Judge said tech giant had monopoly but let it keep Chrome and Android; critics cried foul while Wall Street cheered

A judge ruled on Tuesday that Google would not be forced to sell its Chrome browser or the Android operating system, saving the tech giant from the most severe penalties sought by the US government. The same judge had ruled in favor of US prosecutors nearly a year ago, finding that Google built and maintained an illegal monopoly with its namesake search engine.

Groups critical of Google’s dominance in the internet search and online advertising industry are furious. They contend the judge missed an opportunity to enact meaningful change in an industry that has suffocated under the crushing weight of its heaviest player. Tech industry groups and investors, by contrast, are thrilled. Shares in Alphabet, Google’s parent company, have risen 9% since Tuesday afternoon.

• Félix Auger-Aliassime wins 4-6, 7-6 (7), 7-5, 7-6 (4)

• Australian De Minaur loses again at quarter-final stage

Félix Auger-Aliassime continued his sublime return to form at the US Open with another demonstration of his growing maturity as he held his nerve in the decisive moments of a messy, nerve-racking four-hour tussle to defeat the eighth seed Alex de Minaur 4-6, 7-6 (7), 7-5, 7-6 (4) and reach the semi-finals in New York.

By pulling off one of the most significant victories of his career, Auger‑Aliassime has now reached the US Open semi-finals for a second time in his career, four years after his first semi-final in 2021. “It feels amazing. Four years ago, it feels like more, honestly,” he said. “It was a tough couple of years but it feels even better now to be back in the semi-finals.”

Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi lead the provocative Saltburn director’s unconventional adaptation of the novel

The first trailer for Emerald Fennell’s new take on Wuthering Heights promises a more erotically charged take on the classic Emily Brontë novel.

Fennell, who won an Oscar for her screenplay for Promising Young Woman, directs Australian actors Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi as Catherine and Heathcliff. The supporting cast includes Hong Chau, Martin Clunes and the Adolescence breakout star Owen Cooper.

Musician says he has ‘no choice’ after being ‘burnt out by any and all connections’ to his former bandmates

Morrissey has announced that he “has no choice” but to put up for sale the entirety of his business interests in the Smiths “to any interested party/investor”.

The deal, made in apparent seriousness on his website, Morrissey Solo, in a post titled “A Soul for Sale”, would include the band’s name and artwork, which he created, as well as his share of merchandising rights, lyrical and musical compositions, synchronisation, recordings and publishing contractual rights.

Researchers say low- and no-calorie sweeteners appear to affect thinking and memory in middle age

Sweeteners found in yoghurts and fizzy drinks can damage people’s ability to think and remember, and appear to cause “long-term harm” to health, research has found.

People who consumed the largest amount of sweeteners such as aspartame and saccharin saw a 62% faster decline in their cognitive powers – the equivalent to their having aged 1.6 years, researchers say.

News of Lady Mary’s divorce is presented with impeccable seriousness in a watchable outing that shouldn’t be the last

Grand finale? Oh please. Let’s get real; there is no reason why this particular brand of gibbering, wittering, blithering and surreally enjoyable nonsense shouldn’t go on for ever, like Frank Sinatra’s farewell tour or shortbread manufacture in the Scottish Highlands. Both of the previous Downton films had a sentimental last-hurrah message that didn’t preclude another one dropping off the production line. We could make the next film Downton Abbey: The Royal Finale and the one after that Downton Abbey: The Imperial Finale.

The last but one film finished on a funereal drone shot of Downton Abbey at sunset and the one after that was subtitled “A New Era” – but this one, it seems, has taken us back to the very end of the old era, inviting us to swoon loyally at the passing of something special and yet also at the same time doff our caps at the bluebloods’ insouciant gift for survival. There is something entertainingly outrageous in the pure tongue-in-cheek craziness of this new film’s opening sequence; it could almost count as a dadaist dream sequence. I don’t think anything in the TV show or the movies had anything as mickey-takingly bizarre.

As toxic nationalism spills over into our shared spaces, the England shirt is freighted with meaning for better or worse

The crosses of St George are flying all around me. Fair to say the opening line of Three Lions ’98 hits a little differently in 2025. The crosses of St George are being daubed on an Islamic centre in Basildon. The crosses of St George are being used to deface a Chinese takeaway in York. The crosses of St George are draped over men shouting at a three-star hotel from a mini-roundabout. The crosses of St George are retailing for about £2.36 on Temu, depending on whether you want them car-window sized, or big enough to write the words “GET OFF MY LAND” in the white spaces.

Keir Starmer has declared that he is “a supporter of flags”. Alas, at the time of writing the prime minister’s position on other items of tactile fabric remains unclear. What does he think about blankets? Does he endorse or condemn the dishcloth? Not to be outdone, the home secretary, Yvette Cooper, disclosed that she has St George’s bunting on display at home. “I would put them up anywhere,” she confirmed, which – anatomically speaking – is not an image any of us needed right now.

Film about five-year-old girl killed by Israeli forces in Gaza leave much of audience and many journalists sobbing

A gut-wrenching new film about a five-year-old girl killed by Israeli forces in Gaza last year received a 23-minute standing ovation after its premiere at the Venice film festival on Wednesday.

The Voice of Hind Rajab, directed by Tunisian film-maker Kaouther Ben Hania, had been described by critics as ‘‘the most powerful and urgent entry of this year’s festival”. It left much of the audience and many journalists sobbing as it was screened for the first time.

President laments accident on railway that carries passengers up and down hillside in Portugal’s capital

At least 15 people have been killed after Lisbon’s Gloria funicular railway car derailed and crashed on Wednesday, an emergency medical service spokesperson has said.

Authorities would not identify the victims or disclose their nationalities, but said some foreign nationals were among the dead. At least 18 people were also injured.

• Kulusevski, Dragusin and Bissouma also omitted

• Uefa requires squads to have eight ‘homegrown’ players

Thomas Frank has left Mathys Tel out of his Tottenham squad for the league phase of the Champions League while he has been unable to find room in it for Dejan Kulusevski and Radu Dragusin – even though they could return from long-term injuries while there are still ties to play.

Frank has been in an impossible position because of how the profile of his players has jarred with Uefa’s regulations. Put simply, the head coach has too few homegrown squad members and too many who have come from elsewhere. He was always going to have to exclude six players from his 25-man “A” list.

Co-author says bill almost has signatures needed to bypass leadership as survivor says this legislation ‘really matters’

• US politics live – latest updates

Several survivors of Jeffrey Epstein’s abuse signaled their support on Wednesday for a bipartisan resolution to release all the files related to the convicted sex offender, who died in a Manhattan prison in 2019.

Speaking outside the US Capitol, Anouska De Georgiou, a survivor of both Epstein and his co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell, said that while “every day of this journey toward healing has come at a profound cost to my mental health”, she had chosen to be there because this legislation “really matters”.

Fifth circuit says Alien Enemies Act can not justify removal of Venezuelans accused of gang ties in peacetime

A court ruling that blocked Donald Trump from invoking the Alien Enemies Act to deport Venezuelans he alleged were part of a criminal gang has been hailed as “a victory for the rule of law”.

In a 2-1 decision on Tuesday, a three-judge panel of the fifth US circuit court of appeals issued a preliminary injunction that prevents the Trump administration using the 1798 law to justify rapid deportations.

Antitrust lawsuit accuses the Murdoch-owned outlet of stifling competition in the rightwing TV news market

Newsmax, the conservative cable network run by Christopher Ruddy, has filed a lawsuit against Fox News, accusing the Rupert Murdoch-owned outlet of stifling competition in the rightwing television news market.

The antitrust lawsuit, filed on Wednesday in the US district court for the southern district of Florida, names both Fox News Network and its parent company, Fox Corp. It claims the broadcaster carried out “an exclusionary scheme to increase and maintain its dominance in the market for US right-leaning pay TV news”.

Study finds scrollers are more prone to piles than those who go to the lavatory without phones

People who take a mobile phone to the loo should keep to a two TikTok limit, according to doctors who found that toilet scrollers are more prone to haemorrhoids than phoneless lavatory-goers.

Those who sit on the throne with a phone spend far more time on the toilet than others, with longer stints linked to a greater risk of developing the bulging anal veins known as haemorrhoids or piles.

• 314-page judgment damning about lack of expert witness

• FA appeared ‘not certain what case it was presenting’

The Football Association has been criticised strongly by the regulatory commission that cleared Lucas Paquetá of spot-fixing charges, over its failure to provide an independent assessment of the betting data on the West Ham player receiving yellow cards.

A 314-page report by the commission that heard Paquetá’s case was published on Wednesday and makes damning reading for the FA, with its evidence criticised for containing “an obvious flaw, namely the lack of an independent assessment of the data”.

Democrats accuse Reform leader of being a ‘Trump sycophant’ as he missed prime minister’s questions to give evidence before House committee

Nigel Farage has been accused of being a “Putin-loving free speech impostor” whose main motivation is ingratiating himself with Donald Trump and tech companies, during a sometimes difficult appearance before a US congressional hearing on censorship.

The Reform UK leader, who missed prime minister’s questions to appear as a witness before the House judiciary committee, was invited by its Republican leadership, who questioned him about what Farage called the “awful authoritarian” situation for free speech in the UK.

Liz Truss fell not for borrowing, but for incompetence. Rachel Reeves mustn’t repeat the mistake with rules markets don’t demand

In 1995, Nick Leeson, a 28-year-old trader for Barings Bank, brought down the City’s oldest finance house by, among other things, betting that the Bank of Japan (BoJ) couldn’t keep rates low after a financial crash led to a government borrowing spree. The devastating Kobe earthquake was the final blow. The BoJ cut rates, bond prices rose and his losses spiralled to $1.4bn. His failed gamble that markets would beat Japan sank Barings.

Barings’ collapse is perhaps a spectacular example of the “widowmaker” trade, where speculators think they can outsmart Japanese authorities. They’ve ended up with egg on their face as their gamble on Japan losing fiscal control proved misguided. Japan, with its own currency and a central bank working with the government, shows how the state shapes markets, not the other way round.

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On display in Beijing were nuclear weapons launched by air, sea and land, laser weapons and four-legged drones

It was hardly a subtle attempt to project power. China showed off air-, sea- and land-launched nuclear weapons in its parade on Wednesday, a triad intended to demonstrate that Beijing’s long-term aspiration is to match US military might.

Also on display were large underwater torpedo-like drones, intended to threaten western warships, as well as anti-drone lasers and four-legged “robot wolves”, all designed to be noticed, regardless of their actual military effectiveness.

• Europe’s players should learn from tennis star’s reactions

• ‘All we can do is control our reaction and our emotions’

Rory McIlroy believes Europe’s Ryder Cup team should follow the grand slam record title-holder Novak Djokovic’s example when it comes to dealing with American hostility in New York this month.

Djokovic, a keen golfer himself, delivered a pep talk to the team before their resounding victory in Rome two years ago, and last week McIlroy was pictured courtside watching the Serb at the US Open just hours after the Northern Irishman finished the Tour Championship in Atlanta.

Live footage of private conversation between Russian president and Chinese leader aired at Beijing military parade

The authoritarian strongmen Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping have mused on how organ transplants might lead to immortality, during a brief exchange of small talk caught on a hot mic at a military parade.

The Russian president was in Beijing on Wednesday with the Chinese leader, who hosted allies for a ceremony to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of the second world war.

Jasveen Sangha changed her previous not guilty plea in the October 2023 overdose death of the Friends star

A woman who has come to be known as the “Ketamine Queen” pleaded guilty on Wednesday to selling Matthew Perry the drug that killed him.

Jasveen Sangha changed her previous not guilty plea at a federal court in Los Angeles and became the fifth and final defendant charged in the overdose death of the Friends star to plead guilty after a deal with prosecutors.

Those who have asylum claims rejected and do not leave within 14 days will face prison terms of two to five years

Greece has passed draconian legislation that could mean rejected asylum seekers receiving prison terms, fines and orders to wear ankle tags, in a move that reflects the centre-right government’s continued attempts to deter undocumented migrants from arriving on its soil.

The tough penalties usher in an unprecedented era of zero tolerance for people who remain in the country if their asylum claims are denied. As a frontier state, long viewed as a gateway to Europe, Greece has had a surge in migrant arrivals this year.

In an exclusive interview, the Manchester City striker talks about the horrific racist abuse she suffered last season, playing with Viv Miedema and her hopes for 2025-26

“It’s difficult,” says Khadija ‘Bunny’ Shaw. “Sometimes you have to take a step back and think about you and your mental health because if you’re not in a good place you won’t be able to perform. I wasn’t in a good place. It was about more than what happened in that match. There’s a lot that people didn’t and don’t know about.”

Shaw is speaking for the first time about her decision to withdraw from Manchester City’s League Cup semi-final against Arsenal in February, four days after she had suffered horrific racist abuse following a 4-3 loss against the same side in the Women’s Super League. Manchester City said they were “appalled” and reported the matter to the police.

Byron Waller, accompanied by instructor but doing all the flying, stops off in England on way round back to Australia

At 15 years and 10 months of age, Byron Waller can’t order a pint and has never driven a car, but on Wednesday afternoon he landed his small plane at an airport in Brighton, on England’s south coast. It was the 16th or so stop (he can’t quite remember) of a remarkable airborne odyssey that he hopes will make him the youngest supported pilot to fly around the world.

The adventure began at his home in Brisbane, Australia, four weeks ago and has taken the teenager across the Indian Ocean and through the Middle East to Europe, from where he will venture around the other half of the globe back home. Though he is accompanied by an instructor – global aviation rules not easily permitting children to fly around the world on their own – Byron does all the flying of their tiny single-engined Sling TSi aircraft.