Keyword – Books
Trefwoorden – Fiction, Books, Culture
Title – Wash by Erica Wagner review – vivid portrait of a monumental American | Fiction | The Guardian
Author – Christopher Shrimpton
Link – Wash by Erica Wagner review – vivid portrait of a monumental American | Fiction | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-15T08:00:06.000Z
Category – Culture
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/books/2026/jun/15/wash-by-erica-wagner-review-vivid-portrait-of-a-monumental-american

W ashington Augustus Roebling, or “Wash”, was the chief engineer on the Brooklyn Bridge, which, when opened to the public on 24 May 1883, was the longest suspension bridge in the world. It was quite an achievement, but he didn’t do it alone. On the one hand there was his father, the austere and tyrannical John Roebling, who had designed and begun the bridge before his untimely death in 1869. On the other there was his wife, the accomplished and capable Emily, who, as well as providing moral and secretarial support, took on ever more responsibility for the project after Washington’s own health began to fail mysteriously.

Wash is something of a companion piece to Chief Engineer, Erica Wagner’s 2017 biography of Roebling. Spurning what she calls in her afterword “the clock’s time”, she has instead structured the narrative in accordance with “the soul’s time”; that is, by jumping backwards and forwards in time and place in a series of short chapters emphasising those individual moments, choices and encounters that together made this remarkable man who he was. It is a bold and engaging, if somewhat disorienting approach, giving this slender novel a vividness and intensity that might be smoothed over in a more traditional narrative arc.

The story begins in Trenton, New Jersey, in 1849. The household of John Roebling is a depressing place in which to grow up. A self-made man, now rich from his wire rope business and famous for his Niagara Falls suspension bridge, Roebling is an oppressive and exacting – not to mention parsimonious – figure. “The man who bridged Niagara, and much else besides”, remarks a bitter but awed Wash, “the very chasms tremble at his approach!” So too do his wife and children, who keep their eyes down and their voices low when in his presence, for “it was much the safest way”. They frequently go hungry; the strap is often at hand. Needless to say, Wash’s childhood is an unhappy one.

Fortunately, happiness comes in the form of two individuals: Max Andermann, a fellow engineering student, and Emily Warren, his future wife. Max is a charming and attractive figure (based on a real person, but here renamed), who shows immediate solicitude for the undernourished and overworked Wash. Tall, good-looking and well-groomed (like a “Macassar-scented bear”), he adds a new dimension to Wash’s austere existence. They open up to one another about their difficult childhoods (“Washington had never spoken to anyone in this way before”), and eventually share a kiss. Wash treasures a photograph of the two men together for the rest of his life.

Emily, too, brings wit and warmth into Wash’s life, as well as a fresh determination to succeed in a manner different from that of his father. “A new leaf. A new life. From this very moment”, he vows. The two become a sort of 19th-century power couple, running the groundbreaking project almost, but not quite, as equals. As Wash becomes increasingly unwell, Emily is more and more relied upon as “caretaker, nursemaid, secretary – and increasingly, she felt, engineer”. Wagner gives due attention to the emotional toll taken on the wife of such a man. While he holes up with his plans and his rock samples, she is left to deal with the politics and practicalities of the outside world. “Solitude was what he required,” Emily thinks to herself. “But what did she require?”

Wagner clearly has a deep personal connection to Brooklyn Bridge and to Wash himself (in her afterword she admits that as a young woman “I thought I was in love with him”). The happy result is a richly detailed and multifaceted portrait of a monumental American life. While the reader may not develop an all-consuming crush on Washington Augustus Roebling, this nuanced and idiosyncratic novel shows that his was a life worth revisiting.

Wash by Erica Wagner is published by Salt (£10.99). To support the Guardian buy a copy at guardianbookshop.com . Delivery charges may apply.

Keyword – Life and style
Trefwoorden – Dogs, Pets, Life and style, Animals
Title – ‘She’d consumed a kilo of sand’: 11 Guardian readers on the weirdest things their dogs have ever eaten | Dogs | The Guardian
Author – Gabriel Stewart and Guardian readers
Link – ‘She’d consumed a kilo of sand’: 11 Guardian readers on the weirdest things their dogs have ever eaten | Dogs | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-15T15:06:16.000Z
Category – Lifestyle
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2026/jun/15/guardian-readers-on-the-weirdest-things-their-dogs-have-ever-eaten

I adopted my brother’s middle-aged westie, Maggie. She did tend to eat anything unattended, but usually leaned towards actual food. One memorable day, I came home to a living room carpet covered in what appeared to be termite mounds. Maggie had consumed about a kilo of chinchilla bathing sand and a second course of sanitary towels (the ones with wings). The latter contained some kind of absorbent gel, which made the vomit sculptures impressively solid – the vet who checked her afterwards (Maggie was remarkably unaffected, and certainly did not learn any lesson) remarked that it was something of a miracle that she threw it up. If not for my carpet. Fiona, 56, works for a non-profit research institute, Fulford, North Yorkshire

I have a partially sighted two-year-old red fox labrador and a more matronly five-year-old black lab. I have a long daily commute and my dogs come with me. There wasn’t space for a cage that was big enough for both labs in the boot of my small hatchback, meaning they had free access to the whole boot during our two hours on the road. Last year, the younger one, with possible assistance, ate up all the electrics she could get to, pulling them out from under the back seat. She also ate the floor of the boot, the polystyrene around the spare tyre and the backing of the back seats. All done in relative silence during our drive until the car suddenly stopped in the middle of the road as I was driving out of a car park one morning, with all the warning lights flashing. The entire car had to be rewired, costing around £8,000. Thank goodness for comprehensive car insurance. She is no longer allowed to travel in the boot unless she’s in her cage and, thankfully, nothing she ate needed advanced veterinary attention. Rebecca, 51, veterinary surgeon and researcher, Norway

Before he was two, my dog Spotty ate my garden lawn sprinklers (hoses and all), creating a maze of trenches. He ate 12 lawn lamps, a palm tree, all his mattresses (some in 30 seconds) and a few rugs, two of which were so entangled in his ears, legs and snout they had to be removed at the veterinary clinic (with a scalpel). The cherry on the cake was when he ate two wasps’ nests on two different occasions and, again, was taken to the veterinary ER, where he was the terror of the incredible vets there. Whenever they heard my car horn, they knew Spotty was coming with some weird emergency. He lived happily until 13, passing, against all odds, of natural causes. Isabel Tallysha-Soares, university professor, Portugal

The first “old dog” we adopted was a 16-year-old drahthaar named Carter. He wasn’t in great shape when we got him from the shelter, and we didn’t know anything about his previous life. We learned very quickly that he was fully capable of opening drawers and doors, and had most probably lost his sense of taste. Before we learned how to “Carter-proof” our home and my handbags, he ate several tampons, my menstrual cup and a shea butter soap (he didn’t make any bubbles and luckily didn’t get sick at all). He went on to eat my wallet, including my credit card. Aurélie Viard-Tebby, 43, dog adopter, É cuisses , France

My staffie Rupert, a rescue dog, decided to eat my reading glasses. I found the chewed-up frames, one arm and only one lens. Rupe showed no ill-effects. Staffies are insanely tough, emotional, daft but loyal dogs, so I guess he thought chowing down on my specs was a way of showing his devotion to me. Stephen Holloway, retired, East Anglia

When my children were little, I always made their birthday cakes. A particular favourite was a sofa-shaped Madeira cake, covered in pink fondant icing, with a Barbie doll arranged to sit on it. A neighbour asked if I would make one for her daughter, who was turning three and obsessed with Barbie, which I duly did. I remember the doll (a Florida Barbie complete with sunglasses). My neighbour was thrilled when she had the preview. I had to do something for my ageing parents at the time the party started, so I left the cake on the dining table and gave my husband instructions about how to get it to the party, along with our children. When I arrived, about half an hour after everyone else, I was horrified to see a supermarket cake with a transfer image of a Barbie doll face on top. I hissed at my husband, “What did you do with the actual cake?” He then revealed that our recently acquired rescue staffie, Macy, had polished off the whole thing – Barbie, sunglasses and all – and he had made a mercy dash to the local supermarket to be able to arrive with some kind of Barbie cake, rather than disappoint a three-year-old child. I was relieved that my neighbour had actually seen the cake, so that I didn’t look like a letdown merchant. Gil Sewell, 65, chief people and culture officer at a mental health NGO, Auckland, New Zealand

My driving licence fell out of my wallet and my dog Disco, a collie-cross rescue, must have found it. When asked what had happened to my old licence, I had to claim, “My dog ate it.” He also ate the F11 key off my computer keyboard. Fortunately, I had a spare. I think the common thread to these items is that they were things that I handled frequently. The F11 key controls the volume on my PC. James Skene, 48, computer programmer, Auckland, New Zealand

Our dog, a jack russell, has attempted to eat so many weird things it’s hard to narrow down the list: innumerable varieties of footwear (socks, slippers, shoes, boots, baby booties – he’s not proud), the slipcover from an old sofa, an entire bottle of baby aspirin, the stuffing and squeakers from squeaky toys, you name it. His most revolting food preference is rabbit poo. Our back yard teems with rabbits, so there is an abundance of poo. He leaps upon it with a gleam in his eye, like a little old gourmand who has spotted a bowl of beluga caviar. We retch, he grins. Anonymous, Minneapolis, US

On a walk one day, our sprocker spaniel puppy, Ozzy, picked something up, crunched it and swallowed it. It looked suspiciously like a shard of terracotta, about 3in long and 1in wide. Kind of like a piece of broken flowerpot. I took a few deep breaths and repeated to myself, “Don’t be silly, it was probably just a crunchy brown leaf. Why the hell would a dog eat a piece of terracotta?” It was only a couple of days later, when picking up a poo, that I noticed something sharp had torn the poo bag. I investigated and found three eye-wateringly sharp 1in-square pieces of terracotta in an otherwise uniform dog poo. Even though one of them appeared to have come out sideways, my oblivious adolescent dog did not bat an eyelid. Rai Fuge, 41, care worker, Launceston, Cornwall

We rescued Prince Harry from a pet shelter when he was one. He was skin and bones, and had many behavioural issues as he had been abandoned twice, including issues around food – it was obvious he had gone really hungry. At first we would only leave him alone for five minutes, but gradually built this up to one hour. However, when we forgot to hide the TV remote, we would come home to find it eaten. We’ve bought at least six new ones. One day we did hide the remote but he was obviously looking for something to chew. He jumped up high (around 1.6 metres) and took the phone intercom mouthpiece off the wall and ate it. Harry is a tall boy. Edward, campaign leader, Barcelona, Spain

I have a small-medium mutt dog named Freddy Krueger, after her little velociraptor claws. A strange mix of breeds, ranging from chihuahua to Australian cattle dog, she was a feral desert puppy picked up with one sibling by a rescue. No one knew how long they had survived the Sonoran desert on their own. Due to her peculiar start in life she has always had peculiar habits, particularly with regards to food. All these years later, she still can’t resist scavenging whenever she’s outside. The weirdest thing that I have seen her eat is habanero peppers, fully ripe and fresh off the vine. I was at a friend’s house for lunch in the back yard when I noticed Freddy kept disappearing into their bushes. We realised that she was sneaking into the undergrowth of the pepper patch to pluck fresh habaneros off the plants and scarf them down. I have no idea how many she gleefully consumed that day. All I know is she cannot be trusted around pepper plants any more. Shockingly, she never experienced any digestive upset after her pepper binge, nor anything else she’s ever eaten. She should be studied for science. Sarah, 36, student and education assistant, Canada

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 .

Keyword – Football
Trefwoorden – World Cup 2026, World Cup, Football, Sport, US sports, New York, US news
Title – ‘The perfect job’: meet the fans being paid to watch all 104 World Cup games in Times Square | World Cup 2026 | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/ed-aarons
Link – ‘The perfect job’: meet the fans being paid to watch all 104 World Cup games in Times Square | World Cup 2026 | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-16T10:00:07.000Z
Category – Sport
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/football/2026/jun/16/the-perfect-job-meet-the-fans-being-paid-to-watch-all-104-world-cup-games-in-times-square

W hen Kevin Kotoko heard that he had been selected as one of Fox’s chief World Cup watchers he had no hesitation in accepting. What self-respecting football fan could turn down the opportunity to be paid $50,000 (£37,000) to take in all 104 games at this World Cup, after all?

The only issues were that he would have to watch every match in a custom-built viewing cube in the heart of Times Square and let his employers know that he wouldn’t be coming in for work the next day. “I quit my job,” admits Kotoko, a Liverpool fan who is from Florida and was working as a waiter in a restaurant. “I found out on Thursday that I had won the competition and so I told them on Friday that would be my last day!”

He is sharing the giant fishbowl for the next six weeks with Austin Franklin after they were selected from thousands of applicants who uploaded videos on social media pitching for the role. Both are expected to “create social media content, record their reactions, and engage with fans” throughout the tournament as part of the deal.

According to Franklin, who describes himself as an influencer from Philadelphia, it has been a surreal but enjoyable experience so far.

“It has really felt a bit like being on the Truman Show,” Franklin says. “I forget at times that we’re here. I’m watching a game for minutes and then I look over at Kevin and I see people on top of me. It’s like: ‘Oh my God!’ There’s 30 people watching us, watching games, most of the time. It is a weird experience.”

Kotoko adds: “We’re trying to stay authentic in the process of the job, I guess. So it’s finding that balance between making sure we’re engaged with the game, but also showcasing what we’re doing.”

Their presence in one of the city’s busiest thoroughfares has certainly attracted plenty of interest. One curious onlooker was overheard asking whether they are living in the cube for the whole tournament, while Franklin reveals that the most common question they have been asked is where do they go to the toilet. “I like the idea of finding it,” Franklin says. “That’s kind of fun for me. I’ve got 15 minutes to be, like, ‘all right, let’s see where I can find me a bathroom today.’”

There are facilities at the swanky hotel both are staying at around the corner, with food inspired by each participating nation also being served up inside the cube. When the Guardian visited for the opening match of the tournament between Mexico and South Africa , there was a carnival atmosphere outside as the co-hosts swept to a convincing victory and both watchers partied on the streets afterwards.

“There was a woman who sat right behind me in one of those chairs for the entire 90 minutes, and I went up to her and said: ‘Thank you so much for your time’,” says Franklin. “I gave her a big hug, and she told me about how she was born in Mexico, moved to New York , and used to watch all the Mexico games with her dad. Her dad passed away a few years ago, so I was like: ‘You’re going to make me cry’. So now I’m like that’s a team that I want to do well. You feel this connection and that’s what the World Cup is all about.”

Both have high hopes for the United States too after their excellent start against Paraguay . “I think the expectation is they can get into the quarter-finals at least. Then, who knows?” says Kotoko. “This is our golden generation so I think you should put that pressure on them.”

The unprecedented and unrelenting schedule of the expanded 48-team tournament means this will be a marathon and not a sprint. For the next three weeks there are four games every day stretching across three time zones as the group stages continue and both are fully aware of the challenge that schedule will pose.

“I think it’s just, like, trying to feed ourselves and making sure that we’re trying to keep the energy up, making sure we’re taking care of ourselves,” says Kotoko, who is also hoping that Ghana can make an impression at this World Cup, having been born there.

“I mean, I’m sitting on a couch, watching football. It’s pretty fun,” says Franklin. “There is something about the spirit of the World Cup that takes over. We have pretty much the perfect job.”

Keyword – Life and style
Trefwoorden – Life and style, Technology, Smartphones, Data and computer security, Mobile phones, Telecoms
Title – Readers reply: Experts say we should use passkeys, but can a smartphone pin really be safer than a password? | Life and style | The Guardian
Author –
Link – Readers reply: Experts say we should use passkeys, but can a smartphone pin really be safer than a password? | Life and style | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-14T13:00:45.000Z
Category – Lifestyle
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2026/jun/14/readers-reply-experts-say-we-should-use-passkeys-but-can-a-smartphone-pin-really-be-safer-than-a-password

I ’ve been struggling to get my head around the idea that a passkey, which can be a pin on your phone, or facial recognition, can be safer than using a complicated password and two-factor authentication.

I get that having something unique to your device, not stored on a company’s server, is unphishable and less hackable by cybercrims, but what if your phone is nicked and someone guesses the password? And what if you lose your phone?

Sorry if that sounds simplistic, but I am genuinely stumped to understand why the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre and others who know about these things are so sold on passkeys. Can anyone who’s used them enlighten me? Martin Avis, Chester

Send new questions to nq@theguardian.com .

Readers reply

The question is legit and deserves a proper answer. First, passkeys are safer than passwords simply because login using a password is vulnerable to a hacker anywhere in the entire world, while a physical passkey is vulnerable only to a hacker who can steal your phone (as the crypto used by a passkey is out of reach of hacking by anyone but state actors – and they don’t need to hack your bank account). Second, when someone steals your phone, you tend to notice very quickly and can cancel (revoke) your passkey on your accounts; if your password login is hacked, you may not notice for a long time. No security system is perfect, but passkeys are still a good step up compared to a password. wyldfam

Passkeys are good, strong protection – much better than passwords. Create a 10-digit pin on your phone from random numbers and remember it so it’s second nature. On an iPhone, turn on “Stolen Device Protection”. [On Android, it’s Identity Check.] And if you’re really serious about security, enable iOS’s “Lockdown Mode” [or Android’s “Advanced Protection Mode”]. That’s my opinion. TechGirl

Passwords are built on an inherent weakness known as a “shared secret”. That is, your password must be “shared” between you and the website you’re accessing. This is so your password can be sent to the website and verified when you login. The problem with this is that if a server is hacked and your data is stolen, your password can be lifted from the hacked data and reused by the hacker without your knowledge.

