The Guardian
In evidenza
Frida Slattery As Herself by Ana Kinsella review – will-they-won’t-they in a skilful theatrical romance
‘I’m hoping to meet a river goddess’: a wild journey through Britain’s mythic waterways
Tutte le notizie
TV tonight: the World Cup kicks off with three opening ceremonies
J Balvin and Tyla perform at the first one in Mexico City. Plus: did James Dean create a new model of vulnerable masculinity? Here’s what to watch this evening 6.15pm, ITV1 Is it coming home? At this point, even asking that feels like a jinx. But here we go, with a summer of very inconveniently timed games between a whopping 48 teams. Three ceremonies will kick the tournament off, starting with one in Mexico City Stadium, where J Balvin and Tyla will perform. The Toronto and LA events follow on Friday. Hollie Richardson Continue reading...
How the Belfast stabbing was the spark to a fuse loaded with grievance and provocation
Politicians, social media and far-right agitators convinced people that migrant-targeting violence would solve all their problems Within minutes of the footage going online – of a Black man stabbing a white man – there was a sense of inexorability to what came next in Northern Ireland. The grievances, the social media platforms, the politicians’ doublespeak and the international cheerleaders all provided a fuse. On Monday night came the spark. Continue reading...
David Sullivan is a relic – the day of the celebrity ‘porn baron’ is over. But the vileness he peddled is much worse now | Joan Smith
While he denies wrongdoing, Sullivan traded on the idea of womens’ bodies as consumable objects. His terrible era laid the ground for the 21st-century porn industry There was a time, not so long ago, when female breasts appeared daily in some national newspapers. It was part of a culture that stripped and infantilised women, presenting very young “girls” with a nod and a wink, as though it was all a joke. Feminists who objected were dismissed as killjoys, even though the campaign against what became known as “Page 3” was ultimately successful. This week’s Panorama programme revisited that era, focusing on the alleged activities of one man, David Sullivan, who made a fortune from sex shops and sleazy tabloid newspapers. The allegations against Sullivan, which he angrily denies, are that he “interviewed” young women at his mansion in Essex and demanded sex in return for furthering their careers as “glamour models”. The women’s stories were horrible. Joan Smith is an author, journalist and a former chair of the mayor of London’s violence against women and girls board Continue reading...
Millions of homes in London, Essex and Kent at risk of sinking as climate crisis worsens
Analysis pinpoints areas most vulnerable to hotter, drier weather causing ground to shrink and drag foundations down Millions of homes are at risk from climate-related subsidence, according toan analysis by the British Geological Survey (BGS). As hotter, drier summers driven by global heating become more frequent, the ground under houses can shrink and drag down a property’s foundations. The most vulnerable areas include London, Essex, Kent and a tranche of land from Oxford up to the Wash on England’s east coast, according to scientists, who say mitigation measures will be needed. Continue reading...
Home Office contractor investigates claims of staff racism and hate speech
Whistleblowers from Mitie allege some employees have made offensive remarks or liked abusive social media posts One of the government’s key contractors has launched an investigation into allegations of racism, antisemitism, Islamophobia and hate speech among staff working in immigration removal centres, the Guardian has learned. Whistleblowers from the company, Mitie, have alleged that some staff members working in immigration removal centres and deporting migrants have made offensive comments at work and in social media posts. Continue reading...
Thursday news quiz: A resigning boss, Buffy’s loss and a theatre getting cross
Test yourself on topical news trivia, pop culture and general knowledge every Thursday. How will you fare? The men’s Fifa World Cup starts today, and the challenge before the quiz master is to stay up all night every night watching tons of meaningless group matches between the likes of Syldavia and Borduria to keep up a record of not having missed a single World Cup game since 1978, while also continuing to function as a normal living member of society, rather than as an exhausted zombie. The challenge before you, however, is simple: 15 questions on topical news, general knowledge and popular culture. There are no prizes, but equally you don’t have to stay up for a 3am kick-off. Have fun. Allons-y! Continue reading...
Lightning stops play: how electrical storms could disrupt the World Cup
Under US rules, even a distant strike can suspend a game – and some will take place in Florida, the thunderstorm state Hot weather will be a major concern at the World Cup, but lightning may also prove a particular problem. Under US safety regulations, a strike within 10 miles (16km) of a stadium triggers a 30-minute suspension of the game, during which players must leave the pitch. The size of the safety zone was dictated by research on the distance that lightning can strike from a storm even with no clouds overhead. This is more than a theoretical risk. During a game in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 1998, an entire team was killed by a single bolt of lightning. There have been many other deadly incidents. Continue reading...
Rachel Roddy’s recipe for spaghetti with mussels, parsley and lemon | A kitchen in Rome
Savour the glorious sound of mussels popping open and finish cooking the pasta in the shellfish liquor really to ramp up the flavour If you put your ear close (but not too close) to a covered pan full of mussels, olive oil, garlic and a bit of white wine (not too much) over a lively heat, you will hear the sound – a cross between a crack, or that of a rip and an unzipping – of the mussels opening. To begin with, it’s intermittent, so you lift and look under the lid to reassure yourself that they are indeed starting to open … But there are only a few, so the lid goes back on. You shake the pan until, like popcorn, the mussels are off – crack, rip, unzip – at which point, get the lid off and the mussels out, so you can admire the liquor. Taste to see how salty it is and measure how much you have: you want about 200ml, so take some out, reduce or add water to get the proportions and taste to your liking. Spaghetti (or linguine) with mussels is a recipe that benefits from finishing the cooking of the pasta in the sauce, which is also a great technique to know generally, because it can be applied to countless pasta recipes. The benefits of finishing the cooking in the sauce (or broth) are: deep flavour (because the pasta absorbs and gets completely coated in the sauce), shine and a slightly thickened sauce, thanks to the starch that seeps from the pasta and combines with the fat. Continue reading...
Middle East crisis live: US and Iran trade strikes again, after Trump warns Tehran will ‘pay the price’ for stalled talks
US launches second round of airstrikes on Iran, and Tehran responds by targeting Bahrain, Kuwait and Jordan US strikes Iran for second day, as ceasefire appears close to collapse Kuwait has closed its airspace after Iran announced new attacks on the gulf country, with officials saying some flights were being diverted to alternative airports. Flights had been circling outside Kuwait for some time before the announcement, after it said its air defences were firing at aerial targets. It is Trump that is desperate for them to sign the agreement, as his statements reveal, and Iran that is dragging their feet.” A deal that punts nuclear negotiations to a second phase and requires some sanctions relief is a lousy deal — and still the least bad available alternative.” Continue reading...
Omar Artan scandal reveals Gianni Infantino for what he is: one of sport’s greatest cowards | Jonathan Liew
Fifa president has prostrated the organisation before Donald Trump and lost control of his own tournament as a result Even the Nazis tried to tone things down a bit. Before the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, acutely conscious of how it might be perceived by foreign visitors, the Third Reich tried to soften some of its harder, more intolerant edges. Antisemitic signs and images were removed from shops and other public places. Der Stürmer was removed from newspaper kiosks. Paragraph 175, the country’s strict anti‑homosexuality law, was temporarily suspended. By contrast, the 2026 men’s World Cup is being co-hosted in a country utterly indifferent to what a foreign visitor might think of it. In this respect, the US of Donald Trump is tonally different to any host of a major sporting event that has preceded it: a country that actively wants you to see the darkness in its heart, the inhumanity at its core, that gets off on your revulsion. Continue reading...
‘Audiences no longer laugh if you call their town crap’: can Phil Wang heal divided Britain?
He’s the perfect comedian to cool down these incendiary times. As Philly Philly takes his Uh Oh standup show on tour, he talks about woke traps, lefty blindspots – and gen Z’s lurch to the right Born in Stoke-on-Trent to a British mother and Chinese-Malaysian father then raised in Borneo and educated in Brunei, Bath and Cambridge, Phil Wang – or “Old Wang”, as he refers to himself mock-imperiously on stage – has certainly been around. Today, the 36-year-old standup with the pleasantly befuddled air is in a cafe near his home in London, wearing high-waisted baggy black trousers, a blue shirt, salmon-coloured New Balances and a baseball cap bearing the word “Chump”. Most significantly, he is sporting a moustache. Wang went public with his face furniture two years ago but the upcoming tour of his new show, Uh Oh, will mark the first time he has taken it out on the road. Is the tache here for good? “Well, I’ve got five minutes of standup on it now,” he says over coffee. “Until I come up with a better five minutes, it’s staying.” Continue reading...
Children hit by parents more likely to bully others, research finds
The UCL study also found physically punished children were more likely to struggle in school Children smacked by their parents struggle to get good exam results and are more likely to bully others, causing a negative impact on society, according to new research calling for smacking to be banned. The study by University College London (UCL) found that children in England who were physically punished at the ages of three, five and seven were significantly less likely to pass GCSE exams compared with other children, even after factors such as family background were taken into account. Continue reading...
Tortured, humiliated and killed: the women who disappear into Myanmar’s prisons
The military junta has detained thousands of political prisoners since the 2021 coup, and a pattern of gender-based abuses is becoming clear In August 2021, news spread across a Myanmar protesters’ network that Thazin*, an activist and former university student, had been killed. The protest she attended that summer in Mandalay had been broken up by soldiers shooting and driving cars into the crowds. Most of the demonstrators were able to jump on to their motorcycles and flee. Thazin was not among them, and word spread that a young woman had been seen shot dead. Continue reading...
Young, ambitious and out of work: ‘I’ve gone from Oxford to zero jobs. It’s a bit of a fall’
About 1 million 16- to 24-year-olds are not in employment, education or training – and the obstacles they face are bigger than ever. Those unemployed for a year or more explain how they are coping Thomas doesn’t leave the house much. Apart from walking his dog, the only other excursion the 24-year-old regularly makes is a “humiliating” weekly trip to Iceland, where he stocks up on seven £1 frozen meals, usually an assortment of bland curries with the occasional garishly sweet, takeaway-style Chinese meal. “You’re going in and buying seven and the cashier is 100% thinking: oh, that’s one a day,” he says. Half the time, he doesn’t bother eating them. “You just sit there and go: I don’t want it again. I’ve had it for two days on the trot.” Continue reading...
‘Highway of death’: the Ukrainian drone campaign menacing Russian logistics
Remote aircraft targeting supply traffic on route connecting occupied regions to Russia Russian forces call it the “Novorossiya” route, the crucial main supply line that snakes through the Ukrainian territories under Moscow’s occupation, linking Rostov-on-Don in Russia to Melitopol, Mariupol and Crimea via the Sea of Azov coastline. In recent months, however, Ukrainian forces have given the R-280 a new name – “the highway of death” – in reference to the Ukrainian drones that dominate the airspace above the road, hunting down convoys of Russian military traffic. Continue reading...
Claudia Sheinbaum: the wildly popular Mexican president dealing with drug violence, disappearances and Donald Trump
She started as an activist. Now she is Mexico’s president. Has she stayed true to her ideals? The president’s dressmaker works at home, down a narrow road in a working-class neighbourhood on the southernmost edge of Mexico City. There is no sign, just the house number marked in chalk on a rusted metal door. In the brightly lit, pink-walled room at the back of her modest house, Olivia Trujillo sits at her sewing machine, piecing together the president’s signature suits and dresses. Trujillo sews everything here, accompanied only by her family, three dogs, and one green parrot. Once finished, an assistant spirits away the items by motorcycle straight to the National Palace, where the president lives. Claudia Sheinbaum’s clothing – tailored from modest fabrics produced in Mexico and featuring Indigenous motifs – is one of the many ways that her administration communicates its slogan: “For the good of all, first the poor.” The dressmaker has just one problem with the president. People who wear made-to-measure clothes normally sit for the tailor twice: first, to have their measurements taken, then a second time for final adjustments. “Not once has she done a fitting for me, never!” says Trujillo, an exacting and neatly turned-out woman in her 60s. She knows the president is busy. “Still,” she objects, “any normal woman does a fitting for important clothes, like their wedding dress.” Continue reading...
The EU is inviting the Taliban to Brussels. Europe’s credibility lies in tatters
As ICE-style deportation rules come into force, the unsavoury circle the EU wants migrant deals with includes the Afghan regime. This is a nadir I sometimes think of the former EU home affairs commissioner Ylva Johansson, who just six years ago spoke of crafting a European migration policy with “cool heads and warm hearts”. What’s happened since is the exact opposite. Governments across Europe – with the exception of Spain – are cracking down harder than ever before on migrants through measures they once dismissed as politically toxic. It is a dream come true not only for the EU’s far right but also for mainstream conservatives and centre-left politicians such as Denmark’s Mette Frederiksen. Continue reading...
Knicks beat Spurs with largest NBA finals comeback to move to brink of first title since 1973
Knicks erase 29-point deficit to win Game 4 Anunoby scores winner with 2.3 seconds left New York take commanding 3-1 Finals lead The New York Knicks stared into the abyss and somehow found a way out. Facing a 29-point deficit in front of a shell-shocked Madison Square Garden crowd, New York completed the largest comeback in NBA finals history on Wednesday night when OG Anunoby’s tip-in off a Jalen Brunson missed three made the difference in a 107-106 win over the San Antonio Spurs in Game 4. The Knicks are within one win of their first NBA championship in 53 years. Continue reading...
Canada’s social media ban for under-16s goes to parliament
Legislation would exempt platforms that can prove they have safeguards for children in place Canada’s government has introduced legislation to parliament that could ban children younger than 16 from having social media accounts unless the companies show they can make their platforms safe. Ottawa is joining a growing global effort to tighten online safety. Canadian government officials said social media platforms can obtain an exemption if they have put in place sufficient safeguards. Continue reading...
