• Barcola will be club’s second-most expensive signing

• PSG player set for medical this weekend before move

Liverpool have finalised a deal worth up to £123m for Bradley Barcola, with the Paris Saint-Germain winger to undergo a medical this weekend for his move to Anfield.

Liverpool agreed the outline of a deal with the Champions League holders on Wednesday night, after lengthy talks over their main summer transfer target.

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The author on the habit she can’t control, the writer she’s never read, and the true love of her life (it’s not her husband)

Born in North Yorkshire, Adele Parks, 57, studied English at the University of Leicester then worked in advertising. In 2000, she published her debut novel, Playing Away, and has since written a book every year. Her latest is Eyes on You. Her work has been translated into 31 languages and in 2022 she was awarded the MBE for services to literature. She is an ambassador for charities promoting literacy including the National Literacy Trust, which is collaborating with the Department for Education on the National Year of Reading 2026. Parks is married with a son, and lives in Surrey.

What is the trait you most deplore in yourself?
Speaking negatively to myself.

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As economic circumstances worsen, the PM’s commitments have left him and the chancellor in a tight spot

When Andy Burnham made his first speech after returning as an MP, he promised that as prime minister he would oversee “the most significant change moment in our politics for 40 years”. His style, direction and communication has been a big shift from Keir Starmer’s approach, but as he heads into the autumn, the new prime minister faces some very similar problems.

With an early budget in late October, and worsening economic circumstances, Burnham has made promises and commitments that put him in a tight spot. Here are some of the constraints over the coming months that Burnham and the chancellor, John Healey, must contend with in their autumn budget.

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Dress up the barbie however you like – it’s toxic, tiresome and, more to the point, malnourishing

“If you’re invited to a barbecue, have your dinner before you go.” It is the wisest advice my dad has ever given me. Barbecues are one of life’s perennial disappointments. The romance of eating outside quickly degenerates into a recipe for mucky fingers, smelly clothes and more mess than you bargained for, with grills that you can never get clean, uncomfortable seating that makes your back ache or, dafter still, eating while standing up. Worst of all is the true barbecue legacy – the nagging hunger that follows bitty dining, leaving you with the aggrieved sense that you missed a mealtime you’re never getting back.

I grew up in Cornwall, where beach barbecues were a rite of passage. The flame under the sandy grill was blown out by the Atlantic wind, so these gatherings were impractical, unpredictable and interminable. One minute the sausages were raw and looked like they’d never be ready, the next they were hard and black and basically inedible. Rain frequently sent us scrambling to pack up and flee for shelter.

Max Liu is a freelance writer

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EINDHOVEN (ANP) - Een 48-jarige vrouw uit Eindhoven is in de nacht van vrijdag op zaterdag rond 02.00 uur van een balkon gevallen en zwaargewond geraakt, meldt de politie. Dat gebeurde bij de woning van een 44-jarige man aan de Philitelaan. Hij is aangehouden omdat de omstandigheden rond het incident "erg onduidelijk waren", aldus de politie.

Die noemt de toestand van de vrouw zaterdag zeer zorgwekkend. De man en vrouw zijn bekenden van elkaar en hij belde na de val zelf de politie. Zaterdag zit de Eindhovenaar nog vast.

Om meer duidelijkheid te krijgen, deed de politie forensisch onderzoek in de steeg waar de vrouw lag en in de woning. Buurtonderzoek en informatie van getuigen en camerabeelden moeten verdere duidelijkheid geven.

LONDEN (ANP/DPA) - Ongeveer vierhonderd schepen liggen nog vast in de Perzische Golf sinds het begin van de Iranoorlog eind februari. Dat zegt de secretaris-generaal van de Internationale Maritieme Organisatie (IMO), Arsenio Dominguez. Ook ongeveer 6000 opvarenden zitten nog vast op schepen in de Perzische Golf vanwege de blokkade van de Straat van Hormuz. Iran claimt de volledige controle over de belangrijke vaarroute.

Dominguez zegt erg bezorgd te zijn over de onschuldige scheepsbemanningen die vastzitten in de Perzische Golf. Zij kampen met stress, angst en psychologische druk door de oorlog. Hij stelt dat er zeventig aanvallen zijn geweest op schepen in de Perzische Golf en Straat van Hormuz, waarbij negentien opvarenden zijn omgekomen.

Voor de uitbraak van de oorlog tussen Iran en de Verenigde Staten ging ongeveer 20 procent van alle ruwe olie met tankers door de Straat van Hormuz. Door de vrijwel volledige blokkade is het scheepsverkeer in de waterweg nagenoeg tot stilstand gekomen.

Een Russische aanval bij de Oekraïense hoofdstad Kyiv heeft aan zeker 27 mensen het leven gekost. Nog eens 42 personen raakten gewond, meldt een Oekraïense bestuurder. De aanval zou hebben plaatsgevonden in het district Boetsja.

President Trump awarded the four-member Artemis II crew the Congressional Space Medal of Honor and signed an executive order directing the creation of a new U.S. Space Academy. The proposed academy would train engineers, scientists, technicians, operators, and astronauts for NASA, the Space Force, and the commercial space industry. Houston Public Media reports: The Artemis II crew -- NASA's Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and the Canadian Space Agency's Jeremy Hansen -- retraced history as they flew around the moon and back in April, the first time humans have been in lunar territory since the 1970s. He had previously hosted the crew members at the White House following their mission and called them during the mission while the crew was tens of thousands of miles away. "The one thing that really sticks out to us [from that call] is you said how proud you are and how proud our nation is for the job that we've just accomplished," Wiseman said during Friday's ceremony. "And for us, that is what we set out to do. We wanted to inspire this nation to learn."

During the ceremony, Trump also signed an executive order to create the "United States Space Academy." Under the order, a Presidential Commission on the U.S. Space Academy has 120 days to create a report with guidelines for the U.S. Space Academy. The Commission will include NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman as its Chair, as well as other NASA and space officials. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, Trump's Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, and Michael Kratsios, assistant to the president for science and technology. In effect, it allows the Trump Administration to build the U.S. Space Academy to its liking. "It will serve both the United States Space Force as well as NASA and the civilian spaceflight industry," Trump said. "And it will attract, train, graduate the very best that our nation and our nation really has to offer." As for where the academy will be located, Trump said he was "going to be choosing a location very shortly."

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Al bijna twintig jaar vallen de monden open in Molenaarsgraaf als de Simply Green voorbij komt. De tractor behoort tot de top van de motorsport tractorpulling in binnen- en buitenland. Mede-eigenaar Marien den Besten steekt vele uren in het voertuig en is nog lang niet uitgesleuteld: "Proberen steeds verder te gaan in de techniek is de sleutel naar succes."

illustr8a has added a photo to the pool: