Ross Fire still burning, with over 90,000 acres scorched

The wildfire, which has torn through Palo Pinto and Jack counties, forced evacuations, closed roads and disrupted schools.

TUC warns of danger of ‘out of control political spending’ but stops short of backing caps on donations – UK politics live

Union statement comes after Nigel Farage says a Reform UK government would stop unions funding Labour if they block £72m donations to his party

The Liberal Democrats have said that they will try to introduce a cap on the amount people donate to political parties by amending the representation of the people bill as it goes through the Lords.

Lisa Smart, the Lib Dem Cabinet Office spokesperson, said:

We can’t keep playing whack-a-mole with each new attempt by Farage to sell out our democracy.

Labour’s residency requirements aren’t good enough and the Conservatives simply sat on their hands whilst in power. For decades governments of both colours have stood by and done nothing.

The scale of donations made to Reform in recent days is unprecedented in British politics and should deeply concern anyone who cares about the health and integrity of our democracy.

We cannot afford to see the Americanisation of our politics, with out of control political spending, funded by stratospheric sums of crypto and corporate cash. These donations show clearly whose side Reform are on, with crypto billionaires, foreign and powerful corporate interests lining up to pour in eye-watering sums of money to advance their agendas.

Lithuania briefs EU allies after drone shot down by Nato jets overnight – Europe live

Minister says discussions are ongoing on how to strengthen the alliance’s eastern flank after security incidents intensify across Europe, including in Denmark and Poland

Ukrainian foreign minister Andrii Sybiha responded to the incident in Denmark, declaring Kyiv’s “full support” after “unacceptable actions targeting a Danish helicopter.”

“Moscow continues its attempts to destabilise Europe, not just Denmark. Joint and decisive action is required and Ukraine is ready to contribute to all efforts aimed at strengthening the protection of Europe from Russian threats,” he said.

Venice best actress winner says she signed on at Danish job centre days before her victory

Mathilde Arcel, who won the Volpi Cup on Saturday for her role in Golden Lion winner Woman Unknown, said job offers have now begun to arrive

The winner of this year’s best actress prize at the Venice film festival has revealed that she is on unemployment benefits and had to fly to back to Copenhagen to report to the job centre before receiving her award.

On Saturday night, Danish actor Mathilde Arcel won the prestigious Volpi Cup for her first leading role in a feature film, May el-Toukhy’s post-second world war drama Woman Unknown, which also won the Golden Lion award for best film.

David Squires on … a big weekend for controversial calls in the Premier League

Our cartoonist on the English top-flight leading the way for debatable decisions and performative sadness

• Buy a cartoon | Some of David’s favourite works

• And his latest book, Chaos in the Box: get it now

‘The cauldron was already bubbling …’ Green Lung, Druidess and the return of folk horror to British heavy metal

Playing a sound rooted in 80s bands such as Witchfinder General and Pagan Altar, metal bands are once again gravitating towards dark folklore – but in a ‘Glastonbury crystal shop’ kind of way

Behind Tom Templar’s shoulder as we talk over video call is a poster for The Wicker Man, the 1973 cult folk-horror film set on a remote Scottish island, whose sunniness conceals – inevitably – a dark secret. It’s fitting, because Templar is the singer of Green Lung, the breakout British metal band who immerse themselves in British mythology. The forthcoming Necropolitan, their fourth album devoted to the folklore of the isles, takes its inspiration from the “Magnificent Seven” London cemeteries built in the 1830s and 40s, and from the Necropolis railway, which transported the dead out of the city. No generic demons here: this is metal in the spirit of Fairport Convention as much as Black Sabbath.

“My big thesis is that heavy metal has become a form of folk music in the past couple of decades,” says Templar. “They’re both riff-based, circling around similar tropes, and about reinventing what has gone before. Metal even feels like a folk movement, in the way it’s full of festivals no one else has heard of. There’s such a thriving ecosystem.” Green Lung have certainly been nourished by it: at this year’s Desertfest in London, their T-shirts felt like an unofficial uniform.

‘The entire world belongs to Matthew Rhys, and we just live in it’: why the incredible actor broke Emmy records

The star of Widow’s Bay is that rarest of talents – someone who can do whatever he wants and make it utterly believable. No wonder he just made TV history

On Monday night, Matthew Rhys made history. He is now officially the first actor ever to win Emmy awards for lead roles in all three categories: drama, comedy and limited series. To make things even more extraordinary, he won two of those awards in a single night.

In the comedy category, Rhys won best lead for Widow’s Bay, the superlative Apple comedy horror where he stars as an indecisive mayor whose island suddenly plays host to a supernatural haunting. He also won best lead actor in a limited series or anthology for The Beast in Me, the Netflix drama about a property developer who may (or may not, no spoilers) have murdered his wife. Add this to his 2018 win for The Americans and the trifecta is complete. In other words, the entire world belongs to Matthew Rhys, and we’re all just living in it.

She was the Royal Ballet’s first ‘young choreographer’ – Charlotte Edmonds’ next 10 years show how dance is changing

As a teenager, Edmonds had a three-year residency at the Royal Opera House. Her eclectic career – creating NFTs, adverts and films as well as for the stage – reveals a precarious industry moving in new directions

At the age of 18, Charlotte Edmonds was such a promising choreographer (“astonishing”, in the words of the Observer) that the Royal Ballet invented a whole new job for her. As the company’s “young choreographer”, she spent three years learning everything she could at one of the world’s biggest dance institutions. “It’s mad to think that happened,” she says, a decade on.

With that kind of start, you’d expect Edmonds’ career to have followed a predictable narrative, choreographing for the big ballet brands, maybe setting up her own company. But that’s not exactly how it’s gone. Her eclectic portfolio reflects how the dance industry has changed and become ever more precarious, but also expanded in uncharted directions. She has indeed made short works for a number of European ballet companies, but she’s spent more time recently making films, music videos and adverts for the likes of Budweiser and Nike, as well as advocating for artists with dyslexia and launching her own video series, Cameo, in which she interviews female and non-binary choreographers to counter a lack of representation.

Air pollution spiked after the Trump administration stopped embassy monitoring

In 2025, the Trump administration ended a long-running program to collecting air pollution data at U.S. embassies. A new study suggests that led to a 24-33% increase in local pollution levels.

Pentagon inspector general says Iran war has caused weapons shortages

The first-of-its-kind report acknowledges the military's munition shortfall and details some of the losses of American assets so far as part of Operation Epic Fury.

Legend of Destruction review – starry voices grace animated telling of the Jewish revolt against the Romans

Eight years in the making, the innovative film uses painted still images – it’s like being read a graphic novel by a cast including Oscar Isaac, Evangeline Lilly and Elliott Gould

This Israeli animated film has been largely hanging around in limbo since it was finished in 2021 after taking eight years to complete – though this may or may not be due to the international opprobrium that Israel has attracted in the intervening period. It’s actually a rather fascinating film, if oddly told and a bit severe. Legend of Destruction isn’t about the current conflict, taking place as it does in the first century, 66 years after the birth of Christ – although of course, if you squint a bit, parallels with current events are there to be discerned. Revolutions fracture from within, hegemons topple due to their own greedy self-destruction, and in the end ordinary people are the ones who suffer and die as cities burn. Fill in the blanks as you see fit.

Cleaving pretty closely to the known facts as recorded by Flavius Josephus’ The Jewish War and the Talmud, the script by director Gidi Dar and Shuli Rand recounts how Jewish resistance rose up in Judea, particularly in Jerusalem, against the occupying Romans and the reigning Jewish elite, including the Temple’s high priests and queen Berenice of Cilicia (Evangeline Lilly), over excessive taxation. Our protagonist narrator is ordinary schlemiel Ben Batich (voiced in this English language version by Oscar Isaac), who becomes a leader of one faction after he snaps and can no longer agree with the pleas for patience and tolerance from his mother (Marilu Henner) and rabbi uncle Yohanan ben Zakkai (Elliott Gould).

They fought against datacenters. Now they are running for local offices

Across the US, anti-datacenter organizers are harnessing community anger to win local elections

After four months of teach-ins and canvassing, Steven Kung helped Monterey Park, just east of Los Angeles, become the first US city to ban datacenter construction. Now, the organizer is running for city council – and he’s taking on an incumbent who supported the development of the sprawling facility.

“The datacenter coming to my neighborhood turned my life upside down,” said Kung. “I saw that there’s a dismantling of democracy at a local level.”

Kraft Heinz bets on more flavors for Philadelphia cream cheese as it looks to revive brands

Philadelphia will release more cream cheese flavors as part of Kraft Heinz's turnaround.

U.S. auto market predictions for 2030: More hybrids, no Chinese entrants

Despite growing speculation that it won't be long until Chinese autos are sold in the U.S., John Murphy doesn't expect that to happen by 2030.

Oil’s next test: Saudi Arabia races to restore a key safety valve for prices

Analysts warn oil prices could rally sharply if the pipeline remains offline beyond an estimated five-to-seven-day inventory cushion.

Are you outraged by Sydney Sweeney – again? More fool you | Marina Hyde

Today it’s a silly sports betting ad, but I can’t see anything she’s done that’s worth this ire. She’s in her twenties: she does dumb things. Enjoy!

Would it be insanely unfashionable to defend Sydney Sweeney? You may or may not have heard that the Euphoria star has done an ad for a sports betting site. Sorry, I think we still have to call them “sports prediction markets” in the United States, which only recently popped its legalised sports betting cherry, and is behaving like a complete teenage boy about the whole thing. Anyway, among other poses, the ad features a naked Sydney holding a couple of American footballs over her breasts, which are – and I feel she would want us to acknowledge this – seriously among the very best in Hollywood. Maybe THE best. Listen, it is what it is. Life would be very boring if we couldn’t say so with a twinkle.

Forgive me. Life is, in fact, very, very boring, because yet another Sydney Sweeney-advertising-centred firestorm has been ignited by this ad. (Last year, some lunatic genuinely suggested her “good jeans” American Eagle ad was something to do with white supremacy and eugenics.) Her latest product endorsement has drawn the ire of a cascade of female athletes, who have described it variously as demeaning women’s sport, sexualised representation of athletes, and “a kick in the face to every woman who has dedicated her life to perfecting her craft, [and] every woman who enjoys sports for what it really is – teamwork, friendship, dedication, excellence, unity”.

Marina Hyde is a Guardian columnist

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The Breakdown | Meg Jones leads the call to provide fertility support for rugby players

The Red Roses captain says nobody should have to choose between their career and having a family

The introduction of funding for egg freezing and wider fertility treatment in women’s football has started a wider discussion about fertility in women’s sport with the Red Roses captain, Meg Jones, shining a light on the topic in rugby. The Spanish football federation and Chelsea have both announced financial support around fertility recently and Jones has said it is something the Red Roses should “jump on too”.

On the Good, the Scaz and the Rugby podcast, Jones described those decisions made in football as “class” before revealing that she and her fiancee, former Trailfinders and sevens star Celia Quansah, have been to get their egg count checked. The admission prompted her England teammate Hannah Botterman to share that she and her partner, the Wales player Georgia Evans, had also been researching their IVF journey.

London snubbed in favour of Nairobi for 2029 World Athletics Championships

• Munich selected for 2031, president Seb Coe announces

• Source in British bid ‘gutted’ at double disappointment

London’s bid for the 2029 World Athletics Championships has ended in failure and heartbreak after it lost out to Nairobi. It marks an historic day for the Kenyan capital as it becomes the first African city to host the global championships.

Seb Coe, the World Athletics president, also announced that Munich would stage the 2031 event, saying it had “all the ingredients to be a spectacular world championships.”

‘We were bored of traditional fantasy cliches’: inside Playground Games’ 10-year effort to revive Fable

The distinctively British RPG is returning courtesy of the makers of Forza Horizon – with comedy talent such as Richard Ayoade and Natasia Demetriou voicing sweary characters. We had our first play and spoke to its developer

When Playground Games was founded in 2010, its objective was straightforward: to make the best cars in video games. Operating out of an unassuming white building in Leamington Spa, the studio sought to challenge Gran Turismo with its critically acclaimed British racing alternative: the acclaimed free-roaming Forza Horizon series. Yet as the team grew, so did their ambitions. Now they are making the most intriguing British fantasy game we have seen in many years.

For those who have never ventured into Albion, Fable is a quintessentially British role playing game. Created by Lionhead Studios for the original Xbox in 2004, it boasted cheeky charm alongside world-altering player choices, and its droll writing was brought to life in later iterations by national treasures such as Stephen Fry and Simon Pegg. Thanks to its unique blend of farce and fantasy, Fable grew into a globally beloved franchise – before Microsoft unceremoniously shuttered Lionhead in 2016, after mandating that the studio turn its star series into a multiplayer game. The result, Fable Legends, was never released.

