Queues for water refills and ice creams surpassed even those for beer at a sun-baked ground offering unseasonably hot sustenance

After two years without a Test here, 23 in which India’s red-ball side had visited only once, seven months since the last tickets for the first three days were snapped up and six in which the sum total of England’s action in this format had been a low-key three-day win over Zimbabwe, it is fair to say that Leeds was ready for this. Or at least, in classic Yorkshire fashion, that it would be ready in its own sweet time.

Play started with the stands barely half-full and television commentators feeling they had to remind viewers the day was actually a sellout. That much was swiftly evident, but as India’s batters settled in for the long haul there was no need for anyone to hurry.

In the ​last ​of our miniseries,​ we look at how Hollywood has become a franchise machine​​. But in a sea of superheroes and sequels, there is still room for cinematic artistry

We’ve mulled over music, tackled TV and now, to finish our series looking at how pop culture has changed in the first quarter of the 21st century, we’re chewing over cinema.

And there’s quite a bit of chewing to do, equivalent to at least a medium-rare steak or a large toffee. Because, while film might not have been disturbed quite as dramatically by streaming as music or TV has, its still had to contend with some serious changes in audience habits. The more than a century-old practice of spending money to stare at a giant screen in a darkened room now has all manner of competition, including streamers like Netflix beaming films with the same production values and star names straight to your living room at a fraction of the price.

• Midfielder likely to have limited game time next season

• Former Germany international wants to keep playing

Galatasaray are considering a move for Ilkay Gündogan, with Manchester City open to a transfer for the 34-year-old midfielder.

The Turkish club are believed to have inquired about Gündogan’s availability in the winter window but City did not want him to leave midway through the season. But with Pep Guardiola having signed Nico González in February and Tijjani Reijnders in this window, with Rodri again fit after a serious knee injury and Mateo Kovacic expected back from an achilles problem in mid-September, game time for Gündogan may be limited.

The conductor first heard Brendel as a schoolboy. He was to become his cherished friend, inspirational collaborator and valued mentor for many decades. Simon Rattle remembers the great pianist’s wit, wisdom – and a particular pair of scissors

It’s hard even to know where to start with Alfred: for any musician of my generation he was simply always there, the very definition of integrity and a kind of unique probing humour.

I heard him first in Liverpool, playing Mozart’s Piano Concerto No 22, K482, an unforgettable concert for an impressionable 14-year-old. I could never have imagined then that my first collaboration with him would be in the same city when I was 20. That Beethoven – his first piano concerto – began a long journey of learning and friendship over the subsequent decades. I cannot stress how much I learned from him, or how painfully obvious it was to me just how steep the climb was to be able to come anywhere near to being an adequate partner for him. I remember clearly the sense of being kindly but firmly stretched to beyond my level of musicianship. Immense freedom within a strict framework. I am profoundly grateful that he was willing to carry on pulling me upwards for nearly 40 years!

Style watchers quick to disapprove of late publicist’s portrayal in Ryan Murphy’s American Love Story

In fashion, only the real favourites have acronyms. See SJP for Sarah Jessica Parker, ALT for the fashion editor André Leon Talley and – particularly relevant right now – CBK for Carolyn Bessette Kennedy.

The wife of John F Kennedy Jr who died in a plane crash in 1999 is sometimes seen as America’s answer to Diana, Princess of Wales. Like Diana, she was loved for her style – called minimalist, chic or “quiet luxury”. Instagram is full of accounts posting archive images of her, influential brands such as The Row, Toteme and Gabriela Hearst design clothes that channel her approach to dressing and there have been books and auctions in recent years.

Retired army officer Roberto Samcam was killed in San José by gunmen, the latest of several attacks on Ortega’s critics

A retired Nicaraguan army officer in exile turned fierce critic of the country’s authoritarian president Daniel Ortega has been shot dead in neighboring Costa Rica.

Maj Roberto Samcam, 66, was shot at his apartment building in San José on Thursday, reportedly by men pretending to deliver a package.

This historic day comes too late for many who supported my bill, but I will never forget their courage and selflessness

• Kim Leadbeater is Labour MP for Spen Valley

I am relieved and overjoyed by the historic vote on assisted dying in England and Wales in the House of Commons today. The road has been long and hard, and I am very aware that many others have been on that journey since long before I even became an MP. The question of whether to offer choice to people at the end of their lives was first raised in parliament in 1936 – almost a century ago.

Since then, terminally ill people have pleaded repeatedly with MPs to heed their simple wish to have control and autonomy at the end of their lives. A courageous few have taken their cases to the courts, even while they confronted the prospect of their own imminent and inevitable deaths. The judges said it was for parliament to decide. Now, at last, the House of Commons has responded, and responded decisively to recognise the justice of their cause.

Kim Leadbeater is Labour MP for Spen Valley

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.

Nancy Pexton appears at Highbury Corner magistrates court charged with murdering Jennifer Abbott

A woman has appeared in court charged with murdering her 69-year-old sister who was found stabbed inside her north London home.

Nancy Pexton, also 69, appeared at Highbury Corner magistrates court on Friday charged with murdering Jennifer Abbott, also known as Sarah Steinberg, last Tuesday.

Combination of weekend timing and good weather could make this year’s event one of the busiest in years

Glen Michael Herbert, a woodcarver known as Herbie to his friends, summed up the draw of the summer solstice beautifully.

“It’s a spiritual thing that people of all faiths and none can embrace,” he said. “I think it’s about feeling the wheel of the year turning, enjoying the light, appreciating nature. Most of all, coming together.”

Bad Bunny blasting bigotry against Puerto Ricans, Davido’s uplifting vibes and a blast from trip-hop’s past. Here’s what has caught your ear this year
• Read the Guardian’s best albums of the year so far

Constellations for the Lonely is a fabulous return for Doves: textured, layered and, as ever, occupying a space and sound all their own. From the futuristic reflection of Renegade to the soulful Cold Dreaming to the thought provoking A Drop in the Ocean, and the devastating realisation of loss in Last Year’s Man ... This is a band confronting the past, to channel hope and find redemption by coming through challenges that can only be overcome through genuine friendship. Steven, Wolverhampton

UK tech tycoon Mike Lynch and his daughter were among seven killed when vessel sank during storm last August

Mike Lynch’s superyacht, Bayesian, has been resurfaced for the first time since it sank during a violent storm off the coast of Sicily in August last year, killing seven people including the tech tycoon and his teenage daughter.

The white top and blue hull of the 56-metre (184ft) vessel emerged from the depths of the sea in a holding area of a yellow floating crane barge, as salvage crews readied it to be hauled ashore for further investigation. The Italian coastguard said the recovery was scheduled to begin on Saturday morning.

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

Venganza is on the cards in Trnava on Saturday night when England take on Spain at the European Under-21 Championship quarter-finals. There are constant reminders on the Channel 4 coverage in the UK that “we” are the holders, despite the fact there are only a couple of remaining members from the squad that defeated La Rojita in the final in Batumi two years ago. It’s a night that Oliver Skipp will never forget. There is another stark difference between then and now: England were properly decent at that point. This current crop have stumbled their way into the last eight like a weary boozer, six pints deep, picking his way through an All Bar One terrace on a hot day.

The American dream. We guess the cowboy won …” – Botafogo remind PSG chief suit, Nasser Al-Khelaifi, of the insult he hurled at their owner John Textor, also chief suit at Lyon, after the Brazilian side’s shock 1-0 Copa Gianni victory over the Bigger Cup champions.

Re: the thinly veiled contempt from the Juventus players standing behind Donald Trump (yesterday’s Football Daily), brought to mind this scene from The Simpsons …” – Adam Clark.

The photo in yesterday’s Football Daily makes Mr Infantino look very much like Mickey Mouse in his magnum opus, Fantasia. On reflection, Mickey Mouse is a perfect description for Mr Infantino, and his mate Donald shares many comparisons with [Snip – Football Daily lawyer]” – Joe Carr.

Given the PFA has a young player of the year award, isn’t it only fair they also have an old player of the year award (over 78s perhaps? – Football Daily Ed)? I had a really good game with my dog in the garden recently so surely I qualify and I’m even older than James Milner” –Martyn Shapter.

