Data from more than 747,000 participants has been made available to scientists and doctors, creating an unparalleled genomic and electronic health record database “powering next-generation discoveries” in so-called “precision medicine”, the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the US medical research agency, has announced.

What is it?

Precision medicine, as defined by the NIH’s National Human Genome Research Institute, is an “innovative approach that uses information about an individual’s genomic, environmental and lifestyle information to guide decisions related to their medical management”.

Generally considered analogous to “personalised medicine” or “individualised medicine”, its goal is “to provide a more precise approach for the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of disease”.

What are the obstacles?

In theory, “therapies targeted to a person’s genetic make-up should be more effective and have fewer side effects”, said the BBC’s David Cox. But in practice, personalised medicine has in the past proved “erratic and expensive”. Another problem has long been that it “requires people to trust governments and companies with their genomic data, while the regulatory environment around medicines is ill-equipped to cope with therapies that are designed for just one person”.

That is the “paradox at the heart of precision medicine,” said NIH director Jay Bhattacharya. “To tailor treatments to individuals, you actually need very large populations to uncover the patterns that connect genetics, lifestyle, and the environment to health outcomes.”

What conditions could benefit from it?

NIH’s All of Us data has already fuelled more than 1,400 peer-reviewed publications across the US and around the world. Recent related breakthroughs range from a first-of-its-kind clinical genetic test predicting inherited risk of heart disease to the development of a low-cost prostate cancer risk model.

In a small-scale trial in California, people with early-stage dementia were given bespoke treatment plans targeting their personal nutritional deficiencies, ongoing infections and environmental exposures, which saw their symptoms improve.

A new “groundbreaking” genomic test could see millions of women with breast cancer spared debilitating chemotherapy, following the results of a trial that could “transform healthcare guidelines worldwide”, said The Guardian.

And in April, The New York Times reported on the story of KJ Muldoon, born in 2024 with an incredibly rare enzyme deficiency. In the space of just six months, a team at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and Penn Medicine designed a personalised therapy that was able to correct the single misspelled letter in his DNA using gene-editing technology. It was perhaps the “most important medical story of the decade”, said the paper.

AI modelling has also made analysis of huge datasets cheaper and more efficient. A recent study in the Annals of Medicine and Surgery suggests this is already having an impact on a range of critical specialities, including cardiology, infectious diseases, and oncology where machine learning models are able to analyse new sets of biomarkers so enabling “ultra-targeted therapies that strike tumour-specific mutations with remarkable precision”.

Even in psychiatry, AI is increasingly being used to predict treatment resistance for antidepressants well in advance. “This is the future of tailored, bespoke medicine,” said Forbes.

If you’ve ever avoided giving criticism or expressing boundaries in the workplace, you may have been “bubble-wrapping.” The phenomenon, in which people cushion their words or actions to protect other’s feelings, is most common among women. Avoiding confrontation may be inadvertently hindering upward mobility in the office.

A gendered habit

While anyone can partake in “bubble-wrapping,” women are most likely to do it. Women are “often socialized to be ‘the nice one,’ ‘the helpful one’ or the person who keeps everyone together at work,” Mukti Joy, a leadership coach and well-being strategist, said to Her World. “They start confusing being valued with being easy to approve of.” More than half of women “feel pressure to be likeable at work compared with only 36% of men, and this ‘likeability labor’ means women often feel overly responsible for other people’s comfort at work,” Mandy Lehto, an executive coach and leadership expert, said to Stylist.

Examples of bubble wrapping in the workplace include apologizing unnecessarily, softening the delivery of criticism or expectations, or taking on extra tasks instead of communicating limits. Many women feel pressure to avoid confrontation because they are “far more likely to receive feedback that they’re being ‘bossy’ or ‘too direct’ when they communicate in the same way as male colleagues,” Léonie Kennepohl, a female leadership expert and co-founder of Female x Finance, said to Forbes. Bubble wrapping “often comes from a good place,” but it “can make communication less effective and is arguably worse than being known as ‘bossy.’”

A harder job

This pressure to be agreeable can hinder career growth. Bubble wrapping “makes women appear less confident in leadership positions,” said Forbes. “The focus feels like it shifts from making the right business decision to protecting everyone else’s feelings,” Kennepohl said. It can “present as a person not having leadership qualities.” Bubble wrapping also “deprives people of the very feedback and challenges they need to become more resilient, capable and successful,” said Forbes.

Women often “become the colleague others vent to, the one who smooths over conflicts, explains someone’s intentions or makes sure everyone else feels comfortable,” said Her World. These added burdens often make jobs more taxing. This emotional labor “has real value because it helps build trust, psychological safety and stronger workplace relationships.” It becomes problematic “when it’s expected from the same people every time.”

A need for courage

Wanting to be kind does not mean avoiding difficult conversations. “Empathy is essential but so are boundaries,” Elaine Choi, an HR Manager, said to Her World. Practicing “carefrontation” or “being clear, honest and direct while remaining respectful and kind” can facilitate necessary conversations “without carrying everyone else’s emotional reactions on your own.” However, purposely putting yourself in uncomfortable situations may also be required at times.

It is important to “build self-trust by showing yourself that you value your own experience as much as other people’s,” Lehto said to Stylist. “You’re not being unkind or unprofessional.” A conscious effort to make yourself heard will likely lead to an “adrenaline surge and an internal wobble,” but “stay in tension anyway.” There is “so much coming at us that is trying to make us complacent, or to look the other way or to not sit in the discomfort,” Reshma Saujani, the founder of Girls Who Code, said in an interview with Big Think. “We actually need people to feel and to act with courage in their everyday life.”

Covering the cost of fertility treatment can feel like yet another hurdle in a process that is already physically and emotionally draining. Not only do you have to go through the testing and medical procedures involved, you can also end up paying tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars.

For families who want to have kids or women who want to afford themselves a little more time, though, this can feel like a price well worth paying. But the process may necessitate some financial planning. Research can also go a long way, as insurance companies increasingly offer coverage.

How much can fertility treatments cost?

The cost of fertility treatments can vary widely depending on the specific treatment that is necessary. A “typical egg preservation cycle is about $10,000,” while a frozen embryo transfer “could total about $2,500,” said The Bump. Meanwhile, a procedure like in vitro fertilization (IVF) “could add up to a total of $13,000 to $14,000.” Opting for a surrogate, meanwhile, can run anywhere from $80,000 to $100,000.

There is also the reality that a fertility treatment is not always a one-time thing. In fact, “most people will need more than one cycle to achieve pregnancy,” said The Wall Street Journal.

Can insurance help cover fertility treatments?

Over the past decade, “more companies have already stepped up to help employees,” said Jaime Knopman, a reproductive endocrinologist for CCRM Fertility of New York, to the Journal. Now, said the outlet, “more than 40% of companies offer overall fertility benefits, according to a 2024 survey of employee benefits plans from the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans.”

Still, this does not mean you will get full coverage, and certain parts of the treatment process may not be covered. For example, “your plan may cover fertility medications, but only those of a specific brand. Or it may cover routine lab work, but only at designated labs,” said Discover. This makes it absolutely vital to do in-depth research and ask questions.

If your company does not offer coverage, it could be worth asking HR. “Some patients even successfully lobbied their human-resources departments to change a company’s policies and benefits plans,” said the Journal.

What are other options for covering the cost of treatments?

There are options besides your own bank account or insurance for helping to cover the cost of fertility treatments. Some alternatives include:

FSA or HSA funds: Flexible spending accounts, or FSAs, and health savings accounts, or HSAs, “may be used to help pay for IVF and other fertility treatments,” said First Citizens Bank.

Provider payment plans or financial assistance: Your doctor “may offer a payment plan, discounts for uninsured patients or even a shared-risk program,” said Discover.

Nonprofits and charities: There are many “national and local nonprofit organizations that support fertility treatments and related costs,” said Discover. They may have eligibility requirements, however, as some are “established to assist with specific types of patients, while many include income thresholds.”

Astronomers have detected a type of sugar that’s found in raspberries and self-tan lotions near the centre of the Milky Way. A study published this week in the journal Nature Astronomy revealed evidence of erythrulose, a simple sugar, in interstellar gas and dust clouds between stars.

The discovery may conjure up images of a “civilisation of pale, safety-conscious frugivores” in outer space, said The Guardian science editor, Ian Sample, but for astronomers it is significant because “it shows that compounds important for life can form in the frigid expanse between the stars”.

Erythrulose is a monosaccharide (simple sugar) like glucose and fructose, but it is the “most complex sugar spotted beyond our Solar System”, said Nature. Two-carbon simple sugars have previously been detected on meteors and asteroids, but this is the first time a four-carbon “true sugar” has been spotted in interstellar space.

‘Exceptionally sensitive observations’

Using radio telescopes in Spain, researchers collected data from a dust cloud called G+0.693-0.027 near the centre of the Milky Way. After comparing these signals to samples in the lab, they detected traces of erythrulose. The discovery was enabled by “the combination of exceptionally sensitive observations, extensive frequency coverage, and highly accurate laboratory spectroscopic data”, study co-author Izaskun Jiménez-Serra told Live Science.

The findings indicate that erythrulose was probably produced by chemical reactions on tiny interstellar dust grains, which then “rained down” on nearby objects, including planets, or were incorporated into comets. It’s thought that “Earth underwent a period of heavy bombardment from asteroids and comets” around the time that the earliest signs of organic life began to emerge “about four billion years ago”, said Nature. This might have been how sugar molecules were brought to our planet’s surface.

Origin of life

“Sugar does more than sweeten tea and powder doughnuts”, said The Associated Press. “Different varieties fuel our cells and even make up DNA,” so scientists are “itching to know how sugars form because they’re a key ingredient for life as we know it”. Erythrulose itself “isn’t essential for life, but can easily convert to a form that’s thought to be crucial to kick-starting life on Earth”.

It is “especially tantalising” to think that erythrulose might have acted a “feedstock” for the more complex sugars that evolved into nucleic acids – the “building blocks of modern-day DNA and RNA”, said Nature.

“That’s why the detection of erythrulose is so relevant for the origins of life,” said Jiménez-Serra. And, if we could discover even more complex sugars in the Milky Way, more light could be shed, astrophysicist Anthony Remijan told Nature. “An actual building block of RNA and DNA: that would be the next big thing.”

There have been few global figures in the modern era as consequential as Donald Trump. Powerful as he may be, though, Trump does not exist in isolation.

Instead, he is part of an elite echelon of elected officials with whom he is obliged to interact in the course of global business. After a decade of cutting deals, upending relations and generally maneuvering himself to the center of the world stage, here are some of the ways Trump has talked about — and to — his international peers.

Former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad

“President Putin, Russia and Iran are responsible for backing Animal Assad.” — April 2018

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney

“The future governor of Canada.” — March 2026

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi

“My favorite dictator.” — September 2019

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan

“Don’t be a tough guy. Don’t be a fool!” — October 2019

“He’s a hell of a leader.” — October 2019

“Sometimes you get along with the toughest people, like him.” — July 2026

Chinese President Xi Jinping

“We’ve become friends.” — June 2019

“I don’t want to say friend — I don’t want to act foolish, ‘he was my friend’ — but I got along with him great.” — October 2024

“He’s a brilliant guy, whether you like it or not.” — October 2024

“A friend.” — May 2026

Former Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei

“One of the most evil people in history.” — February 2026

Italian Prime Minister Georgia Meloni

“A very successful, very successful politician.” — October 2025

“Do people like her? I can’t imagine. I’m shocked by her. I thought she was brave, but I was wrong.” — April 2026

“It’s her who’s unacceptable.” — April 2026

Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel

“Stupid.” — Unknown 2020

“That bitch, Merkel.” — Unknown 2020

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

Israel’s “Warrior Prime Minister.” — June 2026

“Crazy.” — June 2026

“He has no f**king judgement.” — June 2026

Former Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador

“Juan Trump.” — July 2019

Russian President Vladimir Putin

A “competitor” who is “not an enemy.” — July 2018

“Great guy” and a “terrific person.” — June 2019

A “genius” who is “pretty savvy.” — February 2022

“Absolutely CRAZY!” — May 2025

“I don’t know what the hell happened to Putin.” — May 2025

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte

A “great leader.” — July 2026

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer

“This is not Winston Churchill that we’re dealing with.” — March 2026

Former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau

“He’s two-faced.” — December 2019

“It was a pleasure to have dinner the other night with Governor Justin Trudeau of the Great State of Canada.” — December 2024

North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un

“This maniac sitting here.” — September 2015

“Rocket man is on a suicide mission for himself and for his regime.” — September 2017

“Obviously a madman.” — September 2017

“I think you will have a tremendous future with your country, a great leader.” — February 2019

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy

“His reputation is absolutely sterling.” — September 2019

“Dictator without elections” who “better move fast or he is not going to have a country left.” — February 2025

“I’ve empowered you to be a tough guy, and I don’t think you’d be a tough guy without the United States.” — February 2025

A “difficult character.” — July 2026

“President Putin.” — July 2026

‘The importance of stemming campus suicides’

The Boston Globe editorial board

“Suicide is complex,” and “teenagers and young adults nationwide have struggled with mental health, although some data suggest that’s improving,” says The Boston Globe editorial board. It “wouldn’t be appropriate to blame an institution” like a university for student deaths. But “one death of a student by suicide is too many,” and it “should serve as a reminder for all colleges to take student mental health seriously.” Colleges should be “running campaigns to destigmatize mental healthcare.”

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‘Public agencies’ documents have moved to the chat. The law should, too.’

Jamie Nixon at The Seattle Times

When “disclosure exposes a problem, the solution is better conduct, not a more disposable communication system,” says Jamie Dixon. Public records officers “should not be treated as pests for producing records the public has a right to see.” Journalists “should not have to rely on lucky timing to learn how public power is exercised,” and government agencies “should not conduct substantive public business in systems designed to erase evidence before the public can ask for it.”

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‘Lindsey Graham’s hawkish ideology leaves a legacy of destruction’

Moustafa Bayoumi at The Guardian

The “sudden death over the weekend of the South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham is predictably inspiring a slew of tributes,” says Moustafa Bayoumi. But “through this thick, bipartisan forest of remembrances, however, lies Graham’s concrete legacy.” Nowhere has Graham’s “legacy been more consequential than in his constant push for a hawkish U.S. foreign policy.” His “desire to project U.S. and Israeli military might across the world, regardless of the cost, is an abject political and ethical failure.”

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‘Mamdani’s socialism has no answer for New York homelessness’

Stephen Eide at UnHerd

Is there a “socialist way to clean up homeless encampments?” asks Stephen Eide. New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has “done this through promising and delivering a rent freeze and engaging in class warfare, all of which he thinks plays to his electoral strengths.” But “no politician can control the agenda forever.” New Yorkers “don’t want to wait decades for a solution to a problem cops and sanitation workers could clean up in hours.”

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The right “best” visa for you sits at the junction of several Venn diagram circles: climate, economic opportunity, length of stay, language, culture. Whether you want to dabble in a new adventure for a limited span of months or crave a long-term residence plan far from the United States, there are options. It’s a big world out there. The right so-called “golden” visa can crack it open.

Croatia

The Central European country is not the slightest bit demure with its enjoining of would-be digital nomads. The country’s website on the topic sports the cocksure hashtag #CroatiaYourNewOffice; Croatia’s focus on this segment of travelers has been so successful that researchers there published academic papers on the phenomenon. The process for acquiring this kind of visa in the country is clear and smooth, just like the beloved waters surrounding its nearly 80 major islands.

Estonia

Hard to believe that digital nomad visas are quite a new invention, considering the pace at which they have blasted across the globe. Estonia was the first to launch the new visa breed, debuting its version in 2020. The European country is “incredibly digital, with widespread Wi-Fi in public areas and almost all government services — including birth certificates, medical records, and even contract signing—available online,” said Afar. No surprise then that to secure the visa, your work must be 100% remote. Digital is as digital does.

Germany

Not every visa for workers is created equal. Many countries have lofty requirements for both income and fixed employment status. Germany, though, was ahead of the curve in welcoming freelance workers and self-employed workers with its visa for freelancers and the self-employed. Freelancers, whether artists, journalists or teachers, need proof of their vocation with, say, a diploma or a license, along with evidence of financial means. Self-employed business owners, on the other hand, must show a vested economic interest in Germany.

Greece

There are many ways to shake a stick at what constitutes an optimal country for additional residency as an American. Greece nails oodles of desirable attributes, according to Henley & Partners, a company that provides residence and citizenship planning. The company’s Global Residence Program Index scores countries across such categories as reputation, quality of life, visa processing time and time to citizenship. Greece landed the number one slot in the 2026 index. Crack open the ouzo, and start packing.

Panama

Forest and family: These are two ways Panama sets itself apart with its residence-by-investment program. Invest a minimum in teak reforestation, and you are bequeathed two years of temporary residence. Triple that investment and — blammo! — instant residency. Once you have secured residency with your Panamanian golden visa, er, red carpet visa as it is dubbed here, you can bring along your spouse, children within certain parameters and your parents. It is an expansive familial welcome that guarantees your loved ones can experience the country’s historic pueblos and beachcentric glory.

Romania

All the nature, a live-wire capital, reasonable cost of living — Romania provides a touch of everything you might want from that digital nomad life. It includes being in a country that not every other expat has stationed themselves in, a boon unto itself. When you’re not experiencing the best of Bucharest, head to Europe’s “Yellowstone,” aka Transylvania, “home to one of Europe’s last great wildernesses,” said Afar.

Thailand

Do the beaches and chiles of Thailand live rent-free in your brain and body? If you’re up for the fiscal commitment, a Thai golden visa could be yours. The investment visa provides tax benefits and exemptions, plus the ability to include a spouse and dependents without a minimum stay requirement. There are varied tiers of investment: The highest tiers can provide residency for up to 20 years. Lesser fiscal mortals can opt for a long-term visa, which grants up to 10 years of residency.

United Arab Emirates

Many golden visas necessitate proof of out-of-country employment, whether a full-time gig or contract with an employer based elsewhere. Not the one offered by the United Arab Emirates. According to the country’s golden visa website, “those with exceptional talent or rare specializations” (artists, doctors, athletes, etc), “humanitarian pioneers or frontline heroes,” investors, entrepreneurs and outstanding students can be granted renewable visas good for 5 to 10 years. Dubai, even though it currently sits in the crosshairs of the war with Iran, has long been an expat magnet.

CROSSWORD - July 24, 2026

SUDOKU - July 24, 2026

CROSSWORD - July 24, 2026

SUDOKU - July 24, 2026

What happened

The price of oil has jumped nearly 10% following renewed violence in the Strait of Hormuz. Brent crude futures climbed to $83 a barrel Monday, marking the “largest daily percentage gain since May 2020,” The Wall Street Journal said. The U.S. military launched its third straight night of attacks against Iran Monday night; Iran responded by striking two United Arab Emirates tankers.

Who said what

The new attacks “signaled a return to open conflict” in the region less than a month after the two nations agreed to a ceasefire, The New York Times said. They follow President Donald Trump’s social media declaration that the U.S. is “reinstating THE IRANIAN BLOCKADE,” and will take over the strait, charging a 20% fee for secure passage. That would “be a major new tax on global energy flows and would drive up the cost of the world’s oil and gas,” The Washington Post said.

What next?

The blockade goes into effect Tuesday at 4 p.m. Eastern time. Oil markets are facing a new reality, the Journal said, as the Strait of Hormuz is “no longer expected to return to a prewar norm.”

What happened

South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster (R) on Monday appointed Darline Graham Nordone, the younger sister of Sen. Lindsey Graham (R), to serve the rest of her late brother’s term in the Senate following his unexpected death this weekend. Her appointment “comes with the support of President Donald Trump,” who had “recommended Graham’s sister to the Republican governor,” said CNN.

Who said what

“Lindsey has always been there for me,” said Graham Nordone at a press conference with McMaster. “Now I will be there for him.” She has “largely kept out of the public eye” and has “not previously held elected office,” said Fox News.

Her appointment comes after “several prominent South Carolina Republicans” have “expressed interest in running for the seat,” said The Washington Post. That group includes Reps. Nancy Mace and Ralph Norman, as well as Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette, “all of whom lost the competitive gubernatorial primary last month.”

What next?

Graham’s death launches a “sprint primary election to replace him on the November ballot,” said CNN. “At this point,” said Fox, it’s “unclear” if his sister will run for the full term.

What happened

A federal judge on Monday accused President Donald Trump of attempting to “manipulate the judicial process” when he sued the IRS for $10 billion in January over his leaked tax returns. Trump eventually struck a deal with the Justice Department that granted him immunity from tax audits and created the now-defunct $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund for his allies. But Monday’s ruling from U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams bars him, his family and his lawyers from citing the deal in future legal proceedings, potentially voiding Trump’s tax immunity. Williams also suggested that Trump’s legal team in the case, including Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, should be sanctioned.

Who said what

Trump’s lawsuit was clearly “an attempt to use the court to provide some legitimacy to an agreement to confer immunity to people and entities affiliated with the president,” Williams wrote in her ruling. A group of 35 former judges who pushed Williams to examine the case called her ruling a “resounding victory for the rule of law.”

But it’s “unclear” whether the ruling’s restrictions “could practically limit the tax protections it laid out for Trump and his family,” The Washington Post said. A Justice Department spokesperson accused Williams of being a “partisan judge,” and insisted Trump and his family were “victims of admitted violations of law.”

What next?

Although its “practical impacts” may be limited, the decision still “amounts to a scathing rebuke,” The Associated Press said. It also “tees up a politically uncomfortable line of questioning” for Blanche, who faces the Senate Judiciary Committee for his confirmation hearing this week.

Christopher Nolan’s much-anticipated mythic action epic “The Odyssey” is out this week. Count down to its release by watching or rewatching some of the director’s greatest hits.

