Keyword – Football
Trefwoorden – World Cup 2026, David Beckham, Tom Cruise, Football, World Cup, Sport
Title – David Beckham joins Hollywood Walk of Fame as World Cup comes to LA | World Cup 2026 | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/guardian-sport
Link – David Beckham joins Hollywood Walk of Fame as World Cup comes to LA | World Cup 2026 | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-13T09:09:43.000Z
Category – Sport
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/football/2026/jun/13/david-beckham-joins-hollywood-walk-of-fame-world-cup

David Beckham has been honoured with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Beckham called the ceremony “surreal” as his wife, Victoria, and his friend Tom Cruise praised him at the ceremony.

Cruise lauded Beckham’s journey, saying it was “a Hollywood story” of hard work, determination and global influence on sport and culture.

Rather than a traditional red carpet, the ceremony featured a green soccer-themed one to commemorate the occasion.

“I’ve always been a dreamer, but I could never have imagined that an honor like this would come to a working-class English soccer player like me,” Beckham said. “How fitting then that I am here today as we prepare to celebrate the opening here in the US of the 2026 World Cup . It’s a powerful moment to recognize how the sport I love so much has grown in this country over the past three decades.”

Beckham , who spent six seasons with LA Galaxy from 2007 and is the co-owner of Inter Miami, said: “To stand here in front of my friend Tom Cruise , the greatest movie star of our time, is quite frankly mind-blowing.”

He told the actor: “You welcomed us to LA 20 years ago and you have been a loyal friend and an inspiration to me ever since.”

Beckham and Cruise joined other celebrities at the Los Angeles Stadium, where a Hollywood-style opening ceremony preceded the United States’s opening game with Paraguay, which they won 4-1 . Leonardo DiCaprio, Halle Berry, Rob Lowe, Owen Wilson and Paris Hilton were among those looking on as performers danced around a giant World Cup trophy in the middle of the pitch.

Donald Trump did not attend, instead speaking to the US team via phone, telling them: “I think you’ve a really good chance of going all the way. I just want to wish you a lot of luck.”

“Welcome to the USA” announced a booming voiceover, as a closeup of the city’s Hollywood sign flashed on giant screens at the stadium.

A marching band struck up the music before being joined by singers including Future, Tyla, Anitta and K-pop star Lisa. Costumes and props were designed to evoke Los Angeles street art and the city’s creative industries.

Katy Perry, who also performed in the opening ceremony, then went to watch the action with her partner, the former Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau.

Earlier, as Canada began their campaign in Toronto with a 1-1 draw with Bosnia and Herzegovina , the Canadian film stars Ryan Reynolds and Mike Myers were in the crowd. It was the first World Cup game on Canadian soil.

The singer-songwriter Alanis Morissette closed an upbeat opening ceremony with a compelling rendition of O Canada, the national anthem.

Keyword – Football
Trefwoorden – World Cup 2026, World Cup, Football, USA, Paraguay, US sports, Sport
Title – USA bulldoze Paraguay as co-hosts romp to victory in World Cup opener | World Cup 2026 | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/jeff-rueter
Link – USA bulldoze Paraguay as co-hosts romp to victory in World Cup opener | World Cup 2026 | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-13T03:03:01.000Z
Category – Sport
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/football/2026/jun/12/usa-paraguay-world-cup-2026-group-d-match-report

Across the parking lot from Los Angeles Stadium sits the Forum. In the 1980s, it served as the stage for one of American sports’ most enthralling entertainment outfits, the Los Angeles Lakers. Opening their campaign at the 2026 World Cup in front of 70,492 fans, the US men’s national team embraced the Lakers’ Showtime ethos.

The US began their campaign with aplomb, playing Paraguay off the pitch in a 4-1 win.

A day earlier, Mauricio Pochettino had preached quiet confidence . There was no need for a fiery pep talk for a group that has long aspired to impress at this home World Cup. Citing advice from a member of Argentina’s victorious 1986 World Cup side, Pochettino said his players needed to play with joy and focus.

He got exactly what he asked for in a dazzling first half.

The US created their own luck by taking the initiative from the opening whistle. Christian Pulisic and Malik Tillman seemed to be in a competition to see who could nutmeg the most opponents, baiting two Paraguay defenders into yellow cards. The opening goal came in less than 10 minutes. Tim Ream fizzed a ball along the back to Alex Freeman, who played a well-weighted ball up the channel for Weston McKennie. The Juventus midfielder scampered upfield, getting the ball to Pulisic as both players advanced on the box. Pulisic squared the ball for McKennie, whose shot caromed off Damián Bobadilla and tumbled into the net.

Past versions of the US often took their foot off the gas after scoring at World Cups. On Friday, this group of players kept pouring on the pressure. On his World Cup debut, Folarin Balogun bagged a brilliant 20-minute double. In the 31st minute, he finished off a cross from Pulisic. His second came with the final kick of the first half: he ran on to a ball up the channel from Tillman and, after some nimble work to bypass Gustavo Gómez, he placed a shot into the top corner.

Pulisic was taken off at half-time, although the move appeared to be due to caution rather than injury. Evidently, Pochettino saw no sense in subjecting the team’s star player to petty shin-kicks as Paraguay scrapped to get back into the game. Paraguay improved after the break, monitoring Balogun’s movement and tightening ranks to close down the half-spaces that were often available to the US in the opening 45 minutes.

Eventually, Paraguay were able to pull a goal back. In the 73rd minute, the US were caught out of position after a restart by goalkeeper Orlando Gill. Tyler Adams’s attempted clearance found Miguel Almirón just outside the box, and he quickly prodded the ball to Julio Enciso. From there, Enciso played the ball into substitute Maurício’s stride, and the Palmeiras winger ushered his shot beyond Matt Freese.

It was a consolation for Paraguay as well as a reminder that this US team have faults. There were holes for Paraguay to exploit across the defence and some concerns about Freese’s reluctance to leave his line. The US’s next opponents, Australia and Turkey, will most likely test Freese’s instincts more, and the defense will need to be sharp, even if they hold a healthy lead.

But those are problems for another day. Since the US were announced as co-hosts for this World Cup, every move by a US international has been viewed in the context of this summer’s tournament. Rather than buckle under the pressure, on Friday this team played with a determination to prove they belong at this tournament.

It’s hardly a show if you don’t hit the high notes at the end. With Paraguay trying to preserve their goal difference, Gio Reyna – who entered as a late substitute – placed the ball beyond Gill with the outside of his boot.

This World Cup cycle was seldom pretty, but it was all mere prelude. These are the bright lights under which this US team have prepared to play – and for 45 minutes, they didn’t flub a single line.

Keyword – Football
Trefwoorden – World Cup 2026, USA, Paraguay, Football, US sports, World Cup, Sport, Fifa
Title – Los Angeles conjures up irresistible spectacle as USA sparkle in opening act | World Cup 2026 | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/barneyronay
Link – Los Angeles conjures up irresistible spectacle as USA sparkle in opening act | World Cup 2026 | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-13T06:34:03.000Z
Category – Sport
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/football/2026/jun/13/los-angeles-conjures-up-irresistible-spectacle-as-usa-sparkle-in-opening-act-world-cup-2026

T he ball is magic, remember. Just keep watching the ball. On a lovely soft powder blue night in Los Angeles the World Cup produced an opening act on its US front that might have been conjured by the whirling hands of Gianni Infantino himself, a Fifa president who increasingly has the air and the mannerisms of an elite celebrity stage magician. Or at the very least, of a man who appreciates the power of the show.

It turns out California really does know how to put on one of those. There was even a moment before kick-off that seemed to capture the cosmically strange nature of the entire Fifa multiverse. A little later the headline act Katy Perry would appear in a silver bustle and perform on a podium alongside a 10-year-old TikToker.

Before that we got the Korean pop sensation Lisa, who has 105 million Instagram followers, or 102.5 million more than the USMNT, backed by a troupe of men performing surprisingly sexualised hip thrusts and groin grabs that no doubt express, on some deeper level, the value of international team sport.

Adjacent to this a man in a tracksuit appeared holding aloft a golden ball, like some ancient deity hoisting God’s gonad on his shoulders. At which point an enormous golden Fifa sign appeared, all four letters at least 50ft high, winched down out of the ether like a vision of divine grace – if not the most ludicrous sporting spectacle of all time, then surely the most ludicrous yet.

What is the vast golden Fifa sign even supposed to signify? Behold: the acronym of an administrative organisation! What power is it expressing, what legitimacy? How should we worship it? How do we escape its wrath?

The Fifa sign did eventually re-reascend, grudgingly. And by the end of the night a USA team that came into this tournament with fingers crossed had run all over a disappointing Paraguay, scoring three times in the first half en route to a breezy 4-1 win .

Every World Cup needs its hosts to start well. Even more so in the US, where there is always the lurking fear the president might decide to sulk or lose interest, like an angry toddler overturning his train set.

Mainly Fifa needed it, at a World Cup that has been stretched thin and made strange, converted into a politicised public leisure-tainment product, in a nation that seems to be constantly at war with itself.

A single fun, distracting day on the Pacific coast might still turn out to be the equivalent of turning up the music to mask the sound of the neighbours arguing through the wall. But we know how the spectacle works. And this was irresistible in a Los Angeles kind of way, on one of those nights when even the air seems to turn soft and blue.

Before kick-off the main rump of USA fans had come sweeping down the boulevards in a rush of flares and pageantry, like the massed reserves in a civil war re-enactment. There is a slight misconception these fans see themselves as hard core ultras. In reality this is more like a costume party, an Uncle Sam-ish show of Americana, stars and stripes dungarees, twirling flags, pom-poms, straw hats, bow ties that spin around.

The stadium here is stunning, all swooping lines, cooling fountains and funnelled breezes, a place that looks like it was designed by people in robes on some far-flung Star Trek planet. It really should be staging the final, even if it will still cost you a scandalous $23.50 for a beer on the concourse.

Fireworks flared. There were deafening roars of “Yoo Ess Ay”. Mauricio Pochettino appeared on his touchline in a blue grey suit and white trainers, hair rakishly long, looking like a 1980s cop whose work takes place exclusively on speedboats filled with diamonds.

And the USA started in a whirl of high pressing and forward movement, impressively fearless on a day that represents the biggest moment in any of these players’ international careers.

The opening goal was made by Weston McKennie’s driving run and a cutback deflected into his own net by Damián Bobadilla. Paraguay had beaten Brazil and Argentina in qualifying. Here they spent the opening hour in a sullen defensive crouch, fulfilling Gustavo Álvarez’s brief to become “the team no one wants to face”, if only because this involves watching them play.

Folarin Balogun got the second on the half hour mark. And there is a significant point here, even a note of grace through the fog. A certain version of America is being punted around the place right now. This vast democracy, a place of immigrants and liberty, has been rattling down its fences, pursuing its own citizens, parroting a divisively insular rhetoric.

This USA team does represent something else. It is a hugely mixed and diverse group of dual nationals, people with roots in places from Liberia to Croatia. Balogun, the decisive presence on the pitch, is of Nigerian descent, a place Trump has insulted, bombed and excluded. And here that diverse and spirited team did the thing sport does, modelling an ideal of harmony and fellowship, making a stadium and wider sporting nation happy. Moments like this don’t solve anything. But sport is always trying to tell you something, if you can be bothered to listen.

Balogun got the third too, leaving two defenders splayed on the turf and spanking the ball into the top corner as the crowd cooed and gurgled and tumbled over itself. There was time to cheer the celebrity reel on the giant screen, David Beckham and Tom Cruise beaming like a nuclear-grade twin celebrity megalith, IShowSpeed gurning and gesturing, excited to a preternatural level just to see himself reflected in a camera lens, startled every time to find he still exists.

Trump was absent here, and replaced by Marco Rubio in the seat next to Infantino, who looked a little grudging and sad, like that scene in Goodfellas where Henry Hill is forced to endure a double date, then rushes off before the coffee comes.

Perhaps Rubio can now stay on for the next game here, which features Iran, and a dramatic gear change into war, dissent and geopolitics.

But this strange, bloated three-part tournament did at least take on some kind of shape in California, the place where the land ends and America fades into the blue. And suddenly the next five weeks do at least look and feel a little more like a World Cup.

Keyword – US news
Trefwoorden – US news, Israel, Palestine, World news
Title – Palestinian American woman held without charge by Israeli military | US news | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/alice-speri
Link – Palestinian American woman held without charge by Israeli military | US news | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-13T10:00:10.000Z
Category – News
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jun/13/palestinian-held-sama-safi-israeli-military

A 20-year-old Palestinian American woman has been held in Israeli military detention for nearly two weeks after Israeli soldiers stormed her family home in a pre-dawn raid on 2 June.

Sama Safi, a psychology student at Birzeit University in the occupied West Bank, has not been charged with any crimes. A spokesperson for the Israeli military said she and three other women detained around the same time were arrested “after promoting hostile terrorist activity and additional terrorist-related activities”.

Several US legislators have called for Safi’s release and her family has warned that she has a chronic medical condition that requires regular treatment.

One of the other detained Birzeit University students is a member of the Palestinian women’s national soccer team; another player from the team was also detained before being released earlier this week. The four students are being held at an Israeli detention and interrogation center in Jerusalem notorious for its record of abuse.

Safi’s attorney, the Israeli human rights lawyer Lea Tsemel, said that the students appeared to have been targeted after two other students – who were themselves detained at the time – provided the Israeli military with dozens of names of people allegedly involved in an activist student organization called Qutub. Israel says the group is affiliated with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), which it has designated a terror organization.

Tsemel says her client denies being involved with the student group – but also says the group itself is not illegal. “I don’t know how this information was extorted from them, probably by force,” Tsemel said of the students who allegedly provided the names. “It’s nonsense.” Her next hearing is scheduled for Sunday.

Tsemel visited Safi in detention this week, where she said she found her in relatively good spirits because “she knows she didn’t do anything”. But she noted that the treatment of Palestinians held over allegations that they pose a security threat –including thousands who are held with no charges under so-called “administrative detention” – has grown harsher since 7 October 2023. Journalists and human rights groups have documented widespread abuses of Palestinians in Israeli detention, including sexual abuse and beatings.

Safi grew up in Palestine but frequently visited her extended family in Florida, where her mother grew up. Relatives said she suffers from a chronic autoinflammatory disease that can cause debilitating fevers and pain and she had only recently begun to regain her health after being bedridden for months thanks to daily medication and regular treatment abroad. Her family said that she was receiving some medication in detention, but not enough and not the right kind to properly treat her condition.

Earlier this week, a representative of the US embassy in Jerusalem visited Safi in detention where, he also told the family, she appeared to be “in good spirits”. He reported that she was receiving “sufficient food” though she described it as “prison food”.

A spokesperson for the US state department declined to comment on Safi’s case, citing privacy considerations, but said that “the Trump Administration takes its commitment to assist Americans abroad seriously and we are monitoring the situation”.

“When Americans are detained abroad, the Department advocates for their access to adequate medical care and seeks consular access as quickly as possible,” the spokesperson added. Israel’s ministry of foreign affairs did not respond to a request for comment.

Selma Farsakh Ulm, Safi’s cousin in the US, has mobilized friends in the campus Palestine solidarity movement to advocate for Safi.

Her effort drew swift responses from the senators Peter Welch , Jeff Merkley and Chris Van Hollen , as well as the representative Ayanna Pressley . All of them had also spoken out on behalf of Mohammed Ibrahim , a 15-year-old Palestinian American boy who was detained by the Israeli military over allegations that he had thrown rocks. Ibrahim was freed last November after nine months of detention and a sustained campaign by US lawmakers who advocated for his release.

Farsakh Ulm said that while she hoped the fact that her cousin is a US citizen would help pressure the Israeli government to release her, her case was no different from that of thousands of Palestinian prisoners and detainees.

“What Sama is experiencing is also being experienced by many, many other people,” she said. “But calling attention to her case can also educate others about what other people are experiencing who are not American citizens.”

Keyword – World news
Trefwoorden – Netherlands, AI (artificial intelligence), The far right, Geert Wilders, Syria, Europe, World news
Title – Dutch far-right party pays damages to court artist after changing image with AI | Netherlands | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/senay-boztas
Link – Dutch far-right party pays damages to court artist after changing image with AI | Netherlands | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-13T04:00:04.000Z
Category – News
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jun/13/geert-wilders-pvv-dutch-far-right-party-damages-court-artist-change-image-ai

A Dutch court artist has received damages after an MP for the far-right Party for Freedom (PVV) used one of her drawings without permission and manipulated it with AI to make the subjects look more menacing.

Petra Urban, a court artist for 19 years, was shocked to discover a drawing she had made last year of two Syrian brothers jailed for the murder of their sister had been reworked and used in a video on Instagram and Facebook by the party’s Noord-Brabant region.

“There are three things that upset me,” she said. “One is that my work was used without asking my permission. Secondly, this was done for a political party, when I want to work as neutrally and independently as possible. And thirdly – and this makes it really strange – the distortion was done with AI.”

Under Dutch law, creators are not only protected by copyright but also have moral rights to object to any distortion of their work that could harm their reputation. There was widespread shock in May after Urban shared the images with fellow court reporters, and the case had widespread press coverage .

Urban said that after her union issued a legal demand for licensing rights and damages, the PVV MP Maikel Boon called her to apologise and has now paid the damages – which have not been made public.

Since the MP had previously been accused of using AI to manipulate images for campaign purposes, she felt “ no mercy ” in demanding compensation. “I hope it’s clear that this is a worrying development and that we need to stay alert,” she said. “You need to be able to assume that journalistic work is written, drawn, photographed or filmed as neutrally as possible. If this is manipulated, then the flood gates are open. There’s no knowing where it will end.”

She also distanced herself from the far-right party led by Geert Wilders . “Honestly, the PVV is a long way from my political views, but even if it had been closer to my own politics I would not have wanted this,” she said. “It compromises my neutrality.”

Boon and the PVV have been approached for comment. The MP has publicly accepted responsibility and told De Telegraaf he had thought an altered image would no longer be subject to copyright but that it had been a “very stupid act”. The film about a new asylum centre has been removed from the internet.

Keyword – Sport
Trefwoorden – NBA finals, Victor Wembanyama, Basketball, San Antonio Spurs, New York Knicks, US sports, Sport, NBA
Title – Wembanyama brushes off historic collapse and eyes NBA finals comeback: ‘We’re over it. It’s the playoffs’ | NBA finals | The Guardian
Author – Agencies
Link – Wembanyama brushes off historic collapse and eyes NBA finals comeback: ‘We’re over it. It’s the playoffs’ | NBA finals | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-12T20:37:46.000Z
Category – Sport
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2026/jun/12/spurs-knicks-game-5-victor-wembanyama-nba-finals

Victor Wembanyama says the San Antonio Spurs have shaken off the biggest single-game collapse in NBA finals history and are ready to face the New York Knicks on Saturday.

The Knicks overcame a 29-point deficit to hand the Spurs a crushing 107-106 victory in Game 4 of the series and can win their first title since 1973 with victory in San Antonio.

“There were a thousand ways we could have not lost that game,” Wembanyama told reporters at practice on Friday. “It felt like there was a time to process this, to really dwell on it, but not any more. We’re over it. It’s the playoffs. There’s no time to regret things for too long.”

That, he added, also goes for having had eggs thrown at him and a water bottle tossed at the team bus in New York.

“I didn’t really think much of it,” he said. “Obviously it’s not good at all. But it doesn’t bother me.”

The Frenchman said players are “at this point where we can really empty the tank”. Wembanyama played 44 minutes on Wednesday and Spurs coach Mitch Johnson was concerned he left his 22-year-old star in for too long.

“I have to make sure I help him have the energy required to finish the game as strong as he needs to finish the game,” Johnson said. “Looking back on the game, I could have done better in that regard.”

Wembanyama himself says fatigue will not be an issue in a must-win contest for the Spurs.

“It’s the playoffs. Everybody’s just as tired. It shouldn’t even be a factor in the game,” he said. “It’s not going to be a factor.”

De’Aaron Fox, who struggled late in Game 4 and was blamed by some by not running down the clock when San Antonio had a late lead, said the Spurs have to concentrate for the entire game.

“Every game we’ve had some sort of a lead and we’re down 3-1. We have to figure out how to sustain those leads. We have to figure out how to finish games,” Fox said. “These games have showed us we have a chance. It’s not like we’re going out there and getting steamrolled. We still have that belief we have a chance to win.”

Johnson defended Fox from his critics in the media and on the internet.

“I don’t get into social media,” Johnson said. “I think I’ve been fired 212 times, and we’ve traded Fox 72 times. People have their opinions. I don’t care. I care what the people that matter in our building, our organization, in that locker room, that they know how I feel. De’Aaron Fox will have the basketball in his hands at the end of the game tomorrow, and I have the utmost confidence he’s going to deliver like he’s done countless times for us.”

Keyword – Football
Trefwoorden – World Cup 2026, Football, World Cup, Sport, USA, Paraguay, Los Angeles, Photography, Art and design, Culture, US sports, US news
Title – World Cup 2026: USA’s opening ceremony and dominant victory – in pictures | World Cup 2026 | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/guardian-sport
Link – World Cup 2026: USA’s opening ceremony and dominant victory – in pictures | World Cup 2026 | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-13T03:31:46.000Z
Category – Sport
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/football/gallery/2026/jun/13/world-cup-2026-usa-opening-ceremony-dominant-victory-paraguay-in-pictures

Keyword – Money
Trefwoorden – Work & careers, Unemployment, Young people, UK news, Money, Society
Title – Ask for help, take chances and be kind to yourself: readers’ tips for young jobseekers | Work & careers | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/alfie-packham,https://www.theguardian.com/profile/jane-clinton
Link – Ask for help, take chances and be kind to yourself: readers’ tips for young jobseekers | Work & careers | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-13T12:00:13.000Z
Category – Lifestyle
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/money/2026/jun/13/readers-advice-young-job-seekers

A bout 1 million 16- to 24-year-olds in the UK are not in employment, education or training , and a recent report said this could rise to 1.25 million by the early 2030s without urgent government action.

With the obstacles young people face in securing employment now greater than ever, we asked readers if they had any advice for those seeking work. Here are some of their responses.

‘Don’t be afraid of being seen as cringey’

My advice would be to make your own luck. Put yourself out there, meet as many different people as you can, post content online, don’t be afraid of being seen as cringey. I messaged so many people at the start of my career for coffees, for help with interviews. Many ignored me. But some helped me along the way.

I’ve tried to lean in to fear and do things anyway. That’s served me and helped me to build skills that have been invaluable to me when the doors finally opened. It is hard, yes, but you can succeed – don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. Christopher, 28, London

‘Find things that make you feel good about yourself’

I was unemployed for a couple of years, with no savings as a safety net, and the constant stream of rejection on top of the worry about my finances was incredibly hard to cope with. Your self-esteem naturally suffers – why wouldn’t it when you’re continually either being told you’re not good enough or not even worth the effort of a quick email to say you were unsuccessful?

My advice is to find cheap hobbies and things that make you feel joyful, connected to nature, and/or creative, to keep yourself sane. Volunteering can be a good way to connect with others and feel as if you’re doing something worthwhile. Staying positive is hard when the job search feels so soul-destroying, so try to build a life that makes you feel good about yourself whether you have a job or not. Kay, 35, mathematics tutor, Staffordshire

‘Visibility is everything’

My advice for young people is to talk to as many people as they can, from different backgrounds. I understand that it is not always possible for various reasons, such as anxiety, being introverted, health reasons or fatigue. But visibility is everything. Having a LinkedIn profile and being active is essential. Tell people that you’re at the beginning of your career journey. Own it!

Be very curious and interested in people’s stories. Try not to be intimidated because others are more knowledgable or experienced; admire them, and tell them how inspiring they are, and feel free to ask them for a chat or mentoring. Nikola Doanova, 31, Brighton

‘Cast your net wide’

If you’re struggling to find work, focus on securing a job for now, not for life. We all have hopes and dreams when it comes to our careers, but this can put you at a disadvantage if those ambitions are preventing you from casting the net wide enough in your job search. Core professional skills, such as communication and team work, are highly transferable, and so taking any opportunity to develop those is key. Finding another job when you already have a job is far easier and less stressful than starting from zero. Your dream job can always come into play further down the road.

Be kind to yourself. Looking for work, particularly in the current economic climate, is challenging even for experienced candidates. Be serious about your job search but also be serious about your personal wellbeing. You want to be able to bring your best self to job applications and interviews, and you can only do this if you’re looking after your mental and physical health. Ryan McKiernan, 31, managing director of a charity, London

‘You absolutely have value to offer’

You can create your own job opportunity; you just need to get a foot in the door. This could be adding value to a business by offering to work on a commission-only basis for a few months – creating marketing materials, case studies, recording interviews, conducting sales development, for example. All the above are linked to revenue generation for any business – working with a new startup or inspiring leader will give you experience that a month at home applying for jobs can’t beat.

In times like these, the opportunities go to those who aren’t afraid to take a chance and demonstrate their value. You absolutely have value to offer. From here you’ll have new connections, perspectives, and momentum. Tim Castle, author, Singapore

‘Take up the job offer’

Not having any particular skills or specialties, I came to realise that there would only ever be one job offered to me during a search and my advice to anyone is to accept that one. Employers like people who can show they are prepared to work, so take up the job offer and stick to it until you can find or earn yourself a better one. Christine, 75, Kent

‘Don’t be embarrassed to network’

1. Network. Network. Network. Use every available network you and the people around you have. Don’t be embarrassed about doing it, either. Someone will know someone who knows someone else who will help get your foot in the door or be willing to vouch for you.

