Coast Guard, FBI boarded Texas-bound oil tanker to investigate cyberattack

The U.S. has so far not attributed the potential breach to a specific actor, but Iranian state media amplified the story in the weeks following the attack.

Canada invited to become EU’s first ‘associate member’ as Trump trade war intensifies

EU chief Ursula von der Leyen said the bloc wants to open the door for Canada to become its first associate member, signaling a major deepening of ties.

Will AI really destroy humanity? Pioneers who created the tech weigh in

AI pioneers and "godfathers" have weighed in on Anthropic and OpenAI researcher concerns over existential safety risks around the technology.

Canada could become first ‘associate member’ of the EU, von der Leyen suggests – Europe live

European Commission president says the EU wants to ‘move the partnership with Canada to the highest level possible’

Von der Leyen says “kickstarting Europe’s economy is our number one priority,” as Europe needs to tap into its huge market, world class industries and services.

She says its single market remains too fragmented and needs to reform further, with the aim of completing it by the end of next year.

“Do we want to rally around our European idea that together we can decide our own destiny? Or do we let our democracies be undermined by the proxies and puppets of authoritarians?

Whether it is the ultra nationalist or the anti-European, whether it’s Russian interference or disinformation, the names may be different, but their goal is the same.

Lisa Nandy brands Musk’s X a ‘disgrace’ as she pledges crackdown on social media doxxing – UK politics live

Culture secretary says X ‘didn’t even bother to turn up’ to meeting about abuse, intimidation and doxxing on social media

An Oxfordshire village which could house more than 1,000 asylum seekers has voted overwhelmingly to become an independent state in a symbolic “referendum”, the Press Association reports. PA says:

The people of Piddington have voted to secede from the UK after the government announced plans to house 1,256 male asylum seekers at a nearby former military base.

Some 285 villagers backed “independence”, with a turnout of nearly 92%.

Georgia execution delayed for hearing under new law that may reduce sentence

A Georgia judge has put an execution on hold to allow time for a hearing on whether the sentence should be reduced under a new state law that lets victims of abuse have their sentences reconsidered.

The Cycle of Love review –a 6,000-mile bike ride caps a real life Swedish-Indian romance

One Oscar-winning director, one horoscope-prompted meet-cute and a continent-crossing cyclist – is this the start of documentaries that make you happy-cry?

Here is a story that on the face of it seems so wildly unlikely it can only be true. Indeed, the very concept of a romantic documentary sounds almost oxymoronic, an indication of how much nonfiction films have become synonymous with grim histories full of suffering and injustice. Let’s hope this sweet work, directed by Orlando von Einsiedel (who’s made his share of hardcore, suffering-intensive docs including Oscar-winning short The White Helmets) launches a new trend in nonfiction film-making for stuff that makes you happy-cry.

The basic meet-cute happened in 1975, when PK (played by Chirag Lobo in the film’s extensive re-enactments) met Lotta (Mina Dale) in Delhi. He was a poor street artist, a Dalit, the lowest possible caste, once called Untouchables. The real PK Mahanandia appears on screen to explain how he had left his rural village for Delhi in order to get away from all that caste hierarchy. When he met Lotta he pretty much knew he’d met the woman of his dreams because he’d been carrying a horoscope his father had commissioned for him when he was a baby that prophesised he’d fall in love with a woman whose family owned a jungle. Lotta, a backpacker from Sweden, hailed from a clan back home that owned a forest, so that was good enough for PK to believe he’d met his fate. After a chaste holiday romance bloomed between these two crazy kids, she went back to Sweden and he decided to bicycle the 6,000 miles all the way there from India to prove his love.

U.S. acknowledges for the first time that it has deployed weapons in space

The remarkable revelation comes after previous warnings about countries such as Russia possibly weaponizing a global frontier long agreed in treaties to be used for only peaceful purposes.

Xhaka promises ‘fire’ from Sunderland on long-awaited return to Europe

Captain looking forward to intimidating atmosphere when Wearsiders host AZ, after 53 years away

When Sunderland last played European football, club directors viewed it as a useful means of raising the cash necessary to fund floodlight upgrades at Roker Park necessitated by England’s widespread adoption of colour television.

Back in the autumn of 1973 a lighting system compatible with the demands of broadcasting in black and white was proving increasingly outdated and Sunderland responded by doubling admission prices for the second leg of their opening European Cup Winners’ Cup tie against Vasas of Budapest. Coming at a moment when miners and railway workers were engaged in long-running industrial action and north-easterners’ finances were duly tight, it dictated that a disappointing crowd of under 23,000 turned out to watch Dennis Tueart’s penalty secure a 3-0 aggregate win.

Iranian football returns in the shadow of war and with row over last league title

Prolonged league suspension due to war and falling behind Saudi spending power are weakening the sport in Iran

Just three months ago, Iran was one of the biggest stories in football as Team Melli arrived at the World Cup to try to play in the US, a country that had been bombing and firing missiles at Tehran and other targets. A disallowed goal and a last-minute effort that hit the bar in the final group game against Egypt confirmed Iran’s group-stage exit – to the delight of some US officials – by the narrowest of margins. It also signalled the abrupt end of international attention.

This week there was a return, however, to international action as Esteghlal and Tractor SC started out in the AFC Champions League Elite. It comes after the Persian Gulf League kicked off in mid-August, almost six months after it was postponed at the end of February, and subsequently abandoned as the war continued.

