jack

Posted by Andrew Sparrow

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2026/jun/16/andy-burnham-makerfield-labour-reform-keir-starmer-uk-politics-latest-news-updates

Nearly one in six pieces of news shared in local Facebook groups during the campaign is false, Social Market Foundation report finds

Keir Starmer has vowed to “choke off” Russian revenue with further sanctions and to provide hundreds of millions of pounds worth of energy support for Ukraine, as he met world leaders in France for the G7. Alexandra Topping, who is covering the summit at Évian-les-Bains in France, has the story.

Good morning. Andy Burnham seems to be on course to win the Makerfield byelection on Thursday. But, if he does win, it will be despite a huge increase in the amount of hostile, fake news about him circulating on local Facebook groups. This has been documented in a report out today by the Social Market Foundation thinktank that has important implications not just for Makerfield, but for how politics functions today in a social media environment awash with lies.

Nearly 1 in 6 pieces of news shared in local Facebook groups during the campaign is false, with misinformation heavily targeting Labour and its candidate Andy Burnham, a new study has found.

The Social Market Foundation analysed over 1,800 posts across four local Facebook groups – representing different towns and settlements within the constituency with 66,000 members across them in total – and found that the share of news posts classified as misinformation jumped from 4% before the by-election was called to 16% during the campaign, a four-fold increase.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2026/jun/16/andy-burnham-makerfield-labour-reform-keir-starmer-uk-politics-latest-news-updates

Posted by Cath Clarke

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2026/jun/16/girlfriends-review-love-and-growing-pains-in-queer-coming-of-age-tale-that-goes-from-hong-kong-to-taiwan

A trio of actors play one woman from high school to her mid-30s in Tracy Choi’s thoughtful romantic drama

It can stretch credibility a little when an actor plays the same character over a long time span in one film. Richard Linklater solved the problem in Boyhood by shooting scenes over succeeding years; AI and de-ageing effects are now an option. With this intimate queer coming-of-age drama, film-maker Tracy Choi instead casts a trio of actors to play one woman from high school to her mid-30s. The three don’t look particularly alike; their temperaments overlap but are by no means identical. The point is perhaps to show how intense the transitions into adulthood are, how unrecognisable are the people we used to be.

Working backwards, Girlfriends begins in Hong Kong, where 34-year-old film director Lok (Fish Liew) lives with her actor girlfriend Bei (Jennifer Yu). Five years earlier, Choi released a feature film, but her career has stalled. She is directionless and restless. Bei is also applying pressure to buy a flat and have a baby. The film then rewinds 12 years, to Taiwan, when Lok was a student with spiky orange hair, known as Choi (played by Elizabeth Tang). Some of the best scenes in the film come when her parents visit from Macau; Choi and her girlfriend Qing (Han Ning) have been pretending to be flatmates. Then, as the four of them eat dinner one night, unwilling to keep up the charade, Choi grabs Qing’s hand fiercely over the dinner table. She is coming out to her parents; they understand but say nothing. Another film might give us a big showdown, but this is probably how it would have happened in real life.

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2026/jun/16/girlfriends-review-love-and-growing-pains-in-queer-coming-of-age-tale-that-goes-from-hong-kong-to-taiwan

Posted by Isaaq Tomkins

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2026/jun/16/champion-swimmer-archie-goodburn-rare-brain-cancer-uk-more-help

Breakthrough treatment enabled Archie Goodburn, 24, to keep competing but he says one new drug in 20 years is not enough

Archie Goodburn, a 24-year-old champion swimmer who has a rare, inoperable form of brain cancer, is calling for the government to do more to help people with the condition.

“I grew up representing my country, and
I want to see my country supporting me back,” he said.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2026/jun/16/champion-swimmer-archie-goodburn-rare-brain-cancer-uk-more-help

Posted by Damian Carrington Environment editor

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/jun/16/ai-could-help-win-race-against-extinction-of-vital-plants-say-botanists

Tech is helping to identify and save new specimens and could open ‘genomic goldmine’ of fungi data

The rise of AI and digitisation could be a turning point in the “race against extinction” faced by botanists trying to identify and save vital plants before they vanish, according to a major report from Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.

New technology is enabling scientists to track how flowering times have shifted by weeks around the world, rapidly identify new specimens and even get crucial genetic data from 180-year-old fungus specimens, potentially opening a “genomic goldmine”. Digitisation and online access to millions of specimens that were until now only accessible in archives is also producing new insights, especially in the global south.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/jun/16/ai-could-help-win-race-against-extinction-of-vital-plants-say-botanists

Posted by Graeme Wearden

https://www.theguardian.com/business/live/2026/jun/16/japan-hikes-interest-rates-inflation-iran-war-thames-water-rescue-nationalisation-latest-news-updates

Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial news

There are signs that things are starting to return to normal in the Gulf.

