Ten years ago, the San Francisco 49ers quarterback refused to stand for the national anthem. He was accused of disrespecting the flag, the game, and America. In a rare interview, he talks about inspiring a global gesture of civil rights

Colin Kaepernick still gets up at 4.30am every morning to train. “Strength training, speed training, position training – still do all of the same type of workouts I did while I was playing,” he says cheerily. “And then go about the rest of my day.” It is almost 10 years since Kaepernick last played a game of top-flight football. His career was abruptly and cruelly cut short just as it was peaking, after the National Football League (NFL) effectively closed ranks and shut him out for being too political. Now, at 38 years old, he is well aware that his chances of a return are dwindling by the day, but he remains as game-ready as ever. “I stay relentless at it,” he continues in his easy drawl. “I look at it from the perspective of, ‘What are the things that I can control?’ And what I know I can control is being prepared for when opportunity knocks, and to also continue knocking, on my end, looking for ways and opportunities … just staying resilient and focused and disciplined – that is what’s gotten me to this point in my life.”

Kaepernick’s story is defined by the events of late 2016, when he repeatedly refused to stand for the pre-match national anthem – resulting in a chorus of booing on the pitch, insults and outrage off it, and exclusion from the sport he still loves. He was one of the biggest names in the game at the time; quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers, a national celebrity, sponsored by major brands, and looking back, his actions fed into so much that has happened since: the rise of Donald Trump, the Black Lives Matter protests and a global reckoning with racism, then the backlash against what is now being called “Woke 1.0”, and the resurgence of a white nationalism that the US complacently assumed was in the past.

When her parents waved her off to study in England they hoped it would be a fresh start the 16-year-old needed after struggling with her mental health in Hong Kong. Instead, 10 months later, she was dead. What went so wrong?

As a young teen, one of Luna Wong’s favourite things to do was to walk to a bridge near her home in Hong Kong and sit there for a while, listening to the traffic and the water below, looking out at the lights and the activity of the city. She had a particular way of observing the world, which she expressed through photography. Her pictures were mostly landscapes, ordinary corners of Hong Kong, but she could spot an image nobody else would have seen in the same place. She was an inquisitive kid who enjoyed making people laugh, and was deeply interested in the world around her. Then in 2019, when she was 13, political unrest in Hong Kong, swiftly followed by Covid lockdowns, shrank that world to the size of her bedroom. For a prolonged period, Luna barely left her family’s flat. School became a screen; friends were only accessible virtually. She stopped sleeping properly, started having panic attacks, and was diagnosed with depression and anxiety.

When the world opened up after Covid, Luna was too changed to step easily back into it. She was often so anxious she couldn’t attend school, and fell seriously behind. Her psychiatrist prescribed antidepressants, anti-anxiety medication and sleeping pills. Later, ADHD medication and an anti-psychotic drug were added to the mix. This heavy combination of prescription drugs left her lethargic in the day – though still often awake at night – and caused weight gain, which distressed her. But Luna retained her curious streak. Keen to understand her own issues better, she read about psychology, ordering textbooks to teach herself about the human mind. When her friends had problems, she offered advice, and dreamed of becoming a psychologist. But it was hard to see how this would be possible as she struggled to attend school.

From a cosy Cornish inn with open fires to a boutique hotel in Northumberland, these new and revamped boltholes tick all the right boxes

Trump tries to dominate at the UN as his approval ratings plummet and even some Republicans stray from the script

Donald Trump stood before the United Nations on Tuesday and threatened to “annihilate” Iran. Yet even as the most powerful man on the planet flexed his military muscles, he was powerless to keep the gravitational pull of domestic politics at bay.

Heading into the UN building in New York, the US president was questioned by Kaitlan Collins, an anchor at CNN, which he had banned from the White House before a judge ruled against him. “I’m surprised that CNN is here covering me,” the 80-year-old snapped. “You should not be here covering me.”

Miklos, 25, a PhD student, meets Minnie, 23, who works in film production

What were you hoping for?
To take a step outside my comfort zone. To meet the love of my life.

Spain and Barcelona wonderkid has won World Cup and European Championship but says there are no limits for his career

Like the kid he is, Lamine Yamal just wanted to keep playing. This wasn’t Plaça Joan XXIII, wasn’t El Parque de Rocafonda either; it wasn’t the Mataró neighbourhood where it all began, but it might have been. “We’re in a World Cup final and I wanted to carry on,” he says, and there’s the smile again, the braces. Really? “Yes”. No nerves? “No. I never thought: ‘Just blow the whistle’. I was enjoying it.” No fear, just fun: 19 July, New Jersey and he knew: this 19-year-old who had happily been asleep on the bus to the biggest match of his life.

And now he sits in a first-floor office in Las Rozas, surrounded by tactics boards and stats sheets. There’s a Spain keyring hanging from the door and a second star on his shirt. In the corridor, crates loaded for London. Son of Mounir and Sheila, named after the family friends who helped them, “touched by God’s wand” in the words of the coach whose office is next door, there’s something about Lamine Yamal. He turned 17 the day before the final of Euro 2024, a schoolboy sitting exams, and 19 the day before the semi-final of the World Cup. Asked what he wanted, he said a trip to New York, so there he was, about to be a champion again.

Housing secretary says Home Office moved goalposts with ‘disruptive’ change to permanent residence rules

Angela Rayner has stood by her criticism of Home Office reforms that would make it harder for foreign care workers to claim permanent residence in the UK, describing them as “disruptive”.

Last year, Shabana Mahmood, the home secretary, announced that low paid migrants on jobs below graduate level would have to be in the country for 15 years before applying for settlement. Rayner previously attacked the plans as being “un-British”.

• Noel Gallagher, fan and Oasis star, ‘shocked and sad’

• David Bernstein: a fine is ‘not sufficient’ if appeal fails

Manchester City’s manager Enzo Maresca posted a cryptic message on social media reading “I know nothing” after the club was found guilty on virtually all counts of breaching Premier League financial rules.

News broke on Friday that City had been found guilty on almost all of more than 100 charges laid by the Premier League in February 2023, prompting reactions from various figures associated with the club. City have always denied all counts and are expected to appeal.

University staff voice concerns over reputational risk of partnering with company behind ChatGPT

The University of Oxford has allowed the company behind ChatGPT to train its AI models on historical texts from its Bodleian Library, as tech companies scour academic institutions for fresh data.

The Bodleian material digitised by OpenAI has been used to “populate the OpenAI training set”, according to internal documents.

Files could have seismic consequences for online casinos, including those accused of illegally targeting consumers

The secrets of thousands of online casinos have been laid bare in a vast leak of data that could have seismic consequences for offshore gambling firms, including some accused of illegally targeting consumers around the world.

The Casino Secrets leak reveals tens of thousands of previously confidential files stored by the gambling regulator on the Caribbean island of Curaçao.