NATO jets down drone in Lithuanian airspace

The incident came less than a day after NATO leaders pledged that strikes close to the alliance's territory would drive the trans-Atlantic organization to increase support for Kyiv.

Fast, furious and potentially fatal: why are supercars suddenly so popular?

Once the preserve of the ultra-rich, supercars are finding new drivers through rentals, finance deals, influencer culture and the manosphere. But why would anyone want a 200mph vehicle?

‘The £600,000 Lamborghini; that was the first seizure of the operation,” says special chief inspector Geoff Tatman of the Metropolitan police, thinking back to the second weekend of August. “He was stopping at the red lights, revving his engine, waiting for the traffic to clear, then speeding. So on the third time we saw him do it, we stopped him and seized the vehicle.” The car has a top speed of 217mph (350kmh), but the limit on these London streets is 20mph. Over the same weekend, the Metropolitan police seized about 90 more cars with a combined value of more than £8m, an increase on last year’s tally of 72 cars. They were seized for various offences: driving without insurance, driving with incorrect licences or antisocial behaviour. Previously, the Met would have had to let such drivers off with a warning, but the law – section 59 of the Police Reform Act – was strengthened this year to enable the immediate confiscation of vehicles. The seized cars also included a Ferrari Monza worth about £3.4m (the driver only had a provisional UK licence). They were all put on display at Marble Arch, attracting a throng of camera-wielding onlookers (one attender did a seven-hour live blog of the occasion).

Many of the supercars apprehended by the Met in August bore Middle Eastern number plates. It has been a growing trend for car owners from the region to spend summer in London, bringing their cars with them (at a cost of £25,000 upwards). The orange Lamborghini that Tatman seized had Dubai plates. Most of the vehicle owners retrieved their cars the next day after paying fines and presenting the correct paperwork. The Lamborghini driver was subsequently seen driving respectfully and not revving his engine. Lessons were learned, although the question remains: why ship a 200mph car to London to drive in a 20mph zone?

Australia’s Indigenous population estimated at 2.2m before ‘demographic catastrophe’ of colonisation

Study finds earlier numbers were underestimated, suggesting impact of diseases and massacres were much greater than previously thought

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The number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Australia before colonisation was dramatically underestimated, according to new research that suggests many more of them were killed.

Modelling by a national research group puts the population levels before the 1788 first fleet arrived at 2.2 million, compared with early estimates of 250,000 people.

Houseplant hacks: can pothos help new cuttings to root?

The hormone-packed pothos plant might encourage healthy root growth in other cuttings – or it might not. But you’ve nothing to lose by trying

The problem
Propagation can provide never-ending plants, but sometimes you have to wait weeks for something to happen. Anything that speeds up those reluctant rooters is worth knowing about, especially if it’s free.

The hack
According to a popular plant hack, placing a pothos in the same water as other cuttings encourages them to root faster. This is often attributed to pothos releasing auxins – the plant hormones involved in root development – into the shared water.

Get ready for yet another cost when buying a home: Junk fees

Some real estate agents and researchers say home buyers and sellers should not pay this out-of-pocket fee.

For thousands of Haitians in the U.S., end of protected status brings fear, grief and defiance

Haitians in the U.S. lost their Temporary Protected Status under Trump's immigration crackdown. Now facing deportation to a homeland wracked by gang violence, disease and extreme poverty, Haitians in Miami are meeting the moment with grief, anger, and courage.

Supreme Court refuses to allow Trump's mail voting restrictions for the midterms

The Supreme Court has rejected President Trump's push for new mail-in voting restrictions for the midterm election.

AI safety requires more than just slowing our pace | Stuart Russell

Safety requirements are non-negotiable. They depend on meeting concrete goals, not just adjusting a timeline

It has been a week of high drama in AI, precipitated by the resignation of the AI safety researcher Jacob Coxon from Anthropic. This followed several weeks of increasingly lurid and disturbing revelations about the OpenAI/Hugging Face incident.

My inbox yesterday included a message from Business Insider with the subject line: “AI doomsday debate reaches boiling point”.

All the Wrong Moves by Anthony Scaramucci review – confessions of an ex-Trumper

The president’s former press secretary has learned all the right lessons, but how come it took him so long?

The most interesting chapter in Anthony Scaramucci’s All the Wrong Moves is the one where the hedge funder turned podcaster goes to work for Donald Trump. It’s summer 2017, and he’s been given the job of comms director, which he doesn’t know how to do, but he and Trump think it’ll work out because they’re both from New York. Or maybe he took it because he had “Potomac fever”, which afflicts Wall Street financiers who find themselves on the riverfront in Washington DC thinking they know how to run a country just because they’re “full of power and judgmental insight … about to fix everything”.

This appointment lasts only 11 days, not even enough time to be truly tainted by Trump’s first term, though it is enough time for Scaramucci to miss the birth of his son. The account is a mea culpa soup, with the author full of regrets for his hubris, his impulsivity, his “pride, egotism and asinine stupidity”, the fact that, despite the clear-sightedness bestowed by his humble beginnings, he’d come to assume the collective biases of the rich people he hung out with.

Night of the Coyotes review – border-crossing role-play is tourist attraction in struggling Mexican town

Clara Trischler’s absorbing feature sees residents of the small town of El Alberto hired to play characters in a re-enactment of the migrant experience

In contrast to other migration documentaries, which focus on the new life that awaits those who have crossed the border, Clara Trischler’s absorbing second feature trains its gaze on those who are left behind. The suspenseful opening plunges us into a whirl of familiar images: tense whispers in the dead of night as a ragtag group of people stumble, and even crawl, their way towards an unseen border. All of a sudden a blinding light intrudes, guns are fired in the air: a police car has arrived on the scene.

This terrifying sequence of events is later revealed to be make-believe. In the small Mexican town of El Alberto, whose population has been depleted by a steady flow of migration to the US, role-playing re-enactments function as both a means of deterrent and, oddly enough, a tourist attraction. Advertised as Caminata Nocturna – “night hike” in Spanish – these events recruit local residents to perform as specific characters, including the fearsome “coyotes”, AKA human traffickers. The attendees experience the full scale of a border-crossing operation, from being loaded on vans to intimidation from their coyotes, and police interrogation.

