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How to be a dad and a gamer and still get a good night’s sleep – Reader’s Feature

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How to be a dad and a gamer and still get a good night’s sleep - Reader's Feature
Sony and its sad dad games tend to be quite long (Sony)

With no time to play 60+ hour epics anymore, a reader discovers a way to stay in love with gaming and still be a good dad.

Pay attention Sony, I am a sad dad no longer.

I will soon turn 47 and have been gaming since I was in single digits. I was green with envy playing Combat on my friend’s Atari 2600. Seaside and caravan site arcade machines occupied a huge space in my childhood mind. I remember being devastated after spending hours typing in game code from a magazine into my Spectrum 128K, only for the resulting game to be broken and unplayable. Amiga 1200, Nintendo, PlayStation, all have delivered untold hours of enjoyment.

Gaming has been a cornerstone entertainment throughout my life. Something I’d look forward to and would occupy me even when not playing. I’d spend as much time reading about gaming as playing. Particularly through Digitiser on Teletext and then GameCentral’s Metro pages.

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But I’m now a husband and father to two boys aged two years four months and 11 months. As a father, I’ve realised my gaming life is unsustainable. Time is simply against me. Nobody made enough of it. The maths doesn’t add up. It might be time to hang up the controllers.

Since my eldest was born I’ve tried to game as usual. By the time we’ve put the kids to bed and eaten it’s usually 8 to 8.30. We’ll watch an episode of a series together for an hour. My wife has no interest in gaming, so I’ve been waiting until she’s gone to bed around 9.30pm to stay up and enjoy a little of my own entertainment most nights.

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However, with kids waking up at around 5am or earlier, and some terrible four month long sleep regressions, this strategy has often led to me being absolutely knackered during the day, due to burning the candle at both ends. Something I used to be able to do with ease. Now that’s completely unacceptable, when you find yourself driving during the weekend with two kids in the back of the car and struggling to stay awake during the drive then something has to give and changes need to be made.

In addition, fatherhood has changed me. I no longer have patience for things I used to enjoy. Long novels, long movies, epic games. I no longer have tolerance for anything that doesn’t respect my time. I’m stretched way too thin and my concentration and patience reserves are severely limited. In the tiny amount of time I have to entertain myself I need something that is satisfying and fulfilling in a self-contained hour or two. In that limited time gaming has to compete with other things I enjoy like watching movies, TV, and reading.

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My gaming history in the past two years shows attempts to start dozens of games and I’ve crawled to bed way too late on numerous occasions, feeling dissatisfied, unfulfilled, and questioning whether gaming is something I even enjoy anymore. But an examination of those games also shows that I’ve been attempting to play the wrong kinds of games.

Metroid Prime, Rise Of The Tomb Raider, A Plague Tale: Innocence, Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom, Gravity Rush, Spider-Man, Tales From The Borderlands, Mass Effect, Super Mario Bros. Wonder.

All of these games and dozens of others were started and abandoned, and all share in common that they demand a significant chunk of your time. Some enjoyment was had initially but ultimately ended in frustration and I’d often find myself wondering ‘Just how much longer am I going to have to play this for?’

Metroid was great nostalgia, but I quickly grew angry at the amount of ground I had to retread and replay if I died during a boss fight. Tears Of The Kingdom I played for several frustrated evenings and did not even make it out of the first tutorial area. Both abandoned.

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Since becoming a father I have managed to complete some games. Firewatch, Uncharted: The Lost Legacy, Spider-Man: Miles Morales, Abzû, Luigi’s Mansion 3, and Virginia. I’ve played quite a bit of Mario Kart World.

What these games have in common is being short or you’re able to play them in shorter, self-contained bursts. But even with the shortest of these games, I often didn’t enjoy my time as I was rushing them and didn’t know how long they would take. Opening the map in Spider-Man: Miles Morales filled me with anxiety at the sight of all the symbols, as did traversing the open world filled with things I simply didn’t have the time to explore. Abzû took me a couple of evenings but for all I knew it was eight hours long. So I rushed it.

It is a bizarre feature of gaming that games differ massively in length but don’t advertise how long they will take you to play. So, you embark on these experiences with no concept of the commitment you’re making. Games attempt to deceive you and obscure their contract with you. Games are often judged on the value of the content and bloat they offer, and gamers in general tend to hold short games in contempt.

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To do that you have to have the luxury of time. Something I no longer have. As a result long games are glorified and short experiences are hidden, padded and advertised as something that they’re not. I now understand games like Zelda, Grand Theft Auto 6, Mass Effect, Red Dead Redemption 2 are no longer things my life can realistically accommodate.

I’ve used the website How Long to Beat before but only really consulted it when already in the middle of a game. Wondering how long I had left to play and trying to decide whether to give up or plough on. Usually at that point it was because I was already frustrated and struggling to find enjoyment.

But I recently had a revelation. A YouTube search for short games recommended a game called A Short Hike that piqued my interest. I quickly purchased and played the game and thoroughly enjoyed myself. I went into the game knowing it could be played in a couple of hours, I was secure in the knowledge that I would get maximum bang for my buck in just one evening. With no anxiety that this experience would become a slog. The game is a delight and one of my favourite gaming experiences of recent years.

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I began to research and put together a list of short games I could complete in an evening or two. Then it occurred to me I should combine this search with the elephant in the room: the dreaded backlog.

As a PlayStation Plus subscriber since the launch of the PlayStation 3, and a frequent wine-fuelled late night peruser of gaming sales and impulse buyer I have amassed a huge catalogue of almost 600 games on PlayStation alone. Within those I reasoned I must already own many short and sweet gaming experiences, hidden amongst the 30, 40, and 60 hour long epics.

