Feds call it a victory for women and girls’ rights
The University of Pennsylvania has agreed to ban transgender women from its women’s sports teams to resolve a federal civil rights case that found the school violated the rights of female athletes.
The US Education Department announced the voluntary agreement Tuesday. The case focused on Lia Thomas, the transgender swimmer who last competed for the Ivy League school in Philadelphia in 2022, when she became the first openly transgender athlete to win a Division I title.
India take 2-0 lead in series after crushing victory
England fell to a second successive defeat against India at Bristol on Tuesday, losing by 24 runs in their chase of 182.
It was a case of deja vu for English fans, as the home side once again inserted India, conceded far too many runs for comfort, and failed to get within touching distance of their target after a tumble of early wickets.
‘Silverstone has the right characteristics to stay for ever’
Domenicali to raise Brexit ‘complications’ with Starmer
The Formula One chief executive, Stefano Domenicali, has said he would like the British Grand Prix at Silverstone to remain on the F1 calendar for ever, with the event set to host what is expected to be the largest meeting in the sport’s history, reaching half a million people over four days this weekend.
The British GP, which has been on the calendar since F1 began in 1950, is expected to sell out with record numbers and Domenicali acknowledged it was part of a large and thriving F1 business in Britain, which he hopes can be improved by working closer with the UK government when he meets the prime minister, Keir Starmer, and other government officials at Downing Street on Wednesday afternoon.
Final season of the smash series scores a new record for the streaming platform in the first three days
The third and final season of the hit Korean series Squid Game has broken records to become the biggest-ever TV launch for Netflix.
Over its first three days, the series racked up more than 60.1m views, a new high for the streamer, with more than 368.4m hours viewed. The second season launched with 68m views but over a four-day period last December.
Calling the interviewees in this documentary survivors suggests their ordeals are over – but due to paltry laws and police reluctance, that is appallingly far from the case
Hello and welcome to part 86,747,398,464 of the continuing cataloguing via television documentary of the apparently infinite series Ways in Which Largely Men Terrorise Largely Women and Prevent Countless Millions of Them from Living Their Lives in Freedom and Contentment. This one comprises two episodes and is entitled To Catch a Stalker.
It comes from the corporation’s most youth-oriented arm, BBC Three, which mandates a telegenic presenter better versed in sympathy with the programme’s interviewees than interrogation of wider issues, and who has usually come up through the ranks of reality TV rather than journalism. Here, it’s Zara McDermott (Love Island, Made in Chelsea, The X Factor: Celebrity), who previously fronted entries in the infinite series on “revenge porn”, rape culture and eating disorders.
The national climate assessments help state and local governments prepare for the impacts of a warming world
Legally mandated US national climate assessments seem to have disappeared from the federal websites built to display them, making it harder for state and local governments and the public to learn what to expect in their back yards from a warming world.
Scientists said the peer-reviewed authoritative reports save money and lives. Websites for the national assessments and the US Global Change Research Program were down Monday and Tuesday with no links, notes or referrals elsewhere. The White House, which was responsible for the assessments, said the information will be housed within Nasa to comply with the law, but gave no further details.
England team hang on their captain’s every word but he is on his longest run of Tests without a century
A day out from the second Test against India at Edgbaston and Andrew Flintoff was dog-sticking to England’s batters in the nets, his very presence bringing memories of 20 years ago flooding back. It was here where Flintoff wrote his name into Ashes folklore, igniting the afterburners for England’s statement first innings, rescuing the second with a six-laden counterattack, and then sending down a famous over on the third evening that vaporised Justin Langer and Ricky Ponting.
As well as driving England to that famous two-run victory, 141 runs and seven wickets across the four days made it Flintoff’s statistical peak as a fast-bowling all-rounder – the only time he went north of 100 runs and five wickets in the same Test. People often underestimate the physical and mental demands that the dual role places on those hardy enough to even attempt it; expecting both facets of their game to deliver consistently is unrealistic save for a handful of freakish greats.
Legislation goes to House but unclear if lower chamber will accept changes to tax and spending bill amid factional splits
Senate Republicans on Tuesday passed a major tax and spending bill demanded by Donald Trump, ending weeks of negotiations over the comprehensive legislation and putting it another step closer to enactment.
But it remains unclear whether changes made by the chamber will be accepted by the House of Representatives, which approved an initial draft of the legislation last month by a single vote. While Republicans control both houses of Congress, factionalism in the lower chamber is particularly intense, with rightwing fiscal hardliners demanding deep spending cuts, moderates wary of dismantling safety-net programs and Republicans from Democratic-led states expected to make a stand on a contentious tax provision. Any one of these groups could potentially derail the bill’s passage through a chamber where the GOP can lose no more than three votes.
Former marine Arturo Flores condemns ‘a level of psychological warfare I’ve only seen in theaters of war’
As a United States marine, Arturo Flores served in Afghanistan and Iraq, where he worked as a military police officer and trained dogs to find roadside bombs.
It’s his experience in the military that has made what he’s seen on the streets of southern California in recent weeks all the more disturbing to him, Flores said.
The latest instalment marks a return to form after some recent duds, with all the expected Spielberg-style set pieces and excellent romantic chemistry between the leads
What a comeback. The Jurassic World film series had looked to be pretty much extinct after some increasingly dire dollops of franchise content: Fallen Kingdom in 2018 and Dominion in 2022. But now, against all odds, these dinosaurs have had a brand refresh: a brighter, breezier, funnier, incomparably better acted and better written film, with unashamed nods to the summer smashes of yesteryear, that makes sense of the dino-spectacle moments that earn their place.
Screenwriter David Koepp and director Gareth Edwards have been drafted in to take us back to basics with a new story, all but retconning the drama with a “17 years previously” flashback at the start that entirely (and thankfully) ignores the tiresome convoluted dullness of what has recently happened. Then we’re in the present day, when the existence of dinosaurs in the wild is accepted but they’ve all pretty much died out – except in and around the lush fictional Île Saint Hubert in the Caribbean.
5 min: Real Madrid are pressing! An uncomfortable pass back to the keeper maintains possession for the Italian side.
4 min: Some incisive passes for Real Madrid lead to a rather speculative shot from Vinicius Junior that deflects toward goal but loses much of its venom as it deflects.
Witnesses describe explosion, flames and smoke plumes as airstrike transforms peaceful scene at al-Baqa into a horror
Early afternoon was a busy time in the al-Baqa cafe, on the waterfront in Gaza City. Under the wooden slatted roof, seated at plastic chairs and tables, were dozens of Palestinians seeking respite from the relentless 20-month war that has devastated much of the bustling, vibrant town.
On one side was the Mediterranean, blue and calm to the horizon. On the other, battered apartment blocks, wrecked hotels and the close-packed tents of displaced families.
With net zero targets under attack from the populist right, dangerously high temperatures should refocus minds
At times like now, with dangerously high temperatures in several European countries, the urgent need for adaptation to an increasingly unstable climate is clearer than ever. From the French government’s decision to close schools to the bans in most of Italy on outdoor work at the hottest time of day, the immediate priority is to protect people from extreme heat – and to recognise that a heatwave can take a higher toll than a violent storm.
People who are already vulnerable, due to age or illness or poor housing, face the greatest risks from heatwaves. As well as changes to rules and routines, public health warnings are vital, especially where records are being broken and people are unfamiliar with the conditions. In the scorching European summer of 2022, an estimated 68,000 people died due to heat. Health, welfare and emergency systems must respond to those needing help.
Funding is plummeting as needs grow, with the closure of USAID, the slashing of UK and European aid budgets, and the obstruction of debt reform and cancellation
When one door closes, you would hope that another opens. As USAID was formally shut down on Monday, a once-in-a-decade development financing conference was kicking off in Seville. But while initially intended to move the world closer to its ambitious 2030 sustainable development goals, it now looks more like an attempt to prevent a reversal of the progress already made.
A study published in the Lancet predicted that Donald Trump’s aid cuts could claim more than 14 million lives by 2030, a third of them among children. For many poor countries, the scale of the shock would be similar to that of a major war, the authors found. More than four-fifths of the US agency’s programmes have been cut, with surviving projects folded into the state department.
President says immigration jail in Florida Everglades is a ‘little controversial, but I couldn’t care less’
Donald Trump on Tuesday toured “Alligator Alcatraz”, a controversial new migrant detention jail in the remote Florida Everglades, and celebrated the harsh conditions that people sent there would experience.
The president was chaperoned by Florida’s hard-right governor, Ron DeSantis, who hailed the tented camp on mosquito-infested land 50 miles west of Miami as an example for other states that supported Trump’s mass deportation agenda.
Report claims CEO Pascal Soriot talked in private about moving UK’s most valuable listed company and considered shifting its domicile
AstraZeneca’s chief executive, Pascal Soriot, has reportedly said that he would like to shift the company’s stock market listing from the UK to the US.
The boss of Britain’s most valuable listed company has spoken privately about a preference to move the listing to New York, the Times reported. It added that he had also considered moving the company’s domicile.
In a revealing HBO documentary, the women involved with the groundbreaking feminist publication describe the rocky road to progress
The first of July marks the anniversary of Ms magazine’s official inaugural issue, which hit newsstands in 1972 and featured Wonder Woman on its cover, towering high above a city. Truthfully, Ms debuted months earlier, on 20 December 1971, as a forty-page insert in New York magazine, where founding editor Gloria Steinem was a staff writer. Suspecting this might be their only shot, its founders packed the issue with stories like The Black Family and Feminism, De-Sexing the English Language, and We Have Had Abortions, a list of 53 well-known American women’s signatures, including Anaïs Nin, Susan Sontag, and Steinem herself. The 300,000 available copies sold out in eight days. The first US magazine founded and operated entirely by women was, naysayers be damned, a success.
The groundbreaking magazine’s history, and its impact on the discourse around second-wave feminism and women’s liberation, is detailed in HBO documentary Dear Ms: A Revolution in Print, which premiered at this year’s Tribeca film festival. Packed with archival footage and interviews with original staff, contributors, and other cultural icons, Dear Ms unfolds across three episodes, each directed by a different film-maker. Salima Koroma, Alice Gu, and Cecilia Aldarondo deftly approach key topics explored by the magazine – domestic violence, workplace harassment, race, sexuality – with care, highlighting the challenges and criticisms that made Ms. a polarizing but galvanizing voice of the women’s movement.
Enthusiasm is palpable as fans buy in to a tournament where progress should be made on and off the pitch
In any downtime from ensuring Euro 2025 passes smoothly, Uefa staff can take a short walk to watch Nyon’s summer jazz festival in full flow. Rive Jazzy is in its fourth decade and there should be something for everyone. The Greasers will be on stage to set a tone before England face Wales on 13 July; this Friday anyone with a penchant for swing can turn up at Place du Molard to enjoy harmonies by the Hot Shooters.
The more pressing hope is that there will be plenty of those on Switzerland’s football pitches across the next 25 days. At its elite level, the women’s game has never before been blessed with the depth of quality it can showcase this month. There is justified optimism that no weak link will stick out like a sore thumb among the 16 contenders in this European Championship; at the top end a valid expectation exists that, while Spain are obvious favourites, at least three or four others are highly equipped to test that status vigorously.
4th over: India 24-1 (Mandhana 13, Rodrigues 7) Rodrigues square-drives Filer with a flourish to score her first boundary. That was a rare full delivery in another aggressive over from Filer, who twice beat Rodrigues with short balls outside off stump.
This has been a good start from England, whose ground fielding has also looked much sharper than it did on Saturday.
New White House-approved painting was donated after Trump described the original as ‘purposefully distorted’
Months after Donald Trump expressed strong negative opinions about a presidential portrait of him in the Colorado state capitol that he described as “purposefully distorted”, a White House-approved replacement now hangs in its place.
The new portrait, which Trump reportedly demanded be printed with a golden border so it would catch the light and “glimmer”, bears a close resemblance to Trump’s official second-term photograph, which hangs in more than 1,600 federal buildings across the US and thousands more on a voluntary basis.
Guardian photographer David Levene used an eight-metre pole to get up above the crowds and create a unique perspective on this year’s festival
It can be difficult to get an elevated view at Glastonbury. There are various high-up platforms around the site, and of course there are the hills that give a view down into the valley where the festival nestles. But for much of the weekend you are in a crowd, looking up. Guardian photographer David Levene therefore used an eight metre-high “monopod” – a sort of highly stable pole with his camera stuck on top – to create elevation and give us a better sense of the scale of the crowds.
I wanted to get a slightly different viewpoint of the things that have become very familiar to our readers David Levene
Premier bowler Bumrah could be rested at Edgbaston
Captain Gill says decision will be made on Tuesday night
India chose to let speculation swirl around the potential involvement of Jasprit Bumrah in Wednesday’s second Test, insisting that a decision over whether to play their premier bowler would not be taken until late on Tuesday night.
Their fear is that should Edgbaston produce a pitch which favours batting, a prospect made more likely by the dry conditions in which the ground staff have been working, and the rain that is tentatively forecast for the weekend were to fall, a draw would become the most likely result. Playing the 31-year-old might end up doing little more than draining his reserves of energy ahead of a third Test that starts at Lord’s next Thursday. Shubman Gill, the India captain, would say only that Bumrah is “definitely available”.
Man arrested in Denmark accused of collecting information on ‘Jewish localities and specific Jewish individuals in Berlin’
Germany has summoned the Iranian ambassador after the arrest of a man suspected of spying on Jews in Berlin for Tehran, possibly as part of an attack plot.
“We will not tolerate any threats to Jewish life in Germany,” the foreign ministry posted on X on Tuesday announcing the summoning of the envoy, Majid Nili Ahmadabadi.
Keir Starmer has offered Labour backbenchers a major concession over disability benefits in a last-ditch attempt to limit the largest rebellion of his premiership and get his controversial welfare bill over the line.
Stephen Timms, the welfare minister, told MPs on Tuesday afternoon the government would shelve plans to make major cuts to personal independence payments. Instead ministers will only make changes to the disability payments after Timms has reported the findings of his review into the whole system, which is due to conclude next autumn.
Followers of the Ahmadi Religion of Peace and Light urged to sell possessions and donate their salaries to the cause
A religious sect, whose leader claims to be the new pope and whose followers say he can make the moon disappear, is operating out of a former orphanage in Crewe, Cheshire, where at least a dozen children are being home schooled.
The Ahmadi Religion of Peace and Light (AROPL) was founded by Abdullah Hashem, a former documentary maker turned self-proclaimed “saviour of mankind” who uses YouTube and TikTok to proselytise to potential recruits.
South Korea’s most lucrative musical act has been on break since members undertook national service
The K-pop supergroup BTS have announced their comeback in the spring of 2026 with an album and world tour.
South Korea’s most lucrative musical act has been on a break since 2022 as its members undertook the mandatory service required of all South Korean men under 30 due to tensions with the nuclear-armed North.
Four artists held over magazine illustration alleged by critics to depict Muhammad and Moses shaking hands
The Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, has condemned a cartoon in a satirical magazine as a “vile provocation” for appearing to depict the prophets Muhammad and Moses, amplifying an outcry by religious conservatives.
The cartoon, published a few days after the end of a 12-day conflict between Israel and Iran, appears to show Muhammad, Islam’s chief prophet, and Moses, one of Judaism’s most important prophets, shaking hands in the sky while missiles fly below in a wartime scene. Four cartoonists were arrested on Monday over the illustration.
