Thailand school shooting: teen suspect shot grandparents before killing several others, police say – latest updates

Suspect and at least seven dead, and 15 others injured after shooting at a school in the Nonthaburi province

The leader of the People’s Party, Natthaphong Ruengpanyawut, has said that while the motive for the school shooting remains unclear it serves “as another wake-up call to Thai society”.

“We must collectively review and implement a systematic approach to gun control measures, coupled with enhanced security measures in educational institutions to prevent similar incidents fron recurring in the future,” the opposition leader wrote in a post on Facebook.

Arun Sood and Angeline Morrison: Donn/Dubh review – British folk giants startlingly transform sacred histories

(Real World)
Leaning on their Hebridean heritage, the duo meld 10th-century Celtic cantos with distortion, dream-pop and post-rock, with shades of Twin Peaks and Boards of Canada

Two of Britain’s most exciting folk musicians, both of Hebridean heritage, are behind Donn/Dubh (Black/Brown), an album inspired by Saltair na Rann, a 10th-century Celtic collection of cantos in which sacred history is foretold, and winds are given colours. Angeline Morrison and Arun Sood expand its spectrum of northerly and westerly shades, soldering together traditional Gaelic texts and tunes with distortion, drone, dream-pop and post-rock.

The pair have the chops for such a project. Morrison, co-founder of the Black British Folk Collective, has brilliantly brought forgotten Black histories into the folk canon for years, including on 2022’s The Sorrow Songs. That same year, Sood’s Searching Erskine used sonic collage and old recordings to conjure the lives of residents on his grandmother’s abandoned home island of Vallay. Their talents converge around Alastair Smith’s startling production: Morrison’s deep voice, ghostly one moment, lullaby-warm the next, inhabiting soundworlds recalling the shuddering shadows of late-90s Boards of Canada and Unkle.

The Last House review – post-Covid apocalyptic lockdown thriller is a solid night in

Oscar nominee Wagner Moura and Greta Lee lead Netflix’s sci-fi tale of a family trapped in their house as something sinister arrives

Most of us aren’t truly ready for films that directly cover the recent horrors of Covid and, well, why would we be? There was a need back in 2021 for something strict and journalistic like Matthew Heineman’s excellent documentary The First Wave and there have been other variously illuminating docs since, but it’s been tough for narrative storytellers to address and confront – and even tougher for audiences to engage. It’s partly why Ari Aster’s intermittently excellent 2020-set satire Eddington fizzled at the box office, released five years after the pandemic began but still five years too soon.

The most effective ways in have usually been through the back door. Mike Leigh’s 2024 drama Hard Truths might have only mentioned the pandemic once and included just one mask but its portrait of a psychologically fractured, permanently on-edge woman, terrified of what lies outside her chillingly sterile house, was very much about the difficult after-effects of the disease. Next week sees the release of The End of Oak Street, an 80s-set fantasy adventure about a family trying to survive a prehistoric invasion from the safety of their own home and this week, sneaked out by Netflix just days before is The Last House, another high-concept genre tale that sees homes across the world locked off from the outside as something terrifying attacks.

Alley Cats review – the genital jokes in Ricky Gervais’s sweary cartoon are just exhausting

There are glimmers of potential in this comedy about a potty-mouthed feline gang. But not even the great voice cast or a cute kitten can save it from being lazy, crude and boring

I suppose the question is really: what do you do after redefining comedy for your era? After The Office, that exquisitely observed, agonising, heartbreaking, hilarious examination of the human condition co-created with Stephen Merchant, Ricky Gervais managed Extras – off-peak but still great – and then continued a downward trajectory that his latest offering, Alley Cats, does nothing to arrest.

You can see what the six-episode animated series about a gang of homeless cats wants to be. It wants to be an exquisitely observed, agonising, heartbreaking, hilarious examination of the human condition. But it can’t be bothered. Easier by far, especially as it’s on Netflix and unshackled from mainstream broadcasters’ rules about swearing, to call everyone a C-word and sigh at the inevitability/sweet release of death every five minutes. Nihilism – gotcha! So dark, man, so edgy!

Alley Cats is on Netflix

‘There is an alternative to capitalism’: after addiction and losing a home to LA wildfires, indie rockers Diiv start again

No stranger to rebuilding after disaster, the US band’s frontman Zachary Cole Smith now sees the entire capitalist project as ripe for reinvention, on a surprisingly upbeat new AG Cook-produced album

Zachary Cole Smith used to be a miserable interviewee. He had plenty to say – always generous, always voluble – but spoke with grim introspection, chastising himself and cataloguing his misdeeds with a fervour that engulfed him like his oversized T-shirts. A decade later, the Diiv frontman who materialises on my screen seems well rid of that old self. Suspiciously well rid of it, perhaps. He looks as if he has stepped out of a middle management meeting.

“Precisely!” Smith concurs cheerfully, speaking via video call from a back garden in La Cañada, California. “We’re trying to have a visual language, which is fun. We’ve never done that with what we wear.” The singer-guitarist, 41, wears thick-rimmed square glasses, slicked-back black hair and a pinstripe shirt, its neck clasped by a tie printed with stock market emblems. He has an earnest but pranksterish energy. He uses the word “fun” so many times – more than a dozen within 10 minutes – that I suspect he is testing some sort of subliminal PR strategy.

