Tropical Storm Edouard strengthens as it nears Louisiana, Texas coasts

Tropical Storm Edouard could hit parts of the Texas and Louisiana Gulf Coasts with near-hurricane conditions today, the National Hurricane Center warns.

Football transfer deadline day: latest on Fernández, Álvarez, Ndiaye and more – live

• Men’s transfer interactive | Women’s transfer interactive

• The Rumour Mill: check all of the deadline-day gossip

• You can mail Will and follow us on TikTok and Bluesky

A lot of people are highly invested in people moving companies and changing jobs. You do not get this with accountancy or waste management.

In case any players do not get a move today and are desperate to get out of their club, there are options. Not all country’s celebrate deadline day on 1 September, so there is still hope of heading off to Turkey or Portugal.

England, France, Germany, Italy, Spain – 1 September

Argentina, Netherlands - 2 September

Scotland - 3 September

Turkey - 4 September

Russia - 10 September

Brazil - 11 September

Portugal - 15 September

UAE - 28 September

Saudi - 12 October

Whistleblower warns Postal Service's mail ballot portal is "rushed," "untested"

The whistleblower, described by lawyers as a federal official, disclosed information about the Postal Service's new mail-voting procedures to Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut.

The media’s Hasan Piker obsession is letting Republican Mike Rogers off the hook

Mike Rogers isn’t merely campaigning alongside a controversial supporter. His campaign put an extremist on its faith leadership team

Hasan Piker.

Turn on cable news. Pick up a newspaper. Log on to Twitter. It doesn’t seem to matter where you get your political news: for the past month, the leftist Twitch streamer has become one of the dominant subjects of coverage, conversation and controversy surrounding the crucial Michigan Senate race between the Democrat Abdul El-Sayed and the Republican Mike Rogers.

David Squires on … the art of the transfer deal

Our cartoonist looks through the ages to chart the evolution of the football transfer into its modern construct

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Whistleblower claims USPS plan for Trump's mail voting order could 'derail' midterms

A whistleblower says the U.S. Postal Service is rushing out an online system for President Trump's push to restrict mail voting that could "derail" the midterm election if courts allow it to proceed.

Nepal-Tibet floods: warning signs visible before glacier collapse, report says, as death toll passes 1,000 – latest updates

Scientists say better early-warning system could have saved lives, as rescue efforts for the 4,500 still missing continue

China’s foreign ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said China’s second batch of relief supplies for Nepal was expected to ship today, including drones, DNA testing and water purification equipment.

Chinese DNA testing experts will also help Nepal identity bodies, he said. Beijing has said it will continue to “strongly support” Nepal’s disaster relief efforts and safeguard the two countries’ common interests.

India rejects court order to uphold decades-old water-sharing treaty with Pakistan

The arbitration ruling adds a new layer of stress to a long-simmering water dispute between two nuclear-armed neighbors.

Burnham chairs cabinet meeting before first statement to MPs as prime minister – UK politics live

PM will tell Commons he wants to unlock ‘positivity’ after a summer of policy announcements and improved poll ratings

Andy Burnham has refused to rule out tax rises to fund higher public spending in the budget – although he has also played down the prospect of big changes.

In an article for the Times, Darren Jones, who was chief secretary to the PM under Keir Starmer but who left government when Burnham took power, has warned that higher public spending on its own won’t make Britain richer. He says:

Britain is poorer than we often think. We won’t get richer based on higher public spending alone, and we can’t tax billionaires who don’t live here.

We shouldn’t rely on public spending as a route to some romantic version of making Britain great again as we look in the rearview mirror for a great history that is no longer available to us. We must face the future, and I know my colleagues are up to the challenge.

Crucially, we must create the right conditions for a dynamic, thriving market. This includes getting ahead of what artificial intelligence will mean for our services-dominated economy.

Politically, we shouldn’t see conflict between growth and fairness, or business and workers, or the market and the state. These are false choices.

At least 12 people killed in Russian overnight attacks on Ukraine – Europe live

Zelenskyy says dozens more injured as strikes leave thousands without electricity in Odesa region

Meanwhile, Ukraine’s ⁠prime minister Sergii Koretskyi ⁠called ⁠on lawmakers ​on Tuesday to ⁠speed up voting ⁠on key ​legislation ‌to help ‌secure necessary ‌financing for Ukraine, as the country is facing ‌a $27bn deficit ​for defence.

Koretskyi added that ⁠his government would ​audit the ​needs ​of the ​defence ‌ministry, Reuters said.

Barcelona breeze past Rayo but all eyes in Spain remain on Julián Álvarez

Hansi Flick is very happy to welcome Gabriel Jesus to Barcelona. But Julián Álvarez remains the ultimate prize

If Raphinha has any misgivings about playing as a makeshift No 9 for Barcelona, he is doing a good job of hiding it. Julián Álvarez would have been proud of the Brazilian’s two neat finishes that inspired the Spanish champions to a 5-2 victory against Rayo Vallecano on Monday night, 24 hours before the transfer deadline. Lamine Yamal scored two wonderful goals of his own in a performance that reassured everyone he is back to his best. Add Anthony Gordon to the mix – impressive again in his link-up play – and you have a fluid, fearsome front three.

Yet after the departures of Ferran Torres, Robert Lewandowski and Marcus Rashford this summer, there is no doubt Barcelona not only still want a centre-forward but require one – at least one. Hansi Flick was very happy to see Gabriel Jesus, an £8.6m arrival from Arsenal, in the stands. “He’s a top striker,” the coach said. But Atlético Madrid’s Álvarez is the ultimate prize.

Tehran urges return to June deal, oil prices rise as Trump vows to hit Iran 'hard'

Iran launched an attack on two American bases in Jordan on Monday in retaliation for the U.S. attack on its Larak Island.

Nepal’s glacial collapse foreshadowed a future of climate disaster | Michael Mann

The deluge capped a summer of extreme climate events, from deadly heatwaves to wildfires. We must take action now

For millennia, the high peaks of the Himalayas were held together by an invisible, frozen cement – permafrost and glacial ice that bound ancient rock into seemingly unshakable fortresses. But as the planet continues to warm, this alpine glue is liquefying.

The glacial collapse and deluge in Nepal and Tibet was not a freak weather event; it was the structural failure of a mountain itself, nature’s latest commentary on the deadly consequences of human-caused planetary warming. And it was the exclamation point on a summer of extremes, illustrating with a sole unnatural disaster the apocalyptic future that lies in store if we fail to take dramatic climate action.

Summer box office 2026: what can we learn from the hits and misses?

It was a bumper season for Hollywood, almost back to pre-pandemic levels, with Tom Holland blockbusters winning out, but there was still a string of disappointments

As the world continued to burn and temperatures reached worrying highs, most of us decided to take refuge in the cinema this summer. It provided some relief for audiences, but even more so for the industry at large, with the season pushing past the magic $4bn mark to become the biggest since 2019, up 20% from last year. There were the expected hits (Spider-Man never misses), but there were also unprecedented breakouts (we were obsessed with Obsession) and surprise underperformers (are kids Minions-ed out?)

So at the end of a season with epic highs and cavernous lows, what lessons can Hollywood learn?

Houseplant hacks: can a lint roller banish pests?

It’s a great detection tool, but if your plant is infested with thrips or spider mites it may not be enough …

The problem
The worst pests are the ones you can’t see; thrips and spider mites are tiny and very good at hiding on the undersides of leaves, in leaf joints and along stems. By the time you notice the damage – silvery streaks, speckling or fine webbing – the infestation is usually well under way. Early detection is the difference between a quick fix and a full-blown outbreak.

The hack
Use a sticky lint roller to pick up pests that are hard to see. The idea is it works as both a detection tool, and a light physical intervention, lifting adults and eggs before they multiply.

Alex Eala has one career main-draw win at the US Open. She’s already a global star

Alex Eala has become the Philippines’ biggest sporting star since Manny Pacquiao. Now the 21-year-old’s traveling army of fans have descended on Flushing Meadows

The crowd began to swell in Louis Armstrong Stadium a half hour before 2pm. A fair number of fans were probably there to see Taylor Fritz and Terence Atmane practice, but it was the session after theirs that was the headline attraction on the Friday of the US Open’s fan week. The blue, red and white throughout the stands, spotted on bucket hats and posters and basketball jerseys and flags, signaled who these people were here to see.

This has been the year of Alex Eala, the 21-year-old sensation who has taken the tennis world by storm. At No 18, she is the Philippines’ highest-ranked player ever, its biggest sports celebrity since Manny Pacquiao. The country’s president hosted a reception to celebrate her success, and called for a national celebration after she won her first tour-level title this month at the DC Open. Forbes estimates Eala’s off-court earnings for the past year to exceed $5m, plus $1.7m in prize money, and her agent predicts she will be the world’s second-highest-paid female athlete by 2027.

AI wealth is creating a 'mansion shortage' and upending San Francisco's housing market

Spiking prices and rental bidding wars are raising fears of more displacement in a city where previous tech booms and a housing shortage have already driven out many.

Judge to decide if Tyler Robinson will go to trial in Charlie Kirk murder case

Utah District Judge Tony Graf Jr. will hear arguments over evidence introduced in July, to decide if there's enough probable cause for a trial in the shooting of the conservative activist last year.

Trump suggests he is reviewing US support for UK over Falkland Islands

Comments signal president prepared to use dispute to push UK to raise defence spending and Nato contributions

Donald Trump has suggested he is reconsidering US support for Britain’s sovereignty over the Falkland Islands, in a move likely to strain the “special relationship” between Washington and London.

“I always review every position – that’s just one of many,” the US president told reporters in the White House, in response to a question about whether he was reviewing the US’s position over the South Atlantic islands, an archipelago whose status has long been disputed by Argentina, which claims sovereignty.

Thai resort prepares to host USS Abraham Lincoln sailors after more than 270 days at sea

Security stepped up in Pattaya before arrival of thousands of sailors and marines whose deployment was extended due to US war in Iran

Authorities in the Thai resort city of Pattaya have stepped up security as they prepare to welcome thousands of sailors and marines from the USS Abraham Lincoln who have spent more than 270 consecutive days at sea.

“About 600 officials will provide security and other necessary assistance,” the provincial governor, Narit Niramaiwong, told AFP.

Days after Trump announces Venezuela oil deal, White House fills in some of the details

As part of the deal, the U.S. is creating a private company as a joint venture with North American Blue Energy Partners, owned by Venezuelan businessman Alejandro Betancourt.

Could this humble sea sponge clean up the world’s ports?

The chicken liver sponge has sailed through a test of its ability to filter pollutants in a harbour in Spain’s Costa Brava

In the polluted waters of Marina Palamós on Spain’s Costa Brava, Manuel Maldonado, a sponge biologist, noticed something unusual last month: red starfish had started settling in the area.

Nearly two years earlier, the Spanish National Research Council scientist and his colleagues had begun transplanting sea sponges into the port to study whether they could survive in its polluted waters.

The Extractor review – Indonesian hostage-rescue thriller has surprising thread of gentleness at its core

Iko Uwais directs and acts in the story of a band of elite soldiers who must rescue a group of researchers taken captive in the jungle

Can an elite team of soldiers rescue a band of innocent hostages from a bunch of mean old terrorists? Yes, probably, since there are few (if any) action movies in which the hostages are wiped out and the terrorists win. Not to be confused with the Extraction action franchise starring Chris Hemsworth as a mercenary named Tyler, nor with action thriller Escape Plan: The Extractors, starring Dave Bautista as a prison security expert named Trent, this is an Indonesian action thriller in which actor/director Iko Uwais plays a soldier named Timur. The film was actually called Timur originally, but there’s no denying that The Extractor is a more commercial title (unless you are particularly interested in the medieval Mongol khanates) and will attract more viewers to this tale of hostages, heroes and long-ago childhood friends.

