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.

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

Two people 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.

Karoline Leavitt will step down as White House press secretary, Trump says

US president announced departure on social media, saying Leavitt was leaving to ‘spend more time’ with family

• US politics – live updates

Karoline Leavitt will step down as White House press secretary at the end of August, Donald Trump announced.

The US president revealed her departure on social media, saying Leavitt was leaving “so she can spend more time” with her family. The 28-year-old gave birth to a daughter, Viviana, in May, and returned from maternity leave last month.

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.

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 on Sunday afternoon, trapping him inside with his wife and two young daughters.

Cerebras stock plunges 14% after second earnings report following IPO

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

Surrogate gives birth to baby at center of multi-state 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.

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.

Hudson-Smith dazzles home fans as he surges to golden European 400m hat-trick

• Becomes first man to win three European 400m titles

• Hudson-Smith: ‘Nobody is going to beat me on this track’

Stand … and deliver. On a balmy night in Birmingham, Matt Hudson-Smith powered past the stand bearing his name at the Alexander Stadium and into history by becoming the first man to win three European Championship 400m titles.

And afterwards, as the adrenaline flooded his body and he posed wearing a crown in front of his own stand, the 31-year-old made it clear just how much it meant. “Nobody is going to beat me on this track,” he said. “This is my home. I have been here since I was nine. I know this track like the back of my hand.

Désiré Doué does the business as PSG edge Aston Villa to lift Super Cup

• Uefa Super Cup: Paris Saint-Germain 2-1 Aston Villa

• Kvaratskhelia 20, Doué 62; Madjo 45

Luis Enrique says it doesn’t matter what sport he is playing – football, tennis, padel or parchis, a board game – he wants to win every game, all the time. In Paris Saint-Germain, he has built a winning machine, the back-to-back Champions League victors maintaining their habit by conquering Aston Villa in an absorbing Super Cup contest in Salzburg. For PSG, after the joy of Munich and Budapest, three months ago, does a three-peat in Madrid in May beckon? They will surely go close.

Aston Villa more than played their part in an enthralling showpiece, Brian Madjo becoming the competition’s youngest scorer after the 17-year-old cancelled out Khvicha Kvaratskhelia’s opener. Villa had chances to gain the lead but Désiré Doué was the match-winner, the forward picking his spot after beating Villa’s offside trap. The goal was initially disallowed but, after a VAR review, Omar Artan, the Somali referee handed the game by Uefa after being denied entry to the US to officiate at the World Cup, awarded it after replays showed Matty Cash played Doué onside.

Karoline Leavitt exiting as White House press secretary

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

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.

The doctor who helps put prisoners to death – Stateside with Kai and Carter

On 13 August, three states are set to carry out executions by lethal injection. It’s the first time since 2010 that three people will be put to death on the same day in the US. In Tennessee, the execution of Darrell Hines is in the spotlight, because the last lethal injection in the state was botched. Ed Pilkington speaks to Kai Wright about the doctor at the center of that botched execution, whose identity was revealed inadvertently last year. Ed explains how his reporting has lifted the lid on a role that is usually hidden away from public view, and what it tells us about the American death penalty today

Unmasked: the doctor who helps put prisoners to death

Trump sued over service selling faster access to Truth Social posts

The federal lawsuit alleges that the service from the president's media company violates the Constitution. Meanwhile, Trump Media executives say they have signed up more than 10 customers.

Wisconsin Democrats chose a middle path – will it lead to victory in November?

Democratic socialist Francesca Hong fell just short as David Crowley strives for unity for the general election

Democratic socialist Francesca Hong was on course to win the party’s nomination for Wisconsin governor on Wednesday by a clear margin, according to the polls – presaging the latest in an extraordinary wave of leftwing victories across the country, challenging the party’s establishment.

It was not to be. In a photo finish after a messy campaign, David Crowley eked out a win by a few thousand votes over Hong, raising questions over the limits of the progressive movement that has swept through Democratic contests in recent months.

Jack Draper: ‘When you reach rock bottom like that you can come back up again’

Former world No 4 reflects on emotional reaction in Canada and rebuilding after the most difficult period of his career

Those painful images have relentlessly spread to all corners of the internet. Deep in the final set of the first-round match at the Canadian Open against Térence Atmane just over a week ago, 15 months of pent up emotion erupted. Two games from defeat, Draper spent the entire changeover in tears.

This was a devastating and alarming sight. Injuries had already defined so much of Draper’s career, but the uncertainty of trying to recover from a bone bruise injury to his left arm over the past year has been more challenging than anything he has experienced. All of his efforts since last July have been focused on trying to find a way to compete consistently at the highest level again, to no avail.

Triple-double king Russell Westbrook calls time on 18-year NBA career

• 2017 MVP announces retirement after 18 seasons

• Westbrook holds NBA record with 209 triple-doubles

• Guard spent first 11 seasons with Oklahoma City

Russell Westbrook, the NBA’s career leader in triple-doubles and the 2017 MVP, announced Wednesday he’s retiring after 18 seasons during which he was selected to the league’s 75th anniversary team.

The two-time scoring champion shared his decision on social media in a post featuring a video narrated by actor Michael B Jordan in which the Westbrook stays silent.

Controversial group wins $158M-contract to represent unaccompanied immigrant children

Utah-based Our Rescue was founded by activist Tim Ballard. It was previously known as Operation Underground Railroad and it says it helps law enforcement perform sting operations and rescues human trafficking survivors.

Nick Reiner indicted for murders of parents Rob and Michele Reiner

Reiner, 32, charged with first-degree murder in deaths of Hollywood towering figures Rob Reiner and Michele Reiner

A grand jury has indicted Nick Reiner with first-degree murder in the deaths of his parents, the renowned director and actor Rob Reiner and photographer Michele Singer Reiner, the Los Angeles county district attorney’s office announced on Wednesday.

Prosecutors accuse Reiner, 32, of stabbing the couple to death in December in their Brentwood home, before fleeing the scene. He was arrested shortly after and charged with murder. Reiner has since been held in custody without bail.

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.

White House press secretary leaving

Karoline Leavitt will continue to be an outside adviser, Trump said

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.

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.

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.

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.

Former Mexican governor charged in case of 43 students who vanished in 2014

Ángel Aguirre indicted in case that rocked Mexico and became symbol of its brutal cartel violence

The former governor of Guerrero state in Mexico has been formally charged over his alleged involvement in the disappearance of 43 students in 2014, a case that has become a symbol of the country’s brutal cartel violence and government impunity.

Ángel Aguirre, who was arrested last week, is accused of forced disappearance and obstruction of justice for ordering the destruction of surveillance tapes that may have shed light on what happened to the students from the Ayotzinapa teacher training college on the night of 26 September 2014.

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.

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.

Has the U.S. lost its dominance to China?

Beijing may be benefiting from the war in Iran and Trump's tariffs and has an edge in the competition for tech supremacy. The New Yorker's Evan Osnos discusses his story "The Future, Made in China."

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 administration pulls support for annual Arctic environmental report

Move by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is latest government rollback of climate science activity

The Trump administration has pulled its support for an annual report on the environmental changes across the Arctic, a region that is already heating up four times faster than the global average due to the climate crisis.

On Tuesday, Kim Doster, the communications director of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa), said the federal agency was withdrawing its support for the Arctic Report Card, which has provided environmental updates on the region to scientists and the public since 2006.

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.

Perez Hilton’s mother files for temporary custody of his three children

Celebrity blogger was hospitalized for a mental health crisis after he harmed himself during live stream

The mother of the celebrity blogger Perez Hilton is seeking temporary custody of his three children after he was hospitalized during a mental health crisis at his south Florida home last week.

Court documents filed in Miami-Dade county and seen by multiple news outlets, including Miami’s NBC 6, show the request for custody was made by 48-year-old Hilton’s mother.

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.

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.

Here are five key takeaways from the July CPI inflation report

Readings for July on the prices consumers pay for goods and services came in pretty much on target.

Charlie Kirk’s alleged shooter did not endanger others, defense attorneys say

Tyler Robinson’s lawyers say he should not be eligible for death penalty as ‘intended target’ was hit at Utah event

Lawyers for the man charged with killing the conservative activist Charlie Kirk say he should not be eligible for the death penalty because the alleged shooter “hit the intended target” during the assassination last year at a Utah event attended by thousands of people.

Defendant Tyler Robinson’s attorneys say prosecutors have not proven that others who attended Kirk’s event at Utah Valley University on 10 September were endangered by the shooting – a potentially aggravating factor under state law that would make it a capital crime.

Bob Iger, Joshua Kushner buy Los Angeles Lakers at a $12.5 billion valuation, source says

Venture capital founder Joshua Kushner and former Disney CEO Bob Iger acquire Mark Walter's stake in Los Angeles Lakers at valuation of more than $12 billion.

Honk if your barn is burning: pet goose alerts sleeping Texas family to blaze

Family ‘extremely grateful’ to four-month-old ‘Goosey’ who ran out of fire-billowing building and repeatedly squawked

A pet goose is being credited with helping save a Texas family’s animals after sounding a honking alarm as a fire tore through their barn.

The dramatic moment unfolded on the morning of 4 August in Fort Bend county, where four-month-old Goosey repeatedly squawked outside the burning barn, alerting his owners, the Gerber family, to the danger.

Unexpected hearing scheduled for Luigi Mangione sparks plea deal speculation

Rumors of plea deal in federal case have been circulating since June for suspect accused of killing Brian Thompson

An unexpected hearing in the federal stalking case against Luigi Mangione has been scheduled, leading to speculation that the alleged United Healthcare CEO assassin was seeking a plea deal that would in turn end a murder prosecution due to go to trial in New York state court next month.

Prosecutors and Mangione’s lawyers filed a joint letter requesting the hearing at 11am on Friday in Manhattan federal court.

Cambridge agrees to hold independent inquiry into Jason Arday appointment

Vice-chancellor Deborah Prentice says she recognises the ‘difficult case’ has damaged the university

Cambridge University’s leadership has bowed to internal pressure for an independent investigation into its appointment of Jason Arday as a professor, with its vice-chancellor admitting the affair has damaged the institution.

Prof Deborah Prentice said she recognised the “anger and anxiety around this damaging and difficult case” but described it as an aberration that should not be used to cast aspersions on the abilities of its staff of colour.

NYC Council probes prediction markets over advertising practices

New York City lawmakers allege that four major prediction markets engage in deceptive marketing practices and target young adults.

The Wrong Girls review – Kristen Stewart fumbles through forgettable stoner comedy

First time director Dylan Meyer’s female twist on the genre is let down by silly stereotypes and jokes that land with a thud

Want to feel old? Superbad turns 20 next year. It’s been decades since the stoner comedy ruled the box office. In fact, the genre’s best theatrically released film of recent years – the hilarious buddy movie One of Them Days – didn’t feature any weed smoking at all despite hitting all the usual outlandish beats of a stoner flick. If the streaming success of Hulu’s recent R-rated bong-ripper Pizza Movie is anything to go by, audiences would rather watch this particular strain of movie on the couch where they can spark up in peace.

The Wrong Girls aims to reverse that trend with a nationwide US theatrical rollout by Neon, the arty distributor which propelled Parasite and Anora to Oscar glory. Best friends Molly (Alia Shawkat) and Frankie (Kristen Stewart) live in a PeeWee’s Playhouse-coded stoner cave with macrame decor, a life-size cutout of Céline Dion, multiple cat towers and a contraption called the bong-o-tron – a complex rig of tubes and bubbling conical flasks – that fills the entirety of their coffee table. Being high all the time gives them a daffy kind of magical thinking, as they drive around town belting out power ballads and imagine that they are under the ocean with all manner of friendly sea creatures.

Becky G on her friendship with Karol G: "Our goal is to be the best versions of ourselves"

Singer Becky G speaks with Gayle King about her tour with Karol G and the bond the two pop stars have formed. "We have a beautiful friendship," Becky G says, "one I'm really, really thankful for and one that I think throughout the years we've really earned with one another."

Astronomers discover a new kind of cosmic object – a black hole ‘star’

The body is the size of the entire solar system and glows with a brilliant red light billions of light years from Earth

Astronomers claim to have discovered a new kind of cosmic object, a black hole “star”, which is the size of the entire solar system and glows with a brilliant red light.

The international team made the breakthrough after focusing their attention on a mysterious red spot in images of the early solar system captured by Nasa’s James Webb space telescope.

Here's how much Social Security's 2027 COLA could rise under new estimates

Social Security's cost-of-living adjustment for 2027 is projected to be lower than previously forecast, according to new estimates.

CoreWeave stock pops 14% as revenue doubles on accelerating AI infrastructure demand

CoreWeave's revenue is surging as the AI boom continues, but the company is also sitting on $35 billion in debt.

GM reaches up to $4.5 billion parts deal designed to avoid supply chain troubles

The deal follows years of global automotive supply chain issues for GM and other companies.

AI agents aren’t legally responsible for any harm that they cause, experts say. So who is?

Following Australia’s first reported automated hacking accident, experts warn deployers – and possibly developers – of AI agents could be held liable for the actions of their bots

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The law is clear, says Prof Jeannie Paterson. “If I deploy an AI agent and it causes harm to someone else, I am responsible for that harm.

“Even if I didn’t intend for that to happen, it was foreseeable, and I should be taking responsibility.”

Emiko Davies’ Japanese curry rice (kare raisu) – recipe

The Australian-born cook and author shares her recipe for a thick, fragrant Japanese curry – with one secret ingredient

Japanese curry – kare raisu in Japanese – is unlike any “curry” you might know from south Asian countries. That is partly because of the nature of yoshoku (western-influenced) cuisine but also because it made a roundabout route to Japan, via the British Royal Navy during the Meiji Restoration, a period when India was under British colonial rule. It arrived in the form of British “C&B” curry powder, so it was considered western food, not Indian. Curry became a staple in the Japanese naval and army kitchens at the turn of the century and this in turn brought curry into homes and even into school lunches. Today, it is considered a national dish.

Japanese curry needed to be thick enough so that it could be easily eaten with rice, with the help of a spoon. This can be achieved with a French-style roux base of butter, flour and liquid, or it can be thickened in a more Japanese style using a potato starchy slurry right at the end of cooking, which is my preference. Then there is the spice mix. Today, Japanese S&B curry powder is one of the best known, which contains 17 spices such as turmeric, coriander, fenugreek, cumin, cinnamon, fennel, ginger and star anise.

Don’t Say Good Luck review – high-school musical weepie puts Sunny Sandler in the spotlight

A mother’s illness threatens to overshadow a stagestruck teen’s big break in a school production

Do you, like me, have a soft spot for both high-school angst and Broadway showtunes – and maybe Douglas Goodhart’s amusing Master It! Insta reels on how to make it in musical theatre? Then you might find yourself giving a pass to this sugary but heartfelt teen weepie from director and co-writer Julia Hart, co-produced by Adam Sandler and starring his daughter Sunny Sandler.

She plays Soph, the shy theatre kid who unexpectedly gets the lead in her school production of the musical Waitress. Her devoted mom Elizabeth (Melanie Lynskey) has cancer, and thinks she should maybe wait until after the run to tell Soph the awful truth, so as not to spoil her big moment. But will that be ... too late?

Canadian airline WestJet agrees to settle flight attendants’ sexual harassment class action

Female staff alleged company failed to maintain safe workplace, after allegations of sexual assault against pilot

The Canadian airline WestJet has agreed to pay C$4.5m (£2.4m) to settle a decade-long sexual harassment class action lawsuit levelled by its female flight attendants, who alleged the company failed to maintain a safe workplace.

The suit followed allegations by Mandalena Lewis, a former flight attendant, that a pilot had sexually assaulted her and a colleague, but that WestJet kept the pilot flying, thereby putting other employees at risk.

What’s a wedding without a dirtbike doughnut? Hark1karan’s best photograph

‘On the day the youngest brother got married, they were out doing doughnuts and burnouts at eight in the morning’

As a Londoner with Punjabi roots, I’d say one of the best places to experience Punjabi culture is Southall, in west London, which has one of the UK’s largest Punjabi communities. This was taken there back in March 2021, when I was looking for people to feature in my short documentary, Zimmers of Southall. I like to capture everyday people doing something a little different, like these two brothers who fix cars. I had popped by to meet one of them and explain what I do, and take a few portraits for my broader work.

Rav, one of the brothers, had a dirt bike at the time and we were trying to photograph him doing a wheelie. The second brother, Inderjit, then joined and showed me his quad bike that he uses for off-road riding. Their father was at home and explained how his passion for bikes and cars was passed down to the boys. Their mother offered me tea and snacks, as often happens when visiting a Punjabi family home. It’s at that moment I suggested we get the whole family involved in a group photo – I knew it would make for something unique. Unfortunately, the third brother was not around, but their dad wheeled out his own bike to complete a beautiful family portrait. It felt natural and not forced at all – the energy was warm and welcoming. Ever since that day, I’ve stayed in touch with the family and try to visit when possible.

‘Be adults’: Joe Root gets rid of England Test team’s midnight curfew

• ‘I don’t think they work,’ says returning Test captain

• Root takes charge for three-match Pakistan series

Joe Root has abolished the midnight curfew for his England Test side, telling his players to “be adults” after a string of late-night incidents.

A curfew was imposed on the ­England men’s teams after their Ashes defeat in the winter, when the on-field action was overshadowed by players’ behaviour off it. Most ­notably, there was Harry Brook’s altercation with a nightclub bouncer on the eve of a one-day international in Wellington, with the batter admitting he was fortunate to keep his position as white-ball captain.

Mortgage rates finally stop rising, causing demand to trickle back

Mortgage rates finally eased a tiny bit, but it was enough to bring some demand back to a very beleaguered mortgage market.

Consumer prices rose 0.1% in July, as expected, putting the annual rate at 3.4%

The consumer price index was expected to increase 0.1% in July, with an annual rate of 3.4%.

$1 billion Powerball jackpot on the line in tonight's drawing. Here's what to know.

The jackpot is the eighth-largest Powerball prize ever.

Meta and Nvidia plant 'very firm flag' in open-weight AI race led by Chinese Labs

With China way ahead in the market for open-weight models, Meta and Nvidia are both doing what they can to put the U.S. on the map.

Lionel Messi has ‘quite a few doubts’ about football future after death of his father

• Messi’s father, ⁠Jorge, died last week at age of 68

• Argentinian suggests he may not play on much longer

Lionel Messi has hinted that the end of his career may be near after ­admitting to “quite a few doubts” about his football future following the death of his father.

Jorge Messi died last week at the age of 68 in Rosario, Argentina, after a long illness, with his health during this summer’s World Cup appearing to take a toll on Argentina’s 39-year-old captain.

‘Nightmare fodder’: Roku’s AI slop channel is even worse than expected

Fairground TV is a 24/7 channel devoted to low-quality AI content for viewers sick of watching real people move in ways that won’t haunt you

The appeal of Roku is that, whatever you happen to want to watch, there will almost certainly be a live channel for it. Just want to watch Little House on the Prairie? There’s a channel for it. Just want to watch Duck Dynasty? There’s a channel for that too. Purely want to watch nothing but local news from Wisconsin? Guess what: there’s a channel for that too.

