US president using office and intelligence agencies to try to undermine confidence in elections before midterms

Donald Trump used the imprimatur of the presidency and United States intelligence agencies to try to undermine confidence in American elections in a presidential address on Thursday that seemed bluntly aimed at laying the groundwork for further destabilizing the electoral system before November’s midterm elections.

In his address from the East Room at the White House, Trump attempted to give the impression that his administration had uncovered new bombshell findings about vulnerabilities in the US’s election system. China, he claimed, had illicitly acquired voter information on 220 million Americans (many states allow anyone to buy voter roll information; Trump did not say the means by which the nation acquired the data). He claimed that China interfered in other ways to undermine his 2020 campaign and that the information had been suppressed by intelligence officials.

NBC and CNN stayed away from White House speech, while Fox News, MS Now, CBS and some ABC affiliates aired it

The US’s largest television stations split on whether to air Donald Trump’s White House address live on Thursday night, which was heavy on unproven accusations about the integrity of the 2020 election won by Joe Biden.

While CNN, ABC and NBC chose not to air the speech live, CBS, Fox News and MS Now (formerly MSNBC) aired at least large portions of the speech live. ABC did not air the speech as a must-run broadcast, but some station affiliates – including the Washington DC station owned by right-leaning broadcaster Sinclair – chose to air the speech.

Businesses and traffic in West Hollywood doused after century-old pipe bursts belowground

A century-old water pipe buried below a bustling boulevard in a Los Angeles county city burst early Thursday, sending a shock of water spewing into the streets and snarling traffic as several major roads shut down.

The 36in riveted steel pipe’s rupture left a protruding sinkhole and cracked pavement in West Hollywood. Images of the aftermath showed local metro buses partially submerged in murky brown water.

Taylor Farms reportedly linked to outbreak thought to be in Michigan, Ohio, West Virginia and Kentucky

• What is cyclosporiasis, the parasitic illness causing ‘explosive’ diarrhea?

Amid an ongoing outbreak of cyclosporiasis, federal health officials are reportedly looking at iceberg lettuce from Taylor Farms that was supplied to Taco Bell as a possible source.

On Thursday afternoon, the Washington Post, CNN and other media outlets reported that the lettuce supplier had been linked to the outbreak, citing unnamed sources “familiar with the investigation”.

Move would allow Wall Street trading firms and other institutions to potentially profit from seeing president’s posts first

Donald Trump’s media company is planning to charge for special high-speed access to Truth Social posts, including possibly his own, affecting national security and financial markets.

The move announced on Thursday would allow Wall Street trading firms and other institutions to get news first from top Truth Social contributors so they could profit off subsequent moves in stocks, bonds and interest rates.

This live blog is now closed.

• Trump makes unverified claims of ‘sinister election meddling’ in primetime address

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Donald Trump has just started speaking from the East Room of the White House, in what is expected to be a speech on the 2020 election loss he still refuses to accept. The president has begun with a typical recitation of boasts about what he claims are his accomplishments.

We have embedded live video above. Follow along for updates.

William Upham, a 35-year-old former marine, faces federal charges and up to five years in prison, officials say

A former marine and Republican write-in candidate for the US House in Florida has been arrested and charged in federal court with threatening to kill Donald Trump, according to the US attorney’s office.

William Upham, 35, was taken into custody on Thursday after appearing in federal court in Jacksonville, Florida. If convicted, he faces up to five years in federal prison. According to public records, Upham is a write-in candidate, running in the Republican primary for Florida’s fifth congressional district.

Opponents say president’s address about 2020 election loss is attempt to sow confusion ahead of midterms that could deliver big losses for Republicans

Donald Trump accused China of interfering with the 2020 election in a primetime televised address that laid bare his continuing obsession with his defeat to Joe Biden, but which opponents warned was a smokescreen for him to meddle in the forthcoming congressional midterms.

In a 25-minute speech on Thursday that had been hyped by Trump himself, the US president cast extraordinary doubts on the integrity of the US electoral process, saying it was “catastrophically” short of standards of fairness and trust, and vulnerable to trespassing by foreign powers.

A crew in the San Francisco Bay Area city of Oakland spotted a pigeon ‘in distress’ after a vehicle fire

Heartwarming footage of California firefighters treating perhaps their smallest patient on record has captivated the internet.

A crew in the San Francisco Bay Area city of Oakland spotted a pigeon “in distress” earlier this week after a vehicle fire, and jumped into action to assist.

• Batson says US federation will ‘take a break’

• Pochettino’s future remains unresolved

• Sporting director role unfilled after Crocker exit

The US men’s national team leaves the World Cup with some considerable gaps in their organizational chart. Mauricio Pochettino’s future is undetermined as his contract – funded in part by billionaire donors – ends with the conclusion of this tournament. In April, Matt Crocker resigned from his role as sporting director to take a similar position with Saudi Arabia.

Despite these crucial positions being open, there may not be resolutions for some time.

• American responds to six-time major winner’s jibe

• Surprise name at top of leaderboard

From no clue and no strategy to no explanation. Who or what is eating Bryson DeChambeau? Maybe the coming days will reveal all. Then again …

A fine and widely unexpected start to the 154th Open Championship was not sufficient to alter DeChambeau’s uncommunicative approach towards anybody who may not be inclined to tickle his tummy. Following a fifth major round in a row, DeChambeau declined the opportunity to speak to eagerly assembled media. One once so garrulous has lost his tongue.

Karoline Leavitt calls apparent bets on Kalshi prediction platform ‘deeply unfortunate and frankly a disgrace’

Donald Trump’s longtime teleprompter operator has been placed on administrative leave, the White House said on Thursday, after reports that he used his position to win $100,000 by placing bets on the president’s speeches using the online prediction market Kalshi.

The White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, said the president had been informed about the situation, which she described as “deeply unfortunate and frankly a disgrace”.

After Thelma Gaston disappeared, her companion was convicted of second-degree murder

Authorities in southern California announced this week that, after more than 40 years, they had identified the remains of a Los Angeles millionaire missing since 1981.

The Riverside county sheriff confirmed in a statement that investigators, using genetic genealogy and dental records, had determined the remains found in a rugged area near Sugarloaf Mountain were those of Thelma Gaston.

• Former Arsenal boss calls out US pay-to-play model

• Wenger says academy setups are vital for growth

Arsène Wenger, Fifa’s head of global football development, has said that while the US faced numerous structural obstacles to becoming a real soccer power, many of those obstacles are being addressed by leadership at the US Soccer Federation and Major League Soccer.

Speaking Thursday in a roundtable with US Soccer chief executive JT Batson and chief operating officer Dan Helfrich, Wenger heaped praise on the federation for its new $250m headquarters in Fayetteville, Georgia, saying “I feel it’s important for every footballer, somewhere, to feel you’re at home.”

Marco Rubio and Stephen Miller took aim at only leftwing activism at meeting of 66 nations against political violence

Top Trump officials on Thursday hosted a gathering of 66 nations to discuss the supposed threat of leftwing violence, and launched a series of diatribes, harsh even by the standards of the Trump administration, against leftism.

The conference, convened by Marco Rubio, the secretary of state, and attended by Stephen Miller, a top Trump adviser, and Scott Bessent, the treasury secretary, was billed as a “ministerial on the resurgence of political violence”, but the focus was solely on crushing leftist violence. It came as Donald Trump ramps up his efforts to label his political opponents, and a rising number of politicians identified with the Democratic Socialists of America as “communists”.

Liz Oyer tells of how she refused to ‘rubber-stamp a political favor’ in gun rights case involving Trump ally Mel Gibson

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Liz Oyer, a former pardon attorney, condemned Todd Blanche, Donald Trump’s pick for attorney general, over his Wednesday testimony to the Senate judiciary committee. Blanche fired Oyer after she refused to recommend restoring firearms rights to the actor and Trump ally Mel Gibson, who was previously convicted of domestic violence.

“I declined to rubber-stamp a political favor for a friend of the president, and it cost me my job,” the former US pardon attorney told the committee on the second day of Blanche’s confirmation hearing.

His comments come after 103 House Democrats backed an unsuccessful bid to halt billions in military aid to Israel

• Israel’s support among Democrats is starting to buckle

Senator John Fetterman said he would consider leaving the Democratic party it ever became “the anti-Israel party”, as more than 100 House lawmakers backed halting military aid to the Middle Eastern ally over its incursions into Gaza and Lebanon.

The Pennsylvania senator has emerged as one of Israel’s most prominent advocates among Senate Democrats, even as others in the party back away from their traditional support for the country amid accusations that prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government committed genocide in Gaza.

