The Open 2026: DeChambeau handed two-shot penalty, Herbert leads after day two – live

️Herbert misses putt for 61 but still tops leaderboard
️Official leaderboard | Mail David with your thoughts

An opening birdie for the 2011 champion Darren Clarke. He’s +2. Apropos of nothing, and just because I happen to have the stat to hand, so may as well share it, Clarke is joint holder of the record for most appearances by an Open champion before his first victory. That’s 19, after his 2011 win, and he shares the number with Phil Mickelson (2013). Nick Price (1994) is next on the list.

Birdie for Jackson Suber at 2, and the leader stretches his advantage at the top! He tugged his drive into the rough down the left, but got a decent lie, and was able to wedge over the flag from 90 yards to 12 feet. One fairly straight roll later, and he moves to -6. Meanwhile Laurie Canter nearly aces the 4th. His tee shot lands just past the bunker guarding the front left and serenely glides to kick-in distance, though it was never threatening to drop, always on a route below the hole. The 36-year-old Englishman is -2.

More Canadian wildfire smoke shrouds US midwest, mid-Atlantic and north-east

109 million people face another day of poor air quality as smoke from blazes in Ontario drifts over the US

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Tens of millions of Americans are enduring another day of smoky skies, irritated eyes and bad air quality, as Canadian wildfire smoke spread again over huge swathes of the US, affecting about 109 million people across the midwest, mid-Atlantic and north-east.

The pungent wildfire blanketed cities such as Chicago and Detroit, where residents on Friday were warned to stay indoors and reduce activity levels after the air quality index reached a “hazardous” 361, according to the government website AirNow.

Cyclosporiasis outbreak traced to lettuce from Mexico used by Taco Bell

A lettuce supplier to fast-food giant Taco Bell has been linked to a nationwide cyclosporiasis outbreak that has sickened thousands of people, the CDC said.

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.

Analysis: Fed Chairman Warsh faces an inflation credibility test after Congress hearings

The new Fed chairman avoided major stumbles in two days of testimony before the House and Senate, but faces a rapid test of his commitment to price stability.

Maps show wildfire smoke forecast, air quality alerts in swath of U.S.

Heavy smoke from several large wildfires blazing in Canada and Minnesota is engulfing large swaths of the Midwest and the U.S. East Coast this week.

Spain could make World Cup history: The first to win men's and women's trophies back-to-back

The Spanish Men's National Team will face Argentina in Sunday's World Cup final. The country's women's team lifted its first World Cup trophy in 2023.

Epstein victims blast Trump attorney general nominee Todd Blanche after meeting

"Todd Blanche treated the meeting as a mere 'check-the-box' exercise intended to secure votes for his confirmation," said Epstein survivor Dani Bensky.

Economic outlook is worsening and Trump is getting blamed, CNBC survey finds

The public is as depressed about the economy as it has been since the years just after the pandemic, according to the All-America Economic Survey.

Trump encourages Darline Graham to run for Lindsey Graham's seat

Darline Graham indicated in a White House meeting Thursday that she's weighing a bid, CBS News confirmed. A day later, President Trump wrote on Truth Social: "RUN, DARLINE, RUN! "

FAA lets Boeing sign off on 737 Max, 787 airworthiness certificates again

The move is a vote of confidence in Boeing from the U.S. government.

Move over, Super Bowl? There's an even bigger – and splashier – World Cup halftime show coming

The show, which will begin somewhere around 3:45 PM ET, will air in the U.S. on Fox, Fox One and in Spanish on Telemundo, as well as on the Fox Sports app and streaming in Spanish on Peacock. It's expected to run for about 11 minutes.

China signals possible return of U.S. trade privileges for Hong Kong

The decision comes two months after President Donald Trump met with Xi Jinping, potentially warming ties ahead of Xi's expected U.S. visit.

God’s will? Destiny? Lionel Messi, Lamine Yamal, that photo and the World Cup final

The boy in the baby bath has unbelievably become the successor to Messi at Barcelona and now, maybe, on the world stage too

“Maybe Lionel Messi has picked up lots of babies, maybe it’s chance, but for those of us who have faith, who believe in something beyond, ‘chance’ is God’s pseudonym when he doesn’t want to sign his name,” Luis de la Fuente says. “In life, everything happens for a reason. Sometimes it’s true that the circle isn’t closed, but in my view there’s something else, something … I don’t know, mystical, spiritual.”

Contemplate the scene, gaze upon the image of this World Cup, and you may be inclined to agree with Spain’s coach, to reach out and touch faith. How else to comprehend this? You will have seen the picture and will certainly see it again, and still it won’t make sense.

The new $1 Trump coin doesn't just buck norms. Experts say it also breaks laws

President Trump's face will appear on a new commemorative coin honoring the nation's 250th birthday. It's one of the many unusual places his likeness has popped up this year.

Andy Burnham promises to end Labour infighting as he becomes party’s leader

Government has ‘last chance’ to get it right, says incoming PM, while anxiety surrounds his choice of chancellor

Andy Burnham pledged to lead a united Labour government free of infighting and factional politics as he took over as leader, despite anxiety on the left of party about the prospect of Shabana Mahmood as chancellor.

Burnham, who will become prime minister on Monday, set out a distinctly leftwing vision for Britain. He promised to undo the Thatcherism of the 1980s, bring in more public ownership of utilities, find the money to fix social care and build a new generation of council homes.

Trump has declared war on elections in the name of protecting them | Austin Sarat

The president’s Orwellian speech on Thursday was just the latest instance of his denialism. It is up to us to resist

On Thursday night, Donald Trump did it again, trashing another American tradition with his primetime address from the White House’s East Room about election integrity. Other presidents have used such speeches in times of national emergency, to announce major new policies designed to improve Americans’ lives or to honor American traditions.

Not Trump.

This week on "Sunday Morning" (July 19)

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

Iran says civilian infrastructure hit by latest U.S. strikes, expands attacks to Syria, Bahrain

The escalating standoff comes as the fragile truce signed by the U.S. and Iran last month showed further signs of unravelling

The week around the world in 20 pictures

Israeli airstrikes in Gaza, wildfires in Europe, ICE in Maine and the World Cup semi-finals – the past seven days as captured by the world’s leading photojournalists

Feline good: why kitten heel flip-flops are winning over flats-only gen Z

From Lily Collins at Wimbledon to the cast of Love Island, heels-averse cohort is stepping it up a notch

Gen Z, the flats-only generation, has finally succumbed to the heel – albeit a tiny one. Long vocally anti-heel, the cohort who were born between 1997 and 2012 have famously shunned millennials’ obsession with Jimmy Choos in favour of pancake-flat shoes, from the Adidas Samba “It-trainer” to the split-toe Margiela Tabi and so-called “French girl ballet flats”.