But despite this wealth, a section of the population was still to see its needs fulfilled. What about people who hate plot and vision and the sight of people speaking convincing dialogue that synchronises perfectly with the movement of their lips? What about the people who just want to watch an unyielding torrent of eerily weightless nightmare fodder? Well, good news. Roku has finally caught up.

An inflation report Wednesday should be a big deal for the Fed. Here's what to expect

The consumer price index is expected to show only a modest increase for July.

Why we’re going back to the games of our youth

As millennials return to the games of their youth, remakes of Star Fox and Halo suggest there is still plenty to learn from the past

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As much as some people more or less cease to listen to new music in their 30s, I have noticed a retreat to safe, familiar gaming territory among some of my fellow millennial gamers.

Retro collections are started, or resumed; jewel-cases of PS1 classics or cardboard boxes with SNES or Mega Drive games have started to colonise the living-room shelves. People are replaying things from their university days, or sticking to comfort games such as Stardew Valley. Many of the friends I used to game with never bothered to pick up a PlayStation 5 at its launch, and now that current-generation consoles are becoming prohibitively expensive, they see no need. With thousands of great older games, why bother playing something new?

Inflation eases in July as gasoline and grocery prices fall

Consumer prices in July were up 3.4% from a year ago — a smaller annual increase than in May or June. The news makes it less likely the Fed will feel the need to raise interest rates in September.

Kansas father kills his four children and their mother before shooting himself

Incident marks second familicide in midwest in two weeks, with the children who died ranging in age from three to nine

A father killed his four young children and their mother before turning the gun on himself, said authorities in Wichita, Kansas – marking the second incident of familicide in the midwest in two weeks.

The Kansas bureau of investigation and Winfield police department said a man identified as 53-year-old Ronald Williams Sr called police at 8.50am on Tuesday to say he had killed his entire family and was about to take his own life.

Solar eclipse drives Europe hotel prices to over $1,000 a night

Eclipse demand pushed some Spain and Iceland stays above $1,000 a night, while Iceland hotels cut prices sharply closer to Aug. 12.

Greetings from a surreal expanse of sand dunes dotted with freshwater lagoons in Brazil

The pristine white sand dunes of the Lençóis Maranhenses National Park are bordered by thick jungle on one side and the Atlantic Ocean on the other. Thousands of lagoons fill up after the rainy season.

U.S. Marine veteran freed from Russian prison after nearly 4 years

A U.S. Marine veteran from Massachusetts who has been held in Russia for more than four years on disputed charges has been released.

‘Today’s Brazilians have no idea what it feels like to lose democracy’: Joyce Moreno on her battles to become a Latin musical great

After her defiant femininity outraged many in Brazil, she lived through a military dictatorship and was boycotted for years. But after more than 30 albums, she explains how she kept going

At 78, Joyce Moreno is one of Brazil’s musical icons, but for decades that status seemed far from assured: this headstrong singer, guitarist and composer was frequently viewed as a threat by her country’s establishment. Aged 19, the reaction to her song Me Disseram – which began “I was told my man didn’t love me” – almost torpedoed her career before it even started. “I’d often heard the expression ‘my man’ sung by Billie Holiday and Edith Piaf, so for me it was normal,” she says. “But I was a beach girl from Ipanema, writing and singing in the first person. People were shocked.”

Then, inspired by trailblazing actor Leila Diniz (“her liberal attitudes lost her jobs”), Moreno refused requests that she “dress like a sexy bimbo”, and endured male critics who thought her music “too good to have been written by a woman”. When, in 1980, she discovered that her label had given another female singer the blueprints for songs she had written, she “looked for a lawyer, of course” and successfully sued; in her memoir she claims she was then boycotted by Brazil’s major record companies for a decade.

His wedding guests gave $6k to fund a health startup. Now it's won a $3 million prize

Dr. Raj Panjabi founded Last Mile Health to bring healthcare to people living in remote areas. The group is the 2026 recipient of the Conrad N. Hilton Humanitarian Prize.

Etna, fishing boats at dawn and Berlin Wall art: photos of the day – Wednesday

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

Trump ally loses, mixed results for progressives: takeaways from primaries in Minnesota, Wisconsin and beyond

Primaries across US included Darline Graham advancing to runoff, while progressive Francesca Hong and MyPillow’s Mike Lindell fell short

A series of primary elections on Tuesday shaped the future of both the Democratic and Republican parties, pitting newcomers against established candidates and testing name recognition.

Wisconsin, Minnesota, Alabama, South Carolina, Vermont and Connecticut held elections, with a gubernatorial race in Wisconsin capturing nationwide attention.

Zhu Rongji, who drove China's 1990s economic reforms, has died at 97

Zhu was renowned for reforms that sought to transition China from the post-Maoist years to a more global market-oriented financial system, without ceding party control over the economy.

Panama canal fees soar due to Iran war and El Niño as ship ‘pays $4m to jump queue’

Falling water levels linked to weather system are expected to limit number of slots to transit shipping lane

Commercial ships travelling through the Panama canal are facing a rise in costs amid disruption triggered by the Iran war and falling water levels linked to this year’s intense El Niño weather system.

Highlighting the fragility of global trade, a container ship reportedly paid about $4m (£3m) to jump a queue of vessels waiting to pass through the vital maritime choke point.

Hong's defeat in Wisconsin deals blow to rising Democratic socialists

Progressive Democrats keep their winning streak rolling in Minnesota.

Humpbacks return to Rio: the whales are back from the brink of extinction – but will tourism help or hinder?

The gigantic aquatic acrobats are exciting Brazil’s tourists as numbers recover from whaling. But some marine biologists question how booming tourism and conservation can coexist

The anticipation is palpable onboard the Boaventura II as the yacht sets off from Rio de Janeiro at sunrise. Once beyond the Cagarras Islands, rocky outcrops just three miles off Ipanema beach, the group gathers at the bow and starts scanning the horizon.

They do not have to wait long. “Eleven o’clock!” someone calls out, as a pod of bottlenose dolphins appears, playfully diving in and out of the water. Then, two spouts of vapour hanging in the air signal the reason for the outing: a pair of humpback whales. The majestic mammals surface to breathe with an unhurried chuff, before revealing the underside of their fluke as they dive back underwater.

In Ohio, Haitians’ American dream shatters as ICE prepares to deport them

US immigration has ramped up operations against Haitians, whose temporary protected status was removed by Trump

When Monsanto Maler walked out of an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in Blue Ash, Ohio, at 9.15am on Sunday with an ankle monitor freshly attached to his left leg, he put his hand over his face, burst into tears and fell to the ground.

He had come to the US in June 2023, fleeing gangs in Cap-Haïtien, Haiti, where he had been hit over the right side of his head, leaving a large, visible scar.

How to use up parmesan rind to make pesto – recipe | Waste not

Why waste the tastiest bit of the cheese?

Although parmesan rind is tough, it has just as much, if not more flavour than the cheese from inside the wheel itself. It can be used just as it is to flavour stock or risi e bisi (Venetian pea risotto), but grating it opens up a whole range of other uses, such as in my mac and cheese “rinds” and today’s parmesan rind pesto. The flavour is very powerful, though, so add it to taste: you may find that you need a lot less than you think you do.

Scorching heat is straining Europe's nuclear power supplies — and prompting drastic measures

Heat and drought are curbing nuclear output across Europe, with Romania facing a possible reactor shutdown and France reducing generation.

Takeaways from Tuesday primaries. And, Iran threat prompted Trump's secret plane swap

Yesterday's primaries provided more insight into what voters in both parties want from their new leaders. And, Trump secretly switched planes in Turkey last month amid a foreign threat

Premier League 2026-27 preview No 6: Chelsea

After a period of underachievement and upheaval for the Blues, the arrival of Xabi Alonso could signal a change in fortunes

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

Last season’s position: 10th

Halting the march of the African armyworm: a natural cure offers hope to farmers

South African scientist’s breakthrough research shows soil fungus could be used in fight against devastating crop pest

Hearing about fields full of dead caterpillars enveloped in a mysterious white substance intrigued the South African scientist Letodi Luki Mathulwe. Something was killing off the African armyworm – one of the most devastating pests for farmers in east and southern Africa.

The white substance was a naturally occurring fungus and it was wiping out the caterpillar, which gained its name from its march-like advance through fields of crops.

Andrew Tate's extradition fight tests his influence with Trump's America

After President Trump took office, Andrew Tate proclaimed, "The Tates will be free." A year later, Tate is being held in federal prison after he was arrested following a U.K. extradition request.

Germany approves lifting curbs on spy agencies in security ‘revolution’

Reforms comply with wishlist of intelligence services which say Germany lags behind allies and enemies

The German government has approved a draft law aimed at lifting many of the restraints on its spy agencies imposed during the postwar period as the country reels from two attacks in a month that have exposed serious security gaps.

The controversial changes, which must still pass parliament, largely comply with a wishlist pulled together by the foreign and domestic intelligence services, which have long complained Germany lags behind its allies and enemies.

Heard about the ‘luteal uglies’? Women know more about our hormones than ever – and that’s beautiful | Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett

When I was younger, female biology was seen as something to be overcome. Now we can talk about the reality of living in our bodies

Have you got the “luteal uglies”? I’m not trying to insult you, merely deploying the latest hormonal buzz phrase on social media, which refers to the phase in a woman’s cycle, two or so weeks between ovulation and menstruation, when she apparently feels at her lowest and most unattractive due to a drop in oestrogen levels.

Women’s hormones have become trending topics and, as someone who only found out what a “luteal phase” is when she Googled it, mid-fertility panic, in her late 20s, I am somewhat in awe of the expertise with which younger women discuss their menstrual cycles now. They’re just so incredibly literate.

Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett is a Guardian columnist and the author of Female, Nude

AI was supposed to destroy jobs. Where’s the carnage?

The AI jobs apocalypse never showed up. Still, jobs are changing and economists expect more to come

The prediction was stark: artificial intelligence advancements would wipe out jobs en masse. “Half” of all entry-level white collar jobs would vanish, Anthropic’s CEO, Dario Amodei, said in May 2025. A month later, OpenAI’s CEO, Sam Altman, went further, foreseeing the end of “certain job categories”. Companies began citing AI in their layoffs. Workers organized. And students reconsidered their future careers.

But a year later, the mass carnage hasn’t shown up.

‘Bold and ethical’: doctors on AOC’s egg-freezing journey - and Maga’s criticisms of it

In documenting the process, AOC is defying the right’s pronatalist narratives about motherhood and women’s careers

On Sunday, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez announced that she is freezing her eggs. The 36-year-old New York congresswoman took to Instagram to document the process, complete with jabbing a syringe into her stomach on camera.

“Don’t be weird about this,” Ocasio-Cortez said, “even though I know all of you will be.”

I was enjoying growing vegetables. Then the climate crisis raised its ugly head | Bim Adewunmi

My child and I were bonding over our hit-and-miss approach to reaping crops. But with heatwaves pushing more of Britain into drought, it’s starting to feel like a luxury we can’t afford

For the first time in my life, I live in a home that has real outdoor space. What a concept! There are no downsides to a garden. Back in spring, I made grand plans – I watched all the TikToks, I bought seeds and trays and pots and grow bags, I ordered soil, a trowel and a watering can. I knew what I was after: super-tiny-scale subsistence farming with a side of Zen. A little fruit, a little veg, lots of flowers to attract pollinators. And I knew I wanted my elder child to gain an understanding of how things come to be and how to cope if and when they fail.

We love a tomato side salad, so that was the first thing we attempted. The seedlings flourished and then died in the first heatwave of the season. An omen, surely. The dahlias, ranunculus and freesias refused to grow, let alone bloom. My enthusiasm began to wane.

Saudi Pro League tries to move on from era of ageing megastar but big names still loom | John Duerden

As Ronaldo heads towards 1,000 career goals, the league plans to lift the standard of Saudi Arabian football, not just the clubs

There is no Mohamed Salah in the new Saudi Pro League season that kicks off on Thursday and while the era of the ageing megastar is ending, there is still the strong chance the next few months will be dominated by Cristiano Ronaldo. The 41-year-old is 24 shy of 1,000 career goals and, with the five-time Ballon d’Or winner having scored 102 in 107 league games for Al-Nassr, the milestone could – should – be reached this season.

Huge as that will be, just how it fits into the plans of the league is unclear. This is the fourth season since the spending started with $957m splashed out in the summer of 2023. It produced thousands of articles, dozens of international broadcasting deals and untold numbers of people worldwide sporting the yellow CR7 Al-Nassr shirt. Now, though, the focus is on getting a little more value for money and lifting not just the clubs, but the standard of Saudi Arabian football in general.

Mutants assemble: what does the future hold for the X-Men?

After the introduction of a key character in Spider-Man: Brand New Day, Marvel is bringing back one of its most beloved franchises – but the return comes at a precarious time

Later-period Marvel movies have resorted to more fantastical plot devices such as parallel universes and time travel in an attempt to raise stakes in an increasingly complicated, superhero-populated cinematic universe. After Spider-Man: Brand New Day, a Marvel/Sony co-production that’s making a run at biggest-movie-of-all-time status, it feels as if those devices are making incursions into the real world and messing with the sacred timeline of superhero movies. Brand New Day has spurred speculation about the upcoming MCU reboot of the X-Men, seeded with the introduction of powerful telepath mutant Jean Grey (Sadie Sink). It’s like a reversed version of the early-century superhero boom, when the first X-Men movie became an unexpected smash in the summer of 2000, priming audiences for the record-shattering debut of the first Spider-Man two years later.

The only teasing of Spider-Man in the 2000 X-Men movie hid in the DVD’s blooper reel, featuring an outtake where someone (not Tobey Maguire) runs into the frame in full Spidey regalia, as a prank. At the time, there was no Marvel Studios making in-house movies; the company’s superheroes were at the mercy of whatever studio happened to license them. Fox had the X-Men, and parlayed them into a 20-year, 13-movie franchise. Meanwhile, Sony had Spider-Man, and made five of those (three with Maguire, two with Andrew Garfield) before striking a deal for the ascendant Marvel Studios to produce further installments within their MCU, while Sony retains the actual movie rights.

Carcass Clad: stifling tank combat promises tension, terror and surprising laughs

After the success of space horror Mouthwashing, Swedish developer Wrong Organ has created a Battlefield-inspired co-op with a supernatural twist

‘Claustrophobic”, “oppressive”, “pretty depressing” – these are the words Jeffrey Tomec and Dave van Egdom volunteer when I ask them to reflect on their work as part of Swedish indie developer Wrong Organ. I’d add “nightmare-inducing”, too. Their last game, Mouthwashing, was an acclaimed work of horror storytelling set on a scuttled space freighter, in which players uncover the horrible things its desperate crew have done to each other.

When you’re planning a follow-up to something so pitilessly nasty, how do you raise the stakes? Well, you could set the entire game in the stifling crew compartment of a heavily armoured tank, a coffin-like interior you share with two other players as you co-operatively attempt to pilot your beleaguered war machine to safety through the crumbling remains of a city in enemy territory.

Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls review – an anime-style rumble that’s rooting for you

PlayStation 5, PC; Arc System Works/Sony Interactive Entertainment
With tremendous visuals and accessible controls, this superhero-themed fighter has the chops to inspire a new generation of champs

Arriving at the turn of the millennium and the twilight of the video arcade, Marvel vs Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes has long been a high-water mark for fighting games, with no heir apparent; its massive, colourful roster and frenetic, spectacular combos have lured newcomers and elite competitors alike. Developer Arc System Works, a fan-favourite studio famous for its hyper-fluid and extremely technical anime-style fighting games, has been on a long journey to usurp Capcom’s throne. With Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls, it may have finally achieved this difficult task.

Marvel Tōkon is less an attempt to recreate a Marvel vs Capcom-esque phenomenon out of whole cloth, and more a thoughtful evolution of the developer’s previous riffs on the formula such as 2018’s BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle and Dragon Ball FighterZ, building on its low-floor, high-ceiling approach. Simplified inputs allow players to execute combos and finishers with a single button, which gives novices the confidence to keep playing and inspires them to study and improve – because when anyone can pull off a flashy ultimate skill or EX attack, strategy and mastery take on a premium. And Marvel Tōkon has great depths to plumb.

Millions of US tax dollars sent to rightwing European thinktanks. Did any Trump supporters vote for that? | Arwa Mahdawi

It’s a great betrayal: poor communities neglected while multimillionaires peddle a global Maga agenda. How is that America first?

“THE CORRUPTION IS AT LEVELS RARELY SEEN BEFORE,” Donald Trump posted on Truth Social in February 2025. He was not referring to his own administration, but to the US Agency for International Development (USAID). “CLOSE IT DOWN!” the president added.

Just a few hours later USAID was in effect closed down, with most of the staff placed on indefinite administration leave. This was framed as part of Trump’s “America first” agenda. USAID, the Trump administration and his sycophants in the rightwing media had argued, was wasting taxpayers’ hard-earned money on ridiculous projects abroad instead of improving life at home. In the lead-up to the shuttering of USAID, for example, one of the most shameless lies about the agency, repeated without any evidence by the likes of Fox News, was that it was spending millions on condoms for Gaza.

Arwa Mahdawi is a Guardian columnist

Chum review – daft shark attack movie with wedding guests running gamut of toothy undersea beast

Producer-star Alice Eve seems to be laughing along with the audience in this deeply silly high-concept thriller

To be as clear as the crystalline waters in which the characters here frolic before their blood turns the ocean the colour of sangria: this is grade A tosh. It’s a deeply stupid high-concept feature wherein a bunch of bourgie wedding guests run afoul of an errant great white shark. The twist is (and it’s really not much of a surprise) that the true enemy is not really the shark, which is only following its sharky instincts. No, the bad guy is a bereaved weirdo called Roy (Jim Klock), who wants revenge on the shark for eating his wife in the opening pre-credits sequence.

Alice Eve, who is also one of the film’s producers, at least seems to be having a bit of a giggle playing Tina, the most resourceful of Roy’s victims. Tina is a lawyer who should be enjoying the first days of her marriage to Tom (Eric Michael Cole) after their lavish destination wedding – except it looks like they are heading for a swift annulment, because ecowarrior Tom is disgusted with Tina for considering taking on an oil company as a client. They can’t make peace on the topic, and in the middle of an endless bicker they are press-ganged into what is supposed to be a relaxing three-hour cruise with a bunch of disposable secondary characters.

Europe is the world’s fastest warming continent. What is to blame?

The climate crisis is hitting Europe hard in 2026, warming twice as fast as any other continent – and the consequences are deadly

The whole world is getting hotter as carbon pollution from fossil fuel burning traps ever more heat, but Europe is heating up twice as fast as other continents. The consequences are increasingly deadly, with tens of thousands of heatwave deaths so far this summer.

The Guardian’s climate forum 2026: On Tuesday 20 October, join Damian Carrington and our panel of experts, including Professor Andy Haines, Katie White MP, Asad Rehman, Shruti Suresh Gareth Thomas and Amy Fairman, for a hopeful and solutions-focused evening. Book tickets here or at guardian.live