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The latest news, reaction and build-up as the last-32 stage draws to a closePlayer guide | Bracketology | Knockout draw | Email usJulian Nagelsmann is set to resign as Germany coach, according to reports in the newspaper, Bild.It was reported on Friday the 38-year-old had agreed to leave following talks with senior German soccer officials, a three-hour secret summit" on Thursday at the German Football Association (DFB) headquarters in Frankfurt.That pundit was Ange Postecoglou, and now, Asia's No 1 team need him to not just talk the talk but walk the nation to the top level of the global game. The federation in Tokyo should do all they can to get his signature on a lengthy contract as he is going to be in demand this summer. Continue reading...

The US superstar golden couple Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce are finally tying the knot in a rumoured major event in New York's Madison Square Garden.The couple - who got engaged 10 months ago, announced via an Instagram post that received 14m likes in its first hour online - held an intimate rehearsal dinner at MSG with a rumoured guest list of 1,000 for today's ceremony and construction of a custom-made fairytale castle inside.But with tight security, NDAs and New York streets on lockdown - what do we know? Lucy Hough speaks to Guardian writer Elle Hunt Continue reading...

Tesla said Michael Butler disabled his car's self-driving mode before it plowed into Martha Avila's home in JuneA man whose Tesla Model 3 was allegedly in self-driving mode when it crashed into a home near Houston and killed a 76-year-old woman inside recently has been jailed on a count of manslaughter.Michael Butler's arrest in the 19 June death of Martha Avila was announced late on Wednesday in a Facebook post by the sheriff of Harris county, Texas, Ed Gonzalez. Continue reading...

New York mayor's speech cut ideological counterpoint to policies of president, who will deliver his own remarks later todayNew York's mayor, Zohran Mamdani, exalted the city's legacy of immigrants on Friday in a historically laden, ideological counterpoint to a US semiquincentennial address that was expected later in the day from Donald Trump - who has sought to deport immigrants en masse throughout his second presidency.Speaking from behind a desk at New York's city hall that belonged to the US's first president, George Washington, and which itself is a century older than the Resolute desk in the White House, Mamdani was surrounded by naturalized citizens like himself as he listed the waves of immigrants who shaped the city. Continue reading...

On paper, the US constitution is a thing of beauty. But the would-be emperor in Washington has revealed its great weaknessAmerica's big birthday has come at a bad time. On Saturday it will be a divided nation that marks 250 years since 13 North American colonies declared their independence from the Great Britain of George III. Many will be anxious that the republic they established that day is fragile - not least because of the would-be emperor in the White House.Some will console themselves that hope and angst have always been intertwined in the American story. From the very start, confidence in a bright, exceptional US future was combined with foreboding and doubt. At the close of the 1787 constitutional convention, a woman approached one of the founding fathers, Benjamin Franklin, to ask if the delegates had established a monarchy or a republic. Franklin's answer: A republic, if you can keep it."Jonathan Freedland is a Guardian columnistDo you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here. Continue reading...

The New York City mayor delivered a speech on Friday morning from behind George Washington's desk in New York City Hall to mark the US's 250th anniversary Continue reading...

Against a backdrop of sweeping rollbacks of civil rights and deteriorating relations with allies, many are feeling cynicalAs the United States prepares to mark its 250th anniversary on 4 July, the country faces a turbulent moment under the Donald Trump administration.The anniversary coincides with sweeping rollbacks of civil rights, deteriorating relations with traditional allies and growing domestic opposition to the administration's handling of immigration and free speech. Against this backdrop, many Americans say they feel increasingly cynical about the country's future. Continue reading...

The 250th anniversary is arriving among Black communities as a whisper instead of a roarNot soon after Donald Trump's 2025 inauguration, there emerged a viral illustration of four Black women sitting at the top of a building while watching the world burn at a distance. They are observing with coffee cups in hand. An American flag hangs over the edge. If that exhaustion hadn't been made clear enough, Black people, particularly across TikTok and Threads, have urged one another to not give them a reaction".The them" is white people who find Black rage exciting and lucrative for their own personal gain. We're not allowing our anger to become spectacle. We're not shouting any more. What is most important is to stay alive, take care of one another, and to allow ourselves to step to the forefront for the rights that they have taken for granted as we've risked our lives to protect them. There is an old African American proverb: If you can't hear, then you must feel."Morgan Jerkins is a senior writer, race and equity, at the Guardian US

Investigations into president and corruption charges will get heavy scrutiny if Democrats win majority in midtermsDonald Trump's presidency is facing investigations and corruption charges from a key House Democrat and ex-prosecutors, involving political and personal abuses of power, which legal experts predict will get heavy scrutiny if Democrats win the House majority in the midterms.Legal critics call the scandals dogging the president target rich" for investigations that Democrats will have a field day" investigating if they win the House majority. Critics cite, for instance, Trump's damaging the rule of law by weaponizing the Department of Justice (DoJ) to exact revenge on political foes and protect himself from federal investigations, plus Trump moves to profit in radical ways from his presidency with lucrative and new cryptocurrency ventures. Continue reading...

Experts say the Food and Drug Administration is not prepared for the health threat of bacterial contaminationMultiple brands of infant formula have been recalled recently due to bacterial contamination, and experts say the Food and Drug Administration is inadequately prepared to deal with the health threat they pose in the wake of Trump administration cuts.Last March, the FDA announced the launch of Operation Stork Speed, specifically intended to expand options for safe, reliable, and nutritious infant formula for American families". Two months later, Martin Makary, who was FDA commissioner at the time, told Congress that the FDA had lost around 3,100 employees due to the Trump administration's reorganization and cuts. Makary departed the FDA the same month. Continue reading...

Amid Trump's immigration crackdown, thousands take the oath of allegiance in a US not as welcoming as in the past'In June, Yesica McKeone officially became a US citizen. At the naturalization ceremony, she raised a hand and took the oath of allegiance to a country on the verge of its 250th anniversary. Thousands of new citizens recited the oath alongside her. Some cried softly.I'm finally here," McKeone, 32, remembered thinking about her citizenship journey. At two years old, she left Michoacan, Mexico, with her family and settled in California, where she became a permanent resident. Now, home is a pastoral patch of land in Solvang, in the heart of California's central coast. Continue reading...

This weekend marks 250 years since the signing of the declaration of independence, but Donald Trump is making the celebration all about himself. As the anniversary approaches, Jonathan Freedland talks to the Atlantic's Yoni Appelbaum about why so many Americans are feeling less patriotic these days Continue reading...

Ceremony for Ali Khamenei intended to be epic display of national power. Plus, the expected wedding of Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce pays dividend to good causesGood morning. Final preparations are under way for Ali Khamenei's six-day funeral. The farewell to the former supreme leader is expected to draw millions in Iran. Khamenei was killed in the opening salvo of the US-Israeli attack on the country in February, and the funeral is intended to be an epic display of personal mourning, national power, resilience and social cohesion.Iran's first vice-president, Mohammad Reza Aref, who is the lead funeral organiser, described the ceremony, which begins on Saturday in Tehran and will end with Khamenei's burial on Thursday in Mashhad, as the most important event of this century" and the most attended event since the 1979 revolution. The scale of the funeral has been conceived to relay political and religious messages of resistance to the rest of the world. At the request of Iraqi politicians, Khamenei's body will also be carried through the Iraqi Shia cities of Karbala and Najaf.Will Ali Khamenei's successor take part? Khamenei's son and successor, Mojtaba Khamenei, is not expected to make an appearance at his father's funeral. He was severely injured in the same US-Israeli strike that killed his father and also killed Mojtaba's wife and his 14-month-old daughter. The extent of Mojtaba's injuries is unknown and he has so far issued only written statements, including one that distanced himself from the ceasefire negotiations but sanctioned their continuance. Israel's defence minister, Israel Katz, threatened to kill him this week, saying he was marked for death.Why is Trump so unhappy with Nato? Aside from the failure of countries such as the UK and France to join in with the US-Israeli war on Iran, Trump has long complained that Europe does not spend enough on defence. Under pressure from the US, Nato leaders agreed at a gathering last year to boost defence-related spending to 5% of GDP by 2035. Continue reading...

America at 250 is not a finished monument, but a structure still under repairTo call this Saturday the nation's 250th birthday is to indulge a comfortable fiction. 1776 was a declaration, not a birth certificate - and the founders wrote its claims of human equality while this nation enslaved human beings. A truer account of American freedom runs through 1619 and Juneteenth, when Americans forced the country, at last, to begin making its promises answerable to reality.So I'm not in the mood to celebrate America 250", and I'm not alone. The affection is thin this summer: the Pew Research Center found that 69% of Americans were dissatisfied with the country's direction early this year. That is not ingratitude. Sometimes a sour mood is simply clear vision.Jamil Smith is a Guardian US columnist Continue reading...

Amid America's 250th-birthday celebrations, the Eagles are facing tough challenges, looking for momentum and meaning on and off the fieldSaturday is America's 250th birthday and a huge national holiday but the US Eagles will be working. The men are in Denver, kicking off the World Rugby Nations Cup against Portugal, champions of Europe's second tier. The women are in Johannesburg for the first of two games against South Africa, a double bill with the Springbok men facing England.I'm dual nationality," said the women's captain, Georgie Perris-Redding, who speaks with a Manchester accent but was born in Detroit and whose development included a stint at the American Pro Rugby Training Center in Little Rock, Arkansas, a groundbreaking operation that nurtured US women's talent.USA v South Africa and USA v Portugal are broadcast in the US on Paramount+.Martin Pengelly writes on rugby in the US on Substack, at The National Maul. Continue reading...

America has long stood for freedom and prosperity, but under Trump insults, threats and unpredictability have become the new norm. As the US marks its 250th anniversary, Guardian correspondents around the world report on how it is perceived elsewhereAmy Hawkins in Beijing Continue reading...

In today's newsletter: As official celebrations spotlight a narrow cast of white heroes, communities across the US are reclaiming the histories that Freedom 250 leaves outGood morning, and a very happy 250th birthday to the United States of America. If you prefer to celebrate with cage fighting on the White House lawn, an IndyCar rally through the streets of Washington DC, or simply by watching the president do his lonely bop to YMCA at a sparsely attended state fair, so much the better.It takes a special kind of someone to make the semiquincentennial birthday of a nation of 349 million people, from a whole variety of backgrounds, all about himself. But he wouldn't be the only one centred on a very particular (white, male, Christian-centric) view of how the nation came to be.UK news | Women from Black and Asian backgrounds are less likely than their white counterparts to receive an epidural while giving birth, research has revealed.Ukraine | Ukraine and Russia have promised fresh assaults after Moscow launched a huge barrage on Kyiv, killing at least 27 people, tearing open apartment buildings and sending tens of thousands of people to shelters.UK news | Criminal investigators in the UK say they have uncovered a truly international network" of organised drug-facilitated sexual assault in which victims are sedated before being raped and sexually assaulted.UK politics | Keir Starmer has formally apologised for the British state's role in past forced adoptions after decades of campaigning by mothers and children affected.World news | A rescue team pulled a 43-year-old security guard alive from a collapsed basement, ending an operation that became a symbol of hope after the devastation of twin earthquakes that struck Venezuela. Continue reading...

President says Washington's relationship with Nato is not reciprocal' and they were not there for us' in Iran warDonald Trump has said it is ridiculous" for the US to continue its one sided" relationship with Nato, less than a week before a summit of the military alliance in Ankara.Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform that They were not there for us!!!" and Washington's relationship with Nato is not reciprocal". Continue reading...

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Goncalo Ramos scored to set up a last-16 clash with Spain as Croatia's hearts were broken when VAR ruled their late equaliser offside1 min: Croatia in blue, Portugal in white.Weather and ref Continue reading...

Princess Cruises vessel is docked in San Francisco for disinfecting in third outbreak for company this yearMore than 100 passengers and about 23 crew members on a Princess Cruises ship fell sick from suspected norovirus, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), marking the third outbreak to hit one of the company's watercrafts this year.The Ruby Princess vessel set sail on 12 June from San Francisco, bound for Alaska and Canada, with a scheduled return on 2 July. More than two weeks into the journey, CDC officials received a report of an outbreak, which is defined by a threshold of 3% or more of passengers. Aboard the ship were 3,032 passengers and 1,144 crew members, per the CDC. Continue reading...

