When he left Brentford for Al-Ahli in the Saudi Pro League, it made sense that he should lose his place in the England squad. He had voluntarily taken himself to a lower level and it was a reasonable assumption that his sharpness would diminish as a consequence. But he scored 23 goals in 29 starts this season, playing well enough at least to be entered into the conversation for squad places.
In her half-decade competing at the highest level of her sport, Coco Gauff has built an impermeable reputation for her toughness. No matter the significance of the occasion or the state of her strokes, she will fight with everything at her disposal until the very last point. More often than not, she will find a way through.
Across the net from the best player in the world in one of the most important moments of her career, Gauff showed the full breadth of her grit and durability as she somehow plotted a path to victory, holding her own in a gripping match between the two best players in the world to topple Aryna Sabalenka, the world No 1, 6-7 (5), 6-2, 6-4 and win her first French Open title.
Vice-president was interviewed by comedian Theo Von, who also asked him if he ‘got high’ on election night
JD Vance said Elon Musk was making a “huge mistake” going after Donald Trump in a storm of bitter and inflammatory social media posts after a falling-out between the two men.
But the vice-president, in an interview released on Friday after the very public blowup between the world’s richest person and arguably the world’s most powerful, also tried to downplay Musk’s blistering attacks as an “emotional guy” who got frustrated.
Biles calls Gaines ‘sick’ in response to softball post
Gymnast defends trans girl targeted after title win
Gaines calls Biles’ stance on inclusion ‘disappointing’
Seven-time Olympic gold medallist Simone Biles has publicly condemned former competitive swimmer Riley Gaines for her repeated attacks on transgender athletes, calling Gaines “sick” and a “sore loser” in a strongly worded social media post.
The exchange erupted Friday night after Gaines mocked the Minnesota State High School League for turning off comments on a post celebrating Champlin Park High School’s girls’ softball team, which had just won the state championship. One of the team’s players is a transgender girl.
Civil protection agency chief says country is ill-prepared for conflict and calls for urgent upgrades to cold war shelters
Germany is drawing up plans to rapidly expand its network of bomb-proof bunkers and shelters, the government’s most senior civilian protection official has said, warning the state needs to be prepared for an attack from Russia within the next four years.
Ralph Tiesler, the head of the Federal Office of Civil Protection and Disaster Assistance (BBK), said Europe’s largest economy needed to wake up to the reality of conflict, and that in its current state Germany was inadequately prepared.
Less than a year after four dams were removed from the river, life has blossomed along its banks, presenting new challenges and joys of recovery
Bill Cross pulled his truck to the side of a dusty mountain road and jumped out to scan a stretch of rapids rippling through the hillsides below.
As an expert and a guide, Cross had spent more than 40 years boating the Klamath River, etching its turns, drops and eddies into his memory. But this run was brand new. On a warm day in mid-May, he would be one of the very first to raft it with high spring flows.
French Open final between top two in the world is further proof of their dominance
Towards the final stretch of the big three’s unprecedented period of dominance, as it became clear Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic would vacate their thrones, the future of men’s tennis was clouded in uncertainty. Although there was a talented, competitive generation of players born in the 1990s waiting to take their place, the gulf in quality was significant. For a short time, there were opportunities for someone brave enough to take them.
The past fortnight in Paris has again underlined how Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz have emphatically shut the door on this prospect. As they prepare to face each other in a grand slam final for the first time, at Roland Garros on Sunday, it will mark the sixth consecutive grand slam that has been won by either Sinner, the world No 1, or the world No 2, Alcaraz.
Miami murals of MLB icons defaced with hate symbols
Swastikas, slurs scrawled on Jackie Robinson image
Police investigating mural vandalism as hate crime
Miami murals honoring baseball trailblazers Jackie Robinson and Minnie Minoso were defaced with swastikas and racist slurs this week.
The vandalism in the city’s Overtown neighborhood was reported Monday to police, who told the Athletic on Friday that they are investigating the incident as a hate crime.
Lost for over a century, discovery of wartime letter has rekindled interest in unlocking the secret of the world’s first prototype tank
At the height of the second world war, while British authorities were calling on citizens to donate metal to be recycled into weapons and warships, attention at the army base of Bovington Camp in Dorset turned to a collection of historic vehicles dating from the first war – among them a legendary tank that had been nicknamed “Mother”.
Mother was the prototype for the world’s first battlefield tank, the Mark 1, which had been developed by Britain in 1915-6 to break the deadlock of the trenches. The vehicles were a huge technological leap forward that caused a sensation when rolled out on the battlefields (“astonishing our soldiers no less than they frightened the enemy”, as the Manchester Guardian put it) and helped tip the scales in favour of the allies’ eventual victory.
Chancellor had anticipated surpluses from final salary schemes would boost investment in UK economy
Plans to invest £160bn of surplus funds from final salary pension schemes to boost the UK economy over the next 10 years have been dealt a blow by a Whitehall assessment that found there was likely to be little more than £11bn available to spend.
In a knock to Rachel Reeves’s growth agenda, a report by civil servants at the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) found that the expected surpluses in occupational schemes would be used by businesses to offload their pension liabilities to insurance companies.
Pioneering light-rail tech poised to revamp network after chancellor announces £15bn transport boost
In a sidestreet in central Coventry, a possible vehicle of the future has been making its first public foray: a 60-seat, battery-powered miniature tram. On smooth, almost silent, test runs, its pioneering wheel system allows it to round the corner without slowing – a small bend for this tram but a sharp turning point for tramkind.
The embryonic Coventry very light rail (CVLR) is riding a bigger wave; suddenly, trams are go again. British cities trail Europe but once led the way, before retiring the hundreds of street trams that once flowered under horse and steam power.
Ruling follows two cases blighted by actual or suspected use of artificial intelligence in legal work
The high court has told senior lawyers to take urgent action to prevent the misuse of artificial intelligence after dozens of fake case-law citations were put before the courts that were either completely fictitious or contained made-up passages.
Lawyers are increasingly using AI systems to help them build legal arguments, but two cases this year were blighted by made-up case-law citations that were either definitely or suspected to have been generated by AI.
The roof is open and the wind is blowing in, which adds a variable. It could get a bit swirly.
Via the BBC, plucky Brit news:
Teenager Hannah Klugman was unable to become the first Briton in almost 50 years to win a French Open juniors title after losing in the girls’ singles final.
The 16-year-old, competing in her first junior Grand Slam singles final, was beaten 6-2 6-0 by Austria’s Lilli Tagger.
Brobbey allegedly blackmailed by Amsterdam criminal
Incidents included arson, explosions and a shooting
The Ajax striker Brian Brobbey was the target of violent extortion threats involving arson, explosions and a shooting, according to reports in the Netherlands.
Het Parool reports that the attacks on Brobbey came after he allegedly refused to pay €150,000 to an Amsterdam criminal who claimed to have “solved a problem” for him.
Government says ethical certification is adding financial strain on smallholders rather than being paid by customers
The Kenyan government has told its tea factories to stop working with the Rainforest Alliance because it says the costs involved in securing the ethical label don’t add up for farmers.
The non-profit organisation is one of the world’s most recognisable certification schemes with its green frog seal on food packaging a sign consumers “can feel confident that these products support a better world”.
Coverage of the three-year family ‘feud’ has been extraordinary, and nothing seems off the table in the media
If the biggest feud of the week belongs to Donald Trump and Elon Musk, then the longest running is arguably “Beckxit”.
The name given to the fallout between one of the most famous couples in the world – David and Victoria Beckham – and their less famous eldest son, Brooklyn and his wife, Nicola Anne Peltz, was coined by the Daily Mail this year. But it covers a broader conflict that began in 2022, when Peltz wore Valentino instead of Victoria Beckham to her wedding, and brings us to this week’s lavish cover-shoot for German Glamour magazine in which the junior Beckhams discuss their “occasionally messy, very real love” and whether they might open a restaurant – without a word about her in-laws.
Psychologist and writer’s appearance on Aporia condemned for helping to normalise ‘dangerous, discredited ideas’
The Harvard psychologist and bestselling author Steven Pinker appeared on the podcast of Aporia, an outlet whose owners advocate for a revival of race science and have spoken of seeking “legitimation by association” by platforming more mainstream figures.
The appearance underlines past incidents in which Pinker has encountered criticism for his association with advocates of so-called “human biodiversity”, which other academics have called a “rebranding” of racial genetic essentialism and scientific racism.
Noem has played a starring role in the second Trump administration with her goal to ‘Make America Safe Again’ – derided by critics as ‘cosplay’ with cruel consequences
Little more than a year ago, Kristi Noem’s political prospects appeared to be in freefall. The then South Dakota governor was criss-crossing the country on an ill-fated book tour, widely seen, at least initially, as an audition to be Donald Trump’s running mate. Instead, Noem found herself on the defensive – a position Trump never likes to be in – after revealing in her memoir that she had shot the family’s “untrainable” hunting dog, a 14-month old wirehair pointer named Cricket.
Even in Trumpworld, where controversy can be a form of currency, the disclosure shocked. In the weeks that followed, she faded from contention and the breathless veepstakes rumor mill moved on. By the time Trump selected JD Vance as his vice-presidential nominee, Noem’s path forward on the national stage was unclear.
The older I get, the harder it is to maintain ties – and a series of unhinged social media posts probably wouldn’t help
I have a hard time maintaining male friendships these days. The older I get, the less time I have for the sorts of activities stereotypical American males enjoy: sporting events, competitive binge drinking and collecting rare coins in a dark basement. OK, maybe that last thing isn’t nearly as common anymore, but what is common (if you believe varioustrend pieces in newspapers and magazines) is the increasing rarity of long-lasting male friendships. Most of my guy friends keep in touch with me through group chats or the occasional solo check-in text. I have, by my count, at least 10 group chats with different circles of friends. All of them are organized around a unifying theme – Star Trek, movie industry gossip, the Los Angeles Dodgers, hating that one guy who wore flip-flops to my wedding. My whole social life revolves around screens now. I watch a show or a baseball game and then immediately retreat into my other, smaller screen to discuss what I just witnessed with people I almost never see in real life. I will give myself credit for at least trying to be social in between working and taking my son to karate lessons, but it is, in fact, the bare minimum effort that I’m exerting. It’s almost like a welfare check, these text messages: “He responded, therefore he is not dead or in a Salvadorian supermax prison awaiting a trial that will never happen.”
Maybe this is a superior way of maintaining relationships, though. By only seeing my friends on very rare occasions, I can’t get sick of their personality quirks, their peculiar habits or their need to wear flip-flops to black-tie events. Seriously, no one wants to see your toes at a wedding, man. Cut it out.
Dave Schilling is a Los Angeles-based writer and humorist
Commentators on Black masculinity are popular pundits on Sean Combs’s case – but they’ve taken a clear side
When the trial of Sean “Diddy” Combs began last month, there was one man who stood apart from the journalists, legal eagles and YouTube gossips queuing up for seats inside the New York courtroom: Myron Gaines, co-host of the Fresh and Fit podcast and author of the 2023 book Why Women Deserve Less. In the past five years, he has become infamous for his incendiary takes on masculinity, dating and the perceived challenges that men face in contemporary society.
Combs was a natural person of interest for Gaines, as well as his peers who focus on Black masculinity and traffic in many of the same misogynistic tropes that have been present in hip-hop from its early days. For decades, the New Yorker was an alpha-male fantasy come to life: a self-made captain of industry and paragon of “Black excellence” who helps mainstream hip-hop music while juggling a roster of paramours that included Bad Boy artist Cassie Ventura.
Campaigners say designation promotes unsustainable sheep farming at expense of nature recovery and local communities
Conservationists have launched a campaign to revoke the Lake District’s Unesco world heritage status, arguing that it promotes unsustainable sheep farming at the expense of nature recovery and local communities.
In a letter to Unesco, the ecologist Lee Schofield argues that the designation “promotes a false perception of farming, is not economically sustainable, is working against crucial efforts to restore the natural environment and mitigate the impacts of climate change, does not help sustain farming livelihoods, is not wanted by local people and is contributing to damaging overtourism.”
Chemicals found in the braiding hair have been linked to increased cancer risk and organ damage
In recent years, personal care products marketed at Black women have received increased scrutiny for their toxicity, specifically chemical hair straighteners. These perms, also known as “relaxers”, have been condemned for causing severe health problems, including fertility issues, scalp irritations and increased risk of cancer.
In light of this, many Black women have turned to natural hairstyles, including braids, as a way to avoid toxic chemicals. But recent research has revealed that popular brands of synthetic braiding hair, human-made extensions that are used in these protective styles, contain dangerous carcinogens, heavy metals and other toxins. Tested brands included in a recent study from Consumer Reports (CR) were Magic Fingers, The Sassy Collection, Shake-N-Go, Darling, Debut, Hbegant and Sensationnel, all mass producers of synthetic braiding hair.
According to the CR study, all tested samples of braiding hair contained volatile organic compounds (VOCs), human-made chemicals found in paints, industrial solvents and other products. Exposure to VOCs can cause health problems, including respiratory issues, nausea and fatigue. Long-term exposure has been associated with increased cancer risk and organ damage.
Friends know you differently from family, but where do you sit in the pecking order after they die? Below immediate relatives, ahead of a cousin, behind a workmate?
