If Scotland lose and finish with three points, there are a number of results they will need to look out for – they will want as many groups as possible with two teams finishing on fewer than three points.

In Group A, if Mexico beat the Czech Republic and South Korea beat South Africa, that would leave the team in third on one point.

The next best scenario would be a big South Africa win to leave South Korea in third with three points and a poor goal difference.

Wins for South Africa and the Czech Republic would spell bad news for Scotland, leaving the third-place finisher on four points.

One of the few games that take place before Scotland face Brazil that has a bearing on where Scotland could finish comes in Group B.

Bosnia-Herzegovina and Qatar meet three hours before Scotland play and, if they draw, both sides will have two points.

Scotland would also want group winners the USA to at least get a point against Turkey, to keep them out of the equation.

On we go to Group E.

Ecuador and Curacao have one point apiece and play Germany and Ivory Coast respectively. Failure to win would mean whoever finishes third cannot better Scotland’s tally of three points.

In Group F, Scotland will be hoping second-placed Japan beat third-placed Sweden convincingly. A point for Sweden, though, would leave the third-placed finishers on at least four points.

The key fixture in Group G as far as Scotland are concerned is Egypt v Iran. A win for Egypt will ensure the team finishing third will have fewer than three points.

It is the same situation in Group H where Scotland fans will be rooting for Spain to beat Uruguay so the third-placed team can only finish on two points, while in Group I, a draw between Senegal and Iraq would mean the team in third will have just one point.

In Group J, Austria and Algeria are second and third respectively on three points and play each other in their final group game, so the scenario Scotland would want to avoid is that game ending in a draw. They would also want Argentina to avoid defeat against Jordan, who currently have zero points.

DR Congo and Uzbekistan are vying for third place in Group K.

A win for Uzbekistan would give them three points but, with a goal difference of -7, they would need a big win against DR Congo and for Scotland to lose badly to move above them in the standings.

In Group L, a point or more for Croatia against Ghana could be bad news for Scotland as it would again leave the third-place finishers with four points.

A big win for Ghana, and Panama not beating England, would be Scotland’s ideal scenario from a mathematical point of view.

Hundreds of schools will fully or partially close over the next few days because of the extreme heat, with temperatures set to hit record highs.

A ‘heat-dome’ settling over western Europe could bring temperatures of nearly 40C by Wednesday, with this latest heatwave expected to surpass the record for June of 35.6C set in Hampshire in 1976.

A red weather warning for extreme heat covering an area stretching from London to Swansea and Somerset to Birmingham was issued by the Met Office from 9am on Wednesday to 9pm on Thursday.

The temperature could come close to the UK’s all-time high of 40.3C which was measured in July 2022.

Some 100 schools in Somerset will be closed over the next three days, with the vast majority fully closed on Wednesday and Thursday, according to Somerset Council.

Around 100 schools will also be at least partially closed over the next three days in Buckinghamshire, along with 86 schools in Gloucestershire, according to council data.

Children at some schools have been told they can wear PE kit rather than full school uniform, which can involve long trousers and blazers.

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.

A new ‘Cancer Garden’ opens today (Wednesday, June 24, at Bolton Castle near Leyburn in a touching tribute to Harry, the 8th Lord Bolton, who died of cancer in 2023 following a “brave fight” with the disease.

The garden was the idea of gardener Elizabeth Carter, who has tended the castle’s Herb Garden for years and wanted to create something meaningful in his memory.

Left, Elizabeth Carter and Tom Lord Bolton Bolton Castle Cancer Garden discuss the garden (Image: Supplied)

Tom, the 9th Lord Bolton, said: “Dad reinstated the gardens at Bolton Castle and always loved talking to Elizabeth about them and I was very touched when she suggested a cancer garden in remembrance of him.

“With her encyclopedic knowledge of herbal medicine, Elizabeth has done an amazing job of ensuring the plants tell the story of the origins of many remedies, which tie in with the history of the castle.

“Tragically, too many people are affected by this awful disease and we would like to use the opportunity to highlight the work of Herriot Hospice, who gave both Dad and Elizabeth’s father wonderful care in their last weeks of life.”

Left, Elizabeth Carter and Tom Lord Bolton Bolton Castle Cancer Garden discuss the garden (Image: Supplied)

The garden is designed as a “physic bed” – a space planted with herbs and flowers historically believed to bring comfort or relief to those suffering from cancer and other serious illnesses.

It sits within the castle’s southeast walled garden and complements the existing planting, all of which reflects the period from the 14th to 16th centuries.

Plants such as Madonna lily and hyacinth, both associated with remembrance and cancer, feature in the new bed.

Elizabeth Carter said: “This is my 12th year working in the gardens at Bolton Castle and it has taken me on a fascinating exploration of medieval plants about which I previously knew nothing.

“Had Lord Bolton not reinstated the gardens, I would never have had such an adventure, and I wanted to say thank you and honour him in some way.

“As Lord Bolton’s death was attributed to cancer, I thought a memorial cancer bed might be appropriate.

“The information I have prepared includes the history of cancer from its first mention in an Egyptian papyrus from 3,500 BC to the physicians’ approach to and treatment of cancer over the years to the present day.”

The garden will develop further as the plants mature, adding colour and depth over time.

Jason Hanslip, head gardener at Bolton Castle, also played a key role in bringing the project to life.

Lord Bolton said: “Head gardener, Jason Hanslip, who played a part in creating the garden and I am proud to have been able to work on this with Elizabeth and the team and open the garden today to our visitors.”

The Cancer Garden opens to visitors on 24 June 2026, and access for visitors is included with entry.

If approve the plan will see the seven new houses with car parking and landscaping built on land off Wigan Road near Haslam Park.

The developers say that they have planned for the new homes to be a “low rise form of family housing” which fits with demand in the area.

A design and access statement from Neil Pike Architects said: “The site is located within close proximity to local amenities and benefits from good transport links, including the location of a bus stop immediately to the front of the site.

“The site access enables direct pedestrian and vehicular access to each dwelling from Wigan Road, demonstrating the site’s sustainability and suitability for residential development of this nature.

Up to seven new houses have been proposed (Image: Neil Pike Architects)

“The principal objective of this proposal is to provide high-quality housing attracting long-term residents across generations which will bring community and conserve and enhance the existing streetscape and character of the area, whilst adhering to local planning policy and contributing positively to the surrounding natural and physical environment.”

The plans were received by Bolton Council on Friday June 19 and validated on Monday June 22.

The land off Wigan Road was previously occupied by the Riverside Care home which had become derelict and was demolished after a fire that broke out in 2007.

The design and access statement said: “The design concept for the new build development revolves around creating housing of a style common in this locality, with a harmonious blend of traditional architecture, prevalent in the area, with modern interpretation.

“The aim is to maintain the character and aesthetic appeal of the neighbourhood while introducing contemporary living spaces that meet the demands of today’s residents.

“The buildings will be designed with a mix of traditional and modern architectural elements.

“The facing brick will ensure the development’s compatibility with the surrounding buildings.

“The design itself will incorporate gable ends to each block of accommodation, with pitched roofs and symmetrical proportions.

“Appropriately selected materials regarding roof tiles, windows and doors are in-keeping with those of the surrounding area, whilst simultaneously ensuring there is an aesthetic and welcoming appeal to the design.”

Bolton Council will aim to decide whether to approve the plans by Monday August 17.

TOKYO (AP) — The head of the U.N.’s nuclear agency signaled Wednesday that Iranian nuclear enrichment sites would be visited by his inspectors, a key component in the interim deal between the United States and Iran to reach an end to the war.

The comment by International Atomic Energy Agency head Rafael Mariano Grossi was the firmest yet from the United Nations agency, which is viewed as key in determining the status of Iran’s nuclear stockpile.

Since Israel launched a 12-day war on Iran in 2025, the IAEA has been blocked by Tehran from visiting enrichment sites where the Islamic Republic is believed to store enough highly enriched uranium to potentially build as many as 10 nuclear weapons, should it choose to rush for the bomb. Iran long has maintained that its program is peaceful, though it is the only country in the world to have uranium enriched up to 60% purity without a weapons program.

The U.S. and Iran offered contradictory remarks Tuesday about whether those sites would be inspected.

Grossi says inspections are ‘going to happen’

“I can understand political statements, they are part of the reality, but the fundamental thing I would like to remind you and draw your attention to is that there has been a Memorandum of Understanding, signed by both presidents,” Grossi told journalists at a news conference at the tsunami-hit Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

The accord “says explicitly that the nuclear activities that are going to be carried out with the regards to the nuclear material facilities will be supervised by the IAEA — in all letters,” he said.

Grossi added: “Obviously, to do that, we will have to inspect. Whether this happens the day after tomorrow or in one week or in 10 days, it’s important, but not essential. This is going to happen.”

Those inspections are key for the deal, which calls for Iran’s stockpile of uranium to be “downblended” from highly enriched levels.

There was no immediate reaction from Iran. On Tuesday, Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei told reporters in Tehran that U.N. inspectors were not scheduled to examine nuclear sites bombed by the U.S. last year, rejecting comments made a day before by U.S. Vice President JD Vance.

