Comments come after Oval Office meeting with Nato’s Mark Rutte signalled a shift in tone on conflict
French foreign minister Jean-Noël Barrot told reporters that he hoped the new language from the US and more sanctions from the EU will force Russian president Vladimir Putin “to face the facts: he has gone too far and he is now at an impasse.”
He said he was hoping for more alignment between the US and the EU on sanctions, as he met with American senators last week in Rome to discuss their proposed bipartisan bill on Russia.
“So we have some progress. We have some positive developments. It’s true that we have trucks that are able to enter, but we don’t know exactly how many.
And what is clear is that the agreement is not fully implemented.
Selection, discipline, kicking, aerial dominance and individual brilliance will all be key in the next few weeks
Selection It may sound obvious but both sides need their key chess pieces to be in the correct places. Neither team are due to declare their hands officially until Thursday but the Lions will be well aware of Joe Schmidt’s ability to produce a tactical surprise or two. The big name to look out from an Australian perspective will be Rob Valetini, such an important cog in the Wallaby pack but injured for the recent Fiji game. If Valetini is ruled out it will be a blow to home morale; the Wallabies are going to need their main men on the field. The Lions have had their own injury problems but their back-row and centre selections will be instructive. They will be tempted to start with their most physical flanker, Tom Curry, and send out Ben Earl and/or Henry Pollock to up the tempo later. But Jac Morgan, the only Welshman left in the squad and a specialist jackler, would offer the Lions balance in more ways than one. And while it seems almost too obvious to start with Sione Tuipulotu at 12 inside Huw Jones, the case for Bundee Aki remains strong. Among other things it would enable Andy Farrell to go direct initially and then change things up for the second Test in Melbourne. Owen Farrell on the bench? The ex-England captain seems destined to have an impact on this series at some point.
Tackle area discipline If the Lions have learned one lesson on this tour it is the vital importance of the breakdown. The Wallabies have a quality ball-sniffing openside in Fraser McReight and will be keen to go hard at the rucks to disrupt the Lions’ momentum and ensure precious quick ball for their own backs. Furthermore, the referees named for this series, New Zealand’s Ben O’Keeffe, Italy’s Andrea Piardi and Georgia’s Nika Amashukeli might not necessarily have been the Lions’ first-choice triumvirate. O’Keeffe refereed the second Test against South Africa four years ago when the Lions were well beaten 27-9 while the other two are new to the unique intensity of a Lions Test series. Andy Farrell’s team have been already been working hard on reducing their penalty counts but, as the former All Black coach Ian Foster observed at the weekend, not giving the opposition an “easy out” will be crucial for both teams. “In a Lions series there’s lots of pressure and it comes down to your discipline,” warned Foster, involved with the Australia & New Zealand Invitational XV beaten 48-0 in Adelaide. “We were combative but when we got squeezed we lost our discipline. The Lions will hurt you if that happens.”
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Rest of the squad unchanged for Old Trafford clash
England have recalled Liam Dawson for next week’s fourth Rothesay Test against India, with the spinning all-rounder replacing the injured Shoaib Bashir. The 35-year-old made the last of his three Test appearances eight years ago, but looks set for an unexpected return at Old Trafford after Bashir’s withdrawal.
Bashir took the match-winning wicket in a tense finish at Lord’s on Monday, having already broken the little finger on his left hand. He is set for surgery in the coming days and will miss the remainder of the series. Dawson has been picked ahead of his fellow left-armer Jack Leach, despite the latter being centrally contracted.
A mystic who turned visions into beautiful chants, Hildegard von Bingen has inspired everyone from Grimes to David Lynch. Musicians including Julia Holter explain the hold she has on them
‘And behold! In the 43rd year of my earthly course, as I was gazing with great fear and trembling attention at a heavenly vision, I saw a great splendour in which resounded a voice from Heaven saying to me, ‘O fragile human, ashes of ashes, and filth of filth! Say and write what you see and hear.”
These are the words of 12th-century polymath Hildegard von Bingen, recalling the divine intervention that set her on the path to becoming one of history’s earliest and most influential composers.
Exclusive: For roughly 100 days, Thomas says he faced harsh detention conditions, despite agreeing to deportation
Thomas, a 35-year-old tech worker and father of three from Ireland, came to West Virginia to visit his girlfriend last fall. It was one of many trips he had taken to the US, and he was authorized to travel under a visa waiver program that allows tourists to stay in the country for 90 days.
He had planned to return to Ireland in December, but was briefly unable to fly due to a health issue, his medical records show. He was only three days overdue to leave the US when an encounter with police landed him in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) custody.
Lawmakers send letter railing against ‘suffocating’ smoke days after voting for Trump plan likely to boost pollution
A group of Republican lawmakers has complained that smoke from Canadianwildfires is ruining summer for Americans, just days after voting for a major bill that will cause more of the planet-heating pollution that is worsening wildfires.
In a letter sent to Canada’s ambassador to the US, six Republican members of Congress wrote that wildfire smoke from Canada has been an issue for several years and recently their voters “have had to deal with suffocating Canadian wildfire smoke filling the air to begin the summer”.
China’s economy grew more strongly than expected in the second quarter as it proved resilient in the face of Donald Trump’s trade war.
China’s gross domestic product (GDP) grew 5.2% in April to June compared with a year earlier, slowing from 5.4% in the first quarter, but just ahead of analysts’ expectations for a rise of 5.1%.
Starbucks has ordered its corporate staff to work from the office at least four days a week from late September and is offering cash payments to those who choose to quit instead.
Brian Niccol, the chief executive of the Seattle-headquartered coffee chain, said many of its employees would be required to work in the office for a minimum of four days a week, up from three, from Monday to Thursday. This will apply to its Seattle and Toronto support centres and regional offices in North America.
In an exhaustively researched new book, J Randy Taraborrelli looks at the private, public and secret lives of the president
J Randy Taraborrelli has already written five books on the Kennedy family but his sixth, JFK: Public, Private, Secret, is his first that’s directly about John F Kennedy, 35th US president from 1961 until his assassination in Dallas two years later.
“I have been writing about the Kennedys from Jackie’s perspective for 25 years,” Taraborrelli said, referring to Jacqueline Kennedy, the first lady who lived for another 30 years after he was shot, a figure of worldwide fascination.
Manchester United have realised they still have a Scott McTominay-sized hole in their midfield and want to fill it with the former Bayern Munich playee Corentin Tolisso. The box-to-box midfielder turns 31 in August but has just had one of the best seasons of his career at Lyon – scoring 10 goals and registering nine assists in all competitions – and, given the French club’s financial problems, there may be a deal to be done for around £15m.
After weeks of negotiations, United are also reportedly closing on a move for Bryan Mbeumo after agreeing terms with Brentford. The fee is thought to be north of £60m, with the shrewd Bees keen on using some of that money to buy a replacement in Omari Hutchinson. The winger flickered in a struggling Ipswich side last season but was one of England’s best players in their under-21 Euros campaign, scoring in the final against Germany.
Nowhere should be out of bounds just because you have a plant-based diet. Seasoned travellers explain how to stay happy and hunger-free, whether you’re trekking in Thailand or on a mini-break in Berlin
This spring, I spent five weeks travelling around Mexico – my longest time away from home since becoming a vegan two and a half years ago. It was a learning experience: lots of incredible vegan food, gallons of fall-back guacamole and the odd cheese-related disaster. This is what I found out about being a vegan on holiday, and the advice I received from more seasoned vegan travellers.
Donald Trump has said he does not want parliament to be recalled for his state visit to the UK, praising Keir Starmer, and saying that, despite being a liberal, the prime minister was straightening out a “sloppy” Brexit.
Speaking in a rare interview with the BBC, the president said he had made trade agreements to lower tariffs on the UK specifically because of his affinity with Britain, saying he believed in its special relationship with the US.
Matthew Drapper at C of E’s St Thomas Philadelphia was told that ‘sexual impurity’ had let demons enter his body
A gay man has been paid compensation from a Church of England parish after he was subjected to an “exorcism” to purge him of his homosexuality, it has been reported.
Matthew Drapper, 37, was a volunteer at St Thomas Philadelphia, a joint Anglican-Baptist congregation in Sheffield, in 2014 when he was invited to an “encounter God weekend” at the “contemporary, welcoming church”, the Times reported.
Deal with kit manufacturer runs until at least 2035
Contract worth £100m a year, up from £65m a year
Manchester City have signed a new contract with Puma worth at least £1bn. The £100m a-year deal extends their agreement until at least 2035 and is a marked increase from the previous £65m-a-year deal with the German kit manufacturer that ran until 2029.
The contract is thought to be the first £1bn deal in English football and a record per year for a Premier League club. In July 2023 Manchester United sealed a 10-year contract with Adidas worth about £900m, and four months ago Liverpool agreed a multi-year deal with Adidas thought to be worth £60m a-season.
Two Torres Strait community leaders are shocked and devastated after the federal court dismissed a landmark case that argued the Australian government breached its duty of care to protect the Torres Strait Islands from climate change.
Pre-season trips to Asia may not be new for English clubs, but they remain a huge global engagement opportunity
Fifty years ago, Arsenal lost 2-0 to Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur, with jet-lagged players struggling to deal with frogs bouncing around the Merdeka Stadium pitch as well as the legendary local striker Mokhtar Dahari.
Since then, however, many aspects of Asian tours by English clubs have changed. They have become, mostly, slick affairs. This summer, Arsenal will visit neighbouring Singapore for games against Newcastle and Milan. Then to Hong Kong for an unusual north London derby against a Tottenham team that will also travel to South Korea to face Newcastle. Liverpool visit Japan and Hong Kong just weeks after Manchester United were in action there on a post-season tour, which they finished in Malaysia.
Port of Antwerp-Bruges figures show 15.9% drop in export of cars, vans, trucks and tractors to US
The Port of Antwerp-Bruges has been turned into a giant car park with thousands of cars, vans, trucks and tractors bound for the US sitting idle as manufacturers try to avert the worst of Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Figures released by the port show a 15.9% drop in the transport of new passenger cars and vans to the US in the first six months of 2025 compared with the same period last year, with a sharp decline emerging in May – one month after the US president announced his “liberation day” tariffs.
In the fevered environments within sporting arenas, anything that can help an official has to be a good thing
We are all suckers for a good story. And there was certainly a cracking two‑parter at Wimbledon this year. First came the news that 300 line judges had been replaced by artificial intelligence robots. Then, a few days later, it turned out there were some embarrassing gremlins in the machine. Not since Roger Federer hung up his Wilson racket has there been a sweeter spot hit during the Wimbledon fortnight.
With claims of 2bn TV views, $2.1bn revenues and a push for it to go every two years, Infantino’s pet project is here to stay
All that can be said with certainty about the future of the Club World Cup is that it is not going away. The 24-carat gold Tiffany trophy presented to Reece James by Donald Trump in New Jersey, in one of the most surreal scenes seen in a sports stadium, will be up for grabs again in four years. The event could well be bigger, Fifa intends it to be better and the presentation will surely not be as brash.
Gianni Infantino was widely criticised for imposing the Club World Cup on an indifferent sporting public, against a backdrop of hostility from players’ unions and domestic leagues, but his belief that top clubs would back his vision has been vindicated, albeit largely because of the $1bn (£740m) prize fund. With Chelsea banking £85m for winning seven matches, others are keen for a slice of the pie.
This illuminating account of Toni Morrison’s time at Random House reveals her determination to relate the ideas and words of black America
While a great deal has been written about Toni Morrison’s fiction, her work as a senior editor at Random House is less well known. Dana A Williams, professor of African American Literature at Howard University, sets out to fill this gap, offering an impeccably researched account of Morrison’s stint at Random House between 1971 and 1983, against the backdrop of the Civil Rightsand the Black Arts movements. Reflecting ideas generated by that convergence, Morrison’s novels – described by the Nobel committee, when they awarded her the prize in literature in 1993, as giving life to an essential aspect of American reality – were driven by an unwavering belief in the possibility of African American empowerment through self-regard. Williams’s interest lies in showing how Morrison’s editorial career was informed by the same invigoratingly insular ethos. Whether writing or editing, her work was aimed at producing “explorations of interior Black life with minimal interest in talking to or being consumed by an imagined white reader”.
Morrison saw early on how that kind of insularity could be wielded as both a weapon and a shield. Addressing the Second National Conference of Afro-American Writers at Howard in 1976, she urged the audience to recognise that “the survival of Black publishing, which […] is a sort of way of saying the survival of Black writing, will depend on the same things that the survival of Black anything depends on, which is the energies of Black people – sheer energy, inventiveness and innovation, tenacity, the ability to hang on, and a contempt for those huge, monolithic institutions and agencies which do obstruct us”. These words could well have been repurposed as a mission statement for her editorial career, which, as Williams points out, consisted of “[making] a revolution, one book at a time”. Change was coming in America. Morrison’s contribution would be to work towards change in the overwhelmingly white world of publishing: “I thought it was important for people to be in the streets,” she said during an interview for the documentary Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am, released in 2019. “But that couldn’t last. You needed a record. It would be my job to publish the voices, the books, the ideas of African Americans. And that would last.”
British film about the relationship travails of a 30-year-old would-be actor falls flat and feels dated
It is a truth universally acknowledged that there was some drop-off in quality between the first incomparable Bridget Jones film and its sequels, but this cheap would-be spiritual successor will have you crawling after even the worst Bridget film begging for forgiveness. Ghosted hews close to the template, to the point of feeling like a tribute act – but unfortunately not the kind of tribute act that sells out arenas but the kind that plays down the Dog & Duck of a Saturday night.
Mercy (Jade Asha) is unhappily single, on the hunt for Mr Right, and hoping to improve her career (ideally from waitress to international acting superstar). Part of the film’s problem is that Bridget Jones’ Diary is of its time, and to hear a 30-year-old supposedly modern and progressive heroine in 2025 complain that she is a decade older than the majority of singles definitely feels dated. Thirty in 2025 is not the same as 30 in the 1990s, and it’s peculiar to watch someone today bemoan it as the end of their youth.
Wing in doubt after missing training due to a foot issue
Andy Farrell has privately picked side to face Wallabies on Saturday
The Ireland wing Mack Hansen is expected to miss out on a place in the British & Irish Lions’ team for the first Test against the Wallabies on Saturday with a foot injury. Hansen’s setback comes with the fullback Blair Kinghorn also poised to miss out after both skipped training on Tuesday.
The Lions have not yet officially ruled Hansen or Kinghorn out of contention to face Australia in Brisbane, but coach Andy Farrell has already privately picked his side for Saturday and given neither player was able to train on Tuesday it seems unlikely that either will feature.
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