Accounts for year ending July 2025 show improved salary Richard Masters had earned £1.9m the previous year The latest accounts filed by the Premier League show chief executive Richard Masters received £1m in a performance-related bonus. Accounts by the Premier League for the year ending 31 July 2025 were published on Companies House on Tuesday and revealed Masters’ improved salary. Continue reading...

Powerful property and farming firm Grosvenor Group says knock-on effect of Iran war could arrive next year Fertiliser shortages caused by the Iran war have driven up costs for UK farmers by up to 70% and will have a “dramatic” impact on food prices globally next year, according to one of Britain’s most powerful property and farming companies. Mark Preston, executive trustee of the 349-year-old Grosvenor Group, controlled by the Duke of Westminster, said fertiliser “was already quite expensive” before the 50% to 70% surge in prices since the start of the Iran war in late February. Continue reading...

As Labour faces record-breaking losses in Thursday’s local elections, prime minister says rivals are unfit to lead Labour is braced for record-breaking losses in Thursday’s local elections in England, which could be decisive for Keir Starmer’s future as prime minister. In a message to voters on Thursday, Starmer said Reform’s Nigel Farage and the Greens’ Zack Polanski were “not fit to meet this moment of great global instability” and that only Labour was putting the national interest first. Continue reading...

Some riders hospitalised after Famenne Ardenne Classic Dung may have sprayed on to riders in wet conditions Several cyclists, including riders due to start the Giro d’Italia on Friday, fell ill after a Belgian one-day race, with cow manure on the roads suspected to be the cause. Three Lotto-Intermarché riders suffered from abdominal pain, diarrhoea, fever and vomiting, and were briefly hospitalised, the team said from Bulgaria, where the Giro begins on Friday. Continue reading...

It cannot always be a laugh a minute. Paris Saint-Germain will play Arsenal in the Champions League final and they made sure of that by getting serious, nullifying an off-key Bayern Munich and rarely wobbling after adding to their first-leg lead. Luis Enrique’s team should have won by more in a match that did not, and probably never could, hit the previous week’s heights but their triumph was underpinned by an aptitude for the dirtier work that would serve them well in Budapest. Ousmane Dembélé’s emphatic third-minute finish seemed to have ended this semi-final’s goalfest and the regret for Vincent Kompany will be that Bayern were a yard short of their sharpest all night. It could have been different if one of their openings before the break, Jamal Musiala spurning the best, had gone in but Harry Kane’s added-time goal came far too late. Continue reading...

Arsenal’s 1-1 draw against Brighton hands City title Andrée Jeglertz’s side still have chance of Double Manchester City are WSL champions for the first time in 10 years, after Arsenal’s draw at Brighton. It is not the nicest way to win a league title, but City will not care. Their only previous league title was won in 2016 and they have had six runners-up finishes since, as well as second place in the shortened Spring Series as the competition moved from its previous summer scheduling. Scheduling issues meant Arsenal had three games in hand over the league leaders going into Wednesday’s game in Crawley. However, they needed to win all of those to keep the title race alive, with City on 52 points with one game remaining and Arsenal’s maximum total points tally 53 points. Continue reading...

Lucy Punch is brilliant as this comedy’s delusional, narcississtic lead and Joanna Lumley is magnetic as her mum. It’s not as delectably spiky as Motherland, but the comforting vibes are what make it worth watching If God really does love a trier, he’d absolutely adore Amandaland’s Amanda Hughes. The former owner of west London boutique Hygge Tygge may be in her idea of the gutter – she’s a single mum recently relocated from a spacious house in Chiswick to a Harlesden maisonette (which she has to clean herself) and currently working in sales for a high-street kitchen company – but she’s fixated on those stars. Don’t be fooled by the outrageous laziness and negligence she brings to her actual job; when it comes to her true calling of becoming a successful influencer in order to promote her bland lifestyle brand Senuous, she’s really putting the hours in. In this sense, Amanda slots neatly into a lineage of British comedy icons; file her next to the delusional, narcissistic, indefatigable likes of Alan Partridge and David Brent. Yet Lucy Punch’s character – who initially appeared in the modern-classic sitcom Motherland before landing her own spin-off – gets an easier ride than her peers. At first she was Motherland’s resident antagonist: a smug, slinky blonde securely installed at the top of the school mum food chain who spent her time exploiting her primary acolyte Anne (Philippa Dunne) and patronising permanently harried protagonist Julia (Anna Maxwell Martin). Later, we witnessed her divorce and dysfunctional relationship with her judgmental mother (Joanna Lumley). As the mask fell, her likability ballooned. By the end we were encouraged to think of Amanda as more of a flawed striver than a boo-hiss baddie. Continue reading...

