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Women’s Euro 2025: favourites Spain enter fray after Swiss slip on opening night – live

Ryan Mason has his permanent job as a head coach at West Brom. Ben Fisher went along to have a chat with him about what he plans to do at the Championship club.

Mason was intent on becoming a No 1 after that first spell in interim charge after Mourinho was sacked, when at 29 Mason became the youngest coach in Premier League history. Mason thinks he felt ready to manage when targeted by clubs a couple of years ago but, enthused by working as an assistant to Postecoglou, he stayed at Spurs. “Fast-forward two years, to be part of history was amazing. Now, I want to write my own script and the timing of being here at this club feels right.”

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© Photograph: Cyril Zingaro/EPA

© Photograph: Cyril Zingaro/EPA

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‘Delay is catastrophic’: how instant antibiotics could save thousands of African children in comas

Analysis finds key to survival for children found to be unconscious and unresponsive is a quick dose of drugs and fast access to specialist care

For the hundreds of children who arrive every day at hospitals in parts of Africa unconscious and unresponsive, their survival chances have remained unchanged for nearly 50 years. But new research is raising hopes that swift treatment with antibiotics could improve those chances.

Despite huge strides in healthcare and vaccination rates for children in sub Saharan Africa, the odds remain stacked against those who become so ill they fall into a coma. Depending on the cause, between 17% and 45% are expected to die. Many more will be left with disabilities.

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© Photograph: Sunday Alamba/AP

© Photograph: Sunday Alamba/AP

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The Diddy verdict is the latest gruesome marker of a post-#MeToo era | Moira Donegan

The women in the case endured horrors to tell their stories. Still the jury – and Diddy’s jubilant supporters – sided with their alleged abuser

Sean Combs, the musician variously known as “Diddy”, “Puffy”, “P Diddy” and “Love”, made a conspicuous scene in the courtroom when the verdict was read. He put his hands into a prayer gesture and mouthed “thank you” to the jurors, and pumped his fist in the air. A federal jury in New York on Wednesday had acquitted Combs on federal charges of sex trafficking women, finding him guilty only on lesser charges of transporting the male prostitutes he allegedly forced the women to have sex with across state lines. The mixed verdict was seen as a triumph for Combs, who faced the possibility of life in prison if convicted on trafficking and conspiracy charges. Outside, jubilant supporters of Combs – which have in recent weeks included the provocative rapper Kanye West – erupted into celebration. Some reportedly poured baby oil on each other and yelled: “It’s not Rico, it’s FREAKO.”

Those triumphant chants were references to the organized group sex encounters that women – including two who testified as witnesses for federal prosecutors – have described as rapes. The women – two ex-partners of Combs’s, the singer Cassie Ventura and another alleged victim known as Jane – told the court repeatedly over the course of an eight-week trial that they were coerced into participating in the encounters, which Combs called “freak-offs”, with violence, drugs, coercive financial arrangements, and threats. The encounters were filmed by Combs, and the videos were shown to the jury; in addition to the testimony of the women and the videos of what they say were their assaults, jurors were also shown security footage of a savage beating Combs inflicted on Ventura in a hotel hallway following one such party in 2016, and heard from a hotel security guard who says that Combs paid him $100,000 to destroy video evidence of his conduct.

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© Photograph: Jane Rosenberg/Reuters

© Photograph: Jane Rosenberg/Reuters

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In an age of failing economies and a populist backlash, I’ll tell you what we need – Marxism | Yanis Varoufakis

To free ourselves from our technofeudal overlords, we must think like Karl Marx. The corporations would asset-strip our brains, but we can take back control

A young woman I met recently remarked that it was not so much the existence of pure evil that drove her berserk, but rather people or institutions with the capacity to do good who instead ended up damaging humanity. Her musing made me think of Karl Marx, whose quarrel with capitalism was precisely that – not so much that it was exploitative but that it dehumanised and alienated us despite being such a progressive force.

Preceding social systems might have been more oppressive or exploitative than capitalism. However, only under capitalism have humans been so fully alienated from our products and environment, so divorced from our labour, so robbed of even a modicum of control over what we think and do. Capitalism, especially after it shifted into its technofeudal phase, turned us all into some version of Caliban or Shylock – monads in an archipelago of isolated selves whose quality of life is inversely related to the abundance of gizmos our newfangled machinery produces.

