LEAVE the kids at home – because these cruise ships are pulling out all the stops for the grown-ups.
TUI has announced that its Marella Discovery 2 will permanently switch to an adults-only vessel from winter next year.
And it’s not the only cruise line to make this move either.
Oceania put an 18-plus rule in place for travellers in January, while Fred Olsen made its Borealis ship adults-only at the beginning of the year.
Sophie Swietochowski picks the best adults-only cruises to book now for 2027.
ALL hands are on deck as TUI’s Marella Discovery 2 is set to transform its children’s spaces into a chic speakeasy, escape room, karaoke room and arts and craft area.
This change is scheduled for next winter, but the Marella Explorer 2 is already over-18s only.
The ship’s features include a “press for bubbles” button at its champagne and prosecco bar Flutes. There’s also the 19th Hole sports bar themed around golf, plus a luxurious spa that has been designed in partnership with wellness brand Champneys.
If you book now you can bag nearly £500pp off a Spanish Sights sailing, which calls at Palma in Majorca; Palamos, Castellon and Cartagena in Spain; and Gibraltar.
GO: The seven-night cruise costs from £1,097pp, departing Malaga on May 26. The price includes flights from Gatwick. See tui.co.uk.
THE Oceania cruise line oozes so much sophistication you’ll question why it ever allowed kids on board in the first place.
Its bars are elegant, its entertainment spaces glitzy and the food surpasses that on most other cruise lines.
Its newest vessel, Allura, is no exception. Cruisers’ favourite restaurant, Jacques, delivers delightful soufflés and tableside steak tartare.
There are cooking classes in a swish kitchen and one of the most chic libraries I’ve seen at sea.
The week-long Rome to Barcelona cruise has port calls including Florence in Italy; Cannes and Provence in France; Palma de Mallorca; and Valencia and Barcelona in Spain.
GO: The seven-night Rome to Barcelona sailing costs from £1,939pp, departing Rome on October 22.
See oceaniacruises.com.
IF raucous fun and debauchery are what you’re after, try Virgin Voyages’ Brilliant Lady.
Guests can enjoy Scarlet Night, where the ship transforms into one mega party, with performances and late-night dancing in the pool, plus Loteria Gigante, a modern bingo involving shots of tequila and Mexican food.
And that’s barely scratching the surface of the wild shows and theatrical restaurants.
There is space to unwind, too, including a spa, complete with a mud room, salt room, sauna, steam room and more.
Right now, an Eastern Caribbean sailing is cracking value, with a free $600 bar tab for anyone who books an Inside or Sea Terrace room via Iglu Cruises.
The cruise departs Miami and calls at St Maarten; Tortola; US Virgin Islands; San Juan, Puerto Rico; Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic; and Bimini, Bahamas.
GO: The ten-night Eastern Caribbean & Bimini Beach Club cruise costs from £793pp, departing Miami on January 11. See iglucruise.com.
AURORA is one of two P&O Cruises’ ships that are adults-only. It is more intimate than P&O’s other vessels, sleeping 1,800 guests, so is great if you’re up for meeting like-minded travellers.
Its Crystal pool, with a retractable roof, is one of the highlights, meaning you can swim and relax whatever the weather. Plus there’s the Playhouse Cinema featuring 200 proper cinema seats.
You’ll love the British feel to this ship, too. There’s a homely pub culture on board and many of the boozers offer live music, quiz nights and TVs showing the latest sports games.
The cruise line is very affordable, with a 14-night Norway sailing costing less than £1,500pp, without the need to shell out on flights.
The ship departs Southampton and spends a few days at sea before pulling into Alesund, then Bodo, Narvik, Tromso and Haugesund.
GO: The two-week Norway cruise departs Southampton on March 19. See pocruises.com.
SAGA Cruises has nailed the midlife market. Its ships and itineraries have been specifically designed with age 50-plus travellers in mind — and although you can expect to pay a slight premium, cruisers won’t need to lift a finger.
Unlike other cruise lines where you’ll have to shell out extra for speciality restaurants or booze, these come included in the price, as does travel insurance, and you’ll also be chauffeured from your door to port.
Every cabin has a balcony, and solo travellers are extremely well looked after.
Next year, the cruise line will be celebrating 30 years of sailing so is bringing premium wines on board for the occasion. And those who book early can bag up to 35 per cent off the original fare.
Included in this offer is the Isles of Scilly and Celtic Sea Escape which calls at Falmouth, Isles of Scilly and Cork.
GO: The six-night Isles of Scilly and Celtic Sea Escape on Spirit of Discovery costs from £2,306pp, departing Dover on June 27. See travelsaga.co.uk.
Men’s defending champion Jannik Sinner and women’s top seed Aryna Sabalenka both arrived at Wimbledon with question marks hanging over them but answered the doubters with contrasting first-round victories.
Italy’s Sinner – playing his first match since his shock collapse and defeat in the second round of the French Open on a scorching day in Paris – was stretched to the limit by Serbia’s Miomir Kecmanovic but survived, winning 4-6, 6-3, 6-7(6), 6-2, 6-3 on Monday.
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Sabalenka, who left Paris in a “deep, dark place” after losing the last 10 games of her quarterfinal against Diana Shnaider, followed Sinner onto Centre Court and breezed past Serbian qualifier Teodora Kostovic 6-2, 6-3.
While world number one Sinner, the overwhelming favourite in the absence of Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz, lived to fight another day, there were some early seeded casualties.
Norway’s 11th seed Casper Ruud was handed a tough draw in the shape of big-serving Pole Hubert Hurkacz and duly lost 6-4, 6-2, 7-6(7), while 12th seed Andrey Rublev was edged out in a five-set battle against fellow Russian Roman Safiullin, losing a deciding set tiebreaker 14-12 after missing two match points.
There was heartbreak too for surprise French Open runner-up Maja Chwalinska as she lost 2-6, 7-5, 6-2 to Thai qualifier Mananchaya Sawangkaew on Monday after the Pole fell and hurt herself while on match point.
Several women’s seeds moved through on a day mercifully cooler than the heatwave that gripped London last week.
Japan’s Naomi Osaka once again dressed to impress, walking on court in a Kill Bill-inspired white kimono and tennis shoes that shone as the 14th seed beat Elsa Jacquemot 6-1, 7-5.
American fourth seed Jessica Pegula beat Darja Vidmanova 7-5, 6-3, while newly crowned French Open champion Mirra Andreeva, seeded fifth, beat Magda Linette 7-5, 6-4.
Swiss 11th seed Belinda Bencic had far too much experience for young wildcard Mika Stojsavljevic, whose defeat was one of many on a miserable day for home players.
It was a grim day for the home nation, who failed to celebrate a single victory.
Twenty-one players, including 12 wildcards, were in the first-round draw, but after Emma Raducanu withdrew with an injury on the eve of the tournament, she was followed on Monday by Jack Draper, who announced he was also pulling out with an arm injury.
Ten British players lost, including British number one Cameron Norrie, seeded 26, beaten in five sets by inspired American qualifier Michael Zheng.
Sinner’s meltdown in the Roland Garros furnace against Juan Manuel Cerundolo had raised questions about his durability in long matches, but he answered those, albeit in relatively cool conditions, against Kecmanovic.
Sinner racked up his 94th Grand Slam match win, equalling the Italian record of Nicola Pietrangeli, but shed plenty of sweat and a little blood in reaching that mark, his white shoe stained red after injuring a nail in a fall.
“It was a little tight in the beginning; I didn’t play at my best, but I tried to get into it,” he said. “I’m happy I turned it around because the third set was very tough to swallow.”
Sinner had a point to go two sets to one ahead but lost it, and Kecmanovic pounced. Sinner was in danger of becoming only the third defending Wimbledon men’s champion to lose in the first round, but dominated from then on and later said his foot injury was not serious despite the pounding it took during his third-longest match at Wimbledon at three hours and 30 minutes.
“I’m actually surprised that they let me keep playing, because my all-white outfit turned into a little red,” he added.
Court One fans expecting to see Raducanu in action were left disappointed as the replacement match saw home hope Harriet Dart beaten by Latvia’s Jelena Ostapenko.
Next up was a duel between two more former US Open champions, Daniil Medvedev and Marin Cilic, but that fell flat as Cilic was made to look all of his 37 years as eighth-seed Medvedev romped to a 6-1, 6-2, 6-4 win.
Two of the new men’s generation lit up the opening day.
Brazil’s Joao Fonseca, cheered on by a large contingent of fans in yellow football shirts, beat Spanish veteran Roberto Bautista Agut 7-6(4), 6-4, 6-3, before heading off to watch Brazil beat Japan to reach the last 16 at the World Cup.
Rising Spanish teenager Rafael Jodar, also aged 19, made an impressive debut, beating British wildcard Felix Gill 6-3, 6-3, 7-5.
SUPERMODEL Cara Delevingne has revealed she snorted rhino ketamine at the peak of her drug addiction.
The 33-year-old also confirmed for the first time that she dated Aquaman actress Amber Heard.
Cara told a podcast she regularly took a scary amount of drugs and never came down in her 20s because she was always high.
She explained: “I remember being sold, like, rhino ketamine but it wasn’t really rhino ketamine.
“When I first started doing it, if anyone who takes ketamine or has taken drugs knows, you do a tiny bit of ketamine, and that’s enough.
“But I’d be doing really long, big lines because I just wanted to disappear, not have a bit and feel weird. I wanted to completely lose consciousness, tranquilise myself, I suppose.
“My tolerance was so high with that stuff to the point where I’d go to a party and I’d give some to a 6ft 5in man, and he’d be floored by doing a tiny amount compared to what I was doing, which is scary.”
Class B drug ketamine is a dissociative general anaesthetic and known as a horse tranquilliser.
Rhino ket is the term for a powerful synthetic version or a mix of ketamine and amphetamine.
Cara got sober only in 2022 after photos emerged of her looking dishevelled after the Burning Man festival.
On The Louis Theroux Podcast, out today, she said of the illegal substances: “They were my best friend, my support. They were the thing that I could control my emotions with, you know? They kept me going.
“For a long period I only did drugs. I didn’t drink at all. I don’t know why. I just didn’t like it. I think in my 20s, I never came down, I was just working and partying, and it was fine.”
Cara said she and Amber, 40, formed a friendship on the film London Fields and became romantic only after Amber’s toxic split from Johnny Depp in 2016.
Cara said: “We were close for a long time, then when they were going through the divorce. Yeah, we were entangled, I suppose. But she was also entangled with others.”
When Louis suggested that could be a reference to her dating Elon Musk, she replied: “There you go.”