But they now appear to be embracing a potential gateway heel, typically measuring in the region of 1.5in (3.8cm) or the height of a triple-A battery.

Tom Pidcock surges up standings while Mauro Schmid wins Tour de France stage 13

• British rider moves into fourth in general classification

• Schmid claims first Tour win after mass breakaway

Tom Pidcock leapt up the overall standings in the Tour de France, briefly climbing as high as second place, after a fulminating stage to Belfort ended in a first Tour win for Switzerland’s Mauro Schmid.

Pidcock was one of the key instigators of a mass breakaway that formed on the rolling roads of the Jura and Doubs, on the long approach to the 9km climb of the Ballon d’Alsace, overlooking Belfort.

Iceberg lettuce at Taco Bell linked to cyclospora outbreak in 5 states

Federal health officials have identified a single supplier of the produce from Mexico that was served in Taco Bell restaurants in five states.

The U.S.-Iran battle over the Strait of Hormuz raises risks for global waterways

Recognizing Iran's control over the Strait of Hormuz could set a dangerous precedent, with other countries attempting to claim important waterways, analysts say.

Brenda Fricker, Oscar winner who played Pigeon Lady in "Home Alone 2," dies

Brenda Fricker won an Academy Award for 1989's "My Left Foot," played the Pigeon Lady in "Home Alone 2" and appeared in "A Time to Kill" and "So I Married an Axe Murderer."

Democratic socialists top MAGA candidates among voters in CNBC's All-America poll

The survey's findings come as democratic socialist candidates win Democratic primaries following the 2025 election of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani.

The Odyssey: is Nolan adaptation worth the hype? - The Latest

Christopher Nolan’s star-studded take on Homer’s Odyssey has received rave reviews from critics and is one of the most hotly anticipated films of the year. The three-hour Imax blockbuster has an estimated budget of $250m and a star-studded cast including Matt Damon, Zendaya and Tom Holland. But will it live up to expectations? Annie Kelly speaks to film editor Catherine Shoard

The Guardian view on Andy Burnham: political poetry must become governing prose | Editorial

Larkin, Harrison and Shakespeare shaped Labour’s leader. Now comes the harder task: turning language into lasting change

Andy Burnham is finally Labour leader. After trying – and failing – twice to be elected by party members, he took the top job on Friday without a contest. Sir Keir Starmer remains prime minister until Monday, when he will tender his resignation to King Charles, who will invite Mr Burnham to form a government. Then the future that Mr Burnham has long imagined will cease to be a promise and become a test.

Much will be written about the man. But why does Mr Burnham believe what he believes? One clue lies in the Guardian’s letters page in 1991. Fresh from graduating in English at Cambridge, the 21-year-old Mr Burnham defended an “uncouth and uncultured” Philip Larkin from critics who dismissed him as “too parochial”. Larkin – a bigoted curmudgeon – is difficult to admire, but his poems are not.

ICE officer in Maine shooting has history of violent behavior, relatives say

The Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer who shot and killed a Colombian man in Maine this week is an Army veteran who has struggled with serious mental health issues since early childhood, relatives say.

The Guardian view on The Lord of the Rings: not a weapon in the culture wars | Editorial

The lack of diversity in the latest film is a backwards step. Adaptations of Tolkien’s epic must reflect our times

There is trouble in Middle-earth – again. So far, all of the actors announced for the latest The Lord of the Rings film instalment, The Hunt for Gollum, to be released next year, are white. Kate Winslet, Jamie Dornan, Anya Taylor-Joy and Leo Woodall join a cast that has already been criticised for its lack of diversity. “Tolkien himself was influenced a lot by Norse mythology,” the film’s director, Andy Serkis, who plays Gollum, said. “The Shire feels very white.”

Ironically, Serkis invokes fidelity to Tolkien to defend the casting, yet his “modern film version” of Animal Farm, which came out this week, plays fast and loose with Orwell by replacing the novel’s crushing conclusion with a hopeful one.

Meta trying to destroy whistleblower Sarah Wynn-Williams, US senator says

Republican Josh Hawley accuses Mark Zuckerberg’s firm of relentlessly pursuing and attempting to bankrupt her

A US senator has accused Meta of using lawfare in “efforts to destroy” a whistleblower who made allegations about the social media company’s dealings with China and its treatment of teenagers.

In a letter to its founder, Mark Zuckerberg, the Republican senator Josh Hawley demanded to know what measures Meta had taken to monitor Sarah Wynn-Williams, Facebook’s former global head of public policy, and her family.

The ghosts of Downing Street past may have some advice for Andy Burnham | Jonathan Freedland

The incoming PM has made a strong start – but there are several traps he needs to avoid. Brown, Blair and even Thatcher can show the way

The first piece of unsolicited advice I would offer to Britain’s incoming prime minister is: don’t take unsolicited advice. Don’t be one of those leaders who’s swayed by the last person in their ear. That’s what they used to say about Boris Johnson, that he was a cushion that bore the imprint of the last person who sat on him. Instead, Andy Burnham should study closely the experience of Johnson and the rest of his recent predecessors – and, let’s face it, there’s plenty of them.

He might start by thinking about the period that will begin the moment he steps into Downing Street on Monday. How he handles this opening phase of his tenure is crucial: you never get a second chance to make a first impression, and all that. To many voters outside Greater Manchester, Burnham is still a relatively unknown quantity. The view they will form of him will be largely shaped by what he says and does in the next few weeks. For much of the electorate, it will be the overture that decides their verdict on the show.

Jonathan Freedland is a Guardian columnist

Jill Scott review – joyous phones-free show is a taste of how all concerts should be

Kings Theatre, Brooklyn

The queen of Philly soul is on phenomenal form in a saucy and effortlessly virtuosic show celebrating 26 years in music

At one point during her triumphant phones-free show at Brooklyn’s Kings Theater, Jill Scott takes a moment to introduce Dwayne Wright, her bass player and co-musical director who is known to his friends, the queen of Philly soul informs the 3,000-strong audience, as the “pussy whisperer”. The crowd cracks up, but she’s not done. “I want you to close your ears and listen with your vagina,” she instructs, as Wright launches into a deep, toe-curling run on his instrument. “Kegel to the music!” she whoops. “You come to a Jill Scott concert and you become a virgin again.”

Perhaps Scott is emboldened by the no phones policy tonight; ours were stashed in Yondr pouches upon entry à la recent Jack White and Phoebe Bridgers concerts. But the emotionally attuned, pointedly political and proudly horny soul singer probably doesn’t need any help in getting loose. Despite my initial grumbles, the technology ban turned out to be an inspired decision in an evening that felt deeply connected, as if we were at a summer block party hosted by the neighborhood’s most charismatic character.

Israeli strike on Gaza funeral killed at least seven people, hospital says

Another 22 reportedly injured while mourning Palestinian killed in Israeli attack earlier in the day

An Israeli strike on a funeral in the Gaza Strip has killed at least seven people and injured another 22, according to a local hospital.

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military.

US hits civilian infrastructure as it expands strikes against Iran

Tehran bombs US allies in Middle East after US attacks on bridges, energy facilities and key port

The US hit bridges, energy facilities and a key Iranian port on Friday, expanding its aerial campaign against Iran, and prompting swift Iranian strikes against US allies in the Middle East.

US airstrikes hit bridges in Iran’s southern Hormozgan province, killing at least seven people, Iranian state TV reported. The bridges were a key transit point for Bandar Abbas, Iran’s main port. Further US airstrikes brought down a tower in Chabahar port on the Gulf of Oman that the US military claimed the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) used to facilitate attacks on vessels in the strait of Hormuz. The US also targeted key electrical infrastructure and Iranshahr airport.

Europe’s most effective tool to cut greenhouse gas emissions ‘risks being weakened’

European Commission proposal to overhaul emissions trading system would give companies less demanding pathway to reductions

Europe’s most effective method of cutting dangerous planet-heating gases risks being weakened after the European Commission proposed an overhaul of its flagship carbon market, critics have said.

In a long-awaited review of the European Union emissions trading system (ETS), the European Commission proposed giving companies a less demanding and cheaper pathway to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

‘We slept with three of the same women’: 12 people on what it’s really like dating a friend’s ex

Guardian readers tackle a thorny topic and share their stories of dating a friend’s ex – or a friend dating their ex

Life is full of big, messy questions. How should we spend our finite time on Earth? What is the nature of good and evil? And, thorniest of all: is it OK to date a friend’s ex?

This year, reality TV fans debated this question with vim and verbosity when it was revealed that Bravo reality stars Amanda Batula and West Wilson had started kissing (!) and dating (!!) even though West had broken the heart of Amanda’s best friend, Ciara Miller.

Josh Kerr ‘not scared of failure’ as he targets one-mile world record in London

• ‘I like goals that are lofty and sport needs moments’

• Keely Hodgkinson races in 800m in Diamond League

A bullish Josh Kerr has insisted he is in the shape of his life and “not scared of failure” as he attempts to break the one-mile world record at Saturday’s London Diamond League.

The former 1500m world champion and double Olympic medallist has developed a reputation as an admirably straight‑talker throughout his career, unafraid to state his ambitions publicly. Few have ever been so lofty as the one that awaits this weekend, though, as he attempts to surpass the great Hicham El Guerrouj’s one-mile mark of 3min 43.13sec that has stood since 1999. An entire generation of athletics fans were not even alive to see it happen.

George Russell ready to keep chasing down championship leader Kimi Antonelli at Spa

Antonelli’s lead in the F1 drivers’ standings looked insurmountable after Monaco, but now Russell is potentially within one race win of wiping it out

Squaring off at this weekend’s Belgian Grand Prix, Formula One’s leading title protagonists Kimi Antonelli and George Russell are embroiled in an increasingly tense head to head.The teenager and his experienced Mercedes teammate facing each other as well as each addressing their own approach to a championship still very much up for grabs.

The 19-year-old Antonelli appeared to have an iron grip on the lead, having secured five straight victories, the last at Monaco, after which he enjoyed a 68-point lead over Russell. However, with Antonelli enduring some bad luck during the past three rounds and Russell taking a strong win in Austria, that gap has reduced to 25 points. A seemingly insurmountable chasm has suddenly become all too bridgeable and with it the title race is on again.

Boomer wealth transfer will mostly benefit the already rich, report finds

Trillions of wealth passed down by the baby boomers will likely go to younger Americans who are already rich. Here's how much they'll get.

Garry Sobers was the greatest of all time, a cavalier in an era of roundheads

West Indies legend, who has died aged 89, was cricket’s finest all-rounder, delivering victories with style and grace

Cricket nuts like an argument. Who is the best fast bowler ever? The best spinner? The best wicketkeeper? The best slip catcher? They – oh all right, we – can spend hours discussing the candidates. But the best all-rounder?

That does not take any longer than the debate over the best batter; here we have to concede even in the presence of our Australian friends the supremacy of Don Bradman. The best all-rounder is universally agreed to be Garry Sobers. The other contender, WG Grace, lived so long ago that we are reduced to guesswork. So Sobers it is.

Wildfire smoke is like smoking 'half a pack a day.' Here's how to protect yourself

As Canadian wildfires spread smoke across the U.S. the air pollution is dangerous to health. But there are ways to protect yourself. Here's what to know.

World’s largest olive oil company says market has 'definitively' entered new phase

The update comes as analysts raise concerns about the prospect of global olive oil supplies swinging dramatically from one season to the next.

A new entente? Bayeux tapestry’s UK arrival ‘closes loop’ on Brexit tensions

Culture secretary Lisa Nandy is among first viewers as epic embroidery is unpacked at British Museum, a landmark in Anglo-French diplomacy

In the decade after Brexit, the relationship between Britain and France has been defined by rows over fishing rights, Channel crossings and trade. Boris Johnson even mocked Emmanuel Macron, telling his French counterpart to “donnez-moi un break”.

This week, that fractious chapter gave way to one of the most significant acts of cultural diplomacy between the two countries in decades. Almost 1,000 years after it was created, the Bayeux tapestry arrived at the British Museum, transported from France under cover of darkness, the culmination of years of painstaking negotiations between London and Paris.

Amazon Web Services customers receive bills for up to $1.5tn after global glitch

One UK man whose bill is usually less than £1 says he ‘almost had a heart attack’ when he saw £5.8bn invoice

People always suspected big tech was greedy, but not quite like this. Patrons of Amazon Web Services have been landed with panic-inducing monthly bills running as high as $1.5tn for subscriptions that usually cost less than the price of a cup of coffee.

From Bangalore to Bolsover, the bills have been causing alarm after a computer glitch resulted in the astronomical invoices being dispatched around the world by Jeff Bezos’s company, which provides data and cloud services to millions of customers, from students and small charities to big businesses.

Sir Garry Sobers, West Indies cricketing great, dies aged 89

• West Indian widely regarded as greatest all-rounder

• First to hit six sixes in one over in first-class game

• Vic Marks: why Sobers was the greatest of all time

• Sir Garry Sobers – a life in pictures | Obituary

Sir Garfield Sobers, the great West Indies cricketer widely regarded as the finest all-rounder in the sport’s history, has died aged 89. His death at his home in Barbados only 11 days shy of his 90th birthday was announced by Cricket West Indies on Friday, with the simple line: “A great innings has come to an end. In our hearts, now and forever, Sir Garfield Sobers.”

The prime minister of Barbados, Mia Mottley, paid tribute to Sobers in a post on social media and said that Friday has been declared a day of national mourning – flags will be flown at half-mast and no official functions will take place. A state funeral will follow in the coming days.

Is smoke in your home? Here's how to make an air purifier using a box fan

Smoke from wildfires in Canada and Minnesota is sending air quality indexes to record levels, posing a hazard for millions of people. Here are tips for how to breathe easier in your home.

Apple dethrones Nvidia to regain title of world’s most valuable company

Shift in pecking order illustrates that investors are reassessing outlook for artificial intelligence

Apple overtook Nvidia on Friday to become the world’s most valuable company, reshuffling the top ranks of tech heavyweights as investors reassess the outlook for artificial intelligence.

Apple was last valued at $4.88tn as ⁠its shares held steady, while Nvidia ⁠was roughly at $4.86tn, ​after a 3.5% decline.

Robodebt whistleblower was told her royal commission evidence ‘could cost you your job’, court hears

Exclusive: Jeannie-Marie Blake is suing the Australian government over alleged threats, which her department denies making

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A key robodebt whistleblower is suing the Australian government, alleging she was threatened before she appeared at a royal commission and was warned that her testimony “could cost you your job”.

Services Australia whistleblower Jeannie-Marie Blake has filed proceedings in the federal court, alleging her department made repeated threats against her before and after her explosive evidence to the robodebt royal commission.

How has Donald Trump changed our view of reality? | Fiona Katauskas

Things are a lot less scripted now

• See more of Fiona Katauskas’s cartoons here

A friend, Facebook or ... Ukraine? No easy surrogacy options for Australian families desperate for children

With huge amounts of money at stake and power imbalances in play, the Australian Law Reform Commission is looking at how to better regulate the industry

Over eight years, Ethan and his wife went through nine rounds of IVF in Melbourne.

They travelled to Spain for two more, without success.

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Twelve days nursing my father in the ‘dying room’ taught me the value of planning for death

Dying is difficult, a nurse told me. It might have been even more appalling had Dad not been clear about his wishes. Yet most of us remain deeply reluctant to outline how we want the end to go

My father spent the last 12 days of his life unconscious, unresponsive, in a hospital bed on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast.

My mother sat beside him night and day, holding his hand. I massaged Dad’s legs, horribly swollen, the effects of oedema – a buildup of fluids. His mouth fell open, dried out; I swabbed it constantly in an attempt to keep it wet. Sometimes his breath was a gurgle. My brother and I took turns sleeping on a stretcher in his room – the “dying room” was what hospital staff called it.

Genuine hope may have been fleeting for England. But it was still life-affirming | Max Rushden

Two minutes and 55 seconds. That’s how long I really had hope of reaching the World Cup final. And it didn’t kill me

In her book Hope in the Dark the author Rebecca Solnit examines if it is possible to have hope when you consider all of human suffering. She quotes the Bulgarian writer Maria Popova: “Critical thinking without hope is cynicism, but hope without critical thinking is naivety.” By all accounts it is a compelling argument for hope as a catalyst for social change.

Meanwhile, Graham Burrell wrote: “It is the hope that kills you” following Lincoln City’s 2-1 home defeat to Wigan in 2024. “I feel perhaps our playoff push was finally killed off yesterday.”

Mother of Henry Nowak’s murderer jailed for removing knife from scene

Kiran Kaur, 53, sentenced to three years for assisting Vickrum Digwa after he stabbed student in Southampton

The mother of Vickrum Digwa, the murderer whose false claims of racism against his victim, Henry Nowak, triggered riots in Southampton, has been jailed for removing a knife from the scene of the killing.

Appearing at Southampton crown court, Kiran Kaur, 53, was jailed for three years for assisting an offender by taking the knife from where her son had murdered Nowak on 3 December 2025 back to her family home.

Brenda Fricker, Oscar winner for My Left Foot, dies aged 81

The acclaimed Irish actor started her career in Coronation Street and Casualty before a string of high-profile Hollywood roles

Brenda Fricker, who became the first female Irish Oscar winner for acting with My Left Foot, has died aged 81. Her agent Phil Belfield told the BBC in a statement: “We will never see her like again and the world is lesser for the lack of her … I was honoured to know, love and work with her and she will always have a place in my heart and in the heart of so many film and TV fans the world over.”

In My Left Foot, Fricker plays the mother of Christy Brown, whose cerebral palsy means he only has muscular control over one of his feet. The film, directed by Jim Sheridan, was released to enormous acclaim in 1989, winning the best actor Oscar for Daniel Day-Lewis as well as best supporting actress for Fricker.

Amazon's Zoox issues software recall after robotaxi drove into heavy smoke

Last month, an unoccupied Zoox robotaxi drove into an active emergency fire scene that was clouded with smoke, the company said.

Coca-Cola temporarily halts production of Fairlife milk after cyberattack

A cybersecurity incident has forced Coca-Cola to suspend Fairlife milk production in the U.S. An investigation is underway.

Trump speech lays groundwork for him to tamper with midterm results, critics warn

Democrats and advocates sound alarm at Trump rehashing false claims about 2020 election in his primetime address

Democrats and voting rights groups say Donald Trump’s primetime speech making unverified claims of Chinese interference in the 2020 election is the clearest sign yet that the president is laying the groundwork to tamper with the results of November’s midterms.

The upcoming elections to decide the balance of power in Congress and many state legislatures will be a major test of Trump’s appeal to voters two years after he resoundingly beat the Democratic candidate Kamala Harris to return to the White House. With polls showing that the president is disliked by majorities of voters and his Republican allies are at risk of losing their control of the House of Representatives, the president’s Thursday evening speech rehashing allegations about the 2020 election he lost to Joe Biden sparked fears he was already looking for ways to ensure November’s results are in his favor.

Airlines say permanent daylight saving time won't be simple

Adjusting to permanent daylight saving time would cause significant disruptions to schedules and operations, an airline trade group said.

Import prices post surprise gain as costs of goods from China hit highest since 2008

Import prices were up 0.3% for the month, as a drop in energy was more than offset by increases elsewhere.

Langer leads shortlist to become next England Test coach after Flower rules himself out

• Zimbabwean informed ECB this week he is not interested

• Langer due to lead Manchester Super Giants in Hundred

Justin Langer is believed to have moved to the top of the England and Wales Cricket Board’s shortlist of potential coaches of the men’s Test team, after Andy Flower ruled himself out of the running for the position on Friday.