Yanis Varoufakis is the leader of MeRA25, a former finance minister and author of Technofeudalism: What Killed Capitalism

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© Photograph: Matthias Rietschel/Reuters

© Photograph: Matthias Rietschel/Reuters

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Martin Ho signs three-year contract to become Tottenham’s head coach

  • Englishman leaving Norwegian club Brann

  • WSL experience includes time at Manchester United

The English coach Martin Ho has signed a three-year deal as Tottenham Hotspur’s head coach until 2028, the Guardian understands.

The 35-year-old had been in charge of the Norwegian club Brann’s women’s team for two years, since leaving his role as the assistant coach at Manchester United women in July 2023.

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© Photograph: Bryn Lennon/UEFA/Getty Images

© Photograph: Bryn Lennon/UEFA/Getty Images

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You be the judge: should my flatmate stop filling our home with plant cuttings?

Cleo’s green fingers are making Jade see red, and filling their home with plant paraphernalia. You decide who needs to turn over a new leaf

Every surface has something sprouting on it. I didn’t sign up to live in a botanical experiment

It’s not just a hobby, I’ve created an ecosystem of calm in our city home. Plus, I make good money

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© Illustration: Igor Bastidas/The Guardian

© Illustration: Igor Bastidas/The Guardian

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This feels both sacrilegious and scary, but I have a bone to pick with Oprah Winfrey | Emma Brockes

Bravo Rosie O’Donnell for calling out America’s queen over her attendance at the Bezos-Sánchez nuptials. That takes courage

A very unusual thing happened at the weekend, an event so outlandish, so vanishingly rare, that even in these times of general chaos and disorder it deserves our attention: someone prominent joined the tiny cohort of people willing to publicly criticise Oprah. I’m not talking about an attack from the right. Donald Trump and his Maga cronies routinely go after Oprah Winfrey as (feel free to laugh) a lefty agitator. I’m talking about the actor Rosie O’Donnell, on Instagram, calling out America’s queen for showing up at the Jeff Bezos wedding.

Of course, criticising someone for throwing in their lot with Bezos shouldn’t be in the least controversial. The gross parade of wedding guests attending his marriage to Lauren Sánchez in Venice last weekend looked like a catwalk of shame. There was Leonardo DiCaprio, hiding his face with his hat (we still see you!), in the company of his positively geriatric 27-year-old girlfriend, Vittoria Ceretti. There were the Kardashians, not hiding their faces. There was Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump. And there, accompanied by her lady-in-waiting, Gayle King, who walked several paces behind her as is proper, was Oprah Winfrey.

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© Photograph: Marco Bertorello/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Marco Bertorello/AFP/Getty Images

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Al-Hilal’s win over Manchester City lays bare strength of Saudi Arabia

Club World Cup upset may be a turning point in how football in the region is viewed by Europe’s elite

So it came to pass that the blue moon was eclipsed by the crescent and the world of football took on a slightly different hue. For the past couple of years, the Saudi Pro League had been dismissed as a destination for the old, greedy, unambitious or all three. On Tuesday, European football woke up to be faced with a new side of Saudi Arabian football as Al-Hilal celebrated a 4-3 win over Manchester City to go through to the quarter-finals of the Club World Cup.

If a member of the European elite being turned over by a team that had previously been little-known on the world stage was what the competition needed then this was it.

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© Photograph: Justin Setterfield/FIFA/Getty Images

© Photograph: Justin Setterfield/FIFA/Getty Images

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Owen Farrell in line for Lions call-up to Australia after Elliot Daly arm injury

  • Daly suffered suspected broken arm against Reds

  • Farrell, 33, would feature in fourth Lions tour

Andy Farrell is understood to be on the verge of calling up his son Owen to join the British & Irish Lions squad in Australia as a replacement for Elliot Daly who is set to be ruled out of the tour with a broken forearm. Farrell Jr, consequently, is in line to feature on his fourth Lions expedition at the age of 33.

With 112 caps for England and six Lions Test appearances, there is no question about Farrell’s big game experience nor his relentless competitive edge. He has endured an injury-plagued Top 14 season at Racing 92, however, and has not played international rugby since the end of the 2023 Rugby World Cup.

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© Photograph: John Sibley/Action Images/Reuters

© Photograph: John Sibley/Action Images/Reuters

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‘They are a species on the brink’: can trees save the salmon in Scotland’s River Dee?

Last year, a single female was recorded returning to one tributary of a river usually celebrated for its fish. Now a plan is in place to change things – but it’s proving controversial

On an unusually hot May day in Aberdeenshire, Edwin Third stands on the bank of the River Muick, a tributary of the UK’s highest river, the Dee, talking us through the rising threats to one of Scotland’s most celebrated species, the Atlantic salmon. Against the hills of the Cairngorms national park, a herd of stags on the moorland bask in the sun.

It is a spectacular landscape, attracting hikers, mountain-bikers and salmon fishers, the latter contributing an estimated £15m to Aberdeenshire’s economy.

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© Photograph: Murdo MacLeod/The Guardian

© Photograph: Murdo MacLeod/The Guardian

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Raducanu revels in Centre Court joy after ‘one of the best matches I’ve played’

  • Victory against Vondrousova sets up Sabalenka tie

  • Raducanu: ‘I’m just so happy to have that level’

Emma Raducanu has described her stellar second-round victory over Marketa Vondrousova at Wimbledon as one of the best matches she has played in a long time as she set up a highly anticipated meeting with the world No 1 Aryna Sabalenka.

Raducanu produced an excellent performance to reach the third round of Wimbledon with a 6-3, 6-3 win over the 2023 champion Vondrousova, ensuring that she has now reached the third round or better at Wimbledon on three of her four appearances.

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© Photograph: Tom Jenkins/The Guardian

© Photograph: Tom Jenkins/The Guardian

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‘Most special day of my life’: world No 733 Tarvet enjoys limelight in Alcaraz defeat

  • Briton beaten in Wimbledon second round 6-1, 6-4, 6-4

  • ‘I had chances that gave me confidence I was competing’

As a script it surely would have been rejected by Hollywood for being too outlandish. A 21-year-old British student, who has never played on the main tennis tour before, suddenly finds himself on Centre Court with 15,000 people cheering him on. And on the other side of the net is the Wimbledon champion.

Yet that was the situation that Oliver Tarvet, the world No 733 from St Albans, found himself in on Wednesday as he lined up to face the brilliant Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz.

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© Photograph: Tom Jenkins/The Guardian

© Photograph: Tom Jenkins/The Guardian

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Europe’s heatwave moves east as row erupts in France over air conditioning

French far-right leader’s ‘grand plan’ to expand AC comes under attack, while Germany braces for possible record heat

The European heatwave has moved east, threatening record temperatures in Germany, as a political row broke out in France over air conditioning.

The French far-right leader Marine Le Pen seized a canvassing opportunity before the 2027 presidential election, announcing she would launch a “grand plan for air conditioning” for the nation if she won power.

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© Photograph: Ludovic Marin/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Ludovic Marin/AFP/Getty Images

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Empire of the Elite by Michael M Grynbaum – inside the glittering world of Condé Nast

How the publisher of Vogue, Vanity Fair and the New Yorker redefined high culture

Samuel Irving “Si” Newhouse Jr became chair of Condé Nast, the magazine group owned by his father’s media company, Advance Publications, in 1975. Under his stewardship, Condé’s roster of glossy publications – titles such as Vogue, GQ and Glamour – broadened to include Architectural Digest, a revived Vanity Fair and the New Yorker. Newhouse spent big in pursuit of clout, and his company’s extravagant approach to expenses became the stuff of legend. Condé positioned itself as a gatekeeper of high-end living but, as Michael Grynbaum explains in Empire of the Elite, its success in the 80s and 90s was down to its willingness to embrace “low” culture.

Condé brought pop stars, television personalities and tabloid intrigue into the highbrow fold, reconstituting cultural capital to fit the sensibilities of an emerging yuppie class with little interest in ballet or opera. Several moments stand out, in retrospect: GQ’s 1984 profile of Donald Trump, which paved the way for The Art of the Deal; Madonna’s 1989 debut on the cover of Vogue; and the New Yorker’s coverage of the OJ Simpson trial in 1994. Tina Brown, appointed editor of the New Yorker in 1992 after a decade at Vanity Fair, said she wanted “to make the sexy serious and the serious sexy”. Purists bemoaned what they saw as a slide into vulgar sensationalism, but Grynbaum maintains Brown “wasn’t so much dumbing down the New Yorker as expanding the universe to which it applied its smarts”.

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© Photograph: Evan Agostini/Getty Images

© Photograph: Evan Agostini/Getty Images

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House vote on Trump’s big bill hangs in balance as Johnson vows to ‘get it over the line’

Speaker struggles to muster enough Republican votes as lawmakers object to provisions and cost

Donald Trump’s signature tax-and-spending bill is hanging in the balance as Republicans struggle to muster sufficient votes in the US House of Representatives.

House speaker Mike Johnson is determined to pass the bill as soon as possible, but has been frustrated by lawmakers who object to its provisions and overall cost. They have blocked House Republicans from approving a rule, which is necessary to begin debate on the measure and set the stage for its passage.

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© Photograph: Annabelle Gordon/Reuters

© Photograph: Annabelle Gordon/Reuters

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The two Mr Ps on life in the classroom: ‘I’ve worked with teachers who have been hit or kicked’

In their popular podcast, the brothers talk about all the hidden horrors and hilarity of teaching – from burnout to bad behaviour, stress, trolling and a constant stream of embarrassing incidents ...

You can learn a lot about British society from what children bring into classrooms. Take sex toys, Lee Parkinson says. He co-hosts the highly popular Two Mr Ps in a Pod(Cast) with his brother Adam – they both work in primary schools – and their inboxes are bursting with stories from teachers of X-rated show-and-tells.

“You would not believe,” Lee says.

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© Photograph: Fabio De Paola/The Guardian

© Photograph: Fabio De Paola/The Guardian

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Why British women are freezing their eggs abroad – podcast

The number of women choosing to freeze their eggs has increased sharply, according to figures from the UK’s Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA). The number deciding to embark on the process abroad also appears to be rising. Madeleine Finlay speaks to the Guardian journalist Lucy Hough, who recently travelled to Brussels to freeze her eggs. She explains what prompted her decision and how she feels now that the procedure is over. Madeleine also hears from Joyce Harper, a professor of reproductive science at University College London, about what the freezing of eggs involves and why the small odds of success could be driving women to travel to do it

Support the Guardian: theguardian.com/sciencepod

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© Photograph: Heo Ran/Reuters

© Photograph: Heo Ran/Reuters

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‘People pay to be told lies’: the rise and fall of the world’s first ayahuasca multinational

Alberto Varela claimed he wanted to use sacred plant medicine to free people’s minds. But as the organisation grew, his followers discovered a darker reality

The first time Dalia* took ayahuasca nothing happened. The second time it changed her life. It was 2017, and she had joined a dozen strangers in a chalet outside Barcelona. Everyone was searching for something. For many it was a way out of misery: an escape from years of addiction, or a last-ditch attempt to survive crippling depression. Dalia, a therapist in her early 30s, hoped ayahuasca would help her process the recent death of her mother. “I felt completely alone at that time,” she said. “And I think in some form that’s how everyone there felt.”

The retreat, run by a wellness company called Inner Mastery, began with the two dozen participants talking about their expectations, before imbibing ayahuasca. The Amazonian plant brew, which contains dimethyltryptamine (DMT), a powerful naturally occurring psychoactive, induces an altered sense of self and reality. Users often report revisiting past trauma or repressed experiences.

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© Composite: Guardian Design / Getty Images / Crónica / El Mundo

© Composite: Guardian Design / Getty Images / Crónica / El Mundo

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‘Preaching water, drinking wine’: Austrians mock far-right MPs for lucrative side jobs

Legislators from the Freedom party, which presents itself as the voice of ordinary people, top the parliamentary rich list

Austrians have poured scorn on far-right MPs for topping the list of highest earners in the country’s parliament, accusing the purported champions of the working class of hypocrisy over their lucrative side hustles.

A report based on mandatory income declarations for 2024 revealed this week that MPs from the anti-immigration Freedom party (FPÖ), which came in first in the September general election, to be cashing in most with supplementary earnings.

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© Photograph: Thomas Topf/Parliamentary Directorate/ Thomas Topf

© Photograph: Thomas Topf/Parliamentary Directorate/ Thomas Topf

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The Sandman season two review – Neil Gaiman’s emo drama is so pretentious it ruins everything

The return of the mopey goth hero sees him stroppily shuffle through what could be fantastic adventures as if they are tedious obligations. And some of the dialogue: oof!

Morpheus, AKA Dream, AKA the Sandman (Tom Sturridge) might be the immortal overlord of a magical netherworld and the director of all our subconscious visions, but he is not immune to relationship problems. “Ten thousand years ago, I condemned you to hell,” he says to his other half, having sensed that she is annoyed about something. “I think perhaps I should apologise.”

Damn right! We’re back in the chilly, clammy grasp of The Sandman, the show that looks at the fantasy genre and says: what if we got rid of nearly all the lush landscapes, epic struggles, pointed political allegories and delicious, disgusting monsters, and replaced them with a moody bloke in a long black coat who goes around annoying everyone in a self-pitying monotone? Season two, part one – the saga concludes with another handful of episodes later this month – sees Dream attempt to grow and atone, questing first to rescue his beloved queen Nada (Deborah Oyelade), who is miffed about the whole 10-millennia-in-hades cock-up.

The Sandman is on Netflix now.

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© Photograph: COURTESY OF NETFLIX

© Photograph: COURTESY OF NETFLIX

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Like English, Spanish is constantly evolving. Unlike some English speakers, we welcome that | María Ramírez

Purists’ attempts to police our global languages are doomed – there’s joy and inspiration in new expressions from all over the world

Even your own language can have the capacity to surprise you. I recently joined a panel at a journalism conference with a reporter and a lawyer, both from Colombia. I found myself captivated by some of the words they used that aren’t – or rather weren’t – so common in Spain. The investigative journalist Diana Salinas referred to her craft as la filigrana, the filigree. I wouldn’t have used the term in that context, and yet it struck me as perfect to describe the intricate, careful work that investigative reporting requires.

Filigrana is not even considered a Latin-Americanism – it comes from Italian – but it has somehow been forgotten in everyday speech in Spain. As is often the case with Spanish in Latin America, usage and context enriches the word.

María Ramírez is a journalist and the deputy managing editor of elDiario.es, a news outlet in Spain

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© Photograph: Cargo/Getty Images/Imagezoo

© Photograph: Cargo/Getty Images/Imagezoo

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Starmer outlines plan to shift NHS care from hospitals to new health centres

Prime minister unveils 10-year health plan to ‘put care on people’s doorsteps’ and prevent illness in first place

The NHS will shift a huge amount of care from hospitals into new community health centres to bring treatment closer to people’s homes and cut waiting times, Keir Starmer will pledge on Thursday.

The prime minister will outline radical plans to give patients in England much easier access to GPs, scans and mental health support in facilities that are open 12 hours a day, six days a week.

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© Photograph: Nick Moore/Alamy

© Photograph: Nick Moore/Alamy

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Norway apply Euros sting as the cowbell tolls on Switzerland’s big night | Nick Ames

The opening goal sparked an eruption in the stands for a football country finding its place but hope slipped away

As time wore down and Switzerland strained to restore parity in a match that had looked so comfortably within their grasp, the clattering encouragement of a cowbell sounded from St Jakob-Park’s west stand. It may unwittingly have been tolling for the home nation, whose campaign now stands on a knife-edge after one day. The occasion’s celebratory feel had largely been matched by the vibrancy of their football; this, though, was ultimately a barely deserved triumph of Norwegian experience over local expectation.

“This Euro arrives a bit too early,” La Liberté had cautioned its readers over their matchday breakfast. It was hardly a rousing tone-setter but perhaps the point was fair. Nobody watching Pia Sundhage’s players work through the thirds, tear away down the wings and pin their opponents back for the first 50 minutes of this showpiece would have questioned the technical quality or intent of a team natives have taken some persuading to love. In the end knowhow and a little luck, those nebulous descriptors that somehow become starkly real in tournament football, inhabited the shirts in white and meant the mood was drained decisively.

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© Photograph: Vegard Grøtt/Bildbyran/Shutterstock

© Photograph: Vegard Grøtt/Bildbyran/Shutterstock

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Pentagon reviews arms exports to allies as munition stockpiles reportedly drop

Spokesperson Sean Parnell confirms defence department reviewing shipments may not affect only Ukraine

The Pentagon has said that it is reviewing weapons deliveries to allies around the world as reports grow of concerns over dwindling stockpiles of crucial munitions including anti-air missiles.

The announcement came after the White House confirmed that it was limiting deliveries of weapons to Ukraine to “put America’s interests first following a Department of Defense review of our nation’s military support and assistance to other countries around the globe”.

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© Photograph: Mark Schiefelbein/AP

© Photograph: Mark Schiefelbein/AP

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Bali ferry sinking leaves at least four dead, dozens missing

Thirty-one people who were on the ferry travelling from Java have so far been rescued, Indonesia police say

At least four people have died and dozens are missing after a ferry carrying 65 people sank on its way to the Indonesian resort island of Bali, according to local police.

The vessel sank before midnight on Wednesday in the Bali Strait as it sailed to a port in the north of the famous holiday island, departing from Banyuwangi, a town on Indonesia’s main island of Java, the local search and rescue agency in Surabaya said in a statement.

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© Photograph: AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: AFP/Getty Images

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Japan’s Tokara islands hit by 900 earthquakes in two weeks

No major damage has been reported in the Tokara island chain, Japan’s meteorological agency says

More than 900 earthquakes have shaken a remote island chain in southern Japan in the past two weeks, according to the country’s weather agency, leaving residents unable to sleep and fearful of what might come next.

Although no major damage has been reported, the Japan Meteorological Agency has acknowledged that it does not know when the quakes would end.

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© Photograph: Ray_go

© Photograph: Ray_go

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Kilmar Ábrego García was tortured in Salvadorian prison, court filing alleges

New court documents allege physical and psychological torture at Cecot in one of first looks at conditions in prison

Kilmar Ábrego García, the Maryland man who was wrongfully deported to El Salvador and detained in one of that country’s most notorious prisons, was physically and psychologically tortured during the three months he spent in Salvadorian custody, according to new court documents filed Wednesday.

While being held at the so-called Terrorism Confinement Center (Cecot) in El Salvador, Ábrego García and 20 other men “were forced to kneel from approximately 9:00 PM to 6:00 AM”, according to the court papers filed by his lawyers in the federal district court in Maryland.

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© Photograph: George Walker IV/AP

© Photograph: George Walker IV/AP

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The leaked phone call that could ring the changes for one of Thailand’s most powerful dynasties

A conversation between the prime minister and Cambodia’s former leader has sparked chaos and coup concerns and possibly the end of the Shinawatra family’s political fortunes

It was a call to someone she considered an old family friend. When Thai prime minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra picked up the phone to Hun Sen, the powerful former leader of neighbouring Cambodia, she was trying, she says, to ease tensions that had erupted over a border dispute.

Instead their conversation, curiously published in full by Hun Sen himself after an initial clip was leaked, has sparked a fresh political crisis in Thailand that could signal the end of her premiership and significantly dent the position of her family, the powerful Shinawatras. It is also likely to usher in a new chapter of political uncertainty in a country prone to military coups and judicial warfare.

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© Photograph: Lillian Suwanrumpha/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Lillian Suwanrumpha/AFP/Getty Images

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Ukraine war briefing: Washington downplays halt of some weapons shipments as Kyiv calls in US ambassador

Ukraine warns that any cut-off will ‘only encourage the aggressor’ while Pentagon spokesperson says Donald Trump still has ‘robust options’ for military aid to Ukraine. What we know on day 1,226

A decision by Washington to halt some shipments of critical weapons to Ukraine prompted warnings by Kyiv on Wednesday that the move would weaken its ability to defend against intensifying airstrikes and battlefield advances. Ukraine said it had called in the acting US envoy to Kyiv to underline the importance of military aid from Washington continuing, and cautioned that any cut-off would embolden Russia in its war in Ukraine. The Pentagon’s decision – tied to concerns that US military stockpiles are too low – began in recent days and includes 30 Patriot air defence missiles, which Ukraine relies on to destroy fast-moving ballistic missiles, four people familiar with the decision told Reuters on Wednesday. It also includes nearly 8,500 155mm artillery shells, more than 250 precision GMLRS (mobile rocket artillery) missiles and 142 Hellfire air-to-surface missiles, they said. “The Ukrainian side emphasised that any delay or procrastination in supporting Ukraine’s defence capabilities will only encourage the aggressor to continue the war and terror, rather than seek peace,” Ukraine’s foreign ministry said. The defence ministry said it had not been officially notified of any halt in US shipments and was seeking clarity from its American counterparts. A Ukrainian source familiar with the situation said the decision was a “total shock.”

US officials downplayed the White House announcement, saying President Donald Trump still had “robust” options for military assistance to Kyiv. “The department of defence continues to provide the president with robust options regarding military aid to Ukraine, consistent with his goal of bringing this tragic war to an end,” Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell told journalists. “The department is rigorously examining and adapting its approach towards achieving this objective while also preserving US military readiness and defence priorities,” he said. State department spokesperson Tammy Bruce meanwhile told reporters that “this is not a cessation of us assisting Ukraine or of providing weapons. This is one event, and one situation, and we’ll discuss what else comes up in the future.”

An arson attack on a restaurant and supermarket in Estonia last year were ordered by Russian intelligence, an Estonian court said Wednesday. The attack was one in a series across Europe tracked by The Associated Press and linked to Russia by western officials. The goal, they asserted, was to sow division in western societies and undermine support for Ukraine. The Harju county court in Estonia said the perpetrators were two Moldovan men who are cousins, both named Ivan Chihaial.

Russia has made incursions near two towns key to army supply routes in eastern Ukraine, a Ukrainian military official said on Wednesday, as Moscow seeks a breakthrough in its summer offensive. In recent weeks, Russia has amassed forces and despite heavy losses has advanced in rural areas either side of Pokrovsk and Kostiantynivka, which both sit on crossroads running to the frontline from larger cities in Ukrainian-controlled territory.

Four companies of the Polish Armaments Group (PGZ) will receive 2.4bn złotys ($665m) in financing from the state assets ministry for a project to build three ammunition factories, the ministry said on Wednesday. Poland is leading a European push to boost its defence readiness to deter any possible attack from Russia and to be less dependent for security on the United States.

Russia is using the online media outlet Red to sow discontent in German society as part of a disinformation campaign waged alongside its war in Ukraine, the foreign ministry in Berlin said on Wednesday. “Red presents itself as a revolutionary platform for independent journalists. However, it has close links with the Russian state media outlet RT,” a spokesperson for the foreign ministry told reporters in Berlin. “Today we can confirm that Red is being used by Russia specifically to manipulate information,” the spokesperson added. Red is run by Turkish media company AFA Medya, which together with its founder Huseyin Dogru is already the subject of EU sanctions targeting Russia and is accused of “undermining the democratic political process” in Germany. After they were sanctioned, Red announced on 16 May that it was closing down. Dogro has denied any links with the Kremlin or that the site is funded by Russia, according to media reports.

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© Photograph: Aris Messinis/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Aris Messinis/AFP/Getty Images

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In 1948 a Labour government founded the NHS. My job now is to make it fit for the future | Wes Streeting

Our 10-year plan, backed by an extra £29bn, will transform the service through AI and neighbourhood care – and hand power back to patients

  • Wes Streeting is secretary of state for health and social care

There are moments in our national story when our choices define who we are. In 1948, Clement Attlee’s government made a choice founded on fairness: that everyone in our country deserves to receive the care they need, not the care they can afford.

That the National Health Service was created amid the rubble and ruin of the aftermath of war makes that choice all the more remarkable. It enshrined in law and in the service itself our collective conviction that healthcare is not a privilege to be bought and sold, but a right to be cherished and protected. Now it falls to our generation to make the same choice.

Wes Streeting is secretary of state for health and social care

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.

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© Photograph: Stefan Rousseau/Reuters

© Photograph: Stefan Rousseau/Reuters

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Gaza: Doctors Under Attack review – this crucial film is the stuff of nightmares. But the world needs to see it

The film the BBC refused to air shows the targeting, detainment and torture of medics in Gaza. Its relentless timeline of horrors will never leave you

The biggest, and possibly only, failure of Gaza: Doctors Under Attack is that the circumstances of its broadcast threaten to overshadow its content.

A brief recap: this film was first commissioned by the BBC, only to be dropped when another documentary – Gaza: How to Survive a War Zone – sparked a furore over impartiality.

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© Photograph: Channel 4 / Basement Films

© Photograph: Channel 4 / Basement Films

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Survival-mode Starmer throws tearful chancellor to wolves at PMQs

Even Kemi Badenoch was able to land punches after prime minister failed to guarantee Rachel Reeves’s position

It was painful to watch. An intrusion into something deeply private. A grief observed. Rachel Reeves breaking down in tears. Her face lined with misery as Keir Starmer failed to guarantee she would still be in her job at the next election. A reminder that politicians are humans too. If you prick us, do we not bleed?

Rachel, a woman alone in the uncaring, public gaze of prime minister’s questions. A mere punchbag for the leader of the opposition. Undefended by Starmer. Keir couldn’t even bring himself to make sure she was OK. Too wrapped up in his own world. Maybe he didn’t even notice. Too busy trying to protect his own reputation.