Memo calls for surge' of analysts after agents in January seized hundreds of boxes containing Fulton county ballotsThe FBI has asked its field offices across the country to dedicate more than 200 staffers to its investigation of the 2020 election in Georgia's Fulton county.A memo obtained Thursday by the Associated Press calls for the FBI to surge" 260 investigative analysts and staff operations specialists to the effort, which it described as a priority investigation". Continue reading...

In latest legal twist, appeals panel rules US does not have to reinstate signage on climate, immigration and slaveryThe Trump administration does not have to reinstate materials related to climate change, immigration and slavery that it has removed from national parks, a US appeals court ruled on Thursday.It's the latest twist in a legal battle over how history is remembered at American public monuments. Continue reading...

Abdul El-Sayed, backed by Bernie Sanders, leads polls ahead of Haley Stevens and Mallory McMorrow in primaryAlexandria Ocasio-Cortez has thrown her support behind Abdul El-Sayed, the doctor and progressive Democrat seeking the party's nomination in Michigan's closely watched US Senate race.In an interview with the New York Times, Ocasio-Cortez - an influential congresswoman on the left of the Democratic party - endorsed El-Sayed, a former public health director. Despite our ideological differences and whatever disagreements there are in the party, every single one of us sees this moment as existential," she said. Continue reading...

President, in latest AI-generated social media post, targets prominent celebrities who have spoken out against himDonald Trump on Thursday posted an AI-generated social media video portraying himself as a doctor who claims to have cured some of his most prominent celebrity critics - including Rosie O'Donnell - of the fictional condition Trump derangement syndrome".Outside the AI fantasy, O'Donnell said her assessment of the president remained unchanged. In a statement, she offered her own diagnosis: He's quite ill-and getting worse daily. The 25th amendment exists for exactly this reason. Remove. Impeach. Convict." Continue reading...

Grigor Dimitrov claimed an emotional win against the 15th seed; Alexander Zverev, Iga Swiatek and Elena Rybakina advanced; while three of the four remaining Brits departedAt 4-3 in the second, Shnaider makes 0-40, Sansonova saving the first break point with a forehand ushered to the corner and the second with a serve out wide and clean-up. But when a return, thudded flat and close to the baseline, arrives, the response falls long, and the French Open semi-finalist will now serve for a decider at 4-6 5-3.We get going on No1 at 1pm BST, 1.30pm on Centre, but before that, we've close matches on 12 and 18. Samsonova is still holding her own against Shanider, who beat Sabalenka - admittedly with help from Sabalenka herself - on her way to the semis at Roland Garros, leading 6-4 3-3 and refusing to wilt though her opponent has improved. And Fery - who our commentators reckon has the ability to break the top 20 - trails Virtanen 5-7 4-4. Back with our hidings, though, De Minaur has just served out a 6-2 set to lead Mannarino 2-0. Continue reading...

The president made $2.2bn last year, with plenty of help from his own political decisions. This is called corruption, folks

The latest news and reaction on day 22 of the tournament after England set up a last-16 clash with MexicoAnd I appreciate all this has been forgotten because England won but Harry Kane should have been awarded a first-half penalty. When a goalkeeper slides and does not get the ball, of course the forward is going to take the contact. Kane is just being punished for being as clever as the officials desire.Maurico Pochettino was rather unhappy with Folarin Balogun's dismissal. The striker painfully caught the Bosnia and Herzegovina defender Tarik Muharemovic on the ankle but it was a complete accident with two players going for the ball. Continue reading...

Critics condemn decision by education board aligned with hard-right Ron DeSantis to block access to college systemImmigration advocates in Florida have decried a cruel and harmful" new rule by education officials aligned with hard-right Republican governor Ron DeSantis to ban undocumented students from state colleges and universities.The Florida board of education voted on Tuesday to bar access to its 28 state-funded institutions to anybody not a US citizen or lawfully present" in the country. It follows Florida's move last year to strip discounted in-state tuition rates for certain immigrant students. Continue reading...