• USSF chief exec focuses on ‘incredible support’ of fans

• Won’t say if federation regrets Trump involvement

• US president called Fifa to lobby for red card review

US Soccer Federation chief executive JT Batson made his first public remarks Thursday about the controversy surrounding Donald Trump’s involvement in this summer’s World Cup, participating in a media roundtable with US Soccer chief operating officer Dan Helfrich and Fifa head of global football development Arsène Wenger.

Before the United States’ last-16 encounter with Belgium, Trump revealed that he had made several calls to Fifa president Gianni Infantino, lobbying for a review of US forward Folarin Balogun’s red card in the last-32 match against Bosnia and Herzegovina. Fifa eventually suspended Balogun’s ban but denied that Trump’s repeated calls had influenced that decision.

More than 100 Democrats voted to cut military aid to Israel as US public opinion shifts – Republicans are noticing too

Somewhere in the days before Wednesday’s vote, Hakeem Jeffries, the House minority leader, sat down and wrote his caucus a letter urging Democrats to reject an amendment that would strip security assistance to Israel. For most of his tenure as Democratic leader, that kind of internal whipping operation would have been unnecessary, because the outcome would have been assumed.

His own second-in-command voted the other way anyway.

Fair housing complaints accuse Greystar of refusing to take tenants who use federal rent vouchers

Greystar, the largest owner and manager of apartments in the US, systematically flouts local laws designed to make housing affordable to the poor, according to civil rights complaints filed with authorities in six states and the District of Columbia.

The complaints – filed this week with government agencies in California, Hawaii, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, Virginia and Washington DC – accuse Greystar of 114 violations of state and DC fair housing laws. They allege that the company refuses to accept federal housing choice vouchers (also known as Section 8) in places that require landlords to accept them.

Mike Collins’ son-in-law, David Alan Scheer II, has shared antisemitic conspiracies and Nazi imagery online

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The Republican Senate nominee in Georgia, Mike Collins, who has been plagued by a string of controversies in his time in public office, has close ties with a white nationalist influencer – his son-in-law, David Alan Scheer II – it has transpired.

A trucking executive and one-time “Freedom caucus” conservative endorsed by Donald Trump, Collins has been the GOP representative for Georgia’s 10th congressional district since 2023. In that time, the anti-abortion hardliner has drawn scrutiny over his associations with far-right and extremist figures, incendiary social media activity and accusations of antisemitism, which he has denied. He has also denied the legitimacy of the 2020 election and defended January 6 rioters, who he has said deserved pardons.

There was a sense of deja vu as Argentina came from behind to win an intense semi-final. But the players also gave the nation some memorable highs

Historically, English football-supporting culture has had a well-known darker side. But in recent decades, as the England men’s team’s trophy drought has continued, some of its unofficial anthems have acquired an endearingly melancholy quality. “It was nearly complete, it was nearly so sweet”, as the Three Lions song had it in the 1990s, when England exited a World Cup and a European Championship at the semi-final stage.

This summer, Oasis’s Wonderwall has been the soundtrack as Harry Kane and co progressed to Wednesday’s climactic semi-final showdown with Argentina. This is a song which, very wisely in an England context, puts a heavy emphasis on the idea of “maybe”. In the end it turned out to be maybe not.

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Rachel Menitoff praised for her professionalism as giant insect lands on her during on-camera report

Viewers of a now-viral video are sharing their amazement at a TV reporter who maintained her composure during a live broadcast after a huge flying cockroach unexpectedly landed on her mid-report.

Rachel Menitoff, a reporter for Los Angeles station KTLA News, was covering dangerous conditions caused by extreme heat from Sherman Oaks, California, on Wednesday during an evening live shot. Her report took an unexpected turn when a giant insect interrupted the segment.

Flash flood emergencies were issued on Thursday for parts of Kerr and Uvalde counties and Texas Hill Country

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At least one person has died during rescue operations as “life threatening” flooding takes hold in south-central Texas, where up to 20in of rain have already fallen in some areas – just one year after the same region endured catastrophic flooding that killed more than 100 people.

Flash flood emergencies were issued on Thursday for parts of Kerr and Uvalde counties, where emergency crews performed water rescues, as well as areas around the Guadalupe River and the Pedernales River, according to morning updates from the National Weather Service (NWS).

The tournament’s mascot came to herald the ubiquitous, commercial aims of a growing international spectacle

Deep within a dark warehouse in Hillsborough, North Carolina, there sits a severed head. Encased in plastic, perfectly preserved and seemingly begging to be reanimated, it belongs to an American soccer legend.

For a seismic summer 32 years ago, Striker the dog was more ubiquitous than any of World Cup 94’s players, plastered all over billboards, Coke cans, key chains, caps and hundreds of other items. Kids carried around Striker dolls. Grown men played Striker-themed pinball machines and Super Nintendo games and posed for photos with the pup in stadiums.

Lipfendra can be taken in conjunction with or an alternative to statins, the most prescribed medication in the US

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The drug giant Merck on Thursday announced it had received FDA approval for a daily pill that can be an alternative to statins for treating high LDL levels, or so-called bad cholesterol. The new pill, Lipfendra, is a version of a drug called a PCSK9 inhibitor.

For decades the go-to therapy to treat high cholesterol levels has been statins, the most prescribed medication in the US. But statins come occasionally with side-effects like muscle aches and they sometimes don’t drop cholesterol levels enough to meet recommended levels.

Millions of Americans face air quality alerts from Minnesota to New York as authorities urge people to stay indoors

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• Tell us: have you been affected by the spread of wildfire smoke in the US and Canada?

Smoke from wildfires burning in south-central Canada and parts of Minnesota is spreading across the US, prompting air quality alerts in more than 20 states with millions of Americans expected to face unhealthy air conditions this week.

The smoke from the more than 180 active wildfires in northern Ontario made Chicago’s air quality the worst in the world on Thursday evening, followed by Detroit and Minneapolis, according to IQAir’s global rankings.

Roger Rogoff’s was selected by panel of judges for top prosecutor job after interim US attorney’s term ended

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Donald Trump fired the new top federal prosecutor in Seattle on Wednesday less than an hour after the attorney was unanimously appointed by the federal judges in the district, highlighting tensions between the courts and the president over the powerful positions.

Roger Rogoff, a former judge and veteran state and federal prosecutor, was sworn in as US attorney before 8am at the US courthouse in downtown Seattle. In a phone interview, he said he then went to the US attorney’s office and asked to meet with Charles Neil Floyd, whose 120-day interim term in the position ended in February.

Fracking billionaire Harold Hamm is co-chair of a non-profit that has aggressively pushed for US energy dominance

Tycoon Harold Hamm is one of the US’s most successful oilmen, the son of Oklahoma sharecroppers who hit it rich as a “wildcatter” and pioneered fracking techniques that drove the shale boom in 2008 that reversed declining US oil production. Donald Trump describes him as a “long time” friend and is said to have called him his “original oil guy” behind closed doors.

The Continental Resources founder has also faced scrutiny from climate advocates and groups and some Democratic lawmakers over his influence on Trump and role in pushing him to go all in on planet-heating fossil fuels and gut climate rules.

Backlash at Yale to its negotiations with Trump shine a light on the danger of smaller authoritarian structures in civil society

As news started to spread of Yale’s leadership negotiating a deal with the Trump administration, the university’s faculty, students and alumni sprang into action to oppose any settlement. What the president and lawyers intend remains unclear. In the case of Harvard, it appears that Trumpists – and Trump himself, for that matter – might have been leaking about concessions being imminent partly to put pressure on the university. What is clear is that the Trump administration has embarked on a wide-ranging investigation of Yale, accusing it of discriminating against white and Asian students. But in any case, the battle over Yale’s response reveals a troubling pattern. Many of us had thought that the US possessed a robust civil society that could act as a counterweight to an overbearing government and resist authoritarian encroachments. What few reckoned with: its institutions themselves can be run in a fairly authoritarian fashion – universities being a prime example, with deleterious consequences for democracy as a whole.

The argument for the freedom-preserving role of civil society has been known at least since a French aristocrat travelled the US in the early 19th century in order to uncover why American mass democracy, unlike democracy in his native country, appeared stable and peaceful. Alexis de Tocqueville ended up singing the praises of how Americans are always associating with each other to discover and, if necessary, defend common interests. That wisdom still resonates in lived experience today, starting with birdwatchers and the PTA.

Jan-Werner Müller is a Guardian US columnist and a professor of politics at Princeton University

Replacement of panels with version that’s sympathetic to enslavers comes amid effort by Trump to dismantle diversity initiatives

Critics say the Trump administration acted under the “cover of darkness” to replace an exhibit exploring the lives of nine enslaved people who lived at George Washington’s ​Philadelphia home with a version that is overly sympathetic to enslavers and that whitewashes the country’s origins.

The installation of new information panels followed a six-month fight between the city of Philadelphia and the Trump administration over an enslavement memorial at the President’s House, the former home of both Washington and his presidential successor John Adams.

The defense secretary has announced a screening program for troops. Get ready for a high-T Department of War

One day perhaps Pete Hegseth will make the news for doing something worthwhile, something that makes his mother proud. One day perhaps we’ll see a headline about the defense secretary that doesn’t involve allegations of sexual misconduct or bigotry, claims about past drinking on the job, possible war crimes, Christian nationalism, or his weird fixation on male facial hair.

Alas, today is not that day. Rather, we are gathered here today because Hegseth is very het up about testosterone. On Wednesday, the defense secretary proudly announced a new screening program for “war fighters” 30 and older that would ensure they had the “right testosterone levels”. In a video posted on X, captioned “the High-T Department of War”, Hegseth explains: “By addressing these health markers early, we’re keeping you on the leading edge of lethality.”

Arwa Mahdawi is a Guardian columnist

Delay seen as move to protect interests of Matthew Moroun, the owner of nearby Ambassador Bridge and a Trump donor

The Trump administration for months blocked a $4.7bn publicly owned bridge between Detroit and Windsor, Ontario, a move critics allege is a quid pro quo for a billionaire Donald Trump donor.

A ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Gordie Howe international bridge connecting Detroit and Windsor was initially scheduled for early June but was abruptly cancelled amid dispute between US and Canadian officials. On 10 July, Canada announced it reached a deal with the US, and the bridge will open on 27 July.

Brennan Lee Mulligan’s Dungeons and Dragons push is part of a wider trend using tabletop games for political action

Just before their election day, six Los Angeles city council candidates stood on stage at Hollywood’s Fonda Theatre. But they weren’t there for a debate or a black-tie gala. They were there to play Dungeons and Dragons.

Comedian Brennan Lee Mulligan guided the politicians through a short D&D campaign to defeat corporate villains and an evil dragon. Hundreds of enthusiastic fans in the crowd pledged additional donations up to $150 each to give the candidates what is called an “auto crit” for maximum damage to the dragon.

The Queens Classic – Kerr’s return, Lavelle’s stunner, wildfire smoke and all in between – shows how far the league has come and also where it can still improve

Ten years ago, a National Women’s Soccer League game at a baseball stadium was a sign of just how far the league had to go. A match during the 2016 season was played at a minor-league ballpark on a woefully small pitch, dubbed “shocking and embarrassing” by the league’s own stars.

Come 2026, NWSL games at ballparks are showpiece events. Attendance records were shattered at Chicago’s Wrigley Field and San Francisco’s Oracle Park in the previous two seasons. Wednesday night added another milestone: Gotham FC’s 1-0 win over the Washington Spirit on a hot, hazy night at Citi Field, the regular home of Major League Baseball’s New York Mets, drew the second-largest crowd in league history (42,175) and set the record for the most attended women’s sporting event in the city’s history.

US renews blockade of Iranian ports, while Iran attacks sites in Bahrain and Kuwait. Plus, legendary director John Waters on 60 years of screen carnage

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Good morning. The US has fired on an oil tanker attempting to reach Kharg Island in the strait of Hormuz as part of its blockade on Iranian ports. The US targeted coastal defences and missile sites, as well as targets farther north, with state media reporting strikes for the first time on the country’s capital, Tehran.

The US also said it had disabled the unladen oil tanker, firing Hellfire missiles into the ship’s smokestack after it ignored multiple warnings.

What other developments have happened in the region? Donald Trump said Iran had released a US citizen detained since 2024, identified as Dena Karari, a dual US-Iranian citizen. Meanwhile, the Israeli defence minister, Israel Katz, told the US defence secretary, Pete Hegseth, that Israel was determined to keep its forces in “security zones” in Lebanon, Syria and Gaza.

What did the man’s family say? Arenas-Silva’s sister and immigrants’ rights groups in Georgia said in a press statement that ICE did not provide him with necessary medications during his time in detention for an unnamed condition, despite his family’s pleas that he take the medications during his arrest last week.

How is the crisis becoming more international? Mexico has formally requested that US state attorneys general criminally investigate cases of immigrants who have died in ICE custody or during raids, the Mexican government has said. Since the beginning of Donald Trump’s second term, 17 Mexican immigrants have died during immigration enforcement, 14 in ICE custody and three in agency operations.

We’re now closing this blog. Please join us on our new live blog covering Donald Trump’s speech to the nation tonight.

• Trump’s speech rumored to feature elections or Iran after president teases ‘really big news’ – live updates

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The average price of diesel fuel in the US has increased again to more than $5 a gallon, according to the AAA, and the average price of gas is almost $4, returning to their highs before the June memorandum of understanding between the US and Iran.

It’s a reminder to consumers and truckers of the costs of the Iran war and the unpredictable rhetoric from both Washington and Tehran. A year ago today, the AAA says, the average price for a gallon of diesel was $3.72, almost a dollar and a quarter less than it is now.

Last year the federal government downgraded active surveillance for this parasite. Now thousands are sick

A patient arrives after two weeks of relentless watery diarrhea, sometimes 20 episodes a day. She has lost weight and cannot keep fluids down. Her stool tests come back negative. Unless someone thinks to order an assay that includes Cyclospora cayetanensis, she may leave without a diagnosis and stay ill for weeks longer.

Cyclospora is easy to miss in a clinic. Many routine stool tests do not include it, so a clinician must consider the parasite before the laboratory will look for it. You find it on purpose, or you do not find it.

Robert B Shpiner is a clinical professor of medicine in pulmonary and critical care at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA

The league is back in play after a six-week pause for the World Cup. We spotlight seven players to watch after their stints with their national teams

The 2026 MLS season resumes Thursday, cleverly holding its return on the days between the World Cup semi-finals and third-place game. Fans of any of the league’s 30 teams will be trying to recall the state of affairs after a six-week pause, with more than half of the regular season still to be played and the Leagues Cup further congesting the schedule.

The league was curiously absent from the World Cup, only cited during the broadcasts viewed by millions if a commentator named an involved player’s club and whose reach largely depended on the in-market efforts of its franchises. And yet, through the quarter-finals, MLS ranked sixth in total minutes by its players, the highest of any league outside Europe’s big five. Twenty-two of MLS’s 30 clubs had at least one man make a tournament squad.

Marco Rubio has offered nonsensical rationale in attacking the court. The Trump administration’s real goal is impunity

With the pointless war of choice in Iran going poorly, the Trump administration has declared a virtual war on the international criminal court (ICC). Secretary of state, Marco Rubio, vowed on Monday to “dismantle” the court as a supposed threat to US sovereignty. His rationale is laced with sophistry. The administration’s real goal is to secure impunity for war crimes, even those committed on the territory of ICC member states.

In a Wall Street Journal op-ed and a video posted on X, Rubio conjures up a dystopia in which local American officials such as police officers or border patrol agents “could be dragged before an international court, tried by judges from random countries across the globe, found guilty under international laws we neither consent to nor control, and then imprisoned thousands of miles from America”.

All the reaction from England’s semi-final defeat, as the UK government calls for Fifa to investigate Argentina over a Falklands banner displayed after the game

Thomas Tuchel had already shown this week he’s not someone who is prone to mere pleasantries after a game. The head coach shouldered the blame for England becoming too passive after taking the lead against Argentina, but at the same time said he had “no regrets”.

I don’t believe so much in an English thing and a curse or whatever. It’s repeating itself in different moments. It’s different coaches, different players, different situations.

What cost us today was that we were not active enough in any structure. I can understand these discussions are out there and of course a million coaches after the game know it better. You can discuss this with a million coaches. I have to make a decision on the pitch. It’s how I analyse the match and I take the responsibility.

President Lula’s office says US move is result of pressure on White House by family of predecessor Jair Bolsonaro

Brazil has vowed to retaliate against Washington’s decision to impose 25% tariffs on imports of some Brazilian products.

The office of the president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, described the tariffs as “a regrettable milestone” in the history of relations between the two countries and said they were the result of pressure exerted on the White House by the family of the far-right former president Jair Bolsonaro.

Hole-by-hole updates from the first-round action at Royal Birkdale, with Rory McIlroy finding it hard going

Bob Mac aside, it’s still a wee while until some of the more fancied stars take to the course. Time for a little scene setting, then. Ladies and gentlemen, on the tee, Ewan Murray …

A fast start for Bob MacIntyre! He sends his opening tee shot into the rough down the left, and only just finds the front of the green with his second. But he rolls in a 45-footer and birdie is not a bad way to start the week! Oban’s finest already has three top-ten finishes at the Open on his resumé, including a tie for seventh at Portrush last year. Keep an eye out.

The R&B singer was found guilty of racketeering, sex trafficking and producing child abuse images, with his lawyer lobbying the US president for more than a year

R Kelly has formally appealed to the US president, Donald Trump, for a reduction of his 31-year prison sentence for racketeering, sex trafficking and child abuse images, in a filing to the Department of Justice.

The 59-year-old R&B singer, whose full name is Robert Sylvester Kelly, was found guilty in 2021 of leading a criminal enterprise that recruited women and underage girls for illegal sexual activity and pornography, for which he was sentenced to 30 years in prison. In 2022 he was found guilty on three counts of child abuse images and three counts of child enticement and sentenced to 20 years in prison, which he is serving nearly entirely concurrently but for one additional year.

Information and support for anyone affected by rape or sexual abuse issues is available from the following organizations. In the US, Rainn offers support on 800-656-4673. In the UK, Rape Crisis offers support on 0808 802 9999. In Australia, support is available at 1800Respect (1800 737 732). Other international helplines can be found at ibiblio.org/rcip/internl.html

Journalists who had reported on security concerns around the new Air Force One, a gift from Qatar, received summons

The New York Times on Wednesday filed a motion to quash subpoenas the justice department served journalists who reported on security concerns involving the new Air Force One, a gift from Qatar, teeing up a significant court fight over press freedom and the government’s ability to force reporters to identify sources.

“As we set out in our motion, these subpoenas are brought in bad faith to punish the Times for its coverage. They violate the constitutional rights of the Times and its journalists. We are going to court to defend our journalists’ rights to report freely on the administration and to provide the public with stories that matter,” David McCraw, the newspaper’s senior vice-president and deputy general counsel, said in a statement.

Dena Karari, dual US-Iranian citizen, ‘now safely outside of Iran, and in good condition’, president posts on Truth Social

Donald Trump said Wednesday Iran had agreed to release an American citizen who was “wrongfully detained” since December 2024.

“She is now safely outside of Iran, and in good condition,” Trump wrote on social media, without naming the woman. “The United States of America appreciates this gesture of Goodwill by Iran!”

Global views appear to have flipped in Beijing’s favour, driven in part by tensions between the Trump administration and US allies, a new Pew survey shows

The world has largely viewed the US more favourably than China for years, but those opinions have flipped in Beijing’s favour this year, according to a new poll from the Pew Research Center, a remarkable shift driven in part by tensions between the Trump administration and US allies.

More people have favourable views of China than the US in 25 out of the 36 countries and territories that were surveyed, including Canada and Mexico. The poll was conducted from February to May, a period when the United States and Israel were engaged in a war against Iran.

Trump’s effort to revamp the landmark stretched well past the goal of having it ready by the Fourth of July

The newly drained Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool’s bottom surface has noticeably faded since it was lined with a protective coating in a color Donald Trump called “American flag blue” this spring.

An Associated Press reporter and photographer viewed the fenced-off reflecting pool on Wednesday from the top of the Washington Monument. The new liner appears grayer than when the pool was repainted and refilled with water in early June. Debris that had been visible earlier this week after the pool was drained is now largely gone, after work crews removed it.

Vice-president tells Joe Rogan administration botched handling and should have released all documents from start

JD Vance agreed with criticism that the Trump administration botched the handling of the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files, telling podcast host Joe Rogan that “we absolutely screwed up the comms”.

The Department of Justice’s repeated moves to delay the release of documents related to the convicted sex offender drew bipartisan disapproval last year. The files have been one of the most significant political liabilities to Donald Trump since his second term began.

During confirmation hearing Wednesday, Trump’s pick tells Senate health committee she would ‘never betray the science’

Erica Schwartz, the Trump administration’s latest nominee to lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), faced sharp questioning from senators who pressed her to say whether she would stand up to her boss, the health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr.

During her confirmation hearing on Wednesday, Schwartz, a deputy surgeon general in the first Trump administration, told the Senate health committee she “will never betray the science” and pledged to use “radical transparency” to rebuild public trust. But she repeatedly deflected questions about how she would handle pressure from Kennedy, a leader in the anti-vaccine movement who has overseen months of turmoil at the agency and made controversial changes to US vaccine policies.