This is an extract from our daily football email … Football Daily. To get the full version, just visit this page and follow the instructions.

Exclusive: Dubai-based property developer has filed claims challenging trademark registrations, including the phrase ‘Bond, James Bond’

The owners of James Bond have called the attempt by an Austrian businessman to take control of the superspy’s name across Europe an “unprecedented assault” on the multibillion-pound global franchise.

In February, the Guardian revealed that a Dubai-based property developer had filed claims in the UK and EU arguing that lack of use meant various protections had lapsed around James Bond’s intellectual property, including his name, his 007 assignation and the catchphrase “Bond, James Bond”.

Regulator says it has ‘reasonable grounds’ to suspect company breached groceries supply code of practice

• Business live – latest updates

The UK’s grocery industry watchdog has launched an investigation into Amazon over allegations that the retail and technology company is failing to pay its suppliers on time.

The Groceries Code Adjudicator (GCA) said it had “reasonable grounds” to suspect that Amazon had breached a part of the groceries supply code of practice, which mandates that there should not be delays in payments made to suppliers.

French charity to challenge new Channel migrant interception plans in European courts

Plans by French police to enter the sea to stop small boats carrying UK-bound asylum seekers willcause more deaths and be challenged in the European courts, a French charity has said.

Arthur Dos Santos, the coordinator of the refugee charity Utopia 56, said there would be an increase in the number of people who would take “desperate” measures to reach the UK.

He was young and broke when he became grime’s first documentarian. Then his book Don’t Call Me Urban captured the energy of the grittier first wave – and an expanded edition is finally here

It’s an overcast Thursday morning, and photographer Simon Wheatley is doing a soft-shoe shuffle through Roman Road in Bow, east London, as a market stall blares out exquisite 70s funk. “That’s more like it,” he says, with a grin on his face. “A bit of energy.” This was once grime’s artery, its chaotic central hub, even its muse – a street Wiley once told me was “the nurturer” of local talents like him and Dizzee Rascal. And it was here, in the 2000s, that Wheatley would create a vivid and intimate document of grime in its frenzied flush of youth, and of working-class neighbourhoods like this before they became considerably more sedate. Fourteen years after the release of Don’t Call Me Urban, Wheatley’s long-sold-out photo-book from that era – once described by Vice as “grime’s Old Testament” – it is finally getting a rerelease, at almost double its original size.

I have arranged to meet Wheatley outside the bougie Roman Road coffee shop that was once legendary grime record shop Rhythm Division. This leads to some confusion – there are simply too many bougie coffee shops in succession. “Back in the day it was absolutely thronging with people,” Wheatley recalls. “You’d turn a corner and down a sidestreet there’d be six guys doing an impromptu cipher [a freestyle MC-ing performance] – everywhere there were youths hanging out, wheeling around on their bikes, spitting over some tinny beat playing off a Nokia. This was the heartbeat of grime.”

Residents of Bille and Ogale in Niger delta are suing Shell and subsidiary, but company denies liability

Residents of two Nigerian communities who are taking legal action against Shell over oil pollution are set to take their cases to trial at the high court in 2027.

Members of the Bille and Ogale communities in the Niger delta, which have a combined population of about 50,000, are suing Shell and a Nigerian-based subsidiary of the company, the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria, which is now the Renaissance Africa Energy Company.

If you’re not familiar with Tattle Life, congratulations. It’s a site that subjects women to relentless scrutiny, and lo and behold it’s run by a spineless man

With as much as two weeks to kill before nuclear winter sets in, many of you will be looking to road-test your new fallout suits. In which case: can I interest you in the sensational unmasking of the founder of Tattle Life? It turns out the guy who operates the radioactively toxic gossip forum is a “vegan influencer” – I think it’s one of those new types of job, dear – and his name is Sebastian Bond. From that professional description, Sebastian would never hurt a living creature – unless it’s a mummy blogger, in which case he would gut her like a pig. Metaphorically, of course! Sorry, but that is simply the price you pay for not declaring the nappies you’re unboxing on Instagram are actually sponsored.

