Trump to kick off independence celebrations as heatwave grips US
President will speak at Mount Rushmore under a storm warning as high temperatures threaten 250th anniversary events
Letter: What happens when doctors push the randomisation button
From Professor Michael Clarke, Centre for Public Health, Queen’s University Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK
Letter: Warsh could do worse than copy Greenspan ‘Fedspeak’
From Paul Bloustein, Cincinnati, OH, US
Letter: The 357 steps to Italy’s smallest public library
From Marco Perduca, Florence, Italy
Letter: Liberals should really stop pathologising Trump voters
From John J Pieretti, San Francisco, CA, US
Letter: HMRC’s echoes of Dickens’ Circumlocution Office
From Leonard Bazar, London NW11, UK
Letter: Recalling the groupthink of the credit rating agencies
From Richard Kemmish, Culmhead, Somerset, UK
Letter: Manchester’s turnaround predates the Burnham era
From Marcia Pointon, Professor Emerita in History of Art, University of Manchester; Manchester resident 1962-1968; 1992-2003, London NW1, UK
Letter: Americans claiming victory. Now that sounds familiar
From Kevin Dougherty, Quebec, QC, Canada
Letter: Butter tart: the rise of the humble gas-station snack
From Cheryl Cheung, Former Chef, London NW1, UK
Correction: Kamala Harris
Kamala Harris would have needed an extra 230,000 votes across Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan to win the 2024 US presidential election, not 460,000 as wrongly stated in an article in Life & Arts on June 27
FT Crossword: Polymath number 1,394
FT Crossword: Number 18,417
UK finds lost US Declaration of Independence copy after 250 years
Document revealed by National Archives ahead of its anniversary on Saturday
Iran begins mourning for Khamenei under tight security
Dignitaries from more than 100 nations pay respects to slain supreme leader ahead of official funeral
Andy Burnham says he will retain UK’s pension triple lock
Keir Starmer’s likely successor also faced a question from Tory leader Kemi Badenoch during Reddit ‘ask me anything’ session
Conservative Keiko Fujimori wins knife-edge election in Peru
Daughter of autocrat vows to boost private investment in mining sector while taking a tough line on crime
StubHub under investigation over alleged ‘ghost ticketing’ at World Cup
Texas attorney-general probes whether group is ‘cancelling or failing to provide’ purchases through its website
Top investors oppose £5.7bn private equity bid for energy group DCC
Offer from KKR and Bridgepoint subsidiary fails to win support from Ninety One, Aviva Investors and Fidelity International
Romanians sentenced in London for Iran-directed attack on journalist
The two men were found to have stabbed opposition-supporting Pouria Zeraati on a Wimbledon street
An American birthday worth celebrating
Though its founding ideals are threatened, the US has the capacity for renewal
Directors’ Deals: Burberry’s new reward policy prompts top team to buy in
Fashion group reports operating profit again under new chief
Stockpickers: Volex, Polar Capital, Focusrite
Our experts discuss which companies to buy, sell or hold this week
Why US exceptionalism in markets is justified
An honest conclusion is that America’s centrality rests on a set of mutually reinforcing advantages