Scottish Labour’s rivals decry ‘chancer’ Anas Sarwar for resigning to join Andy Burnham’s government

New prime minister has made Sarwar – the first senior Labour figure to call for Keir Starmer’s resignation – a peer

Scottish Labour’s rivals in Holyrood have slammed Anas Sarwar’s shock decision to resign as leader to sit in Andy Burnham’s new government, calling him a “chancer” and accusing him of lying to voters.

The prime minister has made Sarwar – who was the first senior Labour figure to call for Keir Starmer to resign – a peer and given him a ministerial post at the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade, No 10 announced on Wednesday.

US signs landmark nuclear deal with Saudi Arabia

Trump energy secretary hails agreement that could potentially allow kingdom to enrich uranium

The US has signed a landmark nuclear deal with Saudi Arabia that could potentially allow the kingdom to enrich uranium.

In a statement on Wednesday, the US Department of Energy said its secretary, Chris Wright, and his Saudi counterpart, Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman, signed a “peaceful nuclear cooperation agreement”, along with a “bilateral safeguards agreement”.

Southwest Airlines' third-quarter forecast falls short as fuel bill climbs

Southwest Airlines reported a more than 9% increase in second-quarter profit as higher fares are increasingly helping the airline cover its fuel tab.

House passes Pentagon funding and limits on stock trades in a last dash before recess

Republicans passed more than $1 trillion for the Pentagon alongside a budget blueprint that would let them bypass Democrats to unlock new funds for the Iran war and Trump's election overhaul bill.

Council handpicked by Trump to gut review process of historic-preservation projects

The Advisory Council for Historic Preservation, whose members were mostly handpicked by President Trump, is poised to end mandatory state review and public comment on projects affecting historical properties.

IBM lowers full-year forecast after earnings warning

IBM is now looking to improve productivity with artificial intelligence, including with a new coding tool called Bob.

Analysis: Iran war energy shock hits the U.S. economy as gas and diesel prices climb

A new asymmetry in the market means fuel prices won't fall quickly even if the shooting in the Iran war and Strait of Hormuz stops.

House GOP advances $95 billion plan to fund Iran war and SAVE America Act

House Republicans adopted a budget resolution that kickstarts the party-line reconciliation process. It now heads to the Senate, where it'll face an uphill battle.

In South Dakota, public media endures a year after federal funding was wiped out

We check in on one state public broadcasting network a year after President Trump signed a law ending federal funding of public media.

Trump administration signs commercial nuclear deal with Saudi Arabia

The agreement gives American companies priority access to nuclear reactors and fuel to Saudi Arabia. It's expected to last decades and be worth billions of dollars.

First beluga whales from Marineland arrive in Texas as rescue underway

Two beluga whales settled into their new home at SeaWorld San Antonio this week following an international relocation mission from shuttered Canadian theme park Marineland.

Senate panel advances China auto bill that could bar Mercedes-Benz from U.S.

Mercedes-Benz’s largest individual shareholder is Chinese state-owned BAIC. Cruz warned the bill could hurt Mercedes and accused GM of backing it.

Arsenal reveal William Saliba out for ‘extended period’ with back injury

• Centre-back forced off in World Cup semi-final

• Arsenal say problem does not require surgery

Arsenal, the Premier League champions, have been dealt a big injury blow after the centre-back William Saliba was ruled out for “an extended period” with a back injury.

Saliba played with a back problem during France’s run to the World Cup semi-final and, although he will not require an operation, the 25-year-old is set for a significant spell on the sidelines. He was forced off with the injury after just 30 minutes of France’s last-four defeat by Spain.

California toddler bitten by rattlesnake ‘hiding under’ Amazon package

Three-year-old girl landed in ICU after snake bit her while grabbing a package outside her family’s Santa Clarita home

A three-year-old girl landed in the intensive care unit earlier this month after a rattlesnake bit her while she was trying to grab an Amazon package.

Addy, the young girl, ran out with her mother on 13 July to pick up a package dropped over the gate to their home in Santa Clarita, north of Los Angeles.

Tesla’s profits slide despite growing revenue as it pivots to robotics and AI

Shares in Elon Musk company fall more 3% in after-hours trading, as earnings per share miss Wall Street expectations

Tesla reported its second-quarter earnings on Wednesday, disclosing far lower profits than expected. The company’s already beleaguered stock, which had fallen about 14% this year to date, dipped further following the earnings report.

Elon Musk’s automaker, once the pinnacle of his tech empire, has taken a back seat to SpaceX. Musk’s rocket and AI company held the largest stock market debut in history last month, turning the richest man on Earth into the world’s first trillionaire, though his net worth has since fallen from its peak.

House advances bill barring sitting Congress members from buying stocks

The House on Wednesday advanced a bill that would bar members of Congress from purchasing additional stocks while in office.

Tesla misses on earnings, as free cash flow turns negative and margins slide

Tesla's earnings report lands in the midst of a slide in the company's stock price even as its core auto business is rebounding.

House passes bill to limit stock purchases by members of Congress

The Stop Insider Trading Act would prohibit members of Congress, their spouses and dependent children from purchasing publicly traded stocks.

ChatGPT's medical advice nearly killed a man, lawsuit claims

The case accuses OpenAI of practicing medicine without a license and failing to safeguard users seeking health advice.

OpenAI’s rogue agents are a wake-up call to risks posed by artificial intelligence | Shakeel Hashim

Hacking of Hugging Face shows we do not seem to have reliable ways to curb extremely powerful AI systems

Last week Hugging Face – a company that hosts artificial intelligence models and datasets – was hacked.

After it reported the incident to law enforcement, few would have predicted what came next: the culprits were revealed to be AI agents from OpenAI, which had broken out of containment and were acting of their own accord.

Shakeel Hashim is the editor of Transformer, a publication about the power and politics of transformative AI

What to know about Taylor Farms amid the cyclospora outbreak

The nation's largest recent cyclospora outbreak has put one of America's biggest produce suppliers under renewed scrutiny.

Taylor Farms pulls iceberg lettuce linked to cyclosporiasis outbreak

Taylor Farms said none of its branded salads or kits contain the iceberg lettuce associated with the outbreak.

Tropical Storm Bertha makes landfall on Gulf Coast. See its path.

Tropical Storm Bertha is the second named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season.

U.S. Secret Service official: 'Threat environment is the highest we've ever seen'

The Secret Service has seen a 40% increase this year in cases involving threats to protectees, including President Donald Trump.

What Trump's generic drug tariffs could mean, according to experts

Health policy experts say higher import duties could increase costs and strain supplies while offering no guarantee manufacturers will shift production to the U.S.

Dozens of beluga whales transferred to U.S. after Canadian theme park closure

Dozens of beluga whales are being transferred to aquariums across the U.S. following the closure of the Canadian theme park that hosted them. Jared Ochacher has the story.

Amazon cuts some jobs in its artificial general intelligence unit

Amazon's AGI unit has released a set of AI models, called Nova, and also includes groups working on silicon and quantum computing.

Senate committee advances Clayton's nomination for intelligence chief

The Senate Intelligence Committee advanced Jay Clayton's nomination for director of national intelligence, despite opposition from Democrats.

Liverpool primed for business: Bezos, Bhatia and the next steps at Anfield | Andy Hunter

Fenway Sports Group looks to be locked in talks with a consortium led by the son-in-law of Lakshmi Mittal, while the Amazon founder has now been linked

Tropical storm Bertha makes landfall in Louisiana with 45mph winds

In Kentucky and West Virginia, rescuers freed trapped residents as states face catastrophic floods and damage

Tropical storm Bertha made ‌landfall in ‌St Bernard parish, on the Gulf coast south-east of New Orleans, Louisiana, on Wednesday afternoon, the ⁠US national ⁠hurricane ⁠center said.

The Miami-based forecaster ‌added that maximum ​sustained winds were estimated ⁠to be ​45mph (75km/h) ‌with higher ​gusts.

House and Senate take different paths to avoid shutdown before midterms

Another deadline to fund the government is looming this fall in Congress, and lawmakers seem eager to avoid another costly impasse ahead of the midterm elections.

Paramount’s £80bn takeover of Warner Brothers a step closer after EU approval

European Commission says Paramount Skydance’s decision to end Universal venture addresses merger concerns

Paramount Skydance’s £80bn takeover of Warner Brothers took a step closer to being realised after it won conditional approval from the European Union.

The European Commission said Paramount’s offer to ⁠end a film ⁠distribution ​joint venture with Universal Pictures addressed its concerns over the potential merger. As part of its commitments in the EU, Paramount has 13 months from the date of closing the deal to pull out from the venture.

Rugby players seek new lawyers for brain injury cases against governing bodies

• Richard Boardman was criticised by the managing judge

• Players want ‘firm with resources and specialist expertise’

Hundreds of former rugby league and rugby union players taking legal action against the game’s governing bodies are now “staring into the precipice”, according to the barrister representing the claimants, Susan Rodway KC.

Richard Boardman, the solicitor who has been the organising force behind the litigation, has requested formally to come off the record after his handling of the case was criticised by the managing judge, Senior Master Cook. The case may now be taken over by Leigh Day, who has been working on it as consultants since February.

Trossard, Ramos, Dumfries: 10 transfers you may have missed during the World Cup

Too engrossed with the World Cup drama to keep up with goings-on in the transfer market? We’ve got you covered

Announced just before England’s soul-sucking semi-final defeat by Argentina, it would have been easy to miss Trossard’s £15.3m move to Istanbul. While, after three and a half seasons and at the age of 31, it feels like his time at Arsenal has come to a natural conclusion, he will be remembered as a player who scored in clutch moments and, ultimately, played a crucial role in the club’s first league title in 22 years. Trossard departs after 174 appearances and 36 goals, a significant portion of which came from the bench in times of desperate need. He will be missed and deserves to be revered as one of the cult heroes of the Mikel Arteta era. Will Magee

Zelenskyy under growing pressure to reinstate sacked defence minister

Campaigners in Ukraine pledge to continue nationwide protests until Mykhailo Fedorov gets his job back

Volodymyr Zelenskyy was under growing pressure to reinstate his sacked defence minister on Wednesday, after campaigners said they would continue indefinite nationwide protests until Mykhailo Fedorov got his job back.

On Tuesday, Zelenskyy bowed to public demands by firing Ukraine’s commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrskyi. He appointed Mykhailo Drapatyi as the new head of the country’s armed forces, as part of a radical reshuffle of the top military command.

Woman, 70, charged with murder of British expat Karen Carter in France

Public prosecutor for the region said suspect had been initially arrested shortly after the murder on 29 April last year

A 70-year-old woman has been charged with the murder of Karen Carter, the British expat found dead in south-western France last year.

The woman was charged on 2 July with Carter’s murder in Trémolat, in the Dordogne, and is “under judicial supervision”.

What to know about Ukraine's military shakeup

After a week of nationwide protests over the direction of Ukraine's military strategy in the ongoing war with Russia, the Ukrainian military has a new commander, Mykhailo Drapatyi. Here's what to know.

‘He knows what he’s doing’: Burnham’s off-the-cuff remarks inspire headlines and headaches

New PM’s conversational tone is markedly different to his predecessor’s, but carries risk of sowing confusion

Before he became Britain’s prime minister, Andy Burnham promised to “do politics differently”. Just three days into his time in Downing Street, that approach is already being put to the test.

In the last two days, the prime minister has been accused of performing U-turns over raising the income tax threshold, raising taxes for higher earners and freezing private sector rents.

Trump attends dignified transfer of soldiers killed in Iranian attacks

President Trump attended a dignified transfer honoring the four U.S. Army soldiers killed in the Middle East in recent days during the ongoing war with Iran.

Mykhailo Drapatyi: Ukrainians hope new commander will end army’s ‘Soviet culture’

Drapatyi has long been a critic of the military’s command culture, but experts warn change could take time

Through a haze of smoke, a lone Ukrainian armoured vehicle suddenly burst into view. The BMP-2 accelerated towards a barricade of tyres and debris, smashing through it in seconds as protesters scattered.

Behind the controls, on the chaotic streets of Mariupol on 9 May 2014, was a little-known officer named Mykhailo Drapatyi. The footage became one of the defining images of Russia’s first attempt to seize eastern Ukraine, and made Drapatyi one of Ukraine’s military heroes.

Democrats probe DOJ opinion that eases institutionalization of mentally ill

Democrats in the Senate and House are investigating the origins of a DOJ legal opinion that would make it easier for states to keep people with mental illness in institutions, rather than helping them to live at home.

Anti-doping chiefs reject claims of Paul Seixas favouritism as Tour rivals cry foul

• Home rider Seixas yet to be tested at night, unlike some rivals

• Authorities deny French doping agency plays role in who is tested

Anti-doping authorities at the Tour de France have rejected accusations of preferential treatment towards Paul Seixas, the teenage French rider and home favourite who is placed fourth overall.

Seixas and his Decathlon CMA CGM team were tested, with the rest of the peloton, on Monday evening as part of the biological passport testing programme, but the 19-year-old has not yet been subjected to the nocturnal test that both the race leader Tadej Pogacar and the now-withdrawn Jonas Vingegaard underwent.

Inter Miami sign Casemiro as MLS announces investigation into tampering

• Midfielder signs a one-year deal with extension option

• League investigation centers on the transfer

Inter Miami have signed Casemiro as a free agent, but Major League Soccer is investigating the South Florida side for potential tampering in the process of acquiring the Brazilian midfielder.

Casemiro has signed what amounts to a one-year contract with Miami, beginning now and ending at the conclusion of the 2027 “sprint season” that precedes the league’s switch to a fall-to-spring calendar in 2027-28. There is an option for an extension that would see the Brazilian stay in Miami through the 2028-29 MLS season.

Man killed in ICE ‘encounter’ was on vacation in US with tourist visa – reports

Juan Jairo Coronilla Durán ran into traffic and killed by semi after federal officials approached him at Florida gas station

The Mexican man who was hit and killed by a semi-truck in Florida when running away from federal immigration officials was vacationing in the US with a tourist visa, according to news reports this week.

The 28-year-old, Juan Jairo Coronilla Durán, was killed on 14 July after an “encounter” with federal officials, including those with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), a state highway patrol spokesperson said last week.

Nolan Wells' cause of death undetermined, family's autopsy shows

Nolan Wells, 18, was found dead just off Horn Island in Mississippi after enjoying a day out with friends on July 4.

A strange transmissible cancer is spreading through the catfish in this lake

For more than a decade, there's been something fishy going on in a lake that straddles Vermont and the province of Quebec. It involves cancer, a kind of catfish, and — possibly — clues about how tumors metastasize.

The Guardian view on Andy Burnham and devolution: it takes a powerful centre to decentralise power | Editorial

When it comes to driving an agenda from No 10, the prime minister seems to have learned important lessons from his predecessor’s failure

Before entering Downing Street, Andy Burnham cited the overcentralisation of power as a cause of Britain’s social and economic malaise. In his first week, the new prime minister has signalled his intent to bolster No 10 as an organ of executive power. The apparent contradiction – fortifying the centre to pursue an agenda of decentralisation – arises from a perversity in the way the British state works or, rather, fails to work.

The prime minister is right that too much policy has historically been directed from Whitehall. Reforms in recent years have created institutions with varying degrees of local autonomy – elected mayoralties like the one in Manchester that afforded Mr Burnham a platform for national prominence. But genuine control, especially when it comes to fiscal policy, has not matched the rhetoric of devolution. The Treasury is wary of facilitating profligacy in lower tiers of government. Heads of devolved administrations are also adept at claiming credit when things go well and, when they go badly, diverting the blame on to national government.

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 Chinese workers picking up the pen: poetry in motion | Editorial

A food delivery rider has won the country’s highest literary award. It is part of a growing trend for writing by labourers

The hundreds of millions who have built modern China from the ground up – sweeping its streets, labouring in its factories and ferrying its goods – are often overlooked. But they refuse to go unheard. Last week, a food delivery rider won China’s top literary award. Wang Jibing, 56, first caught attention when a poem about his experiences went viral in 2022. The following year, Hu Anyan’s memoir, I Deliver Parcels in Beijing, became a bestseller.

In the early 20th century, Chinese intellectuals sought to capture the harsh realities of working-class lives. But it was under Mao Zedong that the idea of writing by as well as about the masses became reality, with labourers encouraged to take up the pen. In an era when the party tried to govern the language even of diaries and personal letters, the parameters of style and content were strict, and this enthusiasm swiftly diminished after Mao. But workers’ writing has seen a revival in the 21st century. This time, it is bottom-up rather than directed from above.

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.

In pursuit of 'Instagram face,' are we losing the imperfections that make us human?

Plastic surgery is becoming so normalized and undetectable, it's changing our relationship to reality. The New Yorker staff writer Jia Tolentino considers how beauty standards have dovetailed with AI.

Venezuela’s Maduro gets June 2027 trial date in US drug-trafficking case

Venezuelan president and his wife, Cilia Flores, have been held at Brooklyn jail and both have pleaded not guilty

The ousted Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, will go on trial on US drug trafficking charges starting on 1 June ⁠2027, a judge said ⁠on Wednesday.

Maduro wore beige prison ​garb as he was led into a Manhattan courtroom by US marshals for a hearing before district judge Alvin Hellerstein in one of the most consequential criminal cases in recent history.

DOJ sues 2 Chinese companies over immersion water heaters that can ignite

The Justice Department is trying to force the two Chinese companies to recall immersion water heaters used for bathtubs and pools.

Student murdered by ex thought she was meeting him one last time

Catina Salarno's sister, Nina Salarno, became a prosecutor in California to warn others about a common tactic abusers use.

Horse trainer discovers pre-dug grave of missing California teen

After seeing a freshly dug hole while conditioning a horse, the equestrian found out later it was used to bury 17-year-old Justine Vanderschoot.

Mamdani says he can’t arrest Netanyahu as mayor and urges US to enforce ICC warrant

Mamdani admits he lacks power to arrest Israeli prime minister after saying he’s ‘not welcome’ in New York City

Zohran Mamdani, the New York City mayor, doubled down on his support for the international criminal court (ICC) on Wednesday and called on federal authorities to execute the court’s warrant for Benjamin Netanyahu’s arrest should he visit the city in the fall.

“I call on the federal government to join the international criminal court and to execute both this warrant as well as any warrant the international criminal court holds,” Mamdani told reporters at a press conference on Wednesday.

Sen. Wyden introduces bill to curb Trump's tariff powers

Sen. Ron Wyden said Trump has "abused every trade authority at his disposal" and called his new tariffs on Canadian goods a "shakedown."

Gullah Geechee influence is seen all over the US. Why does a notion of isolation prevail?

A new book from leading scholars and historians pushes back against the narrative that Gullah communities were insulated from the mainland US

Gullah Geechee culture is sometimes viewed as static – a common narrative suggests that, isolated from the rest of the country, enslaved Africans and their descendants in the Sea Islands, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida and North Carolina, created a language, tradition and society that insulated them from the mainland US. But this limited imagining deprives Gullah Geechee people of receiving full credit for their contributions to the US south and the country at large.

Even before the US civil war, Gullah influences were seen in places such as Mississippi, Texas and the Caribbean, showing that the Gullah Geechee didn’t remain remote, but rather migrated throughout the country, leaving evidence of their presence in their new homes.

Lung cancer in nonsmokers: "A women's health crisis"

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in American women — and a growing share of new cases are in women who've never smoked.

The human fridge: is this really the best way to cool down in a ‘cruelly hot’ climate?

A ‘personal cooling booth’ that promises to chill you out in 10 minutes has launched in Japan, with its makers claiming it beats air-conditioning or a fan

Name: The human fridge.

Age: Brand new.

Glasgow Commonwealth Games organisers hope for late surge in ticket sales

• Opening ceremony and several events yet to sell out

• Programme reduced from last time city hosted in 2014

Commonwealth Games organisers will hope for a late surge in ticket sales as Glasgow prepares to stage the opening ceremony on Thursday night, with seats still available across a number of events at the four competition venues despite the significantly reduced scale.

The opening ceremony at the OVO Hydro still had adult tickets available on Wednesday, with prices ranging from £45 to £95. The 13,000-capacity arena will host live music, the parade of nations and the arrival of all 74 Commonwealth batons. The six-time Olympic cycling champion Sir Chris Hoy, who revealed in 2024 that he has stage-four cancer, will also take part.

Cutting down on ultra-processed foods isn’t easy. Here are eight tips that worked for my family

Experts say reducing ultra-processed foods can be challenging in a world built around convenience, but these strategies can help make it more manageable

I have been trying to eat fewer ultra-processed foods with my family for five years, and it has been challenging.

Many experts agree that ultra-processed foods (UPF) pose health risks, whether because of unhealthy ingredients, links to disease and environmental impacts, or replacing more nutritious foods. Thus, some consumers – including me – are interested in removing them from their daily diet.

Learn techniques: “Once you know how to saute, it doesn’t matter what you put in the pan.”

Develop knife skills: “If people want to get more comfortable in the kitchen, they should take a knife skills class. Those skills are a massive upscale for confidence in the kitchen.”

Know your taste: “Know what you like, then create that, because that’s the starting place. Don’t start by making miso brownies when the core is to make a really good brownie that you like, because then you’ll do it again.”

Kalshi debuts a midterm election hub to predict race outcomes

The site claims its hub will provide accurate insights into election outcomes based on traders' bets.

Lobbying giant filmed offering reporter payment for flattering client coverage in national press

Exclusive: Guardian investigation of CT Group uncovers practice that appears to seek hidden influence over public opinion

A political lobbying firm founded by the former electoral strategist for David Cameron and Boris Johnson secretly pays journalists to write pieces for British newspapers that are favourable to its clients, a Guardian investigation can reveal.

In a practice that appears to create a backdoor for private companies to influence public opinion, lobbyists for CT Group – co-founded by the campaign strategist Lynton Crosby – told an undercover reporter they had paid journalists to place apparently independent stories in newspapers.

People are watching the Reflecting Pool like reality TV. What does that say about us?

It's not just watching paint dry. The twists and turns of the Reflecting Pool repairs, originally a two-week project, have kept bloggers and viewers busy all summer.

Streeting says Burnham government will prioritise military over other spending

Defence secretary says he will give arms industry ‘clarity and confidence’ in contrast to row preceding Starmer’s exit

Wes Streeting has said increased defence spending would make “an enormous contribution” to economic growth, as he emphasised that the military will be a spending priority for Andy Burnham’s government over other departments.

The new defence secretary, in a speech at the Farnborough airshow, did not make any extra financial commitments, but promised he would give the arms industry “clarity and confidence” in contrast to the row that contributed to the fall of Keir Starmer.

France records more than 5,700 excess deaths during June heatwave

Figures come as large parts of southern Europe endure another record-breaking period of extreme temperatures

France recorded more than 5,700 excess deaths during its June heatwave, authorities have said, as swathes of southern Europe continue to endure another record-breaking period of extreme temperatures.

The French national health agency said on Wednesday that it had recorded 5,764 excess deaths ⁠between ​17 June and 2 July, an excess mortality rate of 36%.

Nolan Wells' preliminary independent autopsy results read by attorney Ben Crump

The body of Mississippi teen Nolan Wells was discovered days after he went missing during a Fourth of July boat trip. Attorney Ben Crump read the results of a preliminary independent autopsy commissioned by Wells' family to the public.

Wreckage of Pan Am plane found in ocean 74 years after deadly crash

The crash in 1952 killed 52 people and led to requirements for the passenger safety briefings given on every commercial flight.

In the bizarre world of short-form video, nobody is allowed to take a breath | Adrian Chiles

I never thought I’d miss punctuation so much, but as the pauses on social media videos are cut to shreds, I wonder where the assault on our senses will end

It’s not the worst thing about social media, but something dreadful is happening in short-form videos. At first I thought my phone or my broadband was on the blink. Then I assumed I was just unlucky, that this aberration was practised only by the creators of the very few videos I chanced to see. And now I realise that they all do it. It’s mad, it’s driving me mad, it’s going to drive us all mad. Or perhaps it’s just me. I’m the bonkers one, lost and alone in a world I no longer understand.

It’s the way these things are edited. The pauses between sentences, or even the pauses between clauses within sentences, are cut out. Each sentence clatters in to the next, so whoever is talking sounds as if they’ve lost control of their speech. Words tumble out of them in a frantically fast but disjointed torrentThis is my attempt to reproduce on the page how absurd it soundsI really can’t stand itIt’s a crime against civilised discourseIt’s both a symptom and a cause of madnessI never thought I’d miss punctuation and breaths this muchBut it turns out you don’t know what you’ve got until it’s goneTrue thatPreachOr whatever it is they sayI’ll stop now.

Austria opens police station at Hitler birthplace to deter neo-Nazi tourists

It is hoped opening of unit tackling narcotics trafficking will deter people from visiting it as pilgrimage site

Austria has opened a police station in the birthplace of Adolf Hitler in an attempt to “neutralise” its toxic legacy, after years of debate over how to stop neo-Nazis visiting it as a pilgrimage site.

Hitler was born on 20 April 1889 in a rented flat in the centre of Braunau am Inn and spent the first weeks of his life there.

At greyhound life drawing, artists try to tackle complicated shapes

With soulful eyes and ‘reverse chicken legs’, greyhounds are challenging to sketch. At a fundraising event in Melbourne, Josh Nicholas tries his hand

I’ve done life drawing before, but this time I am a bit worried. The woman across the room from me has done life drawing too, “but not with dogs”.

The problem with drawing people from life is they tend to move. The same is true of greyhounds, but they also don’t understand when you ask them to hold a pose.

Moon mountains and star dust: David Malin astrophotography awards 2026 – in pictures

From auroras and nebulas to deep sky star clusters, the competition features submissions from amateur astronomers and photographers from Australia and around the world

• Blue mushrooms, shy trees and glowing seas: Beaker Street science photography prize – in pictures

FDA recalls antihistamine tablets. Here are the affected products.

A generic version of the allergy medication Zyrtec is under recall across the U.S. over cross-contamination concerns.

A 12-year-old casualty of war recovers in hospital: Alessio Mamo’s best photograph

‘Manal suffered severe burns to her arms and face after a missile explosion in Iraq. Yet in many ways she seemed just like a regular young girl’

When I started to take photographs about 18 years ago, I was more interested in the aesthetics. Then came a moment when I realised the power of the camera as a tool. On 3 October 2013 there was a huge shipwreck off the coast of Lampedusa. More than 250 migrants from Eritrea lost their lives. I was sent to cover the event, and it was during that assignment that I understood I was interested in telling stories about social injustice, about people’s lives post-conflict.

At first I worked mostly on stories about refugees in Sicily, where I am from, but a few years later I had the opportunity to travel to the Middle East with a friend, the journalist Marta Bellingreri, who is an expert on the region. She was living in Jordan and I joined her there for six months . That is how our project, The Hospital of All the Wars, about the patients at the Médecins Sans Frontières Al-Mowasah hospital in Amman, began.

Independent autopsy 'inconclusive' on cause of death for 18-year-old Nolan Wells in Mississippi

An independent autopsy of the body of Nolan Wells shows that the cause of death is undetermined pending an investigation, according to attorney Ben Crump.

Extreme weather hits across the country as Gulf states prepare for Tropical Storm Bertha impact

Tornadoes swept across parts of the Midwest to the Northeast on Tuesday, leaving behind major damage. Meanwhile, on the Gulf Coast, Tropical Storm Bertha's winds reached 59 mph and rough surf pounded Panama City Beach, Florida. Lana Zak has the latest.

Salman Rushdie attacker faces US terrorism trial

Hadi Matar, already serving 25 years for attempted murder, denies federal charges that could bring a life sentence

The man who stabbed Salman Rushdie in the eye on stage in 2022 is standing trial for a second time – this time facing terrorism charges after being found guilty of attempted murder and sentenced to 25 years in prison last year.

Hadi Matar’s federal trial begins in Buffalo, New York on Wednesday, about 70 miles from the venue where Rushdie was due to speak about writers in political exile in August 2022, when he was stabbed more than a dozen times.

Food price fears after Europe’s heatwave destroys estimated €2bn of crops

Record June temperatures expected to cut grain harvest by 9m tonnes to its lowest level since 2018

The heatwave that swept across Europe in June is estimated to have cost the continent’s grain farmers €2bn (£1.7bn) in lost revenue and destroyed 9m tonnes of crops, sparking concern about the impact on the price of food.

Coceral, the European cereals and oilseeds trade association, made the estimate for the harvest of crops such as wheat, barley, maize and oats following the heatwave.

How Pokémon Go encouraged me to find wonder in the world

These days, I ‘collect’ birdsong and wild flowers, but it all started when my sons and I first set out to find Pikachu and pals

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Believe it or not, Pokémon Go is 10 years old this month. The wildly successful smartphone game, which allows you to track down lovable creatures in the real world using GPS and augmented-reality technologies, has reportedly been downloaded 800m times across 150 countries and regions. A trillion Pokémon have been caught so far – and I have been responsible for a modest percentage of that figure.

When the game was first released, my sons and I spent many happy hours wandering the streets and parks of Frome searching for Jigglypuffs and Charizards, and the game’s social element, which lets you take on gym battles with other players in your vicinity, offered my autistic son a route to communicate with other children in a way he’d never been able to before.

Greetings from Jerusalem, whose holy sites host some of the oldest colonies of nesting swifts

The scythe-winged birds have nested in the cracks of the Western Wall and other holy sites in Jerusalem for thousands of years.

