Hosts ponder whether to start Füllkrug up front with potential for a stormy night against unfancied Denmark

First, the insects. There has been an infestation of mosquitoes at Germany’s training camp in Herzogenaurach in Bavaria, one that has claimed numerous victims, with a fortnight of humid weather rendering the squad’s outdoor viewing garden – which sits right next to a forest – almost unusable in the evenings. “I have already been bitten two or three times,” the striker Maximilian Beier admitted. “But if that’s the biggest problem, then fine …”

Then, the thunder. The DWD, Germany’s equivalent of the Met Office, is warning of severe thunderstorms, torrential rain, large hailstones, hurricane-force winds and perhaps even tornadoes across the west of the country on Saturday: perfectly timed to coincide with the crunch last-16 clash against Denmark in Dortmund.

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© Photograph: Piroschka Van De Wouw/Reuters

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© Photograph: Piroschka Van De Wouw/Reuters

The first knockout stage has several intriguing matches, including Spain against Georgia and France v Belgium

Italy are unbeaten against Switzerland in 11 games stretching back to qualifying for the 1994 World Cup but they look vulnerable here. They were worryingly open against both Albania and Spain and the switch to a back three against Croatia only seemed to make them flatter going forward. In goal Gianluigi Donnarumma has had a fine tournament, but a lack of creativity and the absence of a top-class centre-forward are major issues.

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© Composite: Anadolu/Getty Images; Reuters; AP

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© Composite: Anadolu/Getty Images; Reuters; AP

Several well-known independent fashion firms have gone down in the past year, yet Ganni continues to go from strength to strength. Here, its founders reveal why it’s booming

It’s the middle of August 2023 and the Danish It-girl brand Ganni is throwing a party to celebrate the last night of Copenhagen fashion week. In a room hidden behind a heaving dancefloor, Paloma Elsesser, the curve New York model who opened Ganni’s show hours before, is dominating the karaoke room and creative director Ditte Reffstrup is dancing on the bar.

It feels like a celebration from a different era. Independent designers are struggling. The news of Matches Fashion’s closure in March was followed by announcements that the Vampire’s Wife and Mara Hoffman would shut down. Roksanda had filed a notice of intent to appoint an administrator, a fate avoided only by the entrance of a buyer. All offer similarly playful garments and are, in many ways, despite higher prices, Ganni’s peers. But the Danish brand, which Reffstrup took over in 2009 alongside her husband, Nikolaj, has reason to be cheerful.

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© Photograph: PR IMAGE

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© Photograph: PR IMAGE

World’s first emissions tax on agriculture will require farmers to pay for greenhouse gas pollution from livestock

Farmers in Denmark will have to pay for planet-heating pollutants that their cattle expel as gas, after the government agreed to set the world’s first emissions tax on agriculture.

The agreement – reached on Monday night after months of fraught negotiations between farmers, industry, politicians and environmental groups – will introduce an effective tax of 120 kroner (£14) per ton of greenhouse gas pollution from livestock in 2030, which will rise to 300 kroner per ton in 2035.

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© Photograph: Wayne HUTCHINSON/Alamy

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© Photograph: Wayne HUTCHINSON/Alamy

Aussies taste-test the spicy ramen that's too hot for Denmark.

"Time is not your friend when it comes to this." "I have sweaty eyelids!" "I've dropped some on my hand. That might need treatment." Come for the excellent Korean packaging! (NB: contact the Poison Line if children show "acute symptoms".)