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Thomas Tuchel speaks to Independent Television. “This is what we have worked for … the goal of the prep camp … to be ready for the day … I don’t want to be anywhere else in the world … so let’s go … ideal conditions … to play an intensive match … that’s our aim … we stick with the team that started so well against Costa Rica … we will not start and finish this match with 11 players … we need a strong bench … we have players who can influence and change matches from the bench … that is important … it was a 50-50 call to go with Jude [instead of Morgan Rogers] … I expected Mateo Kovacic to start so we have one slight tweak … we need to adapt our press … we are prepared for that … we are at the starting line … we let the players go and take the next steps.”

… so Jude Bellingham does indeed get the nod at 10 over Morgan Rogers. Anthony Gordon has been selected ahead of Marcus Rashford on the left, while Noni Madueke patrols the other flank; Bukayo Saka, not 100 percent fit, remains wrapped up safely on the bench. Ezri Konsa starts alongside John Stones in the centre of defence.

Last summer the St George’s cross was co-opted by anti-immigrant groups. Now, as the World Cup begins, some communities are reclaiming it as a symbol of a very different sort of pride

As I drove into London with my daughter a week ago, we passed a roadside pub festooned with dozens of England flags. Our eyes met in recognition: we were in one of those areas, we assumed. In the eyes of many, St George’s cross flags have become a kind of territorial marker in the English landscape, signifying a certain kind of identity, a certain kind of politics, not necessarily welcoming to all. As we got closer, though, we realised the pub was actually preparing for the start of the World Cup. Flags of other nations were also on display. We laughed at our mistake and relaxed a bit.

It’s a feeling many Britons might have experienced. We’re gearing up for a summer of both exciting international football and ugly far-right protests and riots, as recent events in Belfast and Southampton have shown. The England flag will be a prominent fixture of both – great news for flag sellers, but a confusing and anxious time for the rest of us. How did England’s national symbol come to evoke such mixed feelings and carry such contradictory meanings? Are we really at the stage of “good flags” and “bad flags”? What are we supposed to think when we see an England flag?

Keir Starmer has called the firing of warning shots by a Russian warship at a British yacht sailing across the Channel on Tuesday ‘deeply concerning and reckless’.

Russia’s defence ministry said the yacht was on a ‘dangerous course’ and several attempts were made to contact it – a claim disputed by the retired couple onboard the 40ft yacht.

Nosheen Iqbal speaks to the Guardian’s defence and security editor, Dan Sabbagh

These tailored trousers are ideal for those sunny days when the forecast looks dodgy later on – or when there’s a heatwave but you still have to go to the office

I think we can probably agree that Audrey Hepburn would not have been seen dead in jorts. The baggy, grunge-adjacent knee-length denims that were everywhere last summer and are creeping back around are definitely cool. Totally a vibe. But elegant they are not.

The capri pant is an undeniably elegant solution to the problem of what to wear when jeans or tailored trousers are too hot and cumbersome, but you don’t want to wear shorts. For instance, when it is sunny while you are getting dressed, but you are going to be out all day and the forecast looks dodgy later on. Or when there is a heatwave but you still have to go to the office, so Daisy Dukes are not going to work.

Multiculturalism and hard-won equalities are being attacked on all fronts. Labour should look to London’s leaders, past and present, for how to stand against the tide

Not for the first time, the UK is in the grip of a backlash against equality and diversity. Already disadvantaged parts of the population are having the existence of that disadvantage denied – and the limited legal redress for it, which has been won over decades, such as the 2010 Equality Act, threatened with repeal. Two of the largest political parties, much of the media, street protesters, online activists, opportunistic rioters and organised fascists are all working to erase aspects of British multiculturalism, by lawful means and otherwise. In the decade since the Brexit referendum – which awoke semi-dormant forces of social conservatism and nationalism – this reactionary campaign has gained more and more momentum.

Its targets have widened and solidified: from “wokeness”, multiracial cities, diversity, and equity and inclusion policies to immigrant cultures of all kinds, so-called two-tier policing and the general conduct of local and central government. “Britain is a two-tier state – against white people,” claimed Nigel Farage in a sweeping Reform UK policy statement on Sunday. “Anti-whiteness is institutionalised into every aspect of public life.” His party, still consistently ahead in the polls, promises to work relentlessly against this supposed injustice when it takes office, copying the confrontational and divisive tactics of Donald Trump.

Andy Beckett is a Guardian columnist

Ten years ago, after complaining that traffic was ‘driving him nuts’, Musk’s Boring Company began building underground tunnels to ease congestion on the roads. Did he overpromise and underdeliver?

It’s another blindingly bright day in Las Vegas but I’m 30ft underground and strapped in for a rocket ride to the future. Actually, it’s a Tesla ride to the future, and not a self-driving one. And it’s pretty slow – my driver tells me the speed limit down here is 30mph. It’s also pretty short: the journey is over in a matter of minutes. In fact, the Vegas Loop is a pretty underwhelming experience: a brief trundle down a white-walled tunnel only slightly larger than the vehicle itself, lined by strips of LEDs that change colour every few seconds, in an attempt to inject some Vegas glitz. I’d been hoping to ask other Loop-riders what they made of the experience, but … there aren’t any. I’m the only person here.

This is not the futuristic transport solution Elon Musk originally promised. When he first announced this innovative technology in 2017, it was accompanied by sci-fi visuals showing a car pulling over from the street traffic on to an elevator platform, which then descended into a network of tunnels and whizzed along on an “electric skate” at 200km/h (124mph). “There’s no real limit to how many levels of tunnel you can have … so you can alleviate any arbitrary level of urban congestion,” Musk said. A few months earlier, with characteristic edgelordly nonchalance, Musk had announced on Twitter: “Traffic is driving me nuts. Am going to build a tunnel boring machine and just start digging …” Followed shortly after by: “I am actually going to do this.” He did, and he named it the Boring Company.

Senior US officials read out MOU text to journalists, insisting down-blending is a starting point; deal says sanctions relief tied to nuclear action

• Analysis: Where does Iran deal leave US-Israel relationship?

Trump also addressed media reports of a leaked US-Iran deal (see post at 11:57), denying claims it includes a $300bn reconstruction fund for Tehran.

“We’re not putting up 10 cents,” he said. “We are not investing and we do not have a fund.”

It’s not final. It’s a memorandum of understanding, and if I don’t like it, we’ll go back to shooting at them, dropping bombs on their head.

If I don’t like it, if they don’t behave, we’ll go right back to dropping bombs right smack in the middle of their head, okay, because they’ve misbehaved for 47 years.”

Exclusive: Allies of Labour’s Makerfield candidate concerned rapid collapse of Starmer government would increase instability

• How quickly could Andy Burnham become the UK’s prime minister?

Andy Burnham’s campaign has been forced to talk ministers out of resigning as early as this weekend to avoid Keir Starmer’s government descending into chaos amid fallout from the Makerfield byelection, the Guardian can reveal.

As they prepare for a potential change of leader in the event he beats Reform on Thursday, Burnham’s team is increasingly concerned a rapid collapse of Starmer’s administration would mean further instability for the country.

No formal warning issued to captains or ship owners, but industry body says they are exercising greater vigilance

British officials believe Russia will try to retaliate for the Royal Marines’ seizure of the oil tanker Smyrtos, prompting UK ship owners to exercise greater vigilance until tensions with Moscow ease.

Military sources said the UK had considered possible responses to the seizure of the vessel carrying Russian crude worth $40m (£30m) to India, and anticipate that the Kremlin will want to hit back.

French president welcomes group’s unity after ‘very deep change’ in Washington’s approach

Emmanuel Macron has said the whole of the G7, including the US, recognises “the territorial integrity of Ukraine” as he hailed a “re-synchronisation” of positions on the issue.

The French president welcomed a “very deep change in the US approach”, saying Donald Trump and all the leaders present at the G7 summit at Évian-les-Bains understood that Vladimir Putin was not interested in peace.