Tour de France Femmes: Demi Vollering wins stage five amid GC shake-up – live reaction

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“I’m certain there will be hard attacks … hopefully not heart attacks … and we will try to follow.” (Marlen Reusser).

“It’s one of the steps to the main goal,” says Katarzyna Niewiadoma-Phinney of her individual time trial performance yesterday. “I know the real stuff is ahead of us. We’re definitely happy with the execution, but we keep our focus on upcoming stages. One day at a time.”

Lucid stock plunges as EV maker begins 'operational reset,' delays midsize vehicle

The company didn't provide updated guidance. New CEO Silvio Napoli earlier this year suspended production expectations.

Family pay tribute to girl, nine, who died on camping trip in Scotland as man is charged

Minnie Merriman was found injured on industrial estate in Arbroath on Monday and a man has appeared in court

A girl of nine who died on a family camping trip in Scotland has been named as Minnie Merriman.

In a statement released through Police Scotland, her family said: “We are devastated with the loss of our beloved, absolutely incredible, beautiful and brave Minnie Moo. Our family asks that our privacy is respected at this extremely difficult time.”

Salad and Go files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy after cyclospora fears worsened its challenges

The upstart salad chain aimed to take on Sweetgreen and expanded rapidly under the ownership of Volt Investment.

Trump's deportation agenda raised prices, contracted local economies, immigration group says

A report released Wednesday by the immigration advocacy group America's Voice argues President Trump's immigration policy is hurting the economy.

Reader Q&A: Our natural history writer Patrick Barkham is answering your questions on invertebrates – live

This week, we launched our third annual vote to honour nature’s unsung heroes. The Guardian’s natural history writer – and woodlouse fanboy – Patrick Barkham is now answering your questions

Ask a question: log in or sign up here

Cathy247 says: I’d like to nominate the insect that has chosen to use one of the holes in my bug hotel. I don’t know which insect species it is but something has plugged up a hole and I’m hoping to get to see what emerges.

Or maybe I should nominate dragonflies. I have one darting about my pond for the second year running. Is it the same one or a different one? Who knows.

Thanks for your contribution Cathy247, I am picturing your garden and your respect and curiosity for the tiny lives around you and hooray for all that!

I suspect your insect is a solitary bee or wasp, and it is great to know the bug hotel is being used. As your comments show, it is so easy to help invertebrate life; even if we have no garden, we can live alongside woodlice and spiders in our flats and houses.

Yes, let’s hear it for the little guys! Macro photography has really helped many of us deepen our appreciation for the small species because we are very visual animals and most of us respond more emotionally to mammal-like faces. When I first saw a close-up of an Essex skipper butterfly (I’m a big butterfly fan), I couldn’t believe how it resembles a space-age teddy bear with lots of golden brown fur and huge limpid black eyes.

This year, one of the early favourites for Invertebrate of the Year is the leaf sheep, an amazing looking creature which has come of age (in the human world) thanks to advances in underwater and microscopic photography. We had so many nominations for it, especially considering that this is not an animal which many of us will ever encounter in the natural world because it is so tiny and camouflaged.

Trump says Strait of Hormuz deal could happen as soon as today amid talks

President Trump told reporters Tuesday evening that an announcement on the Strait of Hormuz could happen today or tomorrow, following talks between Iran and Oman.

Kids Online Safety Act social media safety bill advances in Senate

The Kids Online Safety Act, a measure aimed at protecting children on social media, advanced to the Senate floor after it stalled in the last Congress.

Germany investigates drone carrying ‘explosive device’ near Ukrainian plane at busy cargo airport – Europe live

German state prosecutors including units working on extremism and terrorism prevention take over investigation into Leipzig incident

For what it’s worth, DHL Group CEO Tobias Meyer said the German logistics firm was studying ​the overnight incident which also involved an object clashing with one of its planes near Leipzig.

“We’ve ‌got plans for cases ​like this, and ​we’ll try to make sure that the influence on our customers will be as low as possible,” Meyer said during a quarterly results call earlier this morning, Reuters reported.

Abdul El-Sayed wins Michigan Democratic Senate primary as voters pivot to the left

Abdul El-Sayed won the Michigan Democratic Senate primary, setting up a context with former Rep. Mike Rogers in the November general election.

Amazon's Zoox to launch paid robotaxi service in Las Vegas on Aug. 10

It's the company's first commercial market after Zoox started offering free rides to the public in parts of Las Vegas and San Francisco less than a year ago.

Abdul El-Sayed’s win proves change is possible for Democrats. His next fight may determine their future

If the progressive wins Michigan’s general election, it could redefine the 2028 presidential contest. If he fails, the establishment will call him a cautionary tale

• US politics live – latest updates

In the final stretch of the state’s Democratic primary for US Senate, Abdul El-Sayed challenged voters at a small event in rural Michigan to think about the message they could send the rest of the country when they cast their ballots.

“Who are we? Who do we want to be?” El-Sayed said. “Do we want a state that’s defined by how much money corporations brought in to tell us what we couldn’t have? Or do we want to be a state where we demonstrate to the rest of the country what’s possible when you build a movement of, by, and for the people?”

Under China's new 'unity' law, Tibetans fight to preserve language and culture

A 73-year-old retired nurse's decision to learn to write Tibetan language offers a glimpse into how some embrace their language and cultural identity in Tibet.

Pakistan precinct suspends all 78 officers and staff over alleged rape at police station

Lahore police official says all personnel were responsible for preventing and reporting wrongdoing at station

The alleged rape of a 20-year-old woman with intellectual disabilities in a police station in Lahore, Pakistan has prompted authorities to suspend all 78 police officers and staff at the precinct, in one of the country’s biggest-ever disciplinary actions against its police force.

The woman alleges that an assistant sub-inspector apprehended her, took her to Ghaziabad police station, and raped her in a room on the second floor. The woman’s family said she disappeared on the street, before returning home in tears and stating that she had been sexually assaulted at the station.

Middle East crisis live: Iran and Oman agree on coordinates of route through strait of Hormuz, says Iranian foreign ministry

Joint announcement for geographic coordinates being finalised, says spokesperson, adding that it would not guarantee security in waterway

The ⁠geographic coordinates for a shipping ⁠route ⁠through the ​strait of Hormuz ⁠have been agreed by Iran and ⁠Oman, and ​a ‌joint announcement ‌is being ‌finalised, provided no third parties interfere, Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei ‌said on Wednesday.

Baghaei added ​that any such agreement between Iran and ⁠Oman would not, ​by itself, ​guarantee security ​in the ​strategic waterway.

AI models shock UK testers by using fake identities to trick developers

AI Security Institute says models by OpenAI and Anthropic went rogue during a cybersecurity test and showed a new type of risk

Advanced artificial intelligence models have stunned the UK’s AI Security Institute by carrying out a hacking campaign against real people during a cybersecurity test.

The institute (AISI) said the incident was unprecedented and involved sending targeted emails to software developers in an attempt to pass a cyber challenge.

Russia exploits Ukraine’s air defence shortage in deadly attack on Kyiv - The Latest

At least 17 people were killed and more than 40 injured in another round of deadly Russian strikes on the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv. Volodymyr Zelenskyy has pleaded for more air defence weapons, saying ballistic missile interceptors ‘could have saved the lives of those killed today’. For months, Ukraine has been warning about shortages after Donald Trump backtracked on his promise to let Ukraine manufacture missiles locally. In response to the attack, the EU’s Ursula von der Leyen said ‘Russia must pay’ – but will it?

Lucy Hough talks to the Guardian’s Russia affairs correspondent, Pjotr Sauer

Private companies added just 44,000 workers in July, below expectations, ADP reports

Hiring at private companies slowed considerably in July, with most of the job growth coming health care.

Luís Figo blasts ‘deceitful’ Infantino and says Fifa president must quit to ‘save football’

• Portugal legend calls for Fifa president to stand down

• ‘Too late to save his dignity, not too late to save football’

The Portugal legend Luís Figo has described Gianni Infantino’s ill-fated scheme to sell off stakes in the World Cup to private investors as “the lowest, most deceitful and cravenly self-interested behaviour I have ever witnessed” and called on the Fifa president to resign.

Infantino was forced to scrap his controversial proposal after a fierce backlash that was led by Uefa, with the 56-year-old now battling for his future having called an emergency meeting of Fifa staff on Wednesday as pressure on him mounts.

Unprecedented images may explain one of greatest mysteries of the sun

Highest-ever resolution pictures of our star could help show why its corona is millions of degrees hotter than its surface

Golden bands and swirling vortices have been spotted on the sun in the most detailed images ever captured of the turbulent surface of our home star.

Astronomers observed the sun with the Inouye solar telescope in Hawaii, the world’s most powerful solar telescope, and saw new features smaller than 20km (12 miles) across in a magnetically active region close to a sun spot.

Trump admin refunds $100 billion in 'liberation day' tariffs

The Trump administration has taken steps to effectively re-create the IEEPA tariff regime using other legal authorities. They already face court challenges.

Woman arrested after four men stabbed in London’s Covent Garden

Metropolitan police say 47-year-old woman arrested on suspicion of possession of offensive weapon and assault

• Covent Garden stabbings – latest updates

A woman has been arrested after four men were stabbed in Covent Garden in central London, police said.

Four people were taken to a major trauma centre after the incident on Endell Street on Wednesday afternoon.

Disney partners with TikTok to offer creator content on its app

Disney and TikTok are teaming up to let users create short-form videos that draw on the entertainment giant's large stable of movies and TV shows.

Eli Lilly easily tops quarterly estimates, raises outlook as Zepbound and Mounjaro sales surge

Eli Lilly now expects 2026 revenue to come in between $85 billion and $87 billion, up from previous guidance of $82 billion to $85 billion.

CVS blows past estimates, hikes guidance as insurance unit continues to improve

CVS also announced a new collaboration with Eli Lilly that will make Zepbound and Foundayo accessible to eligible patients on the CVS Health app.

Why I'll never be convinced by Meta's ‘pervert’ glasses | Opinion

'Most people don’t want pervert glasses that can film us without our consent,' said a spokesperson from activist group Everyone Hates Elon. The group has launched a series of guerilla adverts deriding non-consensual filming by the glasses as well as an email campaign encouraging people to legally object to being filmed by Meta glasses under general data protection regulations, which over 20,000 people have signed.

Rights groups have warned that the glasses threaten the right to privacy, while countries such as Germany are reportedly considering a ban.

And while Meta’s safety guidelines say smart glasses should not be used for 'harassment, infringing on privacy rights, or capturing sensitive information', women have taken to social media to share their stories of being filmed by men without their consent.

Watch as Guardian columnist and Opinion editor Kirsty Major dives into why fears of surveillance and 'creepy men' mean Meta can never convince her to love the glasses – and read more about the glasses via the link in the bio

"Peanut butter" pay raises are out, as employers shift to merit hikes

Here's what employees can expect for a raise in 2027 as companies move away from broad-based pay increases.

‘Dream come true’: Eva Olid delighted after being named Manchester United’s new head coach

• United impressed by her ability to develop players

• Spaniard signs two-year deal after guiding Hearts to glory

Eva Olid has described being appointed as the Manchester United Women head coach as a dream come true, after signing a two-year contract until 2028 with the option of a further year.

The Spanish coach will replace Marc Skinner, whose surprise departure was announced on Monday morning.

Abdul El-Sayed says "there's a lot of healing to do" after Senate primary

Abdul El-Sayed​ is now projected to win Michigan's Democratic Senate primary​ against Rep. Haley Stevens.

Darth Vader to become a TikTok star as Disney strikes deal on short video

Characters and memorable scenes from back catalogue made available to group of creator fans

The likes of Darth Vader, Spider-Man and Moana are about to become TikTok stars for the first time – at least now on an official basis – after Walt Disney struck a “first of its kind” deal with the booming short-video platform.

In an acknowledgment of the influence fan-made content now has in the entertainment industry, a select group of creators will be allowed to use characters and memorable scenes from Disney’s back catalogue.

Abdul El-Sayed wins Michigan Senate primary in defining race for Democrats

Progressive candidate will face Republican Mike Rogers in race to represent midwestern purple state in the Senate

• US politics live – latest updates

Abdul El-Sayed won the Democratic primary for US Senate in Michigan, becoming the latest leftwing candidate to capture the party’s nomination ahead of November’s midterm elections.

El-Sayed, a progressive, beat Haley Stevens, a moderate US representative backed by the party’s establishment. He will now face Republican Mike Rogers in the race to represent the midwestern purple state in the Senate. The Associated Press called the race on Wednesday morning, moments after Stevens’ campaign said she had called El-Sayed to concede.

Why waste your time on social media when you could be flicking through picture books? | Joel Snape

From histories of opera to compendiums of mosses, they’re beautiful, expertly written and don’t leave you feeling grubby. What’s not to like?

There are lots of reasons not to read picture books. You can’t really mark them “done” in the same way you might, say, tick A Tale of Two Cities off your bucket list, or add them to your tally when you’re humble-bragging about what you’ve read over the past 12 months. They aren’t going to become part of the cultural zeitgeist, like Middlemarch or The Odyssey, and you probably won’t be able to persuade a book group to talk about them.

Recently, though, I’ve been getting back into them in a big way, poking around the “oversized” shelves of my local charity shops, cooing over large-format collections of Hokusai prints in Waterstones.

‘Alarming’ surge in bluetongue disease among UK sheep

Farmers advised to vaccinate after recent hot weather provides ideal conditions for virus-carrying midges

There has been an “alarming” surge in the number of sheep affected by an outbreak of bluetongue in the UK, with farmers whose livestock are at risk being urged to move them out of areas where midges are plentiful.

The virus, which does not necessarily kill sheep but makes them ill and can have a long recovery time, presents as high fever and swelling of the lips and tongue, with a one-week incubation time. The tongue may go blue and even protrude from the mouth. More than 590 cases were reported last week, according to the National Sheep Association (NSA).

Senator pushes DoD to release probe of Iranian attack that killed 6 U.S. troops

A CBS News investigation found troops had flagged military leaders about the lack of defenses and insufficient medical supplies ahead of the attack in Kuwait at the beginning of the war with Iran.

Woman learns man who attacked her killed a young mother years later

When C.C. Opanowski of Hudson Falls, New York, was a teenager, she survived a terrifying attack at the hands of her ex-boyfriend, Shawn Doyle. Years later, he would kill Lori Leonard, a mother of two young sons in Chittenango, New York.

Progressive Abdul El-Sayed wins Michigan's Democratic primary for Senate

El-Sayed, an epidemiologist, backs Medicare for all and decries corporate money in politics. He beat Rep. Haley Stevens, whose supporters said she would have had a better chance in the fall.

‘Leicester Square, please guv’: Self-driving taxis cleared for London streets ‘later this summer’

Wayve Uber wins first minicab licence for autonomous cabs from TfL but vehicles will have a safety driver (at first)

The taxi app company Uber and the autonomous technology developer Wayve have been granted the first minicab licences in London allowing them to offer self-driving taxi rides to paying customers – but with a human safety driver in place, for now.

The companies said they would start trips in the UK “later this summer” before the full public launch.

Man carrying ammunition arrested near Trump National Golf Club before president's visit

Federal authorities arrested a man who appeared to be monitoring security-planning activities at Trump National Golf Club in LA County ahead of the president's Southern California visit.

Zelenskyy calls for more air defences as Russian attack on Kyiv kills at least 17

Ukraine shoots down most drones but no ballistic missiles in overnight attack that mainly targeted civilian facilities

• Europe live – latest updates

Volodymyr Zelenskyy has blamed allies for not delivering air defences fast enough after Ukraine failed to down a single Russian missile in a deadly overnight attack that killed at least 17 people and ⁠injured dozens more.

Preliminary data from the Ukrainian air force showed its defences shot down 98 of the 115 drones fired by Russia overnight but no ballistic missiles.

Uber issues weaker-than-expected bookings, earnings forecasts for third quarter

Uber's earnings were in line with estimates, but the company's guidance for the third quarter trailed expectations.

‘Getting old is no fun’: Game of Thrones author George RR Martin speaks out about depression amid further book delays

A new blog post by the fantasy writer has outlined his recent difficulties, as fans continue to speculate on the elusive sixth book in his A Song of Ice and Fire series

George RR Martin has opened up about experiencing depression during a “stressful” and “overwhelming” year, as readers continue to await the long-delayed sixth instalment of his A Song of Ice and Fire series.

The 77-year-old American author, whose fantasy novels shaped and inspired the hit HBO television series Game of Thrones, wrote candidly about his recent difficulties in his first personal blog post for almost six months.

As the lights go out, Cuba’s true believers vow to resist US intervention

Amid rolling blackouts, thousands come together to mark 1953 raid seen as first step to Fidel Castro taking power

In the dark before dawn, Juan Victor Hernández Campo was cheerleading a 5,000-strong crowd in the outskirts of the Cuban provincial capital of Pinar del Rio. “Aquí, quien no salte es yanqui!” he roared. “If you don’t jump, you’re a Yankee!”

Those in front of him, in T-shirts commemorating Fidel and Raúl Castro’s 1953 attack on the Moncada military barracks, roared back and – as much as their age allowed – leapt to their feet.

Film posters for The Mummy banned from public display in UK

Watchdogs say adverts in London tube stations broke its rules with ‘realistic impression of a dead child’

• Warning: graphic image

Film posters for The Mummy have been banned from outdoor public display in the UK because they include realistic depictions of a dead child.

The UK’s Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) received 30 complaints over the promotional campaign in London tube stations for the new Lee Cronin film.

‘Prisoners killed each other’s kittens. So now they’re forbidden inside’: Vladimir Karamazov’s best photograph

‘The men in this jail in Bulgaria used to adopt these stray kittens. But pets can be a problem. They get killed as punishment or for revenge’

Belene prison, in northern Bulgaria on the border with Romania, is the most heavily guarded facility of its type in my country. It is on an island, so escape is near impossible, and has the largest number of people serving life sentences for murder in any Bulgarian prison.

This image describes a sad, terrible story. There are a lot of stray cats on the island, as well as pigeons and mosquitoes. The prisoners used to adopt stray kittens and keep them as pets. When I started my project, For the Grace of God, at the prison, many prisoners had pet cats. But in a prison, this can become a problem – prisoners kill each other’s pets as punishment or for revenge. So now it’s forbidden. It’s even the same with flowers – some think of the flowers as friends, they nurture and grow them in the sun, but then other prisoners destroy them. Anything a prisoner can create a relationship with can be destroyed. Part of their punishment is to be alone, without any family, or any attachments to anything.

Summer heat and a Bangladeshi jute market: photos of the day – Wednesday

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

SpaceX rocket booster slams into moon, expected to leave large crater

The impact wasn't visible to the naked eye, but photos are expected to come from a lunar satellite at a later time.

‘Parkinson’s Valley’: the herbicide haunting a New York farm town

Paraquat is banned in over 70 countries. Some farmers and their families in Hebron believe the pesticide is causing Parkinson’s disease and are demanding that New York ban it

Gordon Chaplin gingerly stepped out of the car at the top of the steep hill behind his farmhouse, sporting a bandage on his hand from a fall the day before. He gripped his cane as he shuffled through the knee-high grass. He stopped every few feet to catch his breath, leaning on his caregiver for support.

Looking out at the distant Adirondacks and Catskill mountains, he thought back to the years when he could run up the hill with ease.

Stephen Libby on fashion: so many men have asked me for clothes advice since The Traitors

Our guest columnist reveals how he found his personal style, from jumpsuits to high-waisted trousers

Other than the jumpsuits, I don’t think I wore anything particularly groundbreaking when I appeared on The Traitors. I just think the bar for men’s fashion is so low that for me to come on television in a chunky mint green jumper and a pair of high-waisted jeans – which is probably one of the most neutral looks I own – seemed like a revelation. There was no styling budget, so most of what I wore came from my wardrobe.

The discovery of my personal style began when I was at primary school on the Isle of Lewis, off the north-west coast of Scotland. I realised I was different to the other boys when I began experimenting with fashion. From a young age I was turning my hems up, and I was certainly more interested in what the girls in my class were wearing.

Lindsay Clancy speaks to judge for first time during her murder trial

In court on Tuesday, Lindsay Clancy spoke for the first time as she agreed to a "stipulation of facts" that would fast-track her trial. Her lawyers claim she was mentally ill and not responsible for her actions when she killed her three young children. Shanelle Kaul reports.

Wildfires burning in Washington state could worsen

Three wildfires near Spokane, Washington, are still burning out of control after destroying hundreds of buildings. Now there are new fears the fires could worsen due to weather conditions. Kris Van Cleave reports.

Former world champion Joseph Parker cleared to box again after failed dope test

• ‘My provisional suspension is lifted and I’ll ​be back soon’

• British board of control confirms news but with no details

The former heavyweight world champion Joseph Parker ⁠said on Wednesday tnat he had been cleared to fight ⁠again after failing ⁠a ​dope test last October. The 34-year-old New Zealander, ⁠who held the WBO title from 2016 to 2018, had denied ⁠taking a prohibited substance but ​risked a two-year ‌ban.

Parker failed ‌the voluntary test on the day ‌he fought and lost against Britain’s Fabio Wardley. Reports at the time indicated that he had tested positive for traces of cocaine.

GM, Chinese automaker extend joint venture for 20 years despite geopolitical tensions with U.S.

GM said the deal will focus on domestic sales of Buick and Cadillac models in China and exporting Chevrolet products built in China for non-U.S. markets.

Perez Hilton hospitalized after livestreaming acts of self-harm, officials say

In the livestream, which has since been taken down, Hilton appears to be bloodied and in a distressed mental state.

Italy to place all 27 of its major cities on highest heat alert

Move comes as fourth heatwave of summer intensifies, edging temperatures in some areas close to 40C

Italy is to place all of its 27 major cities, from Trieste in the north to Palermo in the south, under the highest heat alert as the fourth heatwave to hit the country this summer intensifies.

A red alert means there is a higher chance of an emergency owing to the health risk posed by prolonged extreme temperatures to the entire population.

‘So destructive’: women are paying for face scans that tell them what cosmetic procedures to get

‘Looksmaxxing’ culture has led to the rise of facial analysis services – but experts warn they aren’t backed by science and can be harmful to users

Danielle, 37, didn’t always have issues with body image: she used to be a model and recalls receiving positive attention from men. However, when two years of unemployment plunged her into a period of financial insecurity, her confidence faded. “It was easy to wonder, if I was prettier, if some of my features were different, would that help?” she said.

So, when Danielle saw videos on TikTok about a “facial analysis” service that claimed it could provide her with “science-backed” glow-up advice, she bought it without hesitation. Three-hundred and thirty dollars later, after sending in selfies to be analyzed, Danielle received her personalized 30-page report from the company Qoves.

Game, set, Chat: how tennis players use AI to scout opponents and run their lives

The emergence of GenAI has led to a generational shift with stars conflicted on the impact of technology on their sport

Not so long ago, Emma Raducanu was on her phone when she found herself wondering what her comprehensive usage of ChatGPT said about her own character. “I use Chat a lot,” Raducanu says, laughing. “Every small thing I do it and I got this idea. So, you know how Spotify do a Spotify Wrapped? I asked ChatGPT to make me a Chat Wrapped, and it was giving me a rundown on my personality.

“I was like: ‘It’s a little bit too accurate.’ It was very clear, very concise. No nonsense, straight into the question. I thought: ‘OK, I can relate maybe. Some of that is true.’”

How to turn unwanted anchovy tin oil into salsa verde – recipe

This powerhouse ingredient injects umami and depth of flavour into a simple green sauce. Come on, chop-chop!

The oil from a tin of anchovies is a powerhouse larder ingredient that you possibly never knew existed. It’s a flavour bomb that carries all the delicious flavour compounds of the fish themselves, especially if you want to add their wonderful flavour to a dish but want to save the anchovies to serve separately or as a garnish.

This salsa verde is based on Giorgio Locatelli’s in his book Made in Italy, and it’s made with a knife rather than a blender. Chopping by hand gives it a much better texture, especially when you’re also using the stalks, which a blender can turn fibrous. The boiled egg is optional but traditional, and helps emulsify the sauce. Locatelli uses just the yolk, but I’ve used the whole egg, not least to avoid the faff of finding a use for the spare white. This sauce is incredible with lamb or mutton and very good with grilled fish.

U.S. missile stockpiles dwindle. And, FDA weighs approval of flu shots with mRNA tech

The U.S. Army's missile stockpile is dwindling and could take years to replenish. And, the Food and Drug Administration is deciding whether to approve a flu vaccine with mRNA technology.

SpaceX shows strong growth in its first earnings report since IPO

Elon Musk's rocket, satellite and AI provider reported quarterly revenue of $7.8 billion, topping Wall Street forecasts.

Former Pakistani minister on bail over alleged child rape in 1990s Manchester

Exclusive: Rukhsar Ahmed was re-elected as an MP in Pakistan last week despite being on police bail in the UK

A former Pakistani state minister was arrested two years ago on suspicion of raping vulnerable young girls in Manchester in the 1990s, the Guardian can reveal.

Rukhsar Ahmed, who was re-elected as an MP in Pakistan last week after five years out of office, is on police bail in the UK after his arrest in July 2024 on suspicion of rape and trafficking children in care as part of a grooming gang.

‘Like Backstreet Boys, but less sultry’: how the Jonas Brothers notched up 20 years of pop stardom against the odds

Unlike their Disney peers, the toothesome trio didn’t pivot to being sexy – and they’re now at their stadium-filling peak. Fans and collaborators explain their unique, cheesy appeal

The Jonas Brothers appeared in the mid-00s in a blaze of smiles, dressed in shirts, suspenders and ties, singing sappy love songs that won the hearts of girls who quickly became obsessed with this Disney-signed band. Many assumed the fraternal trio would fade away, overtaken by whatever new act replaced them in the whims of teenagers. Yet this week marks 20 years since the release of their debut album, It’s About Time, and the toothsome threesome are bigger than ever.

Kevin, Joe and Nick Jonas started out with danger-free pop-punk, evolving into a kind of broad-brush feelgood pop. Their true breakthrough was in 2008 with US No 5 hit Burnin’ Up, teeing up three back-to-back US No 1 albums as they became the youngest group to appear on the cover of Rolling Stone. The usual dreaded “creative differences” precipitated a six-year hiatus and the pursuit of solo careers and acting. But they reformed in 2019 in spectacular style, getting their first US No 1 hit with Sucker, and by last year they had the clout to sell out the MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, where the World Cup final was later hosted.

‘You’d want one as a pet’: the irresistibly cute solar-powered sea slug

The beady-eyed, Pokémon-like leaf sheep is far more ingenious than us land mammals

• Revealed: the top 10 invertebrates of the year

• Invertebrate of Year Q&A: discuss our countdown with Patrick Barkham

A neon green punk sheep that lives underwater. A solar-powered slug that can perform photosynthesis. If you are seeking beauty, brains and a wonderfully innovative lifestyle, then vote leaf sheep.

The leaf or sea sheep, Costasiella kuroshimae, is a sea slug about the size of a grain of rice. Like a sheep, it grazes on green stuff – certain species of algae, which it finds in tropical waters around Japan, Indonesia and the Philippines. But its sheepy nickname does it a disservice because it is far more ingenious than us land mammals.

Why is Anthropic destroying books? | Kathryn James

The AI company apparently found destructively scanning ‘all the books in the world’ easier than dealing with copyright in its quest for training data

Should we destroy all the books in the world?

An answer to this question can be found in the court documents of Bartz v Anthropic PBC. The northern California district court case, decided in late July this year, highlighted the improbably named “Project Panama”, one of the AI company Anthropic’s efforts to improve its large language model Claude. “What is Project Panama?” court exhibit 21 asks, in an internal memo. The answer: “Project Panama is our effort to destructively scan all the books in the world.” The memo advises discretion: “Why use a codename? … [B]ecause we don’t want it to be known that we are working on this.”

Mortgage rates hit their highest level in over a year, causing demand to drop below year-ago levels

Mortgage rates rose to the highest level in over a year, causing total mortgage demand to drop below year-ago levels.

Andy Burnham reveals wife’s reaction to third Labour leadership bid

Burnham said his wife, Marie-France van Heel, took some persuading after he ran and lost in contests in 2010 and 2015

Andy Burnham has revealed his wife’s dismayed reaction when he told her he wanted to make another attempt at becoming Labour leader.

Burnham said that his wife, Marie-France van Heel, had been surprised by his decision to run, having lost contests in 2010 and 2015 to Ed Miliband and Jeremy Corbyn respectively.

US refunds $100bn of Donald Trump’s ‘liberation day’ tariffs

More than half of tariff income refunded after supreme court ruled Trump’s levies were illegal

• Business live – latest updates

The Trump administration has refunded about $100bn from the tariffs it collected before the US supreme court ruled them illegal, according to reports.

The $100bn (£74bn) figure, which represents 60% of the total $165bn collected from Donald Trump’s “liberation day” tariffs, was reported by customs officials to the US court of international trade (CIT) on Tuesday, according to the Financial Times.

Peruvian cardinal hails $150m lead poisoning settlement for 1,300 people as a ‘historic milestone’

Cardinal Pedro Barreto received death threats and harassment during his almost 20-year campaign against a US mining company’s operations in the Andes

A Peruvian cardinal who received a barrage of death threats when he challenged the firm behind a toxic smelter has called a $150m (£111m) out-of-court settlement to more than 1,000 people who were allegedly poisoned by the plant as children “a historic milestone”.

Cardinal Pedro Barreto, 82, was in Rome meeting Pope Leo XIV and other cardinals in June when he received news that the firm that ran the smelter, the Doe Run Company, a subsidiary of Renco Group, would pay $150m to 1,373 Peruvians who have suffered health impacts since childhood.

Anthropic's Mythos created fake identities to fool humans in new cyber incident

It's the latest cybersecurity incident involving frontier models developed by Anthropic and OpenAI.

Russian missile and drone barrage in Ukrainian capital region kills 17

Russian missile and drone strikes on Kyiv and the surrounding region killed 17 people and wounded 44 others overnight into Wednesday, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.

Progressives see biggest win yet in Michigan while Trump flexes power over GOP

Progressives notched major wins in Michigan while voters in Missouri and Washington rejected insurgent Democrats. Meanwhile, Trump continued to flex his influence over the Republican Party.

Sterling Point review – this teen drama from Gossip Girl’s creators is brilliant escapist TV

Set on an idyllic Canadian island, this coming-of-age series is juicy stuff. It swaps the darkness of recent YA TV for warmth, humour and a surprisingly compelling mystery

I’ll be honest: I was prepared to grit my teeth through Sterling Point, Prime Video’s newest coming-of-age offering, which I dismissed as another by-the-numbers high-school drama. The show follows a type-A teen on a journey of sun-dappled self-discovery, escaping her native New York for an idyllic getaway on a picturesque Canadian island. It’s an unassuming, summer camp-style narrative, but in the style of last year’s seasonal phenomenon that was series three of The Summer I Turned Pretty, it manages to transcend the limits of its YA niche, revealing itself to be quite juicy.

Protagonist Annie (Ella Rubin) is a highly strung 17-year-old, still reeling from a rejection from a summer business school programme when she receives the news that her estranged maternal grandfather has left her some mysterious assets. Annie, whose mother had died years ago, and her twin Connor (Keen Ruffalo), are prompted to start digging through family secrets, much to the distress of their dad (Jay Duplass of Transparent and Industry). The two learn that they’ve inherited a house in Canada – prompting Annie to take off on a secret trip in search of answers about her late mother’s life.

Sterling Point is on Prime Video

A Child of My Own review – barely believable true crime tale of desperation and delusion

Candy-coloured recreations of one woman’s pregnancy unravel as dark truths are revealed in Maite Alberdi’s intimate docudrama

This cheekily inquisitive docudrama by Chilean director Maite Alberdi features a unique variation on the long con, and one with a precise duration: nine months. After suffering three miscarriages and under pressure from her husband and in-laws to give them a child, Eleonor Alejandra Marín Mendoza (aka Ale, and played by Ana Celeste in re-enactments) decides to fake her next pregnancy. She is determined to have something to show at the end of it: after meeting single mother Mayra, who wants to abort her second pregnancy, at the hospital where she works, Ale agrees to take her baby once it is born.

The details are hardly believable: eating copiously to gain weight, Ale manages to convince husband Arturo (Armando Espitia) and his family that this pregnancy is on track for her entire term. She reflexively tenses her muscles while he strokes her baby bump and smiles through a swirl of conflicting thoughts at her baby shower. While most con artists must dupe themselves on some level, it is true down to a physiological level in Ale’s case: a judge later testifies that her desperation to bear children may have resulted in a pseudo-pregnancy. How else to explain that the doctor signing off her maternity leave appears to hear the baby’s heartbeat?

Ice Cream Man review – Eli Roth’s junky slasher is one of year’s worst horrors

The Hostel and Thanksgiving director takes a massive stumble with a rushed retro horror made on the cheap

A few years ago, Eli Roth realized his long-held ambition to make a movie out of Thanksgiving, the horror-movie trailer he made as a gag for the Quentin Tarantino/Robert Rodriguez anthology feature Grindhouse, back in 2007. Though he didn’t actually go so far as to make the scratched-up decades-ago slasher shown in the original trailer, Thanksgiving was still Roth’s most satisfying movie in ages, replete with ridiculous gore and a side of satirical commentary – a 2020s movie fit for an old video store’s VHS horror section despite its contemporary setting.

Now Roth has founded a horror-focused company actually called the Horror Section, aimed at releasing movies, shows and “experiences” that appeal to the modern equivalent of those VHS-shelf gorehounds. After “presenting” a few other movies, Roth’s first direct contribution to the company is Ice Cream Man, exactly the kind of knowingly disreputable button-pusher befitting the company’s retro-sticker logo. (Indeed, Roth’s movie shares its title with a 1995 direct-to-video curiosity starring Clint Howard, though this one is unrelated.) Unfortunately, rather than a companion piece to the blackly funny murder-mystery of Thanksgiving, which riffed on Scream as much as 80s slashers, Roth’s latest feels like a demo reel for someone vastly less talented.

Himmler’s ‘anti-Nazi’ masseur: Claes Bang stars as SS chief’s ‘magic Buddha’

Felix Kersten, the personal therapist of Hitler’s principal enforcer, claimed to have saved countless lives from the Holocaust. A new feature film exposes him as a narcissist prone to myth-making

Five years ago, German writer-director Felix Randau was approached by French producers who wanted him to make a miniseries about Felix Kersten, the former massage therapist to Nazi SS head Heinrich Himmler.

When the producers first pitched the project, there was one sentence which leapt out. “They said that if Steven Spielberg had known about Felix Kersten, he would have shot a film about him, not about Oskar Schindler.” Who was this intriguing, largely overlooked figure, who claimed to have saved countless Jews and other concentration camp prisoners from certain death?

Analogue evil: why today’s horror film-makers are obsessed with obsolete tech

From Obsession to Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma, a new wave of movies are ditching minimalism for retro settings

The indie-horror hit films Obsession and Backrooms opened this summer’s movie season with a bang, each grossing hundreds of millions of dollars and turning out legions of younger moviegoers. Many have pointed out the similarity between the films: both were made for comparatively minuscule budgets by gen Z directors – Curry Barker and Kane Parsons – who first rose to prominence on YouTube.

Fewer people are talking about the other quality the two movies share: a steady stream of analogue props and production design that plunges you into some bygone pre-digital era. Obsession’s lead characters Bear and Nikki work at a mom-and-pop music store, take rides in Bear’s vintage station wagon and the plot centers around a kitschy, old-fashioned gag gift. In Backrooms, Mary hawks her self-help cassette tapes on late-night infomercials, Clark smacks his TV to adjust the fuzzy signal – in the HDTV age, no one has done this for decades – and the wall-to-wall carpeted, ceiling-tiled backrooms look straight out of a long-abandoned office park on the side of the highway.

Mexico’s top university orders 58,000 students to resit entrance exam after suspected cheating

National Autonomous University of Mexico says applicants must take test in person after online debacle

Mexico’s largest and most prestigious university has announced that about 58,000 students will have to resit their entrance exam after abnormally high test results raised suspicions of widespread cheating.

The National Autonomous University of Mexico (Unam) said the exam would take place in person after its first attempt at a fully remote online version led to a debacle and thousands of annulled results.

‘If we don’t fight back, we don’t have a future’: the journalist taking on the ‘tech fascists’ of Silicon Valley

As Elon Musk, Peter Thiel and their peers have grown richer and more influential, Gil Durán argues they have all but abandoned democracy – and found the perfect government to enable them

In April, Gil Durán was permanently banned from Elon Musk’s X for posting just two words. Durán was responding to a post from the tech company Palantir outlining its 22‑point “technological manifesto”, which praised American “hard power”, western culture and AI weapons, denounced inclusivity and called for compulsory national service. Durán responded: “TLDR: Fascism” (TLDR is short for “too long, didn’t read”).

Durán didn’t break any of X’s written rules, he points out over a video call from San Francisco – so much for Musk’s “free-speech absolutism”. His ban might just have had something to do with his preceding tweet, showing the cover of his new book, The Nerd Reich: Silicon Valley Fascism and the War on Democracy. The book’s central argument is that big tech is no longer our friend, as many of its billionaire owners have seized economic and political control and are steering the fate of the planet towards their own bizarre, apocalyptic visions.

Nicotine pouches can be marketed as 'lower risk' than cigarettes. Is that dangerous?

The FDA allowed some Zyn nicotine pouches to be marketed as "lower risk" than cigarettes. Public health experts agree they can help current smokers, but worry young people may become addicted.

Russian attack kills at least 17 in Kyiv as Ukraine hammers more Wildberries warehouses

The bombardment comes as each side ramps up air attacks on critical infrastructure and logistics hubs.

House Ethics Committee opens investigation into Ohio Republican Max Miller

The House Ethics Committee has opened an investigation into Rep. Max Miller, after the Ohio Republican asked for a probe of the domestic abuse allegations that have swirled around his reelection bid.

Black lung rates in Appalachia are high as the 1970s, with thousands of miners sick

Rates are now the highest they've been in nearly 50 years among veteran coal miners. Mining experts blame toxic silica dust, now more common in mines.

Paw Patrol: The Dino Movie review – plucky pups do their thing on Jurassic-style island

Stranded on an island full of prehistoric animals, the Paw Patrol squad get stuck in in a remarkably charmless animation

The Paw Patrol pups – that’s Chase, Marshall, Skye, Rocky, Rubble and Zuma – are engaged in a rescue mission as this latest film instalment of the puppy rescue team series opens. A family on a yacht are in danger of being burned alive, and the plucky dogs are all that stands between them and a crispy fried demise. Unfortunately, it’s a little difficult to root for this family, the annoying teenaged son in particular, who is either an influencer or wannabe influencer. Obviously nobody deserves to die on the basis of their being an influencer, but building a rescue sequence around one feels a bit like if Jurassic Park were about trying to save dino-embryo-thief Dennis Nedry, instead of having him meet his demise at the hands and claws and teeth of a dilophosaurus with impeccable comic timing.

Speaking of Jurassic Park, that’s more or less where the plucky pups end up after the yacht rescue: a storm blows them off course to a mysterious island that boasts a T rex and other assorted prehistoric beasties. None of what transpires as a result is particularly entertaining, and we can only urge families to vote with their wallets and hand over their hard-earned to higher quality children’s entertainment.

A Sense of Occasion by Brodie Crellin review – a surprising and darkly funny debut

A dysfunctional family comes together for a funeral in this heartfelt, keenly observed novel

Most of us come upon our family’s dysfunctions gradually, like a door that opens a little wider each year. This uncle, you find out, has had an affair; grandma has a hoarding problem. The cremation of the nuclear family illusion is a cornerstone of literature, especially when it’s hastened by one of those unavoidable core gatherings: weddings, births, funerals. But what happens when there was never any illusion to start with; when the story begins in the ashes?

The delight of Brodie Crellin’s accomplished, surprising debut lies in the way it wrestles with this question, and in its depiction of a family that fails to meet any conventional definition of the word. With a cutting eye and wry humour, Crellin finds fantastic power in the story of three maladjusted people reeling in the face of death, whose relationships to one another are endlessly confronting and complex.

There is friendless Patch, riddled with anxiety, who bursts into tears at the memory of the postman’s suicide and falls victim to a terrible haircut. There is Patch’s father, Robin, who is “gay, yes, mostly, but mutable”. And there is Jude, her domineering, malevolently competent cousin, a playwright who “loves to make an entrance”. They’re bound by the newly deceased Mary: Robin’s ex, Patch’s mother, and Jude’s aunt – a woman who “[didn’t] have a problem with gay men” but was lukewarm on lesbians. Orbiting this “isosceles”, as Jude calls it, is Juliette, Jude’s gleefully moneyed mother, and Mel, Mary’s neighbour. Various other characters swing in and out, all fully realised no matter how brief their appearances, my favourite of which was Mary’s poor, forgotten “empath” labrador, Leonard.

The stage is set, as Jude cruises in from Naples, for a fraught collision of past and present. As the funeral draws closer and tensions simmer, Crellin juggles the minutiae of death – chopping vegetables, arranging memorial photos – with fragmented recollections of messy family history. It’s rare to read a novel that can skip in and out of so many points of view and keep the different styles of narration intact. Yet even with regular flashbacks, A Sense of Occasion feels remarkably natural thanks to Crellin’s light touch, especially in the arch, zippy dialogue. There are shades of classic mid-century stories, particularly Dorothy Baker’s Cassandra at the Wedding, and some of the caustic social wit of Edward St Aubyn’s Melrose chronicles, but the boldness feels entirely modern.

It’s a joy, too, to read fiction that understands sex so well, and is neither sentimental nor sleazy. Crellin conveys the importance of sex as a vehicle for each character’s foibles and desires; as a shadowy place where so much can be manipulated and communicated. The book summons up a kaleidoscope of erotic experience across the spectrum, sometimes hot and sometimes ridiculous, including a quasi-incestuous relationship rendered with nuance and consideration.

If the novel leans a little hard on Jude and her mother, Juliette, for its class critiques, it’s easily forgiven on account of just how much fun it is to watch these characters crash into each other, and for the deftly nasty one-liners that they toss out. “Patch lacked the confidence conferred by a private education,” Jude thinks smugly. “But she could also say that Patch was simply less intelligent.” And yet the story never veers into mean-spirited satire, largely thanks to Patch herself, the grief-stricken daughter, who is the heartbeat of the novel. Perennially misunderstood and underestimated – including by her own mother, when she was alive – Patch is awkward but raw, a keen observer of herself and others.

There is immense pleasure and vitality – and ultimately a great deal of tenderness – in A Sense of Occasion’s depiction of flawed, strange people who love badly, and can’t help but get in the way of themselves over and over again. After all, as George Bernard Shaw wrote, “If you cannot get rid of the family skeleton, you may as well make it dance.”

SpaceX rocket thought to have crashed into the moon in unintentional collision

Four-tonne piece of SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket believed to have hit lunar surface on Wednesday at 5,400mph

A four-tonne piece of a discarded SpaceX rocket that has been floating in space since last year is believed to have unintentionally crashed into the moon at high speed, in a collision that posed no danger to Earth but was expected to blast out a new lunar crater.

The object, the height of a five-storey building, was part of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket that launched two commercial lunar landers, one from the US and one from Japan, towards the moon in January 2025.

Europe is blowing up riverbeds as an extreme drought wreaks havoc on its economy

Severe drought is disrupting energy and freight across Europe as low Rhine and Danube levels raise risks for supply chains and economic growth.

Ted Lasso season four review – TV’s most wholesome football comedy is back

It looked like it was gone forever, but Jason Sudeikis’s hugely popular show returns with a premise that’s all twee nonsensicality. If you love messages of positivity and togetherness, you’ll be thrilled

Having transported a flailing AFC Richmond to the upper echelons of the Premier League with his wholesome, folksy and highly simile-reliant management style, the finale of Ted Lasso’s third season saw our titular coach return to the US to spend more time with his son in Kansas. At the time (2023), the general impression was that we were waving goodbye for good. But could this intensely American protagonist really do the most British thing of all and bow out at the height of his sitcom’s popularity? Nope. Last year it was announced that its star and co-creator Jason Sudeikis had caved to market forces and was reprising his colossally popular alter ego.

It was the logical thing to do: the 11-time Emmy-winning show was the most-watched streaming original of 2023. Not that logic features heavily in this fourth season. Before we discover how Ted has been lured back to south-west London, we find out what he’s been up to in the interim. Did he parlay his success into US soccer? Return triumphantly to college football? Sit back with his millions and rest on his laurels? Nope, nope and nope again. Instead, he’s working in his local supermarket, warmly greeting his customers by name, providing moral guidance to younger colleagues and generally radiating his trademark howdily-doodily energy. Why? Because he’s a good man without ego who loves to connect and make a positive difference in his community! This is Ted Lasso we’re talking about!

Ted Lasso is on Apple TV

Video game maker EA bought by Saudi-led group for $55bn

Company acquired in deal involving Affinity Partners, a firm run by Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner

Electronic Arts, the maker of video games such as The Sims, Madden NFL and Battlefield, has been bought by Saudi Arabia’s wealth fund and a group of investors for $55bn (£41bn).

The company announced the completion of the deal on Tuesday evening, only days after the EU gave its approval, the final regulatory green light needed.

War! What is it good for? Absolutely humongous oil company profits | First Dog on the Moon

Mission accomplished

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Perez Hilton hospitalised after livestreaming self-harm on Tiktok

Emergency services were seen outside Hilton’s home in Miami on Tuesday night after members of the public reported seeing Hilton harm himself

The celebrity blogger Perez Hilton has been hospitalised after livestreaming footage of himself self-harming on TikTok.

Emergency services were seen outside Hilton’s home in Miami on Tuesday night after concerned members of the public reported seeing Hilton harm himself in a graphic video streamed live on TikTok. Hilton’s TikTok account was suspended minutes later.

Catch of the day: a seafood safari on France’s culinary coast

From Calais to Le Touquet, the Côte d’Opale is home to thriving fishing ports, grand old seaside resorts and restaurants serving the freshest seafood

Stellio Lestienne, chef at La Matelote in Boulogne’s harbour, shows me his shopping list as we browse the city’s daily morning fish market. He wants to pick up some crab and sole, which are in season, but his usual lobster fisher is still out on his boat, so he’ll have to wait a bit for that. Although I’ve been a regular visitor to both Boulogne and the surrounding Hauts-de-France region for about 30 years, this is my first time in the fish market. Now I’m kicking myself for all that lost time.

It’s not very big, nor is it remotely picturesque, stretching along a nondescript car park in the port. But it does have a fantastic selection of fish and seafood, both from fishers (pêcheurs artisans in light-blue stalls) and retailers (commerçants in dark blue). And it’s considerably cheaper than other fish markets I’ve seen. “People come here from the UK with cool bags to do their shopping,” Stellio says, pointing to a man doing that very thing. I spot filleted roussettes (dogfish) going for €2 each. At another stall, a man deftly slices through a grotesque-looking monkfish, cutting out the prized cheeks.

‘Magic from the shadows’: the dreamlike visions of Paolo Roversi – in pictures

A new exhibition showcases the Italian fashion photographer’s technical mastery, where light, blur and even mistakes contribute to an image’s beauty

The Ghost of the Mountains by Kulbhushansingh Suryawanshi review – the secrets of the snow leopard

An Indian mountaineer follows in the footsteps of explorers and conservationists in search of an enigmatic animal

When bored, try the following game – I call it “Purr or Roar?”. Take any feline and guess whether it can purr or roar (it cannot do both because purring and roaring require different anatomical structures). Some candidates are easy: any child knows that lions and tigers roar and that a tabby does not. But between the great cats and our pets are numerous other species, from lynxes to panthers, whose anatomy is not so easy to infer. A leopard, for instance? Roar (or growl). The discreet, mountain-dwelling snow leopard? Purr.

The snow leopard is the protagonist of Kulbhushansingh Suryawanshi’s first book, a compelling and intimate look at this elusive mountain specialist. An Indian conservationist and mountaineer, Suryawanshi pursues the creature through the Himalayas and Gobi desert. This is a gritty and detailed portrait of an often misunderstood and endangered species in an increasingly hostile, crowded and hot environment.

A moment that changed me: I found a forbidden novel – it led to a dangerous, lasting love

Growing up in the Chinese region of Xinjiang, romance was frowned upon – as was much of my Uyghur culture. But one day, exploring a strange house, I found a gateway to both worlds

Many people have a book that changes their life. For me and my wife, one book in particular changed our destinies for ever. We have been in love since we were teenagers, and today we are happily married – all because I accidentally discovered a forbidden novel in someone else’s house.

It was a hot summer’s evening in 2009, in Kumul, Xinjiang. I was 16 and my father insisted I accompany him to visit a distant relative, where they would spend hours chatting about the old days and feasting as if they hadn’t eaten in years. As the well-behaved teenager I tried to be, I sat politely, nodding at their stories and pretending to absorb their “life lessons”, attempting to hide my boredom. The living room, with its small windows and bright lighting, was unbearable.

They gave me to someone who could not read or write … it would be better if you buried me alive

I was the top student in my university class but when the Taliban took Afghanistan again I was forced to marry and my dreams of being a pilot ended

On my last day of school it seemed years of effort were now contained in one small piece of paper. Everyone was happy at graduation, holding our certificates, each of us had a different road ahead. Friends wanted to study medicine, civil engineering or economics. For me, I wanted aviation – to be a pilot.

We worked hard, preparing for Kankor – the university entry exam – then came the first delay. Coronavirus reached Afghanistan. Everywhere went into quarantine, our exams were postponed.

Angela Hartnett’s Italian summer recipes: grilled peaches, green beans and mozzarella, and gnudi in tomato sauce

Two inspiring summer dishes to enjoy in the sunshine: grilled peaches with green beans and mozzarella, and gnudi in a roast tomato sauce

At Cicoria, peaches, green beans and tomatoes are among our favourites ingredients right now, inspiring dishes that celebrate freshness and flavour. The restaurant is perched at the top of the Royal Opera House in London, so our dining room is flooded with sunlight throughout the day, which is just as well because these vibrant, simple dishes are best enjoyed in the sunshine.

Country diary: A beetle with a prehensile anus? Thanks to local wildlife recorders, I know one lives here | Gwyneth Lewis

Ceredigion: Let’s sing the praises of this network of volunteers who move slowly and look hard, gathering vital wildlife data – and finding fantastic species

Even before we start a Wildwatch recording morning, Carys May of the West Wales Biodiversity Information Centre has made two identifications: an intimidating dark giant horsefly (Tabanus sudeticus) with huge eyes close together and a notch-horned cleg or horsefly (Haematopota pluvialis), which bit me.

As we walk through Pencoedtop, a former conifer plantation now being restored to moorland (rhos in Welsh), Carys moves slowly and looks hard. She spots a mining bee, one that can only be identified under a microscope. This one doesn’t collect pollen neatly in its leg baskets, but exits flowers covered in powder, which the female seals into her nest with her eggs. In a bank of brambles, Carys points out several marmalade hoverflies (Episyrphus balteatus), which look like slim wasps. These pollinators migrate at great heights from the continent. She says that, if in doubt, the county hoverfly recorder, like a kind of naturalist archangel, is quick to respond to queries.

‘I just want to find them’: deadly cloudbursts devastate Kashmir’s mountain communities

Increasingly erratic weather patterns due to climate change mean people are losing homes, crops and livestock

As rain lashed the Pir Panjal mountains before dawn on 19 July, Haji Mohammad Latief stepped outside his home in Murrah, a remote mountain village in Indian-administered Kashmir. His daughter had asked him to move the family’s car to a safer place as the rain got heavier.

“I had only just parked it,” Latief recalled. “When I turned around, I saw the water coming.” Minutes later, a cloudburst sent mud, boulders and water crashing down the hillside.

Phoebe Bridgers: Lost Weekend review – long-awaited return is a thrilling, daring study in dislocation

(Dead Oceans)
After sweeping the Grammys and being scrutinised by the press, Bridgers deploys electronics and unsettling sound design to brilliantly evoke emotional turmoil

The last time Phoebe Bridgers put out a solo album was six years ago, at the height of the Covid pandemic: Punisher not only ended 2020 near the top of many critics’ best-of lists, it made the UK Top 10 and sold half a million copies in the US. The intervening period has proved just as commercially triumphant. With the release of their debut album The Record, Boygenius – the band she had formed with Lucy Dacus and Julien Baker – went from a kind of supergroup for Pitchfork readers to a genuine mainstream phenomenon: the album won three Grammys. Another win, for Bridgers’ collaboration with SZA, Ghost in the Machine, meant Bridgers left the 2024 ceremony the night’s biggest winner. Other pop stars called on her services: she sang on Taylor Swift’s re-recorded version of Red (and supported on the Eras tour), Lorde’s Solar Power and on Paul McCartney’s McCartney III Imagined.

But to judge by Lost Weekend’s opening track, all was not well. The Outside depicts the singer crowd-surfing at a gig in Ohio – “they never let me hit the ground, way beyond the barricade” – and ending a song with her fist triumphantly raised. Then it adds a qualifier. “But I was on the outside, watching,” she sings, the sense of dislocation heightened by the fact that her voice is smothered by a vocoder, and the musical accompaniment – a sweet fingerpicked acoustic guitar figure – keeps vanishing into an ambient backing that sounds like static.

‘This isn’t some vendetta’ – Tulisa Contostavlos on taking on the tabloids, sex tapes and shame

The N-Dubz and X Factor star’s career went into freefall after an elaborate sting by the Sun on Sunday, and she’s still campaigning for tougher press regulation. But will it work?

Late last year, Tulisa Contostavlos took a good look at her life. Her relationship had come to an end and she found herself in her late 30s (she’s 38 now), wondering what next. “I started thinking about all the things I’d never done,” she says. At 20, life had got weird – Contostavlos was in the successful hip-hop group N-Dubz and became an adult just as the fame and money started coming in. By 24, she was a judge on the Saturday night TV show X Factor. If that hadn’t happened, she thinks she might have become an archaeologist – she’s obsessed with ancient history. And so last year she went travelling, to Egypt to see the pyramids, and to Peru to visit Machu Picchu.

There were other, bigger changes. She gave up smoking and started having therapy for the first time. Contostavlos sat down, she says, and “I wrote a list of what my ‘greatest self’ looked like – where she’d go, how she thought, how she felt, the things she would do. I started implementing every single thing on that list and I found through doing that, you just become her – it is actually that simple. It just takes effort and discipline.” Her greatest self, she says, “is a person of action, and she turns lemons into lemon cake”. It got her thinking about the criminal trial that left her career in freefall. “I was like, right, let’s try to do something.”

Hundreds in Morocco gather near Ceuta border in anxious wait for missing loved ones

People hope to see friends or relatives among those still returning as death toll from mass crossing nears 100

Hundreds of people have gathered in the northern Moroccan town of Fnideq, near the border with Spain’s Ceuta, flashing photos of their missing loved ones to passersby in the hope of tracking them down.

Their perch was the same small tranche of land that made headlines around the world last week as extraordinary scenes emerged of about 72,000 people making their way into Ceuta, a tiny Spanish territory in north Africa.