Keyword – World news
Trefwoorden – Armenia, Europe, World news, Christianity
Title – An Armenian tycoon has a private zoo. Now he wants the world’s biggest Jesus statue | Armenia | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/pjotr-sauer
Link – An Armenian tycoon has a private zoo. Now he wants the world’s biggest Jesus statue | Armenia | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-21T07:00:23.000Z
Category – News
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jun/21/armenian-tycoon-private-zoo-worlds-biggest-jesus-statue-gagik-tsarukyan

Behind the walls of a sprawling estate on the outskirts of Yerevan, six tigers prowl behind a fence, three lions pace their enclosures, and alligators bask in the afternoon heat.

Further into the compound, more animals appear. Beneath a gilded, hand-painted ceiling, a dining hall houses a taxidermy menagerie: white tigers reared on their hind legs, a stuffed eagle perched atop a table, bear and wolf pelts spread across the floor. All of these, the owner proudly said, had been shot by him.

The scene offers a glimpse into the tastes of Gagik Tsarukyan, Armenia’s most flamboyant business tycoon and opposition politician, whose displays of wealth have long been the stuff of local folklore.

Having secured less than 4% of the vote in this month’s parliamentary election , Tsarukyan’s chances of ever leading Armenia look slim, but one of Armenia’s richest and most divisive men remains determined to leave his mark on the country.

His chosen monument: erecting the world’s tallest statue of Jesus Christ, perched atop a 2,500-metre (8,200ft) mountain overlooking Yerevan.

It is, depending on who you ask, either a celebration of the small Caucasian nation’s ancient Christian heritage or the ultimate expression of one oligarch’s appetite for excess.

“This will be Armenia’s calling card,” Tsarukyan said during a rare interview at one of his homes in the village of Arinj, where he was born. “Christianity will become Armenia’s new brand.”

A former athlete turned businessman and politician, Tsarukyan built his fortune in gambling, alcohol and mining during the turbulent decades that followed the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Dressed head-to-toe in white linen and matching trainers, the barrel-chested one-time arm wrestling champion said the project was designed to resonate with a growing international movement that blends religious faith with nationalism and cultural conservatism – a trend most visible in Donald Trump’s Maga movement and among far-right parties across Europe.

“Trump is, of course, invited. We hope he comes,” Tsarukyan said, adding that an unofficial American delegation from the US embassy had already visited the mountain site.

Once completed, the 101-metre (331ft) statue will stand atop Hatis, a mountain about 25km (15.5 miles) east of Yerevan, making it visible from much of the Armenian capital. Tsarukyan noted with evident satisfaction that it would dwarf Brazil’s iconic Christ the Redeemer and stand slightly taller than New York’s Statue of Liberty.

“We are the oldest Christian nation in the world,” Tsarukyan said. “It only makes sense we should have the biggest Jesus statue in the world.”

Although most of its neighbours today are Muslim-majority countries, Armenia is widely regarded as the world’s oldest officially Christian nation, traditionally dating its conversion to AD301.

But the Armenian Apostolic church has repeatedly opposed the project, arguing that its mass scale and style sit uneasily with Armenia’s religious and architectural traditions.

Church leaders say Armenian Christianity has historically expressed itself through monasteries, churches and khachkars – intricately carved stone crosses unique to Armenia – rather than colossal statues modelled on monuments elsewhere in the world.

The proposal has also drawn criticism from environmentalists, who warn that construction could cause lasting damage to the natural landscape of Hatis.

Tsarukyan brushed aside the clergy’s and activists’ objections, insisting he enjoyed good relations with the Armenian Apostolic church and pointing to the eight churches he says he has financed across the country.

More importantly, Tsarukyan said, the monument was intended to appeal to a far broader audience than Armenia’s faithful alone.

He claimed that 10 million tourists a year would eventually visit the site. “There’s nothing else like it in the world. From ocean to ocean, everyone will be talking about it.”

At present, however, the monument, which has been under construction on and off since 2022, looks less like the centrepiece of a future pilgrimage site than a giant relic abandoned in a construction yard outside Yerevan, where it is being pieced together before its eventual ascent to the mountain.

On the Guardian’s recent visit to the site, Christ’s vast white figure loomed over piles of stone, cranes, and workshop buildings, appearing almost surreal against the sparse landscape.

Back at the estate, Tsarukyan appeared tired after a bitter election campaign that had only just ended.

Voting results showed his nationalist and Russia-friendly Prosperous Armenia party hovering just below the 4% threshold needed to enter parliament, a result the party was challenging in court.

The poor showing continued a reversal for a politician who, for two decades, had been one of Armenia’s most durable power brokers.

Tsarukyan built that position on close ties to the former president Robert Kocharyan, expanding his empire as part of a small group of politically connected businessmen who came to dominate much of Armenia’s economy.

With his private zoo, marble mansions and fleet of luxury cars, he can seem like a relic of the post-Soviet boom years, when fortunes were amassed at dizzying speed and displayed with little concern for subtlety.

That image made him a natural target for the current prime minister, Nikol Pashinyan, who rose to power in the 2018 Velvet Revolution pledging to dismantle Armenia’s oligarchic system.

Pashinyan has repeatedly cast Tsarukyan as a symbol of the country’s corrupt old order, at times reviving dark episodes from his Soviet-era past, including a 1979 gang-rape conviction that was later overturned after Armenia gained independence.

In his victory speech on 7 June, Pashinyan further vowed to jail his political opponents, singling out Tsarukyan, Kocharyan and the billionaire businessman Samvel Karapetyan.

The following day, investigators arrived at Tsarukyan’s estate to formally charge him with tax-related offences. Local media reported that he had attempted to flee the country before the charges were announced.

Tsarukyan rejected the allegation, saying he had merely planned a short trip to the United Arab Emirates but had been prevented from boarding his flight and returned home.

Yet Tsarukyan strongly dismissed suggestions that the authorities could derail his construction plans, arguing that the Jesus project had become too significant to abandon and would bring substantial benefits to Armenia’s economy and tourism industry.

“How can a man be afraid?” he said. “Why be afraid? What will they put me in prison for?”

For now, he said his team appeared more concerned with the practical challenge of getting Christ to the mountaintop.

The logistics of building the monument have proved almost as ambitious as the project itself.

Tsarukyan said the original plan was to transport sections of the statue by helicopter. The idea was eventually abandoned in favour of a more conventional solution: hauling the enormous pieces up the mountain by truck before assembling them onsite.

And the Jesus statue, he insisted, is only the beginning.

Construction has already begun on another biblical attraction nearby: a giant Noah’s Ark. Pulling out images of the project on his phone, he described a vessel 134 metres long, 24 metres wide and 18 metres high. The ground floor would house a museum, the first floor a hotel and the second a cafe.

“These projects are sacred,” he said. “This is how I will inscribe my name in history, for the world to see during my lifetime and long after.”

For now, though, on the hillside above Yerevan, the world’s largest Jesus has yet to rise.

In the summer heat, passersby stopped to photograph the towering figure and debate its merits.

“It’s beautiful. It will make Armenia known across the world,” said Arman, a 54-year-old taxi driver who had pulled over to admire the statue. “I am really proud of this.”

Others were less convinced.

“I don’t quite understand why it has to be this big,” said Mariam, a local resident, looking up at the monument. “It’s all a bit crass.”

Keyword – World news
Trefwoorden – Road safety, Road transport, Cycling, Travel and transport, Motoring, Automotive industry, UK news
Title – SUV buyers undeterred by warnings of risk to pedestrians, UK study finds | Road safety | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/peterwalker
Link – SUV buyers undeterred by warnings of risk to pedestrians, UK study finds | Road safety | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-20T06:00:02.000Z
Category – News
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jun/20/suv-risks-warnings-road-safety-buyers-uk-study

Drivers who are told about the safety risks posed by SUVs to cyclists and pedestrians are very unlikely to be deterred from buying one, a new study has found.

The findings indicate that if governments want to reduce the number of large, dangerous vehicles on the roads, it is likely to require financial penalties, according to the psychologists at Swansea University who led the research.

A series of studies have shown that sport utility vehicles (SUVs) and similarly oversized domestic vehicles such as pickup trucks are more dangerous than standard cars for pedestrians and cyclists. Much of the risk comes from their higher and blunter front ends.

A meta-study of existing safety research earlier this year found that if an adult pedestrian was struck by an SUV, they were 44% more likely to be killed than if the vehicle was a smaller car. This rose to 82% higher for children.

To test how much this affected people’s buying decisions, the study took a UK-wide sample of more than 2,000 people, including drivers and nondrivers, and split them randomly into two groups.

Half of the sample was shown one of three mocked-up SUV adverts, which included a warning that the vehicle concerned posed a “significantly higher risk of fatality” to pedestrians and cyclists. The others were shown the same adverts, but without the safety warnings.

Both groups were asked questions about their awareness of the risks from SUVs before and after viewing the adverts. Among those who saw the warnings, this rose from 35% awareness to 54%.

But when the same people were asked if they intended to buy an SUV as their next car, the proportion who said they would fell only very slightly. Compared with the group who saw the standard adverts, they were only 3.7 percentage points less likely to make the same decision after they had seen the safety warnings.

The overall effect, as the authors noted, was negligible: 95% of people who said they wanted to buy an SUV stuck with the decision, despite being told about the risks.

It was almost as minimal even among the subset of the sample who said the safety of vulnerable road users was an important factor in what car they decided to buy. Of those, 86% stuck with their plans to buy an SUV.

Prof Ian Walker, an environmental psychologist at Swansea University and one of the study’s authors, has closely studied the idea of what he called “motornormativity” – the way people judge car travel by different metrics to other areas of their life.

He said: “Buying whatever vehicle we like, and driving it wherever and whenever we please without having to think about the consequences for other people, has become normalised and ingrained across our society over decades.

“As such, it’s not surprising there’s a growing body of evidence that says asking or encouraging people to drive differently doesn’t work, and that stronger interventions will be needed if governments want to get serious about the issue.

“This almost certainly includes having a more honest conversation about how driving, no matter how useful to the person doing it, imposes harms on to other people.”

With SUVs now making up nearly 60% of new car sales across Europe, some places have started to respond to the difficulties they pose, which also include greater emissions due to their increased weight.

Paris tripled parking charges for SUVs in 2024 after a vote by residents. Transport for London is considering whether to impose extra charges for SUVs in the UK capital, in part because of the greater risks they pose to others.

Keyword – Opinion
Trefwoorden – Family, Parents and parenting, US news, Life and style, Father’s Day
Title – I always take my Dad’s advice – and do the opposite | Jillian Pretzel | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/jillian-pretzel
Link – I always take my Dad’s advice – and do the opposite | Jillian Pretzel | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-21T06:00:23.000Z
Category – Opinion
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/jun/20/fathers-advice-parenthood

W hen I was a kid, my dad told me to pick a sport, practice a lot and stick with it. That way, in high school, I’d join the team and have built-in friends. “Later, you can aim for a college scholarship,” he said with a wide, confident smile.

I knew this was good advice. It was bold, financially minded and forward-thinking. The only problem? I was terrible at sports.

But my clumsiness and athletic mediocrity weren’t going to stop me. I chose tennis, and for years, I took lessons and played with my mom after school. I didn’t love the game, but I stuck with it and put in countless hours sweating on the court.

Despite my efforts, when I got to high school, I tried out for the team and didn’t make it. I barely lost out on the last JV spot to a slow-moving junior. I was crushed. I cried to my dad that afternoon.

This happened a lot: my dad would give me smart advice, I’d follow it and I’d end up feeling lost or disappointed for one reason or another.

One year, Dad encouraged me to take horseback riding lessons. He loved horses and thought it would be a good thing to bond over. But I was so terrified of animals that I could barely go up to even the littlest pony and pet it on the nose.

Another time, he told me the best jobs would be in Stem and advised me to study up on the sciences. He even bought me a telescope to look at stars. I wanted to be interested, but I just wasn’t excited by constellations or even the moon.

I was frustrated. There I was, lucky enough to have a smart dad who knew a lot. And I was wise enough to know good fatherly advice when I saw it. So where was I going wrong?