Less than a week after Brendon McCullum was sacked as red-ball coach Rob Key, the managing director of men’s cricket who is leading the ECB’s recruitment process, has made significant progress in his search for a replacement.

Appeals court keeps in place Pentagon's escort policy for reporters

The appeals court in Washington, D.C., divided 2-1 in ruling in favor of the Trump administration in the legal battle over the Pentagon's escort policy for journalists.

Beijing’s message to the world’s tourists: come here and judge China for yourselves | Zichen Wang

By relaxing visa rules, Beijing has two things on its mind – boosting its economy and improving its self-image

Walk through central Beijing today and one thing quickly becomes apparent: foreigners are back. They are taking photos outside the Forbidden City and sitting in cafes around Gulou and Sanlitun. The shift is visible online, too; YouTube is increasingly filled with videos titled “China Shocked Me” or “My First Week in China”. Most of the creators are tourists, not China specialists or journalists, and many of them are encountering the country for the first time.

The resurgence is striking because to many outside observers China’s story has become one of closure and increased security – of intensifying strategic rivalry with the west, expanded anti-espionage enforcement and increasingly constrained foreign reporting, including the withholding and revocation of visas for US journalists. Yet on the ground, another story is unfolding. When it comes to its relationship with the rest of the world, Beijing increasingly appears to be betting on direct exposure: come to China and judge for yourself.

Zichen Wang is deputy secretary-general at the Center for China and Globalization, a thinktank in Beijing. This article was co-written by Hao Wu, an assistant professor at the School of International Studies at Peking University

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.

Help, my sofa is killing me! The toxic chemicals hiding in your home – and how to avoid them

From mattresses to saucepans, scientists offer tweaks to help detoxify your space

The problem Whenever we burn anything inside our homes, we cause indoor air pollution, whether we’re cooking using gas, frying bacon, lighting a wood burner, an open fire, a cigarette or incense, or ruining the toast. “ We spend 80-90% of our time indoors,” says Prof Francis Pope, chair of atmospheric science at the University of Birmingham. “And there is potential to have quite high concentrations of pollution indoors. This affects your respiratory and cardiovascular systems; certain components are carcinogenic, and there’s a growing body of evidence that air pollution affects cognition. In the long term, you get awful diseases such as dementia and Alzheimer’s. But relatively short exposures to air pollution are linked to things like educational outcome, workplace productivity and general mental wellbeing.”

Biodiversity fears as human-bred hybrid fish integrate into Philippines lake

Escaped flowerhorn cichlids are causing concern for native species and about parasites capable of infecting humans

Escaped ornamental aquarium fish have integrated into a local ecosystem in the Philippines, but scientists say they may be threatening the native biodiversity of the lake.

Flowerhorn cichlids – human-bred hybrid fish prized for their bright-gold colour and prominent head humps – are believed to have escaped from breeding facilities into Lake Sampaloc, which sits in a volcanic crater, during a typhoon.

"Master yachtsman" fugitive captured on boat after 21 years on the run

Ronald L. Fischer, who was featured on "America's Most Wanted," fled Rhode Island during his criminal trial for first-degree sexual assault in 2005.

Dangerous flooding in Texas leads to more than 230 water rescues

More than 2 feet of rain slammed the Texas Hill Country in the past four days, causing dangerous floods. Jason Allen reports.

Fact-checking Trump's speech on election security

President Trump delivered a speech on election security Thursday night at the White House. Here are the facts behind some of his claims.

What is cyclosporiasis, the parasitic illness causing ‘explosive’ diarrhea?

Illness surging in Michigan and other US states is rarely life-threatening, CDC says – but it can have severe effects

• CDC investigates parasite that’s caused cases of ‘explosive’ diarrhea in 18 US states

Cases of cyclosporiasis – a parasitic illness that can cause “explosive”, watery diarrhea – have surged across the United States in recent days, health officials have said, with an abnormally large outbreak of almost 1,000 cases reported in Michigan.

Michigan typically reports about 50 cases a year, making the current outbreak the largest in the state’s history and one of the nation’s biggest in recent years. Ohio has also reported a sharp increase, with 177 cases as of 2 July, since the CDC’s last count.

Chastity, nodding and enormous pores: will women also love Nolan’s Odyssey?

Christopher Nolan’s epic adaptation has been met with almost universal acclaim – from mostly male film critics. Might women find the journey less comfortable?

Long ago, almost as long ago as Homer composed The Odyssey, I was a film critic on the Sunday Telegraph. People sometimes ask me how sexist the scene was then, back in the bronze age mid-noughties, when male critics outnumbered female by about eight to one. Well, there wasn’t any sexism. It was actually totally fine and everyone was really nice.

They were nice in Soho, anyway. Farther afield, less so. Particularly certain readers, when it came to certain films, made by certain directors. Quentin Tarantino, obviously. Ken Loach, weirdly. And Christopher Nolan. Question their genius and prepare for epic correction by a legion of self-appointed bouncers.

Pakistani forces kill 24 militants in border raids near Afghanistan

The military said Friday it used intelligence sources to target militants over the previous 24 hours. The operations were in response to attacks by militants earlier in the week.

Football Daily | Donald Trump gives himself starting role in the bigliest occasion of all

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Donald Trump has largely steered clear of the Geopolitics World Cup: he is yet to attend a game and appear on screen with his good pal “Jonny” Infantino. Oh, though there was that time Trump rang Fifa to lobby for a review into Folarin Balogun’s red card against Bosnia and Herzegovina, with the reversal of the USA USA USA forward’s last-16 suspension crushing the integrity of the competition. An impactful cameo off the bench, you could argue.

Re: naming the 2030 World Cup (Football Daily letters passim). May I suggest ‘The Carbon Footprint WC’ or simply ‘El Carbonaro’” – Krishna Moorthy.

Brian Saffer’s suggestions for letting everyone join in the next World Cup and splitting into three divisions surely must lead to it being called the Swiss Model World Cup – SMWC” – George Paterson.

You could always stop trying to be too clever by half and just refer to it as ‘the World Cup’” – Alan Burgess.

Oh, you thought the STOP FOOTBALL campaign might last two days but, no, Major League Soccerball is back, baby! Four matches were played last night as the league announced, via its back-to-action campaign: ‘Thanks, World; We’ll Take It From Here’” – JJ Zucal.

This is an extract from our daily football email … Football Daily. To get the full version, just visit this page and follow the instructions.

England rugby players may walk off pitch in Argentina if racist abuse is repeated

• Jamie George promises ‘the strongest of reactions’

• England players were racially abused by fans last year

England’s rugby players are threatening to walk off the pitch in protest against Argentina on Saturday if there is any repeat of the racial abuse aimed at black squad members on their last visit a year ago. Further incidents will not be tolerated and, according to England’s captain, Jamie George, will prompt “the strongest of reactions”.

George was also present in San Juan last July when his replacement prop forward Asher Opoku-Fordjour and Chandler Cunningham-South were the target of racist slurs from a group of home supporters during the warm-up and the first half of the second Test. World Rugby later confirmed England had made a complaint, but, despite an investigation, the individual perpetrators could not be identified.

The Hunt for Gollum is being criticised for its all-white cast. Blaming Tolkien is the wrong answer

The Lord of the Rings author’s debt to Norse mythology is simply irrelevant when it comes to the appearance of hobbits and elves on screen today

Casting has come a long way since the early 1980s when it was somehow still acceptable to sign up Max von Sydow to play Ming the Merciless in Flash Gordon in 1980, or hire Peter Ustinov as the lead in Charlie Chan and the Curse of the Dragon Queen in 1981 (despite protests at the time). These days, film-makers will have to defend an all-white cast in a medieval fantasy flick, which appears to be what has happened this week to The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum’s Andy Serkis.

Asked by the BBC why every major casting for the new film has been a white actor, Serkis appeared to lay the blame on his literary source material. “Tolkien himself was influenced a lot by Norse mythology, there’s a lot of that feeling,” he said. “The Shire feels very, very much like a very, a very white, you know … They’re not very concerned about what goes on beyond the borders of the Shire, but they know they don’t want people coming in.

Video shows plainclothes ICE officers attempt to detain man at Las Vegas airport

ICE agents in plain clothes at Harry Reid Airport in Las Vegas tried to detain a man they claim overstayed his visa. Other travelers intervened and the ICE agents ended up walking away, leaving the man handcuffed on one wrist. He was taken into custody the next day when his flight landed in L.A. Nicole Sganga reports.

ConocoPhillips to buy 42% stake in Iraqi unit from BP as U.S. seeks to weaken Iran's energy hold

BP and ConocoPhillips are set to announce billions of dollars of new investments in Iraq on Friday.

How do you actually shop local in New York City?

Shopping local ensures a future for cultures and communities, says Caroline Weaver, creator of the Locavore Guide digital directory

When I signed the lease for my new apartment in Brooklyn, the relief of having survived the brutal New York City real estate market was short-lived when my next task became clear: I needed to furnish the place.

My first instinct was to check everything off my list by shopping online. But the thought of waiting for deliveries and unboxing an endless mountain of packages seemed exhausting. And, I was moving to New York, where the streets are lined with a seemingly infinite number of stores.

Smart glasses are deeply creepy. Why are celebrities like Kylie Jenner endorsing them?

Meta touts safety features – but for women, the dangers of these recording devices are obvious

Imagine if every time you left the house, you couldn’t be sure that the stranger you met at a bar – or even the person walking by you in the street – wasn’t secretly recording you. It sounds like something out of a Black Mirror episode, but let’s face it, the era of wearable technology is fully upon us as everyday accessories have been developed to help track health and fitness data, receive smartphone notifications, and provide hands-free accessibility.

So when Meta announced their AI glasses a few years ago, it wasn’t too surprising that one of the biggest (and most embattled) tech companies on earth had begun cashing in on our obsession with watching others. And their AI glasses have already raised serious concerns over privacy, personal safety and even our sense of agency.

‘I dreamt of a show where the audience becomes horny’: the Swedish puppet play starring bonking barbies

Malmö Dockteater is adapting Jackie Collins’s debut novel about the swinging 60s using anatomically enhanced dolls. Puppets help you explore sex in a different way, they say

Erik Holmström holds up a naked, headless Ken doll. Most of the figure is as you’d expect: lean muscles, smooth skin. But lower down, something’s different. Between those hairless thighs is a small plastic penis nestled in a tuft of hair. “It’s real hair,” says Holmström, the director of Malmö Dockteater (that’s “puppet theatre” in Swedish). Performer and puppeteer Kajsa Ericsson jumps in. “Not real pubic hair,” she clarifies.

This doll is not just a prop of the company’s new show; it’s one of the stars. Malmö Dockteater has adapted Jackie Collins’s debut novel, The World Is Full of Married Men, into an experimental puppet production that leaps fearlessly into the explicit sex scenes that got the novel banned in several countries when it was first published in 1968. After performances in Malmö and Stockholm, the company is bringing the show to the newly refurbished Yard theatre in east London, where it will be performed in Swedish with English subtitles.

The White House’s guide to manhood: pop some T, restart a war and do WHAT with a corn dog? | Marina Hyde

Pete Hegseth wants to win the war on Iran with a secret weapon: testosterone. Meanwhile, JD Vance is worried about how to eat an ice-cream

Are the men of the Trump administration OK? Feels like it’s been a tricky week for some of them. On the one hand, you’ll note the US is already rebooting its Iran war. Clearly, many will feel this latest version of the conflict is coming too soon after the last one, with fans simply not given enough time to miss the IP. A lot like the live-action Moana currently falling off the screen in cinemas. On the other hand, defence secretary Pete Hegseth seems to have moved the defence department beyond even its latter-day renaming as the department of war, posting a video entitled “The High-T Department of War” in which he announced mandatory testosterone screening for US troops aged 30 and over. We’ll get to JD Vance being unintentionally aroused by footage of Joe Biden eating ice-cream in a minute. Or as soon as I can face it.

Even the lower-ranking White House operatives seem to be spinning out. You may remember the UK’s political betting scandal, where various police officers, campaign officials and aides to former prime minister Rishi Sunak were arrested or investigated for putting bets on the last general election date. Everything’s bigger in the US, of course, so in some ways it’s not a surprise to learn that the guy who operates Trump’s teleprompter has allegedly made $100,000 on Kalshi by placing bets on words or topics appearing in Trump’s speeches. He is currently on unpaid administrative leave, according to press secretary Karoline Leavitt, who yesterday added solemnly, “there are very strict ethical guidelines here at the White House”. A statement so hilarious that I refuse to believe Leavitt herself didn’t say it for a bet. Probably with Hegseth. “Dude, I know I can get it in. I back myself. And if I do say it, you owe me $1,000 and an off-the-books testosterone shot.”

Marina Hyde’s new book, What a Time to be Alive!, is out in September (Guardian Faber Publishing, £20). To support the Guardian, order your signed copy at guardianbookshop.com. Delivery charges may apply

Marina Hyde is a Guardian columnist

Elon Musk's Memphis AI empire is the epicenter of the data center backlash

Data center-related policy proposals, protests and litigation are underway across the country citing Colossus and Memphis as a cautionary tale.

‘I don’t play around’: Nolan fans fly into London to see The Odyssey at BFI Imax

Film fanatics arrive from US, Switzerland and Ireland for midnight premiere of director’s critically acclaimed epic

Odysseus made his name by embarking on a perilous journey from Troy to Ithaca, plus a few unplanned diversions courtesy of the gods. But this is nothing on Christian Campbell, who last night travelled more than 4,000 miles to see the Greek king’s epic fable on the big screen.

The 22-year-old film graduate, who aspires to be an editor, made the journey from Atlanta to London to watch Christopher Nolan’s take on Homer’s epic poem, The Odyssey.

Takeaways from Trump's primetime speech. And, at least 2 dead in major Texas flooding

President Trump gave a primetime speech raising claims of voting vulnerabilities but offered no new evidence. And, at least 2 people have died in major flooding in Texas.

Trump doubles down on 2020 election claims in national address, alleging China meddling

Trump also repeated his calls for the Republican-led Congress to pass the "SAVE America Act," a controversial election bill that lacks support to pass.

Add to playlist: the nervy breakbeats and acid delirium of Silverwingkiller and the week’s best new tracks

The industrial dance duo make music for this summer’s heatwave: filled with dread and jangling with pent-up energy

From Manchester, via Peterborough and Shanghai
Recommended if you like Crystal Castles, Mandy, Indiana, acid house
Up next Festival dates including East London Block Party, Brighton Psych Fest and End of the Road

Salford’s Silverwingkiller sound how this summer’s heatwave feels: delirious, dread-filled and jangling with pent-up energy. Named after the Chinese title for Blade Runner, they build pummelling industrial dance music from nervy breakbeats, the acid sounds of the Roland TB-303 synthesiser and the shared sense of creative freedom that James Baca and Yushang Ni discovered on moving to Greater Manchester, from Peterborough and Shanghai respectively.

‘Laws were broken’: multistate effort to stop Paramount’s $111bn merger heads to court

Attorneys general from 12 states are suing to block the Paramount-Warner Bros deal they say violates antitrust law

A last-ditch effort to block the merger between Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros Discovery (WBD) is heading to court as 12 Democratic state attorneys general attempt to stop the $111bn deal they say violates antitrust law and reduces competition in both the film and cable television industries.

The lawsuit, which was filed on Monday, faces a crucial hearing on Friday to determine if a judge will temporarily pause the deal or allow it to continue toward approval. The merger was already approved by the Department of Justice in June.

California braces for its sharkiest summer in a decade – but experts say don’t panic

Young great white sharks are returning in large numbers, but researchers say humans are not on the menu

Surfers, swimmers and fishermen across California will be sharing the waves with an influx of visitors this summer: young great white sharks.

Juvenile white sharks are already appearing along the coastline, fleeing warmer than usual waters in Mexico during what’s expected to be an incredibly strong El Niño.

The school holidays are here – let’s play ‘arguing over screen time’: the Stephen Collins cartoon

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ICE arrests human rights lawyer who fled Chinese crackdown

Arrest in Pennsylvania of Wu Shaoping, who is awaiting asylum decision, raises fears of deportation and persecution

A Chinese human rights lawyer has been arrested by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), raising concerns he could be deported to China where he would face persecution.

Wu Shaoping fled China at the end of 2019 amid a crackdown on human rights lawyers. He travelled to the US on a tourist visa and made an asylum claim in 2020, for which he is still awaiting a decision.

‘Adversarial clothing’: are garments designed to confuse facial recognition systems about to go mainstream?

Designers say that as well as offering a degree of protection from surveillance, their clothes make a powerful fashion statement about the importance of privacy

As facial recognition technology is rolled out across Britain’s public spaces, a new generation of designers say privacy could be the next big fashion trend.

Companies have started incorporating “adversarial patterns” in their garments – carefully designed arrangements of shapes, colours and repeated motifs said to exploit weaknesses in some computer vision systems.

‘It’s a spiritual experience’: docuseries goes behind the spectacular chaos of Burning Man

In HBO’s four-part series The Man Will Burn, the psychedelic, uber-expensive festival is granted a deep dive

In 1986, a group of starving artists seeking release amid a devastating economic downturn built an oversized wooden stick figure, hauled it on to a San Francisco beach and set it ablaze as police officers and passersby looked on in disbelief. Forty years later, Burning Man is the festival to end all festivals – a sprawling spectacle of music, art and self-expression that draws tens of thousands to the Nevada desert every summer for community, catharsis and spiritual connection. It is a pilgrimage for Bohemians and billionaires, a byword for a particular strain of woo-woo hipsterism, a countercultural institution wrestling with the contradictions between its libertine ideals, corporate reality and the regular presence of lightning-rod figures such as Grover Norquist, the conservative strategist, and Elon Musk’s brother.

The only way to truly grasp the meaning of the place, it seems, is to take the trip –figuratively at first, then literally once fully immersed in Black Rock City’s psychedelic, anything-goes culture. “It’s such an immersive experience that it seems that it would be impossible to capture on film or convey what it feels like to be inside a city that exists for a week, that’s imagined, built and sustained entirely by the people inside,” says Jehane Noujaim, co-director of The Man Will Burn, a new docuseries that premiered on HBO this month on the festival.

More than 200 countries endorse Infantino for fourth Fifa term despite Balogun scandal

• Only a handful of FAs have not declared their support

• Uefa has made its opposition clear on number of issues

Gianni Infantino has the formal endorsement of more than 200 countries for re-election as Fifa’s president despite the climate of unrest that has swirled since the scandal surrounding Folarin Balogun’s reprieve from suspension.

The Guardian understands only a handful of Fifa’s 211 member associations are still to send letters of support for Infantino, who is on course to be voted into a fourth term by a landslide at its congress in March. A small number of European countries are among the outliers, with Germany the highest-profile FA yet to provide official backing.

Norma Winstone and NDR Radio Orchestra: A Timeless Place review | John Fordham's jazz album of the month

(Enodoc)
The emotive lyricist and surefooted improvisor sounds lustrous in a 1990 recording featuring an exquisite I Loves You, Porgy

When Norma Winstone, the peerless English vocalist and lyricist, reached 80 in 2021 – still in entrancing voice – a cascade of tributes included one from ECM Records boss Manfred Eicher, legendary master of doing more with less in new music: “She hears things differently, and tells us about them in her own quiet way.” Winstone’s confiding storytelling could have struggled in a noisy world, but landmark albums, the accolades of peers and fans and an MBE have confirmed its soft power across 60 years. So does the release of A Timeless Place, a long-archived 1990 radio broadcast with Winstone fronting Hanover’s NDR Radio Orchestra.

The title track is her much-covered lyric (Mark Murphy, Jazzmeia Horn and Cécile McLorin Salvant have explored it) to pianist Jimmy Rowles’ lovely tune The Peacocks. Glimpsed happiness, missed chances and the sounds and colours of emotions (“I’m drowning now, slowly sinking in a sea of blue and green”) typify Winstone’s materials, and her lustrous low sounds and vaulting octave leaps constantly mutate the implications of words.

Heartstopper Forever review – sanitized sex scenes won’t let the Netflix lovebirds grow up

The film-length finale to the teen LGBTQ+ show has poignant moments but feels like fan service by numbers

If it were up to Kit Connor, Heartstopper would have ended quite differently. “If I’d had my way, I would have had Nick and Charlie cheating on each other and doing all those stupid things,” he recently told the Guardian. “Because young people do that and don’t necessarily need to be villainized for it.”

Midway through Heartstopper Forever, the film-length finale of Netflix’s series, I started to see his point. The central star-crossed lovebirds of Alice Oceman’s megahit are now 18 and 17, and like most teenagers they have sex, get drunk and fight with their annoying siblings. Unlike most people their age, they don’t vape, don’t use sex apps and they definitely don’t cheat.

‘At times I felt I’d bitten off more than I could chew’: Christopher Nolan on sweeping the Oscars, making The Odyssey – and getting a puppy

How do you follow Oppenheimer? By spending $250m bringing Homer’s epic poem to the big screen in Imax. Today’s most powerful director talks big swings, trauma-bonding and the healing powers of chocolate labrador Charlie

‘I’m in that moment of sheer terror,” says Christopher Nolan, sitting in a suite at the Corinthia hotel in London, in a slightly rumpled suit, next to a pot of tea. Outside, crowds jostle, hoping to catch a glimpse of one of the stars within – Matt Damon, Tom Holland, Lupita Nyong’o. It is the day before the world premiere of Nolan’s latest film, an adaptation of Homer’s epic poem the Odyssey, and the last day of waiting before audiences decide whether the biggest gamble of Nolan’s career has paid off. The film, which reportedly cost $250m (£185m), doesn’t just need an audience to show up. It needs the entire moviegoing world to do so.

“It never gets any easier, because I make films for audiences and the audience tells me what it likes,” he says. “They finish the film. I don’t have anything to hide behind. I can’t just be like: ‘Oh, people don’t get it.’ Those aren’t the films I make. What does the audience make of it? Do they turn up? Do they like it if they do turn up?

Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse - Konami classic rises again from Paris sewers and Joan of Arc is a boss

Evil Empire creatives explain how it is playing to today’s ‘metroidvanias’ and honouring the original’s legacy with much fresh slaying to be done

Since the last Castlevania game hit the shelves (2014’s Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2), Konami’s dormant series has unexpectedly spawned a hit genre. With an entire generation raised on “metroidvanias” – a portmanteau of Metroid and Castlevania – millions of players have only ever seen the games inspired by Konami’s seminal games. Now with Belmont’s Curse, launching in October, Castlevania is finally dashing back to console, where Konami hopes to reclaim its side-scroller throne.

Set 23 years after the events of 1989’s Castlevania 3 – the same setting as the hit Netflix show – Belmont’s Curse shakes off the series’ 3D ambitions and takes the Belmonts back to basics. Dispatching players to the demon-infested streets of 1499 Paris, you’re placed in the tattered boots of Trevor Belmont’s daughter, Rose. As a bishop pleads with the Belmonts to rid Paris of the ancient evil besetting the city, Rose heads into the sewers, longsword in hand, and her demon-slaying adventure begins.

Robert Laidlow: Reality Eaters album review

BBC Philharmonic/Havlat/Kaziboni/Piatti Quartet
(NMC)
Einstein’s field equations, Newton’s universal law and artificial intelligence are among the subjects of Laidlow’s ambitious orchestral works

Robert Laidlow is as at home in the realms of science and technology as he is in the world of classical music. As this NMC debut album demonstrates, his intricate, wildly imaginative work is eminently approachable, even if the core concepts are highly complex.

Warp, a terse, 12-minute piano concerto, proposes a musical solution to Einstein’s field equations as the intrepid Joseph Havlat boldly goes where no pianist has gone before amid the distorting fabric of orchestral space-time. Strident orchestral lines spiral ever upwards, stretching instruments to their limits, while the piano maintains its course towards a serene conclusion. Handsomely recorded, the BBC Philharmonic and Vimbayi Kaziboni offer vibrantly detailed support.

Trump revisits disputed claims about elections but offers no new proof of fraud

In a primetime address, President Trump alleged the U.S. election system falls "catastrophically short," revisiting a topic that has drawn his attention for years — and making claims that election experts have heavily disputed.

‘Forever chemicals’ – the national cancer scandal brewing in a Lancashire town

In this week’s newsletter: residents living near a chemical factory are the latest community concerned about the health and environmental impact of Pfas contamination

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Residents within a kilometre of the AGC Chemicals Europe factory in Thornton-Cleveleys in the north of England, have found themselves at the centre of what is quickly becoming a national scandal.

In 2024, the UK Environment Agency and the local authority initiated an investigation into historic emissions of Pfoa – a carcinogenic “forever chemical” that international research has linked to kidney cancer – from the factory. After environmental testing, people have been advised to wash and peel homegrown food and to avoid eating locally produced eggs, and two allotment sites near the factory have been closed.

May and June heatwaves killed about 2,700 people in England and Wales, data suggests

Inside the secret Laos shops selling pangolin scales, bear bile and tiger bones to tourists

Who is ‘stealing’ Bali’s water? How tourism siphoned off a prized resource

The Red Mouth by Sheila Armstrong review – profound exploration of Ireland’s deep time

Sinister bogland discoveries haunt the intersecting lives of four characters in this meditative, exquisitely written tale

Almost 14% of Ireland is bog: vast swathes of moss-carpeted land, below which layers of ancient history have been compounded into mulch-black turf. Captivated by their otherworldly beauty, Seamus Heaney wrote some of his finest poetry about bogs – and the bodies discovered, perfectly preserved, in their eerie depths.

Sheila Armstrong’s exquisite second novel, The Red Mouth, also centres around two bog discoveries: the “monstrous, bog-black antler” of a great Irish elk, and the mutilated body of a girl who comes to be known as Belroe Woman. From here we follow the intersecting lives of those haunted, both literally and figuratively, by these excavations and the uncanny landscape that yielded them.