Keyword – World news
Trefwoorden – Canada, Healthcare industry, Americas, World news, Health, Work & careers
Title – Canadian healthcare staff decry ‘cruel hoax’ after scam email promises paid day off | Canada | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/leyland-cecco
Link – Canadian healthcare staff decry ‘cruel hoax’ after scam email promises paid day off | Canada | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-22T17:30:23.000Z
Category – News
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jun/22/canadian-healthcare-staff-scam-email-paid-day-off

For years, healthcare staff in the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador have felt overworked and underappreciated. Turnover, burnout and thinning resources were pushing workers in the sector to a breaking point.

So when the email titled “June Holiday” arrived in thousands of inboxes, they felt a moment of overdue joy.

The message thanked them for their professionalism and their work ethic, citing hundreds of hours of recent mandatory overtime to implement a new digital platform called CorCare. The email said the province “recognizes the work employees have carried through a significant period of change”, and, as a token of appreciation, it promised to reward them with a paid day off.

“Thank you for the care, professionalism, and commitment you continue to bring to N.L. Health Services and to the people and community we serve,” it said.

Recipients were told to simply click a link to register for the “June Holiday” on offer. The email was sent to staff from an outside domain: remailmail.com.

It was a sign that anyone hoping for a well-deserved day off was about to be disappointed.

The following day, they were informed that the message – and their paid vacation day – was in fact part of an internal cybersecurity test to track employees who clicked on the link.

When staff, many of whom were denied time off during the rollout of CorCare, learned they had been tricked, their reaction was disbelief and anger.

One union president said he and others were “disgusted” at the “cruel hoax” that targeted fatigued workers.

“Our members deserve better than to be taunted with the promise of a day off after the incredible amount of work and sacrifice they made to get CorCare up and running,” Jerry Earle, president of the Newfoundland and Labrador Association of Public and Private Employees, said in a statement.

Earle also said that at least one person had quit after the email, calling it a “straw that broke the back” for burned-out employees.

Yvette Coffey, president of the Registered Nurses’ Union Newfoundland and Labrador, echoed those frustrations, telling CBC News that the stress associated with mandatory overtime, combined with denied vacation requests, had led people to quit during the rollout of CorCare.

She called the test “very insensitive and very disrespectful to our members” and called for and someone “to be held accountable for this one”.

Hospitals and healthcare networks across the country have become a target for hackers, who can freeze entire systems in pursuit of ransoms. Newfoundland in particular had good reason to worry about the threat of “phishing”, where malicious links are hidden in seemingly innocuous emails: in 2021, a cyber-attack took certain healthcare computer systems in the province offline for months.

Officials quickly apologized for last week’s particular email, however, calling for an internal investigation into how it was sent.

“We are taking a step back to review how these exercises are developed and communicated to ensure they reflect the respectful and supportive culture we strive to foster,” wrote Ron Johnson, the health board’s interim CEO. He later told reporters that the test “really missed a mark” and was “not reflective of how we value our employees”.

Other union leaders said the apology fell short of capturing the profound disappointment of staff.

“While I understand that cybersecurity awareness is important, especially in a healthcare setting, targeting a benefit like paid time off is disgusting,” said Sherry Hillier, the CUPE Newfoundland and Labrador president, in a statement.

“These workers are tired, burned out, and desperate for time off. As the employer, NL Health knows that and chose to exploit that feeling anyway.”

Keyword – Technology
Trefwoorden – AI (artificial intelligence), Data and computer security, US news, UK news, Australia news, Canada, New Zealand, Technology
Title – AI models that can take down governments and business months away, rare Five Eyes statement warns | AI (artificial intelligence) | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/sarah-basford-canales
Link – AI models that can take down governments and business months away, rare Five Eyes statement warns | AI (artificial intelligence) | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-22T13:00:24.000Z
Category – News
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/jun/22/anthropic-claude-fable-ai-model-artificial-intelligence-national-security

Powerful AI models capable of taking down governments and businesses are mere months away, cyber intelligence agencies for the Five Eyes have warned in a rare joint statement, urging leaders to “act now”.

The surprising public intervention by signals agencies for Australia, the US, the UK, New Zealand and Canada comes after the Trump administration earlier this month decided to block “foreign nationals” from using a much-hyped AI model built by tech company Anthropic, called Fable.

The statement, issued late Monday night Sydney time, said while AI “would help us improve cyber defence over time, it also accelerates the speed, scale, and sophistication of cyber threats”.

“Frontier AI models are anticipated to exceed current industry expectations, fundamentally transforming both offensive and defensive cyber capabilities. The timeline is not years, it is months,” the warning by Five Eyes’ agencies said.

“In this environment, cyber resilience is integral to advancing business continuity, market confidence, and long-term value.”

The cybersecurity agencies said the leaps in AI models showed the technology would lower barriers for bad actors and increase the speed and complexity of attacks.

“A whole-of-organisation and whole-of-society response is required,” the statement continued.

“Cyber risk can no longer be treated as a purely technical issue. This is a core business risk and leadership responsibility.”

While no AI models or companies are mentioned in the statement by name, many around the world have their eyes on Anthropic’s advanced tier of tools.

One of the major tech company’s latest inventions is called Fable 5, a supposedly more community-friendly version of Mythos – a powerful AI model released earlier this year capable of detecting vulnerabilities in cyber systems that is only available to vetted organisations and companies because of concerns it could be exploited for bad.

Both of Anthropic’s models were suspended for use by “foreign nationals” in June by the US government, which cited advice by national security authorities.

Olivia Shen, an expert in national security and AI at the University of Sydney’s United States Studies Centre, said much of the world was focused on what happens next for Anthropic but there could be many more powerful AI models not far off on the horizon.

“I think we have to anticipate that the next Mythos or the next Fable is just around the corner,” Shen said.

“We can only see what’s been released, but there could be other models being developed by the likes of China, or other states and other actors and companies, that are just as advanced.”

In March, the Albanese government signed Anthropic as the first company on to its national AI plan.

The non-binding memorandum of understanding means companies agree to share details of AI progress with the government and “promote safety”.

The government’s national plan promotes a light-touch approach on regulating the sector in a bid to capture economic and productivity benefits from the technology.

Keyword – US news
Trefwoorden – US immigration, Ohio, US news, Ukraine, US politics, Europe
Title – A Ukrainian family built a community in Cleveland. Now, they face deportation | US immigration | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/stephen-starr
Link – A Ukrainian family built a community in Cleveland. Now, they face deportation | US immigration | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-21T14:45:33.000Z
Category – News
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jun/21/ohio-ukrainian-family-deportation

Tamila Vashchuk and her husband, Mykola, are minor celebrities in this corner of Ohio .

The Ukrainian couple have appeared on the cover of local magazines and been invited onto morning television shows. En route to building a successful pierogi food business , they’ve met with the governor. A recent law graduate from Cleveland State University, Mykola is hoping to do his bar exams someday. Most Sundays, they volunteer at the local church.

But now, the family faces an immigration court hearing they believe could see them deported back to Ukraine , where they would struggle to treat their son’s illness and where Russia’s ferocious assault has increased in recent weeks.

Four years ago, Tamila noticed their 10-year-old son, whom they asked not to be named, wasn’t growing physically as they expected he would.

“His appetite was so low. He was not gaining weight,” she recalls.

Facing astronomical medical and testing expenses in Ohio, Tamila and her son decided to temporarily return to their hometown, Kyiv, where they knew they could get their son’s health assessed at a cost they could afford.

Before they did, Tamila made numerous trips to the US Citizenship and Immigration Services office in Cleveland to ensure that if they left the US, they could re-enter the country without problems. She also called Customs and Border Protection officials at the Cleveland airport, from whom she received similar advice.

“We were told repeatedly that due to the humanitarian parole stamps in our passports, we would be re-admitted to the US without any issues,” she says.

But when their son’s treatment ended in Ukraine and the family came back to the US through Boston Logan international airport in December 2022, they were immediately issued with removal orders, having allegedly violated the terms of the parole, which prohibit leaving the US.

“The officer said: ‘Technically, you have broken the parole.’ Our brains were absolutely melted,” recalls Mykola, who does not face deportation, having entered the US just once.

Tamila and her son now face a court hearing, initially set for late June but which has been rescheduled for August, that could see them taken into custody and deported.

“I have two master’s degrees. We know this country. We love this country,” Tamila says. “We just want to stay here.”

If deported, the health of their child, whose daily medication to treat his hormonal deficiency must be refrigerated at all times, would be at significant risk.

All the while, several judges at Cleveland’s immigration court are noted for being especially unforgiving.

TRAC, a research center at Syracuse University, found that immigration judges based in Cleveland have been denying asylum applications at rates of more than 70% for years. The judge assigned to the Vashchuks’ case has the highest asylum denial rate in the court, and one of the highest in the country.

What’s more, the court has also become a place where ICE agents regularly detain people .

Questions sent to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) asking whether the family’s potential deportation is an excessive punishment given the health risk and potential threats to their lives from the conflict were not directly answered.

A statement from a DHS spokesperson said: “In December of 2022, Tamila Vashchuk and her son … attempted to illegally re-enter the US through Boston, without valid travel documents. They were admitted to the US in June of 2022 under the Uniting for Ukrainians humanitarian parole program but traveled outside of the US without permission and without valid travel documents. They both will receive full due process, pending the outcome of their immigration proceedings in August.”

Russia’s years-long targeting of Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, which has seen its electricity generation capacity reduced by 50% due to near-nightly bombing raids, means that if they are deported to Ukraine, keeping the son’s medication refrigerated would be near impossible. On top of that, there aren’t steady supplies of the medicine.

“The doctor was saying that the supply in Ukraine is unreliable, and he has to take it until he is 18,” says Mykola.

“In our apartment building, there is no electricity, no fridge, no heating, no water.”

The Vashchuks aren’t the only Ukrainians facing mounting problems in the US. Temporary protected status (TPS) for an estimated 103,000 Ukrainian nationals is set to end in October .

Last year, the Trump administration froze the Uniting for Ukraine program, which allowed more than 235,000 people fleeing the war to enter the US. Trump has frequently criticized Ukraine and its political leadership for refusing to bend to Russia’s demands.

All the while, Russia’s assault on Ukraine has escalated.

In recent weeks, dozens of people have been killed and hundreds injured in Dnipro, Kyiv and Kharkiv in some of the worst attacks since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.

All this has fueled human rights groups to call on the Trump administration to extend immigration resources for Ukrainians in the US.

A report released in February by Global Refuge, a Maryland-based non-profit, found that “Country conditions in Ukraine continue to meet the statutory requirements for TPS, including armed conflict and other extraordinary conditions that affect the ability of nationals to safely return”.

The US Department of State has categorized Ukraine as a “level four: do not travel” country due to what it calls the risk of “active ground combat, frequent shelling, missile and drone attacks on populated areas and civilian infrastructure”.

While the Uniting for Ukraine program that the Vashchuks entered the US on prevents holders from being deported, Mykola says that immigration judges have discretionary authority “and can make whatever decision they deem appropriate. I don’t know what’s going to be in the judge’s mind.”

Historically, Cleveland has been home to one of the largest Ukrainian communities in the country, which began to grow in the early 1900s as people left poverty and famine to seek work in factories. Today, the city’s suburbs are dotted with large eastern orthodox churches and, since Russia’s invasion, the community has grown by several thousand people, fueling a host of local cultural festivals.

“We work in the public school systems and we have seen every single Ukrainian student graduate on time and every single one be accepted into post-secondary education programs,” says Patrick Kearns, executive director of Re:Source Cleveland, a non-profit that works with immigrants in Ohio’s Cuyahoga county.

“They have worked incredibly hard when they get here. They’ve been nothing but a boon to our economy. It’s unfortunate to see that our policies haven’t kept pace with where they were when we [first] welcomed these folks several years ago.”

Kearns says that the bipartisan Ukrainian Adjustment Act – a bill that would give certain Ukrainians in the US a pathway to permanent residency but that’s failed to gain traction among lawmakers – should be moved forward.

“We’d like to see a comprehensive approach. They are an asset to the community,” he says.

The looming threat of deportation has made it impossible for the Vashchuk family to invest in or plan for their already successful food business. Their food production business back in Kyiv is on life support due to the war. They petitioned to have the removal proceedings dismissed, but that was denied.

“We have appealed for help from local politicians but heard nothing back,” says Mykola.

“We have parents in Kyiv, and they say this is the worst it’s been.”

Keyword – Film
Trefwoorden – Steven Spielberg, Film, ET: The Extra-Terrestrial, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Empire of the Sun, Culture
Title – ‘Once my tummy stopped shaking, I was absorbed by the scale, spectacle and wonder’: your Steven Spielberg film favourites | Steven Spielberg | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/guardian-readers,https://www.theguardian.com/profile/alfie-packham
Link – ‘Once my tummy stopped shaking, I was absorbed by the scale, spectacle and wonder’: your Steven Spielberg film favourites | Steven Spielberg | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-20T12:00:02.000Z
Category – Culture
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/film/2026/jun/20/readers-favourite-spielberg-films-close-encounters-et-raiders-hook

ET the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)

ET is my favourite Spielberg film. It was the first I ever saw at the cinema, when I was eight years old, at Bolton Odeon in 1982. It was also the first film that made me cry – not just cry, but sob all the way home on the bus. I remember feeling completely confused by the fact that I was so happy and yet so sad at the same time. I watched the film with my mum and some of her friends from the Gingerbread Club, a single parents’ organisation that arranged social events and outings, mainly for single mothers. At a time when there was still a stigma attached to being a single parent, it provided a sense of community and support.

Looking back, I think part of the reason I connected so strongly with ET was that it featured a single mum rather than the perfect nuclear family that dominated so many films and TV programmes of the time. It felt much closer to my own reality, and that made me love the film even more. That Christmas, my favourite present was an ET doll with a light-up stomach and glowing fingertip. I adored it. More than 40 years later, I still love the film dearly and never hesitate when someone asks me what my favourite film is. Even now, hearing a few notes of John Williams’s score is enough to bring tears to my eyes within seconds. Andrea, 51, Manchester, UK

Hook (1991)

Universally touted as a Spielberg flop. So much so, that even Spielberg himself started to regret ever making the film. All of this is inconsequential to its meaning for me as a child of the 90s. The film is a trusted comfort. I can quote all the dialogue, and even use phrases from it in my day-to-day life. The casting, the effervescently sad Robin Williams as the boy who accidentally grew up, the lawyer jokes, the warm haze that permeates the film. I remember it being played on free-to-air many times as a child and having my own – pardon the pun – pirated copy. I returned to this film often as a child, and still return to it at least once a year now, when a dose of nostalgia is needed. So despite Spielberg’s protestations, it is my favourite of his oeuvre for many selfish reasons. Rhea, Melbourne, Australia

Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)

Close Encounters of the Third Kind will always be the Spielberg movie that means the most to me, as much for the circumstances that led to me seeing it as the wonderful film itself. I was five years of age and my mum decided to take my sister and I to see a movie double bill at a cinema in nearby Chester. From memory, the films we were meant to see were a Spider-Man movie that was actually made for TV, and a much older, Ray Harryhausen-animated, Sinbad film. Long story short, my dad dropped us at the wrong cinema, on the opposite side of town, and my mum decided we should see whatever was showing there rather than venturing through an increasingly dark, wet evening.

The only “suitable” movie was Close Encounters, although my mum said numerous times before buying the tickets that she was worried I might find it scary. Needless to say, her saying that made me feel very nervous indeed! Up until that point, my only issue with seeing a movie with the words “of the Third Kind” in the title was that I hadn’t seen the first two films (I was similarly confused when the crawling text at the beginning of the original Star Wars movie referred to it as “Episode IV”).

Anyway, I sat in the cinema next to my mum, quaking like crazy at this scary movie she was making me watch. But not for long! About 15 minutes in, I famously announced that my tummy had stopped shaking and from that point on I was utterly absorbed by this film of such mindblowing scale, spectacle and wonder. I vividly remember going to bed that night and asking my mum to leave the curtains open so I could see the stars. Spielberg’s genius had opened my very young mind and made it suddenly more curious as to what magic there might be out there. More importantly, I wasn’t afraid to look for it. Scott Harrison, 54, north Wales, UK

Always (1989)

Always, starring Holly Hunter, Richard Dreyfuss and John Goodman, is my feelgood movie. Funny, heartbreakingly sad, great action and classic dialogue: “Girl clothes!” Holly and Richard at their peak, their chemistry was excellent and that they are not your typical Hollywood handsome made you love them more. I have to watch this film every couple of years and I always laugh and always messy-cry and it never fails to reaffirm my faith in people. Spielberg made the perfect love story, but its joy is so often overshadowed by his summer blockbusters. Karen Cusick, 61, Devon

Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)

Raiders, for its propulsive energy and giddy excitement as Indiana Jones cracks his whip through a booby-trapped temple in the South American jungle. Also choosing Nazis as the villains (and snakes!) was a masterstroke that helps keep the plot itself timeless. Steven Spielberg tips his fedora to the cliffhanger serials of the 1930s and the Tintin stories to bring us the adventure of a lifetime!

Spielberg’s name translates as “play mountain” in German and he brings that playfulness to the screen from the opening shot of the Paramount logo transitioning into a mountaintop in the Peruvian jungle as Indy searches for hidden treasures, before getting caught in snowbound Himalayan bar fights, foot chases through Cairo and an exhilarating truck chase through the desert. As you catch your breath, the chemistry between Indy and Marion has the alchemy of a 1930s screwball comedy. Niall Laverty, Dublin, Ireland

Empire of the Sun (1987)

For me, it is Empire of the Sun . It was one of the first major Hollywood productions allowed to film in communist China, in Shanghai. It is also faithful to JG Ballard’s excellent book. In fact, I can’t read the book now without seeing young Christian Bale as Jamie/Jim. The imagery is extraordinary, the acting feels real, and John Williams’s score is beautiful. The opening scene, with coffins floating down the Yangtze as Suo Gân plays in the background, hooked me immediately. I think I first saw it in year 11, towards the end of term, when our history teachers played it for us.

I already loved history, so the setting was the perfect recipe for me. But what really stayed with me was Jim himself. I was only a few years older than him at the time, and I remember wondering how I would have coped in his situation: separated from his parents, forced to fend for himself and having to grow up amid some awful scenes. I didn’t much like the conclusion I came to. There are scenes I still think about: the young Japanese pilot, the “difficult boy” scene, the atom bomb, and that extraordinary “Cadillac of the skies” moment. War might be the backdrop, but I don’t see it as a film about war. It is about imagination, resilience, choices and consequences. That is why it has stayed with me. Matthew Vandermeer, 50, Brisbane, Australia

The Fabelmans (2022)

I’m a high-school English and film studies teacher. I’m 49 – just a few months older than Close Encounters. The Fabelmans is my favourite film of all time, and is the capstone film we watch to finish my film studies class at Appleton West High School. In it, Spielberg explicitly tells the story of his own childhood and adolescence and his family’s influence on him becoming a film-maker, but he also uses that story to reveal the “how” and the “why” of a lifetime influencing the emotions of his audiences.

Watching The Fabelmans for the first time is an almost religious experience for Spielberg fans around my age. It’s a meditation on growing up with the movies and a sincere attempt to show the next generation of film-makers and enthusiasts all they need to take up the mantle themselves. For fans of Spielberg and the rest of the “New Hollywood” visionaries, there is no better (or more accessible) film to demonstrate how the movies that move us are built on foundations of both science and art, how Spielberg is an absolute master of both, and how his parents’ influence in those polar-opposite arenas made him (and us!) capable of dreaming so vividly on screen.

The Fabelmans also features the most joyous final shot you’ll see in a movie. It made me leap out of my seat in 2022 the same way I did as a kindergartener when ET’s heart started glowing again 40 years prior. The whole film is an elaborate magic trick, and nothing is spoiled when Hollywood’s master emotional illusionist reveals his – and his family’s – biggest secrets. Nathan Ossmann, Appleton, Wisconsin, US

The Color Purple (1985)

The Color Purple tells the stories of sisters separated and of women who help each other through hard times and characters who grow and mature. It shows the downtrodden rising, features fantastic singing and love lasting through decades of separation. The Color Purple is Spielberg’s best film because it shows the strength of women to overcome their circumstances when they support each other. It also has an amazing soundtrack of gospel and jazz and blues. The scene that sticks in my mind is Shug singing gospel demanding her father forgive and accept her. Mandy Purcell, 54, Melbourne, Australia

Duel (1971)

I first read Duel as a very enjoyable short story in Playboy magazine early 1970s. I was elated to learn it had been made into a film and first saw it on UK Channel 4 TV. Now have it as a DVD, regularly watch it, pleased that the lead is played by Dennis Weaver whom I recall from 1950s TV as Chester in Gunsmoke, an American western series. I am mesmerised by the way Spielberg captures the menace of the anonymous driver in the equally anonymous, oversized, unmarked, rust-brown truck, repeating the same conceit – the truck appearing from nowhere to intimidate, bumper to bumper. It’s a one-trick pony but Spielberg makes it fresh every time the bullying takes place. And the ending. Literally a cliffhanger, as an intimidated car driver abandons his vehicle at a cliff’s edge while the truck follows, over the edge and to oblivion. Very clever for a directorial debut. Mike Abbott, 83, London, UK

Keyword – Film
Trefwoorden – Film, Culture
Title – Tell us your favourite film of 2026 so far | Film | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/guardian-community-team
Link – Tell us your favourite film of 2026 so far | Film | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-18T07:32:27.000Z
Category – Culture
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/film/2026/jun/18/tell-us-your-favourite-film-of-2026-so-far

The Guardian’s film writers have compiled their favourite films of the year so far – and we’d like to hear about yours, too.

Which films have captured your imagination this year? Are there any new releases from so far in 2025 that you would recommend watching?

Tell us your nomination and why you like it below.

If you’re having trouble using the form click here . Read terms of service here and privacy policy here .

Keyword – Football
Trefwoorden – World Cup 2026, Belgium, Iran, World Cup, Football, Sport
Title – Iran’s Beiranvand denies 10-man Belgium in World Cup draw as Nathan Ngoy sees red | World Cup 2026 | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/ben-fisher
Link – Iran’s Beiranvand denies 10-man Belgium in World Cup draw as Nathan Ngoy sees red | World Cup 2026 | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-21T21:16:20.000Z
Category – Sport
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/football/2026/jun/21/belgium-iran-world-cup-group-g-match-report

There was simply no debate over the moment of the match and it is one that Iran will cherish, even more so if they are to progress to the World Cup knockout stages for the first time. Every angle of Alireza Beiranvand’s preposterous save to prevent Belgium taking the lead approaching the hour added to the miraculousness of it all. Perhaps the most ludicrous element was that Beiranvand appeared to have been eliminated from the game when the ball dropped at the feet of Maxim De Cuyper inside the six-yard box, the goal gaping. Yet, while scrambling on the turf after seesawing to his left in an attempt to intercept Kevin De Bruyne’s rolled cross, Beiranvand stuck out a strong left hand to shut the door in the face of De Cuyper, before smothering the ball.

Presumably, given this summer’s apparent appetite for a goalkeeping cult hero, this all means Beiranvand’s following might now increase tenfold, though as Iran’s longtime No 1 who saved Cristiano Ronaldo’s penalty at the 2018 World Cup, he is no unknown. Just ask Vozinha and Eloy Room how their outstanding performances for Cape Verde and Curaçao respectively have done wonders for their profile. At 33, Beiranvand is a youngster compared to those guys.

Iran believes. They have refused to wilt under the restrictions imposed on them by Fifa and the US and have earned creditable draws in their two matches, both of which have been played in Los Angeles. Meanwhile Belgium , who went out at the group stage four years ago, are in a spot of bother. Rudi Garcia, their head coach, accepts the pressure on their final Group G match against New Zealand is clear. “Sometimes when you have to win, sometimes that’s the best situation,” he said. “Obviously we had wished to start better. But, just like cyclists, we have to keep pedalling on and on and show we deserve to move on to the round of 32.”

Belgium were reduced to 10 men midway through the second half after Nathan Ngoy wiped out Mehdi Taremi and the inquest into another disappointing result has begun. Their record at major tournaments now reads two wins from their past nine matches, one from their past six, against Romania at Euro 2024. They have had a total of 38 shots in their opening two games in the US without scoring themselves, their sole goal coming courtesy of the Egypt defender Mohamed Hany. They missed the energy of Jérémy Doku, who was absent through illness, while Romelu Lukaku, making his first start for club or country for more than 12 months, huffed and puffed in attack.

De Bruyne glittered in moments, none more so than when graciously bringing down Leandro Trossard’s lifted pass on the byline. Beiranvand made it his mission to reach De Bruyne’s pass before Lukaku, who became the third-most capped Belgium player. In the end Ali Nemati stopped the cross, his legs splayed as Beiranvand thwarted De Cuyper. Lukaku could only put his hands on his head in disbelief. “Beiranvand is one of our greatest goalkeepers in the history of Iranian football,” said Iran’s head coach, Amir Ghalenoei. “He is extremely experienced, intelligent and he had one of his best days. He had the right concentration and he gave us one very valuable point – even though we could have had three points.”

The last time Iran were at this stadium, they were not so much frogmarched off the premises but advised they were not welcome to stick around, informed they would have to fly back to their base in Tijuana, Mexico. Gianni Infantino visited their dressing room in an attempt to assuage their concerns, though amid Ghalenoei’s plea for more help Fifa’s president ended up riffing that, if required, he could fill in up front against Belgium. In the end, it was Belgium who were blunt in attack.

Thibaut Courtois was alert to thwart a bouncing effort by Hossein Kanaanizadegan and midway through the first half Taremi saw a precise finish, reminiscent of Wout Weghorst’s strike against Argentina four years ago after a free-kick routine initiated by Ehsan Hajsafi disallowed for offside. The ball beat Courtois in slow motion but a video assistant referee review flagged Taremi offside.

Courtois made an instinctive save from Taremi after an Iran long throw but the best stop was undeniably at the other end approaching the hour. Beiranvand somehow pawed De Cuyper’s shot from inside the six-yard box after Nemati initially halted De Bruyne’s cross after a touch of brilliance on the byline. The huge wraparound screen then showed the raw numbers: 15 shots to four in Belgium’s favour. But a few minutes later it was Iran with a numerical advantage when the Lille defender Ngoy wiped out Taremi trying to make amends for a poor pass.

Belgium were rattled, even the most tidy players now unkempt. De Bruyne gave the ball away deep inside his own half, presenting Saeid Ezatolahi with the chance to send a full-throttle shot at Courtois. Beiranvand, though, was not finished and with stoppage time looming he was alert to another De Cuyper effort. “Sixteen hours [to prepare in LA], two flights and a heavy game, I don’t think any team in the world could sustain such conditions and play like this,” Ghalenoei said.

Keyword – Television & radio
Trefwoorden – Television, Television & radio, Culture, Tennis, Sport
Title – Goolagong review – a lovely tribute to an Aboriginal tennis legend | Television | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/hannah-j-davies
Link – Goolagong review – a lovely tribute to an Aboriginal tennis legend | Television | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-20T20:50:11.000Z
Category – Culture
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2026/jun/20/goolagong-review-tribute-to-an-aboriginal-tennis-legend-bbc-four

G oolagong opens to the soulful strains of Ann Peebles proclaiming: “It’s your thing – do what you wanna do!” It feels a little on the nose as a way to soundtrack an inspirational sporting drama, as Australia’s Evonne Goolagong (played by Lila McGuire) steels herself for her first ever Wimbledon match. (For the uninitiated: not only was Goolagong the first Aboriginal player to compete in tennis’s most prestigious tournament, but she would go on to win the ladies’ singles title twice, in 1971 and 1980, plus a doubles win in 1974. She won seven grand slams in total and was – for a time – ranked world No 1.) This three-part drama from Australia’s ABC is sometimes saccharine, and the opening sequence of a teenage Evonne wandering starry-eyed through the corridors of the All England Club – portraits of former winners on the walls – feels heavy-handed. More difficult themes do come to the fore in time, but Goolagong is largely an unapologetic, flashback-heavy tribute to a sporting legend. It’s beautifully drawn, but do we really need to watch the primary school-aged Evonne (a cherubic Eloise Hart) hit a ball against a wall with a plank of wood this many times?!

Sadly, being a woman in sport – or maybe just a woman in the world – Goolagong would go on to apparently suffer financial abuse and sexual harassment at the hands of her coach, Vic Edwards. The contrast between those fluffier scenes and the unwanted advances of Marton Csokas’s slippery Edwards feels like a screeching handbrake turn. Not least because we see Edwards move Goolagong from her happy but impoverished Wiradjuri family in rural Barellan, New South Wales – with a population in the hundreds – into his family home in Sydney at 14, grooming her for sporting fame but also maybe just grooming her full stop. But – as uncomfortable as that segue is – it is her reality. “When it stops being fun, come home,” Evonne’s mother tells her, with more than a little foreshadowing on the part of the writers. Later, after family tragedy and chicanery on Edwards’s part, Evonne will echo those words, declaring that tennis is “not fun any more”, ruined by the selfishness of her mentor.

Elsewhere, the series does well to weave in the big issues that overshadowed the game in the 70s – and conversations on race, gender and pay equity – without feeling too much like a rehashing of Goolagong’s Wikipedia page. McGuire is brilliantly believable as the clueless upstart who isn’t unfeminist, but sticks her foot in her mouth by telling a journalist that she would play for free if she had to. (Naturally, Billie Jean King is deeply unimpressed, and Goolagong finds herself ostracised by her fellow women players.)

As syrupy as some scenes can be, they are anchored by the brilliance of Hart, McGuire and Rilee Clarke, who play Goolagong as a defiant, determined, quirky woman at different points of her life. The supporting cast is strong, too – in particular Luke Carroll as Goolagong’s father, Kenny, and Chenoa Deemal as her mother, Linda. And who can resist the burgeoning, trans-hemisphere romance between Evonne and English tennis journalist Roger Cawley (Felix Mallard), who would go on to become her husband? (Well, perhaps Vic Edwards could – allegedly, Edwards lied about not being invited to the wedding, then unilaterally announced Evonne’s retirement.) Even so, Goolagong can’t quite make up its mind tonally. The result is a drama that’s frequently charming, but frequently lightweight. Certainly, the crescendo of the final episode – and Goolagong’s return to the sport just months after the birth of her daughter, Kelly, in 1977 – drags on and on with a tension that feels forced. All before a miraculous recovery, a family reunion and that joyous second Wimbledon win. Hurrah! Cue more flashbacks …

Goolagong is an uneven thing, although clearly it’s a story that wholeheartedly deserved to make it to the screen. It ends with a slideshow of images of the real Evonne, which only confirms my sense that a documentary or docudrama would have been more compelling. We are told that she “seeks out a new generation of talented Indigenous children” through her tennis charity, “supporting them to dream, believe, learn and achieve”. She and Roger have now been married for 51 years. There’s a brief clip of her with McGuire, as they wave to a crowd of extras, that is rather moving. It’s not quite smashing, then, but it is lovely.

Goolagong aired on BBC Four and is on iPlayer now. In Australia, you can stream it on ABC iView

Keyword – Football
Trefwoorden – World Cup 2026, Football, World Cup, Sport, US sports, Australia sport, Mexico, Czechia, South Korea, South Africa football team, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Canada, Qatar, Switzerland, Brazil, Haiti football team, Morocco football team, Scotland, Australia national football team – Socceroos, Paraguay, Turkey, USA, Curaçao, Ecuador, Germany, Côte d’Ivoire football team, Japan, Netherlands, Sweden, Tunisia football team, Belgium, Egypt football team, Iran, New Zealand, Cape Verde, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Uruguay, France, Iraq, Norway, Senegal football team, Algeria football team, Argentina, Austria, Jordan, Colombia, Democratic Republic of the Congo football team, Portugal, Uzbekistan, Croatia, England, Ghana football team, Panama
Title – Golden Boot: World Cup 2026 top goalscorers | World Cup 2026 | The Guardian
Author –
Link – Golden Boot: World Cup 2026 top goalscorers | World Cup 2026 | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-18T08:17:30.000Z
Category – Sport
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/football/ng-interactive/2026/jun/04/golden-boot-world-cup-2026-top-goalscorers-winner

The Golden Boot is awarded to the World Cup’s top goalscorer, with assists used as a tie-breaker if two or more players finish level. The 2026 tournament has three former Golden Boot winners taking part: Kylian Mbappé of France (eight goals in 2022), England’s Harry Kane (six goals in 2018) and James Rodríguez of Colombia (six goals in 2014).