Passkeys don’t have this weakness. A passkey is (very simply) a really complex value that’s used as a start for a mathematical calculation, the result of which is sent to the website. This mathematical result is then verified to have come from only your passkey using a totally different complex value. The beauty is that your passkey is never sent to the website (only the result is), so if the website is hacked, your passkey can’t be stolen and can’t be reused. Passkeys are stored in your phone, laptop or password manager and unlocked using a simple pin or biometrics, so they’re super easy to use, while still maintaining that highly secure underlying technology. There are more benefits to using passkeys, though being easy to use and “unphishable” are the most obvious ones. If given the choice, pick passkey every time. gh05ted

I really can’t understand these answers. I tend not to use things I don’t understand. My passwords are partly written on a piece of paper. The accounts they refer to are on a separate piece in a different place written in a way only I could make much sense of. I do use two-factor authentication where required or available. I don’t use a password manager. Good luck if you can hack that. I’m very suspicious of all this. I suspect it is software companies trying to self stuff we don’t need and making things more complicated than they need to be. dannytheclown

The whole subject seems very confusing. My initial understanding of passkeys, after Microsoft suggested their use on my PC, was that they were simply supposed to be a convenience, because they were easier to enter then passwords. Recent publicity now indicates that they should be more secure because they are tied to hardware and cannot be used remotely by hackers. On the other hand, you may be able to sync them between devices, which seems to introduce possible vulnerabilities.

Between fingerprints, pins, passwords, passkeys, password managers, two-factor authentication via apps or text messages – not to mention Google, Apple or Windows offering to save and enter your passwords (and passkeys?) automatically – getting security right is a minefield for Joe (or Joanna) Bloggs. Getting access to your system again if it crashes and you have forgotten key passwords after years of letting it log on itself is also a severe risk. GordonLiv

I’ve resisted using a passkey because it is tied to a single device. What happens if I want to access my bank account and I’m away from my desktop? Then I need to have passkeys on my laptop and maybe on my phone as well. In the latter case, my security only becomes as secure as my phone (which can easily end up in the hands of others). What happens if I have lost access to all of my devices and need to get money urgently? So I am continuing to use a password. Every high-value site has its own very different password, which is not stored in a password manager, but in my memory. And on a bit of paper, which I can take with me when travelling – but that has the information in an incomplete, coded form, so would be useless to anyone else. It’s not as strong as a passkey tied to a single device – but it’s unlikely to leave me stranded. Jiminoz

Ugh. I think back to my childhood and younger adult life when your “password” was your signature. We didn’t ask for this complicated world – we were told life would be so much easier when we logged on to do this or that. We had no choice in any of it and now look where we are. The burden for protecting ourselves from the life we didn’t ask for falls directly on to us. And of course, it’s our fault when we get hacked. To that end, I’ll stick with my password manager. ElleWoods

Since September 2024 , the US National Institute of Standards and Technology has stopped recommending “enforcing arbitrary password complexity requirements such as mixing uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers and special characters. Instead, the focus has shifted to password length as the primary factor in password strength”. The web comic XKCD explains why passphrases are better than passwords. mu5epen7ra

When I die, how do I ensure that my executor can access my passkey to control my accounts? BarnerCobblewood

In reply: Use a password manager and store the “root of trust” on a physical piece of paper and store it in a safe place. Storing a “root of trust” for your password manager means storing sufficient information to regain access to your password manager account, even if you lose all your devices. Typically, it includes long and random recovery codes. For example, 1Password generates an “emergency kit” as part of the initial setup. This is a pdf you physically print out for exactly this purpose. A relative or executor can use the emergency kit to re-establish access to your password manager and all its data. jmsgwd

I was going to tell you all how I use passwords, but now that I’ve read all the comments I’m scared to reveal anything. Goldgreen

Keyword – World news
Trefwoorden – Sweden, Europe, World news, The far right, Migration
Title – Sweden votes to back laws reinforcing its immigration crackdown | Sweden | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/ashifa-kassam
Link – Sweden votes to back laws reinforcing its immigration crackdown | Sweden | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-16T04:00:44.000Z
Category – News
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jun/16/sweden-votes-to-back-laws-reinforcing-its-immigration-crackdown

Sweden’s parliament has voted to escalate the country’s crackdown on immigrant rights, backing laws that allow authorities to revoke residency permits based on a vague criteria of bad behaviour and obliging most public sector workers to report anyone suspected of being undocumented.

The new legislation comes ahead of parliamentary elections in September, pitting the centre-right government, which currently depends on the support of the far-right Sweden Democrats to govern, against a far right that has said its intent is to create one of Europe’s most hostile environments for non-Europeans.

Late on Monday, parliamentarians voted to pass the so-called “good behaviour” law, which would cover pending and future residents but also be applied retroactively to many of the country’s current residents.

“Anyone ‌who doesn’t make the effort to do the right thing shouldn’t be able to count on staying,” Sweden’s minister of migration, Johan Forssell, said in March when he proposed the bill.

While the law does not specify the types of behaviour that would be deemed unacceptable, the government has previously mentioned examples such as unpaid debts, failing to pay taxes, criminality, and links to extremist organisations.

The task of reviewing permits would fall to the Swedish migration agency, and any decisions can be appealed against.

The law has been fiercely criticised by opposition politicians and rights groups, who have described the criteria as arbitrary.

“This would lead to the risk of residence permits being denied or revoked based on behaviour that was neither illegal nor punishable for Swedish citizens,” Amnesty International noted recently .

The Stockholm-based group Civil Rights Defenders said the legislation “undermines the rule of law”. In a statement it added: “The good behaviour law leaves people in uncertainty about what actions or expressions can be used against them.”

The country’s parliament also voted to narrowly back a contentious, so-called “snitch law” that will require many public sector workers to report anyone they believe is undocumented.

Critics of the new law, which passed with 174 votes in favour and 172 against, have long warned that it will negatively impact migrants’ physical and mental health while also significantly increasing the risk of racial profiling.

“It is a cruel, ineffective policy and opens up the Pandora’s box of snitching – a trademark of authoritarian states,” said Jacob Lind, a postdoctoral researcher in international migration at Malmö University, in a statement.