I don’t remember a time in my life when Chrissy wasn’t in it. We were born 11 days apart and were both one when our families moved on to the same street in Geelong, a port city an hour south-west of Melbourne. We had a very Australian childhood; summers spent in our bathers, running through sprinklers; swimming in back yard pools; eating sausages in bread on New Year’s Eve, when we were allowed to stay up late while our parents drank cask riesling with the neighbours, and we’d lie on the cool evening grass listening to crickets.
During those blisteringly hot summer days of our childhood, we lived at the beach, where shark alarms were constant and the waves dangerous. Occasionally, Chrissy would paddle out on her inflatable red and blue raft to the big waves out the back where the serious surfers were. Sometimes, I’d panic when I’d lose sight of her, only to see her come rolling in on a massive wave, perched on top, laughing her head off. She was fearless.
The Base is emerging from shadows and ramping up its ranks as White House turns blind eye to the far right
An international neo-Nazi terrorist organization is boldly continuing to build in the US and planning a new paramilitary training event without fear of local authorities or the FBI, which once dismantled it in a nationwide effort.
The Base, founded in 2018 by a former Pentagon contractor living in Russia and now suspected of Kremlin-sponsored espionage, once boasted close to 50 stateside members before the bureau made more than a dozen arrests in a years-long counter-terrorism operation.
New York’s once-bustling immigrant neighborhoods are chilled as Trump administration cracks down
Two months after fleeing death threats in Colombia, Juan landed a construction job in New York. But on his first day, the bulky GPS monitor strapped to his ankle caught the manager’s attention. It wouldn’t fit inside standard work boots. The boss shook his head. “Come back when you’ve resolved your status,” he said.
Since arriving in the US with his teenage daughter to seek asylum, Juan has lived in a state of constant anxiety. “It feels like I committed a crime, like they’re going to arrest me at any moment,” he said, speaking near the migrant shelter where they now live in Queens. Juan started wearing oversized pants to hide the monitor, a style he finds uncomfortable. “I’m paranoid all the time,” he said.
Son leads players’ tributes to the Australian manager
Supporters’ trust expresses ‘concern’ at another change
Son Heung-min has praised Ange Postecoglou as a “Tottenham Hotspur legend” as the club’s supporters’ trust expressed “concern” with another change in manager.
Postecoglou ended Spurs’ 17-year wait for silverware with Europa League success over Manchester United in Bilbao on 21 May, but it failed to earn the Australian a third season. A club statement on Friday announcing Postecoglou’s departure highlighted a woeful Premier League campaign where Tottenham finished 17th, their lowest top-flight finish since relegation in 1977.
A billionaire’s vendetta has threatened to cut off the US from the ISS and complicate national defense
After a year of effusive praise and expressions of love for each other, Elon Musk and Donald Trump exploded their political partnership in dramatic fashion this week. The highly public split included, among other highlights, the world’s richest person accusing the president of the United States of associating with a notorious sex offender. Trump said Musk had “lost his mind”.
As Musk and Trump traded insults, each on his own social network, they also issued threats with tangible consequences. Trump suggested that he could cancel all of Musk’s government contracts and subsidies – “the best way to save money”, he posted – a move that would have devastating consequences not only on the tech billionaire’s companies but also on the federal agencies that have come to depend on them. Musk responded by announcing that he would begin decommissioning the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft that Nasa relies on for transport missions, although he later reversed the decision.
The Brooklyn-based photographer on a chance encounter
New York-based photographer Eric Kogan took this picture on a family day of furniture and thrift-store hunting in Shelton, Connecticut, about a 90-minute drive from their Brooklyn home. En route, they stopped off in New Haven for a pizza. “The city is famous for its top-notch pizza restaurants,” Kogan says. “And the one we chose, Frank Pepe’s, is rumoured to have invented the first-ever pizza box!” After lunch they continued on to Shelton, pulling into the large parking lot of a furniture sample store a little before 4pm.
“It was so tucked away that we kept questioning if we were heading in the right direction,” Kogan says. “The moon came into view as we made our way to the entrance. The sun had just set and it was semi-daylight out. I searched for the perfect place to stand. I also had to underexpose the frame a bit, turning it down until the moon felt right: luminous and detailed against its subdued surroundings.”
‘I’m still searching for the missing piece off the tee’
Rory McIlroy says he is concerned about his form before next week’s US Open after missing the cut at the Canadian Open. The Masters champion shot a dismal second-round 78 on Friday, carding a quadruple bogey, a double and four other bogeys in an eight-over-par round that left him languishing 21 shots behind the halfway leader, Cameron Champ, who finished on 12 under.
It is the first time the world No 2 has missed the cut since the Open at Royal Troon last July. McIlroy’s round continued his troubled buildup to Oakmont having been forced to switch to a different driver after his previous model was deemed non-conforming in a random test on the eve of last month’s US PGA Championship, in which he finished joint-47th.
Singer tells fans he is recovering from flu after various health setbacks this year including strep throat and Covid
Sir Rod Stewart has cancelled a run of concerts in the US after having the flu, just weeks before his appearance at the Glastonbury festival later this month.
The 80-year-old singer said he was “devastated” to cancel or reschedule six shows in the US, due to take place over the next eight days.
Singer’s western-inspired Cowboy Carter tour is reminder of pop culture’s sway over shopping behaviour
Rhinestones, cowboy hats and a whole lot of denim; not a hen party entourage, a Glastonbury fit or a Nashville rodeo, but the queues outside Tottenham Hotspur Stadium this week, as Beyoncé kicked off her UK tour. And, seemingly, a new national dress code.
Since the release of the Cowboy Carter album, Beyoncé fans have been quick to adopt the rancher style, sparking a surge in interest for western-inspired fashion. On Vinted, searches for “western” are up by 16% year on year this month, with “rodeo” up 13%. Meanwhile, denim searches have risen 8%.
Nattapong Pinta had been seized in the Hamas-led 7 October 2023 attack and killed, according to Israeli military
The Israeli military has retrieved the body of a Thai hostage, Nattapong Pinta, who had been held in Gaza since Hamas’s attack on 7 October 2023, according to defence minister, Israel Katz. .
Pinta’s body was held by a Palestinian militant group called the Mujahideen Brigades, and was retrieved from the area of Rafah in southern Gaza, Katz said. His family in Thailand has been notified.
NGO says Afghan capital’s 7 million people face existential crisis that world needs urgently to address
Kabul could become the first modern city to completely run out of water, experts have warned.
Water levels within Kabul’s aquifers have dropped by up to 30 metres over the past decade owing to rapid urbanisation and climate breakdown, according to a report by the NGO Mercy Corps.
Ministers have been accused of being “asleep at the wheel” over threats to the UK’s soft power around the world, as some of their own advisers warned a funding crisis is undermining key institutions promoting British influence.
Members of the government’s new soft power council, set up by ministers earlier this year, warned the BBC World Service, the British Council and universities – regarded as the bodies at the forefront of the UK’s soft power efforts – all face major financial pressures.
The thriller writer on being a fearless Brummie, how he came to own a Renoir and his six-decade love affair with smoking
Born in the West Midlands, Lee Child, 70, studied law before working in television. After losing his job following a corporate restructuring, he published Killing Floor, the first in the Jack Reacher series, in 1997. His novels have been adapted into two films, starring Tom Cruise, and an Amazon Prime series. He now writes with his brother Andrew and they headline Theakston Old Peculier crime writing festival in Harrogate next month. The 30th Reacher thriller, Exit Strategy, is out in November. He is married with a daughter, and lives in the north of England.
When were you happiest?
In 1993, making love on the beach of a deserted island in the Bahamas.
One year on, Jonathan Haidt talks about the way his book changed the global conversation around children and digital devices – and explains how he handles his own teenagers
Jonathan Haidt is a man with a mission. You’ll have to forgive the cliche, because it’s literally true. The author of The Anxious Generation, an urgent warning about the effect of digital tech on young minds, is based at New York University’s business school: “I’m around all these corporate types and we’re always talking about companies and their mission statements,” he tells me. So, he decided to make one for himself. “It was very simple: ‘My mission is to use my research in moral psychology and that of others to help people better understand each other, and to help important social institutions work well.’”
This is characteristic of Haidt: there’s the risk that writing your own brand manifesto might seem a bit, well, pompous. What comes across instead is the nerd’s desire to be as effective as possible, combined with the positive psychologist’s love of self-improvement (one of his signature undergraduate courses is called Flourishing, which sets students homework such as “catch and analyse 10 automatic thoughts”).
Environmental lawyer Cormac Cullinan lauded for his work to establish continent’s legal status to protect its interests
Cormac Cullinan has a dream. A dream, he says, that will “change how humanity sees, understands and relates to Antarctica”. The vast frozen continent – home to emperor and Adélie penguins, leopard and Ross seals, and feeding grounds for orcas, beaked whales and albatrosses – should be recognised as an autonomous legal entity “at least equivalent to a country”, says the environmental lawyer.
Connexion