Move comes after rightwing Republican accused New York mayoral candidate of concealing support for ‘terrorism’
The Trump administration has raised the possibility of stripping Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic mayoral candidate for New York, of his US citizenship as part of a crackdown against foreign-born citizens convicted of certain offences.
Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, appeared to pave the way for an investigation into Mamdani’s status after Andy Ogles, a rightwing Republican congressman for Tennessee, called for his citizenship to be revoked on the grounds that he may have concealed his support for “terrorism” during the naturalization process.
Tech firms notch victories in battle over copyrighted text, Trump’s gold phone, and online age checks
Hello, and welcome to TechScape. If you need me after this newsletter publishes, I will be busy poring over photos from Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez’s wedding, the gaudiest and most star-studded affair to disrupt technology news this year. I found it a tacky and spectacular affair. Everyone who was anyone was there, except for Charlize Theron, who, unprompted, said on Monday: “I think we might be the only people who did not get an invite to the Bezos wedding. But that’s OK, because they suck and we’re cool.”
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the Oklahoma City Thunder have agreed on a record-setting four-year, $285m extension that would give him the highest single-season average salary in NBA history, a person with knowledge of the agreement said Tuesday.
The person spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the deal has not been publicly announced and likely won’t be until the league’s moratorium on most offseason signings is lifted on Sunday.
Jerome Powell says inflationary impact of the president’s trade policies needs to be assessed before borrowing costs can be reduced
The chair of the Federal Reserve, Jerome Powell, has blamed Donald Trump’s tariffs for preventing the immediate interest rate cuts the president has demanded.
Trump has repeatedly urged Powell to reduce borrowing costs in the US economy. On Tuesday, he said: “Anybody would be better than J Powell. He’s costing us a fortune because he keeps the rate way up.”
Expansion of As Ever product line marks latest foray into lifestyle branding, with wine manufactured in Napa valley
The Duchess of Sussex has announced her latest foray into lifestyle branding, with Meghan expanding her As Ever product line to feature a “thoughtful” collection of wines.
A press release on Tuesday described the first wine to become available as “a light, fresh, and effortlessly celebratory 2023 Napa Valley Rosé, thoughtfully curated by Meghan, Duchess of Sussex”.
What a beautiful tale … right? The full-time whistle brought those scenes we know well from the real World Cup. Players on their knees: the victors turning to the heavens, the losers sucked into the dirt. Simone Inzaghi looked a particularly happy chap just weeks on from his nadir, that Bigger Cup embarrassment with Inter against PSG. Manchester City, the European heavyweights, had just been defeated by his brave underdogs, Al-Hilal. Yes, those same longshots who two years ago tried to buy Kylian Mbappé from PSG for £259m, shortly after coming under the ownership of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund.
The incongruity of the situation escapes no one – except, of course, Gianni Infantino and his flatterers. From his ivory tower, which he tours around the world, the president shows no concern for the fate the international calendar reserves for top players. His [Copa Gianni] proves, to the point of absurdity, that it is urgent to stop this game of massacre” – France’s professional footballers’ union (UNFP) hits out at the Fifa overlord amid growing concern over fixture congestion and player welfare, including that from Fifpro, which has called on half-time breaks being extended to 20 minutes in extreme heat.
If a tree falls in a forest, and no one is around, does it make a sound? If a football team loses in a competition, and no one is watching, is it a shock?” – Darren Leathley.
From yesterday’s full email edition, many thanks for sharing with us the tale of Dorking’s Marc White and his dire attempt to recreate the Wheeltappers and Shunters Social Club (kids, ask your nan why that was even a thing). Can I just point out that due to the consequent ban, your caption on that photo of the guy clearly standing on a touchline shouldn’t be ‘he’ll be here all week’. That’s the one place he won’t be for a bit” – Jon Millard.
Re: this news story. ‘Footage of three-a-side game shows humanoids struggling to kick the ball or stay upright.’ The best Football Daily headline opportunity ever provided by Big Website! I don’t know where to begin” – Nigel Sanders.
