Keyword – Business
Trefwoorden – Business, Economics, Stock markets, Oil, Iran, Commodities
Title – Pound and UK bonds holds steady as prime minister Keir Starmer confirms resignation – business live | Business | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/kalyeena-makortoff
Link – Pound and UK bonds holds steady as prime minister Keir Starmer confirms resignation – business live | Business | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-22T09:12:47.000Z
Category – News
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/business/live/2026/jun/22/oil-prices-fall-stock-markets-rise-us-iran-peace-talks-trump-burnham-starmer-pound-ftse-hormuz-business-live

Markets seem to be appeased by news of a (relatively) standard leadership contest, which will shake out any policy positions from prospective prime minister before they take post.

That could help reduce any jitters from some corners of the market ove r Andy Burnham’s potential leadership. according to Richard Carter , head of fixed interest research at Quilter Cheviot .

Carter says:

Markets are wary of Burnham’s previous policy positions so they would prefer to see ideas for governing fleshed out via a leadership contest, keeping surprises to a minimum.

There are difficult decisions around welfare and defence spending lurking, with each likely to have an impact on gilts and wider UK markets.

For now, given the economic team Burham has been putting in place, alongside the fact he does not appear to be seeking a new mandate, we are probably going to see more of a continuation of the current direction from the government.

Cabinet appointees will likely be scrutinised, however, for their growth friendly credentials.

Last week’s borrowing figures highlight just how messy this inheritance will be, and as such, there is unlikely to be any immediate silver bullet to the UK’s economic woes.

Without that new mandate, there is likely to be more tinkering with personal taxation around the edges and as such that will weigh on growth.

UK gilt yields are also broadly unchanged, signalling investors have long expected this change at the top of UK government.

The yield on the benchmark ‌10-year UK gilt is up 1 basis point on the day at 4.85%, unchanged from where they were prior to the announcement.

Pound holds lower after Starmer confirms resignation

Markets appear to have broadly priced in Keir Starmer’ s resignation, with the pound having moved little on the news.

Sterling has pared losses but is still in the red, down 0.2% at £1.32, though part of this is due to a rising US dollar which has gained ground on progress in the US-Iran peace talks.

Starmer has tried to lay out an orderly transition, saying he has asked the national executive of the Labour party to set out a transition timetable, with nominations for new leaders opening 9 July and completed by summer recess on 16 July.

He said that will ensure a new leader in place before parliament returns in September.

Starmer said he will remain in post as prime minister until the context is complete, and promised to give his “full and unequivocal support” to whoever takes his place.

Starmer confirms he is resigning

Prime minister Keir Starmer has taken the lectern outside Downing Street listing the progress made by Labour government, before confirmed he is resigning.

“Every decision I’ve taken has been about putting the country I love, first…that is why I will resign as leader of the Labour party.”

You can follow the play-by-play of Starmer’s resignation address in our Politics live blog here:

Pound near 2026 low as PM Keir Starmer expected to announce resignation timetable

Sterling is down, trading near its lowest level so far this year, as investors await news of prime minister Keir Starmer’s resignation timetable.

The pound is trading down by about 0.35% at 1.3191, with all eyes on how markets will react to news of what is expected to be a baton pass to Andy Burnham.

Eurozone bond yields have also dropped slightly, thanks in part to momentary relief over US-Iran peace talk progress, amid hopes it could ease geopolitical tensions and war-related inflation that reduce the prospect of further ECB rate rises.

The yield on Germany’s benchmark 10-year bond yield was down 2 basis points at 2.966% this morning. (This is after having climbed 6 basis points on Friday after peace talks were abruptly called off)

It also comes as ECB president Christine Lagarde is set to appear in front of European parliament’s committee on economic and monetary affairs in Brussels this afternoon, starting at 2pm BST.

Her comments will come after the ECB became the first big central bank to raise interest rates since the start of the Iran war, earlier this month.

While financial markets had been expecting two more ECB rate rises by next March, the weekend’s peace talks have tempered those forecasts.

Brent crude prices at lowest level since March

Oil prices are trading at their lowest level since March, though analysts say it may be too early to peg hopes on a sustained drop in energy prices despite progress in US-Iran peace talks this weekend.

Stephen Innes , an analyst with SPI Asset Management, says it is important “not to overcook Monday’s oil move” :

Brent shorts had built meaningfully last week, so part of the early upside looks like traders taking risk down rather than launching into a full-blown conflict trade.

When positioning has leaned too far into calm, it does not take much tension to force a little oxygen back into the price. That is less a declaration of war than a reminder that carrying shorts into a geopolitical negotiation is rarely a comfortable overnight position.

Patrick Wintour and Jonathan Yerushalmy Iran’s foreign minister has declared “progress” after the first day of talks between high-ranking officials from Washington and Tehran ended in Switzerland, despite a tense opening marked by Donald Trump threats to restart attacks.

A joint statement from mediators Qatar and Pakistan said the ⁠US and Iran agreed to a roadmap towards⁠ a final deal within 60 days. Technical talks between lower-ranked officials ​will continue for the rest of the week, according to the statement, with fighting between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon at the top of the agenda.

“Pakistani and Qatari mediation has delivered major progress to end Lebanon war,” said Abbas Araghchi, the Iranian foreign minister, after talks broke up just after 3am local time (1am GMT).

The joint statement said the US and Iran agreed to establish a “communication line” to avoid incidents in the strait of Hormuz, and to set up a “deconfliction cell” with Lebanon’s government to ensure the “adherence of the termination of military operations in Lebanon”.

In a development that is critical to unlocking progress, the US Treasury was also preparing to issue a 60-day waiver lifting sanctions on oil, petrochemicals and derivatives. Iran said this meant its central bank would be able to sell oil to customers, principally China, and receive payments without the threat of sanctions.

