Who was it that first realised you could make an approximation of the shape of a heart using your hands? And why did they then put it on Instagram?
For millennia human beings have had hands.
Oh, what things we have done with these hands! We have woven great tapestries. We have deftly saved the lives of our fellow beings. We have written works of such enduring power they have transcended the centuries. The Sistine Chapel? Hands. Open heart surgery? Also hands.
Two iconoclasts of contemporary fashion will show side by side in the first major Australian exhibition since the London designer’s death two years ago
Two era-defining avant garde fashion designers, Vivienne Westwood and Rei Kawakubo, will be brought together in a blockbuster summer exhibition announced on Tuesday by the National Gallery of Victoria.
It has been more than 20 years since Westwood’s work has been exhibited extensively in Australia, and the NGV show will be the first since the designer’s death in December 2023.
If confirmed Luhansk would be first Ukrainian region to be fully occupied by Moscow; pictures show North Korean leader at repatriation of soldiers apparently killed in Ukraine. What we know on day 1,224
Moscow’s forces have seized all of Luhansk – one of four regions Russia illegally annexed from Ukraine in September 2022 despite not fully controlling a single one – Leonid Pasechnik, a Russia-appointed official there, said on Monday. If confirmed, that would make Luhansk the first Ukrainian region to be fully occupied by Russia after more than three years of war. There was no immediate comment from Kyiv on Pasechnik’s claim. In remarks to Russia’s state TV Channel One that aired Monday evening, Pasechnik said he had received a report “literally two days ago” saying that “100%” of the region was now under the control of Russian forces.
Russian forces have captured a village in the Ukrainian region of Dnipropetrovsk for the first time in their three-year offensive, Russian state media and pro-war bloggers have claimed. Dnipropetrovsk, which lies to the west of the Donetsk region, is not among the five Ukrainian regions over which Russia has asserted a formal territorial claim. There was no immediate confirmation from Ukrainian officials or from the Russian defence ministry.
North Korea’s state media showed on Monday leader Kim Jong-un draping coffins with the national flag in what appeared to be the repatriation of soldiers killed fighting for Russia against Ukraine, as the countries marked a landmark military treaty. In a series of photographs displayed in the backdrop of a gala performance by North Korean and visiting Russian artists in Pyongyang, Kim is seen by rows of a half a dozen coffins, covering them with flags and pausing briefly with both hands resting on them.
The European Union said Monday it had agreed a new long-term trade deal with Ukraine, covering imports of food products from the war-torn country that have angered EU farmers. Brussels and Kyiv have been wrangling over the deal after protests from farmers saw the EU slap quotas on tariff-free Ukrainian agricultural imports into the bloc. Brussels added certain restrictions in 2024, when it extended the agreement for one additional year, by introducing a maximum ceiling on certain tariff-free products such as cereals, poultry, eggs, sugar and corn. The European Commission said that under the new deal – which still needs to be finalised – quotas would remain for those sensitive agricultural areas. In return, Kyiv will cut its quotas for pork, poultry and sugar imported from the EU and push to align its food production standards with those of the 27-nation bloc by 2028, Brussels said.
The International Monetary Fund said on Monday it has completed its eighth review of Ukraine’s $15.5bn four-year support program, paving the way for a disbursement of an additional $500m to the war-torn country. That will bring total disbursements to $10.6bn, the IMF said in a statement, after its board’s approval of the review of Ukraine’s Extended Fund Facility. It warned of ongoing and “exceptionally high” risks to the country’s outlook.
Russian President Vladimir Putin “wants to subjugate the whole of Ukraine and at the same time spread fear throughout Europe,” German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said on a visit to Kyiv on Monday, adding that Putin’s “alleged willingness to negotiate is just a facade.” Kyiv and its allies have accused Russia of sabotaging diplomatic efforts, which have stalled in recent weeks, despite Washington’s desires to reach a quick peace deal.
US President Donald Trump’s senior envoy for Ukraine and Russia Keith Kellog also said on Monday that Russia cannot continue to stall for time “while it bombs civilian targets in Ukraine.” “We urge an immediate ceasefire and a move to trilateral talks to end the war,” Kellogg wrote on X.
Offshore wind power boom helps push profit from land and property to more than double what it was two years ago
King Charles is set to receive official annual income of £132m next year, after his portfolio of land and property made more than £1bn in profits thanks to a boom in the offshore wind sector.
Profits at the crown estate – which partly funds the monarchy – were flat at £1.1bn in its financial year to the end of March but more than double their level two years ago, at £442.6m.
Victorian health authorities are recommending that 1,200 children are tested for infectious diseases after a Melbourne childcare worker was charged with allegedly sexually abusing infants and children in his care.
Police on Tuesday confirmed that a Point Cook resident, Joshua Brown, 26, had been charged in May with more than 70 offences relating to eight alleged victims aged between five months and two years old.
Growing popularity of mysticism can also be connected to increasing sense of cultural confidence as Chinese brands and products go global
Pass my exams. Meet Mr Right. Get rich. Pinned to a board by the entrance of a dimly lit fortune telling bar in Fengtai, an urban district in the south of Beijing, handwritten notes reveal the inner worries of customers coming for cocktails with a side of spiritual salvation.
One As All is one of several fortune telling bars to have opened in Beijing, Shanghai and other Chinese cities in recent years. Hidden on the 12th floor of a commercial building, the bar serves a wide range of drinks starting at an auspicious 88 yuan (£9) (eight is considered to be lucky number in China). As well as enjoying a sundowner with a view over Beijing’s skyline, customers can consult the in-house fortune teller who specialises in qiuqian, known in English as Chinese lottery sticks, an ancient style of divination often found in Taoist temples. From a private side-room, the smell of incense burning in front of a genuine Taoist shrine wafts into the bar.
Bryan Kohberger to be spared death penalty but will be given four consecutive life sentences, ABC News reports
Bryan Kohberger, the man accused of killing four Idaho college students in 2022, has agreed to plead guilty to all counts, a move that would spare him from the death penalty, ABC News reported on Monday, citing a letter sent to victims’ family members.
Kohberger, who previously pleaded not guilty on charges of murder in the fatal stabbings, will be sentenced to four consecutive life sentences and waives all right to appeal, according to ABC News.
The Oscar winner will appear alongside Oscar nominee Andrea Riseborough when they play the same character at different ages in Tracy Letts’ play Mary Page Marlowe
Susan Sarandon is to make her UK theatre debut alongside Andrea Riseborough, when the pair portray the same woman at different ages, in Tracy Letts’ drama Mary Page Marlowe.
The play will be staged this autumn at the Old Vic in London by Matthew Warchus, in his final season as artistic director. Several actors portray the title character, which is described as a “time-jumping mosaic” spanning 70 years in the life of an accountant and mother of two in Ohio.
Club captain on coming back from injury, the importance of his family and Trent Alexander-Arnold fitting in well
Dani Carvajal misses his family. The good news is that in return he’s about to become reacquainted with something he has missed as much. For some players, this is a competition too far, played on poor pitches in half-empty stadiums and suffocating heat, something they could do without, but it has been good for Real Madrid’s captain, something to aim at.
Now, 270 days later and 4,400 miles away, just as the Club World Cup gets real, he is back to face Juventus in the last 16 in Miami. “And I know what I’m like: if they let me loose, there’ll be no fear,” he says.
44-year-old goalkeeper Fábio makes series of fine saves
The Brazilian side Fluminense stunned Inter by knocking the Champions League finalists out of the Club World Cup with a 2-0 victory in the last 16 in Charlotte.
Dealing with very serious blazes means fire and rescue service has limited ability to respond to other emergencies
Firefighters battled wildfires in the Scottish Highlands for a third day on Monday in a situation the first minister has called “extremely serious”.
The Scottish Gamekeepers Association (SGA), which has helped tackle the blazes, warned the fires are “becoming a danger to human life” that are leaving “stretched” firefighters unable to attend other incidents.
Advocates say the move could turn the tide for other British overseas territories battling for LGBTQ+ rights
A court in London has upheld a Cayman Islands law legalising same-sex civil partnerships, in a move that campaigners say could turn the tide for other British overseas territories battling for LGBTQ+ rights.
On Monday, the privy council, the final court of appeal for the British overseas territory, rejected an appeal that had argued the Caribbean island’s governor had no right to enact the bill, after lawmakers had rejected similar legislation.
In this astonishing and gross series, we stand witness as teams battle to clean up blood, guts and body fluids. Viewer discretion is very much advised – there will be maggots
It has been a while since we had a good, honest point-and-boke documentary, is it not? “Boke”, for those of you unfamiliar with the term, means to be sick. I use it here because the onomatopoeia gives a better sense of the fight that precedes the act, especially if – say – a programme is unspooling in front of you that keeps the nausea building until you are past the point of no return. Viewer discretion – and a plastic bowl – is advised.
So, then, to Crime Scene Cleaners, a 10-part documentary – yes, 10! – that does exactly what it says on the tin. It follows teams from British and American companies as they move in after bodies have been removed and evidence bagged and tagged by police to clean up anything left behind. “Anything” can mean blood – spattered, accumulated in the bottom of a bath tub, trailed along a floor, soaked into a carpet, stained into grouting, arterially sprayed along skirting boards. Hepatitis B, we are informed via a dramatic voiceover, can survive for up to seven days in dried blood, hepatitis C for up to six weeks on hard surfaces. Clever pathogens.
Club have history of promoting from within and remain pragmatic about potential departure of Bryan Mbeumo
Phil Giles had already given the update on Christian Nørgaard. “It’s more likely than not,” the Brentford director of football said, suggesting that the club captain was close to sealing a £10m move to Arsenal, which is expected to feature £5m in add-ons. Then it was time for Giles to do likewise with Bryan Mbeumo, who is the subject of a bid from Manchester United. Brentford value their 20-goal top scorer from last season at about £65m. United are nearly there with it.
“We’ve made our point clear,” Giles said. “If Bryan earned a massive move now and it was right for us financially, we’d be open to it. But if he ended up here with us next season, I wouldn’t be massively surprised. We’d be delighted. And it would save me a massive headache, frankly.” With that, Giles glanced at the man to his left – the new Brentford head coach, Keith Andrews, presumably the source of said headache if Mbeumo were to leave.
Carlos Alcaraz said he was proud to have squeezed into the second round after struggling with his nerves and the heat on Centre Court during his dramatic five-set win against Fabio Fognini on Monday.
In searing temperatures, Alcaraz started his pursuit of a third consecutive Wimbledon title by outlasting the veteran Italian 7-5, 6-7 (1), 7-5, 2-6, 6-1 after 4hr 37min on-court.
Palace accounts show Treasury finding to remain at £86.3m, while duchy of Cornwall will waive some charity rents
The royal family’s private “royal train” will be decommissioned as part of King Charles’s drive to modernise the monarchy and reduce costs.
The train has been used to transport members of the royal family around Britain’s railway network since 1840, but it has become increasingly costly to maintain and store. Rolling stock from the 1980s would need to be updated for modern railway networks, and two new more fuel-efficient helicopters offer a suitable alternative.
Club misses payments for third time in four months
Danny Röhl expected to leave and negotiating severance
Sheffield Wednesday are facing further disciplinary action from the EFL and a possible walkout of players after failing to pay all the squad’s wages for the third time in four months.
The Guardian has learned that while some of the club’s younger players received their June salaries earlier today, not all of Danny Röhl’s squad were paid, putting the club in breach of EFL regulations and at risk of losing players on free transfers.
“Come on Britain!” echoed through the sweltering 32C heat on No 1 Court as Emma Raducanu defeated Mimi Xu in straight sets, 6-3, 6-3. The all-British clash featured two players – attired similarly in matching outfits and golf visors – who captivated the home crowd.
While Raducanu has been a fan favourite since her fairytale 2021 US Open triumph, the grand slam debutant Xu, ranked No 300 in the world, has impressed in junior circuits and shown significant promise on the senior tour.
7 min: Darmian comes through the back of Cano, and is fortunate not to go into the book. Inter have already committed a couple of fouls, so their next miscreant might not be so fortunate.
5 min: Inter try to reply immediately, Darmian making good down the right. But his cross is no use. What a start by Flu, though; the Brazilians, well, flew out of the traps and got right up in Inter’s collective grille. They got their reward.
Grisly finding comes at end of worst month in war between Sinaloa factions as government tries to stop killings
Mexican authorities have found 20 bodies in the state of Sinaloa, a region gripped by a war between factions of the Sinaloa drug cartel that is reaching new heights of violence.
The state prosecutor’s office said on Monday that four of the victims had been decapitated and their bodies had been found hanging from a bridge on a main road near Culiacán, the state capital.
MPs including select committee chairs express doubts that concessions agreed last week go far enough
Downing Street’s plans to see off a major Labour welfare rebellion were in chaos on Monday night, amid continued brinkmanship between MPs and the government over the scale of the concessions.
There was significant division between government departments over how to respond to rebels’ demands – with seemingly little idea how to quell continuing anger ahead of the knife-edge vote on Tuesday.
We pick half a dozen contenders to lead the scoring charts in Switzerland, from the WSL Golden Boot winner to France’s formidable finisher
Russo is coming into this tournament in the form of her career. Her 12 goals in the Women’s Super League played an integral role in the Gunners’ second-place finish and earned her a share of the Golden Boot, alongside Manchester City’s Khadija Shaw. She was also Arsenal’s top scorer in their run to securing the Champions League. Her productivity in front of goal has been the biggest improvement to her game.
The US president is to issue an order cancelling a 2004 declaration, in move to stabilise country’s new government
Donald Trump is expected to issue an executive order to lift some financial sanctions on Syria in a move that the White House says will help stabilise the country after the ousting of Bashar al-Assad.
The US was expected on Monday to “terminate the United States’ sanctions programme on Syria”, a White House spokesperson said, cancelling a 2004 declaration that froze Syrian government property and limited exports to Syria over Damascus’s chemical weapons programme.
We have laws to deal with crimes linked to protest. What this is really about is a government complicit in the Gaza atrocities seeking to silence dissent
Juliet Stevenson is an award-winning actor
Strongly worded emails are not doing it. Appeals to MPs are not doing it. Taking to the streets in our hundreds of thousands with banners and placards is not working. Elected representatives from every party in parliament have stood in the Commons and asked the government to act. Some government ministers themselves have condemned Israel’s starvation of Palestinians in Gaza. Every poll of public opinion shows that the nation demands we stop arming Israel, and wants to see an immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire. But none of these things are working.
Keir Starmer and his cabinet remain impervious to all calls for humanitarian intervention, and Israel is still killing children in Gaza with the support of the British government.
Half-time breaks should be extended to 20 minutes in extreme heat, the global players’ union has said. Fifpro is calling for extra measures to protect footballers after what it describes as the “wake-up call” of the Club World Cup, which has been plagued by extreme temperatures over the past two weeks.
Fifa protocols allow for a cooling break lasting for three minutes in each half if temperature thresholds are exceeded. According to Fifpro’s medical director, Dr Vincent Gouttebarge, an extended half-time break would provide a necessary additional tool in helping to keep players’ core temperatures within their normal range.
Scores of Palestinians reported killed as senior Netanyahu adviser due to arrive in Washington for ceasefire talks
Israel ramped up its offensive in Gaza on Monday, with new displacement orders sending tens of thousands of people fleeing the north of the devastated territory and waves of airstrikes killing about 60 Palestinians, according to local officials and medical staff.
The violence in Gaza came as a senior adviser to Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, was due to arrive in Washington for talks on a new ceasefire, a day after Donald Trump called in a social media post for a deal to end the 20-month war and free 50 hostages held by Hamas.
Footage of three-a-side game shows humanoids struggling to kick the ball or stay upright
They think it’s all over … for human footballers at least.
The pitch wasn’t the only artificial element on display at a football match on Saturday. Four teams of humanoid robots took each other on in Beijing, in games of three-a-side powered by artificial intelligence.
Nearly 300 current and recently terminated employees of the US Environmental Protection Agency published a declaration of dissent today, outlining five major concerns about how the Trump administration’s politicization of science and severe job cuts were undermining the agency’s mission.
The declaration to administrator Lee Zeldin was sent as another expected round of staff reductions looms and as the agency undergoes a major reorganization, including the dissolution of its office of research and cancelling of billions of dollars in grants.
Your decisions and actions will reverberate for generations to come. EPA under your leadership will not protect communities from hazardous chemicals and unsafe drinking water, but instead will increase risks to public health and safety.
At the Phoenix Arts Museum, a new exhibition displays different approaches to comedy within photography
Humor stands in a strange relationship to the art world. Often ranked as a lesser aspiration for the work of a true artist, when humor does find its way into the graphic arts, it’s as more of a condiment than the main dish.
How refreshing then to see the Phoenix Art Museum’s substantial new exhibition, Funny Business, which boldly and decisively leaps into the realm of comedic photography. Showcasing humor from a wealth of angles, including slapstick, whimsical, acid, surreal, ironic, parody and so many more, the show offers ample opportunity to consider just what purpose laughter serves – and to enjoy a hearty laugh or two on a summer’s day.
