The prime minister says that the current Fifa general secretary is ‘the wrong man to lead the organisation’

The construction of a new Chinese “super-embassy” in London, which is set to be built near the Tower of London, can go ahead after a high court challenge against the decision to grant planning permission was dismissed, PA Media is reporting.

The Royal Mint Court Residents’ Association (RMCRA) brought legal action against the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government and the London Borough of Tower Hamlets.

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You’ve got to admire the Fifa president’s chutzpah in trying to flog off football’s greatest prize. If only Uefa wasn’t being so pesky about it all

Imagine a plan so distasteful that even the Americans and a Middle Eastern nepo-royal football boss can’t be doing with it. Such is the status of Fifa president Gianni Infantino’s scheme to sell off stakes in the World Cup to private investors. More historically, perhaps, the 55 nations that make up Uefa have reacted to this horror show by voting unanimously to boycott Fifa tournaments, including World Cups, if Infantino presses ahead. That would mean Spain and Portugal boycotting their own men’s World Cup next time around, which you’d think – not to call it too soon – would come off as slightly bad vibes.

A testing moment, then, for the haunted cue-ball. Again. Can it really already be time to turn to Infantino once more, even after he appeared in this spot only on Tuesday, after his 15-page Instagram crash-out about his haters? Yes. Yes, I’m afraid it can. Demanding the federations of the world sell off the World Cup to some fund led by Donald Trump’s son-in-law’s brother will regrettably draw attention to you in ways that will prove difficult to control. As indicated, the Fifa president’s plan has contrived to appear vulgar to the North American confederation, Concacaf, as well as the Asian Football Confederation (AFC).

Marina Hyde is a Guardian columnist

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• Research analysis to be delivered by 11 September

• Decision on expansion could be taken this year

Fifa is pushing ahead with plans to expand the World Cup to 64 teams from 2030 and has opened a tender to research companies to assess the economic benefits on a hugely accelerated timescale.

In another twist during a week of astonishing revelations about the global governing body’s plans to reshape football, the Guardian has seen a “research brief” outlining a consultation process to assess the potential increase from the tournament’s current 48 teams. A period of just four weeks has been allocated for the successful party, which will be selected on 14 August, to analyse the proposed expansion. Fifa has required that the analysis is delivered by 11 September, indicating that a decision could be taken this year.

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Katalyst Space has confirmed that problems with its LINK spacecraft have delayed its attempt to rescue NASA's Swift observatory, with rendezvous now targeted for the end of August. Katalyst disclosed the delay in an update on the spinning spacecraft. Engineers used a thruster to cut LINK's rotation rate from 9 degrees per second to approximately 4 degrees per second, with further burns planned. Katalyst and NASA are also developing a new attitude controller suited to the spacecraft's reduced capabilities. Engineers are determining which systems remain usable and testing their plans in a simulator before trying them on the vehicle in orbit. The trouble has pushed the targeted rendezvous to the end of August. LINK is supposed to sidle up to Swift, survey it, grapple the observatory, and carry it to a higher orbit. For now, however, Katalyst says: "We're focused on stabilizing the spacecraft and restoring core system functionality." Any rendezvous attempt depends on that work succeeding. LINK launched earlier this month, less than a year after NASA awarded Katalyst Space the contract for a rescue mission. The spacecraft encountered problems during commissioning before going into a spin over the weekend. Earlier this week, Katalyst reported that two of the three reaction wheels, used to control LINK's attitude, were inoperable, but the team was working to stabilize the vehicle using its electric propulsion thrusters. Time is running short. Swift is expected to enter the Earth's atmosphere in the coming months. The observatory has enjoyed a prodigiously long life and far exceeded its primary mission, but its orbit is decaying and it cannot raise itself. LINK's success could add years to Swift's operational lifetime. In January, almost all of NASA's models predicted that Swift would re-enter by the summer of 2026. Most science operations were paused in February to buy more time. More recent predictions indicate that it could dip below 300 km, the altitude beneath which raising its orbit becomes more difficult, around November. Katalyst must now stabilize LINK, secure NASA's approval for its revised plans, and reach Swift before the observatory sinks too low for a practical rescue. ®

In Noordeloos barst deze vrijdagavond een jaarlijkse strijd los: het NK Kuiltje Knikkeren. Al decennialang een traditie in het dorp met heuze knikker-royalty. Elise (19) is dit jaar de knikkerkoningin. ''Dit vergeet ik nooit meer.''

DEN HAAG (ANP) - Sinds het begin van de zomer is in de Europese Unie meer natuur afgebrand dan in dezelfde periode van recordjaar 2025. Dat blijkt uit een analyse van het ANP op basis van wekelijkse cijfers van klimaatdienst Copernicus.

In de door Copernicus gehanteerde meetperiode van 3 juni tot en met 29 juli ging ruim 343.000 hectare verloren aan natuurbranden, ruim twee keer zoveel als in dezelfde periode vorig jaar. Dit komt neer op een gebied ongeveer even groot als de provincie Zuid-Holland.

De grootste schade ontstond in die periode in Spanje, Italië en Frankrijk. Daar legden aanhoudende natuurbranden grote gebieden in de as en werden tienduizenden mensen geëvacueerd. In deze drie landen verwoestten 493 natuurbranden samen bijna 307.000 hectare. In dezelfde periode in 2025 brandde ruim 78.000 hectare af door 338 natuurbranden.

Bordeaux

Het is deze zomer al uitzonderlijk warm en droog geweest, vooral in Zuid-Europa. In Frankrijk is de grootste brand bij Bordeaux grotendeels gestabiliseerd, terwijl brandweerlieden in Spanje nog meerdere natuurbranden bestrijden.

Heel 2025 was het zwaarste natuurbrandjaar in Europa van de afgelopen twintig jaar. In de maanden voor de zomer waren er in 2025 juist meer branden dan dit jaar, maar vooral in augustus nam het aantal en de omvang van de branden sterk toe.

De serie Off Campus, die in mei in première ging op streamingdienst Prime Video, is inmiddels een hype: 36 miljoen kijkers in de eerste twaalf dagen. Off Campus is gebaseerd op de gelijknamige boekenreeks van de Canadese schrijver Elle Kennedy. „Mannen geschreven door vrouwen.”

Vanillasludge has added a photo to the pool: