Late-night hosts discuss AI at the defense department, new Trump tariffs and the Maga schism over the Epstein files
Late-night hosts mocked the Department of Defense’s contract with Elon Musk’s Grok AI, Donald Trump’s White House decor and Maga infighting over the Epstein files.
The Israeli military struck the Syrian defence ministry in Damascus twice on Wednesday as it intervened in the clashes between the Syrian army and Druze fighters in southern Syria in the country’s deadliest violence in months.
The strikes collapsed four floors of the ministry and ruined its facade. Syrian state media said at least two officers had been wounded and staff were reportedly sheltering in the building’s basement.
Ilyass Alba also said ‘goeiedag’ on train in Dutch-speaking region but he breached country’s strict language rules
A complaint against a Belgian ticket inspector who gave passengers a bilingual greeting in Dutch-speaking Flanders has been upheld, shedding light on the country’s strict language laws.
The conductor, Ilyass Alba, said Belgium’s Permanent Commission for Linguistic Control had upheld a complaint made by a commuter in 2024. The passenger had objected to Alba’s use of the French word “bonjour” while the train was in Dutch-speaking Flanders.
In heart-tugging drama Mix Tape, two ex-lovers are thrown back together with the music they wooed each other with 20 years earlier. Here, writers dig out their most treasured tapes and CDs full of meaning, mishaps and mega-tunes
At 18 my go-to albums were Dog Man Star, His ’n’ Hers and a mix tape called Really, Basically, In a Sort of a Way, Volume 1. Named after the mutterings of a particularly long-winded lecturer, it was the first of many TDK D60s – always the same brand! – from my mate Pat. We had met at our university’s registration day a few weeks earlier and would be friends for more than 20 years until his death in 2018. By then he’d not only been on staff at the NME – teenage Pat’s dream job – but also written a book about its history.
Destruction is the order of the day as DK embarks on his first standalone adventure in a decade. The team behind his return reveal all
When you think of Nintendo, it’s almost impossible not to picture Donkey Kong. The ape that started it all, Donkey Kong’s tie-donning, barrel-launching arcade antics introduced Mario to the world and almost bankrupted Nintendo in the process, after a near-miss legal battle over alleged King Kong copyright infringement. Yet despite Donkers’ undeniable place in gaming history – and obligatory appearances in Smash Bros and Mario Kart – for the last few console generations, Donkey Kong platformers have been MIA. Enter DK’s first standalone adventure in 11 years, Donkey Kong Bananza.
While Mario’s recent adventures saw him exploring the reaches of outer space or deftly possessing enemies with an anthropomorphic hat, DK’s grand return is all about primal rage. Employing a similar voxel-based technology to Minecraft, DK’s Switch 2 adventure swaps the former’s thoughtful Lego-esque world-building for gleeful destruction, letting players shatter every colourful level into smithereens.
‘When I look at this photograph I want to be that guy. He’s super alive and in the moment. Everything about it is energising, masculine, powerful’
I’m not a cowboy and I don’t ride horses, but I’ve been around them my whole life. My dad had a furniture store near the stockyards in south Omaha, and I would watch the cattle being moved between pens ready to go to auction. I sensed a freedom in the cowboys that I related to. I’ve always been an explorer, it’s my nature. I’m more comfortable and I feel most alive in situations I’m not familiar with. I am always drawn to this same type – I’ve photographed test pilots and astronauts – the strong, quiet, self-directed types who seem to be in control of their destiny.
This shot of Mark, a friend of mine, was taken in 2014. All my images are productions, I don’t just happen to be there. I build a narrative and visit locations – it’s more like making a movie, it’s very intentional. I scout locations that connect to what I want to represent. This was a rugged area of northern Colorado. The shoot was really about speed and energy, and I wanted open spaces that could allow the cowboys to do what they wanted. I wanted harder surfaces and dramatic skies – although you never really know what you’re going to get. I take references from historical paintings and drawings of the American west, and ideas I carry on pieces of paper, so I go with a visual feel of what I want to do. I wanted to separate the colours of the landscape: the colour of the hat, the horse, its saddle blanket, were all selected deliberately. The image is all about power and grace – the gesture of the animal is so forceful, and the cowboy is so in control.
For Sami Tamimi, preparing the food of his homeland is an act of resilience and keeping his culture alive
Food is both deeply personal and political for Sami Tamimi, the Palestinian chef and food writer, whose first solo cookbook is an emotional culinary ride down memory lane through the bountiful seasons of his homeland – and an effort to preserve the ingredients, techniques and traditions which have long been targeted by the Israeli occupation.
Boustany: A Celebration of Vegetables from My Palestine is a masterclass on how less is so often more when it comes to creating food that connects with people and how the joy derived from cooking and sharing food can, in itself, be an act of resistance.
Bigger Cup is up and running, baby, as we officially wave goodbye to “last season” and welcome “this season”. The question of when we enter a new campaign is eternally asked; it’s like the quandary of where the north of England starts (anything above Bristol Stoke, if you were wondering), and Football Daily is happy to provide the definitive answer of … roundabout now. Tuesday’s first qualifying round second legs brought the drama Uefa desperately needs to make the competition entertaining before the drudge of matches from September to January. Unfortunately for the suits in Switzerland, almost certainly none of the teams currently playing in the qualifying rounds will reach the league stage but we should let Hamrun Spartans, Lincoln Red Imps and Drita dream … for a bit. At the same time, the prospect of facing Real Madrid, Paris Saint-Germain, Liverpool and FC Basel is over for another year for the likes of The New Saints, Differdange 03 and Virtus, who will have to wipe away the tears, pull their socks up and go again in Tin Pot.
Apropos the article on Puma’s deal with Manchester City (yesterday’s Football Daily), a shout out please for their retro-inspired 2025-26 strips produced for Port Vale’s 150th anniversary. Pleasingly sponsor-free and designed by supporters (OK, the boss’s son) rather than some PR wonk, they are the absolute business” – Rob Ford.
Re: yesterday’s Football Daily letters. For the last 30 years I’ve lived roughly a Rory Delap throw-in away from the Auld Triangle/Plimsoll in Finsbury Park. On a visit to the Irish Emigration Musuem in Dublin a few years ago, my daughter was surprised to see a faithful reproduction of the pre-gastro incarnation set up as an example of the type of pub that the Irish diaspora has created around the world. I’ve no idea if it is still an exhibit there, but possibly worth a trip for anyone who misses the old days. I don’t think they have a replica Robbie doing the quiz, mind” – Brendan Mackinney.
Club says 31-year-old must undergo counselling to return
Clark threw driver at US PGA Championship in May
The former US Open champion Wyndham Clark, who is competing this week at Portrush, has been banned by the prestigious Oakmont Country Club after damaging lockers in a fit of pique during the staging of the event this year.
Oakmont has insisted Clark undergoes anger management help if he wants to be allowed back in to the Pittsburgh venue. The move is as sensational as it is unprecedented towards a player of Clark’s standing. The 31-year-old represented the US in the last Ryder Cup.
Silivri was once just a getaway town. An hour’s drive west of Istanbul, it was famed for its lavender, its yoghurt, and its summer houses dotted along the Marmara Sea. But to most in Turkey now, Silivri means something different: not the town, but the mega-complex a little further down the coast. This is the prison that since March has held the Istanbul mayor – and rival to president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan – Ekrem İmamoğlu, as he awaits trial for corruption – and now, the place where he has been given a twenty month sentence, in another of the litany of charges against him, for insulting and ‘threatening’ a public official.
It started taking in prisoners in 2008. Turkish coverage at the time marvelled at the size. Here was a complex – a “campus”, in the new lingo – made of nine separate prisons, spread across almost 1m sq metres, and with a stated capacity of 11,000 people. For the on-site staff alone, there were 500 apartments, a mosque, a market and restaurant, and a primary school for their children. As one prisoner would later write, he would hear them from his cell singing the Turkish national anthem in the playground.
Democratic NYC mayoral nominee seeks to ease tensions with business leaders and critics over controversial phrase
Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic nominee for New York mayor, has told business leaders in the city he will not use the phrase “globalize the intifada” and discourage others from doing so, according to reports.
Mamdani, a democratic socialist who won the Democratic nomination last month, has been under pressure to clarify his position on the phrase that many regard as a call to violence against Jews, and one that he had previously declined to condemn.
Anger deepens among animal rights campaigners as court rules hunt can go ahead despite officials killing wrong bear
The hunt for a brown bear that bit a man on the elbow can resume, a Norwegian court has ruled, deepening anger among animal rights campaigners after officials shot the wrong bear.
The Norwegian environment agency issued a bear-culling order in late June in Jarfjord, near the border with Russia, after a female bear bit a man’s arm and left him needing stitches. The decision caused outrage after nature inspectors who were tracking her lost the trail and killed a male bear by mistake.
China supplies most rare earth magnets to electronics manufacturers, but curbed exports earlier this year
Apple has signed a $500m deal with a US firm for rare earth magnets, essential for manufacturing electronics, after China curbed exports of the scarce, vital materials.
The backing from one of the world’s most valuable companies comes after MP Materials, which operates the only US rare earths mine, last week agreed to a multibillion-dollar deal with the US Department of Defense that will see the Pentagon become its largest shareholder. Both deals are aimed at mitigating supply chain risks after China limited the outgoing supply of rare earths earlier this year in response to Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs.
Istanbul’s mayor and Turkey’s leading opposition figure, Ekrem İmamoğlu, has been given a 20-month prison sentence for insulting and threatening the city’s public prosecutor, according to a court document obtained by Agence France-Presse.
The case is one of a number lined up against İmamoğlu, the main rival of the country’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. He is already being held over an investigation into alleged corruption.
Anderson report recommends potential large expansion of Prevent to include individuals with no fixed ideology
The Prevent anti-terrorism scheme missed chances to protect the public from the attacker who assassinated the MP Sir David Amess, and from the youth who murdered three young girls at a Southport dance class, an official report has found.
The report is by David Anderson, the interim independent reviewer of Prevent, the official scheme to spot potential terrorists and turn them away from violence.
How Englishman fulfilled his own prophecy to triumph against the odds at the 1951 championship
“Max Faulkner. Open champion 1951”. Faulkner signed those words for a young fan who had offered up a golf ball en route to the first tee of the final round at Royal Portrush. He regretted it almost immediately. While he held a commanding six-shot lead before the 1951 Open’s last 18 holes, there now existed an embarrassing piece of evidence should he fail to deliver.
Fortunately for Faulkner, despite an errant drive on the 1st hole, he went on to fulfil his prophecy by two strokes. It would take 18 years before another English golfer, Tony Jacklin, hoisted the Claret Jug.
Debra Crew’s tenure marked by shock profits warning, adverse global consumer trends and investor disquiet
Diageo, which owns the Guinness and Johnnie Walker brands, is to replace its embattled chief executive, ending her rocky tenure in charge of the British alcoholic drinks firm.
In a statement to the stock market, Diageo said it had begun the hunt for a successor to Debra Crew, who the company said had stepped down “by mutual agreement”.
Nintendo Switch 2; Nintendo Given that its hero can smash through any barrier – which is delightful fun in itself – Nintendo’s new 3D platformer has a surreal freeform audacity
A lot rests on Donkey Kong Bananza. As Nintendo’s first major single-player Switch 2 game, it will set the quality bar for the console in the way Breath of the Wild did when the original Switch was released. But as the latest game from the team responsible for the exceptional 3D Mario series, it is already begrudged by some Nintendo fans as a distraction: what could possibly be so exciting about a tie-wearing gorilla to justify making Bananza ahead of another Super Mario Odyssey?
Donkey Kong demolishes those concerns. He demolishes a lot in Bananza. It may resemble a Mario 64-style 3D platformer on the surface, with its themed worlds festooned with giant bananas to sniff out and collect, but DK’s fists show total disregard for the playground as built. All terrain is destructible. Mash the buttons and his powerful arms thump tunnels through hills, pound pristine lawns into muddy craters and tear up wodges of stone to swing as sledgehammers for even speedier landscaping. He is less a platforming mascot than a potassium-powered level editor.
Many naturally sweet vegetable odds and ends might seem destined for the compost, but they could also be repurposed and pressed into service as a fancy cake
To celebrate 10 years of writing for the Guardian and seven years of this column, I thought it would be fitting to bake a cake inspired by where Waste Not began: my food compost bin. I looked through the fridge and raw compost bin, and found some squash, carrots, apples, cucumber ends, a knob of ginger and a woody stick of lemongrass; I even considered a red cabbage leaf, but decided that brassicas are best kept out of the baking tin. The compost bin is more than a place for leftovers, it’s a source of inspiration, as well as a way to reflect on what we waste; it can even guide us towards cooking more resourcefully and creatively.
Brentford fail with move for Ipswich’s Omari Hutchinson
Bournemouth seal signing of Chelsea keeper Petrovic
Manchester United’s push to buy Bryan Mbeumo has stalled after Brentford raised their valuation to closer to £70m, with Sir Jim Ratcliffe intent on not being pushed into paying more than his club’s £65m valuation of the forward.
Mbeumo has told Brentford he wants to join United, and at the end of June Ratcliffe and Jason Wilcox, his director of football, believed a £65m package would land the 25-year-old. Brentford also privately indicated a medical was expected imminently.
There’s about 8km left of the neutralised start. On the TV coverage, reporters have been asking the riders how they spent the rest day. Both Jonas Vingegaard and Tadej Pogačar say they had haircuts. Pogačar seemed very pleased that he’d had a ride with a proper cafe stop as well.
Bill has emailed in with his thoughts on today’s stage:
Given the profile of the parcours, I can’t see any breakaway thrilling heroics ending well, as the day sets in for the bunch sprint.
I’m genuinely pleased that Healy is in yellow, he got a proper stomp on on Monday, and seems to be in a position to keep hold of the jersey today. If he keeps his wits about him, it’s only his Toulouse.
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