Rapid scientific progress has given us the tools to stop time more convincingly than ever – but lurking behind these claims is the same fear of ageing

Andrea holds a PhD in literature and works for a non-profit in Dallas. She’s in her late 40s and tells me that the pressure to remain youthful in her city is palpable. Almost completely irresistible.

“You don’t know what it’s like here,” she said. “Everyone has a facelift if they can afford one and everyone has had some work done. I’m a feminist to the core, but if I had the money, I would get a deep-plane facelift in a heartbeat. I’m saving up to get my neck done.”

The striker is driven by a sense of destiny but to be remembered as an all-time great outside England requires big-game performances

Five days to win the Ballon d’Or. The way to do it: outshine Lionel Messi in Atlanta, then see off Kylian Mbappé or Lamine Yamal on Sunday. For Harry Kane, nothing will come without a fight. The England captain was doubted when he was a kid, back when the youth coaches at Tottenham wondered if it was worth keeping him, and he faces another seismic battle against Argentina on Wednesday.

This could be the crowning moment of Kane’s career. The Bayern Munich striker has enjoyed the season of his life, with more domestic trophies in the bag and 73 goals in 64 appearances for club and country. There are more steps to take, though. The chance to lead England into a first World Cup final abroad is within reach. All Kane has to do to is outperform the greatest footballer of all time.

Badenoch’s ideological purge gathers pace as moderates are cast out and the Tories edge ever closer to political extinction

You have to hand it to Kemi Badenoch. She doesn’t take any prisoners. While the rest of us have been trying to survive a heatwave and are wondering if air-con may be needed for future summers, the Tory leader has taken a more hardline approach to climate change. Call it Schrödinger’s climate change. It’s both happening and not happening at the same time.

Kemi is just about sane enough not to be an out-and-out denier. She leaves that to Reform. Mind you, no one would put it past her to suggest the scientists have got it wrong if the temperature drops for a few days. But her view is that while climate change may be real, there’s no point in trying to do anything about it.

The US government has been forced to pay billions in refunds to companies that were hit by Donald Trump’s ‘liberation day’ tariffs. The US has paid out $81bn (£61bn) this fiscal year after the supreme court ruled the tariffs were illegal. Lucy Hough speaks to Chris Michael, an international editor for Guardian US

The Piano director shares her memories of the actor on set – and the last time she saw him in hospital

• Sam Neill’s final interview and his life in pictures

• ‘A true gentleman’: actors, directors and leaders pay tribute to Sam Neill

• Neill interviewed in 2023, 2024 and 2026

Sam. So effortlessly handsome, and that rare thing in New Zealand and Australia: a movie star.

My hands actually shook when I met him at a cafe in Vulcan Lane, Auckland, to discuss rehearsals. He had arrived, we all had, to start pre-production on The Piano. He was to play the repressed and violent Stewart, the one who would chop off his wife’s finger. Who but Sam could play that part, could surprise with that part?

Click here to submit a picture for publication in these online galleries and/or on the Guardian letters page

Detectives examining whether hatred of Widdecombe’s strong views or of Reform party were factors in killing described as a ‘targeted attack’

The police investigation into the death of Ann Widdecombe is examining whether a leftwing or single-issue cause may lie behind her killing, the Guardian has learned.

Among issues detectives are investigating are whether a hatred of Widdecombe’s strong views, such as on homosexuality, was a factor. They are also examining whether extreme hostility to the Reform UK party played a role.

Annual State of the UK Climate analysis finds last four years in UK are in top five hottest on record

The UK’s climatic extremes are becoming increasingly normal, a report has found, with last year the hottest on record and further “unprecedented changes” likely to break the record again soon.

Data stretching back to 1884 shows the UK has never experienced a year as hot as 2025, according to the annual State of the UK Climate report, with temperatures pushed to dizzying heights by carbon pollution clogging the atmosphere.

Government to launch campaign to help people cope with events such as weather emergencies or cyber-attacks

The British public should begin taking “small but important steps” to secure and protect water, power supplies and basic phone signal in case of further severe weather emergencies, national crises or cyber-attacks, Downing Street has said.

Darren Jones, the chief secretary to the prime minister, told MPs “the risks we face from climate change cannot be underestimated”, and warned of the “significant and prolonged disruption to essential services” extreme weather events could cause.

US president says he will knock out all Iran’s power plants and bridges next week in bid to force Tehran to agree to a deal

• Middle East crisis – live updates

President Donald Trump has threatened to expand US strikes on Iran next week to target power plants and bridges if Tehran does not agree to a deal amid a continuing dispute over the strait of Hormuz.

“Next week it gets really bad for them because next week comes the power plants. Next week comes the bridges,” Trump said in a Fox News interview on Tuesday. “We’re going to knock out all their power plants. We’re going to knock out all their bridges unless they get to the table and negotiate.”