French man on trial accused of raping partner after contact with Dominique Pelicot
Man accused of sedating and filming abuse of partner had contact with Pelicot, who was jailed for drugging wife and inviting men to rape her A bodyguard from Lyon is to go on trial for allegedly sedating and raping his partner after he was in contact online with Dominique Pelicot, who was convicted of drugging and raping his own wife, Gisèle Pelicot. Pelicot, one of the worst sex offenders in modern French history, is serving 20 years in prison after he was found guilty of drugging his then wife and inviting dozens of men to rape her in their home in the south of France over almost a decade. He and 50 other men were found guilty after the biggest rape trial in French history in 2024. Continue reading...
Ukraine war briefing: Flamingo missiles hit more far-flung Russian targets
Military factory in Cheboksary lies 900km from frontline; Zelenskyy inaugurates ‘Day of the Unmanned Systems Forces’. What we know on day 1,569 Long-range Ukrainian attacks hit targets deep inside Russia on Wednesday. Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Ukraine’s president, said Ukrainian FP-5 Flamingo long-range missiles hit a military factory in Cheboksary that supplies components for Russian drones and missiles. It is located in the Chuvashiya region more than 900km (560 miles) from the frontline. The Astra online news outlet reported that the Ukrainian strike hit the VNIIR-Progress plant that produces antennas for drones. Oleg Nikolayev, the head of Chuvashiya, confirmed the attack. Zelenskyy said Ukrainian forces also struck a refinery in Russia’s Samara region, where the governor, Vyacheslav Fedorishchev, confirmed industrial plants were damaged by drone strikes and three people were injured. Astra carried images of a large fire at the Samara refinery. It matches with reporting by Reuters citing industry sources who said Russian oil producer Rosneft’s Kuibyshev refinery in Samara halted oil processing on 10 June after a drone attack. Kuibyshev refinery is part of Rosneft’s Samara refining hub, which also includes Novokuibyshevsk and Syzran plants. Syzran has been offline since 21 May after a drone attack. Novokuibyshevsk had to shut down on 18 April after a drone attack and has been running at reduced throughput. Zelenskyy said Ukraine’s SBU security service also targeted two oil infrastructure facilities in Russia’s Vladimir region, about 700km from the frontline. And a fire broke out in the area surrounding Russia’s Afipsky refinery in southern Krasnodar, with a gas pipeline also damaged, Russian authorities said. Zelenskyy declared Thursday 11 June 2026 the inaugural “Day of the Unmanned Systems Forces” – to be celebrated annually in a show of “respect and gratitude” to the Ukrainian military’s drone branch. “For the first time in the world, such a branch of the military was created, in Ukraine,” said Zelenskyy. “We are developing the USF to the max, and it is Ukrainians who have proved that through technology, ingenuity, and courage, we can change the nature of warfare.” Russian investigators said on Wednesday that they had arrested at least two suspects after two car bombings in Moscow. Pjotr Sauer writes that one explosion killed Col Damir Davydov, 57, head of the Russian military’s artillery and missile ammunition supply directorate, which oversees the distribution of weapons to the armed forces. The bomb under his BMW went off at about 5.30am on Tuesday in the city of Balashikha, the independent outlet Astra reported. Another bomb was found before it went off and in that case a boy and a girl in their teens had been charged, said Russia’s state investigative committee. The alleged target was an employee of a scientific production enterprise. Ukrainian forces struck the Russian-occupied port of Mariupol, Kyiv said on Wednesday, the latest in a series of drone attacks on logistics across a critical stretch of Moscow-held southern Ukraine connecting Russia to Crimea. The attack on the port, which Ukraine’s military said plunged the site into a blackout, followed two strikes earlier this week on the Chonhar bridge linking the Russian-occupied Kherson region to the Black Sea peninsula, which Moscow seized in 2014. Vladimir Saldo, the Russian-installed governor of the occupied part of Ukraine’s Kherson region, said the bridge had been hit twice and traffic had been suspended. Continue reading...
Hong Kong files manslaughter charges against seven people and two firms in deadly apartment fires
Massive blaze in eight high-rise apartment blocks killed 168 people in one of the world’s deadliest residential building fires Hong Kong has filed manslaughter charges against several people and companies over the world’s deadliest residential building fire in decades, which killed 168 people at a public housing estate last year. The massive blaze, which engulfed seven of the eight high-rise apartment blocks at the Wang Fuk Court estate in November, prompted a months-long investigation into the cause. Continue reading...