Increased rainfall and storms to hit UK due to biggest El Niño for a century, says Met Office

‘Unprecedented’ weather pattern over Pacific Ocean to be felt worldwide with severe droughts expected in southern hemisphere

The El Niño event developing over the Pacific Ocean is likely to be the strongest for more than a 100 years, the UK’s Met Office has said.

Increased rainfall and storms are forecast to hit the UK this autumn as a result of the “unprecedented” weather pattern, which will also cause severe droughts in the southern hemisphere, the Met Office warned.

Tottenham close on deals for Manchester City’s Savinho and Omar Marmoush

• Separate deals worth a combined £160m

• Summer spending on De Zerbi’s squad nears £400m

Manchester City are close to agreeing the transfer of Savinho to Tottenham for £85m, with a separate deal of around £75m for the arrival of Omar Marmoush from the FA Cup-winners to the north London club also being worked on.

Savinho signed for the City Football Group in summer 2022 for 40m euros (£30.8m), first joining Troyes, so the prospective sale of the 22-year-old for £85m represents a near £55m profit for City’s owners. After loans at PSV and Girona, the Brazilian joined City two years ago but the winger failed to establish himself as a first-choice under Pep Guardiola, the former manager.

Stella Lefty: Long Way Home review – Boston singer’s debut is bland, boilerplate and beyond banal

(Atlantic Outpost)
The breakout 24-year-old country star’s debut is stunningly unremarkable, offering little in the way of artistic identity or her peers’ originality

Anyone railing against nepo babies taking over culture has already lost: the rage they engender is as key to the publicity plan as their ready-made profile. But once in a while, you meet one so egregious that it’s hard not to want to flip a table. The breakout 24-year-old country star Stella Lefty is the daughter of a multibillionaire Groupon co-founder. Given her stunningly unremarkable songwriting, you wonder whether that might explain a few things.

After gaining notice for posting clips of her music, Lefty wanted to work as a songwriter-for-hire until music execs insisted she was an artist. It’s hard to tell what her USP is: her huge hit Boston sounded so much like Noah Kahan’s Stick Season that she had to add a retrospective credit. Her writing has none of his introspection or regional specifics, nor the wry country literacy of close competitor Ella Langley. In Lefty’s songs, she’s often catching some guy’s eye at the bar. Maybe they get together but then she runs, because she always does – but maybe this time, she doesn’t? She knows it’s good when he’s nice to her, or they look good in photos. Props: whiskey, neon lights, bar stools. It’s relatable, right? Right??

Why dodgy doors are the latest casualty of the UK heatwaves

Sticking or unlockable doors are yet another problem caused by the hot summer, but winter can also bring difficulties

Thursday was another busy day for Alan Hickman, a Bournemouth-based locksmith who works in the area around the New Forest (“though I’m currently dodging the bit between Ringwood and Eastleigh because that’s closed because of the forest fires”).

Speaking on his way to see a man who can’t close his patio doors – “probably because they’ve got some expansion issues” – he then has a callout to see an elderly woman who needs a lockbox installed for her carer, before visiting a customer in Westbourne “to sort another composite door that can’t lock”.

Chess: Magnus Carlsen wins Esports World Cup in Paris without losing a game

Norway’s world No 1 outclassed the field and won the $250,000 first prize at the four-day event in France

Magnus Carlsen, Norway’s world No 1, triumphed again last weekend when he won the 2026 Esports World Cup, staged over four days at the prestigious venue of the Paris Expo Porte de Versailles. Carlsen retained his title from Riyadh 2025 and took home a monster first prize of $250,000 (£183,000).

The time limit was close to blitz, 10 minutes each per player with no per move increment, a format where blunders would be hoped for, and were indeed made, as entertainment for the capacity audience.

PSG are the best team in Europe. The rest of Ligue 1 are just trying to survive

Success for most French clubs is staying afloat financially and developing players for buyers in the Premier League

By Get French Football News

On the eve of a new Ligue 1 season, many clubs seem a little distracted. Even those accustomed to competing at the top have concerns that transcend the pitch. In a league that contains the greatest team on the continent, the focus of the majority of clubs has shifted to surviving and providing, rather than competing.

Any fighting spirit has long since been kicked out of Paris Saint-Germain’s competitors; back-to-back Champions League titles will do that. It feels like a long time ago since Kylian Mbappé moved to Real Madrid on a free transfer, leaving behind a scent of opportunity that filled the nostrils of Marseille, Monaco and Lille. Roberto De Zerbi was bullish when he joined Marseille. “I’m not here to finish second,” said the manager, who has since moved to Tottenham. Finishing second has now become an aspiration, especially for a club such as Marseille, given their predicament.

Week in wildlife: Bat in a toilet, a speeding gull and a bird with shoes

This week’s best wildlife photographs from around the world

8 dead in charter plane crash at remote military radar site in Alaska

A charter aircraft carrying eight people crashed at a remote radar site in western Alaska on Thursday, killing all on board, the U.S. military said.

Charter plane crash kills 8 near remote radar site in western Alaska, military says

A charter aircraft carrying eight people crashed at a remote radar site in western Alaska on Thursday, killing all on board, the U.S. military said.

'Survival mode': Indiana residents endure a ninth day without power

Tens of thousands of people in Indiana are entering a second week without power after a deadly storm toppled trees and power lines. Schools remain closed and businesses have been unable to reopen.

‘If I’m spending that kind of money, the shoe has to do everything’ – the backlash to the three figure trainer

From Nike’s infamous 110s to £250 and back again, sneakerheads are rediscovering why cheaper shoes can be worth just as much hype as much more expensive ones

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When Nike’s Air Max 95 trainers first landed in Britain back in the mid-1990s, they looked unlike anything else. Created by footwear designer Sergio Lozano, the shoe had wavy layers running down its sides, neon yellow accents, and visible ‘Air’ bubbles underfoot. But in the UK, one detail quickly became as famous as the shoe itself: its £110 price tag.

The Air Max 95 immediately picked up the nickname “110” because spending £110 on trainers seemed outrageous at the time. Owning a pair quickly became a status symbol among young men across Britain, while in celebrity circles they were worn by everyone from Jay-Z to Kylie Minogue.

Israeli settler attacks shift focus to West Bank areas under direct Palestinian rule

Report says violence is moving from Israeli-controlled areas to those earmarked for a future Palestinian state

Violent Israeli settler attacks in the two areas of the occupied West Bank under direct Palestinian rule have almost doubled since 2025, as settlers pursue a self-proclaimed “great settlement revolution” in the very heart of the territory earmarked for a Palestinian state.

According to a report by the Israeli human rights organisation Yesh Din, shared with the Guardian, data shows that almost two-thirds of incidents of settler violence so far in 2026 have taken place in the so-called Areas A and B – placed under Palestinian Authority governance in the 1995 Oslo accords.

Federal agents seize devices from ex-Rep. Eric Swalwell in sexual misconduct probe, AP source says

Federal agents seized electronic devices from former Rep. Eric Swalwell and searched his Washington home as part of an investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct by the ex-Democratic congressman from California.

Jurors hear 'Keffe D' say his nephew fired fatal shots at Tupac Shakur in 1996 drive-by shooting

Jurors on Thursday heard Duane "Keffe D" Davis tell detectives in 2008 that his nephew Orlando "Baby Lane" Anderson fired the shots that killed Tupac Shakur.

UK men with heart disease at higher risk of developing and dying from cancer

Decade-long study finds stark gender difference in outcomes of people with heart disease

Millions of men with heart disease have a higher risk of developing and dying from cancer, according to a decades-long study.

The biggest drivers behind male cases were smoking, obesity and drinking too much alcohol, researchers said, with the link most pronounced in lung and oesophageal cancers.

Stupid Never Dies – a zombie fights for the love of a frozen corpse

Free from a big brand’s audience expectations, new studio GPTrack50 has created a wacky action-packed romp through a monster-filled world for its first game

Love is blind. In Stupid Never Dies, it is also frozen solid and technically dead as Davy, the weakest zombie in monster society, discovers Julia’s body in a shopping centre and falls in love at first sight. He wants to bring her back to life and take her on a date. Unfortunately, that means defeating the King of Monsters (KOM) and accidentally saving humanity along the way.

This is the gloriously ridiculous setup for this forthcoming action RPG from GPTrack50, a new studio founded by former Capcom producer Hiroyuki Kobayashi. Its world looks much like ours, except that monsters have always been part of everyday life: whereas we might find a bear in the mountains or a stray dog in the woods, residents here encounter werewolves and zombies.

Rewilded land remains green amid drought-stricken English countryside, images show

National Trust’s Holnicote estate says restored wetlands and rivers offer proof of resilience to drought, wildfires and flooding

Aerial footage of an estate in Somerset has revealed the benefits of rewilding land in the face of extreme weather brought about by the climate crisis.

The area of the National Trust’s Holnicote estate where rivers have been returned to their natural courses and wetlands have been restored have remained green and lush during the five heatwaves across the summer. In contrast, the surrounding countryside has become parched and brown.

I’ll admit it: I’ve cycled through red lights. But Britain’s traffic laws are to blame, not me | Simon Jenkins

The essence of cycling is to keep moving, but London’s chaotic roads often make this difficult. My solution: fewer, not more rules

I plead guilty. I have loved and used the streets of London all my life, as a cyclist, driver and pedestrian. Touch wood, I have done so without accident, blemish or insurance claim. Yet now I find myself perpetually on the wrong side of the law. Regulation has become bureaucratic and chaotic.

When I try to drive at the authorised speed of 20mph on many through roads, I am hooted at and overtaken by vans, cars, coaches and buses. And when I sit dutifully on my bike at a traffic light, I am jostled by swarms of cyclists riding through on red, furious at being treated as if they were car drivers.

Simon Jenkins is a Guardian columnist

Russia’s missile tests around disputed islands anger Japan

Pacific fleet launched missile drills near what Moscow calls the Kuril Islands but Japan regards as its Northern Territories

Japan has criticised missile tests carried out by Russia’s navy around the disputed islands visited by Vladimir Putin last week amid continuing tensions between the two countries.

Russia’s Pacific fleet said on Thursday that it had fired Bastion surface-to-ship missiles from Etorofu, the largest island in the disputed archipelago, simulating an attack on enemy vessels, hitting all of its targets approximately 300km away.

Badgers review – the audience investigates in this true-crime podcast yarn

Traverse theatre, Edinburgh
Malaika Kegode delivers a supernatural story about the strange disappearance of a maudlin folk singer

Playwright and performer Malaika Kegode tops and tails this show for Theatre Royal Plymouth with a message about the allure of storytelling. In a festival city bursting at the seams with stories, it is an unnecessary observation. A more important question is about which stories we choose to tell, which resonate and which pass us by. Why, for example, did Kegode want to write a story – and it is a story rather than a play – about the strange disappearance of a maudlin folk singer?

She focuses on the subsequent investigation by Meles Costas, an under-qualified true-crime podcaster, living in the shadow of a high-achieving and terminally ill mother. And she laces her story with gothic fairytale imagery: folk songs with dark-magic properties, human-to-animal transmutation and a hint of witchcraft.

At Traverse theatre, Edinburgh, until 30 August; Theatre Royal Plymouth, 2–5 September; Bristol Old Vic, 8–12 September

All our Edinburgh festival reviews

Spa Weekend review – female answer to The Hangover spreads the slush with the massage oil

Despite stars Leslie Mann, Anna Faris and Isla Fisher and the writers behind The Hangover, this tale of friends at a luxury hotel is a dud

Jon Lucas and Scott Moore are the screenwriters who struck gold nearly 20 years ago with The Hangover, a brilliant stag-weekend nightmare comedy about what happens in Vegas, which sadly spawned a terrible (though lucrative) franchise. Now, as writers and directors, they have tried turning it around and making a movie about how middle-aged women behave on a longed-for spa weekend at a luxury-porn hotel. The result is a comedy without gags, a comedy which, for all the strenuous high-jinks, is afraid to be flippant or mean or, indeed, funny in any way.

Leslie Mann plays a hotshot lawyer called Jane who can’t make room in her life for romance; Anna Faris is goofy Sophie, PA to a rich asshole; Michelle Buteau is outspoken badass Coco, angry at her ex-husband dating again; and Isla Fisher is landed with the stridently unfunny role of Mel, a wild child who makes the other three nervous, but whose life-affirming no-filter honesty is going to break everyone’s emotional logjam and sort out their lives. As for Jane, it looks as if the hotel’s super-hot super-sensitive yoga teacher, Kai (Adam Demos), is going to hook up with her.

‘It is the riskiest film I’ve ever made’: Pedro Almodóvar on being the villain in his own movie

As his new film Bitter Christmas is released, the legendary Spanish director turns his fire on Donald Trump, Will Smith, Netflix – and himself

Black sunglasses indoors and a tufty cloud of cotton-wool hair: it can only be Pedro Almodóvar, bourgeois arthouse darling nonpareil and master of everything from screwball romps (Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown) to clammy thrillers (Live Flesh, The Skin I Live In) – and sumptuous melodramas such as his 24th film, Bitter Christmas, a cautionary tale about the perils of autofiction.

We are sitting in the library of a London hotel and Almodóvar is dressed in a thin black windcheater, grey trousers and white trainers; add a whistle on a string and he could pass for a PE teacher. The 76-year-old director may have won more than 60 awards including two Oscars, five Baftas and six Goyas but when the shades come off today, he looks momentarily sorry for himself. He has been deaf in one ear since childhood, he tells me, and now the other one is giving up the ghost. In addition, a nasty stye has turned his left eye a gluey purple. Might he have picked it up while swimming? “I do swim almost every day because I have a pool,” he sighs. Never can those words have sounded so sorrowful.

Woman accused of plotting "major attack" on New York State Capitol building

A New York woman is accused of plotting "a major attack" on the state Capitol building in Albany, authorities said Thursday.

Tiananmen Square vigil organisers found guilty in Hong Kong of ‘inciting subversion’

Lee Cheuk-yan and Chow Hang-tung - leaders of the Hong Kong Alliance – were tried under a 2020 national security law

Two Hong Kong activists who organised annual vigils marking China’s deadly Tiananmen crackdown in 1989 were found guilty of “incitement to subversion”, in one of the most high-profile cases in Hong Kong since Beijing imposed its national security law in 2020.

Lee Cheuk-yan, 69, and Chow Hang-tung, 41 “incited other persons to organise, plan, commit or participate in acts by unlawful means with a view to subverting the state power”, a press summary handed out to reporters said.

Storms soak Northeast as possible tornadoes reported in New York, Delaware

Heavy rain and winds were pounding the Northeast U.S. as storms tore through a beach on Long Island and knocked out power in Delaware's capital city.

Sycophancy in stereo as former Trump hater Michael Cohen loses his nerve

Fawning, deferential, oleaginous – this was the Untruth and Reconciliation Commission as Trump called in to 77 WABC

“Our next guest is a ‘racist’, a ‘conman’ and a ‘cheat’ – someone who behaves more like a ‘mobster’ than a president. Please welcome Donald J Trump!”

That is how Michael Cohen could have introduced Trump on his New York radio show on Thursday. After all, Cohen used such terms to describe the US president in his testimony to Congress in 2019. But now Trump’s former personal lawyer and self-described fixer had different words: “boss” and “sir”. Just like old times.

Progressive Aisha Wahab wins California special election to fill Eric Swalwell seat

State senator beats rival Melissa Hernandez and will replace US congressman who quit amid sexual misconduct claims

Progressive Aisha Wahab has been elected to Congress in a special election following a bitter intra-party battle over the seat formerly held by Eric Swalwell, who resigned in April after facing sexual misconduct allegations. Swalwell has denied the allegations.

Wahab, a state senator, was widely considered the frontrunner in the district in California’s East Bay and had the backing of the state Democratic party as well as Our Revolution, labor unions, local officials and the state’s attorney general, Rob Bonta.

Tupac Shakur trial: ‘Keffe D’ told detectives years ago his nephew fired the shots

The former gang leader was charged with planning the drive-by shooting that killed Tupac Shakur in 1996

Jurors on Thursday heard Duane “Keffe D” Davis tell detectives in 2008 that his nephew Orlando “Baby Lane” Anderson fired the shots that killed Tupac Shakur.

Davis, who said in the interview that he was also in the car with Anderson, is accused of orchestrating the 1996 killing of the 25-year-old hip-hop superstar in Las Vegas. At the time of the interview, his nephew had been dead for a decade.

California oil pipeline can continue to operate, judge rules

State sought to stop system off coast of Santa Barbara from resuming operations after Trump ordered its reopening

An oil pipeline can continue to operate off the California coast after a judge gave it the green light this week, despite the opposition of state regulators and environmental groups.

The system off the coast of Santa Barbara resumed operations earlier this year for the first time in more than a decade after Donald Trump ordered Sable Offshore Corporation to reopen it, citing US energy needs during the war in Iran.

Pilot killed as plane collides with police helicopter at airport, officials say

One person was killed and two Pennsylvania State Police troopers were injured when a small plane collided with a state police helicopter on the ground in central Pennsylvania, authorities said.

Army to nix drone battalion set up to absorb lessons from Ukraine war

The decision to phase out the Army drone battalion comes amid tension between senior officers who envisioned the unit and the acting chief of staff of the Army.

Drug mix-up at Nashville hospital causes complications in 4 patients

Four patients at Ascension Saint Thomas Midtown received incorrect medications last week, CBS affiliate WTVF reported.

Breaking down postpartum psychosis amid the Lindsay Clancy trial

Hundreds of Lindsay Clancy supporters rallied outside the courthouse on Thursday, where she's on trial for murder in the killings of her three children. Shanelle Kaul reports on postpartum psychosis, the rare, but treatable illness Clancy's defense team argues made her not responsible for the crime.

Lily Hooper’s family was told she’d been found alive. ‘She’s coming home,’ her father said – then tears of joy turned to grief

After eight days missing in the rugged NSW bush, word came through that the 18-year-old had been located. Her family were waiting with presents

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The rugged landscape of the New South Wales southern highlands loomed large on Thursday evening. This country had just revived, then killed hope. A young woman was found “alive”, but then it was confirmed she was dead: desperation, confusion, tragedy reigned.

Here, where the bitumen of Wombeyan Caves Road runs into unsealed dirt, rolling hills dotted with cattle give way to expansive mountains. The late-afternoon sun sends long, beaming rays past the edges of clouds, casting a warm glow on distant cliff faces.

USS Abraham Lincoln leaving Middle East after 9-month deployment

The aircraft carrier and its 5,000 crew members will return to San Diego after an approximately nine-month deployment.