I needed a way to cross reference my game catalogue with How Long to Beat and find out definitively how long each game I already own would take me to play, so that when I begin a game I can do so fully cognisant of the contract I’m entering into.

thewearehere's PS5 desktop showing games organised by length
There are more short games than you might realise (thewearehere)

A quick ChatGPT discussion led me to the solution. I could allow the website Infinite Backlog to access my PSN profile and create a list of all my games that could be exported to a spreadsheet. Then ChatGPT wrote a Python code that would combine the list with How Long to Beat. An hour or so later I had a list. Unfortunately, at around 300 games, it was only half complete. PSN only shares the games you have previously opened or obtained a trophy in.

So all the games I’d purchased and never touched I had to add myself. But I ultimately arrived at a complete list. My next task was to create folders in my PlayStation library marked ‘1-2 hours’, ‘3-4 hours’, ‘5-6 hours’, etc. all the way up to ‘40+ hours’. I then methodically went through the entire catalogue of 600 games and organised them by length. This whole process took all my spare time over a week or two, so was no small undertaking.

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What I found was sometimes surprising. I had no idea Resident Evil 3 is just six hours long and as a result I’m now keen to play it. I would have dismissed Power Wash Simulator as a novelty indie game but there’s 40 hours of game there. Portal can be beat in just three hours, Metroid: Zero Mission in only 4.5 hours. Half-Life 2 clocks in at 13 hours, double a typical Call of Duty campaign. Whereas Hollow Knight is a 27 hour commitment. I cannot believe a game like Nioh requires a commitment of 40+ hours. Ironically, most of Sony’s sad dad simulators are probably too long to be played by most dads.

The point is, it’s hard to judge a book by its cover and it’s frankly shocking that games aren’t clearly marked with their length. [We feel you’re underplaying the usefulness of How Long To Beat in your situation, especially as you can search for games that can be completed under a certain length of time, filtered by format. Publishers would be opening themselves up to litigation if they promised a game was X number of hours long and someone could prove they beat it more quickly – GC]

What I did find was that there is an embarrassment of riches in games that can be completed in under eight hours. I now have a new strategy. Most nights I now go to bed at the same time as my wife. We’re both in bed by 10 and should get a decent amount of sleep before the kids wake between 5 and 6am and be fresh and fully equipped to handle the day. But Wednesday and Sunday are now my nights to stay up late until midnight and do something for my own entertainment. Forearmed with the knowledge of what I’m undertaking.

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So far, I have played A Short Hike, which was wonderful. Thank Goodness You’re Here! which I thoroughly enjoyed. The Stanley Parable, this was a misstep as I was completely unaware of the open-ended nature of it and ended up very annoyed at 1am wondering when it was going to end. Quake 2 on N64 – this one was great fun at first but quickly ramped up the difficulty and I’ll have to return to it again on the easiest mode. Finally, I’ve spent two nights playing Carrion and have enjoyed every single visceral, bone-crunching second of it, secure in the knowledge it will take me no more than three evenings to complete. All of these are games I never would have chosen to play by my old metrics.

I know that games clocking in at under six hours are an easy decision to make. Anything 10 hours or over is a much bigger ask and something I may only do a handful of times a year. And I am unlikely to choose to play a game lasting 20 hours or more knowing that’s a decision that will see me playing the same game for months.

Games should wear their length on their sleeve, as a badge of pride. Being short is not a failing, nor is being long a guarantee of enjoyment. As gamers we should all be liberated from false starts, frustrated abandonments and disrespected time. It should not be this hard to identify what we want to play, in the time that we have available to play it. For those faced with similar dilemmas I cannot recommend enough investing a bit of time to organise your game library this way.

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All of this means my gaming landscape has narrowed, but that’s fine. I’m now enjoying gaming again in a way I haven’t been able to for a few years. And I’m handling those weekend car drives much better.

By reader thewearehere (PSN ID)

thewearehere's PS5 desktop showing games organised by length
Not everyone has time for 40+ hour epics (thewearehere)

The reader’s features do not necessarily represent the views of GameCentral or Metro.

You can submit your own 500 to 600-word reader feature at any time, which if used will be published in the next appropriate weekend slot.

Just contact us at gamecentral@metro.co.uk or use our Submit Stuff page and you won’t need to send an email.

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Cambridge Riverside improvement plans divide locals as some call it ‘great project’

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Cambridgeshire Live

The Greater Cambridge Partnership wants to make the Riverside route safer and more accessible for pedestrians and cyclists – but not everyone agrees it’s the right priority

Readers of Cambridgeshire Live have been weighing in on proposals to upgrade a well-loved riverside route in Cambridge. Many are in favour of creating a safer environment for pedestrians and cyclists, while others argue that the funding would be better spent repairing the roads.

The Greater Cambridge Partnership (GCP) says Riverside is used daily by thousands of pedestrians and cyclists. The route forms part of the Bottisham Greenway.

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A GCP spokesperson said: “The GCP wants to enhance Riverside to create a safer, more accessible and more enjoyable route into the city and surrounding areas.” Riverside runs from the Elizabeth Way bridge to Stourbridge Common. The GCP’s proposals include:

  • Wider, more consistent footways;
  • New resting spots with planting and accessible seating;
  • Clearer signage and improved pedestrian crossings;
  • Safe, secure cycle parking.

Jonathan Camp, GCP Project Manager, said: “Riverside is already enjoyed by many people. These proposals aim to make it safer, greener and more inviting – a place where you can move easily, meet friends or simply enjoy being by the river. We’re asking everyone who uses Riverside to tell us what they think so we can create something that reflects what the community needs.”

A public consultation on the proposals is open until Monday, 13 July, at 11.59pm. You can access the link HERE.

One reader, Nocyclinganywhere comments: “Another vanity project and complete waste of money. Another project for cyclists that will be like all the others and not get used, if cyclists want these vanity projects, they should pay for them.”

Garyblowpants writes: “A great project! More road funds should be funneled to cyclists instead of being wasted on motorists.”

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Tartan53 asks: “Does the CGP have an overall plan to interfere and ‘improve’ every road in Cambridge, surprised there was no reference to the ‘millions’ of cyclists who use this route everyday.”

Bobbymcbobface says: “To be fair, when I pass through there, there are always loads of runners on the road; it may be safer if they had a proper pavement to use.”

Over on our Facebook page, Stephen R comments: “Another great development. Can’t wait.”

Frank G believes: “What a waste of money.”

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Martin L-S writes: “Excellent scheme to benefit pedestrians, long overdue. As the picture shows, the pavement by the river just stops half-way along Riverside, forcing people to walk in the roadway.”

Tom R adds: “This whole riverside has huge potential (and established use). It would benefit greatly from more ‘active transport’ facilities.”

Trevor P says: “Could widen the river here to allow floating restaurants and mooring for boat trips up the river to Ely, making a proper riverside promenade with coffee stands, snacks etc.”

Sue R thinks: “Here we go again, GCP, the ones that just pop into Cambridge now and again to see how they can spend more money on vanity projects. Yes, it would be nice, definitely Camcycle would be very happy, but wouldn’t it be better to improve some of the pavements and roads that are really in need of repair first around Cambridge?

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“I walk along the river there, and never have I found it to be overcrowded with ‘thousands’ of pedestrians and cyclists. Never seen an accident with the cyclists and pedestrians, although I’m not saying there hasn’t been one with the speed some of the cyclists seem to think they need to go.”

Eco Nick writes: “I remember when they sorted it out not long ago. Again? Not needed. Sorry to bang on about it, but resurface the roads. For all road users. I am totally against this plan. It is fine. I cycle it a lot. Litterpick it too.”

Does the riverside need to be improved? Comment below or HERE to have your say.

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Remembering the huge gigs that have rocked York Racecourse

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Remembering the huge gigs that have rocked York Racecourse

From the 1984 York Rock Festival – Echo & The Bunnymen and The Sisters of Mercy shaking the Knavesmire to modern blockbuster crowds, the tradition runs deep.

Pictures and memories from the 1984 York Rock Festival on Knavesmire.Remembering the huge gigs that have rocked York Racecourse – including pictures and memories from the 1984 York Rock Festival on Knavesmire. (Image: Submitted)

Sir Tom Jones drew more than 30,000 in 2015, arriving just in time to deliver a masterclass under evening skies.


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There had been fears the then-septuagenarian sex bomb himself would be a non-runner after a respiratory infection had put paid to his earlier concerts at Saint Tropez and in Germany.

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Sir Rod Stewart kept the sell-out momentum rolling, with his July 2019 concert at York Racecourse held on a specially-constructed pop-up venue on the Knavesmire.

STILL WEARING IT WELL Rod Stewart at York Racecourse in 2019. Picture Cuffe and Taylor Rhodes (Image: Cuffe and Taylor Rhodes)

There have been screams for Boyzone in 2018, club vibes as Craig David brought his TS5 set, and pop-punk revivals with Busted.

In July 2021, 30,000 thousand fans packed York Racecourse again for the first time in almost two years due to the Covid pandemic.

Racegoers watched a series of races followed by a concert by pop band McFly on the second day of the course’s Music Showcase weekend.

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Races had been held behind closed doors the previous year while York’s capacity had been limited to 4,000 at meetings earlier that year.

Olly Murs charmed the crowds at York Racecourse Picture Jeremy Phillips Photographer (Image: Jeremy Phillips Photographer)

Those restrictions on numbers at race meetings had been removed under the Government’s recent relaxation of Covid rules.

In 2022, about 45,000 packed in for Madness and Sugababes, proving the appetite only grows.

As this season returns, memories of Tom Fletcher and Danny Jones lighting up 2012 remind us that the music is just as big as the racing.

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Couple scream for help as they’re eaten alive by bear in ‘worst recording ever made’

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Daily Record

WARNING: DISTRESSING CONTENT Wildlife enthusiast Timothy Treadwell spent 13 successive summers living among grizzly bears in Alaska’s Katmai National Park

A fearless wildlife enthusiast and his girlfriend spent their final moments crying out for help as a starving grizzly bear mauled them to death, leaving behind a horrific collection of remains and the “worst recording ever made”.

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Timothy Treadwell, 46, was convinced he had developed a unique connection with Alaska’s most dangerous predators.

For 13 consecutive summers, he lived amongst grizzly bears in Katmai National Park, giving them names and engaging with them, despite constant warnings about the dangerous animals.

In October 2003, his conviction would claim both his life and that of his girlfriend, Amie Huguenard.

The couple had remained later than usual into the season, setting up their tent near Kaflia Bay as autumn approached and food grew scarce for the local wildlife, reports the Express.

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They were awaiting a seaplane to transport them home when the horror unfolded.

Inside their tent while rain pounded down outside, the pair were making a meal. Apparently drawn by the smell of food, a grizzly bear came near.

Treadwell is thought to have pressed record on a videotape to capture the attack, though the audio it recorded was considered too harrowing to ever be made public.

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Alaska state troopers who listened to the tape said Treadwell could be heard shouting, “get out of here, I’m getting killed.”

His terrified girlfriend pleaded with him to play dead, then begged him to fight back. Shortly afterwards, Amie herself came under attack.

“You can hear him screaming,” state trooper Chris Hill later stated. “She’s screaming, ‘Is the bear still there?’ He says something to the effect that he’s dying. We really didn’t hear the bear at all.”

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The recording was later described as so distressing that acclaimed director Werner Herzog, who featured Treadwell’s footage in his widely praised 2005 documentary Grizzly Man, refused to use a single second of it.

“You must never listen to this,” Herzog told Treadwell’s former partner and close friend Jewel Palovak after hearing part of the tape. She ultimately destroyed it, smashing it with a hammer and cutting it up with a knife.

“It felt freeing,” she said. “Very freeing.”

When rangers finally arrived at the campsite the following day, they were met with a truly horrific scene. The pair’s tents had been torn to shreds, with shoes still sitting by the entrance.

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Nearby lay a mound of mud, grass and human limbs.

Investigators discovered what remained of Treadwell’s head, still attached to his spine, alongside several severed limbs.

Four bin bags of human remains were subsequently recovered from the stomach of a 28-year-old male grizzly weighing close to 1,000lb.

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The bear, elderly and struggling to feed due to broken teeth, was shot dead after charging at officers.

Investigators concluded that Treadwell’s habitual practice of pitching camp in prime feeding grounds and allowing bears to come within touching distance most likely played a significant role in the fatal mauling.

Palovak, who co-founded the grassroots organisation Grizzly People alongside Treadwell, said “He didn’t have a death wish. He wasn’t stupid. He knew the dangers. He didn’t want to die.”

A former drug addict, Treadwell attributed his turnaround in life to the bears, crediting them with steering him towards sobriety.

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He was completely dedicated to living amongst the animals, carefully recording their behaviour, speaking to schoolchildren about the remarkable creatures and seeing himself as a guardian of the bears he wholeheartedly believed were under threat from hunters and humans.

“His goal was to show people the secret life of grizzly bears,” Palovak said, “to inspire children to fight for what they believe in, no matter how big the challenge.

“He always told me, ‘If I die, make a kick-ass movie.’ I was like, ‘Oh sure, I’ll do that’.

“But that’s actually what ended up happening … I think [ Grizzly Man ] would have been the kick-ass movie that he wanted.”

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Trump’s 80th birthday present: UFC fights at the White House

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Trump's 80th birthday present: UFC fights at the White House

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump celebrates turning 80 on Sunday with a showstopping birthday spectacle that once would have seemed unfathomable: a cage-fighting show on the storied South Lawn of the White House.

This week, the hard realities of the office have threatened to overshadow the ostentatious UFC mixed martial arts extravaganza, where combatants sealed inside a wire-mesh octagon try to punch, kick, chop and pummel each other into submission.

Trump has found himself boxed into an unpopular and costly war he helped start in Iran. An agreement to end the conflict could be close, but the crucial details are still to be negotiated. Meanwhile, about a mile from Trump’s birthday bash, crews pried the president’s name off the Kennedy Center after a judge ruled naming it after Trump had gone too far.

Regardless, the president will walk out of the White House and be surrounded by Cabinet leaders, top administration officials, Republican lawmakers and 4,000-plus spectators screaming themselves hoarse in a temporary arena under “ The Claw,” a spaceship-like metal arch fitted with lighting, sound equipment and large screens. Thousands more will be watching on big screens from the nearby Ellipse.

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“This event is a one of one event, incredible event. I love it,” said UFC chief Dana White, a close friend of the president, during a Friday night hype session at the Lincoln Memorial where pairs of fighters shoved and scuffled for the cameras under the stoic gaze of Honest Abe’s marble likeness.

The president has sought to tie Sunday’s event — which features seven fights running past midnight — to larger, months-long celebrations of the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

But it is much more geared toward feting himself, so much so that the G7 summit for leaders of industrialized nations pushed back their get-together so that the president could attend his cage-match party and then fly straight to France for the meetings.

The weather, though, could put a major damper on things. Strong thunderstorms and heavy lightning disrupted Friday’s Lincoln Memorial event, and the forecast for Sunday evening also looks threatening.

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“I’m sick and tired of hearing about the weather,” White declared on Friday, before conceding that he’ll prefer to hold future UFC events inside arenas only.

A dramatic departure from how the last president marked his 80th

When Trump’s predecessor, President Joe Biden, turned 80 in November 2022, he celebrated with a private family brunch at the White House, laying bare just how much and how quickly things have changed.

Asked about the contrast, White House spokesperson Allison Schuster said that the fight “will be one of the most entertaining nights in American history” and said that the timing was appropriate. “Having this spectacle take place at the people’s house on Flag Day during our nations’ semiquincentennial anniversary is a fitting tribute,” Schuster said in a statement.

When he turned 80, Biden was the oldest president in U.S. history, and was months away from launching a reelection bid that he would ultimately abandon after a disastrous debate against Trump and mutiny among Democrats concerned he was too old to handle a second term.

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Trump has now supplanted Biden as the oldest person to be elected U.S. president. He’s constitutionally barred from running again, yet constantly toys with the notion publicly. That’s despite polls showing rising public skepticism about Trump’s mental and physical health — recalling concerns Biden faced as he turned 80.

A Washington Post/ABC News/Ipsos poll conducted in April found that less than half of U.S. adults think Trump has the mental sharpness or physical health to serve effectively as president.

The White House countered with a lengthy statement from Trump’s former White House physician, Texas Republican Rep. Ronny Jackson, saying Trump’s “stamina, focus, and strength are exceptional and on display every day. Claims to the contrary are pure fiction.” Jackson added that polling concerns were “being propagated by the same biased, liberal, Trump-hating press that completely ignored the absolute cognitive and physical disaster that was President Biden.”

Trump has nonetheless undergone four publicly announced physical examinations this term alone, with White House physician Dr. Sean Barbabella recently declaring him in “excellent health.”

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‘Bread and circuses’ — Trump-style

The UFC event is an apt metaphor for Trump’s pugilistic political style. He is as big a fan of cage-match-style politics as he is of cage-fighting itself.

But Trump has also long been a master of political misdirection, purposely presenting people with something other than his presidency to focus on when things aren’t going well.

With the war in Iran grinding on despite weeks of assurances from Trump that its end is nigh, gas prices staying high, renewed concerns about inflation and plummeting job approval ratings for Trump — a White House birthday party unlike anything America has ever seen is definitely a diversion.

“This is all distraction,” said Mike Fontaine, a classics professor at Cornell University, who likened it to the gladiatorial games of Imperial Rome, when combatants brutalized each other for public entertainment meant to bolster rulers’ popularity and quell potential unrest.

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“This is a classic strategy,” Fontaine said. “In ancient Rome, the phrase would be, ‘bread and circuses.’”

Trump says the UFC is paying for the event and while its full costs haven’t been divulged, the National Park Service said in a court filing that $60-plus million and tens of thousands of hours of labor have gone into it, while seven government agencies have “allocated significant resources and manpower.”

UFC also announced on Friday that it was adding as an official partner for the event World Liberty Financial to create a special $250,000 athlete bonus pool for Sunday night’s winners. The cryptocurrency company is co-owned by the Trump family, founded with the president’s special diplomatic envoy Steve Witkoff and run by his son, Zach. The arrangement further blurs lines between the Trump family’s financial interests and the events and construction projects the president has prioritized and used government resources to pull off.

Still, Fontaine said that when it comes to a personal flair for pageantry, the president’s second-term tendency to lean into “hardcore masculinity and brute fighting” is marrying the UFC’s blood sport with Trump’s trademark humor and enduring sense of showmanship.

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“President Trump has a once-in-a-generation talent for this stuff,” he said.

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The Knicks are NBA champions, after Brunson’s 45 leads way to 94-90 win over Spurs

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The Knicks are NBA champions, after Brunson's 45 leads way to 94-90 win over Spurs

SAN ANTONIO (AP) — Jalen Brunson and the Comeback Knicks did it again. And now they’re the Champion Knicks.

For the first time in 53 years, New York rules the NBA. Brunson scored 45 points, including 13 straight for New York in the fourth quarter, and the Knicks beat the San Antonio Spurs 94-90 in Game 5 of the NBA Finals on Saturday night.

The Knicks won the series 4-1, rallying from double-digit deficits in all four of those victories. The deficit was 16 on Saturday night. Brunson and the Knicks were never fazed.

“I have no words,” Brunson, the NBA Finals MVP, said during the on-court celebration. “It’s everything I ever dreamed of.”

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Brunson, fittingly, closed with a flourish. He set a Knicks record for points in a finals game; it had been 38 by Willis Reed against the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 3 of the 1970 series. It now belongs to the left-handed point guard who changed the franchise’s fortunes when he arrived four years ago.

“It’s surreal,” Knicks coach Mike Brown, who was hired a year ago — making him the franchise’s 24th coach since the franchise’s last championship in 1973. “I still can’t believe it’s happened.”

Mikal Bridges and Josh Hart — the other two parts of the “Nova Knicks” trio that also includes Brunson, three players who were NCAA champions at Villanova and teamed up in New York to try to do the same — combined to score 27 points. Bridges had 14, Hart 13.

“I don’t know what I’m feeling,” Brunson said. “I’m in awe. Whenever someone counted us out, we found a way to come back and do something about it.”

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Dylan Harper scored 25 for the Spurs, who got 19 points, 14 rebounds and five blocked shots from Victor Wembanyama.

“This is the biggest lesson of my life, the biggest learning moment,” Wembanyama said. “I can’t tell exactly what the lesson is, but we’re learning.”

The Knicks improved to 4-0 in closeout opportunities this season, winning them all on the road. It didn’t feel like the road, though — not with thousands of New York faithful having made the trip to Texas to see a moment 53 years in the making.

And back home, on the streets of the Big Apple, celebrations broke out everywhere. Fireworks lit up the night sky, people honked horns on jampacked streets and firefighters — from their trucks — slapped high-fives with delirious fans.

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“HISTORY,” New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani wrote on social media, then added that the Knicks’ championship parade will be Thursday.

New York got to the brink of this title by rallying from 29 points down in Game 4 to win 107-106 on OG Anunoby’s tip-in with 1.2 seconds left on Wednesday night. It was the largest comeback in NBA Finals history and the biggest comeback in any game this season, regular season or playoffs.

By comparison, then, a 16-point rally in this one seemed easy. And San Antonio had to shuffle off into the offseason, listening to Knicks fans celebrating in their building.

“We weren’t ready to win an NBA championship,” Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said. “The better team won. We did a lot of good things, and we didn’t finish the job. That’s what it is.”

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The game followed the same script in the opening minutes as all the others in the series, with the Spurs taking a double-digit lead in the first quarter and then frittering most of it away in the second quarter.

