UK long-term borrowing costs reach 27-year high in pre-budget blow for Labour – business live

Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial news

Newsflash: British 30-year government bond yields have hit their highest since 1998, intensifying the pressure on the UK Treasury.

The 30-year gilt yield has risen to 5.672% in early trading, over the previous 27-year high set in April.

Even in orderly markets, we’re seeing a slow-moving vicious circle: rising debt concerns push yields higher, worsening debt dynamics, which in turn push yields higher again.

My husband has erectile dysfunction. Is it because of his porn addiction?

He struggles to maintain an erection and I feel worthless as his partner. I wonder whether there’s a way back for us

When we first met, 12 years ago, my husband and I didn’t waste any time in starting the sexual part of our relationship. He warned me he was a sex addict, and I am enthusiastic about sex. On our first night together I was aware of some erectile dysfunction – he wasn’t entirely hard and benefited from holding himself when penetrating me – though this didn’t stop us reaching climax. We joked about how many times I would orgasm and neither of us seemed inhibited.

Over time, my husband needed more and more help with ejaculating and would often lose his erection during sex. He has shown less interest in any form of intimacy with me, while I have been trying to show my attraction to him in other ways, like hugging and holding hands.

Pamela Stephenson Connolly is a US-based psychotherapist who specialises in treating sexual disorders.

If you would like advice from Pamela on sexual matters, send us a brief description of your concerns to [email protected] (please don’t send attachments). Each week, Pamela chooses one problem to answer, which will be published online. She regrets that she cannot enter into personal correspondence. Submissions are subject to our terms and conditions.

Comments on this piece are premoderated to ensure discussion remains on topics raised by the writer. Please be aware there may be a short delay in comments appearing on the site.

Why Netflix’s new documentary on the Dallas Cowboys is better than The Last Dance | Sean Ingle

The Gambler and his Cowboys is a gritty portrayal of the rise and fall of a sports dynasty that shows all the glory, grubbiness and leaves the viewer wanting more

Of all the unflinching moments in the new Netflix blockbuster, America’s Team: the Gambler and his Cowboys, one stands out more than most. It comes after the Dallas Cowboys’ former star receiver Michael Irvin is asked about the White House, the secret mansion where some players would unwind while winning three Super Bowls during the 1990s. “I was the president of the White House,” Irvin says with a cackle, his eyes lighting up. “It was a safe place for camaraderie.”

But this, it turns out, was a very different style of team building than going down the pub.

China to show off military might in parade attended by anti-west leaders

Leaders of Russia, Iran and North Korea will be at event marking 80 years since defeat of Japan in second world war

• Why are Putin and Kim at China’s Victory Day parade?

Leaders from countries united in their opposition to the west will gather in Beijing this week in a show of support for China’s president, Xi Jinping, at a second world war commemoration parade designed to show off China’s military strength and geopolitical might.

Described by western analysts as “the axis of upheaval”, the military, economic and political collaboration between Russia, China, Iran and North Korea has been on display on the battlefield in Ukraine and in the Middle East this year.

Afghanistan earthquake: Taliban appeal for aid as death toll rises to 900

Rescuers search into the night for people trapped under debris of mud and stone homes in steep valleys

The Taliban have called for international aid as Afghanistan reels from an earthquake that killed more than 900 people and left thousands injured.

Rescuers searched into the night on Monday for survivors after the 6.0-magnitude quake struck on Sunday destroying entire villages across the country’s eastern Kunar province, which borders Pakistan.

Sudan landslide kills at least 1,000 people, rebel group says

The landslide destroyed a village in the Marra Mountains area of western Sudan and left only one survivor

More than 1,000 people were killed in a landslide in western Sudan on Sunday, according to a rebel group that controls the area.

The landslide, which followed heavy rain, destroyed a village in the Marra Mountains area of western Sudan and left only one survivor, said the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army (SLM).

The best and worst of times: American advertisements of the 1930s – in pictures

It was a decade that saw the end of prohibition but also the start of the Great Depression and the looming threat of war, an unusual period for commerce, summed up in Taschen’s latest look at American ads from a certain era. In All-American Ads of the 30s, colorful advertisements for everything from alcohol to cereal showcase new developments in design and a persistent optimism despite economic concerns. The book will be released in September

Borderline review – Raymond Nicholson shines as a deranged fan in comedy thriller

It’s the 1990s and a famous pop star is taken hostage by a fan in Jimmy Warden’s stylish but confused film, loosely inspired by a real-life stalker case involving Madonna

Paul Duerson (Raymond Nicholson) has got it bad for world famous pop star and actor Sofia (Samara Weaving). It being the 1990s, he doesn’t have the option of simply being creepy on social media; instead, he takes her hostage and attempts to marry her, as you do, in a period-comedy-horror-thriller that is entertaining enough moment-to-moment, but doesn’t add up anything very substantial overall. Standing in the way of Paul’s deranged scheme is bodyguard Bell (a grounded and nicely judged performance by Eric Dane), and rounding out the men in Sofia’s life is her NBA player boyfriend Rhodes (Jimmie Fails).

Screenwriter Jimmy Warden knows a grabby real-life premise when he sees one. In 1985, a bear ate a massive amount of cocaine and fatally overdosed, leading, in 2023, to the release of the Warden-scripted movie Cocaine Bear. In 1996, Robert Dewey Hoskins was sentenced to 10 years in prison for stalking Madonna, providing the loose inspiration for this latest Warden script, which this time out he has also directed (casting his wife Weaving in the lead role). Warden is not a bad director of individual scenes, with several sequences playing out like miniature music videos, complete with big bold needle-drop choices on the soundtrack. The problem is the overall cohesion, or rather, lack of it – there are plenty of cool ideas, and a narrative that strings them together effectively enough, but it’s unclear what we’re meant to feel about any of it.

The Spanish camping brand that’s big on nature immersion, cool design and creature comforts

A site in the pine-clad hills of Andalucía is part of a chain that seeks to connect with nature and outdoor adventure while offering a stylish glamping experience

A few years ago, camping with friends, I watched in awe as Becky set up her pitch. While the rest of us were stringing out guy ropes on tents as glamorous as giant cagoules, she arrived with a bell tent, duvets instead of sleeping bags, sheepskin rugs and vintage folding chairs. For all the talk of breathability, practicality and “high performance” gear, it was Becky’s tent we all wanted to sleep in. In the years since, I have never quite achieved her level of camping chic – until this summer, when I discovered the innovative Spanish camping brand Kampaoh.

It all began back in 2016, when Kampaoh CEO Salvador Lora and his partner were backpacking in the Dominican Republic. One night they came across a campsite with pre-erected tents within which were mattresses and blankets. “We were in the middle of nature, surrounded by peace, and lacked nothing,” he tells me.

Powerball jackpot at some $1.3 billion for Wednesday after no winners Monday

Powerball's jackpot will be at least an estimated $1.3 billion for the next drawing on Wednesday night after no tickets sold for Monday's $1.2 billion drawing came up winners.

‘Cosmic’ bioluminescent algae lights up Melbourne’s St Kilda beach

First observed in Sydney in 1860, the ‘magical’ phenomenon has become more common in Australia’s warming waters since the 1990s

• Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates

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

Beachgoers in Melbourne have been treated to the “cosmic and magical” sight of bioluminescent algae off St Kilda beach this week.

Richard Pensak, a marine biologist at local environment group Earthcare St Kilda, spotted the bright pink-coloured cloud in the water on Sunday, and immediately knew what it was.

Blame migrants, or blame the rich? That’s the populist divide in Britain’s politics now | Gaby Hinsliff

Taxing the ultra-rich may be a vote winner, but it’s just as important to shift the conversation away from Reform’s immigration doom loop

The long, hot summer of discontent is finally over. Parliament returned this week if not exactly with a rush of back to school energy, then at least with the sense that the government is now back to fill what was becoming an increasingly dangerous August vacuum.

When exhausted ministers retreated to lick their wounds over the summer, Nigel Farage saw his chance and took it, filling the slow news days with encouragement of protesters over asylum seeker accommodation. He was rewarded by polling showing voters now see immigration – the terrain on which Reform UK is palpably desperate to fight an election, because it’s terrain on which Labour can never go far enough to please some supporters without horrifying half the rest – and not a broken economy as Britain’s biggest problem, an impression arguably only reinforced when the government’s first announcement on returning from recess was a crackdown on refugees bringing their families to Britain.

Gaby Hinsliff is a Guardian columnist

José Pizarro’s recipe for chilled cherry and tempranillo soup

Fresh cherries are a late-summer joy, but this taste of Spain can be enjoyed year-round

Cherries are a big deal in Extremadura, where I’m from, especially in the Valle del Jerte to the north, where the picotas are some of the best in all of Spain: sweet, dark, no stalk and full of flavour. At home, we usually just eat them by the handful, fresh and cold, so when I started cooking with them, my family looked at me as if I’d gone mad. But they always end up saying yes after the first spoonful. This chilled cherry and tempranillo soup is one of those dishes: a bit unexpected, but it always gets a smile.

9/1: CBS Evening News

Few delays, cancellations as airlines see most Labor Day weekend travelers in 15 years; Inside Yellowstone's Old Faithful Inn

9/1: CBS Evening News Plus

Judge blocks deportations of hundreds of unaccompanied migrant kids, here's what to know; The origin of Labor Day

8/25: Face the Nation

This week on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan," Israeli ambassador to the U.S. Michael Herzog joins after an exchange of airstrikes and missiles between Israel and Hezbollah militants in Lebanon. Plus, Margaret Brennan speaks to former Trump administration official H.R. McMaster as the 2024 campaign enters a new phase.

Starter homes are scarce, so Utah set a target to build more. Here's how it's going

In one of the country's priciest housing markets, Utah's leaders worry young people are shut out from building wealth. But despite new incentives, few developers are signing on to build smaller homes.

The plant-based problem: why vegan restaurants are closing – or adding meat to the menu

Veganism is still on the rise, but many popular venues and chains are shutting down. Are they victims of a terrible era for hospitality or part of a growing shift in cultural values?

When London’s Unity Diner wrapped up 2024 with the announcement that it would soon be shutting its doors for good, it expected some sadness from its customers. After all, the not-for-profit restaurant had been an innovator in the city’s vegan scene, serving up 3D-printed “vegan steak” (made of plant protein with the fibrous feel of the real thing) and disarmingly realistic “tofish” (tofu fish) alongside the classic burgers and chips. Throw in its animal sanctuary fundraising, and the restaurant had been faithfully embraced by vegans.

But, from the reaction it received, you would think its supporters were genuinely grieving. “We had people coming in and crying and hugging the staff,” says its co-founder, Andy Crumpton, his surprise audible. There was another element to the devastation, he says. For its plant-based punters, Unity Diner was yet another meat-free establishment that had outwardly appeared to be prospering, only to suddenly shut down.

Prominent UK women tell rightwingers: stop linking immigration to sexual abuse

Exclusive: Open letter says politicians are exploiting violence against women ‘to fuel hate and division’

Prominent women including cultural figures, politicians and campaigners have signed a letter criticising rightwing attempts to link sexual violence in Britain to asylum seekers.

Signatories include the musicians Paloma Faith, Charlotte Church and Anoushka Shankar as well as Labour, Green and independent MPs including Kim Johnson, Ellie Chowns, Diane Abbott and Zarah Sultana.

‘What reconciliation? What forgiveness?’: Syria’s deadly reckoning

Over a few brutal days in March, as sectarian violence and revenge killings tore through parts of Syria, two friends from different communities tried to find a way to survive

On the night of 6 March, Munir, his wife and their two sons, both in their 20s, got no sleep. They huddled together in a small bedroom in their apartment as government troops and militiamen entered their neighbourhood of Qusour in the coastal city of Baniyas and went from house to house. The fighters seemed to be moving through the streets with little coordination. One house might get raided by five separate groups, while others were left untouched. “There was no plan,” Munir said, “just violence and looting.”

The first question the fighters were asking when they stormed into an apartment was: “Are you a Sunni or an Alawite?” The answer decided the fate of the residents. Sunnis were spared – although in some cases their apartments were looted. When the raiders found an Alawite home, some stole what they could carry and left; others had come for revenge and would steal first and then shoot. “If one didn’t kill you, the next one might,” Munir said.

France has a massive debt crisis. So why is it spending billions a year subsidising business? | Alexander Hurst

The government is on the brink of collapse over planned austerity. Instead it must face up to the costs of its unnecessarily rigid labour market

As someone who has always been against austerity, I find France, with a national debt at 114% of GDP and a budget deficit of 5.8% of GDP, a conundrum. Despite years of denunciation from his left and far-right opponents that Macron has engaged in “ultraneoliberalism”, there hasn’t been any. Not on a macro level, anyway, where both French government spending (57.3% of GDP) and tax receipts (51.4% of GDP) are among the highest in the world, including social spending, which outpaces any of its European neighbours.

At the same time, it’s impossible to have spent the past decade in France without encountering the widely shared perception and accusation that public services are in decline. Doctors and nurses denounce a labour shortage in public hospitals; people who live in rural areas denounce the closing of rural train lines; students and academics denounce a lack of resources for public universities, many of which are dealing with outdated infrastructure, and for research.

Alexander Hurst is a Guardian Europe columnist

Indonesia protests explained: why did they start and how has the government responded?

Anger at perks for politicians spilled over into wider protests after the death of a 21-year-old delivery driver in Jakarta

At least seven people have died, hundreds have been injured and public buildings have been burnt and looted after thousands of people took to the streets in anti-government protests across Indonesia over the past week.

The clashes between riot police and rock-throwing protesters that began in the capital and quickly spread beyond Jakarta have been seen as a major test for President Prabowo Subianto, a former general who has been in office for less than a year.

Democratic Rep. Jerry Nadler to retire from Congress

Jerry Nadler, 78, was first elected to Congress in 1992 and told The New York Times in an interview that he plans to retire in 2026.

Saving the world’s fattest parrot: can New Zealand vaccinate its rare species before bird flu gets to them?

In the last continent to remain untouched by the virus, hopes are being pinned on immunisation as migration season approaches

It is easy to imagine how it could happen. A petrel, flying east from the Indian Ocean at the end of the Austral winter, makes landfall at New Zealand’s southern Codfish Island/Whenua Hou. Tired from its long journey, the petrel seeks refuge in the burrow of a green kākāpō: a critically endangered flightless species that is the world’s fattest parrot.

If the seabird intrudes when the kākāpō is primed to breed, the male parrot may attempt to mate with the smaller petrel, accidentally smothering it in the process.

Pat Cummins faces race to be fit for first Ashes Test due to ongoing back issue

• Australia captain to miss home white-ball series against India

• Mitchell Starc retires from T20Is as squad named to tour New Zealand

Australia still expect Pat Cummins to be available for the first Ashes Test, even as the captain deals with stress in his back.

The star quick will miss the upcoming T20 tour of New Zealand and back-to-back home white-ball series against India due to lumbar bone stress.

Ahead of finals sign up for our free weekly AFL newsletter

8/28: CBS Evening News Plus

Why CDC employees are resigning in protest after director's ouster; Reporter's Notebook: Who tells a president the hard truths?

Marshall Islands picks up the pieces after fire destroys its ‘heart of democracy’

The slow process to rebuild parliament, the Nitijela, begins as the Pacific nation confronts the loss of a vital cultural landmark

In Majuro, a day after fire ravaged the national parliament, the full devastation became clear. The building known as Nitijela had been reduced to a blackened shell, littered with debris. Among the objects lost to the fire were archive documents, original journal transcripts of daily sessions going back decades, and artworks that once adorned the walls.

Flames had engulfed the building by the time the only functioning fire engine in the Marshall Islands arrived to fight the blaze on 26 August. Firefighters were joined by residents and government officials, furiously trying to extinguish the flames and salvage any hard drives storing digital documents, including a copy of the country’s constitution.

Graham Greene, Dances with Wolves actor, dies aged 73

The trailblazing Canadian First Nations actor, who was nominated for an Academy Award, died in Toronto after a long illness

Graham Greene, the prolific Oscar-nominated Canadian First Nations actor and Hollywood trailblazer, has died aged 73 in a Toronto hospital after a long illness.

“He was a great man of morals, ethics and character and will be eternally missed,” Greene’s agent, Michael Greene (no relation), told Deadline. “You are finally free.”

The origin of Labor Day

Jericka Duncan takes a look at the roots of Labor Day, a federal holiday honoring the American worker.

Neil Selkirk on the legacy of photographer Diane Arbus

Diane Arbus was one of the most influential photographers of the 20th century, known for her stark, documentary style of capturing people outside their boundaries. John Dickerson spoke with photographer Neil Selkirk, curator of Arbus' legacy, which was recently put on display.

A look at the Old Faithful Inn, a human-made treasure inside Yellowstone

Standing for more than a century, Old Faithful Inn "has the distinction of being considered a benchmark of national park architecture."

9 former CDC directors write op-ed condemning RFK Jr.'s decisions

Nine former directors of the CDC have penned an op-ed for the New York Times condemning Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s decisions as "endangering every American's health." It's part of the continued fallout over the firing of the agency's director last week. Dr. Céline Gounder has more.

Judge blocks deportations of hundreds of unaccompanied migrant kids, here's what to know

A judge this weekend blocked the deportation of hundreds of unaccompanied migrant children to Guatemala after lawyers notified the court that the children were being loaded onto planes. Camilo Montoya-Galvez has more.

Inside Yellowstone's Old Faithful Inn

Ian Lee reports from Yellowstone Park on the Old Faithful Inn, the grandfather of national park lodges.

Phoenix repurposing shipping containers into cooling centers for homeless

Phoenix is doing some innovative improvising to help cool the city's homeless. National environmental correspondent David Schechter reports.

National Guard troops will be in Chicago in days, city officials believe

Chicago officials say they're hearing it will be days, not weeks, before National Guard troops like the ones patrolling Washington, D.C., arrive in their city despite their objections. Nancy Cordes reports.

11-year-old boy shot and killed playing "ding dong ditch" prank in Houston

Police say an 11-year-old boy died Sunday after he was shot playing the "ding dong ditch" doorbell-ringing prank in east Houston.

11-year-old shot and killed playing "ding dong ditch"

Police say a group of kids was ringing doorbells as part of a prank in Houston, Texas, late Saturday night when a man came out and fired several rounds at the children as they ran away. One 11-year-old boy was killed after being hit multiple times in the back. Karen Hua reports.

Few delays, cancellations as airlines see most Labor Day weekend travelers in 15 years

Despite a record number of people traveling this Labor Day weekend, airlines are operating smoothly for the most part. Out of roughly 46,000 flights scheduled Monday, there were less than 100 cancellations nationwide. Meg Oliver reports.

Three-minute test helps identify people at greater risk of Alzheimer’s, trial finds

Test detects memory problems linked to Alzheimer’s long before typical diagnosis, raising possibility of earlier drug intervention

A three-minute brainwave test can detect memory problems linked to Alzheimer’s disease long before people are typically diagnosed, raising hopes that the approach could help identify those most likely to benefit from new drugs for the condition.

In a small trial, the test flagged specific memory issues in people with mild cognitive impairment, highlighting who was at greater risk of developing Alzheimer’s. Trials in larger groups are under way.

Women’s Super League 2025-26 previews No 9: Manchester City

New head coach Andrée Jeglertz will be expected to return City to Europe after they missed out on the Women’s Champions League last season

Guardian writers’ predicted position: 3rd (NB: this is not necessarily Tom Garry’s prediction but the average of our writers’ tips)

Last season’s position: 4th

At least 45,000 sites in Wales could be contaminated with toxic waste, study says

Campaigners say only 82 sites have been fully examined and classified as contaminated, so scale of threat not known

Research from Friends of the Earth Cymru has found that at least 45,000 sites across Wales could be contaminated with toxic waste but have never been adequately inspected, leaving communities and wildlife vulnerable to a potential environmental crisis.

Despite Wales’s extensive industrial history, Tuesday’s publication found that due to a lack of funding and oversight, only 82 sites across the country have ever been fully examined and classified as contaminated, meaning the actual scale of the threat is unknown.

China’s Victory day military parade: why are Putin and Kim Jong-un there, and what is the ‘axis of upheaval’?

The gathering in Beijing will include the leaders of Russia and North Korea, along with the Iranian president, a grouping dubbed the axis of upheaval

On Wednesday, China is holding a military parade in the capital, Beijing, to mark 80 years since the end of the second world war. But it’s not just about the past, the parade says a lot about the forces reshaping the world today, and in the future.

At the parade, Chinese leader Xi Jinping will be flanked by the leaders of some of the world’s most heavily sanctioned nations – Russia, North Korea, Iran and Myanmar – and a host of other leaders of the global south but notably almost no western leaders.

Manchester City land Donnarumma from PSG as Ederson heads for exit

• £30m Italian was surplus to requirements in Paris

• €14m fee agreed for Ederson’s departure to Turkey

Manchester City have agreed to buy goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma from Paris Saint-Germain for about £30m (€35m). The move paves the way for Ederson to move to Fenerbahce for £12.1m (€14m).

Donnarumma has been deemed surplus to requirements by Luis Enrique at PSG, who signed Lucas Chevalier last month to be first choice at the European champions.

Trump says he will award Rudy Giuliani the Presidential Medal of Freedom

Former NYC mayor was sanctioned by courts and disbarred for amplifying false claims about the 2020 election

Donald Trump said Monday he will award Rudy Giuliani the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor, two days after his longtime political ally was seriously injured in a car crash.

The decision places the award on a man once lauded for leading New York after the September 11, 2001, attacks and later sanctioned by courts and disbarred for amplifying false claims about the 2020 US presidential election. Giuliani, the former New York mayor, was also criminally charged in two states; he has denied wrongdoing.

Trump to award Rudy Giuliani the Presidential Medal of Freedom

President Trump's announcement comes days after Giuliani was hospitalized with multiple broken bones after a car crash.

Naomi Osaka dominates Coco Gauff to power into US Open quarter-finals

• Four-times grand-slam champion wins 6-3, 6-2

• Osaka has always won title after reaching last eight

Naomi Osaka turned back the clock on Monday in New York, producing the cleanest big‑stage performance of her comeback from maternity leave to overwhelm Coco Gauff 6-3, 6-2 in a blockbuster fourth-round meeting inside Arthur Ashe Stadium.

In front of a packed 23,771-seat arena, the two crossover stars – who between them own three of the past seven US Open championships – reprised a rivalry that began with their famous encounter here in 2019. This time there were no tears, no consolations, only the sight of a four‑times major champion dictating terms again on the sport’s biggest stage.

The Guest review – a gloriously ridiculous thriller that slips down a treat

When a cleaner starts working for a wealthy woman, she gets sucked in by a luxury mansion bursting with secrets. Get the popcorn ready for a preposterous world of locked rooms, creepy gardeners … and bodies

The writer Matthew Barry and director Ashley Way gave us one of the highlights of 2023’s television output in Men Up, a witty, moving, compassionate treat of a drama about the development of the drug that would become known as Viagra and the group of Welshmen who were among its first guinea pigs.

Their new offering is a more straightforward one, and if it doesn’t achieve the same success Men Up did, they can hardly be condemned for having set their bar so high.

Liverpool sign Alexander Isak in British transfer record £125m deal from Newcastle

• Isak signs six-year contract and ‘wants to create history’

• Deal for Crystal Palace’s Marc Guéhi falls through

Liverpool broke the British transfer record to sign Alexander Isak for £125m from Newcastle on deadline day but were foiled in an attempt to end a stunning window with a deal for Marc Guéhi.

On a contrasting day for the Premier League champions, Isak underwent a medical on Merseyside before signing a six-year contract worth around £300,000 a week. Liverpool also stepped up efforts to sign the Crystal Palace captain, Guéhi, who had a medical in London in anticipation of joining Arne Slot’s side after Steve Parish, the Palace chair, accepted £35m plus £5m in add-ons for the defender.

Modi and Putin affirm special relationship as India faces steep US tariffs over Russian oil imports

The two leaders held talks after attending the key session of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization gathering in the port city of Tianjin, where discussions focused on regional stability, bilateral trade and energy cooperation.

In New Orleans, memories of Katrina remain vivid 20 years later

New Orleans residents reflect on rebuilding their lives 20 years after Hurricane Katrina.

8/24: Face the Nation

This week on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan," as President Trump has deployed federal authorities in Washington, D.C., Margaret Brennan speaks to Maryland Gov. Wes Moore. Plus, amid a U.N.-backed group declaring a famine in Gaza City, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen joins from Jordan and UNICEF executive director Catherine Russell discusses.

Sheriffs seek to identify man found dead ‘in pool of blood’ at Burning Man festival

A murder investigation was launched Sunday after apparent homicide as authorities ask public for help

Nevada sheriffs are asking the public’s help in identifying a man killed on Saturday in an apparent homicide at the Burning Man festival.

In a statement on Monday, Pershing county sheriff Jerry Allen asked for assistance to identify the man, who was found dead in the futurist encampment of Black Rock City as the festival reaching its climax when an effigy – the eponymous burning man – was set alight.

Starmer seeks to wrest back policy control from Treasury in No 10 shake-up

Prime minister brings in chancellor’s deputy and former Bank of England chief to newly created senior roles

• Downing Street shake-up: who’s in and who’s out at No 10

Keir Starmer has attempted to wrest back control of economic policy from the Treasury by bolstering his No 10 team, bringing in the chancellor’s deputy and a former Bank of England chief to senior roles.

Before what is likely to be a tumultuous autumn for the government, he created two new roles with Darren Jones put in charge of day-to-day delivery and Minouche Shafik appointed the prime minister’s chief economic adviser.

The Smashing Machine review – Dwayne Johnson only possible casting as crisis-riddled UFC champ Mark Kerr

Former pro wrestler Johnson takes on the role of man-mountain Kerr who goes into meltdown when the unthinkable happens – he loses

Benny Safdie has written and directed a solid bro drama for the UFC fanbase and maybe a little way beyond. It is about the central crisis in the life of man-mountain Mark Kerr, America’s pioneering MMA and ultimate fighting champ, who in 1997 found himself in the ring, or maybe the cage, with his demons after the unthinkable humiliation of losing for the first time.

This feature is in fact developed from a 2002 documentary about Kerr with the same title. He confronted his substance abuse, relationship anxieties and the question of what the heck life is for if you can’t simply win all the time. Kerr is played by Dwayne Johnson, a colossus of muscle topped off with a head the size of Indiana Jones’s boulder, a body on which the only visible fat is rippling at the nape of his neck. Johnson’s appearance is modified by close-cut frizzy hair and facial prosthetics that make him look like Jon Favreau playing the Hulk. No other casting was remotely possible – not unless Timothée Chalamet fancied bulking up. (Sacha Baron Cohen could do it these days, and would probably want to play it every bit as seriously and non-satirically as Johnson.)

Nestlé sacks CEO over ‘undisclosed romantic relationship’

Swiss multinational finds Laurent Freixe breached code of conduct as it names Philipp Navratil as his replacement

Nestlé has dismissed its chief executive, Laurent Freixe, after an investigation into an “undisclosed romantic relationship” with a subordinate that was found to have breached its code of business conduct.

The Swiss-headquartered multinational named Philipp Navratil as his replacement.

1.2 million immigrants have left the labor force under Trump, data shows

The number of immigrant workers has declined from January through the end of July, preliminary Census data shows.

Burning Man death prompts homicide investigation

An unidentified White man was found dead, lying in a pool of blood, according to police.

Floods, a vaccine drive and troops training: photos of the day – Monday

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

9/1: Face the Nation

This week on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan," in the aftermath of the discovery of the bodies of six people who were being held hostage by Hamas, Nancy Cordes speaks to Jonathan Dekel-Chen, the father of the Israeli-Americans still being held. Plus, Rep. Tony Gonzales of Texas joins as migrant crossings along the southern border reach historic lows amid a new asylum crackdown from the Biden administration.

Summer 2025 was hottest on record in UK, says Met Office

Unprecedented average temperature made about 70 times more likely by human-induced climate change, says agency

The UK has had its hottest summer on record, the Met Office has said, after the country faced four heatwaves in a single season.

The mean temperature for meteorological summer, which encompasses the months of June, July and August, was 16.1C (60.98F), which is significantly above the current record of 15.76C set in 2018.

The Guardian view on Donald Trump and India: the tariff war that boosted China | Editorial

The White House wanted India to bow. Instead, Narendra Modi flew to China, shook Xi Jinping’s hand and left Washington sidelined

Donald Trump’s imperial tendencies see the US president wield tariffs and sanctions in the expectation that America will receive tributes. Yet his latest move – punishing India with 50% tariffs for Russian oil purchases once encouraged by the US – has produced not submission but spectacle. It has sent India’s Narendra Modi to China for the first time in seven years as Xi Jinping hosted more than 20 leaders for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Tianjin. And it is in Tianjin, not Washington, where it looks as if the hinge of history is moving.

The SCO is easy to dismiss: the bloc is a bundle of contradictions. India and Pakistan remain adversaries. China and India still stare across a garrisoned Himalayan frontier, though relations have thawed since last October’s border breakthrough. Russia and China vie for influence in Central Asia. Unlike Nato, the SCO has no binding defence commitments. For much of its life, it has looked like a paper tiger, sending out communiques that were all roar and no bite.

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.

Congress cut $1.1 billion at PBS and NPR. How struggling stations are coping

When Congress decided this summer​ to eliminate $1.1 billion allocated to public broadcasting​​, it left some 330 PBS and 246 NPR stations to figure out what that means.

Luke Donald warns US team: don’t expect ‘rinse and repeat’ from Europe at Ryder Cup

• 11 of 12 players who won in Rome will defend title in US

• ‘It doesn’t mean we are going to roll out the same pairings’

Luke Donald has warned the US team that it would be an error to anticipate “rinse and repeat” from Europe in the Ryder Cup this month despite ­confirming 11 of the 12 players who won in Rome two years ago will tee up at Bethpage.

Donald named his six wildcards on Monday, all of whom played in 2023. Shane Lowry, Viktor Hovland, Ludvig Åberg, Matt Fitzpatrick, Jon Rahm and Sepp Straka received the captain’s call. Rory McIlroy, Robert ­MacIntyre, Justin Rose, Tommy Fleetwood, ­Rasmus Højgaard and Tyrrell Hatton qualified automatically.

2 adults dead, 7 children injured in ATV accident in Alabama

Two adults were killed and seven children were injured, including one as young as 1 year old, in an accident at an off-roading park in Alabama.

Leaked ‘Gaza Riviera’ plan dismissed as ‘insane’ attempt to cover ethnic cleansing

Prospectus proposes forced displacement of entire population and puts territory into US trusteeship

A plan circulating in the White House to develop the “Gaza Riviera” as a string of high-tech megacities has been dismissed as an “insane” attempt to provide cover for the large-scale ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian territory’s population.

On Sunday the Washington Post published a leaked prospectus for the plan, which would involve the forced displacement of Gaza’s entire population of 2 million people and put the territory into a US trusteeship for at least a decade.

Imane Khelif appeals to Cas over World Boxing’s genetic sex test decision

• World Boxing wants competitors to take test

• Khelif won Olympic welterweight gold in Paris

Imane Khelif has appealed to the court of arbitration for sport over World Boxing’s decision to bar the 26-year-old from its events without a preliminary genetic sex test.

A court statement said an appeal was filed by Khelif on 5 August seeking to overturn a decision by World Boxing blocking the Algerian’s participation in the Box Cup in Eindhoven or any World Boxing event until a genetic sex test had taken place.

Rayo Vallecano take Barcelona to the edge as fans rebel against their president | Sid Lowe

The small, proud Madrid club are back in Europe this season but playing against a backdrop of a civil war

The drunk, the brainless and the idle enjoyed this. They had said they wouldn’t sing, but the best nights aren’t planned they just happen, and in the end it was their kind of night. Chaotic, wild, a lot wrong but alright, like a picture of who they are, sticking it to the man up here and down there. Packed into crumbling, filthy stands, Rayo Vallecano’s fans didn’t see their team get a deserved victory against Barcelona on Sunday but on a torn-up, dried-out pitch with not much grass, in a ground where VAR became the latest thing to fail, they did watch them fight and do it their way too, flying into the team with a budget 18 times bigger as if they weren’t big at all. “Fantastic,” Hansi Flick called them.

It started as a protest and never stopped being one but it became something else too, something fun; they had been infuriated, worn down over years, and then they had been insulted but they couldn’t help but enjoy themselves, protest and party in one. Three days after Rayo had definitively qualified for the Conference League the team that is not just in the neighbourhood but of the neighbourhood almost comically incongruous in Europe, Rayo’s supporters announced they were going on strike. Rayo’s players meanwhile laid into the treble winners, worthy of more than the 1-1 draw it finished. But for a Lamine Yamal penalty which the broken video assistant system couldn’t correct, they might have got it. But for goalkeeper Joan García they definitely might.

Clanker! This slur against robots is all over the internet – but is it offensive?

The term is used to insult AI chatbots and platforms like ChatGPT for making up information and generating ‘slop’. Some believe we should stop using it, pronto

Name: Clanker.

Age: 20 years old.

Vaping may be causing irreversible harm to children’s health, doctors say

Experts ‘extremely concerned’ about e-cigarette use and say millions of young people could face ill health in future

Doctors have raised the alarm about high levels of vaping among children worldwide, saying they are convinced e-cigarettes are causing irreversible harm to their health.

Cardiologists, researchers and health experts said they were “extremely concerned” about the harmful effects of e-cigarettes on millions of teenagers and young people, including exposure to toxins and carcinogens – some of which are still unknown.

Trump's "Liberation Day" tariffs were ruled illegal. What happens now?

President Trump has claimed the authority to bypass Congress and impose sweeping tariffs, but a new ruling throws that in doubt.

Boy, 11, shot dead after playing doorbell-ringing prank in Houston, police say

Boy struck several times as he and friends played ‘ding-dong ditch’ which involves ringing doorbell and running

An 11-year-old boy playing a common prank game of ringing doorbells in Houston, Texas, was shot dead on Saturday as he ran away from a house.

Authorities said the boy was struck several times as he and some friends were buzzing doorbells in an Eastside neighborhood.

Rosheen Kaul’s cheesy, spicy tuna sambal melt – recipe

The Australian chef and award-winning cookbook author shares how to make her favourite sandwich. Don’t hold back on the mayo, Rosheen Kaul says

• Get our weekend culture and lifestyle email

Tuna melts are arguably my favourite sandwich, all melty, pickley and delicious. A general gripe I have is when there isn’t enough mayonnaise in the tuna mixture and it ends up tasting canned and metallic – so use lots and don’t be shy.

But tuna sambal is so packed with flavour already, you run very little risk of metallic canned fish flavours spoiling your toastie. The cheese does a marvellous job of tempering the spice from the sambal, leaving you with a far gentler meal.

‘I’ve done everything but this’: Samantha Harris on modelling, motherhood and growing up in public

After two decades in the spotlight, one of Australia’s most recognised faces reflects on the pressures of the fashion industry and what kept her grounded

• Get our weekend culture and lifestyle email

It’s pouring down in Sydney’s northern beaches when I arrive at Pilu, a chic waterfront restaurant, usually buzzing with diners. On an unusually cold and blustery morning, the swell and the rain are the only sounds to be heard. The white-linen tables are silent, the doors not yet open to the public.

Samantha Harris, one of Australia’s most recognisable faces, sweeps into the restaurant. She is casual, in activewear, her baby bump visible beneath her puffer jacket, her longtime modelling agent Kathy Ward by her side. Sipping her chai latte, Harris is smiling as she is congratulated on two fronts: her first child and her first book, Role Model: Taking Up Space in the Fashion World.

Australian film-maker Alex Proyas: ‘broken’ movie industry needs to be rebuilt and ‘AI can help us do that’

Director of The Crow and I, Robot says technology will ‘streamline’ film industry workforce but will make projects easier and cheaper

• Get our weekend culture and lifestyle email

At a time when capitalist forces are driving much of the advancement in artificial intelligence, Alex Proyas sees the use of AI in film-making as a source of artistic liberation.

While many in the film sector see the emergence of artificial intelligence as a threat to their careers, livelihoods and even likenesses, the Australian film-maker behind The Crow, Dark City and I, Robot, believes the technology will make it much easier and cheaper to get projects off the ground.

Sign up for our rundown of must-reads, pop culture and tips for the weekend, every Saturday morning

Dear gen Z, take a lesson from this zillennial: to be cringe is to be free | Eleanor Burnard

As the internet’s apex predator, zoomers are terrified of being seen as anything but a specific type of curated cool. It’s time they learned to live, laugh, love

Millennials are a generation infamous for their love of avocado toast, craft beer, Harry Potter, inventing the idea of a Disney adult and girlboss feminism. For that they’ve been subject to the brunt of our zeitgeist’s wrath in the years since.

Resentful boomers began the anti-millennial crusade. That’s to be expected; older people griping about the kids is nothing new, but rather a rite of passage that signifies a healthy ecosystem within the age groups. Hell, even gen X occasionally joins in on the action.

Face the Nation: O'Brien, Gonzales, Becker

Missed the second half of the show? The latest on...Sean O'Brien, the president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, says his union hasn't endorsed a 2024 candidate because they are "waiting on Vice President Harris to commit to come meet with us, Republican Rep. Tony Gonzales of Texas tells "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan" that he thinks the immigration crisis is getting "worse" despite record low numbers of migrant crossings, and David Becker, a former civil rights attorney at the Department of Justice who now leads the Center of Election Innovation and Research and a CBS News contributor, tells "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan" that those with election concerns should volunteer.

Berlin police investigate after officer punches Irish activist at protest

Ireland’s foreign office conveys ‘concern’ about incident that was captured on videos posted on social media

Berlin police have opened an internal investigation after videos emerged showing an Irish activist at a pro-Palestinian demonstration being punched in the face twice by an officer, drawing protest from Ireland’s foreign office.

Footage posted on social media showed the activist, Kitty O’Brien, being struck by a male police officer and dragged away, their face bloodied, from the rally on Thursday in the Mitte district of the German capital.

See what's open and closed on Labor Day 2025

Most retail stores, grocery chains and fast-food chains will be open on Labor Day. Here's what to know.

Tell us about a travel experience that benefited the local community

Share a tip on a grassroots activity or tour where your visit directly supported a local community – the best tip wins £200 towards a Coolstays break

When tourism genuinely involves local communities it’s a win for all parties – guests enjoy more authentic experiences while the livelihoods of those they are visiting are boosted. We’d love to hear about initiatives you’ve sampled that support grassroots projects and communities – perhaps it was through a homestay programme, a community-run pub or cafe, or an indigenous tour guide keen to provide an insight into local culture. Tell us about where you went and those involved.

The best tip of the week, chosen by Tom Hall of Lonely Planet wins a £200 voucher to stay at a Coolstays property – the company has more than 3,000 worldwide. The best tips will appear in the Guardian Travel section and website.

‘The walls collapsed around me’: Afghans describe quake devastation

People tell of losing children and other relatives and of digging their way out of the rubble after the disaster

It was almost midnight when Hameed Jan was jolted awake in his bed by a deep rumble. Powerful tremors were shaking his small house in Piran village, in Afghanistan’s Kunar region, and he could see the walls beginning to crack.

“I jumped out of bed and rushed to where my children and parents were sleeping,” Jan said. “I managed to rescue two of my children and brought them outside to safety. I went back inside to save my younger siblings, but as I did the roof and walls collapsed around me.”

Keir Starmer’s legacy could be electoral reform – or Farage as prime minister | Polly Toynbee

MPs are voting to get rid of first past the post in mayoral elections. Doing the same at a national level would be an antidote to Reform UK

Wake up to the peril. As MPs return to parliament, they should abandon that self-deluding pretence that it could never happen here in our “moderate” and “tolerant” land. On the contrary, Britain is at more risk of a populist right takeover than many of our European neighbours. With Labour in an electoral slough of despond, and the Tories looking dead already, the reptilian grin of Nigel Farage haunts the political landscape after his satisfactory summer spent stoking division and cynicism.

Our first past the post (FPTP) elections make us particularly vulnerable. As Rob Ford, professor of politics at Manchester University, notes: “This is now a Farage-friendly electoral system.” Reform UK has reached the tipping point where winning as little as 30% support in our corkscrewed lottery of a voting system could propel him into No 10, however much that appals the other 70% of voters. “It’s certainly possible” he could be prime minister, was Farage’s implausible boast, a year ago. But as the latest poll puts his party on 35% to Labour’s 20%, it keeps getting a little more credible.

Polly Toynbee is a Guardian columnist

The Divine Comedy on Something for the Weekend: ‘We hired a statuesque model for the video. I had to stand on a box’

‘I skip one part when we perform it these days. As I’m in my mid-50s it would be creepy’

Having made two albums with a chamber vibe, I was thinking, “Where do I go from here?” I started hearing your Suedes and Saint Etiennes, and Blur were referencing stuff from the 60s and 70s too. I could see the way the wind was blowing. That sounds quite knowing, but I already loved John Barry, the Kinks, Adam Faith and, of course, Scott Walker.

House committee withdraws Robert Mueller subpoena over health issues

The House Oversight Committee has withdrawn a request for testimony from Robert Mueller about the case of late child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein due to new information on the former special counsel's health.

Northern lights might be visible across 18 states tonight

People in 18 U.S. states could see the green or red glow of the aurora in the sky Monday night into Tuesday.

The Testament of Ann Lee review – strikingly strange portrait of radically ecstatic Shaker leader

Venice film festival
Amanda Seyfried plays the 18th-century missionary who took her message to the New World, in Mona Fastvold’s elusive film

‘Our ordeal is worth it!” This is the cry of one of the faithful in Mona Fastvold’s movie, co-written with her partner Brady Corbet, with whom she co-wrote The Brutalist. It is a vehement, fervent, striking but sometimes baffling drama about the historical figure of Ann Lee, who endured religious persecution in 18th-century England as leader of the fundamentalist Shaker movement.

As the embodiment of Christ’s second coming, Lee took her radical message to the New World and in pre-revolutionary America founded an enduring community of souls, persecuted all over again by the new patriarchy for being a woman and a pacifist. Her Shakers were known among other things for their skill in stylishly elegant and minimalist furniture – although the connection with Christ’s profession is unstressed. Lee is played by Amanda Seyfried, with Lewis Pullman as her brother William and Christopher Abbott as her oppressive husband Abraham, who appears to be partial to a bit of BDSM where he gets to be a Christian dom in the marriage bed.

Former British heavyweight Joe Bugner, who twice took on Muhammad Ali, dies aged 75

• Frank Bruno pays tribute and calls it ‘a sad day for boxing’

• Bugner was a British, Commonwealth and European champion

Tributes have been paid to Joe Bugner, the British heavyweight who took Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier the distance in a colourful career that spanned 32 years in the ring, after his death at the age of 75.

Bugner twice held the British and Commonwealth heavyweight titles and was a three-time European heavyweight champion during boxing’s golden age in the 1970s. However, a legitimate world title belt always eluded him.

Russia suspected of jamming GPS on plane carrying Ursula von der Leyen

Aircraft with European Commission president onboard reportedly forced to circle Bulgarian airport for an hour

• Europe live – latest updates

Russia is believed to have jammed the satellite signal of a plane carrying the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, over Bulgaria, reportedly forcing it to circle an airport for an hour.

Von der Leyen was travelling to Plovdiv on Sunday when her charter plane lost satellite navigation aids, delaying its arrival in the central Bulgarian city.

Kim Novak’s Vertigo review – the dizzying demands on Hitchcock’s leading lady

Venice film festival
An intensely personal interview of the 92-year-old Hollywood star delivers showstopping moments for fans of the golden age of movies

At 92 years old, Hollywood movie star Kim Novak – legendary of course for her doppelganger starring role in Hitchcock’s Vertigo – is a vivid and, in fact, yearningly romantic and demanding presence in this gallant, cinephile documentary-interview filmed by director and Novak superfan Alexandre O Philippe. She is one of the very few golden age stars still with us, and maybe the title of this film is a playful pun: at the very apex of Hollywood history, perhaps Novak feels dizzy looking down from her mythic height.

Philippe himself is more than qualified for this kind of intensely personal exegesis, having in the past made intriguing films about David Lynch’s debt to The Wizard of Oz and about the Psycho shower scene. With a touch of mischief and misdirection, he begins his film by simply playing a voice note that Novak has sent him, in which she talks sombrely about her health issues and about how much time she has left. She does sound poignantly frail. Then you see her in person and she is sensational; articulate, vibrant, youthful in ways that have nothing to do with cosmetic work, very engaged with the questions that Philippe puts to her – but concerned also to discuss her own life and personality, particularly her interest in painting and what she owes to her parents. And, of course, she has something to say about the most germane issue of all: how Hollywood, and society in general, imposes its male views on how a woman should look and behave, a trope famously embodied by Novak in Vertigo.

Soldiers are doing landscaping in DC parks. I’m thrilled for them | Dave Schilling

They were deployed to fight crime. Instead, some are spreading mulch. It’s almost sweet – if you remove the context

If soldiers are going to be deployed to your city, what would you prefer they do: point a rifle in your face or mow your grass? This is not a question I ever expected to have to consider in my days on this planet, but life is full of surprises. As part of Donald Trump’s military deployment to address Washington DC’s so-called “crime emergency”, national guard troops are being tasked with various groundskeeping duties around the United States capital. These duties include spreading mulch around cherry trees, picking up trash and general maintenance of public spaces. The president must have been too embarrassed to get Four Seasons Total Landscaping involved again, so he got the military to do it instead.

It’s a real “swords into ploughshares” moment, or in this case, “M4 rifles into those grabber sticks you use to pick up plastic bottles full of piss.” It’s almost sweet, if you separate the move from literally all outside context and just think about a part-time soldier pruning your bush. The national guard is actually trained for sanitation and groundskeeping, but they are usually deployed for such purposes in a crisis like a natural disaster or even during the height of the Covid pandemic. Except: there’s no natural disaster, no stay-at-home orders due to a deadly virus, no wildfires, no floods. The only crisis here is man-made.

Dave Schilling is a Los Angeles-based writer and humorist

Rukmini Iyer’s quick and easy recipe for mini mushroom okonomiyaki | Quick and easy

A crisp cabbage and mushroom pancake, made with rice as the ballast, and stuffed with cheddar, onions and a secret ingredient …

I’ve made chef Tim Anderson’s okonomiyaki from memory for years, realising only recently that rice is not a traditional ingredient and that his recipe is, in fact, for rice yaki, a speciality of Kyushu. It’s the first cousin to okonomiyaki in that it’s a crisp cabbage pancake, but with cooked rice as the main ingredient; after that, however, it’s up to you what you put in. I like to make this mini mushroom version because, miraculously, my children eat it. And the secret to a super-crisp pancake? A good gluten-free flour (I like Freee) – the combination of flours in a gluten-free mix gives you an amazingly crisp pancake.

I had to stop raving after bunion surgery – so I became a DJ instead

Tina Woods, AKA Tina Technotic, now DJs around the world and has found a new sense of connection. She even believes it’s lowering her biological age

Tina Woods was sitting in a taxi when the dancing bug bit. It was after midnight and she and two friends were heading home from another friend’s 60th birthday party. South-west London rolled past the window. They had had a bit to drink. As they passed Le Fez nightclub, they realised they didn’t want to go home. “We were like: let’s go dancing before we go to bed,” she says.

Woods, then 56, had gone clubbing in her 20s, but on Le Fez’s dancefloor, as her body caught the beat, she had “an epiphany moment”, a shock of pure euphoria: “The joy I felt – the mind, body and soul connection – was like a lightning bolt.” She knew then that “dancing and music were going to be a bigger part of my life than I’d ever thought”.

Hamilton ready for ‘huge pressure’ at Ferrari’s home GP after crashing out at Zandvoort

• Ferrari driver ‘fine mentally’ despite Dutch GP error

• Hamilton will have five-place grid penalty at Monza

Lewis Hamilton has admitted the pressure is on as he prepares to make his debut as a Ferrari driver at the team’s home race in the Italian Grand Prix this weekend, having unceremoniously crashed out of the Dutch GP on Sunday after an unforced error.

The seven-time world champion suffered an unusual exit at Zandvoort as he went wide on the painted surface outside turn three, made slippery by light rain. He lost the rear and could not hold the car, which slid into the barriers, ending his race.

Has Trump kept his campaign promises to American workers? Here's what some say.

Trump made many promises to American workers during the campaign trail. Seven months into his second term, we take a look at how he is doing.

Gorillaz review – after 25 years, Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett’s cartoon band are still riveting and relevant

Copper Box Arena, London
Dressed like a vicar, Albarn leads his band – joined by a choir, a string quartet, De La Soul and more – in renewing Demon Days’ downbeat drama

Gorillaz are 25. In 2000, this cartoon-fronted project seemed like something fun for Damon Albarn to do between Blur albums, hiding behind Jamie Hewlett’s comic-book animations, but they’ve overtaken Blur almost everywhere but Britain. The number of children in the audience testifies to Gorillaz’s powers of self-rejuvenation – an ever-changing vehicle for Albarn’s ceaseless curiosity.

Gorillaz are marking the occasion with an immersive exhibition, House of Kong, and four era-specific shows. This second night revives 2005’s Demon Days. Co-produced by Danger Mouse, it remains the most satisfying expression of the Gorillaz concept: focused in both its themes (innocence and violence) and personnel (rappers and the rap-adjacent). Dressed like a hip vicar, Albarn serves double duty as a frontman and a conscientious host, although the original cast of vocalists is inevitably depleted. The late MF DOOM and awol Shaun Ryder appear only on screen, while Skye Edwards replaces Martina Topley-Bird on All Alone. Thank goodness for the old-school stalwarts. Bootie Brown enters Dirty Harry like a red-and-white firework before De La Soul boom and cackle through Feel Good Inc.

Donald Trump says he is not a dictator. Isn’t he?

From deploying the national guard to targeting news channels and schools, the US president’s actions are anything from typical of a democratic leader

Speaking in the Oval Office this week, Donald Trump had something he wanted to clarify.

“I’m not a dictator. I don’t like a dictator,” the president said.

Oil giant Equinor backs crisis-stricken Orsted as Trump lashes out at offshore wind

Norwegian energy group Equinor on Monday pledged to support Denmark's Orsted with almost $1 billion of fresh capital.

Weather tracker: deep trough over Europe brings severe storms

Heavy rain, lightning and tornadoes lash swaths of continent, with France, Italy and Slovenia among worst hit

Severe storms linked to a deep upper air trough formed from the ex-hurricane Erin lashed parts of western and southern Europe last week.

Italy was hit by severe rainfall on Thursday that caused flooding in the Lombardy region. The commune of Busto Arsizio was badly affected, with more than 100mm of rain and frequent lightning.

More students head back to class without one crucial thing: their phones

This back to school season, more districts than ever have cell phone bans in place. Teachers and legislators alike say the restrictions help kids focus in class.

Poem of the week: Solitude by Peter McDonald

A wounded bird becomes an image for much wider damage to our world

Solitude

Paraphrase on Saint-John Perse, Anabase IV