Author: The Guardian

Gareth Southgate has announced he has stepped down as England’s manager after eight years. The Football Association had hoped he would extend his contract after he led the team to the final of Euro 2024 but Southgate has decided to seek a new challenge.“As a proud Englishman, it has been the honour of my life to play for England and to manage England,” Southgate said. “It has meant everything to me, and I have given it my all. But it’s time for change, and for a new chapter. Sunday’s final in Berlin against Spain was my final game as England…

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1) No hatred towards HainWhen the T20 Blast came back to life in the second half of the group stage, it felt a bit like restarting after the rain stopped. The batsmen want to get on top of the bowling early and the fielding captain knows this is a good opportunity to take a wicket or two.Sam Hain’s 98 not out was a key contribution in Birmingham Bears’ narrow win over Yorkshire at Headingley. This is a new type of white-ball game. Hayne played a dominant role in the game – he was at the crease from the sixth over…

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Donald Trump’s vice-presidential pick, JD Vance, said the UK could become the first “truly Islamist country that will get a nuclear weapon” after Labour won the election, it can be revealed.Vance, the junior senator of Ohio and author of the memoir Hillbilly Elegy, was speaking at a conference for US Conservatives when he made the comments.The jibe is likely to be embarrassing for the UK’s foreign secretary, David Lammy, who has attempted to build bridges with Vance in recent months, comparing their impoverished childhoods.Vance was speaking at the National Conservatism conference on Thursday, where he said: “I have to beat…

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LA bastion of male heterosexuality, Formula One is a sport that has been associated with passion for many years. The drivers live a glamorous high life with beautiful women, so much so that they are intrinsically linked to the image of F1. Change is happening for the better, but as some in the sports community have pointed out, it’s been a long process.Former driver Ralf Schumacher came out as gay on Sunday, becoming the third driver to do so since the F1 championship began in 1950. The younger brother of Michael, who competed in the competition from 1997 to 2007,…

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For more than half a century, the Paisley family dominated North Antrim in a political equivalent of the Giant’s Causeway. Just as ancient volcanic fissures created a swath of interlocking basalt columns, Ian Paisley Sr’s hellfire rhetoric forged a unique brand of unionism and a family dynasty in this corner of Northern Ireland.The Free Presbyterian preacher turned his Democratic Unionist party (DUP) into an electoral behemoth and passed his Westminster seat to Ian Paisley Jr, who held it from 2010 with huge majorities.Elections came and went and the House of Paisley stood immovable, not quite a Unesco world heritage site…

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Elon Musk said he plans to contribute $45 a month starting in July to a super PAC dedicated to electing Donald Trump, The Wall Street Journal reported.According to Bloomberg, the technology billionaire who supported Trump two days ago has donated a so-called “significant” amount of money to the U.S. Pacific Action Committee, but the actual donation amount will not be announced in election documents until July 15.Both news outlets’ reports on Musk’s donation were based on accounts from unnamed people familiar with the plans of the tech billionaire, who has an estimated net worth of $252 billion and is the…

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In an unprecedented address, Sean O’Brien, the president of the powerful Teamsters union, delivered remarks at the Republican national convention (RNC) Monday night.In addressing the RNC, O’Brien broke with most major unions in the US, which have overwhelmingly thrown their support behind Joe Biden.During his speech, O’Brien thanked Donald Trump “for opening the RNC’s doors” to the union – whose leaders have never spoken at the Republican national convention – and shot back at criticism over his willingness to appear at the former president’s invitation.“I travel all across this country and meet with my members every week,” said O’Brien. “I…

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A senior North Korean diplomat stationed in Cuba defected to South Korea in November, becoming the highest-ranking North Korean diplomat to flee to South Korea since 2016, according to a South Korean newspaper.Ri Il-kyu, 52, was in charge of political affairs at the North Korean embassy in Cuba before fleeing to South Korea, Chosun Ilbo reported on Tuesday, citing an interview with Ri.One of Lee’s jobs at the embassy was to prevent North Korea’s rival South Korea from establishing diplomatic ties with its old ally Cuba, the newspaper reported. In February, the two countries established diplomatic relations.South Korea’s Unification Ministry,…

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A brat, said Charli xcx – describing not so much her album, Brat, as the spirit of brat – has a “pack of cigs, a Bic lighter and a strappy white top with no bra”. This is “brat summer” – not to be confused with rat girl summer (2023, a TikTok trend centred on living like a rat), which itself was a verbal variation on hot girl summer (which was, according to the journalist Jasmine Fox-Suliaman in 2021, “about embodying self-love, a positive body image, healthy boundaries and relationships, self-actualisation and, of course, sultry style choices”). Brat, neither a social…

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