GOP’s sweeping legislation boosts wealthy, funds border wall and risks $3tn deficit before Trump’s term ends
Senate Republicans on Tuesday passed Donald Trump’s massive tax and spending bill after spending all night voting on amendments. The bill, which the GOP has dubbed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, now returns to the House of Representatives, which passed their version last month, before a Friday deadline the president has imposed for the legislation to be on his desk.
Here’s what’s in the Senate’s version of the bill:
Sainsbury’s has recorded its strongest growth since last summer after its Argos chain recorded a big step up in sales as shoppers sought out paddling pools and fans during recent hot weather.
The retail group said Argos, its catalogue shop, was able to achieve growth of 4.4% in the three months to 21 June, up from 1.9% in the previous quarter. Comparable group sales, excluding fuel, rose 4.7% on a year earlier.
Companies have now expanded production slightly for the fourth month in a row, order intake has ceased to fall, and slightly longer delivery times also indicate that demand is picking up a bit.
Against the backdrop of numerous uncertainties - US tariffs, the crisis in the Middle East, and Russia’s ongoing war against Ukraine - this can certainly be seen as a sign of resilience.
Guardian deputy political editor Jessica Elgot says another concession to rebels MPs is possible
Compass, the leftwing group urging Labour to be more pluralistic, has put out a statement condemning the UC and Pip bill. Its director, Neal Lawson, said:
If your own friends are telling you to put the brakes on, then something has clearly gone wrong. Despite the government’s line, this legislation does not advance Labour values. It is fundamentally at odds with them, and with the views of the mainstream of the party and civil society.”
MPs from across the House, and especially the Labour side, must back Rachael Maskell’s reasoned amendment. This bill’s creation of a three-tiered social security system would condemn thousands to poverty and could lose Labour the next election.
A bill of this magnitude should have been co-produced with disabled people and our organisations from the very start.
Now, ministers scramble to promise ‘consultation’ as one small part of the process. That is too little, too late. Co-production is not a rushed tick-box exercise tagged onto legislation already steaming through Parliament. It means disabled people shaping the system at every step – not just commenting on the detail of changes already baked in.
He is the master of ripped-from-the-headlines drama, a writer who skewers the billionaire class. As Mountainhead takes him into new territory, he talks about his nuanced view of the world’s richest man – and why a bonnet drama may be next
When he gets to his London office on the morning this piece is published, Jesse Armstrong will read it in print, or not at all. Though the building has wifi, he doesn’t use it. “If you’re a procrastinator, which most writers are, it’s just a killer.” Online rabbit holes swallow whole days. “In the end, it’s better to be left with the inadequacies of your thoughts.” He gives himself a mock pep talk. “‘It’s just you and me now, brain.’”
Today, the showrunner of Succession and co-creator of Peep Show is back at home, in walking distance of his workspace. He could be any London dad: 54, salt-and-pepper beard, summer striped T-shirt. But staying offline could feel like a statement too, given Armstrong is also the writer-director of Mountainhead, a film about tech bros. Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Open AI’s Sam Altman, guru financiers Peter Thiel and Marc Andreessen: all these and more are mixed up in the movie’s characters, sharing a comic hang in a ski mansion. Outside, an AI launched by one of the group has sparked global chaos. Inside, there is snippy friction about the intra-billionaire pecking order.
Reigning champion fights back to beat Eala 3-6, 6-2, 6-1
Injury-plagued title holder displays tough mentality
Barbora Krejcikova avoided the curse of the early Czech-out on Tuesday as she held off the hustle of the rising Filipino star Alexandra Eala to progress to the second round at Wimbledon.
The defending women’s champion has seen her season blitzed by injury, and was predicted by Wimbledon’s in-house supercomputers to lose here and echo her compatriot Marketa Vondruosava, who last year became the first women’s champion to exit at the first round since 1994.
Connexion