Qatar and Iran also signed a memorandum about the release of Iranian assets frozen in Qatar bank accounts due to US secondary sanctions. It was not clear whether the US had placed any restrictions on Iran’s use of the assets, such as demanding the money only be spent on humanitarian goods.

The economic measures may help lift some of the pressure in Iran’s exchange markets, and gradually slow runaway inflation, the country’s biggest domestic concern at present.

Read more here:

European stocks are kicking off the week on a positive note, amid news of progress on US-Iran peace talks.

Here’s how they are looking at the start of trading:

FTSE 100 is up 0.11%

France’s CAC 40 is up 0.15%

Spain’s IBEX is up 0.08%

Germany’s Dax is up 0.22%

Pan-European Stoxx 600 is up 0.11%

Introduction: Oil prices fall, stocks rise on reports of ‘progress’ in Iran-US peace talks

Good morning, and welcome to our rolling coverage of business, the financial markets and the world economy.

Investors are pegging hopes on to reports of progress in the US-Iran peace talks, helping ease market jitters that have weighed on stocks and sent energy prices soaring.

A first round of talks between US and Iranian officials in Switzerland this weekend reportedly ended on a positive note, with the Iranian foreign ministry saying good progress had been made, according to Iran’s Press TV.

Officials from Qatar and Pakistan, who have been acting as mediators, also said the US and Iran had agreed a roadmap that would seal a final deal within 60 days.

That may feel like a long way off, but it has been enough to calm oil markets, sending Brent crude prices down more than 2% and below $80 a barrel, at $78.90, a significant drop from its May peak of $126.41.

The news has also lifted stock prices in Asia. The Japan’s Nikkei rose 1.8% this morning, while South Korea’s Kospi climbed 0.6% and the MSCI ’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan gained 0.8%. Chinese blue chips stocks rose 1.6%.

Ipek Ozkardeskaya , a senior analyst at Swissquote, says it’s a bit of relief after a weekend of uncertainty:

The week starts on a surprisingly positive note despite the uncertainty surrounding the US/Iran peace talks, which took several twists over the weekend.

On Friday, the talks were postponed (likely due to Israel’s renewed attack on Lebanon).

On Saturday, Iran announced that it would close the strait of Hormuz again.

Yet senior US and Iranian officials still met at Switzerland’s Bürgenstock resort on Sunday, to kick off the 60-day negotiation period.

They said the talks went well. Meanwhile, US President Trump continued to post threats on social media. And here we are, Monday morning.

The agenda

2pm BST: ECB President Christine Lagarde appears before the European parliament’s economic and monetary affairs commottee

Keyword – Football
Trefwoorden – World Cup 2026, Cape Verde, Uruguay, World Cup, Football, Sport
Title – Cape Verde produce another World Cup shock as Varela strike seals Uruguay draw | World Cup 2026 | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/ewanmurray
Link – Cape Verde produce another World Cup shock as Varela strike seals Uruguay draw | World Cup 2026 | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-22T00:28:46.000Z
Category – Sport
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/football/2026/jun/22/cape-verde-uruguay-world-cup-group-h-match-report

Wow. The continuation of Cape Verde’s fairytale may have serious repercussions for Marcelo Bielsa and Uruguay. The heroics of Cape Verde in holding Spain to a draw mean Uruguay should have been forewarned and forearmed in Florida. Instead, this tiny nation with a population equivalent to that of Bristol embarrassed World Cup aristocracy once more. What fun, what glorious fun.

Uruguay now head into Group H’s final game against Spain with their tournament involvement in serious jeopardy. Uruguay had already failed to beat Saudi Arabia . Cape Verde will hold high and legitimate hopes of seeing off the Saudis on Friday. They might not even need to, with an aggregate of three points from another draw potentially good enough for the last 32. The Blue Sharks, swimming in bigger waters than ever before, are the story of this World Cup. Uruguay have desperately underperformed thus far.

“We are here to compete and achieve a new dream, which is to qualify for the second round,” said the Cape Verde head coach, Bubista. “We are now at the point where we can say we will definitely fight for qualification.”

Bielsa bemoaned his team’s mood when the game reached 2-2. The 70-year-old faced an audibly irked Uruguayan media. “The team was highly disorganised,” Bielsa said. “We would attack while running the risk of them scoring against us at the end of the match. We could have won the match and we also could have lost the match. Undoubtedly, Uruguay is a better squad than Cape Verde. But this has to be shown.

“We have the need and the obligation to beat Spain. It is a gargantuan challenge for all of us.” Bielsa added Ronald Araújo will not return from injury for that game.

Twenty minutes had been played. Kevin Pina lined up a free-kick, 28 yards from goal. The two-man wall inexplicably broke, allowing Pina’s fierce shot to hurtle towards Fernando Muslera. Uruguay’s veteran goalkeeper could not adjust his feet quickly enough, the ball flying past him to hand Cape Verde the lead. Cameras panned to a euphoric Ana Candida Evora in the stands ; the mother of Cape Verde’s goalkeeper Vozinha had feared she would miss this occasion in Miami due to cost. What a moment, not only for Evora. Bubista – dressed in blue denim and a T-shirt – was upstaging the renowned Bielsa.

Uruguay jabbed back. Nonetheless, the two goals in the dying embers of the first half which felt hugely significant were only to stir a response from those in red. Cape Verde’s offering to this game and this World Cup must be savoured. They have not only capable players but fearless ones. A team that epitomise everything that is good about the underdog.

Pina’s goal came amid early stages where Uruguay wasted their dominance of possession. Cape Verde’s players had swayed in unison during their national anthem. They were soon to rock Bielsa. More than once.

Cape Verde seemed to draw confidence from Garry Rodrigues, whose touch and electric pace left Guillermo Varela for dust. Pina soon sparked wild scenes among the tiny contingent in the stands who were dressed in blue. Not content with holding Spain, Cape Verde wanted a scalp. Pina will go down in history as the scorer of his nation’s maiden World Cup goal. Uruguayan panic was summed up by Muslera, who scrambled to bat away a cross-cum-shot from Sidny Cabral.

Cape Verde will be angry at the manner in which Uruguay apparently turned this fixture back in their favour. Rodrigo Bentancur’s header deflected off Cabral and on to a post before rebounding into the six-yard area. Maximiliano Araújo was standing in splendid isolation there, the Sporting man stooping and heading in for 1-1. Moments earlier, Telmo Arcanjo had attempted to lob Muslera from 75 yards. The attempt was needless; Cape Verde were worrying Uruguay with direct running.

Uruguay nudged ahead with seconds of first-half stoppage time remaining. The interval scoreline was unquestionably harsh on their opponents. Again, the goal was beyond soft from a defensive standpoint. Araújo headed the ball into the path of Agustín Canobbio, who was totally unmarked. Another blissfully easy finish from close range allowed the vast ranks of Uruguay fans to relax. Likewise applied to Luis Suárez, who watched from a corporate box. Arcanjo had been assisted with cramp by Federico Viñas before the Uruguay man sensed opportunity, promptly dropping his opponent’s leg. It was a bizarre scene in keeping with an impulsive game. Bubista said he was “frustrated” by the episode.

The two-time World Cup winners had not factored in Cape Verde’s wonderful, indomitable spirit. Or, indeed, defensive calamity. Having received a throw-in, Mathías Olivera played a blind ball right across his own goal. No wonder he was to cover his head with his shirt within seconds. Muslera was in no man’s land, which allowed Helio Varela to steal in. Showing great composure given the circumstances, Varela stroked the ball home before leading his teammates on a celebratory dance. This marked Varela’s first goal for his country. What a time to produce it.

Uruguay thought they had taken the lead as Araújo bundled the ball over the line, only for offside to be called for earlier in the move. This saved the blushes of Vozinha, who had spilled the ball.

Uruguay’s finest spell of the game followed. Doubtless through awareness of a bigger section picture, Uruguay frantically chased the fifth goal of the night. An outstanding Steven Moreira block denied Bielsa’s men the lead. Federico Valverde cracked a free-kick narrowly over Vozinha’s bar. Canobbio lacked calmness when through on goal. Cape Verde were hemmed in but so resilient. Players celebrated defensive wins with exuberance.

Eight minutes of stoppage time remarkably concluded with Cape Verde on the front foot. Bielsa sat motionless on his Powerade box. He and Uruguay are in trouble now.

Keyword – Opinion
Trefwoorden – Health policy, Smoking, Palau, United Nations, World news, Vaping, Health, Society, Tobacco industry
Title – The Guardian view on nicotine: we shouldn’t buy the idea of addiction without harm | Editorial | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/editorial
Link – The Guardian view on nicotine: we shouldn’t buy the idea of addiction without harm | Editorial | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-21T16:25:35.000Z
Category – Opinion
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/jun/21/the-guardian-view-on-nicotine-we-shouldnt-buy-the-idea-of-addiction-without-harm

T he health case for banning cigarettes is ironclad. As the then head of the World Health Organization, Gro Harlem Brundtland, put it in 2000, “a cigarette is the only consumer product which when used as directed kills its consumer”. Smoking is still the leading cause of preventable death worldwide. Many countries, including the UK, have taken strong measures to restrict and even ban cigarettes and other tobacco products. Over the past two decades, however, tobacco-free nicotine products such as vapes and nicotine pouches, which use a synthetic version of the addictive ingredient, have exploded in popularity .

Regulation has been slow. The nation of Palau has now tasked the WHO expert committee on drug dependence with reviewing nicotine , which will lead to a UN vote – likely to be in 2028 – on banning it worldwide. The case relies partly on deciding whether addiction and dependence themselves – in the absence of other major health consequences – are harmful. There is certainly an argument for that, and smoking taught us that it is often better to stamp out highly addictive habits if consequences may become obvious later. But there is also reason for caution.

Nicotine products have some benefits. There are still 1.2 billion smokers worldwide, and people who switch to vaping are twice as likely to quit smoking, according to a recent Cochrane review . Palau’s submission includes some data linking nicotine to cardiovascular disease and other health conditions. But a recent Royal College of Physicians report in the UK found that “current evidence suggests nicotine itself confers little risk to health”.

However, regulators cannot make decisions on the current science alone. Reading between the lines of Palau’s submission, there is obvious frustration with the way that the market for nicotine products sprang up rapidly in a regulatory grey area, and targeted children specifically. A WHO report found that children on average are nine times more likely than adults to vape. Some e-cigarettes contain harmful ingredients like heavy metals, and nicotine is proven to be harmful to adolescent brain development. This experience is common worldwide. The UK did not have vape-specific legislation until 2016: the previous law covered tobacco only. It is understandable that countries do not want to continue this game of regulatory Whac-A-Mole, separately evaluating every highly addictive new product only after it takes hold with the public. Banning nicotine would cut this problem off at the source.

There is a middle ground. The UK smoking ban coming into effect next year will also restrict e-cigarette displays and advertising, and leaves room to restrict child-friendly flavours. Ministers should go further. The Canadian province of Quebec has fully banned flavoured vapes and limits the sale of nicotine pouches to pharmacies. Those sorts of restrictions should apply to all forms of nicotine to head off novel forms that flout existing regulation, while still allowing suffering smokers and consenting adults limited access.

Synthetic nicotine – freed of the carcinogens in tobacco – is a fascinating case, seeming to offer addiction without other obvious harm. But there is no clear benefit to allowing nicotine to become widely available, the science on pure nicotine use is still limited and downstream products like vapes are not benign. Addictive substances are by definition difficult for individuals to control, which is why countries may need to manage them.

Keyword – Film
Trefwoorden – Film, Documentary films, Chile, Gold, Mining, Americas, Commodities, Culture, Environment, World news
Title – The Fabulous Gold Harvesting Machine review – scavenger’s story reveals a rich seam to mine | Film | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/phuong-le
Link – The Fabulous Gold Harvesting Machine review – scavenger’s story reveals a rich seam to mine | Film | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-22T06:00:53.000Z
Category – Culture
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/film/2026/jun/22/the-fabulous-gold-harvesting-machine-review-documentary

O ut on the remote archipelago of Tierra del Fuego in Chile , Toto Gesell holds on to a profession that hails from bygone times: gold prospecting. Every day, come rain or shine, he puts on his rubber boots and heads to a local creek, where he searches for specks of gold the old-fashioned way: with a pan, a shovel and a homemade sluice. His daily routines are documented with great tenderness in Alfredo Pourailly De La Plaza’s absorbing documentary, shot over nearly a decade. The camera often lingers on Toto’s wrinkled hands, as he carefully handles tiny flecks of the precious metal, or writes down his hopes and dreams in a neatly kept diary. Despite his contentment with this simple way of life, his body is etched with the physical toil of the demanding work.

When Jorge, Toto’s worried son, decides to build a trommel from scratch to help automate his father’s work, the film acquires the fervour of a monumental quest. This colossal undertaking ends up taking years; through riveting editing, the documentary oscillates between two competing timelines: one of the trommel’s gradual completion, and another of Toto’s declining health, as the juxtaposition accentuates the urgency of Jorge’s mission. When Toto suffers a serious health crisis while prospecting, the preciousness of time feels as tangible as the gold dust that slips through his fingers.

Occasionally, the film shifts its focus away from these intimate, domestic moments to take in the beauty of the Tierra del Fuego landscape. And in the end, the trommel stands not just for filial piety, but also for the love of a whole community. Rich with meticulous detail, De La Plaza’s documentary also doubles as an act of visual scavenging; among these lush fields of grass and snowcapped mountain peaks, the film-maker has also struck gold.

The Fabulous Gold Harvesting Machine is on True Story from 26 June.

Keyword – Wellness
Trefwoorden – Well actually, Swimming, Fitness, Life and style
Title – Why do you always feel like you have to pee when swimming? | Well actually | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/marlene-cimons
Link – Why do you always feel like you have to pee when swimming? | Well actually | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-16T16:00:07.000Z
Category – Lifestyle
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/global/2026/jun/16/why-swimming-makes-you-feel-like-peeing

I’m midway into my hour-long swim when it hits: I really have to pee. This always happens. It doesn’t help to curb my morning coffee or use the restroom beforehand. My bladder doesn’t care.

Why does this happen? “It’s a normal physiological response by the body to being immersed in water,” says Dr Stavros Kavouras , assistant dean, professor of nutrition and director of the Hydration Science Lab at Arizona State University. And it’s not just me: “It’s something that happens to all swimmers.”

Here’s what experts have to say about that inexplicable urge to pee when you’re surrounded by water.

What causes the urge to pee when you’re in the water?

The strong sudden need to urinate when submerged in water results from a process called immersion diuresis.

Diuresis is a medical term that refers to the increased production and excretion of urine by the kidneys. During this process, the body filters excess bodily fluid, water and waste products from the bloodstream and expels them through urination, according to Dr Scott Trappe, director of the Human Performance Laboratory at Ball State University.

Immersion diuresis is annoying, inconvenient and uncomfortable – but not usually dangerous, although sometimes it can lead to dehydration, he says.

Why does immersion diuresis occur?

Contrary to common misconception, you aren’t absorbing water from the pool through your skin while swimming.

When your body enters the water, “the relatively cooler water will cause the [blood] vessels in the skin to constrict to conserve core body temperature,” Trappe says. “This sends more fluid centrally.” (Most pools are heated to about 78-82F (25.5-27.7C), according to the US Department of Energy ; lakes and other bodies of water can be even cooler.)

After the blood moves to the chest, special cardiopulmonary receptors detect the volume increase, interpreting it as fluid overload. They signal the brain to halt production of antidiuretic hormone (ADH), a substance that tells the kidneys to retain urine, Kavouras says.

Almost simultaneously, your heart muscle cells also secrete a hormone called atrial natriuretic factor (ANF) in response to high blood volume. ANF widens blood vessels to reduce blood pressure, which then increases water excretion in an effort to restore fluid balance.

Put simply: your body thinks it has too much fluid. “The kidneys sense an increased fluid volume and balance this out by pulling some of the water from the blood – and you [then] have to pee,” says Trappe.

“Both of these factors make the kidneys produce more urine,” says Dr Michael Joyner , an anesthesiologist and researcher at the Mayo Clinic, who studies how the nervous system regulates blood pressure, heart rate and metabolism in response to stress. “This is a natural reflex that keeps the heart from getting overfilled with fluid.”

In addition to water pressure and water temperature, being prone in the water also plays a role, Kavouras says: “The blood more easily goes to your heart.”

Is that why the urge to pee happens far less often when, say, I go running? Yes, says Kavouras, but you also sweat less in the water, so you don’t lose as much fluid that way when swimming. Running causes more sweating, so the body doesn’t feel like it’s holding too much fluid.

So, is there any way to prevent immersion diuresis? “Not really,” Trappe says. “It’s all part of being a swimmer.”

So are people just peeing in the pool all the time?

When I get the urge, I am annoyed. I could quit my workout early or take a break and risk losing my pool lane while I’m gone. I could hold it, or give in to my inner toddler and pee in the pool – probably not a good idea if I want to keep swimming here. So I just hold on until my laps are done.

Other swimmers apparently have no such inhibitions. They just let go in the water. “Nobody talks about it, but everybody does it,” Trappe says.

Kavouras, a former competitive swimmer, agrees. “It’s long been part of swimming culture that swimmers pee in the pool,” he says. “But I’m not going to answer the question of whether or not I ever did it.”

Out of curiosity, I raised the issue with my son. Now in his 30s, he was a serious competitive swimmer starting at age five until he was in his 20s. I wanted to know if he had ever done it.

“Sure, all the time,” he says. “After a few laps I was always peeing on the swimmer behind me.”

The swimmer behind him could not be reached for comment.

Keyword – Football
Trefwoorden – World Cup 2026, Iran, Belgium, World Cup, Football, Sport
Title – Past and present World Cups collide as Beiranvand first gives Iran inspiration, then hope | World Cup 2026 | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/alexander-abnos
Link – Past and present World Cups collide as Beiranvand first gives Iran inspiration, then hope | World Cup 2026 | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-22T02:03:57.000Z
Category – Sport
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/football/2026/jun/22/world-cup-iran-goalkeeper-alireza-beiranvand

As they prepared for the future, the Iran national team looked to its past.

Before Sunday’s matchup against a No 9-ranked Belgium with plenty of stars, the team was played a motivational video; a clip containing what midfielder Alireza Jahanbakhsh said were the indelible moments of Iran’s past two World Cup appearances. These included dogged defending, aggressive closing down, and the few moments of on-field triumph against world powers like Spain and Portugal that have characterized this latest generation of a proud footballing hotbed.

In and of itself, this is not an unusual tactic for teams looking for confidence ahead of a big matchup, which Sunday’s fixture certainly was. But in a coincidence Saman Ghoddos called “crazy,” this backward-looking video ended up foreshadowing the biggest moment of the 0-0 draw that puts Iran on the precipice of its best-ever performance at a World Cup.

Goalkeeper Alireza Beiranvand’s desperate, lunging save in the 59th minute seemingly left all 70,317 fans at Los Angeles Stadium with mouths agape. But in a sense it was also ordinary. Beiranvand has had a signature World Cup moment before, saving a Cristiano Ronaldo penalty in 2018. And he has had a similar impact on a goalline scramble, blocking an effort in a 1-0 win for Iran against Morocco in that same competition. This, Ghoddos said, was the moment the team had focused on in the video.

“The same situation happened now,” he said. “The unity, the fighting spirit we have for each other, for our country, for the people we try to win every game, try not to concede, and a situation like this can happen.”

Iran have been no stranger to late, decisive moments in major tournaments. They fell agonizingly close of a place in the knockout round in 2022 in a loss to the US. They succumbed to a Ricardo Quaresma trivela in 2018, and a Lionel Messi moment of magic in 2014. Beiranvand’s save, one senses, could be the first step in another direction.

“In our last tournaments, Asian Cup, World Cups, [at the] last minute we didn’t get what we deserved, now is one of those times,” said Jahanbakhsh, who added that he felt Iran could have won the game against the 10-man Belgian side. “So it’s really in our control to do what we have to do firstly for our people back home, and then for ourselves. Some of us, we’ve played more than 10, 12 years together. Hopefully we can make [our] best performance [against Egypt].”

Beiranvand’s signature moment gave this match a unique edge, but outside Los Angeles Stadium, little had changed since Iran’s previous visit, a 2-2 draw against New Zealand. There were Iranian fans donning all manner of modified kits, eager to see their team on their quest to finally advance to the second round of a World Cup for the first time.

Among the crowds that so enlivened the team’s previous game remained a large portion of protesters too, including a group of 200 or so who chanted for the removal of the Islamic Republic, saying that the team represented “terrorists” and not everyday Iranians. Others turned their ire at Fifa. Within the stadium’s outermost perimeter, a banner depicting a backpack with a tag reading 168 called attention to the 168 people who were killed in the US and Israeli strike that hit an Iranian school. “No Fifa war games,” it read.

Iran’s lion and sun flags, too, continued to be out in force. Though nominally still banned at the request of the Iranian government, attendees wore them in droves. Increased enforcement saw many more confiscated upon entry than last time, but vendors were comfortable enough to hawk tables of merch with the insignia just outside the stadium gates.

When the national anthem played, the boos and jeers that accompanied it last time were just as present. And when the game got under way, in the biggest moments the crowd heaved with each sharp Belgian attack, every desperate Iranian defense. They called loudly for Nathan Ngoy to be sent off after taking down Mehdi Taremi through on goal, and they cheered when their wish was granted.

“We know they deserve a lot, even the people who came to the stadium today with the different ideas, different ideology, different culture and from different cities in Iran,” Jahabakhsh said. “There are a couple of things that [Iranians] have in common everywhere in the world. One is Team Melli, one is ghormeh sabzi [a signature stew], and one is tahdig [crispy rice].”

The status quo of the crowd, oddly, marks a form of change. In 2022, Iran played their first game of the World Cup with frequent displays of protest in the stands with the country in the throes of the Woman, Life, Freedom movement. By the time of the second game, those displays had been severely curtailed, with attendees saying they feared surveillance by regime operatives disguised as fans. Some protesters could be seen confronted and shouted down back then. This time, if there were arguments, they were once again minor and among individuals.

Iran’s performance on the field, too, remained consistent. The same dogged, if at times disorganized defending. The same scrappy ingenuity up top. Belgium knifed through with sharp edges, but lacked an effective point as Romelu Lukaku was held in check by Shoja Khalilzadeh throughout. Iran thought their moment to savor came in the first half, when Taremi finished off a cleverly worked freekick but was correctly adjudged to have been offside, but only by his backside.

Instead, that moment came in the 59th minute via Beiranvand. The Tractor goalkeeper had risen from relative obscurity on the back of his performances in Russia 2018, where his most distinctive feature were long, cannon-like throws from his own box, shaped by his time as a child throwing stones with friends across the Iranian countryside with the nomadic family he would later run away from to pursue his football teams.

“He was amazing today, and it’s been amazing for a couple of years now,” Ghoddos said of Beiranvand. “He’s the best goalkeeper in our history of our country.”

Keyword – Sport
Trefwoorden – Tennis, Sport, Emma Raducanu, Serena Williams, Katie Boulter
Title – Sell-out crowds and joy: how Queen’s Club women’s tournament outshone the men | Tennis | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/tumaini-carayol
Link – Sell-out crowds and joy: how Queen’s Club women’s tournament outshone the men | Tennis | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-21T04:00:20.000Z
Category – Sport
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2026/jun/21/sell-out-crowds-and-joy-how-queens-club-womens-tournament-outshone-the-men

O ne of the more amusing sights at the Queen’s Club tournament each year comes before even entering the grounds. On the first day of play on Monday, a deluge of spectators invariably descend on Barons Court station, just 150 metres from the entrance.

So many people passing through a tiny London Underground station naturally means long queues at the barriers. That congestion is not helped by many of them pausing comically in front of the gates to search frantically for their bank cards or try desperately to unlock their phones.

The Queen’s Club crowd may not exactly be the target audience of the Lawn Tennis Association’s mission to open up the sport to all parts of society, but the attendance each year is truly impressive.

This year, general sale tickets for the men’s tournament sold out in less than a day. Its enduring popularity has felt even more significant over the past week given one of its weakest fields with just one top 10 player, Alex de Minaur, in the draw.

It is the latest example of the injury crisis that has swept the men’s tour over the past year, with so many young players dealing with significant injuries. The absences of Carlos Alcaraz and Jack Draper were huge blows, but injuries to Lorenzo Musetti, Rafael Jódar and Holger Rune also weakened the draw.

The UK’s more comprehensive tax laws for international players also mean the Halle tournament, which had seven of the top 11 players this week, will hold an advantage over London for years to come.

The understated nature of the men’s event has only further highlighted the wild success of the women’s event, which exploded into action a week earlier as the site of one of the most significant stories of the year with the return of Serena Williams to doubles alongside Victoria Mboko, after four years in retirement.

That spectacle ended on a sad note, with Mboko slipping badly in her first-round match and tearing a medial collateral ligament. Still, as the event progressed, it showcased two of the more impressive days for British players over the past few years as Katie Boulter toppled Elena Rybakina, the world No 2 and reigning Australian Open champion, to reach the semi-finals. That was before Emma Raducanu won two matches in a day to reach her biggest final since winning the US Open in 2021.

The LTA can often serve as a punchbag for all sorts of frustrations within British tennis, the latest being the decision not to award the defending champion Tatjana Maria a main‑draw wildcard, so it is important to commend the organisation when it gets things right. It was a brilliant choice to finally bring women’s tennis back to Queen’s Club after a 52-year absence and in spectacular fashion.

The organisers certainly had to navigate some tricky issues. Not all members at the Queen’s Club, which functions as a private tennis club for about 49 weeks of the year, were pleased with the prospect of another week of professional players encroaching on their turf. Others, meanwhile, had legitimate concerns about British tennis being too London‑centric. There were smaller questions about whether the men would object to playing on courts with a week of wear and tear.

The tournament last year was a great success, but any lingering reservations this year were surely dismissed by the sight of Williams marching out on to the court for the first time in her career.

Between Williams, Raducanu and Boulter, last week played out as a series of joyful moments in west London and the atmosphere in each of their matches was unforgettable. Donna Vekic, a lucky loser, eventually defeated Raducanu to lift the biggest title of her career.

Women’s tennis is the most successful women’s sport in the world, but not all events attract great crowds. Here, the women’s tournament sold more than 70,000 tickets and was at 98% capacity during the whole week, selling out on five of its seven days. About 9,000 fans packing out the stadium each day, even in the middle of working days, was a magnificent sight.

The LTA has also taken steps to address the dramatic prize‑money gap between its events, with the tournament increasing the prize money by more than a third this year, making its total purse of $1,915,000 (£1,443,000) the second highest for a standalone WTA 500 event on the tour.

By comparison, the German Open in Berlin this week, in which nine of the top 10 players entered, has a prize money pool of $1,206,446.

With the prize money for the Queen’s Club men’s tournament standing at €2,583,330, its increase of 2.4% in line with other ATP 500 events, the gap is still large but it has narrowed.

It is not a stretch to say that, in certain ways, the women’s Queen’s Club tournament completely overshadowed the men’s this year. This is just its second year of existence, meaning the tournament’s growing profile will allow it to build momentum with the goal of properly establishing it as a self-sufficient staple of the British summer sporting calendar and one of the best individual WTA tournaments on the tour.

Keyword – Opinion
Trefwoorden – Mark Rothko, Painting, Art, Culture, Italy, Europe, World news
Title – I challenge the Rothko naysayers to stand in front of his monumental art and not feel awe | Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/rhiannon-lucy-cosslett
Link – I challenge the Rothko naysayers to stand in front of his monumental art and not feel awe | Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-21T07:00:24.000Z
Category – Opinion
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/jun/21/rothko-monumental-florence-exhibition-renaissance-religious-art

A s an unbaptised agnostic raised with no religion, the closest I ever really come to a spiritual experience is when I’m standing in front of an artwork. Last week I went to Florence to do exactly that, drawn there not by Michelangelo’s David or Botticelli’s Birth of Venus, but by the works of Mark Rothko, that titan of US abstract expressionism whose work seems, on the surface at least, distinctly secular and un-Florentine. Yet seeing Renaissance art there had a profound impact on Rothko and his painting, as the exhibition Rothko in Florence makes strikingly explicit. Taking place at Palazzo Strozzi and two other satellite sites, it has been curated by his son, Christopher, and the author and independent curator Elena Geuna.

Is it embarrassing to admit that when confronted with the first large canvas I was drawn to I felt tearful? It was an emotion born of appreciation and astonishment but also – and this startled me – a feeling of gratitude. I felt profoundly lucky to be there, in front of this painting, not long after a time in my life where for various reasons I had been not been feeling all that fortunate at all. To have the chance to take in the paint on the monumental canvas, and absorb the ways the colours – purples, reds, oranges, yellows, blues – blend and in places seem to glow felt hugely significant to me personally. And then, as I continued to look – and as ever with Rothko – I stopped thinking about myself at all.

That’s the beauty of his art, especially in these self-referential times: the way it encourages the identity to break down and dissolve in the face of its contemplation. In that sense, its underpinnings are not so different from those of religious art; in this casting off of the self, then comes awe and wonder.

It is art as meditation, as secular worship. I felt it especially the next day at the former San Marco monastery, where the cells were frescoed by the great Fra Angelico with religious scenes for the private contemplation and worship of each monk. Rothko was overwhelmed when he saw these, having finally got to Florence aged 47, and wanted his own colour field paintings to provoke a similarly intense, spiritual response.

At San Marco some of these frescoes have been paired with works by Rothko in juxtapositions that highlight not only a subtle shared visual language, but their strikingly similar rationale. Rothko spoke of a painting being an experience , and believed in the importance of its quiet contemplation. The spiritual aspect to his practice seems most obvious in the form of the Rothko Chapel in Houston, Texas, a non-denominational place of worship that features 14 of his works in varying shades of black. But here, on a far smaller scale, and in a more uplifting colour palette, was a kind of holiness. My father, who was with me, was similarly moved.

Rothko probably wouldn’t have loved the distinctly un-monastic noise levels at the Palazzo Strozzi, nor the fact that groups of Italian schoolchildren were often looking through their phone screens. Yet when I eavesdropped on their interactions with the tour guide their responses were perceptive and authentic. “I love the yellow,” one teenage boy said. “Why do you think he chose it?” Rothko’s works are apparently being embraced by younger people. It has been suggested that they offer a refuge from the unceasing visual bombardment of infinite scroll. I think it goes beyond that, though: it is a search for greater meaning.

I got Rothko wrong when I was young. When I wrote about the 2008 Tate Modern retrospective, I did a whole pretentious bit referencing Sartre’s Being and Nothingness and the concept of original nihilation. These days I am older and don’t reach so much for theory. The dissolving, floaty response I feel is not so nihilistic. Yes, there’s an element of dissociation, but it isn’t frightening: instead there is a feeling of wholeness. Beatific joy is still possible if you know where to look, and though the schoolkids looked differently, they got it.

I won’t justify my belief in Rothko’s greatness. People who hate, or perhaps are threatened, by his paintings continue to object, and you can try arguing with them, but really all you can do is to recommend that they go and stand in front of one. Perhaps you won’t feel as overcome as I did, but I can guarantee that you will feel something. Afterwards, at the Duomo, I lit a candle for my brother, as I always do, and watched the glowing flame flicker and blur, merging with the darkness around it, ancient. That, I thought. That’s how it feels.

Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett is a Guardian columnist

Keyword – World news
Trefwoorden – France, Paris, Europe weather, Extreme heat, Italy, Spain, Europe, World news, Environment
Title – France cancels events and restricts alcohol consumption amid brutal heatwave | France | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/jonhenley
Link – France cancels events and restricts alcohol consumption amid brutal heatwave | France | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-21T15:11:37.000Z
Category – News
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jun/21/france-cancels-events-restricts-alcohol-consumption-music-festival-heatwave

Authorities in France have placed more than a third of the country under a red heat alert, cancelled some outdoor sports events and restricted alcohol consumption at the nationwide Fête de la Musique event amid a brutal heatwave forecast to push temperatures above 40C.

Level 1 or 2 heat alerts were issued on Sunday for about 53 million people, just over 75% of the population. A record 35 of the country’s 96 mainland departments were put on danger-to-life red alert, with another 45 under an orange warning.

France’s ecology minister, Mathieu Lefèvre, said on Sunday that 14 more departments would be on red alert on Monday. “We do not see temperatures falling before the end of the week,” he said, demanding “great prudence and a great many precautions”.

The national meteorological service Météo-France said: “Very high temperatures are setting in for the long term,” with a heatwave of “exceptional severity and duration” likely to break monthly and possibly all-time records.

It warned that temperatures could exceed 40C in many places on Sunday, with some areas facing rises to 42C or beyond from Monday. The national heat index, an average of day- and night-time highs at 30 weather stations nationwide, is expected to hit its highest ever level, the forecasters added.

Sunday’s Fête de la Musique is a nationwide summer solstice celebration held every year in which musicians take over the streets with free performances and revellers party into the night. This year’s festival is a particular source of heat-related health concerns, especially in Paris , Lyon and other major cities.

France’s culture minister, Catherine Pégard, urged “extreme vigilance” and said it should be up to local authorities to decide whether festivities should be cancelled or take place with suitable precautions. Most have opted for the latter.

Several towns have cancelled pre-7pm performances or moved them indoors. Many have introduced alcohol restrictions, with drinking banned on the street and in public spaces in areas on red alert and no alcohol on sale at municipally organised events.

In Paris, which is under a red warning, stronger drinks including high-alcohol beers, fortified wines and spirits have been banned along the banks of the Seine and the Canal St-Martin, to reduce the risk of people falling in. However, drinking at licensed bars and cafes and their terraces – where many gigs take place – is permitted.

Nearly 5,000 police have been deployed across the capital for the day and evening, as well as 2,500 emergency and health service workers. Paris city hall has installed more than 1,300 free public water fountains, while more than 1,500 local shops have signed up for a scheme promising to fill personal water bottles without charge.

France’s prime minister, Sébastien Lecornu, convened a government heat crisis meeting on Saturday and planned another on Sunday, ordering ministers to urgently plan for better adapting France to further heatwaves in the future.

Scientists have said that as Earth continues to warm, extreme heat events historically confined to high summer will become more frequent, more intense and last longer, as well as happening earlier and later in the year.

The French education minister, Édouard Geffray, said on Sunday that more than 800 schools across the country had already announced they would not open on Monday because of the extreme heat, while another 1,800 were rescheduling classes and end-of-year exams.

Jean Castex, the head of the state rail service SNCF, advised “more vulnerable passengers” to avoid taking the train and postpone journeys if possible, warning that air-conditioning systems and other rail infrastructure were being “heavily tested” by the conditions.

Authorities reported on Sunday that four children aged between 11 and 17 had drowned in swimming accidents around the country on Saturday, including two in the Doubs River in the eastern town of Besançon, where swimming has been banned.

The heatwave is not confined to France. In Italy , authorities expanded heat warnings for Sunday from seven to eight cities in northern and central parts of the country, out of the 27 cities monitored nationally by the health ministry.

In Spain , the national weather agency, Aemet, has issued red warnings for northern regions. Temperatures of between 40C and 42C are forecast in the major river valleys and inland areas such as Andalucía and Extremadura, rising to nearly 44C by Tuesday.

In the UK, the Met Office said baking heat could last until at least Thursday, sparking health alerts and concerns for vulnerable people. Forecasters have said there is “growing confidence” this week could break the record for the hottest UK June temperature of 35.6C, which was set in Southampton in 1976.

Keyword – Global development
Trefwoorden – Global development, Aids and HIV, Africa, Ebola, USAID
Title – Africa can end Aids on its own terms. Will the world back us to finish the job? | Jean Kaseya and Amma Adomaa Twum-Amoah | The Guardian
Author – Jean Kaseya and Amma Adomaa Twum-Amoah
Link – Africa can end Aids on its own terms. Will the world back us to finish the job? | Jean Kaseya and Amma Adomaa Twum-Amoah | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-22T06:00:52.000Z
Category – Opinion
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2026/jun/22/africa-can-end-aids-hiv-own-terms-world-global-support

T he Bundibugyo Ebola outbreak now being fought across the region shows again what Africa already knows. When an emergency arrives, the continent cannot wait on distant supply chains or other people’s goodwill. It must make and move the things that keep its people alive. The fight to end Aids by 2030 runs on the same truth.

Africa has earned the right to set the terms of that fight. Over two decades the continent helped turn the epidemic around. Aids-related deaths have fallen by 59% since 2010 and new infections by 68%. Nearly 22 million Africans are alive today on daily treatment. Keeping them alive is a permanent commitment.

That obligation now meets a hard fact. External health aid to Africa was estimated to have fallen by 70% between 2021 and 2025. The model that brought the response this far, in which Africa delivered while others financed and directed, is ending whether or not anyone plans for it. The only real choice is whether the continent leads the transition or absorbs the shock.

The Common Africa Position for this week’s 2026 High-Level Meeting at the UN in New York on HIV/Aids is Africa’s answer. Agreed across member states, experts and institutions, it speaks with one voice. It is built on the Africa Health Security and Sovereignty agenda, which heads of state adopted to treat health as a matter of sovereignty rather than charity. The political declaration should take it forward. It rests on three main demands.

It begins with money. Domestic HIV financing has risen over the past decade, and now it has to rise faster, moving inside national budgets, primary healthcare, universal health coverage and social protection, where it can last. Finance and health ministers will have to plan that shift together.

International solidarity is still needed, above all in countries facing conflict and fiscal strain, but the terms have changed. Every dollar should back one national plan, one budget, and one monitoring framework. Africa CDC’s target is concrete: at least 20 countries financing half or more of their own health spending by 2030. Partners are asked to fund that future, not to run it.

Then comes access. No continent can lead a public health emergency response while depending on distant factories for the medicines that decide who lives. Africa needs reliable supply of antiretrovirals, diagnostics, and innovative prevention tools such as long-acting pre-exposure antiretroviral prophylaxis (eg, lenacapavir), and it needs to make more of them locally. Innovation that does not reach people is innovation that misses the goal and one-off donations of ARV supply will not build a factory.

Lenacapavir could reach 9 to 11 million people and accelerate progress towards ending Aids by 2030, but only at a price an African budget can bear.

On price and supply – the African pooled procurement mechanism (APPM), led by Africa CDC, turns scattered demand into a continent’s bargaining power.

The African Medicines Agency supports African manufacturing of health products. The continent’s aim is to locally manufacture at least 60% of its health product needs by 2040. That takes political commitment to promote manufacturing and a permanent, binding route for real technology transfer to African manufacturers.

Then come the systems that hold it together. The Aids response is won in clinics and communities, not in communiques. People do not experience their health in vertical programmes, so HIV care has to be folded into primary healthcare, with testing, treatment and maternal health reaching people through one door rather than a dozen. Communities living with HIV have led this response from the start, and need funding and formal standing to keep doing so. Rights belong at the centre too.

Stigma, gender-based violence and punitive laws keep people from care, and a serious declaration will defend the dignity of everyone who needs these services, including migrants and refugees. The data must be African as well, held in country-owned systems under African control. The systems also have to hold under pressure, so that the next outbreak, as with the one the continent is fighting now, does not erase a decade of progress.

The direction is already set. The 2026 political declaration should meet it: finance the transition, secure access to the science, defend rights, and build a global health order that answers to African leadership rather than around it.

For 25 years the world asked whether Africa could deliver the Aids response. It can, and it has. The question this June is different. It is whether the world will back Africa to finish the job on African terms, or spend another generation managing the continent’s dependence. The continent has made its choice. The declaration should make the same one.

Dr Jean Kaseya is director general, Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention ; and H E ambassador Amma Adomaa Twum-Amoah is commissioner for the African Union department of health, humanitarian affairs and social development Union Commission