But I’m racing ahead. If you’re not familiar with Tattle Life, it’s an online forum that claims to be “a commentary website on public business social media accounts” – much in the way the torpedoing of the Lusitania was a commentary on the commercial cruise business. At one point Tattle Life was said to have 12 million monthly visitors. Which, to put it into context, is more than the Times and Sunday Times website gets, and considerably surpasses the visitor numbers of something like GB News. The other thing Tattle Life says about itself on its homepage is: “We have a zero-tolerance policy to any content that is abusive, hateful or harmful.” This is a little bit like the Racing Post saying it has a zero-tolerance policy for stories about horses, greyhounds or sports betting.

Marina Hyde is a Guardian columnist

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.

• Hungary left-back to sign five-year deal with champions

• Florian Wirtz completes medical before £100m move

Liverpool have agreed a deal to sign Milos Kerkez from Bournemouth for £40m. The left-back is to undergo a medical next week before signing a five-year deal with the Premier League champions.

The 21-year-old Hungary international has enjoyed two impressive seasons with Bournemouth after joining from AZ in July 2023, helping them finish ninth last season. Liverpool already have two left-backs in Andy Robertson and Kostas Tsimikas. Robertson is of interest to Atlético Madrid and Tsimikas could well leave after spending five years largely as a back-up to the Scotland captain.

As Reddit celebrates its 20th birthday at the end of the month, we’d like to hear about your favourite moments on the online community forum

Reddit celebrates its 20th birthday at the end of the month. With 17 million daily viewers, the online community forum has brought various issues to people’s attention, from the timely and topical to the bizarre.

We’d like to hear about your best Reddit moment. Perhaps you’ve been able to share a personal experience and felt you found your tribe discussing it with others. Or maybe you’ve had a complex issue explained to you like a five-year-old, or just found yourself laughing along with a viral moment with millions of others.

We would like to hear from people living in Israel and those who are part of the diaspora on the situation in the region

Israel’s attack on targets across Iran on Friday, has been followed by three days of escalating strikes, as both sides threatened more devastation in the biggest ever confrontation between the longstanding enemies.

We would like to hear from those living in Israel and who are part of the diaspora on how they have been affected.

We would like to hear from people living in Iran and those who are part of the diaspora on the situation in the region

Israel’s attack on targets across Iran on Friday, has been followed by three days of escalating strikes, as both sides threatened more devastation in the biggest ever confrontation between the longstanding enemies.

We would like to hear from those living in Iran and who are part of the diaspora on how they have been affected.

We’d like to hear from people who have been inspired by a song, TV show, film or book to make a major change in their life

Whether it’s leaving a loveless relationship after watching Sex and the City or a punk band inspiring you to quit drinking, we’d like to hear about your moments of cultural awakening for a column in the Guardian’s Saturday magazine.

If you’re having trouble using the form click here. Read terms of service here and privacy policy here.

Terminally ill people with less than six months to live will have right to choose procedure after approval from doctors and panel

The right to an assisted death is set to become law in England and Wales within four years as MPs backed a historic societal shift in Parliament on Friday by a tight majority.

Kim Leadbeater’s private members’ bill, which passed by 314 to 291 votes, a majority of 23, was hailed by campaigners as “a day for the history books, where facts have prevailed over fear.”

The conservative-dominated supreme court voted seven to two to back a challenge by oil and gas companies

• Fuel firms can challenge California’s emission limits, supreme court rules

Donald Trump is once again repeating unfounded claims that the results of the 2020 presidential election were fraudulent, saying that the evidence is “massive and overwhelming” but not providing any of it. The president called for a special prosecutor to be appointed to the case.

He wrote on Truth Social this morning:

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.

The Guardian’s picture editors select photographs from around the world

One plant produces more arsenic pollution than any other in US, and the other has been slated for closure since 2021

The Trump administration is moving to keep open two Michigan coal plants that emit about 45% of the state’s greenhouse gas pollution, which opponents say is an indication of how the US president plans to wield his controversial national energy emergency executive order.

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.

A whisky sour with an earthy, verdant slant

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

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.

• Updates from Headingley with play from 11am BST

• Stokes calls on England to adapt | And email Rob

4th over: India 14-0 (Jaiswal 10, KL Rahul 4) Carse induces a tentative poke from Kl Rahul and the meaty edge flirts away for a four to deep third.

Good morning to Guy Hornsby:

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.

Four ducklings add to safety-net population of African species that is estimated to be down to 5,000 in the wild

Chester zoo has successfully hatched one of Africa’s rarest species of duck for the first time.

It said the successful breeding of four maccoa ducklings formed part of growing efforts to safeguard Africa’s most threatened species.

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.

The young Eintracht Frankfurt striker has rough edges but he may be the best value goalscorer on the market

By WhoScored

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.

Matt Clifford, a tech investor who wrote government’s controversial AI action plan, to resign for personal reasons

• UK politics live – latest updates

• Business live – latest updates

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.

Matt Clifford, the author of the government’s AI opportunities action plan, said he would leave his post next month for personal reasons.

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.

Have you been paying attention to the football, athletics, golf, rugby union, horse racing, darts and ice hockey?

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 KM Peyton, 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

The sale of the Los Angeles Lakers is many things.

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”.

• Men’s transfer interactive | Women’s transfer interactive

• Today’s Rumour Mill | Football Daily | And mail Will

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.

(Third Man Records)
Will Anderson opens up on the NYC group’s third album, revealing an expansive articulacy to his take on 90s indie-rock

The third album by these New York-based indie-rockers rings some crucial changes. First, bandleader Will Anderson is in love, which alleviates some of the gloom that pervaded earlier records. And while the lyrics don’t amount to much on the page, when sung in unaffected deadpan and robed in artfully embellished shoegazey noise, Anderson’s elliptical poetics carry a compelling weight.

Second, and more importantly, Anderson invited his bandmates into the studio to record Raspberry Moon. Where previous albums had been one-man affairs, with Anderson overdubbing layer upon layer of guitar and synth on his lonesome, the presence of other musicians in the room has shaken up the paradigm. Their trademark walls of fuzz remain, but Raspberry Moon also fields tracks such as Break Right, on which the happy/sad melodies flourish with space to breathe, and the lush Lawnmower, which is practically unplugged (save for a keening thread of feedback in the distance) and utterly lovely for it.

Early days in a Lions camp can be nervy and everyone wants to play in Friday’s first match but Argentina provide a tough test

Every single member of the British & Irish Lions squad is in the perfect sweet spot at the moment. Blair Kinghorn aside, they all arrived into camp with a spring in their step and a smile on their face because their dreams have been realised. Speaking from experience, it is amazing how quickly you can leave national allegiances at the door.

At this stage, there is no sense of what the Test team will be, no division, or feeling that you have to make do with being a midweek dirt-tracker – the thing you are probably most nervous about is who your roommate will be. You know it will be someone from a different country and my first roommate was Keith Earls. As the youngest member of the 2009 squad, he was responsible for looking after the Lions mascot and I felt like I needed to mind him. I soon realised there are few as competitive as Keith and he did not need minding at all.

Wednesday’s picaresque yarns are full of arson, sex shops and outcasts. At home in North Carolina, their leader explains why she likes things ‘a little bit scary’ – and what’s next after her split from bandmate MJ Lenderman

To step into Karly Hartzman’s home is to see the contents of her brain shaken out. There is a fireplace mantel covered in dolls and figurines; a wooden rack filled with cassette tapes; an old doll’s house filled to the brim with fabric scraps; a few overflowing bookshelves. As the 28-year-old leader of the indie-rock band Wednesday greets me at the door, she realises a few new additions have just landed through the letterbox, some books about the history of hardcore and punk: she has been listening to both a lot and is eager to educate herself.

Hartzman is a collector by nature, a habit that is also at the heart of her songwriting. Equally inspired by the southern rockers Drive-By Truckers and the shoegaze greats Swirlies, Wednesday’s sound combines heartfelt twang with walls of pummelling sound. Hartzman’s lyrics are highly narrative, inflected with striking, gnarly details. Listen to the band’s breakthrough album, 2023’s Rat Saw God, and you will hear about urine-coloured soda, roadside sex shops, accidental arson and teens getting high on Benadryl.