“Today’s vote will have devastating consequences for undocumented migrants who will be further pushed into the margins of society as their access to rights is restricted.”

After widespread criticism, teachers, doctors and social workers have been exempted from reporting obligations. Employees of tax authorities and employment and social insurance agencies, however, are among those who would have to notify police when they have reasons to believe they have been in contact with people who do not have residency papers.

Louise Bonneau of the Platform for International Cooperation on Undocumented Migrants, described it as a “serious setback for human rights” in the country.

“The so-called exemptions for healthcare, schools and social services don’t offer sufficient protection: in practice, information will flow between service providers, agencies, and immigration authorities,” she said, meaning some would probably avoid contact with healthcare professionals altogether.

Her view is backed by Swedish researchers who, following interviews with public servants, warned that the law would, in effect, turn public employees into border police.

They cited the example of a mother who delivers a child with the help of a midwife; while the midwife is exempt from reporting, they would need to register the baby with tax authorities, who could then report the family to police.

The Swedish government has long defended the measures, arguing that they are needed to ensure that those who are not legally allowed to stay in Sweden can be sent to their home countries.

The new reporting requirements have few equivalents across Europe; Finland has long been considering whether to expand such obligations, while in Germany, social welfare offices have for two decades wrestled with reporting requirements.

In 2012, the UK’s Theresa May introduced the “hostile environment” policies that sought to limit access to work, benefits, bank accounts, driving licences and other essential services for those who could not prove they had the legal right to live in Britain.

It later emerged that many who were in the UK legally were unable to prove their status and that the Home Office was frequently misclassifying legal residents as immigration offenders, leading the National Audit Office to conclude in 2018 that hostile environment policies did not provide value for money for taxpayers.

On Monday, the European Public Services Union pushed back against the idea that workers would be forced to act as informants, with Jan Willem Goudriaan of the union saying that now was not the time for a “new witch hunt”.

Instead, he called for governments to be reminded that “public services would cease functioning without migrant workers in Sweden and many EU member states.”

The new law would fuel a climate of “suspicion, fear and racism,” he added, while also threatening people’s fundamental right to asylum. “It merely legitimises the far-right, who are all too happy to see their wildest dreams of mass surveillance, detention, and deportation come true at the expense of public service ethics.”

Keyword – Football
Trefwoorden – World Cup, World Cup 2026, Football, Sport, Japan, South Korea, Australia, Qatar, Australia sport
Title – Could Asian teams be catching up with Europe at this World Cup? | World Cup | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/jonathanwilson
Link – Could Asian teams be catching up with Europe at this World Cup? | World Cup | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-15T14:47:35.000Z
Category – Sport
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/football/2026/jun/15/could-asian-teams-be-catching-up-to-europe-at-this-world-cup

D aichi Kamada’s late equaliser for Japan against the Netherlands on Sunday did not merely mean that the scoreline more accurately reflected the game. It also extended to four the unbeaten run of teams from the Asian confederation against Europe at this tournament. There is a degree of contingency to that record, and nobody should draw definitive conclusions from the first week of a World Cup, but equally if there were a shift in the power dynamics of world football, it might look a bit like this.

The tone was set on day one with South Korea’s victory over Czech Republic . It perhaps shouldn’t have come as a surprise to anybody who saw their qualifying playoff semi-final against Ireland that the Czechs would be so ponderous and lumbering, a side that understood the value of dead balls and long throws and little else. But still, the ease with which South Korea passed their way around them was striking. If Son Heung-min had been the player he was three or four years ago, the Korean victory would have been far more emphatic.

The other AFC win over Europe saw Australia beat Turkey . Again, nobody could really claim that this Turkey, who dragged their way to qualification with 1-0 wins over Romania and Kosovo in the Uefa playoffs, really represent the pride of Europe. Nor was there any great sense that they’d been outplayed by Australia. Rather, Turkey had 30 shots but came up against an inspired goalkeeper in Patrick Beach, who made eight saves. But still, Australia had a smart gameplan that worked, and it wasn’t quite the smash and grab the stats may make it appear.

Qatar’s draw with Switzerland can be attributed less to clever strategy. They sat in, seemed content to keep the score down and got away with it as Switzerland wasted chance after chance. Even the goal Switzerland did score – via a first-half Breel Embolo penalty – was controversial, the semi-automated offside apparently breaking down at the key moment. Miro Muheim’s injury-time own goal gifted Qatar a point, but it was not one they had ever looked likely to achieve. Switzerland had 26 shots to Qatar’s six and, on another day, could have won by three or four. So, again, it would be hard to portray that as a victory that demonstrated any sort of Asian superiority.

The really intriguing game was that draw between Japan and the Netherlands. Even without three key players in Kaoru Mitoma, Wataru Endo and Takumi Minamino, Japan are highly fancied and they showed exactly why. There have been two real heavyweight clashes so far in this World Cup: Brazil v Morocco and the Netherlands v Japan. Both finished level. In both, it was the up-and-coming side who probably shaded the game. And in both cases, the up-and-coming side seemed to be playing the style of football more usually associated with their opponents.

Morocco played with a fluency and verve, confident in possession, a pleasing smoothness to their passing. Japan interchanged positions and, although they had only 40% possession, there was a purpose and precision to their attacks that was redolent of the Dutch at their best. But crucially, there was no sense of inferiority.

That’s something the Japan coach, Hajime Moriyasu, has stressed over the past few months. He is worried that his side have a mental block about progressing further than the last 16 and has chosen to address it by speaking of his side as potential champions. That may be a psychological ploy to jolt his players through the last-16 barrier but equally, if the Netherlands are contenders, why not Japan?

The left wing-back Keito Nakamura, who scored the first goal, was one of two Japan starters to achieve a 90% pass accuracy, along with the defender Hiroki Ito. Kamada was aggressive and intelligent in the centre of midfield. Junya Ito came off the bench to offer creative edge. The 23-year-old Zion Suzuki may live up to predictions that he will be the best ever Japanese keeper. If there was a slight disappointment, it was the centre-forward Ayase Ueda, who struggled to impose himself, but he showed at Feyenoord last season just how effective he can be.

AFC teams have in the past perhaps been guilty of lacking belief against Uefa sides, but no longer. Japan celebrated the equaliser as any side that has snatched a draw should, but the disappointment when they fell behind was clear. First and second in this group play second and first in the Brazil, Morocco, Scotland, Haiti group. It’s an indication of how far both Morocco and Japan have come that it’s not at all clear that it would be easier to face them than Brazil or the Netherlands.

Four games are nowhere near sufficient for grand sweeping statements, but perhaps the best Asian sides are drawing closer to Europe.

This is an extract from Soccer Desk: World Cup edition, a newsletter from the Guardian US that will run regularly during the tournament. Subscribe for free here.

Keyword – Football
Trefwoorden – World Cup 2026, Argentina, World Cup, River Plate, Football, Sport
Title – Class acts: the maths teacher who taught Argentina’s Álvarez and Fernández | World Cup 2026 | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/jonathanwilson
Link – Class acts: the maths teacher who taught Argentina’s Álvarez and Fernández | World Cup 2026 | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-16T11:00:07.000Z
Category – Sport
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/football/2026/jun/16/enzo-fernandez-julian-alvarez-argentina-river-plate-teacher-world-cup-2026

F or all Argentinians, sitting down to watch the 2022 World Cup final was special – but for Luciana Alvarengue there was additional emotion. In the Argentina side were not one but two players to whom she had taught maths at school: Enzo Fernández and Julián Álvarez.

“They are still my students, even if they are no longer in the classroom,” she says. “To see it with my son telling me: ‘Mamá, there are your students’ … that’s really nice.”

Alvarengue was 26 when, in 2012, she took a job at the school run by River Plate . The school was housed at Estadio Monumental, which meant lessons would be cancelled if River had a midweek game. Now, though, they have moved to a purpose-built facility a few minutes’ walk from the stadium. The school hall is dominated by six photographs – lvarez, Fernández, Gonzalo Montiel, Exequiel Palacios, Germán Pezzella and Guido Rodríguez: the players who attended the school who were in the 2022 World Cup squad.

The school is not just for footballers, or even for sportspeople (River also run teams in a wide variety of other sports, from hockey to chess), but Alvarengue soon realised the role was quite different from anything she had done before. Many of the pupils live in club accommodation, away from their families, and that meant they tended to form closer bonds with their teachers. “The boys would come and give you a kiss when they came to greet you,” she says. “‘Good morning, teacher, good afternoon.’”

That was particularly true of Álvarez, who is from Calchín, in the province of Córdoba, seven hours’ drive north-west of Buenos Aires. Away from his family, he needed more emotional support and would regularly give Alvarengue a hug. Álvarez was 12 when she started teaching him, Fernández 11; she taught both up to the age of 14. They were in different school years and very different personalities.

“You either love maths or you hate it,” Alvarengue says. “There are no grey areas. Julián was very good at maths. He had a very good way of working in the classroom in general. Enzo was a little more difficult to deal with. There are days when you would say he was more focused on a game, on whether he was going to be selected or not.

“When he came into the classroom, Enzo liked to make sounds, banging his pencil case on the table. I remember entering the classroom, and on the left side was Enzo’s place, and he was with his back against the wall, his feet on the other bench, and there were days when he was like: ‘Today I’m going to stay like this.’ Julián was calmer, much more respectful.

“In Enzo’s case, he was always thinking about football, what he wanted to do, who they were playing. And about what game was coming next, how he saw it, if they needed to make any changes, if they had to travel – it was 100% football all the time.

“I couldn’t start any class without asking him how the weekend went. Julián in the school environment was more focused on saying: ‘I’m at school, I’m going to study.’ But the two were always very positive leaders in the classroom. It was very nice to talk to them because it seemed that you were talking to adults, not children.”

That maturity, Alvarengue says, is characteristic of the best players. “It’s their teammates who notice there’s something special about them,” she says. “It’s not that they’re leaders of the group and always end up being captain, but they would tell others that they don’t know how to play. You can see a different discipline in football players. I always say that goalkeepers are extremely disciplined.”

That means sacrifice. Alvarengue remembers Álvarez once being upset because he could not go on a camping trip because of his footballing commitments. Athletes were banned from PE lessons at school, but teachers would find themselves constantly having to intervene as impromptu games broke out using a scrunched-up ball of paper or a can as a ball. “We were terrified they would get injured,” Alvarengue says.

Fitting education around pupils’ sporting commitments was never easy, which is one of the reasons the school was set up. It is common for pupils to be away for a fortnight or more on tours or for tournaments, but teachers are used to preparing work for them to take with them, and coaches then to supporting them in completing the prescribed exercises. The key is persuading students that education is part of their development as an athlete.

“Their head really says: ‘I want to do this, I want to succeed in sport,’” Alvarengue says. “And they don’t understand that education is part of being able to react quickly to a stimulus, to understand a word, to improve their speed to obtain certain things. So we always try to orient the academic part to something that they can see reflected in their training,.In mathematics, for example, we often work on statistics. So: ‘What were your stats? How many games did you play? How many goals did you score?’ They need to see that what we are teaching them really is useful for their sports career.”

Fernández in effect quit school at 14 but, acknowledging the importance of education, completed his studies remotely in his late teens while playing for River’s first team.

What would the pair have done if they had not made it as footballers? Alvarengue is reluctant to answer, saying she cannot conceive of them doing anything else, but eventually agrees that Álvarez could have done something that required a university education, and been a lawyer or an accountant. And Fernández? “He really liked hitting things,” she says uncertainly. “So, a drummer?”

Players are never formed by a single club or one coach, but by a range of influences. As she watched Argentina beat France in the final in Lusail, Alvarengue could reflect that she had played some small part in their triumph. “I can always think that they passed through our classrooms. I hope they took something away.”

