England v Pakistan: first men’s cricket Test, day one – live

Updates from Headingley; play starts 11am BST
Ali Martin on ‘El Dysfunctiono’ | The Spin | Mail Tanya

Warm applause as Joe Root leads England out at the start of his second spell as permanent captain. Are there any precedents for this, an experienced former captain returning to the job on a permanent basis years later? Bob Simpson is the name sitting at the top of my head. I guess Mike Brearley qualifies, though his situation was unique.

Last Friday was a glorious anniversary for Pakistani cricket, 10 years on from a 10-wicket win against England at the Oval. Younis Khan, their greatest run-scorer, hit a double hundred. Yasir Shah, a magical leggie and Lionel Messi lookalike, took a five-fer. Misbah-ul-Haq, their 42-year-old captain, led his men on a victory lap in south London and would have the ultimate reward a few days later. His side, unable to play at home since 2009 because of an attack on Sri Lanka’s team bus, moved up to No 1 in the Test rankings for the first time.

In new filings, Kennedy Center says it won't try to put Trump's name on facade until Sept. 8

Lawyers for Rep. Joyce Beatty asked a judge to rule speedily on the complex's renovation and entrance tarp. The National Symphony Orchestra also announced its new season, away from the Kennedy Center.

The Guardian view on the Ebola outbreak in the DRC: a case study in why international aid matters | Editorial

The Trump administration’s ‘America first’ approach has contributed to the scale of the crisis now unfolding in one of the world’s poorest countries

For months health experts have warned that the scale of the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) could surpass the one that swept west Africa in 2014-16. This week, the authorities in the DRC announced that a grim milestone has already been passed: at least 2,325 people have died from the virus, making it the deadliest of the country’s 17 outbreaks and the fastest-growing in history.

There is no effective vaccine against Bundibugyo – a rare strain of the virus that spread fatally undetected during the spring, often being misdiagnosed as malaria or typhoid. In contrast to neighbouring Uganda, which succeeded in eliminating an outbreak, multiple factors are combining to let the disease rip through the DRC. The worst-affected region is contested by armed groups, and a context of population displacement and chronic insecurity has made monitoring and surveillance more difficult. Ebola treatment centres have been attacked as a result of misinformation and community distrust.

Couple who died with their daughter off Sussex coast named by police

Officers still investigating deaths of Zeina Alayn, Hassan El-Khawas and daughter Sara El-Khawas at Shoreham-by-Sea

A father, mother and their teenage daughter who died off the Sussex coast on Tuesday have been identified by police.

Sussex police named the victims as Hassan El-Khawas, 55, his partner, Zeina Alayn, 37, and their 14-year-old daughter, Sara El-Khawas. A younger girl who was also part of the family remains in hospital in a critical condition. She has not been named.

Moderna, Merck cancer vaccine shows promise in late-stage trial; Moderna stock soars 150%

The combination regimen significantly extended the time patients lived without their melanoma returning, compared with Keytruda alone.

How progressive wins in Democratic primaries are shaping the midterms

Progressive momentum has been a prominent storyline as Democrats look to flip control of the House and Senate next year. But how far will it go?

Kim Jong-un’s sister casts doubt on Trump’s claims of secret US-North Korea talks

President says he plans to meet dictator this year but Kim Yo-jong says Washington remains Pyongyang’s enemy

Donald Trump has said he is planning to meet North Korea’s Kim Jong-un later this year, though the reclusive leader’s younger sister cast doubt on their communications and dampened hopes of a diplomatic breakthrough between them.

Trump, who also claimed North Korea had 57 nuclear weapons, had suggested he and Kim were holding secret negotiations on Tuesday after announcing the US would downgrade its participation in military exercises held by South Korea, a US ally. Asked whether Kim had responded to his request for a conversation, Trump said: “Yeah, he has.”

Human remains again found at Lake Mead as water levels drop amid drought

Discovery marks latest grim finding in lake as water levels in crucial reservoir outside Las Vegas continue to decline

Human remains have once again been discovered at Lake Mead outside Las Vegas, Nevada, marking the latest in a line of gruesome discoveries as water levels in the crucial reservoir continue to drop, authorities said.

These remains were discovered on 16 August, USA Today reported. The National Park Service (NPS) told the outlet there did not appear to be anything suspicious about the body.

Otter spotted for first time in 100 years in New York City’s Bronx River

Image captured in early June shows animal foraging in the waterway in first since early 1900s, signaling its recovery

An otter has been spotted in the Bronx River for the first time in more than 100 years, in a further sign that New York’s previously befouled waterways are recovering some of their ecological health.

The North American river otter was photographed by a motion-activated camera foraging near some vegetation in the Bronx River, a waterway that flows through New York’s Bronx and empties into the East River.

Israel admits its soldiers fired at car in which Hind Rajab was killed

Military orders criminal investigation into deaths of five-year-old and six family members in Gaza in 2024

The Israeli military admitted on Wednesday its troops had opened fire on a car carrying five-year-old Hind Rajab and six family members in Gaza in 2024, saying it had ordered a criminal investigation into the killing.

The killing of Hind and her family was one of the most high profile of a series of incidents involving civilian casualties during the first months of the Gaza conflict which prompted international outrage.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy sacks senior aide amid Ukraine corruption crisis

Presidential deputy chief of staff Iryna Mudra dismissed day after former defence minister called for wartime election

Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy has fired a senior aide amid a fresh corruption investigation – one day after a former defence minister warned the country was facing “a crisis of governance” and needed to hold a wartime presidential election.

Iryna Mudra, a presidential deputy chief of staff, was dismissed by decree after multiple reports in Ukrainian media that her house was being searched by officials investigating an alleged money-laundering scheme.

Moving pillowcase leads to discovery of reptiles in car seized at border

Federal officers found a moving pillowcase in a car that was seized at the U.S.-Mexico border. A collection of stolen exotic reptiles was inside.

Why Aitana's 'Superestrella' is the surprise Latin hit song of the summer

There's a reason why the escapist hit from singer Aitana has swept most of the Spanish-language world.

Moderna stock surges as melanoma vaccine trial shows "landmark moment"

Moderna and Merck announced study results that reflect a "landmark moment" in treatment for one of the deadliest forms of skin cancer.

Judi Dench has inspired a new decorating trend – and I oppose it with every fibre of my being

Reverse decluttering is here, prompting a shudder from me and my fellow neat freaks. Why would you want to be surrounded by mementos when you could be perfectly tidy?

Older doesn’t always mean wiser. Jo Whiley has spoken about a home hack she picked up from – clang! – Dame Judi Dench, and I’m afraid I’m opposed to it with every fibre of my being. Whiley is in a new phase – her four children are grownup – so she recently began the most satisfying project of all: a decluttering spree. Hard even to type those words without a shiver of anticipation. Trigger warning for fellow neat freaks, though: this anecdote does not end well.

