About 200,000 pages of surveillance records released despite objection from slain civil rights leader’s family

The Trump administration has released records of the FBI’s surveillance of Martin Luther King Jr, despite opposition from the slain Nobel laureate’s family and the civil rights group that he led until his 1968 assassination.

The release involves an estimated 200,000 pages of records that had been under a court-imposed seal since 1977, when the FBI first gathered the records and turned them over to the National Archives and Records Administration.

In three-hour Channel 5 talk, ex-president’s son says ‘fuck him’ of actor over op-ed calling on Joe Biden to step down

Hunter Biden has given a profanity-laced, three-hour interview to the US outlet Channel 5 that is remarkable for its no-holds attack on actor George Clooney, denial that he was the source of cocaine found in the White House and thoughts on why his father bombed in his debate with Donald Trump before dropping out of his presidential re-election run.

“Fuck him!” the younger Biden said of Clooney, whose remarkable New York Times opinion piece last July called on the Democratic party for which the actor is a financial donor to find a new presidential nominee.

Federal Reserve video says project is ‘modernization’ of two buildings that have not had major renovations since 1930s

The US Federal Reserve is pushing back against claims from the White House that it is undergoing extravagant renovations with a video tour showing the central bank’s ongoing construction.

The video, posted on the Fed’s website, includes captions explaining that the project is a “complete overhaul and modernization” of two buildings that have not had major renovations since the 1930s.

The president launched a broadside at Washington’s NFL team as well as the Cleveland Guardians. But the teams and their fans have largely moved on

Haven’t the fans of the Washington Commanders and Cleveland Guardians suffered enough?

For decades, each team had to endure the twin indignities of on-field futility and off-field scorn. Until last year, when they enjoyed a resurgence under rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels, the Washington NFL team had won exactly only one playoff game in the 21st century. Cleveland’s baseball team have been competitive this century, but they once went 41 years between playoff appearances (from 1954 to 1995) and came out on the losing end in the “whose drought will end?” World Series of 2016, in which the Chicago Cubs won the championship for the first time in 108 years at the expense of Cleveland, whose epoch without a World Series win now stands at 77 years.

• Says United are ‘the team whose shirt I wore growing up’

• Rashford to complete Barcelona loan on Wednesday

Bryan Mbeumo said he had joined “the club of my dreams” after completing a £71m move to Manchester United, where the Cameroon international has signed a five-year deal, from Brentford.

The 25-year-old was intent on moving to Old Trafford after learning of United’s interest at the start of the summer. United made a number of bids for the forward, who scored 20 Premier League goals last season, and eventually struck a deal worth an initial £65m with a further £6m in add-ons.

Positive thinkers are ‘literally on the same wavelength’, say Japanese researchers

Whether it’s an exam, flight or health check, some people take a sunny view of the future while others plan for catastrophes.

Now researchers have found that people with an upbeat outlook show similar patterns of brain activity when they mull over future scenarios.

The England striker is finally grabbing the limelight, but her route to stardom began long before she became a Lioness…

Above all, she remembers the beach. She would wake every morning to a view of the sea, spend her days splashing in the surf, playing football on the sand with her brothers. They would talk into the night, eating and drinking, the waves crashing below them. These are her earliest and most treasured memories: Nettuno, the coastal town an hour south of Rome, where her nonna still lives and which Alessia Russo still describes as her favourite place in the world.

The story goes – and so fondly is it recounted in the Russo family that it has long since passed into lore – that one day Alfonso was up from Sicily, visiting Rome with a friend, when he saw a girl stepping on to a train at the railway station. No, not just a girl. The girl. Two fairly major issues: he didn’t know her, and it wasn’t his train. But Alfonso was a true romantic, the train was about to leave the station, and above all he knew that some moments in life just need to be seized.

Attorney general says detainees from Cecot prison returned under deal with US suffered a range of abuses

Venezuela’s attorney general, Tarek Saab, said on Monday that his office would investigate El Salvador’s president, Nayib Bukele, and two other officials for the alleged abuse of Venezuelans detained in the country.

More than 250 Venezuelans held in El Salvador’s notorious Cecot prison returned to Venezuela on Friday under the terms of a prisoner exchange agreed with the US.

Actor who played Theo Huxtable in long-running sitcom reported to have drowned while on vacation in Costa Rica

The Cosby Show actor Malcolm-Jamal Warner has died, according to multiple sources. He was 54.