Why are ultra-processed food firms panicking and suing? Because they know time is running out | Felicity Lawrence

As the harm caused by their products becomes more evident, manufacturers are resorting to denial and lawsuits to keep regulation at bay

It is rare for people to drop dead holding the incriminating packaging, but there is no longer any serious doubt that consuming a diet of ultra-processed foods (UPFs) risks a catalogue of life-shortening illnesses from heart disease and stroke to diabetes and cancer. Because these diseases are degenerative over time, the food and drink industry has been able to argue for decades that its UPFs are fine in moderation. It would have us believe that there is no such thing as a “junk” individual food, only poor diets overall, and that its products therefore should not be subject to any restrictions.

Just as with climate breakdown and smoking, the science on harm caused by foods high in fat, salt and sugar is now settled, but the industry continues to deny and distract to delay action. Two weeks ago, a new report highlighted the lengths to which big food has gone to stop governments implementing policies that would tackle the global crisis of diet-related disease.

Felicity Lawrence is a former Guardian special correspondent, and is author of Not on the Label: What Really Goes Into the Food on Your Plate

Afcon’s biennial switch cost African governing body deal worth more than $1bn

• Change to four-year cycle led to abandonment of 2025 bid

• Caf has not had long-term financial deal since 2019

A deal worth at least $1bn in secured income over eight years was abandoned by the Confederation of African Football (Caf) because the governing body decided to switch the Africa Cup of Nations from a biennial to a four-yearly event, the Guardian can reveal.

On 5 July 2025, the eve of the delayed Women’s Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco, the Caf president, Patrice Motsepe, told the Guardian in Rabat, after a prolonged discussion of the bidding process at an executive committee meeting, that a decision on a winning bid would be made “in due course”.

Welcome to Australia, the world’s casino. A nation state captured by global betting companies | First Dog on the Moon

This really is the place to be a rapacious amoral gambling company!

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• Get all your needs met at the First Dog shop if what you need is First Dog merchandise and prints

‘Waste colonialism’ – the Turkish city carrying the weight of Britain’s pollution problem

In this week’s newsletter: a Guardian investigation reveals that the UK exported 139,000 tonnes of rubbish to poor districts in Adana, where farmers are left to cope with microplastics, toxic smoke, and debris

• Don’t get Down to Earth delivered to your inbox? Sign up here

A year ago this month, when global talks to end our spiralling plastic crisis collapsed, Emma Hardy, Britain’s then marine minister and the UK’s head of delegation, said she was “hugely disappointed”. The UK is committed to working, at home and abroad, to “protect the environment and pave the way to a circular economy”, she pledged.

But Britain, one of the world’s largest exporters of plastic waste, remains part of a global trade that enables us to send mountains of plastic rubbish to other, mostly poorer countries, fuelling pollution, health impacts and waste crime.

‘Danger no longer only comes from the hitmen, but from the state’: the Honduran farmers labelled terrorists for protecting their land

El Niño could push 50 million people into acute hunger before end of next year

‘We stared into an abyss’: the men and women battling France’s megafire

How to explore Britain and Ireland’s most beautiful rivers on foot, bike or boat: readers’ travel tips

Our rivers may be running low at the moment, but they still offer an abundance of adventure and nature to explore. Here are your favourites, from the Tees to the Shannon

• Tell us about a favourite holiday in the UK – the best tip wins a £200 holiday voucher

Last summer, I enjoyed a six-mile walk along the fast-flowing River Wharfe from Ilkley to Bolton Abbey, with calming vistas of the Yorkshire Dales every step of the way. I set out at Ilkley’s Riverside Gardens on the south bank, near the remains of a Roman fort. Trace the path to the ancient stone bridge and along to the picturesque village of Addingham with its Low Mill weir and views of late bronze age or early iron age Castleberg fort. Simply carry on hugging the riverbank to the splendid remains of 12th-century monastery of Bolton Abbey, situated in wonderful woods and parkland.
Helen

Sage advice: what to wear with green trousers

From olive to lime to mint, green trousers are a nice summer alternative to darker colours. Style them like jeans and they’ll work easily with pieces you already own

My Brilliant Career to Mourinho: the seven best shows to stream this week

A punchy adaptation of the feminist classic is a must-watch for Bridgerton fans. Plus, an access-all-areas documentary on one of football’s most divisive managers

Miles Franklin’s 1901 coming-of-age novel about free-spirited country girl Sybylla Melvyn is regarded as a proto-feminist classic. It’s punchily brought to life in an adaptation that feels like a dusty but dynamic Australian second cousin to Bridgerton. Philippa Northeast stars as Sybylla: pushed reluctantly towards high society by her dirt-poor family but desperate to become a writer and fiercely resistant to, as she sees it, being “slowly turned on the spit of propriety”. However, there’s plenty about her family’s financial and social circumstances that she doesn’t fully understand. Northeast is an effervescent lead while Christopher Chung brings quiet charisma to Sybylla’s love interest, Harry.
Netflix, from Thursday 13 August

Iran, Oman deal on Strait of Hormuz getting close, Tehran says

Iran and Oman are close to agreeing on new arrangements for the Strait of Hormuz, but not for a full reopening of the vital waterway, Iran's state news agency says.

Student shoots multiple people at a high school in Thailand, authorities say

The shooter was a student and deaths and injuries were reported.

Court orders Instagram and Facebook's Meta to pay $567M to address kids' mental health online

Judge Bryan Biedscheid said in a ruling late Thursday that the bulk of the money will be used for treatment services for young people.