‘I crossed the line’ says 34-year-old Brazil forward Neymar hugs teenage teammate after Santos goal Neymar has publicly apologised to his Santos teammate, Robinho Júnior, for slapping him during a training session, as the pair appeared to put the dispute behind them during a game on Tuesday. Santos said they had opened an investigation earlier in the week following the altercation between Neymar and the 18-year-old son of Robinho, the former Real Madrid and Manchester City striker. Continue reading...

After two years in parliament, Reform UK leader has brought in £2m on top of his Commons salary Nigel Farage’s income since being elected MP has hit £2m, analysis shows “There’s no money in politics,” Nigel Farage complained almost a decade ago, describing himself as “53, separated and skint”. He has since proved himself wrong. After two years in parliament, Farage has brought in £2m, including hospitality, through speeches, presenting, writing news articles, promoting gold bullion – and even recording modestly priced Cameo clips for his fans. It seems that every £70 video counts when it comes to making cash. Continue reading...

Reform UK leader has registered wide range of financial interests on top of his MP’s salary since July 2024 Cameo, speeches, pushing gold bullion: how Farage has made millions since becoming an MP Nigel Farage’s income since he was elected as an MP has now reached £2m on top of his parliamentary salary, analysis of the register of MPs has shown. Farage’s earning power sets him alongside a small number of MPs who have been able to leverage their status for external income alongside their day jobs – drawing comparisons to Boris Johnson, who made about £5m on top of his MP’s salary in the six months after he resigned as prime minister. Continue reading...

Authorities allege that Omer Ziv and an unnamed air force major used classified information to bet on the timing of military operations on Polymarket Since users of the leading prediction market Polymarket have been able to wager on the outcomes of war, fears have been raised that those betting on bombs falling from the sky may be privy to non-public information about military strikes. There has been much reported about suspicions of insider trading on war, but who exactly is believed to be placing these bets has remained unclear. In February, Israeli authorities charged two suspects with committing security offences, bribery and obstruction of justice, alleging they used classified information to bet on the timing of military operations on Polymarket. Continue reading...

Video shows ‘looksmaxxing’ influencer shooting an apparently already dead alligator in the Everglades A controversial social media influencer known as Clavicular is facing charges in connection with a video showing him shooting an apparently already dead alligator in the Everglades, local Florida media has reported. Clavicular, whose real name is Braden Eric Peters and is known for the practice of “looksmaxxing”, faces charges of unlawfully discharging a firearm in a public place or residential property, according to legal files obtained by television station ABC6 in South Florida. Continue reading...

Scientists suggest algae could be embedded within biosensors that glow when toxins detected in the environment The captivating blue glow emitted by a sea-dwelling species of algae has been harnessed by scientists in the US to make light-emitting structures. Pyrocystis lunula is a bioluminescent single-celled organism that sometimes produces brief flashes of blue light. Large clumps of the algae are known to emit sparkling displays in waves breaking against beaches. Continue reading...

In the space of a week the mood has changed, with positive energy replacing suffering, and two trophies are suddenly within reach It was a soundbite designed to go viral, the kind the ex-pros in the TV studios are always looking to confect; snappy, heavy on hyperbole, bang in the moment. Thierry Henry made it pop on Tuesday night as he interviewed Bukayo Saka on CBS Sports after Arsenal had beaten Atlético Madrid to advance to the Champions League final. “We were the Invincibles. You will be the Unforgettables,” Henry said. There it was, as laid out by one of the greats, the goalscoring hero of Arsenal’s unbeaten bolt to the 2004 Premier League title, the last one they won. Continue reading...

Leon Black has denied he ever met or raped ‘Jane Doe’. In an exclusive statement, Doe tells the Guardian ‘I am still here. And I am not done’ Lawyers for Leon Black, the billionaire investor who has been accused in a civil lawsuit of raping a teenage girl inside Jeffrey Epstein’s New York townhouse in 2002, reached out to a powerful federal judge in 2024 to raise doubts about the alleged victim’s claims, a Guardian investigation found. The move set off a months-long court proceeding, which was conducted outside of public view and led US district judge Jed Rakoff to reverse a $2.5m award that had been granted to the alleged victim in a separate Epstein-related class action lawsuit, according to court records. She was later given a much smaller settlement in the class action case. Continue reading...

⚽ Champions League news, 8pm BST kick-off (first leg: 4-5) ⚽ Read today’s Football Daily | And follow us on Bluesky How can you follow the Lord Mayor’s Show? By doing it again a week later, doofus. Sure, Bayern Munich and Paris Saint-Germain may not share another nine goals in Munich, but it’s hard to see tonight’s match being anything other than a belter. PSG, who lead 5-4 after last week’s pinnacle of art and culture, are aiming to reach back-to-back Champions League finals for the first time. Bayern last reached a final in 2019-20, when they beat PSG 1-0 in Lisbon to win the competition for the sixth time. Continue reading...

Local and devolved elections will reveal fragmented party allegiances that cannot be fairly represented in parliament via first past the post Some results in local council and devolved elections this week can be forecast with confidence, but none with precision. Labour will have a torrid time everywhere. Reform UK will do well, continuing the trend of recent years. The Greens will surge in parts of London. Plaid Cymru will enjoy a breakthrough in Wales. Those trends could produce a wide spectrum of outcomes in terms of seats on councils and in the Scottish and Welsh parliaments. Much depends on the way that tight races involving many parties are filtered through different electoral systems. The first-past-the-post model used to elect local authorities in England is ill-suited to multiparty politics. It was already flawed in the era when political competition was defined by the rivalry between Labour and the Conservatives. Smaller parties were locked out. Too many voters felt their ballots counted for nothing in safe seats. 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. Continue reading...

Presenting himself as a serious, sensible ‘grownup’ was essential to Starmer’s rise to power. His premiership has revealed how hollow that message is Some big questions will be asked this weekend – about how Labour fell so far so fast, about when Keir Starmer goes and who takes his place – but at least one big thing will be clear: never entrust your country to people who keep insisting they’re grown up. Think back to 2024 and the birth of Starmer’s government. “The adults are back in the room,” exulted Darren Jones as Labour went marching into Downing Street. Having chopped the party’s largest pledges into little pieces (Goodbye, Green New Deal! Farewell, securonomics!), the single greatest qualification Starmer, Jones and co had for office was not policy, but vibes. After a decade of blue-on-blue fighting and a string of gap-year prime ministers, all the reds had to be was serious, sensible, businesslike. Labour would own the mien of production. Aditya Chakrabortty 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. Continue reading...

Shivon Zilis, an executive at Musk’s brain implant startup Neuralink, served on OpenAI’s board from 2020 to 2023 Shivon Zilis, a Neuralink executive and the mother of four of Elon Musk’s children, took the stand on Wednesday as one of the most highly anticipated witnesses in Musk’s case against OpenAI. The ChatGPT maker has argued that, while Zilis worked with OpenAI between 2016 and 2023, she was also involved in a secret relationship with Musk, acting as an informant for him. Musk’s case against OpenAI alleges that the company’s CEO, Sam Altman, and president, Greg Brockman, co-founders of the company with Musk, broke a founding agreement when they restructured it from a non-profit to a for-profit enterprise. The Tesla CEO accuses Altman and Brockman of unjustly enriching themselves and wants both removed from their positions at the startup, one of the most valuable in the world. He is also seeking the undoing of the for-profit restructuring and $134bn in damages to be redistributed to OpenAI’s non-profit arm. Continue reading...

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Three people have died and several others have been medically evacuated after the outbreak of a deadly hantavirus on a luxury cruise ship. There are still close to 150 passengers onboard MV Hondius, which is travelling towards the Canary Islands where it is set to dock. So how worried should we be about the spread of the virus? Lucy Hough speaks to the Guardian reporter Oliver Holmes Continue reading...

US singer-songwriter talks about huge effort of controlling her behaviour, in interview with Amy Poehler Billie Eilish has said she is “doing everything I can” to suppress her Tourette syndrome. The singer-songwriter, who was 11 when she was diagnosed with TS, told of how frustrating it can be when others do not understand the condition. Continue reading...

If in Argentina squad, Prestianni would miss two games Benfica winger banned for racial abuse of Vinícius Júnior Prestianni has one Argentina cap, from November Sign up for the World Behind The Cup newsletter Fifa confirmed a global ban Wednesday for Gianluca Prestianni that will rule the Benfica winger out of two World Cup games in the United States if he is selected in Argentina’s squad. Uefa imposed a six-game ban – with three games deferred on probation – on Prestianni two weeks ago for his verbal abuse of Real Madrid’s Brazilian forward Vinícius Júnior in the Champions League. Prestianni covered his mouth with his jersey while using the insult. Continue reading...

Suit says director used Q’orianka Kilcher’s features without permission after seeing her in advert for The New World Sign up for the Breaking News US newsletter email James Cameron and the Walt Disney Company are facing a lawsuit that claims the director based a key character in the Avatar franchise on a teenage actor without her permission. The suit, filed by actor Q’orianka Kilcher, alleges that Cameron “extracted her facial features” and “directed his design team” to base the key Avatar character Neytiri on her appearance after seeing her in an LA Times advert for Terrence Malick’s 2005 film The New World. In the film Kilcher, who is Native Peruvian, played Pocahontas among a cast that also included Colin Farrell and Christian Bale. Continue reading...

A follow-up to 2021’s gory big-screen adaptation of the much-played fighting game might finally show us the tournament but it’s all far too unexciting A sequel to 2021’s gory, garish big-screen transfer of Mortal Kombat was an inevitability not just because of how the industry typically works and not just because video game IP is arguably hotter than ever right now but because of something far more crucial. While the film – the second attempt to bring the game to the big screen after a dodgy Christopher Lambert-led 1995 version - was a predictable string of fight scenes pieced together with what could generously be described as a plot, it pulled a major, and to some rather shocking, punch. For all of the fight scenes it did show, it stopped short of showing us those one would naturally expect, denying us an actual Mortal Kombat tournament. It was all laboured scene-setting, one reason why it didn’t connect with many critics and fans, other than it also not being very good, another little problem. The film was part of Warner’s Christopher Nolan-alienating Covid year when its slate was launched on both the big screen and HBO Max simultaneously and while it did so-so theatrical numbers, it was the platform’s most streamed movie of the year, beating out grander titles such as Dune. The sequel is receiving a splashier rollout but its predecessor’s outsized small-screen success wasn’t just a sign of that particular strange time but also where fans might best enjoy these films, on TV late at night, expectations that much lower. Treated like a premium format blockbuster does not do a film like Mortal Kombat II any favours, its junkiness less charming and more distracting, a street fighter suddenly forced to go pay-per-view. While this one might actually be true to its title – there is a Mortal Kombat in Mortal Kombat II - there’s still nowhere near enough here to warrant an Imax screen. Continue reading...