Polls open in Clacton, where Farage spent more than £10,000 in byelection against Count Binface – UK politics live

The Reform UK leader resigned as the MP for Clacton at the start of July and forced a byelection

The number of patients in England being cared for in hospital corridors or makeshift areas has remained above 3,000 a day for the second month in a row, as the NHS experiences a “summer surge”, the Press Association reports.

This was happening as A&E attendance numbers reached 2.5m in July – higher than any other single month on record. May and June were also record months for A&E attendance, in part because of the extreme heat.

Yvette Cooper, the health secretary, warned yesterday the health service must start planning for summer pressures in the same way as winter.

However, the data shows overall waiting times for treatment fell slightly in June after rising for two months in a row.

The NHS normally experiences spikes in demand during the summer months, as the public spends more time outside which can lead to a rise in accidents. But this summer has seen unprecedented pressure, with the heat contributing to an increase in admissions caused by more outdoor activity and respiratory issues linked to dry weather, as well as worsening of underlying medical conditions.

The first minister is right to ask about this. This is 1,500 jobs in the north of Scotland. It’s also an area that is being transformed by that move towards offshore renewables, Scotland continuing to contribute.

It’s an area which is, in general terms, important for security. Scotland is contributing to European energy security, which is a concern across Europe when you speak to leaders there.

Bugging devices: the astounding ways insects are talking and listening all around us

From spiders tuning their silken listening tools, to the beetle’s heady perfume, hundreds of conversations are happening in languages we don’t understand

• It’s invertebrate of the year – vote for your favourite

All around us, every day, hundreds of conversations are taking place in languages we don’t understand, or even, in most cases, notice. Birdsong is one you would probably recognise, and you may have heard of honeybee “waggle” dances. But what about the spider tuning their web to listen for prey, or a waft of arousing perfumes emitted by a passing beetle? At any moment you may be walking right through a whole critical dialogue – and have absolutely no idea.

To delve into the world of invertebrate communication about food gathering, coordinating nest building, defending a territory, attracting a mate, and babycare is to realise just how smart and sophisticated they are. Spiders, for example, can “hear” vibrations on the silken strands of their web using sensors on their legs. With their legs and body weight, the spiders will adjust the silk strings, as we would a guitar string, to change its pitch, pulling, loosening or reconnecting strands to adjust how it sounds. In fine-tuning the silk they can know just who is walking on it – a possible mate to woo, a fly for feasting on or maybe a larger bug on the lookout for prey.

Agent 64: Spies Never Die review – licence to kill time like the 90s never ended

PC; Replicant D6
This GoldenEye 007-styled retro shooter is an agreeable set of straightahead shooting missions that hark back to a simpler time, with simpler controls

With 007 First Light, 2026 has already given us the best James Bond game in more than three decades, since the release of Rare’s N64 classic GoldenEye 007. But what about those players whose loyalties lie not with the super-spy himself but the particulars of that 90s interpretation of his adventures?

Enter Agent 64: Spies Never Die. Made almost entirely by a single developer (who goes by the very cloak-and-dagger alias Replicant D6), its production values couldn’t be much further from the blockbuster First Light. There’s no voice acting, with all dialogue instead delivered via subtitles, while each location on your globe-trotting adventure is depicted by a repeating texture wallpapered over scenery so blocky you can count the individual polygons.

Questions over Karoline Leavitt’s replacement as she steps down as White House press secretary – US politics live

Leavitt’s departure three months before midterms raises questions over who will communicate Trump’s messages as his approval rating falls to record low, says YouGov polling

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Emily Moreno, the ex-wife of the embattled congressman Max Miller, has sued her former husband and his lawyer for uploading a picture of their infant daughter to a publicly accessible Dropbox folder as part of their custody battle.

The complaint argues that Miller “recklessly published and disclosed to the world a nude image” of their daughter.

Japan condemns visit by Vladimir Putin to disputed Kuril Islands

Japanese PM says islands seized by Soviets late in second world war are part of Japan under international law

The Japanese government has reacted angrily to Vladimir Putin’s first visit to the disputed Kuril Islands, which are claimed by both Tokyo and Moscow.

Japan’s foreign minister, Toshimitsu Motegi, summoned the Russian ambassador Nikolay Nozdrev, while the prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, called Putin’s actions “absolutely unacceptable”.

60 cats rescued from abandoned boat anchored off Washington state

Police in Tacoma, Washington, say they have rescued 60 cats and kittens from an abandoned sailboat that was found anchored off a city beach last week.

2 soldiers killed in Apache helicopter crash in Texas

The U.S. Army is investigating after an Apache helicopter crashed Wednesday in central Texas, killing both crew members on board and sparking a wildfire. Army officials say the helicopter was on a training flight when it crashed. Charlie D'Agata reports.

First responders use boats to rescue people from flooded homes, cars in Midwest

Extreme flooding in parts of Indiana reached car roofs and sent water rushing into homes, leading to first responders using boats to rescue people who were trapped. Meg Oliver reports on the damage.

Wildfires, a giant Castro and a wave of 500,000 dahlias: photos of the day – Thursday

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

Europe heatwave live: Temperatures of 40C expected in Spain; rare warning for ‘extreme heat’ expanded across England

A former UK government scientific adviser warned amid the ‘shattering’ heat that worse is still to come

Met Office has just offered an update on temperatures across the UK, with several stations already reporting temperatures above 30C – and it’s not even 11am.

It’s 30.4C in Wych Cross, 30.3C in Charlwood, 30.2C at Kenly Airfield.

Fog and on time? Lech Poznan race to reach Faroe Islands for Europa League tie

• Heavy fog means planes unable to land in Faroes

• Polish team have been trying to reach Vágar for two days

The Europa League second leg between Poland’s champions Lech Poznan and the Faroese champions KÍ Klaksvík on Thursday evening is at risk, with the Polish team struggling to reach the Faroe Islands on time due to heavy fog.

Lech won 1-0 in the first leg in Poznan after a late goal from Ivorian striker Yannick Agnero, but are locked in a race against time to reach the islands for Thursday’s return leg, scheduled for 6.30pm local time.

AOC’s public egg-freezing shouldn’t feel radical. But in today’s US, it does

The congresswoman’s decision is an assertion of women’s freedom and dignity at a time when our status is rapidly eroding

“Don’t be weird about this,” representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the progressive star and rumored 2028 presidential contender, said on her live video broadcast as she raised her shirt to angle the syringe into her abdomen. Then, with resignation, “even though I know all of you will be.”

The New York Democrat is 36 years old, and this week, she revealed that she is beginning the process of freezing her eggs during Congress’ August recess. In the video, Ocasio-Cortez said that she was seeking to destigmatize the realities of women’s lives as they navigate the conflicting demands of professional aspiration and family building; she explained to viewers the process of the hormonal injections she was administering to herself, showing them the drugs and injector she was using arrayed on a paper towel, beside a disinfecting towelette. The procedure, Ocasio-Cortez explained, was not covered by her insurance, and she would be paying “100% out of pocket”. She had been saving to afford it for some time. “This is a choice that I am making to feel more in control of my life,” she said, going on to assert her hope that transparency about such questions will destigmatize women’s reproductive lives and promote their dignity.

Billion-streamers, Beyoncé and heart-bruising beauty: Frank Ocean’s 20 best songs – ranked!

It’s a decade since the Los Angeles musician released the seminal album Blonde. To lessen the pain of his hiatus, we count down the best of an artist who redefined R&B

Frank Ocean’s pre-fame demos are hard to find – there’s a fan-made, 64-track compilation called The Lonny Breaux Collection floating around – but worth checking out, as evinced by this brief but potent piano ballad. Sweet but heartsore, it packs an emotional punch; it would have been a highlight of the mixtape Nostalgia, Ultra, had it made the cut.

‘He has a very high ceiling’: Madjo makes instant mark on delayed Aston Villa bow

Teenager endured a frustrating wait for his registration to be approved but took no time to show his potential on the big stage against PSG

At first glance there was the usual stuff: the wide smile, the guttural release, the punch of the air, teammates quickly on the scene to offer congratulations. But then the real celebration followed for the 17-year-old Brian Madjo. After scoring his first Aston Villa goal 45 minutes into an unforgettable debut, the teenager clasped his hands behind his back and then unlocked them with the kind of force he exhibited on the pitch. “No distractions, I’m free,” he posted on Instagram after finally being cleared to pull on a Villa shirt in a competitive game.

After confirmation that the court of arbitration for sport (Cas) had upheld Villa’s appeal to register the 6ft 4in striker, the Madjo movement gathered pace. John McGinn and Amadou Onana responded to the club sharing the news on social media by posting “#freemadjo”. After Madjo shone in defeat in Salzburg, McGinn alluded to the painful and protracted waiting game. “Brian has had a terrible year,” the Villa captain said. “A player born in England should be able to play in England. He has the potential to be an unbelievable striker and he showed that.”

Mark Zuckerberg says the future of AI is for everyone. But who owns it?

It’s a nice sentiment, but all AI users should ask three questions about their preferred choice of AI platform

On Monday, Mark Zuckerberg published a 6,500-word essay, The Future Is for Everyone. The essay came with something even rarer: a new Meta open-weight model. An open-weight AI model is the kind of AI with which you download the entire thing, and it works on your own computer (with or without the internet) and nobody can switch it off except for you. Almost every mainstream AI tool you use, whether it be Gemini, ChatGPT or Claude, is one you rent access to. Meta’s is one that you can download and actually own. I downloaded it before I finished the essay. So can you.

This major move by the world’s largest tech heavyweight comes amid a summer heavy with AI news, full of nations at war. Washington against Beijing; tech founder against tech founder. But beneath those conflicts is a deeper contest between two kinds of power: a government that can order technology offline in an instant, and a company that can simply close your account. Neither is necessarily villainous. But the rest of us are not merely the audience in this fight; we are the prize. And the terms are already being written: intelligence on lease, a future we pay for but never quite own.

Severe storms cut power supply to 540,000 homes in US midwest

Indiana faced most outages at 267,000, about 8% of its customers, with severe thunderstorms and wind ahead

Power supply was cut on Thursday ⁠to about 540,000 homes and businesses across the US midwest as severe storms battered the region, data ⁠from PowerOutage.us showed.

Indiana ⁠was the ​hardest-hit state, with more than 267,000 outages, representing about 8% of its roughly 3.3 million customers, the data ⁠showed.

Escaping the ​heat​ and rediscovering the ​joy of ​cooking

Parts of the UK are roasting but some of us are glad to turn the oven on. Bring on the​ ​curries and pasta pies

Sign up here for our weekly food newsletter, Feast

I don’t wish to boast, but I’m typing this with a jumper on. Not because my flat has air-conditioning, but because it doesn’t – and the relentless heat of south-east England was having a seriously detrimental effect on my productivity and the health of my elderly dog (NB: the two are not mutually exclusive). So, with a second novel to write, I decided to rent a studio as far north, and as far west, as I could reasonably drive in a day. And, so far, I have no regrets. Driving through North Yorkshire, I had to put on a sweatshirt – the weather in the Pennines gave my car the first good wash it’s had in months – and now, in Scotland, the dog and I feast on hot porridge in the mornings. I’d genuinely forgotten what it’s like to be cold – and what it’s like to cook for pleasure.

This newsletter isn’t just for those parts of the country enjoying, rather than suffering, the sunshine; yesterday it was raining and tonight the temperatures will drop to almost single digits. It’s also for anyone, wherever you are, who’s eaten enough cool, crunchy salads and chilled soups to last a lifetime, or at least until next summer. (You’re not alone: last month, Waitrose reported a spike in sales of cottage pie and robust South African red wine.)

Inflation eased slightly in July. And, ICE plans to give officers electric shock gloves

Inflation cooled a bit last month, according to a new report from the Labor Department. And, ICE plans to equip its officers with electric shock gloves.

The drug lenacapavir is a mighty weapon against HIV. Its rollout gets mixed reviews

It's a twice-a-year injection that is remarkably effective in preventing an HIV infection. Distribution is starting. But questions are being raised about getting it to the areas that need it most.

Hikers watch as molten lava spews from Mount Etna – video

Mount Etna has continued to erupt in Sicily, sending molten lava, rocks and ash down its slopes as hikers watch nearby. The Italian volcano is Europe's most active

Ash Gardner apologises for ‘pain’ caused by relationship with Australia teammate

• Cricket Australia boss backs women’s vice-captain’s leadership

• Monica Wright went public over ex’s affair with Georgia Voll

Australia vice-captain Ash Gardner has apologised for the pain caused by her marriage breakdown and thanked Cricket Australia for backing her leadership.

Gardner’s affair with Australian teammate Georgia Voll while married to ex-wife Monica Wright created headlines.

Chelsea Wolfe: The Dark review – existential reflection goes from whisper to gothic scream

(Loma Vista)
The genre-blending Californian artist casts off past toxic influences with a powerful set of tender, brooding and emotionally charged songs that wouldn’t feel out of place as festival anthems

When Chelsea Wolfe was interviewed by the Guardian in 2015 about her fourth album, Abyss, she revealed that her music had been informed by the bouts of sleep paralysis she’d suffered from since childhood. The condition – a transitional state between being awake and asleep – affects sufferers in different ways. Some wake up feeling paralysed, others see ghosts or demonic figures. For the California-born singer-songwriter, it meant “waking up, and you can move your body and your eyes are open, but there are figures and people from your dreams still present in your room”.

No surprise, then, that her music – a blend of drone, alt, folk, industrial and doom metal – had ended up so spookily unsettling. She appeared on album covers with pupil-less eyes, spoke in interviews about “following the path of witchcraft” and even covered Norwegian black metal act and convicted arsonist/murderer Burzum. She did have a sense of humour about it all, however, telling one interviewer, with a chuckle: “It’s not party music.” Since then, though, much has changed. Wolfe left Los Angeles for the mountains above the city – where she’s finally been able to enjoy a good night’s sleep. Sobriety since 2021 has also brought what she calls “a new clarity”. Both developments inform The Dark.

Premier League 2026-27 preview No 8: Crystal Palace

Palace take a risk with new manager Pierre Sage, who is tasked with building on Glasner’s unprecedented success

Guardian writers’ predicted position: 16th (NB: this is not necessarily Ed Aarons’ prediction but the average of our writers’ tips)

Last season’s position: 15th

‘We bring the craic’: how spice bags became an Irish-Chinese takeaway hit

Restaurant critic and award-winning author Jimi Famurewa travels through London, Belfast and Birmingham getting messy with the fusion treat of spicy chicken, chips and curry sauce. Should you dip or pour? What’s it like with a Filipino flavour? And with a Michelin-style glow-up?

How our food became so dependent on oil

Global food prices have hit their highest level in over three years. We are told this is due to rising oil and energy costs, but how exactly do they affect prices? The most reported reason is that transport and fertiliser are to blame, but the reality is that the oil and gas industry is far more integrated in our food production than many of us realise. To get a better understanding, Josh Toussaint-Strauss takes a closer look at the production processes of three categories of food: meat, processed staples and fruit and vegetables. What he discovers is a level of involvement that is shocking

In pictures: Europe's best solar eclipse since 1999

A total solar eclipse crossed Iceland and Spain on Aug. 12, while much of Europe saw a partial eclipse and businesses benefited from demand.

Ukraine attacks Russian grain export terminals in Black Sea, prompting warning about food markets

Ukraine has launched a heavy drone assault on warships and major Russian grain export terminals in the Black Sea port city of Novorossiysk.

‘Everyone is scared’: flood-hit Porto Alegre braces for another El Niño

Two years after southern Brazil’s worst climate disaster ravaged the city, and with poor areas still recovering, many fear official neglect has left them exposed once again

In the backstreets of Porto Alegre, a state capital in southern Brazil, you can still see signs of the devastating flood that swept through the city two years ago: scattered debris, waterlogged homes and destroyed businesses.

In May 2024, flooding killed 183 people in the state of Rio Grande do Sul and displaced more than 600,000. The neighbourhood of Sarandi was one of the hardest-hit parts of Porto Alegre, with water levels reaching up to 5 metres above normal, completely submerging many of its streets.

Trump administration accused of ‘bullying’ union leader at consumer protection agency

Critic of Consumer Financial Protection Bureau leadership was put under investigation and suspended from job

• US politics live – latest updates

The Trump administration has been accused of “bullying and intimidation” after a labor union leader and critic was put under investigation and suspended from his job at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).

Stephen Wheeler, a data scientist at the agency since 2022 and chair of the CFPB union organizing committee, was placed on administrative leave effective immediately earlier this month. The union said it was not provided with any specific violations or given any details of the investigation.

Taylor Swift has put her love story out there – so it’s not fair she won’t let us see her wedding dress | Polly Hudson

How a bride decides to look on the big day tells us a lot about that person. But the singer is leaving us hanging

Having hope in your heart is all well and good, but you also need to know when to give up. At a certain point it’s time to accept cold, hard reality: we’re never going to see pictures of Taylor Swift in her wedding dress, are we?

There are many reasons this matters, and the first, admittedly, is plain old nosiness, with a side order of entitlement. We’ve spent years absorbing – some unintentionally, by osmosis – the details of Swift’s relationships, following her journey to happily ever after every step of the way, including the photos she released of the engagement moment. Obviously she is allowed to keep her wedding private, but being denied a glimpse of the dress feels – insert foot stamp here – unfair. More than that, it’s like a romcom ending before the final embrace, the protagonist still en route to the airport they have yet to run through. For somebody who is essentially a storyteller, this tale is uncharacteristically incomplete, unsatisfying. It’s not like Swift to leave us hanging.

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.

U.S. ambassador calls settler siege of Palestinian homes a 'horrific act of terror'

The U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee condemned the actions of Jewish settlers who are besieging the home of an American Palestinian family in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

South Korean airport becomes busiest in world for global traffic amid Iran war

Incheon airport had 38.39m international passengers in first half of 2026, as traffic diverted from Middle East hubs

South Korea’s Incheon airport has become the world’s busiest airport for international passengers, in part owing to disruption in the Middle East caused by the Iran war.

The airport, South Korea’s main gateway, about 30 miles (48km) west of Seoul, handled 38.39 million international passengers in the first half of 2026, according to preliminary figures compiled by the Airports Council International (ACI), the global trade body for airports.

Chelsea set Friday deadline for Fernández suitors as City reject new £51m Barça bid for Rodri

• Manchester City want around £65m for Spain midfielder

• Al-Qadsiah closing on move for City’s Tijjani Reijnders

Manchester City have rejected Barcelona’s second bid of around €60m (£51m) for Rodri, while Chelsea have set a 5pm (BST) Friday deadline for the club to bid £120m for the midfielder’s potential replacement, Enzo Fernández.

On Tuesday Barça improved on their initial offer of €45m but this has been turned down. City, it is thought, want between £60m and £65m for Rodri, who captained Spain to victory at the World Cup and is a former Ballon d’Or winner.

We’re going to party like it’s 1629… the masques, the music and the mayhem of Banqueting House

What music soundtracked 17th-century England? Ahead of a DJ set in Banqueting House, Georgia Mann looks at the wild, the experimental, the melancholic – and why a theorbo caused a security alert

King Charles is on the throne, there’s anxiety around the power-brokers of Whitehall, and an age of deep political division and conspiracy obsession is under way.

That’s right, I’m referring to the middle years of the 17th century, a period I’m immersed in as I’m putting together a Jacobean-Carolean Classical DJ set, where the beats are to be dropped beneath one of the UK’s most awesome works of art: the Rubens painted ceiling at the Banqueting House in Whitehall.

‘I feel like I’m at war’: are we losing the battle against machine-made music?

Despite outcry from musicians, AI slop is creeping into the charts as record labels scramble to adapt to a new normal where hits can be made at the click of a button

This year, the battle for song of the summer has been eclipsed by a much more complicated – some would even say disturbing – debate. That’s because we find ourselves asking not “What’s the song of the summer?” but rather “Is the song of the summer even real?”

Among the top contenders for the title is Fenix Flexin’s Rubberz, a single released in June that has ascended to No 58 on the Billboard Hot 100 and racked up more than 35m Spotify streams. It’s not the sort of fare Fenix usually cooks up. The artist is known for his trap music as part of the rap duo Shoreline Mafia, but Rubberz is a mildly noirish, 80s-inspired synth-pop track featuring a voice nothing like his. The song has drawn comparisons to Morrissey, but it more closely resembles Men at Work’s Down Under, or a Weird Al Yankovic parody of Men at Work. It’s pretty awful. But more importantly, it has an uncanny quality to it. It sounds off.

What end-of-life experts know about living well: love your wrinkles, celebrate birthdays and don’t obsess over work

How can our understanding of mortality shape the way we live? Palliative care doctors and death doulas share the lessons they have learned

We will all face death one day, but our attitude towards this is individual. How can our understanding of mortality shape our approach to life? Here, palliative care doctors and death doulas share what they know about the end – and how it informs the way they live.

These swing voters in Nevada say they are not dismissing socialist candidates

In online focus groups, 10 of 12 Biden-to-Trump voters said they wouldn't automatically think negatively of a politician who identifies with socialism.

Sailors and their families have lives on pause, uncertain if they'll return to Mideast

Sailors and family members who were evacuated from U.S. bases in the Middle East months ago are waiting for the military to figure out what will happen to the lives they left behind.

Stop the bites! How to survive another summer of mosquitoes, midges and horseflies

Dress like a zebra, wash your feet, keep off the beer: insect experts explain what works and what doesn’t – and why some of us get bitten more than others

It’s a good time to be a mosquito or other blood-sucking insect. In the UK and beyond, they are enjoying the summer heat, and there are lots of humans outdoors, some wearing very little, like an all-you-can-eat walking buffet. Some of the humans are drinking beer, which apparently makes them even more irresistible to mosquitoes. Many of us are warm and sweaty, which is all the better for the blood-suckers seeking us out.

Insect populations are changing because of the warming climate and there are organisations keeping an eye on invasive species, especially mosquitoes, which can be vectors for diseases such as dengue and malaria (globally, more than 600,000 people a year die from malaria). The UK “will have a threat from mosquito-borne diseases as time goes on,” says James Logan, professor of medical entomology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and CEO of Dot, an “odour intelligence” company. “The biggest threats are arboviruses [viruses transmitted by arthropods, especially insects and ticks], such as dengue. We have mosquitoes throughout [mainland] Europe now that can transmit dengue. We also know that we do get those mosquitoes coming across to the UK, but they don’t seem to be breeding here successfully and surviving over the winter.” But, he warns, with milder winters and warmer summers, it is only a matter of time.

Morning news brief

Primary results reveal divide among Democratic Party, new inflation report could give the Fed more time to bring inflation under control, rescues teams race to find survivors of Colombia earthquake.

How to keep babies and children safe in heatwaves

Biological factors mean a child’s core temperature rises faster than an adult’s – and that can result in a medical emergency

Children and babies are more vulnerable in heatwaves than healthy adults. As temperatures rise again, how do we keep children safe?

Nuclear power plants are being shut down as Europe’s drought becomes an energy crisis

Heat and drought are curbing nuclear output across Europe, with Romania starting the process of disconnecting its sole working reactor from the power grid.

The End of Tom Six review – Human Centipede director delivers one last freaky flick

Now living with multiple sclerosis, Six rants about the masturbation film distributors won’t touch and the money mystery behind his horror hit

Fifteen years ago, Dutch film-maker Tom Six succeeded where almost everybody fails – particularly in the world of horror. He actually shocked people. No self-respecting sophisticate admits to being shocked, of course, and no horror connoisseur will admit to being really and truly horrified. But Six really did freak audiences out with his extreme exploitation nightmare The Human Centipede, the first of a trilogy. It was a grenade in the faces of prim conformists, and also those badass horror fans who thought they’d seen it all.

The “human centipede” of the title is created by a sadistic surgeon who imprisons three young people in a basement and sews them together mouth-to-anus as a vivisectional experiment. Six himself had been a director on the original Dutch TV show Big Brother that started the global franchise, and it was easy to see how his movie masterwork was intended as a satire on consumerist voyeurism and cruelty. Or maybe it just sprang from the same dark creative place that gave birth to the TV phenomenon of the age.

Britain's scorched fields mean a food crisis – and the government is ignoring the one measure that would help | George Monbiot

This summer’s extreme weather and wars in Iran and Ukraine have made our need for food stockpiles more pressing than ever

When a business makes long-term plans, they call it prudence. When a government makes long-term plans, they call it communism. Any sustained state intervention attracts the prefix “Soviet-style”, and triggers vicious attacks across the billionaire media. So governments have developed a bias against long-term thinking. This may explain why we no longer maintain strategic food reserves.

In Britain, where soils have parched, market analysts warn that we’re facing the most severe food security crisis in decades. In normal years, crop failures at home don’t threaten our security, thanks to global trade. This is one of the reasons why hunger and famines are rarer and less deadly than they used to be. But this is not a normal year, because the problem is now global.

Coach in DR Congo banned by Fifa for 20 years for sexual abuse still training young players

• Jonathan Bukabakwa released from prison last year

• Case highlights flaws in Fifa’s safeguarding processes

A coach in the Democratic Republic of the Congo who was banned from football for 20 years by Fifa in March 2023 for sexual abuse of a minor is continuing to take charge of young players, the Guardian can reveal.

Jonathan Bukabakwa, who is known as Messi and previously coached youth teams in the Limpopo and Malabo regions, was also fined 100,000 Swiss francs after a Fifa investigation found him of guilty of sexual abuse. He had also been convicted of similar offences by authorities in the DRC but was released from prison last year.

‘I wanted to capture the range of British culture at the time’: the photographer who documented late nights on the 90s London tube

In the 1990s, the photographer took portraits of punks, partiers and late-night lovers on the underground. His images show city life before smartphones – when people still had to rush to make the final train

Mark McEvoy’s tube photographs, taken in London Underground carriages at around 11pm on Friday and Saturday nights from 1992 to 1995, capture moments that may seem superficially frivolous, but might be the most significant of our lives. These are the golden hours of the end of the week, where friendships are found and sealed; gabbled conversation rolls along with the sway of the carriages; and new lovers meet up en route for an encounter that may turn out to be a fleeting one-off, or in fact the beginnings of a lifelong companionship.

All are swept along in the scramble to hop onboard the last tube – a panic that ended when all-night services began on some lines 10 years ago this month. The night tube arrived when my time of going out all weekend was fading, and gave me a slight feeling of missing out. Looking at photos of other people’s social lives can make one feel like that too; at the same time, it’s not hard to see ourselves in these tired, happy and thoughtful faces.

Israeli militants besiege two Palestinian families in their West Bank homes

Settlers and soldiers cut off water and electricity to homes, and block medical care in campaign of terror

Israeli militants have besieged two Palestinian families in their homes since the weekend, aiming to take over their properties in the West Bank village of Qusra through a campaign of terror.

A group of settlers and soldiers set up a tent outside the home of Yousef Hassan’s family on Sunday afternoon, trapping him inside with his wife and two young daughters.

Single winning ticket sold for $1.04 billion Powerball jackpot

A single ticket sold in Illinois won the biggest Powerball jackpot of the year, $1.04 billion, in Wednesday night's drawing, the game says.

New indictment alleges Nick Reiner was lying in wait before killing his parents

A grand jury has indicted Nick Reiner on murder charges in the killings of his parents, Rob Reiner and Michele Singer Reiner, and adds the allegation that he was lying in wait before attacking them.

Millions crowd cities to see Spain's first total solar eclipse in over a century

As the sky darkened, gradually at first and then quickly, people broke into applause and cheered. It was the Spain's first total solar eclipse in more than a century.

‘Living proof damaged landscapes can recover’: exploring a vast restored forest in southern Sweden

Söderåsen national park is one of Europe’s largest protected broadleaf woods, offering wild swimming, spectacular hiking trails and an inspiring story of regeneration

From the bus window, the ridge looks like a giant slumbering beast stretched deep green across the flat farmland. “It feels alive,” I say to the woman beside me. “Yes,” she answers. “It is where you would run for safety, don’t you think?”

I am in southern Sweden to explore Söderåsen national park, established in 2001 to protect more than 1,600 hectares (4,000 acres) of the larger Söderåsen ridgeline. Shaped over millennia by immense geological collisions, fractures, volcanic eruptions and ice ages, today it is one of northern Europe’s largest continuous protected broadleaf forests, and only 90 minutes by car from Copenhagen or, in my case, two hours by public transport.

Hellcat review – woman imprisoned in camper van in nasty survival horror

A woman wakes up in a trailer as it speeds along in this effective and icky thriller, though you do end up wondering when you (and she) will ever get out

This survival thriller-horror starts in “what would you do?” mode, as a young woman wakes up in the back of a moving camper van with some sort of hideous wound on her arm. Well, what would you do? Lena (Dakota Gorman) approaches things fairly logically, first checking out her surroundings: under other circumstances the trailer would be quite charming, if slightly kitschy – floral curtains, varnished wooden panels, a “World’s Greatest Dad” mug and family photographs. Closer inspection reveals less homely details: conspiracy magazines and lurid novels, which in the presumed abduction scenario in which Lena finds herself, are hardly reassuring.

When a disembodied voice begins to communicate with her, telling her that she has an hour to get to hospital before the veiny trails progressing from the wound on her arm reach her heart, she asks reasonable questions, which are met with cryptic replies and evasive half answers. The voice is emanating from the head of a taxidermised coyote type of beastie mounted on the wall, and it’s pretty clear this is the voice of the driver and apparent kidnapper. Naturally, the full situation is a little more layered than it initially seems.

Sailors, shadows and a dog in a dress: heroes of the street – in pictures

From dazzling shifts in perspective to astounding tricks using shade, reflections and rain, these winning images from the Pure Street Photography awards all capture ‘marvellous moments of fleeting serendipity’

Can Nothing Save Us? by Irvine Welsh review – US family saga is a late-career triumph

The Scottish author focuses on gun culture and generational conflict in this darkly satirical tale about a great power in decline

“Why expect unconditional love from somebody you’ve brought into a fucked, dying planet, who then has to sit around and watch you screw it up even more?” So muses twentysomething college dropout Luke Ayrton on his parental lineage as he works the Las Vegas Strip, “comping girls for clubs” in Sin City. His job is to trawl the “plankton” of bacherlorette parties in order to lure the “whales” – rich men willing to spend to try to impress young women.

“In this game your sociology skills sharpened,” it’s observed, but beyond the seedy side hustle lie weightier concerns: the matter of his family legacy. Electronic dance music aficionado and aspiring writer Luke is estranged from his Maga-positive Mom and Dad, and now lives with grandparents George and Molly, affluent boomers with a countercultural past.

3 men set for lethal injection on same day in Tennessee, Alabama and Oklahoma

Three men in Tennessee, Alabama and Oklahoma are scheduled for lethal injection Thursday in a rare convergence of executions on the same day in the U.S.

Key Japan war shrine bans military cosplay ahead of second world war anniversary

Ban at Yasukuni shrine comes amid increasing visits by nationalist groups appearing in military style dress

Tokyo’s controversial Yasukuni shrine is banning military cosplay on its grounds, after the site become a focal point for displays by ultra-nationalist groups, often dressed in replica army uniforms or military-style dress.

The clothing ban comes in the lead-up to the anniversary this weekend of the defeat of Japan in the second world war, also known as VJ Day, although the shrine has said the ban applies year round.

Taiwan says it was hit by ‘abnormal’ AI-assisted cyber-attack

Taiwan’s statement comes a day after reports that suspected China-linked hackers had carried out a first-of-a-kind breach

Taiwan says it detected AI-assisted cyber-attacks on government agencies that came from overseas last month, a new kind of threat that has been reported as “first-of-a-kind breach”.

The Ministry of Digital Affairs (MDA) said its cybersecurity monitoring units ‌detected the “abnormal attack” targeting government agencies, which began on 20 July. The National Institute of Cyber Security issued a series of warning alerts while it investigated.

Thursday news quiz: A speeding car, a police faux pas and an app that’s gone too far?

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

On this day in 1888, the mechanical mastermind John Logie Baird was born in Dunbartonshire. He was the pioneering inventor who first beamed a recognisable image across a room, giving the world the very first working television. Without his early experiments with biscuit tins, darning needles and bicycle lenses, half of the questions the Thursday quiz has asked would never have been possible. So tune in, turn up your mental brightness, and test your frequency with these 15 questions. Allons-y!

The Thursday news quiz, No 260

Rachel Roddy’s recipe for figs with raspberry cream and cat tongue biscuits | A kitchen in Rome

Combine these simple Italian baked treats with chilled fruit and thick cream for a playful summer pudding

In his exquisite The French Menu Cookbook, Richard Olney has clear ideas and strong opinions about everything, including dessert. He believed that rich desserts should follow only the simplest of meals, whereas with most menus (meaning all the sophisticated menus in his book), something light, airy and playful is best. His suggestions read like a summer fruit poem: peach melba, apple mousse with peaches, apricot fritters dusted with icing sugar, strawberries in sweetened orange juice, strawberries in beaujolais, strawberry mousse with raspberry puree, iced cherries and fresh almonds. One of his late summer/early autumn menus also suggests fresh figs with raspberry cream (figues à la crème framboise), which is both fun to make (the red puree streaking through the cream for a raspberry ripple) and to eat.

An airy and playful pudding calls for an airy and playful biscuit. What better than lingue di gatto, or cat tongues, so called because of their flat, elongated shape. Made from butter, sugar, flour, and egg whites, lingue di gatto are not complicated to make, but do require a piping bag, which can be mimicked by a zip-lock bag – just remember to scrape the mixture into the bag first, and only snip the end off when you are ready to pipe.

A bungled bomb plot in Poland exposed a spy – but whose spy was he?

When exiled Russian opposition campaigner Igor Rogov was accused of working for the Kremlin, his friends were shocked. Could this young activist have really been an undercover agent?

• The summer issue of the Long Read magazine is out now. Click here to order

The police came for Igor Rogov because someone had mailed him a bomb-making kit. The eclectic mix of items – a chrome vacuum flask, a pair of marker pens, a power bank and a bottle of antifreeze fluid – might have seemed innocuous to an untrained eye, but Poland was on high alert in July 2024. Two months previously, a shopping mall in Warsaw had burned down in an arson attack; an Ikea in neighbouring Lithuania was also set on fire. Authorities believed it was a sabotage campaign masterminded by Russia’s intelligence services, intended to sow panic and undermine support for Ukraine. They feared it was only a matter of time before the Kremlin escalated further.

A security officer at the parcel company’s warehouse was suspicious enough about the package to call in the authorities, who arrived with sniffer dogs and special equipment. X-rays of the marker pens showed they had 1980s Soviet-produced detonators concealed inside, while the flask had a false bottom containing a sachet of metallic powder. The power bank appeared to have been tampered with in some way, and a probe of the bottled liquid showed it contained a highly volatile nitroglycerine solution. With the right expertise, the items could be turned into a powerful bomb.

‘I’ve been on plenty of dates – but nothing happened’: are we looking at the death of the kiss?

Call it a crisis, call it a decline, call it a recession: the long, lusty snog is in trouble, harder to experience in real life or even watch on screen. But why? And what’s it like to think you may never lock lips with another?

Spencer’s last kiss was two years ago, on a first date. It started off promisingly: after matching on Tinder, they met for a walk, then got drinks and ice-cream, before having dinner at her place. Finally, they kissed. “I didn’t like it,” says Spencer. He still struggles to identify why. “I found her attractive. There was chemistry, but something was lacking. There was nothing behind the kiss – it felt like a mechanical thing to do.”

That wasn’t just Spencer’s most recent kiss – it was his first ever, at the age of 29. Now 31, he says a second kiss in some ways feels less possible than having sex: “The jump feels way bigger.”

India fuels worldwide jump in planned coal production

Rise in new mine proposals, mainly in states of Odisha and Jharkhand, comes despite plateau in global demand

Enough new coalmining projects were proposed last year to increase global supplies by 2.5bn tonnes a year, an increase of 11% from the year before, even as demand for coal plateaus, according to a new report.

Global Energy Monitor, an NGO, found that India ignited a rise in new coalmine proposals in 2025 despite a global slowdown in the number of mine openings because of falling demand for the fossil fuel.

An Amputation Obsession: the Monster and the Surgeon review – an engrossing story, if you can stomach it

This documentary follows the shocking case of Neil Hopper, a top surgeon who had his own legs removed due to a fetish.

No fetish or obsession is unique, and the internet can always connect you with others whose minds work the same way. It’s one of the great blessings and curses of the digital age, and central to An Amputation Obsession: the Monster and the Surgeon, a two-part documentary on which the “contains material some viewers may find disturbing” disclaimer is no exaggeration.

We begin at the Royal Cornwall hospital, known locally as Treliske, in Truro, Cornwall. It used to have a man on its staff who was a minor medical superstar: Neil Hopper, a vascular surgeon, was well known for his clinical expertise and comforting bedside manner, particularly when advising on and performing amputations. He acquired full hero status in 2019, when he was diagnosed with sepsis and had both legs amputated below the knee but miraculously returned to work within six months, astonishing physiotherapists and other medical professionals with how well he adapted to disability.

An Amputation Obsession: the Monster and the Surgeon is on Prime Video

ICE plans to give officers gloves that can deliver electric shocks

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

Photos: See the best photos from the solar eclipse

Millions of people in Europe stepped outside this evening to watch a spectacular sunset with a solar eclipse. The path of totality passed through portions of Greenland, Iceland and Spain,

Surrogate gives birth to baby at center of multistate legal battle

Surrogate McKenna West declined to get an abortion requested by the intended parents after the baby she was carrying was diagnosed with a severe but treatable heart defect.

The comeback story of baby elephant after her mother rejected her

Linh Mai, a baby elephant born at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C., was rejected by her mother. But after the zoo's elephant caretaker and a dozen others stepped in to help her, she has bonded with other elephants. Tony Dokoupil has the story.

Texas steps in as surrogate delivers baby, despite intended parents seeking abortion

California parents wanted to end a surrogate pregnancy when doctors diagnosed the baby with a severe heart defect at 20 weeks. The surrogate refused and went to Texas, where the state has now stepped in. The baby was born on Wednesday. Jason Allen reports.

Cerebras stock plunges 14% after second earnings report following IPO

Cerebras Systems reported better-than-expected second-quarter revenue and raised its full-year guidance.

What is credit card skimming, and how can you protect yourself?

A form of credit card theft known as skimming is on the rise as thieves install their own card readers to steal your information and money. It's a particular threat to users of EBT cards. Carter Evans reports on how to spot them and protect yourself.

Lindsay Clancy sobs in court as medical examiner describes children's injuries before they died

Lindsay Clancy had an emotional day in court on Wednesday in the trial for killing her three children. She's fighting murder charges, saying she was suffering from postpartum psychosis and overmedication. Shanelle Kaul reports.

Miraculous rescue gives moment of hope in Colombia after devastating earthquake

48 hours after the devastating earthquake in Colombia, its president said the death toll jumped to 181 people, and thousands were still reported missing. Lilia Luciano reports on a rescue effort in a hard-hit city.

11 charged for alleged sham marriages to help Chinese nationals get green cards

The DOJ unveiled criminal charges alleging 11 people participated in a scheme that involved more than 1,000 "sham marriages" between Chinese nationals and U.S. citizens.

2 killed as Apache helicopter from Fort Hood crashes in Salado, Texas

Two soldiers aboard an AH-64 Apache attack helicopter based out of Fort Hood were killed in a crash on Wednesday, according to local authorities and the Army.

Army Apache helicopter crashes, killing 2 crew members

An AH-64 Army Apache helicopter crashed on Wednesday, killing both crew members on board. Charlie D'Agata reports.

Flash flood emergency hits Midwestern states

Illinois and Ohio were hit with a flash flood emergency this week as a long line of storms dumped heavy rain on the Midwest. Boats had to travel down what should be roadways for rescue efforts. Meg Oliver reports and Lonnie Quinn has the forecast.

Maps and charts show record number of measles cases in U.S. this year

CBS News has been tracking a record number of measles cases and outbreaks around the country. The majority of cases are among those who haven't been vaccinated.

Whole Foods recalls some jalapeño products over salmonella risk

Certain salsas, guacamole, pico de gallo and prepared jalapeño products at Whole Foods are among the products recalled over possible salmonella risk.

Cisco's stock drops despite earnings, revenue beat

Even though Cisco's quarterly results topped estimates, they weren't good enough to satisfy Wall Street.

8/12: CBS Evening News

Heavy rain triggers flash flood emergencies; two killed in military helicopter crash.

Trump says Karoline Leavitt resigning as White House press secretary

Leavitt, the youngest White House press secretary ever, gave birth in May to a girl, her second child.

Eli Lilly takes aim at illicit market for its experimental weight-loss drug

The pharmaceutical company is filing lawsuits against six outlets selling versions of its promising but unapproved weight-loss drug, retatrutide.

Wendy's stock jumps on report of potential takeover bid from Nelson Peltz's Trian Fund Management

Peltz's relationship with Wendy's dates back to an activist campaign he led more than two decades ago.

8/12: The Takeout with Major Garrett

Key takeaways from Tuesday's primaries in six states; Karoline Leavitt leaving role as White House press secretary.

Karoline Leavitt exiting as White House press secretary

President Trump said Karoline Leavitt will be leaving her role to focus on her young family.

U.S. indicts former SPLC executive for her role in alleged fraud scheme

Prosecutors have accused the Southern Poverty Law Center of telling donors and banks it was dismantling white supremacist and extremist groups, while funneling payments to confidential informants in the groups.

CoreWeave gains 19%, Nebius surges 34% in post-earnings neocloud rally

AI cloud giant CoreWeave jumped in premarket trading after reporting that its second-quarter revenue doubled on surging AI demand from hyperscalers.

EJ Swift wins the 2026 Arthur C Clarke award for science fiction

The writer – who was also shortlisted in 2023 – has won the prize for her book When There Are Wolves Again, a speculative work of eco-fiction set in near-future Britain

A novel about rewilding and climate activism in Britain has been named this year’s winner of the Arthur C Clarke award for science fiction.

When There Are Wolves Again by EJ Swift is an “ambitious study in the power of long-term hope in the face of climate breakdown”, said the award’s director, Tom Hunter.

Cruise ships, quiet towns and an all-day festival: millions flock to eclipse viewing spots across Europe

Beginning in Russia’s remote Arctic north, the eclipse traced an arc over much of western Europe – with the best views in Spain, Iceland and Greenland

It was a moment of awe shared by millions across Europe: an eclipse that blocked out the sun, plunging parts of the continent into a daytime darkness in which temperatures dropped and birds suddenly went quiet.

Wednesday’s eclipse began in Russia’s remote Arctic north, going on to trace an arc over much of western Europe. From the UK to northern Italy, tens of millions of people turned to the sky as the light of the setting sun was almost completely blocked out.

Double murderer and rapist Simon Levy sentenced to whole-life tariff

Errors by police and prosecutors after first murder had left serial sex offender free to kill again

Simon Levy, the prolific sexual predator left free by police and prosecution errors to murder two women, will never leave prison after being sentenced to a rare whole-life tariff.

Judge Lucraft KC said Levy, 40, “ruthlessly” exploited women for his sexual pleasure, and had a proven history of sexual offending dating back to 2018.

U.S. budget deficit surged in July to highest level since March 2021

Beyond the big single-month jump, the collective red ink over the 10 months of the fiscal year rose to nearly $1.8 trillion, surpassing the same period in 2025.

How the Secret Service is cracking down on card-skimming scams

A Secret Service analyst told CBS News a single skimming device can net a scammer up to $1 million.

How much time does AI save at work? New Census Bureau data breaks it down.

New Census data shows how much faster workers can complete tasks when they enlist artificial intelligence for help.

Countries in ‘armed conflict’ barred from hosting Eurovision

Organisers says new rule will ensure contest provides ‘safe and welcoming environment’ for participants

Broadcasters will no longer be eligible to host the Eurovision song contest if their state is involved in an “armed conflict” or “sensitive geopolitical situation”.

Eurovision is traditionally hosted by the previous year’s winner’s broadcaster, with next year’s show due to take place in Bulgaria after the singer Dara’s victory for the country in May.

CPI report shows inflation eased in July to a 3.4% annual pace

The CPI report was in line with economists' expectations, marking the second consecutive month with cooler price pressures.

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

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

Greenland forces Trump-linked US oil firm to delay drilling

US envoy had claimed Americans could be extracting crude by as early as next year

Greenland authorities have forced a US oil company connected to Donald Trump to postpone drilling wells in the Arctic territory, defying claims by the US president’s envoy that Americans could be extracting crude by next year.

Amid Trump’s imperialist threats, tensions have been rising on Greenland’s eastern coast after the oil company brought drilling equipment ashore in July without permission, drawing a “strong warning” from the government.

Top Trump officials heading to Iowa to help GOP campaigns, sources say

The upcoming Iowa State Fair is a pivotal window of opportunity for candidates on the campaign trail.

Farm linked to cyclosporaisis outbreak went years without FDA inspection

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

The Guardian view on Japan’s yen: Trump wants to keep the easy-money machine running | Editorial

A cheap currency helps finance the US tech boom. Washington is intervening because allies matter only when they are useful

Japan’s yen has slid back towards 160 to the dollar, despite last month’s extraordinary US-Japanese intervention. Traders are betting that its role as a cheap funding pipeline for global finance will continue. Earlier this month the Trump administration stepped in to help Tokyo stabilise its currency. “Japan’s been very good to us, with the exception, of course, of Pearl Harbor,” Donald Trump explained. More help is likely to be on its way.

But this is less a rescue of the yen than an attempt by Scott Bessent, the US treasury secretary, to preserve a cash spigot that benefits the US. Japan’s ultra-cheap money has become a global funding utility: bankers borrow yen, sell them for dollars and buy higher-returning US assets, notably tech shares. Rising American stock markets support collateral and investment. Japan’s “carry trade” is one of the reasons Wall Street can lever hundreds of billions into AI. Research suggests AI sucks up more than 1% of US GDP.

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