‘Cockroach’ protests: India’s Modi promises to punish corrupt officials in bid to quell anger

Prime minister says ‘those who try to harm the future of our youth will not be spared’ as exam leaks scandal spirals into widespread anger with his government

Narendra Modi has said he will set up “fast track courts” to expedite the punishment of corrupt officials who leaked examination papers,as India’s prime minister seeks to quell the youth-led “cockroach” protest movement that has rocked Delhi and challenged his government.

In his first public remarks on the movement, Modi said on X “Nothing is more important than the welfare and future of our youth … Those who try to harm the future of our youth will not be spared.”

Business rates to be cut by 20% for England pubs, clubs and music venues

No 10 announces reprieve after Andy Burnham previously pledged to raise tax from e-commerce warehouses and channel it to cutting hospitality sector’s bills

Business rates will be cut by 20% for pubs, clubs and live music venues across England from April next year, Downing Street has announced.

The discount will apply to nearly 32,000 hospitality businesses and is expected to save a typical pub about £1,100 annually, but will not be available to the very largest live music venues.

OpenAI blamed a hacking event on its AI models gone rogue. Here is what to know

The incident is stirring debates over the need for stronger AI guardrails and the extent to which AI agents are capable of acting on their own.

‘Overdue reunion’: aviation hero’s long lost granddaughter uncovers secret past

Judy Bain, 81, spent most of her life unaware she was a direct descendant of the daring pilot Arthur Whitten Brown

In the spring of 1944, Elsie Barber, a member of the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force, had a fling with a Royal Air Force pilot named Arthur Brown, known as Buster. The liaison at the RAF base near High Ercall in Shropshire was clandestine. She was 24 and single, he was a recently married 21-year-old.

Buster died months later, on D-day, when his Mosquito fighter plane crashed in the Netherlands, leaving Elsie with a lonely dilemma. She was pregnant, and after giving birth to a daughter, made the decision to give her up for adoption.

Besieged by lobbyists, will UK ministers protect our ecosystems? No, they’ll chicken out | George Monbiot

Industrial poultry farming is killing our rivers. But rather than stop it, the government has been facilitating it. Will Andy Burnham end this ecocide?

There’s a slightly mean question I often ask British people with an interest in the living world: can you name the environment secretary? I don’t intend to show them up: it’s not them I’m testing. I watch the brows knit, a finger go up, the mouth open and close. “It’s, you know, the one who … no, they went, didn’t they? That other one …” It’s been like this for seven years.

Why? Because throughout this period, we’ve not had environment secretaries. We’ve had portals through which corporate lobbyists may pass. The last incumbent to represent the wider public interest (and I can scarcely bring myself to type these words) was Michael Gove. In his other roles, he’s widely remembered with loathing and disgust. Out of office, he continues to poison public life, as editor of the Spectator. But in this role, to general astonishment, he placed the public good above special interests.

George Monbiot is a Guardian columnist

Rachel Roddy’s ratatouille and potato gratin recipe

The classic Provencal stew, but with potato for ballast and topped with a cheesy herb crumb

We swapped the heatwave and melting pavements in Rome for a similar situation in London, which meant catching a train to Dorset felt something of a relief. Not that it wasn’t hot there too, but it was offset by the sea, a garden and a dark, cool house. The weather also meant that the always good July produce was superb and abundant: all the berries, cherries, peas, runner and french beans; but also potatoes, aubergines, courgettes, tomatoes and herbs – all of which go into this week’s recipe.

My template for ratatouille is a mix of Jane Grigson’s recipe in her Vegetable Book and Robert Carrier’s version in Great Dishes of the World, plus the advice from a French friend to cook the aubergine separately, either by deep-frying (by far the tastiest option), baking, or air frying. The benefit of this step is not just flavour; it ensures the aubergine holds its shape better, meaning distinct chunks in the final stew.

Total solar eclipse books out hotels two years in advance in New Zealand city

Dunedin will be the focal point, having last experienced such an eclipse in 1163 – before any humans reached New Zealand

Hotels are booking out two years in advance in the New Zealand city of Dunedin as it prepares for the region’s first total solar eclipse in more than 850 years.

At 4.17pm on 22 July 2028, the moon will pass in front of the sun, casting a roughly 100km-wide shadowy band across parts of southern New Zealand. Everywhere within that band – from tourist hotspot Queenstown in the west to Dunedin city in the east – will be plunged into daytime darkness for 2 minutes and 51 seconds.

What happened to Ryan Gosling’s ‘La La Hand’ on the La La Land poster?

After 10 years and much complaining from Gosling, ‘a minor adjustment’ has been made to the La La Land poster – but has film history been erased at the same time?

Emma, I have read a Vulture headline that says “Put Ryan Gosling’s Gay Little Wrist Back” but I forgot my password and I need answers.

Some La La Land fans are outraged at a new poster released to mark the 1oth anniversary of the film by Lionsgate, which has “corrected” Gosling’s bent wrist in his celebrated dance pose with Emma Stone.

Country diary: The eyebright paradox: a sunny healer and tiny parasitic thief | Paul Evans

The Marches, Shropshire: Eyebrights are ancient herbs used to cure eye problems, but they also penetrate grass roots to siphon off water and nutrients

A sight for sore eyes. Eyebrights flower in the short turf of Old Racecourse Common as sunlight burns a hole through rowan trees to cast sunset colours on the grass. The eyebrights are annuals with tiny flowers, 4mm-11mm long with a violet vibe, a white corolla with purple marks and a central flash of yellow.

There are about 20 British eyebright species, some of which are endemic. Their genetic complexity makes them an arcane group of plants and a taxonomic puzzle to all but their most dedicated acolytes. “Life’s too short to key out [make a precise identification of] eyebrights,” one botanist told me.

Houthis claim strikes on two Saudi tankers as US attacks on Iran widen

Attacks by Iranian-aligned Houthis in Red Sea follow Trump threats to destroy more Iranian infrastructure

Yemen’s ⁠Houthi militia attacked two ​Saudi Arabian oil tankers, the Iranian-aligned group said on Thursday, with a Saudi news agency later confirming one of the vessels was ablaze in the Red Sea.

The threat of new front opening up in the US-Iran war came as the US military launched its 12th successive night of strikes, which have now widened to western and central Iran.

Tropical Storm Bertha makes landfall on Gulf Coast. See its path.

Tropical Storm Bertha is the second named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season.

‘People are looking at Scotland for good fun’: Glasgow prepares for Commonwealth Games

Glasgow stepped in at the last minute to host the games, after Victoria in Australia pulled out

“A lot of people aren’t fully aware it’s happening,” says one man working on a stall selling Commonwealth Games merchandise in Glasgow city centre on Wednesday, a day before the competition begins.

“It’s been slow – the first two days we didn’t really sell anything but it’s picking up now.”

Nobody in Europe knows or cares what Kemi Badenoch thinks. That’s a big mistake | Simon Nixon

The opposition leader wants to pull the UK out of the ECHR, wrecking treaties from the Good Friday agreement to the Gibraltar deal

Sitting in Brussels, or one of the EU’s 27 chancelleries, one could be forgiven for tuning out the latest psychodramas in Britain’s Conservative party. After all, the country has a new Labour prime minister who is a pro-European keen to build upon the “reset” begun by Keir Starmer. Who cares what a party in opposition thinks about anything when it is still reeling from its landslide 2024 defeat, and languishing third in the opinion polls as it haemorrhages support from its right flank? It is easy to dismiss Kemi Badenoch and her party as a sideshow.

That would be a mistake. Following her latest pronouncements, Badenoch has effectively committed the Conservatives to a policy of conflict, and possibly even rupture, with the EU. She recently suggested in a newspaper article that anyone who opposes her policy of withdrawing from the European convention on human rights (ECHR) or ditching net zero commitments would be considered “not serious”, and thus excluded from consideration as a Conservative candidate at the next election. She then withdrew the party whip (a UK parliamentary euphemism for “kicked out”) from Gavin Barwell, a member of the House of Lords who criticised Badenoch’s stance. Such a choice revives memories of Boris Johnson’s purge of pro-Europeans from the party.

Simon Nixon is a journalist and economics commentator

Climate crisis-driven heat ‘sucking soils dry’ as extreme drought hits Europe

Analysis shows how heatwaves are making atmosphere thirstier, damaging water supplies, food production and power generation

Extreme heat supercharged by the climate crisis is sucking Europe dry in summer and intensifying the drought hitting the continent, a scientific analysis has found.

Record-breaking heatwaves meant the hot atmosphere strongly evaporated water from rivers, lakes, soils and plants – conditions made 80 times more likely by global heating in western Europe and 40 times more likely in eastern Europe, the study showed. The level of soil dryness in the west was made five times more likely by the pollution from fossil fuels in the west, and 11 times more likely in the east.

Orcas seen ramming prey so hard it explodes may be playing game

Scientists believe sunfish-smashing behaviour could be form of entertainment or to help younger whales feed

Orcas have been observed ramming into giant fish so hard that the prey explode, possibly as a form of gory entertainment.

On several occasions, orcas were observed to hold sunfish in their jaws while a second whale smashed into the target at high speed, causing it to break into thousands of pieces. Since the fish had already been killed, scientists suggested the behaviour may represent a form of play.

‘We didn’t care what the client wanted!’: Sheffield’s Designers Republic on their art for Aphex Twin, Pulp … and Pringles

Their eye-popping designs burst out of Sheffield in 1986, making them the toast of the music scene. Founder Ian Anderson reveals why some fans think his art is worth remortgaging the house for

Forty years ago in Sheffield, Ian Anderson founded one of the most influential UK design companies by mistake. “The name the Designers Republic was a joke, because we weren’t designers,” he recalls. “Early on, everything we did was in black and white because we didn’t know how to make it colour.”

With co-founder Nick Phillips, The Designers Republic (TDR) quickly became synonymous with music, designing record covers, packaging, logos and campaigns for everyone from Aphex Twin to Autechre, Pulp to Nine Inch Nails. They worked on groundbreaking video games, such as Wipeout and Grand Theft Auto, collaborated with brand behemoths like Coca-Cola and Adidas, and their work is held in the MoMA and the V&A. There exist such obsessive collectors of their work that Anderson cites one person who remortaged his house twice to keep up with their output.

House committee urges DOJ to charge former Trump prosecutor Jack Smith

The GOP chair of the House Judiciary Committee encouraged the DOJ to look into criminally charging Jack Smith, alleging the former special counsel who brought charges against President Trump lied to Congress.

Man shot and killed by police in Madison, Wisconsin, sparking protests

Madison's chief of police says an officer in Wisconsin's capital city shot and killed a man who had injured him with a knife while resisting arrest.

Amish Shah projected to win Arizona's 1st District Democratic primary

Democrat Amish Shah will be up against Republican Jay Feely in Arizona's 1st Congressional District in November.

What is the US-Saudi Arabia nuclear deal and why is it causing concern?

The US will help Saudi Arabia establish a civilian nuclear program, but critics have said it could lead to domestic enrichment and set off a regional arms race

• Middle East crisis – live updates

The US and Saudi Arabia have agreed a landmark deal that would use American technology and expertise to establish a civilian nuclear program in the Gulf country, a move that has caused alarm across the Middle East and through the corridors of power in Washington.

Much of the deal remains unclear, but concerns centre on whether Saudi Arabia would have the capability to enrich uranium domestically, and what that means for nuclear proliferation.

Alphabet and Tesla test Wall Street's patience as AI spending overshadows growth

Shares of Alphabet and Tesla dipped after the companies reported massive spending increases in their quarterly earnings reports.

‘A statement of freedom’: T-shirt slogan goes viral and book sales rocket in Taiwan after Hong Kong raids

Taiwanese people look on with concern at fate of Hong Kong’s independent booksellers, after series of arrests in recent months

Walking out of one of Hong Kong’s last remaining independent bookstores, hands behind her back but head held high, the woman’s T-shirt was emblazoned with a simple slogan: “I am a bookstore employee”.

Escorted by police, the woman was among five people arrested during raids on two bookstores last week, suspected of displaying and selling publications with “seditious” content, a national security crime which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years.

National Guard deployed after West Virginia flash floods dump 7 inches of rain

Torrential rains in West Virginia have caused flash flooding that inundated homes and businesses this week.

Mamdani says he won't try to arrest Israel's Netanyahu

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani conceded late Tuesday that the city does not have the authority to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

ICE detentions hit highest monthly total in June since crackdown began

More than 43,000 immigrants were arrested last month as DHS continues to detain people in less-publicized enforcement surges.

IBM lowers full-year forecast after earnings warning

IBM is now looking to improve productivity with artificial intelligence, including with a new coding tool called Bob.

Climate change to obliterate $1.5 trillion in U.S. home values

More than 5 million Americans will leave areas being impacted by climate change this year, according to study.

How the New Bedford Whaling Museum turned a bad Google review into free marketing

The New Bedford Whaling Museum was hit with a Google review calling it the "worst aquarium ever." Then it turned it into marketing gold. Tony Dokoupil has the story.

Pastor sues OpenAI alleging ChatGPT's medical advice nearly killed him

The case accuses OpenAI of practicing medicine without a license and failing to safeguard users seeking health advice.

Increasingly common bear encounters cause fear across U.S.

Bear encounters are rising across the U.S. as the animals enter human spaces looking for food, often getting caught on tape. Mark Strassmann has the story.

US signs landmark nuclear deal with Saudi Arabia that could pave the way for domestic nuclear enrichment

Trump administration hails agreement, which comes as the US fights a war with Iran in part to prevent Tehran enriching uranium domestically

• What is the US-Saudi Arabia nuclear deal and why is it causing concern?

The US has signed a landmark nuclear deal with Saudi Arabia that could allow the kingdom to enrich uranium in the future.

In a statement on Wednesday, the US Department of Energy said its secretary, Chris Wright, and his Saudi counterpart, Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman, signed a “peaceful nuclear cooperation agreement”, along with a “bilateral safeguards agreement”.

How do Lime’s ebikes make money? Share market debut sheds light on finances

The firm’s public listing in June gives an insight into a question analysts have been wondering for years: how does this business stack up?

In April, Lime brought its green ebikes and e-scooters to Canberra. Before it had even arrived, the US micro-mobility firm had invested nearly US$2m.

Lime’s experience in Australia’s sprawling capital is emblematic of a broader problem at the core of a business heavy on capital outlay.

Trump attends dignified transfer of soldiers killed in Iranian attacks

President Trump attended a dignified transfer honoring the four U.S. Army soldiers killed in the Middle East in recent days during the ongoing war with Iran.

Possible bloodstains were detected at D4vd’s home, law enforcement testify

Gory details about tarp, mats and inflatable pool come to light during hearing over death of Celeste Rivas Hernandez

At singer D4vd’s former Hollywood Hills home, law enforcement detected possible bloodstains – invisible to the naked eye – on items including a green tarp, black rubber mats and a crumpled inflatable pool that had the odor of fresh laundry.

The gory details came to light on Wednesday, the second day of a hearing to determine whether there was probable cause for the musician, whose full name is David Anthony Burke, to stand trial for the murder and sexual abuse of Celeste Rivas Hernandez.

Southwest Airlines' third-quarter forecast falls short as fuel bill climbs

Southwest Airlines reported a more than 9% increase in second-quarter profit as higher fares are increasingly helping the airline cover its fuel tab.

Pauline Hanson’s comments about domestic violence are more than vile. They are dangerous for women | Nicole Yade

A woman in Australia is killed by someone she trusted every 11 days and misinformation about family violence does real harm to victims

On Wednesday, senator Pauline Hanson claimed domestic and family violence is “a two-way street”, blamed the cost of living for perpetrators’ actions, and suggested women experiencing abuse should simply “not put up with it”.

These comments are not an aberration. They sit within a broader political project that has, for decades, attempted to build support on the basis of normalising prejudice, particularly against migrants, Muslim communities and communities of colour. That same platform can also risk lending credibility to dangerous myths about domestic and family violence.

Trainspotting the Musical review – forgettable songs make this a bad trip

Theatre Royal Haymarket, London
The chopped-up story means this ends up feeling like a weak impersonation of Danny Boyle’s classic film

“Choose life …” Those iconic words from that era-defining film are said more than once in this musical take on Irvine Welsh’s novel about Renton and his renegade gang of smackheads from Leith.

“Choose being in the moment,” says the disembodied voice that asks us to switch off our mobile phones before the show has begun (with, one imagines, a self-satisfied glint at the joke). “Choose life,” repeats Renton (Lewis Kidd), trying so hard, it seems, to capture the dangerous energy of that moment in the 1990s when Ewan McGregor, Jonny Lee Miller and co depicted heroin addiction as a protest against the grunting conventions of ordinary life.

Tesla’s profits slide despite growing revenue as it pivots to robotics and AI

Shares in Elon Musk company fall more 3% in after-hours trading, as earnings per share miss Wall Street expectations

Tesla reported its second-quarter earnings on Wednesday, disclosing far lower profits than expected. The company’s already beleaguered stock, which had fallen about 14% this year to date, dipped further following the earnings report.

Elon Musk’s automaker, once the pinnacle of his tech empire, has taken a back seat to SpaceX. Musk’s rocket and AI company held the largest stock market debut in history last month, turning the richest man on Earth into the world’s first trillionaire, though his net worth has since fallen from its peak.

Secret Service warns of high threat levels before White House Correspondents' Dinner

Secret Service officials warned nationwide threats have reached an unprecedented level since January, nearly 40% higher than during the same period last year.

Tesla misses on earnings, as free cash flow turns negative and margins slide

Tesla's earnings report lands in the midst of a slide in the company's stock price even as its core auto business is rebounding.

7/22: CBS Evening News

Florida police spray bullets at homicide suspect's vehicle following car chase; rocket launcher hoax shakes LaGuardia Airport.

House passes Pentagon funding bill and a blueprint to unlock new dollars for Iran war

Republicans passed more than $1 trillion for the Pentagon alongside a budget blueprint to fund the war with Iran and implement provisions of President Trump's election overhaul bill.

Council handpicked by Trump to gut review process of historic-preservation projects

The Advisory Council for Historic Preservation, whose members were mostly handpicked by President Trump, is poised to end mandatory state review and public comment on projects affecting historical properties.

Analysis: Iran war energy shock hits the U.S. economy as gas and diesel prices climb

A new asymmetry in the market means fuel prices won't fall quickly even if the shooting in the Iran war and Strait of Hormuz stops.

House GOP advances $95 billion plan to fund Iran war and SAVE America Act

House Republicans adopted a budget resolution that kickstarts the party-line reconciliation process. It now heads to the Senate, where it'll face an uphill battle.

In South Dakota, public media endures a year after federal funding was wiped out

We check in on one state public broadcasting network a year after President Trump signed a law ending federal funding of public media.

Trump administration signs commercial nuclear deal with Saudi Arabia

The agreement gives American companies priority access to nuclear reactors and fuel to Saudi Arabia. It's expected to last decades and be worth billions of dollars.

First beluga whales from Marineland arrive in Texas as rescue underway

Two beluga whales settled into their new home at SeaWorld San Antonio this week following an international relocation mission from shuttered Canadian theme park Marineland.

Senate panel advances China auto bill that could bar Mercedes-Benz from U.S.

Mercedes-Benz’s largest individual shareholder is Chinese state-owned BAIC. Cruz warned the bill could hurt Mercedes and accused GM of backing it.

Arsenal reveal William Saliba out for ‘extended period’ with back injury

• Centre-back forced off in World Cup semi-final

• Arsenal say problem does not require surgery

Arsenal, the Premier League champions, have been dealt a big injury blow after the centre-back William Saliba was ruled out for “an extended period” with a back injury.

Saliba played with a back problem during France’s run to the World Cup semi-final and, although he will not require an operation, the 25-year-old is set for a significant spell on the sidelines. He was forced off with the injury after just 30 minutes of France’s last-four defeat by Spain.

California toddler bitten by rattlesnake ‘hiding under’ Amazon package

Three-year-old girl landed in ICU after snake bit her while grabbing a package outside her family’s Santa Clarita home

A three-year-old girl landed in the intensive care unit earlier this month after a rattlesnake bit her while she was trying to grab an Amazon package.

Addy, the young girl, ran out with her mother on 13 July to pick up a package dropped over the gate to their home in Santa Clarita, north of Los Angeles.

7/22: The Takeout with Major Garrett

Trump and Iran trade threats to attack energy infrastructure; Trump administration officially announces nuclear agreement with Saudi Arabia.

House advances bill barring sitting Congress members from buying stocks

The House on Wednesday advanced a bill that would bar members of Congress from purchasing additional stocks while in office.

House passes bill to limit stock purchases by members of Congress

The Stop Insider Trading Act would prohibit members of Congress, their spouses and dependent children from purchasing publicly traded stocks.

OpenAI’s rogue agents are a wake-up call to risks posed by artificial intelligence | Shakeel Hashim

Hacking of Hugging Face shows we do not seem to have reliable ways to curb extremely powerful AI systems

Last week Hugging Face – a company that hosts artificial intelligence models and datasets – was hacked.

After it reported the incident to law enforcement, few would have predicted what came next: the culprits were revealed to be AI agents from OpenAI, which had broken out of containment and were acting of their own accord.

Shakeel Hashim is the editor of Transformer, a publication about the power and politics of transformative AI

What to know about Taylor Farms amid the cyclospora outbreak

The nation's largest recent cyclospora outbreak has put one of America's biggest produce suppliers under renewed scrutiny.

Taylor Farms pulls iceberg lettuce linked to cyclosporiasis outbreak

Taylor Farms said none of its branded salads or kits contain the iceberg lettuce associated with the outbreak.

U.S. Secret Service official: 'Threat environment is the highest we've ever seen'

The Secret Service has seen a 40% increase this year in cases involving threats to protectees, including President Donald Trump.

What Trump's generic drug tariffs could mean, according to experts

Health policy experts say higher import duties could increase costs and strain supplies while offering no guarantee manufacturers will shift production to the U.S.

African countries are facing rising rates of cancer. What's being done about it?

Cancer diagnoses are on the rise in sub-Saharan Africa and the Eastern Mediterranean regions, but care lags behind.

Dozens of beluga whales transferred to U.S. after Canadian theme park closure

Dozens of beluga whales are being transferred to aquariums across the U.S. following the closure of the Canadian theme park that hosted them. Jared Ochacher has the story.

Amazon cuts some jobs in its artificial general intelligence unit

Amazon's AGI unit has released a set of AI models, called Nova, and also includes groups working on silicon and quantum computing.

Senate committee advances Clayton's nomination for intelligence chief

The Senate Intelligence Committee advanced Jay Clayton's nomination for director of national intelligence, despite opposition from Democrats.

Liverpool primed for business: Bezos, Bhatia and the next steps at Anfield | Andy Hunter

Fenway Sports Group looks to be locked in talks with a consortium led by the son-in-law of Lakshmi Mittal, while the Amazon founder has now been linked

Tropical storm Bertha makes landfall in Louisiana with 45mph winds

In Kentucky and West Virginia, rescuers freed trapped residents as states face catastrophic floods and damage

Tropical storm Bertha made ‌landfall in ‌St Bernard parish, on the Gulf coast south-east of New Orleans, Louisiana, on Wednesday afternoon, the ⁠US national ⁠hurricane ⁠center said.

The Miami-based forecaster ‌added that maximum ​sustained winds were estimated ⁠to be ​45mph (75km/h) ‌with higher ​gusts.

House and Senate take different paths to avoid shutdown before midterms

Another deadline to fund the government is looming this fall in Congress, and lawmakers seem eager to avoid another costly impasse ahead of the midterms.

Rugby players seek new lawyers for brain injury cases against governing bodies

• Richard Boardman was criticised by the managing judge

• Players want ‘firm with resources and specialist expertise’

Hundreds of former rugby league and rugby union players taking legal action against the game’s governing bodies are now “staring into the precipice”, according to the barrister representing the claimants, Susan Rodway KC.

Richard Boardman, the solicitor who has been the organising force behind the litigation, has requested formally to come off the record after his handling of the case was criticised by the managing judge, Senior Master Cook. The case may now be taken over by Leigh Day, who has been working on it as consultants since February.

Trossard, Ramos, Dumfries: 10 transfers you may have missed during the World Cup

Too engrossed with the World Cup drama to keep up with goings-on in the transfer market? We’ve got you covered

Announced just before England’s soul-sucking semi-final defeat by Argentina, it would have been easy to miss Trossard’s £15.3m move to Istanbul. While, after three and a half seasons and at the age of 31, it feels like his time at Arsenal has come to a natural conclusion, he will be remembered as a player who scored in clutch moments and, ultimately, played a crucial role in the club’s first league title in 22 years. Trossard departs after 174 appearances and 36 goals, a significant portion of which came from the bench in times of desperate need. He will be missed and deserves to be revered as one of the cult heroes of the Mikel Arteta era. Will Magee

Zelenskyy under growing pressure to reinstate sacked defence minister

Campaigners in Ukraine pledge to continue nationwide protests until Mykhailo Fedorov gets his job back

Volodymyr Zelenskyy was under growing pressure to reinstate his sacked defence minister on Wednesday, after campaigners said they would continue indefinite nationwide protests until Mykhailo Fedorov got his job back.

On Tuesday, Zelenskyy bowed to public demands by firing Ukraine’s commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrskyi. He appointed Mykhailo Drapatyi as the new head of the country’s armed forces, as part of a radical reshuffle of the top military command.

What to know about Ukraine's military shakeup

After a week of nationwide protests over the direction of Ukraine's military strategy in the ongoing war with Russia, the Ukrainian military has a new commander, Mykhailo Drapatyi. Here's what to know.

‘He knows what he’s doing’: Burnham’s off-the-cuff remarks inspire headlines and headaches

New PM’s conversational tone is markedly different to his predecessor’s, but carries risk of sowing confusion

Before he became Britain’s prime minister, Andy Burnham promised to “do politics differently”. Just three days into his time in Downing Street, that approach is already being put to the test.

In the last two days, the prime minister has been accused of performing U-turns over raising the income tax threshold, raising taxes for higher earners and freezing private sector rents.

Mykhailo Drapatyi: Ukrainians hope new commander will end army’s ‘Soviet culture’

Drapatyi has long been a critic of the military’s command culture, but experts warn change could take time

Through a haze of smoke, a lone Ukrainian armoured vehicle suddenly burst into view. The BMP-2 accelerated towards a barricade of tyres and debris, smashing through it in seconds as protesters scattered.

Behind the controls, on the chaotic streets of Mariupol on 9 May 2014, was a little-known officer named Mykhailo Drapatyi. The footage became one of the defining images of Russia’s first attempt to seize eastern Ukraine, and made Drapatyi one of Ukraine’s military heroes.

Democrats probe DOJ opinion that eases institutionalization of mentally ill

Democrats in the Senate and House are investigating the origins of a DOJ legal opinion that would make it easier for states to keep people with mental illness in institutions, rather than helping them to live at home.

Anti-doping chiefs reject claims of Paul Seixas favouritism as Tour rivals cry foul

• Home rider Seixas yet to be tested at night, unlike some rivals

• Authorities deny French doping agency plays role in who is tested

Anti-doping authorities at the Tour de France have rejected accusations of preferential treatment towards Paul Seixas, the teenage French rider and home favourite who is placed fourth overall.

Seixas and his Decathlon CMA CGM team were tested, with the rest of the peloton, on Monday evening as part of the biological passport testing programme, but the 19-year-old has not yet been subjected to the nocturnal test that both the race leader Tadej Pogacar and the now-withdrawn Jonas Vingegaard underwent.

Inter Miami sign Casemiro as MLS announces investigation into tampering

• Midfielder signs a one-year deal with extension option

• League investigation centers on the transfer

Inter Miami have signed Casemiro as a free agent, but Major League Soccer is investigating the South Florida side for potential tampering in the process of acquiring the Brazilian midfielder.

Casemiro has signed what amounts to a one-year contract with Miami, beginning now and ending at the conclusion of the 2027 “sprint season” that precedes the league’s switch to a fall-to-spring calendar in 2027-28. There is an option for an extension that would see the Brazilian stay in Miami through the 2028-29 MLS season.

Man killed in ICE ‘encounter’ was on vacation in US with tourist visa – reports

Juan Jairo Coronilla Durán ran into traffic and killed by semi after federal officials approached him at Florida gas station

The Mexican man who was hit and killed by a semi-truck in Florida when running away from federal immigration officials was vacationing in the US with a tourist visa, according to news reports this week.

The 28-year-old, Juan Jairo Coronilla Durán, was killed on 14 July after an “encounter” with federal officials, including those with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), a state highway patrol spokesperson said last week.

Nolan Wells' cause of death undetermined, family's autopsy shows

Nolan Wells, 18, was found dead just off Horn Island in Mississippi after enjoying a day out with friends on July 4.

A strange transmissible cancer is spreading through the catfish in this lake

For more than a decade, there's been something fishy going on in a lake that straddles Vermont and the province of Quebec. It involves cancer, a kind of catfish, and — possibly — clues about how tumors metastasize.

The Guardian view on Andy Burnham and devolution: it takes a powerful centre to decentralise power | Editorial

When it comes to driving an agenda from No 10, the prime minister seems to have learned important lessons from his predecessor’s failure

Before entering Downing Street, Andy Burnham cited the overcentralisation of power as a cause of Britain’s social and economic malaise. In his first week, the new prime minister has signalled his intent to bolster No 10 as an organ of executive power. The apparent contradiction – fortifying the centre to pursue an agenda of decentralisation – arises from a perversity in the way the British state works or, rather, fails to work.

The prime minister is right that too much policy has historically been directed from Whitehall. Reforms in recent years have created institutions with varying degrees of local autonomy – elected mayoralties like the one in Manchester that afforded Mr Burnham a platform for national prominence. But genuine control, especially when it comes to fiscal policy, has not matched the rhetoric of devolution. The Treasury is wary of facilitating profligacy in lower tiers of government. Heads of devolved administrations are also adept at claiming credit when things go well and, when they go badly, diverting the blame on to national government.

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.

The Guardian view on Chinese workers picking up the pen: poetry in motion | Editorial

A food delivery rider has won the country’s highest literary award. It is part of a growing trend for writing by labourers

The hundreds of millions who have built modern China from the ground up – sweeping its streets, labouring in its factories and ferrying its goods – are often overlooked. But they refuse to go unheard. Last week, a food delivery rider won China’s top literary award. Wang Jibing, 56, first caught attention when a poem about his experiences went viral in 2022. The following year, Hu Anyan’s memoir, I Deliver Parcels in Beijing, became a bestseller.

In the early 20th century, Chinese intellectuals sought to capture the harsh realities of working-class lives. But it was under Mao Zedong that the idea of writing by as well as about the masses became reality, with labourers encouraged to take up the pen. In an era when the party tried to govern the language even of diaries and personal letters, the parameters of style and content were strict, and this enthusiasm swiftly diminished after Mao. But workers’ writing has seen a revival in the 21st century. This time, it is bottom-up rather than directed from above.

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.

In pursuit of 'Instagram face,' are we losing the imperfections that make us human?

Plastic surgery is becoming so normalized and undetectable, it's changing our relationship to reality. The New Yorker staff writer Jia Tolentino considers how beauty standards have dovetailed with AI.

DOJ sues over immersion water heaters that can burst into flames

The Justice Department is trying to force the two Chinese companies to recall immersion water heaters used for bathtubs and pools.

Mamdani says he can’t arrest Netanyahu as mayor and urges US to enforce ICC warrant

Mamdani admits he lacks power to arrest Israeli prime minister after saying he’s ‘not welcome’ in New York City

Zohran Mamdani, the New York City mayor, doubled down on his support for the international criminal court (ICC) on Wednesday and called on federal authorities to execute the court’s warrant for Benjamin Netanyahu’s arrest should he visit the city in the fall.

“I call on the federal government to join the international criminal court and to execute both this warrant as well as any warrant the international criminal court holds,” Mamdani told reporters at a press conference on Wednesday.

Sen. Wyden introduces bill to curb Trump's tariff powers

Sen. Ron Wyden said Trump has "abused every trade authority at his disposal" and called his new tariffs on Canadian goods a "shakedown."

Lung cancer in nonsmokers: "A women's health crisis"

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in American women — and a growing share of new cases are in women who've never smoked.

The human fridge: is this really the best way to cool down in a ‘cruelly hot’ climate?

A ‘personal cooling booth’ that promises to chill you out in 10 minutes has launched in Japan, with its makers claiming it beats air-conditioning or a fan

Name: The human fridge.

Age: Brand new.

Glasgow Commonwealth Games organisers hope for late surge in ticket sales

• Opening ceremony and several events yet to sell out

• Programme reduced from last time city hosted in 2014

Commonwealth Games organisers will hope for a late surge in ticket sales as Glasgow prepares to stage the opening ceremony on Thursday night, with seats still available across a number of events at the four competition venues despite the significantly reduced scale.

The opening ceremony at the OVO Hydro still had adult tickets available on Wednesday, with prices ranging from £45 to £95. The 13,000-capacity arena will host live music, the parade of nations and the arrival of all 74 Commonwealth batons. The six-time Olympic cycling champion Sir Chris Hoy, who revealed in 2024 that he has stage-four cancer, will also take part.

Cutting down on ultra-processed foods isn’t easy. Here are eight tips that worked for my family

Experts say reducing ultra-processed foods can be challenging in a world built around convenience, but these strategies can help make it more manageable

I have been trying to eat fewer ultra-processed foods with my family for five years, and it has been challenging.

Many experts agree that ultra-processed foods (UPF) pose health risks, whether because of unhealthy ingredients, links to disease and environmental impacts, or replacing more nutritious foods. Thus, some consumers – including me – are interested in removing them from their daily diet.

Learn techniques: “Once you know how to saute, it doesn’t matter what you put in the pan.”

Develop knife skills: “If people want to get more comfortable in the kitchen, they should take a knife skills class. Those skills are a massive upscale for confidence in the kitchen.”

Know your taste: “Know what you like, then create that, because that’s the starting place. Don’t start by making miso brownies when the core is to make a really good brownie that you like, because then you’ll do it again.”

Lobbying giant filmed offering reporter payment for flattering client coverage in national press

Exclusive: Guardian investigation of CT Group uncovers practice that appears to seek hidden influence over public opinion

A political lobbying firm founded by the former electoral strategist for David Cameron and Boris Johnson secretly pays journalists to write pieces for British newspapers that are favourable to its clients, a Guardian investigation can reveal.

In a practice that appears to create a backdoor for private companies to influence public opinion, lobbyists for CT Group – co-founded by the campaign strategist Lynton Crosby – told an undercover reporter they had paid journalists to place apparently independent stories in newspapers.

People are watching the Reflecting Pool like reality TV. What does that say about us?

It's not just watching paint dry. The twists and turns of the Reflecting Pool repairs, originally a two-week project, have kept bloggers and viewers busy all summer.

Austria opens police station at Hitler birthplace to deter neo-Nazi tourists

It is hoped opening of unit tackling narcotics trafficking will deter people from visiting it as pilgrimage site

Austria has opened a police station in the birthplace of Adolf Hitler in an attempt to “neutralise” its toxic legacy, after years of debate over how to stop neo-Nazis visiting it as a pilgrimage site.

Hitler was born on 20 April 1889 in a rented flat in the centre of Braunau am Inn and spent the first weeks of his life there.

At greyhound life drawing, artists try to tackle complicated shapes

With soulful eyes and ‘reverse chicken legs’, greyhounds are challenging to sketch. At a fundraising event in Melbourne, Josh Nicholas tries his hand

I’ve done life drawing before, but this time I am a bit worried. The woman across the room from me has done life drawing too, “but not with dogs”.

The problem with drawing people from life is they tend to move. The same is true of greyhounds, but they also don’t understand when you ask them to hold a pose.

Moon mountains and star dust: David Malin astrophotography awards 2026 – in pictures

From auroras and nebulas to deep sky star clusters, the competition features submissions from amateur astronomers and photographers from Australia and around the world

• Blue mushrooms, shy trees and glowing seas: Beaker Street science photography prize – in pictures

A 12-year-old casualty of war recovers in hospital: Alessio Mamo’s best photograph

‘Manal suffered severe burns to her arms and face after a missile explosion in Iraq. Yet in many ways she seemed just like a regular young girl’

When I started to take photographs about 18 years ago, I was more interested in the aesthetics. Then came a moment when I realised the power of the camera as a tool. On 3 October 2013 there was a huge shipwreck off the coast of Lampedusa. More than 250 migrants from Eritrea lost their lives. I was sent to cover the event, and it was during that assignment that I understood I was interested in telling stories about social injustice, about people’s lives post-conflict.

At first I worked mostly on stories about refugees in Sicily, where I am from, but a few years later I had the opportunity to travel to the Middle East with a friend, the journalist Marta Bellingreri, who is an expert on the region. She was living in Jordan and I joined her there for six months . That is how our project, The Hospital of All the Wars, about the patients at the Médecins Sans Frontières Al-Mowasah hospital in Amman, began.

Independent autopsy 'inconclusive' on cause of death for 18-year-old Nolan Wells in Mississippi

An independent autopsy of the body of Nolan Wells shows that the cause of death is undetermined pending an investigation, according to attorney Ben Crump.

Salman Rushdie attacker faces US terrorism trial

Hadi Matar, already serving 25 years for attempted murder, denies federal charges that could bring a life sentence

The man who stabbed Salman Rushdie in the eye on stage in 2022 is standing trial for a second time – this time facing terrorism charges after being found guilty of attempted murder and sentenced to 25 years in prison last year.

Hadi Matar’s federal trial begins in Buffalo, New York on Wednesday, about 70 miles from the venue where Rushdie was due to speak about writers in political exile in August 2022, when he was stabbed more than a dozen times.

Food price fears after Europe’s heatwave destroys estimated €2bn of crops

Record June temperatures expected to cut grain harvest by 9m tonnes to its lowest level since 2018

The heatwave that swept across Europe in June is estimated to have cost the continent’s grain farmers €2bn (£1.7bn) in lost revenue and destroyed 9m tonnes of crops, sparking concern about the impact on the price of food.

Coceral, the European cereals and oilseeds trade association, made the estimate for the harvest of crops such as wheat, barley, maize and oats following the heatwave.

How Pokémon Go encouraged me to find wonder in the world

These days, I ‘collect’ birdsong and wild flowers, but it all started when my sons and I first set out to find Pikachu and pals

• Don’t get Pushing Buttons delivered to your inbox? Sign up here

Believe it or not, Pokémon Go is 10 years old this month. The wildly successful smartphone game, which allows you to track down lovable creatures in the real world using GPS and augmented-reality technologies, has reportedly been downloaded 800m times across 150 countries and regions. A trillion Pokémon have been caught so far – and I have been responsible for a modest percentage of that figure.

When the game was first released, my sons and I spent many happy hours wandering the streets and parks of Frome searching for Jigglypuffs and Charizards, and the game’s social element, which lets you take on gym battles with other players in your vicinity, offered my autistic son a route to communicate with other children in a way he’d never been able to before.

Citizens United provision allowing foreign campaign contributions draws Democratic bill

Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., want to establish foreign ownership thresholds for companies that spend on campaigns.

Nicaragua’s congress announces ‘work plan’ to suspend elections

US secretary of state says international community should ‘join forces’ against authoritarian Ortega regime

Nicaragua’s congress, controlled by the country’s long-serving president, Daniel Ortega, has announced a “work plan” to implement the authoritarian leader’s order that the country should no longer hold elections.

The UN and the US strongly condemned Sunday’s announcement by Ortega, who has been in power since 2007 and, after a controversial constitutional change last year, now governs alongside his wife, Rosario Murillo, as “co-president”.