IAEA blocked from seeing bombed sites

The IAEA has been allowed to visit other nuclear sites in Iran since the 12-day war in 2025, such as the Bushehr nuclear power plant. But without accessing the enrichment sites, the IAEA says it is unable to verify the status of Iran’s stockpile or check the cascades of centrifuges used to enrich uranium. Both Iran and the IAEA say Tehran hasn’t been enriching uranium, but nonproliferation experts worry that the Islamic Republic may be moving its stockpile to undeclared areas.

The U.S. and Iran agreed to a deal last week that calls for Tehran to dilute its stockpile of enriched uranium and waives U.S.-backed sanctions on the country while giving each side 60 days to hammer out broader agreements.

But the uneasy ceasefire already has been tested by Iran saying it closed the strait again over fighting between Israel and the Iranian-backed militia Hezbollah in Lebanon. Violence again broke out in Lebanon on Tuesday, but it did not escalate.

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This story has been corrected to reflect that Grossi spoke at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, not in Tokyo.

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Gambrell reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

Eleanor Donaldson, 60, had faced a trial of the facts after being found medically unable to participate in the trial.

A number of options are available to a judge in place of a conventional sentence for Lady Eleanor Donaldson, who was found by a jury this week to have aided and abetted her husband Sir Jeffrey Donaldson’s sex offending.

The judge at Newry Crown Court could issue a number of treatment orders or else an absolute discharge.

Former DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson was found guilty on Monday of 18 sex offences against two women when they were children, including one count of rape.

The offences occurred between 1985 and 2008.

Eleanor Donaldson, 60, from Dublinhill Road, Dromore, Co Down, had faced a trial of the facts after being found medically unable to participate in the trial.

The process tested the evidence but could not result in a criminal conviction.

While she was not present in court, she was legally represented and her barrister Ian Turkington KC cross-examined the two victims and made legal submissions.

She had faced a number of charges of aiding and abetting her husband’s offending and the jury found that she “did the acts”.

While Jeffrey Donaldson was warned he is facing a “lengthy” prison term when he is sentenced later in the year, his wife could instead face a treatment order.

The judge Paul Ramsey could impose a medical order as set out by the relevant legislation.

These are designed to protect the public in circumstances where it is required.

This could include being committed to hospital, being subject to a guardianship order or subject to a supervision and treatment order.

If none of those are required, the defendant would be absolutely discharged.

For all the latest news, visit the Belfast Live homepage here and sign up to our daily newsletter here.

Hundreds of schools are expected to close or shut early today as the record-breaking temperatures hit the UK.

Temperatures could hit 40C today (Wednesday) in some parts of England and Wales as a ‘heat-dome’ over western Europe brings extreme conditions across the continent. A rare red weather warning for extreme heat covering an area stretching from London to Swansea and Somerset to Birmingham was issued by the Met Office from 9am on Wednesday to 9pm on Thursday.

More than 250 schools were forced to close yesterday to protect pupils amid the heat. Hundreds of schools have already confirmed closures today as even higher temperatures are forecast.

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Almost 100 schools in Somerset will be fully closed on Wednesday and Thursday, according to Somerset Council. And around 100 schools will be at least partially closed over the next two days in Buckinghamshire, along with 86 schools in Gloucestershire, according to council data.

The Government has issued advice to schools with children told they can wear PE kit rather than full school uniform, which typically involves long trousers and blazers. Some after-school clubs have also been cancelled.

The Department for Education said on its website on Monday that ‘during hot weather, we don’t normally advise schools to close’. It added: “This is because school attendance is the best way for pupils to learn and reach their potential, and hot weather can usually be managed safely.”

Red heat health alerts have also been issued by the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) for the East of England, East Midlands, London, the South East, the South West and the West Midlands, and amber heat health alerts for the North East, North West, and Yorkshire and The Humber. These alerts are in place from 1am on Wednesday to 11pm on Thursday, and mean ‘adverse temperatures are likely to impact on the health and wellbeing of the population’.

Follow our live blog below for the latest school closure and heatwave updates.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration is providing $17.5 billion to speed the development of 10 new large nuclear reactors to meet the skyrocketing power demand from massive data centers.

Energy Secretary Chris Wright cited “tremendous interest” among developers of data centers that would buy the power, as well as utilities and energy companies. The nuclear plants could begin construction by 2030 and become operational in the mid-2030s, Wright and other officials said Tuesday.

“This is the start,” Wright said on a call with reporters. “We’re going to move with the players that are ready to stand up and move quickly. Once that supply chain is up and running, do we think there will be dozens of these built going forward? I’d be very surprised if there were not.”

Most U.S. nuclear power plants were built between 1970 and 1990. Only two new large reactors have been built from scratch in the United States in recent decades. Those two reactors, at Georgia Power Co.’s Plant Vogtle, were completed years late and billions of dollars over budget. The 10 new reactors will use the same design, Westinghouse’s AP1000.

Wright said the Plant Vogtle project struggled because of bad planning, supply chain problems and the COVID-19 pandemic. But, he said, the reactor design is “robust and sound.”

“By building in volume and at multiple locations, we think we will create and stand up a large supply chain and build a lot of construction expertise,” Wright said. “We expect the timing and cost of these plants to well outperform what was done on Vogtle.”

Seven utilities and energy companies signed letters of intent that identified sites, the Energy Department said. The agency plans to pick five, which would host two reactors at each site. The federal financing would be used to purchase nuclear components with long lead times, and are not construction loans.

The department declined to name the utilities involved or the states they are in, calling it premature until the selections are made. It did not give a timeline for making those selections.

President Donald Trump set a goal of quadrupling domestic production of nuclear power within the next 25 years, and he has signed executive orders to speed development. The administration is working to advance new nuclear technologies, such as small modular nuclear reactors.

Dan Sumner, president and chief executive officer of Westinghouse, said industrialized nuclear power needs to be built at fleet scale, in order for the United States to lead in artificial intelligence, advanced manufacturing and the industries that will define the next century.

Critics of building more nuclear reactors say they’re too expensive and riskier than other low-carbon energy sources. Several states restrict or ban new nuclear power plant construction.

Travis Fisher, director of energy and environmental policy studies at the libertarian Cato Institute think tank, said the Energy Department has the authority to issue these loan guarantees, but he doesn’t think the executive branch should be so heavily involved in the electricity sector.

If the past is any indication, the next administration will use similar authorities to favor a different set of energy resources, he added. “Remove the state barriers and the federal favoritism and let companies build the power plants that pass the market test,” Fisher wrote in an e-mail Tuesday.

Data centers used 4% to 5% of the nation’s total electricity in 2024, a share that could nearly triple by 2028, according to government estimates. Some analysts predict nationwide electricity use to rise as much as 20% in the next decade, with data centers a big reason.

The Energy Department said the loans could speed up the development of these 10 reactors by up to three years and lower construction costs. Its goal is for all 10 to be under construction by 2030, to start providing power in the mid-2030s.

The utilities and Westinghouse will be expected to contribute up to $5 billion in equity in total across the five, two-reactors projects. Wright said his department provides up to $17.5 billion in loans, or $3.5 billion per project, in debt to pair with the equity. He said it’s “very, very low risk to the American taxpayers.”

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McDermott reported from Providence, R.I.

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The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

The Conversation, Curtis Brown and Faber are pleased to announce our three judges for The Conversation Prize for writers 2026.

They are: history professor, Catherine Clarke; innovation professor, Tim Minshall; and our very own Steven Vass, senior editor for Science Insights at The Conversation.

Our competition is looking for the best longform article and nonfiction book idea aimed at a general audience from our community of academics. For your chance to win £1,000, publication on The Conversation and mentorship from a literary agent and book publisher, then enter your 2,000-word story and book idea.

The competition will close on July 5, 2026 at 11.59pm BST.

About our judges

Catherine Clarke is professor and director of the Centre for the History of People, Place and Community at the Institute of Historical Research. She is a cultural historian specialising in the Middle Ages, but she also works across a broad range of periods on questions of place, identity, heritage and uses of the past.

Her book A History of England in 25 Poems was published by Penguin Allen Lane in September 2005.

Tim Minshall is the inaugural Dr John C. Taylor Professor of Innovation at the University of Cambridge, the head of the Engineering Department’s Institute for Manufacturing and a fellow of Churchill College. His research, teaching and outreach are focused on the links between manufacturing and innovation. He is the author of Your Life is Manufactured: How We Make Things, Why It Matters and How We Can Do It Better, published by Faber. He lives in Cambridge with his scientist wife, Nicola.

Steven Vass is Senior Editor, Science Insights, at The Conversation UK and before that was Scotland Editor and Senior Business and Economy Editor. He was previously a reporter for the Sunday Herald and The Herald, as well as having spent several years as a development volunteer in Zambia and several more as a media analyst in London. He is the author of Let the Music Play, published by Velocity, about how synths and drum machines changed 70s and 80s R&B.

How to Enter

The competition will close on Sunday 5th July at 11.59pm BST.

To enter, please email your 2,000-word article, plus the following information, to uk-prize@theconversation.com:

Name

Institution

Country

Email

Telephone no.

Your book idea [max 350 words] Please provide a brief summary of a trade nonfiction book idea based on your article. Tell us why this topic deserves a deeper dive and why it would appeal to an audience of non-academic readers.

About you [max 100 words] Tell us a little about you – your current role, your area of expertise and any relevant research to your book idea. Why would you be the right author for this book?

Please disclose any conflicts of interest that should be mentioned in relation to your article or book idea.

Terms & Conditions 2026 – please read carefully.

You can read more about what we’re looking for here.