⚽ The World Cup final kicks off today at MetLife Stadium, Lionel Messi’s Argentina against Lamine Yamal’s Spain — a rematch, of sorts, of the charity photograph the pair posed for when Yamal was still a baby. Spain arrive having conceded only once all tournament; Argentina have not led after ninety minutes in any of their four knockout games.
Labour’s sole leadership contender was declared party leader on Friday after securing the backing of the overwhelming majority of the parliamentary party, and will be asked to form a government once Keir Starmer resigns to the King on Monday. The former Greater Manchester mayor has promised “hope in every heart” and power devolved out of Westminster, becoming Britain’s seventh prime minister in a decade.
The government has nationalised British Steel’s Scunthorpe works, ending Chinese owner Jingye’s stake on national security grounds after mounting losses. Beijing has warned the move could unsettle Chinese investors and is pressing for compensation, calling on Britain to find “a mutually acceptable solution.”
Solar panels supplied a quarter of the European Union’s electricity through June, overtaking nuclear and gas to lead the bloc’s power mix for the first time. Analysts at Ember called the rise “truly stratospheric, beating prediction after prediction.”
Britain has formally ratified the global High Seas Treaty, joining a growing club of nations extending protection beyond national waters, where barely a sliver of ocean currently has any safeguard at all. Campaigners at the Blue Marine Foundation called it a “once-in-a-generation opportunity to protect biodiversity.”
Ministers have committed to universal newborn screening for spinal muscular atrophy, closing a postcode lottery that already sees Scotland screen every baby while England does not. Health secretary James Murray said “no parent should have to watch their child lose the ability to move or breathe” when earlier treatment could make all the difference.
Nine in ten infants worldwide have now had at least one dose of the vaccine protecting against diphtheria, tetanus and whooping cough, with global coverage almost back to where it stood before the pandemic and hundreds of thousands fewer unvaccinated children than a year ago. Unicef’s Catherine Russell cautioned that “millions of vulnerable children are still being left unprotected” by conflict, displacement and poverty.
A UK trial spanning several hundred households found teenagers slept better, concentrated more and felt happier once social media access was restricted, whether by an outright ban, an overnight curfew or a short daily limit. Every group reported gains, with the full ban producing the strongest results.
Scientists have confirmed a previously unknown monkey, marked out by orange patches on a black face, deep in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s Lomami National Park — only the fifth new African primate species identified in three-quarters of a century. “This discovery is both exciting and deeply personal,” said researcher Junior Amboko.
El Salvador has become the latest country to wipe out trachoma, the world’s leading infectious cause of blindness, as global cases have fallen by the vast majority since the turn of the century. The WHO’s Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called it “a vital step towards our global target of eliminating trachoma worldwide.”
More than fifty million UK adults now tune in to radio every week, the highest total on record, as online and smart-speaker listening both climb to new highs. LBC posted a record audience of its own, while commercial stations overtook the BBC’s share for the first time in years.
Hungary’s new government has begun dismantling what it called the previous administration’s “disinformation machine,” suspending public broadcasting to relaunch it as an independent service. “Public media should not lie,” the incoming prime minister said. “We are sorry for doing it for so long.”
In fifteen forty-five, Henry VIII’s warship the Mary Rose sank in the Solent as a gust of wind sent seawater pouring through her open gunports, taking more than four hundred crew down with her. In eighteen forty-eight, campaigners opened the Seneca Falls Convention in New York, the meeting that launched the organised fight for women’s votes in America. And in nineteen-three, Maurice Garin crossed the line in Paris to win the very first Tour de France, having ridden some fifteen hundred miles over three weeks.