In some ways, though, the rebrand is a shame, because the new title suggests the film is more generic than it is. While the basic plot, in which a bunch of researchers are taken hostage in the jungle by an armed group of wrong ’uns, is hardly unique, there are sequences in the film that stand out from the direct-to-video action content mill. In Indonesia, timur means “east”, where the sun rises, and it carries the connotation of hopefulness. That softer feeling in the original title is a key part of the film’s identity, which includes sentimental flashbacks to the childhoods of various characters whose lives have taken tragically different paths. (Can you imagine a world in which a terrorist and a soldier knew each other as children? The Extractor can.)

Canada’s ruling Liberals sweep special elections in boost to Mark Carney

Three projected victories are a message to US that Carney has support of the Canadian people, says one lawmaker

Canada’s ruling Liberal party has swept three special elections, a result that showed voters backing the prime minister, Mark Carney, after his face-off with Donald Trump.

The Canadian Press, Canada’s national news agency, projected Liberal victories in Chicoutimi-Le Fjord in Quebec, Beaches-East York in Toronto and North Vancouver-Capilano in British Columbia.

Colin Kaepernick knelt 10 years ago. America responded with a clear warning to Black people | Howard Bryant

A decade after Kaepernick’s quiet protest shook the NFL, his exile looks less like an aberration than a blueprint for the culture war that followed

America likes nice round numbers, perfect for anniversaries and reflections, and it has, suddenly, been 10 years since Colin Kaepernick first protested police killings – more accurately, police killings of Black people that went unpunished either internally or by the courts – by taking a knee during the national anthem for the entirety of the 2016 NFL regular season. He never played in the league again.

Ten years covers a lot of ground, especially in these years of American darkness, and many of the important details surrounding Kaepernick, his banishment and significance have disappeared, time replaced by more time and more darkness – time moving faster than ever, at internet speed, where nothing matters, where nothing sticks. We consume by clip, by click, by meme, and knowledge by meme is not knowledge at all.

Hindu pilgrims, on arduous trek, among Nepal's missing

Among the hundreds still missing on Nepal's border with China are Hindus from India and beyond, participating in a journey of devotion to a sacred mountain

Raygun: Breaking Badly review – the ridiculed Olympic B-girl gets the last laugh … and it’s a total joy

She spent the biggest moment of her career at the Paris Olympics thrashing around like a toddler having a tantrum – then went viral globally. Now, a new Netflix film reveals how the much-mocked breakdancer got over it

Netflix’s Untold is ostensibly a series of sports documentaries. However, since its inception five years ago, it has been most successful when sport collides with the wider celebrity machine. There have been films about Caitlyn Jenner, Jake Paul and Vinnie Jones. The gold tends to come when the subjects spill over into public notoriety. With that in mind, it was only a matter of time before they made a film about Raygun.

You may remember Raygun as the Australian breakdancer who spent the biggest moment of her career at the Paris Olympics thrashing around like a toddler having a tantrum in a supermarket. If you didn’t see her routine, you will almost certainly be aware of the memes she inspired. Adele discussed her during a concert. Rachel Dratch did an impersonation of her on Jimmy Fallon. For months, Raygun was everywhere. As this film demonstrates, she really didn’t want to be.

Scaring monkeys? Detecting bedbugs? Meet the elite working dogs – in pictures

John Fabiano has travelled the globe photographing dogs with jobs – from Italian truffle sniffers and Greenlandic sled dogs to Perla the hotel receptionist in Cologne

A walking tour of Andalucía’s historic white villages: ‘Nightingales serenade us as we wind along lush river valleys’

The famous pueblos blancos in southern Spain’s Sierra de Grazalema natural park teem with wildlife amid a limestone wonderland of peaks

‘The wind is in from Africa / Last night I couldn’t sleep.” Joni Mitchell has ear-wormed her way into my head as my wife and I step out from Zahara de la Sierra into the mountains of Sierra de Grazalema natural park. The Africa bit probably comes from yesterday’s visit to Zahara’s castle museum. Here, high above the tiled terracotta mosaic of village rooftops, we learned how the recapture of this picturesque hill town was a turning point in the Reconquista – the military campaign of the 1400s that saw the Catholics retake southern Spain after seven centuries of Moorish control. As for sleep deprivation, I may just have overdone it on last night’s tapas.

Either way, Africa feels present as we tramp through the countryside of Andalucía, if only in the wildlife. The painted lady butterflies drifting over the flower-spangled verges, the turtle doves purring from the olive groves and the booted eagle drifting overhead: all are summer visitors recently blown in from the great continent to our south.

Pin de Fartie review – spoonerist remix of Samuel Beckett’s Endgame finds fresh absurdity in Argentina

Beckett’s masterpiece is given a postmodern cinema slant, with characters in different locations, music and humour in a free and fanciful interpretation

Remember remixes? Where you take a song and swap out parts of it with new or pre-existing material, changing it just enough to be still recognisable? Argentinean director Alejo Moguillansky applies this quintessentially postmodern aesthetic to film with a funky cinematic remix, or even series of remixes, of Samuel Beckett’s one-act play Fin de Partie, AKA Endgame. The result feels a little retro and possibly a bit too pleased with its own cleverness, and the spoonerist title is juvenile. But in the end this really achieves something with both the source material and the remix that’s fresh, pleasingly provocative, and at times moving.

Beckett’s 1957 absurdist masterwork has just four characters on stage throughout, two of whom do most of the talking: cantankerous blind, disabled Hamm banters with his servant/slave Clov, while Hamm’s parents, Nagg and Nell, live in dustbins upstage and talk rather less. There’s an air of apocalyptic doom, much talk of drugs, food and, above all, time running out.

