Russia said it would continue to help strengthen the armed forces of Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso.

Russia's Foreign Ministry said it would respond to Italy's expulsion of the two officials.

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So here we stand. The quarter-finals of this unique and expanded Geopolitics World Cup have arrived! A whopping 96 games have been played and 40 teams have now received their marching orders. The Germans, the Dutch and the Brazilians are gone. And despite the absence of such heavyweights, it’s still a lip-smacking last eight lineup to tuck into. France v Morocco, Spain against Belgium, Norway tackling England and Lionel Messi Argentina against the Swiss. Yes, it has taken much longer to reach the quarter-final stage than in any of its predecessors – the 1934 World Cup was a straight 16-team knockout with just 17 games taking place over two weeks – but the business end of the tournament is unchanged and untarnished. It captures the imagination because the jeopardy ratchets up a few notches and stomachs begin to churn. If you’re based in Europe you may have suffered some sleep deprivation to get here, meaning you have truly earned the opportunity to drink in the final stages. Allow Football Daily to run through the quarter-finals, picking out the narratives and individuals that will inevitably dominate the coverage.

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Amnesty says pyre to be burned on Friday in Moygashel is ‘blatant attempt to stir up anti-Muslim hatred’

A loyalist bonfire in Northern Ireland featuring an effigy of a mosque has been condemned as an incitement to hatred.

The effigy sits atop a tower of pallets that is to be burned on Friday night in the County Tyrone village of Moygashel as part of wider loyalist commemorations. Placards beneath the display read “secure our borders” and “end the threat of radical Islam”.

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Updates from Thursday’s semi-final action in SW19
Wimbledon Q&A with Tumaini Carayol | Mail Katy

Karolina Muchova (Czech Republic, 10) v Coco Gauff (US, 7)
Marta Kostyuk (Ukraine, 12) v Linda Noskova (Czech Republic, 9)
Followed by mixed doubles final
Marc Polmans & Storm Hunter (Australia) v Marcelo Arevalo (El Salvador) & Jelena Ostapenko (Latvia) (2)

In the meantime: if you’ve got any questions for our tennis correspondent Tumaini Carayol – from Fery’s ridiculous run to predictions for the final weekend and whether Britain (Fery aside) is underachieving in the game – he’s online right now:

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As sales of sparkling wine continue to soar, one aromatic French fizz is worthy of particular appreciation

It was in the middle of the pandemic that I ceased stashing sparkling wine. There were no special occasions, or occasions at all, really, save for daily episodes of the BBC’s Baby Club with two cabin-fevered infants and the weekly thrill of a veg box. I might have been stockpiling chickpeas, but I was cracking bubbles open willy-nilly because, well, why not?

And I never stopped. The unrelentingly grim news agenda seems as good a reason as any to pop a cork these days, because sparkling wine invariably lifts my spirits. And I’m not alone in drinking more of it: according to a study by the International Organisation of Vine and Wine, sparkling wine sales have grown faster than any other style in recent years, rising in value from €2.3bn to €8.5bn over the past quarter-century. (That said, I might be an outlier on the timing front, because 2020 figures also point to a dip in sales)

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You don’t need any complicated kit to eat well while sleeping under the stars. Just take a stove, a spork – and these recipes

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Much as I love camping, I understand why so many recoil at the idea of spending their holidays sleeping in a field and sharing bathroom facilities with several hundred other people, plus the local spider population. But, having just enjoyed a week in Devon in a one-person tent, with an elderly terrier, I have to come out in praise of campsite cookery. Though we ate in some superb pubs, the meals that brought the most joy were the ones we threw together from the small village shops we passed. (Shout out to the Holne Community Shop and Tearoom for being so well stocked – and to the kind fellow shopper who gave me and the dog a lift back to the campsite with our loot.) It gave me pause for thought about the kind of meals you actually cook when camping … and by camping, I don’t mean sleeping in a van kitted out with a fridge and a cooker, nice as that looked while struggling with guy ropes. I mean when your only equipment is what you can carry on your back: ie a small gas stove or a disposable barbecue, a knife and a spork.

Joe Woodhouse has some lovely ideas here, and there’s plenty of advice in this collection of recipes from the likes of Ben Tish and Melissa Hemsley. But, for me, the trick is always to focus on one key ingredient that doesn’t need to be kept too cool (this will, of course, vary depending on where you’re camping), and base all your meals around it until it runs out, at which point you’ll need to track down a new one. Ours, on this trip, were chorizo – the cured, rather than the cooking kind – and feta. With those two flavour bombs, and the olive oil, chilli sauce and salt that should be on everyone’s packing list anyway, you can make a feast from almost anything you find en route. Claudia Roden’s spicy potatoes from Rioja would have been ideal, as would Thomasina Miers’ piperade with baked eggs and crispy chorizo, though we might have had to lose a couple of the spices in favour of Tabasco.

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A broad new law will end up erasing vital spaces and resources

(slTheWalrus) Obviously, this focuses on Canada's current attempt to pass Bill S-209, but touches on similar bills elsewhere in the world.