2. Follow up! If someone has said they will have a word/email, thank them and don’t end the conversation until you have pinned down a date and time to reconnect about it. Kuldip, semi-retired teacher, Sheffield

Keyword – World news
Trefwoorden – Ukraine, Russia, European Union, Vladimir Putin, Europe
Title – Ukraine war briefing: Zelenskyy boosts army wages and seeks foreign recruits to counter manpower shortage | Ukraine | The Guardian
Author – Guardian staff and agencies
Link – Ukraine war briefing: Zelenskyy boosts army wages and seeks foreign recruits to counter manpower shortage | Ukraine | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-13T01:18:06.000Z
Category – News
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jun/13/ukraine-war-briefing-zelenskyy-boosts-army-wages-foreign-seeks-foreign-recruits

Ukraine will hike military wages and seek to recruit more fighters abroad, Volodymyr Zelenskyy has confirmed, as the army faces a manpower shortage after four years of war with Russia . Zelenskyy’s government said in May it would study possible measures to boost military personnel numbers after talks on how to end the war with Russia stalled. “We agreed on how to increase the financial resilience of our defence and further transformation of the Ukrainian army,” Ukraine’s president said on Friday after meeting key cabinet ministers. “The cabinet of ministers will approve a specific mechanism, and the government should start the first new payments as early as June,” he added.

Ukraine has secured a €90bn ($104bn) loan from the EU allowing the government to increase defence spending to a record 4.4tn hryvnias ($97bn) this year. The funds are due to start flowing this month. Zelenskyy said his government would raise the basic military wage by one-third to 30,000 hryvnias ($700) . The step was aimed at matching the country’s average monthly salary, which has steadily risen during the war due to staff shortages, military analysts and economists said. Infantry soldiers fighting on the frontline will receive an average monthly salary of 300,000 hryvnias (about $7,000), up from about 100,000 to 150,000 hryvnias at present. They will also be offered a new type of fixed-term contract for 10, 14 or 24 months for combat duties .

Kyiv also wants to recruit more foreign fighters . “I have instructed to create significantly more opportunities to recruit foreign volunteers into the Ukrainian army, and there will be more recruitment channels in this regard,” Zelenskyy said. About 10,000 foreign volunteers have joined the Ukrainian army from more than 70 countries since the war began, according to estimates by Ukrainian military publications.

Ambassadors from the EU’s 27 countries agreed on Friday to advance membership talks with Ukraine and Moldova, with the first phase of negotiations to begin on Monday . Zelenskyy has made EU membership a key strategic goal. Writing on Telegram, he thanked the EU and its leaders “for this strong step for Europe”. He added: “Ukraine is carrying out what is necessary and it is important that the EU is also keeping its word.”

Vladimir Putin said Ukraine’s increasing drone strikes on Russia aimed to “sow confusion” and damage the country’s economy. Ukraine has hit ever deeper into Russia in recent months , regularly striking oil refineries and export hubs. “Their goal is to create a split in Russian society, sow confusion and inflict economic damage,” the Russian president told soldiers in a meeting at the Kremlin on Friday. “But they will not succeed.” The comments came hours after Kyiv said it hit a major oil refinery more than 1,000km (about 620 miles) from the frontline . Putin admitted that Ukrainian strikes had caused “economic damage” but claimed that “everything is quickly restored”.

The governor of Russia’s border Bryansk region said one person was killed and another injured in a drone strike on Friday, while the defence ministry said Russian air defence units had downed 185 Ukrainian drones over a 12-hour period . The region’s general headquarters, quoted by Russian news agencies, said air defence units had destroyed 62 drones, but gave no time frame for the action. Russia’s defence ministry reported 185 drones intercepted between 8am and 8pm (0500-1700 GMT) over about a dozen regions, most in central Russia.

Britain on Friday said a full ban on diesel and jet fuel made in Russia would happen by 2027 as it set out its timeline to end a temporary licence for Russian oil products . Britain last month said it would continue to allow imports of diesel and jet fuel refined from Russian crude in third countries, deferring a previously announced ban, citing supply issues caused by the Iran war. The government said existing sanctions were not being lifted but new sanctions were being phased in. On Friday the business and trade ministry said the temporary licence for phasing in the ban would expire by 1 January.

Keyword – Art and design
Trefwoorden – David Hockney, Art and design, Culture, Painting, Art
Title – ‘Hyper-stylised, ultra-cool visions’: 10 ways David Hockney changed art | David Hockney | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/eddy-frankel
Link – ‘Hyper-stylised, ultra-cool visions’: 10 ways David Hockney changed art | David Hockney | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-13T12:00:14.000Z
Category – Culture
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2026/jun/13/10-ways-david-hockney-changed-art-la-ipads-perspective

He was the ultimate synthesist

David Hockney didn’t just appear out of nowhere like some fully formed artistic wunderkind. His work was a synthesis of so much that came before and was happening around him. He took the ideas of minimalism and abstraction, fused them with the traditions of portraiture, and filtered it all through the innovations in pop and conceptualism that were going on in the 1960s. He was heavily indebted to a lot of other artists, but he synthesised all those influences into something so simple, immediate, digestible and approachable that it became something new.

He was a working-class hero

Working-class boys from Bradford didn’t go to art school. It just wasn’t the done thing. That was for other people. But Hockney was born to subvert expectations. He told the Guardian in 2015 : “When I went to art school, a neighbour said, ‘Some of the people in the art school just don’t work at all. Lazy buggers.’ And I said, ‘Oh I am going to work, don’t worry.’” And he did, incessantly, unstoppably, right to the very end.

He changed how we look at perspective

Hockney saw traditional perspective – with all lines leading to a single, distant vanishing point – as not just reductive and boring, but totally unrealistic. We don’t see the world as frozen and static, he thought, our vision is dynamic, constantly shifting. Reverse perspective was his solution: he shifted the vanishing point, putting it behind the viewer, or splitting it off in multiple directions. The result is sometimes dizzying, strange and disconcerting, but much closer to the truth of how we see the world.

He bridged the gap between photography and painting

Photography was central to Hockney’s practice for decades. In more recent years, he incorporated photos directly into his paintings, but his best work with the medium was his collages, where he took multiple snaps of the same thing from multiple angles (often with a Polaroid), creating kaleidoscopic visions of the world around him. The photographs fed into how he painted, and how he painted fed into his photography. The two mediums, by the end, almost became the same thing.

He made landscape monumental

Yorkshire became Hockney’s muse in the mid-2000s, and he returned repeatedly to the undulating hills around Bridlington. In 2007, the forest in Woldgate inspired him to push the idea of landscape to its absolute extreme – he wanted to paint the countryside on a scale that was reserved by art’s big, important subjects: history, scenes from the Bible, national liberation. The resulting paintings were a vast, innovative, almost shocking attempt to elevate the everyday to monumental levels.

He was a technological innovator

He wasn’t shy about adopting new technology, and in his later years took to the iPad with abandon. Painting directly using a digital stylus or his finger allowed him to be immediate and direct. Many critics hated the iPad works, decrying the “loss of the artist’s hand” or describing them as “unaccountably messy”, but what’s incredible is that even on this new, digital, strange medium, his works are immediately recognisable. It doesn’t matter if it’s an iPad – it still looks like Hockney.

He defined the way we see Los Angeles

It took a boy from deepest West Yorkshire to truly capture the sun-drenched, humid beauty of Los Angeles. Hockney moved to California in 1964, and spent the next few decades creating hyper-stylised, ultra-cool visions of life among the palm trees, pools and PoMo architecture of Hollywood and its environs. When we think of LA and how it looks, we see it through Hockney’s lens.

His portraits made stars look human

Portraiture was at the heart of Hockney’s art from the very beginning. His images of his mother are tender and adoring, his portraits of lovers are intimate and sweet. It didn’t matter if he was painting a Rothschild or his cousin, a pop star or a studio assistant, he treated everyone with the same grace. By the end, some of the portraits got pretty patchy and splotchy, but what he never lost was his ability to convey his total love of painting, and his sitters.

He was an immersive pioneer

Immersive art became the trend du jour in all the big museums in the early 2020s, and Hockney wasn’t about to be left behind. He took over London’s Lightroom venue with Bigger & Closer (not smaller & further away) in 2025, part-autobiographical documentary, part-digital art exhibition. Just like with the Polaroids and iPads, Hockney saw the potential of new technology to shift perspective, and change how close viewers could get with the art.

He embraced theatre and opera

Hockney’s hugely simple, bold, colourful aesthetic lent itself perfectly to the stage. He designed the set for a production of Ubu Roi at London’s Royal Court theatre in 1966, and came back to theatre and opera design repeatedly throughout his career, working on productions of Tristan und Isolde, Turandot and the Magic Flute among many others, all filled with his paintings brought to life, his signature reverse perspective bringing the viewer right into the heart of it all.

He celebrated his horniness

Hockney’s earliest works were filled with carnal, libidinal imagery: enormous phalluses, bodies chaotically intertwined. They were very randy things, and that was a brave thing for a young gay artist to be doing back in the 1960s, even in swinging London. Hockney’s sexuality was always central to his work, and that helped pave the way for a lot of other gay artists to feel free to express themselves too.