Former leaders urge current state heads to work together to end poverty amid potential of first trillionaires emerging

The world is facing a looming crisis of inequality that could see the first trillionaires emerge while nearly half of humanity still languishes in poverty, a group of 40 former presidents and prime ministers warns.

In a letter seen by the Guardian, the group – which includes ex-British prime minister Gordon Brown – issues a joint appeal to current world leaders for a “new economic coalition of the willing” to address the escalating threats of inequality, poverty and environmental breakdown.

Decision could embolden red states in US to block clinics that provide abortions from receiving Medicaid funds

• US politics live – latest updates

The US supreme court has paved the way for South Carolina to kick Planned Parenthood out of its Medicaid program over its status as an abortion provider, a decision that could embolden red states across the country to effectively “defund” the reproductive healthcare organization.

The case, Medina v Planned Parenthood South Atlantic, centers around a 2018 executive order from South Carolina’s governor, Henry McMaster, that blocked clinics that provide abortions from receiving Medicaid reimbursements. Medicaid is the US government’s main health insurance program for low-income people. About 80 million people rely on it.

Few issues highlight how out of touch Democratic leaders are than the issue of Palestine – Mamdani chose a different path

As the ballots were counted on Wednesday in the Democratic primary election for mayor in New York City, a young candidate with little national name recognition, Zohran Mamdani, stood atop a slate of candidates including the runner-up, and favorite, Andrew Cuomo.

There are several reasons why Mamdani was able to pull off this remarkable victory, putting him on track to compete favorably in the mayoral election in November, and many of them have implications for elections outside New York City.

But one area where the contrast between the candidates could not be clearer was on the ongoing genocide in Gaza. Mamdani, for his part, stood with protesters, demanded the release of Mahmoud Khalil, and called out Israel’s war crimes. Mamdani even pledged he’d have the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, an indicted war criminal, arrested if he came to New York City while he was mayor. Cuomo, on the other hand, volunteered to be part of Netanyahu’s legal defense team before the international criminal court.

We need more Rebeccas to become stars. If it’s too late for us, we need a new generation of possibly powerful Rebeccas

As someone from a big family who has a lot of procreation-aged friends, not a week goes by without the announcement of a new baby joining us. I love it, of course, and I’ll always give the baby its first “Like”.

My favourite part, however, besides the miracle of newborn life etc, is finding out what those people have called the child. I want to know all the names. I’ll click on the baby announcements of people I know, people I don’t know, and I’ll definitely click on a birth announcement from a celebrity, even if I’ve never heard their name before. It might surprise you to learn that I am not in the habit of judging these names, though. This is for two reasons – one, I’m a bogan from regional Queensland, I’ve heard names you can’t even imagine. And two, I have sympathy for the job!

Polish photographer Aneta Grzeszykowska captured her daughter interacting with an eerie silicone replica of herself in her dark and humorous series Mama

In one photograph taken by the Polish artist Aneta Grzeszykowska, her seven-year-old daughter Francziska stands on the weedy banks of the Liwiec River, dressed in a purple swimsuit and denim shorts. Francziska has her face turned towards the boggy water; beside her, sitting inside a wheelbarrow, is her mother’s torso.

In the next ambiguous image, Francziska holds her mother’s head underwater. In the another, the two float, Ophelia-like, side by side.

High-profile case enters its final stage after more than a month of testimony from 34 witnesses

Closing arguments began on Thursday morning in the federal sex-trafficking trial of Sean “Diddy” Combs, signaling the final stage of the high-profile case.

Assistant US attorney Christy Slavik began her closing argument by describing Combs as the “leader of a criminal enterprise” who “doesn’t take no for an answer”.

• Portuguese star will be 42 when deal ends in June 2027

• News brings recent transfer speculation to a close

Cristiano Ronaldo has signed a new two-year deal at Al Nassr, extending his stay with the Saudi Pro League team to June 2027, when the forward will be 42.

“Al Nassr Club Company officially signed a contract extension with Cristiano Ronaldo,” the Riyadh-based club posted on X. “[The] Al Nassr captain’s contract will be valid until 2027.”

We are a country at war now – and while we try to restore our lives, we wonder how the Islamic republic will react to the past 12 days

On the morning after the 12th day of Israel’s war on Iran, those of us who had managed to get some sleep after Monday night’s heavy strikes in the heart of the city woke to text messages saying there was a ceasefire.

It turned out this was a three-way win, with all the parties congratulating themselves as the victors. Donald Trump managed to fly his B-2s all the way from Missouri without any help. No doubt it was a beautiful bombing. It hit the last target – the behemoth Fordow, deep in the mountains.

Study discovered abnormal process in womb lining, with potential for new treatments to prevent pregnancy loss

Scientists have developed a test to identify women with an increased risk of miscarriage, which could pave the way for new treatments to prevent pregnancy loss.

About one in six of all pregnancies are lost, most before 12 weeks, and each miscarriage increases the risk of another one happening.

Ofcom says research shows need for stricter age checks being introduced in July, which most major sites have signed up to

Nearly one in 10 children aged eight to 14 have watched online pornography, according to the UK’s communications watchdog, as most adult content providers gear up to adopt stronger age checks ahead of a 25 July deadline.

Ofcom published research showing that 8% of children aged eight to 14 in the UK had visited an online pornography site or app over a month-long period. Boys aged 13 to 14 were the most likely viewers, with two out of 10 visiting adult sites.

European Commission expects to hear on Thursday whether leaders want quick trade deal or tough reaction

European leaders will tell the European Commission later on Thursday whether they want a quick trade deal with the US, or favour a tough response to Donald Trump’s tariff threats.

The European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, is expected to update EU leaders over dinner on Thursday on trade talks with the US ahead of a looming 9 July deadline.

Exclusive: Actor talks of difficulties of getting ‘art film’ made about tortured artist, played by Riccardo Scamarcio

He is one of Hollywood’s biggest stars, having made his name in the 1970s gangster classic The Godfather. Yet, despite his fame and Oscars recognition, Al Pacino struggled for 30 years to make a movie about one of the 20th century’s greatest artists because “art films” are “always difficult to get off the ground”.

He refused to give up on a drama about Amedeo Modigliani, a tortured genius who faced repeated rejection before his life was cut short in 1920 by tubercular meningitis, aged 35.

Romance, sci-fi and family drama are thrillingly combined in this Booker-winning novel, shared between three narrators

It’s 25 years since the publication of The Blind Assassin, Margaret Atwood’s intricately plotted, multi-narrative novel which led to her first Booker prize win. Blending romance, pulpy sci-fi and family drama, it opens with octogenarian Iris Chase Griffen recalling the moment she was told her sister, Laura, had driven off a bridge. The police inform her that two people witnessed Laura deliberately swerve off the road. Though Iris believes this to be true, she insists to the officers that it was an accident.

We go on to hear about Iris’s privileged upbringing and marriage of convenience to Richard Griffen, the wealthy owner of a button factory, and her estrangement from her granddaughter with whom she hopes to reconcile. The book also contains excerpts from Laura’s posthumously published novel which features clandestine romantic encounters between an unnamed man – seemingly a fugitive – and a wealthy woman. During their trysts, they concoct a wild fable about life on a distant planet. All this is interspersed with newspaper items reporting on the lives of the Chases and Griffins over 60 years.

After stewarding three blockbusters, the British film-maker was ready for a break. Instead, he found himself at the helm of one of Hollywood’s biggest franchises at its most critical juncture

Like an ancient warhorse hearing the bugle for one last time, readers of a certain age will be snorting and whinnying at the words “Gareth” and “Edwards”. They are irresistible madeleines for the legends of Welsh rugby: unfeasible 70s sideburns, neck-high tackles and JPR Williams on the overlap.

These days, though, things are different: Gareth Edwards is also the name of the unassuming, Midlands-born fortysomething film director sitting in front of me, who has quietly acquired a reputation as one of Britain’s most accomplished franchise movie-makers. “I’ve had it my whole life, to be honest,” he says. “My dad was a massive rugby fan. My comedy goal is that the Gareth Edwards does something and everybody goes: ‘Oh, the film‑maker?’ That would be it. I could die happy after that.”

Five-year SynHG project aims to pave way for next generation of medical therapies and treatment of diseases

Researchers are embarking on an ambitious project to construct human genetic material from scratch to learn more about how DNA works and pave the way for the next generation of medical therapies.

Scientists on the Synthetic Human Genome (SynHG) project will spend the next five years developing the tools and knowhow to build long sections of human genetic code in the lab. These will be inserted into living cells to understand how the code operates.

A dozen flights cancelled at Yamagata airport as attempts to chase furry trespasser away continue

Authorities at a Japanese airport are locked in a “stalemate” with a black bear which has been roaming the runway despite attempts to chase it off, forcing air traffic controllers to cancel a dozen flights.

The bear first appeared at northern Yamagata airport in the early hours of Thursday, and officials immediately shut operations down, causing delays.

• Late goals from McNamara and Raso flatter hosts

• New coach left with plenty to ponder after friendly

Holly McNamara has scored her first international goal but Joe Montemurro was left with plenty to ponder after his side scratched out an unconvincing 3-0 win over Slovenia in Perth in his first outing as Matildas coach.

Emily Gielnik’s third-minute strike in Thursday night’s match at HBF Park got the 15th-ranked Matildas off to a flyer, but it wasn’t until McNamara scored in the 86th minute that the win was safe.

Democratic socialist tells MSNBC his campaign against Cuomo shows leftist politics can thrive beyond New York

Zohran Mamdani, in his first major interview since his upset victory in the Democratic party’s mayoral primary in New York shook up US politics, said his brand of campaigning and leftist political stances can translate to anywhere in the US.

Mamdani, a Democratic socialist, stunned many observers by beating Andrew Cuomo on Tuesday night, delivering a devastating blow to the former New York governor who ran a centrist campaign backed by most of the party establishment.

I recently spent time coaching 80 girls at FC Midtjylland, the team where I began my career but had to leave in my teens as they had no women’s team

I will be on a plane on Monday with Denmark heading to Switzerland to take part in my fourth Euros, but before the tournament I went back to where it all began for me, to Danish side FC Midtjylland. I was there to spend time coaching 80 girls from the age of eight to 13.

More than 20 years ago, I began my own journey there and things looked very different then. There was no women’s team and no women who played football. For me to go back as a role model these girls gives me a lot of energy. There is no better way to ground yourself than to be reminded where you came from.

Exclusive: All but two of the programs awarded under the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor would be cut, affecting nearly $1.3bn in grants

The US state department has been advised to terminate grants to nearly all remaining programs awarded under the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor (DRL), which would effectively end the department’s role in funding pro-democracy programming in some of the world’s most hostile totalitarian nations.

The review could affect nearly $1.3bn in grants, three state department officials told the Guardian, citing briefings on the results of a Foreign Assistance Review produced by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB).

Iran’s supreme leader says attack on US base in Qatar was ‘slap to America’s face’

• Middle East crisis – live updates

Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has threatened to respond to any future US attack by striking American military bases in the Middle East, in his first public comments since a ceasefire with Israel was declared.

The 86-year-old, who has not been seen in public since taking shelter in a secret location after the outbreak of the war on 13 June, said his country had “delivered a slap to America’s face” – a reference to an Iranian missile attack on a US base in Qatar on Monday, which caused no casualties.

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

• Updates from the Matildas match in Perth

• Any thoughts? Email Jo Khan

Chidiac had a quick post-warm-up chat with Paramount, she says she didn’t really have benchmarks for herself coming back into the squad.

I wanted to come in as myself as much as possible. Coming off a strong season with Victory, I want to implement that with the team and take any opportunity I can get.

[Slovenia] are a brave team on an attack and counter-attack side, but we will definitely bring it to them.

In his first comments since the ceasefire, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said the US ‘gained no achievement’ when it joined the war with Israel against Tehran

Israel’s national security minister called for a “complete halt” of humanitarian aid to Gaza on Thursday, claiming that Hamas is taking control of the supplied goods and food.

Itamar Ben-Gvir says that he will “demand” Benjamin Netanyahu put a new vote to the country’s cabinet on the issue of the introduction of aid to Gaza.

The humanitarian aid currently entering Gaza is an absolute disgrace. What is needed in Gaza is not a temporary halt to the “humanitarian” aid, but a complete halt to it.

When I warned and warned, and unfortunately the only one who voted a month and a half ago against the introduction of the aid, it was clear to me that it would give oxygen to Hamas.

With all due respect and gratitude to the president of the United States, he’s not supposed to intervene in a legal process of an independent state.

I hope and suppose that this is a reward he (Trump) is giving him (Netanyahu) because he is planning to pressure him on Gaza and force, to force him into a hostage deal that will end the war.