Keyword – World news
Trefwoorden – Spain, Renewable energy, Wind power, Solar power, Gas, Oil, Energy, Environment, Energy industry, US-Israel war on Iran, Europe, World news
Title – Spanish households save €10 a month thanks to renewables expansion, report finds | Spain | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/ajit-niranjan
Link – Spanish households save €10 a month thanks to renewables expansion, report finds | Spain | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-16T07:00:47.000Z
Category – News
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jun/16/spanish-households-save-renewables-expansion-electricity-gas-prices-iran-war

Spanish households save €10 a month on electricity bills because of wind turbines and solar panels installed in the last five years, a report has found.

Typical energy bills would be 19% more expensive if electricity costs were still as tightly coupled to gas prices as in 2021, according to Ember, a climate thinktank. It found Spain’s “strategic” expansion of renewables since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022 has shielded Spanish households from the latest rises in fossil fuel prices caused by the Iran war.

“We just had a 60% rise in gas prices and electricity bills in Spain basically haven’t reacted – they actually got a bit cheaper in April,” said Chris Rosslowe, an analyst at Ember and the lead author of the report. “That’s a clear and obvious contrast to the previous gas crisis, when electricity bills were climbing immediately.”

Burning fossil gas is one of the most expensive ways to generate electricity in Europe , even before considering the health costs of the carbon emissions. The influence of gas on electricity prices in Spain fell from 52% of hours in 2021 to 9% of hours in the first five months of 2026, according to the analysis. In Italy, which has the highest wholesale electricity prices in Europe, gas influences the price 75% of the time.

The report found electricity prices in Spain rose by about 50% in the first half of 2021 – in line with European gas prices – but remained “largely unaffected” by higher gas prices in 2026. The effects of volatility in the wholesale gas markets was seen only as higher price peaks during the dwindling periods when large volumes of gas had to be burned.

Mar Reguant, an energy economist at Northwestern University, who was not involved in the report but whose research findings painted “the same picture”, said ambitious policy helped Spain make the most of favourable conditions. Compared with the rest of Europe, these include decent wind, “unbeatable solar” and pre-existing pumped hydropower storage.

“There is no question that Spain and Portugal are greatly benefiting from their early transition,” she said. “The Iberian peninsula has a privileged position and has acted smartly.”

Wind and solar generated 33% of Spain’s electricity in 2021. By 2025, the share had risen to 42%.

In other European countries that also expanded renewables at great speed – such as Germany, which increased its share of wind and solar in power generation from 28% to 45% in the last five years – the consumer benefits have been more muted as they have displaced other forms of energy, such as coal and nuclear.

The analysis, which used data from March and April 2026, took a regulated electricity tariff paid by about one-third of Spanish households and modelled the size of the bill under a scenario in which renewables added in the last five years had not been installed.

It accounted for balancing costs paid during periods when renewables generate too much or too little but did not consider the hidden costs society pays for different forms of power generation, such as increased health costs that fossil fuel pollution brings.

Dr Diego García Gusano, a senior energy planning researcher at Tecnalia, a Basque technology centre, who was not involved in the analysis, said Spain’s gas-fired power plants still set the price during key hours and that frequent periods of very low prices were weakening the investment signal for further renewables.

The slow deployment of storage and limited flexibility in electricity demand had “intensified” the situation, he added, preventing the system from efficiently absorbing excess renewable generation.

“Spain is less exposed to gas shocks than other countries, but it is not immune,” Gusano said. “The bet on renewables is very sound, but much more is needed to make that bet structural and not circumstantial.”

Keyword – US news
Trefwoorden – California, US military, Plane crashes, West Coast, US news, World news
Title – Eight presumed dead after B-52 bomber crashes at California air force base | California | The Guardian
Author – Guardian staff and agencies
Link – Eight presumed dead after B-52 bomber crashes at California air force base | California | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-16T00:59:42.000Z
Category – News
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jun/15/b52-bomber-crash-california-military-base

Eight people are presumed dead after a B-52 bomber crashed shortly after takeoff on Monday morning at a US air force base in California ’s Mojave Desert, officials said.

“An Air Force B-52 Stratofortress carrying eight people on a routine test mission crashed today shortly after take-off at 11:20 a.m,” Edwards air force base said in a statement Monday afternoon. “Initial indications are that the crash was not survivable. Emergency response personnel are on scene, and officials are working to account for all personnel.”

Those who died comprised military members, government employees and civilian contractors, according to James Hayes, the deputy commander at Edwards air force base. Officials do not plan to release the names of those who died in the crash until after next of kin are notified, he said.

“Right now our thoughts and prayers are with the families of those that lost their loved ones,” Hayes said at a news conference.

Aerial footage showed virtually nothing left of an aircraft. Black smoke rose from a large swath of charred desert at Edwards air force base near what appeared to be a runway, with emergency vehicles nearby. The military hasn’t said whether the bomber was armed.

The Boeing B-52 Stratofortress, typically crewed by five people, is a long-range bomber that entered service in 1955. Designed to carry both conventional and nuclear weapons, it has been used in conflicts ranging from the Vietnam war to recent operations in the Middle East.

The plane was being flown on a test mission as part of a program to modernize its radar from analog to digital, according to ABC News 7. The program aims to keep planes like the one that crashed in service until the year 2050, or about a century of total use.

Officials said they could not provide details about how the crash occurred. Officials have begun to collect information for a safety review that will then be submitted to an accident investigation board that will then determine how much of its findings to make public, Hayes said. The process may take up to six months.

The airfield remained closed Monday afternoon and all inbound aircraft were being diverted. Non-commercial visitor passes for the base were suspended “to allow the installation to focus entirely on emergency response operations”, officials said in a statement.

Edwards, the vast desert base where Chuck Yeager broke the speed of sound in 1947, is about 100 miles (161km) north of Los Angeles.

Jeff Guzzetti, an aviation safety expert, says he suspects there was some kind of flight control malfunction given how the B-52 crashed so quickly after takeoff without getting very high or going far. But it’s too soon to say what might have caused the control problem.

It’s possible the controls were rigged wrong after maintenance, he said, or there was a catastrophic engine problem or a failure of a piece of equipment that was being tested.

