US president says ‘I don’t want to use an example of Hiroshima… but that was essentially the same thing that ended that war’ as he speaks at Nato

• See all our Middle East coverage

At the Nato summit in the Netherlands, tensions between Israel and Iran could dominate discussions among world leaders amid the fragile ceasefire.

Keir Starmer, the British prime minister, is among those in The Hague for the gathering, having called on Middle Eastern nations to maintain the pause in hostilities.

Look, I think what we’ve seen over the last few days is the Americans alleviating a threat to nuclear weaponry by the Iranians and bringing about a ceasefire in the early hours of today.

I think now what needs to happen is that ceasefire needs to be maintained, and that will be the focus of our attention, our engagement, our discussions, because that ceasefire provides the space for the negotiations that need to take place.

Deputy prime minister says ‘we will go ahead’ as more Labour MPs join opposition to plan to cut universal credit and Pip

Kemi Badenoch has said it would be “pathetic” for Keir Starmer to postpone the vote on the UC and Pip bill. She posted this on social media, as a comment on the tweet from Kitty Donaldson. (See 11.22am.)

This is pathetic. Starmer must not pull this bill. We’ve offered to support him in the national interest if our reasonable conditions are met.

If he pulls the bill, it proves Labour isn’t serious about fiscal responsibility. If Labour backbenchers are too scared to deliver welfare changes that make only limited savings, how can they solve bigger problems like the national debt?

There is a view forming among ministers and PPS’ that the government will have to pull the welfare bill.

However, the message from the centre is very clear it will go ahead regardless of the opposition from MPs because the issue has to be forced.

There is widespread speculation in Government that No 10 will pull the entire welfare bill before the end of Wednesday, sources told The i Paper

With the prime minister now mired in scandal, a culture shift is towards accountability is crucial

• María Ramírez is journalist and deputy managing editor of elDiario.es

On 31 May 2018, Pedro Sánchez, then the socialist opposition leader, delivered a powerful speech introducing the motion of no confidence that led to him becoming prime minister for the first time. It was a passionate speech, laced with detail. His target was the serving conservative PM, Mariano Rajoy, and his central argument for ousting Rajoy was the widespread corruption in the governing party, which Spain’s highest criminal court had confirmed just days earlier.

“Corruption acts as a corrosive and profoundly harmful force for any nation. It erodes society’s trust in its leaders and consequently weakens the authority of the state. But it also strikes at the very root of social cohesion,” Sánchez said. “Corruption undermines faith in the rule of law when it is left to run rampant or when there is no political response commensurate with the harm caused. Ultimately, corruption destroys trust in institutions, and more profoundly, in politics itself, when there is no decisive reaction grounded in exemplary conduct.”

Casualties arrive at Kenyatta national hospital, Nairobi, as parliament buildings barricaded and government orders TV and radio stations to stop coverage

Pictures from Nairobi city centre show police firing water cannon at protesters:

The protests on 25 June 2024 saw police relying on teargas and water cannon to disperse the crowd of thousands of protesters.

Andrew Cuomo concedes as progressive leftwinger builds substantial lead over former governor

• Zohran Mamdani declares historic victory in New York City mayoral primary after Cuomo concedes

As the Democratic party fights to rebuild from a devastating election defeat, the abrupt exit of the presidents of two of the nation’s largest labor unions from its top leadership board has exposed simmering tensions over the party’s direction.

Randi Weingarten and Lee Saunders quit the Democratic National Committee, saying it isn’t doing enough to “open the gates” and win back the support of working-class voters. Ken Martin, the new DNC chair, and his allies told the Guardian that the party was focused on doing exactly that.

Countries send first astronauts in decades into space on Axiom Mission 4, along with US commander

A US commercial mission carrying crew from India, Poland and Hungary blasted off to the International Space Station on Wednesday, taking astronauts from these countries to space for the first time in decades.

Axiom Mission 4, or Ax-4, launched from Nasa’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 2:31am (7:31am UK time), with a brand-new SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule riding atop a Falcon 9 rocket.

Plans for official visit confirmed but diary issues appear to have scuppered initial informal meeting with king

• UK politics live – latest updates

Donald Trump will make a second state visit to the UK this year but the diary complexities of King Charles and the US president mean the two are unable to meet informally over the summer, it is understood.

The manu regia, a hand-signed formal invitation from the king, was hand-delivered to the White House last week by British representatives from the Washington embassy.

Caribe is more than a cookbook, says its author Keshia Sakarah, it’s also a homage to family – with a dash of history and a sprinkling of joy

• Don’t already get The Long Wave in your inbox? Sign up here

Hello and welcome to The Long Wave. This week, I dived into Caribe, a remarkable Caribbean cookbook that is simultaneously history, memoir and visual masterpiece. I spoke to the author, Keshia Sakarah, about how she came to write such a special book.

‘Nato’s going to become very strong with us,’ says US president, as secretary general calls him ‘daddy’

• Europe live – latest updates

Donald Trump praised Nato countries for being willing to lift defence spending to 5% in his first public remarks at the military alliance’s annual summit, and said that he expected the US to be fully in support.

The president was speaking at a preliminary press conference in The Hague that was dominated by his rejection of overnight reports that Iran’s nuclear sites were not destroyed in US bombing, and where he was also praised by the Nato chief, Mark Rutte, for being the “daddy”.

The Azzurre have been improving since Andrea Soncin took over but they have been drawn in a tough group

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.

David Obura believes humans have been using nature for free, and tipping points at some reefs have already passed

The Kenyan marine ecologist David Obura is chair of a panel of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), the world’s leading natural scientists. For many decades, his speciality has been corals, but he has warned that the next generation may not see their glory because so many reefs are now “flickering out across the world”.

The American accepts Wimbledon might be the best chance for him to win an elusive major title at 27, and says being ‘a bit delusional’ has helped him in elite tennis

“That’s the only reason I really want to be playing,” Taylor Fritz says of his quest to win a grand slam tournament as he counts down the days to Wimbledon. Fritz, the world No 5, made the US Open final last year but he believes Wimbledon offers him the best opportunity to claim that elusive prize. He is 27 and, with each passing year, the pressure of his ambition grows.

Asked if he would feel an emptiness at the end of his career if he doesn’t win a slam, Fritz admits the truth: “I probably would. I’d probably think about it forever if I don’t do it.”

Louche retro tailoring and unusual fusions revealed in collection excelling in premium version of everyday items

When fashion insiders received notice on Tuesday afternoon that Pharrell Williams’s Louis Vuitton show at Paris fashion week would be rescheduled to 9pm, there were collective sighs of annoyance.

But all was forgiven when they arrived at the space behind the Pompidou Centre to be told that Beyoncé and Jay-Z would be attending. The star and her husband, and nephew Julez Smith, joined a starry front row, which included Omar Sy, Steve McQueen, PinkPantheress, Spike Lee, Emile Smith Rowe and Victor Wembanyama.

From a stray meteorite to an immersive coal pit, via the chance to sit on a ‘feeding chair’, famous fans tell us how they fell in love with the UK’s Museum of the Year finalists

It’s rare to hear someone getting this excited over a teapot. But as Terry Deary tells me, with exactly the kind of relish you’d expect from the author of Horrible Histories, this particular drinks vessel belonged to the Victorian-era mass murderer Mary Ann Cotton. Believed to have killed 12 of her children, not to mention three husbands, she was finally caught after poisoning her stepson in 1872 with an arsenic-laced brew. “And in Beamish they’ve got the teapot!” says Deary. “I was blown away to hold it!”

