• Live updates from the third day of play at Old Trafford

• County cricket – live | And mail James with your thoughts

49th over: England 231-2 (Pope 20, Root 17) Bumrah it is after one over of Thakur. Root picks a full ball off his toes for four, he looks in decent nick does Joe. A majestic drive is unfurled later in the over but pings straight to the fielder. Be still my…

48th over: England 227-2 (Pope 20, Root 13) Mohammed Siraj opens up from t’other end and he bustles in to Pope, honing in on pads and stumps. Five dots are stitched together before the last ball of the over scuds through at no more than shin height and nearly scuttles Pope! That did not bounce at all, if that was straight then Pope was a goner and there’s nowt he could do have done about it. Pope wanders down and gets his Monty Don on, trust me, this pitch is going to go more up and down than a hormonal teenager on a paternoster.

In Chris Miller’s new film, a Smurf is told to ‘believe you were born great’. But does this approach distort the socialist roots of Peyo’s blue cosmos?

Smurfs, a new Paramount Pictures CGI-spectacle directed by Chris Miller, has received an all-round critical panning and faltered at the box office. But it does a serviceable job reminding viewers of the utter strangeness of the three-apples-tall characters originally conceived of by Belgian comic artist Pierre “Peyo” Culliford in 1958.

In the film, James Corden voices No Name Smurf, who experiences existential angst because unlike the other inhabitants of Smurf Village – Brainy, Grouchy, Hefty etc – he does not “have his own thing”, a skill or character trait that makes him stand out. This special trait is eventually identified as “magic” and No Name is pressed – by a serenading Rihanna-voiced Smurfette – to realise his inner USP and “don’t let anyone ever say you are not anyone” and accept that “you were born great”.

Supplies of ready-to-use-therapeutic food will be depleted by mid-August if nothing changes, says Unicef

Gaza is on the brink of running out of the specialised therapeutic food needed to save the lives of severely malnourished children, United Nations and humanitarian agencies say.

“We are now facing a dire situation, that we are running out of therapeutic supplies,” Salim Oweis, a spokesperson for Unicef in Amman, Jordan, told Reuters on Thursday, saying supplies of Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF), a crucial treatment, would be depleted by mid-August if nothing changed.

• Friday’s mountain stage changed around Col des Saisies

• Stage-by-stage guide | And mail Luke with your thoughts

We’ve got plenty of time before the stage starts. So let’s discuss one of the key talking points from yesterday. People were piling in on Visma-Lease A Bike’s tactics, but one of the TNT Sports pundits (Rowe or Blythe, I can’t remember who) said there wasn’t much they could have done differently.

It did play into the hands of Pogacar to be reunited with Adam Yates and Jhonatan Narvaez on the final climb. But the flip side of that is, had Visma kept the hammer down completely from the Col de la Madeleine, then Vingegaard and Pogacar may well have been duking it out alone from very early on the final ascent to Courchevel. And there would only be one winner there. Right?

Biodiversity is linked to people’s diversity, and nature lends itself to people who are different, says author Joe Harkness

When Joe Harkness received a message from a friend about macerating moth abdomens to check their genitalia to identify the species, it sparked an idea for a new book about wildlife obsessions. But over time, this developed into a completely different book: a clarion call to embrace neurodiversity in the fight against the extinction crisis.

Across Britain, 15% of people are thought to be neurodivergent. In the process of writing Neurodivergent, By Nature, Harkness discovered that an estimated 30% of conservation employees were neurodivergent. Why?

The Manchester band have coined the ungainly term ‘Britainicana’ for their sound – but their mix of punky vigour and country classicism rattles along at high speed

From Manchester
Recommended if you like Pavement, Ezra Furman, Guided By Voices
Up next Debut EP out 8 August

Westside Cowboy describe their sound as Britainicana. You get what they mean. The winners of this year’s Glastonbury Emerging Talent competition are the product of a burgeoning new Manchester underground scene but started out performing Hank Williams and Bob Dylan covers in drummer Paddy Murphy’s bedroom. While the vocals locate them firmly in the UK, there’s a distinct country/rockabilly undertow to their sound.

In the past, US consumers have resisted their favorite foods changing to natural dyes. Attitudes might shift if Maha converts the entire industry

The Make America Healthy Again (Maha) movement celebrated this month after the US dairy industry voluntarily pledged to remove all artificial dyes from ice-cream by 2028. In April, US health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr prevailed upon the food industry to stop using artificial dyes, and many of the nation’s largest food manufacturers, including Nestle, Kraft Heinz and PepsiCo, have already promised to comply. But the ice-cream pledge made Kennedy especially happy because, he said, ice-cream is his favorite food.

Prepare to say goodbye to the brilliant pink (from red dye No 40) that signifies strawberry, the cool green (yellow 5 and blue 1) of mint chocolate chip, and the heroic combination of red 40, blue 1, and yellow 5 and 6 that makes up Superman.

PayZen’s model relies on buying hospital debt at discount as Republican cuts set to leave millions without insurance

The CEO of the artificial intelligence-backed medical debt purchasing company PayZen believes payment plans can be part of the solution to America’s high-priced healthcare, even as consumer rights advocates warn third-party financial agreements lack transparency.

The company is just one in a sea of healthcare financing companies, whose executives see “acceleration” in conversations with cash-strapped hospitals facing historic Republican-led healthcare cuts.

• ‘The Wallabies are a proper team – they can punish you’

• Lions legend Johnson presents matchday 23 with jerseys

Maro Itoje has urged the British & Irish Lions to beware the wounded Wallabies, insisting they are “not a pub team” before calling on his side to create special memories as they seek to wrap up the series at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Saturday.

The tourists are red-hot favourites to clinch the second Test and thereby earn the Lions’ first back-to-back series win against the same opponents, after Sam Warburton guided them to victory over the Wallabies in 2013.

• Keep up with all the latest football news as it happens

• Euros top scorers | Player guide | And email Emillia

Keira Walsh has said she hopes Spain’s players are able to “just enjoy the game of football” when they face England in the Euro 2025 final on Sunday after their World Cup final victory two years ago was overshadowed by Luis Rubiales’s actions afterwards.

Reflecting on England’s 2023 World Cup final defeat to Spain, Keira Walsh said: “Obviously it was a massive disappointment. From a collective we probably feel like we didn’t have our best performance that day. But as a football player you can become too emotional and if you pull too much on that then you can be too emotional. This is a new game, new team, we know what we bring in this tournament so we’re going to keep doing that and focus on the positives, not try and draw on that too much.

The ‘third’ player in Spain’s midfield is often underrated but has a crucial role in allowing Putellas and Bonmatí to thrive

It’s England v Spain again in a major tournament final and most people know the strength of the world champions’ midfield. We have Alexia Putellas and we have Aitana Bonmatí. Superstars. But what about that third player? Who is she and what does she do?

Well, there is an unwritten rule in Spanish football which says that when Patri Guijarro plays well, so do Spain and Barcelona. Undervalued and indispensable in a midfield triangle with the two Ballon d’Or winners, the Mallorca native has become essential for club and country.

• MLS club expected to make bid for Spurs forward

• Talks with Forest over Gibbs-White at an impasse

Son Heung-min is a target for Los Angeles FC and they have made their interest in him known to Tottenham. The London club have yet to receive any bids for Son but they can expect one from LAFC, which would leave their highest-profile player with a decision to make.

LAFC, who signed Hugo Lloris from Spurs in December 2023, have tracked Son for some time. It is understood there is no interest in him at present from clubs in Saudi Arabia, which has been mooted as a possible destination.

Visa obstacles threaten to dash the hopes of 40 students due to start in September. Here are some of their stories

• Middle East crisis – live updates

Time is running out for 40 students in Gaza who have been awarded full scholarships to study at some of the UK’s leading universities this September, but have been unable to fulfil visa requirements due to the war. Campaigners have called on the British government to intervene to ensure their safe passage. Here are some of the students’ stories.

Civilian casualties on rise as Moscow launches salvoes of hundreds of missiles after ramping up production

• Europe live – latest updates

Night by night, the blitz develops. Russian drones, decoys, cruise and ballistic missiles – increasingly aimed at a single city or location – are being launched in record numbers into Ukraine, straining the country’s ability to defend itself and raising questions about how well it can endure another winter of war.

One day earlier this month, 728 drones and 13 missiles were launched, mostly at the western city of Lutsk, home to many Ukrainian airfields. Large salvoes now come more frequently: every three to five days, rather than every 10 to 12, and civilian casualties are rising: 232 people were killed in June, the highest monthly level for three years.

Manufacturer cuts profit margin range for year as German car exports to US fall sharply

• Business live -latest updates

The German car manufacturer Volkswagen has said Donald Trump’s US import tariffs have cost it more than £1bn in the first half of the year.

Volkswagen said it had made strong progress realigning the company, which is considering cutting 35,000 jobs by 2030, but that it had suffered a €1.3bn (£1.13bn) “decline in operating result primarily due to high costs from increased US import tariffs”.

The author on a brilliant biography of Buster Keaton, coming round to Joseph Conrad, and marathon training with Karl Ove Knausgård

My earliest reading memory
I used to regularly reread my bright green copy of the Guinness Book of Records. I can still clearly picture the woman with the longest fingernails in the world.

My favourite book growing up
I loved the world-building in Michelle Paver’s Wolf Brother series. Its stone age setting was different to anything I knew, but so easy to imagine being a part of.

PM of St Vincent and the Grenadines says ruling will strengthen the Caribbean’s negotiating power when it comes to climate change reparations

Leaders in the Caribbean have hailed the outcome of the international court of justice (ICJ) climate change case as a “historic legal victory” for small island states everywhere.

Several countries in the region had provided evidence to the ICJ case, which ended this week with a landmark advisory opinion that could see states ordered to pay reparations if they fail to tackle fossil fuels and prevent harm to the climate system.

The president’s claims against his predecessor turn long-held ideals of American justice on their head

Almost every American knows that in our legal system, people accused of crimes are presumed innocent. The burden is on the government to overcome that presumption and prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

Those simple but powerful maxims were once a source of national pride. They distinguished the United States from countries where government officials and political leaders branded the opponents guilty before they were charged with a crime or brought to trial.

Austin Sarat, William Nelson Cromwell professor of jurisprudence and political science at Amherst College, is the author or editor of more than 100 books, including Gruesome Spectacles: Botched Executions and America’s Death Penalty

EU leaders should have said what Philippe did months ago. He has highlighted their complicity

Just when it seemed that Europe’s moral failure over Gaza was complete, the head of state of one EU country has stood up with a powerful message of moral clarity. King Philippe of Belgium, whose direct political statements are rare, condemned the grave humanitarian abuses in Gaza as “a disgrace to humanity”.

In a televised address to mark Belgium’s national day on 21 July, Philippe said: “I stand with all those who denounce the grave humanitarian abuses in Gaza, where innocent civilians, trapped in their enclave, are dying of hunger and being killed by bombs.” The monarch said he fully supported the calls of the UN secretary general, António Guterres, to end “this unbearable crisis”. From the royal palace in Brussels, the king added: “The current situation has dragged on for far too long. It is a disgrace to humanity.”

David Van Reybrouck is philosopher laureate for the Netherlands and Flanders. His books include Revolusi: Indonesia and the Birth of the Modern World, and Congo: The Epic History of a People

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.

The BMA says resident doctors have seen their pay fall by a much greater amount in real terms since 2008-09 than the rest of the population

• Patients in England: have you had treatment cancelled or postponed due to the planned resident doctors strike?

The Conservatives have accused Labour of having “opened the door” to fresh resident doctors’ strikes with a “spineless surrender to union demands last year”.

Shadow health secretary Stuart Andrew said: “They handed out inflation-busting pay rises without reform, and now the BMA are back for more.

It is hard to believe that, yet again, we are going into industrial action by our resident (formerly junior) doctors. It has only been a year since the last round of strikes and the length of this one – five days at two weeks’ notice over the summer when people are away – is designed to send a message.

Consultants were, by and large, supportive of the previous rounds of strikes. There is a recognition our residents have it harder than we did. There is more financial hardship than there used to be, their salaries don’t go as far as ours did when we were training, and they have amassed more student debt.

In this month’s limited-time print drop, we’re showcasing work by David Squires, whose cartoons offer a unique take on the world of football – including a brand new coloured cartoon created exclusively for this release. This limited numbered edition is available until 5 August

• Buy your prints here

David Squires is an Australia-based cartoonist and illustrator best known for his weekly football cartoons in The Guardian in the UK and Australia. David has also had four books published and provides regular cartoons for L’Équipe magazine in France and 11Freunde in Germany. David is uncomfortable about referring to himself in the third person, but will make an exception for the purposes of this format.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy says country is trying to find sponsors for air systems and that negotiators discussed him meeting Putin

in Athens

Over in Greece, the culture ministry has announced that it will be extending a ban on opening hours of all archaeological sites, including the Acropolis, in Athens after the weather service predicted that scorching temperatures were unlikely to recede until Monday.

Database of 8m handwritten census entries paints portrait of city that was hub for intellectuals, artists and young, single people

In 1926, James Joyce was working on his novel Finnegans Wake while living in a spacious apartment in the 7th arrondissement of Paris with his partner, Nora Barnacle, and their two adult children, Giorgio and Lucia.

Joyce’s neighbours in the elegant stone building at 2 Square de Robiac included a Syrian family whose three children had an English nanny called Jessie, Russian émigrés, an Egyptian industrialist, and the US writers William and Elizabeth Placida Mahl.

Today’s rumours are Swedish dominoes

If anyone spots Eddie Howe appearing to be rehearsing lines on the steps of St James’ Park over the next few days, there’s an obvious explanation. It was from said vantage point 30 years ago that another Newcastle manager, Kevin Keegan, had to explain to angry and bewildered fans why they had sold Andy Cole to Manchester United. The modern-day version, of course, is Howe having to talk his way out of why the club could be letting Alexander Isak go to Liverpool.

To be honest, it doesn’t seem a very Howe thing to do, although rumours suggest the current Magpies manager wouldn’t be averse. And, if Howe knows his history, he might benefit, just as Liverpool once did, from the Coutinho effect – flogging a player at peak value and rebuilding key parts of the squad with the hefty proceeds.