The director of the now Amazon-controlled 007 franchise can do action spectacle with art and integrity – the question now is who will he want to wear the tux …

At last. Something. Something has emerged from the vast opaque corporate entity that is Amazon MGM, which swallowed up the James Bond brand from Michael G Wilson and Barbara Broccoli – the latter being reportedly discontented (though presumably very much richer).

White smoke has emerged from the funnel marked “director” – though still nothing from the funnel marked “star” – and it’s a really big hitter. Denis Villeneuve is the Canadian film-maker who gave us the excellent science-fiction movies Arrival, Blade Runner 2049 and Dune Parts One and Two, and has demonstrated a real flair for big-budget action thrillers in Sicario and Prisoners, with plenty of the ambient sexiness in hardware and spectacle. (Perhaps Villeneuve will now get the ultimate corporate blessing of being a last-minute wedding guest at the Bezos wedding in Venice this weekend, precisely the sort of event that tends to feature as a Bond film opening scene, to be disrupted by helicopter attack, explosion, kidnapping etc. Mr Bezos himself needs a white persian cat on his lap to stroke.)

Campaign group say piece responds to tech billionaires’ ‘dangerous’ mission to make humans interplanetary

In the psychedelic south-east corner of the Glastonbury festival site a rocket has been built to carry Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg and Jeff Bezos on a one-way journey to Mars.

The construction is not a hallucinatory vision but an installation designed by the political campaign group Led By Donkeys in collaboration with Block9, an area of Worthy Farm known for its immersive stage designs and diverse music genres.

There was no surprise when Cooper Flagg was taken at No 1, but there were some interesting decisions – good and bad – at other points on Wednesday night

Cooper Flagg and Nico Harrison

The biggest winners of the 2025 NBA draft are Cooper Flagg and Dallas general manager Nico Harrison. Beyond the prestige and financial rewards of being the top pick, Flagg won draft night because he avoided going to a rebuilding team, where it could have taken years to gain playoff experience.

Brazilian is one of tennis’s brightest rising stars and will make his Wimbledon main draw debut next week

When the 18-year-old Brazilian João Fonseca beat the world No 9 at the time, Andrey Rublev, in this year’s Australian Open first round the hype machine went into overdrive. Here was the next big thing, a man who could bridge the gap to the world’s top two, Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz. When he went out in round two, questions were asked about the wisdom in talking up a man appearing in his first grand slam draw.

One month later, Fonseca proved he has the mental strength and resolve to match his undoubted talent. Facing Argentina’s Mariano Navone in the quarter-finals in Buenos Aires, in front of a hostile home crowd, he saved two match points and then went all the way to win his first ATP Tour title. He handled the occasion brilliantly, loving every minute. The hype is real.

More people will die due to White House’s plans to slash nearly $2.7bn from National Cancer Institute, workers warn

More patients may die as a result of plans drawn up by the Trump administration to cut billions of dollars from the National Cancer Institute (NCI), veteran federal government workers and experts have warned.

Nearly $2.7bn would be cut from the agency, which is the largest funder of cancer research in the world – a decline of 37.2% from the previous year – under a budget proposal for 2026, in the latest effort to cut staff and funding.

Wine snobs may turn up their noses at the very idea, but some red wines really do benefit from a good chilling

Last week’s column was a casual toe-dip into the lido of summer-centric drinks writing. I write these columns just over two weeks in advance, so I need Met Office/clairvoyant weather prediction skills to work out what it is we’re likely to be drinking by the time the column comes out. But I’m going to go out on a limb here and declare that summer will be here when you read this. No, don’t look out of the window. Keep looking at your phone screen, and imagine the sun’s beating down outside. That calls for a chilled red, right?

The types of red wine that fare best when chilled are those that are fruity, youthful and not too tannic. The punching down or pumping over of a wine can extract tannins from the skins, pips and stalks. Often confused with the mouth-puckering effect of acidity, the best way I can describe the sensation of tannins is it’s a bit like when you drink the last dregs of a cup of green tea: it tastes all stemmy and dry, and you can feel where you’ve been biting the inside of your cheeks.

Richard Gerald Jordan, a 79-year-old veteran, was sentenced to death in 1976 for killing a bank loan officer’s wife

The longest-serving person on Mississippi’s death row was executed Wednesday, nearly five decades after he kidnapped and killed a bank loan officer’s wife in a violent ransom scheme.

Richard Gerald Jordan, a 79-year-old Vietnam veteran with post-traumatic stress disorder whose final appeals were denied without comment by the US supreme court, was sentenced to death in 1976 for killing and kidnapping Edwina Marter. He died by lethal injection at the Mississippi state penitentiary in Parchman.

• Bowler last in Test setup in February 2021

• Archer played first red-ball match in four years this week

England have fast-tracked Jofra Archer into their squad to face India in the second Test at Edgbaston next week. The 30-year-old fast bowler returns to the Test setup for the first time since February 2021 after successfully coming through his first red-ball match for 1,501 days in Sussex’s match at Durham this week.

Archer is the only change to the England squad from the five-wicket defeat of the tourists in the opening Test at Headingley. His call-up comes despite the Sussex head coach, Paul Farbrace, suggesting it would make more sense to hold him in reserve for the third Test.

• Hungary left-back signs five-year deal with champions

• Liverpool’s spending this summer passes £170m

Liverpool have pushed their summer spending to £170m after completing the signing of Milos Kerkez for £40m from Bournemouth. The left-back follows the arrivals of Bayer Leverkusen’s Jeremie Frimpong and Florian Wirtz at the Premier League champions.

Arne Slot promised he would add “extra weapons” to build on the title success and the recruitment may not be over. Liverpool have worked quickly to secure the trio’s signature as Slot aims to replicate domestic form in the Champions League, where they went out at the last 16 stage.

Get to know every single squad member at the tournament. Click on the player pictures for a full profile and ratings

Almeida theatre, London
Rebecca Frecknall’s usually bold directorial hand seems stilled in a glacially paced revival co-starring Michael Shannon and David Threlfall

Rebecca Frecknall has given some surprising spins to the American canon with her refreshing and untraditional revivals. The surprise in the director’s production of Eugene O’Neill’s final play is that it is served up straight.

Frecknall has stepped back to let the play do the speaking but this faithfulness lays bare the datedness of the drama, which creaks with age at times. The production itself seems imbalanced too: glacial in pace, it stretches across three hours, not gathering enough intensity and chugging anti-climactically to its end.

Following the announcement of a sequel to Spaceballs, we assess the film-maker’s funniest movies, from the Hitchcock spoof High Anxiety to the impeccable Young Frankenstein

“It’s good to be the king.” Brooks mixes sight gags, dad jokes and Borscht Belt standup in historical vignettes from the stone age to the French Revolution. Results are hit and miss, and the ancient Rome segment goes on for ever, but the tasteless Torquemada musical number is a scream.

Biotech companies say genetically modified plants give higher yields and reduce pesticide use. But in rural communities, questions are growing over who really benefits – and the threat to native varieties

On a hillside farm in San Lorenzo, in the mountains of Colombia’s southern Nariño department, Aura Alina Domínguez presses maize seeds into the damp soil. Around her, farmers Alberto Gómez, José Castillo and Javier Castillo arrive with their selected seeds, stored in shigras – hand-woven shoulder bags – as has been done for generations.

In San Lorenzo, they call themselves “seed guardians” for their role in protecting this living heritage and passing it down the generations. “Each seed carries our grandparents’ story,” says Domínguez, arranging the dried cobs that hang from her rafters.

For a superpower, toppling foreign governments is not so hard to do. Getting the outcome you want is

The ceasefire between Iran and Israel might still hold, but if not, the United States might double down on its weekend strikes and seek the overthrow of the Iranian regime. Donald Trump threatened this in comments and tweets earlier, and top officials such as Marco Rubio have said they wouldn’t mind it if it happened. Israeli leaders are openly in favor. If the US goes down this road, it will not be for the first time.

In the last 80 years, Washington has overthrown many regimes. For a superpower, toppling foreign governments is not so hard to do. Getting the outcome you want is. This makes regime change as dangerous as it is seductive, as past US attempts clearly show.

Carlos Nobre, who has fought for decades to save the rainforest, says up to 70% of it could be lost if a tipping point is reached

For more than three decades, Brazilian climate scientist Carlos Nobre has warned that deforestation of the Amazon could push this globally important ecosystem past the point of no return. Working first at Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research and more recently at the University of São Paulo, he is a global authority on tropical forests and how they could be restored. In this interview, he explains the triple threat posed by the climate crisis, agribusiness and organised crime.

The world champions’ squad contains two Ballon d’Or winners and a place in the final is the minimum requirement

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.