↩ Accueil

Vue normale

Reçu aujourd’hui — 23 juin 2025The Guardian

Yvette Cooper vows to ban Palestine Action under anti-terrorism laws

Home secretary to ignore warning from group’s lawyers that doing so would be ‘unlawful, dangerous and ill thought out’

The home secretary has said she will ban Palestine Action under anti-terrorism laws, ignoring a warning from the group’s solicitors that the proposal was “unlawful, dangerous and ill thought out”.

In a statement to parliament on Monday, three days after activists from the group broke into RAF Brize Norton, Yvette Cooper said a draft proscription order would be laid in parliament on 30 June. If passed, it would make it illegal to be a member of, or invite support for, Palestine Action.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Sean Smith/The Guardian

© Photograph: Sean Smith/The Guardian

Why is Iran’s nuclear programme so essential to its identity?

23 juin 2025 à 17:01

Why does a country with large oil reserves feel such a need to have home-grown civil nuclear energy?

In October 1978, two leaders of the Iranian opposition to the British-backed shah of Iran met in the Paris suburbs of Neauphle-le-Château to plan for the final stages of the revolution, a revolution that after 46 momentous and often brutal years may now be close to expiring.

The two men had little in common but their nationality, age and determination to remove the shah from power. Karim Sanjabi, the leader of the secular liberal National Front, was a former Sorbonne-educated professor of law. Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini was the leading Shia opponent of the Iranian monarchy since the 1960s. Both were in their 70s at the time.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Vahid Salemi/AP

© Photograph: Vahid Salemi/AP

Killer whales seen grooming each other with kelp in first for marine tool use

23 juin 2025 à 17:00

Behavior in orca population off coast of US and Canada captured by scientists using drone observation

Killer whales have been observed mutually grooming each other with a type of seaweed, the first known instance of a marine animal using tools in a way that was previously thought to be the preserve of primates such as humans.

A group of killer whales, which are also known as orcas, have been biting off short sections of bull kelp and then rolling these stems between their bodies, possibly to remove dead skin or parasites. The behavior is the first such documented mutual grooming in marine animals and is outlined in a new scientific paper.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: George D Lepp/Getty Images

© Photograph: George D Lepp/Getty Images

Dan Aykroyd: ‘I don’t believe in associating with beings that have no souls’

23 juin 2025 à 17:00

The Ghostbuster and Blues Brother on living in a haunted house, jamming with a president, and befriending a bear called Uncle Joe

As a self-described spiritualist who comes from a long line of spiritualists – is there anything you don’t believe in?

Well, I don’t believe in associating with beings that have no souls. Like psychic vampires. Right? If you go through life, you’ll either meet a psychic vampire every day or every year. You should avoid beings like that, that’s a good rule for life. That’s what I don’t believe in, associating with them. I’m sure you’ve met some beings that draw the energy out of you if you give them 10 minutes. But after 10 minutes, you gotta run. I give everybody 10 minutes.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: The Canadian Press/Alamy

© Photograph: The Canadian Press/Alamy

‘People like happy endings. Sorry!’ Squid Game’s brutal finale hits new heights of barbarity

23 juin 2025 à 16:57

As the shockingly violent anticapitalist hit returns, its star and creator talk about spinoffs, the dangers of desensitisation, David Fincher’s mooted remake – and why they couldn’t say no to tie-ins with McDonald’s and Uber

When season two of Squid Game dropped, fans were split in their response to Netflix’s hit Korean drama. While some viewers loved the dialled-up-to-11 intensity of everything – more characters, more drama, more staggering brutality – others found the tone relentlessly bleak. And this was a show whose original concept – a cabal of rich benefactors recruit poor people to compete in bloodsports for cash – was already plenty dark. Anyone hoping the show’s third and final season, arriving this week, will provide a reprieve should probably just rewatch Emily in Paris instead.

“The tone is going to be more dark and bleak,” says series creator Hwang Dong-hyuk, through an interpreter. “The world, as I observe it, has less hope. I wanted to explore questions like, ‘What is the very last resort of humankind? And do we have the will to give future generations something better?’ After watching all three seasons, I hope we can each ask ourselves, ‘What kind of humanity do I have left in me?’”

Continue reading...

© Photograph: ./Netflix

© Photograph: ./Netflix

Football Daily | Bellinghams do battle and subs stay indoors as Club World Cup warms up

23 juin 2025 à 16:49

Sign up now! Sign up now! Sign up now? Sign up now!

Following the second weekend of Copa Gianni, Fifa were eager to flag up a number of fraternal firsts. In scoring for Borussia Dortmund and Real Madrid, Jude and Jobe Bellingham became the first brothers in history to score in the same tournament – “We’re 1-1 now,” honked Jude after his goal – while Francesco Pio Esposito became the first player to replace his brother when he came on for his Inter debut in place of elder sibling Sebastiano in the win over Urawa Red Diamonds. Meanwhile in Atlanta, the United Arab Emirates vice president and Manchester City chief suit, Sheikh Mansour, emerged with family bragging rights after his club’s reserve team trampled Al Ain, who are presided over by his older brother Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, into the dirt.

Coleen is a princess and her parents are queen and king, and Wayne is a warrior. They get together, they split up, she’s broken-hearted and he goes on a quest to find the ring and re-propose to her. The theatre says they’ve never done anything like this before” – Helen Serafinowicz, the writer behind TV hit series Motherland, has announced her next project: ‘The Legend of Rooney’s Ring’, a Game-of-Thrones inspired summer pantomime about Wayne and Coleen Rooney, loosely based on a rumour that the couple once had a big argument in the car which ended with Coleen hurling an engagement ring out of the car, which led to Liverpool locals taking to the streets with metal detectors. Not the theatre we expected, but the theatre we need.

Thanks for the link in Friday’s Football Daily to your article on Eintracht Frankfurt’s hot transfer target, Hugo Ekitike (Still Want More, full email edition). Ever since I watched Monty Python’s Dead Parrot sketch as a kid I’ve been on the lookout for palindromes. Any chance that Ekitike will eschew the bigger European clubs and sign for Ipswich? Or Bolton?” – R Reisman.

Quite how do you propose Milos Kerkez gets straight from the M40 to the M6 on his way from Bournemouth up to Liverpool (Friday’s News, Bits and Bobs, full email edition)? The M42 would be the logical manner, though if it’s particularly busy northbound near Birmingham airport, he could head west to the M5 and then north past West Bromwich” – Matt Hard.

If Marcus Rashford’s Mr 15% really can get him a transfer from the debacle formerly known as Manchester United to Barcelona, we should give him the Ballon D’or (the Mr 15% that is, not Rashford, obviously). No one, not even the great Lamine Yamal, will have put in a better performance this year. And, an extra nod to the agent for subtlety, getting him to do a timely interview with a Spanish YouTuber for no reason in particular” – Noble Francis.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Pedro Castillo/Real Madrid/Getty Images

© Photograph: Pedro Castillo/Real Madrid/Getty Images

28 Years Later: political parallels, pregnant zombies and a peculiar ending – discuss with spoilers

23 juin 2025 à 16:48

Danny Boyle’s much-anticipated sequel kicks off a new trilogy filled with surprises but what does it all mean and what can we expect next?

  • This article contains spoilers for 28 Years Later

Danny Boyle and Alex Garland have done it again. In the early 2000s, 28 Days Later became the most popular and influential zombie movie in decades, with its fast-moving, virally infected, not-quite-undead marauders rampaging through a post-apocalyptic England. Now Boyle and Garland have reunited with 28 Years Later, easily the most talked-about horror movie since Sinners, and the biggest zombie movie since the PG-13 dilutions of World War Z back in 2013. Compared with the countless familiar zombie movies and TV shows that have popped up since the original movie, 28 Years Later is a thorny, challenging, unpredictable work, which means there’s plenty to discuss now that it’s spent a well-attended weekend in wide release. Here are some major spoiler-heavy topics related to the film’s style, themes, sociological implications and, of course, that ending.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc./PA

© Photograph: Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc./PA

US strikes on Iran could damage global growth, says IMF chief

23 juin 2025 à 16:39

Oil prices could rise if Iran goes ahead with threat to shut down shipping in the strait of Hormuz

US strikes on Iran could damage global economic growth, the head of the International Monetary Fund has warned.

Director Kristalina Georgieva told Bloomberg TV that the IMF was watching energy prices closely, warning a rise in oil prices could have a ripple effect throughout the global economy.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Hasan Jamali/AP

© Photograph: Hasan Jamali/AP

Zohran Mamdani appears to pull ahead of Andrew Cuomo, according to new poll

23 juin 2025 à 16:10

Progressive assemblyman may be leading the former governor in race for New York City mayor, survey finds

Zohran Mamdani, a Democratic candidate for mayor of New York City, has drawn level with Andrew Cuomo in the city’s primary, according to a new poll, as voters brave record-breaking temperatures to cast their ballots.

Mamdani, a 33-year-old New York assemblyman, may even be leading Cuomo, the 67-year-old former governor and scion of a prominent New York political family, if the poll’s simulation of the system of ranked-choice voting is correct.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Thalia Juarez/The Guardian

© Photograph: Thalia Juarez/The Guardian

‘Helpless and trapped’: political prisoners stuck in Tehran jail with no way to flee bombings

23 juin 2025 à 16:07

Families of detained activists talk of their fear and confusion as Israeli missiles strike Evin prison in Iran

When Mehraveh Khandan heard about Israel’s evacuation order in Tehran last week, the first thing she thought of was her father. Reza Khandan, imprisoned for his human rights activism in 2024, was sitting in a cell in Tehran’s Evin prison on the edge of the evacuation zone.

She fielded calls from her friends, who were breathless from the shock of the Israeli bombs as tens of thousands fled the Iranian capital. Her father, by contrast, had no way to flee. He was stuck.

Continue reading...

© Composite: family handouts

© Composite: family handouts

Lions warn Joe Schmidt over Wallabies player release for tour matches

23 juin 2025 à 16:07
  • Ben Calveley expects competitive Force side to face Lions

  • Tour could open up to other countries such as France

Every big tour is a hectic learning curve as the 2025 British & Irish Lions are already finding. The squad had to call off their post-arrival recovery dip in the Indian Ocean – a letdown for local news crews and the lurking sharks off Cottesloe beach – because of inclement weather and the first media squall of the trip has also blown in.

The Lions chief executive, Ben Calveley, has made clear the touring side expects Joe Schmidt, the Wallabies head coach, to make his national players available for their Super Rugby teams before the Test series commencing next month and the host nation has been gently reminded of that contractual detail following the Lions’ arrival in Australia.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: James Gourley/AAP

© Photograph: James Gourley/AAP

Forgive me if I raise an eyebrow at Botox mania – it’s because I still can | Coco Khan

23 juin 2025 à 16:03

I’m with Jennifer Garner and Ariana Grande: down with tweakments, be done with fillers and celebrate the lines that make life beautiful

If, like me, you have watched agog, alarmed or just confused at the speed at which tweakments and cosmetic surgery have gone mainstream, then consider this minor piece of celebrity news.

Earlier this month, Jennifer Garner became the latest A-lister to say that having Botox was a mistake. “Botox doesn’t work very well for me,” she told Harper’s Bazaar. “I like to be able to move my forehead.”

Coco Khan is a freelance writer and co-host of the politics podcast Pod Save the UK

Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: imageBROKER/Alamy

© Photograph: imageBROKER/Alamy

‘We had therapists on standby’: Chris Tarrant on making Who Wants to Be a Millionnaire?

23 juin 2025 à 15:57

‘We knew the prize money had to go up fast. No one would say, “Better not put the kettle on in case somebody wins a quid”’

I was responsible for the schedule. I’d listened to Chris Tarrant doing this game on the radio – Double or Quits – which was brilliant. I was intrigued by its TV version, called Cash Mountain, because it was well known in the industry that various people had turned it down. I invited the producer, Paul Smith, to pitch the full idea to me and Claudia Rosencrantz, ITV’s controller of entertainment.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Andy Hall/The Observer

© Photograph: Andy Hall/The Observer

Kirsty Coventry takes over as Olympic president and promises to change lives

23 juin 2025 à 15:51
  • First woman in the role replaces Thomas Bach

  • ‘We are guardians of the Olympic movement’

Kirsty Coventry has promised to change lives and inspire hope during an official ceremony to mark her taking over from Thomas Bach as president of the International Olympic Committee.

The 41-year-old from Zimbabwe, who in March became the first woman and the first African to be elected to the most powerful job in sports politics, also paid tribute to the strong women in her life as she was given the golden key to the IOC by Bach.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Pierre Albouy/Reuters

© Photograph: Pierre Albouy/Reuters

Little Simz & Chineke! Orchestra review – rap-classical crossover is spectacularly realised

23 juin 2025 à 15:12

Royal Festival Hall, London
Closing out a Simz-curated Meltdown festival, and with a host of star guests helping out, these songs gain extra nuance as orchestra and star meld perfectly together

Not many can say that they’ve reloaded a symphony orchestra. But as the Southbank Centre erupts after the opening horns of Gorilla, Little Simz has to run it back, starting the track again in the manner of a rowdy club set.

Backed by the majority Black and ethnically diverse Chineke! Orchestra and her own live band, Simz – closing out the 11-day Meltdown festival which she curated this year – performs a set that is equal parts genuine and genius. The energy in the room is overwhelming, overcoming any misgivings about performing to a seated crowd.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Pete Woodhead

© Photograph: Pete Woodhead

Militarized LA: troops here to stay as Trump doubles down on deployments

23 juin 2025 à 15:00

Dust settles after impassioned protests but military presence unnerves California leaders – and threatens to inflame already tense situation

Shortly before last November’s presidential election, before anyone could envision him defying his “America first” political base and launching a bombing raid on Iran, Donald Trump offered a preview of how and why he would want to deploy the military on US soil.

It was, the president said, to deal with “the enemy within”.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Mike Blake/Reuters

© Photograph: Mike Blake/Reuters

Brazilian clubs are upending the global order at the Club World Cup

Flamengo, Botafogo, Palmeiras and Fluminense are not as rich as European clubs but they have heart and heritage

“The graveyard of football is full of ‘favourites’,” warned Botafogo manager Renato Paiva in what has proven to be this summer’s coldest line in sweltering United States heat. Gritty draws achieved by Palmeiras against Porto and Fluminense against Borussia Dortmund at the Club World Cup were enough to start a conversation. But the underdog heroics of Brazil’s other two clubs have shaken up how we see club football across the world.

For the first time since Corinthians shocked Chelsea in Yokohama in 2012, when some Brazilian fans sold their homes and vehicles to make the trip, the reigning Copa Libertadores champions have beaten the Champions League winners. Igor Jesus, who has been strongly linked to Nottingham Forest, scored the only goal of the game as Botafogo beat Paris Saint-Germain 1-0 at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, a special setting for Brazilians given it is where they won the World Cup in 1994 and honoured the recently deceased Ayrton Senna.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Lee Smith/Reuters

© Photograph: Lee Smith/Reuters

Giant statues to return to Notre Dame’s spire in latest stage of restoration

23 juin 2025 à 14:26

Copper-coated figures will be hoisted on to cathedral’s reconstructed spire after devastating blaze of 2019

Sixteen giant statues are to be hoisted back on to the spire of Notre Dame in the latest step of the cathedral’s €700m (£600m) reconstruction after the devastating fire of 2019.

The copper-coated figures, each weighing almost 150kg, escaped the blaze because they were removed from the Parisian landmark for renovation just four days before flames consumed the roof and destroyed the spire.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Georges Gobet/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Georges Gobet/AFP/Getty Images

Gunman fatally shot at Michigan church had attended services in past year

23 juin 2025 à 14:13

Gunman, identified as Brian Anthony Browning, 31, may have been suffering mental health crisis, police say

The man who opened fire outside a Michigan church filled with worshippers before he was struck by a vehicle and then fatally shot by security staff had attended services there a couple of times in the last year and his mother is a member, police said.

The gunman, identified as Brian Anthony Browning, 31, did not have any previous contacts with local police or a criminal history, but may have been suffering a mental health crisis, the Wayne police department said in a news release.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Paul Sancya/AP

© Photograph: Paul Sancya/AP

Free buses, more housing, taxing the rich: how Zohran Mamdani has gone viral in the New York mayor’s race

23 juin 2025 à 14:00

He was 30 points behind former governor Andrew Cuomo just months ago, but now he’s surging in the contest to lead the largest US city

Zohran Mamdani trailed Andrew Cuomo, the frontrunner to be the next New York City mayor, by 30 points just a few months ago.

Now, just ahead of the Democratic primary on Tuesday, the 33-year-old democratic socialist has bridged the gap with Cuomo, a politician so of the establishment that a giant bridge north of New York literally bears his last name.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Thalia Juarez/The Guardian

© Photograph: Thalia Juarez/The Guardian

Death Stranding 2: On the Beach review – a hypnotising art-house game with an A-list cast

23 juin 2025 à 14:00

This is a mystifying and provocatively slow-paced game with more celebrities than you would find on a Cannes red carpet
PS5; Sony / Kojima Productions

What is Death Stranding 2 trying to say? It’s a question you will ask yourself on many occasions during the second instalment of Hideo Kojima’s hypnotising, mystifying, and provocatively slow-paced cargo management simulator series. First, because during the many long and uneventful treks across its supernatural vision of Mexico and Australia, you have all the headspace in the world to ponder its small details and decipher the perplexing things you just witnessed. And second, because the question so often reveals something profound.

That it can stand up to such extended contemplation is a marker of the fine craftsmanship that went into this game. Nobody is scribbling down notes to uncover what Doom: The Dark Ages is getting at or poring over Marvel Rivals’ cutscenes for clues, fantastic as those games are. It is rare for any game to invite this kind of scrutiny, let alone hold up to it. But Death Stranding 2 is a different kind of game, one with the atmosphere and narrative delivery of arthouse cinema, light of touch in its storytelling but exhaustive in its gameplay systems, and the tension between the two makes it so compelling. At first you brave one for the other; then, over time, you savour both.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Sony Interactive Entertainment

© Photograph: Sony Interactive Entertainment

Rukmini Iyer’s quick and easy recipe for mini parmesan, apple and rosemary scones | Quick and easy

23 juin 2025 à 14:00

These super-fluffy scones are child’s play, and ready to devour in all of 25 minutes

The secret to these ultra-fluffy scones? Cream cheese. In a fit of inspiration (I was thinking about rugelach at the time), I replaced almost all the butter with it to great success. These scones are a hit with children, too: my three-year-old quite competently helped make them, from fetching rosemary from the garden to stamping out the dough and brushing on the egg wash. A nice kitchen activity for any resident children, even if your dog turns up for the cheese tax at the last stage.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Matthew Hague/The Guardian. Food styling: El Kemp. Prop styling: Louie Waller. Food styling assistant: Georgia Rudd.

© Photograph: Matthew Hague/The Guardian. Food styling: El Kemp. Prop styling: Louie Waller. Food styling assistant: Georgia Rudd.

Hung Up on a Dream: The Zombies Documentary review – happy-sad tale of 60s psychedelic rockers

23 juin 2025 à 14:00

Robert Schwartzman examines how five friends from the home counties ended up as part of the British invasion of the US music scene

The happy-sad story of 60s band the Zombies is recounted in this very watchable documentary from actor, film-maker and Coppola family member Robert Schwartzman, younger brother of Jason. Keyboardist Rod Argent, singer Colin Blunstone, guitarist Paul Atkinson, drummer Hugh Grundy and bassist Chris White were the amazingly talented group from the English home counties who, in this film, look heartbreakingly like a five-man team on University Challenge.

The Zombies became a hugely prominent part of the British invasion of the US, while at the same being royally manipulated and exploited. Their eerie and sublime harmonies, topped off by Blunstone’s beautiful, plangent and weirdly vulnerable lead vocals, were the foundation of iconic songs like She’s Not There, praised by George Harrison on Juke Box Jury (the equivalent of getting a simultaneous OBE and papal blessing). Then there was the mysterious, psychedelic and weirdly unwholesome masterpiece Time of the Season from 1968, although sadly Schwartzman doesn’t ask the band to walk us through those groovy lyrics: “It’s the time of the season for loving / What’s your name? What’s your name? / Who’s your daddy? Who’s your daddy? / He rich? Is he rich like me?” It stormed the US charts after the band had made the gloomy decision to break up, exhausted and demoralised and, above all, needing money to pay the bills.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Publicity image

© Photograph: Publicity image

Revolut CEO ‘could get multibillion-dollar windfall if its value passes $150bn’

23 juin 2025 à 13:22

Fintech firm’s founder Nik Storonsky has reportedly secured Elon Musk-style deal that would pay out in stages

Revolut’s chief executive and founder Nik Storonsky could be in line for a multibillion-dollar fortune after he reportedly negotiated an Elon Musk-style deal that hinges on him pushing the fintech company’s valuation past $150bn (£112bn).

The former Lehman Brothers trader, who established Revolut in 2015, is said to have secured a lucrative deal that hinges on the company nearly tripling in value, having last been estimated at $45bn.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile/Getty Images

© Photograph: Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile/Getty Images

‘One kid at a time’: How children’s books on male friendship could combat toxic masculinity

23 juin 2025 à 13:16

From Margaret McDonald’s Glasgow Boys to Nathanael Lessore’s King of Nothing, boys take centre stage in this year’s Carnegie-winning titles. Let’s hope that the male protagonists persuade more boys to pick up a book

This year’s Carnegie medals for children’s writing, awarded on Thursday, brought to light an unexpected trend. At a time of widespread public anxiety about the decline in boys’ reading habits and the rise of the toxic influencers of the online “manosphere”, male friendship and masculinity were front and centre on the shortlist.

The winner, Margaret McDonald’s superb debut, Glasgow Boys, tells the story of the relationship between two looked-after children on the threshold of adulthood who process trauma in different ways. Banjo’s aggression and Finlay’s avoidance could be seen as two models of dysfunctional masculinity. Luke Palmer’s Play, also on the shortlist, tells a story of male friendship which touches on rape culture and county lines drug gangs, while teenage gang membership is the focus of Brian Conaghan’s Treacle Town.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Pollyana Ventura/Getty Images

© Photograph: Pollyana Ventura/Getty Images

Women’s Euro 2025 team guides: Iceland

23 juin 2025 à 13:00

Thorsteinn Halldórsson’s side will be tough to beat but can they turn tightly contested games into victories?

This article is part of the Guardian’s Euro 2025 Experts’ Network, a cooperation between some of the best media organisations from the 16 countries who qualified. theguardian.com is running previews from two teams each day in the run-up to the tournament kicking off on 2 July.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: NurPhoto/Getty Images

© Photograph: NurPhoto/Getty Images

‘I’m scared to death to leave my house’: immigrants are disappearing from the streets – can US cities survive?

Heavily immigrant towns and cities in California resemble ghost towns as fear of Ice raids grip local residents

At Hector’s Mariscos restaurant in the heavily Latino and immigrant city of Santa Ana, California, sales of Mexican seafood have slid. Seven tables would normally be full, but diners sit at only two this Tuesday afternoon.

“I haven’t seen it like this since Covid,” manager Lorena Marin said in Spanish as cumbia music played on loudspeakers. A US citizen, Marin even texted customers she was friendly with, encouraging them to come in.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Cindy Carcamo and Aaron Montes

© Photograph: Cindy Carcamo and Aaron Montes

Know thine enemy: my ‘rat walk’ with New York’s rat czar made me rethink vermin

23 juin 2025 à 13:00

An estimated 3 million rats live in New York City – so members of the ‘Rat Pack’ are working to ease human-rodent relations

I am standing near a tree bed in a bustling Brooklyn park, with only a few feet of dirt separating me from a “small” family of rats – that’s usually around eight of them, I’m told. I’ve come on this “rat walk” with a few dozen New Yorkers, all milling about awkwardly, subjecting ourselves to the kind of brainless small talk heard at speed dating events. But instead of looking for love, we’ve come to learn more about New York’s rodent population. Tonight, knowing thine enemy means we must slink among the rats.

We’re led by Kathleen Corradi, the city’s famed rat czar, appointed by Mayor Eric Adams in 2023, and we are united by our visceral hatred of rats. We don’t want to see them scurry by on late-night walks home, or watch as they slink in and out of trash bags on the street. We especially don’t want them in our homes. As one exterminator put it to the famed metro reporter Joseph Mitchell back in 1944: “If you get a few [rats] in your house, there are just two things you can do: you can wait for them to die, or you can burn your house down and start all over again.”

Continue reading...

