Pastors and staff from underground church are arrested in China

China has in recent years arrested and detained Christian leaders of underground churches, who are not registered with the government and under its control.

Gaza ceasefire live: Israeli hostages due to be released as Trump says ‘war is over’ and flies to Middle East

US president is due to arrive in Israel shortly after the expected release of 20 living Israeli hostages by Hamas. Follow the latest developments

Here are some of the latest images coming in from Gaza, where thousands of Palestinians have continued to travel north towards the ruins of Gaza City, where Israel has focused its attacks over the past two months.

“We couldn’t believe the destruction we have seen,” Rami Mohammad-Ali, 37, told Reuters by phone after walking 15 km (9.5 miles) with his son from Deir Al Balah to Gaza City

There are still very great security challenges ahead of us.

U.S. measles cases continue to climb, with outbreaks across the country

In South Carolina, more than 150 unvaccinated schoolkids are under quarantine after being exposed to measles. Across the U.S., total case counts could be even higher than the official number.

Who are the 20 Gaza hostages believed to be alive and expected to be released?

After more than two years in captivity, 20 hostages abducted during Hamas's Oct. 7, 2023, attacks, are set to return to Israel.

Swimming Australia moves to shut down Mollie O’Callaghan ‘fake quotes’ about transgender athlete

• Quote falsely attributed to star swimmer posted on Facebook and X

• World Aquatics rules bar Lia Thomas from competing in female category

Swimming Australia has moved to shut down “fake news” and “fabricated quotes” linked to swimmer Mollie O’Callaghan about transgender athlete Lia Thomas.

A comment attributed to O’Callaghan but not posted from her social media account has appeared in posts on Meta platform Facebook, as well as on X, and suggested the swimming star would not participate in the 2028 LA Games if a transgender swimmer is allowed to compete.

Government shutdown continues as Smithsonian museums, National Zoo temporarily close

The government shutdown entered its 12th day on Sunday as Republicans and Democrats remain at an impasse over a spending plan, and the Trump administration began laying off thousands of federal workers.

Alaska hit by severe flooding that carries away homes

Alaska State Troopers said it received reports of "at least eight homes being pushed from their foundations."

Ukraine war briefing: Moscow voices ‘extreme concern’ at Trump threat to send Tomohawk missiles to Kyiv

US president says he may warn Russian counterpart ‘look, if this war is not going to get settled, I’m going to send them Tomahawks’. What we know on day 1,328

Donald Trump has threatened to send longe-range Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine if Vladimir Putin does not end his invasion. “I might talk to him [Putin]. I might say, ‘look, if this war is not going to get settled, I’m going to send them Tomahawks,’” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on his way to the Middle East. The US president said Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy had asked for Tomahawks in a call on Saturday when they were discussing a fresh supply of weapons for Kyiv. “Tomahawks are a new step of aggression,” added Trump. “Do they [Russian forces] want to have Tomahawks going in their direction? I don’t think so.” Trump has been mulling potential supplies of the long-range missiles to Kyiv via European allies ever since his meeting with Putin in Alaska in August failed to produce a peace deal. Putin has previously warned against supplying Kyiv with Tomahawks, saying it would be a major escalation and affect relations between Washington and Moscow. Trump said last week that he has “sort of made a decision” on whether to send Tomahawks to Ukraine, without elaborating.

Zelenskyy said “we will see” when asked on Fox News whether Trump had approved the supply of Tomahawks. After his call with the US president, Zelenskyy told the Sunday Briefing: “We work on it … And I’m waiting for president to yes. Of course we count on such decisions, but we will see. We will see.” He said Friday that he was in talks with US officials about the possible provision of various long-range precision-strike weapons, including Tomahawks and more ATACMS tactical ballistic missiles. A senior Ukrainian delegation is set to visit the US this week.

Moscow expressed “extreme concern” over the US potentially providing Tomahawk cruise missiles to Ukraine. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said in remarks published on Sunday that “the topic of Tomahawks is of extreme concern”. “Now is really a very dramatic moment in terms of the fact that tensions are escalating from all sides,” he told Russian state media. Belarus president Alexander Lukashenko, a close ally of Putin, also said in comments released on Sunday that he doubted the US would provide Ukraine with Tomahawk cruise missiles. “I think we need to calm down in this regard. Our friend Donald … sometimes he takes a more forceful approach, and then, his tactic is to let go a little and step back. Therefore, we shouldn’t take this literally, as if it’s going to fly tomorrow,” Lukashenko told Russian state media.

Russia attacked Ukraine’s power grid, part of a campaign to cripple Ukrainian energy infrastructure before winter. Kyiv regional Governor Mykola Kalashnyk said two employees of Ukraine’s largest private energy company, DTEK, were wounded in Russian strikes on a substation. Ukraine’s energy ministry said that infrastructure was also targeted in the regions of Donetsk, Odesa and Chernihiv.
“Russia continues its aerial terror against our cities and communities, intensifying strikes on our energy infrastructure,” Zelenskyy wrote on X, saying that Russia had launched “more than 3,100 drones, 92 missiles, and around 1,360 glide bombs” over the past week. Ukraine’s energy sector has been a key battleground since Russia launched its fullscale invasion more than three years ago.

Zelenskyy called for tighter secondary sanctions on buyers of Russian oil. “Sanctions, tariffs, and joint actions against the buyers of Russian oil – those who finance this war – must all remain on the table,” he wrote, adding he had a “very productive” phone call with Trump, in which they discussed strengthening Ukraine’s “air defence, resilience, and long-range capabilities,” along with “details related to the energy sector”. Their discussion followed an earlier conversation on Saturday, Zelenskyy said, during which the leaders agreed on Sunday’s topics.

A Ukrainian counteroffensive had made gains in southern Zaporizhzhia region as well as in Donetsk region, Zelenskyy said. Donetsk is the focal point of the conflict and where Kyiv has been reporting successes.

China 'not afraid of trade war,' accuses U.S. of 'double standard' for rare earths retaliation

U.S. stocks lost $2 trillion after President Trump said he would impose new tariffs on imports from China in retaliation for rare earth export controls.

Coral reefs are first environmental system to pass climate "tipping point"

Crucial for marine life and the global economy, coral reefs are the planet's first major environmental system to cross a climate "tipping point" as the world warms.

Energy firms complete UK’s first ‘hydrogen blending’ trial to power grid

A 2% blend of low-carbon gas injected into gas grid to fuel Brigg power station in North Lincolnshire is a UK first

Energy companies have injected green hydrogen into Britain’s gas grid and used the low-carbon gas to generate electricity, in a landmark development for the UK’s climate ambitions.