Why an Instagram bench-rater gave out his first 10/10 in 7 years

A man who, instead of rating movies or restaurants, rates benches on Instagram, just gave out his first 10/10, a milestone seven years and 300 reviews in the making. Tony Dokoupil has the story.

Hayden Panettiere's death under scrutiny with DEA investigation

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration has joined the investigation into the sudden death of actress Hayden Panettiere, who would have turned 37 on Friday. Mark Strassmann reports.

U.S. Army phases out new drone battalion, despite being far behind in drone race

The U.S. Army decided to phase out a new drone battalion set up earlier this year to help the U.S. catch up in its use of the crucial technology. The decision to shut it down came amid tension between top Army officials, including two who were fired or forced into early retirement. Charlie D'Agata reports.

Medical nightmare in Tennessee hospital after drug mix-up

A dangerous drug mix-up at a Tennessee hospital left several patients badly injured this week. Nicole Valdes reports.

Zomi Frankcom did not deserve to die. Israel’s refusal to investigate her death and its failure to apologise is despicable | Geoffrey Robertson

The Israeli ambassador has claimed ‘a court came to a decision that there’s no criminal liability’ but there is no evidence that any court has been involved

Zomi Frankcom did not deserve to die. She and her six colleagues were traveling in a clearly marked humanitarian convoy to distribute food to starving Palestinians on a route that had been communicated well in advance to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). It bombed them deliberately and repeatedly. Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, announced the next day that the attack was a “mistake” and a few days later its two commanders were forced to retire, and three others were disciplined. An internal inquiry followed, but this week – well over two years later – the IDF announced that there would be no further investigation because there could be no suspicion that any crime had been committed: it was merely a mistake. This is a serious misunderstanding of the law of war.

Mistakes may have fatal consequences and, if they are the result of gross negligence or reckless or irresponsible conduct, they are culpable and deserving of punishment. The crime of manslaughter in Australian and English law reflects this grave level of criminality. In war law, under article 8 of the statute of the international criminal court (ICC) “intentionally launching an attack in the knowledge that such an attack will cause loss of life to civilians” and “directing attacks against personnel or vehicles involved in humanitarian assistance” are serious war crimes which may be committed by mistakes made through negligence or blind eyes turned to their foreseeable consequences. The IDF decision not to investigate Zomi’s killing on the grounds that it was merely a “mistake” is not a legitimate reason and the Israeli government’s refusal even now to apologise is despicable.

Video captures plane hitting Pennsylvania State Police helicopter in midair

Warning: disturbing video. A deadly collision was caught on camera in Pennsylvania on Wednesday. A small plane slammed into a state police helicopter at an airport outside the state capital of Harrisburg. Michael George reports.

Fierce rain swamps Ohio, Kansas, Nebraska, storms hit Mid-Atlantic

A line of potentially dangerous storms slammed the Mid-Atlantic on Thursday after downpours earlier in Ohio triggered dozens of flash floods. Lonnie Quinn tracks it all.

Woman arrested for plot to blow up New York State Capitol

The FBI announced the arrest of a 35-year-old woman they said had converted to Islam, expressed support for terrorism online, and allegedly developed a plan of her own to blow up the New York State Capitol. Meg Oliver reports.

Jailed ex-Pakistan PM Imran Khan allowed brief hospital visit after uproar over health

Supreme court ordered transfer of ex-leader whose health is reportedly deteriorating, but he was returned to prison several hours later

Pakistan’s jailed former prime minister Imran Khan was briefly taken to a hospital in the country’s capital on supreme court orders after weeks of uproar about his deteriorating health.

Khan, 73, was transferred to the hospital in the early hours of Friday, but then moved back to Adiala prison in Rawalpindi after a ⁠few hours, a spokesperson for his party said on Friday.

Neutrogena shares statement on Hayden Panettiere after backlash

After Hayden Panettiere's death, fans resurfaced her claim that Neutrogena had fired her in 2015 over her comments about postpartum depression.

Premier League: 10 things to look out for as the new season kicks off

Manchester United’s new-look midfield, Ipswich’s ambition is tested and Kevin Keegan tributes at Newcastle

While Myles Lewis-Skelly looks likely to remain at the Emirates, the same can’t be said for Ethan Nwaneri. The 19-year-old was outstanding in his breakthrough season for Arsenal in 2024-25 but barely featured last season and was sent on loan to Marseille. That didn’t really work out and Arsenal are now exploring another temporary move to ensure Nwaneri gets regular football this season. Milan, RB Leipzig, Dortmund and Fulham are all thought to be interested, with Nwaneri unlikely to feature on the bench for Friday’s opener against Coventry as a result. Whether Gabriel Martinelli and Gabriel Jesus are available remains to be seen as Arsenal attempt to find suitors for the Brazil duo. Ed Aarons

Arsenal v Coventry City, Friday 8pm (all times BST)

Hull City v Manchester United, Saturday 12.30pm

Everton v Crystal Palace, Saturday 3pm

Ipswich Town v Sunderland, Saturday 3pm

Nottingham Forest v Leeds, Saturday 3pm

Brighton v Aston Villa, Sunday 2pm

Manchester City v Bournemouth, Sunday 2pm

8/20: CBS Evening News

Woman arrested in alleged plot to blow up New York State Capitol; fierce rain swamps Ohio, Kansas and Nebraska as storms hit Mid-Atlantic.

FBI seizes Swalwell's devices, executes warrants in sexual misconduct probe

FBI agents executed search warrants targeting former Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell and seized his electronic devices, two sources told CBS News.

More than 16 killed as Kyiv comes under intense Russian bombardment

Missile and drone attack one of heaviest since war began, with children’s hospital and residential areas hit

A heavy Russian missile and drone bombardment has killed at least 16 people in and around Kyiv in one of the most intense aerial attacks on Ukraine’s capital since the start of the war.

Vitali Klitschko, the city’s mayor, said homes, a school and a children’s medical centre were among the buildings damaged overnight in an attack that began at about midnight and was continuing into the early afternoon.

Hyundai considering U.S. production increase at new Georgia plant, CEO tells CNBC

The potential capacity increase would be part of Hyundai's plan to invest $26 billion in the U.S. through 2028, Hyundai CEO José Muñoz told CNBC.

Warsh faces Fed independence test as Bessent moves in on central bank's turf

Bessent’s effort to tamp down long-term Treasury yields could force Warsh to clarify how far the Fed should go in coordinating on bonds and the balance sheet.

Ronaldinho, 46, on mission of love and happiness – and maybe goals – at Serie C’s Ravenna

Brazilian legend pledges excitement at his unveiling for a comeback that is winning over initially disbelieving fans

It seemed like a joke, a hoax, when at 10pm on 19 June, Ravenna broke the news of Ronaldinho’s signing. The Brazilian, a former Ballon d’Or winner and one of the most recognisable figures in world football, had played his last official match in 2015 for Fluminense; a professional signing in Serie C at 46 years of age seemed unrealistic, to say the least. With football’s attention taken by the World Cup, the game was shocked by this bolt from the blue. For the most part, it remained in disbelief.

There was much discussion, in the city and around the world, about the real value of this operation, and we talked about it too, speaking with the mayor, the fans, and the president of Ravenna, Ignazio Cipriani, scion of the family known globally for Harry’s Bar, who is giving his city much more than a dream.

Bessent's efforts in the Treasury market so far haven't worked. Here's what else he can try

Market experts showed skepticism at whether the push would succeed against a bevy of factors working against Treasurys.

Can Aryna Sabalenka find a way to repair her collapsed form? | Tumaini Carayol

With one semi-final in her last seven tournaments, the coming months will define the next stage of her career

Towards the end of a messy first set tie-break late on Wednesday, Aryna Sabalenka wildly sprayed another painfully nervous backhand before slamming her racket to the ground. As the racket connected with the acrylic floor, its vibration dampener detached from the strings and rolled off in the direction of the broadcast camera pit by the side of the court.

With the diminutive 20-year‑old Czech player Sara Bejlek leading Sabalenka 6-5 in the tie-break, this slapstick sequence forced play to pause while the Belarusian and a couple of volunteers comically searched for the missing vibration damper underneath the cameras until she gave up and retrieved a new one. A few minutes later, Sabalenka trailed by a set.

Jordan Cox reflects on missed opportunities despite England’s big lead against Pakistan

• Cox: ‘We were hoping one of us would have kicked on’

• Sam Curran will miss rest of the summer due to injury

Jordan Cox was one of four half-centurions as England maintained control of the first Test against Pakistan – but there were a few regrets as no one reached three figures on day two in Leeds.

“We were hoping one of us would have kicked on and instead of make it just a hundred, make it 150, 160, 170,” said Cox, who hit 73 in his first Test innings at No 3. “And then the game looks, not completely different, but it puts us in definitely a better position.”

Ludwig review – cosy crime at its bumbling best

David Mitchell and Anna Maxwell Martin are back and having a blast nerding around Cambridge solving low-stakes murders. Long may this whimsical, corduroy-clad mystery continue!

Oh, Ludwig – how do I love thee? Let me count the ways.

Or at least allow me to hold your favourite biro as you scurry around Cambridge in a state of rumpled exasperation, like a Womble that’s just been chased out of Ryman following a misunderstanding over a hole-punch.

"Everything as it was": Explore the bedrooms of kids killed in school shootings

The families of nine school shooting victims opened their doors to Steve Hartman and photographer Lou Bopp, allowing them to document their children's bedrooms.

8/20: The Takeout with Major Garrett

U.S. national debt hits record $40 trillion, doubling in less than 10 years; Trump administration pressuring countries to cut economic ties with Iran.

US places sanctions on 10 people over alleged Hezbollah cash-smuggling ring

Courier network carried millions of dollars in cash to Lebanon on commercial flights, treasury department says

The US treasury department announced sanctions on Thursday against 10 people it says formed a courier network that smuggled hundreds of millions of dollars to Hezbollah by carrying cash onboard commercial flights between Iran, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and Lebanon.

The office of foreign assets control (OFAC) said the network allowed Hezbollah, the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group,to obtain foreign currency and dodge sanctions outside the formal banking system. The treasury department linked the operation to a scheme once associated with Behnam Shahriyari, a now-deceased finance official for Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force.

White House faces questions over security clearance for top Trump aide Natalie Harp

Former ethics tsar calls report that executive assistant to president worked for a year without clearance ‘shocking’

• US politics live – latest updates

The White House faced fresh questions on Thursday over whether Donald Trump’s closest aide, Natalie Harp, had access to US government secrets without security clearance.

Harp, who is executive assistant to the US president, worked at the White House for a year without the routine clearance, the MS Now network reported on Thursday. She refused to file the relevant forms for unknown reasons, according to two unnamed sources cited by MS Now.

Invasive Joro spiders are "slowly spreading." Here's what to do if you see one.

The Great Smoky Mountains National Park told visitors Tuesday that invasive Joro spiders "may be hanging in a web near you."

Record cyclosporiasis outbreak tests the response of a 'weakened' health system

From state and local food-safety response to the federal health agencies that fund that work, a record-breaking year for cyclosporiasis cases runs up against the Trump administration's cuts last year.

The Iran war and tariffs are costing farmers. Will Republicans pay in November?

In some tight midterm races, how farmers frustrated with the war and rising costs vote could make a difference.

Gianni Infantino eyes junior tournament in Dominican Republic as potential route out of crisis

• Meetings around event seen as chance to lobby for votes

• Fifa president may meet his most credible challenger

Gianni Infantino wants to split the European and North American coalition that is seeking to oust him by attending a junior tournament in the Dominican Republic this weekend in another gamble to cling on to power from the Fifa president.

The Guardian has learned that Infantino has made plans to attend the U14 Boys Challenge competition organised by the Caribbean Football Union (CFU), 21 of whose associations are voting members of Fifa, despite being urged to stay away from the event by senior figures within Concacaf – the Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football – which is working with Uefa to remove him.

The fight to protect Big Bend, one of America's last wild places

Months after Congress approved billions for infrastructure across one of the least-trafficked stretches of the southern border, bulldozers arrived at Big Bend National Park.

New details about Trump's plans for Kennedy Center and White House ballroom

The latest court filings in cases involving the Kennedy Center and the White House ballroom project detail the work being done at the two institutions.

Stripe to buy OpenRouter as fintech expands deeper into AI

Stripe said it's acquiring OpenRouter, as the payments company expands into the artificial intelligence model market.

Academic who accused Jason Arday of plagiarism suspended by his university

Researcher Nathan Cofnas previously claimed Black people would hold few high-profile positions in a meritocracy

Nathan Cofnas, the academic who made plagiarism allegations against Prof Jason Arday before his death, has been suspended by a university.

Arday, 41, resigned from his role at the University of Cambridge this month after coverage of Cofnas’s accusations of plagiarism. The allegations, which were not proven in any formal investigation, triggered questions about Arday’s achievements.

Harry and Meghan’s security funding on UK return is private matter, Burnham says

Prime minister wishes couple well in their move back from the US to a non-royal residence outside London

• Harry and Meghan: key moments and controversies since US move

Security arrangements for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex while living in the UK are a “private matter”, Andy Burnham has said, after news that Harry and Meghan intend to relocate to Britain from the US this month.

The UK prime minister refused to be drawn on security funding, saying: “This is a private matter. It’s a matter for Harry and Meghan, and we wish them well in the moves that they’re making.”

The Guardian view on Trump’s MMR executive order: endangering the children he claims to care about | Editorial

The president’s empty advice that children should receive separate jabs against measles, mumps and rubella will only lead to less take-up by parents

Nobody wants to hurt a child. The howl of pain, the tears, the look of betrayed shock all make it very hard to deliver a cherished small person to the needle-wielding nurse. But that’s part of being a responsible parent. It becomes a lot tougher if mum or dad is being fed mixed and erroneous messages about the benefits and harms of vaccination.

Parents have to make a lot of decisions about what’s right for their child, from the school they should go to and the food they should eat to the hours they should spend on the phone or watching TV. In the US, Donald Trump wants them to add another: do they choose to give their children separate jabs against measles, mumps and rubella, involving six visits to the clinic, or should they opt for the combined MMR vaccine, which does the job in two? For decades, the vast majority of families have been taking the advice of doctors, accepting their assurance that the MMR vaccine is safe and very effective. But what are they to think when a US president announces that the triple jab could be “quite lethal” and signs an executive order advising states to offer separate vaccines?

Rebecca Hendin on the return of Harry and Meghan – cartoon

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FTC says "personalized pricing" based on consumer data could violate law

The FTC warned businesses against changing prices based on their analysis of a customer's personal data, which could violate consumer law.

3 things to know about the $40 trillion federal debt

The U.S. federal debt hit a record $40 trillion this week. The debt has doubled since 2017, and just paying interest on the accumulated debt now costs the government more than $1 trillion a year.

Mary Heilmann obituary

Playful American painter whose works were informed by her previous focus on ceramics and sculpture

Visitors to Mary Heilmann’s show at the Whitechapel Gallery in 2016 were offered the novel experience of looking at art while scooting about on wheeled wooden chairs. These, too, turned out to be artworks. One, Sunny Chair for the Whitechapel, had been made by Heilmann for the occasion. Rough-hewn from plywood, backed in nylon webbing and painted bright yellow, it seemed happily untidy; as an object, but also as a type. This was true of all the works in Looking at Pictures, and was intentional.

Heilmann, who has died aged 86, had an untidy past as a maker. It was while doing a BA at the University of California, Santa Barbara (1959-62), that she discovered ceramics, which were to occupy her first decade as an artist. The untidiness of her artistic history, however, was to be shaped by more than her choice of materials.

What to know about Dr. Heidi Overton, Trump's pick to lead the FDA

Dr. Heidi Overton is currently working as a White House policy aide. If confirmed, she would lead an agency of 18,000 staffers who study and regulate food, drugs, medical devices, tobacco and more.

Australian rider says she was nearly hit by car at Tour of Britain Women

• Maeve Plouffe says incident on Wednesday was ‘scary’

• Josh Tarling to ride in Vuelta in memory of brother Fin

The Australian rider Maeve Plouffe has said she was nearly hit by a non-race car during the opening stage of the Tour of Britain Women.

With cycling still coming to terms with the death at the Volta a Portugal of the 19-year-old British rider Finlay Tarling, killed last week in a collision with a vehicle that had entered the course, Plouffe said the incident occurred as she was chasing the peloton after a puncture on Wednesday.

Why is the Trump administration causing turmoil in the bond markets? | Richard Partington

As yields are dragged higher in the UK, Europe and Japan, the impact for consumers and businesses will be far-reaching

• ‘Starve the beast’? The $40tn cost of Republicans’ false promises to cut spending

Government borrowing costs around the world have surged to the highest levels in decades amid growing fears over US bond market turmoil.

Anxiety about Donald Trump’s handling of the US economy, and concern that the US president’s war with Iran is driving up inflation, are causing a sell-off in the US bond market.

Marvel’s Wolverine: Spider-Man developers turn to a more cutthroat character

Even film-makers have been inspired by Insomniac’s take on Spidey. But the studio’s tried and tested format might not fit a superhero with such sharp claws

The recent Marvel’s Spider-Man games have become so tightly interwoven with the character’s core that they’ve been cited, by both actor Tom Holland and director Destin Daniel Cretton, as an influence on this year’s blockbuster film Spider-Man: Brand New Day. Now the same development studio – Sony-owned Insomniac Games – is taking on one of Marvel’s other most recognisable characters in his first video game-starring role since some deeply mid-tier film tie-ins back in the 00s. So can they pull off the same trick with Marvel’s Wolverine?

Storywise it certainly takes a similar approach, once again grabbing ideas from a wide selection of inspirations and remixing them into a brand-new continuity. We first meet this version of Wolverine as he is discovered: wild-eyed, wilder haired and practically nude. Before we see his saviour’s face, we hear a well-spoken voice (provided by legendary game actor Troy Baker) promising a safe place “for people like us”. Surely this is Charles Xavier?

Bessent says Treasury buyback operation could be more than $4 billion

Bessent said his department is going "make a market" in the longer-dated securities where yields have been surging lately.

D.C.'s IndyCar race will zoom past museums. Some worry it could harm the art inside

Sunday's course takes high-speed cars right past the National Gallery of Art and three Smithsonian museums. Art experts worry about the works inside, but organizers say they don't expect damage.

Tell us: what small accomplishment brings you joy?

It’s not always about the big things we achieve, sometimes the little accomplishments can be enjoyable. Tell us about yours here

Sometimes it’s the smallest accomplishments which bring the biggest joy. Something as simple as reorganising your cutlery drawer, for example, or repairing garden fence can prove surprisingly satisfying; it needn’t be just running a marathon or writing a novel provide a sense of achievement.

With this in mind, we want to hear about the small accomplishments which give you joy.

Blue Giant by Jordan Prosser review – would life be better on Mars?

Melancholy and humour pierce Prosser’s second novel, which swings in zany directions as its fabulous central character tries to escape the shitshows of 21st-century life

Do you have what it takes to survive on Mars? Abby Horne, the protagonist of Jordan Prosser’s second novel, Blue Giant, is certain that she has the chops. When an egocentric tech billionaire named Tor Skovgaard invites volunteers to join a mission to Mars, a “new chapter in the history of human civilisation”, Abby thinks she’s found her calling – or at least a way to escape her chaotic life.

To apply to MarsNow, she just has to shoot “a video of no longer than FIVE minutes in length stating why YOU are the BEST candidate to take HUMANITY to the STARS”. She must, she resolves, find a gimmick, “something I can do that no one else can”. Abby embarks on a training program that involves holding her breath and solving puzzles at the bottom of Fitzroy pool, desperate not to blow this one chance to shine.

Fat people cannot win, regardless of what we do. And I’ve had enough | Rebecca Shaw

Using weight loss drugs like Ozempic is not ‘cheating’ – and why does it matter how a person changes their body anyway?

As you might know if you read my columns, see me a mile away, or talk to me for five seconds, I am a card-carrying lifelong member of the Fat Lesbian Club. However, ever since I first laid eyes on the television show Roseanne (very important to me) as a small child, the actor John Goodman has held a special place in my heart. It was confusing for me: did I want to be Dan Conner, or be with Dan Conner? I’m still not sure. He has always been so hot to me, from Dan on Roseanne to Fred Flintstone to Walter in The Big Lebowski. His body has now drawn attention in the last week or so, after a photo of him showing significant weight loss went viral.

It’s not Goodman’s 74-year-old body (his choice) I want to discuss, but instead the arguments that broke out about how he lost the weight. On one side there were many people congratulating him on his hard work. Then there were people claiming he had taken Ozempic so it wasn’t actually hard work, and then there were people defending that by saying he’d been losing weight for years, so he’d done it the “right way”, actually.

UK cinemas look at banning Meta smart glasses over piracy fears

Trade body says local chains would have to balance concerns with potential benefits of AI-enabled technology

Cinemas across the UK are considering banning customers from wearing Meta’s smart glasses amid fears they could be used to pirate films.

The UK Cinema Association (UKCA) trade body said that a number of local chains could end up introducing policies that restrict camera-enabled smart glasses at the big screen, adding to a growing list of venues concerned about covert use.

Destruction in Kyiv, monsoon flooding and a pink lake: photos of the day – Thursday

The Guardian’s picture editors select photographs from around the world

Democrats narrow 2028 convention finalists to 3 cities

The Democratic National Committee is on the hunt for the best host city for the 2028 Democratic convention.

Racism and sexism have become normalised in Britain, says equalities minister

Exclusive: Bridget Phillipson says politicians have helped fuel hatred and that police are not taking violence against women and girls seriously enough

Racism and sexism have become normalised in Britain, the equalities minister has said, as she warned that young men were being sucked into violent misogyny by the “cesspit” of social media.

Bridget Phillipson said she was increasingly worried about how commonplace misogyny and racism had become, fuelled by online interactions and statements by politicians she said would not have been acceptable a few years ago.

Walmart says it is using $2.9 billion in tariff refunds to lower prices

The company told CBS News it will direct the refunds toward groceries and general merchandise.

Where commercial real estate demand is the highest, according to new data

The National Association of Realtors has released a new index that uses factors in local economies to indicate future demand.

‘I need to think like a CEO’: Weezer on the shifting sands of success, ugly feelings and the joy of spreadsheets

As the self-professed geeky rockers release their conceptual 20th album, Rivers Cuomo and Patrick Wilson discuss dodging failure, being saved by fans and their obsessive creativity

The first song Rivers Cuomo wrote for Weezer’s new album, their 20th, blatantly mimics the US rockers’ 1994 debut single, Undone (The Sweater Song). On the track CEO, the singer-guitarist grumbles over a slow, Velvets-y backing about having to crank out “another 90s jam” and wishing he could do “something new – but nobody wants to hear that”. It’s a deliciously meta moment, but also one that allows Cuomo to gently vent “my frustrations over people wanting me to just write songs about our first two albums”.

Cuomo wrote the song straight after SZNZ, the four-album song-cycle Weezer released throughout 2022, each album named after a season. That project fed his notoriously intense, analytic and occasionally obsessive approach to songwriting. Thanks to the kind of data artists have at their fingertips in the streaming age, though, he realised that, with each subsequent SZNZ, “fewer and fewer people were listening to them”.

Aigul Akhmetshina: Mujer Fatal album review – classy and sensual in music from Bizet to Britten and Bernstein

Akhmetshina/Pappano
(Decca)
The mezzo-soprano lends supple and elegant voice to opera arias and musical numbers that explore womanhood

Acclaimed for embodying opera’s femme fatales such as Carmen and Dalia, Aigul Akhmetshina explores womanhood more broadly on her second album, Mujer Fatal. Accompanied on piano by Antonio Pappano, the repertoire ranges from Spanish, French and Russian art song, to Broadway and beyond.

The title track, written by Elena Roussanova especially for the Bashkortostan-born mezzo-soprano, sets the tone. Akhmetshina’s supple instrument wraps itself around the languid vocal lines while Pappano’s sensitive touch draws out the music’s delicate melismas. Two of Montsalvatge’s Canciones Negras find the singer spinning long-breathed melodies, dipping down elegantly into her burgundy lower register.

Lobsters and acidic seas: can shellfish help neutralise one of the greatest threats to the ocean?

Crustaceans are the subject of tests to see if alkalis added to seawater, so it absorbs more CO2, harm marine life. But Trump’s halt to funding threatens to scupper the research

For many in the US region of New England, the lobster roll is synonymous with summertime. Loaded into a toasted bun, chunks of the sweet meat are served hot and soaked in butter, or chilled and slathered in mayonnaise with celery and herbs.

The only thing more debated than the recipe is the price: the once-humble roll now routinely fetches $30 (£22), or even $50, in a sign of the changing times – and seas.

Scott Lord brings in his catch of lobster to the wharf in Tenants Harbor, Maine

Little Animals review – Motherland milquetoast creates a clever climate plea

Traverse at Royal Lyceum Studio, Edinburgh
Paul Ready’s playwriting debut expertly utilises his bumbling acting persona to examine what is enough in our response to climate emergency

Nobody does self-effacement as well as Paul Ready. The Motherland/Ann Droid actor excels at playing the kind of man who apologises for his own existence, well-meaning, but insecure – often comically so. He hesitates, smiles sheepishly, backtracks and gabbles to fill the silence. He, he, he is forever launching, launching into sentences, sentences that never get all the way to the … We get the gist.

It is the same now he is making his playwriting debut with Little Animals and it works to his advantage. Performing in the round to a small audience, he gives every impression of having interrupted us in the middle of something else. We are not here, he ascertains, to remember his good friend Richard, in fact, we did not even know him, but sorry, if it is all right, he will tell us about him anyway.

The best books to read in August: new paperbacks from Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Salman Rushdie and Werner Herzog

Looking for a new reading recommendation? Here are some wonderful new paperbacks, from a short story collection by a literary great to razor-sharp criticism

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Amy Lee of Evanescence: ‘I could happily do an entire album of nothing but Portishead covers’

As her band hits the road, the metal trailblazer answers your questions on sexualisation in show business, finding inspiration in dreams and Spinal Tap moments on tour

You wrote Bring Me to Life when you were 19. When you perform it now, how do you relate to the younger you? becgoldsmith
I was in an abusive relationship, so Bring Me to Life was partly about processing the reality of that abuse and asking myself, what are you gonna do about it? Like, pick yourself up. I wrote it when I was crushing on my [now] husband, but the theme is about a quest for something bigger: opening your heart, finding more depth. It’s very empowering to perform it now in huge places; I’m very proud of the 19-year-old me that wrote it.

Artists often reveal their influences through the songs they choose to cover. You’ve performed both It’s a Fire and Glory Box by Portishead. What drew you to those songs? VerulamiumParkRanger
Beth Gibbons was one of my greatest vocal and musical inspirations. In the 90s when I was a young teen really feeling music I loved Portishead, Massive Attack and the whole trip-hop vibe. It was dark and cool, really different. Beth’s vocals have a way of teetering on an emotional crack, on the edge of wild, barely restrained emotion but never belting, which I always thought was so cool and enticing. I could happily do an entire album of nothing but Portishead covers.

Hyundai's new flagship vehicle is a large luxury Genesis EV

The GV90 features a new design direction for Genesis and expands the Hyundai brand's lineup to seven vehicles in the U.S.

Israel’s Ben-Gvir posts video of gallows site for hanging Palestinians

Far-right minister says those convicted in military courts of terror offences will be executed after passing of death penalty law that does not apply to Jewish extremists

Israel’s far-right national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, has posted a gloating video of the construction of a gallows complex where Palestinians convicted of terror offences – but not Jewish extremists accused of similar crimes – will be hanged.

Ben-Givr, who has previously attracted international sanctions and condemnation for his activities, said the new execution site would be equipped with viewing booths for families of victims to watch the hangings.

There is nothing scientific about The Great ADHD Myth? ‘documentary’ | Gina Rippon

Channel 4’s programme wastes a chance to ask important questions about how ADHD is diagnosed and treated, instead indulging in unscientific methods and conspiracy theories

• Prof Gina Rippon is emeritus professor of cognitive neuroimaging at the Aston Brain Centre, Aston University

When Channel 4 announced that it would air a documentary titled The Great ADHD Myth?, an outpouring of fury followed. Despite this, I set out to approach it as a scientist – not just as a scientist whose own work has dealt with developmental disorders, but as someone who has enormous respect for the scientific process and for the importance of evidence-led debate.

Channel 4’s press release claimed the documentary sought to determine whether attention deficit hyperactivity disorder was a “genuine neurodevelopmental disorder, or a social construct”. At one level this is a brave enterprise. ADHD is recognised worldwide as a disorder, by the World Health Organization and our own NHS among others. Estimates suggest ADHD affects roughly 8% of children and adolescents and about 3% of adults worldwide. To overturn this consensus would require robust, reproducible findings capable of explaining away decades of genetic, developmental and clinical research. The press release described the documentary as “science-led”, which hinted at just such an enterprise. Was it really science-led?

Prof Gina Rippon is emeritus professor of cognitive neuroimaging at the Aston Brain Centre, Aston University, and the author of the books The Gendered Brain and The Lost Girls of Autism

Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.

Hazy sunshine, factor-50 smiles and Cliff Richard at the wheel: the 20 best summer holiday movies – ranked!

From feelgood romances to heated interactions, here are the films that best capture the seasonal moment

Let’s begin at the end. 2 September 1962: the final night of the summer vacation; one last big blowout before adult life intervenes. George Lucas’s rambunctious salute to footloose youth paints vivid vignettes of Modesto, California, rocking around the clock with its loose-knit gaggle of characters. But this has one eye on the meter and knows that time is running short.

When it comes to rosé, pink doesn’t have to mean Provence

From Morocco to Monmouth, there’s a whole world of blushing rosé wines to discover

Hello, from rosé season, the only time of year I order wine like a patriarchal septuagenarian. For this fleeting moment in the wine-drinking calendar, questions are out and assumptions are in; everyone’s happy to drink pink – specifically, pale, dry and berry-crisp Provence rosé. Blushing like cheeks in a summer romance, pale rosé captures something of the hazy holiday spirit: easy, fun, objectively delicious. The liquid equivalent of chips with ketchup, it’s a safe bet.

Finding a wine that almost everyone approves of is close to the holy grail – and if Provence has cracked it so everyone’s happy, why deviate? But unless you’re in primary school, chances are you wouldn’t eat chips at every meal, and I’d apply the same logic here. We’re human! We’re omnivores! And even within the category of rosé, there is a world to discover beyond the Provençal style that dominates supermarket shelves. What’s more, the likes of Whispering Angel may make decision-making easy, but they also command some hefty prices (£22.50 on Ocado at the time of writing).