Warner accidentally drowned off the coast of Cocles beach near Limón, Costa Rica, on Saturday afternoon, local police confirmed to ABC News. The alert stated that two men were swept out to sea by high currents; one man was rescued and brought to a hospital in critical condition; Warner was recovered on Sunday, according to the Costa Rican outlet La Teja, citing Costa Rican Red Cross officials.

This precious resource should never have been privatised, and tougher regulation won’t solve the problem

Labour could have chosen the public interest over the profit motive, as it set about its promised reorganisation of the water industry in England and Wales. Polling last year showed a higher level of support for publicly owned water companies than railways. Yet while train companies are being renationalised as contracts expire, ministers ruled out a reversal of 1989’s water privatisation before they commissioned Sir Jon Cunliffe, a former central banker, to report on how they could improve this failing industry through tougher regulation.

This newspaper regrets that the question of ownership was taken off the table. Water is among the most precious of all natural resources and the pro‑market logic for the sell-off was bogus. In the absence of competition, regional monopolies were created and, in the decades since, businesses have enriched themselves while failing to fulfil their responsibilities. No other European government has followed suit in offloading vital infrastructure including pipes and reservoirs, and enabling investors to extract wealth by loading up balance sheets with debt.

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Teenagers already shoulder adult responsibilities. They deserve a say in shaping the society they’re growing into

Elections are imperfect reflections of public sentiment. But they are the least worst means to distribute political power. Each vote does count, however unsatisfactorily, under Westminster’s electoral system – except when people are denied one. For too long, those missing out have included 16- and 17-year‑olds. These teenagers are old enough to work, pay tax, join the army and make medical decisions. Yet they are judged too young to help decide who governs them.

The government proposes to resolve that anomaly. The decision to lower the voting age by the 2029 general election marks the largest extension of the franchise in more than 50 years. It is a long-overdue reform that brings England and Northern Ireland into line with Scotland and Wales. In democracies, those affected deserve a say. Opponents claim teenagers are too immature to vote. Political insight isn’t bestowed by a birthday. Foolishness and wisdom are spread across age groups. Younger people vote less reliably – but many adults also don’t bother. Apathy is no bar to suffrage.

Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.

• Former player’s representative gives update on condition

• He was reported to have been found ‘semi-conscious’

The former England midfielder Paul Gascoigne is back home and “doing well” after being admitted to hospital over the weekend, his representative said on Monday.

“Paul voluntarily went into A&E on Friday after struggling with a throat condition he has had for a while,” Carly Saward at the MNT talent agency told the Associated Press. “He is already back home and doing well.”

• 12-time All-Star joins Clippers for 21st NBA season

• Paul previously played for Clippers from 2011-17

Twelve-time All-Star Chris Paul is returning to the Los Angeles Clippers on a one-year deal for his 21st NBA season, multiple outlets reported Monday.

The deal is reportedly worth $3.6m.

Military targets key humanitarian hub that was relatively unscathed by war after ordering Palestinians to leave

Israel has launched substantial air raids and a ground operation in Gaza, targeting Deir al-Balah, the main hub for humanitarian efforts in the devastated Palestinian territory, amid urgent warnings of widening starvation in the coastal strip.

The latest assault comes a day after the highest death toll in 21 months inflicted by the Israeli military on desperate Palestinians seeking food aid, with at least 85 killed on Sunday in what has become an almost daily slaughter.

There might not be a clear Espresso this season but Guardian writers have picked their most replayable songs of the summer, from Addison Rae to Jade

• Check out a Spotify playlist of the choices

Summer is for out-of-office email bouncebacks, smashing your laptop shut at 4pm and putting it off until tomorrow. This year, no song represents the simple thrill of shrugging it off better than Addison Rae’s Headphones On. With a detached, lobotomy-chic delivery that’s drawn comparisons to Y2K-era Madonna, the TikTok star turned serious pop scholar breezes through a list of anxieties, from her parents’ relationship to the ever-present thrill of being bumped down a notch by “the new it girl”. Ultimately, our laconic heroine swaps a panic attack for slipping those headphones on and riding it all out with a song. Clocking in at exactly four minutes, there’s a straightforwardness to it all that I can’t help but appreciate. Rae will make you dance without working too hard. And that’s all I want right now. Alaina Demopoulos

Sarina Wiegman’s team can’t forget they are lucky still to be in Euro 2025 and there are areas where they must get better

For all the well-deserved praise England have received since Thursday’s victory over Sweden, relating to their never-say-die attitude, spirited comeback and the gamechanging impact of their substitutes, it should not be forgotten that the defending champions are lucky still to be in Euro 2025.

The Lionesses were somewhat fortunate that Sweden failed to convert two penalties to win the contest and England will know they need to make notable improvements if they are to progress past Italy and reach a third consecutive major tournament final. Here are six areas in which the players and Sarina Wiegman must do better.

• Batsman admits they ‘tried to create a bit of niggle’

• Jasprit Bumrah expected to play in fourth Test

Harry Brook has said that England’s victory in the third Test against India taught them that “you don’t always have to be nice”, and ended a period of several years in which they have tended to be overly friendly. That time came to an end midway through their last game – just days after their coach, Brendon McCullum, told them they could be a bit meaner – when they seized on “a great opportunity to go hard at them” and “tried to create a bit of niggle”.

Brook said that during the break between the conclusion of that game and the team’s reunion in Manchester for the penultimate match of the series, which starts on Wednesday, he had received “loads of compliments” about the drama created by the outbreak of hostility at Lord’s. “Everyone said it was awesome to watch,” Brook said. “It was good fun, I have to admit. It made fielding a lot more enjoyable.”

Broadcaster to take precautions in future after whistling, shouting and music leave parts of exchange inaudible

A German public broadcaster has said it is reviewing its procedures after a live interview with the leader of the far-right Alternative für Deutschland was interrupted by protesters.

During the television interview with ARD on Sunday, Alice Weidel, co-leader of the AfD, appeared at times to struggle to hear the questions being asked of her as protesters gathered below the provisional stage for the interview in Berlin.

British Muslim Trust expected to begin monitoring incidents from early autumn, government says

The UK government has appointed a new partner to monitor anti-Muslim hatred, months after its relationship with the Islamophobia reporting service Tell Mama broke down.

The British Muslim Trust (BMT) – a new organisation – is expected to begin receiving reports and monitoring incidents from early autumn, after being “selected as the recipient of the government’s new combatting hate against Muslims fund”, a statement from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government said on Monday.

Ruling in university’s favor would reverse funding freezes that became cuts as Trump administration escalated fight

• US politics live – latest updates

Harvard University appeared in federal court on Monday to make the case that the Trump administration illegally cut $2.6bn from the storied college – a major test of the administration’s efforts to reshape higher education institutions by threatening their financial viability.

US district judge Allison Burroughs heard arguments from Harvard and the Department of Justice. The cuts, imposed earlier this year, have halted major research efforts and Harvard argues they are a politically motivated attempt to pressure the school into adopting federal policies on student conduct, admissions, antisemitism and diversity.

From Simpson’s sad death to Froome’s bizarre run, the ‘Bald Mountain’ has always been the place where stuff happens

The decades pass, generations of Tour de France cyclists come and go, but some gruesome things never change. On Tuesday, the survivors of one of the craziest, fastest Tours ever, a race with even less respite than usual, will do as their predecessors have done every few years since 1951: they will crest a rise in the road, and see Mont Ventoux on the horizon. A sinking in the heart will accompany the dull ache in the legs: we’re off to the Bald Mountain once again.

The men of the Tour probably won’t be thankful for small mercies, but they should be. Last time the Tour visited, in 2021, although the background scenario was the same – Tadej Pogacar had smashed the race to bits on the first serious climb and was set fair for victory – the organisers cruelly made them go over the 1,910m summit twice, in two different ways. Wout van Aert might recall that with a wry smile: the Belgian was in his prime back then and he won out of a breakaway.

Tracking data showed SkyWest flight on descent before making sharp right turn while also showing B-52 in the area

The pilot of a commercial airliner has said he needed to make an “aggressive maneuver” to avoid colliding with a US air force B-52 bomber as it landed in Minot, North Dakota, on Friday.

The SkyWest airlines pilot said he had been cleared to land on a trip from Minneapolis-St Paul (MSP) to Minot when he spotted the vast nuclear-capable bomber on his right side and was told to go around.

Brian Hooker seems to not have alerted authorities of his illness after leaving west Texas

One of the most prominent anti-vaccine activists in the US says he caught measles in west Texas and traveled back home – but he seems not to have alerted local authorities of his illness, which means the highly transmissible virus may have spread onward.

Measles is a threat to people who are unvaccinated or immune-compromised. In anti-vaccine communities, it may quickly find a foothold and spread largely under the radar before ballooning into an outbreak.