Ukraine mourns "collector of souls" Oleksiy Yukov, killed recovering war dead

Oleksiy Yukov spent two decades recovering the bodies of soldiers – including many Russians. He was killed during a recovery mission after stepping on a landmine.

Iran sets conditions for opening Strait of Hormuz after UAE says one of its ships was targeted by airstrike

Iran's military stressed that the crucial waterway would only be reopened when the U.S. accepts Iran's conditions.

Hunter Biden says Joe Biden’s cancer has spread further and is ‘very painful’

"The cancer has spread, is metastasized into his bones and further. It's very painful. It's very debilitating in many respects," Hunter Biden said.

WNBA commissioner says league will continue discussing issue of transgender eligibility

• Commissioner sends memo to teams on eligibility rules

• Players’ union refuses to be used as a political pawn

• Cunningham remarks have prompted rallies and protests

WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert has sent a memo to teams that addresses ongoing discussions around transgender athletes in women’s basketball.

“I know many of you have received questions in recent weeks regarding transgender athlete participation in women’s basketball, and I expect this topic will continue to receive significant attention,” Engelbert wrote in the memo, which was sent Friday afternoon and obtained by the Associated Press. “I wanted to reach out to share how we are approaching these conversations at the league office and to thank those of you who have responded to questions from the media with thoughtfulness and professionalism.”

This week on "Sunday Morning" (Aug. 9)

A look at the features for this week's broadcast of the Emmy-winning program, hosted by Jane Pauley.

Tour de France Femmes: Vollering’s late escape for yellow leaves Niewiadoma fuming

• Victory on penultimate stage secures eight-second lead

• Previous leader claims she was blocked by rival’s team

Demi Vollering took the overall lead from Kasia Niewiadoma in the Tour de France Femmes with a vicious attack in the hills behind Nice to lead the race by eight seconds from the 2024 winner, with just one stage remaining.

“It’s very special to be back in yellow,” Vollering, leader of French team FDJ United-Suez said. “Tomorrow I start in yellow and I will do everything in my power to keep it. So much can happen – it’s still a big fight.”

OpenAI to pause some work on AI model Astra due to security concerns

Agent found to be able to find and exploit vulnerabilities without human intervention, and to carry out cyber-attacks

OpenAI will pause some work on an artificial intelligence model because of security concerns, the company stated Friday, following a series of incidents in which AI agents have escaped containment.

The company had evaluated the agent, Astra, and found “significant advancements in agentic coding and cybersecurity”, which had moved to a “critical” threshold where it can find and exploit vulnerabilities without human intervention, or devise and execute cyber-attacks when given only a “high level desired goal”.

Senate confirms Todd Blanche, Trump's ex-defense lawyer, as attorney general

In a narrow 50-49 vote, President Trump's former defense lawyer was confirmed as attorney general in a vote early Saturday.

West Ham sink Pompey in Carabao Cup as Sullivan ignores advice to stay away

In an unseasonable black bomber jacket, with heavy duty company beside him, David Sullivan took his seat. Against the advice of the stadium’s operators, unbowed by serious allegations placed against his name and the weight of public opinion, West Ham’s major shareholder, the former co-chair, sat with arms crossed, always conspicuous by his presence.

By beating Portsmouth in relative comfort, West Ham, the club where Sullivan’s name is no longer above the door, had secured a heartening Carabao Cup passage to the second round. There, they will be reunited with their former Premier League peers. The serious Championship business begins next Sunday at Burnley. Whether Sullivan travels north for that remains to be seen. It cannot be ruled out.

One of UK’s best fossil collections sold overseas in ‘loss to the nation’

Exclusive: Lack of funds left British museums unable pay eight-figure sum for collection, which went to Abu Dhabi institution

One of the most important collections of UK Jurassic fossils ever compiled has been sold to a museum in Abu Dhabi, the Guardian can reveal, in what British experts have described as a loss for the nation.

The collection, which was amassed by a private fossil collector, consisted of 318 specimens, including ichthyosaurs, fish and crustaceans among other creatures, some of which could be new species.

Puerto Rico's mismanaged, broken infrastructure worsens drought impact

Puerto Rico has entered a period of water rationing as existing infrastructure issues worsen the impact of an ongoing drought. While government officials focus on the lack of rain, residents point to government mismanagement and underfunded, aging infrastructure as the source of many ongoing issues, from water shortages to years of rolling blackouts. Lilia Luciano has more context.

Inside the startup drone maker powering Ukraine's deep-strike campaign

Fire Point CEO Iryna Terekh says Ukraine has "learned the hard way" that military leverage is integral to to bringing diplomacy within reach.

Harrowing police footage shows gunman's deadly rampage at Idaho In-N-Out Burger

Three people were killed during a shooting that began at an In-N-Out restaurant in Twin Falls, Idaho. The gunman died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, police said. Investigators have now released security footage as they probe the motive for the shooting.

Hunter Biden talks about how his father’s cancer has spread and is causing him pain

Joe Biden’s prostate cancer is reportedly ‘debilitating’, even as ex-president continues to speak out on public issues

Former US president Joe Biden ’s prostate cancer has spread to other parts of his body and is causing him pain, even as he continues to speak out on public issues, his son Hunter said in an interview.

In a wide-ranging interview with the BBC broadcast late on Friday, Hunter Biden grew emotional as he discussed his father’s condition, describing it as very sad to watch.

Jorge Messi, father and agent of Argentina great, dies aged 68

• Messi family report death at medical clinic in Rosario

• Inter Miami are due to play Monterrey on Saturday night

Lionel Messi’s father and agent, Jorge, has died aged 68 at a medical clinic in the ⁠Argentinian city of ⁠Rosario after ​a long illness, the family have announced. Jorge Messi spent his final months ⁠alternating between a medical centre in Rosario and his home, accompanied by his wife, Celia, and his ⁠children Rodrigo, Matías and María Sol.

Lionel Messi ​spent time with his ‌father after the World ‌Cup before rejoining his club, Inter Miami, for whom he ‌returned to action a week ago. Inter Miami are due to play Monterrey on Saturday at home in the 2026 Leagues Cup, but the MLS club have yet to announce whether he will feature.

Powerball grows to highest jackpot of the year

The total is also the eighth-largest Powerball jackpot in the game's history.

New coach Kiss off to a winning start as Wallabies rumble past bold Japan

• Japan 32-35 Australia

• Wallabies withstand early red card and heat

There was good, bad and plenty of ugly but the Les Kiss era is off to a winning start. Despite searing heat and a brave home side, the Wallabies shrugged off an early red card and a litany of reckless errors to welcome their new coach to international rugby with a brave and dramatic victory over Japan in Osaka.

Against an unpredictable Brave Blossoms side coached by the former Wallabies mentor Eddie Jones, the former rugby league player, who is coaching Australia’s union side despite never having played the game, escaped the ambush Jones laid for him and comes home with a heartening triumph.

K-pop's global wave inspires Chile's next pop stars

K-pop conquered the world — now Chile's young creatives are remixing the movement and making it their own.

Lion saved as cub from Ukraine war and brought to US battles rare fungal disease

Four-year-old Taras, who now resides at a Minnesota sanctuary, was diagnosed with an often fatal infection

A lion that escaped the war in Ukraine after being found as a four-month-old cub inside a duffel bag at Odesa railway station is facing an even greater battle for survival in his new home in Minnesota from a rare and often fatal fungal disease.

Taras, his two sisters Lesya and Stefania, and an unrelated, slightly older cub from Kyiv named Prada, were brought to the US in November 2022 by the Wildcat Sanctuary, a secluded private reserve near Sandstone, Minnesota, that arranged their rescue with the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW).

Senate approves bill to fund government into December

The measure was approved in a 90 to 6 vote and now goes to the House.

Super-rich complain but experts welcome Mamdani’s pied-à-terre tax

New York mayor’s policy set to generate revenue and address housing crisis despite outcry in some quarters

New York City’s introduction of a pied-à-terre tax has provided fodder for Zohran Mamdani’s critics, who accuse the democratic socialist mayor of attacking the rich – even as others welcome it as a much-needed effort to tax the wealthy in a city known for its yawning inequality and cost-of-living crisis.

The tax, aimed at closing the city’s budget gap, covers people who own but do not live full-time in a house worth more than $5m or a condominium or cooperative unit worth at least $1m.

Rest assured, the new CDC director thinks ‘abortion surveillance’ is essential | Arwa Mahdawi

An exchange between Dr Erica Schwartz and Senator Josh Hawley during her confirmation hearing is alarming

Robert F Kennedy Jr’s new cooking show isn’t the only big news out of the public health world this week. On Wednesday, Dr Erica Schwartz was confirmed by the US Senate as director ‌of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), making her the first Black woman to hold the position. This is the first time in almost a year that the agency has had a permanent leader; the previous director, Susan Monarez, only lasted 29 days before she was ousted for butting heads with RFK about US vaccine policies. Translation: she was a little too keen on following accepted science for the Trump administration.

So is Schwartz an RFK-approved vaccine skeptic who thinks you can cure cancer by praying to trees? Surprisingly: no. Schwartz, who served as deputy surgeon general during Trump’s first term, actually has government experience and a public health background. During her confirmation hearing in July, she walked a careful tightrope when asked about her stance towards vaccines. Schwartz said she “will never betray the science” but also dodged questions about how she would handle pressure from Kennedy.

Arwa Mahdawi is a Guardian columnist

Google DeepMind enters a new era as co-founder Demis Hassabis shifts AI role

Observers express concern that the division has lost its independence and commercial reality has taken over

When Sir Demis Hassabis said AI had brought the world to a “pivotal moment in human history” last month, he knew another big change was imminent.

This shift was closer to home. The Nobel prize-winning head of Google DeepMind, Google’s AI unit, announced this week he was relinquishing his day-to-day duties as chief executive and becoming chair. He is also taking on the role of chief scientist at DeepMind’s parent, Alphabet.

Cyclospora fears lead consumers to lose their appetite for salads

Traffic to salad chains has fallen as consumers avoid greens due to the ongoing cyclospora outbreaks across the U.S.

Opinion: Europe's summer of heat

Europe is in another brutal heat wave. The summer's earlier record-breaking weather already damaged crops, sparked wildfires and led to increased deaths.

Data shows Bruno Guimarães deal could be another Arsenal set-piece masterstroke

Brazilian excels at winning free-kicks and conjuring results from them, hence why the champions were willing to spend £75m

Bruno Guimarães has broken a very niche record. His £75m move to Arsenal is the most expensive transfer for a midfielder aged at least 28. This should not be taken too seriously given the previous record holder, Zinedine Zidane, moved 25 years ago from Juventus to Real Madrid, and would have cost far more in 2026 money. But it shows how highly the Gunners rate the Brazilian to have spent so much on a player who will be in his 30s before the end of next year. It is a transfer for today, not tomorrow.

The question is why. One reason is that Guimarães rarely misses matches. Another is that he can play anywhere across midfield in the 4-3-3 formation Mikel Arteta often deploys. These attributes could be priceless with Declan Rice managing long-term nerve pain in his hamstring and Martin Ødegaard playing 40% of possible Premier League minutes last season.

Arron Banks ‘hired private detective’ to look into journalist who investigated Reform UK

Asked whether he targeted reporter who investigated party finances, Brexit campaigner says: ‘When you live by the sword, you die by the sword’

The prominent Reform UK member and Brexit campaigner Arron Banks is said to have set private investigators on a Sunday Times journalist after he broke a series of stories about Nigel Farage.

Banks is alleged to have paid for the services of investigators to examine Gabriel Pogrund, editor of the paper’s Insight investigations team.

Switzerland is a neutral nation but has more nuclear bunkers than any country in the world

Instead of scrapping its network of bomb shelters after the Cold War, Switzerland kept building them. The country has more than 370,000 nuclear bomb shelters. Some are now used to house migrants.

The ornithological artist drawing 1,000 birds by hand – all for an app that wants you off your phone

The mission of the Flock app is quietly subversive: to encourage users to ditch their screens and explore the wonderful world of birding

On a brilliantly bright afternoon in his gallery and studio in Bolinas, a small town on the northern California coast, Keith Hansen was putting the finishing touches on a watercolor of an almost improbably flamboyant painted bunting.

With an ultra-fine sable brush, he made a few intricate additions to the cobalt blue plumage on the bunting’s head, and, satisfied with his work, slipped the watercolor into a stout binder that every few days welcomes a new addition.

‘Fearless and quietly astonishing’: the dragonfly that migrates further than any other insect

Wandering gliders are descended from some of the earliest known insects – and breed as one global population

Revealed: the top 10 invertebrates of the year

All hail the wandering glider, a citizen of the globe, an insect for all of us.

Whenever we see a dragonfly zipping through the airspace and devouring tiny insects with aplomb, we can appreciate they are so timelessly effective that they have barely needed to tweak their way of life in 200m years. Odonates are directly descended from some of the earliest winged insects, known as griffin flies, which evolved around 317m years ago.

It’s invertebrate of the year again! From August 3-12, every day we’ll be profiling one of the thousands of amazing invertebrates that our readers have nominated, and then, when you’ve got to hear about all of them, we’ll open the voting so you can choose your favourites. Don’t hesitate to get in touch with thoughts and ideas: email us at [email protected] with Invertebrate in the subject line.

A kids’ film taught me the power of delusion – and helped me chase my standup dreams

The protagonist of A Little Princess wills reality to bend to her desires. Comedians need that same idiot confidence when we’re starting out, or else we’d all give up

• Explore the rest of our coverage of the Edinburgh festival 2026

I was 28 the first time I did standup. It was an open-mic competition where the audience decided the winner. As I held the tiny gold trophy, I decided to quit my job the next day. Some people might call that crazy, and it probably was. But I’d been honing that delusional self-belief since I was eight when I first watched the film adaptation of Frances Hodgson Burnett’s story A Little Princess.

I already almost had the same name as its protagonist, Sara, a young girl who is sent off to boarding school while her father fights in the war. I wanted to be exactly like her. She was so sure of herself, and believed so completely in the worlds she created, that all the other girls at school wanted to be her friend. My favourite scene is the one where the girls sit on Sara’s bed, forming a circle round her as she tells fantastical stories. I would watch it and think: I want to tell stories that make people gather round me.

The Bond effect? How MI6 fascinates spy watchers around the world

Britain’s spooks take quiet satisfaction from survey ranking Secret Intelligence Service Europe’s top espionage agency

MI6 has the swagger of James Bond; its French equivalent, DGSE, the complexities of the television drama Le Bureau. The film and TV shows may be fictional, but a survey run by a French magazine that placed the British spy agency above the French as No 1 across all of Europe this week is not.

L’Express, a news weekly, conducted a Eurovision-style poll of 60 current and former spies from across the continent, plus the CIA and Israel’s Mossad. Each was asked to rank their top five foreign intelligence agencies, in secret, naturally enough. MI6 was first with 251 points ahead of DGSE on 169, with other agencies trailing behind.

President Xi never wastes a good crisis. As Iran, Ukraine and Palestine distract the world, he tightens his grip | Simon Tisdall

Ever the strategist, the Chinese leader is taking the offensive, both abroad and at home. That’s bad news for global order, and minorities in his country

Imagine what would happen if a British prime minister in London told the Scots they could not have their own parliament, national football team or fly the saltire. Or if the Welsh were told their language and poetry were banned and must no longer be taught in schools. The ensuing uproar would probably destroy the United Kingdom. Yet that’s exactly what Xi Jinping, China’s communist emperor, is telling the roughly 125 million members of the 55 ethnic and religious minorities who together comprise about 9% of the country’s (majority Han Chinese) population.

Xi claims his sinicisation policy, embodied in a new “ethnic unity” law, will boost national identity and integration and, by expanding compulsory use of the Mandarin language, improve life and work prospects. Minorities should “hug tightly like pomegranate seeds” to build a strong, united China, he says. But Tibetans, Mongolians, Uyghurs and others who value their separate language and customs fiercely object to what they see as forced assimilation into a conformist, intolerant monoculture dominated by the Communist party’s tunnel vision. For them, it’s ethnic cleansing by another name.

Simon Tisdall is a Guardian foreign affairs commentator

8/8: CBS Saturday Morning

Todd Blanche is confirmed as attorney general, fires blaze in Europe and the U.S., plus Houndmouth plays Saturday Sessions.

‘Can’t stop smiling!’ The wait is over for epic Game of Thrones prequel The Mad King

New play, which has been a decade in the works, opens at the Royal Shakespeare theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon after five previews were cancelled

A winter of discontent is anticipated by the embattled characters in Game of Thrones, but the Royal Shakespeare Company is banking on a glorious summer with its world premiere of a prequel to the hit TV series based on George RR Martin’s fantasy novels.

The new play, The Mad King, arrives 30 years to the month after the original publication of A Game of Thrones, the first novel in Martin’s series A Song of Ice and Fire. It has a gala performance in Stratford-upon-Avon on Saturday evening in a reconfigured Royal Shakespeare theatre with a capacity of 870. Tickets for the entire run, priced from £10 to £95, have already sold out.

Nazi shipwrecks emerge from the depths as Europe’s Danube dries up

Unexploded ordnance and a military motorcycle also recovered following record heat and drought conditions

Record-low water levels in the Danube have exposed remnants of Europe’s Nazi past, with dozens of second world war ships emerging from the riverbed during an intense drought.

In the middle of the river on the Serbian and Romanian border, a broken-up hull was visible on a sandbank that is normally underwater. Other vessels were partly submerged, some still believed to be laden with weapons.

The Women's Professional Baseball League makes its historic debut

The Los Angeles Queens, the New York Heights, the Boston Hunters and the San Francisco Firebells take the field in Springfield, Ill., as the Women's Pro Baseball League kicks off its inaugural season.

The Uplift: Hot ones

Vladimir Duthiers meets Sean Evans, host of "Hot Ones," the online show that has celebrities answer questions while attempting to eat chicken wings that get progressively spicier. Can Vlad stand the heat?

‘You can feel the warmth of the sun’: Bertram Greenhough’s best phone picture

The Brighton-based photographer was walking along a crowded beach looking for ice-cream when he spotted this calm, minimalist scene

Bertram Greenhough had promised his six-year-old daughter Audrey an ice-cream. It was a warm June day in Brighton and the pair were playing tourists in their own city, having just visited an upside-down house near the i360 observation tower. The beach was packed, and they were heading in the direction of the Palace Pier so that Greenhough could stay true to his word. Along the way, they passed this lifeguard shelter.

“I often walk around Brighton with my SLR film camera – very hipster of me. However, that day I only had my phone,” Greenhough recalls. “But, as the adage goes, the best camera is the one you have with you. I saw this calm, minimalist scene suspended above thousands of people and I remember saying to my daughter, ‘Oh, look at that, I need to take a picture!’ She had no idea what I was talking about!”

Christopher Harry on a summer of devastating wildfires – cartoon

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Federal funds can't be used to give test strips to drug users, raising overdose fears

Drug addiction groups are reeling after Trump officials said federal grants cannot be used to hand out test strips to drug users. The strips help users check street drugs for dangerous adulterants.

Private prisons announce $1.4 billion in revenue as immigration detentions climb

That revenue does not include net proceeds of $1.6 billion made by CoreCivic after the recent sale of four of their facilities to the Department of Homeland Security.

Fifa president Gianni Infantino denies claims Uefa paid off alleged ‘lover’

• Infantino was Uefa general secretary from 2009 to 2016

• ‘These allegations … are categorically untrue,’ says Fifa

Uefa has confirmed a “departure payment” was made to a female employee who is alleged to have been in a relationship with Gianni Infantino while he was the organisation’s general secretary, allegations Fifa has dismissed as “categorically untrue”.

The Daily Telegraph reported on Friday night that the woman received a six-figure sum following the alleged relationship with Infantino. In a statement, Uefa confirmed a payment was made along with covering the fees for an MBA course, which it said was “in line” with regulations at the time.

Is it OK to talk about Ariana Grande’s body? There is no right answer

I wish I could say that expressing concern for the pop star’s health is helpful – but I know from experience it’s not that simple

The last time I opened X, a photo of Ariana Grande leaning over in a low-cut black dress, clavicle showing, was at the top of the feed. The post read: “hey @grok make Ariana Grande healthy and fat”.

Images of celebrities at their most skeletal regularly rise to the top of social feeds because they generate enormous, dissenting engagement. Social media platforms have made half-hearted efforts to suppress explicit pro-eating disorder content; Instagram and TikTok redirect searches for “thinspo” toward support resources. Yet over the past couple weeks, Grande has sent users into a frenzy that outstrips the platforms’ attempts.

Sex, drugs and washing dishes: inside Anthony Bourdain’s unruly younger years

In the acclaimed new drama Tony, the early career of the late food writer and chef is brought to life, and those who knew him best are now also looking back

The novelist Michael Cunningham has described Provincetown, on the tip of Cape Cod, as “the only small town I know of where those who live unconventionally seem to outnumber those who live within the prescribed bounds of home and licensed marriage, respectable job, and biological children. It is one of the places in the world you can disappear into.”

This idiosyncratic bohemia has attracted the likes of Edward Hopper, Eugene O’Neill, Mark Rothko and Tennessee Williams along with poets, dropouts, drag queens and drifters. In the summer of 1975 came a lanky, restless 19-year-old from New Jersey with no job and no money, sleeping on the floor of a shared cottage while his roommates worked to pay the rent. His name was Anthony Bourdain, who would later become a celebrity chef, author and television globetrotter.

Stockard Channing: ‘I cried at the election of Joe Biden, thinking we were out of the woods. Wrong!’

The actor on being told she was no Ingrid Bergman, forgetting her lines on stage, and not caring about getting older

Born in New York City, Stockard Channing, 82, played Rizzo in the 1978 film Grease. In 1985, she received a Tony for her performance in A Day in the Death of Joe Egg, and in 1994 was Oscar-nominated for her role in the film Six Degrees of Separation. She has three Emmys for her TV work, which includes The West Wing. She makes her directorial debut at the Edinburgh festival with Krapp’s Last Tape, in aid of the Wembley to Soweto Foundation, Upstairs at the Roxy until 31 August. Her latest film is Practical Magic 2. She lives in London.

What is your greatest fear?
Climate change.

Data centers are a political issue crossing party lines, driving voters to candidates

Wisconsin Democratic candidate for governor Francesca Hong called for a moratorium on data centers. So did Ohio Republican governor hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy, as data centers begin to dominate campaigns.

Widdecombe murder police reopen inquiry into alleged attempt to firebomb Farage’s home

Watchdog examines handling of an incident last year that was treated as an attempted burglary

Counter-terrorism police investigating the death of Ann Widdecombe have reopened an inquiry into an incident last year, in which Nigel Farage’s home was allegedly firebombed.

During the incident in April 2025, a lit incendiary device was pushed through the Reform UK leader’s letterbox, according to reports.

Senate votes to confirm Todd Blanche as attorney general

The Senate confirmed Blanche by a 50-49 vote early Saturday morning, elevating President Trump's former personal lawyer to head the Justice Department.

This burning summer is the proof: the voices of climate denial aren’t just delusional, they’re deadly | Sadiq Khan

Look at our blazing forests and parched cities. Green policies aren’t a ‘luxury’, and we can’t burn more oil and gas. People need the truth

• Report: Sadiq Khan calls on Andy Burnham to commit to climate action as pressure grows over North Sea oil

Europe is burning. This summer, an unprecedented series of heatwaves has swept through the continent and across many parts of the globe. The consequences have been nothing short of catastrophic. In recent weeks deadly blazes have torn through France, Greece and Spain, killing firefighters, forcing people from their homes and robbing them of their livelihoods.

With Tuesday marking Britain’s 34th day of temperatures exceeding 30C (86F) this year, the UK has also found itself reckoning with ferocious heat. Wildfires have forced evacuations in Suffolk and the Cairngorms. In London – where parks have become burnt, brittle and brown – hundreds of grass fires have put our firefighters under pressure like never before. In July, the weather station at Kew Gardens recorded its first ever month without rain since it started operating in 1871. As rivers run dry and reservoirs run low, farmers are warning of food shortages amid the deepening drought. With thousands of deaths already estimated to be linked to the extreme heat we saw in May and June alone, it’s likely this figure will climb higher still.

Sadiq Khan is mayor of London

‘I hate what AI is doing to the minds and happiness of the young’: Katherine Rundell on the view from the classroom

Education is at a crossroads, argues the author and academic. Should we embrace new technology in the name of efficiency, or is it time to fight back?

If you set out to design from scratch a tool to facilitate authoritarian rule, it would look exactly like AI. You would cherish it for its ability to destabilise our shared reality and its creation of disinformation on a scale unprecedented in human history. With it you need no armies of typists and artists to spread your propaganda. It can enable mass surveillance and thereby put shackles on those who seek to resist you. Its lethal autonomous weapons systems can perfect and normalise remote killing. It will turbocharge inequality; it is already facilitating a breathtaking shift of power and wealth from the hands of the many to the hands of a tiny number of men who – to put it in terms for which I can’t be sued – seem to hold dangerously damaged views about the value and dignity of human life.

AI could be a magnificent thing. It could revolutionise medicine, speed the cure of cancer, assist disabled people, transform the way we are able to understand data, democratise access to the law, bolster disaster early warning systems and uncover hitherto unimagined truths about the Earth’s ecosystems. But if it ends up in the hands of crooks and despots that will be completely irrelevant.

Planting the seeds? Teenagers from across global divide talk peace in Devon

UK hosts decades-old event for first time where many participants are from opposite sides of global disputes from Israel and Palestine, to India and Pakistan

On the surface it looks like a normal summer school in the Devon countryside, with teenagers playing volleyball in the sun, doing arts and crafts in the hall, and preparing for the night’s talent show.

But behind the scenes, intensive discussions are taking place. Many of these teenagers come from opposite sides of historical national conflicts – from Israel and Palestine, India and Pakistan.

Spanish mountain village braces for astrotourists lured by total solar eclipse

Somosierra will be prime spot to view celestial alignment on 12 August, an event that poses logistical challenges

Little stirs in the mountains above Somosierra beyond the wind that lashes the flat peaks, the cows that graze on parched grass and the sun that beats down on the abandoned aerodrome where generations of glider pilots learned to ride air currents alongside squadrons of vultures and red kites.

But all this stillness will disappear, albeit temporarily, on the evening of 12 August, when swathes of northern and eastern Spain and the Balearic islands experience a total solar eclipse, the likes of which has not been seen here for more than 120 years.

Rising number of UK children report seeing explicit deepfakes of themselves

Exclusive: anonymous flagging service says cases have surged, as watchdog says AI is making sexualised or ‘nudified’ content easier to produce

Children in the UK have reported a surge in explicit deepfake images featuring their likenesses, as a safety watchdog warned AI is making such content easier to produce.

The Report Remove service, which blocks intimate images from appearing online, said there had been a rapid increase in imagery that had been digitally manipulated or “faked” in some way, including with AI and nudification tools.

Sandra Day O’Connor was the first woman appointed to which body? The Saturday quiz

From the world’s longest pleasure pier to Cloud Dancer, Mocha Mousse and Viva Magenta, test your knowledge with the Saturday quiz

1 What was written between 1 January 1660 and 31 May 1669?
2 Which UK resort has the world’s longest pleasure pier?
3 Sandra Day O’Connor was the first woman appointed to which body?
4 Which painkiller’s name is derived from the Greek for “poppy head”?
5 Which driver won the F1 title in a car bearing his own name?
6 The Trefoil Guild is an adult branch of which organisation?
7 Savak was the secret police of which state?
8 Inishmore is the largest island in which archipelago?
What links:
9 Cloud Dancer; Mocha Mousse; Peach Fuzz; Viva Magenta?
10 M (192); V (360); E (500); M (760); J (2,580); S (4,800); U (9,600); N (14,400)?
11 Bono; Billy Gibbons; Karl Lagerfeld; Roy Orbison; Anna Wintour?
12 Potatoes, tomatoes, maize and tobacco v cattle, wheat, bananas and sugar cane?
13 Ashoka chakra; crescent moon and star; lion holding sword; red disc?
14 Sly Stone and Kathy Silva; 4,150 people in 1982; Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce?
15 Cleopatra and Julius Caesar; Joan of Arc; Barbara Undershaft; Kitty Warren?

The night Belfast burned: how the Northern Ireland race riots unfolded

A horrific knife attack on a street in June sparked another summer’s night of racial violence, stoked by loyalist groups. How did the unrest erupt – and why do many fear it will happen again?

Shortly after 10.30pm on Monday 8 June, as a summer twilight lingered over Belfast, a horrific scene unfolded on Kinnaird Avenue: a man straddled and repeatedly stabbed a figure lying on the ground in a bloody assault that ended only after onlookers intervened.

Others captured the drama on cameraphones and uploaded the footage to social media. Once seen, the grainy images were hard to forget, and by dawn on Tuesday 9 June they were ricocheting around X, WhatsApp, Facebook, Telegram and other platforms.

Blind date: ‘I asked him to compliment my outfit and he said he didn’t really like it’

Imogen, 31, a doctor, meets Andy, 36, founder of a consultancy firm

What were you hoping for?
Something to tell the group chat that would elicit more :o reactions than usual.

Travelling through Iran reveals no single narrative about the US-Israel war

Some believe conflict strengthened national unity, others say it deepened repression, but all mourn the dead

The excavator stops suddenly. One of the workers reaches into the rubble and pulls something free. It isn’t twisted metal or broken concrete. It’s a child’s exercise book. The pages are still intact, covered in neat handwriting. On the front is a name: Mahya Salari. She was eight years old.

Five months after a missile tore through Shajareh Tayyebeh primary school in Minab, southern Iran, excavators are still clearing the site. Workers search for the remains of one young boy still believed to be buried beneath the debris.

‘I couldn’t breathe’: the deadly health burden of wildfire smoke

Scientists race to untangle complex links between exposure and mortality as fire weather grows more prevalent

A thousand kilometres from the infernos gorging on northern Ontario’s boreal forests, Erin O’Connor watched the sky above Canada’s biggest city turn an “almost post-apocalyptic” orange as it filled with light-scattering particles of soot and ash. Stepping outside the halls of Toronto General hospital, where air filters were keeping patients safe from the worst of the fumes, she was struck by a smell so strong it felt like standing by a campfire.

“It really hit you in the face as soon as you walked outside,” said O’Connor, who runs University Health Network’s emergency department and saw a rise in patients presenting with allergies and shortness of breath. “As the days progressed, it was like that everywhere. It seemed even inside you could smell that burning.”

‘We have no tents or blankets’: Ceuta migrants struggle to survive brutal heat and freezing nights

Authorities wrestle with fallout from mass border crossing, as tense Spanish enclave fears it will happen again

Along the wide avenues and tree-lined plazas of Ceuta’s centre, there were few hints of the recent events that catapulted the Spanish enclave on the north African coast into global headlines.

But less than a mile away from the bustling bars and restaurants, at the nearby El Trampolín beach, the lingering impact was impossible to ignore.

US promises $1bn in security aid to Colombia as new rightwing president pledges drugs crackdown

Trump ally Abelardo De La ‌Espriella vows to start ‘profound transformation’ of country’s destiny as he is sworn in

The ​Trump administration plans to provide $1bn in security assistance to the ⁠government of Colombia’s new ​rightwing ‌president, the US state department announced, soon after Abelardo De La ‌Espriella was sworn in and used his inaugural speech to pledge a vigorous fight against drug trafficking, as well as austerity measures to restore confidence in the economy.

De La Espriella, 48, won June’s runoff election with ⁠promises to crack down on armed groups, shrink ⁠the state by as much as 40% and ​revive the oil and gas sector.

Pentagon revokes security clearance of former Air Force chief

The Pentagon alleged that former U.S. Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall disclosed sensitive information about Air Force One's capabilities to the media.

Ukraine war briefing: Wildberries warehouse struck by Kyiv’s drones more than 2,000km from Russian border

Depot hit in city of Ekaterinburg and hundreds evacuated in latest attack on Russian online retail giant. What we know on day 1,625

Trump announces $180 million to boost mining education

President Trump announced over $180 million in grants to boost educational programs for the mining industry, part of a bid to increase critical mineral production.

NBA player Brandon Clarke died from effects of heroin and cocaine, officials say

Memphis Grizzlies forward Brandon Clarke died in May from the effects of heroin and cocaine, authorities said Friday.

Water rationing begins in Puerto Rico amid drought crisis: "It's brutal"

Puerto Rico's massive rationing measure comes amid a severe drought on top of shortages due to infrastructure issues.

How a duck's friendship helped a golden retriever overcome health issues

Justin and Tori Cannarelli of New York almost have a typical American family with their two children and a dog. But they also have one very unique member: a duck.

3 mothers sue to block Texas law requiring Ten Commandments in public schools

The Texas Legislature passed Senate Bill 10 last year, which requires all public school classrooms to display the Ten Commandments.

How a duck helped a dog recover from panic attacks, medication that brought him down

Steve Hartman explores the unique bond between a family's duck and dog.

Outer Banks community spending $50 million to save its beachfront economy

A $50 million effort is underway to restore miles of eroded shoreline in Buxton, a village on one of the barrier islands of North Carolina's Outer Banks.

Puerto Rico faces severe drought as 180,000 households and businesses forced to ration water

Puerto Rico is in the midst of its worst drought in decades. Lilia Luciano shares the details.

North Carolina communities scramble to protect shorelines as erosion eats away at homes

Communities in North Carolina are scrambling to protect their shorelines as rising sea levels and erosion threaten homes, with many lost in the past few years. Skyler Henry has more.

July jobs report reveals unexpected loss of 23,000 jobs

Friday's jobs report showed employers shed jobs last month, rather than adding 95,000 new hires that had been forecast by economists.

Cassidy backs Blanche for attorney general, clearing way for confirmation

Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy, a Republican, announced he will vote to confirm Todd Blanche for attorney general.

Trump-endorsed Rep. Andy Ogles projected to lose GOP primary in Tennessee

Two-term Rep. Andy Ogles lost the Republican primary for his Tennessee House seat, The Associated Press projects, despite securing an endorsement from President Trump.

Helicopter fighting massive Utah wildfire crashes, no word on 2 people aboard

The Federal Aviation Administration confirmed that the helicopter crashed in Richfield, which is about 160 miles south of Salt Lake City.

U.S. targets Iran's banking system, companies with new sanctions

This is the eighth round of Iran-related sanctions announced by the Trump administration this year.

8/7: CBS Evening News

Police release footage of In-N-Out shooting; Blanche likely to be confirmed as attorney general.

Appeals court blocks Trump's White House ballroom, teeing up Supreme Court fight

A federal appeals court said the White House lacks the authority to unilaterally construct the 90,000-square-foot ballroom. President Trump said the administration will appeal to the Supreme Court.

8/7: The Takeout with Major Garrett

Senate navigating several matters ahead of summer recess; No U.S.-Iran deal yet on Strait of Hormuz.

Video shows gunman start deadly rampage at Idaho In-N-Out drive-thru

Three people were killed in the shooting that started at an In-N-Out restaurant in Twin Falls, Idaho.

Pentagon releases new batch of UFO files: "Did you see that?"

The Pentagon on Friday released a new batch of documents and images related to UFOs, the fifth disclosure in recent months about the strange encounters.

Staff at the CDC in Atlanta remember victim of shooting a year ago as RFK jr. attends

It's been a year since a gunman opened fire on the CDC and killed a police officer. RFK Jr. visited the CDC today to remember the victim.

US Senate passes Russia sanctions bill championed by Lindsey Graham

Late senator spent final days of his life working to advance bill that will now head to the House after 86-11 Senate vote

By a large, bipartisan margin, the US Senate on Friday approved a bill intended to punish Russia and countries that buy its petroleum exports over the invasion of Ukraine, capping a legislative push that was spurred by the death of its champion, the Republican senator Lindsey Graham.

The measure, renamed the Lindsey O Graham Sanctioning Russia Act in honor of the late senator’s work on the issue, was approved by an 86-11 vote. Rand Paul of Kentucky was the sole Republican to oppose the legislation, together with 10 Democrats.

DOJ's top prosecutor in LA hires aide with pending battery charge, DUIs

First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli hired former top aide Shawn Lewis to be a federal law enforcement liaison, though Lewis has three prior convictions for driving under the influence and a pending battery charge.

Russia sanctions bill honoring Lindsey Graham breezes through Senate, heads to House

A measure to impose new sanctions on Russian oil purchasers easily cleared the Senate and heads to the House.

U.S. economy unexpectedly lost 23,000 jobs in July

Nonfarm payrolls were projected to increase by 83,000 in July while the unemployment rate would hold steady at 4.2%, according to the Dow Jones consensus.

Infantino’s World Cup sell-off debacle has rocked football but Fifa’s crisis has deep and rotten roots

It has been a remarkable few days for an institution that may be irredeemable but this is a story that stretches back to a decision in 2010

There are decades in which nothing happens, and weeks in which decades happen, and those weeks tend to result in leaders being toppled. Not even a fortnight ago, Gianni Infantino was taking his victory lap on Instagram, attacking “those behind their pens and papers, behind their screens spreading hate and false rumours” who had dared to question elements of his World Cup, which had generated a record $15bn in revenues. But the next day came the revelation of his plan to sell the World Cup to outside investors and a backlash that has him scrabbling to save his presidency.

It has been a remarkable few days, but this is a story whose roots stretch way back, to the decision in Zurich in 2010 to award the 2022 World Cup not to the US but to Qatar, to a furious Bill Clinton hurling an ashtray across the room and demanding action, to an FBI inquiry into corruption, and to the flipping of the larger-than-life Concacaf general secretary Chuck Blazer, who had two apartments in Trump Tower, one for himself and one for his cats.

Energy company sues data center over who should pay for AI buildout

At issue is who pays to expand energy infrastructure when a data center​​ needs as much electricity​ as a midsize city.

Burger King overtakes Wendy's as the nation's second-largest burger chain

Burger King is once again the second-largest burger chain in the U.S. by system-wide sales.

Here are three key takeaways from the disappointing July jobs report

Nonfarm payrolls in the U.S. unexpectedly declined in July, but so did the unemployment rate, leaving investors with mixed signals.

Trump teased an Iran deal that didn't come, but markets soared. Here’s why it keeps happening

As oil reserves and munitions stockpiles reportedly dwindle, analysts wonder how much longer markets will pounce when the Trump admin. dangles an Iran deal.

French officers halted small boats at sea 10 times since spring

Disclosure challenges Conservative and Reform claims that police are refusing to intervene

The French authorities have halted small boats at sea in the Channel on 10 occasions since the spring, officials said on Friday.

Despite claims from the Conservatives and Reform that the French were refusing to intervene in small boat crossings, maritime prefect officers were using “intervention tactics” to board or control vessels at sea and take asylum seekers back to France.

Businessman was ‘preparing champagne’ to celebrate Caruana Galizia murder, court hears

Taxi driver says he acted as middleman between Yorgen Fenech and three men already convicted of €150,000 contract killing

The businessman accused of paying for hitmen to murder the journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia was impatient for the killing to take place, and once texted from his boat to say he was “preparing champagne” to celebrate, a jury in Malta has heard.

Yorgen Fenech, the 44-year-old heir to a property empire that includes several Hilton hotels, is on trial in Malta for complicity in the murder of Caruana Galizia. She died in a car bombing in October 2017 after publishing a series of revelations about senior politicians that were so damaging they triggered a snap general election.

The week around the world in 20 pictures

Wildfires in the US and Europe, Russian strikes in Kyiv, beekeepers in Gaza and the European Aquatics Championships – the past seven days as captured by the world’s leading photojournalists

The Guardian view on Jason Arday: diversity advocates must stand firm | Editorial

Serious failings by one academic, and his bosses at the University of Cambridge, should not be allowed to undermine wider progressive goals

Jason Arday’s resignation from the University of Cambridge on Wednesday marked a full stop of sorts, but not an end to the furore surrounding his promotion to a professorship at the age of 37. Academic colleagues have demanded, with justification, that an investigation into his appointment to the faculty of education in 2023, and the subsequent fallout, should include people from outside the university. Allegations of plagiarism and claims made by Mr Arday about his background, career and charity fundraising remain under scrutiny. The memoir for which he said he had received a huge advance, billed as a triumph over adversity including an early autism diagnosis, is scheduled to appear later this month. His publisher, Simon & Schuster, ought to pause while inquiries run their course.

But several things are already clear. By failing to do due diligence on Mr Arday before launching him, with fanfare, as Cambridge’s youngest-ever black professor, and through its inadequate response to later challenges, the university has done a serious disservice to black and neurodivergent scholars more widely. It has also set back the efforts of all the people and groups who have worked in good faith, over many years, to boost the presence of underrepresented groups in influential positions.

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.

The Guardian view on Gianni Infantino: in the interests of the game he professes to love, he should go | Editorial

The Fifa president’s attempt to brazen out the storm, after attempting to sell a stake in the World Cup to private equity, adds insult to injury

“How did you go bankrupt?” a character is asked in Ernest Hemingway’s novel The Sun Also Rises. “Gradually, then suddenly” comes the reply. Right now, Fifa’s justly besieged president, Gianni Infantino, is experiencing something similar in relation to the loss  of his own authority.

Since taking over the running of world football’s governing body in 2016, Mr Infantino has survived regular criticism of a monetising approach which has often come at a sporting cost. But since egregious plans to sell a stake in the World Cup to the brother of Donald Trump’s son-in-law were leaked to the media, his credibility has been draining away at speed.

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.

Cassidy supports Todd Blanche, rescuing Trump's embattled attorney general pick

Attorney General nominee Todd Blanche needs at least 50 votes on the Senate floor to be confirmed after clearing the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Meta ordered to pay $567 million into abatement fund as remedy to child harms case in New Mexico

A judge in New Mexico ordered Meta to pay $567 million into an abatement fund after a jury ruled the company violated the state’s unfair practices act.

Top Democrat proposes killing tax breaks for overseas oil production

Gas prices in the U.S. averaged $4.06 per gallon on Thursday — a major source of voter discontent heading into November's midterm elections.