TV tonight: Jon Hamm’s offbeat adult animation lands in the UK

The star voices a maverick cop in new cartoon Grimsburg. Plus: the finale of Scottish crime drama Granite Harbour. Here’s what to watch this evening

10.15pm, Sky One
A triple bill of this adult cartoon starring Jon Hamm, which quietly debuted in the UK last week. Hamm plays police detective Marvin Flute, who has moved back to his home town to reconnect with his family and continue solving bizarre crimes. This time, there are easy laughs to be had as he finds himself accused of murdering a judge and tries to clear his own name. Hollie Richardson

Helen Goh’s giant shortcake with summer fruits and vanilla cream – recipe | The sweet spot

A jamboree of juicy stone fruit and summer berries with a crusty, sugary top brings a riot of textures and colour to your dessert table

A giant American-style shortcake is one of summer’s great celebrations: tender, buttery shortcake, softly whipped cream and an extravagant tumble of fruit. Rather than prescribing a single combination, I like to let the market decide. Choose whatever looks and smells best: strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, greengages, apricots, cherries, nectarines or peaches all work beautifully. Aim for a mix of juicy stone fruit and berries – it will bring different colours, textures and levels of sweetness to every bite. This is a dessert that embraces the glorious abundance of the season – a proper summer bonanza.

Extreme heat breaks temperature records in central and eastern Europe

Slovakia reaches new high of 42C as authorities in Poland forced to shut down Kozienice and Połaniec power plants

• Europe’s dry riverbeds and scorched earth – in pictures

Temperature records have been broken in several countries across central and eastern Europe as the extreme weather that has caused wildfires and droughts across the continent continues.

Countries including Slovakia, Austria and Hungary registered record temperatures. On Thursday, the Slovakian hydrometeorological agency said a new high of 42C (108F) had been reached in Dolné Plachtince.

Why Britain is breathing the world’s wildfire smoke

Scientists say global blazes account for 10% of UK’s particle pollution – and climate crisis could make the problem worse

Smoke rising above wildlife habitats, thousands of people evacuated and homes and livelihoods reduced to ashes – this is fast becoming the defining image of Britain and European summers.

Dr Mark Parrington, a senior scientist at the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service, said: “Recent wildfires in south-western Europe produced large quantities of smoke, which caused significant degradation air quality across southern France and central regions of Spain.

July’s heatwaves kept UK shoppers away from high street

Visits down 3.8% after 6.2% fall in June, with many choosing to buy online instead, research for retail body finds

Shoppers stayed away from UK high streets during last month’s heatwave temperatures, with many choosing to buy online instead as the mercury in some areas rose into the mid-30Cs.

Trips to high streets were down by 3.8% year on year in July after a 6.2% fall in June, according to research from the monitoring firm Sensormatic for the British Retail Consortium (BRC).

‘These cooks ripped each other apart’: Dominic Sessa on playing Anthony Bourdain, kitchen bullies and the joys of being a 70s barfly

After his breakthrough in The Holdovers in 2023, Sessa has gone back to the 70s again for Tony, the biopic of bad-boy chef and Kitchen Confidential author Bourdain. And, he says, a big part of him would like to stay there

Despite being just 23, Dominic Sessa is perhaps as intimately acquainted with the 1970s as those who grew up then. Although the New Jersey-born actor has only starred in five films, two of them are marinated in the fashions, sounds and mores of the decade. In his new movie, Tony, he plays the 19-year-old Anthony Bourdain, future bad-boy celebrity chef, bestselling author of Kitchen Confidential and host of its hit TV spin-off. Tony restricts itself to one summer in 1975, when Bourdain bummed around the coastal resort of Provincetown, Massachusetts, falling in love, scrubbing pans in a seafood joint and catching the cooking bug. “For a rootless young man with sensualist inclinations,” he wrote, “it was the perfect getaway.”

A 70s retro vibe also hung over Sessa’s debut film. In Alexander Payne’s Oscar-winning 2023 comedy-drama The Holdovers, he played Angus Tully, a surly student forced to board at school over Christmas with only his classics teacher and the cook for company. That picture wasn’t merely set in 1970; it seemed, with its faded palette and fake crackles on the print, to have been made then.

Experience: I dress up as rubbish

On my TikTok I find trash that’s blowing in the wind, and mimic its movements using what I have to hand

I’ve always been interested in the concept of value and what is thought of as rubbish. When people throw things away, a perfectly good table, say, I think, “That’s still usable.” I’m a dancer and choreographer and hoard clothing – costumes from shows or pieces my mum has lent me. Sometimes, I’ll collect random things offered on Facebook.

During the pandemic I was unable to perform but became hyper-aware of everyday movements around me. On daily walks in Los Angeles, where I live, I’d notice pieces of litter being blown about. I felt as if it was trying to get someone’s attention, but nobody was looking. I thought: “What if I start mimicking it? What if I used the trash as my choreographer?”

The Silence of the Lambs review – Hannibal Lecter’s daring stage outing is a shock to the system

Curve, Leicester
There are electrifying – and also queasy – moments in this version of the classic 90s horror about the interrogation of a psychotic psychiatrist by an FBI rookie

Soon after the hostile reception of the theatrical version of Trainspotting, another landmark 1990s movie, The Silence of the Lambs, attempts a similar manoeuvre. In this case, director Nikolai Foster is surely sensible not to turn this source material into a musical. And adapter Gina Gionfriddo is working not from Jonathan Demme’s film but Thomas Harris’s 1988 novel about the dangerous interrogation of psychotic psychiatrist Dr Hannibal Lecter by FBI rookie Clarice Starling for his insight into serial killer Buffalo Bill.

The biggest risk of theatricalised movies is that the acting becomes a form of karaoke. Mollie Gallagher, making a confident stage debut in effectively the lead role, echoes Jodie Foster’s Virginia accent and ramps up the pugnacious posture and walk. John Partridge’s Lecter, who is more sonically American than Hopkins’ variation on his Welsh register (the character is actually Lithuanian), avoids the hissy lip-sipping and also injects less charm and culture.