Growing up, Dad and I were so different. He was rugged, outdoorsy and no-nonsense. He liked fixing cars, fishing and hunting. Meanwhile, I was the mild-mannered vegetarian who hummed show tunes at the table. It was hard for us to understand each other, and we didn’t always get along. Add that to the fact that we only saw each other every other weekend, and it felt as if he was on another planet, one I didn’t know much about because I never used my telescope.

I suspect this distance was the reason I always tried to take his advice. I wanted my dad to know that I was listening to him, that I respected and loved him, despite often bonking heads. And yet, something wasn’t working.

When I was 17, Dad told me I should go to a certain college. It was a big school with low tuition, and it was only a few minutes from his house. So, I could live there instead of the dorms. But my gut, and every point on my pro-con list, told me to go with another school. My mom and I had toured this much smaller, quiet university, and I immediately felt at home. I loved the sweater-vested professors and the students playing Frisbee on the quad.

This school was more expensive and further away, but so much more “me”. I knew Dad’s choice made sense. It was a smart pick. But I wanted to go to the other one.

I remember asking a friend what I should do about my college conundrum. She was older, had already finished high school and moved out on her own.

“Do what feels right,” she said, with the all-knowing wisdom of a 19-year-old.

I thought about it for a long time, and registered for fall classes at the farther, smaller school. It felt good. I showed up to campus my freshman year and loved it.

I started thinking: What if I stopped taking my dad’s advice? What if, whenever he told me to do something, I did the opposite? Would it make me seem dumb? Would it make me a bad daughter?

I think I had an assumption that if you love someone, you respect them, and you see them as successful, you should take their advice. If Vincent van Gogh rose from the dead, set up an easel in my living room, and gave me some pointers on how to mix colors, I’d do what he said, right?

But with my dad, something wasn’t clicking.

So when he told me which major he thought I should pick, which extracurriculars to do and what internships to apply for, I listened carefully, thoughtfully – and then did something else.

Overall, my experiment was a success. I found things I loved, listened to my gut, and slowly, learned to not care so much what someone else (even someone I loved) thought.

Instead of pursuing science or sports, I found a love of books and art. Knowing I’m not an animal person, I discovered I enjoyed working with kids and went into teaching. These days, I’m not a wealthy scientist or a top athlete, but I’m happy.

And somewhere along the way, I realized that, while I still usually don’t do what Dad advises me to, when I make a choice, I often use his logic. Sure, I didn’t go into jobs he picked for me, or choose homes he liked, but I often try to be bold, financially minded and forward-thinking, like I know he’d be. In that way, his advice has served me well.

I don’t think Dad was ever upset when I didn’t take his advice, but he was usually a little confused by the paths I chose. I’d tell him about the wonderful book I was reading or a pottery class I was excited to take, and he’d tilt his head to the side and say: “Well, OK.”

Recently, I told him that after teaching middle school, I was thinking about switching gears and teaching college classes. After a beat, he shook his head, shrugged and admitted that both jobs sounded awful to him. “I’d rather nail my hand to the table than spend all my time in an English class,” he said. I couldn’t help but laugh.

Recently, my dad and I chatted about summer plans. I said I was seriously considering taking my three small kids on a cross-country trip to Disney World. Realizing this is the last summer before my oldest starts school, I told him I wanted to do something big: a fun, memorable adventure.

As expected, Dad told me not to do it, to save my money, and that kids are happy just going to a playground. It was sound advice from a caring father.

I hope I won’t regret not taking his advice. And I hope I’m not a bad daughter. But I booked the plane tickets that night. We had a marvelous time.

Jillian Pretzel is a freelance writer

Keyword – Sport
Trefwoorden – Ben Stokes, England cricket team, England v New Zealand 2026, Cricket, Sport, New Zealand cricket team, County Championship
Title – Ben Stokes set for England recall after being withdrawn from Durham match | Ben Stokes | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/tanyaaldred,https://www.theguardian.com/profile/guardian-sport
Link – Ben Stokes set for England recall after being withdrawn from Durham match | Ben Stokes | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-21T12:04:53.000Z
Category – Sport
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2026/jun/21/cricket-ben-stokes-gus-atkinson-withdrawn-county-matches-ecb-england

The England head coach, Brendon McCullum, has confirmed Ben Stokes is likely to return as captain for the third Test against New Zealand.

Speaking to Sky Sports after his side’s heavy defeat in the second Test was confirmed on Sunday, McCullum was asked if Stokes’ withdrawal from county duties with Durham meant he would return to captain the starting XI at Trent Bridge.

“Yeah, at the moment that’s what we’re planning,” McCullum said. “The rest of the squad [for the third Test] will be announced this afternoon once we’ve told a few of the lads.” Gus Atkinson, who was dropped along with Stokes after breaking a team curfew, was also stood down from Surrey’s County Championship game on Sunday.

“I’ve been speaking to Ben every day since the incident and have obviously been trying to be supportive,” McCullum added. “I think it was great he was able to play cricket this week and get some runs. He looked like he had a bit of pep in his step as well. We know a fit, firing Ben Stokes is an asset to every team in the world.”

Earlier on Sunday, Stokes and Atkinson were withdrawn from the remainder of Durham and Surrey’s ongoing county matches at the request of the England and Wales Cricket Board [ECB].

“Ben Stokes has been withdrawn from the remainder of Durham’s County Championship match against Northamptonshire at the request of the ECB,” a club statement on X said. “Colin Ackermann will replace Stokes in the Durham 11.”

Neither player was selected for the second Test after they broke curfew celebrating England’s first Test win against New Zealand at Lord’s. The interim captain, Joe Root, was then handed an inexperienced side who struggled against New Zealand at The Oval. Their resistance on Sunday lasted under an hour as Matt Henry collected all five of England’s remaining wickets.

Stokes opted to play for Durham against Northamptonshire and sent down 25 overs on Friday before hitting a barnstorming 95 in a session on Saturday, in front of watching national selector Marcus North.

While McCullum had previously expressed concern over Stokes’ state of mind, those at Chester-le-Street seemed more relaxed, with Durham coach Ryan Campbell saying: “All I have seen is the same old Ben Stokes who loves being the Durham dressing room, who loves being around a cricket ground and who hasn’t missed a beat.”

Stokes has been replaced by Colin Ackermann in the Durham XI. Atkinson also performed well in Surrey’s game against Glamorgan at Sophia Gardens, taking four wickets for 61; he will be replaced in the Surrey XI by Tom Lawes.

England’s third Test against New Zealand starts at Trent Bridge next Thursday, although the ECB’s investigation into the incident involving the pair is yet to come to a conclusion.

Keyword – Sport
Trefwoorden – England v New Zealand 2026, New Zealand cricket team, Cricket, England cricket team, Sport
Title – Matt Henry ends England’s resistance as New Zealand complete second Test rout | England v New Zealand 2026 | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/guardian-sport
Link – Matt Henry ends England’s resistance as New Zealand complete second Test rout | England v New Zealand 2026 | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-21T11:02:50.000Z
Category – Sport
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2026/jun/21/cricket-england-new-zealand-second-test-day-five-report

New Zealand made very short work of claiming the five England wickets required to secure victory in the second Test on Sunday.

Matt Henry removed four England batters, including Joe Root for 77, in a ferocious 25-minute spell at the Oval. The hosts began the day on 182-5 but added just 10 runs for the first four wickets lost, slipping to 192-9 as the Black Caps showed no mercy.

Root had kept England’s faint hopes of salvaging the match alive with his stand of 75 on Saturday, but the interim captain was quickly trapped lbw by Henry when the final day began, having added only two further runs.

Henry then bowled Jofra Archer for a two-ball duck to complete a double-wicket maiden over. The all-rounder’s hot streak continued as he dismissed Matthew Fisher and Josh Tongue, both for ducks, in consecutive balls, leaving Sonny Baker to join Jordan Cox at the crease.

Cox (25) gave the home crowd something to cheer with a pair of boundaries, but Henry completed the job soon after, removing him with a yorker to end the match within an hour of the resumption. Henry finished with second-innings figures of six for 29, taking his match total to 11 wickets.

The day began with news that Ben Stokes and Gus Atkinson had both been withdrawn from their County Championship matches at the ECB’s request.

Both players were left out of the second Test after breaching a team curfew, but both now appear likely to be recalled to the England XI for the third Test, which starts at Trent Bridge on Thursday.

Ali Martin’s day five report will follow

Keyword – Film
Trefwoorden – Film, Anya Taylor-Joy, JRR Tolkien, Lord of the Rings, Andy Serkis, Books, Culture
Title – Anya Taylor-Joy will make a brilliant elf assassin in Hunt for Gollum. But it’s a movie we don’t need | Film | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/benchild
Link – Anya Taylor-Joy will make a brilliant elf assassin in Hunt for Gollum. But it’s a movie we don’t need | Film | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-19T11:01:20.000Z
Category – Culture
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/film/2026/jun/19/anya-taylor-joy–hunt-for-gollum-andy-serkis-lord-of-the-rings-tolkien

L et’s be honest: Anya Taylor-Joy would make a great elf. If any human being could flit from tree to tree as if woven from gossamer and starlight, or appear on a moonlit branch looking as though she had just been summoned by a haunted lute, it would be the star of The Queen’s Gambit, The Witch and Furiosa. She is perfect for Lord of the Rings, and it is no surprise whatsoever that she has been cast as the elf Seren in the forthcoming Andy Serkis-directed The Hunt for Gollum, as confirmed this week by the Hollywood Reporter .

You’ll probably have heard about the movie: Serkis is back as Gollum, Ian McKellen returns as Gandalf, and the whole thing is about a barely mentioned, if crucial, section of LotR in which Aragorn is charged with chasing down the snivelling, one-time owner of the One Ring before Sauron’s forces can get to him.

There is a pretty basic, if horribly torrid, resolution to this particular narrative in the book: Frodo has the ring because Bilbo left it to him when he set off to Rivendell at the beginning of the story. Dump it in the fires of Mount Doom and job done. Some of you might think that is why Tolkien himself spent only a handful of pages detailing this episode, despite the fact that it covers the best part of two decades of actual events. But that has not stopped Serkis, Peter Jackson (now a producer) et al deciding to go all in.

This is where Taylor-Joy enters the proceedings. Seren, not mentioned in Tolkien, we are told is a “trusted, lethal agent” of the elvenking Thranduil, who will once again be portrayed by Lee Pace from the Hobbit films. She is a Sindar elf, one of the clan that decided to stay behind in Middle-earth when many of their kin set out across the ocean to live forever in the Undying Lands, which means she most likely hails from the forest of Mirkwood. In Tolkien’s stories, it is to Thranduil’s halls in the north-east of the corrupted forest that Gollum is taken by Aragorn after the ranger finally tracks him down. It is there that Gandalf arrives to interrogate him.

This, broadly, we already know, so it is the hunt itself that must compel us if this new film is to feel like anything other than a piece of expensive gap-filler. The arrival of the previously unmentioned Seren, especially in the form of a high-profile actor Taylor-Joy, might give us some clues as to how the adventure pans out. Aragorn ploughing through Mordor and its miserable outer reaches never felt like a particularly enticing prospect. But what if he had a buddy to accompany him on the way? Enter Taylor-Joy. For what if The Hunt for Gollum is not really a Gollum movie at all, but Middle-earth’s strangest road movie about a hunky future king, a gorgeous woodland assassin, and a miserable cave gremlin who knows too much? Perhaps Seren and Aragorn begin as enemies, spend the second act bickering through the Dead Marshes like an elven Midnight Run, then slowly learn to respect one another after discovering that, beneath all the immortal woodland hauteur and mud-caked Ranger gloom, they are both trying to stop the same catastrophic information leak. Maybe Seren is Thranduil’s outrider, dispatched from Mirkwood to make sure this devious little creature does not bring the shadow of Mordor crashing through the Woodland Realm. Perhaps the whole thing becomes a moral three-hander on which the fate of Middle-earth depends.

And yet even here we would be retreading the same swampy, deathly ground that Jackson tramped through in The Two Towers and The Return of the King. Serkis would get a whole new opportunity to gargle his way through Middle-earth, McKellen would be handed one last crack at perhaps his greatest role, and Jamie Dornan would get the thankless task of stepping into Viggo Mortensen’s mud-caked boots. It could well be superbly realised, a brooding Middle-earth chase thriller, a gorgeous swamp opera, an arthouse psychodrama in blockbuster armour. But we’re still no closer to understanding quite why the whole thing actually needs to happen.

Keyword – US news
Trefwoorden – Donald Trump, Elon Musk, Tucker Carlson, Israel, Hezbollah, US politics, US news, Middle East and north Africa, World news
Title – Trump assured Musk and Carlson he wouldn’t go to war with Iran, new book claims | Donald Trump | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/martin-pengelly
Link – Trump assured Musk and Carlson he wouldn’t go to war with Iran, new book claims | Donald Trump | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-19T20:09:10.000Z
Category – News
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jun/19/trump-musk-carlson-iran-war

Donald Trump declared he would not go to war with Iran last year, according to a new book, which claims he told Tucker Carlson and Elon Musk: “We’re not doing that.”

The US president is said to have provided the assurance during an Oval Office meeting with rightwing commentator Carlson and SpaceX CEO Musk – the world’s richest person, who recently became its first trillionaire – early last year.

According to New York Times reporters Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan, though Carlson had criticized Trump from his perch as an influential rightwing media voice, Trump “solicit[ed] Carlson’s advice, believing he still had sway over a significant portion of the base”.

“Carlson had criticized Trump for refusing to knock [Israeli prime minister Benjamin] Netanyahu over the Gaza carnage; now he would make clear to the president that a broader war would be his ruin,” Haberman and Swan write. “‘They want you to go to war with Iran,’ Carlson said. ‘We’re not doing that,’ Trump answered.”

Trump is also said to have told Carlson: “I don’t think there’s ever been an American president as powerful as I am.”

“Struck by this hubris,” Haberman and Swan write, “Carlson replied: ‘Certainly not since FDR. Really, the only thing that could wreck it is war with Iran.’”

This year, on 28 February, Trump attacked Iran. An agreement ending the war was signed earlier this week.

Haberman and Swan’s reporting appears in a book, Regime Change, that will be published in the US on Tuesday. Excerpts have included accounts of Trump’s decision to go to war with Iran , Situation Room discussions about the Jeffrey Epstein scandal and attempts to suspend legal rights amid an immigration crackdown.

Trump is also said to have “regaled” Musk and Carlson with “lingering” descriptions of injuries including “mutilated genitals and missing hands” caused by Israel’s 2024 “ exploding pagers ” attack on Hezbollah.

The US president told “horror stories of the destruction that the explosions had wrought” in the Oval Office, Haberman and Swan write.

“He had seen pictures, he said. Mutilated genitals and missing hands. He was horrified by the injuries, but fascinated as well, lingering on the scenes and the details,” according to the book. “One survivor, he said, ‘looked like a great white shark came and just took a chunk out of him. It was like a shark bite. It was horrible.’

“He grew volatile, repeating, ‘It’s horrible, horrible!’”

The Oval Office scene with Musk and Carlson is an example of extensive reporting about the ageing president’s increasingly erratic behavior.

Israel carried out its pager attack on leaders of Hezbollah , an Iranian proxy group, in Lebanon in September 2024.

Haberman and Swan’s depiction of Trump’s fascination with injuries caused by the pagers appears to have been informed by Carlson, a critic of Israel and the Iran war. Musk, who was then leading the “department of government efficiency” attack on the federal government at the time of the exchange, is depicted as “transfixed” by a golden pager presented to Trump by the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. Carlson’s words and those of Trump are presented in quotes, which the authors say indicates personal knowledge of words and situations.

“There was something else that captivated” Trump, the authors write. “Many of the devices had detonated in public, and it was hard to know who was holding a pager when it exploded. The indiscriminate nature of the killing and maiming had shocked Trump, and while he was taken by the ingenuity, he showed a measure of disbelief at its recklessness.

“He seemed at once enthralled and horrified.”

Keyword – Travel
Trefwoorden – Hotels, Beach holidays, Travel, Top 10s, Europe holidays
Title – ‘I half expected James Bond to appear with a martini’: readers’ favourite seaside hotels in Europe | Hotels | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/guardian-readers
Link – ‘I half expected James Bond to appear with a martini’: readers’ favourite seaside hotels in Europe | Hotels | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-19T06:00:24.000Z
Category – Lifestyle
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2026/jun/19/readers-favourite-hotels-europe-beach-glamour-affordable

Vesuvius views on the Sorrentine coast

The Hotel Villa Garden , Sant’Agnello is a ravishing but small, friendly, family-run hotel about 25 minutes walk from the centre of Sorrento. The view from the cliff-edge dining terrace over to Vesuvius is breathtaking and the stylish pool is a delight. The decor is crisp and sunny. It’s the kind of place where they bring you a free glass of rosé while you wait for your taxi to the airport. Very Billy Wilder. Very Avanti . Jan Colley

An idyllic island stay on the French Atlantic

We loved our stay at L’Hôtel La Jetée on Île de Ré (doubles from €85 B&B), which is perched on the corner of the Vauban fortified port of Saint Martin de Ré. An attractive courtyard garden filled with designer furniture is surrounded by floral balconies leading to light, airy and tasteful coastal-themed rooms. Breakfast was a real pleasure, taken in the courtyard or in the salon. The hotel’s front aspect overlooks the charming harbour with seafood restaurants and renowned ice-cream vendor La Martinière . Bike hire is available a couple of doors down for exploring the island (try a tandem) and the catamaran trip that leaves from the harbour is an elegant way to dabble in yacht life without the price tag. Anna Kennett

Beachfront bolthole in Galicia, Spain

Forty miles south of Santiago de Compostela, Hotel Nanin (doubles from about €100 B&B) has a great location right on the beach. We had a stunning view from our room, overlooking the pool and the bay. We came across this spa hotel on a road trip around the Portuguese and Spanish coast, and we’ve returned to it since. It is about a 30-minute walk into the town of Sanxenxo, where there are more beaches, loads of restaurants and a lively promenade. Louise

Five-star Italian luxury on the Adriatic

The abundance of hotels in the Italian resort of Rimini keeps prices competitive – I even found a good deal at the five-star Grand Hotel . If you ask for a room in the annex (doubles from €120 B&B), you can still enjoy the hotel’s facilities and services, including the open-air pool and palm-filled gardens. The wood-panelled library has fascinating photos of old movie stars and huge chandeliers. Fresh fruit in the generous breakfasts is brought in from Rimini’s daily market, and sunloungers on the nearby beach are reserved for guests. The whole hotel has an atmosphere of faded 1960s charm – I could have imagined Sophia Loren and Marcello Mastroianni strolling in, champagne glasses in hand. Penelope

A Biarritz time machine, France

The hotel Eduardo VII (doubles from about €104 B&B) in Biarritz is in a three-storey wooden building that feels more like a private guesthouse than a hotel. It’s like a time machine that takes guests back to when Biarritz was the height of fashion and elegance. The charming building has kept many of its original features, including wood panelling, creaky wooden floors and ornate mirrors. Bedrooms are small but cosy. Having breakfast on the sea-facing terrace was a great start to our days there – making my husband and I feel like movie stars, ready to go out and shoot a scene in a Jean Luc Goddard film by strolling along the long sandy beach. April

Art deco vibes in Corsica

Just outside the little town of Piana, an hour’s drive up the Corsican coast from Ajaccio, is the wonderful Hotel les Roches Rouges (doubles from about €170 B&B). Built in 1912, it has a glamorous art deco vibe (and plenty of old photos on the walls). But it’s all about the view over the sea from the terrace, where the sun sets over the pink granite coastline, and you could sit all day and evening watching the colours flame and change. And the restaurant is wonderful, so you needn’t leave at all. Laura

An oasis in southern Tenerife

Southern Tenerife is associated with boilerplate package holiday hotels. But the 1920s time capsule Hotel Reverón Plaza (doubles from £181 B&B in September) is an art deco oasis, only steps away from the beach. Step inside from the street to sip champagne amid vintage wrought-iron furniture and antique switchboards. Skip the lift and take the stairs to see them glowing under century-old stained-glass windows. On the rooftop, an unpretentious pool serves up stunning 360-degree views of the sea and surrounding hills. At around £130 a night – complete with a fantastic Spanish breakfast – it’s an absolute steal. Erin

Faded grandeur on a car-free Greek island

On Kastellorizo, a tiny car-free island in the Dodecanese, the Megisti hotel (doubles in September from about £250 B&B a night) feels like a step back in time to the 1960s. You are immersed in aged, elegant glamour and half expect James Bond to appear in a white tuxedo and order a martini. Megisti’s spectacular setting and crystal-clear waters offers great views of loggerhead sea turtles that are often seen here as you walk around the gorgeous natural harbour. Karen Stewart

Beachside glamour in Norway

On the island of Stokkøya in central Norway, Stokkøya Strandhotell sits beside a sweeping white-sand beach that looks more Caribbean than Nordic. The stylish timber cabins (from around £160 a night), some built partly into the dunes, offer a design-hotel feel without luxury-resort prices. Days are spent swimming, hiking coastal trails or warming up in the beach sauna after a dip in the sea. Evenings mean local seafood and a drink at the laid-back Strandbar (beach bar). It feels wonderfully remote and glamorous in a distinctly Scandinavian way, yet remains surprisingly affordable for Norway. Sabine

Winning tip: spa bargain on a volcanic Italian island

As a lifelong backpacker, it takes a real bargain for me to entertain a spa hotel. Lo and behold I found myself on the island of Ischia, off Naples, where thermal waters are abundant and spa hotels are wildly affordable. The art deco Hotel Hermitage was a short walk from the ferry port, with views of the Aragonese castle, and comes complete with four thermal pools. For £50 a night [at the time, website rate now from around £90] I had my own large single room, balcony, delicious buffet breakfast and full access to the spa. The closest my backpack and I will ever come to true Italian glamour. Clare

Keyword – Football
Trefwoorden – USA, US sports, World Cup 2026, World Cup, Sport, Football
Title – USA soak in Seattle’s familiar support en route to making World Cup history | USA | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/pablo-iglesias-maurer
Link – USA soak in Seattle’s familiar support en route to making World Cup history | USA | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-20T00:31:43.000Z
Category – Sport
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/football/2026/jun/19/usmnt-australia-seattle-environment

One does not have to go far in Seattle, Washington, to be reminded that it’s a soccer town. Two days before Friday’s 2-0 win for the US over Australia , all I had to do was get on the train.

Riding the light rail to lunch on Wednesday and hopping off at Westlake Station, I was a few blocks from Pike Place Market, the city’s famous waterfront gathering spot. The train car I’d arrived on had been overflowing with US jerseys and Australia kits. Riding the escalator up into the resplendent afternoon sun, someone tugged at my bag.

I’d been recognized, and it led to a few minutes of lovely conversation. Eventually the reader casually mentioned that he’d been a goalkeeper in the 1990s for the Seattle Sounders and the Portland Timbers, long before they joined MLS. It felt so random I couldn’t help but laugh.

In this part of the country, though, interactions like these can seem like the norm; uniquely associated with teams like the Seattle Sounders and Reign, Portland Timbers and Thorns, and to a slightly lesser extent the Vancouver Whitecaps. The men’s clubs have existed in fits and starts since the 1970s and their fans have navigated some of the leanest years in the history of American soccer, the dark ages between the time the North American Soccer League came crashing down in 1984 and the birth of MLS in 1996.

The Sounders eventually entered MLS in 2009 and were an immediate success. Along with teams like Toronto FC and a handful of others, they helped birth modern American supporters’ culture, and even in the early days their fans were never shy about taking credit, deserved or not. The phrase “Seattle invented soccer” became a running joke amongst MLS fans in other corners of the country. But like most good-natured ribs, there is a kernel of truth.

“Seattle was the boost that showed the world that MLS can [have] a popular, viable and meaningful soccer team in the United States,” MLS commissioner Don Garber told media ahead of Friday’s match. “I never expected the fanbase that they had here from the very beginning and still do. They kind of launched, along with Portland and a handful of others, like Sons of Ben in Philly, this concept of ‘supporters’ culture … Soccer has been here for 50 years. MLS is not what it is without the Sounders. That’s what I’m seeing outside. There is just joy in the streets.”

Seattle’s deep-seated appreciation for the American game gave Friday’s US vs Australia match a distinctly different feeling, obvious from the second one arrived at the stadium. The streets were flooded with US jerseys of every era, awash in denim, red, white and blue. The noise level inside the stadium was deafening even a half hour before kickoff, and the entire place was full well before the opening whistle. Amid discourse about empty seats at this World Cup , there was not a single one visible on Friday afternoon.

The sight of a full stadium is nothing bizarre in Seattle. The Sounders have sold out Lumen Field (the usual name for Seattle Stadium) for big matches since their inception and have averaged between 30,000 and 40,000 fans a match during the entirety of their existence. Perhaps the more unusual sight on Friday was the USMNT themselves, who have not visited the place in nearly a decade, owing to the stadium’s usual artificial turf surface, which has been replaced for the World Cup with the real stuff. US goalkeeping legend Kasey Keller, a veteran of four World Cups, knows the turf surface well, having played for Seattle at the tail end of his career.

“This is my dream,” said Keller. “People would ask me forever ‘Why isn’t the US team here more often?’ The answer to that question was always the artificial pitch. We can see now what’s possible. I’m hoping the [NFL’s Seattle Seahawks] look at that as well and says to themselves ‘we want to reduce a few injuries here’ and keep this grass pitch.’”

American soccer’s defining visual moment for the last 30 years or so has been the sight of the US beating Colombia in the group stage at the 1994 World Cup, a result that shocked the footballing world. After the whistle of that match, players wandered the pitch at Stanford Stadium. They clutched American flags and, eventually, did a lap of honor, of sorts. There were tears of joy in the stands and on the field alike.

Friday’s result lacked the shock value of the win over Colombia in ‘94 but shared much of the emotion. Players roamed the pitch waving at friends, family and everybody else in attendance. They gathered in a circle and bowed their heads, to the tune (quite aptly) of Bon Jovi’s Livin’ on a Prayer.

“Today, even if I am not American, after the game I was emotional,” Mauricio Pochettino told the Guardian when asked about the support. “The atmosphere was amazing, the warm reception and the way that they supported us and celebrated the victory, they made it very emotional. I think it was an amazing and perfect connection between the stands and the team. I think it made us feel very proud.”

Nearly every US fan in attendance stayed put to soak in the result, eventually belting out a rendition of John Denver’s Country Roads, an ode to mountain life and a Seattle sports staple. Like everything else in the city, the stadium sits in the shadow of Mount Rainier and the lyrics felt apt. The sound, the visuals, all of it, felt beautiful, and at that moment, the idea of the US finding a better crowd to play in front of this summer felt a little hard to fathom.

“[At that moment], it’s just being proud of your country, you know?” said defender Auston Trusty, who entered the match in the second half. “I think Country Roads is a very American song, and to hear it in that stadium, with everyone singing along, it’s a dream come true. It’s feelings that you can’t really describe.”

Keyword – Life and style
Trefwoorden – Health & wellbeing, Children, Life and style, Netherlands, Health and fitness holidays, Walking, Fitness, Europe, Family, Schools
Title – Dutch children are unusually happy and healthy. Is it because of this walking ritual? | Health & wellbeing | The Guardian
Author – Hannah Docter-Loeb
Link – Dutch children are unusually happy and healthy. Is it because of this walking ritual? | Health & wellbeing | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-16T04:00:45.000Z
Category – Lifestyle
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2026/jun/16/dutch-children-unusually-happy-healthy-avondvierdaagse-walking-festival

I shouldn’t have been surprised that the rain didn’t stop the Dutch kids. All day it had been thunderstorming, and the forecast didn’t look so great for the evening. And yet at 5pm, hundreds of kids started arriving – many by bike – with their parents to Amsterdam’s Westerpark, a beloved city park that caters to a more residential area of the capital. Today, it functions as a starting point: volunteers coordinate registration, and groups of children gather, decked out in raincoats and eager to embark on either a 5km or a 10km excursion around the surrounding neighbourhoods.

It’s the second night of Avondvierdaagse (which literally means “four-day evening walk”) , organised by a group of neighbourhood volunteers . It’s not a race, but if children complete every night, they get medals, a bouquet of flowers and, if they’re lucky, a lot of sweets. It’s not just Amsterdam; across villages, towns and cities in the Netherlands, hundreds of thousands of Dutch people are doing the same: every year, kids spend four evenings in early summer exploring their neighbourhoods with their school friends and parents as part of the Week van de Avond4daagse . Some places had celebrated earlier; others were walking the following week. A variation of the tradition has even made its way to Suriname, one of the Dutch former colonies. There are also four-day cycling and swimming events. According to the Royal Dutch Walking Association (KWbN), which helps coordinate the events, half a million people take part every year, in 700 locations across the country, powered by tens of thousands of volunteers.

“The event is just so Dutch – they don’t have this really anywhere else,” says fellow volunteer Judith van Oudheusden as we cycle from one checkpoint to another to catch the wave of kids at another part of the route. We are responsible for stamping cards to confirm they have completed this part of today’s 10km walk. A full card means they can get their medal on the last day, a feat many are determined to accomplish. Tonight they’ll be walking along the west boundaries of the neighbourhood, making their way through green city parks such as Erasmuspark and Rembrandtpark, and charming residential streets, catching a glimpse of the historic Molen de Otter windmill on the way back to Westerpark. Van Oudheusden participated in the activity as a child, she says, and then walked with her own children when they were younger. Volunteering is a full circle moment for her.

