Temperatures could crest 100F (38C) in many regions after breaking records and sparking dozens of wildfires

A long-running heatwave that has already broken records, sparked dozens of wildfires and left about 130 million people under a high-temperature threat is about to intensify enough that the National Weather Service has deemed it “potentially historic”.

The NWS on Saturday reported some type of extreme heat or advisory for nearly 133 million people across the nation – mostly in western states where the triple-digit heat, with temperatures 15F to 30F higher than average, is expected to last into next week.

• England, 197-3, beat New Zealand, 138-9, by 59 runs
• New Zealand collapse as Glenn takes three in an over

England smashed their highest Twenty20 score on home soil in six years at Southampton on Saturday – 197 for three – before restricting New Zealand to 138 for nine to win by 59 runs.

With only three months to go until the T20 World Cup in Bangladesh, this was a statement innings from an England side whose confidence is ­currently sky-high; admittedly against a team who are unlikely to be World Cup challengers in October, especially if they bat like they did at Southampton.

Nima (left), 27, works in fintech, and Maxim, 24, is a client success manager

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To meet someone interesting, with good chemistry, laughter and flowing conversation.

French fire grows to more than 900 acres, as millions across US west face sweltering temperatures and dry conditions

A fast-moving wildfire burning near Yosemite national park is threatening rural communities as millions of people in California and across the US west swelter under a brutal heatwave that is predicted to persist through the weekend.

The French fire broke out on Thursday and grew to more than 900 acres (364 hectares) by Friday afternoon. The fire is 15% contained with “multiple evacuations and road closures in place”, according to local fire officials.

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Gabriel Attal’s call comes on tense last day of campaigning after more than 50 candidates and canvassers attacked

• Europe live – latest updates

The French prime minister, Gabriel Attal, has urged all political parties to call for calm on a tense last day of campaigning for a snap election in which the far right hopes to win a majority in parliament.

“Violence and intimidation have no place in our society,” Attal wrote in a social media post.

Encounters disrupted Fourth of July at South Padre Island, as two were taken to the hospital

A single shark is believed to be terrorizing swimmers near a Texas beach, responsible for biting two people and making contact with two others during Fourth of July celebrations, including injuring one who went to help.

The encounters disrupted locals and vacationers relaxing on Thursday at South Padre Island, as two people were taken to the hospital with bites, at least one of them severe, authorities said.

French city’s election of a National Rally mayor has been a study in the party’s attempts to normalise itself in local politics

As Patrice Burel scooped coffee at his roastery in Perpignan, he lamented the steady closure of other shops on this narrow city centre street. “They gradually disappeared like sugar dissolving in a cup of tea,” he said, blaming crime, traffic jams and competition from out-of-town shopping centres. “I long argued for the pedestrianisation of this street.”

Then in 2020 came political change. Perpignan, with a population of 121,000 and close to the Spanish border, became the biggest city to be run by Marine Le Pen’s National Rally (RN) in 20 years. The historic city at the foot of the Pyrenees, which for decades has had some of the starkest inequality in France, is now a municipal laboratory for the far right. The new mayor, Louis Aliot, a lawyer who was formerly Le Pen’s romantic partner and is a party vice-president, picked up the pedestrianisation plan for Burel’s street, which began in 2022.

Tribal loyalties and political certainties are falling away, but the Conservatives have been felled by a determined coalition

Elections do not change countries overnight. They reveal changes that were hidden – or visible but neglected – beneath layers of political complacency and cultural habit. The seismic event that has delivered Labour a vast haul of seats tells of tectonic pressure that started building long before Rishi Sunak’s rain-sodden campaign launch six weeks ago, in what already feels like a distant land.

Although opinion polls made a Conservative defeat look inevitable, there is a difference between forecasting regime change and waking up in a Britain that has dispatched scores of Tory MPs to political oblivion and chosen Keir Starmer to be prime minister with a commanding majority.

Fall of strategically important town in eastern Ukraine would bring Moscow closer to aim of capturing entire Donetsk region. What we know on day 863

Move comes after attacks on government spokesperson and RN candidate in buildup to Sunday’s poll

About 30,000 police will be deployed across France on Sunday night amid fears of violence after the final results of a snap election in which the far right hopes to gain a majority in parliament.

Gérald Darmanin, the interior minister, said 5,000 police would be on duty in Paris and its surrounding areas to “ensure that the radical right and radical left do not take advantage of the situation to cause mayhem”.

The fastest birds in the world, peregrine falcons are sought after for racing and can sell for up to £250,000 in the Middle East. Poaching is a constant threat, with eggs and chicks stolen to supply the hidden market. Now, there are nationwide efforts under way to ring and take DNA from wild chicks – but just reaching their nests can be perilous

• Words and photographs by Murdo MacLeod

From wildflower retreats and Novid rooms to locking yourself in a disabled toilet, hospital staff reveal where they go when they need a moment’s peace

Marine Le Pen’s party won a significant victory in the first round of the French parliamentary elections. Can they be stopped? Angelique Chrisafis reports

After Marine Le Pen’s National Rally inflicted a humiliating defeat on Emmanuel Macron’s centrists in the European elections, the president called a snap parliamentary election. The decision was a gamble, giving voters an ultimatum: to back him, or to accept the consequences of a far-right victory.

After the first round of voting, his roll of the dice does not seem to have paid off, and the idea of the RN winning is terrifying for many of France’s minority communities. The Guardian’s Paris correspondent, Angelique Chrisafis explains the roots of the RN and how Le Pen has sought to detoxify it while holding to its core value of prioritising certain French citizens over others.

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Fire crews in California are battling a wildfire in Butte County that forced about 13,000 people to evacuate in and around Oroville. The Thompson fire broke out before noon on Tuesday and grew to more than 3 sq miles by evening

South Africa's case against Israel over allegations of genocide before the international court of justice has raised a central question of international law: what is genocide and how do you prove it? It is one of three genocide cases being considered by the UN's world court, but since the genocide convention was approved in 1948, only three instances have been legally recognised as genocide. Josh Toussaint-Strauss looks back on these historical cases to find out why the crime is so much harder to prove than other atrocities, and what bearing this has on South Africa's case against Israel and future cases

• What is the genocide convention and how might it apply to the UK and Israel?

• ‘Famine is setting in’: UN court orders Israel to unblock Gaza food aid