Supreme court lifts order blocking Trump’s federal layoffs, paving way for mass job cuts – as it happened

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Dan Osborn, the independent candidate who came surprisingly close to defeating Republican senator Deb Fischer in Nebraska last year, announced on Tuesday he will run for the state’s other Senate seat in 2026 against GOP senator Pete Ricketts.

The industrial mechanic and former Kellogg’s strike leader lost to Fischer by less than seven points in 2024 – a remarkable result in deep-red Nebraska. Osborn received 66,000 more votes than Kamala Harris, who lost the state to Donald Trump by 20 points in the presidential race.

MethaneSat down: how New Zealand space ambitions fell off the radar

Satellite built to track emissions fails just as New Zealand scientists about to take control and reap returns of NZ$29m government investment

For scientist Sara Mikaloff-Fletcher, the news that a methane-tracking satellite was lost in space last week left her feeling like the air had been sucked from her lungs.

It happened just days before New Zealand was due to take control of the spacecraft, known as MethaneSat, which was designed to “name and shame” the worst methane polluters in the oil and gas industry.

‘Punishing workers for getting old’: how South Korea’s wage system impoverishes the elderly

As nation moves to raise retirement age, new report warns the real problem isn’t when people retire, but how

Insurance worker G Young Soo started working at his company at 23, and spent more than three decades climbing the ranks to become a branch director. Now approaching his 60th birthday, Young Soo’s employer has systematically stripped away his salary.

As part of South Korea’s “peak wage” system, Young Soo’s wages were cut by 20% when he turned 56, and by a further 10% each year after that. By the time he is forced to retire next year, he will earn just 52% of what he made at 55, despite the same workload and hours.

US supreme court clears way for Trump officials to resume mass government firings

Justices lift lower court order that froze ‘reductions in force’ federal layoffs while litigation in case proceeded

The US supreme court has cleared the way for Donald Trump’s administration to resume plans for mass firings of federal workers that critics warn could threaten critical government services.

Extending a winning streak for the US president, the justices on Tuesday lifted a lower court order that had frozen sweeping federal layoffs known as “reductions in force” while litigation in the case proceeds.

Texas floods: more than 100 people dead and at least 161 still missing

Texas governor Greg Abbott said many people staying in state’s Hill Country still unaccounted for as questions mount over official response to disaster

Rescue crews continued on Tuesday to comb through parts of the Texas Hill Country devastated by catastrophic flash flooding over the Fourth of July weekend, but with more than 100 dead and hope fading for survivors, efforts have increasingly turned to search and recovery.

As of Tuesday afternoon, the death toll across the six affected counties surpassed 100. Most of the deaths were in Kerr county, where officials said 87 bodies had so far been recovered, including 56 adults and 30 children. Identification was pending for 19 adults and seven children with one additional person still unidentified, county sheriff Larry Leitha told a news conference.

João Pedro sends Chelsea to Club World Cup final as stunners sink Fluminense

• Fluminense 0-2 Chelsea (João Pedro 18, 56)

• New signing scores twice against boyhood club

The unique charm of Gianni Infantino’s extended summer of football is clearly not lost on João Pedro. He only flew in from a Brazilian beach last week, does not look any the worse for it and has already paid back a significant chunk of his £60m transfer fee after blasting Chelsea into the final of the Club World Cup with two brutal finishes against his boyhood club.

This was a scintillating way for one of the newest faces in Enzo Maresca’s attack to mark his full debut. Fluminense made João Pedro but the Brazilians were broken by one of their own in the heat of New Jersey and could have no complaints about going out. Chelsea were much the better team during a one-sided semi-final, even if they were complaints about the reversal of a first-half penalty awarded after an inadvertent handball by Trevoh Chalobah, and will probably not be worrying about fatigue affecting their Premier League campaign given that the financial rewards of their time in the US have been accompanied by sporting benefits.

Blackstenius seals Sweden’s knockout place as victory eliminates Poland

This was further evidence that Sweden should be taken seriously. A squad rich in depth and top-level experience are gathering steam and look a nightmarish proposition for whoever is sent their way in the quarter-finals. They will top Group C by avoiding defeat against Germany on Saturday and, with the obvious exception of Spain, have looked at least as convincing as anyone on show so far this summer.

Make no mistake, they will have to pass far tougher tests than the obstacle posed by a limited Poland. The tournament debutants will play for pride in their meeting with Denmark and almost grasped a huge chunk of it here when Milena Kokosz cracked a stupendous strike against the post in added time. In truth, though, Sweden could have doubled their tally at a minimum. They were relentless, thrillingly so at times, and the only concern for Peter Gerhardsson may be that his players were not more clinical.

Israeli defence minister’s Gaza proposal marks escalation from incitement of war crimes to official planning for mass forced displacement

Plans for an internment camp on ruins of Rafah are ‘unviable, impractical and morally depraved’ but should be taken seriously

Defence minister Israel Katz’s plans for an internment camp on the ruins of Rafah mark an escalation beyond incitement to war crimes, already a mainstay of Israel’s political discourse, to operational planning for mass forced displacement.

Israeli lawmakers including cabinet ministers have repeatedly called for the “cleansing” of Gaza, in the wake of Hamas’s cross-border attacks on 7 October, backing the forced deportation of Palestinians to other countries and new Israeli settlements in the territory.

Family of UK couple held in Iran did not know pair’s whereabouts for month

Son of Lindsay Foreman said they had also not known for fortnight if she and husband, Craig, had survived Israeli bombing

The son of a British woman who has been held in Iran since January on espionage charges along with her husband has told the Guardian he lived with the agony of not knowing their whereabouts for a month or in the past fortnight whether they had been killed in the Israeli bombing on Tehran’s Evin prison on 23 June that left more than 70 dead.

Lindsay and Craig Foreman, both 52, were arrested on 3 January in Kervan City in southern Iran while travelling through the country from Armenia to Pakistan on a motorcycle journey to Australia. The Foreign Office were informed they were due to be taken to Tehran on around 8 June, raising fears they may have been caught in the Tehran attack, but on Tuesday they were informed they were still held in Kervan.

‘Representation matters’: Barbie launches first doll with type 1 diabetes

Doll with insulin pump and glucose monitor is latest in range designed ‘to enable more children to see themselves’

In Greta Gerwig’s Barbie movie, Barbieland is a haven of equality and diversity. But although the dolls have been around since 1959, it was only in 2019 that the manufacturer, Mattel, started selling Barbies with physical disabilities.

Mattel has now launched its first Barbie doll with type 1 diabetes, the latest addition to a range it says has been designed “to enable more children to see themselves reflected and encourage doll play that extends beyond a child’s lived experience”.

Canadian police seize largest ever weapons cache in terrorism inquiry

RCMP arrested and charged four people who were trying to form an ‘anti-government militia’ and capture land

Police in Canada have arrested and charged four people, including active military members, who they allege were “planning to create anti-government militia” and to “forcibly take possession of land” in the province of Quebec.

The scope of material uncovered by police, including explosives and assault rifles, marks the largest weapons cache ever seized as part of terrorism investigation.

Watchdog to investigate police shooting of man with chainsaw in Kent

IOPC says officers feared man was also carrying explosive device during incident near Maidstone

An investigation has been launched after police in Kent shot a man wielding a chainsaw who was feared to have an explosive device, leaving him seriously injured.

The shooting happened at about 9pm on Monday close to the Park Gate Inn in Hollingbourne, near Maidstone.

Superman review – is it a bust? Is it a pain? James Gunn’s dim reboot is both

The Man of Steel – played with square-faced soullessness by David Corenswet – has an uninteresting crisis of confidence in Gunn’s cluttered, pointless franchise restarter

Here is a film occupying the heartsinking Venn diagram overlap between franchise exhaustion and AI soullessness: a film fatally unconvinced of the reason for its own existence. We’d all hoped that writer-director James Gunn, who was in charge of Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy movie series, might put some wind back beneath Superman’s wings – or in his cape, or under his boots, or at any rate somewhere near his costumed person. The Man of Steel needed a fresh start after his self-cancelling contest in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice in 2016, and getting muddled together with a lot of other utility superheroes in Justice League a year later – though I will admit to enjoying the pure hubristic craziness of the lengthy Zack Snyder cut of that movie when it saw the light of day.

But this? If it was to be a reboot then really we needed to get back to basics, and be reminded why we liked superheroes in the first place – and I do – and remember why they were exciting and escapist and fun. We needed the clarity and simplicity of something like the origin myth of the infant Superman arriving here from his doomed planet, like Moses, destined to put heart back into an America hit by the Great Depression, hokey though all that may be.

Ed Miliband abandons plan to charge less for electricity in Scotland

Energy minister decides against ‘zonal pricing’ backed by Octopus founder but opposed by many other energy firms

Ed Miliband has abandoned plans to charge southern electricity users more than those in Scotland, after senior officials warned it could put off investors and make it more difficult to build renewables.