Oppenheimer (2023)

The word of the summer in 2023 was “Barbenheimer”, as the blockbusters “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” both hit the big screen. “Oppenheimer”, definitely the darker half of the double feature, is Nolan’s “profoundly unnerving” retelling of the life of J. Robert Oppenheimer (Cillian Murphy) and the part he played in developing the atomic bomb, said Clarisse Loughrey in The Independent. Nolan is “committed to understanding the inner workings of his subject”, observing the chapters of Oppenheimer’s life with “sickly wonder” and painting a picture of a “man deep in denial”. The film is carried by Murphy and Robert Downey Jr., who both earned Oscars for their performances.

Inception (2010)

The one thing to know about Nolan’s 2010 thriller, “Inception”, is that “it is not a trick”, said Nev Pierce in Empire. “It is ingenious but not crafty, knotty but not duplicitous.” There is no “‘ta-dah!’ moment” where you find out everything was only a dream. The starry cast of actors is led by Leonardo DiCaprio who plays Dom Cobb – a spy-for-hire who steals his targets’ ideas from their subconscious minds as they sleep. Visually breathtaking, with cities folding in on themselves and zero-gravity fight scenes, it’s an “exhilarating” watch that fully immerses you in Nolan’s imagination. But it’s more than just spectacle: “this is about life and death and what might be beyond and between”.

Dunkirk (2017)

Nolan’s 2017 Second World War film about the evacuation of British troops from the French town of Dunkirk in the face of the German advance has a “heart-hammering intensity”, said Robbie Collin at The Telegraph. The movie features separate narrative strands following soldiers, pilots and sailors to bring the “single pivotal historical moment” powerfully to life on land, air and sea. With the “crisp” landscape shots, “meticulous” period detail, “superb Hans Zimmer score” and all-star cast, Nolan is able to capture the true “British ‘Dunkirk spirit’”.

Interstellar (2014)

Despite being one of Nolan’s more scientifically ambitious movies, “Interstellar” still has a massive “gravitational pull”, said Mark Kermode at The Guardian. Our unlikely hero, Joseph Cooper (Matthew McConaughey) is “prompted by ghostly forces to lead an exploratory mission through a wormhole beyond the rings of Saturn, abandoning his family in search of a future for all humanity”. With stunning shots of space and imagined planets, “Interstellar” is a “futuristic fable” that leaves viewers “awestruck” and reaffirms Nolan as “cinema’s leading blockbuster auteur”.

The Dark Knight (2008)

The second instalment of Nolan’s Batman trilogy “leaps beyond its origin and becomes an engrossing tragedy”, said Roger Ebert. “The Dark Knight” picks up in the months after its predecessor, “Batman Begins” (2006), with Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) navigating the moral dilemmas that come with being the Gotham vigilante. Boundaries of good and evil are blurred even further with the introduction of Batman’s most iconic villain, The Joker, played by Heath Ledger, who died before the film was released. In his “key performance”, which earned him a posthumous Oscar, Ledger presented The Joker as “more than a villain”. Nolan’s gritty retelling of this iconic story redefined the “comic-book movie”.

Video assistant referee (VAR) technology was introduced to correct clear and obvious refereeing errors, but has since “morphed into something far greater”, said Kevin Baxter in the Los Angeles Times.

At the 2026 Fifa World Cup there have been more than 100 VAR interventions in matches up to the round of 16. Most of these reviews were technically correct, but many of the infractions have been “so imperceptible yet so consequential” as to raise questions over whether “allowing a game to be decided by electronic evidence of a touch detectable only through Nasa-level technology” is “violating the spirit of the game”.

‘Replay doohickey’

The tournament’s “most consequential actor” has not been a star player such as Lionel Messi or even Donald Trump, but the post of VAR, said Roey Hadar on MS Now.

The sad thing is that technology in football is a “great idea on paper”, but “the perfect has become the enemy of the good” and its use at this World Cup has “felt arbitrary, at best a minimal improvement over human judgement”.

Take Croatia’s last-gasp equaliser against Portugal, disallowed due to a contentious offside ruling based on data collected by a microchip in the ball which detected a slight touch by a Croatia player in the build-up to the goal. Or Egypt’s goal against Argentina, disallowed on VAR review for a perceived foul earlier in the play, leading goalscorer Mostafa Ziko to declare the match had been “rigged”.

This “baffling, deeply unpopular replay doohickey” was the equivalent of “getting stopped by a Swat team in Rhode Island and being told you were being ticketed for jaywalking in Oregon. In 1974”, said Jason Gay in The Wall Street Journal. VAR “doesn’t feel like a backstop”. It has become a “joy denial device” designed by “evil robots to rob wonder and suck the soul out of a beautiful game based on constant flow”.

Technology has “undoubtedly corrected mistakes that once shaped tournaments” but it “has not removed controversy” from football, said Clemente Lisi in Forbes. Rather, “it has shifted the conversation from whether referees saw an incident to whether technology was applied correctly and consistently”.

‘Line in the sand’

“In football’s history, it has sometimes required major incidents at big international tournaments to accelerate change,” said Adam Crafton for The Athletic. The back pass rule was introduced in 1992 to prevent goalkeepers from picking up the ball after a pass from a team-mate, and slowing down play by keeping hold of the ball, which reduced goals at the Italy World Cup in 1990.

Goal-line technology came in after Frank Lampard’s 2010 last-16 round goal against Germany was not given, despite the ball clearly having crossed the line. Now Fifa must draw a “similar line in the sand, ending once and for all the unfair and disfiguring use of slow-motion and freeze-frames”.

To improve the game, I would introduce a rule that VAR reviews must “conclude in a set short amount of time”, said Hadar on MS Now. For example, a 30-second limit from the first stoppage of play for an initial VAR verdict, then another 30 seconds for the referee to make the final call. “If the error is visible in that time, it meets the criteria of ‘clear and obvious’. If not, then it’s too inconclusive to change. Just keep the game moving.”

Christina Unkel, a former Fifa referee, said a majority of officials would prefer referees to have discretion to ignore or even overrule VAR if common sense and their understanding of the game suggest they should, just as judges have discretion to use common sense in applying the law.

The majority of decision-making on the pitch is “very subjective,” she told the L.A. Times. “I think everyone’s universally saying there are a lot of different kinds of decisions we do not want part of our game. Toenail offsides, hair follicle arguments.”

Getting to Traena in Norway’s Arctic Circle is “a bit of a schlep”, said James Stewart in The Times. From Oslo, you can catch a flight to Bodo and then take a passenger ferry to Onoy, “a small island transit hub on the Helgeland coast”.

The “first indication” that it’s going to be “worth it” comes as the ferry “weaves south where north Norway shatters into 20,000 islands”. But it’s confirmed on the final leg of the journey as a “fist of peaks nears in the open sea” during the hour-long crossing from Onoy to Husoy island.

Here you’ll find Ytri: a new luxury hotel “billed as ‘Norway’s most remote island retreat’”. At first glance it appears more like an “elongated village of small barns, their wooden cladding silvering nicely or painted rust-red, black and the green of oxidised copper”.

The little “fishing island with 450 residents” doesn’t seem like an “obvious” choice for a swanky new retreat. But faced with “squeezed incomes and an ageing population”, the islanders voted “almost unanimously to create a hotel”.

This is a place made for “edge-of-the-map escapism”, said Chloe Frost-Smith in Vogue. Ytri has been built like a “contemporary coastal hamlet” with 38 rooms and suites, a boathouse, a restaurant serving “traditional open sandwiches” and a yoga and wellness area complete with saunas. Days are easy to fill with “hikes to ancient caves” and “candlelit dinners of seafood pulled from the water just metres from the hotel”.

Consider taking a shuttle boat to the nearby island of Sanna which “boasts three peaks”, said Worldcrunch. To reach the top of one of them, adventurous travellers must go through “what locals call ‘the tunnel of love’, an 800m-stretch dug inside the mountain”. The reward is the view: on your right stretches the “endless sea”, and on your left “the impressive contour of the continent dotted by white glaciers”.

People dealing with record summer heat waves across the United States and Europe aren’t getting much of a respite when the sun goes down. Climate change is causing temperatures to stay high at night, and climate scientists and health experts say hotter evenings may lead to social and medical consequences.

Why are hotter nights a problem?

Intense heat at night is “raising the risk of heat exhaustion and heat stroke even higher, especially for people without access to air conditioning,” said NPR. In cases where the temperature after sundown doesn’t drop below 75 to 80 degrees Fahrenheit, people are “not getting the opportunity for recovery overnight, as we’ve historically seen,” Ashley Ward, the director of the Heat Policy Innovation Hub at Duke University’s Nicholas Institute, told NPR.

It is largely the fault of climate change that no nighttime recovery is occurring, as “each summer we are seeing more heat waves similar to the current one and also more hot nights,” said NPR. The “number of nights where the temperature never falls below 70 degrees Fahrenheit is increasing everywhere in the U.S. except the Northern Great Plains,” according to 2023’s Fifth National Climate Assessment. In fact, the extent of the continental U.S. “experiencing hot summer nights is growing at a faster rate than the extent experiencing hot summer days.”

Many people also find sleeping in hot weather difficult, which could further contribute to negative health effects. A June heat wave in the United Kingdom resulted in nearly 65% of people saying they “struggled to sleep,” according to a YouGov survey, while about half said they lost at least three hours of sleep per night. When this happens, the “implications are significant: a drop in work performance, an increase in accidents, lower school test scores” and a “decline in mental health,” Dr. Laurence Wainwright from the U.K.’s University of Oxford told The Guardian.

The type of residence in which people sleep can also make a difference. In Philadelphia, hotter nights are becoming “more dangerous than the days, particularly for older people who live alone in brick rowhouses in the city,” said The Philadelphia Inquirer. Without cooler temperatures, these rowhouses “can become ‘brick ovens’” at night and lead to heat-related deaths. Philadelphia’s dense neighborhoods can also be “several degrees warmer than other areas even within the city,” further exacerbating the problem.

What can be done about this?

With the continually changing climate, nights will likely remain hot, especially during summer. A 2022 Lancet Planetary Health study “projected that heat-related deaths could rise sixfold by the end of the century, largely because of warmer nights, unless planet-warming pollution is significantly curbed,” said The Sacramento Bee. Heat currently “kills more Americans in an average year than any other weather hazard.” The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s 10-year range from 2014 to 2024 recorded an average of about 250 heat-related deaths annually.

Experts say there are warning signs you can look out for to prevent overheating, whether during the day or night. “In its early stages, heat-related injury can be subtle, so it can be fatigue, increased thirst, nausea, vomiting sometimes and oftentimes muscle cramps, which is a symptom of dehydration,” the Cleveland Clinic’s Dr. Bryan Baskin said to AccuWeather. People “often think that only those out working in the environment, athletes, people who are outside all the time are at risk, and it’s really not true.”

Australian beaches are seeing a higher-than-usual number of shark bites. There were two attacks in the span of 48 hours in January, and since then, at least four people have been killed and almost two dozen others injured in encounters. Extreme rainfall and warming ocean temperatures due to climate change are driving the uptick.

Water weather

While shark attacks remain very rare, they have been increasing. In Australia, there has been a “gradual rise in encounters,” said Reuters. The country has been “averaging nearly 29 incidents per year over the last decade, up from an average of roughly 16 per year in the 2000s.”