Offshore marine support firm Gulf Marine Services has told the City that all its support vessels which had been temporarily evacuated due to the Iran war have now successfully returned to hire on the same contracts.

“We are very pleased to confirm that the fourth and final evacuated vessel has now returned to hire. This is a significant milestone, and we are encouraged by the positive momentum we are seeing both operationally and on the geopolitical front.

The swift and safe return of all four vessels is a testament to the professionalism of our crews and the strength of our client relationships, which have remained robust throughout this period.”

“Compared with our previous meeting in April, the U.S. and Iran have signed a memorandum. That is a welcome move. Having said that, there is uncertainty on the pace of improvement in distribution (of oil).”

Compared with the previous meeting, the risk of a sharp deterioration in the economy has diminished. On the other hand, price rises are broadening, and there is a risk that underlying inflation may deviate from our target.”

“With underlying inflation approaching 2%, it’s important to ensure we achieve our target stably.”

https://www.theguardian.com/business/live/2026/jun/16/japan-hikes-interest-rates-inflation-iran-war-thames-water-rescue-nationalisation-latest-news-updates

Posted by Mike McCahill

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2026/jun/16/disclosure-day-spielberg-et-close-encounters-of-the-third-kind-et

Audiences have propelled Spielberg’s alien thriller to the top of the box office. Yet some exiting the cinema appear to believe this sappy extravaganza is not the director’s finest hour

A sage person once told me every noted director’s career is an ongoing conversation with the audience. Some film-makers – Michael Haneke, say – sit on high, like a headteacher at an assembly, and loftily number the ways in which we’ve let ourselves and the school down. There are others – Lars von Trier and Ari Aster spring to mind – whose work sidles up uncomfortably close, gooses the viewer and then flees the scene sniggering before the relevant authorities can be alerted. The career of Steven Spielberg – arguably the most remarkable career in the history of popular cinema – has long depended on the audience being on the exact same page, looking up wide-eyed and guileless towards the light: his greatest films, from Close Encounters to The Fabelmans, invite further discussion, an awestruck back-and-forth.

You can therefore understand why Spielberg has broached the subject of social division with Disclosure Day, his much-trumpeted return to the summer event movie: he has almost as much skin in this game as the rest of us non-trillionaires. Yet if early box office has been solid enough, secondary indices – not least a slew of disappointed foyer texts from friends and loved ones – would suggest the film has itself proved distinctly polarising. In the US, market research firm CinemaScore – which polls opening-day cinemagoers to assess a film’s commercial prospects – graded Disclosure Day a B, the joint second-worst for a Spielberg film, ahead of AI: Artificial Intelligence (recipient of a harsh C), dead level with Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny. Headmaster Haneke again shakes his weary head.

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2026/jun/16/disclosure-day-spielberg-et-close-encounters-of-the-third-kind-et

Posted by Yara El-Shaboury

https://www.theguardian.com/football/live/2026/jun/16/world-cup-2026-news-france-enter-fray-iran-feel-oppressed-var-official-cleared-over-gesture-live

⚽ All the latest on day six of the tournament
⚽ Player guide | Bracketology | Golden Boot | Mail us

Iran 2-2 New Zealand: It was a heavy match for Iran’s players as they played out a 2-2 draw against New Zealand after a backdrop of strife in the buildup to their tournament. After the match, the Iran head coach Amir Ghalenoei hit out at Fifa and hinted at resentment toward the US government after being told they needed to leave Los Angeles immediately.

We’ve spent so much time commuting in the air. They didn’t even give us time to recover after the game today. They said we had to leave immediately. It’s very important for us to have time for recovery and yet we were asked to return to Tijuana and we are really troubled by that.

We do not know why they are returning us. I think it’s very strange. It seems like others are doing the planning for us, decisions are made elsewhere, we were supposed to arrive two nights before the game and we were not permitted, we were supposed to stay tonight and return tomorrow lunchtime but I have no idea why, and they haven’t told us.

https://www.theguardian.com/football/live/2026/jun/16/world-cup-2026-news-france-enter-fray-iran-feel-oppressed-var-official-cleared-over-gesture-live

Posted by Lanre Bakare Arts and culture correspondent

https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2026/jun/16/the-traitors-play-gillian-lynne-theatre-five-different-endings-london

Play at Gillian Lynne theatre in London will cycle through versions with weekend crowds able to pick one

In keeping with its well-earned reputation for cloak and dagger, the stage adaptation of the hit gameshow Traitors will present audiences with different renditions of the story depending on which night they attend.

The Traitors: Acts of Betrayal will take the form of a five-play cycle, with weekend crowds able to determine which version of the BBC show dramatisation they see.

https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2026/jun/16/the-traitors-play-gillian-lynne-theatre-five-different-endings-london