Sources have told the Guardian that the government has decided not to proceed with the scheme, known as “zonal pricing”, and that the decision will be announced once it has been signed off by the cabinet.

MPs and peers make awkward small talk during wait for box-office hit Macron

French president fills seats for stylish Royal Gallery speech, after snubbing Farage and meeting the king

It wasn’t quite the Pyramid stage. When the queen, the pope, Nelson Mandela and Barack Obama were invited to address both houses of parliament, they were given Westminster Hall. On the first state visit of any European leader since Brexit, Emmanuel Macron had to make do with the Royal Gallery. The UK has been on quite the journey since Liz Truss was unable to identify the French president as friend or foe.

Still, the Royal Gallery is not a bad second-best. Indeed, if Donald Trump gets a similar invitation – in doubt, as everyone is trying to avoid that possibility by staging his visit in parliamentary recess – he might even prefer it. Enough gold paint and gilt to satisfy any simple narcissist.

Europe should reduce US and China ‘dual dependencies’, Macron warns

French president also spoke of empowered ‘wider Europe’ on first day of state visit to UK

European countries need to reduce their “dual dependencies” on the US and China, Emmanuel Macron has warned, as he sketched out his vision of an empowered “wider Europe” on the first day of a historic state visit.

The French president addressed several hundred MPs and guests at the start of a three-day state trip – the first state visit of a European leader since Brexit.

Carlos Alcaraz swats aside Cameron Norrie to storm into Wimbledon semi-finals

• No 2 seed too good for British hopeful in quarter-final

• Spaniard will next face Fritz after 6-2, 6-3, 6-3 win

Two days after a bruising five-set win against Nicolás Jarry led to his opponent criticising his frequent cheering, Cameron Norrie immediately made it clear that he would remain true to himself even in the face of one of the greatest young talents in his sport’s history. After starting his day against Carlos Alcaraz with a positive service hold, Norrie punctuated that small win with a loud, booming cheer.

Although Norrie was angling for a tight tussle, the stratospheric talent across the net ensured that he did not stand a chance. Alcaraz brushed aside the last British player standing at Wimbledon with the force of his devastating, astonishingly complete game, dismantling Norrie to return to the semi-finals.

Schüller completes Germany comeback after Denmark left dazed by decisions

It wasn’t a particularly pretty victory and it was aided by some questionable refereeing decisions, but Germany made it two from two with a 2-1 win against a tricky Denmark side in what Klara Bühl called “a victory of mentality and passion”.

Having been denied twice – correctly – by VAR in the first half, decisions were more favourable in the second. Amalie Vangsgaard had given Andrée Jeglertz’s Denmark a shock first-half lead, but Germany were awarded a soft penalty, again by VAR, which was converted by Sjoeke Nüsken before Lea Schüller was able to sweep in the winner despite Emma Snerle being on the ground having taken a ball to the face from a teammate’s clearance.

The Guardian view on Israel and Gaza: they make a desert and call it peace | Editorial

The rhetoric of Benjamin Netanyahu’s government tries to blur the slaughter and plans for ethnic cleansing. Words matter

Visiting Washington, Benjamin Netanyahu delighted in telling Donald Trump that he had nominated him for the Nobel peace prize. The Israeli prime minister cited Mr Trump’s efforts to end conflicts in the Middle East. But in truth he is grateful to the US president for joining his war against Iran last month and for allowing carnage in Gaza to continue after a brief pause. He is also eager that the US president does not strong‑arm him into another ceasefire. Perhaps the indirect talks between Hamas and Israel in Qatar will reach a temporary deal again, with hostages released and possibly more aid allowed in. Even so, few expect that a lasting peace would result.

Words matter. They have become so detached from reality when it comes to Israel’s war in Gaza that it is not merely absurd, or despicable, but obscene. The defence minister, Israel Katz, has laid out plans for a “humanitarian city”: this means forcing all Palestinians in Gaza into a camp that the military would bar them from leaving. Prof Amos Goldberg, a historian of the Holocaust, used the accurate words: it would be “a concentration camp or a transit camp for Palestinians before they expel them”. The “emigration plan” which Mr Katz says “will happen”, according to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, is in fact an ethnic cleansing plan. No departure can be considered voluntary when the alternative is starvation or indefinite imprisonment in inhuman conditions.

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The Guardian view on the Post Office scandal: justice delayed, redress demanded and a nation’s shame exposed | Editorial

The public inquiry judge delivered a blistering moral verdict on a public institution that turned on its own people with devastating consequences

It was not a terror attack or an earthquake but something more mundane – a faulty computer system and a rigid bureaucracy – yet it devastated hundreds of ordinary lives. Over two decades, Britain’s Post Office prosecuted its own subpostmasters for crimes they had not committed, based on the say-so of a computer system called Horizon. The software, developed by Fujitsu, and rolled out from the late 1990s onwards, was riddled with faults. But these were not treated as glitches. They were treated as evidence of dishonesty.

The public inquiry into the Post Office IT Horizon scandal, seen as one of the worst miscarriages of justice, began in 2021. In a searing 162-page first volume its chair – the retired judge Sir Wyn Williams – laid bare the human toll, and the often sluggish, inadequate attempts to put things right. Between 1999 and 2015, nearly 1,000 people were prosecuted – and convicted – using data from the flawed Horizon system. Some were jailed. At least 13 may have killed themselves. Many more were ruined – wrongly imprisoned and bankrupted with their health and reputation shredded. The report makes clear: this was not a technical slip. It was a systemic failure that destroyed lives – and one that the Post Office let happen.

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.

Miedema will do ‘everything’ she can to eliminate partner Mead and England

• Lionesses likely to be out of Euro 2025 if they lose

• ‘Tomorrow for once we will not be friends,’ striker says

Vivianne Miedema has insisted she will “not be friends” with her partner Beth Mead on Wednesday as the Netherlands striker vowed to do everything in her power to send her team to the knockout stages of Euro 2025 and eliminate England.

The Manchester City striker has been in a relationship with the Arsenal forward Mead, her former Arsenal teammate, for three years and Miedema was asked about the prospect of them facing each other in the pivotal Group D match. “If it’s not a nice moment for Beth, it’s not a problem for me,” Miedema said. “Tomorrow for once we will not be friends. I will do everything I can to win tomorrow. If I have to do something that is not good for Beth, then I will do it.

Pentagon provided $2.4tn to private arms firms to ‘fund war and weapons’, report finds

Exclusive: Most of defense department’s discretionary spending from 2020 to 2024 went to military contractors

A new study of defense department spending previewed exclusively to the Guardian shows that most of the Pentagon’s discretionary spending from 2020 to 2024 has gone to outside military contractors, providing a $2.4tn boon in public funds to private firms in what was described as a “continuing and massive transfer of wealth from taxpayers to fund war and weapons manufacturing”.

The report from the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft and Costs of War project at Brown University said that the Trump administration’s new Pentagon budget will push annual US military spending past the $1tn mark.

UK threatens sanctions on Iran if it does not end uncertainty on nuclear plan

Foreign secretary, David Lammy, says European nations will act if there is no cooperation with nuclear inspectors

European nations will act to impose “dramatic sanctions” on Iran in the coming weeks if it does not end the uncertainty about its nuclear programme, including by allowing the return of UN inspectors, the UK foreign secretary, David Lammy, has warned.

He also told the Commons that Iran could not assume Israel would not strike its nuclear sites again.

Gregg Wallace fired from MasterChef as 50 people tell BBC of fresh allegations

Sacking comes before publication of report on claims about presenter’s behaviour

Gregg Wallace has been sacked as a MasterChef presenter, before the publication of a long-awaited report on a series of allegations about his behaviour.

It comes as the BBC said it had been approached by more than 50 more people with fresh claims about the presenter after a series of allegations last year. They include allegations, denied by Wallace, of groping one co-worker and having pulled his trousers down in front of a second.

‘Nowhere for them to hide any more’: Zelda Perkins’ fight against NDAs after Harvey Weinstein

After eight-year campaign by Perkins, a former PA for Weinstein, UK ministers have announced plans to stop bosses using NDAs to silence abused workers

Zelda Perkins was 24 when – exhausted, broken and surrounded by lawyers – she finally agreed to sign the non-disclosure agreement (NDA) that would legally gag her from talking about Harvey Weinstein’s sexually predatory and abusive behaviour. The suffocating power of that document haunted her for decades, casting a long shadow over her life and making her ill.

“If I go back to that room, I did not ever imagine that it would be possible to reach any form of justice,” she says. Now, eight years since she first broke her NDA and inadvertently became the world’s leading campaigner against them, Perkins feels justice may finally be within her grasp. On Monday, in a move that surprised even the most committed campaigners, the UK government announced sweeping measures that will prohibit bosses from using NDAs to silence abused employees.

ICC issues warrant for Taliban’s supreme leader for persecution of women

Rights activists hail move to arrest Haibatullah Akhundzada and Afghan chief justice Abdul Hakim Haqqani for crimes against humanity

The international criminal court has issued arrest warrants for two senior Taliban leaders, accusing them of crimes against humanity for the persecution of women and girls.

In a statement, the ICC said on Tuesday there were “reasonable grounds to believe” the Taliban’s supreme leader, Haibatullah Akhundzada, and Afghanistan’s chief justice, Abdul Hakim Haqqani, had ordered policies that deprived women and girls of “education, privacy and family life and the freedoms of movement, expression, thought, conscience and religion”.

Sorry, Baby is a smart film about sexual assault and it’s here at just the right time | Adrian Horton

Eva Victor’s intelligent and subtle debut film tells the story of the aftermath of an assault and as the backlash to #MeToo increases, it serves an important purpose

About 25 minutes into Sorry, Baby, writer-director Eva Victor’s debut feature out this summer, a bad thing happens to Agnes, Victor’s twentysomething academic in a small New England town. The film is forthright and economical with the details; Agnes, an English PhD student, goes to meet her thesis adviser (Louis Cancelmi), with whom she shares a light flirtation and a mutual passion for Virginia Woolf. He shifts the meeting to his house, citing logistics and lavishing praise. Agnes enters at dusk; we linger outside as the shot cuts to dark, signaling hours past. She emerges in silence and hustles to her car, expressionless as she drives away for what feels like an eternity.

Back at home, Agnes sits in the bath and tells her best friend Lydie (an excellent Naomi Ackie) what happened in clipped, detached details. He was insistent. She tried to wriggle free and diffuse tension, he kept pushing. Eventually she froze – “my spine got cold,” she recalls – and she can’t remember the rest. Neither say the word sexual assault or rape, though it’s not for lack of vocabulary or understanding. “Yeah, that’s the thing,” Lydie eventually acknowledges. “I’m so sorry that happened to you.”

Qatar dashes hopes of rapid Gaza ceasefire, saying talks ‘will need time’

Comments suggest obstacle to Trump’s wish to announce deal during Netanyahu’s Washington visit

Progress towards a ceasefire in Gaza has been slow, officials in Qatar say, dashing hopes of a rapid end to hostilities in the devastated Palestinian territory.

The new round of indirect talks between Israel and Hamas began on Sunday, after both sides accepted a broad US-sponsored outline of a deal for an initial 60-day ceasefire that could lead to a permanent end to the 21-month conflict.

AI translation service launched for fiction writers and publishers prompts dismay among translators

UK-based GlobeScribe is charging $100 per book, per language for use of its services, but translators say that nuanced work can only be produced by humans

An AI fiction translation service aimed at both traditional publishers and self-published authors has been launched in the UK. GlobeScribe.ai is currently charging $100 per book, per language for use of its translation services.

“There will always be a place for expert human translation, especially for highly literary or complex texts,” said the founders Fred Freeman and Betsy Reavley, who previously founded Bloodhound Books, which specialises in crime and thrillers. “But GlobeScribe.ai opens the door to new opportunities, making translation a viable option for a much broader range of fiction.”

‘We need to punch holes’: Maro Itoje calls on Lions to take battle to Brumbies

With the Test series looming, Lions captain has urged a strong XV to issue an emphatic statement in Canberra

A verdict has finally been reached in the “mushroom murder” trial that gripped the whole of Australia, but the jury is still out on the touring British & Irish Lions. With the first Test looming next week, now would be a perfect time to issue an emphatic statement and the captain, Maro Itoje, is urging his well-stacked team to do exactly that.

There have been glimpses of some highly effective Lions combinations at various stages on their travels, even in defeat against Argentina back in Dublin when their attacking shape showed initial promise. What has held them back, aside from every Lions squad’s perpetual search for cohesion, has been an occasional tendency to play too laterally rather than going route one and blowing the front door off its hinges.

Aryna Sabalenka survives Siegemund scare to set up semi-final against Anisimova

• No 1 seed loses first set but storms back to beat German

• Anisimova defeats Pavlyuchenkova in straight sets

There was a rare sight on Centre Court as a frustrated Aryna Sabalenka battled her nerves as much as her opponent in her 11th consecutive grand slam quarter-final. The world No 1 had reached the last eight without dropping a set but needed a decider to beat Laura Siegemund 4-6, 6-2, 6-4 and book her spot in the semi-finals where she will face the No 13 seed, Amanda Anisimova.

“After the first set, I was looking at my box like: ‘Guys, book the tickets. We’re about to leave,’” Sabalenka said. “I was struggling because she was playing a really smart game. I made a lot of unforced errors – unnecessary ones.”

Wales players in shock after team bus involved in accident on way to Euro 2025 training

• Training rescheduled but all staff and players unharmed

• ‘We’re shaken,’ says coach Wilkinson, who was not on bus

Wales players were recovering from shock at their hotel in north‑east Switzerland on Tuesday night after their team bus was involved in an accident with a car en route to a planned training session in St Gallen.

An ambulance was called to the scene and took the driver of the other vehicle to hospital after the collision at about 3.30pm local time. Swiss police said the driver was being treated for minor injuries. The Welsh Football Association said everyone on the team bus, including the driver, was unharmed.

Ghislaine Maxwell was not Jeffrey Epstein’s sole enabler. So why is she the only one in prison? | Arwa Mahdawi

This weekend, the Trump administration officially closed the file on the notorious billionaire Epstein. Maga aren’t the only ones who should be outraged

Great news, everyone! We can all stop thinking about Jeffrey Epstein, who was charged with the sex trafficking of minors in 2019 and found dead in his Manhattan jail cell shortly after, apparently of suicide. Great minds have looked into the case and discovered there is nothing more to uncover. So don’t waste your time wondering which powerful people might have been part of Epstein’s alleged trafficking operation. There’s nothing to see here – nothing at all. Case officially closed.

That, in essence, was the message from the Trump administration over the weekend. On Sunday, Axios reported on a memo from Trump’s justice department and the FBI that concluded there is no evidence that Epstein was involved in blackmailing people, kept a “client list” or was murdered. Most importantly, the memo said there is no “evidence that could predicate an investigation against uncharged third parties”.

The Salt Path is a box office hit. Will its takings – and its Oscar hopes – now fall off a cliff?

The film adaptation of Winn’s book, starring Gillian Anderson and Jason Isaacs, quickly became the third most successful UK movie of the year. What happens now?

On paper it has everything. A redemption-arc narrative about overcoming homelessness, adversity and illness. Two late-middle age lead characters that would appeal to the key silver-pound cinema-going demographic, as well as providing plum roles for top-notch British actors. A backdrop of glorious south coast scenery, as experienced through that most modish of contemporary activities: hiking.

No wonder film-makers were champing at the bit to make a movie out of The Salt Path, the memoir by Raynor Winn published in 2018 – and so one duly emerged, starring Gillian Anderson as Winn and Jason Isaacs as her husband Moth, who was diagnosed with the incurable condition corticobasal degeneration (CBD). It was released in the UK in May, and was a verifiable hit, taking home £7.6m from the UK box office and becoming the third most successful British film of 2025 so far, behind Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy and We Live in Time.

What are ingrown toenails, and how can I avoid them?

They can be red, inflamed and prone to infection – but experts say there are effective ways to manage the condition

There’s never a good time to have an ingrown toenail. But navigating spring and summer with one can be particularly difficult, with warmer weather calling for open-toe shoes and more exposure to the elements. Contact with dirt or the ocean can allow bacteria to enter the skin near an ingrown toenail, leading to infection, according to the Cleveland Clinic.

I should know: over the years, I’ve managed recurrent ingrown toenails, which occur when the edge of a nail grows into nearby skin, causing inflammation and pain. Twenty per cent of people who see a doctor for foot problems have the condition, according to the National Institute of Health.

Tour de France: Pogacar takes 100th win in thrilling stage four finish but denied yellow jersey

• Mathieu van der Poel keeps lead on countback

• Man arrested near finish after stabbing attempt

Tadej Pogacar secured his 100th career win on stage four of the Tour de France, after the defending champion narrowly outsprinted the race leader Mathieu van der Poel just before the line in central Rouen.

On the brutal, hilly finishing circuit, Pogacar again asserted himself as the rider to beat in the race this year, piling pressure on rivals Jonas Vingegaard and Remco Evenepoel on the eve of the Tour’s first time trial.

Marseille fire forces hundreds to evacuate, destroys homes and grounds flights

Fire has brought many of the city’s services to a halt, with all flights cancelled at Marseille airport

A fast-moving wildfire on the outskirts of France’s second-largest city, Marseille, has destroyed homes and forced hundreds of people to evacuate, as a heatwave and dangerous fire conditions grip the Mediterranean.

Interior minister Bruno Retailleau said the fire around Marseille could be contained overnight if the gale-force winds fanning the flames weaken, as expected. So far, 400 people had been evacuated, around a dozen houses destroyed and 63 others damaged, he said. He added about 100 people had also suffered light injuries, including from emergency services.

‘I gave Tom Cruise an impromptu organ lesson!’ Anna Lapwood on her classical mashups – and her all-night Prom

She is the hottest property in classical music, a dazzling musician who can play Bach one minute and mix up Robbie Williams the next. Will her epic ‘explosion of energy’ Prom blow the Albert Hall roof off?

At midnight, at least one night a week, Anna Lapwood ascends the stairs to the Royal Albert Hall’s organ loft and climbs on to its bench. Safe in the knowledge that the audience for that evening’s show have all dispersed, she starts playing the venue’s enormous Henry Willis organ, all 10,000 pipes of it. Often, she’s still going at five or six in the morning. “It’s the only downtime you get to practise,” she says.

Occasionally, some celebrity from an aftershow party will be lured by her playing. “It’s how I met Benedict Cumberbatch,” she says with a laugh. “And there was the time I gave Tom Cruise an impromptu organ lesson, after that live orchestral screening of Top Gun: Maverick. And Ludovico Einaudi, who came up and improvised something with me. And the band Wet Leg, who had a go on the organ. Sometimes it’s curious cleaners or security staff who’ll come up and chat and want to have a play. It’s a lovely vibe.”

Is Possession about a harrowing divorce or a woman with an octopus kink? Why not both?

Sam Neill barely made it out alive. Isabelle Adjani was left ‘bruised, inside out’. It might be puzzling, it might be brilliant, and it will never leave you

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Andrzej Żuławski’s Possession is genuinely unhinged and utterly unforgettable. Żuławski called it “a very true-to-life autobiographical story”, which it is: when he made it in 1981, his own marriage had just collapsed, and as portraits of divorce go, Possession is a pretty spectacular one. But Żuławski also once described Possession as a film about a woman who “fucks with an octopus”, which it is too.

A co-production between France and West Germany that was shot in West Berlin by a Polish director, Possession opens as Mark (Sam Neill), a spy, returns home and finds that his wife, Anna (Isabelle Adjani), wants a divorce. She’s having an affair, she reveals, ostensibly with Heinrich (Heinz Bennent) – exactly the kind of lofty weirdo you’d hate your wife to dump you for. Mark reluctantly turns over custody of their young son, Bob, but soon discovers Bob is being left unattended for long periods by Anna, who is increasingly erratic and keeps disappearing. Mark hires a private investigator to find out who she is seeing – or what she is seeing.

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Why is the Earth spinning faster? Is time speeding up? Australia’s experts give us their second opinion

A standard Earth day is 86,400 seconds, but over three days in July and August, scientists expect the planet’s rotation to quicken relative to the sun

Time flies, and three days in July and August could flit by faster than usual this year – but only if your clocks are set to astronomical time.

A standard Earth day is 86,400 seconds. But on 9 July, 22 July and 5 August, scientists expect the planet’s rotation to quicken relative to the sun, truncating the days by a millisecond or more.

Walkouts, feuds and broken friendships: when book clubs go bad

While most book clubs go off without an issue, when they do turn sour the fallout can be significant. So why do some go wrong – and what can be done to prevent it?

“Friendships of over six years were broken overnight,” Rosa* says of the sudden, dramatic dissolution of her book club in Victoria, Australia some months ago. What started as a chance to share notes on the finer points of dramatic literature had become a real-life drama.

The book club had been an important fixture of Rosa’s calendar for several years and, like many others, was hosted on rotation in the homes of different members each month. Although its primary purpose was discussing books, Rosa felt it was equally about socialising, and members were encouraged to dress up in outfits relating to the month’s book, with prizes for the best dressed.

Innocent subpostmasters went to jail, but now it is clear: the Post Office boss class belong there instead | Marina Hyde

You thought it couldn’t get any worse, but the most widespread miscarriage of justice in British legal history just got wider

Millie Castleton was eight when her subpostmaster father was falsely accused of theft by the Post Office. Immediately, her family were branded thieves and liars. She moved school, where she became the target of bullying for her father’s “theft”. The verbal abuse was followed by physical. Racked by stress, meanwhile, Millie’s mother developed epilepsy, and Millie began sleeping with her to be on hand when she suffered seizures. The child became depressed and self-loathing, feeling like “a burden” to her family. She won a place at university but developed anorexia and could not continue.

In her absolute gut-punch of a statement to Sir Wyn Williams’ Post Office Horizon IT inquiry, whose first report volume dropped on Tuesday morning, Millie wrote: “I fought. I tried. I am better for it … That nagging voice in my head still says ugly things sometimes. It still tells me that my past and my family’s struggle will define me, that it will be a branding on my skin forever … I’m 26 and am very conscious that I may never be able to fully commit to natural trust. But my family is still fighting. I’m still fighting, as are many hundreds still involved in the Post Office trial.”

Camp vampires! Frisky throuples! How Stephanie Rothman became queen of the B-movie

The director’s mastery of trashy, low-budget exploitation films like It’s a Bikini World and Group Marriage turned her into a cult icon. Now, aged 88, she’s finding out they’re more relevant than ever

Stephanie Rothman first came across the term “exploitation” in a review of one of her own films. It was 1970, and her second solo-directed feature, The Student Nurses, a small-budget indie about trainees at an inner-city hospital, set against Los Angeles’s bubbling counterculture, was doing well at the US box office. (It eventually made more than $1m from a $150,000 budget.) Rothman was pleased but the review took her aback. It called it an “exploitation film” with “surprising depth”.

Fifty-five years on and Rothman is a cult legend who fully embraces the label. “I started out with a very snobbish attitude,” she says on a video call from California. “I was shocked that’s what I was making! But as time went on, I began to appreciate what I was able to do, which was to take elements of popular entertainment, weave them into a tapestry of more interesting ideas, and end up with something very different. So while I started out as a snob, I have not ended up as one.”

’I’m crying just remembering it!’: readers on Black Sabbath and Ozzy Osbourne’s goodbye gig

On Saturday night the Brummie rockers bade farewell to a stunning career, and Guardian readers were united in awe and respect

• Black Sabbath and Ozzy Osbourne: Back to the Beginning review – all-star farewell to the gods of metal is epic and emotional

I tried to get tickets when they first went on sale, but there were only £500+ options left, which felt too steep. However, the day before the show, I watched an interview with Tony Iommi and just couldn’t bear the thought of not being there for their final goodbye. I’ve seen them a handful of times before, including their one-off show at the O2 Academy, but as a Brummie and a metal fan, it felt like a pilgrimage I just had to take.

Chanel and JW Anderson show their resistance to global luxury downturn

Chanel’s Paris show harked back to brand’s first boutique, while JW Anderson pivots to lifestyle and homewares

There was no designer to take a bow after Chanel in Paris, but the creative director, Matthieu Blazy – whose first show will take place in October – had already been at the sketchbook. “It is not his collection – but it is not happening without him either,” said Bruno Pavlovsky, the president of fashion at Chanel, before the show. “You will see his touch.”

Inside the Grand Palais sat fashion’s favourite popstars, Lorde and Gracie Abrams, alongside the outgoing American Vogue editor Anna Wintour. But instead of Karl Lagerfeld’s elaborate Warholian sets, the show space had been transformed into a salon based on Chanel’s first boutique, with butterscotch carpets and floor-to-ceiling mirrors.

Spanish police believe Diogo Jota was speeding when he and his brother died

• Police say it appears Liverpool player was driving

• Jota and his brother died when Lamborghini crashed

Spanish police suspect Diogo Jota was driving over the speed limit when he and his brother were killed in a car crash last week.

The 28-year-old Liverpool and Portugal forward died with his 25-year-old brother André Silva when the Lamborghini in which they were travelling careered off a road in the province of Zamora last Thursday.

Extroverts and exercise: how personality affects our approach to the gym

A study has found that the reason some people hate working out is less to do with ‘laziness’ and more to do with other qualities altogether

Name: Gym personalities.

Age: Genetically hardwired since ancient times.

Open organisers poised to move tee times amid concerns of loyalist parade disruption

• More than 2,000 participants expected on 19 July march

• ‘We are working on plans,’ says R&A

The R&A is considering a plan to start the third round early at the Open Championship this month, to minimise disruption from a planned loyalist parade in Portrush. More than 60 bands and 2,000 participants are expected to begin their march through the town streets shortly after thousands of spectators would be leaving the sold-out Royal Portrush, if organisers stuck to typical tee times.

The R&A has been concerned for some time about the logistical challenges associated with the simultaneous events on Saturday week. Significant congestion for people leaving the course, or thousands choosing to depart early to avoid this, have been uppermost in the thoughts of the major tournament’s organisers.

Swedish PM’s private address revealed by Strava data shared by bodyguards

Data made public by Ulf Kristersson’s security revealed his location, routes and movements over several years

Secret service bodyguards have been accused of jeopardising the Swedish prime minister’s safety over several years by sharing details of their running and cycling routes on the fitness app Strava.

Ulf Kristersson’s bodyguards appear to have inadvertently revealed his location, routes and movements – including details of hotels and his private addresses – by uploading their workouts to the app, making them publicly available.

Giants, big heads and a dark-pink lake: photos of the day – Tuesday

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

Warning: graphic content

King Lear is a masterpiece – as told by Akira Kurosawa rather than Shakespeare | Michael Billington

The tragedy’s mythic quality appeals to adapters the world over but the Japanese film-maker’s Ran, now rereleased, manages to solve the play’s problems

I have long had mixed feelings about King Lear. I admire its cosmic grandeur and sublime poetry but balk at its structural unwieldiness and dramatic implausibility: like Coleridge, I find the spectacle of Gloucester’s suffering “unendurable” and there is something gratuitously cruel about Edgar’s refusal to reveal his identity to his father. I’ve never regretted omitting it from my book The 101 Greatest Plays yet I still remember a shocked head of the Shakespeare Institute in Stratford greeting me with the words: “I hear you’ve dropped Lear.”

Whatever my personal doubts, the play has a mythic quality that has appealed to dramatists, composers and film-makers including our own Peter Brook, the Russian Grigori Kozintsev and the Japanese Akira Kurosawa whose Ran is enjoying a rerelease to mark its 40th anniversary. Seeing Ran again after all this time was an overwhelming experience. It would be absurd to say it is better than Lear but it addresses many of the problems I have with Shakespeare’s play.

Tiny pet dog credited with helping to save hiker trapped in Swiss glacier

Dog stayed by his master, who was wedged in an 8 metre-deep crevasse, and was spotted by helicopter crew

A small pet dog is being hailed as a “four-legged hero” for helping to save his owner’s life after he fell down an icy crevasse in the Swiss Alps.

The Air Zermatt helicopter company credited the pint-sized pooch with drawing their attention to the location of the hiker, who was extracted and taken to hospital.

Whatever the truth of The Salt Path, I know why people wanted to believe it | Gaby Hinsliff

As questions are asked about the bestselling memoir, is the demand for hope-over-hardship stories outstripping reality?

Was the story always, in hindsight, just a little too good to be true? A middle-aged couple, brutally down on their luck after bankruptcy and a terminal diagnosis, escape their troubles on an epic walk round the South West Coast Path, finding comfort along the way in the kindness of strangers. Billed as an “honest and life-affirming” story of prevailing against the odds, The Salt Path became first a bestseller and then a blockbuster film, starring a windswept Gillian Anderson. Though it was never really my thing, I knew plenty of people for whom The Salt Path genuinely resonated, with its romantic central theme of being (as the film’s director, Marianne Elliott, put it) “reformed by the elements” of a blustery English seascape.

If it seemed a bit unlikely that a dying man could be rejuvenated by a strenuous trek involving wild camping in all weathers – well, getting readers to suspend their disbelief is what good storytellers do, and The Salt Path’s Raynor Winn was definitely good. Arguably, as I said, too good.

Gaby Hinsliff is a Guardian columnist

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.

As the flood risk rises around the world, what can we do to adapt?

Thousands of people are killed each year by floods – and climate breakdown is making them more likely

Deluges of water are washing away people, homes and livelihoods as extreme rains make rivers burst their banks and high seas help send storm tides surging over coastal walls. How dangerous is flooding – and what can we do to keep ourselves safe?

Madrid family win case against tourist flats after ‘illicit and unsanitary’ acts

Court orders closure of 10 rentals that it found had inflicted psychological damage on family living in block

A judge in Madrid has ordered the closure of 10 tourist flats in a single building in the city centre after a landmark ruling that said “the illicit and unsanitary activities” taking place in them had inflicted psychological damage on a neighbouring family and violated their fundamental right to privacy.

The family, who have two children and who have not been named, said they had suffered stress, anxiety and sleep deprivation because of the loud, drunken, destructive and lewd behaviour of guests, which included vandalism, vomiting and having sex in the block’s communal areas.

How to make the best veggie burgers | Kitchen aide

Our culinary experts tackle the three most common veggie burger gripes: that they are too moist, that they have a tendency to break up and that they are boring

• Got a culinary dilemma? Email feast@theguardian.com

My veggie burgers are so often underwhelming, or they simply fall apart. Where am I going wrong?
Beth, Newark
“Veggie burgers are often lacking in everything that’s good about food,” says Melissa Hemsley, author of Real Healthy, and for her, that means texture, flavour and satisfaction. “They also tend not to have those key flavour highs – the fat, the salt – that you’re after from a homemade version.”

For Lukas Volger, author of Veggie Burgers Every Which Way, texture is by far the complaint he hears most often: “The patty is too moist, and glops out of the other side of the bun when you bite into it.” Veggie burgers often behave like this, Volger says, because vegetables contain water, so you’ll either need to cook the veg in advance or add something to the mix to soak it up, whether that’s breadcrumbs or grains. And remember, size isn’t everything: “I used to love the look of a thick, substantial burger,” Volger says, “but I’ve come to realise that they function much better on a bun when they’re thin and seared until crisp on each side in a hot pan, smash burger-style.” (Alternatively, bake in a moderate oven to “help them dry out a little” before grilling.) This will also help if you’ve ever fallen victim to burgers falling through those barbecue grates.

Got a culinary dilemma? Email feast@theguardian.com

Comments on this piece are pre-moderated to ensure discussion remains on topics raised by the writer. Please be aware there may be a short delay in comments appearing on the site.

Germany summons Chinese envoy over laser-targeting of surveillance plane

Berlin says incident risked lives of military personnel protecting Red Sea shipping

The German foreign ministry has summoned the Chinese ambassador in Berlin after a Chinese warship used a laser to target a German aircraft taking part in an EU operation helping to protect shipping in the Red Sea.

“The endangerment of German personnel and disruption of the operation are completely unacceptable,” the ministry said on X.

Moving the Goalposts | How the Netherlands’ Euro 2025 campaign turned into the Andries Jonker show

Coach, who is leaving this summer, reopened an old wound but have fights with the media brought the squad closer together?

It was the tournament where the Netherlands were going to show they could survive the group of death. That they were not too old and that Vivianne Miedema and Daniëlle van de Donk could still shine at the highest level.

Then it all turned into the Andries Jonker show. At the start of the year the coach was told that his contract would not be extended and that he would leave after the European Championship. He was not happy about it. The 62-year-old made it quite clear what he thought about the decision.

Trump criticises Putin and promises to send Ukraine 10 Patriot missiles

US president says ‘a lot of bullshit is thrown at us’ by Putin, as Ukrainian officials say number of missiles is ‘minuscule’

Donald Trump has voiced his frustration with Vladimir Putin and promised to send 10 Patriot missiles to Ukraine, after announcing on Monday that US weapons deliveries would resume days after they were halted by the Pentagon, according to an official familiar with the matter.

Speaking at a cabinet meeting on Tuesday, Trump said he was getting increasingly frustrated with the Russian leader. “We get a lot of bullshit thrown at us by Putin, if you want to know the truth. He’s very nice all the time, but it turns out to be meaningless,” he said.

Studios are rewriting movies steered by Reddit. A dangerous development – or long overdue? | Ben Child

Spider-Man: No Way Home director Jon Watts has revealed that his original plans for the film had to be changed when Redditors predicted a plot point

Once upon a time, film-makers were mysterious sorcerers hunched over Steenbecks and smoke machines, conjuring cinematic magic from the recesses of their cerebellums. These days it seems they spend half their time on Reddit, fighting like gremlins to stay one step ahead of the hive mind.

This week, Spider-Man: No Way Home director Jon Watts revealed that his original plan for the grand entrance of the Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield versions of Spider-Man in the blockbuster Marvel epic was to have them turn up following the death of Aunt May, just as Spidey was at his lowest point. As our hero sheds tears on a grimy New York rooftop, the pair would enter through Doctor Strange portals at the perfect moment to reset the film and set Peter Parker on the path to redemption.

Revenge in the air as Kylian Mbappé and PSG clash in Club World Cup semi-final

Real Madrid forward faces former club on Wednesday amid legal war, after watching PSG grab the glory he left to pursue

This is a tale of blackmail and revenge, or so it goes. Of power and money, lots of money. It is also a story of sport, and that’s the way they want it now. The buildup to Wednesday’s semi-final of the Club World Cup between Paris Saint-Germain and Real Madrid, those two empires and enemies, didn’t begin with a fitness update from Atlanta or Palm Beach; it began on Monday morning New York time with news from Paris that Kylian Mbappé had withdrawn a legal claim accusing his former club of extortion and harassment. Two days before kick-off, it was time for the football.

Well, sort of. “Kylian Mbappé has decided to bring an end to the criminal proceedings initiated last spring against PSG,” a statement from the player’s camp said. “The decision reflects a desire for deescalation, at a time when a new chapter is beginning.” A desire too to concentrate on sport. Definitely nothing to do with their prospects of winning the case, then. Besides, the statement says: “It does not affect the ongoing proceedings before the French labour court which will address the contractual and financial aspects surrounding the end of his time with PSG.”

Watch the Skies review – see the lips move in alien abduction sci-fi with pioneering AI

This nicely put together Swedish UFO throwback is notable for its early use of ‘vlubbing’ – using tech to match lip movements to new English dialogue. What’s coming next?

Here is a derivative but nicely put together sci-fi throwback, in which Inez Dahl Torhaug stars as Denise, a rebellious teenager in foster care whose father went missing in 1988. A dedicated ufologist for whom the truth was very much out there, Denise’s dad was trying to find aliens when he vanished. Alien abduction? Government cover up? Regular old disappeared-guy? When his old car falls from the sky into a local barn eight years later, Denise joins forces with her father’s friends at UFO-Sweden, including the likably nervous Lennart (Jesper Barkselius) plus assorted misfits, to investigate what leads they have, including the potential role of a shady-seeming organisation, the SMHI, AKA The Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute.

You may gather from the names above that this is a Swedish film, and yet the dialogue is entirely in English. What gives? The unexpected twist is that the film is an early example of a technique that you can easily imagine becoming standard practice for streaming platforms hoping to reach multiple territories for minimal cost: AI-assisted dubbing. The original actors have re-recorded their lines and AI tech has been used to edit the visuals so that the lip movements from the original Swedish version match the new English dialogue. The technique is called “vlubbing” (visual + dubbing) and the target audience is seemingly the kind that won’t read subtitles or watch a traditional dub.

How terrorist groups are leveraging AI to recruit and finance their operations

Counter-terrorism agencies are scrambling to maintain an advantage and thwart attacks as access to digital tools eases

Counter-terrorism authorities have, for years, characterized keeping up with terrorist organizations and their use of digital tools and social media apps as a game of Whac-a-Mole.

Jihadist terrorist groups such as Islamic State and its predecessor al-Qaida, or even the neo-Nazi group the Base, have leveraged digital tools to recruit, covertly finance via crypto, download weapons for 3D printing and spread tradecraft to its followers, all while leaving law enforcement and intelligence agencies playing catch up.

‘Could become a death spiral’: scientists discover what’s driving record die-offs of US honeybees

Experts scrambling to understand losses in hives across the country are finally identifying the culprits. And the damage to farmed bees is a sign of trouble for wild bees too

Bret Adee is one of the largest beekeepers in the US, with 2 billion bees across 55,000 hives. The business has been in his family since the 1930s, and sends truckloads of bees across the country from South Dakota, pollinating crops such as almonds, onions, watermelons and cucumbers.

Last December, his bees were wintering in California when the weather turned cold. Bees grouped on top of hives trying to keep warm. “Every time I went out to the beehive there were less and less,” says Adee. “Then a week later, there’d be more dead ones to pick up … every week there is attrition, just continually going down.”

Saudi Arabia executing ‘horrifying’ number of foreigners for drug crimes

Hundreds put to death for non-violent drug offences over past decade, with little scrutiny of Saudis, says Amnesty

Saudi Arabia has carried out a “horrifying” number of executions for drug crimes over the past decade, most of which were of foreign nationals, according to Amnesty International.

Almost 600 people have been executed over the past decade for drug-related offences, Amnesty International has found, three-quarters of whom were foreign nationals from countries including Pakistan, Syria, Yemen, Nigeria and Egypt.

Don’t ‘power pee’ – but do grab a mirror: 13 easy, effective ways to protect your pelvic floor

It can often seem taboo to discuss these muscles, but they are essential to the wellbeing of both men and women. Experts discuss how to prevent and treat any problems

In the UK, a third of women will experience urinary incontinence, and there is a risk for men, too. How can you prevent and treat it? Pelvic floor experts share the best techniques to keep the “forgotten muscle” functioning well.

Macron will enjoy his royal welcome. But the Franco-British relationship remains a love-hate affair | Paul Taylor

The French leader will never agree to special EU concessions for the UK despite its strategic importance to Europe

Britain and France are so close that there’s a saying in Wimereux, a seafront resort on the north French coast, that if you can see England it’s going to rain, and if you can’t, it’s because it’s already raining.

Despite – or perhaps because of – that geographical proximity, Europe’s two nuclear powers have historically been adversaries as often as friends, and frequently a bit of both. While France lacks a feral press to sustain public contempt for the tribal enemy with the unique talent of the British tabloids, that enduring love-hate relationship is the indelible backdrop to this week’s state visit to the UK by President Emmanuel Macron. Even if solidarity and fortitude in the face of Russian aggression and American unreliability is the flavour of the week, the relationship remains an enduring mix of friendship, rivalry, mutual admiration and suspicion.

Paul Taylor is a senior visiting fellow at the European Policy Centre

How to make your old Nintendo Switch games feel new again on Switch 2

Here’s a breakdown of how original Switch titles work on Switch 2, explaining everything from free Switch 2 updates to inbuilt backwards compatibility and the paid Switch 2 Edition upgrades

Outside of the phenomenal Mario Kart World and next week’s Donkey Kong Bananza, there isn’t much new Nintendo software to keep early Switch 2 adopters occupied. Thankfully, Nintendo has seen fit to improve a heap of existing Nintendo Switch games on the shiny new system, both in the form of graphics-boosting free updates and more substantial paid reworks. The different options can be confusing, however, so here’s an explanation of how it all works.

Houseplant clinic: should I be worried by ‘tiny spiders’ on my plants?

Help prevent mite infestations by increasing humidity, isolating plants and using soapy water

What’s the problem?
I’ve noticed tiny webs and bugs on my orchid. Are these spiders, and will they harm my plant?

Diagnosis
Those tiny webs and minuscule bugs you’ve spotted on your plants sound like spider mites. These aren’t spiders but microscopic arachnids that thrive in dry, warm conditions, so you’ll notice they appear during summer heatwaves or winter months when central heating reduces humidity. They feed on plant sap, weakening the plant’s structure, which leads to yellowing leaves, discoloration and eventually leaf drop. They can multiply rapidly, posing a risk to your plant’s long-term health.

Life Cycle of a Moth by Rowe Irvin review – captivating story of maternal love and male violence

A daughter is brought up isolated from the world in this tender debut novel from an exciting talent

In the woodland, beyond the fence, inside the old forester’s hut, Maya and Daughter live in a world of rituals. The fence is secured with “Keep-Safes” – fingernails, Daughter’s first teeth, the umbilical cord that once joined them – to protect them from intruders. While their days are filled with chores, setting traps for rabbits and gathering firewood, every night they play a game they call “This-and-That”, in which they take it in turns to choose an activity – hair-brushing, dancing, copying – before saying their “sorrys and thank yous” in the bed they share.

From the beginning of British author Rowe Irvin’s captivating debut novel, it is clear that Maya has created this life for herself and her daughter – who calls her mother “Myma” – as a refuge from the brutality of the world beyond the fence’s perimeter. Irvin’s tale switches between two narrative strands: present-day chapters narrated by Daughter, a naive, spirited girl who is as much woodland creature as she is person; and more distant sections detailing Maya’s rural upbringing with an alcoholic father and withdrawn mother, and the acts of male violence that led her to flee.

Salvable review – Shia LaBeouf unexpectedly on hand for gritty British boxing drama with melancholy feel

Toby Kebbell is excellent as an ageing fighter (and care-home worker) getting sucked into crime, with a vivid LaBeouf as his childhood friend

Blue-collar chancer gets drawn into criminal underworld; it must be one of the most well-worn plots in cinema, and if debut directors Bjorn Franklin and Johnny Marchetta don’t exactly make it fresh in this character study, then they undeniably lend it a heartfelt vividness. That’s thanks in no small part to lead actor Toby Kebbell, who as ageing boxer and care-home worker Sal holds our attention with a loquacious naivety, despite having been around the block many times. Yakking his way in and out of various marital, family and felonious situations, Sal is a man fundamentally in negotiation with himself.

Living in a trailer, Sal is first and foremost trying to salvage his relationship with his 14-year-old daughter Molly (Kíla Lord Cassidy), irritating his ex-wife Elaine (Elaine Cassidy) in the process. Despite his thickening waist, he’s still a force in the boxing ring; checking on his form one day is his childhood buddy and local gang leader Vince (Shia LaBeouf, with thick Irish brogue and a bleached top that causes one character to complain: “It’s hard to hear myself think over that fucking hairstyle.”) Vince asks Sal to referee the bare-knuckle boxing bouts he’s got going, but his Irish Traveller clientele won’t accept this local legend remaining a bystander.

My boyfriend is almost perfect – but he’s too vanilla in bed

He is kind, caring, romantic and makes sure I always have a healthy packed lunch. So why am I fantasising about sex with more adventurous partners?

I’m a woman in my early 30s, and after dating my male partner for seven months I’ve become frustrated by his vanilla and mundane sexual preferences. This makes me feel bad about myself, because he is perfect in all other ways. Not only are we intellectually compatible and share many interests, but he is also kind, caring and romantic. He makes sure I never leave for work without a healthy packed lunch and is full of fun ideas for our outings. He makes me feel safe and secure. I had an unstable childhood and am not on speaking terms with my father. With my boyfriend, I am able to open up about this.

