They closed the night with The Killers, vegan rock, but there were no fatalities: no athlete burst a vein or had artificially hypertrophied muscles split open mid-effort; ligaments and tendons held up in the Las Vegas parking lot where, in 35 days, organizers had installed an elevated 100-meter, six-lane sprint track, a 50-meter pool with four lanes, a weightlifting stage and a long platform to seat thousands of spectators. Giant screens and lots of LEDs ran from 6.00 pm to 1.00 am, prime time in the city of vice, the hour when life wakes up.

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U.S. author Caro Claire Burke has made a spectacular debut with her novel Yesteryear, which follows the story of a famous influencer. Like all ultraconservative influencers, she sells an idyllic image of a past that never existed — something she discovers when she wakes up one day in 1885. The book is sharp and addictive, and with it, the author has managed to earn as much or more than the very women she portrays through Natalie, her anti‑heroine.

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Be careful what you wish for, as the saying goes, although it is not entirely clear what Yesteryear’s protagonist intended when she downloaded the Instagram app and started her journey as an influencer. Here’s what we can say for sure: Natalie, or Nattie, is a devout Christian and a proud housewife. She is intelligent but believes little can be learned at university. Well-married — no, phenomenally well-married — to the youngest son of a senator who is a potential presidential candidate. A potential presidential candidate for none other than the United States.

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“Random seat? You’ll lose the window.” “The flight costs €15, we’re not going to give you a foot massage.” “You paid for a seat, not a throne.” Ryanair’s official Spanish account on X has posted messages like these over the past month. Far from causing outrage, they have become almost routine. The Irish low-cost carrier has long embraced an acidic, at times offensive, communication style. But it is not alone. Other brands such as U.S. burger chain Wendy’s or even language learning app Duolingo show that provocation has become a marketing lingua franca.

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Donald Trump has added another victory in Texas, underscoring MAGA’s firm grip on the Republican Party in this key state. His Senate pick, the controversial attorney general Ken Paxton, defeated veteran Republican senator John Cornyn by a wide margin. With the result, Paxton denies Cornyn the chance to seek a fifth term in Washington in the November midterm elections.

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Let’s start with the proven facts: Disclosure Day is the most anticipated film of the summer. Its director and screenwriter, Steven Spielberg, revealed details about its plot this week on one of Stephen Colbert’s final shows: he says it tells the story of the theft by officials, “committed to the truth,” of all information held by the government “about UFOs and extraterrestrial visits,” and the system’s desperate attempts to prevent it being revealed.

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