Australia is not the only country seeing more of the aquatic predators. South Korea “counted 46 large sharks in Korean waters by late June, nearly four times the number recorded at the same point last year,” said The Independent. There have also been an increased number of shark sightings in the U.S., even though summer has just started.

The January attacks were predicted to be caused by a deluge “which broke January daily rainfall records for Sydney” and “flushed sewage and other waste into the nearby coastal waters, attracting baitfish, which in turn lured sharks closer to shore,” said Scientific American. Heavy rain also causes increased sediment, especially on coasts. The sediment “reduces water visibility, making it more difficult for sharks to see and avoid people.”

Along with increasing rainfall, climate change is warming the oceans, which changes shark behavior. Fatal shark attacks are usually because of bull sharks, tiger sharks or white sharks. All three species tend to prefer warm water and stay longer in those waters during summer.

The sharks’ range is growing as the ideal water temperature is encompassing a larger region. There may be increased shark sightings this year in the Pacific Ocean as well because of the super El Niño bringing warmer-than-usual water temperatures. Sharks that bite people have “often mistaken a human for a seal” or the bites “can be exploratory” or to “ward off imagined competition for food, such as a school of fish,” said The Guardian.

Spotting and culling

To prevent human-shark interactions, Australia has used aerial surveillance to spot the marine animals. “Once drone pilots spot a potentially dangerous shark, they will alert lifeguards, who can sound the shark siren and clear the water,” said The New York Times. The country does currently have a shark culling program, but some are calling for the program’s expansion in light of recent attacks.

However, others have objected. If sharks are removed from a certain area, that “habitat does not cease being suitable,” said The Sydney Morning Herald. “Other sharks will swim in and colonize that area.” Therefore, to be effective, “you would have to remove all the sharks, driving them to extinction or close to it,” which is “not a cull, it’s ecocide.”

“Human-shark encounters are extremely rare” despite the increased number of shark attacks, and “you’re statistically more likely to be killed by lightning,” said Scientific American. Instead, “beachgoers should be ‘shark smart,’” and avoid swimming when the sharks are most active, at dusk and dawn. Environmental factors play a part, but an increased human population along with the growth of water sports and recreation in the ocean have also increased human-shark interactions.

Sharks are not simply deadly killing machines. Their presence may be helping fight climate change. Sharks in coastal waters “ultimately protect and enhance what is known as ‘blue carbon,’ which is “carbon stored in oceans,” said the World Wildlife Fund. “When sharks target plant-eating fish, they can positively impact the marine carbon cycle.”

Nothing feels better on a blazing hot day than a cold blast of AC, especially when it isn’t you paying the bill. Instead of going to the usual air-conditioned spots like the mall or movie theater, go for an immersive adventure. You can cool off while exploring a new artsy world, learning about the galaxy or sinking a hole-in-one.

Dorrance Dome, Phoenix

Explore our galaxy and beyond without having to leave your seat. The Arizona Science Center’s new Dorrance Dome gives visitors a “360-degree immersive experience,” said the Phoenix New Times. The planetarium dome is covered in 44 million LED lights that shine 100 times brighter than traditional bulbs, delivering a “‘wow’ factor.” The additional wattage turns the usual 2-D projection into a 3-D production.

Multiple shows are presented at the dome, including “Worlds Beyond Earth,” narrated by Lupita Nyong’o, “Moonbase: The Next Step” and “Orbital,” an animated look at life on Earth and what it’s like for astronauts to look down at the world below. Check for after-hour shows and special events too, like yoga and sound healing held inside the dome.

Hijinx Hotel, Irvine, California

Leave your suitcase at home because the Hijinx Hotel isn’t for spending the night. It is instead a place to “play, not stay,” filled with 15 challenge rooms, each offering a different interactive, whimsical experience. The games test your memory, speed and aim, and scores are tracked electronically with a key card so you can see how your performance stacks up compared to other groups. The hotel’s theming is impeccable, with workers dressed like bellhops and housekeepers and a grand lobby library featuring eclectic paintings and sculptures.

Hijinx Hotel also has a full bar and restaurant that could rival any resort’s offerings, with drinks served in novelty glasses and a sweet-savory high tea, three karaoke rooms and a secret speakeasy where the party goes on and on.

Holey Moley, various locations

Holey Moley gives mini golf a makeover. These indoor courses are “full of unusual sets — think the moon landing and dinosaurs,” said the Daily Pilot. Each hole (there are 27 at each location) has its own theme, and while all are over-the-top, some go all-out, like Morning Tee. The goal at this hole is to guide your ball through your grandmother’s retro house, maneuvering obstacles like old furniture and radios.

Visitors can order Holey Moley’s “extravagant” cocktails, like the vodka, watermelon and lime Twinkle Toes served in a “unicorn chalice,” and then slurp it while on the course. Some locations also have karaoke rooms, and the Austin Holey Moley offers arcade games and interactive darts.

Meow Wolf, various locations

Each Meow Wolf is its own interactive world designed by dozens of artists. These large-scale installations in Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico and Texas (and coming soon to Los Angeles and New York) tell different stories, but all are “part art exhibit, part escape room, part scavenger hunt and completely wacky,” said Fodors.

The Santa Fe location, called House of Eternal Return, appears to be an ordinary Victorian-style house, but the “refrigerator door opens to a secret passage” and something “peculiar” is under the stairs, said Fodors. Houston’s Radio Tave is a mysterious “audiovisual extravaganza,” and at Las Vegas’ Omega Mart, visitors choose their own adventure in a surreal supermarket where nothing is as it seems.

Getting lost in the “labyrinthine pathways” and allowing your imagination to “run wild” is part of the fun, said Fodors. A visit to one of these destinations lets you “unlock a deeper appreciation for the creativity and ingenuity” displayed.

Paradox Museum, Miami

Prepare to spend your time at the Paradox Museum totally confused and feeling topsy-turvy — that’s the point. The 70 interactive exhibitions and illusions exist to “mess with your head,” challenging perceptions by “distorting or redirecting what you’re seeing,” said Time Out. One room is “literally upside-down,” while another makes it look like you are eating at a dining room table with “clones of yourself.” The trippiest area is the Zero Gravity Room, where it “seems like you’re floating in space.”

Don’t leave your phone in your pocket though. There are ample opportunities to snap photos that will “blow away” your friends on social media, said Time Out.

WNDR, Boston and Chicago

At WNDR, visitors go on a multi-sensory journey, making their way through mirrored spaces, interactive light exhibitions and a living gallery where the portraits on the wall come to life. There are 15 installations at the Chicago location and 20 in Boston; each taps into a sense of “curiosity, playfulness and — of course — wonder,” said Condé Nast Traveler.

The experiences are all “thoughtfully curated” and meant to make visitors stop and think about what they are looking at. Some take up entire rooms and follow a “particular storyline,” said Condé Nast Traveler, while others are “tiny reflections” that “bridge the gaps between multiple elements.”

When the 2028 Summer Olympics kick off in Los Angeles, a Russian team could be among the competitors for the first time in more than a decade. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has lifted its suspension of Russia’s Olympic organization, which had been in place since 2016. Many are angry at the prospect of Russia rejoining the international competition, especially amid its ongoing war with Ukraine.

What was the IOC’s decision?

The IOC “provisionally lifted the suspension of the Russian Olympic Committee that had been in effect” since October 2023, the group said in a statement, because it wanted to “ensure a fair opportunity for participation” by Russian athletes. The suspension is also being lifted because Russia is “no longer trying to claim regional sports organizations on Ukrainian soil” as part of the Russian Olympic Committee, said The Athletic. Russia must also abide by anti-doping measures since the country “systemically organized a doping program to pump up their athletes” during the 2014 Winter Games.

But there is also a “lack of confidence in the global sporting community relating to the return of Russian athletes to international competition,” the IOC acknowledged. As a result, the “decision in relation to the display of the Russian flag, anthem, colors or any identifications for the Olympic Games at the appropriate time” will be made in the future, said the IOC, as will any decisions on potentially hosting international events in Russia. Russian officials will also still not be invited to Olympic events.

Olympic officials have stated that they no longer want to punish Russian athletes for their country’s decision to invade Ukraine. “We wanted to ensure all athletes have the possibility to compete at the Olympic Games and not be held responsible for their government’s actions,” IOC President Kirsty Coventry said during a press conference. “But we’ve also been very clear that we do not condone any violence and war around the world.”

What does this mean for the 2028 Olympics?

The IOC’s decision represents a “significant step for bringing Russian athletes, who have struggled with their country’s pariah status on the world stage, back into the international fold after several years,” said The New York Times. The choice to potentially reintroduce Russia to the Olympics will be a “highly controversial decision by the IOC and one likely to be condemned by European countries in particular,” said the BBC.

But “many within the IOC were also mindful of the current geopolitical landscape, and accusations of double standards if the sanction against Russia was maintained, while other countries that have launched military action against other nations escape punishment,” said the BBC. Others say that Russia’s ban should only have ended when the country pulls out of Ukraine, and that allowing it in the 2028 Olympics “risks emboldening President Vladimir Putin and handing him a propaganda win.”

So while the IOC’s decision does mean Russia “could compete at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics,” said Politico, Russian participation in the games will not come without backlash, including from Ukraine. The IOC’s choice “sends a deeply concerning signal to the international community,” Ukraine’s foreign ministry said on X. “We also call on international sports federations to maintain the existing restrictions on representatives of the aggressor state, in line with their commitment to protecting the integrity and values of international sport.”

‘What’s really going on with mental health’

John Burn-Murdoch at the Financial Times

One of the “biggest stories of the past decade has been worsening mental health among young adults,” says John Burn-Murdoch. The “rise in young people’s psychological distress is certainly real — it shows up most unambiguously and alarmingly in sharply rising rates of hospitalization.” The “shift in how people conceptualize mental health could be seen as a positive,” but if it is “happening more among some groups than others, it will distort our sense of what is really getting worse.”

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‘Sure, e-bikes seem fun. Until you’re on my operating table.’

Blake Taylor at USA Today

What is “missing from the debates surrounding e-bike freedoms and regulation is the focus on the injuries that happen when youths crash their bikes,” says Blake Taylor. If kids “could see the internal injuries and what happens in my operating room, and in many trauma centers across the country, and what it takes to save these lives or prevent devastating disabilities, maybe they would rethink their priorities.” These “e-bike injuries are not like those associated with traditional bikes.”

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‘Dragging the Constitution into every political fight will kill it’

Clive Crook at Bloomberg

The United States Constitution has “endured, it has adapted and it has been the foundation for unsurpassed prosperity and material advance,” says Clive Crook. But “disagreements over policy are reflexively pitched as arguments about constitutional foundations,” and “as a result, rhetoric escalates and polarization intensifies.” Bringing the Constitution “into every political dispute also threatens the constitutional order — by framing the courts as unaccountable political players and lowering the electorate’s respect for their role.”

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‘Is democracy a joke? Count Binface says no.’

Scott Simon at NPR

The U.K. Reform Party’s Nigel Farage “does have one opponent who’s got a household name: Count Binface,” says Scott Simon. Count Binface has “already run and lost” previously. But he is “campaigning on hard, specific pledges,” and his “odds of being elected should not be discounted.” A decade ago, Britons “voted to name a polar research vehicle Boaty McBoatface,” so there is “some history of the British recognizing the value of a good laugh, perhaps especially in politics.”

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Affordable Care Act premiums are rising. Enrollment is plummeting, especially in red states. As healthcare costs increase, more Americans are choosing to go without expensive coverage, which could lead to a “death spiral” for the ACA, which was originally intended to expand healthcare affordability and accessibility.

What did the commentators say?

Middle-class Americans are “straining to pay” premiums for Obamacare, said The Associated Press. More than 2.5 million people dropped their coverage during the last year, and the problem is likely to worsen as insurers in the program’s marketplace are now seeking a “second straight year of double-digit premium hikes.” Insurers attribute the rising costs to the expiration of Covid-era federal subsidies and tough new eligibility requirements imposed by the Trump administration. So continues a vicious cycle. Healthier people are choosing to forgo coverage, leaving Obamacare insurers with a “sicker patient population that relies more heavily on insurance.” Additional premium hikes could occur for those who remain.

The pandemic-era ACA subsidies “overwhelmingly benefited red states,” said Axios. Those are also the states that are seeing the biggest falloff in enrollees since “Congress let the subsidies expire” this year. Ohio and Oklahoma “lost nearly a third of their Obamacare enrollment,” while Indiana, Louisiana, Michigan and Mississippi “also had deep coverage losses.”

“It’s almost certain that things will get worse,” Michael Hiltzik said at the Los Angeles Times. President Donald Trump’s 2017 attempt to repeal Obamacare failed, so his administration has now “implemented changes” to the program that “reduce access to healthcare and increase paperwork.” Instead of ending the program, Republicans are “eliminating or hamstringing all the elements that have bolstered its popularity.” The GOP never made good on its promise to end the ACA, but the latest statistics show that for “millions of Americans, repeal indeed has happened.”

Obamacare is a “slow-rolling failure that Congress has propped up with subsidies,” said The Wall Street Journal editorial board, a change evident in the enrollment numbers. The Department of Health and Human Services reported that its “efforts to crack down on fraud” kept 2.9 million people from getting coverage they were ineligible to receive. Republicans should pass legislation that serves as an “off-ramp to better insurance.”

What next?

The exodus of enrollees will leave insurers with a “smaller, sicker pool of people” to cover, Lisa Jarvis said at Bloomberg. If that happens, a “death spiral” could leave “some parts of the country” with no coverage options and many Americans with “impossible choices about their household budgets.”

Rising ACA premiums are “adding fuel to Democratic attacks over affordability” in the midterm elections, said The Hill. The president and congressional Republicans are “squarely to blame” for the rising healthcare costs, DNC Rapid Response Director Kendall Witmer said in a statement to the outlet. Obamacare survives for now, said Ceci Connolly, CEO of the Alliance of Community Health Plans, “but it is heading in a direction of instability.”

What happened

Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) revealed Sunday that a fall at his Washington home last month led to a hospital stay. His announcement ends a “weekslong silence” that had “spurred speculation about his condition,” The Wall Street Journal said.

The 84-year-old senator said he briefly lost consciousness after the incident but did not break any bones or suffer a concussion, stroke, heart attack or other serious injury. He was later diagnosed with a mild case of pneumonia.

Who said what

McConnell acknowledged the delay in explaining his condition, saying in a statement that “folks of my generation often hesitate to share the vulnerability that comes with growing older.” McConnell’s injuries were “minor” and he “responded rapidly” to pneumonia treatment, his attending physician said. The Kentucky senator “has faced a string of health concerns in recent years that have caused some to question his ability to serve in the legislature,” The Hill said.

What next?

McConnell said he remains focused on completing his Senate work before retiring when his current term ends in January.

What happened

The U.S. military on Sunday night conducted a fresh wave of airstrikes against Iranian targets as retaliatory attacks between the two nations increase. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps claimed responsibility for attacks on a U.S. refueling facility at the Omani port of Duqm, as well as attacks on American bases in Qatar and Jordan. Tehran also said it had shut the Strait of Hormuz and struck commercial vessels transiting the strategic waterway. The latest exchange follows fresh U.S. airstrikes on 140 Iranian military targets.

Who said what

Iran accused the U.S. of undermining diplomatic efforts, saying American attacks had “rendered futile” recent negotiations. The two nations have “traded fire and recriminations,” said The New York Times. Both have accused the other of violating the terms of the ceasefire and “leaving the region suspended between war and peace.” As the war “heats up” again, CNN said, U.S. weapon stocks “remain significantly depleted,” risking the military’s “ability to fight” any “future war.”

What next?

In a televised statement, Iran’s new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, who has not been seen since the Feb. 28 death of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said that “vengeance” for his father’s killing “is the will of our nation and must certainly be carried out”.

What happened

The death of Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) on Saturday has triggered uncertainty over the future of his South Carolina seat and created fresh challenges for a party with a narrow Senate majority. Graham died at age 71, following a “brief and sudden illness,” according to his office, with preliminary findings from the Washington, D.C., medical examiner indicating a ruptured aorta.

South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster (R) is expected to appoint a temporary replacement, while the state prepares for a special Republican primary to choose a new candidate for November’s midterm election. The winner will face Democratic nominee Annie Andrews.

Who said what

President Donald Trump already has someone in mind as a temporary replacement, but “I don’t want to say it now because it just, you know, it’s too soon with Lindsey,” he told “Meet the Press.” Graham’s death might not have any “short-term impact on the overall balance of power in the Senate,” CNN said, but he was a “key player on major issues in the chamber.” He would have been an “outspoken advocate for additional defense funding amid the Iran war.”

Without Graham, the president is deprived of “one of his most effective Capitol Hill operators,” Politico said. And his death leaves Senate Republicans “without one of their strongest links to the White House.”

What next?

The special Republican primary is slated for Aug. 11. South Carolina “leans heavily conservative,” so the next nominee “would have a strong chance of becoming the state’s next senator,” The New York Times said.

The series of heatwaves “afflicting” Europe this summer have been the “worst ever”, said The Guardian. Cities have become practically “unliveable” and higher temperatures are “further exacerbating” socioeconomic and economic divisions.

The unfortunate consequences of the current heat for many in the UK are “disturbed sleep and sticky days in the home office”. But around the world, high temperatures often exacerbate gender inequality, and women, particularly in low-income families, are “at the sharp end”.

Why are women more affected?

Women are more at risk of health complications during a heatwave for two main reasons, Dr Nighat Arif, an NHS GP who specialises in women’s health, told the BBC. First, women respond differently to men in the heat – they sweat less and start sweating at a higher temperature. These thresholds make it harder to “quickly shed heat” and fewer visible indications mean women can find it hard to judge how much their “bodies are under burden”.

The second reason is hormone regulation. Levels of oestrogen and progesterone shift “most substantially” during the menstrual cycle, perimenopause, menopause, pregnancy and while breastfeeding. This can knock the brain’s temperature regulation systems “out of kilter”, said Dr Arif.

Periods may feel more uncomfortable, while hot flushes and night sweats are more likely for perimenopausal and menopausal women. A recent study published by The Lancet suggested that heat stress may “increase the likelihood of adverse outcomes for the mother and child, particularly in higher-risk pregnancies”, said the BBC.

How does this present itself socially?

“How people experience heat is often gendered” and “socially and culturally determined”, said researchers Febe De Geest and Sergio Jarillo on The Conversation. In domestic settings, particularly across Africa, Asia and Oceania, women are forced to spend more time indoors in “poorly ventilated homes”, acting as primary caregivers. In Bangladesh, Cambodia and Nepal, heatwaves have also been linked to increases in child marriages: “struggling families force unions on their daughters to ease financial stress and reduce household costs”.

In workplace settings, research shows that women are sometimes required to wear more clothing for religious reasons and tend to receive “inadequate sanitation”. So they are likely to drink less to “avoid using unhygienic toilet facilities, leading to dehydration and further health problems”. These factors are not “trivial inconveniences; they compound heat exposure in ways that shape how women experience hot weather”.

Even in countries typically associated with better provisions for the heat, there is a “seasonal upswing in violence associated with hot weather”, said The Guardian. This could be due to the “temperature-aggression theory”, where hot weather increases “discomfort, frustration, impulsivity, and aggression, all of which make violence more likely”, or could be linked to greater alcohol consumption, which in turn “increases the opportunities for interpersonal conflicts and subsequent violence”.

Depressingly, it only takes “fairly small shifts” in temperature to increase the likelihood of domestic violence, particularly for the most vulnerable, said the European University Institute. A 1C rise in daily temperature is associated with “approximately a 2.7% increase in domestic violence reports”.

And in disadvantaged areas the effect is “much more intense”, due to more crowded living arrangements, lower cooling capacity and lower access to outdoor spaces. “Each degree of additional temperature is associated with up to a 50% larger relative increase in domestic violence incidents compared to richer areas.”

What can be done?

In practical terms, during periods of extreme heat it is important that women drink “least six to eight cups of non-alcoholic, non-caffeinated, transparent-liquid drinks” to help with temperature regulation, Dr Anisha Patel told ITV. Above all, women should continue to take prescribed medication as normal, including HRT or other drugs designed to help with the menopause.

Across the world, women are “already adapting creatively, and often without institutional support” to improve their situation, said De Geest and Jarillo on The Conversation. In Ahmedabad, India, women have painted their roofs white and used “coconut husks and paper waste” to make the structures cooler, and in Jakarta women have “established shaded communal areas that function as informal cooling centres”.

Policymakers need to realise that women suffer on many fronts, not just in biology but across “culture, power and intersections of class, caste and migratory status”. Their suffering is “largely invisible” to those heading climate responses.

Making sure women can cope with the heat is “not a woman’s problem”, Dr Arif told the BBC. “This is a societal problem. If we get it right for women, we get it right for everyone.”

Tensions between Iran and the US are ratcheting up a new notch. Mojtaba Khamenei, Iran’s new Supreme Leader, has said “revenge” for the death of his father Ayatollah Ali Khamenei “is the will of our nation and must certainly be carried out”. Donald Trump has called Iranian leaders “scum”, and said any attempt by Tehran to assassinate him will be met by bombings “at levels they’ve never seen before”.

Meanwhile, both countries have renewed air strikes, as Iranian hardliners insist on control of traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, “their principal source of strategic leverage”, said US-based security think tank The Soufan Center. It seems the stage is set “for a return to major combat”.

What did the commentators say?

In “a high-stakes gamble”, Iran is “playing what it believes is its key card”: announcing the closure of the strait “in an attempt to pressure Trump to bend to its will”, said the Financial Times. Its “belligerent” stance, and its attacks on ships and on US-aligned Gulf states, poses “the most severe test yet” of the fragile ceasefire. “It also lays bare” the “hawkish mindset that has taken hold in Tehran”.

The leadership that has emerged in Iran since Khamenei’s death “looks keener to project strength” and wear down Trump “through military pressure, rather than diplomacy”, said The Economist. There has been a noticeable “shift in the regime’s centre of gravity” towards the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which “has accelerated Iran’s transition from a theocracy to an ambitious nationalistic state dominated by military men”.

Their aim is “preventing the erosion of their perceived influence”, Sanam Vakil, Middle East director at UK think tank Chatham House, told the FT. “They feel they have to do this to survive.” They are wagering that “Trump is risk-averse” and that they can “absorb” some “low-level conflict. But this is a quagmire.”

The recent trading of strikes “raises questions for the future of the region”, said The Soufan Center. While Tehran seems “willing to suffer the consequences of escalation, neither they nor Trump appear to want to return” to all-out war. “Each side prefers a ‘no war, no peace’ status”, even while a return to negotiations looks “bleak”.

What next?

The conflict has “descended into a mutually unsatisfying stalemate”, with Washington “unable to topple the Islamic Republic” and Tehran “unable to force the US to vacate its backyard”, said Ali Vaez on Foreign Affairs. US-Iranian tensions are “worse than ever before” but, “paradoxically”, this may be “a moment of opportunity” for both countries “to repair their broken relationship”.

Now that it is “plainly apparent” that neither side can “deliver a knockout blow to the other” or sustain “unmanaged hostility”, there are “decision-makers” in each nation who “have started looking for ways to co-exist”.

As the heatwave burns on, “the last thing people want to do is turn on the oven”, said the BBC. Sweltering weather can suppress your appetite and make it harder to concentrate or sleep. Could tweaking your diet help?

Crucially, it’s important to “drink more” to replace the liquid lost through sweat. But there are other ways to rehydrate than keeping your bottle topped up. “We need to eat our water as well as drink it”, said Aisling Daly, senior lecturer in nutrition at Oxford Brookes University. Fruit and vegetables like watermelon, celery, cucumbers, grapes and tomatoes have a “very high water content” of over 90%, making them great to snack on.

Sweating also “depletes our electrolytes”, said The Telegraph, which play an important role in helping our nerves and muscles to work properly. Instead of relying on powders or gels, try stocking up on coconut water or the yoghurt-based drink lassi, which are both natural sources of electrolytes and packed with magnesium.

It’s worth making yourself a cup or two of mint tea, or mixing the fresh leaves through a salad. Mint contains menthol, which scientists have found activates your mouth’s cold sensitive receptors and “triggers the same response as touching ice”.

Spicy foods can also be beneficial as peppers and chillies contain capsaicin – a compound that “tricks the nervous system into thinking the body is hot, encouraging you to sweat and cool down”. Avoid heating up the kitchen by having a barbecue outside instead and marinating your kebabs in a spicy marinade.

And what should you steer clear of? Salty nuts and crisps, caffeinated artificially sweetened drinks like Diet Coke, or a glass of wine might sound appealing in the heat but they “won’t leave you feeling your best”, said Metro. Their high salt content can “encourage water retention” and make you “bloated and uncomfortable”, said nutritionist Lola Biggs. Instead, for a “satisfying crunch”, try whipping up a batch of paprika-roasted chickpeas.

Until the 1980s, Old Masters – paintings typically completed before 1850 – “ruled the art world”, said The Economist. But collectors began to see the “centuries-spanning” category as “too old-timey”, instead turning to more modern and Impressionist art in the following decades.

Now, experts are not only witnessing unforeseen rises in sales, but also dramatic changes in the attitudes of collectors and artists alike.

‘Untrammelled by tradition’

Old Masters have had “new life breathed into them”, said The Economist. In 2025, global sales of the paintings reached “$1.2 billion [£895 million], 30% higher than a year earlier”. And it’s younger buyers who are “showing more enthusiasm”.

This year at Sotheby’s, one of the world’s largest auction houses, “around 16% of bidders in Old Masters sales” were “under the age of 40, nearly triple the share from five years ago”.

Several changes have occurred in the last 50 years. For instance, the contemporary art market has shown “signs of volatility”, causing collectors to turn to Old Masters which are more “stable and significantly less expensive”. There is also an element of “scarcity” that makes them more attractive, as higher numbers of the older paintings enter museum collections with each passing year.

However portraits and figurative art are “in vogue” because they are, ultimately, “Instagrammable”. People are drawn to what appears to be a “simpler life (if you ignore the revolutions, plagues and awful dentistry of past eras)”. And they are so used to seeing pictures of people online that observers are “primed to connect to painted ones”.

There’s also “new money in Old Masters,” said Margaret Carrigan on Artnet. There was a longstanding belief that “newly minted millionaires and billionaires could be lured” to the art market via modern, “tech-flavoured” offerings, such as non-fungible tokens (NFTs), but the “pop of the NFT bubble” has seemed to disprove that.

Yet sales suggest they are “still in the game”. During London’s Classics Week, Sotheby’s and Christie’s brought in £76.7 million, a “respectable 9.4% rise on the same auctions last year”. Buyers are now more likely to collect “cross-category”, and there is a “hunger” for works that “feel contemporary, regardless of age”.

“Amid rapid, destabilising technological change, visualising the creation of a new world and meditating on our inescapable mortality seem pretty apropos.”

Works by “household-name” artists such as Canaletto, Michelangelo and Rembrandt, have always been popular, said Emma Crichton-Miller in the Financial Times. What’s more surprising is the “surge in value for images by lesser-known artists”. A new generation of collectors, “untrammelled by tradition” have a new set of criteria: there is a “striking” pattern that desirable paintings are portraits, that can be “admired with little contextual knowledge beyond our shared human nature”. Once seen as the “backwater for scholarly private collectors” this new trend has “encouraged works not seen for decades out into the marketplace”. When auctions come around, “expect surprises”.

‘Embraced’ by artists

In the past, lesser-known artists would imitate bigger names – in effect “art historical name-dropping” to improve the “gravity and market confidence” of their works, said J. Cabelle Ahn on Artnet. Cynics would call evoking Old Masters styles as a form of “reference-baiting”. But one of the main reasons for this “trans-historical escalation” is “technological unease”. Not only do artists fear being eclipsed by AI, but there is a movement to explore “foundational concepts like meaning and originality in the endless sea of information”.

Not only is figurative painting “back in a big way” for collectors, but it is being “embraced” by large numbers of emerging artists “keen to demonstrate their skills”, said Chloe Stead in the Financial Times. This could be guided by materials, and neglected older techniques appearing “new”. Oil paint became popular in the Netherlands in the 12th century, even now, for artists seeking to create realistic images, there is “no better alternative”.

There may be “some merit” to the idea that current “geopolitical and financial instability” has “spooked” collectors to return to what they know, and that artists are capitalising on this movement. But it is worth remembering that “Renaissance art was intended to be accessible and easily readable”. Perhaps this reversion of style by young artists is not influenced by a “retrograde nostalgia”, but by a “desire to connect to audiences outside the confines of the art world”.

Weddings, and the amount they cost, can run the gamut from a small, DIY ceremony in the backyard to a massive bash that shuts down Madison Square Garden. Obviously, the latter may only be within reach for certain pop stars and their football-playing partners, but that still leaves a wide range for how much you and your soon-to-be spouse could potentially spend.

When making the determination, it is important to weigh two things: making your big day a special one and honoring your financial reality. Your wedding may mark the start of your next chapter, but your finances are what will largely shape your future as a married couple.

What is a typical wedding budget?

As a benchmark, the average wedding costs $34,200, said wedding planning website The Knot, based on findings from its 2026 Real Weddings Study. You can expect the bulk of that to go toward your venue and any necessary rentals, such as tableware and tables themselves, as well as catering and drinks. But there are countless other small costs that can quickly add up: cake, photographer, flowers and decor, music, outfits, rings, wedding planner.

How can you determine how much is right for you to spend?

How much you “should budget for a wedding depends on your financial situation,” said NerdWallet. While this may seem obvious, it is easy to get carried away with a grand vision when you sit down to start planning. Consider what savings you and your partner have set aside for the wedding, how much of your upcoming earnings you can set aside and whether you are getting any outside financial help, such as from your parents.

It is also important to put your wedding in context with your other financial goals. “Zoom out and identify short- and long-term financial goals you have individually and as a couple,” said Charles Schwab, whether that is paying off student loans, buying a house or retiring early. Figure out how you would “prioritize them in order of most importance and allocate your resources appropriately,” keeping in mind that “ideally, your wedding spend shouldn’t get in the way of other financial goals.”

How can you make an effective wedding budget?

One of the first steps in making a wedding budget is to “sit down and have open and honest discussions about what your must-haves are, and what you’re comfortable leaving off as you build your budget,” said Minted, a wedding stationery brand. This will give you a guiding vision as you start allocating available funds.

As you build the budget, do not forget to leave some wiggle room ahead of your absolute maximum, which you should also make sure to set and agree to honor. “Even the best planners who budget early on might forget to add items or will inevitably have things they need to add on,” said Andrew Westlin, a certified financial planner at Betterment, to The Knot. This could include anything from add-on service charges to a last-minute rain tent to extra time on the dance floor.

All over the world, a growing number of late-in-life mothers are facing overlapping symptoms as they deal with postpartum challenges while also entering the perimenopause period. With so little research available on either condition, women are turning to each other to parse their experiences.

Fighting two battles at once

Last year in the United States, the number of births among women ages 35 to 39 was up by 90% since 1990, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In 2023, births among women ages 40 and older exceeded teen births for the first time in the country’s history. As these numbers increase, more women are confronting the “bewildering convergence of two mind- and body-altering hormonal events,” The Washington Post said: the postpartum period and the transitional years of perimenopause marked by “hormonal instability” that can “wreak havoc for up to a decade before menopause occurs.”

There are specific struggles as more women experience postpartum and perimenopause simultaneously, Jessica Shepherd, an OB-GYN and the chief medical officer at the telehealth platform Hers, said to Self. Postpartum symptoms “can take upward of a year to resolve” following pregnancy. Meanwhile, perimenopause can arrive as early as your late 30s. With women waiting to have kids later in life because of “changing cultural norms and a boom of fertility medicine,” it is “no wonder even first-time moms” are becoming “more likely to hit perimenopause while postpartum.”

The symptoms can overlap because post-childbirth, estrogen and progesterone drop to their pre-pregnancy levels. In perimenopause, those same two hormones “tumble downward, often on a zigzagging path,” which can trigger “similar mental symptoms, like anxiety or a short fuse,” said Self. The picture “gets fuzzier in moms over 35,” who are both “more likely to be heading toward menopause” and may be at greater risk for postpartum depression.

Breastfeeding, which can cause prolactin and oxytocin levels to soar, also complicates the issue. When women are nursing, it can “create this pseudomenopausal state” due to low estrogen, which may cause “symptoms like vaginal dryness, low libido, hot flashes and night sweats,” OB-GYN Stacey Silverman Fine said to Self.

Women owed the ‘respect of more research’

In the medical community, there is a “dearth of knowledge” about the intersection of the postpartum and perimenopausal stages, Suzanne Fenske, an OB-GYN who specializes in perimenopause and menopause, said to the Post. This is only made worse by the fact that the United States “offers minimal postpartum care,” the outlet said. Women’s health concerns are often “systemically dismissed,” and “women have been socialized to downplay their experiences.” Thankfully, that is shifting, in part because physicians are more outspoken on social media and awareness is spreading to “mainstream pop culture.” Every time you turn around, there’s a “book that’s out about perimenopause or menopause” or a “popular TV show alluding to these changes,” said Fenske.

Within the “maelstrom of hormonal chaos,” many women point to one “meaningful bright spot,” the Post said. Postpartum and perimenopausal mothers are “finding one another” and “building a sense of connection around their shared experience.” Online forums and group chats can be a “lifeline for postpartum and perimenopausal moms” who might “otherwise feel alienated in spaces dominated by younger parents.”

With so much gray area in our knowledge of the overlap, it is of paramount importance to listen to and believe patients, OB-GYN Talat Uppal told the Australian Financial Review. Before we can help patients navigate these intersecting life stages, we have to listen to their concerns. With more women birthing after 40, “we need to really give them the respect of more research.”

While everything from algebra to essay writing may have been covered in school, a subject area often left off the curriculum is personal finance. Unfortunately, most people are far more likely to run into questions of budgeting and investing than, say, calculating the area of a triangle (some professions aside).

The good news: It is never too late to play catch-up. And with these personal finance books, doing so does not have to feel like homework.

‘Get Good with Money: Ten Simple Steps to Becoming Financially Whole’ by Tiffany Aliche

This book by financial educator Tiffany Aliche, aka “The Budgetnista,” offers a breakdown of financial foundations and daily money habits. Perhaps unsurprisingly, given her moniker, the book helps with establishing a baseline budget, but it also offers guidance on other staples like saving, investing, insurance coverage, credit scores and more. Ultimately, Aliche succeeds in presenting an “ethos of financial wholeness that rejects the unnecessary complexity and unrealistic nature of traditional financial advice,” said U.S. News & World Report.

‘Your Money or Your Life’ by Joe Dominguez and Vicki Robin

This book encourages readers to get clear about their personal values around money. “The simple premise: How much money are you willing to trade your life for? Whenever you’re working, you’re trading your life and energy for money. What does that mean to you?” said Grant Sabatier, a personal finance blogger, to The Strategist. The idea is that “once you’re clear on the ‘why’ behind your saving and spending, making decisions about investing and budgeting becomes much easier,” said the outlet.

‘The Intelligent Investor’ by Benjamin Graham and Jason Zweig

Once your budget and debts are ironed out, you are in a good place to start investing, a practice foundational to building wealth. This book was originally published in 1949, though it has since been updated and now remains a classic for a reason. It provides a guide to “investing for individuals looking to develop sensible strategies and protect their investments,” said GOBankingRates. Business magnate Warren Buffett has called it “by far the best book about investing ever written.”

‘The Psychology of Money’ by Morgan Housel

The “biggest impediment for most people building wealth is their emotional decisions that get in the way of doing what should provide the greatest outcomes,” said Mitchell Kraus, a financial planner with Capital Intelligence, to The Wall Street Journal. This book helps readers learn the signs of those pitfalls so they can better steer clear of them. Think of it less as a how-to guide and more as a psychological unpacking and broader money mindset shift.

‘Broke Millennial: Stop Scraping By and Get Your Financial Life Together’ by Erin Lowry

This book is for the millennials out there (though there is a good chance other generations may relate — looking at you, Gen Z). It is “aimed at 20- and 30-somethings who are dealing with both paying off debt and beginning to plan for the future,” said The Strategist. There are chapters on everything from navigating the decision of whether to move back in with your parents to making preparations for retirement.

After rejecting four previous overtures as “highly opportunistic”, easyJet has rolled over, said Kate Duffy on Bloomberg.

Following a month-long siege, the British budget airline has agreed in principle to be bought by the US private equity investor Castlelake, for an improved offer of £6.90 per share in cash, or about £5.5 billion – assuming it can steer its bid around tough EU rules on airline ownership.

No longer ‘no-frills’

Shares in easyJet – a once-ground-breaking “no-frills” venture, founded by Stelios HajiIoannou and floated in 2000 – jumped on the news, said Gwyn Topham in The Guardian, partly because the latest offer allows current shareholders to remain invested under Castlelake’s ownership, “rather than being forced to divest when it delists”.

But the gloom among some City analysts was palpable. Kathleen Brooks of brokerage XTB said the potential loss of such “an iconic British aviation name” was “symbolic” of the “massive For Sale sign above UK corporates” due to their persistently cheap shares – and could encourage foreign buyers to pick off even more FTSE-listed firms.

Destination ‘largely the same’

Minneapolis-based Castlelake, an experienced aviation financier and leaser, is no sector fly-by-night. And it promises business as usual at easyJet, said Robert Lea in The Times. Despite recent travails – the airline’s stock was pummelled by the Iran conflict – the Luton-based carrier is supposedly on course to make £1 billion in annual profits.

Investors still aren’t pricing in a definite sale, said Lex in the Financial Times: one “unknown” is the view of “the orange airline’s forthright founder and 15% owner” Haji-Ioannou. But shares in European rivals rose. The nightmare for them was that easyJet would succumb to a more muscular, expansionist player. That its “destination remains largely the same” under Castlelake is a source of some comfort.

The southwesternmost of Japan’s four main islands, Kyushu receives relatively few foreign visitors, but it is rich in history and lush natural beauty. It was through here that early travellers from China and Korea usually arrived in Japan, bringing Confucian thought, Buddhism, writing, tea and, later, Zen teachings.

Still later, Portuguese and Dutch merchants arrived (in 1543 and 1600, respectively), staying on in the ports of Hirado and Nagasaki – which during the closed Edo period were Japan’s only gateways to the outside world. Their influence can be seen in the region’s food, architecture, and more, says Christopher P. Hill on DestinAsian – which adds an extra layer of interest to a tour of this western corner of the island, such as Walk Japan’s 10-day group walking trip.

One of the more easygoing of Walk Japan’s options, our tour only involved about five kilometres of walking per day, with other travel by coach, train and ferry. We stayed in a mix of hotels and traditional inns, or ryokans, often in towns centred around onsens (natural hot springs). My favourite was Yoyokaku, an “elegant” family-owned ryokan in the town of Karatsu, with a garden of “meticulously pruned” pines.

The food on the trip was “outstanding”, from meals in simple izakayas (taverns) to multi-course kaiseki dinners with “seasonal dishes almost too pretty to eat”. We saw the “luminous”, Korean-influenced pottery produced in the “picturesque” towns of Okawachiyama and Arita, and visited the Takatori Residence in Karatsu, a fin-de-siècle industrialist’s house with a “sublime” Noh theatre and Western conveniences including electric lights and a grand piano.

Nagasaki was “fascinating”, but I particularly loved the smaller port of Hirado. Its attractions include the Matsura Historical Museum (which preserves 17th-century tea traditions), and the breathtaking views afforded of the “island-studded” Genkai Sea from the Kawachi Pass.

The trip costs from £3,140pp, excluding international flights, walkjapan.com

At 7.20pm last Friday, after months of increasingly feverish speculation, the jumbo screens outside Madison Square Garden flashed the news: “JUST&T MARRIED”, and the nearby Empire State Building erupted in “something blue” sparkles, said Evan Moffitt in The Observer. Taylor Swift, Miss Americana, had tied the knot with her football-star boyfriend Travis Kelce at a ceremony described as the US’ royal wedding.

In advance of the event, several blocks around Penn Station had been blocked off to cars and pedestrians. The 1,000 guests – who included Tom Hanks, Gigi Hadid, Hugh Grant, Graham Norton, Lena Dunham and Steven Spielberg – rolled up in blacked-out SUVs. Most alighted in specially erected tent tunnels and, to the disappointment of the crowds of Swifties waiting in the 40°C heat, there were no sightings of the happy couple.

Private affair

It’s quite a feat to host a major event in a 22,000-capacity arena in the middle of New York City, on the 4th of July weekend, and keep it entirely private, said Megan Agnew in The Times. Swift’s publicists released a few details: the ceremony was officiated by Adam Sandler; bride and groom wore white Dior.

Beyond that, fans had only leaks and speculation to go on: the Garden had been transformed into “an enchanted garden”, with fake wisteria and white roses and acres of peach fabric; the vibe was “Alice in Wonderland meets The Wizard of Oz”; Paul McCartney and Stevie Nicks performed. The cost was estimated at $20 million.

Social media backlash

With an eye on the optics, Swift let it be known that they’d given $26 million to charities – but that didn’t stop the backlash, said Ryan Zickgraf on UnHerd. On social media, even some fans railed against the gaudy excesses of the event, while rumours that leftover cake had been distributed outside it led to Marie Antoinette jibes.

New York used to welcome billionaires, but rising prices and spiralling rents have fuelled intense resentment about the rich who just get richer. Swift is especially vulnerable to this, because she became a billionaire while presenting herself as “your awkward friend, writing in her diary”. That “parasocial magic becomes harder to sustain once the relatable girl with a guitar is visibly living like a Medici”.

Even though the United States and Iran are embroiled in war, a new lawsuit against the Trump administration is claiming that the two countries’ governments actually began working together last year — and jeopardized Iranian asylum seekers’ lives in the process. The White House has dismissed these claims, but those who filed the lawsuit are not backing down.

‘Confidential information’

The issue first arose in 2025 when the Trump administration “adopted a policy of providing” the Iranian government with “confidential information from the immigration files of Iranians seeking asylum in the United States,” according to the lawsuit filed by the Iranian American Legal Defense Fund (IALDF). Many of the asylum seekers whose information is allegedly being shared are people who “seek refuge in the United States because of the grave dangers they face in Iran,” such as pro-democracy activists and members of the LGBTQ+ community.

Disclosing the confidential information of these asylum seekers “violates federal regulations requiring confidentiality, endangers their family members and acquaintances who may still be residing in Iran, and puts those who are subject to removal to Iran at risk of persecution,” the IALDF said in a statement. The lawsuit is requesting that the court “order the U.S. government to stop sharing asylum-applicant information with the government of Iran.”

The allegations are based on accounts from “detainees who had been called into meetings with Iranian officials who seemed to already possess details from their U.S. immigration files,” Michael Kirkpatrick, a lawyer representing the Iranian fund, told The New York Times. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has denied any wrongdoing. DHS “provides illegal aliens the opportunity to contact their consular post and facilitates consular access to detained individuals, in accordance with applicable laws, regulations and agency policy,“ the department said in a statement.

‘Prohibit the government from sharing information’

The U.S. government is “allowed to work with government officials of foreign countries to coordinate deportation logistics,” said The Associated Press. But federal regulations generally “prohibit the government from sharing information that could reveal that the individual getting deported applied for asylum.” Congress “made these confidentiality protections mandatory precisely because lives depend on them, and no agency and no administration, of either party, may set them aside,” Ali Rahnama, the interim executive director of the IALDF, told the AP.

And while some may think that the conflict raging in the Middle East would have slowed the information sharing, the lawsuit “alleges that the Trump administration has continued to share confidential information during the current war between the U.S. and Iran,” said ABC News. Though the “in-person meetings reportedly stopped before the war began on Feb. 28,” the lawsuit claims the government continued to “mail or hand deliver document packages” to the Iranian Interests Section, which oversees the nation’s diplomatic duties in the U.S.

Some asylum-seeker data sharing may always occur, such as information on travel documents. What is “different here, though, is they are revealing information from the asylum applications, and that is a very specific category of information that is kept confidential,” Kirkpatrick said to NPR. The U.S. government “shouldn’t even reveal information from which one could infer that somebody had sought asylum.”

Contrary to popular belief, prenuptial agreements are not just for the ultra-wealthy. Nor are they necessarily unromantic, or a sure sign that at least one person involved in the relationship is thinking about its eventual demise. They are actually a smart, clear-eyed way for two people to enter into what is not only a commitment in love but also a financial intertwining.

Increasingly, more couples approaching the altar are starting to understand the distinct purpose a prenup can serve, whether they are entering the union with significant savings (or debt) or have children from a prior relationship. The most recent Harris Poll on the topic “found that 15% of couples who had been married or were engaged in 2022 reported signing a prenup — up significantly from the 3% who had done so in 2010,” said Investopedia.

What does a prenup cover?

A prenuptial agreement is a “legally binding, written contract signed before marriage that outlines how assets, debts and property division will be handled in the event of divorce or death,” said Charles Schwab. A couple can tailor their prenup to their unique needs (and the state in which they live can also shape requirements), but in general, prenuptial agreements often include:

• A list of each partner’s assets and debts and instructions for how those will be divided in the event of divorce
• Financial rights and responsibilities during the marriage, such as the management of household expenses and joint accounts, as well as taxes
• Provisions for any children from a previous relationship, which may include preserving certain assets for their inheritance
• Expectations for spousal support or alimony in the event of divorce

When is a prenup worth considering?

The major benefit of a prenup is that it gives you the right to decide how assets are divvied up if you and your spouse should ever part ways. Rather than “relying on your state’s laws, a prenup allows you to set clear terms for how you want to handle assets and debts in a divorce,” said Experian.

Entering the marriage with this sort of clarity can especially make sense if “you may be bringing significant savings to the partnership, anticipate getting a significant inheritance in the future or co-own a business that you want to protect,” said Fidelity. It can also be useful if you have children from a previous relationship or if you “foresee taking time from the workplace for childrearing or caregiving, and earning less as a result.”

Debt is also another worthwhile consideration. If “your spouse has major debt,” a prenup “can specify which debts remain separate, reducing the risk you’ll become responsible for your spouse’s major debts,” said Experian.

Finally, the agreement can go a long way toward ensuring financial alignment when entering a marriage, helping couples get on the same page about “their plans to handle everyday marital finances, such as contributing to a joint account or keeping retirement savings separate,” said NerdWallet.

What are the risks of not having a prenup?

Without a prenup, “decisions about how you divide the property and assets you own together, as well as those you brought into the marriage, will be made at an emotionally fraught time,” said Fidelity. And if you cannot reach an agreement, the court will make one for you. For couples living in a community property state, this may mean assets get divided 50/50. You could even end up responsible for your ex’s debts.

So, while a prenup conversation may not be the easiest to have amid the excitement of wedding planning — and the cost of creating one is not necessarily cheap — it could save you from emotional and financial strife down the road should your happily ever after end sooner than expected.

‘The dangerous myth of flexibility’

David Weil at The American Prospect

Schedule flexibility has become the “lynchpin of a well-traveled myth that corporations have spun to their employees, policymakers and the public,” says David Weil. But with AI being “explored as a replacement for many white-collar jobs, and the gig work model continuing its global expansion into new sectors like healthcare, information technology, staffing, hospitality and childcare, the flexibility myth now threatens the hard-won rights and protections afforded to tens of millions of working people.” While companies like “Uber and Lyft insist” that flexibility benefits their drivers, it actually “benefits Uber and Lyft.”

Read more

‘Republicans lean into anti-Asian racism ahead of midterms’

Ja’han Jones at MS NOW

Some conservatives are “resorting to anti-Asian racism and anti-Chinese xenophobia as the Republican Party faces a potential shellacking in this year’s midterms,” says Ja’han Jones. The attacks “underscore the exploitative posture that some in the GOP have taken toward Asian Americans.” Polls have “shown Americans broadly oppose President Donald Trump and the GOP’s agenda,” so it “seems the party is leaning into voter suppression gambits and overt racism as it tries to maintain power.”

Read more

‘Will Iraq’s new prime minister really take on corruption?’

Mina Al-Oraibi at Foreign Policy

Corruption has “continued to grow” in Iraq, and even “wide-ranging arrests do not represent a majority of those who have siphoned money from the Iraqi state,” says Mina Al-Oraibi. Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi is “personally overseeing the anti-corruption cases” and “needs to do this in part because he remains a weak candidate.” But a “wide-ranging and impartial effort to eliminate all corruption would take time,” and al-Zaidi has been in office for “less than two months.”

Read more

‘The tech bro-ification of marketing’

Miranda Shanahan at Time

The “tech bro-ification of marketing is underway,” says Miranda Shanahan. Beneath this “trend lies a broader pattern around how work is named, coded and valued.” The “marketing industry is a broad church, but decades of cultural shorthand have flattened it into something quite specific.” The “first inkling of recalibration came when tech bros suddenly started emphasizing the importance of taste.” It “might not seem that deep, but marketing’s rebrand is part of a bigger pattern.”

Read more

President Donald Trump and Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy have never had what could feasibly be called a “warm” relationship, stretching back well into Trump’s first term. Given their frosty history, Trump’s enthusiasm during this week’s NATO summit for Ukraine’s recent wartime successes came as a shock to many. By announcing plans to loosen restrictions on American arms for Ukraine’s defense and hailing Kyiv’s wartime strides against Russia, has Trump come around to Zelenskyy as a peer among the world’s heads of state? Or will the infamously mercurial MAGA president revert to his previous hostility?

What did the commentators say?

Trump “heaped praise” on Zelenskyy and Ukraine during the NATO summit in Ankara, where he spoke in “unusually positive terms” about Kyiv’s strikes in deep Russian territory, said The Washington Post. By speaking in “admiring terms” and offering “dramatic new assistance” for Ukraine’s wartime efforts, Trump’s stance was a “dramatic departure from his tone during his first year in office.” Zelenskyy, meanwhile, spent his recent time with Trump showing “swagger and a hint of his prepresidential vocation as a popular Ukrainian comedian.” Trump and Zelenskyy “kindled a significant thaw in relations,” with the pair’s “bonhomie” signaling the “latest shift in a historically fraught relationship,” said The Hill.

Given that Trump has “zigged and zagged when it comes to Ukraine,” the president’s offer to grant Kyiv a Patriot missile manufacturing license is being “cheered” in Ukraine with a “heavy dose of caution,” said The New York Times. Similarly, Trump’s endorsement of Ukrainian deep drone strikes as an “escalation that could help end the war” marked his “strongest praise yet” for Zelenskyy’s wartime gains, and dealt a “significant blow to Russia’s efforts to keep Trump on its side in talks to end the war,” said The Wall Street Journal. Trump “always wants to be on the winning side,” said Viktor Shlinchak, the head of the Institute of World Policy, to the Times. “Right now, it does not look like Ukraine is losing.”

Following Trump’s push to grant Kyiv a manufacturing license for Patriot missiles, Zelenskyy at “times looked like he almost couldn’t believe his luck,” said CNN. Not only have the pair shared a “rocky relationship,” but the “flare-up in the war in Iran appeared to have put Trump into a foul mood” ahead of the meeting. But in a “break from earlier encounters” that “ended in acrimony,” Trump praised Zelenskyy’s “willingness to reach a deal” to end the ongoing violence, said NPR. “We’ve developed a good relationship — it’s even hard to believe — from the Oval Office until now,” said Trump at the summit meeting. “This will be the beginning, maybe, just the beginning.”

What next?

European leaders have “embraced the new messaging,” said the Post. “It’s so important” that Trump is “now taking very seriously that Ukraine has a chance” while Russia is “doing weaker,” said Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna, according to the outlet.

The unexpectedly friendly meeting between the two leaders “appeared to demonstrate the best-case scenario for Ukraine and its supporters among NATO members,” said The Hill. Many had worried that Trump’s “animosity toward the alliance” and “routine deference” to Russian President Vladimir Putin would “undermine support” for Kyiv and NATO.

Still, the language Trump used to promise Patriot manufacturing rights for Ukraine was “rather vague,” CNN said. The president “admitted that he had not yet discussed the issue” with arms manufacturers Lockheed Martin and Raytheon, which manufacture the missile batteries domestically. “We have Patriots, but we don’t have that many,” said Trump during his conversation with Zelenskyy. “We need them for ourselves, too.”

Even so, Zelenskyy was “emboldened by the good meeting” enough to joke that he couldn’t visit Moscow anytime soon because there are “too many Ukrainian drones there. It’s not safe,” said The Hill. Trump also appeared open to visiting Ukraine, but said he would rather the “war be over” before committing.

What happened

The Bayeux Tapestry, a wool-on-linen depiction of the Norman conquest of Anglo-Saxon England in 1066, arrived in London this morning after a secret journey from France. It’s the first time the Medieval artwork has returned to Britain since its creation nearly 1,000 years ago.

The high-security, “dead of night” delivery to the British Museum was “like a heist movie in reverse,” The Associated Press said.

Who said what

The Bayeux Tapestry is an “epic depiction” of the defeat of King Harold II at the Battle of Hastings, the BBC said. It was the last successful conquest of England and it “changed everything, reshaping the country entirely.” When French President Emmanuel Macron “offered us the tapestry, I think he understood that it would have far more impact in the U.K.,” Peter Ricketts, the retired British diplomat who helped secure the loan, told the AP. Everybody in Britain “knows 1066.” The 230-foot tapestry’s 58 scenes brim with “vivid and sometimes gory detail,” the AP said, including “mutilated bodies and the unlucky Harold, felled by an arrow through his eye.”

What next?

Before going on public display in September, the AP said, the tapestry “will spend several days acclimatizing before it is carefully unpacked and unfolded” for the exhibition, which the British Museum “expects to be one of the most popular in its history.”

What happened

President Donald Trump Thursday pushed out the remaining three members of the bipartisan Election Assistance Commission, firing the two Democratic commissioners while allowing the Republican member to resign. The fourth member, a Republican, quit in April to join the Heritage Foundation.

Who said what

The EAC, an independent agency created in 2002, is a “crucial guardrail for ensuring election security across the country,” The New York Times said. Trump’s ouster of its leadership is an “apparent move to assert control over voting ahead of the midterms,” Politico said, and “election officials across the country expressed various degrees of confusion and alarm.” Trump issued executive orders last year to require proof of citizenship on the EAC-maintained national voter registration form and to “block the EAC from distributing funds to states that did not adjust voter forms to have a citizenship check,” but were both “blocked in court.”

What next?

The Supreme Court last month gave Trump “precedence” to “remove individuals that may not be totally aligned with the important task of securing America’s elections and ensuring ​every legal vote is counted,” a White House official said Thursday. Without at least three Senate-confirmed “bipartisan replacements,” NYU’s Brennan Center for Justice said, the EAC “cannot lawfully make any decisions that affect how Americans vote.”