Housing and urban development department alleges fraud in administration’s latest clash with California The Trump administration has suspended federal funding to Los Angeles’s beleaguered homelessness agency. The announcement is the administration’s latest move rescinding funding to California, where Donald Trump has feuded with the state’s Democratic leaders.

“History is about to be made,” the understandably giddy stadium announcer said in the seconds before kick-off and while this was not the perfect start, Canada will not forget Cyle Larin’s equaliser against Bosnia and Herzegovina in a hurry. Trailing to Jovo Lukic’s first international goal, the Southampton striker Larin stepped off the bench and pulled the co-hosts level with his first touch, lashing in 121 seconds after his entrance. A draw in their Group B opener already trumps their last World Cup outing, when they finished pointless in Qatar. Jesse Marsch’s side always looked capable of scoring, though Juventus’s Jonathan David missed a golden opportunity in the first half and a preposterous Sead Kolasinac block that saw the ball cannon on to the crossbar prevented Richie Laryea finding the net in the second. Bosnia, though, were always playing with fire, holding dear Lukic’s first-half header on his first competitive start for his country. It was a goal that tested the foundations of the south stand, where 7,000 temporary seats were erected to increase the stadium’s capacity, many of them occupied by Bosnia’s most ardent supporters.

Steve Clarke’s team start against Haiti in Foxborough with growing optimism of ending their pattern of failure on the biggest stage It is not only ghosts from Costa Rica, Peru, Iran or Zaire that haunt Scotland as they prepare for a long-awaited World Cup return. Instead, there is a broader pattern of failure that Steve Clarke and his class of 2026 need to extricate the nation from. From 23 games on football’s biggest stage, the Scots have won only four times. The expansion of the World Cup should assist them, a team who now and correctly regard merely qualifying for major tournaments as insufficient. Scotland were unbeaten in 1974 yet took an early path home from West Germany. More than 50 years later, a comfortable win over Haiti should be enough to seal progression to the last 32. It is impossible to shake the notion that Scotland’s World Cup fate is dependent on game one in Boston against a side who lack nothing in national cause. Haiti’s pace and physicality will cause some tartan tremors. Nonetheless, taking on the 83rd-ranked team in the world with history-making on the line is an appetising deal.

San Antonio Spurs trail 3-1 in best-of-seven series Team blew 29-point lead to lose Game 4 Victor Wembanyama says the San Antonio Spurs have shaken off the biggest single-game collapse in NBA finals history and are ready to face the New York Knicks on Saturday. The Knicks overcame a 29-point deficit to hand the Spurs a crushing 107-106 victory in Game 4 of the series and can win their first title since 1973 with victory in San Antonio.

Initial public offering for aerospace and AI company made Musk the world’s first trillionaire as share prices jumped Share your views on SpaceX’s stock market debut SpaceX made the biggest stock market debut in history on Friday after nearly two and a half decades as a private company. Public trading began around midday with a starting share price of $150, which quickly jumped by a double digit percentage and sent the company’s valuation above $2tn, where it remained through market close. The company’s initial public offering made the company’s CEO, Elon Musk, the world’s first trillionaire. “It is certainly hard to believe that a little company that started in a warehouse in El Segundo is now going public with the largest IPO ever,” Musk said in an address at SpaceX’s headquarters Friday morning. He reiterated the company’s mission to “make humanity multiplanetary” and “take the fiction out of science fiction”.

Elon Musk has become the world’s first trillionaire thanks to his company SpaceX, which now has the biggest IPO of all time. Public trading in the company has put it's valuation at over $2tn. The eye-watering sums of money pouring into AI are also boosting other tech titans, including OpenAI and Anthropic. Both companies are expected to go public this year with nearly trillion-dollar valuations. The Guardian’s US tech editor Blake Montgomery tells Kai Wright that with these IPOs, all our financial futures are forever tied to AI’s success, and more worryingly, its possible failure Watch on YouTube

Eljay Crisp-Carr was arrested on Thursday, and police are still searching for another suspect in Toledo shooting Police in Ohio have arrested a suspect in a recent shooting that wounded 12 people at a crowded weekend neighborhood street festival. Eljay Crisp-Carr, 20, was taken into custody on Thursday and charged with 11 counts of felonious assault. Court documents do not list an attorney for him, and no one answered a call to a phone number associated with him on Friday morning.