India yet to decide if fast bowler will play at Edgbaston
Moeen Ali joins England backroom staff for the match
One of the many delights of leafy south Birmingham is when an international cricket team is in town and residents stumble across them training on the Colts Ground at Edgbaston. Folks could be heading for a stroll in Cannon Hill Park, or their weekly shop at Aldi, only to suddenly find themselves watching Jasprit Bumrah let fly.
Sadly, the fences were covered with tarpaulins after some hecklers over the weekend. There was a decent subplot playing out inside as India trained, too, over whether Bumrah will play the sold-out second Test that starts . Having bowled these past few days, the man himself offered a passing “hopefully”.
Arsenal officials met Eze’s agents to discuss terms
Crystal Palace insisting on release clause being met
Arsenal have held initial talks with representatives of Eberechi Eze and could battle with Tottenham for the Crystal Palace forward.
It is understood Mikel Arteta has identified Eze as a potential addition who could add creativity and depth to his squad after they finished as Premier League runners-up for a third successive season. Arsenal officials are believed to have met Eze’s agents on Saturday to discuss personal terms and other details but have yet to open talks with Palace over the England international.
British actor-director joins Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway, Emily Blunt and Stanley Tucci for a long-awaited follow-up to the comedy hit
Kenneth Branagh is joining the original cast of The Devil Wears Prada for the much-anticipated sequel which begins filming this week.
The actor-writer-director will play the husband of Meryl Streep’s vicious fashion magazine editor Miranda Priestly. Streep returns along with Anne Hathaway, Emily Blunt and Stanley Tucci.
Norsk Tipping informed thousands of people they won big sums of money after mistake in currency conversions
Norwegian lottery bosses have sent a text message apologising to tens of thousands of disappointed players who were accidentally told they had won large sums of money.
Norsk Tipping, the state-owned gambling operator, had admitted “several thousand” people were mistakenly told on Friday they had won life-changing sums of money after an error in converting from euros to Norwegian kroner. It was not until Monday, three days later, that a text message was sent to 47,000 people apologising for the error.
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.
Artificial intelligence has entered the personal chat. What does that say about human relationships?
Earlier this spring, Nik Vassev heard a high school friend’s mother had died. Vassev, a 32-year-old tech entrepreneur in Vancouver, Canada, opened up Claude AI, Anthropic’s artificial intelligence chatbot.
“My friend’s mom passed away and I’m trying to find the right way to be there for him and send him a message of support like a good friend,” he typed.
From vintage finds to Spotify and savings goals, four gen Zers share what budgeting looks like in their real lives
From no-buy-years to second-hand shopping, gen Z seems to have its own unique spending habits. A global rise in the cost of living combined with a highly competitive job market means that 69% of gen Z use some sort of budget to manage their finances.
Their priorities, and what they choose to save for, are different from their boomer counterparts. Gen Z is more likely to spend money on subscriptions, from meal kits to Spotify. There’s also the trend of “doom spending”, which is purchasing non-essential items to cope with either personal or wider political issues.
$40 for electricity
$40 for internet
About $85 on average for gas
$110 for car insurance
$100 for upcoming medical procedure [not included in medical healthcare]
$530 for six months of medical testing, so about $89
$120 for supplements such as painkillers, vitamins, collagen powder and protein powder
From Fable and Life Is Strange to Last of Us, Thirsty Suitors and Unpacking, five queer game developers and writers pick their sweetest, realest, most meaningful scenes
Life Is Strange, as a series, is really characterised by a patented mix of earnestness and cringe for me – but you can’t fault its determination to put queer characters front and centre. It has been variably successful at this – the messy relationship between shy, photography-obsessed Max and chaotic blue-haired Chloe in 2015’s original Life Is Strange was left somewhat ambiguous, but Alex Chen in Life Is Strange: True Colors was openly bi and pretty laidback about it. My favourite queer moment from the series, though, came in last year’s Double Exposure.
Kyriakos Mitsotakis sets up taskforce over alleged scamming of EU agricultural funds after resignation of five senior officials
The Greek prime minister has vowed to get to the bottom of how a scheme of fraudulent EU subsidy claims could have operated undetected in the country for years, as he admitted that the scandal had revealed “the state’s inadequacy” in dealing with corruption.
Faced with revelations that “fake” farmers had been scamming designated agricultural funds to the tune of a reputed €290m (£249m),Kyriakos Mitsotakis said on Monday a special taskforce would be set up to “immediately and exhaustively” investigate the illegal payments.
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