Model scout for Jeffrey Epstein found dead at his home near Paris

Daniel Siad faced allegations of rape and trafficking in France and appeared in more than 1,000 documents in Epstein files

A modelling scout who recruited women for Jeffrey Epstein has been found dead at his home near Paris, French officials have said.

Daniel Siad, 69, was under investigation by the prosecutors specialising in human trafficking in France, accused of rape and other charges. His name appeared in more than 1,000 documents in the US Department of Justice Epstein files that were declassified earlier this year.

Oil price rises above $95 mark as Middle East conflict escalates

Global supply disrupted by US-Iran aggression in strait of Hormuz and Houthi threats in Bab el-Mandeb

The price of oil has breached the $95 a barrel mark for the first time in six weeks as the escalating Middle East conflict threatens further disruption to global supplies.

The benchmark oil price rose sharply on Wednesday as renewed US-Iran aggression over the strait of Hormuz was compounded by Houthi threats to target vessels carrying Saudi oil through the Bab el-Mandeb strait.

Citizens United provision allowing foreign campaign contributions draws Democratic bill

Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., want to establish foreign ownership thresholds for companies that spend on campaigns.

Nicaragua’s congress announces ‘work plan’ to suspend elections

US secretary of state says international community should ‘join forces’ against authoritarian Ortega regime

Nicaragua’s congress, controlled by the country’s long-serving president, Daniel Ortega, has announced a “work plan” to implement the authoritarian leader’s order that the country should no longer hold elections.

The UN and the US strongly condemned Sunday’s announcement by Ortega, who has been in power since 2007 and, after a controversial constitutional change last year, now governs alongside his wife, Rosario Murillo, as “co-president”.

Democrats claim Social Security email included "misleading information"

Lawmakers claim Commissioner Frank Bisignano used an agency email to exaggerate tax savings under the Republicans' OBBBA while inserting partisan political messaging.

Tell us your happiest TV show ending

We would like to hear about the endings of TV series that brought you the most joy

From Detectorists to The Marvelous Mrs Maisel, the Guardian’s writers have curated their list of TV’s happiest endings. Now, we would like to hear yours. What was the TV series ending that brought you the most joy?

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Red Kiss – guiding vampires through a blood-soaked cold war Berlin

Inspired by interactive theatre and fuelled by the motion capture tech used by VTubers, the vampire spies in Red Kiss have personality in spades

‘You look at the news and you’re like, ‘Another pointless war, another pointless bloodshed, another pointless genocide.’ And that can make you a bit hopeless.”

Roy van der Schilden, narrative designer and business director at Wispfire, speaks of a very human feeling. But the protagonist of its upcoming game Red Kiss can relate – despite being a vampire.

Tenisha Warner, widow of Malcolm-Jamal Warner, opens up about being a single mom

Tenisha Warner sat down for an exclusive interview with "CBS Mornings" before a lawsuit over her late husband's estate became public, and discussed her grief and raising her daughter alone.

Widow of Malcolm-Jamal Warner opens up 1 year after his death amid lawsuit over his estate

This week marks one year since actor Malcolm-Jamal Warner drowned in Costa Rica while on vacation with his family. His widow, Tenisha Warner, filed a lawsuit on Monday that seeks to recover over a million dollars from the family trust, which is controlled by Malcolm's mother, Pamela Warner. Tenisha spoke exclusively to "CBS Mornings" co-host Gayle King about her grief prior to the lawsuit being filed.

Sperm whales change ‘vowel’ sounds when boats are nearby, scientists discover

Researchers listening off the Caribbean island of Dominica found variations in the mammals’ audible clicks when marine traffic was close

Sperm whales produce a specific pattern of clicking noises when they hear the noise of boats, researchers have found. The pattern is so distinct that the scientists who identified it said they can now use it to predict when ships are nearby.

Researchers from Project Ceti (the Cetacean Translation Initiative), a non-profit research organisation working to decode sperm whale communication, spent four years tuning in on the calls of 15 sperm whales off the coast of Dominica.

Jess Cartner-Morley on fashion: mermaidcore calls for shimmer and shells – just don’t go overboard

What does a grownup mermaid look like? It starts with the silhouette …

Before wild swimming was even a twinkle in the eye of the culture, and before ice plunging went viral on TikTok, there were mermaids. Mermaids are the original summer It girls. Who doesn’t want hair that looks great when it’s wet and salty, shell jewellery, killer sex appeal and a life of sun, sea and winding up sailors for kicks? These chicks know how to live.

Mermaidcore is this summer’s hottest style vibe. It is beach chic with a hot-sauce dash of brat energy. Every summer has its own off-duty avatar – tomato girl summer, anyone? – and 2026 is all about mermaids. For legal reasons, please note this column is not endorsing the luring of innocents to certain death. The vibe is Daryl Hannah in Splash, not selkies and sirens.

Wall Street is selling more rental homes, as buying ban takes effect

The largest landlords are all net sellers year to date, with 3,180 more homes sold than bought since Jan. 1.

RFK Jr. says cyclosporiasis outbreak "under control" as CDC reports over 4,000 confirmed cases

HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said Tuesday the cyclosporiasis outbreak is "under control" and claimed last year's federal budget cuts had no impact on the investigation. The CDC is now reporting more than 4,000 confirmed cases in 41 states. Carter Evans reports.

The Fed rang the alarm about Anthropic's Mythos AI model — but had to go months without it

The central bank didn't have access to Claude Mythos Preview as of mid-July, even as other institutions were racing to patch their vulnerabilities.

British woman jailed in Hong Kong for blackmail after accusing banker of rape

Isabel Rose, 26, sentenced to six years for blackmail and perverting course of public justice over her allegations against British man

A British woman who reported being raped to police in Hong Kong has been sentenced to six years in prison for blackmail and perverting the course of public justice.

Isabel Rose, 26, from south-east London, travelled to Hong Kong in early 2024 to visit a British banker she had met while travelling in south-east Asia.

Jessica Morgan named new Tate director – with ‘big pay cut’ to take job

Clear frontrunner leaves lucrative role at New York’s Dia Art Foundation to join UK arts organisation at critical juncture

Jessica Morgan has been confirmed as the new director of Tate, marking her return to the arts organisation where she worked as a curator for more than a decade, at a critical juncture in its history.

Morgan, the clear frontrunner in the race to replace Maria Balshaw, who left this spring after nine years in charge, is currently based in New York, where she has led the Dia Art Foundation since 2015.

Three speeches on a single day signaled a dying American democracy | Robert Shpiner

Stephen Miller warned of a leftwing ‘cancer’ threatening civilization. As a critical care doctor, I have a response to his diagnosis

The presumption that US elections are legitimate died last week in Washington. It was 237 years old. It did not die of one wound. It died of three, inflicted in a single day, in daylight, on the record. And the country, running to the loudest of them, never examined the one most likely to kill.

In critical care we distinguish the mechanism of death from its cause. The mechanism was a Thursday. The cause was chronic, progressive and untreated.

Robert B Shpiner is a clinical professor of medicine in pulmonary and critical care at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA

Nostalgia review – Tarkovsky’s yearning cine-poem is deeply mysterious and profound

A scholar has an existential crisis while researching the life of a composer in the Russian director’s Italy-set 1983 masterwork

Andrei Tarkovsky’s 1983 film is a mysterious, imagist cine-poem about alienation and belonging, whose title means a yearning not simply for a lost time or lost place but for something, anything, else – with a profound anguished sense that the here-and-now of existence is unsatisfactory.

The movie takes something from the poetry of the director’s father Arseny Tarkovsky, which is quoted in the film. A distinguished Russian scholar is in Italy to research the life of the (fictional) Russian composer Pavel Sosnovsky who is supposed to have travelled there before being overwhelmed by homesick longing and returning to the motherland. His beautiful, flirtatious interpreter is reading Tarkovsky’s poetry in an Italian translation, and the Russian coldly tells her to throw the book away: “Poetry is untranslatable, like the whole of art.” Does he really mean that? This movie is itself, in a way, translated; it is set in Italy and co-written by Tarkovsky with the veteran Italian screenwriter Tonino Guerra, who worked with Fellini and Antonioni. (Like Jean-Claude Carrière, Guerra, who died in 2012, was a prolific collaborator in European cinema.)

How to turn beetroot leaves into a classic south Indian vegetable dish – recipe | Waste not

Simple spices, fresh coconut and a handful of lentils or nuts is enough to transform leaves normally destined for the compost

Poriyal is south India’s version of sauteed spiced vegetables, and it can be made with just about any vegetable, though green beans or a leafy green such as spinach, moringa or amaranth are most commonly used. The vegetables are fried with onions and spices, a spoon of urad dal is added for texture (if you don’t have urad dal, a handful of cashews makes a delicious alternative), and it’s finished with a grating of fresh coconut. This fragrant, spicy and flavoursome side dish also works brilliantly with the earthy flavour of beetroot leaves, and I like to serve it with boiled beetroot, yoghurt, chapatis or/and rice.

Do you suffer from organ failure? Here’s why you should give this mightiest of instruments a hearing

A Sunday morning Prom showcases the magnificent RAH instrument, but the organ’s not just for Bach – check out pioneering musicians from Jonny Greenwood to Kali Malone. Plus, Igor Levit is cancelled – and at the top of the German charts

It has 9,999 pipes, it’s 155 years old and 21m high. You can see it, but not always hear it, at every single London prom. I’m talking of course about the Willis organ in the Royal Albert Hall, which takes centre stage this weekend on Sunday morning’s recital by French organist Olivier Latry.

With his mostly Bach programme, Latry’s recital represents the core of the organ’s repertoire, music that has been heard in cathedrals and on concert hall organs for centuries. It will be magnificent in the building-shaking flesh on Sunday morning, but my assurances might not be enough to convince non-organ fans that they should forgo a lazy Sunday morning and head to South Kensington.

Mortgage rates are rising again, but homebuyers are seeing some advantages

Mortgage rates last week rose to the highest level since last August, but homebuyer demand climbed as well, as buyers see more supply.