Heard and Musk dated on and off from 2016 to 2018.
peterschreiber.media/iStock via Getty Images
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission should reject NextEra Energy’s (NEE) proposed $67B acquisition of Dominion Energy (D), Senator Angus King said Monday, believing the deal would consolidate too much power in one company.
King said in a letter to the Federal
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Monday gave President Trump new power to fire the heads of most independent agencies created by Congress — but not the Federal Reserve.
Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. announced two opinions, one of which bolstered the president’s power as the chief executive and a second which said this authority did not extend to the Federal Reserve board.
The first was a 6-3 decision that had the support of five conservatives, while the second had a 5-4 majority that included the three liberals.
Roberts, a former White House lawyer, has long been skeptical of independent agencies whose officials may wield regulatory power in conflict with the views of the president.
Since the 1880s, however, Congress has at times created independent agencies led by a bipartisan board of experts. In 1935, a unanimous Supreme Court had upheld these multi-member boards and commissions.
But Roberts and the court overturned that precedent and declared it conflicts with the executive power of the president.
“Our Constitution creates three branches, but only one President,” he wrote. “To discharg[e] the duties of his trust, the President must have the assistance of officers he can trust. … Subordinates who exercise the President’s power are subject to removal by him. Then, and only then, can they remain accountable to the President, and the President to the people.”
The decision upholds Trump’s firing of Rebecca Slaughter, one of two Democratic appointees on the five-member Federal Trade Commission.
The Supreme Court upheld President Trump’s firing of Rebecca Slaughter, a Democratic appointee to the Federal Trade Commission.
(Graeme Sloan / Bloomberg / Getty Images)
In dissent, Justice Sonia Sotomayor said that the ruling “distorts the structure of government to fit the majority’s theory of unitary, total executive control. The result is a President who emerges with far greater power than ever before. It is a power, however, that neither the People, nor Congress, nor the Constitution bestowed upon him.”
Under what has been dubbed the “unitary executive” theory, the court’s conservatives believe the president’s executive power in Article II of the Constitution overrides Congress’power in Article I to write the laws and structure the government.
The departments and agencies of the federal government exist only because Congress created them by law.
But in the second opinion, the court blocked Trump’s bid to fire Fed Governor Lisa Cook, an appointee of President Biden.
Roberts said the central bank dates back to the nation’s founding, and Congress created the Federal Reserve Board in line with “our Nation’s tradition of central banking protected from political interference.”
Trump tried to fire Lisa Cook in a social media post, he said.
But “the Federal Reserve’s Governors do not serve at the President’s pleasure — they instead serve staggered 14-year terms, and may be removed only ‘for cause’,” he wrote.
Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh cast a crucial vote to support the Fed’s independence. He said he joined the majority because it “confirms the longstanding historical practice and understanding that the Federal Reserve is an independent agency whose Governors enjoy for-cause removal protection consistent with Article II of the Constitution.”
The court did not finally decide on Cook’s case, except to say she deserved due process of law. She could not be fired without a hearing and evidence, the court said.
The setback for independent agencies came as no surprise, however.
Even prior to Trump’s election, Roberts has insisted agency officials must be accountable and under the control of the president.
Last year, the justices blocked lower court rulings that would have reinstated agency officials who were fired by Trump.
For most of American history, however, it had been understood that Congress had the power to structure the government and to create semi-independent agencies to carry out specific tasks like regulating railroad rates or the money supply.
These agencies and commissions were led by a bipartisan board of experts who were appointed with a fixed term. They could be fired only for cause, not because of a political disagreement with the president.
The Supreme Court upheld these multi-member commissions in 1935 on the grounds their work was more legislative and judicial than simply enforcing the law.
But the court’s current conservative majority has contended these commissions and boards wield executive authority and are therefore, subject to direct control by the president.
In creating such bodies, Congress often was responding to the problems of a new era.
The Interstate Commerce Commission was created in 1887 to regulate railroad rates. The FTC, the focus of the court case, was created in 1914 to investigate corporate monopolies.
The year before, the Federal Reserve Board was established to supervise banks, prevent panics and regulate the money supply.
During the Great Depression of the 1930s, Congress created the Securities and Exchange Commission to regulate the stock market and the National Labor Relations Board to resolve labor disputes.
Decades later, Congress focused on safety. The National Transportation Safety Board was created to investigate aviation accidents, and the Consumer Product Safety Commission investigates products that may pose a danger. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission protects the public from nuclear hazards.
Typically, Congress gave the appointees, a mix of Republicans and Democrats, a fixed term and said they could be removed only for “inefficiency, neglect of duty or malfeasance in office.”
Slaughter was first appointed by Trump to a Democratic seat and was reappointed by Biden in 2023 for a seven-year term.
Watch the best shots from day one of Wimbledon 2026 featuring defending champion Jannik Sinner and Great Britain’s Cameron Norrie and Harriet Dart.
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Kerr signs with the NWSL champions until 2030, returning to the US league after six years spent with Chelsea in England.
Published On 29 Jun 202629 Jun 2026
Australian striker Sam Kerr has signed with Gotham FC, the reigning champions of the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) in the United States, the club announced after the iconic player ended her dazzling career with Chelsea, which saw her win five Women’s Super League titles.
Kerr, who was a free agent, signed the contract on Monday that will see her play in New York through the 2030 season. She previously played in the city between 2015 and 2017.
The all-time leading regular-season goal-scorer for the North American league recorded 116 goals across all competitions with Chelsea and was the 2023 Ballon d’Or runner-up.
“This club was an important part of my journey, and to come back at this moment, with everything Gotham has built, is really special. The ambition here is clear, and I’m looking forward to helping this team compete for trophies and create more history,” Kerr said in a statement.
The signing is a fine coup for the NWSL, which saw several players exit for opportunities in Europe last year, and brings one of the game’s brightest talents to the biggest sports market in the US.
“Sam is one of the defining players of her generation and a game-changing talent who has consistently delivered at the highest levels of world football,” Yael Averbuch West, the president of football operations for Gotham, said.
“Bringing Sam back to Gotham is a landmark moment for our club, and we couldn’t be more excited.”
Kerr played 119 career regular-season games (113 starts) across her seven seasons with three teams in the NWSL, including three years with Sky Blue FC (now Gotham FC) from 2015 to 2017.
After playing the 2018 season with the Chicago Red Stars, Kerr played a season for the Perth Glory in her native Australia (2018-19) before returning to Chicago in 2019. She joined Chelsea in the Women’s Super League in late 2019.
Despite her six-and-a-half-year absence, her 77 regular-season goals are still an NWSL record. In 2017, she won the Golden Boot and MVP awards with Sky Blue FC after a season in which she scored 17 goals in 22 games.
Kerr will debut for Gotham after the NWSL’s transfer window opens on July 14. Gotham host the Washington Spirit on July 15 in the Queens Classic in New York.
Follow the updates, with live build-up, team news coverage, and our text commentary stream of the last-32 match.
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LILY Allen has defended herself against complaints that the setlist of her West End Girl Tour is “too short”.
The singer, 41, released the album in October of last year and it features 14 songs.
The album in its entirety is only 45 minutes, which has led some to question if the £86 ticket fee is value for money.
Complaining about the show, one X user said: “Lily Allen at the O2. No support act. Arrived on stage at 9:10pm. All wrapped up by 10pm. Not one word to the audience.”
Addressing the backlash over the length of the gigs, Lily responded to the comment directly with a statement.
It reads: “There is a support act.
“The show has always been advertised as “Lily Allen performs West End Girl.”
“I was a few mins late as my tights were laddered and i had to change them.
“The show is just over an hour as it’s just the album in its entirety. It’s my artistic choice not to talk to the audience, the fourth wall helps with the storytelling.
“Most people find it to be effective. I don’t want anyone to feel ripped off,
“Everyone on this tour is really working very hard to give people the best show we possibly can, and i’m extremely proud of it.”
Fans responding to the post praised Lily for speaking up and supporting her artistic vision with the shorter album.
One user said: “I was there last night and it was incredible, you are incredible!”
A second shared: “You tell them, the girls that get it get it.”
A third added: “The concept of buying tickets to a show called “Lily Allen Performs West End Girl” and being mad that you didn’t hear Not Fair [another track of hers], like let’s use our brains for a moment.”
West End Girl is Lily’s fifth studio album to date.
WASHINGTON — A conservative law professor known for his expansive views of presidential power and for decades-old memos that justified harsh interrogation techniques after the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks says he will be advising a team of prosecutors investigating whether former law enforcement and intelligence officials conspired against President Donald Trump.
John Yoo confirmed in an email to the Associated Press on Monday that he would be assisting Joe diGenova, the former Justice Department prosecutor who was assigned in April to investigate whether officials, who over the last decade scrutinized Trump, participated in a criminal conspiracy against the Republican president.
“He’s a lawyer. He’s going to be helping us,” diGenova said in a brief telephone interview about Yoo. He did not elaborate.
A law professor at the University of California, Berkeley, Yoo was a senior Justice Department official in the George W. Bush administration who served as a lead author of the so-called “torture memos” that government officials used to justify using “enhanced interrogation” techniques on potential terror suspects. The Justice Department later rescinded the memos.
In the years since, he’s remained a prominent proponent of broad executive authority, telling the AP in a 2020 interview that he had told Trump administration officials multiple times that a Supreme Court ruling which rejected Trump’s effort to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA, opened the door to enormous new presidential power.
The conspiracy investigation is being conducted in Florida, but the scope is unclear, as is whether any criminal charges will be brought.
Prosecutors have centered at least part of the probe on the long-concluded investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Investigators have issued a broad swath of subpoenas for records and conducted interviews related to the creation of an intelligence community assessment, released in January 2017, that found that Russia engaged in wide-ranging election interference to boost Trump over his Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton.
A 2019 report by special counsel Robert Mueller affirmed that Russia interfered on Trump’s behalf and that the Trump campaign repeatedly welcomed the assistance, but it did not find sufficient evidence to establish a criminal conspiracy between Moscow and the campaign.
Several subsequent investigations into the Russia probe have identified multiple errors into how it was conducted, and a former FBI lawyer pleaded guilty in 2020 to doctoring an email during the course of the inquiry. But none of the reviews have identified criminal misconduct by any senior law enforcement or intelligence official involved in the investigation.
Trump has nonetheless continued to demand retribution and has sought to punish top officials from that time at the FBI and CIA.
Asked in a Fox News Channel interview in May what the Justice Department had done to address claims of a long-running conspiracy to bring down Trump, acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said, “That’s exactly what we’re investigating right now.”
