The stakes as high as Kevin Warsh is set to give his first major speech as Fed Chair

The stakes are high as Fed Chair Kevin Warsh prepares to give a speech on Friday at the annual gathering of economists and central bankers in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

Where will Lindsay Clancy end up after her murder trial? Legal experts explain.

Lindsay Clancy has pleaded not guilty to three counts of first-degree murder in the January 2023 strangulation deaths of her children.

Key moments from Lindsay Clancy's trial as jury weighs the case

Lindsay Clancy, 36, has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder in the deaths of her three children and said she was suffering form postpartum psychosis. A jury is deliberating.

Texas Senate hopeful Talarico teams with Mark Cuban on plan to break up healthcare 'monopolies'

Texas Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico unveiled a plan to bust what he says are healthcare monopolies in an effort to lower costs.

Uefa Champions League 2026-27: league phase draw – live

• Draw starts at 5pm BST (6pm CET)

• Get in touch: email John and follow us on BlueSky

Takes us back to the Champions League final in 2011, David. “2011 was an amazing year for me and the club!” That’s more like it!

Ceferin awkwardly exits the stage after a slightly stilted chat with Henry. The former Arsenal man is sticking around to help with the draw and David Villa is joining him!

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

Over-by-over updates from Lord’s (11am BST)
County cricket: our liveblog of action around the grounds
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The toss is now scheduled for 12pm BST, with play to begin at 12.20. We pray.

Yeah, we all saw it coming.

Race to get aid into Nepal and Tibet amid warnings another lake could burst

Flash floods have killed at least 359 people while homes and infrastructure have been swept away

• Nepal-Tibet flash flood – latest updates

• What caused the flash flood in Nepal and Tibet?

The international community was scrambling to get aid into flood-stricken parts of Nepal and Tibet on Thursday as authorities warned that a lake ⁠formed at the ⁠site ⁠where the ​deadly torrents occurred ⁠was rising and ⁠at risk ​of ‌bursting.

The catastrophic flash floods, which hit Nepal and Tibet on Wednesday, thundering down valleys and obliterating entire villages, killed at least 359 people and left more than 1,300 missing.

Ratko Mladić, the ‘Butcher of Bosnia’, dies aged 84

Bosnian Serb commander responsible for Srebrenica massacre dies in prison while serving life sentence for genocide

From the archive:

• Fourteen years a fugitive: the hunt for the Butcher of Bosnia

• Ratko Mladić will die in jail. But go to Bosnia: you’ll see that he won

Ratko Mladić, the infamous Serbian general who was serving a life sentence for genocide committed during the Bosnian war, has died in prison in The Hague.

Mladić, 84, had been one of the main architects of the policy of ethnic cleansing during the Bosnian war. He was convicted of genocide for orchestrating the 1995 killing of at least 8,000 Muslims in the UN-designated “safe area” Srebrenica, the worst massacre in Europe since the second world war.

Fed's Hammack says 'now is the time to act' on raising interest rates

She still thinks the Fed needs to take action against inflation that is straining household budgets.

Tate brothers urge release on bail in Miami as they fight extradition to UK

Andrew and Tristan Tate’s lawyer tells court that pair, who are wanted on rape charges, are not a flight risk

A lawyer for the social media influencers Andrew and Tristan Tate urged a US judge on Thursday to release the brothers on bail from a Miami jail ⁠as they contest extradition to Britain, ⁠where they are wanted ​on rape charges.

Howard Srebnick, a lawyer for the Tate brothers, told the Miami-based US magistrate judge Lauren Louis that they had regularly appeared in court in Romania, where they are on pre-trial release, which he said ⁠was evidence they were not a flight risk.

Bronze age treasure stolen in four-minute Spanish museum heist

Gold collection known as Treasure of Villena, worth at least €1.7m, is target of ‘very well planned’ raid

Thieves in Spain have raided the Treasure of Villena – a stunning collection of bronze age gold artefacts that has been described as the most important prehistoric trove in Europe – in the latest high-profile smash-and-grab heist on the continent.

The raid on Thursday morning of the 66 mostly gold objects in the Spanish town of Villena lasted just minutes, officials said.

Fed's Cook responds to Trump firing threat, calls attacks "unfounded and untrue"

A lawyer for Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook said she "has never committed mortgage fraud or any intentional wrongdoing."

Rebecca Hendin on Mark Zuckerberg and the Meta court settlement – cartoon

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Ross Fire explodes to over 80,000 acres, forces evacuations in North Texas

The Ross wildfire has burned more than 80,000 acres across Palo Pinto and Jack counties, forcing evacuations, closing roads and disrupting schools.

Spurs still paying price for a punishing World Cup and pre-season trip to Australia

Too many players are off the pace and although Tottenham brushed aside Charlton, Newcastle will be a tougher challenge

Jan Paul van Hecke was among those given an unwanted name-check by Roberto De Zerbi after Tottenham’s 3-0 defeat at Brentford on Saturday. Not at the right level physically, was the gist of the manager’s comments. De Zerbi also mentioned Marcos Senesi and Sandro Tonali, two of the club’s other new signings. Their condition had to come as no surprise. It certainly did not to De Zerbi.

Take the case of Van Hecke, for whom the summer months have been a whirlwind. A few bullet-points from his timeline are worth noting. 18 June: joins Spurs from Brighton for £52m; 30 June: knocked out of World Cup with the Netherlands after last-32 penalty shootout defeat to Morocco; 23 July: boards team flight with Spurs for pre-season tour to New Zealand and Australia. “It was a really short break, to be honest,” Van Hecke says. “But I didn’t want to miss anything in the pre-season. My first days [as a Spurs player] were in New Zealand and Australia.”

Tropical Storm Dolly forms in the Atlantic Ocean

Tropical Storm Dolly on Thursday became the fourth named storm in the Atlantic Ocean this year.

Officials urge calm after malaria outbreak kills two staff at Frankfurt airport

Mosquito traps are set up at Germany’s biggest airport and doctors are asked to look out for symptoms of disease

German health officials are seeking to reassure the public after two workers at the country’s biggest airport died of malaria.

Mosquito traps have been set up at Frankfurt airport and a mosquito monitoring process is under way. A detailed investigation is being conducted to clarify how the workers contracted the disease.

ICE officer charged in Minneapolis shooting released from Texas jail, AP reports

The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent charged in a Minneapolis shooting during Operation Metro Surge has been released from a Texas jail, the Associated Press reports.

USS Abraham Lincoln to visit port in Thailand after more than 250 days at sea

Thai navy says ‘routine’ visit’ will allow personnel to rest and recuperate amid reports of poor conditions onboard

The USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier is set to make a temporary stop in Thailand next week as it heads back to the United States, Thai navy officials said, after spending more than 250 consecutive days at sea supporting US operations against Iran amid recent reports of poor living conditions and low morale onboard the vessel.

The Lincoln left the Middle East several days ago after being relieved by the USS George Washington, and is now heading home to San Diego. A Thai navy official told Reuters this week that the carrier was expected to make a brief port visit in Thailand next week for the crew to rest and recuperate before continuing their journey home.

I don’t get along with my sister-in-law. Should I try to address the dynamic?

There are two things to consider, writes advice columnist Eleanor Gordon-Smith. Are you hurt by the way she treats you or the way she sees you?

• Read more Leading questions

I’m struggling with a dynamic with my sister-in-law. We’re not a natural fit personality-wise, and I’ve tried to be mindful of that. At times I wonder whether she might be jealous of the life I have with her brother and our children. I often encourage my husband to spend time with her without me, because she doesn’t seem to particularly enjoy me being there. As a result, we now mostly see each other at family gatherings, which happen about once a month.

There’s a recurring pattern where she corrects me quite sharply, with an impatience that often feels disproportionate or plain mean. She might snap while I am talking to her parents (with whom I have a good relationship), laugh at how I pronounce a placename, or dismiss a question as though it’s too stupid to answer. These interactions are quick and barely noticeable to anyone else, although my daughter and husband have both observed and agreed it was pretty mean.

‘We’re going to have to groove!’ The cello, horn and sax prodigies jazzing up the Proms

The finalists from the BBC young musician of 2016 have teamed up with a Mercury-nominated composer to craft a Proms premiere that’s uplifting, lyrical and goes out with an almighty bang

A cellist, a horn player and a soprano saxophonist walk into the Royal Albert Hall … it could be the setup for an exceptionally nerdy joke, but instead it’s a new triple concerto, with three soloists rather than the usual one, to be premiered on the final weekend of the Proms. The concerto – by Gwilym Simcock, the Mercury-shortlisted composer, jazz pianist and horn player who in 2006 was the BBC’s first New Generation jazz artist – reunites the three finalists from the 2016 BBC young musician of the year competition, hence the unusual lineup. “This is a unique combination of instruments,” says the saxophonist Jess Gillam. “I’m fascinated by the colours that we’re going to find. I hope we’ll be able to make a sound where people will think: what instrument is that?”

BBC young musician has launched many careers, but 2016 was exceptional: all three finalists have become major names. “It’s not like you win the competition and all these things fall from the sky, but it does give you a bit of public exposure,” says the horn player Ben Goldscheider, the 2016 brass section winner. “Then it’s up to you and the people around you what you make of that.”

Food allergies when flying are no joke. That's why nuts should be banned on planes | Lucy Pasha-Robinson

People with allergies must be able to travel without fear, and a compassionate society should respect that

What are you most scared of? Perhaps snakes send a chill down your spine. Or heights leave your knees weak. Peanuts may sound like an odd source of phobia, but they have taken on an absurd bogeyman quality for me since my daughter was taken to hospital by ambulance after eating peanut butter when she was six months old. Just the sight of a bowl on a pub bar, or their shells discarded on the pavement, can raise my heart rate – even when I’m not with her.

Nowhere is the sight of peanuts more confronting than at 30,000ft, especially now when millions are jetting back from their holidays. Travelling with a severely allergic child can be a nightmare for all sorts of reasons, but the idea you could be sat next to a passenger consuming the very thing that has hospitalised them is its own kind of hell.

Lucy Pasha-Robinson is a Guardian assistant Opinion editor

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.

‘Lots of my friends are missing’: fears and prayers as Australia’s Nepali diaspora desperately seek answers after flood

As the community scrambles to check on loved ones, some hear from family members who fled to safety, while others pray for good news

• Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast

When Suman Shrestha opened his phone at work and saw vision of a thick, muddy wall of flood water smashing into towns in his country of birth, he almost did not believe what he was seeing.

“It was awful – I called my family to see if this was really happening and to see if the news reports were right,” says Shrestha, who moved to Australia from Kathmandu in 2017.

What caused the catastrophic flood in Nepal and Tibet – and how does a glacier collapse?

A glacial collapse registering as a magnitude 5.2 seismic event occurred near the border on Wednesday morning

Hundreds of people have died in catastrophic flash floods in Nepal. Here’s what we know so far about what caused the disaster.

With Reuters and Associated Press

Three UK airports hit by cyber-attack with data of 8.7m customers accessed

Company that runs Manchester, Stansted and East Midlands hubs says passenger safety is unaffected

• Business live – latest updates

Manchester, London Stansted and East Midlands airports have been hit by a cyber-attack in which hackers accessed the data of about 8.7 million customers.

The incident involved data related to “car park, lounge and fast-track bookings and in-airport wifi sign-ups”, and the hackers obtained email addresses, phone numbers, vehicle registration numbers and postcodes, said Manchester Airports Group (MAG), which operates the three hubs.

Bill Gates issues stark warning about AI's impact on American jobs

In a nearly 6,000-word essay, Gates argues that artificial intelligence poses a mounting threat to U.S. workers.

See which U.S. states are most at risk from Canadian tariffs

Canadian officials said the tariffs set to be imposed on more than 800 U.S. imports are "strategic" and designed to target some states.

ICE arrests of people without criminal records hit record high, new data shows

The surge in arrests comes as the White House pushes ICE to hit a target of 2,000 per day.

Fed's Lisa Cook turns mortgage allegations back on Trump and his Cabinet

The Supreme Court in late June blocked Trump from firing Cook from the Federal Reserve, but left the president with a path to try again to remove her.

BBC to bring back Top Gear amid speculation about show’s next presenters

Motoring series to return four years after Andrew ‘Freddie’ Flintoff suffered serious injuries in crash during filming

Top Gear, the long-running motoring show that has been off air since its co-host Andrew “Freddie” Flintoff was seriously injured in a crash during filming almost four years ago, is to return to the BBC, the broadcaster has confirmed.

After Flintoff’s accident at Dunsfold aerodrome in Surrey, the BBC said the series would be “rested” for the foreseeable future.

After Meta's landmark settlement with state AGs, legal headaches remain

Meta's agreement to settle a federal social media addiction case with state AGs doesn't absolve the company of similar litigation or potential regulation.

Survey pinpoints the behavior on planes that people find most annoying

Here's what travelers think about shared armrests, reclined seats and fellow passengers' use of tech on planes.

‘Grand slams are the engine to make a living’: Mackenzie McDonald on why players still compete when injured

American talks life on the professional circuit and those making sacrifices for a pay cheque, often compromising physical and mental welfare

For Mackenzie McDonald the players’ ongoing push for greater prize money and welfare contributions from the grand slam tournaments could result in the difference between simply putting food on the table and making a decent living.

After 10 years on the ATP Tour the 31-year-old American tennis veteran is not pleading poverty but knows from personal experience that life on the professional circuit can be a hand-to-mouth existence, with players’ physical and mental welfare often compromised due to their desperation to get back on court.

Kansas City Fed's Schmid says inflation 'stubborn' and 'sticky,' policy rate not restrictive

The policymaker stopped just short of calling for an interest rate hike.

Uefa preparing to bring criminal claims against Gianni Infantino over World Cup sale

• Uefa says claims will be made in Switzerland

• It says claims relate to alleged criminal mismanagement

Uefa is preparing to make a criminal complaint against Gianni Infantino for alleged “criminal mismanagement” in connection with his failed Fifa Forward Enterprise plan and has applied for the release of documents related to its conception.

In an explosive escalation of the war engulfing football’s governing bodies, Uefa has made separate applications in the United States for information, including from Fifa and the investment firm Thrive Capital.

Nvidia jumps 7% after blockbuster earnings boost AI confidence

Nvidia shares rose on Thursday after the chip giant's revenue guidance reassured investors that AI demand will remain strong.

Russia says UK ‘playing with fire’ amid reports CIA chief has warned Kremlin not to attack Nato

Moscow threatens retaliation after Andy Burnham says UK will help Ukraine start producing long-range missiles

Russia has said it could retaliate against the UK for its support of Kyiv by striking military targets inside and outside Ukraine, amid reports that the director of the CIA warned the Kremlin against attacking Nato during a secretive visit this week.

Andy Burnham, Britain’s prime minister, said on Monday the UK would allow Kyiv access to classified technology to start ⁠its own production of Storm Shadow ​long-range ​cruise missiles. France has also agreed to supply missile technology. Maria ⁠Zakharova, Russia’s foreign ministry spokesperson, said on Thursday Britain and France were “playing ⁠with ​fire”.

Hiker reunited with backpack 60 years after he fell into a glacier in Austria

Bag, camera and pipe belonging to 86-year-old are latest relics uncovered as glaciers melt due to global heating

An 86-year-old mountaineer has been reunited with his backpack and climbing equipment after the kit emerged from a melting glacier in Austria – more than 60 years after he was forced to leave them there.

Items including an ice axe, camera and a pipe dating from the 1950s or 1960s were discovered on the Sulztalferner glacier in Austria’s Tyrol region, at an altitude of 2,955 metres (9,700ft) above sea level, by a hiker in July.

AI can detect heart disease in women using mammograms, study suggests

Experts say findings mean breast screenings for cancer could also flag cardiovascular problems in women

Doctors have discovered a way to use routine mammograms that screen for breast cancer to spot heart disease, the world’s leading – and frequently underdiagnosed – cause of death in women.

Researchers analysed the scans using artificial intelligence and were able to successfully identify women with coronary heart disease, high blood pressure or who had suffered a stroke.

Robert Carlyle: ‘When we did The Full Monty strip, the reaction from the crowd was terrifying’

The actor on which star he’d devour first on a lifeboat, why he prefers pigeons to dogs and how Trainspotting put the Scottish accent on the map

You’re stranded on a lifeboat with Ewan McGregor, Ewen Bremner, Jonny Lee Miller, Kevin McKidd, Peter Mullan, James Cosmo, Keith Allen and Irvine Welsh. Who do you eat first? DarkAnaemicI77
I suppose you have to think about who’s the healthiest and has looked after their body best. I reckon Ewan would be a wee bit too chewy, and Irvine a wee bit pickled. I’ll go for Kevin McKidd because he’s been out in LA for 20 years, eating good food.

Did you really not like Zippy the West Highland terrier who played Wee Jock in Hamish Macbeth? Campbell97

Marketing meltdown: why has Andrew Garfield’s new film suddenly added Robin Hood?

Paul Greengrass drama The Uprising was supposed to be a historical epic about the Peasants’ Revolt of 1381 – but a strange new campaign has inserted a surprising figure

Nobody likes to have the full plot of a movie spoiled before they’ve even seen it. However, sometimes this can be taken to the extreme. Take the new Paul Greengrass movie, The Uprising, for example. It is two weeks away from its US release and, not only does nobody know the plot, but nobody seems to know what it is even about. Seriously, nobody at all. The film’s distributors just spent yesterday squabbling in public about whether Robin Hood was in it or not.

Here’s what we know so far. Initially, all the trailers and promotional materials made The Uprising look like a film about the Peasants’ Revolt that tore through England in 1381. And this was very exciting, since the revolt was a thrilling moment in history that has been bizarrely underserved by Hollywood over the years. Most excitingly of all, though, it sounded like it fit exactly into Greengrass’s wheelhouse; full of action and realism and political awareness.

Salesforce stock jumps 18% on AI growth and Anthropic investment gain

Salesforce's Anthropic stake led to higher profit in the latest quarter.

Panic in Kyiv and prize sheep: photos of the day – Thursday

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

CIA chief John Ratcliffe reportedly made secretive Moscow trip to warn Russia against attacking NATO

Russia and Ukraine have intensified long-range drone and missile strikes as fears of further escalation grow.

‘Armchair supporter’: do I still love going to football or just love the idea of it? | Max Rushden

A welcome return to watch Cambridge brought back a whole lot of memories, nostalgia and contemplation

On 11 February 1989, Cambridge United beat Hartlepool 6-0. My memories of the game are faint. The internet can’t even tell me who scored – perhaps Laurie Ryan got a couple. I do recall walking past some Hartlepool fans on Coldham’s Common who were peering into a brook. “Looking for a new centre forward?”

Not a terrible joke from my dad. There was polite laughter at least.

AI-proof? Younger workers desert the digital world for traditional crafts

In a disrupted job market people are turning to heritage crafts such as bookbinding, metalwork and boatbuilding

It’s a bleak moment for young people entering the workforce for the first time. For decades, a university degree seemed to promise a stable career – but entry-level white-collar jobs across almost all sectors are being disrupted by AI. Budding accountants, software engineers and junior lawyers increasingly find themselves displaced by cheap automation.

Even creative fields are struggling against AI tech that can produce artwork, lengthy prose or complex design briefs in seconds.

Ratko Mladic, ex-Bosnian Serb warlord who oversaw atrocities, has died at 84

Ratko Mladic was one of the most notorious figures of a war that killed over 100,000 people in the 1990s. He commanded his troops to "scorch the brains" of the Bosnian Muslims and boasted of being a "Serbian God."

Why does the Meta lawsuit settlement matter?

