The idealism of the Esperanto movement, a plague of flies and a clinic in a deep salt mine

Need something brilliant to read this weekend? Here are six of our favourite pieces from the last seven days

The final hit: Is Glasgow’s 25-year gruesome gangland feud finally over?

The double assassination of two Scots in the Costa del Sol may have ended the war between the Lyons and the Daniels – but the crimes haven’t gone away

It was a warm evening in Fuengirola on the Costa del Sol last year when two Scottish men met a violent end.

The punters of Monaghans seafront bar had barely finished watching the Nations League final on 8 June when a car pulled up outside. A masked gunman emerged and headed to the table of 46-year-old Eddie Lyons Jr, shooting him at point-blank range. The assassin turned the gun on Lyons’ friend, the bar’s owner Ross Monaghan, 43, but it jammed.

Blind date: ‘I joked we should join the young people for a club night. We didn’t’

Richard, 63, a communications consultant, meets Katrina, 60, a GP

What were you hoping for?
Easy conversation with someone interesting, smart and relaxed.

Noma restaurant prepares to reopen under new leadership after abuse allegations

World-class venue puts renewed focus on staff wellbeing under new head chef after René Redzepi stepped down and apologised for his behaviour

The Copenhagen restaurant Noma – often ranked among the world’s best – is preparing to reopen next week under new leadership for the first time since its star chef and co-founder, René Redzepi, stepped down amid accusations of physical and psychological abuse.

The new executive head chef, Pablo Soto, who has worked at the restaurant for nearly a decade, said while it remained “the same Noma” there had been some significant changes. Along with a new, evolving monthly menu to replace its previous seasonal one, he said there was now a heightened focus on enabling employees to live full lives.

Building for 131°F: Europe races to protect its infrastructure from a ‘quiet catastrophe’

A summer of weather extremes and severe infrastructure stress has prompted companies and policymakers across Europe to respond.

‘We stared into an abyss’: the heroes battling to tame France’s ‘megafire’

Exhausted firefighters wage ‘war of attrition’ against blaze that forced 200,000 people from their homes

By noon it is time for a break. The temperature is about 35C, the smell of ash, cinders and burnt wood hang acrid in the air. At tables laid out in the shrinking shade on the desiccated grass and sand outside the sports centre in Le Porge, 200 men and a handful of women have gathered. Firefighters, soldiers, police, gendarmes, officials, first aid teams, foresters and volunteers sit elbow to elbow, plates of sausages, steak and potatoes in front of them.

The village was evacuated just over 14 hours after the “megafire” – as it has become known in France – broke out 6km away last week. The blaze has consumed 42,000 hectares (104,000 acres) of mainly forestland west of Bordeaux. Though finally contained, there are outbreaks every day, pushing to the limit emergency services and the hundreds of amateurs who have come to their aid.

‘Who could have done this?’ Mystery over Briton found dead in a suitcase in Athens

Greek police throw entire homicide division at trying to explain fate of 38-year-old Elisabeth-Jane Ross

Two worlds separated by sheets of corrugated iron: one, a tree-lined road, bordered by a park and the home of Greece’s oldest sports club; the other a wasteland of derelict buildings and graffiti-covered walls in what was once a car park.

It is here, on the wrong side of the divide, in Kypseli, a neighbourhood in central Athens, that the body of Elisabeth-Jane Ross was found, inside a suitcase last month.

ECB official warns climate crisis poses growing threat to ‘core financial stability’

Exclusive: As wildfires rage, Frank Elderson says more work needed to assess risk from collapse of ecosystem services

A senior policymaker at the European Central Bank has said the climate emergency and the breakdown of nature poses a dramatically growing risk to the global economy.

Frank Elderson, a member of the ECB’s executive board, said the eurozone lender of last resort was stepping up its monitoring of the financial risks linked to the destruction of “ecosystem services”, which are nature-related processes or assets that support human activity.

Ukraine war briefing: Kyiv missile attack kills at least nine as Zelenskyy seeks attack role for Starlink

Donald Trump retreats further from commitment to let Ukraine manufacture its own Patriot missiles. What we know on day 1,620

Kyiv was once again under attack by ballistic missiles early on Saturday with at least nine people killed, according to emergency services. “Fires and destruction occurred in five districts of the capital,” the state emergency service posted, adding that another 23 people were wounded in the attack. It came as Donald Trump retreated further from a promise to let Ukraine manufacture its own Patriot air defence interceptors, which it desperately needs to shoot down Russian missiles.

More than a ‌dozen explosions reverberated through Kyiv, and residents were warned to stay in shelters. Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Friday urged Trump and other US officials to help Ukraine gain permission from Elon Musk to use satellite internet service Starlink for guiding strikes inside Russia. Zelenskyy made the request directly to Trump during an Oval Office meeting this week, according to one person familiar with the matter. He also reportedly told lawmakers later on Capitol Hill that he wanted Starlink’s help. Trump did not commit to Zelenskyy’s request. Musk allows Starlink use within Ukraine, including Russian-occupied areas, but restricts it inside Russia.

During a cabinet meeting at Camp David, Trump told reporters that handing over the underlying Patriot technology was “a hard thing” to do. Ukraine’s Zelensky had met Trump earlier this week and said Trump had agreed to license the production of Patriot missiles to Ukraine. Asked whether he was ready to grant Kyiv a licence to build Patriots domestically – something he had suggested at a Nato summit in Turkey just this month – Trump said: “We have not agreed to that. We’re talking about it, but it’s a hard thing to give away that kind of technology.” Giving away the weapons carried its own risks, he added: “People that you give that technology [to], they can some day turn on you. You know that is possible.”

Several thousand Ukrainians rallied in central Kyiv on Friday, angry about Zelenskyy’s decision to ⁠oust the defence minister, Mykhailo Fedorov. Fedorov is ​widely credited with driving military innovation during Ukraine’s war with Russia. But having taken charge of the wartime ministry in January, he was dismissed in a surprise government reshuffle ⁠in mid-July. Since then, Ukrainians have been gathering next to the presidential office, pushing for Fedorov to be reinstated as he refused to accept another government post.