Solar cuts ‘at least £400 from bills in even the cloudiest British areas’

Savings grow as energy prices in Great Britain rise and cost of panel installation falls, analysis finds

Households in Great Britain’s cloudiest regions could still save more than £400 a year on their energy bills by installing rooftop solar panels, research has found.

Rising wholesale energy prices mean the potential savings from a home solar panel system have climbed in recent years, as the cost of installation has continued to fall, leading to increased demand.

Supreme Court lets Trump build White House ballroom as lawsuit continues

Chief Justice John Roberts dissented with three liberal justices, saying, "That construction is likely unlawful."

Amid backlash, museum cancels planned Met Gala exhibit on fashion designer John Galliano

The Metropolitan Museum of Art is canceling exhibit honoring British designer John Galliano. The exhibit had led to backlash because of the designer's past antisemitic and racist statements.

Meta’s $18 billion settlement puts TikTok and YouTube on notice. Who's next on the firing line?

"Meta is seeking to ensure its competitors will face the same rules," one business professor told CNBC after Meta called on rivals to protect children online.

China warns of ‘consequences’ over Taiwan presence at Pacific Islands Forum

Beijing-Taipei tensions a feature at meeting in Palau, with Australia and New Zealand saying the forum – not another country – will determine who attends

China ⁠said it had serious concerns ⁠about Taiwan’s presence at ​the annual Pacific Islands Forum in Palau, warning of “consequences” after the democratically ruled island attended the group’s opening ceremony on Monday.

China views Taiwan as its own territory, and China-Taiwan tensions have ⁠featured prominently at the meeting, which is intended to demonstrate regional unity.

Meal deal: meth found hidden inside McMuffin during a police car search in Western Australia

Police say the drugs were uncovered as part of ongoing investigations into illicit drugs in Broome

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A Western Australian man has been charged after police said they found approximately 3.5 grams of methylamphetamine in a ziplock bag wedged between the bacon and egg of a McMuffin meal during a car search.

The arrest on 20 August was part of ongoing investigations into illicit drugs in Broome, in WA’s Kimberley region.

These emerging markets are favored to get 'a wall of money' from carry trades

Emerging markets could attract more capital as Treasury bond buyback plans weaken the dollar and support carry trades, analysts say.

Singapore asks the $70,000 question: who wants to start a family?

Sum of financial support from a baby’s birth until age 17 is the city-state’s offer to address low birthrate and reluctance of couples to have children

With leafy cycle paths, rooftop water parks and child-friendly restaurants, Singapore’s east coast is one of the best places in the island city-state to raise a family.

Finance worker Lee lives in an apartment here with his wife and two cats, but like an increasing number of Singaporeans they do not intend to have children. They worry about the challenges of bringing them up, and the disruption to their lives.

Cities sweltering and the smell of the middle ages: has the climate crisis killed Instagram’s Euro summer? | Brigid Delaney

Who dreams of having a Euro summer now when staying in an ancient, uncooled building in the Old Town is like trying to sleep in a wood-fired pizza oven?

This week the Euro summer comes to an end – and so does a certain type of posting on Instagram.

Waiting at the bus stop in the grey winter dawn, a slanting rain soaking your trouser leg, you can warm yourself by scrolling your feed and seeing pictures of Australians enjoying a Euro summer. There it is again – azure Greek coves, plates of barbecued sardines, the yachts rented by the hour, and selfies on the balcony of some Paris Airbnb, drinking wine in the long, blue night.

Sami Tamimi’s recipes for musabaha (warm chickpea dip) and turmeric and nigella seed flatbreads

This rubbly cousin of hummus is flavourful and satisfying at any time of day, served warm, topped with a colourful salad and just made to eat with homemade flatbreads

Few things make me happier than a bowl of warm musabaha served with freshly baked bread straight from the pan. It’s a combination that shouts comfort, generosity and the simple pleasure of sharing food. Across the Levant, musabaha is a much-loved breakfast or brunch dish, though I’d happily eat it at any time of day. Served with the buttery, soft turmeric and nigella-seed flatbreads, it becomes a meal that is nourishing, intensely satisfying and perfect for gathering family and friends around the table.

The Nepal and Tibet flood is a warning: melting snow and ice will bring more disasters around the world | Bill McGuire

In Alaska, the Himalayas, the Andes, Greenland, and perhaps also the Alps, deadly chain reactions are just waiting to be triggered

You may not have felt it, but the earth beneath our feet is getting twitchier, and global heating is to blame. As temperatures surge and climate breakdown accelerates, interactions between climate and geology are becoming ever more apparent – as marked by last week’s horrific events in Nepal and Tibet. We still have a bit of a blind spot when it comes to the idea that a changing climate can impact what scientists call the geosphere, but the evidence has long been incontestable.

In 2021, a similar deluge ripped through a series of mountain valleys in the Indian Himalayan state of Uttarakhand, severely damaging two hydroelectric power plants and taking about 200 lives. In August 2025, a colossal landslide in an Alaskan fjord created a 500-metre-high wave in an area frequented by cruise ships. A few months earlier, the collapse of part of a glacier in Switzerland’s Valais canton caused a debris-laden torrent that destroyed and buried most of the already evacuated village of Blatten.

Bill McGuire is professor emeritus of geophysical and climate hazards at UCL. His latest book is The Fate of the World – a History and Future of the Climate Crisis

‘I had no love for myself … now I have peace’: former Ireland rugby player Ryan Caldwell’s journey back from the edge

The retired second-row on his recovery from addiction, depression and incarceration to find a new life as a meditation teacher

“Carefree,” says Ryan Caldwell when I ask him what word is tattooed across his fingers. He looks up from his hands on a rainy morning in Belfast. The former Ireland international, who played the role of enforcer for Ulster, Bath and Exeter, then laughs softly in acknowledgment of that incongruous word.

We have spoken for almost two hours about a wide range of dark and heavy subjects – from his addiction issues and imprisonment to his injury-riddled rugby career and the last big concussion that ended his playing days and sent him plunging into a deeper spiral of suicidal depression.

Jury convicts a man of first-degree murder for the 1996 killing of rap icon Tupac Shakur

A jury found Duane "Keffe D" Davis guilty of orchestrating the 1996 killing of rap icon Tupac Shakur, finally bringing a measure of resolution to a case that had gripped hip-hop fans for decades.

The extraordinary untold story of Freddie Mercury: Mary Austin on her best friend – and love of her life

He was Queen’s flamboyant frontman. She was his shy girlfriend, dreaming of marriage until they both realised he preferred men. Thirty-five years after his death, in the week he would have turned 80, Mary Austin talks about their unbreakable bond

There were four silver trunks in Mary Austin’s attic that she packed in the mid-1980s and hadn’t opened since. It was too painful. Almost 40 years on, in 2022, she opened one. It was crammed with lyrics from songs written by Freddie Mercury – Don’t Stop Me Now, Killer Queen, We Are the Champions and, of course, Bohemian Rhapsody. She shut the case. It was still too painful.

“To say I was overwhelmed is an understatement,” she says. “I couldn’t look at the lyrics. I felt as I did when I originally packed them – that they were his personal belongings and I was being offered an opportunity to delve into them, and I couldn’t do that.” Eventually she asked her two sons to sift through the treasures on her behalf.

Madrid residents brace for noise and disruption from new F1 circuit

City council emphasises economic case for Madring amid local outrage over disruption and environmental impact

Opponents of Madrid’s newly constructed Formula One circuit have accused the regional authorities of putting profit before people’s wellbeing after tests for the inaugural Spanish Grand Prix at the track later this month yielded noise levels that were many times the legal decibel limit.

The regional government of Madrid and the city council are hoping that the 5.4km-long (3.3 miles) Madring circuit – which has been built in the north-east of the Spanish capital at a cost of €83m (£71m) – will attract visitors, boost the local economy and put the city firmly on the motor racing map. The Madring bills itself as “a perfectly connected circuit: just 20 minutes from the city centre”.

‘If you build something vastly smarter than you, it better be on your side’: can we stop AI from deceiving us?

We are used to the idea that our fellow humans might intentionally mislead or manipulate us, but the idea that machines can now do the same is deeply unsettling. Researchers are racing to find solutions before it’s too late

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In November 2023 – a lifetime ago in the field of artificial intelligence – some of the most powerful people in the world descended on Bletchley Park, the wartime codebreaking hub in Buckinghamshire, to talk about AI safety. In attendance were the then US vice-president, Kamala Harris, the AI bosses Sam Altman and Dario Amodei, delegations from 28 countries, two of the three so-called “godfathers” of AI, and Elon Musk.

The first iteration of ChatGPT had been released only a year earlier, and there was already plenty of evidence that AI models could be used for ill, from spreading misinformation to generating deepfakes. A presentation at the summit, however, highlighted a different issue: what if the biggest problem wasn’t to come from people misusing the technology, but from AI’s own behaviour?

‘I’m not nervous, I’m ready’: Tschabalala Self on racist vandals and her bold striding woman for the Fourth Plinth

The last time she displayed a sculpture in public in Britain, someone covered it in white paint. But, undeterred, the acclaimed artist is a placing a black woman in Trafalgar Square

Tschabalala Self is relentlessly positive and unstoppably optimistic. The US artist is waiting for the unveiling of Lady in Blue, her new sculpture for the fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square, London, a towering, colourful painted bronze of a black woman striding (positively, optimistically) into the future. Self seems resolutely hopeful about the work, which is pretty impressive considering what happened to her last public sculpture in the UK. “Yeah,” she says, speaking from her home in upstate New York. “I mean, that was a completely racist act.”

In 2022, Self unveiled Seated at Coal Drops Yard in King’s Cross, London. Like Lady in Blue, it was a vast, brightly painted bronze depiction of a black woman, this time seated demurely on a chair. After being shown at Coal Drops Yard without incident, it was moved to the De La Warr Pavilion in Bexhill-on-Sea, where the reception wasn’t quite as warm. “Within the first week,” says Self, “it was spraypainted white, but only on the skin of the sculpture.” As vandalism goes, it doesn’t get much more pointed, or racist. “The first feeling I had was just pain that my sculpture had been harmed. That someone had enacted violence on an object I had imbued with love and affection.”

Iceland’s close ties with EU mean no vote is not a Brexit-style rejection

A yes to membership would have given Brussels a boost but Icelanders have not voted to isolate themselves

Iceland’s 52.8% to 47.2% vote against reopening EU accession talks is, undeniably, a blow for Brussels. But claiming it as a Brexit-style victory for “national sovereignty” or evidence of broad rejection of the EU misrepresents the reality of the island’s relationship with the bloc.

For the EU, Iceland was a dream candidate: small, stable, prosperous and strategically located in an increasingly contested Arctic. Eager as it is to wield more geopolitical clout and revive flagging momentum around enlargement, a vote in favour would have given Brussels a very welcome boost.

Kākāpō rising: 90 chicks swell population of the world’s heaviest parrot

Critically endangered New Zealand bird enjoys record breeding season triggered by mass fruiting of native tree, pushing its numbers to 325

The population of the world’s heaviest parrot, the kākāpō, has surpassed 300 birds for the first time in 75 years, after a record breeding season triggered by the mass fruiting of a native New Zealand tree.

Ninety chicks were officially added to the population of the critically endangered birds on 1 September, pushing the total to 325 – a record high since recovery efforts began.

3 friends went hiking in the Grand Canyon. 1 died, 2 were reported missing.

At least two people were killed after flash floods swept through parts of Grand Canyon National Park over the weekend.