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

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

New Mexico court orders Meta to pay $567m over harms to children’s mental health

Ruling comes as part of second phase of landmark trial that found social media company enabled harm against users

A New Mexico court has ordered Meta, the parent company of Facebook, to pay $567m into a fund aimed at redressing adverse mental health impacts from the social media giant’s platforms.

The Thursday ruling comes as a part of the second phase of a landmark trial the social media giant lost in March. At the time, a jury found that the company knowingly harmed children’s mental health and concealed what it knew about child sexual exploitation on its platforms, and imposed the maximum penalty: a $375m fine.

Houthi strikes kill dozens in Yemen, officials say, as Saudi Arabia warns of further attacks

Latest attacks by Iran-aligned Houthis spark concerns that Middle East crisis is intensifying

• Who are the Houthis – explained in 30 seconds

Attacks by the Iran-aligned Houthis on a military camp in Yemen and in Saudi Arabia have sparked concerns that the Middle East crisis will continue to spiral.

Yemen is being increasingly drawn into the US-Israeli war with Iran, with the Houthi rebels stepping up attacks against both government forces inside the country and neighbouring Saudi Arabia, a key US ally and supporter of the internationally recognised Yemeni government.

Iran's chief negotiator accuses Trump of 'theater diplomacy' with Hormuz traffic near standstill

The conflict is broadening across the region, with Gulf energy infrastructure and key shipping chokepoints under renewed threat.

FAA orders inspections of 737 Max jets after cracks found in older planes

The Federal Aviation Administration has ordered inspections of hundreds of Boeing 737 Max jets after cracks were found in parts of some older model Boeing planes.

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

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

After decades of decline, New Zealand’s wool industry is making a comeback

Forty years ago there were more than 22 sheep to every New Zealander, but wool prices and production declined with the uptake of synthetic alternatives

John Hargreaves’ family has farmed sheep and beef in Kaiwaka, north of Auckland, for generations. In the 1960s they had 3,000 ewes but in the decades since, as the value of wool declined and shearing costs grew, his flock slowly decreased to just over 1,700.

But now, for the first time in roughly six years, his wool is making money.

Court orders Meta and Instagram to pay $567M to address kids' mental health

A New Mexico court has ordered Instagram and Facebook parent company Meta to pay $567 million to address harms to young people from its platforms.

Trump signs new orders targeting birthright citizenship

Orders come after supreme court rejected president’s first bid to restrict guarantee enshrined in US constitution

Donald Trump has made a second attempt to restrict the constitutional guarantee of birthright citizenship, just weeks after the US supreme court rejected his initial, more sweeping bid to deny automatic citizenship to the children born to undocumented immigrants and temporary foreign residents.

Trump on Thursday signed two executive orders that seek to broaden the categories of children ineligible for automatic US citizenship and ban so-called “birth tourism”. The directives are expected to face legal challenges.

Typhoon Dim-sum: how Hong Kong put a tasty snack on the storm map

A new name has been added to the list of future tropical cyclones for the Asia-Pacific region, including one with a culinary twist

A “Typhoon Dim-sum” could one day be on the horizon after the name was added to the Asia-Pacific region’s official list of tropical cyclone names this week.

It features among nine names to be added to the list of future tropical cyclones, with each name contributed by a country. The names of tropical storms are generally recycled, replacing those which have caused serious casualties and economic loss.

Senate committee votes to hold Fauci in contempt of Congress

The Senate Homeland Security Committee voted to hold Dr. Anthony Fauci in contempt of Congress over his refusal to answer questions during testimony before the committee last week.

Trump issues new executive orders aimed at birthright citizenship

The Supreme Court in June struck down President Trump's earlier executive order aimed at ending birthright citizenship.

Privacy groups raise red flags over police misuse of Flock cameras

Privacy groups are expressing concerns over Flock cameras, the devices that capture license plates and are often used in criminal investigations. They argue that police may be using them for improper reasons. Mark Strassman reports.

Now, Autonomy by Max Easton review – a sardonic yet compassionate take on millennial apathy

The author’s third novel to chronicle life in Sydney’s west follows a group of flawed friends trying to sustain meaning amid an ‘erosion in the world’

If any part of Australia can lay claim to being the country’s literary nexus, it is western Sydney. The wide wing of suburbia is both home to and the subject of granular attention for an ever-growing list of acclaimed writers: Yumna Kassab, Peter Polites, Luke Carman, Michael Mohammed Ahmad, Felicity Castagna – to name just a few. Each of them reflects a culturally diverse landscape in which social class and suburban identity are forever intersecting, animating the lives of those often neglected in the margins of Australia’s projected self-image.

A key figure in this discourse is Max Easton, whose latest novel – Now, Autonomy – is the third instalment of his multi-decade series that chronicles working-class struggle and its subcultural undercurrents in Sydney’s west. Beginning with the Miles Franklin-longlisted The Magpie Wing in 2021, and followed by Paradise Estate in 2023, this ambitious, compelling quasi-trilogy – each title can be read and appreciated on its own – depicts people navigating Australia’s class hierarchies, hyper-gentrification, rental housing pressures and ever-diminishing spaces for community and collective activism.

Spokane arson suspect had planned devastating wildfire for weeks, police say

Police said a man charged with starting a wildfire confessed to the crime, describing how he planned it for weeks and created a device to ignite a blaze that destroyed hundreds of buildings.

8/6: CBS Evening News

Boeing planes to be inspected for cracks; Trump signs new birthright citizenship orders.

