Polls suggest Geert Wilders’ far-right Freedom party (PVV) could finish first in vote triggered when he pulled out of rightwing coalition in June

The Anne Frank House is not the only unusual place where voters can cast their votes today.

The Dutch Vogue has a list of 11 special locations, including a children’s zoo in Amsterdam, the marine museum in Rotterdam, the miniature park in The Hague.

We’re just human beings, out at a restaurant, struggling against the horror of food envy or orderer’s remorse. But how you approach this can be very revealing …

It’s common wisdom that you can tell all you need to know about a person from the way they treat waiters. However, another restaurant-based measure of humankind has recently come to light: how much they dither about ordering.

The food and culture magazine Vittles reached this conclusion after witnessing Rishi Sunak making a proper meal of it in Mayfair’s The Dover a couple of weeks ago. Apparently, the former prime minister began by painstakingly checking what every other occupant of the table was planning to have, canvassed the waiter’s opinion, then spent 10 minutes “fussing about whether the dover sole was too big”, before asking the waiter (“answer: no”), then trying, unsuccessfully, to get his mate to enter into a coalition and share the sole with him, before “capitulating” and plumping for the penne arrabbiata.

‘The woman in the black swimsuit seems to be gazing out at a scene of natural wonder. But she’s standing in a fake sea – and looking at an artificial island’

Italy has some of the most beautiful natural beaches in Europe, so I find it fascinating that so many holidaymakers choose to go to places like the one in this photograph: a strange manufactured island with plastic palm trees. This image is from a series, Leisure Time, that was important to me. I started it at a time when I had lots of personal problems, in 2006 and 2007. I needed to do something that would change my vision, my way of seeing the world, and even to some extent reinvent myself.

I have always been interested in landscapes, cities, and the relationship between people and the environments they inhabit. The theme I decided to work on was mass tourism. I wanted to open our eyes to this strange aspect of modern life: the fact that people prefer to spend time at some artificial park or beach, rather than visit a real one.

Industry body says reserves of Nexperia semiconductors are dwindling after Beijing bans exports of key components

Carmakers in the EU are “days away” from closing production lines, the industry has warned as a crisis over computer chip supplies from China escalates.

The European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA) issued an urgent warning on Wednesday saying its members, which include Volkswagen, Fiat, Peugeot and BMW, were now working on “reserve stocks but supplies are dwindling”.

Silicon Valley chipmaker hits $5tn valuation just three months after it was first to break through the $4tn barrier

Nvidia has become the world’s first $5tn company, just three months after the Silicon Valley chipmaker was first to break through the barrier of $4tn in market value.

In comparison, Nvidia’s value is greater than the GDP of India, Japan and the United Kingdom, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

• Club seeking compensation over blocking of project

• Vinícius Júnior apologises for reaction to substitution

Real Madrid are seeking compensation from Uefa after the club said on Wednesday that the regional court of Madrid had dismissed appeals filed by Uefa, the Spanish football federation (RFEF) and La Liga in relation to the Super League.

Madrid were one of 12 European clubs that backed the breakaway competition in 2021 before support for the controversial event collapsed under fan and government pressure. Uefa had also stopped the formation of the Super League but in December 2023, the European Court of Justice (CJEU) said Uefa and Fifa had contravened EU law by doing so.

The Dodgers star pitched in Game 3 just 18 hours after setting records with the bat. It’s a reminder of how he makes the miraculous seem mundane

Even Shohei Ohtani’s teammates struggle to find the right adjectives to describe him; ones that express how good he is while emphasizing how unlikely his existence is in the first place.

After Monday’s Game 3, when Ohtani became the first player in postseason history to reach base nine times in a World Series game, Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman opted for “unicorn,” one of the more common Ohtani descriptors. Starting pitcher Blake Snell, meanwhile, put things simple and plain.

Anything tomatoes can do, strawberries can do sooner, writes Alice Zaslavsky, who pairs the berries with stretchy cheese and a sweet-sour dressing

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Strawberries are the superheroes of the berry family. They even wear their undies (seeds!) on the outside! They’re hardier than raspberries, more tender than blueberries, and won’t stain your teeth like a handful of mulberries might.