Mbappé and Kane are among the pre-tournament favourites to finish top scorer in North America, alongside Norway’s Erling Haaland – making his World Cup debut – and Argentina’s Lionel Messi.

Other pre-tournament favourites include Spain’s Mikel Oyarzabal and Lamine Yamal, Vinícius Júnior of Brazil and Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo. However, history tells us not to discount a surprise package. Totò Schillaci, initially a back-up striker in Italy’s squad, won the Golden Boot in 1990, while Russia’s Oleg Salenko finished joint-top scorer in 1994, albeit aided by five goals in one game against Cameroon.

Golden Boot contenders have an extra match to rack up the goals in 2026, with a 48-team tournament meaning a round of 32 for the first time. Any team that reaches the semi-finals will finish the World Cup having played eight games, although the highest Golden Boot total ever – Just Fontaine’s 13 goals in six games for France in 1958 – remains an imposing target.

You can no longer have joint winners. If two or more players have the same number of goals and also of assists, the total minutes played in the final competition will be taken into account, with the player playing fewer minutes ranked first.

Keyword – Football
Trefwoorden – England, Thomas Tuchel, Football tactics, World Cup 2026, World Cup, Football, Sport
Title – England offer rare peek behind the curtain with no place to hide under Tuchel | England | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/jacob-steinberg
Link – England offer rare peek behind the curtain with no place to hide under Tuchel | England | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-21T00:58:34.000Z
Category – Sport
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/football/2026/jun/21/england-world-cup-training-intensity-peek-behind-curtain-thomas-tuchel

T he tall hooded figure kept barking instructions under a hot Missouri sun. Thomas Tuchel was looking for perfection as preparations for Ghana geared up. England’s head coach watched from a distance at first but it was not long before he was making sure the training drill was up his standards.

Tuchel, wearing a hoodie to protect himself from the UV rays, loomed over a group made up of Elliot Anderson, Jude Bellingham, Anthony Gordon, Marcus Rashford, Djed Spence and Ollie Watkins. This was a rare peek behind the curtain. At international tournaments there are days when journalists are allowed to watch 15 minutes of open training. They are often anodyne experiences, limited to a bit of jogging around, maybe a glimpse of a rondo if you’re lucky, but there was more insight at England’s base in Kansas City on Saturday morning. Mannequins were carefully arranged in four zones and it soon became clear there is no hiding place when Tuchel is watching.

The German is a perfectionist who has been known to measure the height of the grass used at training. “If he sees something that he doesn’t like he calls it out,” Dan Burn said when he spoke to the media later in the day. The honesty is refreshing, the clarity welcome. On this occasion the focus seemed to be on England accelerating the play and moving through the lines. The players were passing through the mannequins. They could only take two touches. They needed to go through the middle at first, work on enticing the press and give and go before turning out to shifting the ball wide, but Tuchel was quick to move over when he spotted one group in need of some advice.

Tuchel is big on players controlling the ball with the correct foot in training. He wants everyone to know the favoured foot of every teammate on the pitch. It sounds logical. It speeds up the play and when Tuchel wandered over to Anderson, Bellingham, Spence, Gordon and Rashford it was possible to see the intensity go up.

Holding a whistle in his right hand, Tuchel was loudly telling players which foot to use to control passes. There was a moment when he zoned in on Spence, telling the full-back to wake up. “Open up,” he said. “It’s been five minutes already, Djed. Come on!”

The cajoling was relentless and the level went up. England were pushing it in the heat and the mind went back to the first half of their opening game against Croatia last Wednesday. The roof was shut at Dallas Stadium and England struggled to beat the press during the first half. They played themselves into trouble and twice lost the lead, only to blow Croatia away with an astonishing burst of attacking football after half-time.

The aim is to play like a Premier League side: with speed, intensity and physicality. Historically, though, England have struggled with teams pressing them high. It comes down to technique. Tuchel makes it sound easy. If a left-footer receives the ball on their correct foot it makes it easier to open up the body, pass beyond an opponent, get England on the attack and use the pace of their forward players.

No wonder England’s players talk about how much they learn from Tuchel. The buy-in is total, although there is room for levity. There is basketball on offer at the team hotel. Backgammon has been on the agenda and Burn has been trying to work out how to play Wolf, a long-running card game inside the camp. “I’ve been watching a few of them before getting in there, trying to work out who the best liars are,” the big Newcastle defender said.

The players had a day off on Friday. Harry Kane and Jason Steele, the training goalkeeper, joined Burn at an Ella Langley gig. “I like country music, so I had a cowboy hat on and cowboy boots,” Burn said. “If you’re going to do it, do it properly. Ella is an amazing country artist, so it was nice that we get to do those things. Then today it’s focused back on football.”

The demands are high. While Tuchel watched the passing drill his assistant threw himself into the action. Anthony Barry pressed and was also blasting out a stream of instructions. It was Barry who did the half-time interview with ITV and delivered a searing critique of England’s first 45 minutes against Croatia. The Liverpudlian did not hold back, saying there was a nervous energy from the team.

