Assisted dying is set to become law after a historic vote in parliament, as MPs passed Kim Leadbeater’s bill by 314 to 291 votes, a majority of 23, to legalise the procedure for terminally ill people.
Keir Starmer backed the bill which will now head to the House of Lords, though peers are not expected to block its progress.
Surge in violations to more than 40,000 – the highest since records began in 1996 – must serve as a ‘wake-up call’
A record number of children were subjected to acts of violence in conflict zones in 2024, with the number of incidents recorded rising by 25%, according to a UN report.
The UN security council’s annual report on children and armed conflict found 22,495 children in 2024 were killed, wounded, denied humanitarian support or recruited for conflict.
Already, the US Department of Energy (DoE) has ordered the JH Campbell coal plant on Lake Michigan to remain open beyond its 31 May closure date, while the administration is expected to prolong the life of the Monroe power plant on Lake Erie, currently scheduled to begin closing in 2028.
This gloriously green drink matches the bright mood of early summer, when the countryside is bursting with verdant life. If you like, halve the amount of whisky and replace it with 25ml amaretto, for a sweet, nutty twist.
Maddy Slack, bar and restaurant manager, Prawn on the Lawn, London N1 and Padstow, Cornwall
A new exhibition explores the late artist’s unexpected sojourn in Ireland, where practical constrictions and the wild scenery inspired a burst of fierce creativity
Sam Gilliam’s artistic life was bookended by success against the odds. In 1972, he became the first Black artist to represent the US at the world’s most prestigious art festival, the Venice Biennale. He had overcome poverty and prejudice in the south to study art at one of the first desegregated universities, and, after settling in Washington, was hailed as a radical innovator within the group of abstract painters dubbed the Color School.
Pushing his medium in new sculptural directions, he broke convention by taking his canvases off their wooden stretchers. His best-known colour-drenched works have an improvisatory quality, never installed the same way twice, whether they’re draped on the wall or hung tent-like from the ceiling.
Top chefs in this year’s World Region of Gastronomy are looking back as they shift from avant-garde cuisine to something more homespun
They revolutionised cooking worldwide with radical techniques and a highly technical cuisine of playful trompe l’oeil – but now many disciples of Catalonia’s iconoclastic chef Ferran Adrià believe it’s time to get back to their roots.
Catalonia has been named World Region of Gastronomy 2025 by the International Institute of Gastronomy, Culture, Arts and Tourism and later this month 60 Michelin-starred chefs will launch a campaign to position Catalonia as a unique and exceptional gastronomic destination.
This is a war of choice, based on misinformation. If the US and UK join it, they risk a rerun of the Iraq debacle of 2003
Like the US-led invasion and occupation of Iraq in 2003, Israel’s war on Iran is neither legal nor just. It is a war of choice, not of necessity – and should the US or its European allies, particularly Britain, join in, they risk being dragged into another disastrous and unlawful conflict in the Middle East.
A US military intervention would be in direct contravention of international law. Already, the US, once the architect and guardian of the international order, is now among its chief violators. Instead of pressuring Benjamin Netanyahu to end his siege and destruction of Gaza, Donald Trump has fully sided with Netanyahu and called Israel’s attacks on Iran “excellent”. He has demanded Iran’s “unconditional surrender”. Trump is considering military strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities. Doing so is explicitly prohibited under article 56 of the additional protocol to the Geneva conventions because of the danger of nuclear contamination.
Fawaz Gerges is professor of international relations at the London School of Economics. His most recent book is The Great Betrayal: The Struggle for Freedom and Democracy in the Middle East
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Four hundred distribution points have dwindled to four under this private and militarised ‘aid’ system. This is not how to avert a famine
James Elder is Unicef’s global spokesperson
Abed Al Rahman, just a boy, carried the weight of his family’s hunger as he stepped into the streets of Gaza in search of bread. He had his father’s money, but when he saw the tide of people pushing towards a food distribution site in Rafah, hunger pulled him into their flow.
Almost immediately, the site descended into chaos. Gunfire. Drones. Then in a flash, shrapnel from a tank shell ripped through his little body. When I met him at a hospital in Khan Younis – where painkillers, like food, are scarce – the 13-year-old was in agony. “I have shrapnel inside my body that they couldn’t remove,” he told me. “I am in real pain; since 6am I have been asking for a painkiller.” As he recounted the chaos, his father’s composure shattered, and tears rolled down his face. Was he going to lose his son simply because Abed Al Rahman wanted his family to eat?
