World No 2 ‘needs to recover physically and mentally’
Zverev and Fritz due to head the lineup in Toronto
Carlos Alcaraz has become the latest in a series of leading men’s players to withdraw from the Canadian Open as the world No 2 joined new Jannik Sinner, Novak Djokovic and Jack Draper on the sidelines.
The players are skipping the Toronto tournament, due to begin on Saturday, to rest and recover from injury before the final grand slam of the season, the US Open in New York starting on 25 August.
It appears a radical departure by FSG to build so ambitiously from a position of strength, while sending an ominous warning to their rivals
Almost £300m worth of talent added to a squad that cruised to the Premier League title last season and Liverpool may not be spent yet. Whatever they’re smoking in Boston is having an unusual effect on a global fanbase.
Big-spending Liverpool, blowing competitors from Bayern Munich to Newcastle out of the water with their pulling and spending power, may be a strange reality for supporters who not so long ago sang: “The Reds have got no money, but we’ll still win the league.” The chant can be retired now that the first part is demonstrably untrue. It always was.
Select committee chair says public need to be reassured about the use of their data after ‘major failures’ in the past
Ministers are facing calls for greater transparency about public data that may be shared with the US tech company OpenAI after the government signed a wide-ranging agreement with the $300m (£222m) company that critics compared to letting a fox into a henhouse.
Chi Onwurah, the chair of the House of Commons select committee on science, innovation and technology, warned that Monday’s sweeping memorandum of understanding between OpenAI’s chief executive, Sam Altman, and the technology secretary, Peter Kyle, was “very thin on detail” and called for guarantees that public data would remain in the UK and clarity about how much of it OpenAI would have access to.
Deputy PM says government has to show it is helping people amid concerns about potential for more riots in England
Immigration and deprivation are the main factors causing public disenchantment with politicians and the government that has led to social unrest and rioting, Angela Rayner, the deputy prime minister, has warned.
According to an official summary of Tuesday’s meeting of the cabinet, Rayner, who is leading a wider government project on improving social cohesion, also highlighted the increasing amount of people spending time alone and online as a driver of disturbances.
Even without a doctor’s note or a thick wallet, anyone can engage in these scientifically-backed anti-inflammatory activities
Inflammation – the body’s evolutionary response to infection, injury, or other threats – has been a trending topic in the health world. Some scientists have even called inflammation “the cause of all diseases”. But what actually causes inflammation, and what fights it?
In some contexts, inflammation is good. When the body faces an acute threat – say, an ear infection or a sprained ankle, it responds with acute inflammation – an immune system process marked by fever, swelling and pain in the affected area.
Julia Hotz is a solutions-focused journalist and award-winning author ofThe Connection Cure
In a retro-futurist version of early 1960s New York, Mr Fantastic and Sue Storm are living together as a dysfunctional family with the Human Torch and the Thing – with a baby on the way
Baby steps, in fact. Marvel has rediscovered the lighthearted dimension of superheroism, the buoyant fun and the primary colour comedy – as opposed to the wiseacre supercool of, say, Guardians of the Galaxy. Here it has amusingly brought back the Fantastic Four in their early years (but not to the very beginning) in a retro-futurist version of early 1960s New York where no one smokes. Hilariously, the Four are of course living together as a family in a bizarre hi-tech apartment, like something in TV’s Bewitched or I Dream of Jeannie, often wearing their comfy blue pyjama-style outfits.
Scientist Dr Reed “Mr Fantastic” Richards, whose nickname rather oversells his peculiar superpower of stretchiness, is played by Pedro Pascal in a lighter vocal register than usual; he’s married to Sue “Invisible Woman” Storm – played by Vanessa Kirby. They are basically mom and dad to a couple of guys who are to all intents and purposes teen boys: Sue’s brother Johnny “Human Torch” Storm (played by Joseph Quinn) and superstrong Ben Grimm played by Ebon Moss-Bachrach. They are essentially two grown men who live with Reed and Sue in a cheerfully infantilised state, and what complicates things is that Sue is now suddenly pregnant long after the couple had given up hoping. (There is apparently no IVF in this alt-reality universe.)
Family was hiking when big cat attacked child, who was later airlifted to hospital and is in satisfactory condition
A mountain lion bit a four-year-old child on Sunday while the child hiked with family on Hurricane Ridge in Washington state’s Olympic national park, authorities said.
The child’s father reportedly saved the minor’s life by pulling the child from the creature’s jaws.
Vatican invites 1,000 social media missionaries to digital jubilee conference
Mixing prayer and gospel with poetry, art and bodybuilding, the rising stars in the influencer world are not just those flaunting fashion and travel but also Roman Catholic priests spreading the word of God.
Pope Francis latched on to the trend and, just months before his death in April, made the mission of evangelising on social media a priority for the church.
The Soudal-Quick Step rider beat Ireland’s Ben Healy in a lung-busting sprint finish on the Giant of Provence, as Tadej Pogacar retained the overall leader’s yellow jersey after keeping chief rival Jonas Vingegaard in his sights on the 21.5km ascent at 7.5%.
From the UK to the US, from Japan to Australia and beyond, men in their 20s and 30s are still obsessed with the lovable blue locomotive. Why? The maker of a new film reveals all
‘I kept it a huge, dark secret,” says Matt Michaud. “I tried to push people away. I wouldn’t call it shame. I wasn’t sure if it was right or wrong. I wasn’t sure if it was something I could share with other people.”
It is curious to hear these words spoken at the outset of a disarmingly sweet documentary. What kind of perversion, or even crime, is twentysomething Michaud confessing to in his own living room? A glimpse behind him provides a clue to his obsession and anxiety: displayed on a table is a collection of toy locomotives and model railway books. And the centrepiece is a model of Thomas the Tank Engine.
Every attempt to recapture the original show’s panache has faced mixed-to-disastrous results. But the 2008 film follow-up deserves reappraisal
It’s a rite of passage. Some stole late-night glimpses when they snuck into the lounge room while their mother watched it. Others gobbled it up on a laptop in bed.
For gen Z, many first encountered Sex and the City via meme pages dedicated to digitally archiving the best outfits, best quotes or most problematic storylines from the HBO series that followed the misadventures of Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker), Samantha (Kim Cattrall), Miranda (Cynthia Nixon) and Charlotte (Kristin Davis). Then, when the series landed internationally on Netflix last year, gen Z got properly acquainted – and much to the surprise of their millennial elders, they didn’t hate it.
Air conditioning, heating and poor ventilation in the office can contribute to drier skin and greasier hair, but other factors such as the commute may play a part too
Still life paintings known as vanitas, popular in the 17th century, served as reminders of the transient nature of everything on earth, doomed to wither and fade. It’s a lesson most of us get when we catch our reflection in the office mirror and are shocked to find our neatly groomed appearance has rapidly deteriorated somewhere between the commute and an 11am meeting.
Social media has recently questioned whether this phenomenon is really an inevitable consequence of nature, or if a more modern culprit is robbing hair and skin of beauty and vitality.
Lions coach happy with display in final midweek win
Owen Farrell captained side and played full 80 minutes
Andy Farrell has challenged his British & Irish Lions players to rouse themselves for “the biggest game of our lives” in Saturday’s second Test after watching his second-string side edge past the First Nations & Pasifika XV.
Farrell’s side can clinch a first Lions series win in 12 years with a game to spare but are expected to have to try to do so without the second-row Joe McCarthy, who has not trained fully this week due to a foot injury. In better news, Marcus Smith passed a head injury assessment ensuring he was not automatically ruled out of the second Test.
Assistant chief constable says force will use an ‘engaged approach’ as US president prepares to open new golf course
The senior officer in charge of the policing plan for Donald Trump’s visit to Scotland this weekend has underlined her force’s “immense experience” in successfully managing US presidential visits as she countered concerns raised by the policing union about unfair pressure on staff.
Trump will open a new 18-hole golf course at his resort on the North Sea coast at Menie, north of Aberdeen, named in honour of his mother, Mary Anne MacLeod Trump, who was born on the Isle of Lewis. He is also expected to meet the UK prime minister, Keir Starmer, during his visit.
Only real ones will remember Masters Football, the over-35s tournament for former pros hoping for one final moment in the limelight on Sky Sports in the early 2000s. Peter Beardsley’s performances in 2002 for Newcastle United were legendary, Jörg Albertz helped himself to a few more thunderb@stards for Rangers and how can we forget the vastly underrated Owen Coyle squealing “Coyle!” every time he took a shot. As they disappeared from our screens, charity fundraisers came to the fore. In Soccer Aid, Woody Harrelson being mobbed by Zinedine Zidane and Jens Lehmann after burying the winning penalty past England keeper Jamie Theakston for the Rest of the World XI was memorable, as was a certain tackle by future UK prime minister Boris Johnson on former Manchester City cult hero Maurizio Gaudino.
As soon as I knew there was a chance to join Manchester United, I had to take the opportunity to sign for the club of my dreams; the team whose shirt I wore growing up” – Robbie Keane Bryan Mbeumo is psyched for the new season after joining the club he supported as a boy.
Manchester United’s propensity to offload football talent (yesterday’s Football Daily) didn’t start today or yesterday. The following is an XI composed of players released during the 2014-15 season alone: Johnstone S, Keane M, Ferdinand, Vidic, Evra, Anderson, Fletcher, Kagawa, Zaha, Hernández, Welbeck. Many would back that side of cast-offs against anything else put out by United since then” – Brian Broderick.
Re: where the north starts (Football Daily letters passim). I would like to suggest that based on the membership of the National League North, then it starts at Bedford, because they were promoted into the league this season, even though Bedford is just 57 miles from the middle of London. Two seasons ago, Bishop’s Stortford were members of the league, and they’re based at the end of Stansted airport’s runway. They used to love midweek games in the north-east. To extend the discussion, Merthyr Tydfil are playing in National League North this season, so where does north Wales start?” – Ray Simpson.
Regarding Jon Millard’s submission that ‘the north starts at Sheffield, indisputably, as did football, also undisputedly. I’d love to say this is the one thing Noble will agree with me on, but he’d probably email in and say it’s bloody Woodall, or something’ (yesterday’s letters). He’s clearly right on football, indisputably. The north is more complex. When I was young, we used to just say that Chesterfield was the dividing line but then we thought that Bob Holness played the sax on Baker Street (false) and that he was the first person to play James Bond (false, he was the second) so what did we know? The north is very south Sheffield and just above Chesterfield so you’re looking more at a broad line of Killamarsh, Eckington, Lowedges, Totley. And, yes, that line includes Woodall” – Noble Francis.
I see that, according to Jason Wilcox, new signing Bryan Mbeumo is ‘the perfect fit for Manchester United and the culture that we are developing’. That’s rather harsh criticism, isn’t it, on the lad’s first day?” – Phil Taverner.
Amid a police crackdown on rave culture in 1990, the now infamous warehouse party became a riot, resulting in one of the UK’s biggest mass arrests. Attendees and DJs look back
As the booming sub-bass of LFO rattled around an old Sony warehouse on the outskirts of Leeds in July 1990, the reverberating sound was enough to mute the buzz of police helicopters circling above. However, when their lights began to pierce through the glass windows, the 800-plus ravers at Love Decade knew something wasn’t right. “There was a dark, intense atmosphere,” recalls Jane Winterbottom. “I felt trapped, claustrophobic, and a wave of nausea came over me. I wanted to escape but I couldn’t. All the doors were shut and we were locked in.”
As word had spread that the building was surrounded by police, a young DJ who was on the decks at the time, Rob Tissera, decided to take action. “I got on the microphone, and very stupidly and regrettably, said: ‘If you want to keep the party going, we’re gonna have to fight the bastards.’” People did just that. “Everybody turned into bloody hooligans,” he says. “It ended in a three-hour siege and got pretty nasty.” A van was moved against the shutters to block police from coming in, and objects were thrown at them out of the windows, as the authorities even tried using a forklift truck to pry open the steel shutters. “It was a full-on riot,” says Winterbottom. Eventually the police got in and grabbed every single person, all 836 of them, resulting in one of the biggest mass arrests in UK history.
Red paint attack follows no vote on amendment to cut anti-missile funds – despite her rejection of $600m Israel aid bill
A Bronx office of the US House member Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was vandalized early on Monday, according to New York City police, who say they are investigating.
The vandalism occurred as the progressive Democratic congresswoman grapples with “threats on [her] life”, as her campaign manager put it, after a recent US House of Representatives vote involving American aid to Israel.
The Department of Education case is the latest example of an unexplained decision bowing to Trump
Just when we thought the US supreme court couldn’t sink any lower in bowing and scraping to Donald Trump, it issued a shocking order last week that brushed aside important legal precedents as it ruled in the president’s favor. In that case, the court’s rightwing supermajority essentially gave Trump carte blanche to dismantle the Department of Education, which plays an important role in the lives of the nation’s 50 million public schoolchildren, sending federal money to schools, helping students with disabilities and enforcing anti-discrimination laws.
Many legal experts, along with the court’s three liberal justices, protested that the court was letting Trump abolish a congressionally created federal agency without Congress’s approval. In their dissent, the liberal justices warned that the court was undermining Congress’s authority and the constitution’s separation of powers. Not only that, we should all be concerned that the court was giving dangerous new powers to the most authoritarian-minded president in US history.
Steven Greenhouse is a journalist and author, focusing on labour and the workplace, as well as economic and legal issues
Ben Stokes says England did not ‘go over the line’
The India captain, Shubman Gill, has strongly criticised some of England’s behaviour during their current Test series, describing it as not “what I would think comes in the spirit of the game”.
On the eve of the fourth Test at Old Trafford Gill was asked if he regretted confronting the England batter Ben Duckett during the last match at Lord’s, a moment that prompted England to decide, as Harry Brook put it on Monday, “to give them something back and not be the nice guys we have been in the last three or four years”. Gill’s intervention came as England’s openers tried – successfully as it turned out – to restrict India to bowling a single over during a seven-minute period at the end of the third day, using delaying tactics that included spotting convenient movement behind the sightscreen, and calling on the physio after being hit by the ball.
House Republicans are busy during this press conference so far touting the Trump administration’s so-called successes on immigration and the sweeping tax and spending megabill, but they’re very much glossing over the fact that they “have lost control of the floor over their Jeffrey Epstein blow-up, and they’re struggling to chart a path out of the crisis”, per Politico.
“GOP leaders are talking with Trump administration officials, searching for ways to appease Republican members incensed over the lack of public information and speaker Mike Johnson’s handling of the matter broadly.”
Experts say switching corn syrup for cane sugar does not make the drink healthier
Coca-Cola has laid out plans to launch a product made with US cane sugar this year, days after Donald Trump claimed the company had agreed to replace high-fructose corn syrup.
Austria’s month-long ImPulsTanz celebration goes beyond the norm to turn rope jumping, navel-gazing and masked protest into explosive shows
Matteo Haitzmann is a violinist who has tonight swapped his strings and bow for a skipping rope. With drummer Judith Schwarz and Arthur Fussy on modular synthesiser, he has formed an unorthodox trio to deliver a show in which each stroke, beat and jump lives up the title: Make It Count. It’s an hour of unusual rigour with an electrifying thrill – and the standout from my whirl through Vienna’s ImPulsTanz festival, a kaleidoscopic programme of performance and participation.
With the studied nonchalance of a rock star, Haitzmann stands on one of three island-like platforms, swinging what could be mistaken for a mic lead. Hanna Kritten Tangsoo’s lighting design will become increasingly mercurial but right now the synth desk twinkles, beams crisscross the stage creating an anarchic A next to the drum kit and the swirling rope resembles a red flash of lightning.
António Guterres says ‘sun is rising on a clean energy age’ as 90% of renewable power projects cheaper than fossil fuels
The world is on the brink of a breakthrough in the climate fight and fossil fuels are running out of road, the UN chief said on Tuesday, as he urged countries to funnel support into low-carbon energy.
More than nine in 10 renewable power projects globally are now cheaper than fossil fuel alternatives. Solar power is about 41% cheaper than the lowest-cost fossil fuel alternative, and onshore wind generation is less than half the price of fossil fuels, according to a report from the International Renewable Energy Agency.
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