The roof is open and the wind is blowing in, which adds a variable. It could get a bit swirly.
Via the BBC, plucky Brit news:
Teenager Hannah Klugman was unable to become the first Briton in almost 50 years to win a French Open juniors title after losing in the girls’ singles final.
The 16-year-old, competing in her first junior Grand Slam singles final, was beaten 6-2 6-0 by Austria’s Lilli Tagger.
Brobbey allegedly blackmailed by Amsterdam criminal
Incidents included arson, explosions and a shooting
The Ajax striker Brian Brobbey has been the target of violent extortion threats involving arson, explosions and a shooting, according to reports in the Netherlands.
Het Parool reports that the attacks on Brobbey came after he allegedly refused to pay €150,000 to an Amsterdam criminal who claimed to have “solved a problem” for him.
Government says ethical certification is adding financial strain on smallholders rather than being paid by customers
The Kenyan government has told its tea factories to stop working with the Rainforest Alliance because it says the costs involved in securing the ethical label don’t add up for farmers.
The non-profit organisation is one of the world’s most recognisable certification schemes with its green frog seal on food packaging a sign consumers “can feel confident that these products support a better world”.
Coverage of the three-year family ‘feud’ has been extraordinary, and nothing seems off the table in the media
If the biggest feud of the week belongs to Donald Trump and Elon Musk, then the longest running is arguably “Beckxit”.
The name given to the fallout between one of the most famous couples in the world – David and Victoria Beckham – and their less famous eldest son, Brooklyn and his wife, Nicola Anne Peltz, was coined by the Daily Mail this year. But it covers a broader conflict that began in 2022, when Peltz wore Valentino instead of Victoria Beckham to her wedding, and brings us to this week’s lavish cover-shoot for German Glamour magazine in which the junior Beckhams discuss their “occasionally messy, very real love” and whether they might open a restaurant – without a word about her in-laws.
Psychologist and writer’s appearance on Aporia condemned for helping to normalise ‘dangerous, discredited ideas’
The Harvard psychologist and bestselling author Steven Pinker appeared on the podcast of Aporia, an outlet whose owners advocate for a revival of race science and have spoken of seeking “legitimation by association” by platforming more mainstream figures.
The appearance underlines past incidents in which Pinker has encountered criticism for his association with advocates of so-called “human biodiversity”, which other academics have called a “rebranding” of racial genetic essentialism and scientific racism.
Noem has played a starring role in the second Trump administration with her goal to ‘Make America Safe Again’ – derided by critics as ‘cosplay’ with cruel consequences
Little more than a year ago, Kristi Noem’s political prospects appeared to be in freefall. The then South Dakota governor was criss-crossing the country on an ill-fated book tour, widely seen, at least initially, as an audition to be Donald Trump’s running mate. Instead, Noem found herself on the defensive – a position Trump never likes to be in – after revealing in her memoir that she had shot the family’s “untrainable” hunting dog, a 14-month old wirehair pointer named Cricket.
Even in Trumpworld, where controversy can be a form of currency, the disclosure shocked. In the weeks that followed, she faded from contention and the breathless veepstakes rumor mill moved on. By the time Trump selected JD Vance as his vice-presidential nominee, Noem’s path forward on the national stage was unclear.
The older I get, the harder it is to maintain ties – and a series of unhinged social media posts probably wouldn’t help
I have a hard time maintaining male friendships these days. The older I get, the less time I have for the sorts of activities stereotypical American males enjoy: sporting events, competitive binge drinking and collecting rare coins in a dark basement. OK, maybe that last thing isn’t nearly as common anymore, but what is common (if you believe varioustrend pieces in newspapers and magazines) is the increasing rarity of long-lasting male friendships. Most of my guy friends keep in touch with me through group chats or the occasional solo check-in text. I have, by my count, at least 10 group chats with different circles of friends. All of them are organized around a unifying theme – Star Trek, movie industry gossip, the Los Angeles Dodgers, hating that one guy who wore flip-flops to my wedding. My whole social life revolves around screens now. I watch a show or a baseball game and then immediately retreat into my other, smaller screen to discuss what I just witnessed with people I almost never see in real life. I will give myself credit for at least trying to be social in between working and taking my son to karate lessons, but it is, in fact, the bare minimum effort that I’m exerting. It’s almost like a welfare check, these text messages: “He responded, therefore he is not dead or in a Salvadorian supermax prison awaiting a trial that will never happen.”
Maybe this is a superior way of maintaining relationships, though. By only seeing my friends on very rare occasions, I can’t get sick of their personality quirks, their peculiar habits or their need to wear flip-flops to black-tie events. Seriously, no one wants to see your toes at a wedding, man. Cut it out.
Dave Schilling is a Los Angeles-based writer and humorist
Commentators on Black masculinity are popular pundits on Sean Combs’s case – but they’ve taken a clear side
When the trial of Sean “Diddy” Combs began last month, there was one man who stood apart from the journalists, legal eagles and YouTube gossips queuing up for seats inside the New York courtroom: Myron Gaines, co-host of the Fresh and Fit podcast and author of the 2023 book Why Women Deserve Less. In the past five years, he has become infamous for his incendiary takes on masculinity, dating and the perceived challenges that men face in contemporary society.
Combs was a natural person of interest for Gaines, as well as his peers who focus on Black masculinity and traffic in many of the same misogynistic tropes that have been present in hip-hop from its early days. For decades, the New Yorker was an alpha-male fantasy come to life: a self-made captain of industry and paragon of “Black excellence” who helps mainstream hip-hop music while juggling a roster of paramours that included Bad Boy artist Cassie Ventura.
Campaigners say designation promotes unsustainable sheep farming at expense of nature recovery and local communities
Conservationists have launched a campaign to revoke the Lake District’s Unesco world heritage status, arguing that it promotes unsustainable sheep farming at the expense of nature recovery and local communities.
In a letter to Unesco, the ecologist Lee Schofield argues that the designation “promotes a false perception of farming, is not economically sustainable, is working against crucial efforts to restore the natural environment and mitigate the impacts of climate change, does not help sustain farming livelihoods, is not wanted by local people and is contributing to damaging overtourism.”
Chemicals found in the braiding hair have been linked to increased cancer risk and organ damage
In recent years, personal care products marketed at Black women have received increased scrutiny for their toxicity, specifically chemical hair straighteners. These perms, also known as “relaxers”, have been condemned for causing severe health problems, including fertility issues, scalp irritations and increased risk of cancer.
In light of this, many Black women have turned to natural hairstyles, including braids, as a way to avoid toxic chemicals. But recent research has revealed that popular brands of synthetic braiding hair, human-made extensions that are used in these protective styles, contain dangerous carcinogens, heavy metals and other toxins. Tested brands included in a recent study from Consumer Reports (CR) were Magic Fingers, The Sassy Collection, Shake-N-Go, Darling, Debut, Hbegant and Sensationnel, all mass producers of synthetic braiding hair.
According to the CR study, all tested samples of braiding hair contained volatile organic compounds (VOCs), human-made chemicals found in paints, industrial solvents and other products. Exposure to VOCs can cause health problems, including respiratory issues, nausea and fatigue. Long-term exposure has been associated with increased cancer risk and organ damage.
Friends know you differently from family, but where do you sit in the pecking order after they die? Below immediate relatives, ahead of a cousin, behind a workmate?
I don’t remember a time in my life when Chrissy wasn’t in it. We were born 11 days apart and were both one when our families moved on to the same street in Geelong, a port city an hour south-west of Melbourne. We had a very Australian childhood; summers spent in our bathers, running through sprinklers; swimming in back yard pools; eating sausages in bread on New Year’s Eve, when we were allowed to stay up late while our parents drank cask riesling with the neighbours, and we’d lie on the cool evening grass listening to crickets.
During those blisteringly hot summer days of our childhood, we lived at the beach, where shark alarms were constant and the waves dangerous. Occasionally, Chrissy would paddle out on her inflatable red and blue raft to the big waves out the back where the serious surfers were. Sometimes, I’d panic when I’d lose sight of her, only to see her come rolling in on a massive wave, perched on top, laughing her head off. She was fearless.
The Base is emerging from shadows and ramping up its ranks as White House turns blind eye to the far right
An international neo-Nazi terrorist organization is boldly continuing to build in the US and planning a new paramilitary training event without fear of local authorities or the FBI, which once dismantled it in a nationwide effort.
The Base, founded in 2018 by a former Pentagon contractor living in Russia and now suspected of Kremlin-sponsored espionage, once boasted close to 50 stateside members before the bureau made more than a dozen arrests in a years-long counter-terrorism operation.
New York’s once-bustling immigrant neighborhoods are chilled as Trump administration cracks down
Two months after fleeing death threats in Colombia, Juan landed a construction job in New York. But on his first day, the bulky GPS monitor strapped to his ankle caught the manager’s attention. It wouldn’t fit inside standard work boots. The boss shook his head. “Come back when you’ve resolved your status,” he said.
Since arriving in the US with his teenage daughter to seek asylum, Juan has lived in a state of constant anxiety. “It feels like I committed a crime, like they’re going to arrest me at any moment,” he said, speaking near the migrant shelter where they now live in Queens. Juan started wearing oversized pants to hide the monitor, a style he finds uncomfortable. “I’m paranoid all the time,” he said.
Son leads players’ tributes to the Australian manager
Supporters’ trust expresses ‘concern’ at another change
Son Heung-min has praised Ange Postecoglou as a “Tottenham Hotspur legend” as the club’s supporters’ trust expressed “concern” with another change in manager.
Postecoglou ended Spurs’ 17-year wait for silverware with Europa League success over Manchester United in Bilbao on 21 May, but it failed to earn the Australian a third season. A club statement on Friday announcing Postecoglou’s departure highlighted a woeful Premier League campaign where Tottenham finished 17th, their lowest top-flight finish since relegation in 1977.
A billionaire’s vendetta has threatened to cut off the US from the ISS and complicate national defense
After a year of effusive praise and expressions of love for each other, Elon Musk and Donald Trump exploded their political partnership in dramatic fashion this week. The highly public split included, among other highlights, the world’s richest person accusing the president of the United States of associating with a notorious sex offender. Trump said Musk had “lost his mind”.
As Musk and Trump traded insults, each on his own social network, they also issued threats with tangible consequences. Trump suggested that he could cancel all of Musk’s government contracts and subsidies – “the best way to save money”, he posted – a move that would have devastating consequences not only on the tech billionaire’s companies but also on the federal agencies that have come to depend on them. Musk responded by announcing that he would begin decommissioning the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft that Nasa relies on for transport missions, although he later reversed the decision.
The Brooklyn-based photographer on a chance encounter
New York-based photographer Eric Kogan took this picture on a family day of furniture and thrift-store hunting in Shelton, Connecticut, about a 90-minute drive from their Brooklyn home. En route, they stopped off in New Haven for a pizza. “The city is famous for its top-notch pizza restaurants,” Kogan says. “And the one we chose, Frank Pepe’s, is rumoured to have invented the first-ever pizza box!” After lunch they continued on to Shelton, pulling into the large parking lot of a furniture sample store a little before 4pm.
“It was so tucked away that we kept questioning if we were heading in the right direction,” Kogan says. “The moon came into view as we made our way to the entrance. The sun had just set and it was semi-daylight out. I searched for the perfect place to stand. I also had to underexpose the frame a bit, turning it down until the moon felt right: luminous and detailed against its subdued surroundings.”
‘I’m still searching for the missing piece off the tee’
Rory McIlroy says he is concerned about his form before next week’s US Open after missing the cut at the Canadian Open. The Masters champion shot a dismal second-round 78 on Friday, carding a quadruple bogey, a double and four other bogeys in an eight-over-par round that left him languishing 21 shots behind the halfway leader, Cameron Champ, who finished on 12 under.
It is the first time the world No 2 has missed the cut since the Open at Royal Troon last July. McIlroy’s round continued his troubled buildup to Oakmont having been forced to switch to a different driver after his previous model was deemed non-conforming in a random test on the eve of last month’s US PGA Championship, in which he finished joint-47th.
Singer tells fans he is recovering from flu after various health setbacks this year including strep throat and Covid
Sir Rod Stewart has cancelled a run of concerts in the US after having the flu, just weeks before his appearance at the Glastonbury festival later this month.
The 80-year-old singer said he was “devastated” to cancel or reschedule six shows in the US, due to take place over the next eight days.
Singer’s western-inspired Cowboy Carter tour is reminder of pop culture’s sway over shopping behaviour
Rhinestones, cowboy hats and a whole lot of denim; not a hen party entourage, a Glastonbury fit or a Nashville rodeo, but the queues outside Tottenham Hotspur Stadium this week, as Beyoncé kicked off her UK tour. And, seemingly, a new national dress code.
Since the release of the Cowboy Carter album, Beyoncé fans have been quick to adopt the rancher style, sparking a surge in interest for western-inspired fashion. On Vinted, searches for “western” are up by 16% year on year this month, with “rodeo” up 13%. Meanwhile, denim searches have risen 8%.
Nattapong Pinta had been seized in the Hamas-led 7 October 2023 attack and killed, according to Israeli military
The Israeli military has retrieved the body of a Thai hostage, Nattapong Pinta, who had been held in Gaza since Hamas’s attack on 7 October 2023, according to defence minister, Israel Katz. .
Pinta’s body was held by a Palestinian militant group called the Mujahideen Brigades, and was retrieved from the area of Rafah in southern Gaza, Katz said. His family in Thailand has been notified.
NGO says Afghan capital’s 7 million people face existential crisis that world needs urgently to address
Kabul could become the first modern city to completely run out of water, experts have warned.
Water levels within Kabul’s aquifers have dropped by up to 30 metres over the past decade owing to rapid urbanisation and climate breakdown, according to a report by the NGO Mercy Corps.
Ministers have been accused of being “asleep at the wheel” over threats to the UK’s soft power around the world, as some of their own advisers warned a funding crisis is undermining key institutions promoting British influence.
Members of the government’s new soft power council, set up by ministers earlier this year, warned the BBC World Service, the British Council and universities – regarded as the bodies at the forefront of the UK’s soft power efforts – all face major financial pressures.
The thriller writer on being a fearless Brummie, how he came to own a Renoir and his six-decade love affair with smoking
Born in the West Midlands, Lee Child, 70, studied law before working in television. After losing his job following a corporate restructuring, he published Killing Floor, the first in the Jack Reacher series, in 1997. His novels have been adapted into two films, starring Tom Cruise, and an Amazon Prime series. He now writes with his brother Andrew and they headline Theakston Old Peculier crime writing festival in Harrogate next month. The 30th Reacher thriller, Exit Strategy, is out in November. He is married with a daughter, and lives in the north of England.
When were you happiest?
In 1993, making love on the beach of a deserted island in the Bahamas.
One year on, Jonathan Haidt talks about the way his book changed the global conversation around children and digital devices – and explains how he handles his own teenagers
Jonathan Haidt is a man with a mission. You’ll have to forgive the cliche, because it’s literally true. The author of The Anxious Generation, an urgent warning about the effect of digital tech on young minds, is based at New York University’s business school: “I’m around all these corporate types and we’re always talking about companies and their mission statements,” he tells me. So, he decided to make one for himself. “It was very simple: ‘My mission is to use my research in moral psychology and that of others to help people better understand each other, and to help important social institutions work well.’”
This is characteristic of Haidt: there’s the risk that writing your own brand manifesto might seem a bit, well, pompous. What comes across instead is the nerd’s desire to be as effective as possible, combined with the positive psychologist’s love of self-improvement (one of his signature undergraduate courses is called Flourishing, which sets students homework such as “catch and analyse 10 automatic thoughts”).