Midland police reported that suspected shooter was dead after two-hour standoff Sign up for the Breaking News US newsletter email A shooting on Friday in Midland, Texas, has killed one person and sent a further nine to the hospital with injuries, according to the city’s authorities. The possible suspect was in a standoff with officers for about two hours but later on Friday afternoon was reported deceased, police and the city’s mayor said.

Four found guilty get tougher conditions as judge says actions were ‘designed to intimidate the UK government and a section of the public’ A judge has imposed lengthy custodial sentences on four Palestine Action activists who smashed up drones and other equipment at an Israeli arms manufacturer’s UK factory after ruling that there was a “terrorist connection” to their offending. Charlotte Head, 30, and Leona Kamio, 30, were each jailed for five years and Fatema Rajwani, 21, was sentenced to four years and 8 months for criminal damage in relation to a 2024 break-in at the Elbit Systems UK site in Gloucestershire. Samuel Corner, 23, who was additionally convicted of grievous bodily harm without intent for striking Sgt Kate Evans with a sledgehammer, was sentenced to seven years and eight months. Each will also spend an additional year on licence and be subject to 15 years of terrorist notification requirements.

The Gossip Girl star can recover legal fees and costs arising from It Ends With Us co-actor’s countersuit Blake Lively can recover some legal costs from fellow actor and director Justin Baldoni but not punitive damages and other relief she sought after settling her legal claims over their 2024 film It Ends With Us, a judge ruled on Friday. Judge Lewis J Liman said in a written ruling that Lively can recover legal fees and costs related to her defense against a countersuit Baldoni brought against her after she sued him in December 2024.

President gave ticket to a young female soccer fan ‘I gave it to someone who couldn’t go, who loves football’ The Mexican president, Claudia Sheinbaum, explained on Friday why she was absent from the Azteca Stadium during Mexico’s opening match with South Africa, saying that tickets to the match were unaffordable for most Mexicans and that she had given her ticket to a young female soccer fan. “Stadium tickets are very expensive,” Sheinbaum said during her daily morning news conference. “As president it’s better that I give my place to someone who couldn’t have gone, who loves football, especially a young woman, and I can celebrate it with the people for free.”

The American author received ‘thousands of rejections’ over two decades before finally hitting gold with her first published novel Just as I am about to interview this year’s Women’s prize winner, debut American novelist Virginia Evans, at the party on a drizzly evening in a leafy London square, we are interrupted because someone wants to congratulate her. The fan is Richard Curtis. A warm-hearted weepy with a sprinkling of gentle humour, Evans’s prize-winning novel The Correspondent is prime Curtis material. In fact, he is too late. “I think he just wants to be my friend,” Evans jokes modestly – Notting Hill is her favourite movie of all time. A film of The Correspondent is already in the pipeline with Jane Fonda playing 73-year-old Sybil Van Antwerp, the crotchety correspondent of the title. Evans will be one of the producers and will have a cameo appearance, “walking a dog or something”.

Patients with vulvovaginal pain spend thousands as delayed diagnosis and insurance gaps inflate costs Any time Jennifer Vargas, a 35-year-old sex educator in Bushwick, attempted sex, she felt stabbing pain in her vagina so severe her body ached for hours. Nothing helped. Tight clothing exacerbated the “intense, grating sensation”. Vargas’s symptoms began after a bacterial vaginosis (BV) infection, but the burning and itching persisted beyond a course of antibiotics. Then, she experienced extreme PMS for two weeks. “I was cycling through symptoms of severe anxiety and depression and low energy,” she said. “I was just like, something’s not right here.”

The violent disturbances occurred in a nationalist area yet played out against a backdrop of union jacks As the racially motivated violence unfolded in Northern Ireland this week, a striking dissonanace could be seenbehind the mobs and flames and smoke. The knife attack that triggered the disturbances occurred in a nationalist area yet the mayhem played out against a backdrop of union jacks and loyalist murals.

Constable Marc Pinizzotto, 43, was killed while executing search warrants related to a shooting at US consulate Authorities in Canada are investigating whether the killing of a Toronto police officer while he was executing search warrants related to a shooting at the city’s US consulate is linked a broader series of global terror attacks. Constable Marc Pinizzotto, 43, a member of the emergency taskforce, was killed on Thursday during a dawn search of an apartment building in the west of the city.

Amid rhetoric, market uncertainty and tit-for-tat exchanges, the two sides are still trying to find a way out of the impasse Great news! Donald Trump has said the US and Iran are on the verge of a peace agreement. Oil prices are down, and the stock market is up. This comes only hours after Trump warned Iran was about to be struck “VERY HARD”, a threat that had sent oil prices up and stocks down. It has been another ride on the Trump rollercoaster, keeping traders on edge, most of the world poorer, and people of the Middle East constantly whiplashing between fear and hope. But whether the ride veers up or down, the management always makes money.

Police call for calm before anti-racist protests in Belfast and Glasgow as MPs warn of failure over online misinformation Police said 19 people, including a 16-year-old boy, had now been arrested after two nights of rioting in Northern Ireland following a knife attack earlier in the week. The violence broke out after far-right activists called for demonstrations in response to the attack, which was captured in a graphic video.

Dylan Phelan, 21, of Leeds, sentenced to more than six years for encouraging the suicide of 21-year-old Travis Dyer A Yorkshire man has been sentenced to more than six years in jail after admitting encouraging a US citizen to kill themselves while on a video call. Dylan Phelan, 21, was sentenced on Friday at Leeds crown court after previously pleading guilty to intentionally doing an act that was capable of encouraging the suicide of another person. In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123. In the US, you can call or text the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988 or chat at 988lifeline.org. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org

Gaudy arena is already built on South Lawn to celebrate US president’s birthday and America’s 250th anniversary A federal judge refused on Friday to stop the White House from staging a UFC show this weekend in an elaborate ring already built on the South Lawn to celebrate the nation’s 250th anniversary – on Donald Trump’s 80th birthday. US district judge Amit Mehta’s ruling allows organizers to use the White House lawn as the venue for Sunday’s planned UFC mixed martial arts event.

The economic principles taught in school aren’t as relevant as hype, connections and total, arbitrary control Share your views on SpaceX’s stock market debut Elon Musk is now the world’s first trillionaire, after his SpaceX exploration and satellite company went public on the Nasdaq on Friday. With shares priced at $135 each, Musk’s aerospace and satellite maker soared to an overall market valuation of approximately $1.77tn – which raised Musk’s net worth (which had already hovered at the astronomical $813bn) into the $1tn stratosphere.

Player had been due to face Panama in Toronto Fifa says decision made by Canadian government Thomas Partey has been denied entry to Canada and will not be available for Ghana’s first World Cup game in Toronto on Wednesday. The former Arsenal midfielder was charged with five counts of rape and one count of sexual assault in July 2025 by the Metropolitan police and pleaded not guilty. Partey, who now plays for the Spanish club Villarreal, was subsequently charged with two new counts of rape in February and also pleaded not guilty.

Measures to include restrictions on ‘safe’ social media apps, with some fearing banning some platforms and not others will lead to legal challenges Teenagers under the age of 16 are to be banned from accessing “high-risk” social media apps while safer platforms will be subjected to restrictions, under a sweeping government crackdown. Under-18s will also be banned from using romantic or sexual AI chatbots after a consultation on keeping children safe online.

Artists and cultural figures celebrate the great Yorkshire painter who could ‘make teabags and toothpaste glamorous’ – with a poem from a fellow Yorkshireman ‘David Hockney caught the look of the modern world’ David Hockney, revolutionary British artist, dies aged 88 My earliest memories of modern artists were of David Hockney, Andy Warhol and Bridget Riley. I remember seeing a TV programme about David in the 1970s as a young kid and thinking “wow, is that what being an artist is like?” Because my mum was an artist but she wasn’t anything like that!

‘Lookback law’ allowed Pamela Lockridge to seek damages against late stepfather who abused her starting at age four A north-west Louisiana jury recently awarded a staggering $1.1bn in damages to a woman who sued over childhood sexual molestation at the hands of her late stepfather in the 1960s and 1970s – a verdict that the plaintiff says “sends a message that children are precious” and “deserve protection”. The outcome in Pamela Elaine Lockridge’s lawsuit caused waves among Louisiana’s legal community, illustrating how much civil juries are willing to award to plaintiffs for cases tried under the state’s so-called “lookback law”.

New batch of government documents takes no position on origin of unidentified aerial phenomena (UAPs) A possible UFO sighting over a busy southern African airport, and yet more mysterious glowing orbs in the sky above the US, feature in the latest batch of previously classified documents released by the Pentagon on Friday in its stated quest for “transparency” amid the irrepressible debate about the chances of extraterrestrial life. In keeping with the first two document drops of government papers last month, Friday’s tranche of more than 50 files contains no proof that the tantalizing videos and written accounts of possible alien encounters are anything other than perception, vivid imagination or conspiracy theories.

Disorder in Belfast, Israeli airstrikes in Gaza, the Ebola outbreak, and the New York Knicks and San Antonio Spurs in the NBA finals – the past seven days as captured by the world’s leading photojournalists

Trump administration created fund to resolve his lawsuit against the IRS over the leak of his tax returns Sign up for the Breaking News US newsletter email A federal judge in Virginia has extended an order blocking the Trump administration’s nearly $1.8bn slush fund, saying the administration’s public statements that the fund was dead were not assuring enough. The US district judge Leonie Brinkema, an appointee of Bill Clinton, said she would lift her order if the acting attorney general, Todd Blanche, and the treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, filed a declaration under penalty of perjury that the fund was not moving forward in the next week.

Dear Frances offers the latest take on ballet flats, offering ‘a glove-like fit wearability’ – which is fine if you have nice feet When is a shoe not a shoe? On sale this month is a pair that seems to pose the question – the no shoe-shoe is the work of the cult brand Dear Frances and the latest in a steady march of shoes that are barely there; a take on naked dressing but for the foot. The Balla shoe, which the brand calls a “sock shoe”, covers almost the entire foot, but also leaves it – encased but on display – in a kind of flimsy foot-cage. According to Jane Frances, the creative director and founder of the brand, it “offers a unique, glove-like fit wearability” and “takes inspiration from the delicate strength of a woman”.

Consumer sentiment still remains at historically low levels amid Iran war and rising inflation, new survey shows Easing gas prices are making Americans feel better about their personal finances and the economy in June, but consumer sentiment remains at historically low levels amid ongoing conflict in the Middle East, according to new survey data from the University of Michigan. The latest numbers come as SpaceX marks its historic stock market debut, which has made Elon Musk the world’s first trillionaire. Yet many Americans still feel like they are struggling even as the stock market reaches record highs.

President is first in US history to be impeached twice, over abuse of power and inciting an insurrection Donald Trump is pressing Congress to erase one of the darkest chapters of his political career, urging Republicans to pass a resolution that would symbolically nullify the two impeachments he suffered during his first term in office. The effort, first reported by the Wall Street Journal and confirmed by a White House official, would allow Trump to claim a symbolic victory on a key grievance from his first term. But experts say it would have little legal significance, since the constitution provides no procedure for undoing an impeachment.

Paris meeting draws up proposals and calls for urgent diplomacy towards two-state solution at summit next week Palestinian and Israeli civil society groups meeting in Paris on Friday have urged G7 leaders to act at their summit in the French spa town of Évian-les-Bains next week to save the narrowing chances of a two-state solution. The groups called for specific action on enforcing a ceasefire, disarming Hamas and starting reconstruction in Gaza, and said the various peace processes including the Board of Peace initiative should be integrated into one programme.

(Geffen) Gossips have rushed to the lyrics for details about her personal life, but the rest of us can just get on with luxuriating in Rodrigo’s funny, Cure-infused craft With a certain crushing inevitability, the arrival of Olivia Rodrigo’s third album has been accompanied by a lot of frenzied decoding of its lyrics for references to Louis Partridge, the British actor whose relationship with the singer ended late last year. One magazine ran a 1,200 word essay, complete with annotations, panning its songs for nuggets of gossip: the fourth piece they’ve published on the subject in recent months. A British broadsheet plumped for a news story about the fact that Rodrigo had apparently changed the lyrics of a track called Purple, formerly a “very sweet and saccharine” love song, to reflect the end of their relationship. Over in New Delhi, The Hindustan Times was pondering rumours that the couple had actually got back together: “Interest in Partridge has grown after Rodrigo released her new album since fans believe the track Stupid Song has references to the singer’s relationship with him.” Well, of course it has: for better or for worse, that kind of speculation seems to have become a major part of modern pop, and Oliva Rodrigo in particular has long been a beneficiary of the clickbait publicity it brings. Her breakthrough single Drivers Licence gained traction thanks to the rumour that its lyrics were about her former boyfriend Joshua Bassett’s dalliance with Sabrina Carpenter; Vampire, the lead single from 2023’s Guts invited yet more speculation about whether its subject was another ex or Taylor Swift. Indeed, she actively seems to encourage it: “I never talk about my personal life in interviews or in any public forum, so I guess the music is where people go to deduce things,” she recently told an interviewer, a line that seems to have a distinct hint of “go ahead, fill your boots” about it.

City has become caught up in the drama as team stands on brink of a first NBA championship in 53 years After the New York Knicks’ furious comeback over the San Antonio Spurs on Wednesday night, the last place anyone in the city wanted to be was at home. Taylor Swift and Larry David were among the celebrities who lingered at Madison Square Garden after the final buzzer sounded on the 107-106 victory as Frank Sinatra’s New York, New York washed over the arena. The former Knick Iman Shumpert, sporting his old No 21 jersey, made a beeline from the arena to Times Square to join the stunned celebration. All over the city, car horns blared, raucous watch parties spilled on to the streets and perfect strangers greeted one another by barking “Go Knicks!”. As they might put it on Broadway: it was just one of those nights.

Pontiff urges leaders to do more to welcome refugees and tells people smugglers to expect ‘divine justice’ Pope Leo has used the final day of his week-long tour of Spain to stress that “all of us are migrants” as he praised the power of integration, adding: “Yesterday’s foreigner may be today’s brother and neighbour.” The pontiff arrived on Friday in Tenerife, the largest and most populous of the Canary Islands. Soon after, he made his way to a reception centre housed in a former military barracks, which has accommodated as many as 4,000 people, to address the hundreds of migrants gathered there.

Exclusive A vast area of the Bellingshausen Sea should be covered by sea ice by now, with one expert calling the loss of ice ‘depressing’ Antarctica’s west coast is missing an area of winter sea ice the size of France, sparking concerns for threatened penguins other marine life and global sea levels. One expert said the loss of ice in the Bellingshausen Sea was “depressing” and the failure of ice to form could have intensified a heatwave over the continent’s peninsular last week that saw daytime temperatures peak at 15.4C which is more than 20C above average.

Late-night hosts discussed Trump’s controversial response to rising inflation and his upcoming UFC birthday party Late-night hosts called out Donald Trump’s lies over a peace deal in Iran and inflation while also expressing embarrassment over his Monster energy drink-sponsored, UFC birthday party.

One man died in Iowa after a tree fell on him as nearly 700 severe weather events were recorded over three days Sign up for the Breaking News US newsletter email An Illinois man whose home was destroyed by a tornado on Thursday was pulled from the rubble by a police officer and a photojournalist, who captured the terrifying storm and subsequent rescue in dramatic video footage. Scott Lasker, who describes himself as a storm chaser, recorded the tornado ripping through the town of Streator and was filming the damage it inflicted when he came across the man trapped in the debris of his house.

Guardian editors are reviewing three clothing subscription services: Rent the Runway, Nuuly, and Armoire, to determine their value. The article also touches on stain removal tips for white clothes and offers a guide to sustainable shopping through their newsletter. This comes amidst the growing trend of clothing rental services, pioneered by Rent the Runway, as an alternative to buying new outfits for frequent special occasions like weddings. Rent the Runway is specifically highlighted as the best option for special events.

José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, already under investigation for alleged influence-peddling, facing questions over items found in office safe The former Spanish prime minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero is being investigated for possible tax fraud and smuggling after police discovered jewellery valued at more than €1.3m (£1.1m) while searching his office safe as part of a separate inquiry. Zapatero, who led two socialist governments between 2004 and 2011, is already under investigation for alleged influence-peddling and other offences relating to the state bailout of the Spanish Plus Ultra airline during the Covid pandemic. He is alleged to have overseen “a hierarchical structure of influence-peddling”, whose purpose was “to obtain economic benefits through intermediation and the exercise of influence before public bodies in favour of third parties, mainly Plus Ultra”.

With more than 177,000 people forcibly disappeared since 2011, short doc Maybe Tomorrow captures ‘the violence of waiting’ experienced by family When Wafa Mustafa was a child, she remembers her father playing the music of Umm Kulthum non-stop at home in Syria, humming along to the legendary Egyptian singer’s melodic tones. One day, in an effort to encourage his daughter to appreciate music, he asked her to take a pen and paper and write the lyrics of a song she loved. Wanting to impress him, Mustafa chose an Umm Kulthum song called “Aghadan Alqak”, which translates to: “Will I meet you tomorrow?” “The lyrics are literally about someone who’s gone, about the waiting for them and the love you have for them,” says Mustafa. “It feels like I knew what was coming … as if I manifested my life since I was very young.”

The confusion over hantavirus and Ebola is a reminder that we must do better at explaining how to respond to an outbreak Two unfolding outbreaks continue to command global attention. As a hantavirus outbreak tied to a cruise ship appears to be petering out, Ebola cases continue to mount in Africa. Alongside them have emerged familiar artifacts of the Covid era, including dashboards, trackers, maps, risk estimates and a polarized mix of alarming and dismissive takes. Once again, we’re able to watch disease spread in almost real time. Yet despite all the information, many people are left asking the same questions: what can I trust? How bad is this, really? What should I do?

Is my metabolism slowing with age? What’s the secret to good skin? And is there anything I can do about my crows feet? Medical, health and diet experts offer a midlife MOT According to the dietician Rick Miller: “By the time a man hits his mid-40s, several physiological changes are already under way. Testosterone drops at around 1-2% annually from the mid-30s, insulin sensitivity decreases and the liver’s capacity to process certain nutrients changes. The diet that kept a man lean and energetic in his 30s simply stops working.”

Despite plunging border crossings, the Trump administration is circumventing laws to expedite building in a vast, pristine wilderness The Trump administration has waived a slew of environmental and historical preservation laws that would allow it to build a towering border wall that cuts through Big Bend national park, a vast protected wilderness in south Texas. Congress poured a whopping $46.5bn for border wall construction into the “Big, Beautiful” bill last year, supercharging Donald Trump’s ambition to wall off the southern border with Mexico. The longest unwalled stretches lie along a roughly 500-mile (800km) section of west Texas that Customs and Border Protection calls the “Big Bend sector”.

The $750,000 relationship horror about a cursed wish is set to outgross a new Star Wars movie, energizing Gen Z audiences and creating a rare cultural conversation This week, the independently produced horror movie Obsession, which cost either $750,000 or $15m depending on whether you count its actual budget or acquisition cost for its studio, officially passed the latest Star Wars movie at the box office (the film has so far made over $165m in the US alone). It’s not a coincidence that this happened on a weekday. Obsession’s box office power lies not just in its astonishing weekend-to-weekend strength (including the virtually unheard-of trajectory of increasing grosses on its second and third weekends) but in its powerhouse weekday grosses. This past week, as it approached the one-month mark in theaters, it was averaging over $4m on its weekdays. At the same point in the run of Avengers: Endgame, that movie – the biggest summer blockbuster of modern times – was pulling in half as much.

SpaceX executives have rung the Nasdaq opening bell after a record-breaking initial public offering which values Elon Musk’s company at $1.77tn in share offering SpaceX to list on US stock market at $1.77tn valuation in largest ever debut SpaceX’s shares will be supported by a number of “forced buyers”, such as tracker funds. Richard Hunter, head of markets at interactive investor, explains: The Nasdaq index has tweaked its rules, which has allowed SpaceX to join the index on a fast-track basis. It remains to be seen whether the company will have a disproportionate effect on the index in terms of weighting, but in any event its inclusion guarantees some additional and significant buying pressure.

Decision to not overturn fallen crypto mogul’s 25-year prison sentence was handed down by three-judge panel Sam Bankman-Fried on Friday lost his bid to overturn his fraud conviction and 25-year prison sentence over the collapse of the FTX cryptocurrency exchange he founded. The decision was handed down by a three-judge panel of the New York-based second US circuit court of appeals.

⚽️ Canada tightens in anticipation | What is enough for US? ⚽️ Player guide | Bracketology | Golden Boot | Mail Martin Five takeaways from the World Cup opener. These come courtesy of Matt Hughes who was in the Azteca (I can’t bring myself to say Mexico City Stadium). How about this: you’re still tucking into your morning cornflakes and there’s already a World Cup daily pod to listen to. Jet-lag isn’t Jonathan Wilson’s friend but an evening in the Azteca lifted spirits, especially Raul Jimenez’s goal. Also, a glimpse behind the scenes at the first few days of Max and Barry living together in the US, insights from Barney Ronay and Jeff Rueter as well as your questions answered.

Law due to expire at midnight tonight following unhappiness over Trump’s pick for intelligence chief A powerful US surveillance law is set to expire – what happens now? Sign up for the Breaking News US email Section 702 of Fisa due to expire tonight - and remain so for at least a week during recess - amid backlash to Trump’s pick Bill Pulte for acting DNI. While Trump has moved to contain the furor – announcing his nomination of another top official, Jay Carney, to take the role on a permanent basis, yesterday – Congress has so far failed to extend the key power in time for tonight’s deadline.

‘Late life’ male celebrities are turning the need for spectacles into a style statement as they refuse to disappear into fashion invisibility A heart-throb for more than 40 years, Brad Pitt is no doubt used to people looking at him. But this week, that gaze was distracted by an addition to his face – aviator-style glasses. Worn to watch the tennis at Roland Garros and with a pink trenchcoat when out for dinner in Paris, these retro glassesare more typically worn by younger men. That’s changed recently – they’re now becoming central to a makeover for men entering their “late life” era, but who aren’t willing to submit to the fashion invisibility associated with ageing.

Liese Spencer and David Shariatmadari discussed the significant reader response to their 100 greatest novels list. A reader, Escoppycoppy, inquired about the exact question posed to contributors, suggesting that "best," "greatest," or "favorite" would yield different results. David explained that contributors were asked for their "top 10 best novels of all time published in English." He noted that responses likely blended critical merit with personal significance, as a purely dispassionate assessment is difficult. Benjamin Myers, for instance, selected novels that advanced the novel form and influenced his own reading and writing. Liese added that many chose books read at impressionable ages, which have a powerful impact. She highlighted a reader's comment about George Orwell's Animal Farm being a life-changing introduction to political ideas during their teenage years. This particular reader credited the book and their English teachers for opening their eyes to injustice and abuse of power. The discussion touched upon the subjective nature of such lists. It also emphasized the profound influence novels can have, especially on younger readers. The editors acknowledged the rich insights revealed through reader comments and individual voter choices.