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© Photograph: PRU/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: PRU/AFP/Getty Images

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Pentagon says US strikes set back Iran nuclear program ‘one to two years’

Sean Parnell repeats Trump claim that key sites were destroyed, based on ‘assessments inside the department’

The Pentagon has collected intelligence material that suggests Iran’s nuclear program was set back roughly one to two years as a result of the US strikes on three key facilities last month, the chief spokesperson at the defense department said at a news conference on Wednesday.

The spokesperson, Sean Parnell, repeated Donald Trump’s claim that Iran’s key nuclear sites had been completely destroyed, although he did not offer further details on the origin of the assessments beyond saying it came from inside the defense department.

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© Photograph: AP

© Photograph: AP

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Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs found guilty on two of five counts as lawyers call verdict ‘great victory’

Jury finds music mogul not guilty on most serious charges but judge denies request for bail

A New York Jury has found Sean “Diddy” Combs guilty of two counts and not guilty on three counts, following a closely watched seven-week federal trial marked by emotional and graphic testimony.

The mixed verdict saw Combs being found not guilty of the biggest charge, racketeering conspiracy, not guilty of the sex trafficking of Casandra Ventura or the sex trafficking of “Jane”, and guilty of both the transportation to engage in prostitution related to Casandra Ventura and the transportation to engage in prostitution related to “Jane”.

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© Photograph: Elizabeth Williams/AP

© Photograph: Elizabeth Williams/AP

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Emma Raducanu storms past 2023 Wimbledon champion Vondrousova in style

  • British player wins 6-3, 6-3 to make third round

  • Raducanu will face world No 1 Aryna Sabalenka next

On the eve of another tense fortnight at Wimbledon, Emma Raducanu had every reason to feel overwhelmed by the circumstances she found herself in. As her troublesome back injury continued to restrict her work on the practice court, she has also had to deal with undisclosed personal issues. Her expectations for the tournament were low.

It is reflective of Raducanu’s personal growth and maturity that she has taken those difficulties in her stride and found a way to continue to move forward. In one of her most significant matches of the year so far, the British No 1 spectacularly rose to the occasion on Centre Court, producing a brilliant performance to outplay the 2023 Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova 6-3, 6-3 and return to the third round.

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© Photograph: Tom Jenkins/The Guardian

© Photograph: Tom Jenkins/The Guardian

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Restrained Pant struggles as India’s new safety-first style fails to suit situation | Andy Bull

Batter was a model of self-control before being dismissed cheaply, with England having their three wishes granted

Turns out Rishabh Pant is a dab hand at doing impressions. At Edgbaston he showed off his new one, of the batter his coaches would like him to be. Pant was, by the standards of his own scatterbrained batting, a model of self-control, and restricted himself to just one glorious four and a single crisp, delicious six in the 60 minutes or so he was at the crease. They were good ones, a roly-poly sweep off Shoaib Bashir and a skip down the pitch to punch another of his deliveries over long-on, but otherwise Pant restrained himself to showing off his range of ascetic leaves, blocks and defensive shots.

There was, it’s true, the odd moment or two when he nearly broke character. He couldn’t help himself but come running out to try to belt one of the first balls bowled by Chris Woakes after tea over the road into the botanical gardens. He seemed to change his mind midway through his swing, and ended up scuffing it away for a single, like a kid reaching his hand out to grab a cookie and then yanking it back again as they remember the promise they’d made to their parents.

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© Photograph: Alex Davidson/Getty Images

© Photograph: Alex Davidson/Getty Images

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Trump announces US trade pact with Vietnam

US president says goods from Vietnam will face 20% tariff, a lower rate than 46% levy he announced in April

The United States and Vietnam struck a trade agreement that sets 20% tariffs on many of the south-east Asian country’s exports following last-minute negotiations, Donald Trump and Vietnamese state media said on Wednesday.

The rate is lower than an initial 46% levy Trump announced in April on goods from Vietnam, which was due to take effect next week.

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© Photograph: Nhac Nguyen/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Nhac Nguyen/AFP/Getty Images

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Euro 2025 hosts Switzerland suffer own-goal and VAR heartache against Norway

Switzerland were denied a fairytale start to their home Euros as a header from Ada Hegerberg and an own goal gave an unconvincing Norway three points.

Nadine Riesen’s first-half opener had fans spiralling, hope and ecstasy pouring from every corner of the ground, but their profligacy would prove costly as a moment of magic from Hegerberg and then Caroline Graham Hansen to force Norway’s second turned the game on its head.

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© Photograph: Denis Balibouse/Reuters

© Photograph: Denis Balibouse/Reuters

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