St. Louis becomes the latest battleground in fight over data centers

"We have to be very careful about where and how we install these large data centers," said Kasey Fowler-Finn, a biologist at St. Louis University, who is among a group suing to halt a data center development.

2 dead, at least 1 missing after Grand Canyon hit by flash floods

Violent flash floods hit the Grand Canyon's Bright Angel Canyon and Phantom Ranch area, causing "extensive damage" to the park's water infrastructure.

How intense rains in the Grand Canyon turned into a deadly disaster

Flash flooding in Arizona tourist destination was likely triggered by compounding climate factors, such as drought and warming in Pacific Ocean

• Remote Grand Canyon lodge hit by deadly flash flood boasts fabled history

A deadly flash flood in the Grand Canyon over the weekend was likely driven by a confluence of climate factors, including drought, wildfire scarring and warming temperatures in the Pacific Ocean that can supercharge storms.

At least two people have died, nearly 80 people were rescued and one remained unaccounted for after a surge of water and debris swept through the immensely popular tourist destination on Saturday, fueled by torrents of rain that hit the national park’s Bright Angel Creek area.

Supreme Court continues to allow construction of Trump's White House ballroom

The Supreme Court divided 5-4 in allowing construction of the new White House ballroom to continue.

Two people dead and nearly 80 rescued after Grand Canyon flash flood

Officials say one person still unaccounted for as forecast heavy rain and thunderstorms threaten further flooding

A second death was confirmed by National Park Service officials on Monday after a flash flood sent a surge of water and debris through an area of the Grand Canyon over the weekend.

Dozens of visitors had to be evacuated by helicopter during the deluge, which consumed trails and infrastructure. Nearly 80 people were rescued and one person is still unaccounted for, as more heavy rain and thunderstorms in the forecasts threaten additional debris flows, flash floods or rock falls, the NPS said in a statement.

Duane Keith Davis found guilty of 1996 murder of Tupac Shakur

Las Vegas jury returns verdict against ex-South Side Compton Crips gang leader in killing of US rap legend

• Thirty years of waiting, a memoir and a trial: conviction in Tupac Shakur killing brings closure

A Las Vegas jury has found former South Side Compton Crips gang leader Duane Keith Davis guilty of the murder of Tupac Shakur, bringing the case to a close nearly 30 years after the famous rapper was gunned down.

The jury took about three hours to reach a guilty verdict in a case that relied heavily on multiple confessions from Davis himself, including his description of the killing in the 2019 memoir Compton Street Legend.

Police fatally shoot woman who stabbed two people in Times Square

Pamela Cisneros, 49, was wielding two knives when she stabbed a woman, who died in the hospital, and a man

New York City police shot and killed a woman Monday after she stabbed two people in Times Square, city authorities said during a press conference.

Jessica Tisch, the New York City police commissioner, described the stabbings as “random and unprovoked” acts carried out by a woman with previous mental health problems.

Guilty verdict in 1996 murder of Tupac Shakur

Duane "Keffe D" Davis, 63, was charged with murder with a deadly weapon with the intent to promote, further or assist a criminal gang in Shakur's death.

Camp Goldie features 13 golden retrievers: "Unless you're allergic to fur, what's not to like?"

Camp Goldie in New Jersey invites humans to "play dates" with its dozen or so golden retrievers. Tony Dokoupil has the story.

Growing backlash against data centers in American cities as poll finds over 70% oppose them

Tech companies pour trillions of dollars into new data centers, the backbone of the AI boom. But many communities across the U.S. are rejecting them. A recent Gallup poll found that more than 70% of Americans don't want data centers in their area. St. Louis is in the middle of the national fight, and Tony Dokoupil takes a visit.

Parents, coaches fighting at youth games leads to cancellations and bans

Two youth football coaches near Pittsburgh had a fight on the field over the weekend, earning suspensions from the league and adding to a growing list of adults behaving badly at their kids' sporting events. Mark Strassmann reports.

U.S. launches its first strike on Iran in over a month, regime retaliates

Army Secretary Dan Driscoll submitted his resignation to President Trump on Monday. Over the weekend, the war with Iran entered its seventh month, with the first exchange of attacks in weeks. Weijia Jiang reports from the White House.

Tropical storm warnings in effect from Louisiana to Texas

Tropical storm warnings were in effect from Louisiana to Texas on Monday as thunderstorms built off of a tropical depression around 100 miles off the Gulf Coast. Jason Allen reports and Rob Marciano has the forecast.

Police shoot woman who allegedly stabbed 2 people in Times Square

Warning: Disturbing footage. NYPD officers opened fire on a woman allegedly wielding at least one knife in Times Square on Monday. Tom Hanson reports from New York City.

At least 2 dead from Grand Canyon flooding, 15 still missing

More monsoon rains, which triggered deadly flash floods in the Grand Canyon, hampered rescue efforts on Monday. At least 2 were killed in the flooding and 15 people are still missing. Matt Gutman reports.

US army secretary Dan Driscoll resigns over reported friction with Pete Hegseth

Resignation comes after months of turmoil at Pentagon, from leaked investigation to ousting of senior officials

Army secretary Dan Driscoll has handed his resignation to Donald Trump, the White House said on Monday, becoming the latest high-profile figure to depart the defense department.

The army official, who is second in line to defense secretary Pete Hegseth, had reportedly been eyeing an exit from the Pentagon amid apparent friction with the secretary.

Women’s Super League 2026-27 preview No 11: Manchester City

Beth Mead and Niamh Charles are notable additions to the champions’ squad that looks just as strong as last season

Guardian writers’ predicted position: 1st (NB: this is not necessarily Tom Garry’s prediction but the average of our writers’ tips)

Last season’s position: 1st

Woman says she saw through alleged 49ers fraudster's claims: "Too good to be true"

Federal authorities allege that Daejon Love​ posed as an NFL player and real estate investor to defraud more than two dozen women of $1.3 million.

Ross Fire still burning after a week, with over 90,000 acres scorched

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

8/31: CBS Evening News

A deadly flood disaster hit the Grand Canyon; a tropical storm warning was issued for the coasts of Texas and Louisiana.

Legal expert on third day of jury deliberations in Lindsay Clancy trial

Jury deliberations in the trial of Lindsay Clancy on will continue on Tuesday after no verdict was reached Monday. Clancy has admitted to killing her three children, but has pleaded not guilty to murder charges, arguing she was suffering from postpartum psychosis. CBS News legal contributor Caroline Polisi has more.

House Intelligence Committee warns of 'Black Swan' AI risks

Bipartisan lawmakers cautioned that existing safeguards may not be enough to keep up with AI's advances.

17-year-old girl indicted in San Diego mosque shooting over livestream

A 17-year-old North Carolina girl has been charged with murder by aiding and abetting in connection with the deadly rampage at the Islamic Center of San Diego in May.

E&Y to award $100 million in bonuses for workers who show people skills

Management consulting firm EY said it will reward employees who demonstrate human skills, such as business acumen and judgment.

Saka settles gruelling battle with Aston Villa to extend Arsenal’s winning start

The smile on Declan Rice’s face with six minutes of normal time remaining said it all. He had just shut down Ian Maatsen as the Aston Villa full-back zoomed into the box. Arsenal, for whom Bukayo Saka scored the only goal, were authoritative and seemingly took great satisfaction in keeping Villa at arm’s length.

Unai Emery’s work‑in‑progress side struggled to test the champions, David Raya untroubled. The records will show Villa have lost their first two league matches of a season without scoring for the first time since 2002 but, despite successive defeats, this time there was no capitulation.

Bessent pushes back on Druckenmiller critique of bond intervention

Bessent, at a G20 finance meeting, told CNBC he spoke with Stanley Druckenmiller after his critical op-ed was published and that their conversation went "fine."

8/31: The Takeout with Major Garrett

U.S. and Iran exchange strikes for the first time in weeks; at least two dead, several missing after Grand Canyon flash floods.

Trump inks deal with 9 pharmaceutical companies to lower drug costs

The White House said the agreements will reduce costs to treat Parkinson's disease, macular degeneration, glaucoma, liver disease and other illnesses.

Trump strikes new drug pricing deals with nine midsized drugmakers

The string of deals builds on the Trump administration's push to link the nation's drug prices to cheaper ones abroad.

FTC and 22 states sue Amazon over alleged secret ad surcharge scheme

Regulators allege that sellers and brands were overcharged by tens of billions of dollars through secretly inflated ad prices.

Markets see Warsh endorsing a rate hike in September. Not everyone is convinced

The path toward the move still looks cluttered.

Mortgage rates surge to the highest since June 2025 as new Middle East attacks push oil prices up

The expectation had been for falling rates this year, but the war with Iran and its resulting rise in oil prices upended that.

Trump says U.S. communities opposing AI data centers could end up 'backwards and poor'

"China could not be happier with this anti Data Center movement," Trump said as Republicans express concerns about the backlash to data centers.

Turkish deep-sea search vessel joins efforts to retrieve 20 still missing after Cyprus ferry disaster

TCG Isin expected to play vital role in locating Filo Jet’s voyage data recorder 514 metres below surface

A deep-sea search and rescue vessel is on its way to Cyprus as Turkey joins efforts to retrieve the 20 people still missing after a passenger ferry capsized off the island’s northern coast.

The TCG Isin will join the vast operation to find survivors after the high-speed ferry sank on Sunday barely four nautical miles outside the port town of Kyrenia.

Kalshi bans ex-congressman George Santos for life after suspicious trades

George Santos faces a lifetime ban from Kalshi after failing to cooperate with the prediction market's investigation into his alleged unlawful trades.

Judge orders National Guard shooting suspect to be force-fed

Rahmanullah Lakanwal, accused last year of fatally shooting a National Guard member and severely injuring another, has been refusing to eat for months while in government custody.

Lionel Messi says he is retiring from the Argentina national soccer team

Lionel Messi played in six World Cups and led Argentina to win the tournament in 2022 in Qatar.

Will Trump's Venezuela oil deal ease U.S. gas prices?

The deal involves developing 17 strategic oil fields in Venezuela, an undertaking that experts said could take years.

Kalshi permanently bans former GOP Rep. George Santos over illegal trading

Former GOP Rep. George Santos, of New York, has drawn fire for allegedly trading on whether he would attend this year's State of the Union address.

John Galliano's Met Gala exhibit canceled amid backlash

The Met's decision to highlight the work by designer John Galliano sparked widespread controversy due to his history of antisemitic and racist comments.

The Guardian view on Trump’s immigration crackdown: who will have fewer rights next? | Editorial

The president’s deportation machine is creating a class of people inside the US who have fewer protections against the power of the state

Is the Trump administration creating a group in the US with fewer protections against executive power owing to their immigration status? Its often openly racist actions suggest so. US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) claims to target “the worst of the worst” – undocumented migrants who commit violent crimes. Yet the Guardian reported that over half of those arrested in July had no criminal convictions or pending charges. That month, ICE made record arrests and deportations, apprehending 1,500 people and removing 1,100 daily.

When campaigning, Donald Trump falsely claimed that Haitians were “eating the pets”. In office, his administration moved to end temporary protected status (TPS) for Haitians. In June, the supreme court let the protection expire, leaving about 350,000 people at risk of deportation to a country gripped by violence and instability. The court’s decision means more than 1 million TPS holders from 13 nations previously considered too unsafe to return to are now at risk of deportation. Many have lived and worked legally in the US for years.

Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.

The Guardian view on regulating big tech: Meta has got off too lightly | Editorial

New child safety measures are welcome, but the wider risks posed by these platforms remain unaddressed

“Hook, hold, harvest and hide” was how Megan O’Neill, a lawyer for the US state of California, characterised Meta’s business model in the trial that ended last week with an $18bn settlement, to be shared between the states and territories that brought the case. It was a clever way to describe the company’s approach to users’ attention and data. But the sharpness of her words was not matched by the deal. While the strengthening of child safety features is welcome, the tech giant once again batted off efforts to alter its products.

Meta’s decision to settle enabled it to avoid any admission of liability. It put a stop to the awkward questions being asked of witnesses including Adam Mosseri, Instagram’s CEO, and the damaging claims made by whistleblowers such as Arturo Béjar. This former Meta safety engineer told the court that his own daughter had been sent unsolicited photos of male genitals on Instagram.

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.

Pakistan sack head coach and send seven players home after England Test series defeat

• Sarfaraz Ahmed sacked after 194-run loss at Lord’s

• White-ball coach Mike Hesson steps in

Pakistan have decided to rip up their plans during an already chaotic tour of England by announcing that seven players and head coach Sarfaraz Ahmed have been sent home before the third Test at Edgbaston next week.

Already confirmed to lose the series after going 2-0 down with a 194-run defeat at Lord’s on Sunday, Pakistan have now asked Mike Hesson, the New Zealander who runs their white-ball teams, to replace Sarfaraz as head coach. Umar Gul, their bowling coach, has also been swapped out for the Australian Ashley Noffke.

Dolly Parton laid to rest in private Nashville funeral

The queen of country was interred next to her late husband in an intimate ceremony attended by close family

Dolly Parton was laid to rest in a private ceremony in Nashville on Friday, her family has confirmed.

The queen of country music, who died aged 80 on 25 August “after bravely facing a brief battle with cancer”, was interred at Woodlawn Memorial Park and Mausoleum alongside her husband of 60 years, Carl Thomas.

Caregiver creep: how helping elderly relatives can snowball into a full-time job

Assisting an ageing loved one can start with small tasks but may lead to full-time caregiving that requires more support

Helping an ageing parent or loved one often begins with easy-to-field requests: Pick up a prescription. Drive them to a doctor’s appointment. Grab groceries.

However, light tasks – just “helping out” here and there – may eventually snowball into the avalanche of full-time caregiving, a phenomenon becoming known as “caregiver creep”. Like “caregiver burnout”, it’s not a formal term, but there is growing awareness about this slow build among healthcare providers and experts.

Onslaught review – super soldier slasher doesn’t go hard enough

There’s a committed performance from a spunky Adria Arjona in the Guest director Adam Wingard’s decent B-movie but it’s missing some sharper weaponry

There’s something rather fascinating about an indie director who heads to the A-list before returning to their roots, a wider skillset and different perspective gained for better or worse. Working within a stricter system – the tiniest of choices being agreed upon by the largest of committees – can often be a creatively crushing experience that we’ve heard gruesomely detailed by many who survived it but the expansion of what one is allowed to technically do with a bigger budget can also be instructive and enriching. The dream scenario is bringing back the good and allowing the bad to inspire new work that makes the most of how unshackled one again now is.

There are plenty of examples of how this hasn’t worked. Neill Blomkamp following Elysium and Chappie with chintzy low-budget horror Demonic (easily his least effective film although since opening his own AI “studio” I imagine the worst is yet to come), Marc Forster following Quantum of Solace and World War Z with a blind Blake Lively film that, ironically, no one saw while Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck went from the greatness of Half Nelson to the blandness of Captain Marvel to the headache of Freaky Tales. But then we were also gifted with the hometown intimacy of Alfonso Cuarón’s Roma after he came back from space for Gravity and Hogwarts for the Prisoner of Azkaban while Karyn Kusama brushed off the nightmare of Æon Flux with the brilliantly creepy dinner party thriller The Invitation.

Trump warns 'we're going to hit them hard' after Iran targets U.S. forces in Jordan: Report

The latest attacks prompted oil prices to climb above $90 a barrel, as energy market participants monitored the prospect of renewed supply risks.

Queensland has passed tough new laws on ebikes and e-scooters. What do they mean for riders, and will the world follow?

Transport minister says laws target ‘young hooligans’ holding ‘communities to ransom’, but cycling advocates say changes most affect law-abiding riders

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This week, Queensland became the first Australian state – and one of the first jurisdictions on the planet – to set age limits and licensing requirements for e-vehicle riders.

Bicycle Queensland, the advocacy body for cycling in the state, says only a handful of other other jurisdictions around the world have passed similar legislation for ebike or e-scooter riders, such as New Jersey and Israel.

Ultramarathon runners train for months, sometimes years. But what happens when they don’t finish a race?

DNF stands for ‘did not finish’ – the acronym no ultrarunner wants assigned to their race result. For amateurs, DNFing is loaded with emotion – but attrition rates are extremely common

Drenched, freezing, utterly miserable and with a GI catastrophe ready to blow, my internal conflict of quit/don’t quit was in full force. I was at about kilometre 56 of my 100km ultramarathon. After a cascade of bad decisions and worse weather, totally wretched, I shuffled and sobbed my way through the dark to the next checkpoint. By the time I got there at 62km, the resignation of dropping out had settled in. Months and months of training had come to nothing.

Inside the checkpoint, soaked runners and their besieged crew were crowded into what resembled a field hospital triage unit. In the chaotic throng I found my crew, slumped down on to a bench and said: I’m pulling out.

A job that changed me: Being a theatre usher cracked open my heart to beauty

The performances often gave me goose bumps, but I also got to observe the highs and lows of audience behaviour

• Read more in this series here

I was 24, had just moved into a share house I couldn’t afford, and my job as a nanny was proving less than ideal. I’d graduated from my music degree a few years prior and was floating along, feeling a little lost.

A friend had told me to apply to become a front-of-house staff member at Australia’s busiest performing arts centre, Arts Centre Melbourne. It was a rare opportunity, as people rarely quit. To be surrounded by art again sounded like a dream.