The NHS will divert billions of pounds from essential services to pay for new medicines, under the terms of the US-UK trade deal agreed in December, which could lead to more than 200,000 excess deaths, analysis has found.Ministers have defended the deal as a way of helping British drug exports avoid US tariffs and giving patients access to vital medication, but critics accuse the Labour party of caving into pressure from Donald Trump.Lucy Hough speaks to columnist Aditya Chakrabortty Continue reading...

The woman, 31, suffered some injuries but was found alert and in good spirits on Mount Shasta, officials saidA novice climber was rescued after surviving a 1,500ft fall down California's Mount Shasta on Sunday, officials said.The woman, 31, was attempting to ascend the mountain along the Left of Heart variation of the popular Avalanche Gulch route alongside two other novice climbers at an elevation of about 13,000ft when she fell. Continue reading...

Rooftopers' Angela Nikolau and Ivan Kuznetsov were arrested after allegedly scaling the New York skyscraperTwo Russian rooftoppers" who staged an apparent marriage proposal at the peak of the Empire State Building's spire were reportedly arraigned in New York on Thursday on a slew of charges including reckless endangerment.Angela Nikolau and Ivan Kuznetsov were arrested on Wednesday after the stunt, which featured the pair, dressed in all black, unfurling a peace banner and kissing. Continue reading...

The country's unemployment rate dropped slightly to 4.2% as US job growth also slowed for the month

An estimated 650,000 bags of potato chips are affected as US agency upgraded recall of several popular brandsThe US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has upgraded a recall of several popular brands of potato chips to its most serious level because of the risk of salmonella contamination.Manufacturer Utz issued a voluntary recall in May for varieties of its Zapp's and Dirty potato chips products, citing the possible presence of salmonella in dry milk powder sourced from a third party used to make a seasoning ingredient. Continue reading...

Critics say the Trump administration is trying to rewrite and whitewash history by removing and altering scores of signs on public landsJerry Bransford, a former US National Park Service (NPS) ranger, has always had a deep connection with the land he grew up on - and the land hundreds of feet below it. His great-great-grandfather, Materson Mat" Bransford, was one of the earliest explorers of Mammoth Cave in south-central Kentucky, the largest known cave system on the planet.But for decades, Mat wasn't paid for his work. Enslavers rented him out for $100 a year to a man who wanted to turn the site into a tourist attraction - what would later become Mammoth Cave national park. Continue reading...

Federal prosecutors to focus on issue despite court backing constitutional guarantee of birthright citizenship. Plus: Greek priest whose metal music has become cult smash

Birthright citizenship ruling only a surface level setback, with the court granting president's multiple power grabsThe symbolic and high profile defeats cannot obscure a more uncomfortable truth.The US supreme court - a vital cog in the US constitutional framers' vision of an intricate system of checks and balances aimed at reining in an excessively assertive president - has made Donald Trump stronger than ever, and shows little inclination to stop. Continue reading...

Two people were arrested after an apparent marriage proposal atop the Empire State Building's spire on Wednesday, having climbed well above the section open to the public. The pair were identified as Angela Nikolau and Ivan Beerkus, Russian 'rooftoppers' known for carrying out similar stunts in cities including Los Angeles and Tianjin in China. Dressed in black and with their faces covered, they unfurled a large black banner bearing the words: 'When the power of love beats the love of power, the world knows peace.'It remains unclear how they reached the uppermost section of the building, which rises 1,454ft (443 metres) above midtown Manhattan. The New York police department said charges were pending and the investigation remained ongoing. CBS News later reported that the pair were facing charges including burglary, criminal trespass and reckless endangerment Continue reading...

More than 100 million people could be affected in week leading to 4 July, with increased risks of droughts and wildfiresMeteorologists are anticipating a tumultuous summer that could rank as one of the US's hottest ever.New data released on Tuesday showed the first six months of the year were the hottest ever measured for parts of eight western states. Continue reading...