Arsenal hopes dashed after Vinícius Júnior extends Real Madrid contract to 2032

• Brazil international has agreed a new six-year deal

• ‘Eight years at the Bernabéu are too few,’ says Vinícius

Vinícius Júnior has ended summer speculation over his future by agreeing a new six-year contract with Real Madrid. Arsenal had been heavily linked with a move for the Brazil international, who had entered the final 12 months of his deal at the Bernabéu.

A tumultuous 2025-26 campaign in which Real failed to win a trophy and initial uncertainty after the arrival of José Mourinho in Madrid alerted the Premier League champions, but Vinícius has now committed his long-term future to the Spanish club.

Stevens says of El-Sayed: "Differences were aired out"

Though Rep. Haley Stevens stressed a unified front moving forward, she was evasive on whether she would appear with El-Sayed on the campaign trail.

GAO finds Elon Musk's DOGE inflated claims of $110 billion in savings for federal government

The nonpartisan watchdog found Elon Musk's DOGE didn't cut as much federal spending as it claimed and that it fell far short of its promised $2 trillion.

Trump signs 2 immigration actions to curb 'birth tourism,' limit birthright citizenship

Additional details weren't provided, but Trump said he thought his latest actions would be constitutional.

Airbnb stock soars 9% on earnings and revenue beat, strong guidance for third quarter

Airbnb said it's seeing strong demand "across all regions," contributing to the company's better-than-expected forecast.

Flesh-eating bacteria has killed 5 in Louisiana this year, officials say

A flesh-eating bacteria found in warm coastal waters is responsible for at least five deaths so far this year in Louisiana, state health officials reported Thursday.

Judge finds probable cause that Mike Lindell's pillow handouts violated campaign law

A case against Minnesota Republican gubernatorial candidate Mike Lindell will continue after a judge decided Thursday there is probable cause to believe he violated campaign laws by giving away pillows promoting his candidacy at a July Fourth parade.

America's water systems are getting hacked amid security gaps, experts say

The nation's 152,000 public water systems often lack defenses against malicious actors, cybersecurity experts said. Here's what to know.

AMD buys chip startup that hardwires AI models into its silicon

Taalas' current chip runs a small version of Meta's Llama 3.1, though the company is working on chips for bigger and more advanced models.

Sweetgreen cuts full-year outlook as cyclospora fears weigh on sales

The salad chain has not been implicated in the ongoing cyclospora outbreak.

Europe hit by wildfires and severe drought – video

Wildfires and low water levels have affected Europe in July and August. Hundreds of homes have been destroyed and residents evacuated as firefighters across the continent battle the flames. Reservoirs and rivers are facing low water levels amid a prolonged drought

Entrepreneurship is booming in the U.S. Gen Zers are leading the way.

Young Americans, tired of working for others and boosted by AI, are driving a surge in new businesses.

Possession review – a nightmarish plantation drama with a divisive paranormal twist

Gugu Mbatha-Raw is a lawyer sent to Jamaica to get to the bottom of a mystery about an inheritance. What unfolds is an evocative story packed with horrors, past injustices – and a supernatural element that you will rate or hate

What do you do when a client worth £50m – thanks to family ownership of a Jamaican sugar plantation upon which a modern fortune was built – pops his clogs and is unexpectedly revealed to have cut his only child out of his will, leaving the lot to a hitherto unknown “African national” called Cudjoe East? Why, you call in your firm’s (likely only) biracial lawyer, Claudia (Gugu Mbatha-Raw), to go over to Kingston, find him and discredit him as soon as possible. “Sounds like a job for a partner, really,” replies Claudia and, promotion thus secured, duly heads out for her mother’s homeland. She may wish, before we are very far in, that she had gone for senior partnership instead.

The planter’s house is one that has been appearing to her in recent nightmares that have been full of fires, terrified figures and strange symbols. But! She is a woman of the law, not superstition, so she sets the screaming Afro-gothic warnings aside and gets on with searching the house for anything that could suggest the pro-Cudjoe will is invalid and questioning the locals for any clue as to where Cudjoe himself might be. Her late client’s driver Angelo (Jeff Crossley) tells her that he introduced the pair about six months ago when his boss wanted to learn more about local history. Angelo assures her that she will not be able to talk Cudjoe into giving up his legacy.

Possession aired on Sky Atlantic and is available on Now in the UK and on Binge in Australia on 27 August

8/6: The Takeout with Major Garrett

Rep. Haley Stevens discusses her primary loss to Abdul El-Sayed; President Trump denies reports of U.S. munitions shortages.

Iran aims to ban U.S. and Israeli ships from Strait of Hormuz and charge others a toll

Iran's parliament is reviewing a plan to ban ships linked to the U.S., Israel and other "hostile countries" from transiting the Strait of Hormuz. The Trump administration has rejected the plan.

Airbnb stock soars 12% on earnings and revenue beat, strong guidance for third quarter

Airbnb said it's seeing strong demand "across all regions", contributing to the company's better-than-expected forecast.

Sen. Mitch McConnell says he's left rehab, will work from home

"On the advice of my doctors, I'll maintain an intensive regimen of physical therapy from home during the state work period," the 84-year-old McConnell said.

A look at 'Operation Country Roads,' West Virginia's ICE operation

Earlier this year ICE arrested 600 immigrants over a two week period. Most migrants had no criminal records and, since then, West Virginia has decided to not hold ICE detainees in their jails. A look at West Virginia post Operation Country Roads.

American Airlines will stop upgrading elite flyers to business from coach on long domestic flights

American Airlines will no longer give elite frequent flyers free upgrades from economy class to business on some of its longest domestic routes

The July jobs numbers are due out Friday. Here's what to expect

Nonfarm payrolls are expected to post a gain of just 83,000 with an unchanged unemployment rate at 4.2%.

Australia’s best sustainable architecture for 2026 – in pictures

This year’s finalists for the National Architecture awards’ sustainability category include a compact Canberra housing development and the largest commercial use of hempcrete in the country.

Architecture ‘holds a mirror up to who we are as a society – what we value, what we’re willing to invest in, what we want to leave behind,’ says Adam Haddow, the chair of the jury for the awards. ‘The architects on this list … [have] designed buildings built to last, not just physically, but in the way they’ll continue to serve people long after the ribbon is cut’

• Australia’s best apartment designs for 2026 – in pictures

Mitch McConnell announces discharge from rehabilitation center

Republican, 84, absent from Senate after fall that led to hospital stay, says he will continue recovery at home

• US politics live – latest updates

The Republican US senator Mitch McConnell has been discharged from a rehabilitation center following the fall that left him hospitalized, he announced on Thursday.

McConnell, 84, whose weeks‑long absence from Capitol Hill fueled mounting speculation about his health, said he will continue his recovery at home.

Analysis: Trump treats Fed Chairman Kevin Warsh as an ally. That creates economic risks

Trump's reported phone calls to the Fed chairman will complicate his efforts to prove he will act independently on inflation and interest rates.

Millions of children could lose free school meals this fall, experts say

Some families could face an additional $2,200 in food costs this year if their kids lose access to free school meals, according to one estimate.

Sticky or slippery? Snails can change their slime to meet the moment

Snails are slimy. But there's more to that goo of theirs than meets the eye. It's a fact that may help inspire the creation of new materials.

Trump administration to pay German firm $1.22bn to cut offshore wind leases

Agreement with RWE is fifth deal Trump team has made with energy companies, offering payouts to give up projects

The German energy company RWE has reached a $1.22bn deal with the US government to relinquish its offshore wind leases and instead redirect funds towards fossil fuel investments.

The agreement marks the fifth deal the Donald Trump administration has struck with energy companies, offering payouts in exchange for abandoning renewable energy projects and redirecting investment towards fossil fuels.

The park service says Trump's arch would obstruct historic sites. Could it be moved?

President Trump's proposed arch in Memorial Circle would intrude on dozens of nearby sites, says the National Park Service. But there's been minimal discussion of alternate locations.

Senate eyes deal to leave for recess as agenda items pile up

The Senate is searching for a deal to speed up consideration of a number of priorities, including a measure to fund the government and Todd Blanche's confirmation as attorney general.

TikTok creator Sydney Towle, who shared cancer journey, dies aged 26

The creator documented her battle with rare bile duct cancer, inspiring more than a million followers online

Sydney Towle, a TikTok creator who shared her battle with stage 4 cholangiocarcinoma, or bile duct cancer, with over a million online followers, has died at age 26, her family announced on Thursday.

Towle gained fame for her posts about her life as a spirited young woman who encouraged her TikTok followers to rethink how a cancer patient might look and live.

Tour de France Femmes: Reusser stays ahead as Le Court savours stage win

• Mauritian rider outsprints Kerbaol and Pieterse

• ‘Winning a stage in a Tour de France is very special’

Marlen Reusser retained the overall lead in the Tour de France Femmes from rival Demi Vollering after another broiling stage through central France saw Kim Le Court take the second Tour stage win of her career in Tournon-sur-Rhone.

The Mauritian rider Le Court recovered from a mechanical problem earlier in the stage on the climb of the Col de Lalouvesc to join the day’s breakaway group and outsprint Cédrine Kerbaol of France, and Queen of the Mountains classification leader, Puck Pieterse.

Puerto Rico to begin water rationing amid record drought in San Juan

Residents of San Juan and neighboring communities have been without reliable water for more than 100 days.

Matt Gutman tells his own scam story amid a recent uptick

Online scams have ramped up in the last few years, with more advanced artificial intelligence playing a big role. CBS News correspondent Matt Gutman shares his own story about how he nearly fell for a scam.

The Guardian view on Italy’s new far-right party: the rise of a rogue general | Editorial

The early success of Roberto Vannacci’s National Future sends an ominous signal as extreme politics become normalised

When a serving Italian general published a far-right tract in 2023 entitled The World Turned Upside Down, a disciplinary inquiry swiftly followed. Roberto Vannacci’s text was a sustained exercise in bile and bigotry, attacking among other things the “normalisation” of homosexuality, and questioning whether a high-profile black volleyball star could really be considered Italian. The controversy sent the book into the bestseller charts, and its author was suspended for bringing the army into disrepute.

A year out from Italy’s next general election, Mr Vannacci is a problem not for the military but for the country’s prime minister, Giorgia Meloni. Now a member of the European parliament, in February he exploited his notoriety to found National Future, a political party which argues that Ms Meloni’s coalition government has sold out its far-right supporters through not being extreme enough. The “true right”, according to the former paratrooper – who once served as a military attache in Moscow – should be pro-Putin and anti-Ukraine, anti-EU, and committed to restoring the “cultural homogeneity” of Italy through the expulsion of immigrants and their descendants.

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Trump denies US low on key munitions in war with Iran after reports of shortages

President’s comment come after report he had demanded answers from Pete Hegseth over alleged shortages

• Middle East crisis live – latest updates

Donald Trump has lashed out at reports that the US is running short of key munitions in its war with Iran, threatening long prison sentences for officials who leak information about the military’s weapons stocks.