In the past, I dated difficult and unreliable men with whom I could nonetheless indulge in kinky sex, role-playing and other experimentation – and I always loved that part of the relationship. When I try to initiate this with him, he rejects it; he once said he finds it degrading to women. Sometimes I fantasise about having sex with more adventurous partners, but I can’t stand the thought of losing such a wonderful partner with whom I can build a future.

‘They feel cleansed, they cry … some really don’t like it!’ The 12-hour psychedelic theatre-rave Trance

Inspired by club culture and reincarnation, Tianzhuo Chen and Asian Dope Boys have devised a mesmerising show that unfolds in six two-hour chapters. Prepare to enter hell and then be healed

Naked performers covered in paint roll around atop dirt and foliage. Menacing sculptures hang from the ceiling and walls. The costumes have a beastly quality. At one point, a stream of feathers are strewn across the stage; at another, pink petals float down from above. This is Trance, an immersive psychedelic experience inspired by an eclectic mix of influences from electronic music and rave culture to Buddhism, cartoons and Japanese Butoh dance theatre.

When 39-year-old Chinese artist and director Tianzhuo Chen first had the idea for Trance in 2019, it was to accompany a solo exhibition of his work at M Woods Museum in Beijing. The initial result was a three-day performance with each fraction spanning 12 continuous hours. It has since been whittled down to a single 12-hour-long production. This month, the show is on in London as part of the Southbank Centre’s ESEA Encounters, a series celebrating east and south-east Asian arts and culture.

Wolf Moon by Arifa Akbar review – night terrors

The Guardian theatre critic’s imaginative exploration of life in the shadows

Arifa Akbar, chief theatre critic of this newspaper, is used to working at night: the journey from curtain call to home computer screen, writing into the early hours to make sure a review can appear as soon as possible, is familiar and comfortable – indeed, often actively comforting – to her. But all this exists very close to far more troubling thoughts and feelings. A childhood fear of the dark has persisted into adulthood, and is linked to recurrent bouts of insomnia; her rational awareness of the dangers inherent in being a woman out of doors at night are augmented by a less easily definable anxiety at what the shadows might conceal; and darkness also functions as a painful and complicated metaphor for the frequently impenetrable world of her elderly father, who has frontal lobe dementia and often, the staff at his care home tell her, passes a “difficult” night.

That last is a compact description, a kind of shorthand – easy to understand at surface level, but also vague; the nature of the difficulties, either for Muhammad Akbar or for the care home staff supporting him, is not revealed. His daughter’s book keeps returning to what happens under cover of darkness – what we fail to see, what we misinterpret, and what we allow to go unrecorded. For those who work at night, that will likely entail disturbed sleep patterns that, over time, have severe consequences for physical and mental health. Care workers, nightclub bouncers, transport staff, those in the hospitality industry, sex workers – all find themselves at risk of paying heavy penalties for their nocturnal lives.

Fossils, forests and wild orchids: exploring the white cliffs of Denmark

A short stretch of chalk cliffs on the island of Møn could soon become a world heritage site due to its unique ecology of wild orchids and geology of 30-million-year-old fossils

As we sauntered along sun-splashed woodland paths, our knowledgable guide Michael started to explain the links between the local geology and flora. The unusually luminous light green leaves of the beech trees? “That’s due to the lack of magnesium in the chalky soil.” The 18 species of wild orchid that grow here? “That’s the high calcium content. You see? Everything is connected.”

That’s a phrase my companion and I kept hearing at Møns Klint on the Danish island of Møn. This four-mile (6km) stretch of chalk cliffs and hills topped by a 700-hectare (1,730-acre) forest was fashioned by huge glaciers during the last ice age, creating a unique landscape. In 2026, a Unesco committee will decide whether Møns Klint (“the cliffs of Møn”) should be awarded world heritage site status, safeguarding it for future generations.

Suck it up! The sinister side of holiday snaps – in pictures

Kourtney Roy’s filmic photo series The Tourist exposes the loneliness and desperation behind even the most glamorous looking vacation snapshots

I found out by chance my Citroen DS3 has a ‘stop drive’ recall over airbag

I only bought it three weeks ago and have not received any communication from the company about a repair

I’ve discovered by chance that my Citroën DS3 has been issued with a “stop drive” notice because of a potentially lethal fault with the airbag. I only bought it three weeks ago and have not received any communication from the company.

Citroën’s “customer care” line refused to answer any questions and directed me to the dedicated recall line. Despite multiple attempts I’ve never got through. My local dealer has a three-week waiting time for the free repair and my car is essential for my work. I’m one of the “lucky” ones. There are reports of people unable to arrange a recall repair at all, or having to wait months.

José Pizarro’s recipe for courgette and almond gazpacho

An authentic alternative gazpacho with rustic appeal, a powerful flavour mix – and not a tomato in sight

Gazpacho has been part of Spanish kitchens for centuries. Long before tomatoes arrived from the Americas, it was made with bread, garlic, olive oil and almonds, which have always been part of our food culture. It began as field food, crushed by hand in mortars and eaten by workers under the sun with nothing but stale bread and whatever else they had to hand alongside. No blenders, no chill time, just instinct and hunger. This version, with courgette and basil, goes back to that idea: take what’s around you and make something good out of it. Simple roots, but full of life.

The life swap dream – or a marketing gimmick? The Italian towns selling houses for €1

Frustrated with my life back in the US, I was captivated by the idea of a new home – and new life – for less than the price of an espresso. So I travelled to Italy to find out whether it was too good to be true

If you could move anywhere, where would it be? This used to be a question I’d ask myself or others at dinner parties, but two years ago, as new parents facing the unsustainable costs of Bay Area life and the looming threat of middle-age atrophy, my husband, Ben, and I took to the internet in earnest with the notion of reinventing our lives somewhere new.

We were, of course, part of a widespread trend: seeking adventure and greener pastures elsewhere in the era of globalisation. Even so, the notion felt thrilling. Where would we go? Our search had some parameters: affordability, a natural landscape (I dreamed of cicadas, cypress trees), a place with a language we either already spoke or could learn easily enough so that we could contribute to the community. We’d spent our careers working in schools and nonprofits with young immigrants, and, however different it might look in a new country, we had no intention of leaving a life of service behind. Above all, though, what we wanted was an environment in which we could spend a lot of time writing and afford to do it. But Ben had another non-negotiable of his own: proximity to surfing. This annoyed me, as it significantly limited our search, but I supposed it was reasonable enough to design a dream life according to one’s actual dreams.

S10, Ep1: Joy Crookes, musician

Musician Joy Crookes joins Grace to kick off a brand new season of Comfort Eating. Born and raised in south London, Joy’s rich, punchy and intimate songs means her music is everywhere. With Bangladeshi and Irish heritage, Joy writes music that’s rich in politics, identity and a lot of raw feeling. Her debut album, Skin, was an intimate patchwork of heartbreak, protest and pride, earning her not just accolades and a Brit award nomination, but a passionate and loyal fanbase. A rollercoaster of success was interrupted by her mental health struggles, which led to a hiatus. But she’s back with a new single out now and a big European tour getting underway later this year

New episodes of Comfort Eating with Grace Dent will be released every Tuesday

The fisherman aesthetic: anglercore is everywhere – but does it suit me?

Waders you could wear to a gallery opening, vests cropped weirdly short and laden with pockets. I tried the biggest trend in fashion to find out why so many non-fishers are wearing it

It was, in the end, a fashion trend awaiting better weather. Now that summer is here, the “fisherman aesthetic”, long heralded as one of the key looks for 2025, has finally arrived. Or has it? Standing on the beach at Hastings, with a stiff wind blowing into my face, I am adding one layer of fishing gear on top of another while holding my fisherman’s hat on my head, gently overheating under a hazy sky.

I’m not sure this is what Vogue had in mind when it predicted that “the menswear customer will take to water, embracing the ‘fisherman aesthetic’” earlier this year. I can’t see anyone else on the beach embracing it. Then again, I can’t see anyone else on the beach.

Germany is ‘importing’ antisemitism, our leaders claim. Irony is not their strong point | Mithu Sanyal

Blaming migrants for the rise in anti-Jewish crimes shows a breathtaking lack of self-awareness

It could have been a Mitchell and Webb sketch – a man with a very German accent and a distinguished Nazi grandfather complaining: “These foreigners, coming over here, importing their antisemitism.” Only this was not a comedy. The man was Germany’s chancellor, Friedrich Merz, and he was making his complaint last month in an interview with Fox News in the US, attributing rising antisemitism in Germany to “the big numbers of migrants we have within the last 10 years”. How did Merz manage to miss the joke – apart from by being German of course?

The chancellor is not the only German politician to have made the dubious connection between foreigners and antisemitism. Hubert Aiwanger, the deputy premier of Bavaria, made headlines in 2023 when an antisemitic leaflet he was alleged to have written at school – better known as the Auschwitz pamphlet – came to light. Aiwanger denied writing the leaflet. Then his brother joined the fray, claiming authorship, and hardly anybody mentioned it again. However, it didn’t stop Aiwanger from declaring later that year: “We have imported antisemitism to Germany.”

Mithu Sanyal is an author, academic and broadcaster based in Düsseldorf. Her most recent novel is Identitti

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.

Melting glaciers and ice caps could unleash wave of volcanic eruptions, study says

Research in Chile suggests climate crisis makes eruptions more likely and explosive, and warns of Antarctica risk

The melting of glaciers and ice caps by the climate crisis could unleash a barrage of explosive volcanic eruptions, a study suggests.

The loss of ice releases the pressure on underground magma chambers and makes eruptions more likely. This process has been seen in Iceland, an unusual island that sits on a mid-ocean tectonic plate boundary. But the research in Chile is one of the first studies to show a surge in volcanism on a continent in the past, after the last ice age ended.

FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem denies ‘reign of terror’ claim from rival

• Head of FIA bats away criticism from Tim Mayer

• ‘Whatever I’ve been doing is good for the members’

The FIA president, Mohammed Ben Sulayem, has denied accusations of a “reign of terror” and suggested the governing body’s member clubs are “smiling” about the prospect of him serving another four years.

Ben Sulayem’s controversial first term as head of the FIA will come to an end in December. The 63-year-old has confirmed he will stand for a second term and is poised to face off against Tim Mayer after the American announced his candidacy in the buildup to Sunday’s British Grand Prix.

Billion Dollar Playground review – drop everything! Your hate-watch of the summer is here

From moaning about the truffle to complaining their towels are too smooth, everyone is absolutely awful in this wild reality show about the super-rich and their minions. Prepare to lap it up

Who among us, as the summer months and dreams of sun and cloudless skies begin and the visions of holidays and freedom take on solid form, does not think: where oh where is my hate-watch of the season?

Well, fear not, mes chéris – the wait is over! Billion Dollar Playground has arrived and it is a feast for all. Imagine that The White Lotus’s characters were real, but worse, and that none of them – increasingly unbelievably – ended up murdered. One reprobate complains that the bath towels in their luxury beachfront rental in Sydney are “too smooth”. Another derides the chef for putting smoked salmon in her caviar and asks: “Is that the same truffle as yesterday? Then definitely not.” Mo’ canapes, mo’ problems.

Author of bestselling memoir The Salt Path accused of lying

Raynor Winn is claimed to have taken ‘around £64,000’ from a former employer and lied about being homeless – accusations that Winn calls ‘highly misleading’

It has been one of the films of the summer so far – the tale of Raynor Winn and her husband, Moth, who embark on the 630-mile South West Coast Path walk after their house is repossessed and Moth is diagnosed with a terminal illness.

There has been almost universal praise for the life-affirming story of The Salt Path, which has won rave reviews from critics. Until now.

Schiaparelli has celebrities in its sights with buzzy war-inspired futurism

Brand culls signature corseted silhouettes for shorter bustiers in effort to ‘keep pushing forward’

Schiaparelli is a 98-year-old fashion brand that has somewhat unexpectedly become synonymous with viral internet moments. There has been Kylie Jenner’s hyper-realistic lion headdress, Bella Hadid wearing a gold necklace resembling a pair of lungs and even a robot baby made up of electrical wires and crystals.

On Monday as it opened couture fashion week in Paris, there was speculation that the instigator of its most recent buzz worthy moment – Lauren Sánchez – might be in attendance.

Bee attack leaves dozens of people injured in French town

Three were in critical condition but have since improved after incident in Aurillac, south-central France

An unusual attack by bees in the French town of Aurillac has left 24 people injured, including three who were in critical condition but have since improved, according to local authorities.

Passersby were stung over a period of about 30 minutes on Sunday morning, according to the prefecture of Cantal, in south-central France. Firefighters and medical teams treated the victims, while police set up a security perimeter until the bees stopped their attack.

The thing about ‘ageing gracefully’: whatever you call it, I’ll do it my way

One thing I’ve noticed is that as they grow older, people tend to care less about others’ opinions. Sometimes that’s liberating

I started learning about ageing and ageism – prejudice and discrimination on the basis of age – almost 20 years ago, as I entered my 50s. That’s when it hit me that this getting older thing was actually happening to me. I was soon barraged by advice on how to age well. Many concepts, like “active ageing”, were obvious. (Don’t be a couch potato.) Some, like “successful ageing”, were obnoxious. (In my opinion, if you wake up in the morning, you’re ageing successfully.) One, “ageing gracefully”, was intriguing.

Although I’ve written a whole book about ageism, I wasn’t sure I knew how to go about ageing gracefully. For starters, it didn’t seem as though I qualified. When I was speaking at a conference a few years ago, a woman in the elevator recognized my name from my badge. “Are you the one talking about ageing gracefully?” she asked. “If that’s what you’re looking for, you’ve got the wrong person,” I blurted. My clumsiness, like my bluntness, is legendary.

Australian mushroom murders: Erin Patterson guilty verdict ends weeks of laborious detail and ghoulish fascination

Victorian jury convicts 50-year-old who poisoned her in-laws with death cap mushrooms, killing three

• Full report: Erin Patterson found guilty of murdering relatives

• Five key moments in the murder trial of Australia’s mushroom lunch cook Erin Patterson

Several hours after a person eats death cap mushrooms and becomes violently unwell, there is a period of relief. They feel as if they are improving. They are not.

This pause soon gives way to “a relentlessly progressive and quite frightening rapid deterioration into multiple organ failure”.

Palestinians fear razing of villages in West Bank, as settlers circle their homes

An Israeli directive gives a green light for demolitions in Masafer Yatta, where residents keep watch at night for attackers in the darkness

Ali Awad is tired. The 27-year-old resident of Tuba, one of the dozen or so villages that make up Masafer Yatta in the arid south Hebron hills of the occupied West Bank, had been up all night watching as a masked Israeli settler on horseback circled his family home.

“When we saw the masked settler, we knew he wanted violence,” said Awad, his eyes bloodshot. They were lucky this time: the settler disappeared into the darkness before police could show up.

‘The army were on the streets – and we were bored’: Stiff Little Fingers on making Alternative Ulster

‘There wasn’t time to sit down and discuss politics and the future of the world, or your aims and aspirations. You just did stuff’

I was approached by Gavin Martin, who ran a fanzine called Alternative Ulster. He wanted to put a flexi-disc on the cover and said: “Can we use Suspect Device?” That was going to be Still Little Fingers’ debut single so I told him he couldn’t have that, but I would write him a song.

A ‘floating university’ and a pink mosque: Dhaka builds for a wetter future – in pictures

Across the Bangladeshi megacity, designers are adapting to the climate crisis

‘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.

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.

Oasis fans: share your thoughts on the reunion tour’s opening nights

We would like to hear from Oasis fans about what they thought of the first two nights in Cardiff

This weekend Oasis began their sold-out, 41-date, reunion tour in Cardiff, marking the first time brothers Noel and Liam Gallagher have played together since 2009.

In a five-star review, the Guardian’s Alexis Petridis said it “serves as a reminder of how fantastic purple patch Oasis were”, but what about you? We would like to hear from Oasis fans about what they thought of the first two nights in Cardiff. Did it live up to your expectations?

‘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.”

Young people in the UK: share your experiences of living in a coastal town

We would like to hear from young people aged between 18-25 about their experiences of living in coastal towns around the UK

The Guardian is launching a year-long reporting series, Against The Tide, that will put young people at the forefront. For the past six months we have been travelling to port towns and seaside resorts around England to discover how younger people feel about the places they live and what changes would enable them to build the futures they want. We will continue our reporting over the next 12 months.

Are you aged between 18-25 and live in a coastal town around England? What’s it like living there? What are the bonuses and also the challenges? How do seasons affect your experience? If you’re a parent or work with young people, please get in touch.

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

A 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?”

Every One Still Here by Liadan Ní Chuinn review – an extraordinary debut

This brilliant short-story collection confronts the knotty truths of Northern Ireland’s bloody past

The literature of the Troubles is a rich one, from Seamus Heaney’s North (1975), Jennifer Johnston’s Shadows on Our Skin (1977) and Bernard MacLaverty’s Cal (1983), to Eoin McNamee’s Resurrection Man (1994), Anna Burns’s Booker-winning Milkman (2018), and Louise Kennedy’s Trespasses (2022). The latest addition to the corpus, a slim debut story collection by nonbinary Northern Irish writer Liadan Ní Chuinn, shares the brilliance and burning energy of those other books, but there is a fundamental distinction. Ní Chuinn was born in the year of the Good Friday agreement, the 1998 power-sharing deal that delivered peace and brought an end to the Troubles; why, then, should their writing be so obsessed with them?

“I believe, these things, they’re the making of us,” a character says at one point. He’s talking about a dead friend, but his words might apply to Northern Ireland’s past 50 or so years. Throughout the book the violence of that period is shown to persist, the past proving powerfully, inconveniently alive. Tensions flare between those who attempt to ignore that fact and others who insist on it.