Environmental lawyer Cormac Cullinan lauded for his work to establish continent’s legal status to protect its interests
Cormac Cullinan has a dream. A dream, he says, that will “change how humanity sees, understands and relates to Antarctica”. The vast frozen continent – home to emperor and Adélie penguins, leopard and Ross seals, and feeding grounds for orcas, beaked whales and albatrosses – should be recognised as an autonomous legal entity “at least equivalent to a country”, says the environmental lawyer.
At least three people killed and a further 21 injured after night-time attack involving drones, missiles and guided bombs, mayor says
Ukraine’s air forces shot down a Russian Su-35 fighter jet on Saturday morning, the Ukrainian military said.
“This morning, on 7 June 2025, as a result of a successful air force operation in the Kursk direction, a Russian Su-35 fighter jet was shot down,” the military said on the Telegram messenger, according to Reuters.
Paul is confident that Tottenham will succeed if they appoint Thomas Frank to replace Ange Postecoglou:
“There’s probably been too much over thinking on this. I sent this message to my son last night.
”It’s the right decision. He can leave a hero and will always be welcomed back.
£100m just for turning up in the CL is too much to gamble on him getting top four.
I know Frank hasn’t managed at CL level and he may be out of his depth but, personally, I’ve been walking out of games during the tenure of the last 3 managers. That needs to stop and if Frank gets me to stay 90+ minutes every week, he’s a step up! It will be interesting whether Frank can attract top quality signings. I see Manor Solomon’s coming back. Not a good start to the window!!”
Midfielder on being left out of France’s Euro 2025 squad, her exit from Aston Villa and a new lease of life in San Diego
‘I had hard times and this team really gave me back my love and motivation for football,” Kenza Dali says of San Diego Wave as she prepares to open up on a turbulent year.
Over the course of a refreshingly honest conversation, the midfielder reveals why she left Aston Villa to move to the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) in January, details why she is enjoying working under Jonas Eidevall and discusses, for the first time, the grief that affected her participation in the Olympics. There is, however, one topic on which she is not quite ready to go into details yet.
Campaigners say ‘super-strength subsidy’ puts pressure on the NHS, as some ciders cost same as apple juice
Supermarkets such as Tesco, Aldi and Lidl are exploiting a tax loophole to produce and sell cheap cider that harms health and causes social problems, alcohol campaigners have claimed.
Over recent years, ciders – sometimes containing as much as 7.5% alcohol – have become cheaper or barely risen in price, despite the cost of beer, wine and spirits soaring, according to research by Alcohol Change UK.
The South Africa captain talks about street cricket in Langa, adapting to new schools after a scholarship and why playing at Lord’s means so much
“There was always some sort of allegiance with Lord’s when we were growing up in Langa,” Temba Bavuma says of his childhood as a township boy living just outside Cape Town. Bavuma, the first black cricketer to captain South Africa, will lead his country against Australia in the World Test Championship final, which begins at Lord’s on Wednesday.
In the quintessentially English surroundings of Arundel, the 5ft 3in Bavuma looks as if he has gone back to being a kid in the dusty townships. “In Langa we had a four-way street,” he says, his face crinkling with the memories. “On the right-hand side of the street the tar wasn’t done so nicely and we used to call it Karachi because the ball would bounce funny. The other side was the MCG [Melbourne Cricket Ground] but my favourite section of the street was clean, and done up nicely, and we called it Lord’s because it just looked better. So, as a kid of 10, I already had that dream of playing at Lord’s.”
It’s the Sids! Barça reclaimed the title as Madrid’s giants faltered while Athletic, Celta and Rayo shook up the European places
The day La Liga 2024-25 began, Wojciech Szczesny was sitting on the beach in Marbella lighting up a cigarette, enjoying his retirement. The night it ended, he sat in the dressing room in Cornellà, 1,000km round the coast, and lit up a cigar instead. He had walked away in August, at 35 years old, unwanted and his heart no longer in it, or so he thought. Nine months on, here he was surrounded by kids half his age, a footballer again and winner of every trophy his new home country had to offer. He had not lost a single league match en route to becoming a champion.