Sky closes in on broadcast rights for first women’s British & Irish Lions tour

• Lions to play five fixtures in New Zealand in 2027

• Sky has held live rights for men’s Lions since 1997

The inaugural women’s British & Irish Lions tour of New Zealand next year is expected to be broadcast live on Sky Sports in a significant boost for the women’s game. Sky has held live rights for men’s Lions fixtures since the 1997 tour of South Africa, and the broadcaster is understood to be in advanced discussions about adding the women’s series to its portfolio.

The first women’s Lions will play three Tests against the Black Ferns and two tour matches next September, with Sky expected to broadcast all five fixtures.

Ed Sheeran's tour in trouble after opening acts drop out in solidarity with rapper Macklemore

Ed Sheeran's tour of North and South America was plunged into chaos when four of his supporting acts quit in solidarity with the rapper Macklemore, who was dropped for making pro-Palestinian comments.

Redwood by Ben Macintyre review – a superbly wrought tale of cold war defection

This story of Soviet agent and his MI6 handler in revolutionary Iran is a page-turning masterpiece

Ben Macintyre uses the acronym MICE to describe the reasons people betray their countries: Money, Ideology, Coercion or Ego. In the set-piece that opens his latest work of true-espionage, we discover a new reason: erectile dysfunction.

Stressed, drinking too much, under constant surveillance, furious about the corruption of his colleagues and frustrated with his home life, the KGB’s Vladimir Kuzichkin is offering to betray the secrets of his homeland and its Iranian allies, if only a British doctor can help him have sex again.

The other side of Croatia: ‘a landscape that could out-Tuscany Tuscany’

Weekenders from Zagreb head to the rolling green Samobor Hills for nature, vineyards, delicious local food and Habsburg-era architecture

‘You’re going to Samobor? You must try kremšnita,” my Dubrovnik friends told me before I set off on my trip north. “But I’ve already had kremšnita in Zagreb,” I told them. They do it better in Samobor, they insisted. I wasn’t about to get embroiled in a battle of the cream cakes in a region where Croatians, Slovenes and Austrians all like to celebrate their own versions of this decadently thick, fat custard slice topped with puff pastry and icing sugar. But I was more than willing – happy, even – to follow everyone’s suggestions to try kremšnita in Hotel Livadić’s Kavana Livadić, in Samobor’s main King Tomislav Square, a mere half-hour drive west of Zagreb.

It lived up to the hype – delicately rich, creamy and with a light touch. After spending a few weeks in sun-bleached Venetian Dalmatia, amid the scrubby, limestone Dinaric Alps, I had swapped empires and was firmly in Habsburg Croatia. Here, in Zagreb County’s prettiest town, handsome baroque houses in pastel shades of buttery yellow, apricot and pistachio, festooned with stucco, line narrow King Tomislav Square, whose umbrella-shaded cafe terraces were filled with Croatians getting their morning fix of coffee and chatter.

‘Who do they dream of becoming?’ Teenage girls in America – in pictures

As a child from a small Belgian farming town, Eva Verbeeck could only imagine what it was like growing up as an American teen. Then she began photographing them

A moment that changed me: I felt hugely self conscious about my skin - until I had a revelation

For years, my vitiligo controlled my life, and I was constantly trying to disguise it. But one day, I realised I could take a very different and extremely liberating approach

The microphone felt heavier than I expected. As I stood on stage at a London comedy club last December, I looked out at a room full of strangers sitting quietly, waiting for me to make them laugh. It felt nerve-racking and surreal. I had spent years hiding my vitiligo, hoping people wouldn’t notice it. Now I was about to joke about it in my set.

I was three years old when I developed my first patch of vitiligo on the back of my hand, which later spread to my arms, legs, face and other parts of my body. By the time I was six years old, 70% of me was covered. I was too young to understand what was happening.

Fresh evidence of C of E’s role in enslavement uncovered as church wrestles with reparations debate

Register of British Slave Traders shows clergymen financed company that trafficked enslaved Africans on hundreds of voyages

Nearly 250 years after the abolitionist Ottobah Cugoano made the Christian case for reparative justice, the archbishop of Canterbury, Sarah Mullally, visited the Ghanaian shore where he was enslaved as a boy.

After witnessing the dungeons beneath the chapel at Cape Coast Castle, once run by the Royal African Company (RAC), Mullally recommitted the Church of England to its “journey of repentance” for its role in slavery.

Squid ink tomato pasta and honey and fig semifreddo: Chris Leach’s Italian recipes for the end of summer

Cooking at this time of year is all about low-effort, maximum-impact options. This savoury dish comes together quickly but looks striking, while the dessert showcases figs at their most flavoursome

The secret to late-summer/early autumn cooking is to keep things relatively low-effort, not least to assuage those back-to-work/school blues. And that rule applies across the board, whether you’re making a midweek meal, entertaining or serving up a long, slow Sunday lunch. The sauce for this pasta dish, for example, comes together while the pasta is cooking, while the semifreddo pudding makes the most of ripe figs when they are at their absolute best.

People protecting nature and land set up self-defence units amid threat of murder

Defenders of forests and rivers killed at rate of one every three days in 2025, with 85% of deaths in Latin America

Nature and land defenders were murdered at the rate of one every three days last year, prompting many communities to set up self-defence units, according to the latest annual death toll by the independent watchdog Global Witness.

Organised crime groups or professional killers were implicated in more than a third of the 124 killings of defenders in 2025 as narco-trafficking activities overlapped with intrusions into indigenous territories and environmental crime, such as illegal logging and wildcat gold mining.

NBC helicopter crash in LA kills at least three people with others injured

Accident occurred as news crews in Los Angeles were covering a bus crash that had killed at least two people hours earlier

A news helicopter crash in a Los Angeles neighborhood has killed at least three people, after it came to the ground and burst into flames near the site of a bus crash that occurred hours earlier.

The helicopter crashed near a one-storey commercial building in the neighborhood of Chatsworth in the San Fernando Valley, as news crews were covering the bus crash that left at least two people dead and six others injured, according the Los Angeles Fire Department.

Nvidia's Huang diverges with CEOs of Anthropic, OpenAI on AI safety at Dreamforce

Comments from the two tech leaders landed days after Anthropic's Dario Amodei published an essay urging the AI industry to slow the pace of model development.

3 people killed when news helicopter crashes while covering LA bus accident

A news helicopter used by NBC and Telemundo crashed in a Los Angeles neighborhood on Tuesday, killing at least three people while reporters were covering the nearby crash of an SUV and a city bus.

UK mathematician debunks myth around Parthenon’s optical illusions

Study challenges belief that temple’s curves were designed to correct optical illusions that would have ruined its clean lines

A mathematician has uncovered what may be one of the longest-running myths in history after studying optical illusions and the Parthenon, the famed Greek temple that overlooks Athens.

Scholars have marvelled at the building on the Acropolis hill for more than 2,000 years and heaped praise on its architects for their clever use of geometry. Its subtle curves are said to correct optical illusions that would have otherwise ruined the Parthenon’s clean lines.

The girl with a will to live: the love, hope and pain of raising Elsie – my one in 163 million daughter

She was born with an ultra-rare genetic disorder. After my decades working in film PR, I now face the biggest campaign of all: the fight for her life

My daughter Elsie has beautiful curls – blond like a little Botticelli cherub’s, hair that someone dark like me could only ever dream of. She laughs a lot, has a cheeky sense of humour and soaks in all the sounds around her – rustling leaves, the sea, a dog barking, children playing around a pool, me impersonating the alarm clock every morning, me impersonating monkeys. Indeed, me impersonating any animal.

Sound is important for Elsie because she has a visual impairment and, while we know she has some peripheral vision, is legally classed as blind. As a result, she uses her tongue to check her environment. When she’s excited it sticks out, tasting the air around her, licking anyone close, sensing space. And when she likes the taste of something she keeps her tongue out until you give her more. This is how we know she likes lollies.

Slow Horses season six review – it gets harder to enjoy Gary Oldman’s spy thriller every year

The show’s creator has gone, it’s been retooled as a conventional thriller and it feels like it’s starting to run out of ideas – even if it’s as slick and confident as ever

This is a new Slow Horses: season six is the first not to be guided by its creator, Will Smith, a writer whose previous work on The Thick of It and Veep explained why this espionage saga had an unusually sharp comic tongue. The absence of Smith’s drollery is discernible in a more straight-faced new story, but the bigger problem is one of a creative work naturally eroding over time. Slow Horses is now old.

It’s always been a difficult, delicate proposition. The staff of Slough House, a purgatorial spin-off of MI5 where misfits and screw-ups are given boring work when it would make more sense to just fire them, regularly outstrip supposedly elite spies despite being shambling losers. Leading the field agents is River Cartwright (Jack Lowden), who has the good looks of a spy hero and some of the skills, but is also a brittle, luckless and rather whiny wretch, who regularly has to be saved from ignominious death. The jokes have helped us suspend our disbelief that River and the rest haven’t yet been riddled with bullets, and the relocation of traditional spy thrills to decaying urban settings is still a tonic, but enjoying this conjuring trick gets harder every year.

To understand the threat to our real democracy, watch Putin's fake one | Rafael Behr

As Russians vote this weekend, remember that Britain is not immune to the cynical tactics and corrosion of trust that keep him in power

Millions of people will participate in elections in Russia this weekend and a new parliament will be chosen, but not necessarily in that order. The purpose of the exercise is to maintain Vladimir Putin’s authority over the political process, which means United Russia, the president’s party, will retain control of the Duma.

That much is settled before the polls open, although the scale of the government’s victory won’t be declared until the votes are counted. A portion of seats is available for other “systemic parties” that function as Kremlin licensed-opposition, padding out the pretence of pluralism. They serve as a pressure valves for public frustration and parliamentary proxies when rival factions within the ruling elite want to nudge Kremlin policy in one direction or another.

Rafael Behr is a Guardian columnist

‘My future is in the EU’: the Ukrainian children who don’t want to go home

Thousands of children in state care were evacuated when Russia invaded. Kyiv wants them back – but many resist

When he first arrived in his new home in a small village in the Italian Alps in March 2022, 15-year-old Denys* says he felt homesick and confused. He had been put on an overnight bus and relocated along with more than 100 other children from his orphanage in Berdiansk, in eastern Ukraine, which was one of the first areas to be invaded by Russian troops.

“Ukraine was all I knew,” says Denys. “I had never left it my whole life.”

‘We weren’t shy. We were queers in leather!’ Sunil Gupta on his momentous photographs of gay life

From Delhi to New York, from the street to the bath house, he has captured clandestine moments, risked his freedom – and even referenced Romantic painters. Ahead of a major show, the photographer relives his landmark shots

‘I’ve been very promiscuous,” Sunil Gupta says, reflecting on his experiments with photography since the 1970s. Gupta, who was born in India, brought up in Canada and moved to the UK in 1978 after two years studying in New York, has documented and described queer lives for five decades. In his work, he’s quietly tried to find new ways of seeing, exploring the potential of photography to blur fiction and reality, public space and intimate, clandestine moments. His work explores the ways we love and relate to one another, set against the ever-shifting tides of politics and society.

He photographs with love – but it hasn’t been without risk. An exhibition in India was once shut down by the government, and in his early days in the UK, when he was working with fellow photographer Tessa Boffin, he recalls curators “physically shrinking away when we walked in the room – two queers in leather were too much for them! But we were quite aggressively upfront with our sexualities, we weren’t shy about it.”

Judge blocks DHS from acting against a man over a harsh email to an ICE official

ICE agents turned up at David Streever's home over a harsh email he sent to an ICE official. Now a court order prevents the federal government from making additional threats against him.

Saudi Arabia warns of ‘red line’ after Houthi drone intercepted close to holy city of Mecca

The Iran-aligned militant group rejected the suggestion it had targeted Mecca, while the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation condemned the attack

Saudi Arabia’s air defences intercepted and destroyed a ⁠Houthi drone south of Mecca on Tuesday before it entered prohibited airspace over the holy city, according to a ⁠spokesperson for the ⁠Saudi-led ​military coalition which is fighting the Iran-aligned group in Yemen.

The security of Islam’s two holiest sites and of pilgrims was a “red line”, ⁠coalition spokesperson Turki al-Malki said early on Wednesday, adding that the coalition would take necessary deterrent measures against the ⁠Houthis.

House votes to limit Trump's power to strike Iran for 3rd time

The previous votes have failed to stop President Trump from waging war with Iran.

Singapore pays people to pick up a book in battle against doomscrolling

Affluent city-state hopes plan will improve critical thinking and imagination ‘in a world of extraordinary abundance of stimulation’

Singapore is paying its citizens to pick up a book for at least 15 minutes a day in an effort to fight the rise of doomscrolling.

The affluent city-state hopes its gamification strategy, which launched this month, will improve concentration, critical thinking and the imagination of Singaporeans.

Human remains found in Arizona after deadly Grand Canyon flash floods

Hiker Timothy Smith, 53, missing after late-August floods but officials decline to identify remains

Human remains have been discovered near Arizona’s Crystal Rapids, over two weeks after a flash flood tore through the Grand Canyon, leaving two people dead and one person missing.

National Park Service personnel recovered the remains, before transferring them to the Coconino county medical examiner’s office, the agency confirmed over email.

Russia plotting to kill Ukraine allies in US and Europe, FBI says

Intelligence services allegedly attempted to pay people to surveil and kill people perceived to be aligned with Ukraine

Russia’s intelligence services are plotting to carry out targeted killings in the United States and in European nations supporting Ukraine, federal authorities said Tuesday as they announced charges against five people who remain at large.

An indictment unsealed in Manhattan federal court said a network of the intelligence services had paid and attempted to pay individuals in the United States and in other countries to surveil targets to be killed with plans to then kill them.

The women saving Borneo: battling fire, patriarchy and super El Niño on Indonesia’s peatland frontlines

Fire threatens Kalimantan’s rainforests. On the peatland frontlines, a group of local mothers is defending their community. Words and Photography: Garry Lotulung

Irma puts on her heavy rubber boots as she prepares for a volunteer firefighting shift in her village of Sungai Putri, on the Indonesian side of Borneo island.

Dressed in full safety gear she heads into fire zones on her motorbike, the air thick with toxic smoke.

Turkish habit of stashing gold "under the pillow' hurts economy, government says

For years, Turks have stashed their gold at home against a raining day, mistrustful of banks. Now the government says that tradition hurts the economy

Board votes to close Kennedy Center immediately for renovations, source says

Earlier Tuesday, a federal judge again blocked the board from adding President Trump's name to the facade of the building.

Trump lashes out at judges ruling against his priorities, pet projects

After a federal judge ruled once again that the Kennedy Center could not also bear the name of President Trump, unless Congress directed it, the president's hand-picked board voted to shut the whole thing down. Ed O'Keefe reports from the White House.

Father and daughter pilots happen to cross paths over air traffic control

Just before taking off for Munich, Germany, United Airlines pilot Kent Katnik, checked in with the tower and heard his daughter, Kenny Katnik, herself a pilot, about to take off for Syracuse. Tony Dokoupil has the story.

House to vote on bill to rein in AI data center utility costs

The bipartisan legislation would create a regulatory framework states could adopt to prevent data center-related energy costs from being passed on to consumers.

New photos show widespread damage at U.S. positions caused by Iranian attacks

The images were sent to CBS News by active service members under condition of anonymity.

Arch Manning apologizes for laughing at violent AI video towards reporter Holly Rowe

Arch Manning, one of the most famous names in college football, coming off one of the biggest wins of his life on Saturday, made one of his bigger blunters. He laughed and joked about an AI video of Steve Sarkisian hitting reporter Holly Rowe. He has since apologized.

In Washington, unlikely bedfellows like Bernie Sanders and Steve Bannon talk about making AI "humans first"

As AI CEOs call for a slowdown, President Trump wants acceleration. But the issue is gaining bipartisan momentum.

Trump admin. will comply with mail ballot ruling by Supreme Court, Blanche says

The Supreme Court on Monday blocked the Postal Service from enforcing new mail voting rules ahead of the midterm elections.

Fireworks triggered deadly wildfire in Washington state, investigators believe

In Washington state, investigators said they believe illegal fireworks, shot from the back of a pickup truck, sparked a nearly 10,000-acre deadly wildfire earlier this summer. Jason Allen reports.

Zelenskyy says "of course" Putin is lying to Trump officials

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy sat down for an exclusive interview with CBS News' Aiden Stretch about what he said were recent Russian plots to assassinate him. Zelenskyy also discussed President Trump's new demand that Ukraine stop attacking Russian energy targets to help gas prices in the U.S.

Ed Sheeran's supporting acts pull out of tour after Macklemore was dropped

Aaron Rowe, Beoga, Lukas Graham and Finneas all released statements Tuesday on Instagram saying they were withdrawing from Ed Sheeran's tour.

Ed Sheeran breaks silence after Macklemore dropped from tour

The rapper Macklemore was bumped from Ed Sheeran's U.S. concert tour for pro-Palestinian comments that some say crossed a line into prejudice. Now, four additional supporting acts have quit in solidarity and the headliner has addressed the controversy. Carter Evans reports.

Smart glasses capture stolen Tesla barreling down San Diego boardwalk, man pinning down suspect

A man racing a stolen Tesla down a crowded boardwalk hit a woman, setting off a wild chase involving lots of witnesses, including one recording it all on a pair of smart glasses. Jonah Kaplan reports.

FBI says it foiled an ISIS-inspired plot in Pennsylvania

The FBI said it thwarted a "mass casualty attack," inspired by ISIS, allegedly by a 21-year-old man in Pennsylvania. Agents allegedly tracked the young man to a hotel where they arrested him. It's the second ISIS-related plot to surface since August. Nicole Sganga reports.

Musk urges top AI labs, Chinese companies to test each other's models amid calls for slowdown

Elon Musk called for the leading AI labs to peer review each others' models before they're released to the public as a way to evaluate their safety.

Thirteenth Met police officer sacked after undercover BBC investigation

PC Mason O’Connor dismissed following Panorama film showing misogyny and racism at London police station

A 13th serving Metropolitan police officer has been dismissed in relation to an undercover BBC investigation into misogyny and racism at Charing Cross police station.

PC Mason O’Connor was found to have committed discreditable conduct and breached professional behaviour standards, linked to a comment he made towards a female colleague, according to the Met.

Family blames Texas' "merciless" abortion ban for woman's death, sues Paxton, others

The family of 37-year-old Tierra Walker filed a lawsuit against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and others, saying she was denied an abortion that could have saved her life.

Britons of all ethnicities feel racial inequality is worsening, study shows

Nearly half of minority ethnic respondents in a poll say they have faced prejudice over the past year

Many Britons feel inequality is worsening and that discrimination has become more common, according to a thinktank study.

The report by British Future has found that people across ethnic groups believe racial equality is worsening in Britain. One in six people are from minority ethnic backgrounds.

9/15: CBS Evening News

FBI stops an alleged ISIS-inspired attack; Kennedy Center to close amid a Trump battle.

Lionel Messi called up by Argentina to make farewell ⁠appearance in friendly

• Argentina will host Benin in October in Buenos Aires

• AFA president invites Messi to enjoy ‘deserved farewell’

Lionel Messi has been called up by Argentina to make a farewell ⁠appearance in a home friendly in October following his international retirement, the Argentinian football association (AFA) has confirmed.

“We invited ⁠the best player in ⁠the world ​to play, the icon of our selection, our captain Lionel Andrés Messi, to have a deserved farewell on 6 October, here in Argentina,” the AFA president, Claudio Tapia, said on social media.

Turks often keep gold as a hedge against inflation. It may be hurting Turkey's future

Billions of dollars worth of gold is held in Turkish households outside the banking system. The government aims to convince citizens to put it into the mainstream financial system to help the economy.

Mail-in disaster averted as Trump in angry froth after court defeat

Election officials continue push to assure Americans mail ballots are safe after supreme court rules against president

• Reader Q&A: how united are the Democrats ahead of the midterms? Post your questions now

After the US supreme court halted Donald Trump’s efforts to make it significantly harder to vote by mail in the midterms, US election officials are redoubling their efforts to convince Americans it is safe to cast their ballots by mail.

The supreme court’s Monday ruling, which sent Trump into an angry froth on Truth Social, averted what election officials of both parties said would be an administrative disaster for this year’s elections. Trump’s order would have required states to comply with cumbersome new rules, including redesigning mail-in envelopes and uploading lists of voters to the USPS, that were not feasible to implement before ballots started going out. The effort was seen as a push by the government to change voting policy as well as one to weaken confidence in voting by mail.

House panel recommends holding Leon Black in contempt in Epstein probe

The billionaire investor defied subpoenas to testify to the committee and produce nondisclosure agreements.

Nvidia CEO Huang attending Trump's state dinner for China's Xi: Source

Jensen Huang appeared to side with Trump as the president pushed back on tech CEOs' warnings about the risks of rapid AI advancement.

A Talent for Murder review – Helen Mirren is a viperous Patricia Highsmith in hit-and-miss thriller

Toronto film festival: A fictionalised version of the cantankerous crime author plots a murder with an ambitious editor in a story in need of a sharper edge

The restrictions of Covid led to an inevitable rise in safely contained chamber-piece movies, where a handful of characters find themselves in a usually remote house, dialogue taking obvious precedence over action. There were some highlights, such Kevin Williamson’s timely slasher Sick, and some considerable low points, such as Sam Levinson’s vapid drama Malcolm & Marie, but while we had plenty of them, none of them rivalled some of the greatest and smartest pre-pandemic examples. The very best tended to be based on plays and quite often starred Michael Caine.

He was in Anthony Shaffer’s Sleuth, which went from Tony to Oscar success back in the 1970s, and then the arguably even better Deathtrap in the decade after, which Sidney Lumet adapted from Ira Levin’s deviously plotted play. In between there was also an under-seen TV movie called One of My Wives Is Missing, based on 60s play Trap for a Single Man, which was notably lesser but still delivered a similarly specific brand of twisty, talky thrills. There would be secrets, surprises, reversals and usually at least one dead body by the end of it, a subgenre entirely indebted to the work of Agatha Christie (who reportedly loved Sleuth on stage so much that she dedicated a picture of herself to be hung in the house used in the big screen adaptation). The bar is therefore held rather high, a puzzle that requires an ingenious level of writing that needs to be smart without smug and shocking without feeling cheap.

House Oversight recommends holding Leon Black in contempt over Epstein subpoena standoff

Lawyers for the former Apollo Global Management CEO Leon Black called the contempt resolution "a complete abomination."

All supporting acts withdraw from Ed Sheeran’s tour in solidarity with Macklemore

Four openers and live band for Sheeran’s tour depart after removal of Macklemore over ‘free Palestine’ comments

All four supporting acts for upcoming dates of Ed Sheeran’s Loop tour have withdrawn in solidarity with fellow opening act Macklemore, as backlash grows against his removal from the tour over onstage comments in support of Palestine.

Finneas, the singer who was scheduled to open for Sheeran on six South American dates in November, withdrew from the tour on Tuesday afternoon, hours after Sheeran posted his own lengthy statement to Instagram explaining pressure from venue owners to remove Macklemore for pro-Palestine comments made during two shows at New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium.

Trump says Kennedy Center will stay closed without renovation unless his name is added back

The ruling comes four months after the same judge ordered that the Kennedy Center could not be renamed to include President Trump's name.

Americans' incomes rose and poverty fell in 2025, Census Bureau says

The data comes as the Federal Reserve is considering interest-rate increases that could slow economic growth.

Own a car? You're getting socked by higher prices, and not only for gas

Car ownership costs have soared 50% since 2020, according to new economic data. Here's where motorists are getting dinged.

Air pollution linked to higher suicide risk, international research suggests

Analysis of 29 studies highlights potentially heightened danger from small particulate matter and nitrogen dioxide

Air pollution is associated with an increased risk of suicide and suicidal thoughts, according to research.

Environmental pollution is known to be associated with poorer mental health but its role in suicide risk is less well understood. Scientists at Queen’s University Belfast examined whether air, noise, light, and water pollution could influence the risk of death by suicide and suicidal behaviours.

Szoboszlai screamer seals Liverpool’s progress as De Zerbi’s Spurs woes grow

Tottenham scored and Roberto De Zerbi eulogised the quality at his disposal, yet try telling Spurs’ suffering away support there was consolation to be found at Anfield. Liverpool toyed with De Zerbi by advancing into round four with a quality of finishing that he can only dream of.

While the Spurs head coach talked a good game and his players played a pretty one in harmless areas, Liverpool produced the only effective one. Alexis Mac Allister promoted his claims for a new contract for the second midweek in succession with an excellent strike and Cody Gakpo continued his fine early season form with a smart second plus an assist. But both were overshadowed by Dominik Szoboszlai’s stupendous 25-yard finish in stoppage time.

England thrash Sri Lanka after Harry Brook rejects rest to blast brilliant century

• England captain hits unbeaten 114 off 49 balls in first T20

• Sonny Baker claims three wickets in 119-run victory

As he nears the end of a hectic summer, Harry Brook was offered the chance to rest rather than play this series and how Sri Lanka must wish Pakistan’s red-ball side had extended him enough to force a layoff. As it turned out, the 27-year-old could hardly have looked fresher as he inspired his side to an overwhelming win over emphatically outclassed opponents, a brilliant century powering England to a 19th victory in 22 completed games since he took over the captaincy, secured by the margin of 119 runs.

Brook cavorted to triple figures off 42 balls, of which precisely a third were dispatched to the boundary, six of them beyond it, and ended unbeaten on 114 as England posted 254. But as much as his power his running impressed, using the size of the ground and manipulation of angles to maximum advantage, aided occasionally by the tourists’ imperfection in the field, as he scurried a succession of twos.

9/15: The Takeout with Major Garrett

Trump slams Supreme Court for blocking Postal Service rules for mail ballots; Congress reacts to AI safety warnings.

House kills Rep. Al Green's resolution to impeach Trump

Republicans made a motion to table the resolution, effectively killing it.

OpenAI backs measure that would require independent audits of AI models

Top OpenAI executive endorses plan that would require AI companies to submit their technology to third-party reviews to assess their safety.

Americans' incomes hit a record high in 2025. Now for the bad news.

The typical U.S. household's annual earnings have risen only 2.5% since 2019, new data from the Census Bureau shows.

Iran war could cost $2 billion per month, Congressional Budget Office estimates

The Congressional Budget Office estimated the war between Feb. 28 and Aug. 1 has directly cost the U.S. about $38 billion.

Bernie Sanders and Steve Bannon call for curbs on AI at ‘pro-human’ summit

Leftwing senator and far-right strategist rail against tech oligarchs but offer competing visions on Chinese ‘cold war’

The progressive senator Bernie Sanders and rightwing strategist Steve Bannon have called for restrictions on artificial intelligence (AI) but offered competing visions for what they termed a “cold war” with China.

Speaking at the “Pro-Human Assembly” in Washington on Tuesday, the ideological adversaries were united in warning of the potential dangers of AI and demanding stringent guardrails against Silicon Valley’s “oligarchs”.

Arch Manning apologizes for ‘insensitive’ joke about AI video of ESPN’s Holly Rowe

• Texas star called clip of coach slapping reporter ‘hilarious’

• Manning: ‘Nothing funny about it … I need to do better’

• Rowe posts that she accepts apology, will move forward

Texas’s star quarterback, Arch Manning, has apologized after joking about an AI-generated video that depicted Longhorns coach Steve Sarkisian slapping ESPN college football reporter Holly Rowe after last Saturday’s game.

Manning had been asked at a press conference on Monday about the social media reaction to the Longhorns’ 24-23 upset win over No 1 Ohio State. Rowe had attempted to ask Sarkisian a question for the standard postgame interview, but the coach interrupted her and yelled a pair of Texas slogans before walking off.

Bad Lieutenant: Tokyo review – Takashi Miike follows Ferrara and Herzog with a disappointment

Toronto film festival: There’s a surprisingly tame quality to the gorehound’s contribution to the rough and ready franchise and a general aimlessness that frustrates

Abel Ferrera’s Bad Lieutenant, starring Harvey Keitel as the eponymous coke-addled cop stumbling into crime scenes and contributing to the injustices, felt like it had us rooting around the mouldy and corroded interior of a back-alley dumpster, searching for a soul. A Takashi Miike adaptation seemed an appealingly foul idea. The maestro behind Audition and Ichi The Killer is known for punishing audiences with J-horror violence but with a formal elegance that we couldn’t look away from. His Bad Lieutenant: Tokyo should have been the perfect marriage of moral degradation and corporal desecrations.

The movie lives up to its promise when those extremes are giddily on the same page. But more often than not Bad Lieutenant: Tokyo is a confounding and frustrating mess, a smorgasbord of good ideas (and some bad ones) at odds with each other, barely held together by Shun Oguri’s wily performance.

Sanders says potential danger of AI is "probably greater" than nuclear weapons

Sen. Bernie Sanders is one of the most vocal opponents in Congress on rapid AI development, but bipartisan concerns are growing.

Ferocious fight among Brazil’s supreme court erupts on eve of presidential election

Scandal explodes as country’s election campaign peaks, with polls suggesting dead heat between candidates

Brazil’s supreme court has been thrust into what experts consider the greatest crisis since the return of democracy in the 1980s, as two rival judges lock horns on the eve of the presidential election with unpredictable consequences for Latin America’s largest democracy.

The politically charged dispute exploded into public view on Tuesday as judges traded insults and accusations during a heated supreme court hearing that was livestreamed into millions of Brazilian homes.

AWS says it can't restore service to Bahrain, UAE facilities 6 months after Iran strikes

In March, two Amazon data centers in the UAE were struck by drones, while a site was also damaged by a nearby drone hit.

State of U.S. democracy reaches new low, report finds

A new global democracy report finds the U.S. at its lowest level of democratic performance in the 50 years it has been measured.

AI skeptics from Bernie Sanders to Steve Bannon urge action, as Congress, Trump idle

Lawmakers and AI regulation advocates met Tuesday in Washington at a Future of Life Institute event to urge regulatory action to rein in the expanding technology.

Family income rose and poverty fell in 2025 — but safety net cuts could erase gains

An annual report from the Census Bureau shows the average family made more money in 2025 than the year before, while the official poverty rate declined. Health care coverage was little changed from 2024.

Fed rate hike expected on Wednesday. See what it means for your money.

The Federal Reserve is likely to raise borrowing costs on Wednesday, and more hikes could be in store, according to economists.

Ford increases V-8 engine availability, lowers performance prices for 2027 F-150 trucks

Ford said the changes are meant to provide customers with more choice and help expand sales of key models, a strategy CEO Jim Farley has touted.

Could AI really wipe out humanity – six experts spell out the risks

We examine claims and counterclaims about the risks and calls to slow down the pace of AI development

There have been some shocking claims in recent days about AI safety: we face a 10% chance of doom; AIs are worse than nukes; a “botnet” threatens the entire internet; it’s all a big tech psyop.

Below, we look at six claims and reactions to them.

Kennedy Center board votes to close it, as judge again keeps Trump's name off

The board's vote to shutter the historic arts center came amid concerns about financial, structural problems.

Trump’s opposition to AI rules undercuts industry's calls for a slowdown

Anthropic and OpenAI have called for mandatory safety checks to be put in place as fears intensify that AI can soon be too powerful to control.

Prosecutors won't seek the death penalty for Nick Reiner

Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman said his office spoke with Reiner's siblings and took their wishes into consideration in the decision.

Trump admin. says private sector can solve AI threats as critics balk

President Donald Trump's AI-friendly administration argues U.S. dominance over China in the fast-expanding industry is essential.

Ben Jennings on tech leaders’ outcry over the dangers of AI – cartoon

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Scott Bessent defends Treasury intervention, Trump economy in contentious House hearing

Bessent defended the administration's Treasury-market intervention, economic record and AI policy while lawmakers tried to pin him down on borrowing and energy.

Ross Fire still burning, with over 90,000 acres scorched

The wildfire, which has torn through Palo Pinto and Jack counties, forced evacuations, closed roads and disrupted schools.

U.S. confirms it deployed weapons in space. China and Russia respond.

China warned against turning outer space into a "battlefield" after the U.S. confirmed that it has weapons deployed in space.

Howard Webb says accidental handball law ‘a nonsense’ and calls for reform

• Webb wants to stop ‘ridiculous situations’

• Says VAR officials in United v City had ‘tunnel vision’

Howard Webb has described the law around accidental handball as “a bit of a nonsense” and called for its reform to stop referees being drawn into “ridiculous situations”.

The chief refereeing officer for English football made his remarks on Tuesday, when he also fronted up over the error that allowed Manchester City to win Sunday’s Manchester derby. Webb said he was “really disappointed” with the video assistant referee call that failed to spot Enzo Fernández interfering with play from an offside position before Erling Haaland scored the only goal.

‘Every magazine cover needs to seduce’: designers pick their favourites

From a timeless portrait of Lana Del Rey to an alternative guide to the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, experts unpick what makes an enduring, shocking, or alluring print cover

‘We need to rethink what a successful magazine looks like,” says Steve Watson, founder of the subscription magazine club Stack. “It doesn’t make sense to compare the magazines of today to those of the 1960s when many people still didn’t have colour televisions. Print magazines are no longer the best way of reaching lots of people quickly and cheaply but they are still really great at engaging deeply with readers, providing an opportunity to slow down and absorb information. They provide us with an alternative way of seeing the world.”

Watson, along with a group of editors, publishers, designers, historians and academics, will be discussing the varying roles and functions that magazines have played over the years during a one-day event at the forthcoming London design festival. In contrast to the doom and gloom we often hear about the print industry, he remains upbeat about the humble mag’s future. “The truth is there are brilliant new magazines launching all the time,” he says.

There are two kinds of people in this world: hosts or guests. Nobody can be both | Polly Hudson

My hosting persona is an edgier version of Manuel from Fawlty Towers. Invite me to yours, however, and I am a nonstop delight

My epiphany came between the starter and the main. At a friend’s place for dinner, I sat in awe as she put on a kind of magic show – the first course plates were cleared, but I never noticed her doing it. Delicious food was repeatedly produced with no lengthy disappearing act preceding it, no fuss, no panic. The candles on the table flickered invitingly, the background music was unobtrusive but atmospheric, the wine and chat flowed effortlessly. If I had later discovered she secretly had a full staff – planning, preparing, cooking, cleaning – it would have made perfect sense. But no, it was all her. And then I realised, the world is divided into people who are hosts, and people who are guests. You’re either one, or the other – nobody is both, apart from maybe the Duchess of Sussex. If you aren’t sure which camp you fall into, ask someone close to you if you’re a good host. If they pause for longer than 0.2 seconds before answering, you’re a guest.

As alluded to above, I am a terrible host. When welcoming people into your home, your mood sets the tone for what follows: if you’re relaxed, calm and smiley, they will be too. I am uptight, edgy – and very, very clearly on my last nerve as I open the door to let them in. I’m probably grimacing, I might be close to tears. I will then be so extremely laser focused on them having a nice time, that it will ensure they most definitely do not. I run from room to room. I yelp. I don’t engage in conversation, because even if I can briefly get it together enough to appear to be listening, I’m really thinking about whether I set the oven to the right temperature, and realising I forgot to look at the clock when I put the food in it. I am neither present nor absent, but an infuriating combination of the two. I loiter. I lurk. My energy is that of a surgeon dashing to the operating room, who has just noticed that they’ve forgotten everything they learned at medical school. Or perhaps it’s Manuel from Fawlty Towers. When it comes to hosting, I am a mess.

New Order keyboardist Gillian Gilbert announces she is ‘living with cancer’

Musician clarified her own health status after concerns were raised by interview with husband and bandmate Stephen Morris earlier this month

Gillian Gilbert, keyboardist with New Order, has announced she is again having treatment for cancer.

The 65-year-old musician announced the news on Instagram, as a response to an interview her husband and New Order bandmate, drummer Stephen Morris, gave to Rolling Stone earlier this month. Morris had said: “I’ve got a bit of a health problem at the minute, which precludes leaving the country for any length of time … it’s pretty serious.”

Indonesian wildfires threaten leading orangutan research site in Borneo

Critically endangered Bornean orangutans flee forests as staff at Cabang Panti work round the clock to stave off blaze

Wildfires in Indonesia are sweeping through a critical research site for Bornean orangutans and are now threatening a celebrated research camp, home to one of the world’s longest-running studies of wild apes.

In the past few days, the fires have burned within 200 metres of Rangkong research station, a satellite of Cabang Panti research station, which lies about four miles north in Gunung Palung national park.

Top golfers to get no favours for PGA Tour return after LIV bankruptcy

• PGA commissioner: ‘The Tour is built on meritocracy’

• Rahm and Hatton likely to start back on DP World Tour

The head of the PGA Tour has insisted there will be no favours offered to golfers looking to return to the ­platform after LIV’s bankruptcy filing last week.

The increasing likelihood is players such as Jon Rahm, Cameron Smith and Tyrrell Hatton will have to play their way back on to the PGA Tour through performances in Europe in 2027 in what would represent a boost to the DP World Tour.