As GLP-1s drive the current protein craze, a supplement once only taken by powerlifters is now so popular US producers are struggling to keep upFor generations, the Meives family made cheese. Tony Meives's grandfather, a Swiss immigrant, and his father both ran small cheese factories in Wisconsin, in the heart of America's dairyland. I worked in the cheese factory my whole life," Meives says. I have four world-class cheesemakers in my family." But when it came time to inherit the family business, Meives found there was more money in the industrial runoff that his grandfather would have once thrown away. Today, the 39-year-old bodybuilder and gym owner runs a company that sells whey protein powder, the watery byproduct of cheesemaking that was once considered waste. Twenty years ago, the only people who took whey were bodybuilders," he says. Over the past five years, the market has really opened up to each and every type of person you can probably think of."When Robert F Kennedy Jr, the US health secretary, declared late last month, that the war on protein is over", he sounded a bit like one of those Japanese soldiers of second world war lore, who spent years bunkering in the jungles of south-east Asia, oblivious to the fact that hostilities had long ceased. Perhaps there was a time when advice leaned more towards a diet based around fruit, vegetables and carbohydrates - but by May 2026, the war on protein was surely over. Protein had won. Continue reading...

Democracies rarely last, but ours has. That alone is worth celebratingOne reason to celebrate America's national big birthday - our 250th on the Fourth of July - is to honor the unusual longevity of our democratic experiment. Democracies rarely last, but ours has. Even if we know its flawed history - the land grab and slaughter of the indigenous population; slavery; enduring racial, gender and economic inequalities - it's hard to fault the admirable, high-minded idealism of the Bill of Rights and the US constitution.I'm all for celebrating democracy. The bicentennial was fun. I lived outside a small rural town where there was a parade, a fife and drum corps, tricornered hats, flags and fireworks. Then president Gerald Ford had sponsored civil rights legislation. Roe v Wade was three years old. There were brilliant and honorable judges serving on the US supreme court. The Vietnam war had ended. Obviously there were problems: our growing military presence in Central America, the bankrupting and colonization of American inner cities, growing disparities. Even so, there was a hope in the air, a sense that things might be looking up. Continue reading...

House Democratic subcommittee report outlines web of alleged corruption, wire fraud and pay-to-play schemesDonald Trump staged a hostile takeover of the US's 250th anniversary celebration to enrich political allies, harvest voter data and promote Christian nationalist ideology, according to a congressional investigation released on Thursday.The interim report, From Vanity to Insanity: How the White House Cheated the American People Out of Their 250th Birthday", outlines a web of alleged corruption, wire fraud and pay-to-play schemes orchestrated through a shadow corporation embedded within the National Park Foundation (NPF). Continue reading...

Everything you need to know (and more) about every squad member. Click on the player pictures for more information Continue reading...

Former public defender Sara Bennett spent 13 years photographing women convicted of homicide. She traces their lives in prison - and what happens as they re-enter the outside world Continue reading...

The versatile striker was dangerous in his time on the field on Wednesday, but that time was prematurely ended with a surprising ejectionThe day after the US supreme court upheld birthright citizenship, Folarin Balogun - a player who wouldn't have even been on the pitch if not for the longstanding, constitutional law - pushed the United States through to the World Cup last 16. Just two days short of his 25th birthday, Balogun scored the opening goal in the US's 2-0 victory over Bosnia and Herzegovina, his third of the tournament.Then, about 20 minutes later, Balogun was sent off, given a straight red card for what appeared to be inadvertent contact with Bosnia and Herzegovina defender Tarik Muharemovi. It was a shocking turn of events for the Monaco forward, who was among the US's best performers on Wednesday, as he has been for the entirety of the tournament. Continue reading...

Player guide | Golden Boot | BracketHello from San Francisco Bay Area Stadium, where as you might expect an extremely pro-USA crowd is filing in. There are certainly more than enough Bosnia and Herzegovina fans here to make some noise should they give them a reason. It's a beautiful day, sunny and cool in that special Bay Area way (unless you're in the famously hot upper decks here).Pre-pregame email ... Continue reading...

The US had their hands on their heads. Weston McKennie's face betrayed a look of total disbelief. Mauricio Pochettino waved his hands towards the sky, incredulous.Folarin Balogun had been sent off after a seemingly innocent collision with Bosnia and Herzegovina's Tarik Muharemovi that saw the US striker land a foot on his opponent's ankle. Just like that, the US's high-flying World Cup journey had the feel of impending doom. The temperature had soared on a previously cool, sunny evening at San Francisco Bay Area Stadium. And it wouldn't fall until Malik Tillman had his say. Continue reading...

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