“I’ve arrived where even my imagination wouldn’t even dare to take me,” Szczesny had said when he retired. And if he hadn’t dared imagine that, there was no way he could imagine this: a Copa del Rey, a Super Cup and a Champions League semi-final to go with the title.
Known for her colourful abstracts, the artist is getting a retrospective at the age of just 34. She talks about her love of karaoke, working on a full-length opera and how to deal with fame at a young age
Viewers may find Rachel Jones’s paintings “beautiful”, but they should be warned: the artist herself doesn’t love that word.
“In our culture, the idea of beauty sadly isn’t discussed in a critical, rich way – it’s much more reductive as a term,” says the 34 year old. “I hope that when people describe the work as beautiful, it doesn’t just stop there.” Her aim, she says, is to pull viewers in deeper, beyond the surface of the work.
Tehran condemns Donald Trump’s order barring 12 countries’ citizens from entering US as violation of ‘fundamental principles of international law’
Tehran has denounced the US travel ban on Iranians and citizens of 11 other mostly Middle Eastern and African countries, saying Washington’s decision was a sign of a “racist mentality”.
Donald Trump signed an executive order on Wednesday reviving sweeping restrictions that echo the US president’s first-term travel ban, justified on national security grounds after a firebomb attack at a pro-Israel rally in Colorado.
From Doc, Mirabel and Geppetto to Gaynor, Garland and Gaga, test your knowledge with the Saturday quiz
1 What 1883 event is said to be the loudest sound in human history? 2 Rikishi take part in which sport? 3 What film links Gaynor, Garland and Gaga? 4 Who made the “I am prepared to die” speech at the Rivonia trial? 5 What term for quiz facts derives from a place where three roads meet? 6 Comprising 121 countries, what is the NAM? 7 What type of tropical bird is an aracari? 8 Which singer’s stage name is based on her old MSN Messenger username? What links:
9 Village opposite Padstow; town between Stoke and Stafford; Colorado college town? 10 1964; 1970; 1974; 1979; 1997; 2010; 2024? 11 Robert Prevost (14); Gioacchino Pecci (13); Annibale della Genga (12)? 12 MLK assassin; 39th president; voice of Vader? 13 Thorburn; Doherty; Robertson; Brecel; Zhao? 14 Barreleye fish; ghost shrimp; glass frog; golden tortoise beetle; jellyfish; sea angel? 15 Mirabel, Encanto; Sadness, Inside Out; Doc, Snow White; Geppetto, Pinocchio?
Level up andaccess your feminine energy, say these influencers to young women. This isself-delusion, not self-improvement
About two years ago, a self-professed “goddess coach” called Jaelyn posted an eight hour-long “sleep affirmation” video which, according to many a satisfied viewer, has worked wonders for them. In a somewhat sultry, meditative voice she repeats mantras and welcomes her listeners to attract “the kind of men and people who will always treat you like a goddess”.
The video, boldly titled Attract Men Who Spend Money, Provide and Love You! is one of many in a genre of content that is booming on YouTube and social media. I call them “guru girlies”, and they are proving a force to be reckoned with. In their rather austere imparting of wisdom, guru girlies have become many young women’s go-to guide for all manner of modern conundrums.
Dogs have a sense of adventure, don’t they? We thought Missy would enjoy exploring France and Spain. She had other ideas Plus tips on travelling with dogs
When, two years ago now, our dog sitters cancelled on us just 24 hours before we were due to go on our summer holiday, we felt more than a little put out. Aware that we couldn’t leave Missy, our border terrier, home alone with a tin opener, we sent out frantic texts and made urgent phone calls before at last finding someone, a friend of a friend of, I think, another friend, and simply hoped for the best. What else were we to do? The flights were non-refundable.
It all turned out fine, but it was not an experience we were keen to repeat. And so, the following year, we took Missy with us. Dogs are portable, after all, and have a nose for adventure. Also, this was to be an extended holiday, away for a full month – working part time in order to fund it – and we couldn’t be apart from her for that long.
Connexion