James Elder is Unicef’s global spokesperson
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.
Groceries Code Adjudicator calls on suppliers to share their experiences of working with Amazon
The number of companies collapsing across England and Wales jumped last month, in a sign of the economic pressures hitting firms.
There were 2,238 company insolvences in England and Wales during the month, which is 8% higher than in April and 15% more than in May 2024.
“This latest rise in corporate insolvencies reflects the harsh reality many businesses face: fragile demand is not keeping pace with rising costs. Even the increasingly-likely prospect of rate cuts in August won’t do much to fix this – insolvency levels will remain elevated for the foreseeable future.
“Sectors like hospitality are having a particularly challenging time in this environment, in no small part due to the impact on labour costs of April’s National Insurance and minimum wage increases. These businesses are now approaching what are some of their peak months and will be hoping for strong trading to bolster their resilience. If this doesn’t materialise, then they could be facing a short road ahead.
Nursery worker would not have been convicted of Genevieve Meehan’s manslaughter without footage, parents say
The weekend before Genevieve Meehan died was one of the best of her short life.
The nine-month-old with the beaming smile and emerald eyes was leaping through her milestones: she had taken her first tentative steps, hands clasped to her mother’s, and said her first word: “Dadda”. She tried on sunglasses and a swimsuit for their first family holiday two months later.
F1 and Liberty Media went to great lengths to assist filming, with star’s APX team embedded within the sport
After the British Grand Prix last year the drivers took their places in the media zone to conduct interviews, with Formula One world champions Lewis Hamilton, Max Verstappen and Fernando Alonso among them. Yet it was all but impossible not to cast a glance sideways as Brad Pitt nonchalantly strolled out to face the microphones and cameras of his own, entirely staged, media scrum.
None of us in the media pack openly goggled at the fact that Hollywood’s A-list had joined the sweaty throng, because Pitt was there filming what would become F1 the Movie. And we, as with everyone else, were under strict instructions to behave normally.
Right on time for the return of the chill out era, the New York producer traces a hypnotic path on an album that bobs along on sleepy breakbeats and angelic atmospherics
From New York Recommended if you like Caroline Polachek, Voice Actor, Vegyn
Up next New album Friend released via AD 93 on 5 September
Pull up your beanbag, light a lava lamp and crack open the Vicks VapoRub: downtempo is back. New compilation Telepathic Fish documents the 90s south London ambient night; Logic1000’s latest DJ-Kicks mix would barely register on an ECG; there’s none more languid than even the summer’s flagship pop album, Addison by Addison Rae. New York producer and musician James K has been dabbling in trip-hop – and various shades of experimental pop and club music – for more than a decade, but nonetheless, her new album, Friend, arrives right on time for summer’s wind down. (What is autumn if not the chill out room to escape the year’s most hectic season?)
Fox by Joyce Carol Oates; A Schooling in Murder by Andrew Taylor; Death of a Diplomat by Eliza Reid; Actually, I’m a Murderer by Terry Deary; Can You Solve the Murder? by Antony Johnston
Fox by Joyce Carol Oates (4th Estate, £18.99) In this hefty, immersive study of gullibility, complicity and betrayal, English teacher Francis Fox is a predator, all the more dangerous for being charming enough to beguile everyone from his adoring pupils to the teachers and parents at Langhorne Academy, the smart New Jersey boarding school where – aided by a change of name – he has obtained a post after leaving his previous job under a cloud. Fox chooses his victims carefully: his “little kittens”, all in his preferred 12-to-14 age group, have literary leanings and absent fathers, and feel validated by the attention he pays them. When the parts of Fox’s body that haven’t been consumed by wildlife are pulled out of a local swamp, it falls to world-weary detective Horace Zwender to work out what’s been going on. Peppered with exclamation marks, breathless and febrile, this is an utterly mesmeric account of how one man’s crimes can affect an entire community.
Like many other international students I have had my educational dreams suspended without reason – and learned plenty about racism and resilience
Next May, I should be walking across a stage at Harvard – my two-year-old daughter in my arms, my name called out, my doctoral hood placed over shoulders that have carried far more than academic ambition.
It was going to be more than a graduation. It was to be a culmination, a reclamation. My daughter’s presence would symbolise not only my personal triumph but the very journey that led me here: discovering my own uterine fibroid when I decided to become a mother inspired my doctorate.
With a four-decade career beginning at Capcom in the 8-bit era, Shimomura is one of the most acclaimed names in gaming. She recalls her early struggles – and explains why her beloved classical music fits best with RPGs
Alfred Hitchcock, David Attenborough, Harold Pinter, Stanley Kubrick, Ridley Scott, Hideo Kojima – these are just a few of the recipients of the Bafta fellowship, the highest honour the academy can bestow. Japanese composer Yoko Shimomura is the latest to receive the accolade; one of only 17 women and four Japanese people to have done so. She is also the first video-game composer to be recognised by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, and the first composer recognised at all since John Barry in 2005.
It is with good reason that the academy has honoured her. Shimomura is an icon. You’ll know her music from Street Fighter, Final Fantasy, Super Mario, Kingdom Hearts, Legend of Mana, Streets of Rage and more than 70 other games she has contributed original compositions or arrangements to. Her 37-year-long career has seen her record at Abbey Road Studios, have her music played by symphonic orchestras around the world, and work in genres ranging from rock to electronica, ambient to industrial, pop to opera. And yet Shimomura seems unchanged by her success.
Britain’s driving force on EuroBasket prospects, playing alongside Caitlin Clark and the importance of a team mentality at the highest level
“It’s great to be back with Great Britain,” Temi Fágbénlé says, her voice carrying the quiet confidence of a seasoned international basketball player. “I come from the WNBA but I’m glad I was able to make both work.” For the captain of GB’s women’s basketball team, balancing the demands of the world’s premier league with national team duties is a familiar tightrope walk. “I’m thankful teams see European competition as a priority for some of us. They’ve accommodated where they could.”
EuroBasket, a biennial competition, is one of the biggest international tournaments in the game. It is also a qualifying metric for the Women’s World Cup and the Olympics. With the 2025 edition under way, Fágbénlé’s presence is crucial as one of the leading WNBA players choosing to play in an international tournament during the season.
Crumbly, summery, cobbler-style sandwich biscuits that you’ll make again and again
These buttery oat shortcakes are crisp on the outside, tender within and just rustic enough to feel inviting. Filled with honey-roasted apricots and a fragrant almond cream, they make a fabulous pudding; berries macerated with sugar and a splash of orange juice or Cointreau would also be delicious.
Alexander Isak is a man in demand this summer. Liverpool and Arsenal have been linked with the Swede. It would take a monumental bid to convince Newcastle to sell their prized asset, and for good reason. Isak scored 23 goals in the Premier League in the season just finished; only Mohamed Salah (29) scored more.
With few, if any, clubs prepared to match Newcastle’s reported £150m asking price, those keen on Isak could do worse than make a move for a striker whose style is eerily similar to that of the Sweden international. An Isak-lite, if you will. Hugo Ekitike is hot property on the forward market after he enjoyed a fine campaign for Eintracht Frankfurt, scoring 15 times and providing eight assists.
The Golden Record – launched in 1977 on the Voyager space probes – contained everything from Chuck Berry to Chinese dialects and the sound of humpback whales. But what would we put on it today?
It’s almost 50 years since one of the strangest records ever made was launched – not into the pop charts but into the farthest reaches of outer space. Known as the Golden Record, this 12-inch, gold-plated copper disc was an album compiled by astronomer Carl Sagan featuring everything from classical music and spoken-word greetings to the sounds of nature and a blast of Chuck Berry’s Jonny B Goode. Humans could enjoy it, of course, but they weren’t the target audience. Rather, a copy was placed on Voyager 1 and 2, the two space probes launched in 1977, in the hope that they would one day be discovered and listened to by an alien life form.
The Golden Record came with various diagrammatic instructions on how to play it correctly. But as to what aliens might make of Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto, the sounds of humpback whales and a greeting in the Chinese dialects Wu, we will never know. Both Voyager probes are still intact, currently hurtling through the Kuiper belt in interstellar space, but we are likely to lose contact with them in around a decade’s time. This means we will miss the Golden Record’s first realistic chance of being discovered – when it’s expected to pass within 1.6 light years of the star Gliese 445 in 40,000 years’ time.
Keir Starmer’s artificial intelligence tsar, a key figure in steering the government’s approach to artificial intelligence, is stepping down after six months in the role.
US singer appears in court accused of attempting to cause grievous bodily harm after arrest last month over incident in Mayfair in 2023
The American singer and actor Chris Brown has pleaded not guilty to attempting to cause grievous bodily harm in an alleged bottle attack at a London nightclub.
Brown, 36, is accused of attempting to unlawfully and maliciously cause Abraham Diaw grievous bodily harm with intent at the Tape club in Hanover Square, Mayfair.
It’s suggested that the Gunn-produced The Brave and the Bold will be set within the DCU while Matt Reeves’s sequel to The Batman will exist as a DC Elseworlds story
There was a time when having two Batmen in your cinematic universe would have felt like a clerical error. But in James Gunn’s brave and bold new DCU, having several Bruce Waynes is increasingly looking less like an irritating glitch and more like a deliberate choice.
Gunn has been clear for some time that he sees no issue with two Caped Crusaders striding into multiplexes at the same time. I have a sneaking suspicion that this is down to the fact that Matt Reeves’s The Batman – an insular, noirish, Kurt Cobain-obsessed but relatively real-world take on the Dark Knight – proved pretty popular with audiences just prior to Gunn being handed the keys to the DC kingdom. But who am I to quibble? Sure, this might be a universe destined to feature cavalcades of superheroes who exist in a magical world of shimmering cosplay, but if we can just convince the geek in the street that the Robert Pattinson version of Batman is living in a completely different, gritty David Fincher-esque rat-infested underbelly of Gotham, all will be reasonably well.
In the diverse Iranian hub of west LA, a sense of dread over the escalating conflict is permeating the cafes and bakeries
In uncertain times in Persian Square, in the Iranian enclave on the west side of Los Angeles, there is always hope – and ice cream.
Farbod “Freddy” Papen is happy to dole out scoops of cucumber ice cream at Saffron and Rose, just as his grandfather once did in the same neighborhood affectionately known by many nicknames: Little Tehran, Tehrangeles, or Little Persia.
As Americans, we need to know what’s happening so we can act. But that doesn’t mean constant online immersion
The threat of a world war. Political assassinations. Federal raids on unsuspecting migrants.
There seems to be no end to terrifying news these days. In fact, it comes at us so unceasingly that numbness can set in. Or even depression or melancholy, like a black cloud over every part of our lives.
Palestine Action members break into Brize Norton airbase in Oxfordshire and spray military planes with red paint
A pro-Palestine protest group has said two of its members broke into the RAF’s Brize Norton airbase and defaced two military aircraft with spray paint before escaping the site without being detained.
Palestine Action released a short video on Friday morning showing two people driving electric scooters unimpeded inside the airbase at night, in an embarrassing breach of Ministry of Defence (MoD) security at a site where transport planes used by the king and prime minister can be parked.
Messages advise staff to also warn students off celebrations to avoid violating national security law
Teachers in Hong Kong have been warned to keep themselves and students away from any US Independence Day celebrations as they may breach national security laws, educators have alleged.
A text message purportedly sent by the principal of a Hong Kong school to staff said the education bureau’s regional education office had reminded them “to be careful about Independence Day activities organised by the US consulate in Hong Kong, and not to participate to avoid violating the national security law and Hong Kong laws”.
As the industry-shifting blockbuster turns 50, Richard Dreyfuss, Lorraine Gary and Wendy Benchley look back on the highs and lows
Half a century later, Richard Dreyfuss still won’t go in the water. “I have never done it, not since the film,” the Oscar-winning actor says, “because you’re totally aware of what you’re not aware of and you’re not aware of anything underneath.”
The film is Jaws, whose release 50 years ago on 20 June marked a turning point in both the history of cinema and public perception of sharks. It was the movie that in effect invented the summer blockbuster, paving the way for Star Wars, Jurassic Park and the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It cast sharks in the role of monsters to be feared and killed – but also stimulated interest in marine conservation.
Tropical Storm Dalila brings flooding to Acapulco, while Hurricane Erick causes disruption in Oaxaca state
While the western Atlantic has experienced a quiet start to the hurricane season, the eastern Pacific has recently become fairly active, producing a tropical storm and a category 4 hurricane within a few days.
The first and weaker of these systems, Tropical Storm Dalila, developed into a tropical storm late last week. Although this storm stayed off the coast of Mexico and was relatively weak to other storms that have developed in this region, Dalila brought flooding and mudslides to the resort town of Acapulco, in western Mexico.
The TV presenter and author on discovering the beauty of Charles Dickens and why John Fowles put him off writing for 30 years
My earliest reading memory I started reading because I was wildly jealous of my sister Paula, who is four years older than me. I must have been six or seven when I managed to read The Mountain of Adventure by Enid Blyton. I know she is no longer in fashion but I still remember the thrill of the world she created and the excitement of the plot.
My favourite book growing up I adored the Flambards series by KMPeyton, probably because it felt slightly adult and a little bit sexy, but my absolute favourites were Grimble and Grimble at Christmas by Clement Freud. They were anarchic and knowing, in a way I hadn’t encountered before but more than anything else they were very funny. It also introduced me to the inspired illustrations of Quentin Blake.
The Lakers’ record sale underscores how owning elite sports franchises is increasingly beyond even the wealthiest individuals, shifting power toward corporate consortiums
First of all, it is a record. The glitziest team in basketball is changing hands at a valuation of $10bn, the biggest ever for a sports franchise. Second, it is probably an excellent deal for the buyer, even at that astonishing valuation. And third, the shift in majority ownership from the Buss family to an investment group led by Los Angeles Dodgers owner Mark Walter, is something else: inevitable.
With the group stage approaching halfway, it is time to take stock of key issues surrounding the expanded tournament
The Club World Cup is into the second round of games in the group stage, with matches across the United States showing off all that was hotly anticipated about this newly expanded tournament, as well as a few concerns.
Here’s a breakdown of five major storylines we were keeping track of before the games, and where we stand.
Letter sent to Perplexity AI but US-based firm calls corporation’s claims ‘manipulative and opportunistic’
The BBC is threatening legal action against Perplexity AI, in the corporation’s first move to protect its content from being scraped without permission to build artificial intelligence technology.
The corporation has sent a letter to Aravind Srinivas, the chief executive of the San Francisco-based startup, saying it has gathered evidence that Perplexity’s model was “trained using BBC content”.
That’s my stint over. We now go live to Will Unwin’s garden where he’ll be taking this blog to even greater levels.
Rumour Mill: Plenty of hot gossip today and Liverpool are at the centre of a fair chunk of it. Could Crystal Palace’s Marc Guéhi be the one to bolster the Reds’ centre-back options? And which Premier League player could be joining Kevin De Bruyne at Napoli?
PM Jonas Gahr Støre declared Norway’s support for the 5% target proposed by Nato’s secretary general Mark Rutte
Poland’s EU minister Adam Szłapka, who led the country’s EU presidency from January, will become the new chief government spokesperson, prime minister Donald Tusk has announced.
The move comes ahead of a broader government reshuffle after the ruling pro-European coalition’s defeat in the presidential election earlier this month.
(Duo Ruut Music) The pair play with the traditions of Baltic Finnic runo song to explore the connections between the weather and emotion, giving ancient forms crossover potential
Duo Ruut (Square Duo) are Ann-Lisett Rebane and Katariina Kivi, two Estonian musicians who write, sing and play facing each other, their instrument being a single kannel (an Estonian zither). Playing with the texts and repetitive motifs of runo song, a form of traditional oral poetry specific to the Baltic Finnic languages, their music holds a glistening minimalism in its rhythms and a crossover sheen in its sound. Rebane and Kivi’s voices help – often sweet, but also sharp when required.
Their ambitious second album Ilmateade (Weather Report) explores the powerful yet under-sung connections between the weather and emotion. It begins with the minute-long Intro, a track that builds gorgeously on the scratchy, dying notes of their 2021 EP, Kulla Kerguseks (From the Lightness of Gold), implying both continuity and metamorphosis.
Then we’re in Udu (Fog), lulled along on thick, beautiful clouds of shifting time signatures, before Vastlalaul (The Sledding Song) slows and speeds, glossily, through the snow. These songs are rhythmically complex and have solid, ancient roots, but fans of ambient, Balearic dreaminess and the softer sides of indie pop and psych-folk will find woozy comforts here.
Connexion