For the first time in the UK, a 2% blend of green hydrogen was injected into the gas grid and blended with traditional gas to fuel the Brigg power station in North Lincolnshire which generated electricity for the power system.

Post-ministerial jobs watchdog closes as part of UK government ethics shake-up

Exclusive: Acoba’s functions split between two regulators and new Ethics and Integrity Commission to oversee others

The much-criticised watchdog that scrutinises the jobs UK ministers can take after leaving office will be formally scrapped on Monday as part of a wider shake-up of the ethics structure in government.

The Advisory Committee on Business Appointments (Acoba), described by critics as fundamentally toothless, has been closed, a Cabinet Office announcement said, with its functions taken over by two existing regulators.

Woman, 53, becomes UK’s longest survivor of heart and lung transplant

Katie Mitchell had procedure at 15 after being diagnosed with Eisenmenger syndrome, a rare congenital disease

At the age of 15, medics feared Katie Mitchell was coming to the end of her life after suffering irreversible lung damage and heart failure from a rare congenital disease.

But she defied the odds thanks to a heart and lung transplant, and at the age of 53 she has become the UK’s longest-surviving recipient of such a procedure.

Planet’s first catastrophic climate tipping point reached, report says, with coral reefs facing ‘widespread dieback’

Unless global heating is reduced to 1.2C ‘as fast as possible’, warm water coral reefs will not remain ‘at any meaningful scale’, a report by 160 scientists from 23 countries warns

• Sign up for climate and environment editor Adam Morton’s free Clear Air newsletter here

The earth has reached its first catastrophic tipping point linked to greenhouse gas emissions, with warm water coral reefs now facing a long-term decline and risking the livelihoods of hundreds of millions of people, according to a new report.

The report from scientists and conservationists warns the world is also “on the brink” of reaching other tipping points, including the dieback of the Amazon, the collapse of major ocean currents and the loss of ice sheets.

Sign up to get climate and environment editor Adam Morton’s Clear Air column as a free newsletter

10/12: Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan

This week on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan," Vice President JD Vance joins as President Trump heads to the Middle East amid the critical moment in the Israel-Hamas peace deal and at home, as the ongoing government shutdown drags on. Plus. Egyptian foreign minister Badr Abdelatty joins.

Green party reaches 100,000 members for first time after Polanski becomes leader

Green party in England and Wales has had near-50% rise in membership since Zack Polanski took over last month

The Greens in England and Wales have more than 100,000 members for the first time, the party has announced, a near-50% rise since Zack Polanski took over as leader last month.

It puts them on a potential course to overtake the Conservatives and comes little more than a week after the Greens announced they had moved past the Liberal Democrats in membership numbers, getting to 83,500.

Luke Littler thrashes Luke Humphries to claim World Grand Prix final

• Teenager beats world No 1 6-1 in little more than an hour

• Littler secures World Grand Prix title for the first time

Luke Littler swept aside Luke Humphries to win a first World Grand Prix title in Leicester.

Humphries had looked the more impressive in making it through to the final, but Littler was superb in the clutch moments as he raced to a 6-1 victory.

McTominay and Adams strike as dismal Scotland edge out Belarus and seal playoff slot

Someone within Hampden Park had the temerity to blast Freed From Desire over the public address system at full time. A song reserved normally for euphoric moments only just drowned out the jeers which met a Scotland victory. People just want more and more? Too right they do.

With this win, Steve Clarke and his players edged closer to the World Cup finals tournament. It was just that a return to that scene for the first time since 1998 felt a million miles away as the Scots limped and laboured past Belarus. “We know we have got to be better, man,” Scott McTominay said. The Napoli midfielder was even more profound as he scored Scotland’s second; second word “me” and the first a rhyme with “duck”. McTominay’s lack of celebrations depicted perfectly Scotland’s messy night.

This week on "Sunday Morning" (Oct. 12)

A look at the features for this week's broadcast of the Emmy-winning program, hosted by Jane Pauley.

NFL roundup: Hapless Jets manage minus-10 passing yards; Panthers upset Cowboys

• New York sink to 0-6 record for the season

• Chargers, Rams and Seahawks secure road wins

Bo Nix threw an early touchdown pass, Wil Lutz kicked a late go-ahead field goal and the Denver Broncos sacked Justin Fields nine times, with the final one sealing an ugly 13-11 victory over the winless New York Jets on Sunday.

The Broncos (4-2) won their third in a row, but found themselves trailing 11-10 after conceding a safety in the third quarter against a Jets team that managed just 82 total net yards on offense.

AG Pam Bondi embraces SNL spoof of her and DHS Sec. Kristi Noem: 'Loving Amy Poehler!'

The "Saturday Night Live" skit spoofed Pam Bondi's stonewalling, Kristi Noem's history of killing a dog, and President Donald Trump's preferred hair color.

South Carolina bar shooting kills at least 4, injures 20

The shooting at Willie's Bar and Grill on St. Helena Island left at least 20 injured, including four in critical condition, the Beaufort County Sheriff's Office said.

Vance accuses Democrats of "hostage-taking" with government shutdown posture

Democratic leaders in Congress have pushed for serious negotiations with Republican leaders and the White House to end the stalemate.

Australia chase down record score to defeat India in Women’s Cricket World Cup epic

• Australia win by three wickets after being set 331

• Captain Alyssa Healy sets tone with knock of 142

Australia completed a record women’s one-day international chase as Alyssa Healy’s commanding 142 powered the defending champions to a three-wicket win over India on Sunday.

Set 331 for victory in the Women’s Cricket World Cup group-phase game, Australia reached their target with six balls to spare after Ellyse Perry guided her side home with an unbeaten 47 alongside Kim Garth. The victory, their third in four matches, lifted Australia to the top of the standings while the hosts, India, are third after a second straight defeat, having lost to South Africa earlier in the tournament. The top four teams qualify for the semi-finals .

Government shutdown: Vance says 'fraud' is rife in ACA tax credits use

Democrats want any government funding bill include an extension for enhanced Obamacare subsidies, which are set to expire at the end of this year.

Former NFL quarterback Mark Sanchez released from Indianapolis hospital

Mark Sanchez was hospitalized with multiple stab wounds following the altercation on Oct. 4. He was then charged with battery involving serious bodily injury,​ a felony.

Vance says administration will keep fighting to send National Guard to Chicago

On Saturday, a federal appeals court blocked the Trump administration from deploying federalized National Guard troops in Illinois.

Trump ‘looking at all options’ amid threats to invoke Insurrection Act, Vance says

Vice-president calls crime ‘out of control’ in US cities as Trump faces legal battles for use of federal forces

The White House is talking about invoking the Insurrection Act that would allow the deployment of military troops on US soil to quell domestic unrest amid legal challenges over the moves, JD Vance confirmed on Sunday.

Vance was asked on NBC News’s Meet the Press whether Donald Trump was seriously considering invoking the emergency power to deploy national guard forces and even the US military in domestic settings.

‘My heart is broken’: Palestinians begin searching the Gaza rubble for their dead

Using manual tools and their bare hands, people start the immense task of trying to find their loved ones’ remains

Ghali Khadr spent two days pleading with his parents to flee with him to southern Gaza, warning them that it was too dangerous to stay. His father, known for being stubborn, refused. Their argument was never finished – an Israeli airstrike hit his father’s home, burying his parents beneath the rubble.

On Sunday, two days after the ceasefire was announced, Khadr returned to search through the ruins of his parents’ home. He spent the day sifting through shattered concrete and twisted metal for any sign of them. All he managed to find were some shards of their skulls and parts of their hands.

Full transcript of "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan," Oct. 12, 2025

On this "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan" broadcast, Vice President JD Vance and Sen. Chris Murphy, Democrat of Connecticut, join Margaret Brennan.

Face the Nation: Murphy, Himes

Missed the second half of the show? Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut and Democratic Rep. Jim Himes of Connecticut join.

South Carolina bar shooting leaves four people dead and 20 injured, officials say

Mass shooting occurred early on Sunday at Willie’s Bar and Grill on idyllic St Helena island

A mass shooting at a crowded bar on an idyllic South Carolina island has left four people dead and at least 20 injured, officials say.

The shooting occurred early Sunday at Willie’s Bar and Grill on St Helena island, officials said. A large crowd was at the scene when sheriff’s deputies arrived and found several people suffering from gunshot wounds.

La Bohème – noirish reframing of Puccini’s classic weepy

Glyndebourne, Sussex
Floris Visser’s stylish bohemia recalls Brassaï’s Paris, while Puccini’s score is delivered with crispness and elasticity

Ditching the penguin suits and picnic hampers for affordable tickets and a smart-casual elegance, Glyndebourne’s autumn season opened with Floris Visser’s stylish La Bohème. Seamlessly revived by Rachael Hewer, it not only looks good, it does full justice to Puccini’s classic weepy while finding novel ways to raise the odd goosebump.

Dieuweke van Reij’s set – a metaphorical highway to heaven – serves for all four acts with more than a nod to Brassaï’s noirish photos of 1930s Paris. Bare walls and glistening cobblestones are breathtakingly lit by Alex Brok, while Jon Morrell’s monochrome costumes ooze couture. Visser’s bohemians inhabit a kind of twilight zone, a world of fogs, gendarmes and prostitutes, where the spectre of Death stalks the streets with the consumptive Mimì firmly in his sights.

At Glyndebourne, Sussex, until 2 November.

Luigi Mangione’s lawyers seek dismissal of federal charges in healthcare CEO killing

Attorneys push to drop death penalty eligibility due to legal threshold and claim Mangione was not read his rights

Lawyers for Luigi Mangione, accused of killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson last December, asked a federal judge on Saturday to dismiss some criminal charges, including the only count on he could be eligible for the death penalty.

In a court filing, attorneys for Mangione said the death penalty must be dismissed because it does not meet the legal threshold.

Trump will greet Israel hostages 'in person' after Hamas releases them from Gaza, Vance says

Vice President JD Vance in an interview on NBC News' "Meet the Press" said Hamas will release Israeli hostages from Gaza at "any moment now."

Craig Bellamy hopes ‘special moment’ arrives for Wales in vital Belgium clash

• Teams meet in World Cup qualifier on Monday night

• ‘Positivity is something I have to have around me’

Craig Bellamy said he believes a “special moment” is brewing for Wales and hopes the perfect storm arrives when they host Belgium in Monday’s crunch World Cup qualifier. Wales’s fate is in their hands after Belgium were held against Group J leaders North Macedonia and victory in Cardiff would keep alive the hosts’ hopes of qualifying automatically.

Wales are seeking to bounce back from a 3-0 friendly defeat against England at Wembley, which the captain, Ben Davies, who is poised to win his 100th cap against Belgium, said provided a “wakeup call” and prompted a “quiet journey back to Cardiff” on Friday, hours before the squad were boosted by watching their next opponents draw in Ghent.

The Guardian view on gen Z protests: these movements share more than an interest in anime | Editorial

A new global wave of unrest is unfolding, driven by generational discontents and taking cues from each other

After a quarter-century of existence, the global triumph of Monkey D Luffy – a fresh-faced and rubber-bodied pirate captain – had seemed almost complete. The One Piece manga series, of which he is the freedom-fighting hero, had become the bestselling of all time, with more than 500m copies bought. The anime was a similar hit, with viewers immersing themselves in over a thousand episodes following his struggle against the World Government, a corrupt and tyrannical oligarchy.

Yet Luffy has now found a new lease of life as inspiration to protesters in a wave of youthful unrest across continents. His crew’s flag – a skull and crossbones crowned with his jaunty straw hat – has appeared from Morocco to Madagascar in recent days. Indonesians enthusiastically adopted it this summer, in a riposte to the president’s urging to fly the national standard. Officials were so alarmed that they threatened to jail those using it. It was perhaps the first time that Amnesty International has had to defend using an anime motif.

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.

Nicola Jennings on the release of Israeli hostages – cartoon

Vice President JD Vance says layoff notices are part of "chaos" of government shutdown

Vice President JD Vance told "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan" on Sunday that the layoff notices that were sent around this weekend — some of which were rescinded — happened because the "government shutdown inevitably leads to some chaos." Vance accused Democrats, particularly Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, of taking "the entire federal government hostage over a health care policy dispute."

Open: This is "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan," Oct. 12, 2025

This week on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan," Vice President JD Vance joins as President Trump heads to the Middle East amid the critical moment in the Israel-Hamas peace deal and at home, as the ongoing government shutdown drags on. Plus. Egyptian foreign minister Badr Abdelatty joins.

In Venezuela’s ‘darkest hours’, will peace prize boost opposition or backfire?

María Corina Machado’s Nobel award puts focus on country but analysts doubt it will produce democratic change

In March 2019 as a nationwide blackout plunged Venezuela into darkness, hundreds of citizens huddled on a basketball court in the city of Maracaibo to hear their leader promise to guide them out of the gloom.

“We are, quite literally, living through our darkest hour. But these are also the brightest of times,” María Corina Machado told supporters as they used mobile phones to illuminate the night.