The Spurs became the first team in the play-by-play era, which started in the 1996-97 season, to lead five finals games by 10 points or more in first quarters.

The Knicks simply could not make a shot, missing on 16 of their first 18 tries and each of their first 11 two-point attempts. There even was a point in the second quarter when Wembanyama had more blocked shots (five) than the Knicks had made shots (four). San Antonio’s lead was as many as 10 in the first quarter, as many as 16 in the second.

Of course, none of it mattered much. As always, the Knicks came back.

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A 22-9 run in the second quarter got New York within three, before Devin Vassell scored just before the halftime buzzer to give San Antonio a 42-37 edge at the break.

And that capped an opening 24 minutes of either offensive ineptitude or defensive prowess, depending on perspective. The 79 combined points in the first half were the lowest in a finals game since Game 7 of Lakers-Celtics in 2010, and the combined 31.8% field goals shooting by the Knicks and Spurs was the lowest in the first half of a finals game in the play-by-play era.

Brunson won NCAA crowns twice with Villanova — both in Texas, the 2016 one in Houston and the 2018 one in San Antonio, just a few miles away from the arena that the Spurs call home.

A Texas three-step of titles, and this one was surely the sweetest of all.

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“It’s why I came to New York,” Brunson said.

___

AP NBA: https://apnews.com/NBA

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Ukraine-Russia war latest:Conflict will determine future of Europe, Zelensky warns ahead of G7 Summit

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Ukraine-Russia war latest:Conflict will determine future of Europe, Zelensky warns ahead of G7 Summit
Russia’s war with Ukraine will determine future of Europe, Zelensky warns

Volodymyr Zelensky has said the RussiaUkraine conflict will “determine the future of Europe” ahead of the anticipated G7 summit next week.

In a post online, the Ukrainian president said his country is making “the greatest sacrifices for Europe” as it fights for its independence.

He wrote: “We are not simply carrying out internal reforms, nor are we simply going through a transformation. We are fighting for our state, for our independence, and for our right to choose our own path and to be Europe.

“That is why the fate of Europe is being decided here – it is being decided in Ukraine, in this war, and in how this war ends – and whether Russia will still have the strength and the desire after this war to threaten the existence of Ukraine and its other neighbors, and the entirety of Europe.”

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It comes as Ukraine has used AI-powered “terminator” drones to kill Russian soldiers without human oversight for the first time, a senior military general has claimed.

Alexander Kokhanovskyy, a senior figure in Ukraine’s defence industry, said that AI-controlled drones were used on the frontline in a one-off test.

It has not yet been implemented more widely after the test took place two years ago, he told the New Scientist.

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Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhya nuclear plant reconnected to grid after IAEA-brokered ceasefire

Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant was reconnected to the grid ⁠following repairs carried out under an IAEA-brokered localised ceasefire after the facility lost all ⁠off-site power ​for ⁠nearly three days, the International Atomic Energy Agency ⁠said on Saturday.

The ​outage ⁠marked the 19th ‌time the plant has lost off-site power since the ‌start of the ‌war, after an attack on an electrical substation across the ⁠Dnipro River disconnected the Ferosplavna back-up power line late on Wednesday.

Lasting almost three days, it was one of the site’s longest power ‌loss events, forcing ​the facility to ‌rely on emergency diesel ⁠generators for the ⁠electricity it needs to cool ‌its ​six shutdown reactors.

Shweta Sharma14 June 2026 07:00

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Trump and Macron will meet over dinner at Versailles palace after G7 summit in France

Donald Trump and French president Emmanuel Macron will meet over dinner at the glittering Palace of Versailles near Paris after the G7 summit of leading industrialised nations next week in France, their governments announced Saturday.

The wars in Ukraine and Iran are also expected to be front and center.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky will also be at the summit. A formal meeting between Trump and Zelensky is not currently scheduled, officials told reporters, though they could meet on the sidelines.

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Trump, who is trying to make progress on finalising an Iran war deal in the coming days, is expected to have a busy schedule of one-on-one meetings with foreign leaders on the sidelines of the summit in the French lakeside town of Evian-les-Bains, according to senior administration officials who briefed reporters on the condition of anonymity under ground rules set by the White House.

Trump also plans individual meetings on the sidelines of the summit, which opens Monday, with the leaders of Egypt, Qatar and United Arab Emirates to discuss efforts to wind down the Iran war.

Macron’s office said the French president will host Trump for a dinner Wednesday to mark the occasion of the 250th anniversary of the independence of the United States, at the Palace of Versailles, “a historic symbol of Franco-American friendship.”

Shweta Sharma14 June 2026 06:39

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One killed in Russia’s Krasnodar after Ukrainian strike

A person was killed and three were injured in Russia’s southern Krasnodar region in a Ukrainian drone attack, local officials said.

Drone debris sparked a fire at a sea terminal, local governor Veniamin Kondratyev said.

He did not give details, but Russian news outlets reported that a Black Sea export terminal transporting terminal crude oil, petroleum products and liquefied gas in the village of Volna was damaged.

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Ukraine’s General Staff did not comment on the Krasnodar strike Saturday, but said that its forces had hit an oil preparation and pumping station overnight in Russia’s Volgograd region, as well as Russian-occupied areas in Ukraine’s Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia regions.

The attack comes after Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said his country’s forces had struck several military and energy infrastructure sites deep inside Russia, including a military factory that he said supplied components for Russian drones and missiles.

Shweta Sharma14 June 2026 06:23

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Russia will be ready to attack Nato in three years, says German army chief

Russia will be ready to “invade a Nato partner” by 2029, a German army chief has warned.

In an interview with Politico, he said “speed is of the essence” as he urged German leaders to increase investment in the country’s military.

Maryam Zakir-Hussain14 June 2026 06:00

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Hungary’s missing €3.5 billion – and the move to investigate Orban’s inner circle

Central to the latest allegations are claims that several communications companies were awarded contracts from the Hungarian government to the tune of €10bn over the past four years – roughly €3.5bn of which the Hungarian Integrity Authority (HIA) believes may be the result of artificially inflated pricing.

Maryam Zakir-Hussain14 June 2026 05:00

Russians are finding ways to skirt Putin’s digital iron curtain – one phone at a time

In a quiet cafe popular for its free Wi-Fi ​and good coffee, a Russian interior designer logs onto a virtual private network so she can chat with friends abroad using the U.S. messaging service WhatsApp, which is blocked inside Russia.

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Later, she toggles off the VPN to buy a ticket on the Russian Railways website, which bars anyone using the tools to obscure their location. She then picks up a second phone to check for messages from clients on the state-controlled app MAX.

Maryam Zakir-Hussain14 June 2026 04:00

Trump to meet with Mideast leaders, attend Ukraine session at G7, US officials say

Donald Trump will meet with Middle Eastern leaders and attend a working session with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky during the G7 summit in France next week, senior U.S. administration officials said on Saturday.

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Trump is scheduled to travel to Evian, France, for the G7 summit early on Monday after attending Sunday’s mixed martial arts event at the White House. He will speak to a number of European leaders with whom he has squabbled over trade, tariffs, Ukraine and NATO since his return to the White House early in 2025.

Trump will participate in a working session on Tuesday with Zelensky and G7 leaders. The meeting comes at a time when Russian advances in Ukraine have slowed and Ukraine seeks more military funding from its allies.

One of the senior U.S. ‌officials, who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity about Trump’s trip, said Russian gains have “more or less stopped.”

“We want the war to end as quickly as possible,” the official said. Trump has had up-and-down relations with Zelensky. No bilateral meeting was planned with Zelensky but the two leaders could meet on the sidelines of the summit, the officials added.

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They said Trump would meet separately with the leaders of Egypt, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, France and India. Trump planned to raise issues of shared importance ‌with leaders at the summit, including economic growth and development, ​supply chain resilience, illegal migration and AI, one of the ‌officials said. He also planned ⁠to work on boosting resilience in the supply chain for ⁠critical minerals needed for advanced technologies.

Maryam Zakir-Hussain14 June 2026 03:00

Ukrainian drone strike kills 1 in southern Russia and triggers fire at sea terminal

A Ukrainian drone attack killed one person and injured three in Russia’s southern Krasnodar region, local officials said Saturday, as part of Kyiv’s campaign of strikes on military and energy targets deep inside Russia.

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Drone debris sparked a fire at a sea terminal, local Gov. Veniamin Kondratyev said.

He did not give details, but Russian news outlets reported that a Black Sea export terminal transporting terminal crude oil, petroleum products and liquefied gas in the village of Volna was damaged.

Ukraine’s General Staff did not comment on the Krasnodar strike Saturday, but said that its forces had hit an oil preparation and pumping station overnight in Russia’s Volgograd region, as well as Russian-occupied areas in Ukraine’s Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia regions.

The attack comes after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said his country’s forces had struck several military and energy infrastructure sites deep inside Russia, including a military factory that he said supplied components for Russian drones and missiles.

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He said Wednesday that Ukrainian FP-5 Flamingo long-range missiles had hit the facility in Cheboksary, in the Chuvashiya region, more than 900 kilometers (560 miles) from the front line.

Maryam Zakir-Hussain14 June 2026 02:00

Russia’s war with Ukraine will determine future of Europe, Zelensky warns

Maryam Zakir-Hussain14 June 2026 01:00

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Conflict will determine future of Europe, Zelensky warns

Volodymyr Zelensky has said the RussiaUkraine conflict will “determine the future of Europe” in comments ahead of anticipated G7 summit next week.

In a post online, the Ukrainian president said his country is making “the greatest sacrifices for Europe” as it fights for its independence.

He wrote: “We are not simply carrying out internal reforms, nor are we simply going through a transformation. We are fighting for our state, for our independence, and for our right to choose our own path and to be Europe.

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“That is why the fate of Europe is being decided here – it is being decided in Ukraine, in this war, and in how this war ends – and whether Russia will still have the strength and the desire after this war to threaten the existence of Ukraine and its other neighbors, and the entirety of Europe.”

Maryam Zakir-Hussain13 June 2026 23:41

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Travellers set up at Locke Park, Redcar as some gates locked

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Travellers set up at Locke Park, Redcar as some gates locked

A number of travellers have moved into Locke Park, on Corporation Road in Redcar, this afternoon (Saturday, June 13).

Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council said it is currently monitoring and assessing the situation and is now “working on an appropriate solution”. 

As a result, some of the gates to the park, which is home to a boating lake, tennis courts, children’s play area, have been locked. The main gates remain open.

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Access to the park will be available only at this entrance until further notice. 

A full statement from the council said: “The council is aware that travellers have moved into Locke Park, Redcar, this afternoon.

“We are currently monitoring and assessing the situation and working on an appropriate solution.

“For security reasons, and until further notice, all park gates will be locked except for the main entrance on Corporation Road. 

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“Access to the park will remain available via this entrance.

“We appreciate your patience and understanding while we manage this situation and will provide further updates as appropriate.”

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Martin Lewis shares ‘make thousands’ tip for Barclays, Nationwide, Lloyds customers

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Wales Online

He said you should check the terms and conditions closely

Martin Lewis has offered advice on managing your bank account and potentially earning many hundreds of pounds. The consumer champion provided general guidance that applies to customers of major banks, including Barclays, Lloyds, Halifax and Santander.

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He issued the words of wisdom after a query on his BBC podcast regarding switching bank accounts. A listener contacted the programme explaining she currently banks with Lloyds but was interested in current account switching incentives from rival banks. Several banks are providing one-off bonuses if you transfer to them. These include Nationwide Building Society offering £175, Barclays providing £200 payments, Santander offering £180 and NatWest paying £200.

HSBC is also providing payments of £500 and First Direct is offering a £200 incentive. However, in this instance the listener said she was reluctant to leave Lloyds as she benefits from additional perks with her account, including cinema ticket vouchers.

Extra account perks

Club Lloyds customers can select from a range of Lifestyle Benefits. Additional perks available to customers include a Disney+ subscription, coffee and dining offers and vouchers for cinemas such as ODEON and Vue.

Her enquiry was whether she could create a secondary account simply by switching a handful of direct debits and fulfilling the other requirements, thereby claiming a switching incentive, while maintaining her Lloyds account as her primary bank account. In response, Mr Lewis had some encouraging news for the prospective switcher.

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He said: “Everything you say is absolutely possible and is the textbook way for savvy money savers to do this.” However, he noted it requires “a little bit of planning” to take advantage of multiple switching incentives.

‘Make thousands of pounds’

Mr Lewis outlined that this strategy involves having a “mule account” or a “burner account” which you transfer between different providers to capitalise on these switching bonuses, potentially earning you many hundreds of pounds.

Mr Lewis said: “You’ve got to check the terms and conditions each time, but there are lots of people who do this and who make thousands of pounds.”

He continued by saying that many members of his Money Saving Expert team have “made decent money” by taking advantage of these promotions.

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He recommended starting by opening a basic current account without any additional features or benefits, so you can transfer it easily when you want to claim a switching reward.

These switching deals typically require moving across two direct debits, so you’ll need to have these arranged in your burner account ready for transfer.

You may also need to pay in a minimum amount as part of your switch to be eligible for the incentive.

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Key things to know about a possible US-Iran peace deal to end the Middle East war

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Key things to know about a possible US-Iran peace deal to end the Middle East war

The United States and Iran appear close to a deal to end the war and open the Strait of Hormuz.

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said Friday the U.S. and Iran agreed to wording of an agreement aimed at ending their war in the Middle East and that mediators were working with both sides to finalize a deal.

However, Tehran has cast doubt over the timing of the signing. Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei, speaking before Trump’s post, had cautioned against commenting on the timing of the signing but was quoted by state media saying, “It will not be tomorrow,” but could happen “in the coming days”.

Previous declarations of an imminent breakthrough failed to materialize.

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The apparent breakthrough in negotiations comes after Iran exchanged fire with the U.S. and Israel over three days this week, threatening to push the region into a full-scale war. U.S. Central Command late Friday said in a social media post that it intercepted several Iranian attack drones that were targeting commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz.

The war launched by the U.S. and Israel on Feb. 28 has rattled the Middle East and virtually shut down oil and natural gas shipments from the Persian Gulf. A fragile ceasefire has been in place since April 7.

Activists carry portraits of Iran's slain supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as they pay tribute at Minar-e-Pakistan in Lahore
Activists carry portraits of Iran’s slain supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as they pay tribute at Minar-e-Pakistan in Lahore (AFP/Getty)

Here’s what to know:

Iran’s nuclear program terms to be finalized within 60 days of agreement

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Friday the terms of dealing with Iran’s nuclear program would be finalized in the 60 days after the initial agreement is signed and that the parties could decide to extend that period.

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Iran’s nuclear program has been a key point of division. The U.S. and Israel fear it could lead to an atomic weapon — a main reason their leaders cited for going to war. Tehran has insisted its nuclear efforts are for peaceful purposes.

A senior U.S. administration official, who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity under ground rules set by the White House, said Friday that the emerging agreement would begin the process of destroying or removing Tehran’s highly enriched uranium.

The official said the 60-day period after both sides sign the deal would be used to work out technical details for removing Iran’s enriched uranium. The official did not detail who the U.S. envisions taking charge of removing the uranium, believed to be entombed under three nuclear sites that were battered by American strikes last year.

(AFP/Getty)

Deal to include conditions to reopen Strait of Hormuz, official says

The U.S. official said the emerging agreement includes provisions for reopening the strait.

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Araghchi said Iran wants a deal that allows Tehran to charge ships “for services rendered” when they transit the Strait of Hormuz. Iran has imposed a toll system during the war, which the U.S. and other nations say violates international law.

Transit through the Strait of Hormuz, a vital shipping lane for oil and natural gas, has been disrupted and crimped global energy supplies, driven up fuel prices and made food and other basics more expensive well beyond the region.

The agreement is set to include Iranian sanctions relief

Three regional officials said the emerging deal is also expected to include the phased lifting of sanctions on Iran and the release of frozen Iranian assets. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the negotiations.

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They said they expect a signing ceremony for the agreement in the coming days after officials in Washington and Tehran approve it.

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England hero insists he’s ‘not hating’ after reaction to Scotland beating Haiti | Football

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England hero insists he's 'not hating' after reaction to Scotland beating Haiti | Football

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In The Mixer’s World Cup special

Everything you need to know about the World Cup – England updates, the games to watch and stories you missed – in five minutes, at 1pm, every day.

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