came on up front for Harry Kane, who had given England an early lead, and there was some pace and energy.
Ofcom looks into whether 4chan and file-sharing services failed to put measures to protect users from illegal content
Britain’s media regulator, Ofcom, on Tuesday launched nine investigations into the internet message board 4chan as well as several file-sharing services over possible breaches of online safety laws.
Britain’s Online Safety Act, passed in 2023, sets tougher standards for platforms to tackle criminal activity, with an emphasis on child protection and illegal content.
Australia needed to avoid heavy defeat to reach North America
Connor Metcalfe and Mitch Duke score in 2-1 win in Jeddah
It probably got a bit more tense than it should have for a while, but all the disclaimers can now finally be set aside. The Socceroos no longer have “one foot in the door”, nor have they “all but qualified”. After their 2-1 win over Saudi Arabia in Jeddah, it’s official: Australia will be at the 2026 World Cup in North America.
Half a world away from Australia, the final whistle was mostly greeted by silence from those in the stands but nothing could contain the jubilation of the Socceroos. A campaign that began with a winless opening window against Bahrain and Indonesia has now ended with wins over Japan and Saudi Arabia and automatic qualification. Mission accomplished.
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