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Trump clashes with Musk and threatens additional tariffs on countries with ‘anti-American’ policies – US politics live

Musk says he is setting up America party to challenge Republican and Democratic ‘Uniparty’

The president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said she had a “good exchange” with Donald Trump on Sunday, a Commission spokesperson told reporters during a daily press briefing this morning.

The spokesperson said:

We want to reach a deal with the US (by 9 July). We want to avoid tariffs. We believe they cause pain. We want to achieve win-win outcomes, not lose-lose outcomes.

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© Photograph: Will Oliver/EPA

© Photograph: Will Oliver/EPA

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Wimbledon 2025: Cilic v Cobolli, Sinner, Swiatek and Djokovic in action on day eight – live

Cilic has won from two sets down on eight previous occasions, but not since 2020 and never at Wimbledon. Four of them came at the US Open, three at the Australian Open and one in Davis Cup play. Oddly enough, he’s managed it twice against former Wimbledon semi-finalist Jerzy Janowicz.

Cobolli closes out the second set with a 131mph ace down the middle. He’s taken a 6-4, 6-4 lead over Cilic after 73 minutes. More impeccable serving from the Italian, who has won 19 of the last 20 points on his racket.

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© Photograph: Adam Vaughan/EPA

© Photograph: Adam Vaughan/EPA

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‘I don’t want my training to go to waste’: the Argentinian scientists working side jobs amid Milei’s sweeping cuts

Javier Milei’s government’s punishing budget cuts have forced researchers to take up work as electricians, school teachers or Uber drivers



Leonardo Amarilla is desperate. The geneticist and PhD in biological sciences holds a coveted position as a full-time researcher at Argentina’s prestigious national science council, Conicet, studying how to improve yields of crops such as peanuts, soya beans and sunflowers.

But after President Javier Milei imposed sweeping austerity measures, known locally as his “chainsaw” plan, Amarilla’s salary plummeted and he found he could no longer afford basic groceries or support his ageing parents.

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© Photograph: Luis Robayo/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Luis Robayo/AFP/Getty Images

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Tour de France 2025: stage three from Valenciennes to Dunkirk – live

There’s a birthday in the peloton! Joyeux anniversaire Damien Touzé of Cofidis.

On another note, TNT Sports’ viewer prediction poll has Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) as the favourite for today’s stage, but the presenters seem to be favouring Tim Merlier (Soudal Quick-Step). Does anyone have any riders tipped for the win outside the top names? Let me know if you do.

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© Photograph: Dario Belingheri/Getty Images

© Photograph: Dario Belingheri/Getty Images

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Texas’s Camp Mystic confirms 27 children and counsellors died in floods

Camp says the search continues for missing people while life-threatening flooding still remains a threat

Camp Mystic, the girls summer camp on the banks of the Guadalupe River in Texas, has confirmed that 27 children and counsellors died in the flash floods that have wreaked devastation on the area since Friday.

“Our hearts are broken alongside our families that are enduring this unimaginable tragedy. We are praying for them constantly,” a statement on the camp website read.

Associated Press contributed reporting

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© Photograph: Julio Cortez/AP

© Photograph: Julio Cortez/AP

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Low water levels push up shipping costs on Europe’s rivers amid heatwave

Vessels on Rhine in Germany and Danube in Hungary forced to sail partially loaded

Low water levels after heatwaves and drought are limiting shipping on some of Europe’s biggest rivers including the Rhine and the Danube and pushing up transport costs.

As much of Europe swelters in hot temperatures, water levels in its main rivers have fallen. This is affecting shipping along the Rhine – one of Europe’s key waterways – south of Duisburg and Cologne in Germany, including the choke point of Kaub, forcing vessels to sail about half full.

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© Photograph: Christopher Neundorf/EPA

© Photograph: Christopher Neundorf/EPA

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Super Happy Forever review – glowing love story in reverse with echoes of Before Sunrise

In this beautifully acted film, a man returns to the Japanese seaside town where he met and fell in love with his wife

For the first 40 minutes, this film’s title feels like a poke in the eye. There is nothing remotely happy about twentysomething Sano (Hiroki Sano). His wife has just died suddenly in her sleep, and Sano is visiting the sleepy Japanese seaside town where they met five years ago. He is rude and sullen, and obsessive about finding a red baseball cap he lost on that first visit. In the pain and anger of his grief, everyone sounds vapid and dumb, their words meaningless blah-blah-blah.

It’s hard to see where the happy fits in, until the film flips back in time. In the same hotel five years ago, Sano first claps eyes on his wife Nagi (Nairu Yamamoto) in a chance meeting in the hotel lobby. Yamamoto gives the performance of the film as aspiring photographer Nagi: funny, scatty and earnest. She plays it so naturally, so true to life, that Nagi feels like someone you might have actually met. She and Sano wander around town, young and free: dancing in a club, eating instant noodles. There is a glow to these scenes, a bit like in Richard Linklater’s Before Sunrise, which similarly bottles the heart-flutter moment of something clicking, flirtation that feels like more than flirting.

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© Photograph: Publicity image

© Photograph: Publicity image

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Rukmini Iyer’s quick and easy recipe for lettuce wraps with aromatic lemongrass chicken and peanut sauce | Quick and easy

Light and aromatic lemongrass chicken wrapped in lettuce and doused in peanut sauce makes perfect assemble-and-enjoy material for a summer’s day

The perfect meal for a hot day, when you want something light and refreshing. You can assemble all the components for these lovely, fresh lettuce wraps while the chicken poaches in an aromatic broth, and either make up the cups yourself or put all the components down on the table for everyone to help themselves. This was a hit with my three-year-old daughter, and it even encouraged the one-year-old to try lettuce for the first time.

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© Photograph: Ola O Smit/The Guardian. Food and prop styling: Kitty Coles. Food styling assistant: Grace Jenkins.

© Photograph: Ola O Smit/The Guardian. Food and prop styling: Kitty Coles. Food styling assistant: Grace Jenkins.

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Europe does not have to choose between guns and butter. There is another way | Shahin Vallée and Joseph de Weck

Yes, defence spending has to rise – but slashing the welfare state to fund it would be a big mistake

European governments are once again haunted by a tough choice between financing the military or spending on social programmes. That, at any rate, is the narrative that has taken hold since Donald Trump’s retreat from the postwar global security order and the urgent pressure to rearm Europe.

But to frame the dilemma facing Europe in this way is a big mistake. History teaches us that the political choice has never been about guns or butter, but rather guns or taxes.

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© Photograph: Ed Jones/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Ed Jones/AFP/Getty Images

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‘Without a parka, I’ll look like an idiot’: Oasis fans’ fashion at the reunion tour

From bucket hats to Man City socks and the band’s logo everywhere, gig-goers in Cardiff talk us through their outfits – and explain why Liam is still a style icon, even with shorter hair

In the weeks leading up to their first gig for 16 years, Oasis have been busy when it comes to merch. They opened pop-up shops and announced collabs with Levi’s, Adidas and Next. The results are plain to see on the streets of Cardiff the afternoon before the long-awaited gig. If they say you are never more than six feet away from a rat in a city, here you are never more than six inches away from that famous Oasis Helvetica Black Oblique logo.

It’s on bucket hats, football shirts, tracksuit tops, T-shirts and, every so often, someone’s face. The fanbase goes across generations and demographics. There are those who were there the first time, and teenagers who grew up on their music. Some have travelled for miles – from Italy, Spain, Portugal and the US. If the crowd is largely white, there’s a contingent of fans from east Asia.

From left: Ash Parker, Marcus Long and Joe Gallagher in their brand new T-shirts

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© Photograph: Francesca Jones/The Guardian

© Photograph: Francesca Jones/The Guardian

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Minister won’t rule out support cuts for children with EHCPs amid Send overhaul – UK politics live

Stephen Morgan, the early education minister, would not confirm every child who has an EHCP would continue to keep the same provisions

The Conservatives will try to change the government’s welfare Bill to tighten up access to personal independence payments (Pip) and universal credit, PA Media reports. PA says:

Kemi Badenoch will pledge that the Tories are “now the only party committed to serious welfare reform” after Keir Starmer shelved plans to restrict eligibility for Pip in the face of a backbench revolt this week.

The Tories will look to lay amendments to the legislation – set to be renamed the universal credit bill – and party leader Badenoch is due to deliver a speech on welfare on Thursday.

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© Photograph: Graeme Robertson/The Guardian

© Photograph: Graeme Robertson/The Guardian

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‘I want to put socks on without being in pain’: Millie Bright on missing Euro 2025

  • Centre-back is recovering from knee operation

  • ‘I feel better in my mind and ready to support the girls’

“There’s more than just England under consideration when it came to that decision,” says Millie Bright on stepping away from the Lionesses ahead of their European title defence. “There’s me being able to walk down the stairs after I’ve played 90 minutes of football, there’s me in the future when I have children being able to walk around properly, being able to bend down and pick up toys, there’s me being able to do normal life things like put on socks without being in pain and, for the first time in a long time, I genuinely didn’t think about the response of the public because that just wasn’t a priority.”

Chelsea’s Bright is discussing her decision to step back from this summer’s Euros for her mental and physical health with the former England international and close friend Rachel Daly. The pair have recently launched a podcast that leans into the chemistry they have as friends.

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© Photograph: Tom Sandberg/PPAUK/Shutterstock

© Photograph: Tom Sandberg/PPAUK/Shutterstock

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Lando Norris reveals ‘exhausting’ toll of British GP victory and title battle with Piastri

  • British driver says intensity of races is proving draining

  • ‘They’re pretty strenuous, exhausting weekends’

Lando Norris described his victory at the British Grand Prix and his intense battle with Oscar Piastri for the world championship as exhausting, but is hopeful he has established some momentum for the next round in Belgium.

“It’s two wins, but they’ve not come easy by any means,” he said, after following up his win in Austria at Silverstone. “We’ve had good fights, but they’re pretty strenuous, exhausting weekends because you’re fighting for hundredths and thousandths and you’re fighting for perfection every session and I’m against some pretty good drivers. So, it takes a lot out of you, especially when you have a race like Sunday.”

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© Photograph: David Davies/PA

© Photograph: David Davies/PA

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‘Shorts and flip-flops are not allowed’: La Scala enforces opera dress code ban

Management ask visitors to ‘choose clothing in keeping with the decorum of the theatre’ after complaints

Operagoers have been warned they will be banned from entering Milan’s prestigious La Scala theatre if they turn up wearing shorts, tank tops or flip-flops. Kimonos, however, are acceptable.

The venue’s management team reminded people how not to dress for an opera after complaints that some spectators were donning attire more suitable for the beach.

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© Photograph: Quirinale Press Office/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Quirinale Press Office/AFP/Getty Images

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The young Oscar Wilde’s Russian revolutionary drama reveals a playwright divided

Vera; or, The Nihilists concerns a plot to kill a tsar but after Alexander II was assassinated, its London premiere was cancelled. Now receiving a rare production, it captures his conflict between ethics and aesthetics

Who wrote the following: “When private property is abolished, there will be no necessity for crime”? In one of his plays the same writer has a female revolutionary cry: “How easy is it for a king to kill his people by thousands but we cannot rid ourselves of one crowned man in Europe.” If I reveal that the writer was a London-based Irishman, most people would assume it was Bernard Shaw. In fact, it was Oscar Wilde and, while the first quote comes from his essay The Soul of Man Under Socialism, the last is from his play Vera; or, The Nihilists which is to get a rare professional production at the Brockley Jack Studio theatre, south-east London, in September.

The play itself is virtually unknown even to Wildean devotees. It was written in 1879 and loosely based on the story of a 22-year-old Russian revolutionary who had attempted to shoot the St Petersburg chief of police. Wilde’s version is set in Moscow but his heroine, Vera Sabouroff, has a similar political ardour and leads a band of nihilists who plan to assassinate the tsar. That is only the starting-point for a robustly noisy melodrama that was intended for London production in 1881. But the actual assassination of Tsar Alexander II in March of that year and the fact that the Prince of Wales was married to the sister of the new tsarina killed it stone dead. When it was eventually produced in New York in 1883, it was greeted with sneery disdain and, aside from the odd amateur revival, has lain buried ever since.

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© Photograph: Heritage Images/Getty Images

© Photograph: Heritage Images/Getty Images

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South Africa’s Wiaan Mulder hits 367 … and declares 33 runs short of Lara’s Test record

  • Stand-in captain hits unbeaten score in Zimbabwe

  • Brian Lara hit 400 not out against England in 2004

South Africa’s Wiaan Mulder scored an unbeaten 367 against Zimbabwe before the stand-in captain remarkably declared 33 runs shy of Brian Lara’s Test record.

In his first match as South Africa captain in place of the injured Keshav Maharaj, all-rounder Mulder reached the stunning total – the highest by a player in his first Test innings as captain – as he arrived at lunch with the team on 626 for five.

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© Photograph: @ProteasMenCSA/X

© Photograph: @ProteasMenCSA/X

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‘Chipping away at democracy’: authors fear outcome of US supreme court’s LGBTQ+ book ruling

Some parents can now opt students out of LGBTQ+ book readings. The writers warn of increased book bans and bias

Sarah Brannen, an illustrator and children’s book author, was riding in the car with her sister when she received an alert on her phone in late June. She was in a group chat with other authors whose books were being debated in a US supreme court case, and the messages soon poured in. Her book, Uncle Bobby’s Wedding, highlights a same-sex marriage, and is at the center of a contentious case that could have widespread implications for public school education throughout the nation.

As per the 27 June ruling, a group of Maryland parents have the option to remove their public elementary school students from classes where Uncle Bobby’s Wedding and other storybooks with LGBTQ+ themes are read. The justices decided through a 6-3 vote that the Montgomery county school board violated parents’ right to freely exercise their religion by forbidding kids from opting out of instruction. The parents argued that the board impeded them from teaching their kids about gender and sexuality in a way that aligned with their belief system.

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© Photograph: AP

© Photograph: AP

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Ice ‘politically targeted’ farm worker activist Juarez Zeferino, colleagues say

Detention comes amid Trump crackdown against perceived political enemies, including immigrants and labor leaders

Farm worker activist Alfredo “Lelo” Juarez Zeferino, 25, was driving his partner to her job on a tulip farm north of Seattle one March morning when they were pulled over by an unmarked car. A plainclothes agent for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) emerged and shattered Juarez Zeferino’s front window before handcuffing him, his partner said.

The officer drove Juarez Zeferino to a nondescript warehouse – the same one he and other activists had years ago discovered is an unmarked Ice holding facility. After his 25 March detention, dozens gathered outside to demand his release.

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© Photograph: Saatva Photo

© Photograph: Saatva Photo

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It was a milestone for progressive education in California. Then it unraveled

The controversy around the state’s once-celebrated ethnic studies curriculum reveals deeper schisms afflicting public schools nationwide

It was celebrated at the time as a major milestone for progressive education. In 2021, California became the first state to make ethnic studies a graduation requirement, mandating all high schools teach the subject by fall 2025.

The idea, championed by California’s governor, Gavin Newsom, was to bring modern concepts into the classroom. At its core, ethnic studies, an academic discipline born on California campuses during the civil rights movement, elevates the experiences of historically marginalized groups. Its materials push students to question their biases, reimagine power structures, and think critically about the enduring legacies of colonialism. In California high schools, courses would bring to the fore the experiences of Chicano, Black and Indigenous communities in the state by diving into issues such as gentrification, the impact of pesticides on farm worker communities and the legacies of Indian boarding schools. Many school districts enthusiastically jumped on board.

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© Illustration: Tyler Comrie/The Guardian

© Illustration: Tyler Comrie/The Guardian

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Charity prepares legal challenge after NHS trust pauses ADHD referrals for over-25s

ADHD UK says over-25s wanting assessment with Coventry and Warwickshire trust have no choice but to pay privately

A charity supporting people with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is preparing a legal challenge against an NHS trust that has temporarily stopped accepting referrals for adults over 25.

Coventry and Warwickshire partnership NHS trust said any new referrals for people over 25 would be paused from 21 May to reduce waiting lists for children.

In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In the US, you can call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on 988, chat on 988lifeline.org, or text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis counselor. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org

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© Photograph: sturti/Getty Images

© Photograph: sturti/Getty Images

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The Trump administration pushed out a university president – its latest bid to close the American mind | Robert Reich

Demanding that the University of Virginia’s president resign is taken from the Viktor Orbán playbook of authoritarianism

Under pressure from the Trump administration, the University of Virginia’s president of nearly seven years, James Ryan, stepped down on Friday, declaring that while he was committed to the university and inclined to fight, he could not in good conscience push back just to save his job.

The Department of Justice demanded that Ryan resign in order to resolve an investigation into whether UVA had sufficiently complied with Donald Trump’s orders banning diversity, equity and inclusion.

Universities are controlled by leftwing foundations. They’re not controlled by the American taxpayer and yet the American taxpayer is sending hundreds of billions of dollars to these universities every single year.

I’m not endorsing every single thing that Viktor Orbán has ever done [but] I do think that he’s made some smart decisions there that we could learn from.

Robert Reich, a former US secretary of labor, is a professor of public policy emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley. He is a Guardian US columnist. His newsletter is at robertreich.substack.com

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© Photograph: Peter Morgan/AP

© Photograph: Peter Morgan/AP

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The worst thing about AI? That stupid Samsung ad where the guy adds ‘way too much sugar’ to his pasta sauce | Emma Beddington

Only a robot would attempt to turn it into ‘tasty cookies’. A human would just scoop the sugar out again

At a time of intense, bitter division, it’s heartwarming when something brings us together. No, not “briefly becoming experts in lawn tennis”, or “being too hot” – that stupid Samsung advert where the guy “added way too much sugar to my gochujang pasta sauce” and asks his phone for help.