And plus, what other berry gets its own berth as an unofficial symbol of a grand slam, bobbing about on a cloud of cream at Wimbledon?

Jeans can be so much more than your standard weekend staple. Pick the right style, add the right accessories and you’ve got yourself a sharp, fresh look

A funny thing happened at the Venice film festival this year: Julia Roberts turned up in jeans. A film festival red carpet usually means chiffon and sequins, bare shoulders and sweeping hems, but Julia – look, I feel like we are on first-name terms at this point – wore dark Versace jeans with a pale striped blouse and a tailored blazer. And, yes, it is probably important to acknowledge here that when your smile alone could stop gondola traffic your clothes have less heavy lifting to do – but still. It was a moment. A new era of looking smart in jeans has begun.

Most of us feel a bit conflicted about jeans. They are our default setting on a Saturday, but when we need to look smart, we reach for something else. But jeans, worn right, can take you to the office or a nice restaurant with flair to spare. And most of us don’t need to worry too much about the red carpet, after all.

Lionesses had mixed fortunes in friendly double-header that highlighted some areas where they need to improve

England’s first camp of the year was one of new beginnings as Sarina Wiegman’s side returned for the first time since winning a second successive European Championship. Defeat to Brazil and victory over Australia provided plenty of learnings about how the Lionesses are looking at the start of a new international cycle as preparation for the 2027 World Cup gets under way:

On her third album, Love and Fortune, the Australian singer has captured the dull ache of being rejected by a friend – and how she fell in love with music again

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Stella Donnelly didn’t want to write songs about a friend who broke her heart. But any time the Welsh-Australian singer-songwriter tried to channel anything else into her lyrics, the hurt was always there on the surface.

We have a language for coping with romantic heartbreak, learned from movies and songs – but there are fewer mirrors in art for coping with the end of platonic bonds. On her third album, Love and Fortune, Donnelly has captured the dull ache of being rejected by a friend who once knew her best of all. It might become the record ghosted friends turn to when they find a person they knew intimately for years no longer wants to hear from them.

777X was central to long-term strategy, but certification and production delays have pushed back deliveries by years

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Boeing pushed the first delivery of its long-delayed 777X jet program out to 2027 and took a nearly $5bn charge due to the delays, in another series of setbacks for the aerospace giant.

The 777X was central to Boeing’s long-term widebody strategy, previously dominated by its 747 and 777 jets. But repeated certification and production delays have pushed back deliveries by years, piling up charges of more than $15bn and straining its finances, while giving an opening to rival Airbus’s competing A350 as international travel continues to rise.

Prime minister fails to answer Tory leader’s questions about manifesto pledge not to raise income tax

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Keir Starmer has refused to rule out tax rises in next month’s budget, which would breach Labour’s manifesto promises, boosting speculation that Rachel Reeves is considering raising income tax to reduce a shortfall.

The prime minister pointedly ignored questions posed to him by Kemi Badenoch in the Commons about the manifesto pledge, something the Conservative leader said he had not done when asked before.

Richard Hermer says failure by Kemi Badenoch and James Cleverly to describe China as a threat would have been seized on in trial

Defence lawyers would have used Kemi Badenoch and James Cleverly’s statements about China to dismiss a case against two men charged with spying for Beijing, the attorney general has argued.

Richard Hermer told parliament “there would have been plenty of reference” by lawyers defending Christopher Cash and Christopher Berry’s to Conservative ministers’ policy positions had the trial gone ahead.

The tech giants agreed to extraordinary terms to clinch a lucrative contract with the Israeli government, documents show

When Google and Amazon negotiated a major $1.2bn cloud-computing deal in 2021, their customer – the Israeli government – had an unusual demand: agree to use a secret code as part of an arrangement that would become known as the “winking mechanism”.

The demand, which would require Google and Amazon to effectively sidestep legal obligations in countries around the world, was born out of Israel’s concerns that data it moves into the global corporations’ cloud platforms could end up in the hands of foreign law enforcement authorities.

Researchers previously took first confirmed footage of a juvenile colossal squid in scarcely explored habitat

A carnivorous “death ball” sponge is among 30 previously unknown deep-sea species found by scientists in one of the most remote parts of the planet.

Researchers sampled the depths of the Southern Ocean, including volcanic calderas, the South Sandwich trench and seafloor habitats around Montagu and Saunders islands.

This simple and on-trend upside-down tart turns leftover trimmings into a fun twist on a French classic

This is my quick version of pissaladière, and it transforms a small amount of leftover pastry scraps into a spontaneous treat. Keep and combine any trimmings into a ball and re-roll as and when required. Pastry keeps well in the freezer, and by skipping two time-consuming steps in the traditional recipe – that is, making the pastry and caramelising the onions – this one comes together about an hour faster. Instead, the onions are cooked upside down, steaming and caramelising beneath a blanket of pastry with anchovies and black olives for a fast, fun twist on a French classic. And if you have less pastry, you can always halve the recipe.

The Guardian’s picture editors select photographs from around the world

• Warning: gallery contains sensitive images

All six members of the independent Commission of Fine Arts were reportedly dismissed Tuesday

Donald Trump has fired all six members of an independent federal agency responsible for reviewing his controversial White House ballroom and planned ‘Arc de Trump’ in Washington DC, according to reports.

The Washington Post reported that all members of the Commission of Fine Arts were dismissed on Tuesday.

Lots include artworks by Matisse, Rodin, Kandinsky and the late actor’s own paintings – as well as his watch, dartboard and Golden Globes

Busts by Rodin and works by Kandinksy and Matisse are among some 400 items belonging to the late actor going up for auction next month.

Three Golden Globe statues, a variety of film memorabilia and annotated scripts, posters and an easel are also up for sale in the three-stage auction run by Bonhams.

Two people with false identities allegedly managed to fraudulently obtain loans, leading to liens on a fully paid home

Two people armed with a number of false identities managed to fraudulently obtain a quarter of a million dollars’ worth of loans in the name of Cam Ward, the quarterback of the National Football League’s Tennessee Titans, according to authorities.

Albert Weber, 42, and Cyntrelle Lash, 39, are facing charges of identity theft, bank fraud and forgery after their arrests in a case whose victims allegedly include the first overall pick in the 2025 NFL draft, his father and the business that loaned out the money in question, said Capt Jason Rivarde of the sheriff’s office in Jefferson parish, Louisiana, outside New Orleans.

We would like to hear from people who fell in love in 2025

We would like to hear from people who fell in love in 2025. Who are they and how did you meet? Why are they a good fit for you? What’s a nice quality or detail about them? How were you feeling about dating before you met them?

You can share your story below.

Kushner’s investment firm is backed by three Arab petrostates critical to the Gaza agreement. And the deals keep coming

In Donald Trump’s first term, his son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner was omnipresent. He worked on criminal justice reform, Covid-19 vaccine development and modernizing technology across federal agencies. His portfolio extended to foreign policy, as he brokered a new North American trade agreement and negotiated peace deals in the Middle East. But when Trump returned to the White House in January, Kushner stayed out of the limelight and declined to take a formal role in the administration.

A few weeks ago, Kushner re-emerged as a central player behind Trump’s peace plan for Gaza, which so far has achieved a ceasefire, an exchange of Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners and a partial withdrawal of Israeli forces from the territory. Kushner took a victory lap, as Trump and others in the US administration gave him significant credit for helping negotiate a ceasefire after two years of Israel’s brutal war on Gaza. Kushner is being hailed as the consummate deal-maker, a private citizen whose business acumen succeeded where career diplomats failed.

India are struggling at domestic and international level, and are now missing out on hosting two superstars of the game

In September 1977 an Indian astrologer predicted that Pelé would fall ill in Kolkata and be unable to take the pitch for Santos in an exhibition against Mohun Bagan. In the end the Brazilian did actually play to the delight of 60,000 fans but almost half a century later, there was perhaps even more excitement, with Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi set to appear on the subcontinent in the space of a month. This time, though, any doomsayer would be correct. Ronaldo didn’t come in October and Messi will not in November.

Without getting into that debate, Ronaldo’s absence is more painful simply because he was due to play in a competitive fixture, by some distance the biggest name ever to appear in a real game on Indian soil. August’s draw for the AFC Champions League Two put Al-Nassr in the same group as FC Goa, where the hotel for the visitors reserved the presidential suite for the five-time Ballon d’Or winner for the 22 October game.