Pietersen’s England return is just pure content at a time when cricket needs it | Barney Ronay

While there’s a statistically significant chance it will all go south, KP’s mentorship could be a throwback to better days

At the end of his time as consultant to the England cricket setup Gilbert Enoka praised Brendon McCullum’s incredible work in healing the culture of his team. Enoka is best known as the architect of the no-dickheads policy in sport. This is basically Doctor Dickhead. Dickheads? He’s not having them.

“There wasn’t one dickhead in there,” Enoka announced, proudly. And history has shown this to be correct. All the evidence suggests the numerical value of dickheads in the England cricket team was something other than one. And yes, zero is not one. Fair point. But so are all the other numbers, the ones that go up the other way into plurals, multiples, an infinity of dickheads.

Are Manchester United as poor as the early Premier League table suggests?

Michael Carrick’s side are 13th in the table after four games but, City mitigation aside, several areas need attention

Manchester United are 13th in the Premier League, having taken four points from their first four games: a 2-0 defeat at Hull, 5-2 win against Ipswich, 2-2 draw at Everton and the 1-0 defeat by Manchester City on Sunday. Mitigation regarding the City reverse can be found in the derby coming three days after the Champions League win against Sabah on Thursday, with Enzo Maresca’s side having 48 hours more rest after winning at Porto. So are United, who host Brighton in the Carabao Cup on Wednesday before visiting Fulham in the league on Sunday, as poor as the table suggests?

Ex-CIA chief issued subpoena in Trump 'grand conspiracy' investigation, lawyer says

John Brennan has been subpoenaed to testify before a Florida grand jury in a Justice Department probe into whether former law enforcement and intelligence officials conspired against President Trump.

Trump facing AI backlash in Congress as push for guardrails intensifies

President has dismissed anxieties over AI’s dangerous potential even as Democrats and some Republicans acknowledge risks

Donald Trump is facing a rare backlash from the US Congress as Democrats and some Republicans push for guardrails on the world’s most powerful AI companies.

Concerns over the dangerous potential of AI reached fever pitch this week after tech leaders sounded the alarm over the rapid advancement of the technology and its potential threat to humanity.

What would it take to make India’s cities better – and safer?

After a five-storey building collapsed in Delhi, focus is on how urban areas can adapt to growing populations. Plus, Ahmedabad’s ace newspaper delivery driver goes viral

Recently, I may have saved a woman’s life on the road. Somehow, this was something I had expected to happen.

On that day, I saw a truck leave a construction site with a tangled wire trailing behind. I frantically looked to see what the wire was attached to and spotted the scaffolding a few meters ahead. I shrieked and grabbed the hand of the woman walking in front of me just as the metal pipes came crashing down. We hugged for a brief second, and then walked our separate ways.

The Rouse by China Miéville review – a mighty achievement from the ‘new weird’ author

Twenty years in the writing, this paranormal epic of cold war espionage and family tragedy is a quantum leap in terms of ambition and moral seriousness

China Miéville’s epic new novel is presented as being “20 years in the making”. It is quite a testament to how extravagant – even Stakhanovite – his imagination is that during that period he also produced six novels (including The City & the City and The Book of Elsewhere, co-written with Keanu Reeves), two novellas, two series of graphic novels, a children’s book, a volume of short stories and two works of nonfiction, on the October Revolution and the Communist Manifesto.

It does not mean that these works were, as Graham Greene called The Third Man and Our Man in Havana, “entertainments” – Embassytown, to my mind, is the best translation of deconstructionist philosophy into science fiction – but certainly The Rouse is a quantum jump in terms of ambition, moral seriousness and stylistic bravado. It means that rather than classifying Miéville with “the new weird” or “speculative fantasy”, he ought to be compared to Roberto Bolaño or Mircea Cărtărescu. This new novel is equally maximalist, dense, disorienting and discomfiting, reflecting how surreal our reality seems to have become.

Premature review – sunny charm provides screwball energy for surprise-pregnancy comedy

First-time director Kevin Walls creates a film sweet-natured enough to cancel out some comedy misfires as flatmates Eilidh and Cameron prepare for parenthood

The pram in the hallway is the enemy of good art, or so the famous quote goes. This sunny Scottish comedy, made on a minuscule budget, deals with the bit before the pram, when an art school dropout in her 20s gets unexpectedly up the duff. It’s directed by first-timer Kevin Walls, who gives his film the screwball-ish energy of things being skew-whiffly the wrong way round; a couple are going on their first date at three months pregnant, having a baby at an age most people are putting it off to establish their careers. It’s sweet-natured with just about enough charm to cancel out a couple of thunderously awful comedy moments.

Elle Watson is artist Eilidh, who works as a barista in a museum cafe. She has a friends-with-benefits setup with her flatmate Cameron (James Rottger); he has a job in finance and, after two degrees, a mountain of student debt and years in a mind-numbing entry-level position, he’s finally lined up an interview for his dream job. It would be crazy to have the baby, but Eilidh doesn’t take the abortion tablets. She can’t give Cameron a coherent reason why not; fair enough, it’s her decision, a gut feeling. Walls sensibly doesn’t go anywhere near the pro-choice/anti-abortion debate.

Sweden’s far right is down, but not yet out. Left and centre leaders must seize this opportunity | Cas Mudde

The danger is that other parties just channel the far right – and that will make them vulnerable. Better to fully commit to a progressive agenda

After the previous Swedish general election, in 2022, the leaders of the two biggest Swedish parties made a risky decision. Jimmie Åkesson, the leader of the far-right Sweden Democrats (SD), chose to support the rightwing minority government of the Moderate party prime minister Ulf Kristersson, while Magdalena Andersson, the Social Democrats’ leader, decided to copy the “Danish model” in an attempt to regain power. In both cases, the strategy led to electoral loss but political success.

After the general election in the country on Sunday, the Social Democrats (often referred to as S or Sap), in common with its Danish counterparts, will probably lead the new government despite an electoral defeat, losing roughly 2%, its worst result since 1908. The party’s return to power is purely a result of Swedish bloc politics and the victories of its likely coalition partners: the Left party (V), the Green party and the Center party (C), which all increased their support by 1.5%, 1.7% and 0.4% respectively. Together, this left bloc has a majority of just three seats in the new parliament. So while Andersson will probably return to power, she is also in a very vulnerable position.