Whiley went to interview Dench for her RHS Roots podcast and found the actor’s house “packed with family photographs, children’s drawings and memories everywhere”. Mind-blowingly, she means this as a positive. “Seeing Judi’s reminded me that lived-in spaces are often the most beautiful because they reflect a lifetime of love, family and shared experiences,” she says. “I suddenly thought: ‘Why am I putting all these things away?’” As soon as I got home, I immediately put all the family photographs back out.” TLDR: I cleaned up and then I made it all messy again. Shudder.

‘I love provocative stories’: producer Christine Vachon on fighting for her ‘offensive’ movies

The maker of indie classics Kids, Swoon and Poison on daring to have a temper in the 90s, what some producer credits mean – and what happened between her and Joaquin Phoenix

Trailblazing producer Christine Vachon bestrides the world of US independent film-making like a colossus. She has championed idiosyncratic American cinema for more than 35 years, scoring hits such as the romcom Materialists, which starred three superhero actors (Dakota Johnson, Pedro Pascal, Chris Evans) and grossed $108m, alongside curiosities such as Zola, a strippers’ road-trip comedy based on a string of viral tweets.

Vachon got her start in the early 1990s. Her often scandalous movies – from Poison (gay prison sex) and Swoon (gay child killers) to Happiness (paedophile dad) and Kids (delinquent teens) – dominated the cultural conversation decades before boutique studio A24 had sold its first tote bag. Her production outfit Killer Films, which she founded in 1995 with Pamela Koffler, has as its logo a cartoon bunny with a target for a body, mischievously evoking the company’s blend of irreverence and danger. “I don’t think we’ve ever made a movie that somebody hasn’t been offended by,” Vachon said in 2000.

Is the US actually too chicken to take on China for trade?

A weak yuan guarantees Beijing massive trade surplus even as the White House tries tamp down on Chinese imports

Since China offered a truce in the trade war last October following its threat to deprive the United States of rare-earth magnets, the Trump administration has been happy to stop escalating. After all, imports from China have been falling, down by 40% in the year to June, compared with the same period in 2024. Best to declare victory and call it a day.

But the US hasn’t won this battle – and there’s strong evidence to show it’s too chicken to really try.

Trump nominates policy aide Dr. Heidi Overton as next FDA commissioner

President Trump announced he's nominating Dr. Heidi Overton, a deputy assistant to the president for domestic policy, to be the next head of the FDA.

Trump touted a deal to avert new tariffs on Canada. Here's what we know so far

Trump's new tariffs on about $20 billion worth of Canadian goods were set to take effect Wednesday, but were postponed by three days.

Açaí, chipotle and gnocchi – and other words you are probably mispronouncing

The English language can seem designed to trip us up, whether we’re greeting a colonel or travelling to Worcestershire. Here are some of the biggest stumbling blocks

Name: Açaí.

Age: First imported to western countries from South America as freeze-dried pulp in the 1990s.

Woman describes confronting man in Chucky-style mask who chased her

Police in Philadelphia are searching for a man they say chased at least a half dozen people last week within a half hour while wearing a Chucky-style mask.

Bond market sell-off threatens to drive up loan costs

The yield on the 30-year Treasury this week hit its highest level since 2007, a rise that could put upward pressure on borrowing costs.

Tice should apologise to firefighters for ‘enjoy it’ remark on extreme heat, says Labour

Exclusive: Bridget Phillipson’s comments show her party feels voters have been alienated by Reform net zero attacks

Richard Tice should apologise to firefighters for his comments this week urging British people to “enjoy” this summer’s extreme heat, according to the Labour party chair.

Bridget Phillipson has called on Reform’s deputy leader to say sorry to those who, over the last few weeks, have battled wildfires across the country that have forced evacuations and destroyed homes.

Mutiny review – Jason Statham’s fight-by-numbers action thriller just about stays above water

The hard-working action hero gives us exactly what we expect, and often want, in this sturdy cargo ship-set caper

The dog days of August have already seen the trotting out of some usual suspects from a junky Eli Roth horror to a belated nostalgia comedy sequel to a Mike Pence-approved Ronald Reagan drama. This weekend, yet more howls will be heard in cinemas with a lower-tier horror instalment and an even lower-tier girlies on tour comedy being shuffled out. It’s all amounting to a rather rubbishy end to what’s been a pretty remarkable summer (easily the biggest since the pandemic), allowing for Spider-Man supremacy until September slowly returns the industry from the D-list closer to the A.

There can still be low-level popcorn pleasures to be had in August. Last weekend’s throwback dino caper The End of Oak Street was a B-movie made with just the right balance of serious to silly while last year Zach Cregger gifted us Weapons, the rare genre film to end up winning an Oscar. Trophies are unlikely for this weekend’s other medium-sized release Mutiny (if only the Blockbuster Entertainment Awards hadn’t died off at the turn of the 2000s) but if the words “Jason Statham vehicle” possess a safe, soothing quality then there are far worse ways to spend a Saturday night.

Why does the U.S. military seem stymied in the war with Iran?

Defense analyst Stacie Pettyjohn says while the U.S. military is facing long-range missile shortages, prolonged deployments and vacated regional bases, Iran is building cheaper weapons quickly.

Referees’ chief Howard Webb ‘really troubled’ by Folarin Balogun escaping World Cup ban

• USA striker missed no matches after sending-off

• ‘Far too often now decisions are viewed as corrupt’

Howard Webb was “really troubled” by the decision of Fifa’s disciplinary committee to suspend Folarin Balogun’s ban for a red card during the World Cup, warning of a growing belief in refereeing conspiracies among supporters. Webb, English football’s chief refereeing officer, was speaking before the new Premier League season, where, among a series of new measures, independent assessments of key refereeing decisions are to be made public for the first time.

“I was really troubled by it,” Webb said of the reprieve for the USA striker Balogun, which followed a direct appeal from the US president, Donald Trump. “What do we know? We know for sure that a red card was shown. I understand why it was given. We know that there was pressure placed by a politician on to Fifa, because that was admitted. And we know that the suspension was taken away for that particular tournament and suspended through a process which seemingly didn’t exist before the tournament started.”

Insidious: Out of the Further review – evil returns but so does boredom

Uninteresting mythology and junky effects push a once-promising horror franchise further from what it once was

When the Insidious franchise started in 2010, it felt like a liberating moment for director James Wan and writer (and later director) Leigh Whannell, the Australian duo who captured the zeitgeist with the original Saw movie, which imported the gonzo energy of low-budget Ozploitation flicks. As the partners quietly ceded control to other film-makers, the Saw sequels sunk into gross, dreary exercises in mechanized murder, and they moved on to other projects. When they emerged with Insidious, another shoestring horror movie, it was a confident and wildly entertaining return to form, like a down-and-dirty fusion of 80s staples like Poltergeist and Ghostbusters.

Now the pattern has repeated itself. Though Whannell stuck around longer than Wan – Wan directed the sequel, but Whannell directed the third film and has writing or story credits through the most recent sequel, Insidious: The Red Door – the creative returns have diminished over time, even if the cheap productions are still like a license to print money. Insidious: Out of the Further arrives as the sixth entry in the series, and the fun has almost completely evaporated, replaced by a dull mythology that would be hard to piece together even if the sequels hadn’t come out in scrambled chronology.

Astronomers detect fastest known star in Milky Way

Star’s extreme proximity to Sagittarius A* means it could open new window onto black hole’s fundamental properties

Astronomers have detected the fastest known star in the Milky Way, hurtling around the supermassive black hole at the heart of the galaxy.

The star, called S301, travels at about 25,000km (15,500 miles) per second, 100,000 times faster than a commercial plane. It is also the closest known star to the Milky Way’s central black hole, Sagittarius A*, approaching it around the distance of Saturn to the Sun.

‘You’ll be sorry you told me this!’: the 98-year-old composer who gets musicians – even bassoonists - on their feet

Scotland’s Thea Musgrave is still writing radical music with perambulatory soloists and a message of hopefulness. Her latest work, for bassoonist Amy Harman, comes to the Proms this weekend

Thea Musgrave is a phenomenon. Born in Scotland in 1928, the composer has lived in the US since the early 70s, but has lost none of her accent, her infectious optimism, and her drive to keep writing. As she told me from her home in California, with a joyfully rolling laugh, “I’ve got to this age, and from now on I’m going to do what the fuck I want to do”. That includes her latest opera, on Virginia Woolf’s novel Orlando – Orlando: An Escapade – which will premiere at the Buxton festival next year, and a new bassoon concerto for Amy Harman, Out of the Darkness, which you can hear at the Proms this weekend, on 23 August.

The bassoon concerto develops one of the central innovations of Musgrave’s life and career, which she’s still intensifying and exploring in her 99th year: what she calls her “dramatic-abstract” approach to her orchestral compositions, in which the players aren’t a single collective told what to do by a conductor’s gestures, but instead are released as individual characters and identities.

This high-speed star is whipping around the black hole in the middle of our galaxy

Researchers have identified a speed demon at the heart of the Milky Way. This fast-moving star may yield insights into the black hole parked at the center of our galaxy.

Zuckerberg lied about concern for child safety, Meta whistleblower testifies at landmark trial

Arturo Béjar, former Meta safety engineer, tells jury tech company was aware of products’ potential harm to children

Meta has taken a “don’t ask, don’t tell” strategy when it comes to the safety of children on its social media platforms, according to a whistleblower who testified during a landmark trial against the company on Tuesday. He is slated to continue his testimony on Wednesday.

Arturo Béjar, a former Meta safety engineer, told the jury that the company was aware of the harm its products caused children, which included its recommendations pushing content from sexual predators and violent and graphic images. He said he repeatedly raised the issue to various Facebook and Instagram executives but that they did little to resolve it.

Army unit offers 4-day pass to play Grand Theft Auto as reenlistment incentive

Eligible soldiers must reenlist for a minimum of two years and up to six years.

Inter hold talks with Liverpool over deal for £30m-rated Curtis Jones

• Midfielder has been a target for Italians since January

• Jones in the final year of his contract at Anfield

Inter are in talks with Liverpool over a deal for Curtis Jones, with the 25-year-old expected to leave his boyhood club should the Italian champions offer around £30m. Jones has been a target for Inter since January and was the subject of a failed €25m bid from them in June.

Liverpool valued their homegrown midfielder closer to €40m, but with Jones in the final year of his contract, and no sign of an agreement over an extension, that figure is unlikely to be reached.

Christian metal band sues Netflix over KPop Demon Hunters name

25-year-old band Demon Hunter says name of streamer’s hit movie creates ‘substantial confusion’ among consumers

Christian metal band Demon Hunter is suing Netflix, accusing the entertainment giant of trademark infringement and unfair competition tied to the blockbuster “KPop Demon Hunters” name.

The lawsuit was filed on Tuesday by Hyde Lane, the company behind Demon Hunter, and alleges that Netflix Studios and concert promoter AEG Presents have created “substantial confusion” among consumers.

A real-world study of Oregon's nonmedical psilocybin program shows promise

Oregon was the first state to establish a legalized and regulated psilocybin industry. Since then, thousands have tried magic mushrooms. Here is the latest data from the state's real-life experiment.

Arsenal agree £51m deal to sign Ezri Konsa from Aston Villa

• Defender to provide cover for injured Saliba and Timber

• Villa braced for fresh bid from Al-Hilal for Ollie Watkins

Arsenal have agreed a £51m deal to sign Ezri Konsa from Aston Villa. The Premier League champions have been keen to find defensive cover for William Saliba and Jurriën Timber, who are out with injuries. They have tracked Konsa throughout the summer and have made a breakthrough in the negotiations.

Mikel Arteta hopes Konsa, whose Villa contract has two years to run, can make light of Saliba’s absence in central defence. The timeframe for the Frenchman’s return is unclear but he is not expected to play before mid-October, having sustained a back injury in France’s World Cup semi-final defeat against Spain. Konsa’s appeal is bolstered by the fact he can also play at right-back, where Timber is battling to return from a groin injury which has affected him for months.

Nicola Jennings on Putin under pressure – cartoon

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Reform says we need to choose between climate and economy. It's wrong | Larry Elliott

The party’s deputy leader Richard Tice says we should stop worrying about extreme heat and enjoy it. This dangerous nonsense will wreck our finances and the planet

So now we know: the smart response to the UK’s summer of record temperatures is to do precisely nothing. According to Richard Tice, Reform UK’s deputy leader, the climate crisis is just one of those things. Nothing can be done about it, so we should simply bask in the sunshine.

It is reasonable to assume Tice would not have said anything quite as crass had he been addressing people in Stourbridge who have seen their homes burn to the ground. Or the farmers whose crops shrivel in parched fields. Or the firefighters exhausted from battling wildfires across Britain.

Larry Elliott is a Guardian columnist

‘We never apologised for our rage or revenge-seeking’: riot grrrl legends Heavens to Betsy reunite

Alongside Bikini Kill and Bratmobile, Corin Tucker and Tracy Sawyer created a feminist punk vernacular that’s still inspiring the likes of Olivia Rodrigo. They recall the clarity and conviction of their historic teenage exploits

Back in June, a cut-and-paste photocopied flyer began appearing on telegraph poles around Portland, Oregon, promoting a DIY show by an apparently defunct band at an intimate community space. The band hadn’t mentioned it online, but hopeful fans bought every ticket anyway. Their bet paid off: the gig really was the first in 32 years for Heavens to Betsy, the pioneering feminist punk duo of drummer Tracy Sawyer and singer-guitarist Corin Tucker – the latter’s band before Sleater-Kinney unleashed her visceral vibrato unto the world. Tucker proudly made the flyer herself.

Heavens to Betsy were barely out of high school when they played their very first show, 35 years ago this week, in Olympia, Washington, a two-song set as part of a now-mythical indie fest dubbed the International Pop Underground Convention. The festival also featured the likes of Fugazi, Bikini Kill and Melvins; meanwhile Heavens to Betsy had practised only a couple times. Before an audience of about 100, Sawyer was so terrified that all she could think was, “This has to be over soon.”

In Big Walk, players just walk and talk – and find joy along the way: ‘Some stories we’ve heard are punch-in-the-gut beautiful’

After their hit Untitled Goose Game, Australian studio House House is back with a new game where your only goal is to go exploring with friends – so we took them on a big walk inside Big Walk

When I arrive to meet with the tiny team at Melbourne game developer House House, they’re sitting in a circle under a eucalyptus tree. After introductions, the five of us set off into the scrub. Over the course of our hike we take a train to the beach, huddle on deck chairs in the sand dunes and climb a mountain as the sun rises. All without ever leaving our desks.

Welcome to the world of Big Walk: House House’s new game after the runaway global success Untitled Goose Game, which saw millions fall in love with being a naughty goose rampaging through a bucolic village. After Untitled Goose Game’s overwhelming success, House House wanted their next game to be very different and “unusual”. Despite this, Big Walk has been an immediate success, with more than 1m downloads in the first week of release.

Lewes derailment: images show track defect before incident on hottest day

Network Rail and Southern owner GTR apologise after investigators reveal picture of possible heat-buckled track

Rail operators have apologised after a report into last Thursday’s derailment in East Sussex found a track defect on the approach to where the train derailed on the hottest day of the year so far.

An interim report by the Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB) said CCTV images showed the “track geometry irregularity” existed before the incident near Lewes injured 30 people.

Shapiro on data center order: "I don't want developers running roughshod"

"We've seen too many developers who are trying to bulldoze our community," Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro told "CBS Mornings."

Germany’s firewall was meant to hold the far right at bay. It may have done the reverse

An AfD win in ​next month’s state election in Saxony-Anhalt would shatter a decades-long political consensus and reverberate throughout the EU

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In just over two weeks’ time, Saxony-Anhalt – home to historic timber-framed houses, the dramatic Harz mountains and the birthplace of Martin Luther – will hold what could prove one of the most significant state elections in Germany’s postwar history.

The vote, on 6 September, could see a far-right party whose local branch is officially classified by the country’s domestic intelligence service as “confirmed rightwing extremist” appoint a state premier and govern a state alone, for the first time.

US justice department defends prosecution of James Comey over ‘8647’ seashell post

Justice department claims there’s ‘no dispute’ over whether ex-FBI head’s post could be read as a threat against Trump

The US Department of Justice has defended its prosecution of former FBI director James Comey, claiming in new court documents there is “no serious dispute” that his social media post last year featuring a photo of seashells arranged to read “8647” could be interpreted as a threat against Donald Trump.

“There is no serious dispute that an objective viewer of Comey’s post could read it to mean ‘Kill President Trump’,” prosecutors wrote in a document filed on Tuesday in response to efforts by Comey’s efforts to have the case dismissed.

Not just big in Japan: Zion Suzuki has what it takes to follow Emiliano Martínez

He is replacing a World Cup winner and is his country’s first Premier League keeper, but Villa’s new signing has already dealt with harder challenges

In November 2001, the first Japanese goalkeeper to play English league football conceded a goal within the first minute of his debut. Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi may have struggled for second-tier Portsmouth, conceding 21 times in his 12 league games after being spotted by the then director of football, Harry Redknapp, but he also produced some world-class saves and had glowing things to say about the Royal Mail.

Replaced by a 42-year-old Dave Beasant, Kawaguchi nevertheless remains a cult hero on the south coast, as a standing ovation in his final game demonstrated. Despite going on to play 116 times for Japan, he never made the jump to the Premier League. Now though, finally, Japan has a No 1 in the top flight.

Greetings from Trouville-sur-Mer, a beach town little changed since Monet painted it

The Normandy beach town of Trouville-sur-Mer is a two-hour train ride from Paris, but feels a world away, with English Channel breezes and the sound of seagulls screeching through the cobbled streets.

Weekly mortgage demand stalls along with interest rates, but rates are now moving higher again.

Mortgage rates were unchanged last week, as was mortgage demand, and total volume remains lower than year-ago levels.

Did someone wearing Meta Glasses film you today? Are you sure?

People say they’ve been secretly filmed in their own home, at concerts and at work. Are the wildly popular smartglasses the final nail in the coffin of personal privacy?

“I’ve had one person who told me that their intentions were creepy,” a man tells me over a video call, on condition of anonymity. He’s based in Los Angeles, and while we speak, he eats what appears to be tuna directly out of the can. “He said: ‘I go to strip clubs, and I want to record the strippers … Normally I put my phone in my chest pocket, but the glasses are more convenient.’”

The man I’m talking to runs a business called Ghost Metas. He’s one of hundreds of vendors, easily discoverable online, who specialise in disabling the flashing LED light embedded in Meta’s smartglasses that blinks when wearers capture photos, videos and audio. After Ghost Metas disables the LED, it’s impossible for someone to know they’re being filmed.

Florida democratic socialist Angie Nixon says "it's not about labels"

Florida state Rep. Angie Nixon defeated Alex Vindman in Tuesday's primary, setting up the race against GOP Sen. Ashley Moody in November.

Firefighters sound alarm as US faces critical staffing shortage: ‘We don’t have enough people’

Firefighters describe being pushed to limit by a brutal wildfire season, with key leadership roles going unfilled

The US has faced a critical shortage of firefighters at the US Forest Service (USFS) this summer as thousands of fires erupted across the country.

Despite officials’ claims that the firefighting workforce was stronger than ever, the agency has failed to keep pace with escalating conditions and the catastrophic fires fueled by them, according to nine firefighters who spoke to the Guardian anonymously, because they are barred from disclosing the information to the public.

The fight to protect a trans landmark in California from ICE’s biggest contractor

Compton’s Cafeteria is one of the earliest examples of LGBTQ+ resistance. Today, a prison company occupies the site

One of the earliest documented examples of LGBTQ+ resistance against police happened on a hot summer night 60 years ago this month. It started not with the throwing of a brick, as it did in New York City’s 1969 Stonewall riots, but with the throwing of a coffee cup inside Compton’s Cafeteria in San Francisco.

When police attempted to raid Compton’s – a hub for the drag performers, trans people and sex workers in the city’s Tenderloin neighborhood – hundreds of people in the community fought back. A drag queen threw a coffee mug at a police officer; others threw dishes and chairs outside. It was the culmination of years of police harassment, arrests and violence against the community and the beginning of the city’s trans movement.

Post your questions for kd lang

As her supergroup with Neko Case and Laura Veirs celebrates the 10th anniversary of its sublime album, the Ingénue herself will answer your questions

A decade ago, three of the finest voices in Americana got together to make a sublime supergroup record. Case/Lang/Veirs, in case the title didn’t make it plain, brought together Neko Case of the New Pornographers, stalwart Portland songwriter Laura Veirs and kd lang, the Grammy-winning Canadian country icon. Sadly, that glorious album has remained a one-off – though a new anniversary release includes a gorgeous never-before-heard song, Accidental Tattoo – but happily, lang is joining the Guardian for a very rare interview to answer your questions.

Maybe you’d like to know secrets from behind the scenes of making this record in lang’s loft and Veirs’ dining room, or about lang’s relationship with the late, great Tony Bennett, her animal rights advocacy, what the Edmonton country-swing scene was like in the mid-80s before lang became a country star and later mainstream icon, or what she and Cindy Crawford talked about when they posed for quite possibly the greatest magazine photoshoot of all time. What was Roy Orbison like to work with, is new music on the horizon, or what her contemporary constant cravings are? Or anything else indeed.

‘A critical crossroads’: who is the woman vying to become the first Caribbean head of the UN?

If elected, Guyanese politician Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett wants to prioritise climate issues and ensure the United Nations remains a force for good

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As the Guardian’s Caribbean correspondent, I sometimes encounter stories that everyone is talking about in the region, but are not on the radar of the international media. Today, I’m taking over the Long Wave to bring you one of those stories. This summer, Guyanese ambassador Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett has made history as the first Caribbean candidate for the prestigious post of United Nations secretary general. If successful, she will be the first woman to hold the position too. I spoke to her about the value of the UN, and what a Caribbean leader could bring to the role.

Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett started life in the remote Indigenous village of Santa Rosa, in the interior of the Caribbean and South American nation of Guyana.

Maps and charts show record number of measles cases in U.S. this year

CBS News has been tracking a record number of measles cases and outbreaks around the country. The majority of cases are among those who haven't been vaccinated.

Adviser to far-right Latin American leaders arrested for allegedly plotting to kill girlfriend

Fernando Cerimedo, 42, arrested on suspicion of ordering shooting of Bolivian lawyer Nadia Beller

A senior adviser to many of Latin America’s new wave of far-right leaders has been arrested for allegedly masterminding the attempted murder of his girlfriend.

The businessman and political consultant Fernando Cerimedo, 42, had been working as an adviser to the Bolivian president, Rodrigo Paz Pereira, and was one of the main strategists behind Javier Milei’s campaign in Argentina’s 2023 presidential election.

Dangerous heat dome causes extreme temperatures in the South

There were record-high temperatures on Tuesday in six states as a dangerous heat dome causes extreme temperatures in parts of the U.S. Rob Marciano has the latest.

Freefall: A Reckoning for Boeing review – like a horror movie … only this is real life

In 2022, Rory Kennedy exposed the aviation safety scandal in which 346 people died – but since then, a plane door has blown out mid-flight and more whistleblowers have come to the fore. Will anyone pay for this?

It is unfortunate that a sequel was required to Rory Kennedy’s 2022 documentary feature, which alleged that the profit-driven culture at a US aeronautics firm led to two plane crashes and the deaths of 346 people. But given the lack of corporate accountability evident at the end of Downfall: The Case Against Boeing – and the apparent complicity of regulatory body the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) – it was inevitable.

Freefall: A Reckoning for Boeing opens with a rundown of a significant development in the story: the mysterious death in March 2024 of John Barnett, a former Boeing employee turned whistleblower. Barnett, a contributor in the first film, was in the middle of a deposition when he was found dead at his hotel, which investigators ruled a suicide. Is this another casualty to add to Boeing’s mounting death toll? And is the alarming aviation safety scandal – supposedly resolved in November 2020, when the FAA lifted its grounding order on the Boeing 737 Max – in fact still ongoing?

Jah Wobble on covering the Beatles, London buses and why punk went wrong: ‘Being kind is seen as square’

The maverick former Public Image Ltd bassist takes us on a typically picaresque journey through his ‘Kafka-esque’ days at Transport for London, being named by Sid Vicious and his spiritual learnings

Sometimes, on the top deck of a London bus, pension-age punks will politely disturb the concentration of a man on his iPad. “They’ll say: ‘Are you Jah Wobble?’” recounts the musician born John Wardle, his upbeat cockney accent ringing with delight. They will ask if he’s working on anything. “And I like to say: ‘Yes, I’m recording an album. I’m doing it right now.’”

In the 2020s, the 68-year-old bassist and bandleader has been revisiting the city of his birth and youth, composing and producing albums including the cosmic dub of The Bus Routes of South London, or the celestial electronica of Thames Symphony, while traversing London on public transport.

Hawaii crews work to restore power to thousands after Lala outages

Storm also caused destructive flooding and damage to homes and infrastructure with one woman dead

• Tropical storm Lala wreaks ‘devastation’ to some areas of Hawaii’s Big Island

Crews in Hawaii are working to restore power to thousands of residents after the outer bands of Hurricane Lala battered the islands over the weekend, causing destructive flooding and killing one person.

On the hard-hit Big Island, crews were working to clear and restore roads, but some communities on the southern end of the island remained isolated as they were cut off from communication.

Trump is full speed ahead in making money off being the US president | Margaret Sullivan

Some restraint on Trump’s excesses might be accomplished if November’s midterm elections give Democrats more power

Donald Trump is essentially unrestrained when it comes to enriching himself during his second term, with no sign of stopping. If anything, he’s ramping things up.

The numbers so far are astonishing. He amassed $2.2bn in 2025 revenues, the Guardian and other news outlets have reported.

Democratic socialist Angie Nixon scores surprise primary win in Florida US Senate race

Nixon bested Alexander Vindman to win Democratic nomination and now faces Republican Ashley Moody in November

• Trump-backed Byron Donalds wins Republican primary in race to succeed Florida governor DeSantis

In an upset for the Democratic establishment, progressive Angie Nixon won the party’s US Senate primary in Florida, beating former army intelligence officer Alexander Vindman.

Nixon, a state representative and member of the Democratic Socialists of America, had significantly less funding going into the primary – with $975,000 to Vindman’s $16.3m at the end of July, according to Florida Politics.

Man in Chucky-style mask chases woman, asks her if she's "ready to die"

Police are searching for a man accused of wearing a Chucky-style mask and chasing people in Philadelphia. Lilia Luciano spoke with a woman who said she fought back against him.

Key moments in Lindsay Clancy trial as her former mother-in-law testifies

CBS News legal contributor Caroline Polisi breaks down the testimony from Lindsay Clancy's former mother-in-law and mental health professionals as the defense continues to call witnesses. Clancy is accused of murdering her three children. Her defense says she was suffering from postpartum psychosis.

Stephen Libby on fashion: a summer wedding is no time for your funeral suit – have fun with colour

The Traitors star gives his tips on how to shine at a wedding – from mismatching jacket and trousers to rocking a man bag

For a long time, I didn’t enjoy going to weddings. It wasn’t the celebration or the party that put me off – it was the clothes. I felt I had to conform and wear a suit, and yet the shape and style of what was on offer were the antithesis of what I would normally wear.

Wedding guest attire for women is a whole micro-industry these days. But men are still stuck in the dark ages. It’s all grey, navy and black suits. I often see men wearing the same sort of suit they might wear to a funeral. What kind of message is that sending? It’s high time we got to experiment because a wedding is a celebration of love. You don’t want to look like you’re in mourning.

Former Fauci adviser pleads guilty to conspiracy to conceal Covid-19 records

David Morens confessed to concealing government documents linked to grant research funding

A former adviser to infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci pleaded guilty on Tuesday to conspiring to evade public records laws and conceal government documents related to ​grant research funding and the Covid-19 pandemic.

David Morens, who had worked under Fauci ‌as a senior official at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (Niaid) during the pandemic, entered his plea, to a conspiracy charge during a hearing in federal court in Greenbelt, Maryland.

Ohio death row inmate, backed by ex-sheriff, asks for full pardon

Tyrone Noling has spent 30 years on death row for the double murder of an elderly Ohio couple that he insists he didn't commit.

Hayden Panettiere was with on-and-off boyfriend when she died, police say

Actor Hayden Panettiere was with her on-and-off boyfriend Brian Hickerson and his brother Zach when she died over the weekend, police say. A police report also reveals what authorities found when they arrived on scene at the apartment in Greenville, South Carolina. Mark Strassmann reports.

Tom Holland set to earn $100m from Spider-Man: Brand New Day

In a year that’s seen the British actor star in the season’s two biggest blockbusters – and marry his co-star from both – he is reportedly earning a huge pay packet thanks to box-office bonuses

The British actor Tom Holland is expected to “make at least $100m” for starring in Spider-Man: Brand New Day, according to the Wrap.

Unnamed sources “with knowledge of Holland’s deal” say he was paid $20m (£15m) upfront, about double what he reportedly received for his previous Spider-Man film No Way Home in 2021. But the extraordinary success of Brand New Day at the global box office means the 30-year-old is expected to earn another $80m or more in backend bonuses.

ICC decries latest US sanctions as ‘flagrant attack’ on court’s independence

Trump administration put sanctions on the international criminal court’s president and a senior trial lawyer

The international criminal court on Wednesday condemned the latest US sanctions targeting senior ICC staff, including its president, as a “flagrant attack” on the global tribunal’s independence and vowed to continue seeking justice for atrocities around the world.

The state department announced on Tuesday that it had hit the ICC president, Tomoko Akane, a Japanese national, and ICC senior trial lawyer Abdoulaye Seye, who is from Senegal, with sanctions that freeze any assets they have in US jurisdictions or come into contact with the US financial system.

Robot dalmatians and a far-right rally: photos of the day – Wednesday

The Guardian’s picture editors select photographs from around the world

• Warning: this gallery contains sensitive images

U.S. government debt yields are surging at a bad time. Here's what's behind the move

Fixed income market watchers ascribe a run that began in June to a number of variables.

Coyote Vs Acme review – quirky comedy returns from the dead to flip Wile E Coyote’s slapstick-violent world

After being shelved as a tax-writeoff, this Looney Tunes reboot redraws the hapless hunter as the Erin Brockovich of the cartoon world

Here is a quirky, peculiar, yet strangely diverting live-action-toon hybrid of the kind that hasn’t been popular at the movies for many a day; it gives us a new twist on the surreal forever war between Wile E Coyote and the speedy Road Runner (catchphrase “beep beep”, pronounced “meep, meep”). The music over the closing credits will incidentally disappoint fans of this animated franchise; they’ve gone with the Clash’s I Fought the Law, but surely it should be Roadrunner from Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers?

Coyote Vs Acme is a comedy whose obsessive and hyperactive pedantry is exhausting, but arguably part of the point, aimed at America’s litigious culture, corporate arrogance and monopoly capitalism. So when producers Warner Bros initially decided to shelve the whole thing as a tax writeoff, that must have felt to director Dave Green like an ironic cartoon anvil to the head. Well, the film was rescued and it would be great therefore to discover that this is a masterpiece. Sadly it’s not, but there are some laughs and the pure fanatical oddity makes this watchable.

How to turn excess green vegetables into a vibrant Spanish soup – recipe | Waste not

A gazpacho is not only a great way to use up odds and ends in the crisper drawer, it will also surprise you with its flavour and versatility

Since reading How Not to Die, by Michael Greger, I’m always looking for ways to include greens in every meal. He regularly pops into my mind when I’m cooking, whispering in my ear: “Add some spinach to that risotto,” say, or “Moringa powder will make your porridge much more nutritious.” So I’m sure today’s green gazpacho would make him proud. It’s a great way to clear out your crisper drawer and pack a meal with all sorts of greens. Anything goes, but if any of your chosen ingredients (eg, basil or mint) has a particularly potent flavour, just add it in moderation or to taste. Incidentally, the key to a great gazpacho is the quality of the olive oil, as is a nice, bold-but-balanced acidity, which is easily achieved with a squeeze of lemon or your best vinegar.

Will the future of gaming be powered by upstart indie developers?

As gaming’s biggest publishers retreat into safer bets, a new generation of independents are building an alternative from the ground up

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During the 1990s, a new strata of independent film studios and distributors revitalised the Hollywood movie machine. The likes of Miramax, New Line Cinema and October Films challenged the ageing behemoths of the industry and pushed forward offbeat directors such as Quentin Tarantino, Darren Aronofsky and Jane Campion. The decade is widely considered an artistic high point for western cinema after the bloated mainstream excesses of the 1980s. Could something similar now be happening in games?

Certainly, we have a comparable setup. The big players of the games business are in various states of creative disarray: Electronic Arts (EA) has been bought out by a Saudi-led consortium, which is likely to lead to more cautious, hit-driven decisions; Microsoft bought Activision and Bethesda and then ordered waves of redundancies; Ubisoft has cancelled several titles and is posting big losses. Those companies are also facing rising development costs, so they’re circling the wagons, focusing on legacy brands and freezing recruitment. It’s hard to imagine any left-field works of genius emerging from this imaginative quagmire.

U.S. delays 50% tariff on Canadian imports. And, takeaways from Florida's primaries

President Trump has announced that the U.S. is delaying a 50% tariff on Canadian imports after reaching a deal. And, how progressive Democrats fared in Florida's primary elections yesterday.

France’s ‘aid in dying’ law comes into effect after constitutional approval

Right to assisted dying established for patients with conditions assessed as incurable and causing unbearable pain

Legislation granting incurably ill adults the right to assisted dying has been formally adopted in France after the text was approved by the country’s highest constitutional authority and published in the official journal.

The law, known as a law on “end of life” or “aid in dying” rather than “assisted dying” or “euthanasia”, means France joins the small group of countries including the Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland and Canada to have legalised the practice.

Dog food recalled in UK after reports of pets losing their sight

Move by Years, which provides personalised meals in subscription-based service, follows recipe change

A dog food brand has recalled all of its fresh meals after reports that a recipe change may have caused some animals to develop an eye condition that, if left untreated, can lead to sight loss.

The brand Years said owners should stop feeding its fresh meals to their dogs “immediately” and also told them not to feed them to any other animal, or to donate or sell them.

Will AI give you the job? Automated hiring tools spark discrimination and secrecy lawsuits

A rise in lawsuits over AI use in employment decisions is raising questions about how companies hire and fire

For the last four years, Erin Kistler has applied for thousands of jobs at companies like Paypal, Microsoft and Netflix, only to find her résumé disappear into a black hole. A product manager with nearly 20 years of experience, Kistler believes she was qualified for every role, yet she never received a single interview.

Now, Kistler is suing Eightfold AI, the Silicon Valley maker of hiring software used by hundreds of companies, including those where she applied, in a class-action lawsuit. The case, filed in January in California court, is one of the first to argue that automated screening functions as an undisclosed consumer report or applicant dossier, ranking job applicants on their likelihood of success without giving them the chance to see or challenge the results, according to Kistler’s legal team.

Premier League 2026-27 preview No 16: Manchester United

Bruno Fernandes and Youri Tielemans will be key to Michael Carrick’s chances of success over a full season and of healing the rift between club and fans

Guardian writers’ predicted position: 5th (NB: this is not necessarily Jamie Jackson’s prediction but the average of our writers’ tips)

Last season’s position: 3rd

How India's blocking of a film exposing real-life police abuses backfired

When Indian authorities scrubbed the biopic of activist Jaswant Singh Khalra, local villagers and activists turned its censorship into a grassroots movement.

At 43, I was fit and happy. Then I developed a nasty – and very expensive - case of shingles | Arwa Mahdawi

Healthy women under 50 are now more at risk of the condition. What I didn’t know is that intense exercise could be to blame and the condition could cost me hundreds of dollars

If you’re in your 40s, I have a great trick for getting people to spontaneously tell you how young you are: develop shingles. Friends, acquaintances and medical professionals will rapidly inform you that the painful rash is an older person’s disease and, “You’re a bit young to get that, aren’t you?”

I say this because at the tender age of 43, I have come down with a horrible case of ocular shingles. When I first went to urgent care about a weird red spot on my nose, a swollen eye and a terrible headache, the nurse looked dubious when he told me it might be shingles. “You’re a bit young,” he said. When I then went to the ER as instructed – shingles near the eye is a medical emergency that can blind you – the ophthalmologist said the same thing. According to conventional medical wisdom, shingles is a disease you get if you’re elderly or immunocompromised.

The men I see in therapy did everything right. So why do they feel so empty?

Many of my clients expected to find fulfillment from their career, marriage and home. Instead, they feel grief

“I have the career I wanted, but at this point I just don’t care.”

“I don’t know why I’m so angry.”

Why are progressives winning across the United States? It’s not complicated | Bernie Sanders

Poll after poll shows the same thing. The American people know that the current economic system is rigged

The media pundits have written article after article desperately trying to understand why progressive candidates, despite being heavily outspent, keep defeating establishment Democrats in primaries around the country. Well, the answer is not complicated.

Whether it is a corrupt campaign finance system, unprecedented income and wealth inequality, a broken and wildly expensive healthcare system, the enormous threats posed by AI or an immoral and destructive foreign policy, progressives are talking about the real issues facing working families. And they are providing real solutions. Establishment Democrats are not.

Amazon to expand drone service to nearly 500 cities after targeting 1 million deliveries this year

Amazon has quietly expanded its drone service to more metro areas in recent months after receiving a key regulatory greenlight enabling longer-range deliveries.

Striking hospital employees sound alarm over workplace violence

In addition to pay, striking hospital workers say patient violence is an issue. Hospital workers are seven times more likely to be injured at work due to violent acts than the general working population.

Zelenskyy faces challenge to his wartime rule as former defense chief calls for election

Former Ukraine Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov has called for wartime elections, saying Kyiv must restore its democratic process despite the ongoing war.

Congo's Ebola outbreak reaches 5,000 cases as it outpaces response efforts

Government data showed the outbreak had so far recorded 5,021 cases, including 2,378 deaths. The outbreak has infected and killed more people at a greater speed than any other outbreak in history.

Nick Kyrgios suspended from tennis after testing positive for cocaine

• Australian reveals ‘huge mistake’ in Instagram post

• Kyrgios tested positive at ATP 250 event in June

Nick Kyrgios has been suspended after testing positive for cocaine, with the 31-year-old Australian revealing on Instagram on Wednesday that he had “made a huge mistake”. The former Wimbledon finalist’s suspension was confirmed by the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) shortly afterwards.

Kyrgios tested positive while playing at an ATP 250 event in Mallorca in June, with the presence of cocaine in his system confirmed by tests at a World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) laboratory last month. Under ITIA regulations, provisional suspensions are mandatory for positive tests for cocaine, although Kyrgios has the right of appeal.

‘Jim Crow must go’: the artists and everyday heroes who fought injustice – in pictures

Turn the Volume Up! at the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University highlights the activism of everyday people who have confronted injustice. New York’s mayor, Zohran Mamdani, quoting the Bronx rapper KRS-One’s song Turn the Volume Up during his election-day victory speech inspired the name of the exhibit. Featuring work by artists such as Kara Walker, Carrie Mae Weems and the Guerrilla Girls, the show examines how protests and collective action can create and inspire social change. Turn the Volume Up! opens on 27 August and runs through 11 July 2027

Sali Hughes on beauty: will social media bans for teens mean the return of grownup skincare?

Soon it will be harder for the beauty industry to aggressively market at children, hopefully spelling the end of gimmicky, ineffective kiddie makeup

This summer’s announcement that under-16s will soon be banned from some social media platforms and, more recently, that 16- and 17-year-olds will face a digital curfew, strikes me as a good and sensible decision. It also has unignorable benefits for beauty consumers who are old enough to vote, as opposed to those receiving pocket money – with whom brands are inexplicably obsessed.

A social media ban makes it harder – though not impossible – for the beauty industry to market aggressively and cynically at children, which might mean gimmicky, ineffectual kiddie makeup and skincare will stop occupying a disproportionate share of marketing spend and retail space. Will it be the end for “lip oils” in 36 shades of pink?

‘We now live without this violence’: the Colombian farmers giving up coca for palm oil

Subsidies and a crackdown on armed groups are helping smallholders rebuild their lives, leaving behind decades of conflict and fear

Surrounded by towering oil palm trees on his farm in the small village of Caño Barbú, near San Pablo in northern Colombia, Yoger Payares uses a malayo – a pole-mounted iron tool with a hook – to hack at the fronds of one, freeing a bunch of its vibrant reddish-orange fruit so it falls to the ground.

Today, Payares proudly works in the oil palm industry. But for more than a decade, just yards away, he grew coca leaves, becoming embroiled in the illicit industry in 1990 after leaving his job as a cattle farmer.

The Rise and Fall of the Artificial State by Jill Lepore review – an ominous warning of tech takeover

A historian charts the emergence of a democracy-crushing dystopia that is – in some ways – already with us

Pulitzer prize-winning US historian Jill Lepore’s new book addresses the threat posed to liberal democracy by artificial intelligence. According to Lepore, the extraordinary power of private tech companies led by men whose priorities may not align with the wellbeing of the Earth or its inhabitants is set to destroy civilisation as we know it.

Lepore’s concept of the Artificial State is capacious. It includes both a fantasy desired by a select few and a reality that is already with us. The fantasy is of an atomised society in which an elite can transcend biological and planetary restrictions, “abandoning constitutional democracy, the liberal nation-state, and even humanity itself for rule by automation, government by machine, and replacement by artificial intelligence”. The reality is that of public discourse having shifted to privately owned platforms on which monetised attention is valued above all else.

Goldman studied where AI is squeezing labor markets. Here's what it found

Goldman Sachs found that AI is starting to weigh on employment across developed economies.

Where Are the Kings by Donal Ryan review – a timeless tale of family sorrows and joys

A teenage boy navigates adolescence and the traumatic loss of his mother in this poignant coming-of-age novel set in rural Ireland

Something is happening to literary time. In the last fortnight I’ve read new or forthcoming novels about a mirror universe where history runs backwards (The Understory, Chloe Benjamin), an agency that offers appointments with the past (Time Travel for Beginners, Jaclyn Moriarty), and a young woman who’s genetically untethered from linear life (Audrey Niffenegger’s long-awaited sequel to The Time Traveller’s Wife, out in October). And these are just the latest books to meddle with the fourth dimension. There are dozens: from Solvej Balle’s On the Calculation of Volume series and Toshikazu Kawaguchi’s Before the Coffee Gets Cold, to Kaliane Bradley’s The Ministry of Time. Time is losing the plot – or perhaps it’s the other way around.

I have an armchair theory about all this counterfactual longing: the lure of the do-over. The present feels like a corrupted timeline. If only we could find the glitch.

‘I came to the Highlands to give something back to the hills’: a volunteering trip in Scotland

I found two days of hard graft – repairing hiking paths with a conservation trust in stunningly remote Wester Ross – a surprisingly rewarding experience

I hadn’t planned to enjoy any of this. As summer light fell on Stac Pollaidh – the summit’s teeth bared, the views stretching across the surreal emptiness of Assynt – I found myself ankle-deep in blanket bog next to a hiking path, back bent, hacking at the tough terrain with a heavy-duty mattock. Farther up the hillside, another hunched figure was cutting a deep brown scar into the moor grass and, while he worked, I stood back to look at my efforts. At my feet was a cross drain that I’d unblocked and repacked with new stonework to prevent storm damage and aid runoff from the path. A burble began to trickle, slow yet clear across the sparkling bedrock. It felt a little like appreciating a masterwork in a museum.

I’d come to Wester Ross with a bucket and spade, not for a beach break at particularly gorgeous Achmelvich or Clachtoll nearby, but with the notion of giving something back to the hills. The Outdoor Access Trust for Scotland (Oats) is a steward of many of the Highlands’ most famous mountains – developing, building and repairing paths and habitats – and I’d joined a group of volunteers for a two-day stint on the north-west Highlands’ most visited peak. Factoring in a free stay at Ullapool youth hostel and the promise of a home-cooked communal meal in return, plus an acceptable midge-free forecast, I’d driven north from Edinburgh the night before in a buoyant mood.

A rightwing witch-hunt focused on Jason Arday – but so did legitimate journalism | Hugh Muir

Amid the grief and rage at a tragic loss, it’s right to differentiate between those who fought a culture war and others who just sought the truth

Even now it is very difficult to process the scale of tragedy that engulfed Jason Arday and those who loved him. The unbearable sadness at his death; the wretched knowledge that the very public onslaught against him began with the malign machinations of a self-defined “race realist” – who believes that, in an ideal world, black people would “disappear from almost all high-profile positions outside of sports and entertainment”. The horror that a rightwing and far-right campaign seeking a victim to fuel its nativist prejudices can now crow that it found one.

There is wide and profound grief and of course there is rage, focused and unfocused. Both were on display as thousands joined a protest vigil in Trafalgar Square on Monday evening.

Hugh Muir is executive editor, Opinion

In the UK, the charity Mind is available on 0300 123 3393 and Childline on 0800 1111. In the US, call or text Mental Health America at 988 or chat 988lifeline.org. In Australia, support is available at Beyond Blue on 1300 22 4636, Lifeline on 13 11 14, and at MensLine on 1300 789 978

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Jammy tomato risotto and amaretto roast peaches: Toklas chef Chris Shaw’s simple summer recipes

Make the most of the season’s freshest produce with a light but richly flavoured tomato-dosed dinner and a booze-laced, New York-inspired dessert

At Toklas, ingredients such as datterini tomatoes and ripe peaches are taking centre stage. These recipes celebrate the simplicity of summer cooking, allowing produce to shine with minimal intervention. From a risotto layered with sweet tomatoes, pecorino and mint to roast peaches finished with amaretto and mascarpone, they capture the character of the season – fresh, generous and full of flavour.

‘Why do you never buy a round?!’ 20 mortifying money conversations with friends – and how to handle them

Whether it’s paying for dinner, going on holiday or sharing a taxi, friendships can be fraught with financial frustrations, which are very rarely aired. Here’s how to break the taboo

Summer is the season of socialising, from alfresco drinks to weddings to group holidays. It can get expensive – and suddenly you start noticing those friends who don’t pay their way. Or the ones who splash the cash and make you feel cheap. In fact, there are a host of annoying money-related habits that can cause tension among friends. Here are 20 common sources of financial frustration – and how to resolve them.

Carbon pollution has fuelled ‘massive expansion’ of marine heatwaves in Europe, study finds

Hottest periods this year in most sea regions would have been ‘virtually impossible’ in a preindustrial climate

Carbon pollution has fuelled a “massive expansion” of marine heatwaves in Europe this summer, research has found, with some waters recording temperatures 6C higher than normal.

The hottest fortnights of this year would have been “virtually impossible” in a preindustrial climate in three of the four sea regions studied, according to analysis by World Weather Attribution, while in the Celtic region, which covers much of the water around the British Isles, heat hit levels that used to strike just once a century.

Trump pauses Canada tariffs threat, and hints at revival of Keystone XL pipeline

US president delays 50% tariffs by three days, and says contentious oil project ‘may be awoken from the grave’

Canada has temporarily avoided a bruising 50% US tariff, reaching a Tuesday-evening agreement with Trump administration officials hours before a hike that would have affected $20bn worth of goods was set to take effect.

Donald Trump posted late on Tuesday on social media that he had paused the tariffs for three days “based on the fact that Canada and the USA, subject to the finalization of documents, have a DEAL!”