Yoo’s involvement in the investigation was earlier reported by Politico and CNN.
Tucker writes for the Associated Press.
A Florida judge set a $1 million bond for former Detroit Lions cornerback Terrion Arnold, who has been in jail since being arrested last week in connection to an alleged armed attack on a group of men in Tampa, Fla., in February.
Arnold will not have to wear an ankle monitor while he awaits trail on eight felony charges of kidnapping and robbery that could keep him in prison for life if convicted, thus clearing the way for him to practice and play football during that span.
He won’t be doing so, however, with the team that drafted him at No. 24 overall in the 2024 draft. The Lions announced Monday afternoon on X that they have released Arnold, with no other details provided.
Hillsborough County Judge Christopher C. Sabella said during Monday’s hearing that Arnold already has a “paparazzi monitor” that would prevent any potential attempts to flee.
“If he is late for practice, ESPN will let us know,” Sabella said. “If he violates the conditions of his bond, he will be found.”
Arnold was ordered to remain at his Tallahassee home except for when he’s playing, training and traveling with the Lions. He also has to turn in his passport and cannot have any contact with other people tied to the case.
The Hillsborough County state attorney’s office had argued for Arnold to remain behind bars until trial. The county jail’s inmate tracker has not been updated and does not indicate if he has posted bond or been released.
According to the Tampa Police Department, Arnold is believed to be the “primary conspirator” in an alleged plot that left three young men with “visible injuries from being battered, held at gunpoint, and pistol-whipped before their personal property was stolen and they were ordered to leave.”
Arnold turned himself in Wednesday night and pleaded not guilty at his arraignment hearing Thursday afternoon.
“Today’s ruling by Judge Sabella confirms that there is very little evidence to even suggest any criminal involvement by Mr. Arnold,” Denise White, chief executive of EAG Sports Management, which represents Arnold, said in a statement emailed to The Times.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
June 29 (UPI) — Police and other authorities in Mississippi have started an extensive manhunt for those responsible for a “horrifying” crime scene involving two women and a toddler in Jackson, Miss.
“Detectives are working diligently to identify and locate those responsible for this horrific crime,” police said in a social media post.
Police responding to a 911 call for aggravated assault Saturday night found the bodies of two women, 26 and 30, and a 2-year-old child, all of whom had been shot multiple times, CNN reported. One of the women was the toddler’s mother.
“This is a heinous crime,” Jackson Police Chief RaShall Brackney said, calling the killer “the vilest of human beings.”
One lead is a red 2020 Mitsubishi Mirage that someone drove from the crime scene, police said. Police found the vehicle abandoned in Manhattan Park in North Jackson and are processing it for evidence. Anyone with information is asked to call the Jackson Police Department.
Jackson Mayor John Hohrn said in a social media post that he’s been coordinating with the police chief and public safety team to “deploy additional resources to address immediate concerns.” He said law enforcement, community leaders, violence prevention experts, mental health professionals and others will be involved in an upcoming plan to help communities.
“This behavior is a bad stain on all the good that is going on in our communities,” Hohrn wrote. “We will not accept violence as a way of life in Jackson. We are going to confront this head on and do the work necessary to make our city safer.”
Published On 29 Jun 202629 Jun 2026
Gabriel Martinelli scored the winner late in injury time to give five-time champions Brazil a 2-1 win over Japan in the World Cup round of 32 in Houston.
Martinelli, who had come on as a second-half substitute, scored in the sixth minute of stoppage time as the match on Monday appeared to be heading to extra time.
Brazil will next face either the Ivory Coast or Norway on Sunday in East Rutherford, New Jersey, in the round of 16.
Casemiro had earlier equalised with a header in the 56th minute off an assist from Gabriel Magalhaes after just missing another chance two minutes earlier. The shot sailed just out of reach of the outstretched hand of Japan goalkeeper Zion Suzuki and into the net.
Kaishu Sano stole a misplaced pass in midfield before his right-footed shot from above the half-circle put Japan ahead after 29 minutes.
Vinicius Junior, who has scored four goals so far in the tournament, had a chance to put Brazil on top in the 58th minute, but his shot from the left was deflected by goalkeeper Suzuki and went past the far post.
Brazil had two chances to even the score early in the second half before breaking through late on. First, Suzuki blocked a header from Bruno Guimaraes in the 52nd minute. Soon after, Casemiro’s header bounced off a defender’s head and Suzuki’s face.
Japan have never won a World Cup knockout match.
The win was Brazil’s 12th in 15 games against Japan. The teams have also played to two draws, while Japan got their first win in the series in a friendly in Tokyo in October.
This was a match-up between two countries with deep ties, Brazil being home to about 2.7 million Japanese descendants, which is the largest Japanese population outside of Japan.
Those ties extend to football, where Brazil superstar Zico moved to Japan in 1991 to play for Kashima Antlers and help build Japan’s professional football network. He coached the Japan national team from 2002–06, leading the team to the World Cup in 2006.
That team lost to Brazil 4-1 in the only previous meeting between the teams at the World Cup.
Brazil won Group C after a draw with Morocco and victories over Haiti and Scotland.
Monday’s victory came on the anniversary of their first World Cup championship in Sweden in 1958, when a 17-year-old Pele scored two goals in the final against the host country.
Japan reached the round of 32 as runner-up in Group F after draws with the Netherlands and Sweden and a win over Tunisia. The loss snaps a 10-game unbeaten streak dating back to a 2-0 defeat to the United States in September.