© Illustration: Igor Bastidas/The Guardian

© Illustration: Igor Bastidas/The Guardian

OpenAI takes down mentions of Jony Ive’s io amid trademark row

23 juin 2025 à 12:53

ChatGPT developer forced to act after receiving legal complaint from earbud maker iyO

OpenAI has taken down online content related to its recent deal with Sir Jony Ive’s hardware startup, io, after a trademark complaint.

The artificial intelligence company has removed promotional materials including a video where Ive – the former Apple designer behind the iPhone – and OpenAI’s chief executive, Sam Altman, discuss the $6.4bn (£4.8bn) transaction. However, the nine-minute film can still be viewed on YouTube.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Suppplied

© Photograph: Suppplied

‘We are waking from a long sleep’: France’s ex-PM Gabriel Attal on revitalising relations with the UK

23 juin 2025 à 16:22

The leader of Macron’s party wants to tackle teenage screen addiction, ban headscarves for girls under 15 and bring France closer to Britain. On a visit to London, he discusses Ukraine, immigration – and his presidential intentions

In the conference room of a hotel in Kensington, the man who would be France’s next head of state is sharing his views about Brexit. Microphone in hand, Gabriel Attal is here to meet activists and expatriates. Once 270,000 strong, London’s French community has dwindled in recent years. The 36-year-old leader of Emmanuel Macron’s Renaissance party is doing his best to gee them up.

“We are waking at the moment from a long sleep when we talk about relations between France and the UK,” he says. In the face of war in Ukraine and turmoil in the US, old alliances are reforming. “Many thought the channel would become an ocean. And that all the ties that bound us had to be cut. But we are emerging from this sleep because in some measure we are forced to.”

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Joel Saget/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Joel Saget/AFP/Getty Images

England v India: first men’s cricket Test, day four – live

“Beautiful test but India will be disappointed with themselves,” reckons Arul Kanhere. “With all due respect to Shardul, who has rescued both India and Mumbai from dire straits … India need a player who can get in on his primary skill and be handy with the secondary one. Shardul is helping with none at the moment." This could always come back to bite me in the ass if the top order collapses and Lord Thakur scores a century … beautiful game.”

“Maybe Sunil Gavaskar is still cheesed off at the Australia-India trophy being called Border-Gavaskar rather than Gavaskar-Border,” suggests Andy Flintoff, “because, obviously, he has the better record (AB averages 50.56, SG averages 51.12).”

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Ed Sykes/Action Images/Reuters

© Photograph: Ed Sykes/Action Images/Reuters

Flight evacuating British nationals from Israel has departed, says Foreign Office – UK politics live

Foreign secretary David Lammy says further flights will follow in the coming days

By the way, if you actually wanted to read the Modern Industrial Strategy document published by the government today, you can find it here.

The government has just pushed out a joint statement from business leaders welcoming it, which says:

The Industrial Strategy launched today marks a significant step forward and a valuable opportunity for the business community to rally behind a new vision for the UK – boosting confidence, sentiment, and enthusiasm for investment.

From start-ups and small businesses to large corporates, businesses need a more attractive, stable environment that enables faster, easier, and more certain investment decisions.

For too long high electricity costs have held back British businesses, as a result of our reliance on gas sold on volatile international markets.

As part of our modern industrial strategy we’re unlocking the potential of British industry by slashing industrial electricity prices in key sectors.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images

© Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images

My husband and I have found our love language – it’s called a screen divorce | Polly Hudson

23 juin 2025 à 12:01

Like a sleep divorce, where couples sleep in separate beds, separating screens means that you both get to watch what you want on the TV

Relationships are all about compromise, but there are some areas where it’s simply impossible. Then it becomes about a mutually beneficial workaround instead. A poll has revealed that 55% of couples regularly argue over which TV show to watch: hot on the heels of the sleep divorce (different bedrooms) are we headed for the screen divorce (different tellies)?

Don’t mean to boast, but my husband and I are one step ahead of this trend – screen separated, if you will. In the Venn diagram of programmes we enjoy, the intersection is big enough to fit the words Taskmaster and The Traitors, and that’s about it. He’s tried to lure me into his televisual world, I’ve tried to tempt him into mine, but no dice. Eventually, we realised one of us was always watching through gritted teeth, while the other felt guilty. And so, just like the courageous pioneers of the sleep divorce, who made the decision to prioritise healthy rest above convention, we needed to take action. To divide and conquer.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Posed by models; bernardbodo/Getty Images/iStockphoto

© Photograph: Posed by models; bernardbodo/Getty Images/iStockphoto

Fighters review – rage-inducing study of the barriers to participation in sport for disabled people

23 juin 2025 à 12:00

Michael Grimmett’s documentary, which focuses on a lower-limb amputee’s struggle to gain approval from boxing authorities, will leave you furious

This hour-long documentary about disabled life and ableism co-directed by campaigner Michael Grimmett isn’t merely “inspirational”; it’s also an articulate catalogue of persisting prejudices against disabled people in the UK today, thanks to contributions from influencer Isaac Harvey, Tanni Grey-Thompson and Grimmett himself. What’s ironic about the many instances detailed here of how daily life still excludes them is that being part of daily life is exactly what most disabled people wish to be; not visible, not exceptional.

That said, Fighters does choose a focal point: the struggle of lower-limb amputee boxer Matt Edwards to gain approval from sport’s authorities to take part in amateur boxing bouts. Training and sparring have been a lifesaver for him; after losing a leg aged 19 in a road traffic collision, he fell into addiction. But with the boxing authorities refusing to let him compete, Edwards is forced to sweat it out – elegantly pivoting on his prosthetic limb – in white-collar bouts.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Publicity image

© Photograph: Publicity image

First images of distant galaxies captured by ‘ultimate’ telescope

23 juin 2025 à 11:40

Stunning pictures from Vera C Rubin observatory in Chile released at start of 10-year survey of cosmos

Spectacular views of distant galaxies, giant dust clouds and hurtling asteroids have been revealed in the first images captured by a groundbreaking telescope that is embarking on a 10-year survey of the cosmos.

The stunning pictures from the $810m (£595m) Vera C Rubin observatory in Chile mark the start of what astronomers believe will be a gamechanging period of discovery as the telescope sets about compiling the best view yet of the universe in action.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: NSF-DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory

© Photograph: NSF-DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory

Charli xcx and Neil Young to Juan Atkins and the Asian underground: what to see at Glastonbury

23 juin 2025 à 11:30

There are more than 3,000 performances to choose between at this year’s giant pan-genre jamboree. From pop A-listers to underground ones-to-watch, here are our picks

‘Not a vintage year,” came the usual grumbles about the Glastonbury lineup when it was announced in March – and it’s perhaps only in England where people would moan about the lack of quality on offer at a festival with more than 3,000 performances across five days. In reality, Glastonbury remains stacked with varied, progressive, boundlessly vital artists, and the real challenge is picking your way through them: here are some of our tips.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Rich Fury/MSG/Getty Images for MSG Entertainment Holdings, LLC

© Photograph: Rich Fury/MSG/Getty Images for MSG Entertainment Holdings, LLC

Ibrahima Konaté disappointed with Liverpool contract offer as talks stall

23 juin 2025 à 11:25
  • Defender’s representatives pushing for higher basic wage

  • Fears at Anfield over running down deal that ends in 2026

Ibrahima Konaté is stalling on signing a new deal at Liverpool, raising fears at the club that another key player could run down his contract after this summer’s departure of Trent Alexander-Arnold.

The French defender enters the final year of his deal next month and is understood to have rejected Liverpool’s initial offer of an extension.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Adam Vaughan/EPA

© Photograph: Adam Vaughan/EPA

The one change that worked: A friend pulled out of a trip – and it left me with a newfound love of solo travel

23 juin 2025 à 11:01

As my friends started getting married and having kids, I’d have to wait for anyone to be free to go away with me. So, I started booking solo jaunts and I’ve not looked back

I used to find airports stressful. I mean, I still do – I’m the sort of person who glides mindlessly through security only to be swiftly apprehended (“Er, madam, why is there a litre of water and four bottles of sun cream in your bag?”). But I find them a little less stressful these days. I put it down to the fact that I mostly travel alone. I can arrive as early or as late as I want, drink as many overpriced coffees as I fancy and not go into total unadulterated panic mode when I grossly underestimate the distance to the gate. Because this is my holiday – and my holiday only!

Travelling solo is a pleasure, a tonic, and occasionally a character-building experience (more on that later …). I started doing it by accident. I was 29 when a friend couldn’t make a trip to Paris at the last minute. I went anyway, and also decided to make my life 500% harder by only speaking French, which I hadn’t done since I’d left university several years earlier. Having this goal also distracted me from the fact that I was visiting museums, galleries and restaurants alone, something that can seem almost taboo in a world set up for couples, pairs and groups.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Jill Mead/The Guardian

© Photograph: Jill Mead/The Guardian

Trump’s war with Iran signals perilous shift from showman to strongman

23 juin 2025 à 11:00

The emergence of Hawk Trump dismayed some of his Maga base but students of US adventurism were unsurprised

So the military parade that brought tanks to the streets of Washington on Donald Trump’s birthday was more than just an authoritarian ego trip. It was a show of strength and statement of intent.

Exactly a week later, sporting a “Make America great again” (Maga) cap in the situation room, the American president ordered the biggest US military intervention in decades as more than 125 aircraft and 75 weapons – including 14 bunker-busting bombs – struck three Iranian nuclear sites. Trump called it a “spectacular military success” – but it remains unclear how much damage had actually been inflicted.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Doug Mills/Reuters

© Photograph: Doug Mills/Reuters

‘Full of delightful surprises’: why Spy is my feelgood movie

23 juin 2025 à 11:00

The latest in our series of writers recommending their go-to comfort watches is an ode to Paul Feig’s 2015 comedy starring a never-better Melissa McCarthy

It has a plot and a cast that seem cooked up during a hallucinatory fever dream. It shouldn’t work, but it does – and so splendidly, too. In Paul Feig’s comedy Spy, Melissa McCarthy plays Susan Cooper, a timid CIA desk agent who gets sent out into the field by her fearsome boss (Alison Janney) after the death of her slick Bond-like colleague, Bradley Fine (Jude Law, in a rare comedic turn). The cast is full of delightful surprises. Rose Bryne is a stiletto-clad Oxford-educated villainess with quips so brutal that she makes Regina George look like Barney. Peter Serafinowicz does a game turn as an – admittedly very pre-#MeToo – cringey Italian pervert figure named Aldo (“like the shoe store found in American malls”).

And in the film’s most magnificent twist, Jason Statham parodies the hard-as-nails action leads he’s played over the years as a hard-edged buffoon with “a habit of doing things that people say I can’t do: walk through fire, water-ski blindfolded, take up piano at a late age”. That’s not even to mention whatever it is that’s going on between the English comedian Miranda Hart, who stars as Susan’s best friend and co-conspirator, and American rapper 50 Cent, who plays himself.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Larry Horricks/PR

© Photograph: Larry Horricks/PR

There are more C-section births in the UK than ever, so why is the stigma against them still so strong? | Hannah Marsh

23 juin 2025 à 11:00

The punishing but enduring ‘too posh to push’ fallacy is still prevalent and judgment abounds. This has to change

There was nothing about giving birth that didn’t feel personal, from the agony of my 30-hour induced labour to my eventual journey to the operating theatre where my son was delivered by emergency caesarean section. At that point, I had no idea that I was part of an upward trend in the number of C-sections. Rates of the procedure are rising globally, but it is particularly stark in the UK. When I gave birth in 2017, 29% of births in England took place by C-section. In 2025, that figure stands at 42%.

Why is this happening? There are leading voices within obstetrics, some of whom I spoke to while researching, who put it firmly down to rising levels of obesity, and the increased risks that come with it – including being more likely to need a C-section. But obesity intersects with other risk factors for pregnancy and birth complications, such as social deprivation. And then there is the fact that so many of us are having our babies later than previous generations – age being yet another risk factor for complications during pregnancy and birth, including a higher likelihood of having a C-section. Evidently, it’s a complex picture, and there is not one clear answer.

Hannah Marsh is the author of Thread: A Caesarean story of myth, magic and medicine

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Jeff Gilbert/Alamy

© Photograph: Jeff Gilbert/Alamy

Perfumed With Mint review – poetic Egyptian stoner flick reveals inertia of failed revolution

23 juin 2025 à 10:00

Debut from Muhammad Hamdy, who won an Emmy for his cinematography, features dramatic chiaroscuros and panning shots to rival Antonioni

Muhammad Hamdy’s debut feature is what you might call an Egyptian stoner flick – if Cheech and Chong were a pair of exhausted, poetry-spouting revolutionaries roaming a broken-down necropolis. Hashish is the means of dulling painful memories and, apparently, preventing subcutaneous eruptions of mint, in this distinctive and stubborn-headed post-Arab-Spring reckoning which comes with magic-realist overtones.

Bahaa (Alaa El Din Hamada) is a disaffected doctor who, on hearing a woman’s complaint about being unable to stop her dead son manifesting, passes her a joint. Wandering through a set of decrepit apartments in a becalmed nocturnal purgatory, pursued by sprinting shadows and bemoaning his lost love Dalal, it seems he and his friend Mahdy (Mahdy Abo Bahat) have joined the ranks of the ghosts themselves. These ruins are psychological as much as anything: their dealer, a former Black Block activist, laments the failed revolution. Another acquaintance laments the 171 bullets that ended his life. There is much lamentation.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: PR

© Photograph: PR

Woody Johnson signs £190m deal to buy John Textor’s shares in Crystal Palace

23 juin 2025 à 09:31
  • Premier League likely to ratify sale within four weeks

  • Move expected to clear way for Palace to play in Europe

Woody Johnson has agreed a deal to buy John Textor’s stake in Crystal Palace, with a sale to the New York Jets owner likely to be ratified by the Premier League within four weeks.

In a move that could be a major boost to Palace’s hopes of playing in next season’s Europa League, it is understood that Johnson’s offer of £190m for Textor’s 44.9% stake was signed on Sunday evening in the US. The 78-year-old, who has owned the Jets since 2000 and missed out on buying Chelsea in 2022 after making a $2bn offer, mustpass the Premier League’s owners’ and directors’ test before he can complete the purchase. But it is understood that with Palace under pressure from Uefa to comply with its regulations on multi club ownership, the league is expected to act swiftly to aid their cause.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Sean M Haffey/Getty Images

© Photograph: Sean M Haffey/Getty Images

Tell us: what are your experiences of buying a home in Australia?

21 juin 2025 à 22:53

We want to hear about your search for a home in this competitive market. How long have you been looking and are investors outbidding you?

Australia has one of the most unaffordable property markets in the world, arguably made worse by tax breaks for investors.

The share of investors buying homes has consistently grown over the past 25 years at the expense of prospective owner-occupiers. That trend threatens to accelerate again as younger buyers get priced out of the market amid another surge in property prices.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: ginevre/Getty Images

© Photograph: ginevre/Getty Images

Defence spending target of 5% GDP a ‘quantum leap’ in security, says Nato’s Rutte– Europe live

23 juin 2025 à 17:46

Ukrainian president to hold talks with UK PM after meeting with king

For more updates on the Israel-Iran war, including US president Donald Trump’s call to “make Iran great again”, you can also follow our live blog here run by Jane Clinton:

Let’s stop for a moment on that question of the EU-Israel association agreement, which sees Spain calling for immediate suspension of the deal, while Germany appears to be distancing itself from it.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Kirsty Wigglesworth/AP

© Photograph: Kirsty Wigglesworth/AP

Is it true that … power poses boost your confidence?

23 juin 2025 à 09:00

Striking a superhero stance is unlikely to change your emotions, but it could help conquer those difficult moments

You may have noticed it before: someone standing feet apart, hands on hips, chest out. Or maybe you’ve done it yourself before a job interview or big presentation. This is “power posing” – the idea that striking a bold posture can make you feel more confident and improve performance. But does it work?

The concept took off in the early 2010s. “A few studies seemed to show if you expanded your body position, it would change your psychological state,” says Professor Ian Robertson of Trinity College Dublin and author of How Confidence Works. “Other studies showed that it could alter testosterone levels, boosting motivation.”

Continue reading...

© Illustration: Edith Pritchett/The Guardian

© Illustration: Edith Pritchett/The Guardian

Endling by Maria Reva review – a Ukrainian caper upended by war

23 juin 2025 à 08:00

Jaw-dropping formal invention turns this witty heist tale of endangered snails and ‘mail-order’ brides into an urgent dispatch about writing during conflict

Maria Reva’s dexterous and formally inventive debut novel is impossible to review without giving away a major surprise. I do this with a heavy heart: one of the pleasures of this book is the jaw‑dropping coup de théâtre that comes halfway through. Until that point, Endling offers its readers the pleasures of a more or less conventional novel.

The central character is a misanthropic obsessive called Yeva who drives a converted campervan around the countryside of her native Ukraine, rescuing endangered snails. She’s hoping to get them to breed, but some turn out to be endlings – the last living member of a species. First coined in the 1990s, the word was unknown to me before I read this book, but the tragic biological checkmate it describes is older than history. Aurochs, dodos, quaggas, mammoths and Tasmanian tigers must all have culminated in an endling.

Snails weren’t pandas – those oversize bumbling toddlers that sucked up national conservation budgets – or any of the other charismatic megafauna, like orcas or gorillas. Snails weren’t huggy koala bears, which in reality were vicious and riddled with chlamydia. Nor were snails otters, which looked like plush toys made for mascots by aquariums, despite the fact that they lured dogs from beaches to drown and rape them.

Continue reading...

© Illustration: Tetra Images/Alamy

© Illustration: Tetra Images/Alamy

Travels in Moominland: summer in Tove Jansson’s Finland

23 juin 2025 à 08:00

The children’s book author spent the precious long Nordic days in simple, off-grid cabins on small dreamy islands – a tradition many Finns still follow

It’s after 10pm and the sky has only just lost the high blue of the day. Sitting by the Baltic Sea, toes in the water, I gaze at distant, tree-covered islands as gentle waves lap over the long, flat rocks. I follow a rough, winding path back to my cabin, through woods so quiet you can hear the pine needles fall.

I’m in Santalahti woods, near Kotka on the south-east coast of Finland, on the trail of Finnish author, novelist, painter and illustrator Tove Jansson (1914-2001). Best known as creator of the Moomins, and for her love of island living, Jansson also wrote for adults. Last year, her first novel, The Summer Book, was made into a film starring Glenn Close and directed by Charlie McDowell. One film critic has described it as “an ode to Finnish archipelago nature”.

Continue reading...

© undefined Photograph: PR IMAGE

© undefined Photograph: PR IMAGE

Majority of children will be overweight or obese in nine areas of England by 2035, study shows

23 juin 2025 à 08:00

Exclusive: Analysis by Royal Society for Public Health suggests obesity rates will rise in 90% of the country

The majority of children will be overweight or obese in nine areas of England by 2035, according to “deeply concerning” projections showing child obesity rates are set to worsen across 90% of the country.

More than a third of primary school children (36%) are already overweight or obese, figures from the government’s national child measurement programme show.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Paula Solloway/Alamy

© Photograph: Paula Solloway/Alamy

An astonishing tale of Lamborghinis, cocaine and the need to make a quick buck: best podcasts of the week

TJ Dominguez opens up about his extraordinary life doing drug runs for Pablo Escobar. Plus, the incredible story of Hollywood legend Hedy Lamarr

Two days after his release from prison, TJ Dominguez opens up about a life where he ran the largest Lamborghini dealership in the world by day, then by night made $100m a month flying cocaine for Pablo Escobar. Host Jonathan Walton’s rapport-packed interview with him makes for a wild story – of how Dominguez only ended up there after being conned, desperately needing to make a quick buck to fulfil his late dad’s last wishes. Alexi Duggins
Widely available, episodes weekly

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Colombia Control Agency

© Photograph: Colombia Control Agency

A new start after 60: I had PTSD after surgery. Ceramics gave me the resilience to face the world again

23 juin 2025 à 07:55

Linda Pitcher was so self-conscious after cancer surgery that removed part of her nose, she wouldn’t even answer the front door. Now, at 61, she’s a successful artist showing her work in public

For many months after skin cancer surgery, Linda Pitcher couldn’t leave the house. She avoided answering the front door, and if she had to go into her local village, she wore a hat and pulled it low. Now, at 61, she is taking part in her first major ceramics exhibition, at London’s New Designers next month, where she will look visitors in the eye. “It’s nerve-racking. But I’m going,” she says.

Pitcher has not only had to overcome cancer, but also post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) triggered by the surgery, which entailed removing a large part of her nose. When the bandages were unwound after her first skin graft, the nurse held up a full-length mirror. “I fainted. I was sitting down, but I fell to the right. Half my nose had gone. Then you’ve got to walk out to your life and see people. No, no,” she says. “There was no support. I was so self-conscious.”

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Joann Randles/The Guardian

© Photograph: Joann Randles/The Guardian

Rich Americans flock to apply for New Zealand’s ‘golden visas’ after rules relaxed

23 juin 2025 à 07:37

Coalition government loosened requirements for its Active Investor Plus visa in bid to boost flagging economy

Wealthy Americans are leading the charge in applications for New Zealand’s “golden visas” after rules on applying were relaxed.

New Zealand’s coalition government in February loosened the requirements for its Active Investor Plus visa – commonly known as the golden visa – offering residency to wealthy foreigners in a bid to boost the flagging economy.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Rob Arnold/Alamy

© Photograph: Rob Arnold/Alamy

NHS begins mass rollout of weight-loss jabs to patients in England

23 juin 2025 à 01:01

About 220,000 patients expected to receive Mounjaro over three years as GPs can prescribe the drugs for the first time

Thousands of patients in England will be able to access weight-loss jabs via their GP from Monday for the first time.

The mass rollout on the NHS means family doctors will be allowed to prescribe the drugs for the first time. About 220,000 people with “greatest need” are expected to receive Mounjaro, also known as tirzepatide and made by Eli Lilly, on the NHS over the next three years.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: MK Photo/Alamy

© Photograph: MK Photo/Alamy

Western leaders call for diplomacy, but they won’t stop this war – they refuse to even name its cause | Nesrine Malik

23 juin 2025 à 07:00

The political centre sees the US and Israel’s war on Iran as a crisis to be managed, while the gap between their detached rhetoric and bloody reality widens

Since the war on Gaza started, the defining dynamic has been of unprecedented anger, panic and alarm from the public, swirling around an eerily placid political centre. The feeble response from mainstream liberal parties is entirely dissonant with the gravity of the moment. As the US joins Israel in attacking Iran, and the Middle East heads toward a calamitous unravelling, their inertness is more disorienting than ever. They are passengers in Israel’s war, either resigned to the consequences or fundamentally unwilling to even question its wisdom. As reality screams at politicians across the west, they shuffle papers and reheat old rhetoric, all while deferring to an Israel and a White House that have long taken leave of their senses.

At a time of extreme geopolitical risk the centre presents itself as the wise party in the fracas, making appeals for cool heads and diplomacy, but is entirely incapable of addressing or challenging the root cause. Some are afraid to even name it. Israel has disappeared from the account, leaving only a regrettable crisis and a menacing Iran. The British prime minister, Keir Starmer, has called for de-escalation. But he referred to the very escalation he wishes to avoid – the US’s involvement – as an alleviation of the “grave threat” posed by Iran, all the while building up UK forces in the Middle East.

Nesrine Malik is a Guardian columnist

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Suzanne Plunkett/Reuters

© Photograph: Suzanne Plunkett/Reuters

Bacardi Breezers to BuzzBallz: why gen Z aren’t the booze buzzkills we’ve been led to believe

Research suggests younger drinkers socialise for longer and embrace bolder, boozier options as drinks companies pivot to catch up

You can tell a lot about a generation from the contents of their cool box: nowadays the barbecue ice bucket is likely to be filled with hard seltzers, non-alcoholic beers and fluorescent BuzzBallz – a particular favourite among gen Z.

Two decades ago, it was WKD, Bacardi Breezers and the odd Smirnoff Ice bobbing in a puddle of melted ice. And while nostalgia may have brought back some alcopops, the new wave of ready-to-drink (RTD) options look and taste noticeably different.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Maskot/Getty Images

© Photograph: Maskot/Getty Images

‘Get ready to sweat!’ The animal mega-marathon stampeding from the Congo to the Arctic

23 juin 2025 à 06:00

Why is a huge pack of puppet animals, from tiny monkeys to towering elephants, making a 20,000km cross-planet odyssey? As The Herds nears the UK, our writer spends a week as an antelope to find out

Wide-eyed, a child peers at the metre-long corkscrew horns rising above the crowd. She takes in the enormous raggedy hide and the strangeness of the wild creature stomping through her streets. Up ahead, a giraffe peeks warily through a first-floor window as a zebra skitters backwards from a growling dog. “Kudu, washa!” The instruction comes through my radio. We turn away from the child and hurl our hefty creature forwards. The crowd scatters. We thunder through the narrow alleys to catch up with the rest of The Herds.

In 2021, Little Amal, the puppet of a refugee child almost 4m tall, walked from the Syria-Turkey border to the UK. The Herds, from the same team, is even more ambitious. This new theatrical mega-marathon is shepherding a pack of life-size animal puppets a distance of 20,000km, from the Congo Basin to the Arctic Circle. More than 1,000 people will take part in creating the odyssey and, as the animals march into Marseille, I become one of them – as a volunteer puppeteer – for a galvanising (if sweaty) week.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Lukasz Michalak

© Photograph: Lukasz Michalak

‘We were all pretty privileged’: Allison Williams on Girls, nepo babies and toxic momfluencers

23 juin 2025 à 06:00

She made her name in Lena Dunham’s landmark series, then starred in Get Out. As she returns in M3gan 2.0, the sequel to the hit horror about a murderous AI doll, she talks about parenting in an age of smartphones, Botox and her famous father

If you had wandered the set of the film M3gan 2.0 last year, chances are you would have stumbled into M3gan, the terrifying humanoid doll, staring lifelessly while she waited to be called for her next scene. Sometimes she would stand in the corner of the soundstage, says Allison Williams with a nervy laugh. “The dilemma is: do you turn her around so she’s facing the wall, or do you let her face the room? Both answers are wrong.”

In the sequel to the sci-fi horror M3gan, Williams resumes her role as Gemma, a roboticist who has become a crusader against rampant and reckless AI development after her creation – developed for her orphaned niece – became murderous. (She is also a producer on the second film.)

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Billy Kidd/Walter Schupfer Management

© Photograph: Billy Kidd/Walter Schupfer Management

‘A timebomb’: could a French mine full of waste poison the drinking water of millions?

23 juin 2025 à 06:00

Scientists fear thousands of tonnes of chemicals dumped in mining tunnels in Alsace may seep into an aquifer, with devastating consequences for people and wildlife

Eight police officers linger with their backs to the two-hectare (five-acre) site known as Stocamine. The place is nondescript in the morning drizzle: two mine shafts, some modern-looking office buildings, a staff car park, lines of landscaped trees. The reason for the police presence, however, is what lies beneath: 42,000 tonnes of toxic waste stored under our feet.

Stocamine, which lies in the old industrial town of Wittelsheim, Alsace, once held an old potash mine. Now, the mine shafts are closed, storing poisonous waste from elsewhere. Above the mine shafts is one of Europe’s largest aquifers.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Sébastien Bozon/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Sébastien Bozon/AFP/Getty Images

In London and Paris, we’ve experienced vicious backlash to climate action. But we’re not backing down | Sadiq Khan and Anne Hidalgo

23 juin 2025 à 06:00

Around the world, well-funded, organised climate deniers are spreading lies about the crisis. We call on governments and tech companies to step up

  • Sadiq Khan is mayor of London and Anne Hidalgo is mayor of Paris

As mayors of two of the world’s great cities, we see every day how the climate emergency is already reshaping people’s lives, affecting the people and places we love. From deadly heatwaves and devastating floods to rising inequality and health crises driven by air pollution, the costs of inaction are not theoretical; they are measured in lives taken, homes destroyed and business revenue lost.

Ten years ago, the Paris agreement was signed, marking a turning point in the global fight against climate breakdown. But today, progress is being undermined by a deeply concerning threat: a surge in climate deniers and delayers spreading virulent disinformation. We mustn’t let this hope disappear as the world gathers in Belém at the end of 2025 for Cop30.

Sadiq Khan is mayor of London and co-chair of C40 Cities. Anne Hidalgo is mayor of Paris, global ambassador for the Global Covenant of Mayors and vice-chair of C40 Cities

Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Gonzalo Fuentes/Reuters

© Photograph: Gonzalo Fuentes/Reuters

Thunder beat Pacers in Game 7 to win franchise’s first NBA title in Oklahoma City

The Thunder became NBA champions on Sunday evening, topping the Indiana Pacers 103-91 to capture Oklahoma City’s first major pro sports title.

Oklahoma City’s Game 7 answer, as during their dominant regular season, was youth. NBA MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 29 points and dished 12 assists to lead his team, supported by strong efforts from forward Jalen Williams (20 points) and Chet Holmgren (18 points, eight rebounds). The game was won amid decibel counts above 100, with thousands of Thunder fans stamping in unison as the team’s trio of young stars pushed the club toward the franchise’s first title since moving from Seattle in 2008.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Manuela Soldi/EPA

© Photograph: Manuela Soldi/EPA

The strait of Hormuz: how could Iran close it and why does it matter to global trade?

23 juin 2025 à 14:48

Iran’s parliament approved a measure to close the vital global trade route, through which more than a fifth of the world’s oil supply passes through daily

President Donald Trump’s unprecedented decision to bomb three Iranian nuclear sites has deepened fears of a widening conflict in the Middle East.

Joining Israel in the biggest western military action against the Islamic Republic since its 1979 revolution, the world is now bracing for Iran’s response.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: NurPhoto/Getty Images

© Photograph: NurPhoto/Getty Images

Israel-Iran war live: Israel strikes Iran’s Fordow nuclear site and targets in Tehran

Israel says it has attacked Iranian security command centres, targets in Tehran including Evin prison, and access routes to the Fordow nuclear site

“Monumental damage” was done to “all Nuclear sites” in Iran during the US attack on the country at the weekend, Donald Trump has said in his latest comments, after officials said the extent of damage done remained unconfirmed. In a post on his social media platform Truth Social the US president wrote:

Monumental Damage was done to all Nuclear sites in Iran, as shown by satellite images. Obliteration is an accurate term! The white structure shown is deeply imbedded into the rock, with even its roof well below ground level, and completely shielded from flame. The biggest damage took place far below ground level. Bullseye!!!

The world has long agreed that Iran cannot be allowed to get a nuclear weapon and we support action to prevent that - that is what this is. The US action was directed at specific sites central to Iran’s nuclear program. We don’t want escalation and a full-scale war.

We continue to call for dialogue and for diplomacy. As I have said for many days now, we are deeply concerned about any escalation in the region and we want to see diplomacy, dialogue and de-escalation.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Maxar Technologies/Reuters

© Photograph: Maxar Technologies/Reuters

Arrests in France after scores report being attacked with syringes at street music festival

Interior ministry says 145 people across the country reported being stabbed with needles at Fête de la Musique events

French police have detained 12 suspects after 145 people reported being pricked with syringes during the country’s annual street music festival this weekend.

Millions of people took to the streets across France on Saturday evening for the Fête de la Musique, with authorities reporting “unprecedented crowds” in Paris.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Abdullah Firas/ABACA/Shutterstock

© Photograph: Abdullah Firas/ABACA/Shutterstock

Elio gives Pixar its worst ever box-office opening despite positive reviews

23 juin 2025 à 03:41

The studio’s low point reflects a global trend in which original ideas struggle against franchises and remakes

Pixar has had its worst box office opening ever with Elio, its new, alien-themed children’s animation, taking just an estimated US$21m in North America and $14m internationally, despite generally positive reviews.

Elio, about an orphaned boy whose dream of being abducted by (friendly) aliens comes true, struggled against the competition: DreamWorks’ live action remake of How To Train Your Dragon, which ate the competition with $37m in its second weekend; and Danny Boyle’s zombie threequel 28 Years Later, which landed 23 years after his cult classic 28 Days Later and took $30m in North America and $60m globally.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Universal Studios/PA

© Photograph: Universal Studios/PA

Mahmoud Khalil renews devotion to Palestinian freedom at New York rally

23 juin 2025 à 01:34

Activist condemns Columbia’s ‘shameful trustees’ but praises students’ courage after release from Ice detention

Mahmoud Khalil, the Palestinian rights activist, freed from Ice detention on Friday, returned to Columbia University on Sunday to renew his commitment to the cause of Palestinian freedom and opposition to both the university and the Trump administration.

Khalil arrived back in New York on Saturday after being released from more than 100 days in detention in Louisiana by a federal judge who ruled that punishing someone over a civil immigration matter was unconstitutional and ordered his immediate release on bail.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Angelina Katsanis/Reuters

© Photograph: Angelina Katsanis/Reuters

Reçu hier — 22 juin 2025The Guardian

‘Billionaires’ bonanza’: Labour derides Reform plan to offer tax exemptions to wealthy

23 juin 2025 à 12:51

Nigel Farage defends policy to top up poorest workers from £250,000 ‘landing fee’ on rich UK newcomers

Nigel Farage has defended his plans to attract wealthy individuals to the UK with a £250,000 fee for 10 years of residency and a special tax regime, as Labour called it a “billionaires’ bonanza”.

In a press conference in London, the leader of Reform UK said he wanted to win back very wealthy people leaving the country, and encourage them to spend and create jobs in the UK.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Jeff Moore/PA

© Photograph: Jeff Moore/PA

Islamic State suicide bombing in Damascus church leaves many dead and dozens injured

22 juin 2025 à 21:15

Evening attack is first major atrocity by Islamist terror group in Syria since President al-Assad was deposed

A suicide bombing by Islamic State (IS) targeting a church in Damascus has killed 22 people and wounded 63, Syrian state media have said.

The attack on Sunday night was the first major IS operation and the first suicide bombing in Syria since former Syrian president Bashar al-Assad was toppled in December and replaced by an Islamist-led government.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Mohammed Al Rifai/EPA

© Photograph: Mohammed Al Rifai/EPA

How the carefully planned US bombing of Iran’s nuclear facilities unfolded

22 juin 2025 à 20:28

Decoy B-2 flights and diplomatic misdirections meant Tehran was caught off guard by the overnight raids

Late on Friday night, eight US B-2 bombers took off from Whiteman air force base in Missouri and turned westwards towards the Pacific. Amateur flight trackers plotted their progress on social media as the black flying-wing warplanes joined up mid-air with refuelling tankers and checked in with air traffic controllers once they had reached the open ocean.

The movement of the B-2 bombers towards the US Pacific base on Guam triggered speculation that Donald Trump was arranging pieces on the board before a decision on whether to join Israel in bombing Iranian nuclear facilities.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Maxar Technologies/Reuters

© Photograph: Maxar Technologies/Reuters

The Guardian view on Trump bombing Iran: an illegal and reckless act | Editorial

22 juin 2025 à 19:11

The US president has chosen war at Israel’s behest. He may imagine he has scored an easy win, but the world is likely to pay a steep price

Donald Trump was predictably quick to claim victory following the illegal US strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities: “Completely and totally obliterated,” he crowed. Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel and sycophants at home rushed to fawn over his “courageous” and “brilliant” decision. The most senior US military official, Dan Caine, offered a more muted assessment: it was “way too early” to know the full outcome despite severe damage. We cannot yet know whether the blow has ended Iran’s nuclear aspirations – or will spur it to pursue the bomb. It may be weeks or months, too, before Iranian retaliation plays out, with all its potential repercussions.

Two nuclear-armed states have gone to war on the unevidenced claim that a third state is on the verge of acquiring its own nuclear arms. In March, the US director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, said Iran was not building weapons (though she has now scrambled to align with Mr Trump). Israel is clear that its attacks will continue, and has increasingly talked of regime change. The price is being paid not only by a reviled regime but by the Iranian people.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Abedin Taherkenareh/EPA

© Photograph: Abedin Taherkenareh/EPA

The Guardian view on extreme weather: build national readiness – or let everyday life keep breaking down | Editorial

22 juin 2025 à 19:10

Britain faces rising climate threats, yet lacks a country adaptation plan. Urgent, coordinated investment is needed to protect lives and infrastructure

Britain’s four-day heatwave – made 100 times more likely by the climate crisis – is expected to claim about 600 lives. Researchers say high temperatures from Thursday to Sunday would lead to a sharp rise in excess mortality, especially among older people in cities such as London and Birmingham. They forecast the deadliest day as Saturday, with temperatures above 32C and about 266 deaths. These are not abstract figures, but lives cut short by a threat we understand, yet remain unprepared for.

Young people seem to grasp this. In a YouGov poll last week, roughly a quarter of 18- to 24-year-olds said they hoped there would be a heatwave – while more than two-fifths of older people welcomed the sunshine. That generational split isn’t just cultural. It reflects an entirely rational anxiety: younger people face a future living in a climate emergency. The generation that caused and benefited from the conditions driving global heating will be gone long before the worst costs – financial, environmental, social – have to be paid.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Maureen McLean/REX/Shutterstock

© Photograph: Maureen McLean/REX/Shutterstock

Recovered Mike Lynch superyacht transferred to Sicilian town

22 juin 2025 à 17:48

Investigators can now examine the Bayesian in Termini Imerese to determine cause of sinking in a storm last year

The superyacht belonging to the late tech tycoon Mike Lynch has been moved to a town in Sicily where British and Italian investigators will examine its sinking.

Lynch and his daughter Hannah, 18, were among seven people who died when the Bayesian sank off the Italian coast on 19 August 2024.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Peter Byrne/PA

© Photograph: Peter Byrne/PA

How effective was the US attack on Iran’s nuclear sites? A visual guide

22 juin 2025 à 18:00

Trump claims the assault ‘totally obliterated’ the key facilities, but what do we know about its impact?

Donald Trump was quick to claim that US strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities had “completely and totally obliterated” them. Still, it remains unclear how much physical damage has been done or what the longer-term impact might be on Iran’s nuclear programme.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Maxar Technologies/Reuters

© Photograph: Maxar Technologies/Reuters

Israel kills innocent Palestinians. Activists spray-paint a plane. Guess which the UK government calls terrorism | Sally Rooney

22 juin 2025 à 16:19

If Palestine Action becomes a proscribed group, writing these words of support could become a serious offence. It’s vital we fight this alarming attack on free speech

On 20 June, in what has now become an appallingly familiar story, Israeli forces once again opened fire on Palestinians at an aid distribution site, this time killing 23 people. The same day, it was revealed that activists affiliated with the UK group Palestine Action had broken into an RAF base and defaced two military aircraft in an act of protest. One of these actions involved the intentional use of lethal violence against civilians, resulting in the deaths of 23 loved and irreplaceable human beings. The other involved no violence against any living things and resulted in no deaths or injuries. The UK government has now announced its intention to deal with one of these incidents as a terrorist offence. Guess which.

International organisations could hardly be more unanimous in their assessment that Israel is committing extremely grave war crimes in Gaza. In November last year, a UN special committee found that Israel’s campaign in Gaza was consistent with the characteristics of genocide. In December, an Amnesty International investigation concluded that Israel “has committed and is continuing to commit genocide”. Now, a series of unprovoked and illegal Israeli attacks on Iran have succeeded in drawing the US directly into war with Iran, in violation of US and international law. While massacres continue in Gaza, Israeli aggression threatens to ignite a major regional and perhaps even global conflict.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images

© Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images

I was diagnosed with PCOS – and was soon drowning in misinformation

22 juin 2025 à 15:00

From medically unqualified influencers pushing expensive supplements online, to nurses peddling myths about pregnancy, I had to find out all I could about my condition myself. This is what I’ve learned

I suspected I had polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) long before it was confirmed. The signs were there: the acne scars that littered my back, the irregular periods, the hair in places on my body that I didn’t see on many of my friends. I suspected it from the moment that one of my best friends, who as a girl taught me about bleaching my body hair and waxing my legs, was diagnosed with it as a teenager.

Admitting all this publicly feels like an unburdening, but also an invitation to more shame. But I write this because my experience is far from unique. As many as one in 10 women have PCOS, a condition associated with hormonal disturbances that can range from weight gain, “unwanted” body hair and hair loss, to irregular periods and struggles to conceive children (including an increased risk of miscarriage). It can leave women more likely to develop high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes and heart disease. It is not clear what causes PCOS, but it is known to be passed down generational lines and can be influenced by lifestyle.

Continue reading...

© Illustration: Veronyka Jelinek/The Guardian

© Illustration: Veronyka Jelinek/The Guardian

❌