Israel indicts settler over death of Palestinian activist who worked on No Other Land

Yinon Levi faces manslaughter trial over killing of Awdah Hathaleen, but campaigners say culture of impunity persists despite rare shift

Prosecutors in Israel have indicted an extremist settler for shooting a Palestinian activist last July, the first attempt this decade to hold an Israeli responsible for killing a Palestinian in the occupied West Bank.

Yinon Levy, who was under western sanctions, is charged with manslaughter over the death of Awdeh Hathaleen, an English teacher and peace activist. In his last moments, Hathaleen filmed the settler drawing his weapon and opening fire towards him.

Lemon seeks dismissal of criminal charges, claims vindictive prosecution

Former CNN anchor Don Lemon's attorneys wrote that Trump's animosity toward Lemon "is well documented, stretching back over a decade."

July jobs report reveals unexpected loss of 23,000 jobs

Friday's jobs report showed employers shed jobs last month, rather than adding 95,000 new hires that had been forecast by economists.

Tour de France Femmes 2026: Mont Ventoux finish looms on toughest stage – live

Updates as the riders head for the formidable Ventoux
Stage six report | Follow us on Instagram | Mail Tom

114km to go Korevaar’s attack couldn’t hold. The peloton is back together as the road starts veering upward before we hit the category three climb up the Colombier.

122km to go We are seeing the first attacks of substance on the flat section to Col du Colombier. Jeanne Korevaar (Liv-AlUla-Jayco) has burst clear of the peloton and got herself a lead of about 15secs.

Americans got their biggest raises in 40 years. Inflation took most of it.

The typical American's paycheck has grown faster since 2019 than in any stretch since the early 1980s. But prices climbed nearly as fast, swallowing about 80% of the wage increase.

Feast Q&A: ask Guardian food writer Felicity Cloake anything

Felicity Cloake is the writer of the Guardian’s How to cook the perfect … and Masterclass cookery columns. If you’ve eaten it … she’s cooked it. Discuss her work or ask her a question below the line now. She’ll be online at 3pm BST to answer them

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Join us at 3pm (BST) on Friday 7 August, as Guardian food writer Felicity Cloake answers your questions.

Felicity is the author of five cookbooks, two food travelogues and writer of the Guardian’s How to cook the perfect … and Masterclass cookery columns. She’s tried thousands of recipes by the world’s top chefs and food writers, to create the ultimate version - delicious and failsafe, every time.

U.S. economy unexpectedly lost 23,000 jobs in July

Nonfarm payrolls were projected to increase by 83,000 in July while the unemployment rate would hold steady at 4.2%, according to the Dow Jones consensus.

Airlines push back against rising ICE arrests at airports

Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrests at airports have risen. Airlines are saying the arrests could put employees and passengers at risk and are hoping for changes.

‘Not afraid of controversy’: Edinburgh fringe rejects calls to cancel Amanda Knox comedy

Festival organisers defend show after criticism from sister of Meredith Kercher, Knox’s murdered former flatmate

The Edinburgh festival fringe said it was “not afraid of controversy” after calls to cancel a sold-out show by Amanda Knox, who was falsely imprisoned for the 2007 murder of her flatmate Meredith Kercher in Italy.

Knox’s comedy show, Cartwheel, has been condemned by Kercher’s family, with her sister, Stephanie, saying it “normalises and trivialises violence against women”. A petition calling for it to be cancelled has been signed by more than 6,000 people.

Thailand school shooting: teen suspect killed at least seven people and injured more than 30, officials say – latest updates

Suspect appeared to have planned deadly attack, Thailand’s PM says as he vows to introduce new gun laws

Natasha May is reporting from Nonthaburi on the outskirts of Thailand’s capital, Bangkok

From its outskirts, it appears to be a normal day in Nonthaburi but the closer you get to the school, the greater the police presence becomes with large silver vans and officers in uniform everywhere.

Georgia Hunter Bell: ‘Getting the tube to work I was like … oh my God, I’ve kind of messed up my life’

The favourite for 1500m gold at the European championships on her second chance after quitting at 23, learning from Keely Hodgkinson and eyeing an LA 2028 double

“I grew up and was always just good at running,” says Georgia Hunter Bell, as she remembers the moment she felt her career was over at 23. “I always thought that I would be a professional athlete, go to the Olympics, all of that. So it was quite brutal when I had to make peace with the fact that it was not going to happen.”

At that stage Hunter Bell’s body was broken. Her teenage promise – she was the UK’s top 15-year-old having run a 2:08 min 800m – worn away by injuries aggravated by overtraining in the US collegiate system. She retired; found a job in tech; didn’t run on the track for five years. And then came a comeback straight out of a Hollywood feelgood movie.

Puerto Rico's ongoing water crisis leads to rationing

Puerto Rico's water crisis is worsening amid an ongoing drought and aging infrastructure. Residents in some communities have been without reliable water for over 100 days. Now, over 180,000 households will be without water for 48 hours at a time as government rationing begins.

Boardroom struggle deepens gloom as West Ham prepare for life on the outside

The power battle over Vanessa Gold’s shares and the David Sullivan Panorama allegations are overshadowing the start of the season in the Championship

There have been 10 summers of West Ham’s London Stadium tenancy and a number of winters of discontent. As the Hammers kick off their new season on Saturday, their Carabao Cup first-round fixture with Portsmouth serves as a stark reminder of reduced circumstances, further confirmation of last season’s relegation from the Premier League. The summer has been as bleak as any of those winters, a collision of factors deepening the gloom of relegation.

Certain clubs, including West Ham back in 2011-12 when promotion was achieved at first time of asking under Sam Allardyce, have used the Championship to take a beat, to refresh and replenish. Can this be the case at West Ham 2026? The Hammers are actually short-odds favourites for promotion but behind the scenes it has been a summer of turbulence, particularly in the boardroom, where a power struggle is being fought.

Employers unexpectedly cut 23,000 jobs in a sign of a wilting labor market

U.S. employers cut 23,000 jobs in July, and job gains for the two previous months were weaker than initially reported, according to a report Friday from the Labor Department.

Pentagon releases 5th batch of UFO files, with more documents and videos

The Pentagon on Friday released a new batch of documents and images related to UFOs, the fifth disclosure in recent months about the strange encounters.

EA Sports FC 27: what does the next instalment of the world’s biggest football game have in store?

The all-conquering franchise’s revamps are technically impressive, its transfers more true to life – and its new grassroots social hub is surprising fun

As if the world wasn’t sufficiently football-obsessed, it’s time to prepare for the arrival of its biggest football video game. EA Sports FC 27 (the franchise that used to be Fifa – what better time to no longer be Fifa-branded?) is due to be released on 25 September. I just spent two intense days in Vancouver, where the EA FC games are made, playing FC 27 and talking to its developers.

With an annual franchise such as EA FC, it helps to have something fresh to entice regular fans, and FC 27 has a whole new element, entitled the Grounds. It’s a physical hub-type area, similar to the City as seen in 2K’s recent NBA 2K basketball games, but much more pleasant to frequent, split as it is into areas inspired by British, French and Argentinian street-football culture.

Trump voter pleads for fiancée's release after ICE arrest: "They're destroying families"

"They are picking up law-abiding citizens. They're destroying families, jobs," said a Texas man who regrets his vote for President Trump after his fiancée, an immigrant from Venezuela, was detained by ICE.

A balloon fiesta and candyfloss sellers: photos of the day – Friday

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

Scramble to house hundreds camping in Rome heatwave after squat eviction

Officials try to find homes for residents as talks to save social assistance hub collapse amid government crackdown

Rome authorities are scrambling to find homes for hundreds of people sleeping in tents in extreme heat after talks aimed at saving Italy’s most high-profile centre for housing and social assistance collapsed amid a crackdown by Giorgia Meloni’s government on squatted buildings.

The approximately 400 evicted residents of Spin Time Labs, located in a 10-floor building in Rome’s Esquilino district occupied by grassroots groups since 2013, will not be allowed to move back in after its private owner refused Rome council’s offer to buy the property. The residents were forced out at the end of last month.

Out of the blue: James Cameron’s surprise departure would be good for Avatar

The director has yet again hinted that he may step away – but if he does actually relinquish control, it would likely benefit the franchise

After directing the highest-grossing film trilogy of all time, and having spent more than two decades bending technology, studio executives and several hundred million dollars’ worth of underwater motion capture to his will, James Cameron this week signalled that he may be ready to hand the future of the Avatar franchise to another director. Indeed, he bent Hollywood to his will so completely that it became almost impossible in the early 2010s to watch a blockbuster without uncomfortable plastic glasses, and without objects on the screen being hurled pointlessly towards the audience. Still, the Canadian film-maker now appears to be seriously considering handing over everyone’s favourite multibillion-dollar bioluminescent space jungle to someone else.

“There’s been momentum in the Avatar universe for 21 years at this point because we started in 2005,” Cameron told Denise Donlon in an interview for Canada’s governor general’s performing arts awards. “It’s been kind of an unbroken continuum. So this is the point where I’m looking at the landscape and asking, ‘What are the other stories I want to tell? How many of them do I need to direct myself versus writing and/or producing with other film-makers?’”

Companies scoff at airlines' cheapest business class tickets. 'The real value is flexibility'

Some companies plan to shun the cheapest business- and premium- economy fares from their executives.

Volkswagen controlling families call for faster overhaul to fend off Chinese rivals

Volkswagen's top investor on Friday called on the auto giant to take immediate action to fend off intensifying competition from Chinese car brands.

Warren presses U.S. companies to share tariff refunds with customers

Companies receiving billions in refunds for U.S. tariffs struck down by the Supreme Court should return money to consumers, Sen. Elizabeth Warren said.

William Orbit, pop producer for Madonna, All Saints and more, dies aged 69

Musician’s projects included Madonna’s Ray of Light, Blur’s 13 and All Saints’ chart-topping singles Pure Shores and Black Coffee

William Orbit, the British music producer whose dreamy yet propulsive style invigorated work by Madonna, Blur, All Saints, U2 and more, has died aged 69.

A statement on his social media, attributed to family and friends, said he died at home on 23 July. “He will be greatly missed by us and by so many whose lives he touched through his music, friendship and kindness,” the statement read. No cause of death was given.

‘It’s a Pan-African story’: the artists telling the amazing true tale of Zambia’s mission to reach space

The nation’s audacious 1960s rocket programme was met with ridicule. Now, more than 60 years on, this curious episode is inspiring film-makers, playwrights and a circus show at the fringe

• Explore the rest of our Edinburgh festival 2026 coverage

In February 1960, Harold Macmillan, the UK’s Conservative prime minister, gave his seminal “wind of change” address to the Parliament of South Africa in Cape Town, announcing the end of the age of colonial rule on the African continent. He had given the same speech in Ghana a month earlier but the South Africa speech received significantly more press attention because of its perceived confrontation with the apartheid regime. The speech began a chain reaction: four years later, the British Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland was dissolved, establishing a newly independent Zambia.

Amid the hopeful energy of the nation’s birth emerged Edward Mukuka Nkoloso, the father of the Zambia National Academy of Science, Space Research and Philosophy, with an announcement that the young country would officially join the space race.

‘It might be one of the most unpopular tunes ever written!’: kids’ TV composers tell all

Big cheques, standing ovations, irate adults – there are surprising sides to composing a children’s TV theme tune. From Bluey to Byker Grove, the creators of the best reveal the secrets

How do you write TV theme music for children? Does it make you mega-rich? And does the tune itself eventually drive you (and parents everywhere) nuts?

We tracked down the creators of half-a-dozen of TV’s greatest children’s show themes in order to find out. As Bluey’s Joff Bush told us: “The key lesson is that if you’re going to write a theme tune, make sure you really like it because you’re going to hear it a helluva lot!”

Cocktail of the week: Half Cut Market’s peaches & cream – recipe | The good mixer

A frozen piña colada-style boozy drink/dessert

A frozen drink and a classic dessert all rolled into one. Instead of piña coladas and getting caught in the rain, we’re whipping up these and manifesting a sunny summer.

Jayma Voorheis, general manager, Half Cut Market, London N7

Weather tracker: central and western Europe brace for more sweltering heat

High 30s celsius forecast for France, Spain and Italy next week, before affecting Germany, Poland and Czechia

Another pulse of heat is expected to affect central and western Europe next week. The latest forecast models show daily maximum temperatures well into the high 30s celsius widely across France, Spain and Italy during the first half of the week, while Germany, Poland and Czechia will experience the highest temperatures towards the end of the week. The shift in the focus of the heat as the week progresses can be attributed to the movement of high pressure. At the start of the week, low pressure centred in the Atlantic and high pressure centred over the low countries will draw warm air from southern Europe northwards into parts of France. During the working week, the high pressure will slip a little farther south and east, enabling the warm air once situated over western Europe to make inroads into parts of Germany and central Europe.

The heat in central and western Europe this summer has been unrelenting. Last week’s weather tracker highlighted record-breaking temperatures for the month of July in Austria. However, only a few days later, on 4 August, the all-time record was shattered with 41.0C achieved in Stammersdorf, north-east of the capital, Vienna. This comfortably broke the previous all-time record set in August 2003 by 0.7C. Unbelievably, that record was broken again the following day when 41.2C was recorded in Deutsch-Altenburg. Slovakia also set an all-time record on the same day, of 41.4C. The continuing European heatwave, associated with a vertically extensive anticyclone, raised the freezing level above 4,000 metres across much of the Alpine region. This represents a level in the atmosphere well above many Alpine glaciers, accelerating the seasonal melting process. On the opposite side of the Atlantic, 51.8C was recorded in Badwater, California, the highest temperature in the US for 2026 so far.

Iran plots to deal Trump a blow in midterms by keeping him entangled in war

By dragging out talks, Tehran aims to damage the US president politically – but some fear a bruised and weakened Trump could lash back

Tehran has set out a protracted negotiating timetable designed to keep Donald Trump embroiled in the Iran conflict until the midterm elections, in the hope of inflicting the same ruinous blow on his presidency as Jimmy Carter suffered over the 1979-81 US embassy hostage crisis.

For many inside Iran, inflicting meaningful revenge on Trump is a legitimate and self-standing war aim, reflected in the mood of those attending the funeral of the supreme leader Ali Khamenei where demands for retribution were ubiquitous.

Feds could scrap rules requiring airlines to disclose airfares in full

A Transportation Department proposal could obscure the cost of a plane ticket, aviation experts warn. Here's what to know.

A new vaccine could vanquish a major cause of deadly diarrheal disease

Over 1 million people a year die from diarrheal disease. Nearly half are kids under age 5. A new vaccine in trials offers great hope.

The July jobs numbers are due out Friday. Here's what to expect

Nonfarm payrolls are expected to post a gain of just 83,000 with an unchanged unemployment rate at 4.2%.

China is gaining ground in AI. But the U.S. still has a major advantage

Chinese AI companies have made recent leaps in closing the performance gap with U.S. frontier labs.

Black barrister was told ‘it’s not for defendants’ at London court car park

Stephen Akinsanya says being mistaken for defendant shows lack of progress on racism within legal system

A black barrister has said a security guard told him he could not park in a court’s car park in London because “it’s not for defendants”.

Stephen Akinsanya, who in June was awarded an OBE for raising awareness of youth knife crime and its prevention, said the incident, at an east London court about four weeks ago, illustrated the lack of progress on racism within the criminal justice system.

Grieg Lyric Pieces album review – Feltsman brings a probing flexibility that transforms this music

Vladimir Feltsman
(Nimbus)
Feltsman’s comprehensive survey of the Lyric Pieces is revelatory and authoritative

Russian-American pianist Vladimir Feltsman’s love of Grieg’s Lyric Pieces dates back to his childhood in Moscow and his first piano teacher, EM Timakin, who introduced him to the works. Part homage, then, this comprehensive survey draws on the accumulated wisdom of over 60 years in a set that abounds with interpretative imagination.

Feltsman approaches Grieg as if it were Schumann, bringing a probing flexibility that transforms this music into more than just occasional salon pieces. Book I’s famous Arietta, for example, responds eagerly to his supple sense of rubato. He also points up the composer’s cosmopolitan influences, with a Nocturne that could almost be Chopin, a Scherzo redolent of Saint-Saëns and a Nordic Valse-Impromptu that could only be by Grieg.

"Pink flags" of postpartum psychosis — and more takeaways from "Healthful"

Perinatal psychiatrist Dr. Uruj Kamal Haider and Kriti Lodha joined a special edition of "Healthful" to talk more about mental health conditions, including postpartum psychosis​.

Add to playlist: the anxiety-ridden sugar rush of Tiffany Day and the week’s best new tracks

Day’s latest album Halo is all high-energy exhaustion, injected with a crushing electroclash chaos that illuminates her insecurities in bright neon

From Los Angeles
Recommended if you like Slayyyter, Charli xcx, Underscores
Up next Halo out now. UK and Ireland tour starts in December

Right now popstar breakthrough and burnout are a hair’s breadth from one another. Enter Tiffany Day, a Wichita-raised artist who first went viral in 2017 when a video of her singing Hallelujah on a school trip blew up online. She spent the subsequent years unsuccessfully chipping away at building on that virality, cycling through acoustic guitar covers and bedroom R&B. Only by channeling her frustrations into this year’s anxiety-ridden sugar rush Halo did Day finally regain her early momentum.

Trump targets birthright citizenship. And, Iran aims to ban U.S. from Strait of Hormuz

President Trump says he has signed two new orders targeting birthright citizenship. And, Iran is aiming to ban U.S. ships from the Strait of Hormuz.

Five years and $122m later, North Sydney Olympic swimming pool has finally reopened. Was it worth the wait?

The famous art deco pool has taken so long to renovate that some lifelong patrons died waiting. On Friday, its lanes were once again filled with swimmers

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On a sunny Sydney Friday afternoon, a group of extremely athletic people in sailor costumes float merrily across a stretch of water, encased in inflatable spheres. On land, similarly dressed athletic people slowly pull them along with strings as the performers strike acrobatic poses and wave to passersby.

In the background is Sydney Harbour, its famous bridge and the Opera House. To the right, Luna Park’s iconic gates and a ferris wheel.

Tottenham and Atlético in talks over Romero with Van de Ven set to sign new deal

• Simeone keen on move for Spurs defender

• Van de Ven expected to pen five-year extension

Tottenham are in talks with Atlético Madrid over the sale of Cristian Romero after categorically rejecting Arsenal’s approach for the Argentina defender and are expected to agree a new five-year deal with Micky van de Ven.

Romero has made no secret of his desire to leave Spurs despite signing a new four-year contract at the start of last season and had looked set to join Inter for a fee of around £35m. But Atlético are long-term suitors of the 28-year-old and are thought to be his preferred destination, with Diego Simeone’s side understood to be prepared to match Inter’s bid.

Boeing 737 Max operators told to check fuselages for cracks

Inspections ordered by US regulator will affect about 470 aircraft, after reported problems in earlier models

• Business live – latest updates

The US aviation regulator has ordered inspections of the fuselages of Boeing 737 Max planes for possible cracks in a component.

The Federal Aviation Administration airworthiness directive will affect an estimated 471 aircraft and follows reports of cracks in earlier Boeing models.

Fancy fresh cabbages next spring? Then it’s time to get sowing

Spring cabbages sown now will grow swiftly and then overwinter in your garden

If you told primary-school-age me that I’d one day love cabbage, I would have laughed and called you a liar. Despite how much school dinners tried to put me – and likely, you – off this green-leafed staple, I’m happy to say that my taste has been rehabilitated. Yet, for all the love I have for the humble cabbage, it is not a crop I grow. And it is for the same reason that lots of grow-your-own classics don’t make it on to my plot: I don’t have enough space. For a vegetable that is so inexpensive and ubiquitous, I simply can’t justify it.

But if you’re fortunate enough to have a decent-sized patch – or just a strong desire to grow cabbages – then it’s a good time to get them started. Spring cabbages sown now – in good quality sowing compost in a modular tray – will grow swiftly in summer’s ideal conditions. They will then overwinter in the ground all the way through to next spring, when they will be ready to pick.

‘This is where I belong’: Katelyn Ohashi’s Olympic comeback is fueled by joy, not redemption

A decade after leaving elite gymnastics behind, the viral UCLA star is chasing a spot at LA 2028 on her own terms – and inspiring a new generation

Every morning, Katelyn Ohashi gets up and makes a smoothie and then walks her four-month-old puppy. She drives to the gym and begins with a moment of gratitude before warming up with gymnasts half her age. She trains four days a week, around four hours per day, while also dabbling in her various hobbies. It’s a routine that maybe a decade ago she didn’t envision but is now undertaking.

When Ohashi left elite gymnastics in 2013, it was no longer a place where she found joy. Although she was seen as an Olympic hopeful (she was the last gymnast to beat Simone Biles in the all-around finals at the American Cup), a back injury took her out of the running for the Games. She slowly found her joy for the sport in NCAA gymnastics at UCLA, where she was known for her perfect 10 floor routines that often went viral, garnering millions of views from around the world.

Kalshi and Polymarket bets on clinical trials criticized as 'ghastly'

Researchers warn betting on clinical trials could incentivize insider trading and interfere with drug development. But Kalshi and Polymarket say they provide valuable information to patients.

These NYC centers allow hard drug use in-house. Nearly 5 years in, is it helping?

An addiction-services nonprofit approved by the city focuses on harm reduction for hard drug users — to the chagrin of some in the neighborhood.

Mexico and Argentina line up behind Infantino to deepen football’s civil war

• Mexico breaks ranks with Concacaf to support Fifa chief

• Growing speculation country will switch to Conmebol

The Mexican football federations have broken ranks with the rest of Concacaf by issuing their public backing for beleaguered Fifa president Gianni Infantino in a move that has deepened world football’s civil war.

Concacaf has called for a thorough review of Fifa’s governance in the light of the World Cup sell-off debacle, and is backing Uefa’s demands for meaningful change, although has yet to follow their European counterparts by threatening to boycott tournaments if they do not achieve their objectives.

Strange Loops: Clarinet Quintets album review – drama, imagination and sonic flair

Van de Wiel/Soloists of the Philharmonia
(Signum)
Clarinettist Mark Von de Wiel performs music by Anna Clyne, Ruth Gipps and Weber

Mark van de Wiel was principal clarinet of the Philharmonia from 2000 until 2025, during which time he gave the UK premiere of Anna Clyne’s Strange Loops. The title, derived from Douglas Hofstadter’s 1979 bestseller Gödel, Escher, Bach, describes a cyclic system where, by moving up or down through different hierarchical levels, you unexpectedly find yourself back at the beginning.

Composed during lockdown, Clyne’s klezmer-inflected musical loops do just that, multiplying and mutating with syncopations and sidesteps and yet somehow reaching a satisfying conclusion. It makes a buoyant, yet bittersweet opener, meticulously realised by Van de Wiel with violinists Zsolt-Tihamér Visontay and Fiona Cornall, Nicholas Bootiman on viola and cellist Karen Stephenson.

Trump orders new 15% tariff on key material for solar panels and microchips

Move to raise levy on goods made with polysilicon aims to protect domestic US supply chains from China, the major producer

Donald Trump has ordered a new 15% tariff on imported products made of polysilicon, an important ingredient in microchip manufacturing that is primarily produced by China.

The new tariff, which will take effect on 4 December, is aimed at supporting US chip and solar panel supply chains to compete with Beijing on artificial intelligence and energy.

Trump faces calls for windfall tax on big oil’s profits from Iran war

US president’s complaint industry ‘making too much money’ comes after his policies boosted corporations

Donald Trump’s statement that oil companies have made “too much money” from the Iran war has angered environmentalists, who say that his policies were designed to benefit those very corporations. If he really believes his own claims, he should impose a windfall profits tax, advocates say.

“Trump’s declaration that big oil is ‘making too much money’ belies his accommodation and giveaways to the industry that have enabled its price-gouging – not to mention his disaster of a war of choice against Iran,” said Tyson Slocum, energy program director at the consumer advocacy non-profit Public Citizen. “But like a broken clock that’s correct twice a day, the president is right that oil companies are ‘making too much money’, which means Trump should endorse a windfall profits tax.”

ExxonMobil and Chevron on Friday both reported windfall profits for the second quarter of the year. Chevron said its earnings soared nearly 400% to $12bn, while Exxon’s profits more than doubled to $14.5bn. On Monday evening, Trump took aim at those gains, saying the companies “ought to give some of that back to the public”.

Pony Island 2 Panda Circus: gallop out of hell in this phantasmagorical follow-up to 2016’s indie hit

Daniel Mullins explains how he plans to follow up his quirky classic without losing what made it stand out in the first place

Glitchy aesthetics. Literally collapsing menu boxes. The game taunting you by “possessing” your Steam friends. Technical tricks of this nature may sound gimmicky in 2026, but they felt excitingly unorthodox a decade ago, when Pony Island came out to critical acclaim.

Fans of Daniel Mullins, the celebrated indie developer of Inscryption, will be forgiven for forgetting that Pony Island 2: Panda Circus is in active development. After all, it’s been almost three years since the announcement – and a full decade since it was first teased as an Easter egg in Pony Island’s ARG (Alternate Reality Game) – with only a single trailer and a bunch of tunes from the soundtrack released to the public.

Could England and Wales ever run out of water?

Last month in England was the driest July since records began almost two centuries ago. How concerned should we be?

Half of England and all of Wales are officially in drought. But what does this mean and could taps eventually run dry?

• The headline of this article was amended on 7 August 2026 to refer to England and Wales, rather than the UK. Also, the average usage of 139 litres of water a day is for people in England and Wales, not in the UK as stated in an earlier version; and the 47bn kilolitres of water extracted from the environment in 2023 was in England only.

Who or what is 'taking a step back from visibility'? The quiz knows

Plus, if you know what "TMZ" stands for, you'll get at least on question right this week!

When tragedy strikes, America's wildland firefighters ask, was it 'somebody that we loved?'

Deaths and close calls while fighting wildfires have strained an already on-edge workforce. They've also raised questions about policies and priorities amid an intense wildfire season.

Buried for not being Brueghel: overlooked masterpiece by still-life pioneer discovered in storage area

The curator of Norway’s national museum in Oslo is bringing the work by the Flemish baroque artist Clara Peeters out of obscurity in a major exhibition of female artists

Anonymous was often a woman: so said Virginia Woolf. And so thought Cynthia Osiecki one day in 2022, when she chanced on an unattributed still life in the storage area of the National Museum of Norway in Oslo.

Osiecki had been studying the work of a renowned 17th-century Flemish artist, Clara Peeters, one of the earliest practitioners of still life painting. Works by Peeters hang in the Prado in Madrid, the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford and the Metropolitan Museum in New York.

Morning news brief

Trump issues new orders to limit birthright citizenship, Iran shares details of an agreement with Oman to reopen Strait of Hormuz, Trump under pressure to find a breakthrough with Iran.

Tell us your favourite true crime TV

We would like to hear your favourite true crime TV documentary and why

From OJ: Made in America to Tiger King, the Guardian has compiled TV’s best true crime shows. Now, we would like to hear yours. What is your favourite true crime TV documentary and why?

If you’re having trouble using the form click here. Read terms of service here and privacy policy here.

I stand to defend vertical drinking. Is a pub that doesn’t allow it a real pub at all? | Simon Jenkins

The time-honoured tradition of standing up with a drink, gossiping and putting the world to rights is under threat. If councillors ban it, we’ll all lose out

It is unbelievable: unconscionable. Westminster Council is moving against “vertical drinking” in pubs, starting with Soho. It claims drinking standing up is noisy and disruptive. It makes pubs, the council says, boisterous places where customers crowd round bars, get drunk and become pains in the neck in the street outside.

Westminster’s new draft licences would require pubs to be only for seating, to have “table service in place of open bar space”. Pub users should, presumably, sit down, shut up and wait to be served, like decent Westminster people who use wine bars.

Simon Jenkins is a Guardian columnist

Flo: Therapy at the Club review – skirting the dancefloor and overly sweating the small stuff

(EMI)
The British R&B girl group’s follow up to 2024’s Access All Areas is lyrically spicy and musically diverse but lacks the hedonism the title suggests

When Flo burst out in 2022, the trio were hailed as the second coming of the R&B girl group, and even paid homage to their harmonising forebears Destiny’s Child, Sugababes and SWV in the intro to debut album Access All Areas. They didn’t quite hit as expected – only one single scraped the Top 40 – but they sound undeterred on a vibey second album that adds lyrical spice and musical left turns.

Therapy at the Club follows the flow of a night out, but one rooted in the slight mania of romantic disappointment rather than euphoric release. Pose is a pared-back interpolation of Pump Up the Jam, skittering hi-hat hits echoing the clicks of confidence-boosting burst-mode selfies. On Remedied, Flo are distracted by the admin of getting a cab as big-band horns blast behind an anxious beat; with its 3/4 time signature, piano and dreamy melismatic vocals, the title track sounds more like sashaying through the park than the soundtrack to copping off with strangers.

Tory plan to ban foreign nationals from social housing condemned as ‘divisive’

Housing charity says move would drive up homelessness, while Labour dismisses proposal as ‘unserious’

Plans to ban foreign nationals from social housing under a Conservative government have been condemned as “divisive”.

Under proposals revealed on Friday, the party said about 230,000 homes would become available if foreign nationals were prevented from accessing social housing.

Arun Sood and Angeline Morrison: Donn/Dubh review – British folk giants startlingly transform sacred histories

(Real World)
Leaning on their Hebridean heritage, the duo meld 10th-century Celtic cantos with distortion, dream-pop and post-rock, with shades of Twin Peaks and Boards of Canada

Two of Britain’s most exciting folk musicians, both of Hebridean heritage, are behind Donn/Dubh (Black/Brown), an album inspired by Saltair na Rann, a 10th-century Celtic collection of cantos in which sacred history is foretold, and winds are given colours. Angeline Morrison and Arun Sood expand its spectrum of northerly and westerly shades, soldering together traditional Gaelic texts and tunes with distortion, drone, dream-pop and post-rock.

The pair have the chops for such a project. Morrison, co-founder of the Black British Folk Collective, has brilliantly brought forgotten Black histories into the folk canon for years, including on 2022’s The Sorrow Songs. That same year, Sood’s Searching Erskine used sonic collage and old recordings to conjure the lives of residents on his grandmother’s abandoned home island of Vallay. Their talents converge around Alastair Smith’s startling production: Morrison’s deep voice, ghostly one moment, lullaby-warm the next, inhabiting soundworlds recalling the shuddering shadows of late-90s Boards of Canada and Unkle.

Alley Cats review – the genital jokes in Ricky Gervais’s sweary cartoon are just exhausting

There are glimmers of potential in this comedy about a potty-mouthed feline gang. But not even the great voice cast or a cute kitten can save it from being lazy, crude and boring

I suppose the question is really: what do you do after redefining comedy for your era? After The Office, that exquisitely observed, agonising, heartbreaking, hilarious examination of the human condition co-created with Stephen Merchant, Ricky Gervais managed Extras – off-peak but still great – and then continued a downward trajectory that his latest offering, Alley Cats, does nothing to arrest.

You can see what the six-episode animated series about a gang of homeless cats wants to be. It wants to be an exquisitely observed, agonising, heartbreaking, hilarious examination of the human condition. But it can’t be bothered. Easier by far, especially as it’s on Netflix and unshackled from mainstream broadcasters’ rules about swearing, to call everyone a C-word and sigh at the inevitability/sweet release of death every five minutes. Nihilism – gotcha! So dark, man, so edgy!

Alley Cats is on Netflix

The Last House review – post-Covid apocalyptic lockdown thriller is a solid night in

Oscar nominee Wagner Moura and Greta Lee lead Netflix’s sci-fi tale of a family trapped in their house as something sinister arrives

Most of us aren’t truly ready for films that directly cover the recent horrors of Covid and, well, why would we be? There was a need back in 2021 for something strict and journalistic like Matthew Heineman’s excellent documentary The First Wave and there have been other variously illuminating docs since, but it’s been tough for narrative storytellers to address and confront – and even tougher for audiences to engage. It’s partly why Ari Aster’s intermittently excellent 2020-set satire Eddington fizzled at the box office, released five years after the pandemic began but still five years too soon.

The most effective ways in have usually been through the back door. Mike Leigh’s 2024 drama Hard Truths might have only mentioned the pandemic once and included just one mask but its portrait of a psychologically fractured, permanently on-edge woman, terrified of what lies outside her chillingly sterile house, was very much about the difficult after-effects of the disease. Next week sees the release of The End of Oak Street, an 80s-set fantasy adventure about a family trying to survive a prehistoric invasion from the safety of their own home and this week, sneaked out by Netflix just days before is The Last House, another high-concept genre tale that sees homes across the world locked off from the outside as something terrifying attacks.

Colombia on the brink: ELN guerrilla group prepares for return to war

As Abelardo de la Espriella takes office as president vowing a new military offensive, the country’s last leftwing rebels are getting ready to fight back

As the boat approached the riverbank, camouflaged figures watched from the tree line.

Behind them, in the dim understory of the jungle, a commander of the National Liberation Army (ELN) sat with his rifle on his lap, amid the buzz and whine of insects and the thwacks of machetes on bamboo as his troops set up camp, hidden from enemy drones.

Afcon’s biennial switch cost African governing body deal worth more than $1bn

• Change to four-year cycle led to abandonment of 2025 bid

• Caf has not had long-term financial deal since 2019

A deal worth at least $1bn in secured income over eight years was abandoned by the Confederation of African Football (Caf) because the governing body decided to switch the Africa Cup of Nations from a biennial to a four-yearly event, the Guardian can reveal.

On 5 July 2025, the eve of the delayed Women’s Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco, the Caf president, Patrice Motsepe, told the Guardian in Rabat, after a prolonged discussion of the bidding process at an executive committee meeting, that a decision on a winning bid would be made “in due course”.

Why are ultra-processed food firms panicking and suing? Because they know time is running out | Felicity Lawrence

As the harm caused by their products becomes more evident, manufacturers are resorting to denial and lawsuits to keep regulation at bay

It is rare for people to drop dead holding the incriminating packaging, but there is no longer any serious doubt that consuming a diet of ultra-processed foods (UPFs) risks a catalogue of life-shortening illnesses from heart disease and stroke to diabetes and cancer. Because these diseases are degenerative over time, the food and drink industry has been able to argue for decades that its UPFs are fine in moderation. It would have us believe that there is no such thing as a “junk” individual food, only poor diets overall, and that its products therefore should not be subject to any restrictions.

Just as with climate breakdown and smoking, the science on harm caused by foods high in fat, salt and sugar is now settled, but the industry continues to deny and distract to delay action. Two weeks ago, a new report highlighted the lengths to which big food has gone to stop governments implementing policies that would tackle the global crisis of diet-related disease.

Felicity Lawrence is a former Guardian special correspondent, and is author of Not on the Label: What Really Goes Into the Food on Your Plate

Welcome to Australia, the world’s casino. A nation state captured by global betting companies | First Dog on the Moon

This really is the place to be a rapacious amoral gambling company!

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‘Waste colonialism’ – the Turkish city carrying the weight of Britain’s pollution problem

In this week’s newsletter: a Guardian investigation reveals that the UK exported 139,000 tonnes of rubbish to poor districts in Adana, where farmers are left to cope with microplastics, toxic smoke, and debris

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A year ago this month, when global talks to end our spiralling plastic crisis collapsed, Emma Hardy, Britain’s then marine minister and the UK’s head of delegation, said she was “hugely disappointed”. The UK is committed to working, at home and abroad, to “protect the environment and pave the way to a circular economy”, she pledged.

But Britain, one of the world’s largest exporters of plastic waste, remains part of a global trade that enables us to send mountains of plastic rubbish to other, mostly poorer countries, fuelling pollution, health impacts and waste crime.

‘Danger no longer only comes from the hitmen, but from the state’: the Honduran farmers labelled terrorists for protecting their land

El Niño could push 50 million people into acute hunger before end of next year

‘We stared into an abyss’: the men and women battling France’s megafire

Homes for sale in former pubs in England – in pictures

From a house in the country once used as a drovers’ inn to a high street landmark in a bustling part of London

Sage advice: what to wear with green trousers

From olive to lime to mint, green trousers are a nice summer alternative to darker colours. Style them like jeans and they’ll work easily with pieces you already own

What Happened to Liberal Democracy? by Daron Acemoglu review – how to fix the system

The Nobel-winning economist takes aim at elites for no longer meeting the needs of the masses

In 2009, the tech billionaire Peter Thiel published an essay with the portentous title The Education of a Libertarian, in which he announced: “I no longer believe that freedom and democracy are compatible.” Since the 1920s, he wrote, “the vast increase in welfare beneficiaries and the extension of the franchise to women” had rendered the notion of “capitalist democracy” an oxymoron. To be fair, Thiel still seems happy to exercise his freedom to extract money from democracies, via his co-founding of Palantir, which was lately given lots of money by the NHS.

Thiel calls himself, as many such do, a “classical liberal”, but Daron Acemoglu argues that his ilk still has much in common with left-liberals. All of them, he writes, agree on “the desirability of basic individual rights and freedoms (including the right not to be coerced and the freedoms of expression, religion, association, and choice); constraints on power, especially political power; and broad protections for equality before the law”. On his telling, by the mid-20th century democracy with liberal characteristics had amply proved its worth: blue-collar labour was generously rewarded, and there was a sense of “shared prosperity”.

Iran, Oman deal on Strait of Hormuz getting close, Tehran says

Iran and Oman are close to agreeing on new arrangements for the Strait of Hormuz, but not for a full reopening of the vital waterway, Iran's state news agency says.

Week in wildlife: a tiger release, an Exmoor eagle and Pallas’s kittens

This week’s best wildlife photographs from around the world

As a Tory, I say things are looking up. Farage is fading, and the looming threat to No 10 is called Kemi | Simon Hart

My party has seen difficult times – but with a few canny moves the leader is finally cutting through, and there are clear signs of recovery

Something is afoot. The bookies can feel it. “Badenoch overtakes Farage as favourite to be next prime minister,” was the word from betting website William Hill this week.

Let me tell you what is happening. This is a challenging political time. Even today, there is controversy for Kemi Badenoch to deal with. But as a Conservative it seems to me that in the past few tumultuous weeks, she has shown many of the qualities necessary in a party leader: to appear easy-going and humorous; to craft a style that teases her opponents rather than being snide or unkind; and to do this all confidently enough to leave sceptics thinking that she really could be the next prime minister.

Simon Hart was Conservative government chief whip from 2022 to 2024, and is the author of Ungovernable, the political diaries of a chief whip

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.

Why Britain is breathing the world’s wildfire smoke

Scientists say global blazes account for 10% of UK’s particle pollution – and climate crisis could make the problem worse

Smoke rising above wildlife habitats, thousands of people evacuated and homes and livelihoods reduced to ashes – this is fast becoming the defining image of Britain and European summers.

Dr Mark Parrington, a senior scientist at the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service, said: “Recent wildfires in south-western Europe produced large quantities of smoke, which caused significant degradation air quality across southern France and central regions of Spain.

‘These cooks ripped each other apart’: Dominic Sessa on playing Anthony Bourdain, kitchen bullies and the joys of being a 70s barfly

After his breakthrough in The Holdovers in 2023, Sessa has gone back to the 70s again for Tony, the biopic of bad-boy chef and Kitchen Confidential author Bourdain. And, he says, a big part of him would like to stay there

Despite being just 23, Dominic Sessa is perhaps as intimately acquainted with the 1970s as those who grew up then. Although the New Jersey-born actor has only starred in five films, two of them are marinated in the fashions, sounds and mores of the decade. In his new movie, Tony, he plays the 19-year-old Anthony Bourdain, future bad-boy celebrity chef, bestselling author of Kitchen Confidential and host of its hit TV spin-off. Tony restricts itself to one summer in 1975, when Bourdain bummed around the coastal resort of Provincetown, Massachusetts, falling in love, scrubbing pans in a seafood joint and catching the cooking bug. “For a rootless young man with sensualist inclinations,” he wrote, “it was the perfect getaway.”

A 70s retro vibe also hung over Sessa’s debut film. In Alexander Payne’s Oscar-winning 2023 comedy-drama The Holdovers, he played Angus Tully, a surly student forced to board at school over Christmas with only his classics teacher and the cook for company. That picture wasn’t merely set in 1970; it seemed, with its faded palette and fake crackles on the print, to have been made then.

Le Corbusier’s social housing was meant to be the dream. In a summer of extreme heat, it is a nightmare | Anna Richards

When temperatures get to 40C inside, and French building regulations won’t even allow shutters, these tenants’ listed homes are simply unlivable

The population of Firminy, south-east France, has been dwindling for decades. Its recent history is one of factory closures in a region built by steel, and locals tell me that many people leave for better opportunities in neighbouring Saint-Étienne, or to live in the Haute-Loire’s countryside.

On the top of a hill, however, stands Firminy’s pride: l’Unité d’Habitation, an imposing tower of concrete designed by Le Corbusier. The architect’s final project is an oddity – a building for people, where two-thirds of the apartments are dedicated to habitations à loyer modéré (or HLM – social housing); but also a piece of history, whose facade and roof were listed as monuments historiques in 1993.

Experience: I dress up as rubbish

On my TikTok I find trash that’s blowing in the wind, and mimic its movements using what I have to hand

I’ve always been interested in the concept of value and what is thought of as rubbish. When people throw things away, a perfectly good table, say, I think, “That’s still usable.” I’m a dancer and choreographer and hoard clothing – costumes from shows or pieces my mum has lent me. Sometimes, I’ll collect random things offered on Facebook.

During the pandemic I was unable to perform but became hyper-aware of everyday movements around me. On daily walks in Los Angeles, where I live, I’d notice pieces of litter being blown about. I felt as if it was trying to get someone’s attention, but nobody was looking. I thought: “What if I start mimicking it? What if I used the trash as my choreographer?”

Trump-endorsed Rep. Andy Ogles projected to lose GOP primary in Tennessee

Two-term Rep. Andy Ogles lost the Republican primary for his Tennessee House seat, the Associated Press projects, despite securing an endorsement from President Trump.

New Mexico court orders Meta to pay $567m over harms to children’s mental health

Ruling comes as part of second phase of landmark trial that found social media company enabled harm against users

A New Mexico court has ordered Meta, the parent company of Facebook, to pay $567m into a fund aimed at redressing adverse mental health impacts from the social media giant’s platforms.

The Thursday ruling comes as a part of the second phase of a landmark trial the social media giant lost in March. At the time, a jury found that the company knowingly harmed children’s mental health and concealed what it knew about child sexual exploitation on its platforms, and imposed the maximum penalty: a $375m fine.

Iran's chief negotiator accuses Trump of 'theater diplomacy' with Hormuz traffic near standstill

The conflict is broadening across the region, with Gulf energy infrastructure and key shipping chokepoints under renewed threat.

FAA orders inspections of 737 Max jets after cracks found in older planes

The Federal Aviation Administration has ordered inspections of hundreds of Boeing 737 Max jets after cracks were found in parts of some older model Boeing planes.

Meta ordered to pay $567 million into abatement fund as remedy to child harms case in New Mexico

A judge in New Mexico ordered Meta to pay $567 million into an abatement fund after a jury ruled the company violated the state’s unfair practices act.

After decades of decline, New Zealand’s wool industry is making a comeback

Forty years ago there were more than 22 sheep to every New Zealander, but wool prices and production declined with the uptake of synthetic alternatives

John Hargreaves’ family has farmed sheep and beef in Kaiwaka, north of Auckland, for generations. In the 1960s they had 3,000 ewes but in the decades since, as the value of wool declined and shearing costs grew, his flock slowly decreased to just over 1,700.

But now, for the first time in roughly six years, his wool is making money.

Court orders Meta and Instagram to pay $567M to address kids' mental health

A New Mexico court has ordered Instagram and Facebook parent company Meta to pay $567 million to address harms to young people from its platforms.

Trump signs new orders targeting birthright citizenship

Orders come after supreme court rejected president’s first bid to restrict guarantee enshrined in US constitution

Donald Trump has made a second attempt to restrict the constitutional guarantee of birthright citizenship, just weeks after the US supreme court rejected his initial, more sweeping bid to deny automatic citizenship to the children born to undocumented immigrants and temporary foreign residents.

Trump on Thursday signed two executive orders that seek to broaden the categories of children ineligible for automatic US citizenship and ban so-called “birth tourism”. The directives are expected to face legal challenges.

Typhoon Dim-sum: how Hong Kong put a tasty snack on the storm map

A new name has been added to the list of future tropical cyclones for the Asia-Pacific region, including one with a culinary twist

A “Typhoon Dim-sum” could one day be on the horizon after the name was added to the Asia-Pacific region’s official list of tropical cyclone names this week.

It features among nine names to be added to the list of future tropical cyclones, with each name contributed by a country. The names of tropical storms are generally recycled, replacing those which have caused serious casualties and economic loss.

Senate committee votes to hold Fauci in contempt of Congress

The Senate Homeland Security Committee voted to hold Dr. Anthony Fauci in contempt of Congress over his refusal to answer questions during testimony before the committee last week.

Trump issues new executive orders aimed at birthright citizenship

The Supreme Court in June struck down President Trump's earlier executive order aimed at ending birthright citizenship.

Privacy groups raise red flags over police misuse of Flock cameras

Privacy groups are expressing concerns over Flock cameras, the devices that capture license plates and are often used in criminal investigations. They argue that police may be using them for improper reasons. Mark Strassman reports.

Now, Autonomy by Max Easton review – a sardonic yet compassionate take on millennial apathy

The author’s third novel to chronicle life in Sydney’s west follows a group of flawed friends trying to sustain meaning amid an ‘erosion in the world’

If any part of Australia can lay claim to being the country’s literary nexus, it is western Sydney. The wide wing of suburbia is both home to and the subject of granular attention for an ever-growing list of acclaimed writers: Yumna Kassab, Peter Polites, Luke Carman, Michael Mohammed Ahmad, Felicity Castagna – to name just a few. Each of them reflects a culturally diverse landscape in which social class and suburban identity are forever intersecting, animating the lives of those often neglected in the margins of Australia’s projected self-image.

A key figure in this discourse is Max Easton, whose latest novel – Now, Autonomy – is the third instalment of his multi-decade series that chronicles working-class struggle and its subcultural undercurrents in Sydney’s west. Beginning with the Miles Franklin-longlisted The Magpie Wing in 2021, and followed by Paradise Estate in 2023, this ambitious, compelling quasi-trilogy – each title can be read and appreciated on its own – depicts people navigating Australia’s class hierarchies, hyper-gentrification, rental housing pressures and ever-diminishing spaces for community and collective activism.

Spokane arson suspect had planned devastating wildfire for weeks, police say

Police said a man charged with starting a wildfire confessed to the crime, describing how he planned it for weeks and created a device to ignite a blaze that destroyed hundreds of buildings.

8/6: CBS Evening News

Boeing planes to be inspected for cracks; Trump signs new birthright citizenship orders.

Stevens says of El-Sayed: "Differences were aired out"

Though Rep. Haley Stevens stressed a unified front moving forward, she was evasive on whether she would appear with El-Sayed on the campaign trail.

GAO finds Elon Musk's DOGE inflated claims of $110 billion in savings for federal government

The nonpartisan watchdog found Elon Musk's DOGE didn't cut as much federal spending as it claimed and that it fell far short of its promised $2 trillion.

Airbnb stock soars 9% on earnings and revenue beat, strong guidance for third quarter

Airbnb said it's seeing strong demand "across all regions," contributing to the company's better-than-expected forecast.

Flesh-eating bacteria have killed 5 in Louisiana this year, officials say

A flesh-eating bacterium found in warm coastal waters is responsible for at least five deaths so far this year in Louisiana, state health officials reported Thursday.

Judge finds probable cause that Mike Lindell's pillow handouts violated campaign law

A case against Minnesota Republican gubernatorial candidate Mike Lindell will continue after a judge decided Thursday there is probable cause to believe he violated campaign laws by giving away pillows promoting his candidacy at a July Fourth parade.

America's water systems are getting hacked amid security gaps, experts say

The nation's 152,000 public water systems often lack defenses against malicious actors, cybersecurity experts said. Here's what to know.

AMD buys chip startup that hardwires AI models into its silicon

Taalas' current chip runs a small version of Meta's Llama 3.1, though the company is working on chips for bigger and more advanced models.

Sweetgreen cuts full-year outlook as cyclospora fears weigh on sales

The salad chain has not been implicated in the ongoing cyclospora outbreak.