If, by the greatest good fortune, you have managed to dodge it, Google Gemini (an AI “assistant”) suggests he makes “tasty cookies” out of his sugary sauce. Instead of throwing his phone out of the window in holy rage, the youth seems inexplicably enthused (“Sweet!”) and follows its frankly inadequate instructions – add butter, mix, bake for 10 minutes – before wandering off with a cookie, apparently happy with this bizarre outcome.

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© Photograph: YouTube/Samsung

© Photograph: YouTube/Samsung

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The Zola Experience review – life follows art as stage relationship spills into real-life romance

When actor-director Anne Barbot embarks on an adaptation of a Zola novel with her neighbour, the gap between theatre and reality appears to collapse entirely

Art and life fuse deliriously in Gianluca Matarrese’s hybrid film, which alternates between documentary and fiction, theatre and cinema. Recently divorced from her husband, actor-director Anne Barbot throws herself into preparing a stage adaptation of Emile Zola’s classic novel L’Assommoir. In Gervaise, the working-class heroine of the book, Barbot finds echoes of her current situation: both are women who struggle to reclaim professional autonomy in the aftermath of broken relationships. Barbot’s production becomes more complicated when she casts Benoît Dallongeville, a neighbour who is also an actor, in the role of her love interest in the play. Soon, passion and tension begin to spill from personal relationships on to the page, and vice versa.

Matarrese’s film keeps the camera strikingly close to Barbot and Dallongeville as the pair embark on a long and physically arduous rehearsal process. Jagged, handheld closeups of minute facial expressions and gestures clue us into private emotions that may be unknown even to the two actors. We can sense that, in the beginning, Dallongeville is interested in courting Barbot, though she is pulling back. Yet, over long takes in which they feed each other lines, a certain chemistry gradually emerges, followed by actual romance. The film keeps this development deliberately opaque, as scene transitions make it difficult to tell whether they are reading a script or communicating as themselves. It is as if the border between performance and life has entirely collapsed.

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© Photograph: True Story

© Photograph: True Story

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Football transfer rumours: Dominic Calvert-Lewin to Manchester United?

This stuff is going to get interesting soon

The Arsenal striker mystery may have reached its denouement: who will be unmasked as the man to knock down the ball to an onrushing Declan Rice. The answer appears to be Viktor Gyökeres, who is close to sealing his dream move from Sporting. If Benjamin Sesko is the great, lost Gunner, it’s because RB Leipzig want to charge €100m (around £86m), when Gyökeres will cost £70m and lower wages. Victor Osimhen, another striker in the reckoning, seems likely to convert his loan at Galatasaray to a permanent move, should a £65m fee be paid to Napoli. Yet another candidate, Real Madrid’s rather good Rodrygo, seems poised for a move to Al-Nassr in Saudi Arabia.

Chances are that Noni Madueke will be one of Gyokeres’s suppliers as the Arsenal-Chelsea trade route opens up once more. The winger wants Arsenal but Chelsea are open to accepting other bids than the Gunners’ £50m. Also, isn’t he a right winger, where Bukayo Saka plays? Seems Arteta wants a surfeit of players in each position, following the addition of Martín Zubimendi to a packed midfield. Chelsea need to sell £60m of talent to make Champions League regulations after the slapped wrist – and fine – received from Uefa on Friday.

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© Photograph: Jacopo Raule/Getty Images

© Photograph: Jacopo Raule/Getty Images

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Russia claims to have foothold in new Ukraine region as Zelenskyy pleads for more air defences – Europe live

Russia says it has captured a village in the Dnipropetrovsk region as Ukraine president calls for allies to fulfil commitments on defence

The commission also addressed the reintroduction of Polish border controls with Germany and Lithuania, confirming at its midday media briefing that it had received a formal notification from Poland on Friday.

EU spokesperson Markus Lammert confirmed that “reintroducing temporary internal border controls is possible subject to certain conditions, as set out in EU legislation, and in particular in the Schengen borders code.”

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© Photograph: Kateryna Klochko/AP

© Photograph: Kateryna Klochko/AP

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Tesla shares dive as investors fear new Elon Musk political party will damage brand

Fall of 7% in premarket trading would wipe $70bn off firm’s value as market frets CEO’s foray into politics will distract from role

Shares in Tesla are heading for a sharp fall in the US as investors fear Elon Musk’s launch of a new political party will present further problems for the electric carmaker.

Tesla stock was down more than 7% in pre-market trading on Monday, threatening to wipe approximately $70bn (£51bn) off the company’s value when Wall Street opens.

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© Photograph: Will Oliver/EPA

© Photograph: Will Oliver/EPA

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The one change that worked: I stopped saying yes to everything – and found a phrase that made it easier

I had been conditioned to be kind, agreeable and unselfish since I was a child. Pausing to consider what I really want to do has transformed my life

It was 6.18pm when the email pinged through. The lasagne smelled decidedly overcooked as I attempted to referee another squabble between my kids. The cat litter needed changing, and my cup of tea sat next to the microwave, stone cold and grey. Still, irresistibly, I was drawn to the screen. I read the subject line: “Quick favour this evening, if you have a sec?” Without thinking I started to reply: “Of course, no probl ...”

I didn’t reach the end of the sentence. The hyper-sensitive smoke alarm started blaring. I grabbed a towel and swatted at the ceiling; by the time the house fell silent, I had forgotten about the email.

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© Photograph: Courtesy of Nikki Allen

© Photograph: Courtesy of Nikki Allen

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‘There is no safe way to do it’: the rapid rise and horrifying risks of choking during sex

Now thought to be the second most common cause of stroke in women under 40, it can also lead to difficulty swallowing, incontinence, seizures, memory problems, depression, anxiety and miscarriage. How has this extreme practice been normalised?

Now that Lucy has been in a steady relationship for a year, she finds herself looking back at previous sexual encounters through a new lens. The slaps to her face. Hands round her neck. The multiple late-night messages from one partner – nine years older and, in her words, “a Tinder situation”: “Can I come over and rape you?”

“I like to think I enjoyed my single 20s,” says Lucy, now 24. “I was an avid Hinge and Tinder user and I liked to think of myself as the ‘cool girl’. But I’ve been thinking about it so much – I’m not sure why. There was the friend of a friend who slapped me so hard in the middle of us having sex – no warning, just from nowhere. It actually made my teeth rattle. There was another guy I met at a bar. We got together that night and he started choking me so hard, I felt this sharp pressure, this pain I’d never experienced before. I was drunk but it sobered me up in one second. I still wonder what he did to me to cause that pain.”

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© Illustration: Ben Tallon/The Guardian

© Illustration: Ben Tallon/The Guardian

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‘We thought we could be ourselves’: they fled Uganda’s harsh anti-gay laws only to face the same in Kenya

Refugees who found sanctuary in Nairobi fear a new family protection bill could again threaten their rights

Sitting on the porch of their shared house on the outskirts of Nairobi, Entity* and Rock* are chatting amiably. Aged 27 and 33 respectively, the Ugandan housemates have much in common – both exiled to Kenya for the the violence they faced at home for being gay.

In May 2023, Uganda passed the Anti-Homosexuality Act, infamously one of the world’s harshest anti-LGBTQ+ laws, including the death penalty for “aggravated homosexuality” and life imprisonment for same-sex relationships. The law harshened the 2009 “kill the gays” bill, which had come into effect in 2014 without the death penalty.

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© Photograph: Marie Ruwet

© Photograph: Marie Ruwet

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‘I’m rooting for them’: why American Movie is my feelgood movie

The next in our series of writers drawing attention to their favourite comfort films looks back to a funny and touching documentary from 1999

“I was a failure and I get very sad and depressed about it. I really feel like I betrayed myself. Big time. When I was growing up, I had all the potential in the world. Now I’m back to being Mark with a beer in his hand who is thinking about the great American script and the great American movie. This time I cannot fail. I will not fail.”

As far as opening monologues go, you couldn’t have scripted a more perfect introduction to a film that captures one of the purest pursuits of the American Dream ever set to film. But these were not written for a character, but instead straight from the heart of Mark Borchardt in a 1999 documentary. It’s rare that documentaries are associated with feelgood movies, which is odd because they are remarkable vehicles for generating warmth, empathy and humor from spending time in the company of real life people who you grow to like. And I utterly adore spending time with these people.

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© Photograph: RGR Collection/Alamy

© Photograph: RGR Collection/Alamy

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‘There is no one like him’: what Martín Zubimendi will bring Arsenal

Midfielder has shown with Real Sociedad and Spain that he combines calm and control with a capacity to tackle

The way Martín Zubimendi remembers it, the day he was given the chance to be a ballboy for Real Sociedad against Manchester United he was more nervous than when he had to play. Standing at the side of the pitch, he found himself transfixed, the game flying by. So transfixed, in fact, that he forgot it was his job to pass the ball to the players and at one point Claudio Bravo, in goal that night at Anoeta, had to come over and take it off him because he was standing there watching. It was the first time it had happened to him; it would also be the last.

If there is anything that defines Arsenal’s new midfielder, it is that he is so calm, so in control. “He oozes assuredness from every pore,” says the Spain coach, Luis de la Fuente. “He doesn’t get nervous walking a tightrope with no safety net.” When he’s out there, games don’t just go by; they usually go where he wants them to. And as for passes, what he forgot to do that night defines him now: there were 1,752 of them in La Liga last season. No midfielder outside Real Madrid or Barcelona played more.

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© Photograph: David Price/Arsenal FC/Getty Images

© Photograph: David Price/Arsenal FC/Getty Images

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Face With Tears of Joy: A natural History of Emoji by Keith Houston review

An deep dive into the surprising uses and linguistic shortfalls of the ubiquitous symbols

In 2016, Apple announced that its gun emoji, previously a realistic grey-and-black revolver, would henceforth be a green water pistol. Gradually the other big tech companies followed suit, and now what is technically defined as the “pistol” emoji, supposed to represent a “handgun or revolver”, does not show either: instead you’ll get a water pistol or sci-fi raygun and be happy with it. No doubt this change contributed significantly to a suppression of gun crime around the world, and it remains only to ban the bomb, knife and sword emoji to wipe out violence altogether.

As Keith Houston’s fascinatingly geeky and witty history shows, emoji have always been political. Over the years, people have successfully lobbied the Unicode Consortium – the cabal of corporations that controls the character set, including Google, Microsoft, Meta and Apple – to include different skin colours and same-sex couples. It was easy to agree to add the face with one eyebrow raised, the guide dog and the egg. But not every request is granted. One demand for a “frowning poo emoji” elicited this splendid rant from an eminent Unicode contributor, Michael Everson: “Will we have a crying pile of poo next? Pile of poo with tongue sticking out? Pile of poo with question marks for eyes? Pile of poo with karaoke mic? Will we have to encode a neutral faceless pile of poo?”

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© Composite: gettyimages

© Composite: gettyimages

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The Tree of Authenticity review – talking tree explains Congo’s struggle to overcome colonial past

Sammy Baloji’s experimental documentary juxtaposes observations from both sides of the divide in its exploration of European exploitation of the country’s natural resources

In his first solo directorial feature, photographer and visual artist Sammy Baloji excavates the colonial legacies in the Congo basin, the second largest tropical forest in the world. Building on a decades-spanning archive from the Yangambi National Institute of Agronomic Studies and Research, the film is loosely divided into three sections, each guided by a different voice that speaks to the complicated environmental history of the area. The first segment is informed by the journal entries of Congolese agronomist Paul Panda Farnana. Working both within and outside Belgium’s colonial control during the 1910s and 1920s, Farnana wrote of his frustration with the extractive regime, as well as meteorological statistics related to rainfall and temperature, which are narrated in voiceover. This is combined with largely static shots of present-day Congo, where vestiges of colonial buildings lie next to verdant fields, a haunting reminder from a dark past.

This cinematic link through time continues with the second narration, taken from the writing of Belgian colonial official Abiron Beirnaert. A stark contrast to Farnana’s clear-eyed, political perspective, Beirnaert’s contemplations luxuriate in boredom and jadedness. The images that accompany this section are also of sparsely attended archives and abandoned factories that do little to subvert Beirnaert’s imperialist outlook. The third voice, however, grants sentience to the ancient tree of the title, bearing witness to decades of Congolese history.

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© Photograph: Publicity image

© Photograph: Publicity image

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People in the US: have you been affected by Trump’s cuts to scientific research?

We want to hear the experiences of scientists, researchers and students after hundreds of research grants have been abruptly cancelled

The Trump administration is dismantling the National Science Foundation (NSF), which critics say risks losing a generation of scientific talent and jeopardizes the future of US industries and economic growth.

The NSF, founded in 1950, is the only federal agency that funds fundamental research across all fields of science and engineering. It has contributed to major scientific breakthroughs and innovations.

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© Photograph: Matt Turner/AAP

© Photograph: Matt Turner/AAP

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Women’s Euro 2025: England defiant, Spain v Belgium, Portugal v Italy buildup – live

Over in the men’s game, the top transfer news to come out of the weekend was Arsenal’s £50m signing of Martín Zubimendi from Real Sociedad. Sid Lowe has been on hand to explain what Arsenal fans can expect from the midfielder:

“It feels extremely bad,” groaned the Finland coach, Marko Saloranta, after he thought his team deserved more from their defeat to Norway. Attention for them turns to a date with hosts Switzerland in Geneva on Thursday. Alayah Pilgrim’s late second goal against Iceland turned the goal difference tables in Switzerland’s favour – they only need a draw to progress against Finland.

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© Photograph: Fran Santiago/UEFA/Getty Images

© Photograph: Fran Santiago/UEFA/Getty Images

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Lions name strong team to face Brumbies as preparations ramp up for first Test

  • Majority of leading names selected by Andy Farrell for Canberra game

  • First-choice pairing of Finn Russell and Jamison Gibson-Park reunited

Andy Farrell has picked his strongest British & Irish Lions combination so far for his squad’s penultimate fixture before they take on Australia in Brisbane next week. The majority of the Lions’ leading names have been selected to start against the ACT Brumbies in what is clearly being seen as a dress rehearsal ahead of the first Test.

The first-choice pairing of Finn Russell and Jamison Gibson-Park are reunited at half back inside an all-Irish centre pairing of Bundee Aki and Gary Ringrose, with Scotland’s Blair Kinghorn at full-back and the Anglo-Irish combination of Tommy Freeman and James Lowe on the wings.

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© Photograph: Steve Christo/Sportsfile/Getty Images

© Photograph: Steve Christo/Sportsfile/Getty Images

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Tension and tedium: welcome to the Wimbledon press conference room | Jonathan Liew

Anyone can ask any question of the players, leading to absurd inquiries, but it can sometimes serve a useful purpose

To spend even a little time at Wimbledon is to drown in the sheer scale of things. This is a place of mind-boggling numbers: the 40 miles of racket string, the 55,000 balls, the 300,000 glasses of Pimm’s, the 2.5m strawberries. But Wimbledon’s true staple good is none of these. The most abundant product every Wimbledon fortnight is the word. And even on a rain-affected, slow news day, the words must keep coming.

As with everything else, Wimbledon procures its words with a suitable reverence. Post-match interviews, in contrast to the more informal on-court setup at Melbourne and New York, are conducted at a respectful distance in front of a microphone stand, as if Jannik Sinner were actually a high-school student about to spell a very difficult word. But of course the majority of Wimbledon’s bluff and bluster takes place in a small windowless upstairs chamber that most tennis fans have never even seen.

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© Photograph: Getty Images

© Photograph: Getty Images

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‘It was an earth-shattering reality right away’: director Catherine Hardwicke on life after Twilight

From her groundbreaking debut Thirteen to forthcoming teen drama Street Smart – ‘a homeless Breakfast Club’ – the film-maker explains how she’s made her way in a job still largely made for men

Film-makers have long used their movies as Trojan horses to express their political beliefs and values and Catherine Hardwicke is no different. In her 2003 debut feature, Thirteen, and her 2008 teen vampire hit Twilight, the writer-director bolstered the stories with environmentally and socially conscious messaging to inspire people to “save the planet”. And with her latest film, Street Smart, which she describes as “a kind of homeless The Breakfast Club”, she is still “sneaking in” her “good values”.

Street Smart, now in post-production, is a low-budget ensemble drama, executive-produced by Gerard Butler and partnered with charities Covenant House and Safe Place for Youth, that centres on a group of unhoused teens bonding through music, trauma and humour while fending for themselves on the margins of LA society. It stars Yara Shahidi (Grown-ish), Isabelle Fuhrman (Orphan) and Michael Cimino (Never Have I Ever), as well as a group of unknown actors whom Hardwicke describes as having “big hearts and compassion for others; otherwise, they would be trying to work on a superhero film”.

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© Photograph: Tom Nicholson/Shutterstock for Mediterrane Film Festival

© Photograph: Tom Nicholson/Shutterstock for Mediterrane Film Festival

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US completes deportation of eight men to South Sudan after legal wrangling

Eight were held for weeks at a US military base in Djibouti while their legal challenge played out in court

Eight men deported from the US in May and held under guard for weeks at an American military base in the African nation of Djibouti while their legal challenges played out in court have reached the Trump administration’s intended destination, war-torn South Sudan, a country the state department advises against travel to due to “crime, kidnapping and armed conflict”.

The men from Cuba, Laos, Mexico, Myanmar, Vietnam and South Sudan arrived in South Sudan on Friday after a federal judge cleared the way for the Trump administration to relocate them in a case that had gone to the supreme court, which had permitted their removal from the US. Administration officials said the men had been convicted of violent crimes in the US.

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© Photograph: Alex Brandon/AP

© Photograph: Alex Brandon/AP

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