The US president claimed on Thursday that the US had “massive amounts” of ammunition and said more was being manufactured and shipped to the region, as his frustration over the conflict spilled into a public attack on the media.

US federal judge halts order for Trump to turn over financial records to BBC

Judge issues temporary pause while he considers Trump’s request to revise his libel lawsuit against BBC

A federal judge has temporarily halted an order requiring Donald Trump to turn over detailed financial information about his business empire to the BBC as part of an ongoing libel lawsuit.

US district judge Roy Altman issued the temporary pause while he considers Trump’s request to revise and narrow parts of his lawsuit against the BBC over a 2024 documentary that aired in the UK.

Rep. Jim Jordan, House Republicans raise alarms over new South Korean 'fake news' law

GOP members of the House Judiciary Committee on Thursday sent a letter to South Korean regulators raising concerns about a law they say will lead to censorship.

European nations say World Cup boycott is still on, keeping FIFA's Infantino in limbo

A continued boycott of the World Cup poses a big threat to FIFA, keeping President Gianni Infantino under intense pressure to resign.

A new flu vaccine geared to older people is coming soon

The first mRNA-based flu shot to be approved by the Food and Drug Administration will be ready for the upcoming flu season. Moderna, the vaccine's maker

Fox won't renegotiate NFL media rights before current deal expires, CEO Lachlan Murdoch says

Fox has decided not to renegotiate its current TV deal with the NFL until the expiration of the league's opt-out clause in 2030, said CEO Lachlan Murdoch.

The divide between Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk is widening after their latest earnings

As Lilly widens its lead in the obesity race, Novo is still racing to win back market share and restore investor confidence in its pipeline.

Ebola virus behind massive outbreak in DRC could be mutating, officials say

Cases have passed 4,000 and health watchdog plans to go door to door to find patients in major response escalation

The virus causing a massive outbreak of Ebola in the Democratic Republic of the Congo could be mutating, health officials fear, as confirmed cases pass 4,000.

Africa’s public health watchdog said the time for incremental action was over as they announced plans to scale up every aspect of the response and go “door to door” looking for patients.

Restaurant Brands International earnings beat as Burger King's U.S. business soars

Burger King's U.S. business reported same-store sales growth of 8.5%.

DOGE's "wall of receipts" riddled with inaccuracies, GAO says

The Government Accountability Office found that DOGE overestimated its savings, among other issues.

Job cuts plunge to a 2-year low despite AI fears, economic shocks

Layoffs have plunged this year. "Recently laid-off workers are finding jobs as fast as the economy is creating new ones," one economist said.

SpaceX stock could face further pressure as first batch of shares unlock since IPO

With the first tranche of SpaceX shares held by insiders unlocking, the stock could see downward pressure.

US Senate panel votes to hold Fauci in contempt of Congress over Covid hearing

Anthony Fauci’s lawyer condemned the vote from the Republican-controlled committee as a ‘crude political stunt’

• US politics live – latest updates

A Republican-controlled US Senate committee voted to hold Dr Anthony Fauci in contempt of Congress after the veteran public health official repeatedly pleaded the fifth amendment to parry a hostile inquisition into his stewardship of the response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Fauci, the former director of National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (Niaid), who led the agency for 38 years before retiring in 2022, gave the same response to dozens of questions while refusing to give clarifying answers during a tense hearing last week, citing his constitutional protections.

Where the Trump administration's lawsuits seeking voter data stand

The Justice Department has filed lawsuits against 30 states and the District of Columbia in an effort to force them to hand over their unredacted voter rolls containing voters' sensitive information.

Leipzig drone bomb was found near Ukrainian plane carrying ammunition, say police

Germany investigating whether foreign state involved as minister says ‘ripped’ detonator stopped device going off

• Europe live – latest updates

A catastrophe with multiple casualties was possibly narrowly averted by the discovery of a drone carrying explosives at Leipzig airport, German officials said, as they examined whether a foreign state could be behind the plot.

One of the Ukrainian aircraft next to where the bomb drone was found was loaded with military ammunition, according to a classified police report quoted by the public broadcasters WDR and NDR and the Süddeutsche newspaper.

Tech barons dream of human colonies on Mars – but I can’t think of a worse place to die | Jordan Prosser

Humans love to do stupid things to reach far-off places – but even the wildest frontiers on Earth have at least the possibility of a return home

Like hoverboards, teleportation or smart glasses that don’t make you look like an absolute twat, space colonisation is a technological advent long-promised but as yet undelivered. Before Neil Armstrong even set foot on the moon, the US military was envisaging a long-term lunar outpost. The cost proved prohibitive and the Apollo missions came and went, amid ever-decreasing television ratings. By the mid-1970s, the general consensus was that we’d been there, done that and bought the commemorative ashtray.

Besides, why shoot for the moon when you can travel an extra 228m kilometres and colonise Mars instead?

I am sometimes overwhelmed by feelings of nostalgia. Is this a bad thing? | Leading questions

There’s a difference between longing for the past and assuming it was better, writes advice columnist Eleanor Gordon-Smith. The trick is knowing which you’re feeling

• Read more Leading questions

Is nostalgia a negative emotion? I often feel nostalgic these days. It is a background noise that I am trying to ignore.

It was especially present during the pandemic, when my nostalgia seemed to spread into a species of grief for lost places and activities. I find myself thinking sadly about places I won’t be able to visit for a very long time.