Cas Mudde is the Stanley Wade Shelton UGAF professor of international affairs at the University of Georgia, and author of The Far Right Today

Solo autumn walks for women in the UK and Europe: ‘it should be fun, not daunting’

Hiking alone in the countryside can be joyous, but for women it can sometimes feel unnerving. Here’s how to enjoy it safely, plus four stunning routes to walk solo

I did my first solo hike during a sunny September, seven years ago. After a summer of feeding and ferrying four noisy teenagers (and their friends) around, I was exhausted. But despite being bone tired, I had barely moved. I yearned, above all, for time on my own, for the chance to walk without interruption (and at the pace I chose), and for the silence of some empty wilderness.

But I was nervous. Not of being on my own, but of what might happen to me with no one around to help (breaking a bone, encountering a psychopath, being chased by a bull, getting fatally lost). I could have found a companion or joined a group, but my need for silence and solitude outweighed my fears.

Experts quit Lucy Letby’s defence team over ‘scientific credibility’ as public inquiry reports

Some arguments used to challenge convictions are inconsistent with ‘available evidence, science and established physiology’, say two scientists

Two leading experts have withdrawn from Lucy Letby’s defence team over concerns about the “scientific credibility” of some of its evidence.

Separately a public inquiry into the murders will publish its findings on Tuesday. The review, led by Lady Justice Kathryn Thirlwall, is expected to highlight a number of missed opportunities for bosses to intervene after doctors raised the alarm about a spate of unexplained deaths on the neonatal unit in 2015 and 2016. A criminal investigation is ongoing into potential corporate manslaughter and gross negligence manslaughter at the Countess of Chester hospital.

How enslavement became state-backed operation supported by Conservative and Lib Dem forerunners

Tory and Whig MPs were central to funding trafficking of enslaved people and many opposed abolition of the slave trade

There is a British culture of celebrating the abolition of slavery without acknowledging that the country enslaved and trafficked millions of African people for centuries.

The newly published Register of British Slave Traders, which documents the thousands of investors in Britain’s near 250-year trafficking of more than 3 million enslaved African people, shows that it was a state-backed operation, fully supported by both major political parties at the time, the Tories and Whigs – the forerunners of today’s Conservatives and Liberal Democrats respectively.

Rukmiini Iyer’s recipe for mozzarella in carozza – and the leftover crusts | Cook once, eat twice

The love child of a cheese toastie and eggy bread, this fried sandwich makes for an elevated snack or kids’ tea – and the leftover crusts give you ‘bread rosti’ the next day

For an exceptionally luxe snack or kids’ tea, mozzarella in carrozza is your girl. It’s the love child of a cheese toastie and eggy bread – instead of toasting it, you dip the cheese sandwich in egg and fry it. In other words, it’s mozzarella in a fancy carriage. I like to use a combination of mozzarella and mature cheddar for flavour, and while it’s best eaten piping hot from the pan, it’s a good (and filling) lunchbox option for children, too.

They’re the sopranos of the forest, so what’s silencing the gibbons’ morning chorus?

As human development and roads increasingly fragment their habitats, a study suggests traffic noise could be altering the animals’ wake-up call

Dawn has broken, and the air is cool and still. It’s at about this time that gibbons usually erupt into song, wa-oo-ing and wa-ing from the highest branches and filling the tree tops with rich melodies. But in this corner of Malaysian forest, bordered by housing and roads, the resident white-handed gibbons are quiet. All that can be heard is the hum of traffic from a nearby highway.

This isn’t a rare occurrence for this group of gibbons, according to research, which found these particular gibbons, named Mambang and Walinong, appeared to be producing far fewer morning songs than others that are not exposed to the same level of traffic noise.

Houthis seize strategic Red Sea islands as analysts warn of impending oil crunch

The militant group in Yemen captured the islands of Greater and Lesser Hanish, near the chokepoint of the Bab al-Mandab strait

Yemen’s Houthi militants have seized two strategic islands in the Red Sea, reinforcing the Iran-backed group’s ability to control a key shipping route, as concerns mount that the world is facing a new oil supply crisis.

The seizure of the islands of Greater and Lesser Hanish is the latest in the militant group’s swift advance across Yemen’s Red Sea coast, after the capture of the port of Mokha and Perim island in the Bab al-Mandab strait.

‘I believed the hype’: the white South Africans denied refugee status in the US

Drive to save thousands of Afrikaners from false claims of ‘white genocide’ appears to show signs of slowing

When Donald Trump announced in February 2025 that the US would accept Afrikaners from South Africa as refugees, many white South Africans who believed that they were victims of racism in their country thought that their prayers had been answered.

However, in the past few months, dozens of applicants to the refugee programme have been rejected, with many left dismayed and confused as to why they would be left to face what Trump has falsely claimed is a “white genocide” in South Africa.

Ebola outbreak in DRC has peaked, say authorities, as infection rates slow

Almost 3,500 people have died in outbreak and experts say more must be done to ensure Bundibugyo is under control

Authorities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo have announced that the Ebola outbreak ravaging parts of the country has reached its peak.

For the first time since the epidemic was declared in May, the numbers of people becoming infected is slowing down, according to officials.

The wilting rose emoji: what its rise and fall tells us about gen Alpha

It was the fastest-growing emoji in 2025 – but if you’re older than 16, it has probably passed you by. Now, just as twentysomethings are catching up, it’s over

In the 2025 hit Netflix show Adolescence, DI Luke Bascombe’s 13-year-old son, Adam, has to explain to his father the way his generation use heart emojis. “Red means love, purple: horny, yellow: ‘I’m interested, are you interested?’, pink: ‘I’m interested but not in sex,’ orange: ‘You’re going to be fine,’” he explains. “It all has a meaning. Everything has a meaning.”

And those meanings are constantly evolving. Take the skull (), for example, which has come to be used as a reaction for finding something funny – a visual shorthand for the slang phrase: “I’m dead.” Or the wilting rose () which was, according to Google data analysed by the New York Times, the fastest-growing emoji in terms of popularity in 2025 – and was the 93rd most used. That the previously obscure wilting rose is now in the top 100 emojis is thanks to generation Alpha (those born between 2010 and 2024), who use it in place of the broken heart emoji () to signify sadness, or ironically, to suggest mock-heartbreak.