Russia’s main grain lobby group warned on Friday that Ukrainian drone attacks on Russian ships and ports could shut down grain exports via the Black Sea, pushing up ⁠prices and causing hunger in ⁠Africa and the Middle East. Russia, the ​world’s largest wheat exporter, and Ukraine, also a large agricultural exporter, have been attacking each other’s facilities and vessels in the Black Sea area in recent weeks, driving wheat prices higher. The disruption to shipping in the Black Sea ⁠caused by Ukrainian attacks “poses a direct threat to global food security”, Russia’s Union of Grain Exporters and Producers told Reuters.

Ukrainian drone attacks on Russian online retailer Wildberries amount to “acts ⁠of terrorism” against civilians, affecting millions of people in Russia and other countries, the company’s founder ⁠and CEO, Tatyana ⁠Kim, ​complained on Friday. Ukraine has attacked more than a dozen Wildberries sites since 18 July in ⁠a bid to disrupt the operations of the company, a vendor to the Russian war effort and linchpin of Russia’s consumer economy.

Singapore bans Massive Attack for showing Palestinian flag, breaching ban on foreign emblems

Two members given ‘stern warnings’ after concert and barred from returning, with band also excluded from performing in Singapore again, say authorities

British trip-hop band Massive Attack has been barred from performing in Singapore after an investigation found two members unfurled a Palestinian flag during a concert, police said.

Singapore, known for its tough laws on public speech and assembly, bans the open display of all foreign flags, national emblems or banners without a permit.

‘Just the tip of the iceberg’: how a Bali run club reignited tourist tensions on holiday island

Accusations Indonesians were being excluded deepened a sense of frustration held by some residents on the island

When Annisa Rahmadani posted online about being rejected from a social running club in Bali, she expected a few sympathetic comments. Instead, her story went viral, prompted national politicians to weigh in, immigration authorities to intervene and ultimately, the club’s Dutch organisers barred from Indonesia.

“I had no idea it would get that big,” said the 34-year-old university lecturer from the Indonesian city of Bandung. “But it seems it was just the tip of the iceberg.”

FIFA scraps controversial deal to sell stakes in World Cup to private investors

FIFA abandoned a plan to create a commercial venture and then sell stakes to minority investors, just days after unveiling it. The plan drew sharp condemnation — and a boycott from European nations.

FIFA scraps its World Cup investment plan after backlash

FIFA is shelving a controversial plan that would have allowed for billions of dollars in private commercial investment in the World Cup after the proposal was met with fierce opposition from its member nations.

Gianni Infantino, Fifa and the week that rocked the football world

Ultimately doomed plan for sale of commercial rights to World Cup caused chaos with Uefa, AFC and Concacaf leading the opposition

• Infantino confirms plans have been scrapped

It has been a week that has rocked football. The news caught everyone by surprise. When reports first emerged on Tuesday afternoon that Fifa, world football’s governing body, was to launch a vehicle to control the commercial rights to the World Cup, and would sell a stake of this company to investors, even members of the central decision-making body, the Fifa Council, hadn’t known about it. But it was equally the case that the story – first broken by the Times – caught Gianni Infantino, the Fifa president, unawares. Fifa were rushed into announcing a plan they had wanted to keep under wraps for longer, and in the full glare of global media interest.

Bessent ‘to-do’ list shows proposal for US to buy $5bn-$10bn of Japanese yen

Treasury secretary’s notepad, photographed by Reuters on Friday morning, prompts questions over US plans

During a cabinet meeting at Camp David on Friday, the US treasury secretary Scott Bessent carelessly revealed plans for the US to buy $5bn-$10bn ⁠in Japanese yen in a scribbled “to do” list left visible to a Reuters photographer.

The image, taken over Bessent’s shoulder during a portion of the meeting open to journalists, showed a Camp David notepad with the underscored words “To Do” followed by “Buy Japanese Yen (JPY) $5-10 bil”.

A timeline of Nancy Guthrie's disappearance as search stretches on

Savannah Guthrie's mom, Nancy Guthrie, was reported missing Feb. 1.

Fifa scraps proposal to sell off stakes in World Cup after widespread backlash

• Gianni ⁠Infantino issues statement on controversial plan

• ‘This proposal will not proceed,’ confirms Fifa president

Gianni Infantino’s proposal to sell chunks of the World Cup to private investors has sensationally collapsed, with the Fifa president admitting the project “has created divisions of a nature that are no longer of the interest of the objective”, amid widespread anger globally.

The plan had caused ructions within football around the world, leading Uefa to threaten a boycott of future Fifa tournaments if it was not shelved. Other confederations had also come out in opposition while one of Infantino’s senior advisors, Carlos Cordeiro, resigned on Friday in protest at the scheme. The Fifa chief operating officer, Kevin Lamour, had also aimed a scathing rebuke at Infantino’s “serious lack of respect” in seeking to force it through with minimal consultation.

After a stranger gifts a boy with autism a piano, he dazzles the world: "He's Mozart level"

Back in 2023, a stranger gifted a boy with autism a piano after seeing his story on the local news. Now, the stranger is more like family, and the boy is dazzling the world with his music. Steve Hartman goes "On the Road" revisiting Jude's story.

U.S. probing if Iran was behind cyberattack on water systems in 7 states

Malicious cyber activity affected technology at water systems in at least seven states this week, including Minnesota, leading authorities to dig into whether Iranian actors are behind the attack, CBS News has learned.

DOJ to dismiss Reflecting Pool vandalism charges, citing "botched installation"

Federal prosecutors moved to dismiss an indictment charging U.S. Olympic canoeist David Hearn with ripping the bottom of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, saying the damage was caused by "botched installation and not vandalism."

DOJ drops case against former Olympian accused of damaging Reflecting Pool

The U.S. government dismissed the felony indictment against David Hearn, the former Olympian accused of damaging the Reflecting Pool of the National Mall.

Trump blames Minnesota cyber attacks on its governor, not Iran

President Trump took his Cabinet meeting on the road to Camp David on Friday, where he downplayed cyberattacks on Minnesota water systems that U.S. officials suspect were linked to Iran. Nancy Cordes reports.

Extended heat wave risks lives, increases fire danger and drought

The heat that baked the South earlier this week moved west under a so-called heat dome. More than 70 million people are under alert for life-threatening heat conditions. Jason Allen reports from Oklahoma City.

Nancy Guthrie ransom notes are released, including message saying she died

One of the notes threatened to kill Nancy Guthrie if a multimillion-dollar ransom wasn't paid in a week. The second, a few days later, says, "She is buried in nature now."

Both ransom notes in Nancy Guthrie case released by police

For the first time, the Pima County Sheriff's Office released a pair of emails allegedly sent by Nancy Guthrie's kidnapper, who said she had died shortly after she had been abducted. Tom Hanson reports.

U.S, Israel planning harshest attacks yet on energy-related sites in Iran, sources say

The U.S. and Israel are planning the most significant strikes yet on Iran's energy infrastructure, multiple sources say. President Trump has threatened this multiple times in recent months. Margaret Brennan has more details.

Prosecutors move to dismiss Reflecting Pool vandalism case, saying 'botched installation' to blame

The government had accused David Hearn of ripping a piece of sealant after a $14-million renovation. Hearn has repeatedly said that he simply touched the water in the pool out of curiosity last month.

Pilot ejects from F-35B jet crash near San Diego marine base, officials say

Unidentified pilot of F-35B fighter jet receives treatment for non-life-threatening injuries after crash near Miramar

An F-35B fighter jet crashed near a US Marine Corps base in San Diego on Friday morning, sparking a small fire that first responders doused.

The pilot, who has not been publicly identified, sustained non-life-threatening injuries, according to a statement from the Marine Corps Miramar air base. “The pilot ejected, was transported to a local medical facility in stable condition for evaluation and treatment of non-life-threatening injuries,” the Marine Corps said in an updated statement.

Justice department moves to dismiss its charges against Olympian over reflecting pool

Lawyers now say damage to pool liner attributed to David Hearn instead is result of installation by contractor

The justice department has moved to dismiss a criminal case charging former Olympian David Hearn with deliberately damaging the Lincoln Memorial‘ reflecting pool, instead blaming damage to the pool liner as “the result of flawed installation by the contractor”.

Government lawyers said in a 20-page court filing in DC superior court on Friday evening that they had received information about a “rush to complete the project prior to events associated with the America 250 celebration in the weeks surrounding Independence Day 2026”.

7/31: CBS Evening News

Sources say the U.S. and Israel are planning major attacks on Iran; the Pima County Sheriff's Office reveals Nancy Guthrie ransom notes.

Nearly 1 in 4 Americans want CEOs to "stop being greedy," survey finds

New poll explores what people wish corporate leaders understood about economic life in the U.S. today.

Trump appeals order that slammed his IRS lawsuit and referred his lawyer to bar

Trump had sued the IRS for $10 billion over the leak of his tax information by an agency contractor.

Lawyer for Rep. Miller's ex-wife files for restraining order amid abuse claims

The ex-wife of GOP Rep. Max Miller asked a court to issue a restraining order blocking Miller from contacting her lawyer, as the Ohio congressman faces allegations of abuse — which he denies.

Brother of slain cartel leader "El Mencho" pleads guilty to U.S. drug charges

Antonio Oseguera Cervantes worked for cartels with his brother Nemesio Rubén Oseguera Cervantes, the drug lord known as "El Mencho​," according to federal prosecutors.

Georgia Hunter Bell outruns Odira to win Commonwealth Games 800m gold

• Hunter Bell clocks 1min 59.51 to beat world champion

• Win secures full set of major medals for English runner

There are late developers in sport, and then there is the brilliant Georgia Hunter Bell, who continues to defy sporting gravity at the age of 32.

And on Friday night under the Glasgow lights, she gave a tactical masterclass to outwit – and then outpace – the 800m world champion Lilian Odira and complete her set of global medals.

7/31: The Takeout with Major Garrett

President Trump holds Cabinet meeting at Camp David; 7 states report cyberattack on water systems.

FIFA tests the limits of private equity in sports with World Cup subsidiary sale

UEFA and Concacaf's rejection of FIFA's plan to sell a 20% stake in the World Cup's commercial operations highlights uneasiness with private equity in sports.

New York sues Kalshi, alleging it enables illegal gambling

A growing number of U.S. states are seeking to crack down on prediction markets, but face pushback from federal regulators.

Climate adaptation at its limits, says one scientist

A climate scientist says Earth is "passing the limits of adaptation" when it comes to withstanding the effects of climate change.

Drone delivery helps in Rwanda, but only so much

A U.S. company in Rwanda has been providing medical supplies via drone. But even state-of-the-art technology can't overcome a weak health care infrastructure.

Alphabet, Amazon and Microsoft added nearly $1.5 trillion in combined value this week

Amazon, Microsoft and Google added hundreds of billions of dollars to their market caps, while Apple and Meta saw their market valuations fall.

Dwindling cash and soaring memory costs: Tech's AI buildout has ballooning price tag

Amazon, Alphabet and Tesla all reported negative cash flow in the latest quarter, while Meta's cash generation plummeted by 91%.

F-35 fighter jet crashes near San Diego Marine Corps base, sparking fire

An aerial photo shows a smoking F-35 fighter jet next to scorched vegetation in a field at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar.

Arsenal’s title defence: keeping tired players fit and the Vinícius question

Key players have piled up extra minutes at the World Cup and signing Vinícius Júnior would smash their wage structure

After beating MK Dons 3-0 in a training-ground friendly last weekend, Arsenal truly begin their pre-season programme against Girona on Saturday evening. It marks a return to action for the Premier League champions, who will want to show their success last season was not a one-off.

Retaining the English title is incredibly difficult if you are not Manchester City. No other club has done it since Manchester United won three in succession from 2007 to 2009. Chelsea have done it once, Liverpool have not managed it for more than 40 years, and it is the best part of a century since Arsenal retained the crown. Mikel Arteta faces a sizeable challenge.

‘It ain’t the same’: inside the bitter battle to free Ben & Jerry’s

Ben Cohen says his ice-cream company has been silenced by corporate ownership – and a boycott of Magnum brands could force a sale

Ben & Jerry’s ice-cream in the tub is still great, but the brand’s newest chocolate-covered ice-cream bar on a stick?