He’s talking about Beamish, the Living Museum of the North, an open-air site based in County Durham (just like Cotton herself, who was eventually hanged in Durham Gaol). Featuring an 1820s tavern, a 1900s pit village and colliery, a 1940s farm and a 1950s town – all populated by costumed staff – it’s something of a pioneer when it comes to immersive experiences, having first opened its doors 55 years ago. This year it’s one of five museums nominated for the Art Fund Museum of the Year award, a prestigious prize that has previously been won by The Burrell Collection in Glasgow, London’s Horniman Museum and Gardens and the Hepworth Gallery in Wakefield. With £120,000 available to the winner (and £15,000 to the other four finalists), it is the world’s largest museum prize.

Lions remain committed to positive approach with ball in hand and attack coach does not want them to tighten up

In mid-November, cricket’s Ashes series will commence in the same Optus Stadium where the British & Irish Lions will kick off their tour of Australia on Saturday. There are some keen cricket fans within the Lions squad who stayed up late to watch England’s compelling final-day win at Headingley, but out on the training pitch the collective priority is not so much Bazball as its oval-shaped cousin, Fazball.

Andy Farrell, the Lions head coach, has been at pains since his squad’s arrival here to make two things clear. The first is that preparation time is of the essence and should not be wasted by endlessly second-guessing what might lie ahead. The second is that the touring side can not afford to retreat into their tactical shells after their loss to Argentina in Dublin last Friday.

Islamist extremist group has capitalised on instability to control a swath of the region

The scene is wearily familiar. It is dusk at a ramshackle military outpost, surrounded by miles of scrubby desert or on the outskirts of a major town.

Suddenly, there is the sound of automatic rifle fire, and hundreds of men arriving on motorbikes, then explosions, screams, fire, smoke. The defenders flee or are killed. The attackers shout triumphant cries of “God is Greatest”.

After disasters such as Astroworld and scary bottlenecks at last year’s Glastonbury, Emily Eavis and crowd experts explain how they’re trying to make events safe

In the last two decades the British festival season has ballooned in size to become not just a critical part of our cultural life, but the economy at large – worth billions of pounds, and numbering as many as 850 events last year. But as Glastonbury kicks off this weekend and the season enters its peak, there are a growing number of controversies around crowd safety and management.

In April, London Assembly member and Conservative mayoral candidate Susan Hall echoed Metropolitan police concerns about the potential for a “mass casualty event” at Notting Hill Carnival this year, and in May, the Mail on Sunday published an anonymous Glastonbury whistleblower’s allegation that the festival is a “disaster waiting to happen … Worst-case scenario, people are going to die.”

There has been much discussion this week about the romance between actor Anna Camp, 42, and her 24-year-old girlfriend – which is a bit surprising, given the many more egregious examples

Here’s a maths problem for you. If actor Anna Camp (42) has a new girlfriend called Jade Whipkey (24), meaning there’s an 18-year age gap between them, is this a) disgusting; b) perfectly fine; c) something I have no desire to think about?

If you answered c), then I’m afraid large sections of the internet disagree with you. There has been heated debate about the propriety of the Camp-Whipkey romance ever since the two went public – so much so that Camp recently spoke out on the matter.

I played alongside – and greatly respected – Christian Laettner. His fellow Blue Devil is attracting love in the same measure his predecessor attracted hate

The NBA draft takes place on Wednesday night, and Cooper Flagg – the phenom out of Maine – is the clearcut, consensus No 1 pick, held by the Dallas Mavericks. And it’s not just his game that’s earned him near-universal praise; it’s the way he carries himself.

In his freshman year at Duke, Flagg accomplished something remarkable: he became the first player in the last 25 years to tally 500 points, 100 assists, and 30 blocks in a single ACC regular season. He led the Blue Devils to both the ACC Championship and the Final Four, averaging 19.2 points and 7.5 rebounds per game. But stats alone don’t capture the 18-year-old’s impact. He was relentless on both ends of the floor – disruptive with cat-like reflexes, explosive with athleticism, and committed to the little things: diving for loose balls, celebrating teammates, talking trash, flexing after dunks, and scoring from anywhere on the court.