Meta's multi-billion dollar settlement with 47 states over social media addiction could result in some major changes to social media rules, especially for children. Nicholas Thompson, CEO of The Atlantic, joins with more.

An $18bn settlement is a drop in the ocean for Meta – but the tide will still come for it | Chris Stokel-Walker

This week’s settlement without liability was pragmatic, but it doesn’t change the inevitability of further lawsuits around the world

Not many people would count paying $18bn they didn’t expect to when they woke up that morning as a victory. Yet for Meta, the owners of Facebook and Instagram, the agreement with 52 US attorneys general to settle claims that it designed its products to be addictive to children, and misled people about their safety, could be described as a win of sorts.

Meta denies wrongdoing, and the amount it plans to pay will be spread over a decade. Some of it is contingent on other big tech firms not named in its case coughing up too. The cash is chump change for Meta, which made around $60bn in profit last year. More damaging to the tech giant in the long run could be the agreement to unwind some of the mechanics it has spent two decades perfecting to keep us on its platforms.

Chris Stokel-Walker is the author of TikTok Boom: The Inside Story of the World’s Favourite App

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.

Missouri deputy AG found alive days after vanishing on Wyoming hike

Missouri Deputy Attorney General Shaun Mackelprang was found alive six days after he vanished in the remote Wyoming wilderness during a backcountry hike.

‘She should have been queen of the world!’ Readers remember Dolly Parton

From quiet acts of generosity and life-changing gigs to singing for a professional puppeteer, Dolly Parton has had a profound impact on readers’ lives
• Photo gallery: fans pay tribute to Dolly Parton

I had the opportunity to meet her when I volunteered to work the Country Music Awards in the late 70s. Me and three other kids had Dolly all to ourselves for about 20 minutes. I remember with disbelief how she took several unhurried minutes with each of us and gave us her undivided attention for that time. She had no reason to do this. She was just as genuine as they come. Her philanthropy was exceptional. Her talent speaks for itself. I miss her already. Larry Lipman, Tennessee

Record-breaking heat waves hinder wildfire efforts

Record-breaking heat waves in the western U.S. have halted wildfire efforts. Meanwhile, heat-related deaths have ramped up in Arizona. Kris Van Cleave reports.

Trial date set for alleged Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is accused of developing and directing the plot to crash hijacked airliners into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001.

‘I fight pain and fear with art’: how Yayoi Kusama blazed a trail for neurodivergent artists

The pioneering Japanese artist talked openly about how her mental health and neurodivergence informed her creativity, paving the way for the likes of Turner prize winner Nnena Kalu

Yayoi Kusama – who has died at the age of 97 – was 10 when she first started experiencing vivid hallucinations consisting of visual and aural disturbances, which she described as “flashes of light, auras, or dense fields of dots”. A drawing from 1939, of a woman in a kimono assumed to be her mother, shows her obliterated by those dots; they would become Kusama’s artistic obsession. She hallucinated flowers, too. “I was looking at the red flower patterns of the tablecloth on a table, and when I looked up I saw the same pattern covering the ceiling, the windows and the walls, and finally all over the room, my body and the universe”, she once said, when asked about that recurring motif. “I felt as if I had begun to self-obliterate, to revolve in the infinity of endless time and the absoluteness of space, and be reduced to nothingness.”

For Kusama, art making was a means of survival. “I fight pain, anxiety, and fear every day, and the only method I have found that relieved my illness is to keep creating art. I followed the thread of art and somehow discovered a path that would allow me to live”, she said in a 2012 interview. In so doing, she became one of the most acclaimed and admired contemporary artists, staging happenings and influencing the pop art movement as a pioneering figure in the New York avant garde. Her exhibitions and major retrospectives draw huge crowds. In 2022, due to enormous public demand, Tate Modern in London extended her Infinity Mirror Rooms show for a whole extra year (it ended up running until 2024).

Tell us: what’s the song that is guaranteed to get you on the dancefloor?

What track gets your feet moving the moment you hear it – and on to the dancefloor? I Feel Love by Donna Summer? Or We Found Love by Rihanna? We’d love to hear what yours is

There are some songs which are guaranteed dancefloor fillers whether it’s at a wedding, a club or a music festival.

We would love to hear from people about the song that always gets them on the dancefloor. Are you throwing shapes to Beyoncé’s Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It) or ABBA’s Dancing Queen? Why is your go-to song for dancing your favourite?

Nvidia agrees to buy Hugging Face for $12.9 billion, report says

Nvidia reportedly agreed to buy open source AI platform Hugging Face for $12.9 billion as the chipmaker expands deeper into the AI ecosystem.

The toy industry's latest craze is cheap, colorful and very squishy

Squishy toys are booming, with social media and low prices helping fuel the craze.

Near total lunar eclipse will be seen from North and South America Thursday night

Earth’s shadow will appear to be a reddish ‘blood moon’ due to the way sunlight is scattered by the atmosphere

A near total lunar eclipse will be visible across large swathes of North and South America on Thursday night with millions of people expected to be able to see one of nature’s marvels.

Lunar eclipses occur when Earth moves between the sun and the moon and its shadow is cast on to the lunar surface. Thursday night’s event will see 96% of the moon darkened by the Earth’s shadow at its peak moment.

Why we’re all hooked on tinned fish

Sardines, mackerel, herring, pilchards, sprats and anchovies ... canning only makes the umami flavour better. They’re my top choice for pasta

Sign up here for our weekly food newsletter, Feast

I can’t find it, despite having spent the past 35 minutes looking, but somewhere in the house is The Crisis Cook Book. It’s a standard paperback, postbox-red with white writing on the cover, and full of recipes from chefs including Rowley Leigh, Heston Blumenthal and Jeremy Lee. Not having found it, I needed Amazon to tell me it was published in 2007 and compiled by Nick Lander, at the time the Financial Times’ restaurant correspondent. He asked 28 chefs to donate three recipes – their favourite starter, main course and dessert – and proceeds from the book went to the national homelessness charity Crisis.

The reason I needed (and still need – it is now a mission) to find the book is because inside it is Rowley’s recipe for pasta with tinned sardines, fennel, chilli and lemon zest. It’s a recipe that I have made so many times, and for so many years, that I don’t need to look at the book; but, equally, because I’ve made it so many times and so much time has passed, I have no idea how far I have drifted from the original, and want to check. I’ve even written about this recipe in my weekly Guardian column, without referring to the book or even mentioning Rowley! Not that a store-cupboard version of the Sicilian pasta con le sarde (pasta with sardines and wild fennel) is owned by anyone, although Rowley did teach me.

Honey, I shrunk the wine: why miniature bottles are big again

Whether they’re consumed as a considered glass for one or something to sip on a short trip, miniature wine bottles are back with a bang

In the 1920s, the London wine merchant Berry Bros & Rudd was asked to create a wine cellar for a doll’s house, commissioned by Queen Mary, to showcase the best of British craftsmanship. Designed by Edwin Lutyens, it had running water, electricity, a library of tiny books and, naturally, a wine cellar stocked with 1,200 miniature bottles, including vintage ports, an 1889 Montrachet and top-tier bordeaux. These days, the doll’s house resides in Windsor Castle, but Berry Bros has a replica of that cellar in its own Mayfair cellar, complete with 5ml bottles of those same wines.

It is fair to say that this is not representative of the calibre of wine one generally finds in miniature bottles, a format associated with air travel and what I once called “journey juice” – ie, a drop that would last me the six stops from home to London Victoria on a Friday night. Google “miniature bottles of wine” and you’ll overwhelmingly be served examples from the very biggest wine brands in the world. This is also true of canned wines, although I’d argue there’s more interesting wine going into cans than small bottles.

Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy review – picture-postcard retelling of haunting Minoan myth

PlayStation 5, Xbox Series S/X, PC; Asobo Studio
The medieval franchise is transplanted to Crete, conjuring action-adventure magic from familiar ingredients

The path in Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy is a familiar one. Amid ancient ruins and sun-dappled gorges, a young woman, Sophia, dutifully treads the same footsteps as a Minoan warrior from millennia ago, one with whom she seems to share a visionary connection. The “resonance” between these two characters is made clear by their echoing actions – a crank pushed in the bronze age that still works in the medieval present, for example. Through these spliced timelines, it becomes clear that Sophia, compelled by her supernatural gift, possesses little agency. Destiny beckons her forwards.

This is a smart meta concept for a game that, at its most basic level, boils down to keeping your left thumb planted firmly on the analogue stick, always pushing Sophia onwards in linear fashion. You jostle her through ornate corridors rendered as higgledy-piggledy pirate camps and cobbled Venetian streets. For the greater part of the game, you propel her through the Minoan remains of Crete, which harbour a dark and terrible secret. It is classic third-person action-adventure fare, building on the template laid down by the likes of Tomb Raider and then refined and complicated by titles such as The Last of Us. Little, from an interactive perspective, surprises: you dash, vault and swing between teetering podiums, squeeze through tiny gaps in rock and crouch behind conveniently placed walls to avoid enemies.

Ain’t nobody better: Chaka Khan’s 20 best songs – ranked!

Ahead of the release of her 13th solo album, the fantastically titled Chakzilla, we rank the best of a sublime catalogue of funk, slow jams and tears-on-the-dancefloor disco

Chaka Khan had harsh words for the “assholes” at her then record company, Warner Bros, who she felt under-promoted 1992’s The Woman I Am, her first album in four years. Listening to Love You All My Lifetime’s cocktail of funk and contemporary R&B, you wonder if she didn’t have a point. There’s no obvious reason why it wasn’t huge hit.

American Airlines adds batch of new international routes on its XLR planes

American is adding seven routes to its 2027 schedule, with the majority heading to smaller European cities from its Philadelphia hub or from New York City.

Marine veteran amputee recalls dragging wheelchair during ultramarathon: "My chair isn't me"

A Marine veteran who lost his legs to an IED blast while being deployed in Afghanistan in 2012 found a new purpose in life as an adaptive training coach and ultramarathoner. Mike Egan talks to Jason Allen about competing in an ultramarathon where he went viral for dragging his wheelchair through mud on the final lap of the race.

U.S. considers fresh round of tariffs on semiconductors, report says

As tech giants race to beat China in the AI infrastructure buildout, the U.S. is reportedly considering enforcing tariffs on semiconductors.

‘He could arch both eyebrows and curl his lips in every direction all at once’: Tim Curry’s five best screen roles

The actor fully embraced his physical talents and outsized personality with a line in theatrical baddies teetering deliciously on the edge of serious and silly

• Tim Curry, star of The Rocky Horror Picture Show and Stephen King’s It, dies aged 80
• Tim Curry on sexuality, surviving a stroke – and 50 years of stardom
• Clowns, corsets and kings: Tim Curry – a life in pictures

As Dr Frank-N-Furter, the gender-nonconforming alien mad scientist who presides over Richard O’Brien’s glam rock musical, admits two innocents to his gothic castle and induces them into all sorts of delicious naughtiness, Curry is so thrillingly liberated as to seem a menace. An irresistibly appealing menace. Apparently able to arch both eyebrows and curl his lips in every direction all at once, Curry wraps his mouth around the double-entendres and belts out the lyrics with lip-smacking relish, and fully fleshes out this avatar of sexual confidence. The film earned one of the original cult fandoms, the stage musical endures and many other actors have pulled on Frank’s corset and high heels – but the role indelibly and for ever belongs to Curry.

Meta reaches $17B settlement. And, nuclear regulator to abandon radiation safety rule

Meta and the states that sued the company have agreed to a $17 billion settlement. And, nuclear regulators are preparing to abandon a decades-old radiation safety rule.

Idiots review – throwback bro comedy is an entertaining summer seat-filler

Dave Franco and O’Shea Jackson Jr lead a goofy roadtrip comedy that is just sharp enough to keep you strapped in

Idiots is billed as a return to the raunchy bro comedies of the 2000s like Pineapple Express and The Hangover and about halfway through there is a visual gag involving bodily functions that is so revolting, so unexpected and so genius that it comes close to them. For a moment, I was transported back to the mix of delight and disgust I felt upon watching a ‘90s Farrelly Brothers movie when I was far too young: How is this allowed?

Described as an “earnest-dipshits-on-the-road screwball comedy” by director Macon Blair (I Don’t Feel at Home in This World Anymore, The Toxic Avenger), this R-rated indie comedy can’t entirely deliver on that enticingly deranged promise, but it has enough testosterone-fueled transgression to make its runtime breeze by. Dave Franco plays Mark, a doofus with a neck tattoo who expresses affection for his fellow man by slapping them on the jowls. When he is invited to vacate his job at a call center – which he has been coasting through by playing gory video games and sneaking shots of whiskey at his desk – he teams up with with Davis (O’Shea Jackson Jr) for a dodgy under-the-table job involving transporting wayward teens to rehab. Their first charge is Sheridan (Mason Thames), a moody influencer who has made a name for himself by playing cruel stunts on members of the public like an off-brand Jake Paul. Like Harold & Kumar before it, the road trip is an obvious but effective ruse for Idiots’s freeform, THC-addled approach to storytelling which finds the trio jumping from country diner to crummy motel to a Slavic granny’s living room as Sheridan attempts to derail his passage to rehab.

High in cocoa, high on nostalgia: the chocolate I love most now

Including, to my surprise, a 100% cacao bar …

Although I’m un peu fatiguée of chocolates in bonbon shape with coloured cocoa-butter splashes atop, I appreciate this is the way many chocolates truffles are made. Overcoming that prejudice, I tucked into a box of Scoff chocolates. They were beautifully fresh tasting – they are made in batches throughout the year and the latest batch has just been let loose. I liked every one of the nine flavours I tested, from lemon to malted milk. But the ingredient list is long and a bit mainstream; a cleaner, more artisan approach and this would be a winning brand.

Marks & Spencer has brought out some 1980s classics in original packaging for those wanting to go full Rivals: look out for Now!, Jet, Sparks and Coconut Grove and see which chocolate classics they remind you of. My testers loved them.

Rwandans love their milk bars. The health minister wishes they'd drink a little less

A big glass of moo juice — no, make that several glasses a day — is common in Rwanda. Is that too much of a good thing?

At least 1,500 missing after deadly Nepal-Tibet floods

At least 1,500 people are missing, many of them foreign tourists, after deadly floods hit the Nepal-Tibet border, sweeping away entire villages.

Jon Ossoff went low on Natalie Harp. The plan worked

The senator’s remarks reflect a turning point in Democrats’ attacks on the president. What should we make of them?

Apparently, he likes to say her name with a French accent. “Na-tah-lee!” the president cries out, in that affected tone of faux-formality that one might use with a person they love but do not quite respect, and she comes running, her thin legs teetering on her heels.

Natalie Harp, Trump’s 35-year-old “executive assistant”, was an odd recurring character in the latest blockbuster Trump administration book, Regime Change, by the New York Times’ Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan. In the book, Harp features like a silent sentinel, ever present but eerily quiet as Trump rants and raves. It’s not exactly clear what the scope of her responsibilities are; though, as Jamelle Bouie points out, the fact that she evidently helps run the president’s social media accounts, which can sway markets and influence his foreign counterparts, makes her one of the most powerful people in the federal government.

Kim Kardashian's kid wants to work at Starbucks. What a breath of fresh air | Polly Hudson

North West has revealed her sensible intention to get a ‘regular’ job. It could be character-building – unless the venti-sized privilege she was born with holds her back

All these years after Ab Fab, we’re regularly reminded how well observed the characters of Edina (Jennifer Saunders) and her daughter, Saffron (Julia Sawalha), were. Kim Kardashian and Kanye West’s eldest child, North West, has given a new – as in, not her first, obviously, given she’s the ripe old age of 13 – interview, in which she revealed her sensible intention to get a “regular” job.

The wide-ranging chat is as depressing (her favourite female artists are “Bktherula, Baby Osama and Babyxsosa”; me neither) as it is eye-opening (her favourite music video of all time is her own). But then she drops the Saffron-shell: “I wanna work at, like, Starbucks next year. I think I can next year ’cause I’m gonna be 14, so … I think I can. I want to have a regular job, I guess.”

Drugs in pastries, months on the run: the double-life of Lebanese influencer Dr Food

Georges Dib, who had 8.7m TikTok followers, was arrested on Sunday after being sentenced in absentia to life in prison

Known to his 8.7m TikTok followers as Dr Food, Georges Dib was a popular Lebanese food influencer who would hold giveaways, post behind-the-scenes tours of his food production facilities and wax philosophical about the ingredients of success.

But Lebanese authorities allege that when the camera was off, the chef was living a double life. For months they sought his arrest on charges of international drug trafficking and production, accusing him of hiding narcotics in his pastries.

Share your tributes and memories of Tim Curry

We would like to hear your tributes and memories of the performer - whether you met him or admired his work

Tim Curry, performer of screen and stage, who made his name as the flamboyant Dr Frank-N-Furter in The Rocky Horror Show, has died aged 80.

Curry got Tony nominations for his varied stage work on Broadway as Mozart in Amadeus, Alan Swann in My Favorite Year and as King Arthur in Monty Python’s Spamalot. He also made a supremely creepy Pennywise the Clown in the 1990 TV adaptation of Stephen King’s It. But above all he is most remembered for one role: Dr Frank-N-Furter in the Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975), the screen version of the 1973 stage show.

Small plane crash into water near remote Alaska town kills all 4 on board

A small plane carrying four people crashed into shallow waters next to a remote coastal town in Alaska on Wednesday, killing everyone on board, officials said.

How decoding beluga whales’ chitchat may save them – and teach us more about ourselves

From humpbacks learning the latest songs to sperm whales’ ‘clan codas’, drones and AI learning are helping reveal another dimension to the concept of culture

In 2015, the whale researcher Valeria Vergara pitched a small tent at the icy water’s edge on Somerset Island in the remote Canadian high Arctic, shrouded in a freezing fog so thick she struggled to see her own hands. She trailed a cord out to the coast and plopped a hydrophone into the water to record the calls of belugas.

As many as 1,000 of the whales, accompanied by their newborn calves, frequented the surrounding bay. Belugas’ ceaseless chatter, made up of dozens of unique sounds, is crucial to keeping these creatures connected in the dim, turbid waters of the Arctic.

School districts face a back-to-school math problem: The high price of diesel

With the war in Iran driving up fuel prices, diesel is now nearly $5.60 a gallon, affecting school districts at the start of the year.

Trainwatch – alone with your thoughts on a railway line to nowhere

The flat routines of a dead end railway job screen out an approaching menace in a quietly intriguing game from the indie developer of Cat Lady and Lorelai

Lonely jobs have provided excellent material for independent video games over the years. From Papers, Please to Firewatch to The Stanley Parable, players have been happy to spend hours dwelling in depressing cubicles or rural hideaways, usually because there is an intriguingly hidden point to it all.

In Trainwatch, a character named Troy has taken a seemingly godforsaken job as a railway worker in an unnamed desolate backwater. His main task over the course of a single month is to manage a level crossing, closing the gate whenever a train comes, while also carrying out daily chores such as cooking and washing. It sounds serene, but Troy is also running away from something. The other stipulations are that he stays sober and calls his wife every night. And there is something lurking in the fog at the edges of the fields – one day he must face it.

NDAs are hiding data center deals, drawing ire from locals — and attention from lawmakers

Nondisclosure agreements covered up negotiations between a tech company and several local and state officials, surprising local residents. It's a tactic used around the country in data center deals.

Andrew Tate is seeking bail in his extradition fight. Here's why that's unlikely

There's a fear that people facing international extradition granted bail could flee. Andrew Tate and his brother face a total of 59 criminal charges in the U.K., including rape and human trafficking.

Liverpool agree £120m deal for Bradley Barcola after breakthrough talks with PSG

• Liverpool would pay £100m plus £2om in add-ons

• Andoni Iraola hints at exit for Cody Gakpo in this window

Liverpool are closing in on a £120m deal for Bradley Barcola after a breakthrough in talks with Paris Saint-Germain and will attempt to “improve other areas” according to the head coach, Andoni Iraola.

Barcola has been Liverpool’s main transfer target all summer only for PSG’s £145m valuation to prove a significant hurdle. However, further negotiations on Wednesday night ended in an outline agreement being reached over a compromise fee. Liverpool have agreed to pay a guaranteed sum of just over £100m for the France international, with add-ons based on individual and team success, taking the overall package to about £120m.

Share your tributes and memories of Yayoi Kusama

We would like to hear your tributes and memories of artist Yayoi Kusama – whether you met her, or appreciated her work

Yayoi Kusama, the Japanese outsider artist who became a global superstar, has died aged 97.

Kusama died in a Tokyo hospital on 14 August, her company Yayoi Kusama Inc announced in a statement on Thursday.

Reality check: just how good is Britain’s Moses Itauma? The expert view

Before the IBF world heavyweight title clash with Filip Hrgovic on Saturday, Barry Jones and Andy Lee analyse the unbeaten fighter

On Saturday night the 21-year-old Moses Itauma expects to become the second-youngest world heavyweight champion in history, after Mike Tyson, when he fights Croatia’s Filip Hrgovic for the IBF title at the O2 Arena in London. In an attempt to sift through the hype and to assess the potential Itauma has shown, the Guardian asked Barry Jones and Andy Lee for their expert views on the strengths and possible weaknesses of the young British fighter.

Itauma promises to become the dominant new force of the unpredictable heavyweight division but Hrgovic is his first real test as he strives to become a world champion in just his 15th fight.

‘You start all over’: Linda Noskova battles fame and desire after Wimbledon glory

The women’s singles champion at SW19 on her off-court passions, growing up in Czechia, and the aftermath of achieving her dream

Linda Noskova has spent almost her entire life working towards mastering her sport. She began travelling around Czechia, Europe and then the world for tournaments before she was a teenager. Her life decisions have revolved around tennis for as long as she can remember.

Those early years prepared Noskova for the challenge of winning her first grand slam title, but the biggest lesson from her triumph at Wimbledon last month has been her lack of preparedness for everything that followed. The world did not come to a halt upon the completion of her ultimate goal. Life continues at the same pace, and now she must find her place in the sport once more.

‘It’s sad to lose a really nice person’: mourners flock to Dollywood after death of Dolly Parton

A memorial at the park’s entrance held bouquets, and a child asked his mothers why so many people were crying

Becky Bullard was en route home to Austin, Texas, when she heard the news.

“As soon as I heard about Dolly, I thought of you,” read a text from a close friend while she waited for her flight home from Albany, New York.

‘The technique was revolutionary’: Ha Chong-Hyun, the 91-year-old South Korean artist who turned painting inside out

In his trailblazing work, paint is pushed through the back of hemp to create spare, striking paintings. Abstraction is a form of rebellion, he says – and he has no intention of slowing down

In the early 1970s, the Korean artist Ha Chong-Hyun had a simple but novel idea: why not apply oil paint to the back of a surface rather than the front? Instead of canvas, he stretched pieces of hemp, a coarse and loosely woven fabric, and pushed the thick oil paint through the holes in the cloth. For each work he used a single colour, in a neutral or muted tone such as white or brown. On the “front” side, he then moved the paint around with various handmade tools to create something akin to brushstrokes.

Ha, now 91, has remained dedicated to this technique, known as the “back-pressure method” (bae-ap-bub in Korean), ever since. He titles every piece Conjunction – because for him the work is essentially about the coming together of artist and material – along with numbers denoting the date of its creation. “The technique he developed was really revolutionary. It hadn’t been done before,” says Max Bossier, director at Lisson Gallery in London, where a selection from this decades-spanning body of work, alongside several of Ha’s earlier artistic experiments, will go on view in September.

‘I am so tired’: Jillian Edelstein’s devastating portraits of apartheid and more – in pictures

The South African photographer documented her country’s harrowing Truth and Reconciliation Commission. These pictures form part of a new exhibition – alongside intimate images of actors, artists and friends

Kolkhoz by Emmanuel Carrère review – intricate portrait of an elite French family

The author of The Adversary and Yoga unearths a history that includes the Nazis, Russia, and the Académie Française

When Emmanuel Carrère’s mother, Hélène, died in 2023, at the age of 94, President Macron spoke at her memorial. She had been “perpetual secretary” of the Académie Française, in effect its head, and 200 people gathered at Les Invalides in Paris to pay tribute. Emmanuel’s father, Louis, was there too, in a wheelchair, only half aware of what was going on. This 400-page memoir, translated into English by John Lambert, is a homage to both parents and the unlikely history that brought them together. It’s also an act of reparation towards Hélène, whom Emmanuel worshipped as a child but upset as an adult by publishing a book that she’d forbidden him to write.

Hélène grew up in stateless poverty in Paris, the daughter of Georges Zourabichvili, whose parents had fled Georgia in 1921, and Nathalie von Pelken, who as a child had six governesses, one for each day excluding Sunday. Though “the magical world of the fallen Russian aristocracy” was the backdrop, conditions were tough, not least after Georges disappeared in 1944, murdered by partisans for alleged Nazi collaboration. Hélène was 15 at the time and unsuccessfully tried to hide the truth about George’s death from her younger brother, Nicolas.

A 16-year-old girl has died from suspected sexual choking. How do we come to terms with this? | Lucy Clark

We can no longer deny that many children get their sex education from online pornography. But the normalisation of violence can lead to tragedy

How can we possibly come to terms with reports a 16-year-old girl child may have died as a result of consensual sexual strangulation with her 16-year-old boyfriend? Police are still investigating this case. Meanwhile what do we do, as a society, to contend with children getting their sex education from pornography when this may be what they learn? When this is what they think sex is?

Often mistakenly referred to as choking, sexual strangulation in the mainstream is new. It has arrived into the bedrooms of young people via online porn which has become part of life, one of the many addictive services generously provided by tech companies making billions of dollars. Some companies do a good job of cleaning up the urgent issues of child sexual abuse material and trafficking, but still, violent porn proliferates.

Nvidia’s 70% growth forecast puts it on track to become tech’s No. 2 company by revenue

"Our demand is much greater than 70%," CEO Jensen Huang said on the earnings call.

Ghent professors challenged expertise of Jason Arday’s plagiarism accuser

Allegations Nathan Cofnas was unqualified for Ghent role and would cause ‘negative impact’ made to senior leaders months ago

Nathan Cofnas, the academic who accused Jason Arday of plagiarism, has been accused of having “very limited expertise” for his academic role by professors also working at Ghent University, who say he has a “far-right agenda”.

Cofnas secured a postdoctoral research role “on the future of liberalism” at Belgium’s Ghent University in March. Weeks later, Ghent’s department of philosophy and moral sciences handed a 19-page statement to university officials, setting out why it believed it was “improbable” that Cofnas was the best candidate.

Thursday news quiz: a PM’s nose, a pop star’s clothes, and a kitten with too many toes

Test yourself on topical news trivia, pop culture and general knowledge every Thursday. How will you fare?

Every now and then the Thursday quiz gets involved in a flap, as it did last week with “birb”-gate. After a sustained campaign lasting at least two weeks, subeditors finally relented and allowed the quiz to call our feathered friends “birbs” – only for half the comment section to revolt against the indignity of modern internet parlance. Still, that is nothing compared with the time a reader complained that the quiz using the phrase “baby cows” was unbecoming of a broadsheet newspaper. Anyway, 15 questions on news, general knowledge and obscure trivia await, and no “birbs” were harmed in the process. Allons-y!

The Thursday news quiz, No 262

Weatherwatch: how to protect our railways in hotter summers

Steel rails warping and signalling equipment failing in metal cabinets are among the problems to be solved

Tarmac softens in the summer heat, which may cause problems on the roads, but even trains running on steel rails are not immune.

Railways in the UK are generally designed to operate within a 45C temperature range. The rails expand slightly in the heat, and excessive temperatures can produce “sun kink” with rails warping into S-shapes. The effect is small but the distortion can derail fast trains, so speeds are reduced for safety.

Wild swimming linked to higher risk of stomach bugs and skin rashes

Findings from research into illnesses associated with bathing in lakes and rivers come amid boom in hobby

Wild swimming has been linked to a higher risk of stomach bugs and skin rashes, according to the largest ever controlled study of illnesses associated with bathing in rivers and lakes.

The research found that swimmers at locations in Hungary were more than twice as likely to develop skin problems, while the risk of contracting a stomach bug rose significantly in water with higher concentrations of E coli and other bacteria linked to faecal pollution.

Country diary: A stonking great harmful hornet? Ah it’s only a fly | Paul Evans

The Marches, Shropshire: For this hoverfly, pretending to be far more dangerous than it actually is has been a useful evolutionary technique

Back in the analogue world – where “analogue” means signals transmitted by continuous waves of sound or light, but also means something that looks like something else – intelligence is more poetic and weirder than its shambling digital doppelganger.

In a bend of the heatwave, a remarkable fly lands on a rose leaf in full sun. The hornet mimic hoverfly, Volucella zonaria, is a stonking great (for a hoverfly) 2cm-long creature with a peachy-yellow and black striped abdomen. It has no sting, a chestnut thorax and a big-eyed head with a pad for nectar, not jaws for chomping insects, two rather than four cellophane wings folded at rest, and an aura to unnerve the uninitiated.

How to spot a psychopath: ‘It’s like the difference between a domestic cat and a wild cat’

People with persistent predatory personalities cause an inordinate amount of pain. Recently, our shared understanding of them has grown – and it could help protect us

The classic checklist for psychopathy was developed in 1980 by Prof Robert Hare, who is still the recognised giant of the territory. The 20 traits, which ranged from pathological lying to a lack of empathy, were based entirely on prison populations. This worked because not only did Hare have the benefit of a large sample, with pronounced psychopathic behaviours, but he was able to compare interviews and self-reporting with data collected about the individuals – so inconsistencies could be identified.

However, Hare knew this approach was limited. In 1976, he said that he simply didn’t know to what extent his results could be generalised to non-incarcerated psychopaths, including female ones. “Research into the socially successful psychopath is badly needed,” he concluded. Even decades later in the early 2000s, when Hare wanted to look into psychopaths in politics, he still needed to go to prison to find them (Pinochet’s henchmen in Chilean jails). Research into the higher-functioning psychopath – who doesn’t get caught, or maybe doesn’t even resort to crime – has proved elusive, not least because self-reporting questionnaires don’t work. Psychopaths lie; arguably, that’s their main thing.

The flat-pack skyscraper: how wood can shape the cities of the future

Our buildings are monuments to extraction and extreme emissions. But what if we turned from destructive concrete to timber?

• Last chance to buy the summer issue of The Long Read magazine, now with 15% off. Click here to order

I travelled to Oslo in the early autumn. It felt like arriving into the future. Or, at least, a fragment of a possible future. I drove north in the quiet digital bubble of my electric rental car. In 2024, Norway became the first country in the world where electric cars outnumbered petrol cars.

A smooth, pristine motorway unfolded between farmlands and low hillsides of dense green forest. Long tunnels carried the route up above the banks of Lake Mjøsa, Norway’s largest lake. After a little more than an hour, the road curved downward to run parallel to the lakeshore.

My home state is set to hand a breakthrough to the German far right. It’s a disaster decades in the making | Marcus Böick

A sense of abandonment could make Saxony-Anhalt the first state government to be solely led by the AfD. But the party’s hollow promises will only make a dire situation worse

It was in the summer of 2004 that I stopped understanding my own people. I was standing on a sweltering market square in Aschersleben, the town where I was born, picturesquely situated on the northern edge of the Harz mountains. A large crowd of angry people had gathered in front of a stage to protest about the welfare reforms (or, as many saw them, welfare cuts) introduced by the Social Democratic-Green coalition government under chancellor Gerhard Schröder. They chanted “We are the people!”, waved handpainted placards and seemed utterly beside themselves.

I had gone to secondary school nearby, volunteered at the local hospital and interned at the local newspaper: I knew this place. And yet I found myself bewildered. What, exactly, did these deeply aggrieved people want – standing on a freshly renovated, almost idyllic market square? Weren’t things going reasonably well for them? Where did this burning resentment toward the west come from? Wasn’t the east-west divide supposed to be disappearing by now?

Marcus Böick is assistant professor in modern German history at the University of Cambridge

Forty children reported missing from UK asylum hotels still not found

Parliamentary committee welcomes fact most of 472 missing have been found but ‘extremely concerned’ for rest

Forty children who went missing from hotels housing asylum seekers in the UK have still not been found, according to a parliamentary report.

Ministers are facing calls from MPs and peers to explain what they are doing to locate the group, two of whom are believed to still be under 18. The figure emerged in a report on Thursday by the joint committee on human rights on how the social care system is failing young adults.