Oil prices climb as Iran talks hit new impasse; Tui hit by high fuel costs – business live

Brent crude prices hover near $90 per barrel, as fallout from Iran war hits travel firm Tui’s profits

Good morning, and welcome to our rolling coverage of business, the financial markets and the world economy.

Oil prices are still on the rise, as fresh attacks on ships raise concerns about disruptions to Middle Eastern fuel supplies, adding to doubts over the prospects of a US-Iran peace deal.

Yesterday, the rally in US crude paused for a minute after Pakistan’s Defence Minister said that they were getting “close to some sort of arrangement”, but the relief remained short-lived after Iran added that the Strait of Hormuz would remain closed until the conditions it demands from the US are met.

And the conditions that both parties demand from each other suggest that the problems won’t be solved by tomorrow.

1.30pm BST: US inflation data for July

Which footballer has played for the most clubs in their career? | The Knowledge

Plus: players whose names appear in their clubs, big leaps and the top tier short of title-winning managers

• Mail us with your all of your questions and answers

“Which footballer has played for the most clubs?” asks Paul Gage.

Surprisingly, throughout the more than two decades of the Knowledge, this question has not been answered before. But, fear not, it will be now.

Arsenal: Alan Sunderland, Tony Alexander Adams

Chelsea: Michael Essien; Ruben Ira Loftus-Cheek

Celtic: Carlton Michael Cole

Leeds: Eddie Lewis

Leicester: Kasper Peter Schmeichel

West Ham: Matthew Upson

Ben Barnett (Barnet) 1993-94

Lewis Bradford (Bradford City) 1940s

Arthur Blackburn (Blackburn Rovers) 1899

Ronnie Bolton (Bolton Wanderers) 1898

Frank Burton (Burton Swifts) 1898

Jimmy Shields (South Shields) 1961

‘Sometimes they credit the janitor. But not us’: what’s it like to be a child chaperone on a film set?

Safeguarding young people in films is a vital role, often remembered by their charges later in successful careers, but not always recognised. Some of the best share their tips

Linda Matthews has rarely had to stop a production in its tracks. Steve Stone’s 2017 psychological horror In Extremis was an exception. Set on an isolated country estate during an apocalyptic storm, it follows a family that have to confront the oncoming disaster and their own personal demons to survive. For Matthews, however, the real drama unfolded behind the camera. “I don’t mind being the big bad person,” she says. “I was working with a young girl who was playing a cancer patient. She had to wear a bald cap and everything. Just as we were about to film, she burst into tears. She told me it reminded her of her friend’s mum, who was going through cancer treatment. That was the end of that.”

You may assume Matthews is a producer or a very hands-on investor, but you would be mistaken. After leaving a career in banking, she founded Premier Chaperones in 2010 and has spent the past 15 years safeguarding children on some of the world’s biggest film and television sets.

Sen. Darline Graham advances to Republican special primary runoff in South Carolina

Progressive Democrats keep their winning streak rolling in Minnesota.

Europe is the world’s fastest warming continent. What is to blame?

The climate crisis is hitting Europe hard in 2026, warming twice as fast as any other continent – and the consequences are deadly

The whole world is getting hotter as carbon pollution from fossil fuel burning traps ever more heat, but Europe is heating up twice as fast as other continents. The consequences are increasingly deadly, with tens of thousands of heatwave deaths so far this summer.

A History of the Novel in Britain by Philip Hensher review – a masterpiece of criticism

This joyous book takes readers on a literary adventure across 200 years of fiction, from Defoe to Zadie Smith

In his opening paragraph, Philip Hensher declares that a novel not only “tells a good story” but is a good story in itself. We could extend that neat formula to include this book, which is not only a masterful account of fiction since 1719, when Daniel Defoe set Robinson Crusoe down on his desert island, but is itself a wonderful read. There is nothing dreary here; no sense of being back in the seminar room taking notes. Instead it is 600 pages of deep pleasure, an excuse to revisit old literary loves and be reminded of ones that have slipped from view.

Hensher is smart enough to know why his book works so well and vain enough to tell us. The usual methodology for a survey is to assemble a roster of academics and invite them to trot out a chapter on their specialism, whether that be “Thomas Hardy” or “High Modernism”. The result is a series of silos, with little sense of historical connection or intellectual unfolding. Hensher, by contrast, gives us a joined-up account of creative call and response. Equally crucial to this project’s success is Hensher’s own experience as a novelist. He brings a practitioner’s informed eye to such questions as why some chapters in Dickens’s Dombey and Son are in the present tense or how Henry James pulls off free indirect speech in What Maisie Knew.

Katendrecht: Rotterdam’s sailors’ quarter reinvented as cultural hub

The regeneration of historic warehouses has transformed this former red-light district into one of the port city’s most vibrant areas

A thin peninsula just south of Rotterdam’s centre, Katendrecht was once at the heart of the world’s busiest port, home to continental Europe’s first Chinatown and a lively sailors’ quarter. Its later reputation as a red light district has been shrugged off – part of the city’s wider reinvention in the aftermath of extensive second world war bombing.

Eerie silence and ‘still surviving’: what happened next after steel town’s last blast furnace shut down

Exhibition in Port Talbot is part of project exploring how communities experience endings and transitions

Margaret Heggett, 95, does not remember a time when Port Talbot was ever quiet. Born and raised in the shadow of the steelworks, with a father, brother and husband who worked there, she never imagined what the town could look or sound like without its blast furnaces.

“I’m not saying it was beautiful, but there were jobs. We did know the closure was coming and we have to move with the times but it’s affected the town a lot and it’s very sad,” she said.

A moment that changed me: My stammer made life a misery – then a song gave me back my voice

As a teenager, I was so ashamed of my speech disability that even my family didn’t know about it. When Scatman John came on the radio, celebrating his own stammer in a hit about self-esteem, I knew I had to meet him

For most of my life, I had one goal: don’t get found out. I was a covert stammerer (or stutterer). Nobody realised I had a speech disability, because whenever I felt I was going to get stuck on a word, I switched it or stayed silent. I appeared fluent by avoiding certain sounds, words, situations and people. You’d never catch me on the phone. In restaurants, I ordered what was easier to say, rather than what I wanted. At school, I skipped any class where I might have to read aloud. On top of that, I was a shy, geeky redhead with braces who was bullied relentlessly. Not even my family knew I stammered. I believed I would never have a good job, a relationship, or a way out.

What changed that was not therapy or a chance moment of inspiration. It was a weird song blasting from my dad’s car radio in the summer of 1995.

Thailand suspends gun licences as teen shooter and grandparents he killed are cremated

Prime minister Anutin Charnvirakul calls for tighter gun controls and ‘decisive penalties’ after nine dead in school shooting

Thailand has suspended firearms licences after the deadly Nonthaburi school shooting, as the bodies of the teenage attacker and the grandparents he killed were cremated.

The prime minister, Anutin Charnvirakul, said he had ordered the interior ministry and police to stop issuing licences to possess, purchase and carry firearms, and called for “tighter controls and decisive penalties”. The measures are temporary until a new gun control law is in place, according to government operated news-channel NBT World.

Former U.S. Marine held in Russia on disputed charges has been released

Russia released an American military veteran, allowing his return to the U.S. after four years of what his family and U.S. officials allege was wrongful incarceration and abusive treatment.

Earthquake response strains Colombia's new government and rescuers

The earthquake killed at least 181 people and left 2,595 injured, according to Colombian authorities. At least 195 remained missing, but civilian-run databases put that number closer to 4,000.

Tarte tatin, spicy pork chops and crumble: Ravinder Bhogal’s gooseberry recipes

The gooseberry makes itself welcome in both sweet and savoury settings: in a tarte tatin, in a lively salad for spicy, herby pork chops and in a crumble custard cake

In the summer glut of saccharine fruits such as strawberries and peaches, gooseberries may not be the ones you reach for first. But behind their strange burr of fine fuzz, these translucent, marble-like fruits offer a complex, defiant flavour. They are juicy, fragrant, a little sweet (especially the red ones that come along later in the season), but, overall, they are raspishly sour. Like rhubarb, they need sweetening if you’re using them in compotes or desserts, but their natural tartness offers a wonderful contrast and cuts through cheese, fatty meat such as pork or oily fish such as mackerel.

Mass evacuations in Beijing as Typhoon Dolphin brings more torrential rain to China

Forecasters warned the Chinese capital could receive more than one-third of its average annual rainfall over 24 hours

Thousands of people have been evacuated from areas at risk of flooding and landslides in Beijing, as the remnants of Typhoon Dolphin continue to bring torrential rain to northern and central China.

Forecasters warned on Tuesday that the Chinese capital could receive more than 150mm of rain over the following 24 hours, with some districts forecast to exceed 200mm – more than one-third of Beijing’s average annual rainfall of 528mm.

UK heatwaves may have cost economy £4.4bn in lost output so far this year, analysis finds

Verdant thinktank says cost could top £25bn a year by 2030 and calls for maximum temperature for working and urban redesign to cool down cities

Repeated debilitating heatwaves this summer are likely to have cost the UK economy more than £4bn in lost economic output by the end of July, new analysis shows.

Green thinktank Verdant had suggested June’s unseasonally hot weather had an economic cost of £2.36bn. Updating its assessment to include last month’s high temperatures, it finds a £4.4bn hit to output.

British man with dementia told to leave Sweden after losing migration case

Exclusive: Horace Mason, 74, who has lived in Sweden for 25 years, faces being deported after court ruling

A 74-year-old British man who has been living in Sweden for 25 years who needs round-the-clock care for dementia has been given 10 days to leave the country after he lost a post-Brexit migration court case.

The deportation order comes after a Swedish court ruling in July that the government’s drive to reduce immigration trumped the needs of a man in full-time care.

‘It’s going to be spectacular’: Millions flock to Spain seeking best view of total solar eclipse

Eclipse chasers, tourists and astronomers searching for the clearest skies to watch the two minutes of totality

The online forums are abuzz as people debate potential cloud cover and trade tips on the best viewing points. Hours before wide swathes of Spain were set to experience the country’s first total solar eclipse in more than a century, the excitement was palpable.

“It’s going to be spectacular,” said César González, an astronomer and science communicator at the Madrid Planetarium. “A total solar eclipse is one of the best spectacles in nature.”

‘I turned down Gandhi because I’m terrified of snakes’: the amazing movie memories of Bruce Dern

Famed for playing loners, cranks and wayward angels, the Hollywood star is now a wolfish 90 – but he still jogs daily. As he takes his latest film to Edinburgh, we meet the man Hitchcock called ‘the golden calf’

‘Can you take another story?” asks the veteran actor Bruce Dern towards the end of our talk, as though every tale is a drink and the landlord has called last orders. He doesn’t want to keep me and knows we’re running out of time. It’s just that one memory sparks another and these tales won’t tell themselves. He says that the next one is a doozy. “It’s about Marilyn Monroe.”

Throw out all the questions and turn the clocks to the wall. One does not interview Dern so much as say hello, hit record and sit back. The man began his career acting alongside Montgomery Clift and Mary Astor and has collaborated with everyone from John Wayne to Tom Hanks, Hitchcock to Tarantino. He’s the lawless survivor of American movies, blown in from the past, and talking 19 to the dozen. “I’m 90 fucking years old,” he tells me. “So I’m not going to be around to see all this AI shit or whatever. But I don’t consider myself old. I still walk and jog every day.”

Trump’s Air Force One deception faces scrutiny over ‘decoy’ passengers

Journalists and others were allowed to fly on presidential jet despite security threat while Trump was spirited away

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Democrats called on Tuesday for a congressional briefing over a stunning charade in which Donald Trump was secretly spirited to a different plane than the one the public and press believed he was travelling on. Critics now question why reporters and the public had been deliberately misled.

When US intelligence allegedly found a credible threat that Iran plotted to kill him last month, Trump left Air Force One in a catering truck, an episode first reported by the Washington Post and also by the New York Times. While the president was reportedly snuck out the side door of the plane, more than a hundred aides, officials and reporters were kept onboard to fly towards Britain, without being told there was a threat to their lives.

Progressive Peggy Flanagan wins Democratic Senate primary in Minnesota

Progressive Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan won the Democratic primary for Senate from Minnesota. It continues a series of wins for the progressive wing of the party over centrists.

Powerful storms slam Midwest, leave nearly 1 million without power

Nearly 1 million customers in the Midwest were without power as perilous thunderstorms and extreme wind gusts pummeled the region on Tuesday.

Trump-backed Mike Lindell loses primary for Minnesota governor to Lisa Demuth

Lindell had President Trump's endorsement but he lost to Lisa Demuth, the speaker of the state house. She'll face Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar in the fall for governor.

14-term Rep. John Larson ousted by challenger in Connecticut Democratic primary

Democratic Rep. John Larson — who has represented central Connecticut since the late 1990s — lost his party's primary Tuesday to former Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin, CBS News has projected.

New Zealand PM Christopher Luxon wins confidence vote, surviving second challenge to leadership

Just a few months ahead of an election, the prime minister said he had the full support of his party, after calling crisis meeting to address leadership speculation

New Zealand’s prime minister Christopher Luxon has survived a second leadership showdown in four months, just 87 days out from the country’s general election.

Talking to media after a three-hour meeting of his MPs in Wellington on Wednesday, the embattled leader said he had the full support of his party.

Passenger jet billed as China’s answer to Boeing and Airbus prepares to make first international flight

The Comac C919 will fly from Beijing to Ulaanbaatar in Mongolia, although experts say it could take generations for it to challenge the west’s dominance of the industry

China hopes to break into the world of commercial aviation with the first international flight of a Chinese-made passenger jet scheduled for Wednesday.

The Comac C919 will take off from Beijing capital international airport at 3pm, landing in Ulaanbaatar, the capital of Mongolia, just over two hours later.

High school football player finds venomous snake inside helmet he was wearing

The Maumelle High football player wore the helmet for nearly an hour and was fortunate he wasn't bitten, animal services director Chris Davis said.

Ukraine war briefing: North Korean missiles hit Zaporizhzhia in deadly attack

Zelenskyy warns Putin will use Russian election, in which opposition to the war is banned, as pretext for major call-up of troops. What we know on day 1,631

Russian forces used ballistic missiles supplied by North Korea, Ukraine’s president said, in an attack on the south-eastern city of Zaporizhzhia where the Metinvest steel company said seven civilian workers at its plant were killed and 21 injured. Three more civilians, including a 15-year-old boy, were killed by Russian drones and artillery in the central Dnipropetrovsk region, authorities said. Russia used missiles, drones and glide bombs to attack Ukrainian cities on Tuesday, said Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the president. One strike hit the grounds of a children’s hospital, leaving two craters but not hurting anyone, the State Emergency Service said.

Ukraine’s military general staff said its forces struck an oil refinery in the city of Orsk in Russia’s Orenburg region near the border with Kazakhstan, about 1,500km (930 miles) from Ukraine, causing a fire. The refinery can process about 44m barrels of crude oil a year to produce gasoline, diesel, aviation fuel and other products. The Russian online retailer Wildberries said its logistical facilities in the Voronezh region of Russia near the Ukrainian border came under attack and caught fire.

Romania’s defence ministry said its navy destroyed two suspected Russian drones drifting in the Black Sea about 90 nautical miles (166km) from the port of Constanta. The Gerbera-type drones – a cut-price Russian version of the Shahed – were blown up by divers and some pieces were recovered, the ministry said, adding that Ukraine said the drones were not theirs.

Russia is aiming to exploit Kyiv’s critical shortage of Patriot air defence interceptors that can stop ballistic missiles, Zelenskyy said, adding that Moscow is preparing to recruit more troops for a new push on the frontline. “Every step Russia takes – increasing ballistic missile production, bringing in North Korean equipment, preparing for mobilisation – all of this shows that Moscow is preparing not for peace, but for escalation,” Zelenskyy posted. He was warned in recent days that North Korea is preparing to send up to 50,000 more troops to Russia.

Zelenskyy said Ukrainian intelligence suggested Russia would use its “pseudo-election” in September as a pretext to declare a new mobilisation. Mobilisation involves the use of reservists and conscripts, which in 2022 led to protests in Russia such as recruiting offices being set on fire. “They are preparing for mobilisation in the autumn, ​immediately after the imitation of parliamentary elections,” Zelenskyy said as part of a plan to “create the appearance that Russians supposedly support the war”. Russia’s supreme ​court on Monday barred the Yabloko party, the only officially registered party that opposes Moscow’s ​war in Ukraine, from competing ‌in the election. Zelenskyy continued: “Then, following the so-called election, he plans an additional rapid mobilisation of several hundred thousand Russians by the end of the year, plus another similar number next year.”

Zelenskyy said Ukraine had ⁠handed proposals to US ⁠negotiators for a plan ​to end the war with Moscow. Zelenskyy offered no details on the proposals. US negotiators Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner were last in Moscow in January and have not yet visited Kyiv. The Institute for the Study of War, a US thinktank, has said in an analysis that the Kremlin will not seriously negotiate as long as Putin believes he might still reach his full objectives. “Ukraine’s Patriot shortages offer Russia an opportunity to cause very serious damage to Ukraine over the coming winter and will therefore contribute to delaying meaningful negotiations and protracting the war.”

The UN estimates that more than 16,000 civilians detained by Russia during the war are still being “deprived of their liberty”, with many held incommunicado and on grounds that don’t comply with international law. “Widespread and systematic torture and ill-treatment” of both Ukrainian civilian detainees and prisoners of war by Russia are continuing, including sexual violence, said Claudia Fuentes Julio, the UN assistant secretary general for human rights.

A ‘body’ found in a suitcase was actually a sex doll. How did NSW police get it so wrong?

Officers – correctly – may not have fully unzipped the bag containing the lifelike doll to avoid destroying evidence, one expert says

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Revelations that a “body” found inside a suitcase was actually a sex doll may have been embarrassing for police, but experts say officers followed the correct procedure.

New South Wales police on Sunday were called to Oallen, a rural locality near Goulburn, after two members of the public found a suitcase containing what they believed to be human remains dumped on the side of the road.

ICE plans to give officers gloves that can deliver electric shocks

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers may soon be outfitted with gloves that can deliver painful electric shocks that are intended to gain compliance from combative individuals.

Cook Islands election: PM Mark Brown speaks on the diplomatic crises that defined his year

The prime minister tells the Guardian that last year’s diplomatic rift with ally New Zealand could be on voters’ minds as they head to the polls

As voters in the Cook Islands prepare to head to the polls in a high-stakes general election, they will have much to reflect on. Over recent years, politics in this small island nation has been defined by fierce debates about deep-sea mining, diplomatic rifts with ally New Zealand and a major reshaping of the country’s foreign partnerships.

In an exclusive interview with the Guardian, days before Wednesday’s poll, Cook Islands prime minister Mark Brown defended his four-year term and the decisions he made that have seen this South Pacific nation of 17,000 people pushed into the international limelight, turning it into a battleground for influence between Beijing and western powers.

Male redback spiders invite cannibalism through a ‘self-sacrificial somersault’ during sex – but why?

New research sheds light on the genetic basis of the venomous arachnid’s ‘weird mating behaviour’

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If you think you’ve had a bad one-night stand, spare a thought for the male redback spider, whose sole reproductive partner eats him after sex.

Male redbacks appear to invite this cannibalism through a “self-sacrificial somersault”, with new research shedding light on the genetic basis of the behaviour.

Beach town mayor worries social media trend could lead to shark attack

Bay Head Mayor Bill Curtis worries that baiting sharks close to shore in order to take pictures and videos of them could be a recipe for disaster.

Some fishers lure sharks into shallow waters, causing concern in New Jersey

Shark fishing videos caused concern this summer in New Jersey, as some people lured big sharks close to swimmers. Tom Hanson has the story.

Farm linked to cyclosporaisis outbreak went years without FDA inspection

The FDA has long fallen short of legally required inspection targets, and foreign inspections fell further last year amid agency layoffs.

Melon-gate was a non-issue in Japan. How did it get elevated to a crisis in Australia? | Malcolm Farr

Anthony Albanese’s comments about melons given to him by Japanese prime minister Sanae Takaichi continue to make headlines weeks after they were made

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The government continues to face an all-out effort, led by parts of the media, to depict Anthony Albanese as the Benny Hill of international diplomacy endangering Australia’s regional standing.

There is ongoing anger – or so we’re told – over a crude double entendre from the Australian prime minister made over a month ago that indirectly involved his Japanese counterpart Sanae Takaichi and her gift of two melons during her recent Australian visit.

Doctor discusses released Fauci texts on the COVID vaccine and pregnant women

Republican senators this week released 11 new text messages from Dr. Anthony Fauci's government phone in 2021 as part of the investigations into his handling of the COVID pandemic. In the texts, he discussed the potential risks and benefits of the vaccine for pregnant women. Dr. Serena Chen, an OB-GYN and the director of advocacy at CCRM Fertility of New Jersey, has more.

Thunderstorms cause major travel delays, ground stops

Storms in the Midwest caused widespread travel troubles on Tuesday. More than 7,000 flights were delayed or canceled, with the biggest backlogs in Chicago and New York. Kris Van Cleave reports from Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey, and Rob Marciano has the forecast.

Storms hit Midwest as wildfires rage in western states

Powerful storms swept across the Midwest and into the mid-Atlantic states on Tuesday night. The outbreak of storms brought hurricane-force winds of up to 100 miles per hour, along with tornadoes and flash flooding. Ian Lee reports.

Trump took secret flight from Turkey NATO summit last month due to Iranian missile threat

President Trump secretly switched from Air Force One to a different plane after a NATO summit in Turkey last month. The U.S. had learned of a credible Iranian missile threat as he left Turkey's capital. Ed O'Keefe reports.

Premier League 2026-27 preview No 5: Brighton

Fabian Hürzeler has lost key players including Welbeck and Van Hecke with Brighton needing squad depth to cope with the demands of European football

Guardian writers’ predicted position: 9th (NB: this is not necessarily John Brewin’s prediction but the average of our writers’ tips)

Last season’s position: 8th

White House asked DOJ about new Reflecting Pool case against David Hearn

Earlier this month, however, federal prosecutors moved to dismiss the case, citing new information that the damage was caused by a "botched installation" by a contractor, not vandalism.

CoreWeave stock pops 14% as revenue doubles on accelerating AI infrastructure demand

CoreWeave's revenue is surging as the AI boom continues, but the company is also sitting on $35 billion in debt.

Trump administration bars use of Medicaid funds for some youth transgender care

Medicaid said it won't pay for gender-affirming surgeries or hormones for transgender minors.

GM reaches up to $4.5 billion parts deal designed to avoid supply chain troubles

The deal follows years of global automotive supply chain issues for GM and other companies.

In South Carolina, Sen. Darline Graham advances to a GOP special primary runoff for U.S. Senate

Sen. Darline Graham, who is serving out the remainder of her brother's term, and Rep. Ralph Norman advance to the special primary runoff later this month.

Trump Media sells $100,000 Truth Social data access, drawing scrutiny

Customers are paying up to $100,000 a month for faster access to Truth Social posts from President Trump and other top users of the social media platform.

