US consumer spending — the economy’s main engine — has lost steam for most of this year, portending

A new summer, a new tournament, the same goal: England’s World Cup campaign begins in earnest against Portugal on Saturday, with a final send-off match before the Lionesses head to Australia. A year ago, England were starting to pick up momentum on home soil before the Euros, continuing the winning run under Sarina Wiegman that would carry them all the way to Wembley - and from there, history. The same again? “I think the best thing we can do is just not compare,” said the midfielder and Euros winner Georgia Stanway. The Lionesses will once again be driven on by the chance to inspire the nation, but the challenge that awaits at the World Cup is completely different to the opportunity they seized so spectacularly last July. For one, this warm-up friendly against Portugal in Milton Keynes was not officially confirmed until just three weeks ago, following a dispute over release dates that threatened to compromise England’s preparations. It mirrored the hold-up over the TV rights deal for the tournament - another issue that was not resolved until mid-June. On both counts, there will have been too much uncertainty there for England’s liking. But finally, five weeks on from the end of the domestic season, attention returns to the pitch and England’s quest for glory. There is plenty to watch out for: Wiegman, memorably, named the same starting eleven across all six matches as the Lionesses won the Euros. Now, the England manager has a different squad to choose from, and a number of selection issues to decide upon if she plans to be as consistent in Australia. Wiegman is still in the process of figuring that out. The Lionesses, of course, are without last year’s captain Leah Williamson, the player of the Euros and golden boot winner Beth Mead, and the creative force of their midfield in Fran Kirby. Jill Scott, the leader in the camp at last year’s Euros, has retired and even though the Lionesses have played and won plenty of games since then, the dynamics in the squad ahead of a major tournament will be different as well. “There’s different experiences, there’s different competition now,” Wiegman said. “And there’s also in some positions really high competition.” The battle is already underway in camp and has been since England arrived at St George’s Park two weeks ago. Understandably, a lot of the focus on England ahead of the World Cup has been on the players who won’t be there, but Wiegman also faces a number of selection headaches that would be the envy of most if not all other managers at this summer’s tournament. Among them, Wiegman will have to decide who out of Alessia Russo, Rachel Daly or Beth England will be her starting striker at the Euros. Russo, who is set to join Arsenal after confirming her departure from Manchester United, had appeared to be the favourite but Daly arrives having struck 22 goals in the Women’s Super League for Aston Villa last season, and England scoring 12 in as many games with Tottenham. “The competition has been so high,” Russo said this week. “Rachel and Beth, we’re all competing”. On the wings, Lauren James, Chloe Kelly and Lauren Hemp are vying for two places - although that also offers Wiegman the chance to change games from the bench, which proved so key at the Euros last year. “The standard and depth is incredible,” said Jess Carter, who is favourite to get the nod at left back. “Everyone knows that in order to be successful at the World Cup we’ve all got to raise our level to a higher level. That’s what we’re all trying to do.” While Wiegman has options in the attacking positions, she faces headaches of a different sort in defence. Millie Bright, who will captain the Lionesses in Australia, has not played since March and will miss the Portugal match as she continues to recover from knee surgery. Alex Greenwood is fit to start despite an injury scare in training earlier this week, but it still means that England will start with a centre-back combination that is unlikely to play in the opening match against Haiti on July 22. Portugal will be making their World Cup debut this summer and while the tournament features an extensive list of contenders - the Selecao are not among them. It’s a match the Lionesses will be expected to win, and win well, following their defeat to Australia in their last outing back in April. “It’s always good to have those games before the tournament to see where we are, to see what things we need to work on,” said Ella Toone, another player who is looking to nail down a starting spot. “It’s a great game, a different test to what we are going to face as well. It’s always nice to play in a proper game before we go out to the World Cup.” Wiegman added that while England will prepare for Portugal to be “technical” and “play a possession game” - the visitors are “not afraid to play long ball” and have “speed up front”. The Lionesses will need to ensure that they deal with that more direct approach better than they managed when facing Australia and Sam Kerr, when Wiegman’s unbeaten run was brought to an end two months ago. But the focus now is on new starts: forget the Euros, forget what’s come before - England’s path to the World Cup start here. Read More Fifa reveal eight options for Women’s World Cup captains after ‘OneLove’ armband fallout in Qatar Women’s World Cup TV schedule: How to watch every match in UK When is the Women’s World Cup and what are the fixtures? Two warm-up games is ‘best preparation we can have’ – Sarina Wiegman ‘Very high’ expectations on England’s Lionesses at World Cup, Georgia Stanway says Alessia Russo fully focused on England after ‘tough’ summer of transfer talk

Employers who hire immigrants in the country illegally will face tough punishments and gun owners will have more freedoms when more than 200 new Florida laws take effect Saturday

A panel of judges has voted to render far-right former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro ineligible to run for office again after concluding that he abused his power and cast unfounded doubts on the country’s electronic voting system

President Joe Biden has said it would be a mistake to expand the Supreme Court, despite its recent rulings against affirmative action in higher education, LGBT+ rights, and student loan debt forgiveness. The high court overturned decades of policies when it ruled this week that race-based admissions were not constitutional, preventing universities from considering race as a factor in student applications. Mr Biden hit out at the ruling on Thursday, commenting: “We cannot let this decision be the last word. “Discrimination still exists in America,” he added. “This is not a normal court.” Despite his strong reaction to the decision, the president ruled out the idea of “packing” the Supreme Court with additional justices in order to change the balance of opinion on the bench. “I think if we start the process of trying to expand the court, we’re going to politicise it maybe forever in a way that is not healthy,” Mr Biden told MSNBC’s Nicolle Wallace. It was a question Mr Biden was asked regularly during his last presidential campaign when a worried Democratic electorate expressed concern that there were few liberal justices left on the bench which would allow for the decisions handed down over the past year. Although it would not be unprecedented to change the number of justices in the Supreme Court — as the Constitution does not specify how many justices there should be — the number has remained at nine since not been changed since 1868. The court currently consists of nine justices — three of whom were chosen during Donald Trump’s only term as president, tipping the balance over to more conservative judges. Indeed, just three of the current nine justices were appointed by Democratic presidents — Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson was appointed by Mr Biden, and Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor were appointed by President Barack Obama. Clarence Thomas was appointed by President George HW Bush, and President George W Bush appointed Samuel Alito and Chief Justice John Roberts. Since Mr Trump’s appointment of justices Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett, the court has weighed in with a conservative hand on landmark rulings — including the overturning of the historic abortion 1973 ruling Roe v. Wade, giving the decision on abortion provision over to individual states. In addition to the ruling on affirmative action, on Friday 30 June, the court also struck down President Biden’s plan to cancel student loan debts for millions of Americans, reversing his campaign-trail promise as borrowers prepare to resume payments this summer. The court also ruled that a wedding website designer may refuse to create work for people in the LGBT+ community if it conflicts with their religious beliefs. The case was unique in that it asked justices to rule on a question that was solely based on a hypothetical scenario. Read More Supreme Court allows Colorado designer to deny LGBT+ customers in ruling on last day of Pride Month Supreme Court strikes down Biden’s plan to cancel student loan debts The Supreme Court will decide if some judges have gone too far in striking down gun restrictions How the Supreme Court student loan decision affects you

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After a more than three-year pause, borrowers will have to restart paying their federal student loan bills in October.

The Supreme Court declined Friday to take up a challenge to a Mississippi statute that bars individuals convicted of certain felonies from voting. Critics say the law is unconstitutional because it was enacted in 1890 with the intent to disenfranchise Black voters.

A top official overseeing school lunches in New York City’s sprawling public school system took bribes and allowed dangerous chicken products contaminated with shards of metal and plastic to be served to children, a jury concluded on Wednesday. Eric Goldstein, who oversaw the city’s Office of Food and Nutrition Services, was convicted in a Brooklyn court of conspiracy, extortion, wire fraud, and taking bribes. Prosecutors said he was bribed with cash and an ownership stake in a food company by the owners of food supply company Somma – Blaine Iler, Michael Turley, Brian Twomey – in exchange for his cooperation facilitating lucrative contracts with the city. The trio of men were convicted of conspiracy, wire fraud, and bribery. “Eric Goldstein was for sale,” prosecutor Laura Zuckerwise said in her closing statemnets. “And Michael Turley, Blaine Iler and Brian Twomey, they bought him.” Goldstein could face up to 20 years in prison, according to The New York Post. The former school official, who previously started a food company of his own alongside Turley, Iler, and Twomey called Range Meats Supply, helped fast-track Somma to get contracts supply nearly 2,000 schools in 2015, leading to a huge spike in demand and millions of dollars of food orders. “I’m going to buy a lot of f***ing chicken from you guys, let’s do the beef,” Goldstein allegedly told Iler at a 2015 meeting, according to prosecutors. By September of 2016, people were complaining that Somma chicken contained pieces of wire-like metal and plastic, according to school incident logs shown to jurors. The chicken caused people to bleed and in one case choke on a bone in a supposedly boneless dish, according to officials. As complaints mounted, Turley, Iler, and Twomey allegedly offered Goldstein ownership of Range Meats and $66,000. The trio also sent money to Goldstein’s divorce lawyer and took the school official on trips around the world. The group used the code name “Roger Rabbit” to refer to Goldstein, according to law enforcement. During the trial, prosecutors showed jurors emails between the now-convicted conspirators, and showed photos of one of the tainted drumsticks, which had a bright red liquid oozing out of it. A lawyer for Goldstein told The New York Times has was “extremely disappointed” and would appeal the verdict.