Galaxy Robot Park in South Korea hopes to attract tourists to concerts and fashion shows, but can robots ever replicate K-pop’s connection with fans? Four child-sized humanoid robots take the stage at an arena in eastern Seoul, and as the opening beats of a song by K-pop star G-Dragon begin, they start to dance. Arms swinging, legs stepping in sync, heads bobbing, wigs and baggy clothes swishing, until – mid-performance – one of them seemingly malfunctions and has to be removed from the stage. Continue reading...

(MPL/Capitol) From nostalgic returns to his Liverpool childhood to a crazed Glastonbury fantasia, these are songs written with real purpose and a master’s finesse The rock legend in the autumn of their years who chooses to release a new album is well advised to get themselves an angle. If the music that made you legendary was written and recorded long ago – and is highly unlikely to be displaced in the public’s affections by anything you do now – it’s good to have something that suggests a sense of purpose, beyond just adding to an already vast back catalogue for the sake of it. We’ve recently seen it with Bob Dylan’s Rough and Rowdy Ways, rooted in its jawdropping 17-minute survey of American political history, Murder Most Foul; and with Bruce Springsteen’s Only the Strong Survive, with its canny covers of soul and R&B classics. And an angle is clearly something that has occurred to Paul McCartney, too. From its title referencing a road in the suburb of Liverpool where McCartney spent his early childhood, to the circumstances of its launch – the first single Days We Left Behind was premiered not on YouTube or Spotify but BBC Radio Merseyside – his 27th studio album has been presented as a nostalgic look back at what you might call his pre-Fab years. Continue reading...

Emma Thompson among voices supporting anti-ageism campaign, which has uncovered striking findings in top-grossing UK films over past three years Box office hit films are four times more likely to star a talking animal than a woman over 60, according to a new survey by Age Without Limits. The anti-ageism campaign studied the 100 highest performing films released in the UK in 2023, 2024 and 2025, and found that while five starred an older woman, about 20 featured creatures who chat. Continue reading...

Nearly a third of vice-chancellors would cut hardship support if necessary over next three years, according to poll Vice-chancellors have said they may need to cut hardship support for impoverished students and reduce outreach activities aimed at disadvantaged groups if the dire funding struggles at universities continue. The anonymous poll of leaders by Universities UK (UUK) revealed the extent of the budgetary quagmire facing higher education, with more than two-thirds prepared to cut staff jobs by compulsory redundancy if difficulties continue over the next three years, while nearly 90% said they were looking at hiring freezes or voluntary redundancies. Continue reading...

Definition of green facilities made in 2022, before release of ChatGPT, says Action to Protect Rural Scotland A Scottish government policy designed to encourage datacentres to build in Scotland could lead to a massive volume of carbon emissions being ignored, according to an analysis by a Scottish charity. “Green datacentres” are at the heart of Scotland’s ambitions to develop economically. Enshrined in national policy, they are part of a larger, UK-wide effort to attract big AI investment to Scotland. Continue reading...

Russia suspected of obstructing signal on flight bringing John Healey home from visit to British troops in Estonia An RAF jet carrying the defence secretary, John Healey, had its signal jammed for the entire three-hour flight after it flew near the Russian border. Healey had been visiting British soldiers in Estonia and was travelling back to the UK when the electronic attack happened, the Times reported. Continue reading...

Mercedes teenager claims fourth consecutive victory Lewis Hamilton second; Max Verstappen third Too early to be decisive yet but without doubt George Russell was left cursing his damnable luck as his world championship ambitions took a body blow in Montreal. The British driver was left angry and disconsolate as his Mercedes ground to halt on track at the Canadian Grand Prix and his teammate and title-rival Kimi Antonelli powered to a record-breaking victory Russell must be wondering what he has to do to catch a break in what increasingly looks like a two-way title fight with his Italian teammate. He had claimed victory in the sprint race, then pole and then had an absolutely gripping, toe-to-toe with the 19-year-old for the opening 29 laps on the Île Notre-Dame. Continue reading...

Win against Everton keeps club in Premier League Van de Ven admits situation is still ‘embarrassing’ Roberto De Zerbi said he and Tottenham had suffered until the last second of the Premier League season but described the club’s successful fight against relegation as the highlight of his career. Spurs recorded a 1-0 home win against Everton on a nervy and emotional final day to ensure they finished two points above West Ham, who went down despite beating Leeds 3-0 at the London Stadium. Continue reading...

Juventus and Milan miss out on top four Serie A spots Turin derby at Torino delayed after pre-match clash Antonio Conte announced his departure as Napoli head coach on Sunday after guiding the team to a 1-0 home victory over Udinese in their final match of the Serie A season. The 56-year-old confirmed the decision at a press conference alongside the Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis after the match. Having joined the club in July 2024, he won the league title in his debut campaign as well as this season’s. Conte’s final match was settled by a 23rd-minute goal from striker Rasmus Højlund, securing a second-place finish in the league table for the hosts behind Inter. Continue reading...

This drama based on the ‘Honeytrap Murder’ of 2011 lands somewhere between urgent drama and carefully presented facts. It’s a compassionate, unflinching look at how a young life was wasted Young adulthood can be stifling. Throw in the expectations of a religious community and it can become more claustrophobic still. This breeds secrecy – and Mundill Mahil’s life was full of secrets. There was her relationship with Gagandip Singh. And then there was the boy she called “my gangster friend”, Harinder “Ravi” Shoker. Ravi smoked and drove a car without insurance. For the strait-laced student doctor Mundill, he represented quite a walk on the wild side. The case explored in this gripping factual drama was, in typical tabloid style, branded “the Honeytrap Murder” in 2011. But the reality behind Gagandip Singh’s tragic fate would be much more challenging for a red top writer to turn into a crass headline. As presented here, Gagandip’s killing was less a crime of passion and more a product of confusion. Continue reading...

This television transfer of the hit play has a great cast and impressive footballing scenes. But the manager feels like a cross between Harold Steptoe and Captain Darling from Blackadder Goes Forth At the European Championship in 1996, elegant defender Gareth Southgate volunteered to take a kick in the semi-final penalty shootout against Germany, a task many of his teammates shied away from. He missed. England lost. Dear England, James Graham’s adaptation of his own hit play, picks up the narrative 20 years later. With England further away than ever from international tournament glory after a string of humiliating failures, Southgate (Joseph Fiennes) steps forward again and is surprisingly hired as manager, largely due to a shortage of viable candidates. Continue reading...

Once-proud club has forgotten what it was trying to be after years of mismanagement in a shopping-centre annexe If you’re going to die, die with your boots on. Belatedly and pointlessly on. But on all the same. It felt deeply fitting that West Ham should show some fight on the final day of the Premier League season, but that relegation should still be confirmed by events elsewhere, any pleasure at a 3-0 defeat of Leeds rendered irrelevant by Tottenham’s win at home against Everton, as West Ham’s season flopped like an ailing dog in the mid-summer heat. There was at least some joy at the London Stadium, a reminder that joy is both the only thing that actually matters here, and also the precise polar opposite of the football-club-shaped blob that West Ham’s ownership has created. When Jarrod Bowen scored West Ham’s second goal on 78 minutes, charging past a Leeds defence already ranged about the place on sun loungers flicking through the latest Sally Rooney, there was a brief glimpse of some other West Ham, some other reality, a lost place of greater care and competence, other hands on the wheel. Continue reading...

De Zerbi did the job he was brought in to do – now he has helped Tottenham avoid an unfathomable relegation, his task for next season is not so clear Almost half a century ago, Matthew Engel had a line in this newspaper about Sheffield United going top of the Fourth Division being like hearing a friend had been made head of the prison library: you wanted to congratulate them but really you were wondering what on earth they were doing there in the first place. It was a similar story at Spurs today: for all the understandable glee and relief, even to be in danger of relegation is evidence of things having gone badly wrong. It may be that the future has this as the first day in the new history of Tottenham. Roberto De Zerbi is clearly a manager of great promise – 11 points in seven games may not be earth-shattering, but it is a lot, lot better than what came before – and the injury crisis surely can’t be this bad for a third straight season. Perhaps coming so close to the brink will startle them into decisive action in a way that last season’s fourth-bottom finish, mitigated as it was by the Europa League success, did not. Perhaps there really will come a bracing clarity of vision and they will rise again. The world can change very quickly. It’s only four years ago that Spurs were, for the sixth season in succession, finishing above Arsenal. A season out of Europe, while it will have a negative impact on revenues, can have a remarkable rejuvenating effect. Continue reading...

Lee Zeldin says ‘low-volume release’ of flammable chemicals is most likely amid fears of explosion at Orange county facility near Disneyland Government officials in Orange county, California, have warned that an overheated chemical tank “will fail” and could result in a chemical explosion in the area, the Environmental Protection Agency administrator said on Sunday. “We’re being told that the tank will fail, but there are different scenarios as to what that means,” Lee Zeldin, told CNN’s State of the Union on Sunday. Zeldin, a former Republican congressman with no prior experience in environmental policy, was chosen by Trump as the head of the EPA. Continue reading...

Supporters pay respects to man who took them to ‘a galaxy only a handful of teams in world football experience’ “I’m utterly devastated and have already shed tears,” says Manchester City fan Sophie Hope. There is a feeling of loss around the Etihad Stadium, a bereavement that everyone knew was coming but it does not make it any easier to take. The ownership may disagree but this is the club that Pep Guardiola built over the past 10 years and everyone in attendance against Aston Villa wanted to pay their respects. This has been a glorious epoch for the club, one that has seen complete and utter misery in modern times. Relegation to the third tier at Stoke, being regularly pummelled by Manchester United and York City away are long forgotten. The transformation was under way before Guardiola arrived a decade ago and everything has been geared towards his demands and needs. Ilkay Gündogan, Ederson and Fernandinho were back as City’s greatest hits were played. Continue reading...

Manager signed three-year deal in September ‘Today is not the day to think about that’ Nuno Espírito Santo apologised for West Ham’s relegation from the Premier League and refused to say whether he intends to continue as manager next season. With victory over Leeds on the final day not enough to lift West Ham out of the bottom three at Tottenham’s expense, Nuno was reluctant to discuss whether he will stay. The Portuguese is free to walk away from the three-year deal he signed in September while West Ham are free to part company with him without paying compensation. Continue reading...

World Health Organization says outbreak poses ‘very high’ risk for Congo, but risk of disease spreading globally remains low Congolese authorities say that suspected Ebola cases have now passed 900 in the ongoing outbreak in the east of the country. The Congolese ministry of communication, in a post on X on Sunday, said there were 904 suspected cases and 119 suspected deaths. Continue reading...

️ Lap-by-lap news from Montreal race (9pm BST) ️ Send your thoughts to Alex by email here Hold on, is that the sight of sparks flying in the Mercedes garage? Metaphorically, of course. George Russell and Kimi Antonelli have played the roles “the gent” and “tenacious teen” for the first four races of this F1 season. But with it becoming increasingly clear that it’s likely to be a straight shootout between the teammates for the drivers’ title, we’ve seen the first flash of friction between the pair in Montreal. A clash during the sprint race when Antonelli attempted to overtake Russell left the Italian fuming and Toto Wolff had to intervene, telling him to “stop the radio moaning”. Russell held on for victory, Lando Norris splitting the Mercs, though it’s a Russell-Antonelli front row for today’s race after the Briton pipped his teammate by six-hundredths of a second in qualifying. Continue reading...

Announcement comes after Alan Milburn says Britain has neglected generation of young people struggling to access work and training opportunities Ministers are expanding youth work experience and training schemes, after Alan Milburn warned Britain is spending £25 keeping young people on benefits for every £1 spent helping them into work. Pat McFadden, the work and pensions secretary will announce plans for 300,000 extra work experience placements over the next three years as Labour attempts to tackle what the minister described as a “quiet crisis” in youth employment. Continue reading...

World No 39 beaten 6-0, 7-6 (4) by Solana Sierra Briton Fran Jones wins at a grand slam for first time Twenty minutes into her time at the 2026 French Open, Emma Raducanu already appeared to be on her way out. Trailing 0-4, 30-40 on her serve, the games falling from her at warp speed, this was the moment for Raducanu to fight, to claw her way back into the first set, at least try to keep herself in contention. She responded by shanking a backhand, which flew high into the sky before bouncing far out. This point epitomised a miserable day on court for Emma Raducanu, whose last-ditch fight was not enough to turn the match around as she lost 6-0, 7-6 (4) at Roland Garros, beaten by the unseeded Argentinian, Solana Sierra. Continue reading...

The US has apparently had to agree to unfreeze billions of Iranian assets for a regime more hardline than before the war Middle East crisis: live updates On 24 May each year, Iranians celebrate a historic victory in the war with Iraq: the liberation of Khorramshahr in 1982. This year, some were hoping a peace deal looking likely to be signed with the US might mark a similar turning point in their country’s history. Continue reading...

Actor recounts three alleged approaches by intelligence services, including through senior BBC executive Riz Ahmed, the Oscar-winning actor, has claimed that Britain’s intelligence services tried three times to recruit him, including one occasion involving a senior BBC executive. Ahmed, 43, said: “Well, it’s happened three different times and they’re all slightly ridiculous, and this is what I mean by it, it’s just like inherently comedic. Continue reading...

Education secretary asks UK watchdog to look into nursery practices, including non-refundable deposits Bridget Phillipson, the education secretary, is ordering a competition review of hidden childcare charges amid concerns parents are being hit with extra charges, despite the government’s flagship expansion of funded childcare hours. Phillipson has written to the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) asking it to examine practices including non-refundable deposits, compulsory add-ons and restrictions attached to government-funded childcare places. Continue reading...

Burnley came from behind to make sure the ignominy of finishing bottom of the Premier League went to Wolves as the two relegated sides fought out a 1-1 draw at Turf Moor. This was a battle for pride – plus about £2.6m extra in merit payments – and Rob Edwards’ side took an early lead through Adam Armstrong’s penalty. But interim Burnley coach Mike Jackson saw his team produce a spirited second-half display in which Zian Flemming equalise after the break. Continue reading...

Fulham gave Marco Silva a victory in what could be his final match in charge as Tom Cairney’s second-half wonder goal sealed a win over Newcastle at Craven Cottage. The manager is due to meet with the club hierarchy next week having promised he would make a decision after the season had concluded on whether to extend his five-year stay or to depart. Continue reading...