The sporting superstar walked away from success and adulation at 26 – much to everyone’s bemusement. He opens up about his secret life and the depression, cocaine, overdoses and aggressive cancer that almost killed him

‘I’m a person who doesn’t say very much,” Björn Borg says with a wry smile. Which may be the understatement of the century. Borg, the greatest tennis player of his day, has spent 42 years saying nothing since he announced his retirement at the age of 26.

When he broke that news in 1983, it was one of the biggest shocks in the history of sport. Not simply because he was at his peak, but also because he was the rock star tennis player – beautiful, mysterious and followed by a flock of teenybopper fans. When Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz triumphed in the US Open earlier this month, aged 22, he became the second youngest player to have won six major tournaments. Borg beat him by four months.

The late-night show getting pulled ‘indefinitely’ after relatively mild commentary about the right is another worrying sign of where Trump’s America is heading

• Explainer: What did Jimmy Kimmel say about Charlie Kirk’s killing?

These are not the late-night wars of old.

Back in the 90s and 2000s, much ink was spilled as the major networks grappled for ratings in the now-quaint real estate of post-11pm programming. Johnny Carson retired. David Letterman jumped to CBS. Conan O’Brien was plucked from obscurity, eventually handed The Tonight Show, and then had it essentially clawed back by Jay Leno for a few more years of appalling hackwork. But in retrospect, maybe the most prescient moments were two that seemed decidedly minor at the time: Bill Maher’s Politically Incorrect was yanked off the air by ABC because Maher expressed an unpopular 9/11-related opinion in a highly understandable context, and Jimmy Fallon playfully tousled Donald Trump’s hair.

Palestinian musicians were joined by stars including Neneh Cherry and Louis Theroux for a massive four-hour fundraising concert in London. Their artistry revealed the strength and breadth of a culture under siege

It’s a muggy midweek afternoon when a trail of people draped in black and white keffiyeh scarves, Palestine flags and Free Palestine slogan T-shirts begin to trickle into Wembley Arena. In the foyer of the venue, 56-year-old Kiran has just arrived from her home in Milton Keynes.

“I’d never protested in my life before October 2023,” she says. “It’s been so horrific to see what’s happening in Gaza, I felt I had to do something since if you don’t make a stand now, when would you ever? Things might feel futile but this is a way to show the world we care and that we stand together more than we are torn apart.”

Neneh Cherry performs with Greentea Peng

The late actor was a paragon of masculine cool and a sartorial chameleon, able to take any aesthetic trope and make it shine with easy authenticity

The pantheon of men’s style icons is surprisingly compact. There are scores of uniquely handsome and stylish actors, pop stars, sportsmen – but when it comes to their decades-long influence and a sense of permanence unaffected by trends in fashion, three square-jawed American boys next door stand out: Paul Newman, Steve McQueen – and Robert Redford, who died yesterday at 89.

Redford’s death is, obviously, a loss to cinema. In the latter half of the 20th century, few actors so roundly embodied the soul of American film-making, or perhaps even the US itself. During a decade-long, career-defining run of hit movies, Redford established the archetype of the modern leading man. He was impossibly handsome and warmly charismatic, of course, but also scrappy, soulful, athletic, bookishly intelligent and politically aware. A matinee idol who could fix your car while reciting Walt Whitman.

Redford played with style, able to flit between macho tradition and 70s femininity, and always with innate sex appeal

Ahead of the release of A House of Dynamite – which could make Bigelow the first woman to win the best director Oscar winner twice – we rate her hits, from Point Break to The Hurt Locker

An old-school coldwar nuclear sub thriller based on a true story from 1961, with Harrison Ford as the icily authoritarian Soviet commander busting out his Ryushhhyan acksyent. Liam Neeson plays his second-in-command, resentful at having this cold fish imposed over his head and yet destined to respect the guy. Some slightly clunky traditional moments for our two leading males, but also a few exciting ones.

She was the first female president of the supreme court, causing a ruckus when she ruled against Boris Johnson’s suspension of parliament. Now she has written an insider’s take on the UK’s underfunded, overwhelmed justice system

When a supreme court judge is a household name, it’s either because they’re very outspoken on a hot topic, or because you’re living in choppy times, and there are so few grownups left among the legislators that the law has to put its hoof down. Brenda Hale, the right honourable Baroness Hale of Richmond (she doesn’t stand on ceremony, but she’d be annoyed if you got it wrong, preferring things to be right) emphatically doesn’t fall into the first camp, but was thrown into the spotlight in 2019. This was when she found Boris Johnson’s suspension of parliament – which meant his government could evade scrutiny in the run-up to Britain’s exit from the EU – unlawful.

Now retired, she was then head of the supreme court and boy could she accessorise. She handed down that ruling wearing a spider brooch with a body as big as a plum, and one headline that week ran: “Spider woman takes down Hulk: viewers transfixed by judge’s brooch as ruling crushes PM.” Johnson, of course, was not crushed, but got his miserable deal through and survived to make a complete, self-serving hash of the next crisis. “I’m not going to make any comment about Brexit,” she says, slightly incredulous that I would ask. I can’t help it, unfortunately. It’s like a tic.

US and UK leaders also quizzed over Gaza and free speech as Trump claims he did not know former US ambassador, Peter Mandelson

President Trump is now leaving Windsor Castle. He will be flying to Chequers by helicopter.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the Ukrainian president, has thanked King Charles for what he said at the state banquet last night strongly supporting the Ukrainian cause.

I extend my deepest thanks to His Majesty King Charles III @RoyalFamily for his steadfast support. Ukraine greatly values the United Kingdom’s unwavering and principled stance.

When tyranny threatens Europe once again, we must all hold firm, and Britain continues to lead in defending freedom on many fronts. Together, we have achieved a lot, and with the support of freedom-loving nations—the UK, our European partners, and the US—we continue to defend values and protect lives. We are united in our efforts to make diplomacy work and secure lasting peace for the European continent.

Our countries have the closest defence, security and intelligence relationship ever known. In two world wars, we fought together to defeat the forces of tyranny.

Today, as tyranny once again threatens Europe, we and our allies stand together in support of Ukraine, to deter aggression and secure peace. And our Aukus submarine partnership, with Australia, sets the benchmark for innovative and vital collaboration.

Ex-Labour leader says ‘legal advice being taken’ over issue, while Sultana also claims ‘sexist boys’ club’ is running party

• UK politics live – latest updates

An extraordinary split has opened between Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana in the formation of their new leftwing party, with the former Labour leader suggesting he will take legal action over an unauthorised membership portal promoted by his co-leader.

Sultana claimed the party was being run by a “sexist boys’ club” and suggested there were deep disagreements over how to launch party membership – including with the four other MPs in Corbyn’s Independent Alliance.

Tens of thousands more forced to flee makeshift homes and shelters daily in face of new Israeli offensive

More than a quarter of a million people have been displaced from Gaza City in the last month, according to figures from the UN, with tens of thousands more forced to flee makeshift homes and shelters daily in the face of a new Israeli offensive.

Multiple strikes by Israeli artillery, tanks and warplanes hit Gaza City again on Thursday as a UN official said “new waves of mass displacement” were under way, after about 60,000 fled the new assault in 72 hours earlier this week.

Job losses and global reorganisation expected amid Trump administration’s slashing of funding and ‘UN80’ review

The UN will need to cut $500m (about £370m) from next year’s budget and lose 20% of its staff as it struggles to cope with a massive reduction in funding by the Trump administration.

The plan, in gestation since Donald Trump started slashing his foreign aid budget, is likely to involve an initial minimum 3,000 job cuts out of a 35,000-strong main workforce. The overall UN core or regular budget would be cut from $3.7bn to about $3.2bn next year. It means reductions of 15.1% in resources and 18.8% in posts in the regular budget compared with the 2025 budget.