17 m. ago The key battle in this Wimbledon final as Amanda Anisimova’s comeback story threatens Iga Swiatek’s shot at history

A surprise final between the American Anisimova and Poland’s five-time grand-slam champion Swiatek will come down to whose great weapon dominates on Centre Court

Events

33 m. ago Lord’s was the scenery: art and beauty of West Indies’ historic first win 75 years ago | Barney Ronay

The Victory Test against England has been immortalised in calypso song but is going unremarked during this series “So at Lord’s was the scenery / Bound to go down in history.” Why isn’t Lord’s cricket ground marking the diamond anniversary of the Victory Test? We are now almost 75 years on from West Indies’ deeply resonant first win at motherland HQ, two years after the first Windrush crossing, hats in the air, Rae and Stollmeyer, cricket, lovely cricket, a rush of blood in the dry yonic centre of the great colonial game, all of that.It would be wrong to say Lord’s carries no trace of this occasion. Wander around its fragrant perimeters during the India Test, past the gated lawns, the scrolling bars and food courts, and you might spot an embossed brick in the wall of historical moments, just down from Wangfrott Major taking the inaugural village cup and the opening of the media centre: 1950 West Indies win their first Test at Lord’s. Continue reading...

Events

33 m. ago Wales’s pioneers are making dizzying progress but Euro 2025 must be a launchpad | Elis James

Jess Fishlock’s goal was cosmically appropriate but real legacy of this team will be decided after the tournament is overIt had to be her. Wales’s debut at a European Championship has meant a group stage full of new experiences, but it felt fitting that a 38-year‑old Jess Fishlock, double Champions League winner and icon of the women’s game, would register the first Wales goal in a major tournament against France on Wednesday night.Three years ago, it felt cosmically appropriate that it should be Gareth Bale who scored the only Wales goal of the 2022 World Cup, a Welsh legend ticking off another career ambition before retirement. But unlike the postmortems and recrimination prompted by such a disappointing performance from the men’s team in Qatar, this time there is no judgment from the Welsh support out in Switzerland, only pride. Wales face England on Sunday having lost their first two games of Group D, and yet there is no doubt back home that Rhian Wilkinson’s team are history&nb...

Politics

33 m. ago Ambitious Chelsea will not park bus despite challenge of full

Club World Cup final features two youth-driven teams but Enzo Maresca’s side believe they can hurt favouritesChelsea have already made over £80m from their Club World Cup adventure but they can achieve something priceless against Paris Saint-Germain. This goes beyond gaudy gold badges and money in the bank. The season with no end is almost over, the final of the tournament that nobody asked for is here and while Chelsea have no intention of getting carried away if they triumph in New Jersey on Sunday it is also the case that there would be no better way to demonstrate that they are on to something with their youth-driven project than by beating Luis Enrique’s awesome PSG.Easier said than done, of course. One school of thought is that Chelsea will have done well if they leave the MetLife Stadium with their dignity intact. Premier League opponents hold no fears for PSG, whose path to Champions League glory was paved by wins over Manchester City, Liverpool, Aston Villa and Arsenal, whi...

Politics

34 m. ago Liverpool’s mourning players prepare to honour Diogo Jota back on the pitch

Arne Slot’s squad face an emotional afternoon at Preston on Sunday but believe it is better to start again at Deepdale than on tour in Hong KongOutside Anfield, the red sea of tributes to Diogo Jota and André Silva has continued to grow this week along with questions over whether Liverpool could play at Preston on Sunday, their first game since the brothers’ tragic loss. Inside Anfield, and specifically a grieving Liverpool dressing room, there was no major debate over the pre-season friendly. The Premier League champions intend to honour their teammate in the best way they know how.It will be only 10 days since the deaths of Jota and Silva when Liverpool appear at Deepdale for what is certain to be a hugely emotional occasion, and less than two days since the club retired Jota’s No 20 shirt. There was no pressure on Liverpool to honour a friendly that could have been cancelled easily – unlike their commitment to a tour of Hong Kong and Japan at the end of the month – but at no poin...

Sport

34 m. ago Taking flight: how Premier League clubs are racking up 175,000 summer air miles

All 20 teams are jetting around between league seasons, including for friendlies, training camps and the Club World CupAfter a training camp in Spain the Gunners head to Asia, kicking off their tour with a friendly against Milan in Singapore. They play again at the National Stadium four days later, against Newcastle, then face Spurs in Hong Kong. Two friendlies follow at the Emirates Stadium, against Villarreal and Athletic Club. Continue reading...

Politics

71 m. ago The Killing Fields execution site and two former Khmer Rouge prisons added to Unesco heritage list

The three Cambodian sites’ inscription coincides with the 50th anniversary of the rise to power of the brutal regimeThree locations used by Cambodia’s brutal Khmer Rouge regime as torture and execution sites 50 years ago have been added by Unesco to its world heritage list.The three locations were inscribed to the list by the UN cultural agency on Friday during the 47th session of the World Heritage Committee in Paris. Continue reading...

Events

94 m. ago How being crushed by a 14,000lb snowplough made Jeremy Renner a nicer person: ‘I’ve never been more vulnerable, open and loving’

He was known as a tightly wound Hollywood tough guy, on and off screen – and then the star found himself fighting for his life. He talks about ‘bullying his body’ into recovery, and how the accident changed himSix ribs broken in 14 places. Three breaks in the lower pelvis. Right and left ankle broken. Left tibia broken. Left wrist fractured. Left toes, three breaks. Right clavicle broken. Right shoulder blade cracked. Eye socket, jaw, mandible, all broken. Major laceration back of head. Lung collapsed. Liver pierced from rib bone. The inventory of Jeremy Renner’s injuries, documented by the twice Oscar-nominated movie star himself, was exhaustive. It was a miracle that the actor had survived; he had no right to. Renner had been crushed by his own 14,000lb (6,350kg) snowplough on New Year’s Day 2023. A neighbour who helped him at the scene believes he died momentarily. So does Renner. He tells me it was a very special moment.“What I experienced when I passed ...

Politics

94 m. ago What links a prosecco cocktail and raw beef? The Saturday quiz

From blessed and venerable to I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here, test your knowledge with the Saturday quiz1 Which of Shakespeare’s female characters has the most lines?2 What is the only shipping forecast area named after a person?3 Which high street chain was sold for £1 in June?4 Where does the bánh mì sandwich come from?5 Which TV presenter was horseracing’s champion lady rider in 1990?6 What irritant has the botanical name Urtica dioica?7 Which Conservative peer’s father drafted the 1945 Labour manifesto?8 What is Africa’s largest antelope?What links: 9 Prosecco and peach cocktail; sliced raw beef; brownish-orange hair?10 Cutting; doglike; millstone; before millstone; wise judgment?11 American Dad; I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here; Jeopardy; Police Squad; Up Pompeii?12 First class (62%); second class (41%); third class (25%); crew (24%)?13 Abcoulomb; defence; hijack; nope; stupid?14 Servant of God; Venerable; Blessed?15 Altai; Buryat; Chukchi; Evenki; Kalmyk; Nenets? Continu...

Politics

94 m. ago ‘It’s blitz, blitz, blitz’: Kyiv’s shelters fill up as Russia intensifies aerial attacks

People in Ukrainian capital are exhausted and struggling for normality amid a dramatic rise in bombardmentAt 1am on Thursday, Dartsia Liuba went to the basement of her Kyiv apartment building with her two children and husband, Roma. The air-raid siren had gone off. A Russian attack was coming. Liuba scooped up her seven-month-old baby daughter, Halyna, and woke her bleary-eyed nine-year-old, Orysia, and they staggered down three floors to wait in sticky darkness.Soon explosions began. There was an ugly whine in the sky immediately above their district of Podil. It came from a Shahed kamikaze drone. The streets echoed with booms and rat-tat-tat machine-gun fire as Ukrainian air defence units tried to bring it down. The moped-like buzzing stopped – and then resumed as more drones appeared, in a swarm too big to count. Continue reading...

Events

94 m. ago Provence laid bare: ‘I shed my clothes and found freedom on a beautiful French island’

If you’ve ever been tempted by naturism, there is nowhere better to try stripping off than the idyllic, car-free Île du LevantThe trail hugs every curve of the cliffside. On my left, the Mediterranean Sea swirls beside craggy rocks, while flowering plants unfurl on my right. A quarter of France’s coast is lined with similar sentiers des douaniers (customs officers’ paths), which were once used to patrol the sea. The difference on this trail is that I’m wearing nothing but my backpack.Off the coast of the southern French resort town of Hyères, Île du Levant is home to the only naturist community of its kind, the Domaine Naturiste d’Héliopolis. For 93 years, this rustic Eden has lured free-spirited lovers of nature and authenticity, as unabashedly naked as Adam and Eve before they ate the forbidden fruit. On every visit, I’ve found that when people shed their clothes, they shed their pretence. Unlike traditional naturist retreats where nudity is de rigueur, Héliopolis is peppered with...