Uefa plans to relax multiclub ownership declaration rules after Crystal Palace furore

• New rules give clubs longer to sort out MCO issues

• Palace lost Europa League place despite Cas appeal

Uefa is planning to give clubs more time to resolve potential multiclub ownership (MCO) issues next season following the controversy that led to Crystal Palace being expelled last summer from the Europa League.

In a proposed change to its regulations discussed with elite clubs at a meeting last week of the newly named European Football Clubs in Rome, Uefa is poised to relax the 1 March deadline, which Palace failed to meet last season in an oversight that led to the FA Cup winners losing their Europa League place to Nottingham Forest.

4 killed and 20 more injured in shooting at a bar in South Carolina, sheriff says

A mass shooting at a crowded bar on an idyllic South Carolina island has left four people dead and at least 20 injured, officials say.

Tom Gauld on where writers really get their ideas – cartoon

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Book excerpt: "Life, Law & Liberty" by Justice Anthony Kennedy

In his new memoir, the former justice writes about his life's journey to becoming a lawyer, a judge, and the deciding vote on some of the Supreme Court's most consequential decisions.

9/7: Face the Nation

This week on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan," White House Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett discusses the latest jobs report and the Federal Reserve, while Democratic Sen. Mark Warner discusses the deadly strike on a Venezuelan ship that was allegedly carrying drugs.

Nature: Fall colors in Maine

We leave you this Sunday savoring a fall weekend in Maine. Videographer: Mauricio Handler.

Prince Andrew told Jeffrey Epstein ‘we’re in this together’ in 2011 email

Royal sent email after Virginia Giuffre photo emerged but later claimed he had ceased contact with Epstein in 2010

Prince Andrew told Jeffrey Epstein in an email “we are in this together” after a picture of the British royal with his arm around a teenage Virginia Giuffre was first published in 2011.

The email will pile further pressure on the Duke of York and the royal family because he previously told the BBC he had ceased contact with the convicted child sex offender by that point.

Justice Anthony Kennedy on the Supreme Court today: "A little bit too personal and confrontational"

The former justice who was the deciding vote on some of the Supreme Court's most consequential decisions talks about the Court today, and about his memoir, "Life, Law & Liberty."

Justice Anthony Kennedy on "Life, Law & Liberty"

In his new memoir, "Life, Law & Liberty," former Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy writes about casting the deciding vote on some of the most consequential political and cultural issues of his era, from gun ownership and abortion rights to same-sex marriage. He talks with Erin Moriarty about the High Court today and its reversal of some of its own precedents; and how a lack of civility and ethics in today's public debates is putting democracy in danger.

Tories and Reform battle to be heirs to Thatcher’s legacy on her centenary

Gala dinner to remember Conservatives’ most successful leader puts spotlight on who will carry forward her ideas

It is a glittering annual dinner in honour of the Conservative party’s most successful leader and, on the 100th anniversary of Margaret Thatcher’s birth, one that is bigger than ever.

Yet as Tory grandees, celebrity backers and wealthy donors prepare to sit down at a gala dinner at London’s Guildhall on Monday evening, a battle for her legacy is under way between the party she once led and the insurgent threat to its survival, Reform UK.

‘Cavalier and aggressive’: why are border agents flooding into US cities?

Border agents have become a key force in Trump’s migrant crackdown – operating far from their traditional rural range

Border patrol officers have become ubiquitous footsoldiers in Donald Trump’s mass deportation plan, and lawyers and human rights advocates worry that the agency is expanding its aggressive tactics into cities far from its conventional range.

Led by Gregory Bovino, a particularly hardline Customs and Border Protection (CBP) sector chief from southern California, border patrol agents have become a daily presence in several major cities across the US.

High youth death rates are an ‘emerging crisis’, global health study warns

Alcohol, suicide and injuries driving rises among teenagers and young adults despite overall rates falling, authors say

The world faces “an emerging crisis” of higher death rates among teenagers and young adults, according to a major study on the causes of death and disability worldwide.

The reasons vary from drug and alcohol use, and suicide in North America, to infectious diseases and injuries in sub-Saharan Africa, the researchers said, but warned that their data should serve as “a wake-up call”.

In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email [email protected] or [email protected]. In the US, you can call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on 988, chat on 988lifeline.org, or text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis counsellor. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org

‘Death to Spotify’: the DIY movement to get artists and fans to quit the music app

Musicians have long criticized the streaming service’s paltry payouts, but a new wave of boycotts is emerging

This month, indie musicians in Oakland, California, gathered for a series of talks called Death to Spotify, where attenders explored “what it means to decentralize music discovery, production and listening from capitalist economies”.

The events, held at Bathers library, featured speakers from indie station KEXP, labels Cherub Dream Records and Dandy Boy Records, and DJ collectives No Bias and Amor Digital. What began as a small run of talks quickly sold out and drew international interest. People as far away as Barcelona and Bengaluru emailed the organizers asking how to host similar events.

A regatta, protesters and Palestinians return home: photos of the weekend

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

Jade review – pop’s quirkiest star transcends manufactured past

Brighton Centre
Fans sing along to debut album at synth-laden show that showcases former Little Mix singer’s appealing, unvarnished and at times deeply odd schtick

Harry Styles aside, the solo careers of former members of TV talent show-manufactured bands seldom grip the public imagination. They usually follow certain rules – either an attempt at a toughened-up R&B sound, replete with at least one single featuring a guest appearance by an American rapper, or a lunge towards “grownup” Radio 2-friendly smooth pop-rock territory – and they usually amount to a dimly remembered placeholder, the sight and sound of someone gamely killing time in the years before the inevitable reunion tour.

It’s a state of affairs that makes the idiosyncratic path thus far followed by Little Mix’s Jade Thirlwall oddly invigorating. She’s certainly not above doing the kind of things that former talent show band members are wont to do, among them loudly underlining that she’s no longer subject to the media-trained constraints of the manufactured pop industry – judging by tonight’s crowd, the most popular item on the merchandise stall is a fan emblazoned with the legend “TINA SAYS YOU’RE A CUNT”, a lyric from Gossip, her collaboration with dance duo Confidence Man – but nevertheless, the music she’s opted to make is pop of a noticeably more intriguing stripe than usual. She opened her solo account with last year’s superb Angel Of My Dreams, a deeply odd, jolting and disjointed melange of big pop balladry, noisy synthesisers and samples from Sandie Shaw’s Puppet On A String.

Jade plays the O2 Victoria Warehouse in Manchester tonight and is touring the UK until 23 October.

By the numbers: The government shutdown

As the doors remain closed on the federal government for the third week, "Sunday Morning" looks at the impacts.

China warns US of retaliation over Trump’s 100% tariffs threat

Beijing says it will act if US president doesn’t stand down, while investors brace for trade war turmoil

Beijing has told the US it will retaliate if Donald Trump fails to back down on his threat to impose 100% tariffs on Chinese imports as investors brace for another bout of trade war turmoil.

China’s commerce ministry blamed Washington for raising trade tensions between the two countries after Trump announced on Friday that he would impose the additional tariffs on China’s exports to the US, along with new controls on critical software, by 1 November.

A wife is accused of her husband's murder. Can she clear her name?

Alison Davis says she woke up to find her husband, Kevin Davis, face down in a pool of blood inside their New Haven, Indiana, home. She says he fell down the stairs. But after an autopsy report, police came to a different conclusion.

Was a police search for a murder weapon cut short by a guard dog's growl?

After Kevin Davis was found dying at the foot of the stairs in his Indiana home, police initially believed it was an accident. They did not search the room where a pit bull mix was secured.

Celebrating America's spirit of innovation

David Pogue looks at our nation's tradition of pioneering inventors, from Thomas Edison's R&D facility in Menlo Park, N.J., to today's entrepreneurs pitching their ideas to "Shark Tank."

These United States: Bright ideas

David Pogue looks at the pioneering spirit of innovation that Thomas Edison fostered at his R&D facility in Menlo Park, N.J., where his team helped create the light bulb and the phonograph. He also talks with Google's Steven Johnson and the panel of "Shark Tank" about today's entrepreneurs and whether an inventor's ability to persevere after failure Is a uniquely American trait.

From Annie Hall to Something’s Gotta Give: Diane Keaton was the quintessential comedy queen

The late actor won an Oscar for leading a romantic comedy in the 1970s and set the blueprint for many of the women who followed her in the genre

• An ethereally self-aware comedy genius: the loss of Diane Keaton is devastating

• Diane Keaton’s style: she dodged the stamp of the machine

Plenty of great female actors have starred in romantic comedies. Usually if they want to win an Oscar, however, they have to reach for more serious roles. The late Diane Keaton, who died unexpectedly this week, followed a reverse trajectory and made it look disarmingly natural. Her first major film role was in The Godfather, about as serious an American masterpiece as has ever been made. But that same year, she reprised the part of Linda, the object of a nerdy hero’s affection, in a film adaptation of Broadway’s Play It Again, Sam. (Keaton originated the role opposite playwright Woody Allen on the stage.) She continued to alternate serious dramas with romantic comedies throughout the ’70s, and it was the latter that won her an Oscar for best actress, changing the genre permanently.

That Oscar was for Annie Hall, co-written and directed by Allen, with Keaton as the title character, one half of the movie’s fractured love story. Allen and Keaton had been in a romantic relationship before making the film, and remained close friends for the rest of her life; in interviews, Keaton had characterized Annie as an idealized version of herself, through Allen’s eyes. It would be easy, then, to assume Keaton’s performance involves doing what came naturally to her. But there’s too much range in Keaton’s work, both between her Godfather performance and her Allen comedies and within Annie Hall itself, to dismiss her facility with romantic comedy as simply turning on the charm – though she was, of course, tremendously charming.

"It feels terrible." Federal worker's family tightens their belts as shutdown drags on

With no end in sight to the funding standoff, financial anxiety is growing. One single mom in Colorado raided her retirement savings to get through the shutdown.

Bari Weiss’s ascent at CBS News was 50 years in the making | David Sirota and Jared Jacang Maher

A half-century ago, CBS’s own president was boasting of his support for an antidemocratic political project. Our new book uses never-before-reported documents to tell the story of a scheme to undermine accountability journalism

If you only just started paying attention to the inner workings of the media industry, you might think America’s information environment transformed overnight.

In the past few months, a president extracted settlements from media giants as his apparatchiks vowed state retribution against his opponents – all as they defunded public media at a time when the president’s biggest boosters own the algorithms that decide what information is amplified and suppressed.

Actor Eve Myles looks back: ‘Early on, I was told I wasn’t the typical leading lady. Now I realise my idiosyncrasies are what make me authentic’

The Doctor Who and Torchwood star on growing up in a mining village, how Russell T Davies changed her life, and sausage rolls

Born in 1978 in Ystradgynlais, Wales, actor Eve Myles trained at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama before landing her first major role as Ceri Lewis in the BBC Wales drama Belonging, which ran from 2000 to 2009. She became a mainstream name playing Gwen Cooper in Torchwood, the BBC’s Doctor Who spin-off, from 2006 to 2011, and later won acclaim for her lead performance as Faith Howells in the thriller Keeping Faith/Un Bore Mercher. She lives in Cardiff with her husband, the actor Bradley Freegard, and their three daughters. She stars in ITV’s drama series The Hack this autumn.

This photo, taken at my third birthday party, reveals that I was brought up on pork-based foods. For this special occasion, it was sausage rolls and chipolatas on sticks – very posh, and the marker of any good celebration. My mother had obviously gone to town on that icing to hide the atrocity of the sponge cake that was buried under there. I would have been high as a kite after taking one bite.

‘Rashes, pain, blisters and bleeding’ … are we glossing over the dangers of manicures?

Gel and acrylic varnishes have been blamed for a host of unpleasant side-effects, stretching far beyond the fingertips. Some ingredients have been banned – but will that be enough to make the process safe?

From French tips to glazed doughnuts, shimmering cat eye to high-shine chrome, getting your nails done is the beauty trend that refuses to fade. Gel polish, dip powder, acrylic overlays … whatever the method, the demand for durable, chip-resistant, manicured nails is so strong that salons now often outnumber high street bank branches in the UK.

But behind the glossy finish lies a more complicated story. Last month, the European Union banned TPO – an ingredient that helps gel polish to harden under UV light – after animal studies suggested it could harm fertility or a developing foetus. The UK is expected to follow next year. It’s not the first safety red flag: Hema, another common ingredient, was restricted in DIY nail kits in 2021 after a surge in cases of allergic contact dermatitis, a painful skin condition marked by redness, blistering and swelling. So how safe is a gel manicure? And what can you do to protect yourself?

‘How is this possible?’: a new film looks inside the appalling abuses of the Alabama prison system

In the year’s most shocking documentary The Alabama Solution, prisoners share astonishing footage in a plea for help

When film-makers Andrew Jarecki and Charlotte Kaufman visited Alabama’s Easterling prison in 2019, they found a deceptively pleasant scene. Like Alabama’s 13 other prisons, Easterling largely prohibits media access, but allowed the documentarians to film its annual volunteer-run barbecue, a sunny day in which incarcerated men, most of them Black, ate fresh roasts to live music and sermons. On camera, men danced and smiled. But off camera, many more told a different story – horrific beatings, unreported stabbings, unimaginable violence swept under the rug and appalling conditions that “ain’t fit for human society”. Cries for help emerged from inside the sweltering, filthy dorms. When Jarecki approached the voices, a prison official shut down filming, claiming that it was unsafe for him to speak to the men without a police chaperone.

“It was very clear that there were areas of the prison that we were not allowed to see,” Jarecki, whose credits include Capturing the Friedmans and The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst, recalled recently. “They use the idea that it’s all about safety and security, because they don’t want you to understand what they’re doing. These prisons are like black sites.” In the short visit, the crew received the same message over and over: “We don’t have access to the outside world. Please share this.”

Heavy clashes erupt along Pakistan-Afghanistan border

Escalation comes after Pakistani airstrike in Kabul, with Taliban launching reprisals against military posts

Intense clashes erupted along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border on Saturday night, after an attack by the Afghan Taliban on Pakistani military posts led to a heavy exchange of fire and reportedly left dozens of soldiers dead.

According to officials, Afghan troops opened fire on Pakistani army posts along the north-western border with Pakistan on Saturday night and seized several of the posts. The attacks came after the Taliban regime in Afghanistan accused Pakistan of carrying out airstrikes on Afghan territory, including in the capital, Kabul, earlier this week.

How to make cinnamon buns – recipe | Felicity Cloake's Masterclass

Soft, sweet, sticky and unexpectedly easy to make at home. Season to suit your own tastes, and enjoy with a coffee or tea

There are few joys quite like a sticky bun. As soft and sweet as an edible pillow, they’re a lovely thing to sink into with a cup of coffee and, though they look impressive, they’re also unexpectedly easy to make at home. This Scandinavian version is cinnamon flavoured, but feel free to change the seasoning to suit your palate.

Prep 30 min
Rest 1 hr+
Cook 25 min
Makes 7

How smoking a bong brought back the trauma of being shot by the Taliban – an exclusive extract from Malala Yousafzai’s memoir

In the activist’s new memoir, she remembers how trying weed at university brought on terrifying flashbacks

• ‘To the men who ran the world, I was just a photo op.’ Read an interview with Malala Yousafzai

“Explain how the time inconsistency of optimal monetary policy can lead to a stabilisation bias. How would the introduction of a price path target help to address it?”

After reading the question three times, I still couldn’t make sense of it. I groaned, went back to the textbook, tried to read, made a cup of tea, and tried again. Nothing improved my focus. Then my phone lit up with a message from my friend Anisa: a picture of my name spelled out in Scrabble letters.

World No 204 Vacherot defeats cousin Rinderknech to seal fairytale Shanghai win

• Qualifier secures 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 victory in final

• ‘It’s unreal what just happened,’ says Monégasque

Valentin Vacherot closed out one of the most stunning big tournament runs in the history of professional tennis, becoming the lowest‑ranked player to win a Masters 1000 title as he roared back from a set down to defeat his cousin, Arthur Rinderknech, 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 and triumph at the Shanghai Masters.

There is little precedent for so many of Vacherot’s achievements over the past two weeks. At No 204, the 26-year-old had only narrowly entered the qualifying draw, where he was the second-lowest ranked direct entrant, following a number of late injury withdrawals. He is the third qualifier to win a Masters 1000 title in the 35-year history of the format and the first Monégasque player to win any ATP title.

Madagascar’s president says illegal power grab by military is under way

Soldiers from elite Capsat unit have announced they are taking over after weeks of youth-led protests

Madagascar’s president said an “attempt to seize power illegally and by force” was under way, as an elite military unit that joined protesters on the streets on Saturday announced it was taking over the army.

The Capsat unit’s intervention comes after weeks of youth-led protests, which started on 25 September against water and electricity shortages and expanded to calling for the resignation of the president, Andry Rajoelina, an end to corruption and radical overhaul of the political system.

Afghanistan says it has killed 58 Pakistani soldiers in overnight border operations

Afghanistan said Sunday it killed 58 Pakistani soldiers in overnight border operations, in response to what it called repeated violations of its territory and airspace.

Urgent calls for debt relief as study shows health and education cuts in developing world

Influential economists want replenishment of funds and new ways to define countries in need before this week’s IMF and World Bank meetings

Top economists are demanding urgent action on debt relief in Washington this week, as analysis from the campaign group Debt Justice shows struggling governments are cutting back on health and education.

As finance ministers and central bankers gather for the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank annual meetings, influential experts including the Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz, and leading economists Mariana Mazzucato and Jayati Ghosh, are urging them to “turn debt into hope”.

China vows to stand firm against Trump's 100% tariff threat

China signaled Sunday that it would not back down in the face of a 100% tariff threat from President Donald Trump, urging the U.S. to resolve differences through negotiations instead of threats.

5 things to know about the health care fight behind the shutdown

If Congress doesn't act, costs will rise on premiums for health care plans on the Affordable Care Act marketplaces. Here's what to know about the politics and real-world impact of this issue.

Democrats are captive to outdated etiquette. It’s endangering democracy | Ryan W Powers

The establishment left’s attachment to rigid rules leaves the party out of touch and failing to meet the moment

In early August, dozens of Democratic lawmakers fled Texas for Illinois, denying Republicans the quorum needed to pass new congressional maps projected to give the party as many as five additional seats. Their absence paralyzed the state legislature, turning a walkout into political resistance and drawing national attention.

As the standoff dragged on, Gavin Newsom, California’s governor, offered an unorthodox countermove: a proposal to suspend his state’s independent redistricting commission and draw maps designed to hand Democrats a comparable advantage. He unveiled the plan with spectacle, mimicking Donald Trump’s signature style through all-caps declarations, a mocking nickname for White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt (“KaroLYIN”) and AI-generated celebrity endorsements.

Ryan W Powers is a legal analyst who writes a weekly newsletter on democracy, dissent and the law

‘I wanted to write more than I wanted to have children’: author Sarah Perry on rejecting motherhood

When the novelist was faced with the decision of whether to pursue fertility treatment or focus on her career, her literary ambitions kicked in

Fifteen years ago, having said all my life that I never wanted a baby, that I couldn’t fathom why any free woman would do such a thing to her body and her mind, I suddenly and passionately wanted a child. I remember where I was when this feeling, so heretical to me, arrived: it was early morning in London, and having come down Fleet Street on my way to work, I was standing at the till of a newsagents to pay for a Diet Coke, a flapjack and a pack of Silk Cut. There were no children there and no pregnant women; nothing had been said or done to change my mind. It had simply landed on me, and more or less immediately – because I’ve never known how to control an impulse, and because I was 30, which seemed to me then a great age – my husband, Robert, and I set about trying to have a child.

When for some months nothing happened, I turned to the websites where women who’ve never met scrutinise their bodies for signs of pregnancy or fertility or miscarriage, and my vocabulary changed. I became able to communicate in acronyms impenetrable to anyone who hadn’t held a dozen ovulation sticks in a dozen urine streams, and it is all so long ago now that I only remember one: 2WW. At first I took this to be some dry reference to the second world war, since they did seem to be always in battle, these women, or in flight – but in fact it refers to the “two-week wait”, the fearful, hopeful days between sex and ovulation, and the first signs the uterus had succeeded or failed (that these signs can be identical sometimes invokes a kind of madness, to which I also briefly succumbed).

Dining across the divide: ‘He was shocked when I told him that schools weaponise anxiety’

They both dabble in knitting and disagree about the school system, but could they see eye-to-eye on AI?

Patrick, 31, London

Occupation Teacher in a pupil referral unit (PRU)

Move over, Alan Turing: meet the working-class hero of Bletchley Park you didn’t see in the movies

The Oxbridge-educated boffin is feted as the codebreaking genius who helped Britain win the war. But should a little-known Post Office engineer named Tommy Flowers be seen as the real father of computing?

This is a story you know, right? It’s early in the war and western Europe has fallen. Only the Channel stands between Britain and the fascist yoke; only Atlantic shipping lanes offer hope of the population continuing to be fed, clothed and armed. But hunting “wolf packs” of Nazi U-boats pick off merchant shipping at will, coordinated by radio instructions the Brits can intercept but can’t read, thanks to the fiendish Enigma encryption machine. Unless something is done – and fast – Hitler’s plan to first bomb, then starve the country will succeed. Enter the genius Alan Turing, working as a codebreaker at the top secret Government Code and Cypher School at Bletchley Park, who, in a generational act of intellectual virtuosity, designs and builds the world’s first computer to crack Enigma, allowing the U-boats to be neutralised and the war ultimately to be won. This is why Turing is known as the father of computing.

It’s a great story. But, like a lot of great stories, it couldn’t be more wrong. The world’s first digital electronic computer, forerunner of the ones reshaping our world today, was built in Britain to revolutionise codebreaking during the second world war – a mind-boggling feat of creative innovation – but Turing wasn’t in the country at the time. Neither was it conceived by the mostly private school and Oxbridge-educated boffins at Bletchley Park. Rather, the machine Park staff called Colossus was the brainchild of a degreeless Post Office engineer named Tommy Flowers, a cockney bricklayer’s son who for decades was prevented by the Official Secrets Act from acknowledging his achievement. Now, with his 120th birthday approaching and a Tommy Flowers Foundation established to right this historical wrong, he is finally getting some of his due, starting with a mural by the artist Jimmy C (best known for the David Bowie mural in Brixton, south London) at the National Museum of Computing.

The story behind the spy stories: show reveals secrets of John le Carré’s craft

How author researched his plots and letters from Alec Guinness feature in Oxford exhibition

Lamplighters, pavement artists, babysitters – they have taken on whole new meanings thanks to John le Carré. As his fans will know, they are part of tradecraft practised by the spies he wrote about so evocatively. Now, almost five years after his death, an exhibition, with the title Tradecraft, reveals the techniques and motivations of the characters’ real creator, David Cornwell.

As you enter the exhibition in Oxford University’s Bodleian library you are greeted with a large portrait of Cornwell, wearing a black bucket cap, looking straight ahead with piercing eyes, his chin resting on his gently clasped hands. Accompanying the photo are two of his quotes. “I am not a spy who writes novels, I am a writer who briefly worked in the secret world,” one says. The second, after questioning whom, if anyone, we can trust, continues: “What is loyalty – to ourselves, to whom, to what? Whom, if anyone, can we love? And what is the caring individual’s relationship to the institutions he services?”

Trump says administration has 'identified funds' to pay troops during shutdown

President Donald Trump on Saturday said his administration has "identified funds" to pay troops next week despite the federal government shutdown.

This is how we do it: ‘I worried about his kinks, but I’m learning to relax and be playful’

Marty’s penchant for being demeaned and flogged was new to Viv, who had only slept with two other people when they met …

• How do you do it? Share the story of your sex life, anonymously

The sex is gentle and affectionate … what I have with Viv is like nothing I’d experienced before

The IMF boss is right to say ‘buckle up’ – the global economy is facing multiple menaces

Trump’s latest tariff tantrum and rising fears of an AI bubble have very quickly borne out Kristalina Georgieva’s claim that ‘uncertainty is the new normal’

• Trump threatens 100% tariffs as Beijing restricts rare-earth exports

Little more than 48 hours passed last week between a warning from the IMF chief, Kristalina Georgieva, that “uncertainty is the new normal” and Donald Trump’s latest tariff onslaught – this time aimed at China.

Markets plunged on Friday after Trump threatened to levy punitive additional tariffs of 100% on Chinese goods in retaliation for Beijing’s blocks on exports of rare earth minerals.

Preparations begin to ramp up aid in Gaza as ceasefire brings hope for end to 2-year war

Preparations were also underway Sunday for the release of Israeli hostages held in Gaza and Palestinian prisoners held in Israel.

10/11: CBS Weekend News

Israelis credit President Trump with ceasefire deal, hostage release; Creative musicians turn trash to instruments and a landfill to theater.

Do you really need to buy a new laptop? When to upgrade – and when to hold off

Don’t splash out just yet! Your existing laptop may have plenty left to give

• From smash-proof cases to updates: how to make your smartphone last longer

So you want a new laptop. Of course you do. Everybody always does, except for perhaps during that short honeymoon period after you’ve just bought one. But the glamour wears off, technology marches on, and before you know it, a newer, younger, more powerful model is wandering into your thoughts.

I’m not here to judge, but as a technology specialist I can share a few thoughts that might help you fight the urge to upgrade.

Philippines says Chinese ship ‘deliberately rammed’ government boat in South China Sea

Beijing blames Manila for the collision, saying the ship ‘ignored repeated stern warnings from the Chinese side’

A Chinese ship “deliberately rammed” a Philippine government vessel anchored near an island in a disputed part of the South China Sea, Manila’s coast guard said on Sunday.

Confrontations between Philippine and Chinese vessels occur frequently in the South China Sea, which Beijing claims nearly in its entirety despite an international ruling that the claim has no legal basis.

Splendid isolation: 10 beautifully remote getaways in the UK

From a Scottish island lighthouse to a lakeside cabin in Cornwall, these secluded places to stay are bound to reinvigorate and inspire

Guests at this lighthouse keeper’s cottage have not only the property but the whole 1.6-hectare (four-acre) island to themselves. Eilean Sionnach is an islet off Skye that is accessible by boat or on foot at low tide. Like the lighthouse, the cottage was built in 1857 and has four bedrooms, four bathrooms, a kitchen and a lounge with a wood burner, and incredible sea views.

10/11: Saturday Morning

18 missing after blast at Tennessee military explosives plant; NYC staple Union Square Cafe marks 40 years in business

‘I realised I’d been ChatGPT-ed into bed’: how ‘Chatfishing’ made finding love on dating apps even weirder

Where once people were duped by soft-focus photos and borrowed chat-up lines, now they have to watch out for computer-generated charm. But it’s one thing to use a witty phrase – another thing entirely to build a whole fake persona …

Standing outside the pub, 36-year-old business owner Rachel took a final tug on her vape and steeled herself to meet the man she’d spent the last three weeks opening up to. They’d matched on the dating app Hinge and built a rapport that quickly became something deeper. “From the beginning he was asking very open-ended questions, and that felt refreshing,” says Rachel. One early message from her match read: “I’ve been reading a bit about attachment styles lately, it’s helped me to understand myself better – and the type of partner I should be looking for. Have you ever looked at yours? Do you know your attachment style?” “It was like he was genuinely trying to get to know me on a deeper level. The questions felt a lot more thoughtful than the usual, ‘How’s your day going?’” she says.

Soon, Rachel and her match were speaking daily, their conversations running the gamut from the ridiculous (favourite memes, ketchup v mayonnaise) to the sublime (expectations in love, childhood traumas). Often they’d have late-night exchanges that left her staring at her phone long after she should have been asleep. “They were like things that you read in self-help books – really personal conversations about who we are and what we want for our lives,” she says.

Restitution row: how Nigeria’s new home for the Benin bronzes ended up with clay replicas

The public display of artefacts looted by British colonial forces at the new Museum of West African Art was supposed to be the crowning glory of a decades-long restitution effort. What went wrong?

In a corner of the new Museum of West African Art, visitors can marvel at a sample display of the cultural treasures that adorned the royal palace that once stood in its place: a proud cockerel, a plaque with three mighty warriors, a bust of a king with a glorious beaded collar.

The artefacts, collectively known as the Benin bronzes, were looted by British colonial forces who went on to burn down the palace in a punitive expedition in 1897. In the decades that followed they were scattered across collections in Europe and America.

I apologise too much, and it annoys everyone around me. How can I stop? | Ask Annalisa Barbieri

Changing such ingrained habits isn’t easy, but when you’re about to apologise try counting to 10 or substituting a different phrase

I’m a woman in my late 30s who, since childhood, has thought it vital to be polite to those around me, including saying sorry when I feel I’ve done something wrong. While I have a happy and fulfilling life, I’ve always had very low self-confidence. This combination of wanting to acknowledge others appropriately and constantly doubting myself has turned me into a person who apologises a great deal. Often, it happens so fast I’m not even conscious of it. It is definitely coming from a place of anxiety and has affected my personal and professional life. It drives my loved ones and colleagues mad, and then it drives me mad that they point it out – only making me more anxious about it.

It is a particular problem when it comes to public speaking or asking questions in front of others. I try to have everything written down so I stay concise and don’t go off on a nervous tangent, but even that doesn’t work most of the time. I am an early-career academic specialising in politics, so speaking confidently is important. I have been trying to fix this by “exposure therapy”, teaching classes and forcing myself to ask any question I can at public events – despite numerous public “humiliations” by established male academics. I have also tried to consider “pausing” before speaking, so I am more aware of when I’m apologising, but that will only work initially before I fall off the wagon again.

France is not alone in its political crisis – belief in a democratic world is vanishing | Simon Tisdall

The populist right offers a solution in the form of turning back the clock. Macron and his counterparts need to find a different answer fast

Emmanuel Macron sounded like a man in grief. Not angry, not defiant, just a little triste. Europe, he lamented, was suffering a “degeneration of democracy”. Many threats emanated from outside, from Russia, from China, from powerful US tech companies and social-media entrepreneurs, France’s president said. “But we should not be naive. On the inside we are turning on ourselves. We doubt our own democracy … We see everywhere that something is happening to our democratic fabric. Democratic debate is turning into a debate of hatred.”

Squeezed between vituperative extremes of right and left, Macron knows of what he speaks. But “ungovernable” France is not alone in its bitter, intractable divisions. Across Europe, in the UK and the US, distrust and grievance daily deepen political dysfunction and social discord. Macron’s words apply, in fact, to almost any country espousing democratic principles. Belief that democracy is the form of governance best suited to the modern world is dwindling, especially among younger people. Meanwhile, the public space grows coarser and more violent. Macron was speaking at an event marking the 35th anniversary of Germany’s 1990 reunification, a moment of great optimism. Yet, like France, today’s polarised Germany faces an acute crisis of political faith.

Simon Tisdall is a Guardian foreign affairs commentator

Cameroon’s 92-year-old president set for another term as country goes to polls

Paul Biya, in power since 1982, has brushed off calls to retire but is rarely seen in public

Cameroon goes to the polls on Sunday for a presidential election with Paul Biya, already the world’s oldest head of state at the age of 92, the favourite to win an eighth term in power in the central African country.

A fractured opposition of 11 candidates is standing against Biya, who, despite his advanced age and declining health, has dismissed calls for him to retire.

Helicopter spins out of control into palm trees at popular California beach

Five people taken to hospital after crash at Huntington Beach in front of beachgoers

A helicopter flying above a popular southern California beach suddenly began spiralling out of control, eventually losing altitude and crashing into a row of palm trees as beachgoers looked on.

Videos posted online show the aircraft starting to spin above Huntington Beach then plunging towards the edge of the beach, where it becomes wedged between palms and a staircase near the Pacific Coast highway.

The Huntington Beach fire department said five people were taken to hospital including two who were in the helicopter and were “safely pulled from the wreckage” after the crash on Saturday.

10/10: CBS Evening News

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10/7: CBS Evening News

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Luigi Mangione's lawyers seek dismissal of federal charges

Mangione's lawyers asked a New York federal judge to toss several charges, including the one that carries the death penalty.