Etan Thomas played in the NBA from 2000 through 2011. He is a published poet, activist and motivational speaker

Death of 29-year-old considered unusual because the lightning ‘came from a storm several miles away’

A newlywed man visiting Florida on his honeymoon recently died after reportedly being struck by lightning while standing in shallow water with a blue sky over him.

The death of Jake Rosencranz, 29, in New Smyrna Beach was considered unusual because it is “rare” for someone to be struck by lightning from a storm that is several miles away, local beach safety director Tammy Malphurs told Florida news outlet WKMG. Though that occasionally happens, Rosencranz, of Colorado, was the first person to be killed by lightning in Florida in 2025.

Amy Heckerling’s high school romcoming-of-age classic, composed entirely of quotable funny lines, remains a sophisticated pleasure 30 years on

Thirty years ago, the world was swooning over Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle in the BBC’s Pride and Prejudice adaptation … but all the time, the actual Jane Austen screen sensation that year was happening elsewhere in plain sight. Amy Heckerling’s high school romcoming-of-age masterpiece, inspired by Austen’s Emma, is now on re-release for its 30th anniversary and more than ever it feels like a complete joy, a deliciously movie-literate (and literate-literate) classic, with references to Stanley Kubrick, Oscar Wilde and William Burroughs to go with the Austen parallel.

Clueless is something to compare with Bringing Up Baby and The Philadelphia Story – and Alicia Silverstone’s final, tearful scene matches, and even outclasses, Julia Roberts’ speech in Notting Hill about being just a girl standing in front of a boy. Like Withnail and I, it’s a film which is composed entirely of quotable funny lines and for each rewatch fans could lip-sync along with the entire film. Maybe some of the material wouldn’t fly now – Cher’s body-image jokes (“I feel like such a heifer!”) are … of their time … but what contemporary movie has this level of sustained wit and fun?

Stuart Broad suffered and Herschelle Gibbs enjoyed himself in a World Cup but no one has come close in Tests

Six, six, six, six, six, six. The perfect over for a batter but for a bowler a double dose of the devil’s number and the ultimate humiliation. “My brain had turned to fuzz,” says Stuart Broad of 19 September 2007 when Yuvraj Singh took him for 36 runs at Kingsmead in Durban. England had already crashed out of the inaugural T20 World Cup and a 21-year-old Broad suffered a colossal prang to his pride, the events of that night for ever changing him as a bowler.

England’s match against India was the second in a double-header. The game before ran over and cut into the preparation time for the second. “I marked my run-up at the end I was starting from, but either forgot or didn’t have time to mark it at the other end. I’d also never really done any death bowling. I think maybe Colly [Paul Collingwood, the England T20 captain] had messed up the overs and he was like: ‘You are back on to bowl now.’”

US academics say computer code systematically raised fares at expense of drivers and passengers

A second major academic institution has accused Uber of using opaque computer code to dramatically increase its profits at the expense of the ride-hailing app’s drivers and passengers.

Research by academics at New York’s Columbia Business School concluded that the Silicon Valley company had implemented “algorithmic price discrimination” that had raised “rider fares and cut driver pay on billions of … trips, systematically, selectively, and opaquely”.

Xbox is putting a lot behind its new space action-RPG sequel – which will be the first $80/£70 video game from Microsoft. Does it earn its price tag? We asked the developer what went into it

The Outer Worlds 2, from RPG makers Obsidian, will be the first first-party Xbox game to cost $80 (£70). Given that Nintendo Switch 2 games are already priced at least that high, and Sony’s own PlayStation 5 games have been pushing towards it for a while, you might not expect this development to ignite a pricing debate among gamers – but it did. The increased cost of video games is a hotly contested topic, given the unsustainably ballooning budgets that most blockbuster games are working with these days. But I can say that The Outer Worlds 2 is a much larger, more in-depth game than the 2019 comedy sci-fi original. If we’re going to talk about value, it can certainly be argued that its higher price point is justified.

I loved The Outer Worlds, which was jam-packed with the kind of wry, sardonic humour you’d expect from an Obsidian RPG (this is the studio behind Fallout: New Vegas, after all). Its super-saturated space world, populated by colourful flora, bumbling corporations and strange zealots, was a joy to live in for 20 or so hours, though its combat left much to be desired.

That the US gets hot in the summer is hardly breaking news. Even if it may not give any one team an advantage, it puts players, fans and officials at risk

In the 31 years since the United States last hosted the men’s World Cup, a few things remain unchanged.

Recent politics notwithstanding, the US population is diverse and air travel is relatively easy, so international games tend to attract supporters no matter where they live. As long as ticket prices are reasonable, a good crowd is a good bet.

The story of the 2013 Carnival Triumph cruise, which descended into chaos after the toilets gave up in the middle of the sea, has been turned into a wild Netflix documentary

Elevator pitches don’t get much more captivating, and possibly revolting, than “poop cruise” – a modern day Gilligan’s Island tale that’s almost too good to be true.

For those who may have missed the headlines in 2013: a two-day transit from Galveston, Texas, to Cozumel, Mexico turned disastrous when an engine room fire struck the Carnival Triumph and stranded its 4,100-odd passengers and crew in the Gulf of Mexico. The fire devastated the Triumph’s electrical nerve center and crippled the auxiliary systems aboard the ship, from the wifi to the toilets – which literally backed up into cabins and spilled into the hallways. After three days adrift, the Triumph was towed to Mobile, Alabama – but not before the limits of socially conditioned behavior approached a breaking point.

Cheap, scaleable and highly autonomous, these weapons are developing quickly – and experts say they should prompt a global rethink about security

On a fine day in early June, Ukrainian soldiers launched their latest killer robot. With a click on a screen, the unattractively named Gogol-M, a fixed-wing aerial drone with a 20-foot wingspan, took off from an undisclosed location and soared into a wide blue sky.

This “mothership” travelled 200km into Russia before releasing two attack drones hanging off its wings. Able to evade radar by flying at a low altitude, the smaller drones autonomously scanned the ground below to find a suitable target, and then locked on for the kill.

Rightwingers in Israel and the US claim they are defending LGBTQ+ rights while Gaza’s people are killed. Don’t dare do this in our name

Pride has never been apolitical, but in recent years, particularly after the Israeli occupation’s onslaught on the Gaza Strip after 7 October 2023, the coalition of queer rights in the west has felt increasingly fractured.

In Berlin, the city I call home, Pride events have splintered along political lines as Palestine has been a recurring point of contention. According to organisers of Internationalist Queer Pride Berlin (IQP Berlin), a split between two major alternative Pride events followed an incident in which the initial organisers called police to the event after participants expressed solidarity by chanting “free Palestine”. Meanwhile, at Berlin’s official Pride parade, attenders have previously waved rainbow and Israeli flags as they marched through Berlin alongside an Israeli embassy float.

Jad Salfiti is a British-Palestinian video producer and journalist

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.

Twenty years ago, it looked as if it was all but over for the humble accessory. Then, during the pandemic, everything changed

On a bright summer’s day recently I found myself facing a quandary. Choosing a top and trousers to wear wasn’t a problem, but my whole outfit was in danger of being derailed by a mis-step: the wrong socks.

Should it be a pair that matched the rest of my outfit, or with a pattern that stood out? Did a frill look fussy, or bring just the right amount of detail? Was the fact they didn’t have a four-letter word on them going to expose me as woefully out of touch? The only thing I was certain of is that they should be on show.

US president dismisses speculation about his commitment to Article 5 and celebrates defence spending pledges in EU

Asked about his commitment to Nato’s Article 5, Trump says:

We are with them all the way.

• Real Madrid defender has said he was racially abused

• Pachuca’s Gustavo Cabral denies using racist language

Fifa has opened disciplinary proceedings against the Pachuca player Gustavo Cabral after an incident involving Real Madrid’s Antonio Rüdiger during their Club World Cup match on Sunday, which prompted the activation of the anti-discrimination protocol.

“Following an assessment of the match reports, the Fifa Disciplinary Committee has opened proceedings against CF Pachuca player Gustavo Cabral in relation to the incident involving him and Real Madrid’s Antonio Rüdiger during the Fifa Club World Cup game played in Charlotte on 22 June,” Fifa said.

Disruption between St Pancras and Gare du Nord after theft of cables at Lille leave passengers stranded

• People in the UK: how is AI changing job-seeking for university graduates?

The price of the world’s first malaria vaccine for children in endemic countries will be reduced by more than half, to less than $5, according to the drugmakers GSK and Bharat Biotech.

The vaccine, called Mosquirix or RTS,S, was developed by GSK and the non-profit health organisation PATH, and was the first malaria vaccine to be recommended by the World Health Organization in October 2021. It is one of two malaria shots recommended by the WHO.

“As an epidemiologist working in malaria vaccine development and delivery, I have seen the impact malaria vaccines are already having on children in high-burden regions of Africa. As a result of the collaboration between the research community in implementing endemic countries, industry, NGOs and multilateral organisations, the world’s first malaria vaccine is helping to reduce all-cause mortality and hospitalisations of severe malaria among children.

“Any lower cost vaccine means children in the most affected communities in endemic countries can be protected. Sustained affordability is essential to ensuring that the progress we’ve made in malaria control is not only maintained, but accelerated.”

This engaging and experimental book explores the complex politics of LGBTQ+ representation in film

For the British film critic Ryan Gilbey, “cinema and sexuality have always been as closely intertwined […] as the stripes on a barbershop pole”. His new book is a bricolage of memoir, criticism and interviews with film-makers that explores the personal and political dimensions of this coupling. It opens with the author in Venice, preparing to give a lecture on cinema; writing in the third person, Gilbey describes himself as the “Gustav von Aschenbach of easyJet”, a reference to the ageing, lustful composer from Thomas Mann’s Death in Venice (played by a moustachioed Dirk Bogarde in Luchino Visconti’s 1971 film adaptation). Gilbey identifies with Aschenbach only because he remembers how his own once-hidden sexuality devitalised him: the closet “render[ed] him elderly before he had so much as touched puberty”. He employs the third person off and on throughout the book. Thinking of yourself as a fictional character, he says, is an “occupational hazard” for any film enthusiast. It can also be a survival technique for anyone queer, creating a distance between yourself and a hostile world.

It Used to Be Witches ranges from the early 1980s – when “queerness in film started to become a commercial possibility” – to the present day. Its chapters centre on box office hits such as Call Me By Your Name, beloved independent films such as Chantal Ackerman’s Je Tu Il Elle, and less well-known releases. Thanks to Gilbey’s journalistic skills, his interviews with film-makers (François Ozon, Andrew Haigh and Peter Strickland among them) are engaging even if you are unfamiliar with the material. These conversations include illuminating observations on the art form (Thai director Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s remark that “film is a parallel life that keeps intersecting with real life”, for example) but Gilbey keeps the dialogue tethered to the book’s central questions: what is the history and future of queer cinema? How should queerness be represented on film? What, exactly, does “queerness” signify today? The voices he has assembled provide diverse answers, testimony that is valuable precisely because it is so often in disagreement.

• Midfielder due for medical after ban ended in March

• Pogba has never played domestic football in France

Paul Pogba is poised to return to football with Monaco after the conclusion of a doping ban. The France international has a agreed a two-year deal with the Ligue 1 club and will undergo a medical this week.

The 32-year-old last played a competitive game for Juventus in September 2023 before receiving a four-year suspension after testing positive for dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA). Pogba appealed against the length of his ban, which was reduced to 18 months, and has been free to play since March.

Mealamu and Umaga’s slam-dunking of the Lions captain was typical of the game’s wild west years but it proved a watershed – and the hurt still lingers

Brian O’Driscoll is sick of talking about it. Tana Umaga says anyone still asking needs to put it behind them. But here we are, 20 years to the day since the tackle that ties them together – and people do still want to talk about it.

That moment – in the first minute of the first Test of the Lions series against New Zealand – still pops up on TikTok and YouTube feeds, still sparks arguments on Reddit threads, still leads hour-long podcasts when players reminisce about how they saw it. And it still inspires articles like this one, long after the men involved have made up and moved on.

Drama-biopic starring Steve Coogan will reignite a row that split Irish football fans but there are good signs for its artistic merit

Watching the teaser trailer for Saipan before its cinematic release later this summer called to mind that episode of Friends in which it is revealed Joey leaves his copy of The Shining in a freezer whenever it becomes too scary for him to continue reading. While 23 years may have passed since Roy Keane’s fabled eruption on the eponymous volcanic speck in the western Pacific, it is hard to get past the feeling that the makers of this drama-biopic might have been better off leaving the most seismic row in Irish football history and its accompanying media frenzy hidden among the frozen peas, ice-cream and portions of batch-cooked lasagne. Instead it is about to be sent out into a public domain where it will almost certainly reopen old and, in many cases, still festering wounds.

Everyone of a certain age with a passing interest in football has their own version of what happened in Saipan that they believe to be true, although the details often differ depending on who happens to be doing the telling at any given time. Over the years I have chatted to several former Republic of Ireland footballers who were present at the infamous team meeting where Mick McCarthy held aloft a copy of that interview given by Keane to the Irish Times and asked his captain to explain comments that were scathing in their criticism of the national association’s laissez-faire attitude when it came to preparing for the 2002 World Cup in Japan and South Korea in the immediate run-up to the competition.

While figures like Steve Bannon have exploited the issue, scientists have done themselves no favours by shutting down legitimate inquiry

More than five years after the Covid-19 pandemic was declared, its origins remain a subject of intense – and often acrimonious – debate among scientists and the wider public. There are two broad, competing theories. The natural-origins hypotheses suggest the pandemic began when a close relative of Sars-CoV-2 jumped from a wild animal to a human through the wildlife trade. In contrast, proponents of lab-leak theories argue that the virus emerged when Chinese scientists became infected through research-associated activities.

A perplexing aspect of the controversy is that prominent scientists continue to publish studies in leading scientific journals that they say provide compelling evidence for the natural-origins hypotheses. Yet rather than resolving the issue, each new piece of evidence seems to widen the divide further.

Jane Qiu is an award-winning independent science writer in Beijing. The reporting was supported by a grant from the Pulitzer Center

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.

Today’s fluff is the footballing equivalent of Bazball

Jadon Sancho must be wondering where to turn next, as Chelsea chose not to sign him and Manchester United certainly do not want to reintegrate him into Ruben Amorim’s squad. It might not always seem as if there is a solution in these situations but there often is and it comes in the form of the Turkish Super Lig. Supposedly José Mourinho’s Fenerbahce have agreed personal terms with the former Borussia Dortmund winger, who is available for around £17m. His fellow unwanted United forward Marcus Rashford has been offered some hope of moving to Barcelona on loan.

Any money earned by Jason Wilcox could be splashed on Wilfred Ndidi, who would cost £9m from Leicester thanks to a release clause. Everton are also keen.

Why do people hate vulgar displays of extreme wealth by people whose business interests are burning the planet to the ground?

• Sign up here to get an email whenever First Dog cartoons are published

• Get all your needs met at the First Dog shop if what you need is First Dog merchandise and prints

With first Test against England in the balance the tourists revealed another of their plentiful flaws

The day started with drama and tension and later, for a while, they returned. But the period in between was in its own way equally intriguing, a phase that exposed in the tourists a deficiency not of quality, but of spirit. This turns out to be a team whose shoulders suffer from such severe premature drooping someone should invent some kind of blue pill to deal with it.

They started with spirits high and performance levels to match, Jasprit Bumrah from the Kirkstall Lane End and Mohammed Siraj coming up the hill from the other, lines and lengths unerring. Ben Duckett hit the third ball for four, after which seven overs passed before the next boundary.