Burn, who first came across Barry when the 40-year-old was cutting his teeth as a young coach at Wigan, was not surprised. “There’s no grey areas with Baz and the manager,” he said. “The one thing that I really do like about them is that they just say it how there is. They’re not going to beat around the bush. That’s all you want as a player. You just want that honesty.”

England have it with Tuchel and Barry’s double act. The players will hear about it whenever they dare to slow down.

Keyword – Sport
Trefwoorden – Royal Ascot, Ascot, Horse racing, Sport, Horse racing tips
Title – Royal Ascot draw bias left too many with raw deal in otherwise stellar week | Royal Ascot | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/gregwood
Link – Royal Ascot draw bias left too many with raw deal in otherwise stellar week | Royal Ascot | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-21T04:00:20.000Z
Category – Sport
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2026/jun/21/royal-ascot-draw-bias-horse-racing

B ig numbers were something of a theme at Royal Ascot this year. Aidan O’Brien became the first trainer to saddle 100 winners at the meeting when Scandinavia took the Gold Cup on Thursday. Attendances were up throughout the week leading up to Saturday’s annual sell-out, by an average of 3.5% and the high-numbered stalls carried all before them on the straight course, with one winner after another powering up to the line against the near-side rail.

There are always talking points after a meeting like Royal Ascot, where the occasion and competition are so intense that everything feels exaggerated. This time around, there was a team tactics debate on Tuesday, as Christophe Soumillon picked up an eight-day ban for riding Puerto Rico “in a manner to assist” Gstaad in the St James’s Palace Stakes , though the decision is subject to an appeal to be heard this week. There was a furore, too, after Juan Hernandez was allowed to weigh in again after an easy win on Bacio in the last race on Friday, having being light first time round.

But the clear advantage enjoyed towards the stands’ side on the straight course was apparent from day one. It was one of the few significant disappointments in an otherwise memorable week, with high-class performances from well-backed favourites such as Bow Echo, Ombudsman , Scandinavia and Venetian Sun .

Simon Crisford called it out before watching his gelding Jazl, a leading fancy for Bacio’s race on Friday, finish 27th and last behind the easy winner, who was drawn in stall 31. “The bias has been shocking and it’s really disappointing because you want to be drawn high,” he said. “It’s not right when you pay what you pay as an owner to come to Royal Ascot and not have a fair racing track.”

A fortnight ago, the British Horseracing Authority’s stewards deemed the Derby favourite a non-runner because he had a leg off the ground when the stalls opened and lost maybe a length or so as a result. At Ascot, though, dozens of runners had their chances compromised through no fault of their own, but because when the stall positions were drawn the computer said low.

The wide – and much-loved – variety of tracks in British Flat racing means punters are accustomed to dealing with draw biases. Low numbers at Chester and Beverley and high at Ripon are among the betting mantras many backers will learn at an early stage of their punting careers. But these are often a result of a course’s size or layout. The bias at Royal Ascot – the premier meeting of the year at British Flat racing’s showpiece track – was on the straight mile, with no obvious reason why one side or the other should be favoured and with a potential effect on 18 of the 35 races.

The Britannia Handicap on Thursday, over the straight mile, was the most striking example. Thirty runners went to post and they split into two groups, 15 on each side of the track. The first 11 horses across the line were from the stands’ side group and nine of those were drawn 22 or above.

The draw played no part in Saturday’s feature, the six-furlong Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes, as the field came down the middle and the capacity crowd enjoyed a thrilling three-way photo-finish as Almeraq, at 25-1, edged out the big overseas contenders, Satono Reve and Joliestar, by a nose and a short-head.

On Saturday morning, Chris Stickels, Ascot’s clerk of the course, had accepted there was a problem. “We work very hard at providing as fair a track as we can,” he told Sky Sports Racing. “We study the data, we aerate it evenly, we irrigate evenly. Yes, it does seem that the high numbers have been winning, but let’s be honest, not much has raced on that far rail.

“I don’t think it would be disadvantageous to be in the middle of the track at all either, there were horses winning in the middle of the track yesterday. It wasn’t like everything on the stands rails was way in front of everything else.

“It doesn’t walk massively differently [on the opposite sides of the track], but the evidence has been that the high-drawn horses have been winning.”

Smart punters can turn a draw bias to their advantage over the course of a meeting and also take note of beaten runners whose performances can be marked up with an eye to backing them next time. Laureate Crown and Exclusive Code, first and second on the far side in the Britannia, are just two among plenty of examples.

It is also fair to acknowledge it has been the accepted betting wisdom for many years that the high stalls are the place to start when looking for a winner on the straight course, especially when the ground is riding fast. This time, though, there was scarcely any point going even halfway across the track in the search for a winner. While punters can factor a bias into their calculations, owners and trainers, as Crisford pointed out, do not have the same luxury.

The yearling market has been remarkably robust in the face of various economic upheavals in recent years and one of the key drivers that persuades the biggest owners to keep investing in bloodstock is the possibility of competing at Royal Ascot. While few will shed many tears for a billionaire whose seven-figure thoroughbred is drawn on the wrong side of the track, they are still capable of sensing when they are getting a raw deal and choosing to get their kicks – or race their horses – elsewhere.

It is more difficult, too, for Royal Ascot to sell itself as the undisputed pinnacle of Flat racing if so many of its races appear skewed towards runners on one side of the track.

Interestingly, Stickels also told Sky Sports Racing that “we did try and deal with that by trying to put a little bit more water on [the near side] through May, but we got to a stage where we felt it was even. It’s not easy to do because you’ve got to shut off one side and not another.”

A more determined effort may be necessary next year.