Riverside-based radio station, 99.1 KGGI, has lost its last local on-air host.
Longtime radio personalities Evelyn Erives, Nick Nack and Garrison King were all cut from the Inland Empire station last week as part of iHeartMedia’s latest round of national layoffs. In an internal memo, the media giant said it would restructure its radio programming to better “leverage” the company’s technology.
iHeartMedia declined to comment on how many people lost their jobs, but dozens of on-air and other staff positions have reportedly been cut across the country.
The memo — attributed to Chief Programming Officer Tom Poleman and Ann Marie Licata, the chief executive of the company’s multiplatform group — framed the changes as a way to “move faster and operate with greater precision across markets,” and to “position us not just to adapt to the future, but to lead it.”
The cuts are part of a broader push to reduce costs. In May, iHeartMedia launched a new savings program, set to begin in the second half of 2026, aimed at trimming an additional $50 million on top of the $100 million in savings the company had already announced.
iHeartMedia is the nation’s largest radio operator, with more than 850 stations across 160 markets and a sizable presence in Burbank. Its Los Angeles–area stations include KFI-AM 640, KLAC-AM 570, KOST-FM 103.5 and KIIS-FM 102.7.
As the media landscape continues to evolve, the company has leaned harder into podcasting, home to hallmark shows like “Stuff You Should Know,” “Questlove Supreme” and “Las Culturistas.”
Last year, iHeartMedia introduced its “Guaranteed Human” campaign, an ongoing pledge that no iHeartMedia station or podcast will feature an AI-generated personality or AI-generated music.
How that promise squares with the layoffs is unclear. With stations like Riverside’s 99.1 now stripped of their local hosts, the company has said nothing about who — or what — will replace them.
California officials cheered a U.S. Supreme Court ruling Monday that allows states to continue counting mail ballots postmarked by election day but received in the days after — calling it a win for voter participation and access, including in the upcoming November midterm.
They also acknowledged delays in recent vote counting have spurred frustration, and promised to speed the process through other solutions — including by investing millions into new election infrastructure and vote processing capabilities.
Gov. Gavin Newsom — who called the court ruling a “win for voters, plain and simple” — has previously said the state should be able to count ballots faster, and his latest budget includes $29 million for “increased staffing, technology and equipment upgrades and purchases for counties,” $10 million for voter education and outreach at the state and county levels and $750,000 for combating election misinformation.
The court decision, a loss for President Trump and other critics who contend such policies contribute to unacceptable delays in vote counting, specifically upheld a Mississippi policy to accept mail ballots received within five business days of an election.
But it also lets stand similar policies in other states — including California, which counts ballots postmarked by and received within seven days of an election.
California Secretary of State Shirley Weber, who has long prioritized voter participation over a speedy count, called the high court’s ruling a “win for voters, for the rule of law, and for the future of our democracy.”
She said that she will “keep working to ensure every eligible Californian has the opportunity to be heard, because our democracy is strongest when every voice and vote count.”
Dean Logan, head of the Los Angeles County registrar-recorder/county clerk’s office, said in a statement to The Times that the ruling “affirms what Los Angeles County voters deserve: the assurance that a ballot cast by Election Day will be counted if received within the legal timeframe established in State Law.”
“Our office will continue to provide voter education, multilingual outreach, and leverage available resources to ensure voting access for our 5.8 million registered voters,” Logan said.
Many voting rights experts agree California’s vote counting should and could be faster, but disagree with the Trump administration’s efforts to step in with policies such as election day deadlines.
In 2024, California counted more than 406,000 late-arriving mail ballots, but they represented only about 2.5% of the statewide total. Experts say California’s delayed results have far more to do with the massive influx of mail ballots that are placed in ballot drop boxes or arrive at processing facilities on or just before election day.
Rick Hasen, an election law expert and director of the Safeguarding Democracy Project at UCLA Law, said the court’s decision was a “symbolic loss” for Trump, in that the court rejected his preferred policy on mail ballots, but “doesn’t appreciably change how long it takes to count ballots” because late-arriving ballots were never the problem.
In a report published Thursday, the California Voter Foundation recommended statewide adoption of “sign, scan, and go” programs that allow elections officials to immediately process mail ballots that voters submit in person at polling centers or drop boxes.
The foundation recommended ballot curing programs that speed up the process by utilizing a secure text platform when double checking whether a ballot is legitimate when a voter’s signature doesn’t match state records.
It also urged the state to invest $35 million in a voter education campaign to encourage early ballot returns, and more than $55 million in improving counting capacity and efficiency in county elections facilities.
Trump and other conservatives had called for an end to state policies allowing late-arriving mail ballots to be counted as an overdue fix to a voting system that often can’t produce election results in close races for days after polls close, as was the case in California’s recent primary races for governor and L.A. mayor.
Trump has pointed to California’s time-consuming count as proof of widespread fraud to undermine Republican candidates, though he has never produced evidence to support that claim and Democrats have fiercely denied it.
On Monday, Trump called the high court’s decision to uphold such state policies a “tremendous loss,” and more reason to pass the Save America Act — a bill he has backed that would enforce new voter ID and proof of citizenship requirements and ban mail ballots except for military personnel, individuals suffering from illness, disability, and in other rare circumstances.
He said politicians have “no excuse” other than “CHEATING!” to oppose such measures, especially at “a time when there is a powerful Communist Movement taking place in our Country, one more dangerous than World War I, World War II, Pearl Harbor, or September 11th.”
But California leaders rejected that — saying the criticisms of mail ballots are baseless and an attempt by Trump and his allies to undermine elections in which they are poised to lose, particularly in big blue states such as California, by attempting to wrest control over voting processes that have always been the purview of states, not the federal government.
California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta said Monday that states have been “primarily responsible for regulating elections” since the nation’s founding, and his office was “pleased that the U.S. Supreme Court has respected that authority.”
“Today’s decision recognizes a basic reality: Mail delays happen. When people vote by election day, their ballots should not be discarded because of those delays,” he said.
Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), the ranking Democrat on the Senate Rules and Administration Committee, which has oversight over federal elections, praised the high court Monday for acknowledging that nothing in federal law precludes states from counting mail ballots in the days after an election.
“Today’s decision is a victory for voting rights and a rejection of Trump’s attacks on mail and absentee voters,” Padilla said.
Liberal groups and many voting rights experts also hailed the ruling as a win for voters.
Moving up deadlines for mail ballots is just one effort in a much broader political war over voting and the rules that govern it. The U.S. Constitution generally gives states the authority to run their own elections, but the Trump administration has been trying to assert greater federal control — especially around mail ballots.
Earlier this year, Trump signed an executive order directing the U.S. Postal Service to assert control over mail balloting by designing new envelopes with special bar codes that would allow the federal government to ensure ballots only go to and get returned by eligible voters. The order prompted the Postal Service to propose new rules requiring states to hand over their voter mailing lists so it could implement Trump’s directive.
In a letter to U.S. Postmaster General David Steiner on Wednesday, Democratic senators denounced the proposed rule as an “unconstitutional and illegal attempt to transform [USPS] into an election administration agency controlled by the White House and President Trump.”
In a Senate hearing the same day, Steiner said that under the new rule, the USPS would not mail the ballots of a state that refused to turn over its voter lists, but also that his agency would adhere to any court orders curtailing its implementation.
On Thursday, just such an order came down in a federal case in which California and other Democrat-led states challenged Trump’s executive order. U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani ruled that the Constitution does not grant the president “any specific powers over elections,” and blocked his order as unlawful.
Nevada Secretary of State Cisco Aguilar, who is chair of the Democratic Assn. of Secretaries of State, said states such as California were right to focus on increasing investment in their own election infrastructure rather than accepting the Trump administration’s “bad policy ideas” for speeding things up.
Newsom’s office on Monday said that is exactly what California has been doing. It pointed to laws passed by the state Legislature last year that allow election officials to begin processing mail ballots earlier and require them to finish counting ballots sooner.
Bournemouth have rejected an enquiry from Arsenal for Alex Scott and say the midfielder is not for sale this summer.
The Premier League champions want to sign a new central midfielder, with the 22-year-old understood to be one of their targets.
Scott is also attracting serious interest from other Premier League clubs, including Manchester City, Manchester United, Tottenham and Chelsea.
But Bournemouth have communicated their intention to keep the former Bristol City player and are keen to agree an extension to his current contract, which has two years left to run.
Scott was selected in his first England squad last November and was then called up into Thomas Tuchel’s extended pre-World Cup training camp in Florida, though he did not make an appearance.
Arsenal have also explored moves for Newcastle pair Bruno Guimaraes and Sandro Tonali in their search for a new midfielder.
A move for Guimaraes is currently rated more likely with Tonali’s price believed to be a stumbling block.
North London rivals Tottenham are advancing in their efforts for a move for Tonali and are growing in confidence of securing a move for the Italy midfielder.
West Ham‘s Mateus Fernandes and Lille’s Ayyoub Bouaddi have also been monitored by Arsenal.
A number of senior politicians have been detained in a wave of arrests.
For more than two decades, corruption has been a serious issue in Iraq.
The oil-rich nation has consistently been ranked as one of the most corrupt in the world.
list of 4 itemsend of list
But this week, its new government has embarked on an unprecedented anti-corruption crackdown.
It’s targeting many high-profile politicians and other senior figures accused of making illicit wealth and abuse of office.
Iraqis have repeatedly protested against what they say is rampant corruption in their nation.
Now, they hope the new government keeps this promise to eradicate what they call a ‘pandemic of fraudulent activities’ at the highest echelons of power.
But what are the challenges ahead in this battle?
Presenter: Imran Khan
Guests:
Ahmed Rushdi – President of the think-tank, House of Iraqi Expertise Foundation.
Renad Mansour – Deputy Director of the Middle East and North Africa Programme at Chatham House.
Manuel Pirino – Regional Advisor for Middle East and North Africa at Transparency International.
Published On 29 Jun 202629 Jun 2026
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Gabriel Martinelli scores a dramatic 95th-minute winner with Brazil coming from behind to beat Japan, set up a World Cup last-16 tie against Norway or Ivory Coast.
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Isa Guha is a former cricketer and BBC Sport presenter (Image: Popperfoto via Getty Images)
Wimbledon has returned to BBC screens, with a whole host of familiar faces fronting the BBC ’s coverage.
Once again joining Clare Balding in leading commentary, Isa Guha will be presenting, having made her Wimbledon debut on the BBC in 2022.
The following year, it was confirmed The Celebrity Traitors star Clare would be replacing Sue Barker as the BBC’s face of Wimbledon, with Isa praising Sue, saying: “She’s got an incredible warmth. When you watch her on television she feels like a friend.
“She was someone I certainly watched when I was younger, never imagined that I’d even be in her company so to be sat there with her and see how she goes about her business, her offering me advice and so forth, it was a little bit surreal but at the same time we’re just watching her in awe because she’s been the face of the BBC for such a long time and we absolutely respect and admire everything she’s done for sports broadcasting as a female.
“It was just an incredible time last year. The ability to be there with Sue, see how she operates, the doyenne of sports broadcasting, and to be in Clare Balding’s company and all these legends. It was a pretty amazing experience.”
Born in Buckinghamshire in 1985 to parents who emigrated from Calcutta, India, to the UK in the 1970s, Isa is a former England cricketer.
She fit her sporting career around her academics, graduating with a degree in biochemistry and molecular biology from UCL, and later gaining an MPhil in neuroscience.
At the same time, Isa played world class cricket, later recalling to The Telegraph that “a phase” led her to studying.
“I went through a phase after we won the World Cup of ‘what am I going to do with my life?’” she said.
“I would spend three or four days a week training in the morning and then going to university. It took seven years [attempting to do a PhD] and I wanted to quit after the second year because it was just too much.”
She played in the 2005 South Africa World Cup and the 2009 Australia World Cup, and made history as the first South Asian woman to represent England after making her international cricketing debut at the age of 17.
In 2009, Isa was named the ICC number one ranked bowler in the world.
She announced her retirement from international cricket in 2012, and has since moved onto presenting and commentary.
Isa joined ITV Sport in 2012, co-presenting cricket coverage, and later moved on to work for Sky Sports and Fox.
In 2020, she became the lead presenter of the BBC’s test match and ODI highlights show.
Isa married her long-term partner, musician Richard Thomas, in 2018.
Hailing from Cornwall, the singer was a member of acoustic-led, alternative rock band Brothers and Bones.
After ten years together, the band broke up at the end of 2020, having opened tours for the likes of Ben Howard and Bastille.
In September 2018, Isa took to X to share pictures from her gorgeous wedding in Cornwall, writing: “It’s been a challenging year but with this incredible human by my side I know I can get through anything. So lucky to have him in my life – these two pics pretty much sum up our amazing day, with so many of our best friends and family.”
She also previously spoke about the difficult time it had been for her family, after her mother received a cancer diagnosis not long before the wedding.
Speaking of her wedding, she told The Telegraph in a 2019 interview: “We got her out of hospital and did a small, intimate ceremony, then the following week in Cornwall, Ebony [Rainford-Brent – Guha’s former teammate] was on FaceTime to her throughout the whole wedding. She did get to see us get married.”
Praising her husband for his support, particularly after her mother’s death in January 2019, she added to the publication: “He was just incredible. I am super lucky to have him in my life. He was just amazing, the last six months or so.”
Wimbledon airs on BBC One, BBC Two and iPlayer.
Anthropic teamed up with California to get more state workers to use its artificial intelligence assistant Claude as part of an effort to leverage technology to make the government more efficient.
Gov. Gavin Newsom, who announced the partnership on Monday, said state agencies will be able to access Claude at a 50% discount. Free training and other assistance will also be available to the workers. California’s local governments will also get the same discount under the agreement.
Government workers can use Claude to draft and summarize documents, analyze information and do other tasks.
Anthropic, an AI company based in San Francisco, has a version of its AI assistant for government clients that provides more security than what it provides other consumers.
The new partnership shows how AI is playing a bigger role at work as tech companies market their tools as ways to complete tasks more quickly. Last year, San Francisco made Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat, which is powered by OpenAI’s model, available to nearly 30,000 city employees.
Still, the rise of automation at work has heightened concerns that people will lose their jobs. There are also worries that there are not yet adequate guardrails in place to mitigate data privacy and security risks.
Anthropic and the governor said that they’re focused on the responsible use of AI.
“AI should not replace the human work of government; it should help our workers move faster, solve problems more effectively, and deliver better results for Californians,” Newsom said in a statement.
The remarks didn’t appear to comfort union leaders.
“Wow. Look local government, the Gov is giving you a 50% off coupon to give up your residents’ private data, outsource your jobs to big tech. Isn’t that cool? Because California basically invented AI slop!” said Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher, president of the California Federation of Labor Unions, AFL-CIO, in a post on X.
Anthropic has faced political hurdles as it pushes to get more companies and government agencies to use its products.
Most notable, it’s sparred publicly with the Trump administration, which ordered the company to cut off foreign access to its most powerful AI systems this month.
The Trump administration cited potential national security risks, but Anthropic disagreed with the findings. Last week, tensions decreased after the U.S. government gave Anthropic permission to restore access to its AI model Mythos to certain clients.
Valued at nearly $1 trillion, Anthropic has also signaled it plans to become a publicly traded company.
California has already started using Claude more in state government to develop tools to get the public to engage more in AI policy discussions and assist state workers, the governor’s office said in its news release.
State agencies, including the Department of Motor Vehicles, are also using AI to reduce wait times and improve customer service.
“As state employees, our goal is to provide our fellow Californians with the best possible service,” Government Operations Agency Secretary Nick Maduros said in a statement. “To do that, we need to make sure our teams have access to the best modern tools, including Claude and other emerging technologies.”