“It ain’t the same,” Ben Cohen, the company co-founder, told the Guardian. Sure, the chocolate coating is still thick enough, but the ice cream itself is “kinda fluffy”, Cohen said – an insult in the ice-cream world that suggests extra air was added to cut costs.

Gavin Newsom reveals personal income of $1.7m-$2m in tax return release

California governor and wife, Jennifer Siebel Newsom, release 2022-2024 filings amid Trump investigation

Gavin Newsom and his wife made from $1.7m to $2m annually from 2022 through 2024, and paid about half a million a year in federal and state taxes, according to tax returns released by his office.

The California Democratic governor’s office released more than 700 pages of tax filings spanning four years for reporters to review, offering a window into Newsom’s finances as he prepares to leave office and considers a 2028 presidential bid. Newsom’s office did not release returns for 2025, because the couple filed for an extension and will complete those returns in October.

Analysis: Markets heard a dovish Kevin Warsh. The Fed chairman's own words suggest a rate hike

Investors saw Warsh’s press conference as dovish, but a closer reading of the Fed chair's prepared remarks suggests he may be close to raising interest rates.

GM to launch proprietary in-vehicle AI system later this year

General Motors plans to launch a proprietary in-vehicle artificial intelligence system that's better tailored for its customers later this year.

Families sue Meta, Snapchat, TikTok, YouTube over deaths of 4 teens

The families of four children who died by suicide allege that using social media led to depression, anxiety and other mental health problems.

Inter make new approach to Liverpool for Curtis Jones with £30m offer likely

• Italian champions willing to raise offer for midfielder

• Jones only has one year remaining on contract at Anfield

Inter have made another approach for Curtis Jones and are willing to raise their offer for the Liverpool midfielder to €35m (£30m). The Italian champions had a €25m bid for the 25-year-old rejected in June by Liverpool, who value their homegrown player at closer to €40m.

Intermediaries representing Inter have made fresh contact with Liverpool this week and outlined their willingness to go to €35m for a player who has only one year remaining on his contract at Anfield. Whether Liverpool accept that sum is doubtful, but a deal for Jones to leave his boyhood club does appear to be edging closer.

High court clears way for clinical trial giving puberty blockers to children

Legal challenge to King’s College London research study claimed it could harm participants but was rejected

A clinical trial of drugs that can delay puberty can go ahead after a high court judge threw out a legal challenge on Friday.

Campaigners had launched the attempt to halt the planned research into puberty blockers, to be run by researchers at King’s College London (KCL), on the grounds that they believed it could harm the children taking part.

At least 57 people die as tens of thousands cross to Spanish enclave of Ceuta from Morocco

Pedro Sánchez decries ‘violation of territorial integrity’ as other EU countries criticise Madrid over incident

At least 57 people have died trying to reach the Spanish enclave of Ceuta after as many as 50,000 migrants entered the tiny territory from Morocco in what Spain’s prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, called “a violation of Spain’s territorial integrity”.

The huge influx, which took place over the course of just 24 hours, overwhelmed the city of 85,000 people, triggered a political crisis for Madrid and led to a mixed reaction from other EU countries, including calls for Spain to be suspended from the Schengen free-movement zone.

Google pauses AI satellite images, after fears of deepfakes in the sky

Journalists, human rights advocates and open source analysts recoiled in horror at the initial decision: "The opportunities for abuse and disinfo are literally boundless," said one.

Burnham risks first revolt as PM over apparent support for North Sea drilling

Labour MPs fear No 10 team lack up-to-date energy insight and don’t fully recognise voters’ climate concerns

Andy Burnham was told he could face the first revolt of his premiership as Labour MPs and climate experts condemned his apparent support for renewed drilling for oil and gas.

As the UK suffers through drought, fires and heatwaves, the prime minister gave the strongest indication yet on Friday he was minded to allow new drilling. His comments came just hours before the UN secretary-general warned “every new fossil fuel project” made heatwaves more dangerous.

3 states would face Colorado River water cuts under federal plan

Arizona, California, and Nevada would take less water from the Colorado River under a federal proposal to stave off a crisis in the river.

Washington Post’s opinion editor resigns after just one year in role

Adam O’Neal did not give reason for his departure at end of August in another major shakeup at US publication

The Washington Post had realized a state of relative calm in the five months since the paper was turned upside down in February, when nearly half the newsroom was laid off and its unpopular publisher, Will Lewis, abruptly resigned.

But on Friday, staffers were shocked to find out that Adam O’Neal, a millennial hired last year to lead its opinion section, was already leaving.

Netflix sued for allegedly losing unreleased Nicolas Cage movie

A lawsuit alleges that a drive storing a $45 million spy film starring Nicolas Cage was "stolen right off a Netflix desk."

Tour de France Femmes under pressure to reroute Ventoux stage amid wildfire risk

• Authorities want stage altered if risk is ‘extreme’

• 2025 champion Ferrand-Prévot faces sterner challenge

The Tour de France Femmes is facing pressure to reroute part of its key stage to the summit of Mont Ventoux next Friday because of the wildfires threat in Provence.

The women’s Tour, which begins in Lausanne on Saturday, is expected to keep the famous climb to the top of the “Giant of Provence”, but the current routing of the stage through the Ventoux’s foothills could be affected.

BP puts North Sea oil and gas business up for sale

Move will end six decades of production in area, as new CEO tries to simplify company and cut debt

• Business live – latest updates

BP has put its North Sea oil and gas business up for sale as it looks to end six decades of production from the basin.

The firm announced on Friday morning it had launched a formal process to market its North Sea business for a potential sale. The move comes as BP’s new chief executive, Meg O’Neill, tries to simplify the company and cut its debt levels.

The week around the world in 20 pictures

Wildfires in Europe, Russian missile strikes in Lviv, a tornado in Wisconsin and Spencer Tunick in Spain – the past seven days as captured by the world’s leading photojournalists

As Warsh’s Fed faces pressure to act on inflation, these indicators show it’s at its lowest in years

Trimmed mean measures are painting a different picture than the headline numbers.

Mahershala Ali on Marvel’s collapsed Blade reboot: ‘If they wanted to do it, we would’ve done it’

Two-time Oscar winner was to take on role of vampire-hunting antihero but said project is no longer happening

The two-time Oscar winner Mahershala Ali has confirmed that his Blade reboot is no longer going forward.

The star of Moonlight and Green Book had been attached to play Marvel’s vampire-hunting antihero in 2019. The role had originally been played by Wesley Snipes in three films between 1998 and 2004.

The Guardian view on England’s centralised state: Andy Burnham must unbundle it | Editorial

Devolution should finance transport, skills and industry, not become a rightwing contest to promise the largest tax giveaway

That England is among the rich world’s most centralised countries underpins Andy Burnham’s critique of the economic history of the past 40 years. Only post-communist Europe deindustrialised as rapidly as Yorkshire and the Midlands did in the 1980s. Centralisation did not close every factory or pit, but left regions without the powers, finance or institutions to cushion the shock or build a resilient, replacement economy. Hence Mr Burnham’s radical and welcome plan to unbundle English government.

There are three facets to his devolution programme. The first are the detailed and concrete proposals contained in a cabinet paper Mr Burnham released on Friday. This appears to be a blueprint to create a decentralised state organised around mayors as the key regional economic actors, while jointly governed pan-regional agencies could emerge, say for transport, energy, investment and industrial systems, that cross mayoral boundaries. Regions without mayors will get a chance to have one – or limit themselves to weaker powers.

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.

Will Trump be Burnham’s undoing, or the making of him? The answer lies in Europe | Jonathan Freedland

In an increasingly dangerous world, our European neighbours are finding safety in numbers – but Britain is on the outside. The new PM’s task is to change that

There is an orange cloud in the sky. I’m not referring to the wildfires ravaging parts of Europe and East Anglia, though they are connected. I mean the looming pall from across the Atlantic that threatens to spoil the sunny start to the premiership of Andy Burnham – and whose name is Donald Trump.

Burnham’s first 10 days or so in office have gone about as well as he or any of his team could have dared hope. His net approval rating has risen by 17 points, according to one early poll, gaining ground with every category of voter except supporters of Reform UK, though they too like some of what they see. His easy manner, no-notes speech-making and agility on social media have won plaudits, including from a usually sceptical press.

Jonathan Freedland is a Guardian columnist

HIV prevention drug could reduce cases globally but USAID cuts prevent access, say experts

Injectable PrEP drug holds promise but investment in HIV prevention has declined dramatically worldwide

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New innovations in HIV prevention could dramatically reduce the number of new HIV cases around the globe, but US foreign aid cuts will mean that those that most need the new medication will be unable to access it, according to experts at the Aids 2026 Conference in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

One year ago, the World Health Organization recommended that governments around the world prioritize expanded access to lenacapavir, an injectable version of the HIV prevention medication PrEP that requires only two injections annually. PrEP, which also comes in the form of daily oral medications and bimonthly injections, is 99% effective in preventing sexually transmitted HIV for people who take it consistently.

Tony Romo on leave from CBS Sports after arrest

Romo was arrested in Wisconsin last week, accused of operating a vehicle while intoxicated.

Glen Hansard obituary

Oscar-winning singer, songwriter, actor and founder of the Dublin rock band the Frames

Glen Hansard, who has died aged 56 in a motorcycle accident, was one of Dublin’s musical heroes – a one-time busker who became an Oscar-winning international star, successful both as a singer-songwriter and as an actor.

He had already built up a local reputation busking regularly on Grafton Street, Dublin, when he decided to form a band, the Frames, along with other musicians he had befriended on the streets.

‘He lived here a long time, so it feels poignant’: Nick Cave thrills Brighton passersby with secret rooftop gig

Prior to playing huge outdoor show in city’s Preston Park, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds set up on a record shop balcony – and play to fans visiting from across the world

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds’ only advertised UK live performance of 2026, a show in Brighton’s Preston Park, arrives with other events across the city attached. The Duke of York’s Picturehouse cinema is hosting a weekend-long Nick Cave takeover, featuring films curated and introduced by the singer-songwriter. There is a pop-up shop replete with exclusive merchandise, and a postbox where physical letters can be sent to The Red Hand Files, the website Cave started in 2018 where he answers fans’ questions on topics ranging from faith and grief to his favourite brand of hair dye (L’Oreal, apparently). Even the announcements at the train station have been changed: arrivals are temporarily greeted by the sound of Nick Cave welcoming them to Brighton.

All these have been well-publicised, but judging by the crowd gathering in Kensington Gardens, a narrow pedestrian road in North Laine – not far from Jubilee Street, the subject of a Cave song – word also seems to have leaked out about a theoretically secret event: a live performance on the roof of Resident Records, which is hosting the two-day Nick Cave pop-up shop.

Can Trump’s Hamas disarmament plan work and will Israel agree to withdraw from Gaza? - The Latest

Donald Trump has declared a breakthrough in negotiations over the disarmament of Hamas in Gaza and the withdrawal of Israeli forces, but IsraelI government officials have voiced scepticism over the deal.

Lucy Hough speaks to Julian Borger, the Guardian’s senior international correspondent

Hobbies can improve your health – here are four tips for choosing one

From sea swimming to painting, doctors are ‘prescribing’ hobbies – but you don’t need a doctor’s note to get started

In 2020, the year Amanda lost her mother, husband, job and pre-pandemic normalcy, she was diagnosed with major depressive disorder. “My life was just spiraling down and down and down,” she says.

To help with her symptoms, in addition to an antidepressant prescription, Amanda was given a “social prescription”: a referral to a non-medical, community-based activity, typically involving movement, nature, art or service. Amanda lives near Devon, England, and became curious about sea swimming after reading about its health benefits and watching other women do it at her local beach all year round. When she told this to her mental health nurse, she was prescribed a spot in Chill Therapy, an eight-week course that teaches swimming, floating and breathing techniques to build skill and confidence navigating the open water.

Canelo Álvarez prepares for his return to the boxing ring

Boxer Saúl "Canelo" Álvarez spoke exclusively to "CBS Mornings" about his return to the ring, building his career and his future in the sport.

Amazon hikes 2026 capex to $220 billion due to higher memory costs

AWS sales expanded 37% year over year, which trounced analysts' expectations for 31% growth.

U.S. investigates potential Iran link to water system cyberattacks

Investigators are examining whether Iran was involved with a series of cyberattacks on water systems in Minnesota and other states. Nicole Sganga reports.

Amazon says it got $600 million in Trump tariff refunds and will pass return along to some customers

The company previously hadn't disclosed whether it would recoup tariff costs after the Supreme Court ruled many of President Donald Trump's levies were illegal.

What does protest look like in 2026? | Fiona Katauskas

You could say we’re in a polycrisis

• See more of Fiona Katauskas’s cartoons here

On tour with the Beastie Boys, Sonic Youth and Foo Fighters: raw music documentary captures Australia’s ‘best summer’

In 1995, US film-maker Tamra Davis travelled to Australia to capture the one-off Summersault tour on her camcorder. Thirty years on she has made The Best Summer, an intimate snapshot of an era that can never be repeated

There are only a few shots in Tamra Davis’ documentary The Best Summer that were filmed this century. They’re the very first ones: shaky footage of a clattering box of videotapes being loaded hurriedly into a car boot as Davis evacuated her home in Malibu during the Palisades fires last year. Almost everything else in the film was in that box, forgotten for nearly three decades, a time capsule of a one-off tour of Australia and Asia featuring some of the most influential musicians of the 80s and 90s.

Summersault, pulled together by twentysomething promoter and future Modular Records founder Steve “Pav” Pavlovic, brought Sonic Youth, Pavement, the Beastie Boys, Bikini Kill, Beck and more to five Australian cities over new year’s 1995/96. It had started as Pav booking a Beasties tour that snowballed as the bands – many of them close friends – liked the sound of a break down under.

Iran strikes tankers under US escort in Hormuz strait as Trump gathers cabinet to discuss war

Energy prices have soared again since fighting between US and Iran resumed two weeks ago as conflict spreads across Middle East

Iran has said it struck two tankers trying to pass through the strait of Hormuz under the escort of the US military as Donald Trump gathered his cabinet to discuss the stalling war and rising prices as midterm elections in the US loom.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said on Friday that the “non-compliant oil tankers … were struck and brought to a halt, while four other oil tankers quickly changed course and returned to their previous positions”. The military body said the ships had tried to pass through the strait via an “undeclared route” and under US aerial escort.

Keeping cool without AC: Our readers share their tips

We asked our readers to tell us how they've fended off heat without the refrigerant blasts of an air conditioner. Here's what they shared.

Fed officials who voted to hike rates say action is needed now against inflation

Kashkari and Hammack joined Dallas Fed President Lorie Logan in dissenting against holding the Fed's key overnight borrowing rate steady.

OCTROT heated blankets and throws recalled after fires and injuries

Chinese-made electric bedding poses "risk of serious injury or death," according to U.S. product safety regulators.

Here comes the alt-bride: wedding gowns enter a more experimental era

Celebrities including Charli xcx and Gabbriette and avant-garde brands honour tradition while also rejecting it

If a wedding day brings to mind a bride dressed in a big white dress, the styles coming down the aisle in the near future may strike you as a little different. Whether it is through celebrity references, or new brands, wedding gowns are entering a more experimental era.

For Charli xcx’s marriage to the 1975 drummer George Daniel last year, the bride wore a minidress and sunglasses.

In Nebraska, Americans begin to lose Medicaid under Trump's work rules

Nebraska's Medicaid director, in an exclusive interview with nonprofit news organization Tradeoffs, said roughly 200 people will lose health coverage on Aug. 1.

State department to offer Trump-branded US passports nationwide

Passports with the president’s portrait, previously only available in DC, will be offered at 27 agencies nationwide

• US politics live – latest updates

Americans outside the nation’s capital will soon be able to get limited-edition passports that feature a picture of Donald Trump and celebrate the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States, the state department announced.

The department’s 27 passport agencies nationwide will start offering the special travel documents next month. They previously had only been available at the Washington DC passport office for in-person applicants.

A World Cup with no participants – it could be Gianni Infantino’s boldest move yet | Marina Hyde

You’ve got to admire the Fifa president’s chutzpah in trying to flog off football’s greatest prize. If only Uefa wasn’t being so pesky about it all

Imagine a plan so distasteful that even the Americans and a Middle Eastern nepo-royal football boss can’t be doing with it. Such is the status of Fifa president Gianni Infantino’s scheme to sell off stakes in the World Cup to private investors. More historically, perhaps, the 55 nations that make up Uefa have reacted to this horror show by voting unanimously to boycott Fifa tournaments, including World Cups, if Infantino presses ahead. That would mean Spain and Portugal boycotting their own men’s World Cup next time around, which you’d think – not to call it too soon – would come off as slightly bad vibes.

A testing moment, then, for the haunted cue-ball. Again. Can it really already be time to turn to Infantino once more, even after he appeared in this spot only on Tuesday, after his 15-page Instagram crash-out about his haters? Yes. Yes, I’m afraid it can. Demanding the federations of the world sell off the World Cup to some fund led by Donald Trump’s son-in-law’s brother will regrettably draw attention to you in ways that will prove difficult to control. As indicated, the Fifa president’s plan has contrived to appear vulgar to the North American confederation, Concacaf, as well as the Asian Football Confederation (AFC).

Marina Hyde is a Guardian columnist

Why undercover footage exposing lobbyists raises concerns for journalism – video explainer

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

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

In a statement, CT Group said: 'We do not comment publicly on work we do for clients and we therefore cannot respond to the specific allegations you have made.' CT Group said the events had been 'deliberately mischaracterised' and it did not engage the undercover journalist to do anything and did not pay him anything. It said the journalist was looking for work and 'chased us relentlessly over a period of more than six months'

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

Franco Baresi was not only the captain but the moral heart of great Milan team

The late centre-back defined an era of Italian defending and his collection of honours is eternal proof of his class

There are very few players who become bywords for their position, who enjoy universal acclaim. But for anybody who watched football in the late 80s or early 90s, Franco Baresi was the central defender. He was unsurpassed, obviously the best in his position in the world, the definition of the art of the defending. The oddity is, he really wasn’t like very many other defenders at all.