8/11: CBS Evening News

President Trump took secret flight out of July's NATO summit due to Iranian missile threat; storms hit Midwest as wildfires rage in western states.

Romell Glave soars to European men’s 100m title in British one-two ahead of Jeremiah Azu

• Olympic champion Marcell Jacobs pulls up injured

• Italy’s Nadia Battocletti wins gold in women’s 5,000m

On Marcell Jacobs’ right arm there is a tattoo of the Roman colosseum and a gladiator: a reminder of his fighting spirit and what Italy’s capital means to him. But in the swirling bearpit of a European championships 100m final, the former Olympic champion’s body dramatically broke down.

That was the first shock. The second was the sight of two Britons, Romell Glave and Jeremiah Azu, blasting through to take gold and silver.

Arthur Fery ready to test himself at Masters level after Wimbledon run

• Briton reached SW19 semi-finals as a wildcard

• World No 36 has first-round bye in Cincinnati

Arthur Fery believes he is at the start of a new chapter in his career as he returns to competition for the first time since his surprise run to the Wimbledon semi-finals as a wildcard.

Fery will compete for the first time in a month at the Cincinnati Open this week, after opting to take a short holiday and training block following the most demanding fortnight of his career at Wimbledon.

Dethroned Miss North Carolina USA threatens legal action over title removal

Brittany Boltinhouse’s attorney says removal of title and crown ‘another troubling example of cancel culture’

A lawyer for beauty queen Brittany Boltinhouse, dethroned as Miss North Carolina USA last week, is threatening legal action, claiming the actions of pageant organizers were “wrongful and unjustified”.

The attorney, Patrick Mincey, described the removal of her title and crown “another troubling example of cancel culture”.

ACLU asks judge to block new Trump order restricting birthright citizenship

Group says new executive order is attempt to evade supreme court’s earlier ruling against the president

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The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and other advocacy groups have asked a federal judge to block Donald Trump from enforcing new executive ⁠orders he signed last week in his latest attempt to restrict eligibility ​for birthright citizenship in the US.

In a Tuesday court filing, the groups called the US president’s new orders an improper attempt to evade the US supreme court’s 30 June rejection of his first, more sweeping bid to deny automatic citizenship to children born to undocumented immigrants and temporary foreign residents.

The death toll climbs from Monday's 7.4 magnitude earthquake in Colombia

Hundreds of rescue workers have been deployed in hardest hit cities trying to free victims still trapped under the rubble. Hundreds of people are still missing.

A judge expands a block on U.S. Postal Service work on Trump's mail-in voting order

A federal judge expanded a block on a key part of President Trump's order to restrict mail-in voting for this fall's midterms, banning the Postal Service from carrying out directives in every state.

8/11: The Takeout with Major Garrett

Six states hold primaries as the 2026 midterm election cycle continues; New details on Trump's secret plane switch.

Play video games? You, too, could become an air traffic controller

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy is touting the success of a campaign targeting video gamers to train as air traffic controllers.

Flames shoot out of plane's engine after apparent bird strike

An American Airlines plane bound for North Carolina was forced to return to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, when flames erupted from its left engine due to an apparent bird strike.

Kennedy Center must pay $250,000 in legal fees to musician who canceled in protest

Chuck Redd canceled his annual Christmas Eve performance to protest Trump's name being added to the complex. In June, a superior court judge dismissed the Kennedy Center's lawsuit against Redd.

5 questions parents may have after Trump's latest vaccine move

Parents may be confused about the status of vaccines for their kids after President Trump's new executive order. It's important to know nothing is changing right away.

Buzzer-beaters and besties: the rivalries and friendships that make the WNBA

From Comets-Liberty and Lynx-Sparks to Wilson-Gray and the StudBudz, the feuds and friendships that have shaped 30 years of the WNBA

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It’s Rivals Week in the W, and it’s already given us so many spicy viral moments. But when I look at the matchups that headline the schedule, it made me think of all the different rivalries that have come and gone throughout the league’s 30 years – some rooted in half-court buzzer-beaters, others in baseline jumper buzzer-beaters. Moral of the story: if there’s a buzzer-beater involved, it’ll likely turn into a team rivalry.

And while there are tense rivalries, there are also fierce friendships in this league. The ones that make you giggle to yourself when they wind up guarding each other during a game, or they show off a special celebration as teammates. Today, I want to highlight both – because both are what makes the W worth watching.

Social Security adds 14 conditions to fast-track disability list

The Social Security Administration is expanding its list of diseases and other health conditions that may qualify for accelerated approval of disability benefits.

An inflation report Wednesday should be a big deal for the Fed. Here's what to expect

The consumer price index is expected to show only a modest increase for July.

U.S. Marine veteran freed from Russian prison after nearly 4 years

A U.S. Marine veteran from Massachusetts who has been held in Russia for more than four years on disputed charges has been released.

Is your career "rusting out"? Here's what that means, and how to spot it.

Many employees feel their employers don't value them and that they're not contributing as much as they could, a workplace poll finds.

Richard Tice accused of ‘nasty tactics’ over legal threat to the Guardian

Reform deputy leader condemned for seeking disclosure of documents that could reveal reporter’s sources

Reform’s deputy leader Richard Tice has been accused of using “nasty tactics” in an attempt to intimidate journalists and deflect attention from his own financial affairs after issuing a legal threat to the Guardian.

In a letter sent from his lawyers, a Guardian correspondent was singled out for her reporting on a series of Tice’s financial transactions that were referred to the National Crime Agency.

Trump says NYC pied-à-terre tax 'must be stopped,' eyes federal block

Trump in a Truth Social post called Mamdani's pied-à-terre tax a "dangerous political 'experiment' in New York will destroy" the city and state.

Democrats clash again in Minnesota and Wisconsin primaries as big midterm races take shape

In Minnesota, progressive Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan and moderate Democratic Rep. Angie Craig are competing for the nomination to succeed the retiring Sen. Tina Smith.

The Guardian view on wildfires: firefighters can’t handle this crisis alone | Editorial

The response to this summer’s record heat and drought should be led by ministers – not left to the emergency services

The wildfire that began on protected heathland in the New Forest in Hampshire on Sunday was reported to be under control on Tuesday. But with temperatures forecast to reach 36C or higher in parts of England on Thursday, the risk of further outbreaks remains high. Firefighters responded to 185 wildfires in the first 10 days of August. In coastal Suffolk, conservationists and locals are counting the cost of the blaze that devastated Dunwich Heath. Its vegetation and rare bird populations are expected to take decades to recover.

Although the immediate cause of many wildfires is litter, the risks are elevated by heat and drought, and repeated warnings from climate scientists do not necessarily lessen the shock and distress caused. As people and governments across Europe assess this summer’s damage, experts including the UN climate chief, Simon Stiell, hope that the fires will focus minds on the urgent necessity of cutting emissions – as well as investing in emergency planning. Europe is currently heating up faster than any other continent, due in part to proximity to the melting Arctic.

The Guardian view on AI money in US politics: not the way to hold an urgent democratic debate | Editorial

Amid public concern over the impact of new technology, Silicon Valley’s use of its wealth to influence specific election races is an unwelcome development

As the huge societal ramifications of artificial intelligence have become clear, some of the tech industry’s most senior figures have taken to writing thinkpieces on what comes next. The latest to do so is Mark Zuckerberg, who this week published 6,500 words making the case for a laissez-faire approach to AI development. Worrying too much about regulation, Meta’s CEO unsurprisingly opines, could lead to the United States falling behind in the race to own the future.

Mr Zuckerberg’s plea for maximum autonomy is, of course, self-serving. Much of his essay – which airily envisions “invention superpowers” for every entrepreneur and “an abundance of jobs in the future” – reads like unadulterated tech-utopianism. But the lobbying at least has the merit of being out there in the open. As midterm elections loom in the US, darker arts are also being used to counter popular concern about what AI will mean for a host of topics, from the labour market to child safety, the environment and cybersecurity.

The Office actor Lucy Davis says she has incurable stage four breast cancer

Star, 53, says disease has metastasised to her bones and it is too late for chemotherapy

Lucy Davis, the actor best known for playing Dawn Tinsley in The Office, has said she has incurable stage four breast cancer.

The 53-year-old said she was diagnosed a year and a half ago and the disease had metastasised to her bones including her spine, right hip and ribs. She said it was too late for chemotherapy.

Bumble drops women-first chat rule as dating apps seek engagement boost

Since Bumble’s launch in 2014, only women ‌could initiate conversations in heterosexual matches on the app

Bumble on Tuesday said it would begin allowing either person ⁠in a match to send the first message, dropping the women-first messaging rule ⁠that has ⁠been ​a defining feature of the dating app since its launch in 2014.

The move ⁠comes as dating-app companies across the globe grapple with user fatigue toward traditional swipe-based platforms and slowing ⁠growth, prompting some, including Bumble and Tinder-owner Match Group, to ​roll out new ‌features and artificial intelligence-powered ‌tools aimed at improving engagement.

Infantino’s opponents developing new framework for running world football

• Uefa, Concacaf and AFC working together on system

• Fifa has ignored calls for an independent review

Gianni Infantino’s opponents are working together to produce a new framework for running world football to replace what they regard as a system of patronage that Fifa has adopted since he replaced Sepp Blatter as president 10 years ago.

Repeated calls from Uefa, Concacaf and the Asian Football Confederation for an independent review of Fifa’s governance have been ignored by Infantino since his plan to sell off 21% of the World Cup was made public a fortnight ago, and the rebels are now understood to have taken matters into their own hands.

Will Andy Burnham’s everyday fixes be enough to get the public on his side?

The prime minister’s money-saving policies are popular but they are yet to convince voters he can take on the big things

It was last year that Martin Lewis, the money-saving guru, advised the government to find “100 small things that piss people off” and set about sorting them out.

That approach has been adopted almost immediately by Andy Burnham since entering office, as he began his programme of “everyday fixes” to tackle problems that can be dealt with through minor policy tweaks.

Maine lifeguard "started swimming like hell" when shark pulled him underwater

A lifeguard said a shark off the coast of Scarborough Beach in Maine grabbed onto his buoy and pulled him 5 feet underwater before he was able to get free.

What effect will Donald Trump’s childhood vaccine recommendations have in the US and beyond?

Is there any science behind the recommendations? Will they result in lower vaccination rates? And will they cause a resurgence of preventable diseases?

A new executive order from the US president, Donald Trump, calls for sweeping changes to childhood vaccine recommendations.

His plans would result in fewer vaccines being recommended overall; the combined measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine being replaced with three separate shots, and all childhood immunisations being administered during separate medical visits “to the maximum extent feasible”.

Salad is supposed to be good for you – so what’s behind all the cases of lettuce poisoning?

Iceberg lettuce has been blamed for a surge in American cases of the parasitic illness cyclosporiasis. Symptoms include ‘frequent and sometimes explosive bowel movements’

Name: Salad.

Age: Legend has it that in the Byzantine period, the Greek island of Kos was a centre for growing a long-leafed variety of lettuce that your grandparents might know as cos, though that variety is now more commonly referred to as romaine.

DOJ office says Trump's outside advisers can be shielded by executive privilege

Trump's outside advisers may now be protected from future congressional and legal investigations, according to a new opinion from the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel.

Invitation Homes CEO says ban on institutional homebuying will bring down prices, but not immediately

The CEO of the nation's largest single-family rental landlord said the new law banning large-scale investors from the market will lower prices in the long term.

Trump wants to split the MMR vaccine. Experts say that's unlikely — and comes with consequences

Doctors and other experts say that splitting the measles, mumps and rubella shot has no scientific basis and is unlikely to get off the ground. 

Why the US government is banning Chinese robots – video explainer

The Federal Communications Commission on 28 July announced a ban on humanoid robots from China including the popular Unitree G1 model. The Guardian's technology journalist Nick Robins-Early explains the recent popularity of these trending robots and why the US government says they are a risk to the country's national security

Djed Spence nears Tottenham exit with Inter in talks over £25.6m move

• England defender keen on move to Italian champions

• Udogie and Porro set to be Spurs’ first-choice full-backs

Tottenham are prepared to allow Djed Spence to join Inter, with the England defender expected to cost around €30m (£25.6m).

Spence – who started four games at the World Cup, including the semi-final against Argentina – has fallen further down the pecking order at Spurs after the arrival of Andy Robertson from Liverpool. He signed a new four‑year contract in north London at the start of last season but is believed to be keen on joining the Italian champions, with Destiny Udogie and Pedro Porro expected to be Roberto De Zerbi’s preferred full‑backs this season.

Typhoon Dolphin hits Beijing as city braces for one-third of annual rainfall over 24 hours

Flooding already reported in some districts of Chinese capital and rains are expected to get worse overnight

Typhoon Dolphin hit China’s capital on Tuesday as the storm caused flooding in parts of Beijing’s Shunyi district. Rains are forecast to intensify overnight.

Although the storm has been downgraded to a tropical depression, several districts in Beijing activated the highest level of emergency flood responses as the city braced for one-third of its annual rainfall, which is expected over the next 24 hours.

Powerball jackpot hits $1 billion after no one won $905 million grand prize

No winning tickets were sold for Monday night's $905 million Powerball jackpot, so the estimated grand prize for Wednesday's drawing will be at least $1 billion, Powerball says.

Manus to return as independent company after China forced Meta to unwind $2 billion deal

Last December, Meta said it planned to acquire Manus for $2 billion, its latest effort to shore up its AI strategy.

We’re reading less. And it’s making us stupid

Books have never been trendier, but studies show that as more and more things compete for our frazzled attention spans, we’re reading less and less. This is a problem because reading has a wealth of cognitive benefits that we’re in danger of missing out on.

To find out why declining literacy could affect everything from memory to IQ, Madeleine Finlay speaks to the Guardian’s science editor, Ian Sample. She also hears from Prof Falk Huettig, an experimental psychologist at the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics and author of The Perks of Being a Bookworm

Trump put a wrecking-ball through the East Wing – and through democratic norms | Francine Prose

Our children should be able to visit our nation’s capital without having to think about Donald Trump and about how much he did to deface it

History has shown us how much dictators and aspiring dictators love building monuments to themselves. They enjoy reminding the world that they can do anything, no matter who is responsible for the physical labor or who will be paying the financial and human cost.

They prefer outsized structures, heroic arches, towers and columns designed to prove that their signature and their esthetic will be with us forever, even after they’re dead, though dictators often seem to believe they are too powerful to die.

Francine Prose is a former president of PEN American Center and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences

‘Subsidies for fossil fuels ... are pouring fuel on the fire’: your questions on fossil fuel profits and the climate crisis answered

Reporters Jillian Ambrose and Damian Carrington discussed their story on oil firms’ profits amid the war in Iran and the climate crisis and answered your related questions

PCMcGarry asks: Given the facts that we live on a collection of islands and that tides are predictable, what serious efforts have been made to harness sea power and with what success?

Damian:

The UK is actually home to the world’s most powerful tidal stream turbine, operated by Orbital Marine Power, off Orkney and, the company says now moving into commercial deployment. But the device produces 2MW of power, the same as a small wind turbine. So there is a huge scale up needed to make a difference, and putting electric equipment in moving salty water is tough.

There are big tidal plants in France, South Korea and China, but a large tidal lagoon project for Swansea a decade ago was cancelled by ministers in 2018 who said it was too expensive compared with alternatives such as offshore wind farms and nuclear power.

The climate crisis is causing winter rainfall in the UK to increase, as the Met Office states:

“The winter half-year (October to March) for the most recent decade, 2016–2025, has been 3% wetter than 1991–2020, and 13% wetter than 1961–1990.”

‘Every minute counts’ as rescuers race to find survivors after deadly Colombia earthquake

People being pulled from collapsed buildings day after 7.4 magnitude quake hit, in response experts say contrasts favourably with Venezuela’s

Colombian rescue workers are racing to find survivors after the country’s deadliest earthquake this century killed at least 240 people and left at least 3,000 missing.

In Cali, one of the worst affected cities, firefighters said they had pulled a 35-year-old man from the wreckage of a collapsed building shortly before 4am on Tuesday – nearly 24 hours after the 7.4 magnitude quake rattled western Colombia.

I thought having a second baby would be easier – but, from food to teeth to poos, I’ve forgotten so much | Bim Adewunmi

My mum has been a huge help with the practical stuff. She’s also stirred up memories of my own blissfully bored childhood

I gave birth to a second child a few months ago. I don’t think I will ever get over the fact that this is the way people come into the world. It’s a ridiculous endeavour, from start to finish.

My first pregnancy was almost comically miserable for the first 20 weeks, then glorious for 10 weeks, then scary and stressful for the remainder. And this time? More intense in every way, but with added toddler. Which is to say: no breaks, suck it up, keep on moving.

Can I make my house less dusty? I spent four weeks experimenting to find out

The phrase ‘dust magnet’ isn’t completely metaphorical. Some household surfaces do attract more dust – but changing your home’s climate can make a difference

For years, I’ve complained about an Ikea shelf in my home that seems to attract dust at an impossible speed. Eventually, my frustration gave way to curiosity: what’s actually happening, scientifically? Is there anything I can do about it, besides just continuously dusting?

I’m not imagining things, says Nisa Salim, a materials engineer and associate professor at Swinburne University of Technology. While an object’s placement in the home and airborne particle levels make a difference, some surfaces really are better at collecting dust.

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‘Everything about me is good in his eyes’: the women in China choosing AI boyfriends over human men

In her new documentary Replica, film-maker Chouwa Liang taps into her own experience of finding love with artificial intelligence and makes contact with other women like her

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Qin has never said “I love you” to her parents or friends. She has only ever said those three special words to her AI “boyfriend”, Lu Chen – a brown-haired, red-eyed CEO of a major corporation. For 840 days Qin has been using the Glow app to interact with the handsome string of code as a confidant, fantasy romance and respite from loneliness: the app uses predictive algorithms to provide Qin with soothing conversation, meal suggestions and fleeting self-worth. The software’s pet name for her is Miss Bunny.

“It feels like I’m completely at his mercy … I feel like everything about me is good in his eyes,” says Qin, one of three Chinese women featured in the new documentary Replica – film-maker Chouwa Liang’s follow-up to My AI Boyfriend, her short film that was picked up by the New York Times Op-Docs section in 2023. Replica had its Australian premiere at Sydney film festival in June and plays at the Melbourne international film festival this month.

Video of Arkansas trooper punching 18-year-old draws calls for investigation

Alisa Hackett, 18, was pulled over for speeding and alcohol possession when she was tackled to the ground and punched.

Copernicus! Tony Soprano! The inventor of the semicolon! The heroic obsessions of artist Isabel Nolan

Ireland’s artist at the Venice Biennale steals religious imagery for her secular celebrations of scientists and humanists, including an Italian punctuation master – and even TV’s famous mobster

It’s a long way to the Irish pavilion at the Venice Biennale. First, you pass through the biennale’s colossal central exhibition, housed in a sequence of cavernous medieval warehouses. After that, the route takes in a suite of national pavilions (the Philippines, Latvia, Timor-Leste, Morocco, Malta, Oman). By the time art-lovers reach Ireland’s presentation, they are frequently exhausted, if not delirious.

This year, Dublin-based artist Isabel Nolan has transformed the pavilion into a space of respite, both physical and intellectual – a secular chapel titled Dreamshook. Visitors emerge from darkness into a pale-yellow chamber flooded with daylight and face a radiant tapestry arched like a stained-glass window in a gothic cathedral. A cluster of archangel’s wings bearing books hovers before the vast orb of the sun above a fish-filled sea. Nolan works across sculpture, textile, painting, drawing and text, and Dreamshook is accordingly rich in colour and pictorial detail, including bent metal sculptures, tapestries and drawings. For the footsore and weary – ie everyone – she has even designed benches. Glory be.

Eli Lilly takes weight-loss pill battle global with first Foundayo approval in Europe

Lilly's Foundayo wins U.K. approval, taking its weight-loss pill battle with Novo Nordisk's Wegovy beyond the U.S. market.

Wall Street just endorsed Jensen Huang's 'big concept' for AI. What now?

The first three-plus years of the AI build-out have been funded by record amounts of equity and debt issued by leading tech companies. Nvidia has a new idea.

Feel the burn: why holidays from hell make for blistering fiction

Family fallouts, failing marriages, sunburn, food poisoning ... from Deborah Levy’s hypnotic and disturbing Hot Milk to All In, Claire Powell’s all-inclusive nightmare, Leon Craig looks at the best novels about vile vacations

Every summer, we long for a much-needed break from daily life, dreaming of self-reinvention in some distant paradise. But really, holidays can be absolute hell. Instead of relaxation we encounter heaving crowds, lumpy beds, the caprices of our loved ones and the grim truth that we can escape neither their worst failings nor our own, however far we travel.

Small wonder, then, that the disaster holiday has become a booming subgenre in fiction. For most of us, the levels of luxury promised by hit TV series The White Lotus are pure fantasy, yet we’re all vulnerable to the expensive promises we’ve been sold. Two of the smartest offerings in fiction this summer come from Claire Powell’s All In and Chloë Ashby’s Family Friends. In the former, a struggling couple whose marriage is on the rocks go on an all-inclusive Spanish weekend break, paid for by a rich brother. Poignant and extremely funny, the frictions that ensue are all too believable.

Nvidia unveils first open-source AI model since CEO Jensen Huang entered the chat

Nemotron 3.5 Lightning is free for companies to download, use and modify without getting permission or paying Nvidia. 

Never Had a Chance review – a slice of gritty British Asian life with a side of drug dealing and addiction

Two likely lads in their 20s deal with problematic lives that dramatically intersect in this persuasive London drama

This gritty crime drama unfolds entirely within the Punjabi community in London’s Hounslow district, a plausible demographic situation in which white people are so peripheral to the story that they are little more than extras. In fact watching this well-crafted, if somewhat melodramatic, debut for director Jazz Bhalla makes one wonder why there aren’t more films made in the UK with entirely British Asian casts. Here, it doesn’t makes the film better or worse, but it certainly feels realistic and true to its milieu.

The story revolves around two best friends in their 20s, Ravi (Amar Chaggar) and Jay (Jayant Singh), likely lads who spend a lot of time hanging out, getting high or drunk and ending nearly every sentence with the word “bro”. On the face of it, Jay seems like the one with a more stable situation at home, living with his middle-class parents; while Ravi, who has a criminal record due to a drug bust, lives in a bedsit and is estranged from his mother ever since his father died and she remarried, much to the chagrin of his bossy older sister (Parvinder Shergill). But Ravi manages to get a job working for a building supply merchant, which compels him to start waking up at dawn and considering the downside of always being hung over. Plus, he might be in with a chance with pretty fast-food vendor Sukhi (Tina Sharma), an ambitious young woman keen to get away from her alcoholic father and drug-dealing brother.

Zelenskyy warns Putin is preparing for escalation by bringing in North Korean military equipment

His comments come shortly after deadly Russian attacks on cities across Ukraine overnight.

Wind turbines, wildfires and extreme weather: photos of the day – Tuesday

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