“I think it was definitely a controllability issue. Now, whether that was tied to an engine failure, a flight control failure or some new testing device failure, I’m not sure,” said Guzzetti, who used to investigate crashes for the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board.

Although the air force has been flying B-52 bombers for more than 70 years, testing out new equipment on a plane can create new challenges.

“A flight test is always riskier than normal operations, so that’s why you have specially trained test pilots, and you should have other safety protocols,” Guzzetti said.

Keyword – UK news
Trefwoorden – Social media ban, Social media, Digital media, Social networking, Internet safety, Young people, Children, Keir Starmer, Labour, Politics, Media, Trump administration, Society, UK news, Technology
Title – UK ministers lobby Trump to avert backlash against social media ban | Social media ban | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/kiran-stacey,https://www.theguardian.com/profile/danmilmo,https://www.theguardian.com/profile/aisha-down
Link – UK ministers lobby Trump to avert backlash against social media ban | Social media ban | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-16T08:05:09.000Z
Category – News
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/media/2026/jun/15/uk-ministers-lobby-trump-backlash-social-media-ban

Ministers have embarked on a concerted lobbying operation to prevent a backlash from the Trump administration to the under-16s social media ban announced by Keir Starmer.

Officials said they had spent weeks trying to reassure senior Trump officials and the US president himself that the restrictions were not specifically aimed at US technology companies.

The ban on platforms including X, Facebook, YouTube, Snapchat and TikTok makes the UK one of the first countries in the world to put sweeping limits on social media for children, after Australia did the same earlier this year.

But British officials are aware of the risk of retaliation from Trump, whom Starmer will meet at the G7 summit in Évian-les-Bains this week and who has previously threatened the UK with “a big tariff” if the government does not drop its digital services tax.

One person involved in the effort said ministers had taken a three-pronged approach to “engage the companies, pre-brief the administration and mythbust in the media”. They added: “This is about protecting children in Britain, not taking on US tech.”

Asked about the possibility of sparking a fresh row with Washington, Starmer said: “I honestly think that across world leaders there has always been a recognition that leaders have to take steps to protect children.”

He added: “In relation to President Trump, I spoke to him on Saturday, I’ll see him again this afternoon and, yes, of course, we’ll discuss this and many other issues, and lots of other leaders are very interested in it.”

By Monday evening, the US president had not commented on the plans. However, his ally Elon Musk, who owns X, posted : “This censorship law is a wolf in sheep’s clothing. The real goal is to enable the UK government to track everyone.”

The plans involve a wider set of restrictions than have been applied in Australia. As well as setting age limits for many social media platforms, the government will prevent under-16s from livestreaming themselves, will ban adults from making unsolicited contact with children on gaming sites and will ban children under 18 from engaging with “romantic” chatbots.

Certain services have been specifically excluded, including YouTube Kids, Lego Play and Google Classroom.

Ministers are working on further limits to be unveiled next month, including late-night social media curfews for 16- and 17-year-olds.

Officials suggested on Monday that there could be additional regulations for virtual private networks (VPNs), which allow users to circumvent geographical internet controls.

Daniel Berntsson, the chief executive of Mullvad VPN, said he thought the government would probably require companies like his to demand users provide identification to prove their age.

The move could have a huge impact on the lives of young people. Among 13- to 15-year-olds, nine out of 10 have a social media account and say their main sources of news are YouTube, TikTok, Facebook and Instagram.

Starmer told a press conference in Downing Street: “Social media is making children unhappy, it’s making it easier for bullies to harass and abuse them, and it could even be harming their mental health.”

The prime minister once opposed such a move but said he had been persuaded by the evidence that had been gathered during the government’s 12-week consultation.

He denied rushing his announcement in an attempt to cement his legacy should he be ousted as prime minister in the coming weeks.

On Tuesday the technology secretary, Liz Kendall, said she had no doubt many teenagers would get around the ban but that it would still prompt a culture change.

“I have no doubt children who are currently on social media, for whom it’s an integral part of their lives, will try and get around the ban, and many will succeed,” she said. “But we do think we need to draw this line in the sand, give greater clarity to parents and greater protections for children.”

Kendall said the restrictions would not be foolproof but that the move was about “resetting expectations” for teens and even younger children over what they had access to.

“I’ve never thought that the ban will be a complete silver bullet … It will be as much about resetting expectations and social norms for children who are seven, eight, nine, 10, now that they won’t be going on social media until they’re 16,” she told the BBC.

Andy Burnham, the Greater Manchester mayor, is hoping to win the Makerfield byelection later this week and has promised to challenge the prime minister if he does so.

Starmer said: “This is a huge statement of our values, who we are as a country. And it’s a way of actually bringing our country together.”

The announcement was welcomed by the Conservatives – who called for a ban several months ago – Labour backbenchers and several campaign groups.

Esther Ghey, the mother of the murdered teenager Brianna Ghey, said she was happy about the ban and it could “save so many children’s lives”.

But it has encountered scepticism from some experts, including an independent expert panel convened by the government, which found the impact of social media was “nuanced” and did bring some benefits to teenagers.

The world’s largest technology companies have warned that the move would push teenagers towards more dangerous parts of the internet, but they are not thought to be preparing legal action to block it.

A spokesperson for Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, said: “As we’ve seen in Australia, bans risk isolating teens from online communities and information, and driving them to unregulated alternatives that lack built-in protections and parental controls.”

YouTube said: “Blanket bans push kids out of such curated, supervised, beneficial experiences and towards anonymous, less-safe services.”

Ministers have asked the media regulator, Ofcom, to come up with detailed proposals for how to enforce the ban. Companies could be asked to take into account written forms of identification, the number of years spent on a platform and facial recognition tools when deciding whether people should be allowed to use their services.

Ofcom will make its recommendations in the autumn, while Kendall said on Monday she wanted to see a ban in place “as early as possible … first couple of months of 2027 ”.

This article was amended on 16 June 2026. An earlier version incorrectly said the UK would be the second country to introduce social media limits for children.