Benedict Cumberbatch on his Earth-saving eco film: ‘We are in the last grab of the extraction era’

From Obama’s chef to a big cat obsessive, the actor has gathered experts from all over the world for a film about how to heal our besieged planet. He talks about naysayers, elephant tusks – and the wonders of venison

Benedict Cumberbatch is dreading stepping outside. He’s speaking to me from his air-conditioned hotel room in Soho at the peak of the summer heat. Few doubt that climate breakdown was a major cause of those scorchers, with nature, farming and water supplies all placed under huge strain. By midsummer, according to a report co-authored by the Met Office, there were 2,700 excess deaths in England and Wales due to the searing heat.

But for Cumberbatch, in a bittersweet way, the record-breaking temperatures have come at a good time. The actor has been on a tour to promote his new documentary, How to Live on Earth. “The irony is not lost on anyone,” he says. “We’re living in the results of climate breakdown so stepping outside is – literally – a call to action.”

Emmys 2026: Widow’s Bay dominates as Matthew Rhys and Jean Smart land historic wins

Rhys becomes first actor to win lead acting awards for different shows in the same night, while Hacks’ Smart is the first woman to win for every season of a show

• Emmys 2026: red carpet looks and outfits at TV’s biggest night – in pictures

• In the Hacks v Widow’s Bay Emmys battle, it’s we – the audience – who are the real winners

• Emmys live blog: as it happened

• Emmy winners: the full list

Matthew Rhys has become the first actor in 78 years of Emmys history to win multiple lead actor awards for performances in different shows in the same year, for Widow’s Bay and The Beast in Me.

The 51-year-old Welsh actor won outstanding lead actor in a comedy for Apple TV’s Widow’s Bay and outstanding lead actor in a limited series for his role in Netflix’s The Beast in Me at the ceremony on Monday night. With his 2018 win of outstanding lead actor in a drama for The Americans, he is the first male performer to win all three lead acting categories.

Who won Emmys for 2026? See the full winners list here.

The 78th Primetime Emmy Awards celebrated the best in television and streaming from the past year on Monday. See the full list of winners and nominees.

Panama canal traffic to be cut again as drought from El Niño worsens

Latest daily reductions will further choke one of the world’s most important shipping lanes

The Panama canal plans to again cut maritime traffic due to worsening drought caused by the El Niño climate phenomenon, further choking up one of the world’s most important shipping lanes.

The canal handles 5% of global maritime trade and about 40% of US container traffic; it is favoured by shippers because it usually reduces cost and transit times, especially for companies trading between China, Asia and the US.

‘This is seriously bold’: How China turned Taiwan tensions into a top-rating TV spy drama

Dismissed in Taiwan as simply propaganda, the Long Watch, or Jiaofeng, has proved a sensation across the strait with its references to real-life crises

After shaking off the people trailing her through a crowded market and emerging from a bathroom in disguise, the double agent appears to have escaped. But a sip of water on a plane eventually gets her. She is poisoned after Taiwan’s military intelligence service discovers that she has been working secretly for China.

The plot comes from a new Chinese spy drama co-produced by the Ministry of State Security. Since its premiere on 6 September, it has become a TV hit, with a fictionalised take on a subject rarely treated so directly: the modern history of tensions with Taiwan.

Supreme court rejects Trump’s mail ballot restrictions for midterm elections

Decision allows states to send ballots under process followed for years even as president tried to limit system

The supreme court on Monday rejected Donald Trump’s mail ballot restrictions for now, capping a flurry of last-minute legal action with voting in the midterm elections already underway.

The decision allows states to continue sending out mail ballots under the same processes they have used for years.

Gavin Newsom says he will not run for president in 2028 if Kamala Harris does

In interview, term-limited California governor said running against former VP would ‘waste everybody’s time’

Gavin Newsom, the California governor, will not run for president if former vice-president Kamala Harris does, he said in a forthcoming interview with CNN.

Newsom and Harris, both from California, are widely viewed as two of the top establishment frontrunners in the coming Democratic presidential primary. Newsom, who terms out this year as governor, has increasingly portrayed himself as a foil to Trump and is widely viewed as positioning himself for a 2028 presidential bid.

Warren to rip Clarity Act on Senate floor ahead of key preliminary vote

Sen. Elizabeth Warren will call the latest Clarity Act ethics proposal blessed by Trump a "weak fig leaf."

Vance says 870K people suspected of COVID-era U.S. fraud barred from federal loans

A U.S. enforcement push, dubbed "Heartland fraud surge," probed losses involving the Paycheck Protection Program and Economic Injury Disaster Loan program.

Vance says those suspected of defrauding COVID-era programs barred from future federal loans

Vice President JD Vance announced on Monday that people suspected of defrauding COVID-era programs will be barred from future federal loans.

EPA to eliminate limits on climate pollution from power plants

The rule, which is expected to face immediate legal challenges, also could prevent future administrations from regulating greenhouse gas emissions from power plants, sources said.

Supreme Court rejects Trump bid to lift block on U.S. Postal Service mail-in ballots rule

Justice Brett Kavanaugh said that applying the U.S. Postal Service rule in the 2026 midterm elections "would be arbitrary and capricious."

70-year-old hiker found after he was missing for a week

A 70-year-old hiker, lost for a week on a large island in the middle of Lake Superior, has been found, after search and rescue teams had nearly given up hope. Mark Strassmann has the story.

Torrential rains slam Connecticut, triggering dangerous flash floods

In parts of the Northeast, Sunday was one of the rainiest days in years, and on Monday, more dangerous storms rolled through the Central U.S. Tornado watches are also posted in Iowa. Lana Zak reports, and Andrew Kozak has the forecast.

Emmys 2026: Here's the list of winners

The Pitt and Widow's Bay took home the top prizes in television at the Emmy Awards on Monday night. And actor Matthew Rhys became the first person to win in two lead acting categories in one night.

It’s a superfood but natto as we know it. Japan’s slimy fermented beans are coming your way

Comprised of smelly soya beans held together by strands of mucus, the ancient dish is appearing in health food shops across the world

It is smelly, slimy and contains bacteria – and a sizeable number of Japanese wouldn’t touch it with a pair of barge pole-length chopsticks. But after centuries as a breakfast food for Japanese diners with nerves of steel, natto is emerging as a global superfood to rival kimchi, kombucha and kefir.

Its exact origins are unknown. Some believe it was introduced to Japan from China by Buddhist monks during the Yayoi period (300BC-AD300), before becoming a staple among rural communities during the Edo period (1603-1868).

Video captures young girl getting run over by truck, miraculously surviving

Surveillance video captured a young girl with her backpack and phone in hand crossing a busy street in Philadelphia. Moments later, a truck appeared to run her over, dragging her under its wheels. Miraculously, she was able to walk away. Cristian Benavides has the story.

Mitch McConnell seen publicly for first time since June

Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky was seen in Washington, D.C., on Monday, for the first time since June. Ed O'Keefe reports.

Don Jr.'s wife says Russian oligarch hosted post-wedding festivities as a "gift"

Bettina Anderson, wife of Donald Trump Jr., said their "dear friend" Umar Kremlev hosted two nights of festivities after their wedding in the Bahamas.

As gas averages $4.31 nationwide, diesel fuel hits all-time high: "It's painful. It's real hard"

Gas prices are running about 15 cents per gallon more than they were just a week ago, and diesel fuel for trucks is now at an all-time high, topping $6 a gallon. The war with Iran is the biggest factor, but President Trump is instead blaming Ukraine. Ed O'Keefe has more details.

Top Trump AI adviser says if China wins AI race, U.S. "will not be the number one country" anymore

Over the weekend, four of America's top tech leaders, including Elon Musk, agreed that AI's development should slow down and called for government standards. President Trump dismissed their calls, and in a CBS News exclusive, one of the president's top AI advisers, David Sacks, reacted. Jo Ling Kent reports.

Pennsylvania woman dies of measles complications, coroner reports

A 40-year-old woman died on Saturday from complications associated with measles, the coroner reported.

Looking back at Bob Mackie's signature looks, life after his death at 87

Bob Mackie, a fashion icon known for elevating Hollywood's leading ladies and pop stars for decades, died on Monday at 87. Meg Oliver looks back on his signature looks and his life.

Democracy indicators in US at lowest levels for 50 years, data shows

Trump administration undermining rule of law at home and worldwide, according to intergovernmental report

Key indicators of democracy in the US have fallen to their lowest levels in 50 years, with the global rule of law significantly undermined by the Trump administration’s “threats and actions”, data from a leading thinktank shows.

Around the world, judicial independence, credible elections and freedom of expression, press freedom and access to justice are all at their lowest levels for at least 30 years, according to the Stockholm-based International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International Idea).

Alligator Alcatraz had cramped conditions, "small metal enclosures," watchdog finds

DHS's internal watchdog is sharply criticizing conditions in a Florida immigration detention center dubbed "Alligator Alcatraz," finding detainees at the now-closed facility were held in "cramped conditions."

Senate returns for final legislative sprint ahead of midterms

The Senate returned to Washington from a five-week recess, with several priorities to address before leaving town next month to take to the campaign trail.

Tech stocks slump after AI execs call for industry slowdown

The tech-heavy Nasdaq slumped 147 points on Monday after AI company executives called for a slowdown in developing the technology.

Blanche vows to release more 9/11 docs: "We're not protecting people"

Attorney General Todd Blanche says the government is not withholding documents to protect another country, days after 9/11 families publicly appealed to the Trump administration for more information to be released.

AI companies must ensure their tech is safe, says top Trump adviser on AI

In an interview with CBS News, Sacks suggested that fears AI could harm people are overblown. "I think this is becoming a panic," he said.

9/14: CBS Evening News

AI executives and President Trump disagree over doomsday warnings; the president blames Ukraine for high oil and gas prices.

Russian oligarch close to Putin paid for part of Donald Trump Jr’s lavish wedding

US president’s eldest child married Palm Beach socialite Bettina Anderson in three-day celebration across two exclusive private islands

• US politics live – latest updates

Donald Trump Jr and his wife, Bettina, confirmed on Monday that a Russian oligarch close to Vladimir Putin partially paid for the couple’s wedding celebrations in May, following a ProPublica report revealing Umar Kremlev spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on the events.

Trump Jr, the US president’s eldest child, married the Palm Beach socialite in a lavish three-day celebration across two exclusive private islands in May.

Mitch McConnell returns to Senate after three-month health absence

The 84-year-old Kentucky Republican is back in Washington after a fall, hospitalization, pneumonia and weeks of rehabilitation kept him away from the Senate.

Ukraine says it's open to halting attacks on Russian energy after Trump's claims of deal

"The World's Diesel price rise is mostly caused by the Russia/Ukraine War, not Iran," Trump said in a social media post.

Mitch McConnell returns to Capitol Hill after monthslong absence

GOP Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky returned to Capitol Hill on Monday for the first time in three months, ending a prolonged absence that sparked widespread speculation about his health.

European football: Inter roar back to beat Udinese 5-3 and join Roma at top

• Inter and Roma lead Serie A, Como move up to third

• Real Betis beat struggling Villarreal in La Liga

Inter fought back ⁠from two goals down ​to beat Udinese 5-3 on Monday, maintaining their perfect Serie A start alongside Roma, who won 2-0 at Torino before Saturday’s match between ⁠the joint leaders. Both sides have 12 points from four matches and share top spot before their encounter at the Stadio Olimpico, while Como are third on 10 points ⁠after beating Parma 2-1.

Udinese stunned Inter with two goals in the opening 16 minutes, as James Abankwah headed home ​unmarked after nine minutes before Jurgen Ekkelenkamp doubled ‌the visitors’ lead with a ‌close-range finish seven minutes later. Inter hit back through Carlos Augusto, whose long-range effort flew into the bottom corner, ‌before Nicolò Barella levelled 10 minutes before half-time.

Elsinore review – Andrew Scott is astonishing as Ian Charleson in devastating Aids drama

Toronto film festival: the actor gives his greatest screen performance to date as the Chariots of Fire star who spends his final months playing Hamlet on stage

It was an endlessly parodied cliche that any queer film released during a certain period would be about one thing and one thing only: Aids. In 1993, Philadelphia showed a wider audience a mostly clean and palatable version of the crisis, and won Oscars for doing so, and for a time, when gay men weren’t acting as sassy friends to women in need, they were coughing up blood in lonely hospital beds.

The inevitable and understandable pushback, allowing for a wider breadth of stories, brought us more “queer joy” and “chosen family” but it also allowed some to forget just what a time of unimaginable annihilation it was. It also reframed the period as an onslaught of Aids movies when the majority of them existed on the outskirts still, films such as Buddies, Longtime Companion and Jeffrey seen by mostly queer arthouse audiences. If anything, I’d argue that something so relatively recent and horrifying has been rather under-explored on screen especially in comparison with other, even fresher tragedies (Aids has killed more than 44 million people worldwide compared with just more than 7 million for Covid).

Treasury hits Russia's VTB Bank with new sanctions over Iran ties

The new Russian bank sanctions follow a small handful of other actions that the Trump administration has taken since vowing to inflict "economic D-Day" on Iran.

Iconic designer Bob Mackie dies at 87. See photos of legendary stars he dressed.

Dubbed the "Designer to the Stars," Bob Mackie won nine Emmy Awards, a Tony Award and was nominated for three Oscars.

Trump phones Nvidia’s Huang at All-In Summit, calls data center opposition a ‘hoax’

President Trump has been using his social media site to sound off on Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei's suggestion that the AI industry slow its pace of development.

Trump dismisses push for AI guardrails despite warnings from tech leaders

President Trump threw cold water on momentum for AI guardrails, saying all the U.S. needs is a "SMART (High IQ!) PRESIDENT."

9/14: The Takeout with Major Garrett

Anthropic CEO joins growing calls for AI slowdown; President Trump demands Ukraine stop targeting Russian oil refineries.

New special envoy for Britons detained overseas warns of limits of role

Alistair Burt speaks candidly about difficulties of tackling complex cases as families express concern over mandate

The special envoy for British citizens detained overseas has spoken about the difficulties he faces in his new role, as families express concern over the position’s mandate in complex consular cases.

In his first public engagement, Alistair Burt, the former Conservative Middle East minister, spoke candidly about the difficulties and limitations of the new appointment, made following years of mounting criticism of how the Foreign Office handled the cases of British citizens detained overseas.

Trump agrees to ethics requirements in crypto Clarity Act as GOP seeks Democratic votes

Community banks fear customers will withdraw deposits to buy stablecoin crypto assets that could pay higher yields.

US ‘super-emitters’ of planet heating methane identified by satellite analysis

Energy Transfer, whose CEO is a major Trump donor, named as biggest single methane producer in new rankings

Down a short gravel track in a largely nondescript corner of Louisiana sits a gas processing facility, operated by a company whose chief executive is a major donor to Donald Trump. It may be the largest emitter of methane in the US.

The Energy Transfer site, located near the city of Shreveport, is named as the biggest single “super emitter” in new rankings of US oil and gas operations for the largest releases of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas that is rapidly overheating our planet, according to a new UCLA study, which is based on satellite data.

Ministers seek law change to make £72m donations to Reform illegal

Plans to strengthen legislation already going through parliament might mean donors having to meet stricter UK residence requirements

Andy Burnham’s government could thwart Reform’s unprecedented £72m donations with retrospective restrictions on political donors that will include tough new residency requirements, ministers have announced.

In a move that is likely to set off furious complaints from Nigel Farage’s party, the government will table amendments to legislation going through the House of Lords within weeks that puts the legality of Reform’s latest donations in doubt.

The stock market could do something strange this week after the Fed decision

Odds of more interest rate hikes coming this year have grown.

From influencers to brutal finishes, US Open 2026 was worst grand slam in recent memory | Tumaini Carayol

Despite the drama on the court, the poor condition of Arthur Ashe Stadium was just one problem among many

At the end of another comically late night and early morning in Flushing Meadows, when the remaining spectators were departing, a familiar scene was unfolding on the US Open tournament grounds. A handful of workers had congregated directly beneath a hole in the ceiling inside one of the tournament shops as they tried to stop water from flowing out of a broken pipe and ruining thousands of pounds worth of merchandise below.

This was not a surprising sight. Upon entering Arthur Ashe Stadium this year, fans were greeted by some ominous signs: “Pardon our appearance while we write the next chapter of Arthur Ashe Stadium.” The tournament’s appearance, it must be said, was hideous. Inside the corridors and rooms at one of the biggest sporting events in the world, it felt like its main building was falling apart.

Counting the votes: Warsh faces a tough battle as the Fed girds for expected interest rate hike

Traders were pricing in a better than 92% probability of a rate increase, as well as a more than 75% chance for another one in December.

‘Sydney Sweeney, this is what women in sport look like’: female athletes lead backlash against viral advert

• American actor accused of sexualising women’s sports

• British sprinter Amy Hunt leads storm of protest

The US actor Sydney Sweeney is facing a backlash from female Olympians and other athletes, who have accused her of demeaning and sexualising women’s sports by appearing in a controversial advert for a sports prediction company.

In the viral commercial for Novig, which was viewed more than 22 million times in the first two days of its release, Sweeney’s nude body is covered by footballs, basketballs, and other sports equipment, as she tells users they can bet on “just sports”. After saying “sports” nine times, she appears topless on a pool table, before saying: “You can’t trade this, I just look good here.”

Apple releases test of redesigned Siri AI before iPhone 18 hits stores this week

Following Apple's iPhone launch event last week, the company is releasing a redesigned Siri AI, though users may have to sign up for a waitlist.

The AI bubble is leaking air, some economists say. Should investors worry?

AI has fueled a stock boom in recent years. Now, some Wall Street analysts think that epic run is coming to an end.

Abbott Labs to pay nearly $385M in case over bacterial contamination at plant

The case stems from a Cronobacter bacterial contamination at one of Abbott Laboratories' Michigan plants.

Europe must build own AI or risk getting cut off by US or China, says ECB’s Lagarde

Central bank chief says continent’s AI dependency could give trade partners unprecedented leverage in negotiations

Europe must develop its own AI technology and build more datacentres in order to nullify the threat of being cut off by the US or China, according to the president of the European Central Bank.

Christine Lagarde said the continent needed AI models – the technology that powers AI tools such as chatbots – that were “good enough” to carry out most tasks and run from domestic datacentres. If Europe invests in its own AI tech, said Lagarde, “the threat of being cut off loses its force”.

Bob Mackie, costume designer to stars daring to be noticed, dies aged 87

Famous for his flamboyant outfits, he helped celebrities including Cher, Tina Turner and Elton John cause a stir

Bob Mackie, the costume designer behind some of the most sexy and glamorous outfits worn by celebrities in the past 50 years, has died at the age of 87.

“He lived his 87 years to the fullest, fulfilling his dream of being a fashion and costume designer, which is all he ever wanted to do,” read a statement posted on his Instagram account. “His genius and extraordinary designs will live on forever, continuing to bring beauty into this world.”