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• Bangladesh women won the toss and elected to bat first in their ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2026 match against South Africa. • The high-stakes encounter is taking place on Sunday, June 28, at the historic Lord's Cricket Ground in London. • This decision sets the tactical tone for a crucial game that could significantly impact both teams' standings in the tournament.

• The U.S. is shifting its approach toward Latin America, with lobbyists and pundits influencing President Donald Trump's policies to support right-wing movements. • This strategic pivot is currently manifesting in Guatemala, where U.S. influence is aiding a political swing toward the right. • The shift matters as it signals a departure from previous diplomatic norms, prioritizing ideological alignment over traditional democratic stability.

• China is shifting its AI strategy away from competing with the U.S. on frontier models and AGI, focusing instead on the industrialization of AI. • Kai-Fu Lee, former Google China chief and president of Sinovation Ventures, is leading this transition by pivoting his company from pure LLM development to enterprise AI agents. • These "super-employees" are designed to automate specific professional functions, including logistics optimization, procurement, and insurance brokering.

• The UK government and private sector announced multi-billion pound investments at London Tech Week. • Lumai unveiled an optical computing system capable of running billion-parameter Large Language Models (LLMs) in real time, a significant advancement in AI technology. • This development indicates that AI is becoming increasingly tangible and powerful, with potential applications across various industries.

In an exclusive interview, Ukraine’s president says he believes the war will be won when Russian society feels its impact. Plus, why California’s election count is taking so long (hint: it’s not fraud)In the fifth year of Russia’s full-scale war on Ukraine, Volodymr Zelenskyy says he is feeling upbeat and has been grateful for military support from the US, but has a pointed message for Washington.Speaking to Luke Harding and Pippa Crerar in London, the Ukrainian president acknowledged that the priority of Trump’s second term in foreign policy had shifted away from Ukraine to conflict in the Middle East.What did Zelenskyy say about Trump’s relationship with Putin? He carefully praised US diplomatic efforts, despite his bruising encounter in the Oval Office and the fact that Trump has been willing to meet Vladimir Putin, saying: “I always said to President Trump that Putin is lying. He plays games with you, with the White House.”Does he see any prospect of the war ending? The military situation was the most promising it had been for Kyiv for two and a half years, Zelenskyy ssaid. “We can’t say Russia is losing this war. But we can say they are losing the initiative each day, day by day,” he added. “Victory in this war is when Russian society recognises that the war is awful, that the war is a tragedy not for someone, somewhere, but for themselves.” To that end, Zelenskyy said the purpose of long-range strikes – drones buzzing above apartment blocks in greater Moscow and St Petersburg – was to make residents “feel” what war meant.Which other AI companies are making market moves? In addition to Anthropic, which makes the popular Claude chatbot, Elon Musk’s SpaceX, which owns his artificial intelligence company xAI, is also imminently slated to go public at an expected valuation of $1.75tn. Continue reading...

TUC, GMB and Unison leaders reject invitation to affiliate to Reform amid rising support for party among their membersUK politics live – latest updatesMajor trade unions and the TUC have rebuffed Nigel Farage’s call for unions to affiliate to Reform UK, saying the party is “cosplaying” as workers’ champions and has opposed new employment rights.Farage issued a call on Tuesday for unions to attend Reform’s conference and to affiliate to the party, and he suggested one union may be on the brink of doing so. Continue reading...

• The 2026 World Cup will take place from June 11 to July 19 across the United States, Canada, and Mexico, concluding with the final at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey. • This expanded tournament will feature 48 teams and introduce new rules, including VAR for corners and red cards for players who cover their mouths. • UK viewers face scheduling challenges as the event features 13 different kick-off times, with nearly 50% of group stage matches occurring after midnight.