LA was once a conservative stronghold; now the military is occupying it. Liberal cities have become targets for politicians looking to stir up their voters elsewhere

From Los Angeles to London, Istanbul to Warsaw, cities are making rightwing populists angry. Their liberal elites, immigrants, net zero policies, leftwing activists, globalised businesses, expensive transport infrastructure and outspoken municipal leaders – all are provocations to populist politicians whose support often comes from more conservative, less privileged places.

Three years ago the founders of national conservatism, the transatlantic ideology on which much of modern rightwing populism is based, published a statement of principles. One of these, surprisingly little noticed at the time, declared with some menace: “In those [places] in which law and justice have been manifestly corrupted, or in which lawlessness, immorality, and dissolution reign, national government must intervene energetically to restore order.”

Andy Beckett is a Guardian columnist

Today’s rumours are working in the garden

Marcus Rashford’s future is very much in the category of “up in the air”. The chances of him ever playing for Manchester United look slim-to-none as he will not be given a boarding pass for the club’s US tour, while a dream move to Barcelona is going up in smoke. A few Serie A clubs have had a sniff but his wages may be a stumbling block. What he really needs is a Champions League club with plenty of cash. Step in … Newcastle. The Magpies are back in the bigger time, will be eager to make a statement signing or two, and Rashford fits the bill. Liam Delap chose Chelsea over Newcastle and Eddie Howe likes to have the best English talent at his disposal, so Rashford would be an ideal candidate as an extra attacking option.

It takes a brave man to move from Liverpool to Everton (and vice versa). Nick Barmby, Abel Xavier and Gary Ablett did the Merseyside double in their time and the next potential candidate is Ben Doak. The Scottish teenager impressed on loan in the Championship last season at Middlesbrough and is ready to step up to the Premier League but there is no obvious role he can play under Arne Slot. It means Doak might need to find an alternative and at least this one would mean he didn’t have to move house.

Musician John Grant was blown away by Christopher Isherwood’s 1964 novel, finding deep resonances in its tale of gay love and loss. Now, he’s put songs to choreographer Jonathan Watkins’s new dance adaptation

“I can’t believe that somehow I was able to make it all the way to the age of 55 without having read that book!” says American singer-songwriter John Grant. “It’s a transformative book. I was just completely blown away by it; I’ve been trying to get everybody that I’ve ever met to read it.”

The book Grant is telling me about, enthusing from his sofa at home in Reykjavík, is Christopher Isherwood’s A Single Man, published in 1964, turned into 2009’s most stylish film by first-time director Tom Ford, starring Colin Firth, and now about to be a ballet, premiering at this year’s Manchester international festival. Grant, the former Czars frontman and now an acclaimed solo artist (with albums including Pale Green Ghosts and his latest, The Art of the Lie), is writing the new show’s songs.

Ministers from UK, France and Germany will meet Abbas Araqchi after White House says Trump will ‘make a decision on whether to attack Iran within two weeks’

• Living in Iran: how have you been affected by the recent conflict?

• Living in Israel: how have you been affected by the recent conflict?

The French foreign minister Jean-Noël Barrot has spoken to the US secretary of state Marco Rubio ahead of a meeting in Geneva between foreign ministers from the UK, France and Germany and their Iranian counterpart Abbas Araqchi.

The Geneva meeting is aimed at creating a pathway back to diplomacy over Iran’s nuclear programme.

Industry professionals gather at civil and military aircraft event further overshadowed by war between Israel and Iran

Every second summer more than 100,000 aviation industry professionals gather in Paris for an airshow – a flying display crossed with a vast conference. The mood at the latest gathering this week was more subdued than usual, after the deadly crash a week ago of a London-bound Air India flight in Ahmedabad.

Investigators have recovered the black box from the plane to try to work out the cause of the disaster. The aircraft maker Boeing, and GE Aerospace, which made the 787 Dreamliner’s engines, both cancelled many of their media-facing events out of respect for the families of the 241 passengers and crew who died, as well as at least 30 more people on the ground who were killed.

Is giving an artist a one-star review an act of abuse? An influential theatre critic finds out in this smart story of #MeToo-era revenge

When Jesus is pressed to condemn the woman taken in adultery, he says, “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.” No one does, and a lesson in critical generosity is learned. Judge not, that ye be not judged.

Is giving an artist a one-star review an act of abuse – casting the first stone? Is it worse when the reviewer is male and the artist female? That’s the starting point of this entertaining and very timely debut novel from Charlotte Runcie, an arts journalist who, as a young intern, was lambasted on stage by a successful standup to whom she’d given a bad review.

There was an interactive customer feedback device propped up on the bar. Tell us what you think of our service, it said, and underneath there were two buttons you could press: an angry red face or a smiling green one. Excellent or worthless, nothing in between. Review your experience, share your thoughts, recommend us to your friends, swipe left, swipe right, leave a comment, have an opinion.

Bleak, enraging documentary combines firsthand accounts of the disaster with appalling record of official negligence

The 2017 Grenfell Tower fire in London which caused 72 deaths is now the subject of Olaide Sadiq’s heartwrenching and enraging documentary, digging at the causes and movingly interviewing survivors and their families, whose testimony is all but unbearable. At the very least, the film will remind you that when politicians smugly announce they wish to make a bonfire of regulations, they should be taken, under police escort if necessary, and made to stand at the foot of the tower. As for the housing secretary at the time of the tower’s refurbishment, the abysmally arrogant Eric Pickles, he was made a life peer in 2018.

With the very considerable help of the housing-issues journalist Peter Apps, the film shows how the horror was created by a perfect storm of incompetence, mendacity, greed, and (that heartsinking phrase) systemic failure. The local council were keen to spruce up its brutalist, concrete (but safe) Grenfell Tower because it was a “poor cousin” and depressing property values. Decorative cladding was just the ticket and the council allowed the installation of the cheapest tiles, made of aluminium composite material which was terrifyingly flammable. A US aluminium firm’s French division sold the council those tiles; in the subsequent inquiry they were accused of suppressing their own research into how dangerous another of their products was.

Opening (and shading) your windows is vital to keeping the heat at bay. And turn things off and take a cool shower

It’s tempting to throw the windows open all day in the hope of a breeze, but when it is really hot outside, you only let in hotter air.

From an historic building in the heart of the city to a seaside complex inspired by an ocean liner

Exclusive: first store opens in Spinningfields, Manchester, two weeks before band’s first gig in 16 years in Cardiff

Will the truce between the Gallagher brothers hold out? Will the most-hyped reunion in British rock history actually come off? And will fans be able to bag themselves an official Oasis tea towel?

The answer to that final question, at least, has arrived. The first Oasis merchandise store will open in Manchester on Friday, two weeks before the band perform their first gig in 16 years at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff.

Publishers could see audiences uninstall apps, as some users receive up to 50 alerts a day, analysis shows

It has become a feature of modern life – millions of phones simultaneously buzz or sound the alarm as users are notified of breaking news deemed too important to miss.

Now evidence is mounting that the prevalence of news alerts is giving rise to “alert fatigue”, with some mobile phone users peppered with as many as 50 notifications a day.

Dmytro Chorny tells of hunger, beatings and torture before a mass prisoner exchange freed him to go home to – and marry – his girlfriend, Diana

Despite all they have endured, it doesn’t take much to draw shy smiles from Diana Shikot, 24, and Dmytro Chorny, 23.

You could ask them about Chorny’s sweetly bungled marriage proposal the day after his release from Russia’s notorious penitentiary system, in which he languished as a prisoner of war for three years.

White House flags potential Chinese access to ‘sensitive communications of one of our closest allies’

A US intervention over China’s proposed new embassy in London has thrown a potential resolution “up in the air”, campaigners have said, amid concerns over the site’s proximity to a sensitive hub of critical communication cables.

The furore over a new “super-embassy” on the edge of London’s financial district was reignited last week when the White House said it was “deeply concerned” over potential Chinese access to “the sensitive communications of one of our closest allies”.