Cypress Hill

The Rolling Stones hebben de smaak te pakken. Relatief kort na hun vorige studioalbum zijn ze terug met ‘Foreign Tongues’. De plaat klinkt vertrouwd en toch fris.

Zijn geiten opnieuw een gezondheidsrisico, na de eerdere uitbraak van Q-koorts? Zorgen ze voor longontstekingen? Onderzoek dat dat zou aantonen, wordt „volledig mislukt” genoemd.

Menselijk gedrag brengt het voortbestaan van tal van diersoorten in gevaar, zowel in de diepzee als in de woestijn. Op de nieuwe Rode Lijst staan bijna 50.000 soorten die dreigen uit te sterven.

Vanuit het perspectief van een robothondje schreef Sarah van Vliet een pakkend en inzichtelijk huis-tuin-en-keukenverhaal over AI. „Was ik maar wat minder klantgevoelig gemaakt”, verzucht het hondje, en dat is vertederend en onheilspellend tegelijk.

Photo Rhythms has added a photo to the pool:

Honderden senioren maken donderdagochtend een hels kabaal voor het stadhuis. Ze zijn tegen de plannen van de coalitie om gratis openbaar vervoer voor ouderen te schrappen. Een petitie van 10 duizend handtekeningen onderstreept het draagvlak voor deze demonstratie. Sommige aanwezigen houden het zelfs niet droog.

Microsoft has warned admins that Outlook Web Access (OWA) Light is set to be disabled and removed with the August 2026 Exchange Server update. The announcement applies to the on-premises version of Exchange Server. The feature was deprecated on August 19, 2024, but some users might still be caught off guard when the plug is pulled once and for all. OWA Light – not to be confused with the stripped-down Android app Outlook Lite, which was retired earlier this year – is a simple web client for Exchange. Shorn of the fripperies of its heftier sibling, it was introduced with Exchange Server 2007 as a fallback for users of unsupported browsers (initially, anything that wasn't Internet Explorer 6 or 7). At the time, the product manager for Exchange referred to it as "The Product Formerly Known as OWA Basic." Basic it was, but it had enough for most people – there were inbox and calendar views. Users couldn't get weekly or monthly calendar views, access shared mailboxes or calendars, or create or modify tasks, but it worked pretty much everywhere. Microsoft noted this in its latest announcement: "OWA Light served customers well for many years. It was designed for older browsers, slower connections, and scenarios where a simplified web interface helped users access mail in environments that could not support the full Outlook Web App experience." Things have moved on during the last couple of decades. The full-fat Outlook on the web experience supports Edge, Firefox, and Chrome, as well as Safari on Apple devices. Even Firefox and Chrome on Linux have been given a nod, although Microsoft noted "some features may not be available." OWA Light is looking a little long in the tooth these days, and with OWA requiring frequent updates to stave off attackers, keeping the service running for a dwindling number of users is difficult to justify. "Maintaining a separate legacy OWA Light experience increases complexity," Microsoft wrote. "Each additional content rendering path, control surface, and compatibility layer must be evaluated as we strengthen defenses against modern web threats." And so, as soon as next month, a service that first saw the light of day at the time of Windows Vista (and whose predecessor goes back to the days of XP) will be disabled and removed. ®

Het gevoel van eigenwaarde van Jelmer (30) is compleet afhankelijk van hoe hij een afgezwaaide bal terugpasst naar een groep voetballende kinderen, ontdekt hij als hij door het Amsterdamse Vondelpark loopt en een bal zijn kant op rolt. Als hij deze bal niet soepel en op maat hun kant op kan trappen, weet hij vrij zeker dat hij – terecht – al zijn zelfrespect verliest, denkt hij als hij een aanloopje neemt.

“Ik ben toch geen loser? Welke volwassen man kan nou geen pass over 25 meter geven?”, mompelt hij terwijl hij zijn aanloop staakt en nog eens diep in- en uitademt. “Het voelt een beetje kinderachtig als dat niet lukt, alsof je niet kan koken of de Belastingaangifte niet begrijpt.” Jelmer ziet hoe het groepje kinderen vol verwachting en nieuwsgierigheid naar hem kijkt. Inmiddels staren ook meerdere voorbijgangers naar hem. Hij heeft al jaren geen bal meer getrapt.

“Waarom heb je nou weer een spijkerbroek en nette schoenen aan”, sist hij tegen zichzelf. “Denk je dat David Beckham skinny jeans draagt als hij in het park een bal moet terugpassen? Sukkel. Oké, focus. Daar gaat-ie.” Jelmer ademt diep uit en neemt nogmaals een aanloop. Het loopje voelt onnatuurlijk, alsof hij een zak aardappelen op zijn rug meetorst. Hij draait in met zijn heup, houdt zijn linkerarm in een onnatuurlijke houding gestrekt – dat deed hij vroeger toch nooit? – en ramt de bal finaal en met alle kracht die hij heeft over de groep kinderen heen. Hij ziet nog net hoe de bal in het water landt.

Jelmer voelt zijn laatste restje zelfrespect wegvloeien.

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