Politics

94 m. ago Shark! Celebrity Infested Waters: I’m absolutely hooked by this cheeky, danger

Lenny Henry, Rachel Riley and a tank full of primeval nightmare fuel: everyone’s a winnerI am obsessed with sharks. Fifty years on from Jaws, and for me no film can touch it. I trawl YouTube for unspeakable footage. On a recent holiday to France, I made my nonplussed household watch every shark documentary on National Geographic. I’ll even make time for guff like Jaws 4 or Sharknado 5: Global Swarming. I’m metaphorically chumming the water at every opportunity. Every so often, something shows up.Shark! Celebrity Infested Waters (ITV1, Wednesday 16 July, 9pm) sees seven public figures with a fear of sharks mercilessly pushed into the water to swim with some. Say no more – I’m hooked. The victims – sorry, participants – include Lenny Henry, Lucy Punch, Ross Noble and the bassist from McFly. I like some of these people very much, and hope they don’t mind that I would love them to be ripped in half and devoured in high definition, thrashing about in a vortex of reddening water. It’s not...

Politics

94 m. ago My cultural awakening: I joined Danny Wallace’s accidental positivity cult – and found the love of my life

I was aimless and lonely after finishing my A-levels. Then a friend recommended the author’s book and everything changedThe spring after my A-levels was not going the way I planned. I was 19, hadn’t got the required grades for any of my university choices and hadn’t saved for a gap year. My friends were off enjoying their new lives and I was stuck at home in Essex with my disappointed parents, doing occasional temp work.Then I read Join Me by the writer and comedian Danny Wallace. I’d enjoyed another book, co-written by him, Are You Dave Gorman?. I found this joyous and silly project, about grownups stumbling their way through their own lives, comforting when I had no direction. So when a friend recommended Join Me, I thought it would be a giggle too; I didn’t realise it would change my life. Continue reading...

Politics

94 m. ago Test your eyes by spotting the trophy hidden in the stadium for FIFA Club World Cup 2025

A new brainteaser is sweeping the internet which shows a football-inspired optical illusion - but you'll need to have sharp eyes to find the hidden trophy in 10 seconds

Politics

96 m. ago American visits popular UK seaside town to try fish and chips but Brits spot 'problem'

An American visiting the UK decided to sample some good old fashioned fish and chips, but Brits spotted a "problem" when he tucked into the food at a popular seaside resort

Politics

2 h. ago Drivers with certain types of vehicle face £1,732 car tax increase due to 2025 hikes

Car tax updates introduced this year will squeeze some drivers, according to analysis from Go Compare

Economics

2 h. ago Scotland's Health Awards 2025: NHS Forth Valley volunteer remembers 'unbelievable' awards moment

Scotland’s Health Awards 2025 are now open for nominations.

Events

2 h. ago Blind date: ‘I took a bathroom break and when I returned she had already asked for the bill’

Rebecca, 70, a company director, meets Michael, 71, a supporting artist (extra)What were you hoping for? An interesting and sparky guy who had similar tastes and interests, and a sense of fun. Continue reading...

Politics

2 h. ago Six great reads: €1 Italian houses, how to make small talk and the truth about Tesla

Need something brilliant to read this weekend? Here are six of our favourite pieces from the past seven days Continue reading...

Politics

2 h. ago Yes, Israel’s plan for Rafah would be a crime – but international law has never protected Gaza | Raja Shehadeh

Palestinians continue to hold on to the practice we call sumoud – refusing to give up or leave – despite the world turning its back on usOver the past 21 long months of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza, voices all over the world have decried the demise of international law and the rule-based order. And indeed, the facade of Israel’s adherence to international law has vanished and policies that constitute war crimes are now brazenly declared.This week, Israel’s defence minister, Israel Katz, has shared plans to forcibly move Palestinians into a camp in the ruins of Rafah. Once they enter, they cannot leave. In other words, a concentration camp, which by definition is an internment centre for members of a national group (as well as political prisoners or minority groups) on the grounds of security or punishment, usually by military order. Michael Sfard, an Israeli human rights lawyer, was quoted in the Guardian as saying that Katz “laid out an operational plan for a crime against humani...

Politics