By day five of my labour, I didn’t want an ‘ideal birth’. I only wanted to survive | Natalie Morris

Yvette Cooper’s maternity reforms must change a system that too often fails women when they’re at their most vulnerable

On the third day of being in labour with my first child, I entered a new state of being. It was time to dig deep. This is what I had learned in all the childbirth classes. As long as I remained calm, breathed as instructed, moaned through the pain, things would happen as they were meant to. My body knew what it was doing. Only, it didn’t.

On the fourth day, I started to beg. This wasn’t right. Despite contraction after relentless contraction, I wasn’t dilating. I hadn’t slept, I couldn’t even sit down. I needed help. And still, they waited. For what, I never understood.

Natalie Morris is the author of Mixed/Other: Explorations of Multiraciality in Modern Britain

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Springboks and All Blacks flex financial muscles with ‘Greatest Rivalry’ tour

Throwback series rekindles memories of the past, but the focus is very much on realities of the modern game

Just in case you were unaware that the series between South Africa and New Zealand, styled as Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry (RGR), is a “tour like no other”, the Springboks have just unveiled a jersey to prove it. “A jersey like no other” to be worn four times and then consigned to history.

The RGR, though, kicks off with a looming legal battle in South Africa in the background over the series’ commercial identity and the unauthorised use of its branding. And you thought sporting romance was dead.

Uefa maintains World Cup boycott still stands despite Fifa’s backing for Infantino

• European body says Fifa statement ‘changes nothing’

• Fifpro condemns ‘profound abuse of presidential power’

Uefa has doubled down on its threat to boycott Fifa-run competitions and reiterated its loss of confidence in Gianni Infantino’s presidency.

The latest damning intervention from European football’s governing body came as criticism of Infantino continued to rain in from several angles. The global players’ union, Fifpro, condemned “a profound abuse of presidential power” while the South American confederation, Conmebol, usually a strong Infantino ally, was moved to chastise “repeated unilateral actions taken without resorting to dialogue”.

FDA approves Moderna's mRNA flu vaccine after initial pushback

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved a new seasonal flu vaccine from Moderna that uses mRNA technology, the drugmaker announced.

More adults are living with their parents now than during the pandemic. Here's why.

A record number of U.S. adults are moving back in with their parents. Dr. Gail Saltz, a psychiatrist at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital and Weill-Cornell Medical College, and CBS News business analyst Jill Schlesinger explain what's behind the trend, and how to make it work.

India-Bangladesh relations hit new low over exiled PM’s speech to press in Delhi

Dhaka accuses India of giving platform to a ‘convicted genocider’ by allowing Sheikh Hasina to address journalists

Bangladesh has lashed out at India for allowing the ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina to address journalists in New Delhi, plunging already strained bilateral relations to a fresh low.

Dhaka accused India of giving a platform to a fugitive it labelled a “convicted genocider” and of undermining efforts to repair ties, after Hasina vowed to return to Bangladesh in December despite facing a death sentence on charges of “crimes against humanity”.

Greetings from a wildlife park in central Sri Lanka that's a haven for elephants

At a time of increased conflict between elephants and humans, as elephant habitats are converted to intensive agriculture, the Hurulu Eco Park is a place where the animals can graze unimpeded.

Thirst by John Robins audiobook review – an ex-drinker’s darkly funny journey

The comedian and broadcaster narrates the heartfelt and at times self-lacerating account of his relationship with alcohol

A memoir chronicling the comic and broadcaster John Robins’s life in alcohol and his subsequent path to sobriety, Thirst is structured around the drinks that changed his life. There’s the bottle of Jacob’s Creek wine left out on a kitchen worktop which he helped himself to at the age of seven, secreting it into his orange juice, and the beer given to him at scout camp which he drank alone. There’s also his stomach-churning recreation, while on a comedy tour of Australia, of the white russians drunk by the Dude in The Big Lebowski using a gallon of milk, a litre of vodka and a bottle of Kahlua.

As an adult, Robins, who is best known for his shows on Radio X and on BBC5 Live, romanticised pubs, which he saw as places of peacefulness and refuge. He even co-hosted the podcast The Moon Under Water where he invited guests to describe their ideal pub. Robins reveals that what kept him drinking for so long was the lie that he was in control. That he could, on occasion, get through a Dry January convinced him he couldn’t be an addict, although he got a wakeup call when a GP told him to “sort your fucking life out”.

Throwing Muses frontwoman Kristin Hersh: ‘I was compelled to make music after cracking my skull open’

The alt-rock veteran answers your questions on Buddhist time travel techniques, duetting with Michael Stipe, and her autobiographical new album

Do you think Throwing Muses would have sounded different were it not for your bicycle accident? [Hersh was struck by a car when she was 16, resulting in a concussion that changed the way she heard sound.] Bhafc99
Yes. I think people might have liked us more, but we would have been more forgettable. Our songs were not very marketable. They came from a place of such utter honesty that it was difficult for us to become a band with an image, ambition or direction, which plays well on a human level, but not on a corporate one. Some people hate our music; they can’t deal with it because it’s triggering [emotionally], which I get.

I was compelled to make music after cracking my skull open and then my life was very upsetting. But at the same time, I had real listeners. If you happen to come across a song that resonates with you, then it’s yours – you can ignore the musician who played it, because they were just the messenger.

Chipotle removes jalapeños linked to Minnesota salmonella outbreak

The restaurant chain said it pulled the peppers and replaced them with product from another grower amid a food-poisoning probe.

Trump voter pleads for fiancée's release after ICE arrest: "They're destroying families"

"They are picking up law-abiding citizens. They're destroying families, jobs," said a Texas man who regrets his vote for President Trump after his fiancée, an immigrant from Venezuela, was detained by ICE.