Baresi had just turned 19 when he won his first scudetto at Milan under Nils Liedholm. It was 1979 and Italian football was still dominated by the ideals of catenaccio. Most defences comprised a libero, two man-markers and, if you were lucky, an attacking left-back. But not Liedholm’s. The Swede was a pioneer in Serie A of zonal marking, and the idea that the game was not a series of physical battles but a question of space. Baresi was only 5ft 9in and a teenager. More traditional coaches might not have trusted him. But Liedholm saw an impeccable reader of the game, even at that age. Baresi was an ever-present, not only in the league but in the Coppa Italia and Uefa Cup as well.

Alien erotica, football coaching and making Meryl Streep cry: Ted Lasso’s new star Tanya Reynolds opens up

She lit up screens as Sex Education’s steamy sci-fi writer, wowed Streep in the West End and now she’s starring in the return of TV’s feelgood footie hit. The star talks about pretending to be sporty – and why she’s a total cheese string

By the time its third season came to an end in 2023, Ted Lasso was a Big Deal. The cosy comedy about an indefatigably positive American football coach gee-whizzing his way into the hearts of a London football team had won 13 Emmys and racked up more than 25bn minutes of viewing.

Contributing exactly zero minutes to this staggering stat was Tanya Reynolds, who joins the series in its fourth season as Ted’s assistant coach, Alice.

‘Change is happening! I can cut off my hair and misbehave’: Vicky Krieps on rage, rebellion, and rejecting Hollywood

After her star turn in Phantom Thread, everyone expected a move to Tinseltown – but the actor embraced indie European films instead. It’s because of a lifelong instinct to be bold, she says

Back when she was a rising actor, Vicky Krieps had her fill of people telling her what not to do. When she got pregnant in her 20s, she was advised not to have the baby as it would derail her career, but she did it anyway. When, after playing a fashion designer’s muse in Paul Thomas Anderson’s Phantom Thread, she went back to making low-budget French films, she was, she says, “actually laughed at. It just seemed absurd to these people that I would turn my back on Hollywood and invest so much energy and passion in something that wasn’t giving me money.”

Yet Krieps’s determination to forge her own path has reaped rewards. For the last decade she has had one foot in the Hollywood mainstream, appearing in Fede Álvarez’s The Girl in the Spider’s Web and M Night Shyamalan’s Old, while keeping the other firmly in independent cinema where she has freedom to experiment. Krieps also does her utmost to avoid the pantomime of red-carpet events. On the occasions she does make an appearance, she will stick out her tongue or give photographers the finger. “I always smile when I’m doing it. But I’m telling them: ‘Guys, this is really ridiculous and the shouting is a bit much. Just talk nicely to me.’”

Digested week: As wildfires rage, should I buy a helicopter or marry a guy with a bunker?

Plus, train toilet roulette, an astonishingly stoic hiker and the tradwife paradox

As I read the headlines about Europe on fire, and imagine – or is it true? – I can smell smoke from the Suffolk wildfire encroaching on a nuclear power facility a county away from me, I’m remembering the wisdom of a friend who told me years ago that she wasn’t aiming to buy a house but a helicopter. “Because,” said Sarah, gesturing around us, “it’s going to be no good trying to get across flood waters or dusty plains or great drifts of virus-ridden corpses. You’re going to need to go up.”

Trump announced a deal for Hamas to disarm. And, the U.S. economy slowed a bit

President Trump says a deal has been reached for Hamas to completely disarm and Israeli forces to withdraw from Gaza. And, the U.S. economy slowed some, but Americans continued to spend.

The Tech Download: Anduril CEO Brian Schimpf talks AI in warfare and manufacturing push

CNBC's Arjun Kharpal sits down on The Tech Download podcast with the defense company chief.

Release schedule: when to wee and when to wait during this summer’s biggest movies

With run-times hitting three hours, you will probably need to take a bathroom break during this season’s blockbusters. Here’s a handy guide for your urination calculations

• ‘An intermission is a must’: why Greek cinemas are adding a loo break to The Odyssey

You will almost certainly need to urinate during Christopher Nolan’s epic. Do not make the same mistake I did, and sneak off after the big cyclops setpiece. You might assume that the plot will relax after this, but you will be wrong. If your cinema’s toilet is as far from the screen as my cinema’s, you will end up missing most of the Trojan Horse section. Much better would be to cling on until after the horse, because then you’ll only miss the Laestrygonians. These are the giants depicted on the film’s poster but you pretty much get the gist of the scene from the poster anyway.

‘A universal human story’: Clean Start’s thought-provoking tidying sim tells immigrant’s tale

Playing as recent arrival Lena, your challenges include learning a new language and uncovering family secrets – its developer hopes it will spread ‘a little more compassion’

The cosy house-sorting sim has become a much-loved staple of the PC indie scene. Titles such as Unpacking, A Little to the Left and Momento charm players with their detailed interiors and quiet narratives of lives lived and shared within the same four walls. For Clean Start, Polish developer Serious Sim has taken a different approach – here you play as domestic cleaner, Lena, an immigrant who has arrived in an unspecified western country with little knowledge of the local language, and a family to support back home.

From here, you’re tasked with cleaning a series of houses and apartments, polishing tables, tidying shelves and scrubbing muddy pawprints from kitchen floors. It seems you’re able to rearrange the rooms, giving them a personal feel, which is after all one of the most pleasing elements of the genre. You can also, we are reassured, pet the dog.

What we’re reading: writers and readers on the books they enjoyed in July

Max Porter, Daisy Johnson, Avni Doshi and Guardian readers discuss the titles they have read over the last month. Join the conversation in the comments

I recently read Gaining Ground by Joan Barfoot. It’s one of the best novels I’ve ever read about what it means to live with others, or decide not to; what we owe the people we love, the natural world, and ourselves. I also really enjoyed Robert Frost, by Robert Frost and Stacy Skolnik. It’s not that Robert Frost; it’s an itinerant young American Robert Frost who jots down his thoughts and observations on homelessness, food, value, music, drugs, the philosophical wastelands of contemporary life, and Stacy Skolnik has turned them into these delightful, oddly profound, poems. Also, coming soon, End Times Fascism by Naomi Klein and Astra Taylor. Everyone should read it. It tells us exactly what’s going on.

The best recent poetry – review roundup

Small Birds Singing by Matthew Welton; The Channel by Jana Prikryl; Stepmother by Helen Mort; Drunken Driving by Martina Evans

Small Birds Singing by Matthew Welton (Carcanet, £12.99)
Written in unrhymed couplets that shrink and grow across the page like a concertina going through its scales, Welton’s poems focus attention on the city through the seasons: weeds through concrete, wasps emerging from the gaps between bricks, frozen towels on a clothesline, the shadows of jackdaws on a lawn. His gaze is neutral, and it often falls on that which we’d normally turn away from, things slightly out of place, or that disturb our sense of propriety: “more cardboard in the recycling bin / than the recycling bin can contain”. This is a poetry of things, like the poetry of Francis Ponge, but as Welton says: “no thinginess without thought”. Welton’s thoughts – though whether they are his or whether they emerge from his surroundings or from the act of writing itself, it is impossible to say – are couched in deliciously riddling couplets: “it is not the habit of patterns / to emphasise the pattern of habits”. He reminds us forcefully that poetry is all around us and within us, that anything can go in a poem: a sandwich, a desiccated lump of duck shit, the pile of junk left outside a house during a refurbishment. Poems can mirror our world in all its messiness, and in doing so let us see it a little bit better.

The Channel by Jana Prikryl (Faber, £12.99
The casual violence of King Lear, the greed, the bureaucracy, and the indifference to human life, make the play particularly resonant to contemporary audiences. In her fourth collection, Prikryl channels the voice of Cordelia to think back through her own family story of displacement from the Czech Republic. Shakespeare’s Lear becomes “a document of fact / of things that happened and keep happening”, enabling Prikryl to explore her own separation from friends and family and her experiences of migration, where home is nowhere. In Dover Calais a ferry trip to France is meshed with the story of Cordelia’s exile, morphing into an account of a ferry disaster which in turn cuts to a scene where refugees make for shore in small boats: “Waves / unreal, and driving rain, the two-year-old / left face-down on a beach nine years ago / came up for me”. Like the scissored-off hospital undershirt in In the Mould, Prikryl’s language cuts off, ending abruptly: “or was the famous sweetness / of grandmother a bluff / which through and through was too”. This rewiring of the sentence creates dazzling leaps of thought, jumping from refugee camps to Shakespeare’s Fool battling with a tsunami of text messages to dissident window cleaners out of the novels of Milan Kundera to tender moments shared with her father. It’s a bold “stepping out of form” that turns its back on the neatness of the lyric, and by doing so creates a new poetic language which, like the language of Calvino in Invisible Cities, is able to connect everything to everything.

Ryan Gosling is entering the Marvel Cinematic Universe – on a motorbike, in flames, wearing a leather jacket. What could go wrong?

After coveting the role for years, Gosling has been announced as the new Ghost Rider – a superhero stunt rider with powers bestowed by Satan. Is this a smart move all round or has he sold his soul to the devil?

Steven Spielberg once said: “If a person can tell me the idea in 25 words or less, it’s going to make a pretty good movie.” And Marvel’s most popular big-screen superheroes can be described using less than half that number. Iron Man is a tech bro in a tin suit; Spider-Man has the powers of an arachnid; Thor is a Norse god. Go and watch a film featuring any of these characters and you know exactly what you’re going to get.

But then there is Ghost Rider, who, according to reports from San Diego Comic-Con last week, will be the subject of a new Marvel Cinematic Universe film directed by Deadpool & Wolverine’s Shawn Levy, and starring Ryan Gosling. There is no quick way to explain what is going on with this guy. In the 1972 origin story, stunt motorcyclist Johnny Blaze sells his soul to Satan to save his adoptive father from cancer. The cure works but its beneficiary is killed almost immediately. The devil then tries to claim Johnny’s soul and, when that fails, binds him to the demon Zarathos. This, if Christopher Marlowe is to be believed, ought to result in corruption, despair and eternal, fiery damnation. Yet somehow our hero emerges from the arrangement with a cool flaming skull, vast supernatural powers and a motorbike capable of riding up buildings and across dimensions. Blaze regards the whole arrangement as a curse, but to the casual observer his principal penance is to roam the Earth passing judgment on people more wicked than he is, while looking good in a leather jacket.

Iran targets strategic U.S. assets in Kuwait, Bahrain after Egypt drone attack

Iran's army said it launched attacks on strategic U.S. assets and military bases in Kuwait and Bahrain.

‘If a space is cared for, everything improves’: Meet four gardeners transforming their urban communities

From improving biodiversity to managing antisocial behaviour, the benefits of greening towns and cities are massive. These names are leading the charge…

The importance of green space in Britain’s increasingly urban landscape – from city parks to community gardens and allotments – is unequivocal. Public Health England reports that regular exposure to green space reduces stress and improves wellbeing and physical fitness, while the Natural History Museum has highlighted its value in cooling city infrastructure and reducing pollution. Functional cities depend on functional greenery, yet the upkeep of these vital environments remains precarious. With parks and green spaces classified as non-statutory services, local authorities continue to slash their funding, relying increasingly on volunteer groups to maintain them.

A leading voice advocating for change is John Little of Care Not Capital, a community interest company offering free training for gardeners working in the public sphere so that they can have a greater influence on the spaces they maintain and those who govern them. “Green spaces are not sustainable unless you have someone looking after them,” says Little. “Yet in the public realm, the investment is often about infrastructure – overly designed landscapes and extravagant architecture – and rarely the ongoing care.” Investment in skilled gardeners, he argues, leads to positive outcomes far beyond good horticultural upkeep, from biodiversity increase and climate crisis mitigation to better community engagement and reduced antisocial behaviour.

I study the boreal forest. This summer wildfires came for my home | Julee Boan

Here are things that will – and will not – help us fight the threat of wildfires

I have spent much of my career studying boreal forests and I know fire is part of how they renew themselves. That knowledge did nothing for the lump in my throat last week as wildfires closed in on my community in northwestern Ontario.

Over 150 fires were burning in the region almost at once, displacing at least 1,800 people from more than a dozen communities, most of them Indigenous. Namaygoosisagagun First Nation burned to the ground, its residents narrowly escaping by boat.

Julee Boan is Partnerships Director, Global Nature, International, at the Natural Resources Defense Council

Back in HG Wells’ time machine: the Stephen Collins cartoon

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