Avondvierdaagse originated from military ideology, explains Inger Leemans, professor of cultural history at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and a researcher at the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences. The first march was held in 1909 in Nijmegen as a military training event. But when the second world war broke out, different towns started to organise their own walks for soldiers. After the war, citizens were invited to walk along with them: the four-day marches in Nijmegen grew into an immensely popular event where tens of thousands of soldiers and citizens walked in solidarity. Aimed at older crowds, this is now the largest walking event in the world, with 45,000 participants from more than 80 countries, walking the same 30km, 40km and 50km routes each year. According to Arno van Gemert, a team leader for programmes and projects at KWbN, the Avondvierdaagse is like the event’s “little brother or sister”, mainly aimed at primary school children and their parents.

“It is interesting that this walk – with its military origins – grew into one of the national identity markers for the Dutch, a country that does not often self-represent as a military nation,” says Leemans, who also participated in the tradition when she was growing up in Leende, a village near the Belgian border. Most people now see it as a national event, comparable to other festivities such as King’s Day , a national holiday to celebrate the Dutch monarch’s birthday, involving street parties, flea markets, and lots of orange apparel. Avondvierdaagse even has its own traditional delicacy: half an orange, topped with a white Wilhelmina peppermint and wrapped in a piece of muslin, for kids to suck on as they walk. Many children were enjoying one along the route.

While the original walks were not necessarily to promote exercise, Avondvierdaagse has become a way to motivate kids to enjoy being outside and moving their bodies. “It’s important that children are physically active and can develop their motor skills from a young age,” explains Sanne de Vries, professor of physical activity in childhood at Leiden University Medical Center. Encouraging children to go through the whole week of walking – rain or shine – and rewarding them at the end can help build a positive association with physical activity. “Positive emotion that sticks is important.”

It also helps build resilience. “It’s been presented to them as a big challenge because it’s 5km and it sounds super hard,” says Fernanda Gomes, 44, who is walking the shorter route with her seven-year-old daughter, Alicia (who is snacking on the traditional orange as we speak). “Even if it’s raining, they do it and the message behind it is very great for the children.”

Dutch kids are consistently judged to be some of the happiest in the world. This year, a Unicef report again ranked them number one out of 44 western countries for overall wellbeing, and for mental health. Rich social relations were cited as a key factor. Research has shown that Dutch children have strong connections with their peers. In addition, many Dutch parents work part-time, so have more time to spend with their children. Children also have increased independence: parents let their kids roam more freely, and many start young, cycling to and from school by themselves.

Those social relations are at play at Avondvierdaagse: the walks are a chance for children to spend time with not only their parents but also their school friends, outside the classroom. Some even have matching shirts to represent their school: one reads “ Ren voor je leven ”, Dutch for “run for your life”. “It’s fun with friends,” says Robin Astill, 10, who is walking with her mum and a friend.

“I like that it’s something that happens each year and you get exercise out of it,” says Ansel Howard, 13. “It’s something that people have been doing for a long time and that you can do with friends and family and just enjoy.”

Parents also enjoy the Avondvierdaagse. Rebecca Astill, 46, participated when she was younger; as a parent, it’s a chance to explore more of her surroundings. She’s walked with her kids 10 times, first with her son and now with Robin. “You get to see more of your neighbourhood and walk through parts you don’t normally walk through,” she says. The organisers specifically pick out routes to expose participants to new places, and it’s a different route every year. “That’s the art and craft of the routemaster,” says organiser Philip Bueters, who walked as a parent with his own children years ago.

Astill also likes that it’s a social opportunity: a sentiment echoed by many other parents. “At school, you usually see other parents for a couple of minutes,” says Joost de Koning, 44, as his five-year-old, Noa, trails behind us at the beginning of a 5km walk. “But this is bringing the school community together.”

Avondvierdaagse is such a positive event, it’s hard to find any downsides to it. Some have questioned whether the walks are inclusive enough – for people with disabilities, for instance, or those from different cultural backgrounds. In Amsterdam, especially, the events’ participants may not necessarily reflect the diversity of the population, appealing more to higher-income parents in the neighbourhood.

Another problem: while the beauty of the event is its volunteer nature, it can be a huge undertaking. “In recent years, some events have had to stop because of a lack of volunteers,” says Bueters, who joined the neighbourhood organising committee when the last round of volunteers retired. “People are willing to chip in every now and then but not four days in a row.”

Avondvierdaagse is very much a communal effort. Locals provide their time, businesses donate food and flowers, and the KWbN supports the local committees (and provides the coveted medals) all because they know the importance of the event for the kids and the surrounding area.

“It has survived for decades because it brings communities together in a very simple, healthy and screen-free way,” says van Gemert of KWbN. As he explains, there is a specific Dutch word for it: Gezelligheid . The word doesn’t have a perfect English translation – perhaps cosiness or togetherness, but you know it when you see it. “It captures the Dutch spirit of being active outdoors regardless of the weather, combined with a highly organised community effort.”

And while Avondvierdaagse is uniquely Dutch, that doesn’t mean it needs to stay that way. “It’s not an invention of the government to make kids do sports; the formula can be copied,” says Bueters. Aicha Lagha, another volunteer, agrees. “I think it can be anywhere there is a community or you want to build a community,” she says.

And in Westerpark, as I wait at the finish line on the last day, when the sun is finally shining, that sense of community is strong. A few hundred metres from the finish line, volunteers hand out flowers, provided by a local florist. Family members wait patiently at the finish to celebrate the achievement: one grandma arrived 20 minutes early to make sure she could catch her seven-year-old grandson, walking with her daughter. “It’s a very special event,” she tells me, reminiscing about walking during her own childhood – “and that’s a long time ago”, she jokes.

As more and more kids pass the finish line, the area turns into a major celebration: children dance to Snollebollekes’ 2015 hit Links Rechts , jumping from left to right in a line during the chorus in what has become a national tradition of sorts. Some kids climb a statue for a photo opportunity. Parents are celebrating too: proudly taking pictures of their kids with their medals.

As I leave, Joost Klein’s 2024 Eurovision entry, Europapa (another local kids’ favourite), is playing for the third time in 20 minutes, and no one seems to care, nor do they mind that the weather seems to be turning overcast and rainy. They are more focused on the party. There are no English words to fully describe the feeling of pure joy that encapsulates the area. It’s just gezellig .

This article was amended on 16 June 2026 to clarify that Inger Leemans is professor of cultural history at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and a researcher at the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences.