Netanyahu party campaign billboard likens Mamdani to leaders of Iran and Hezbollah

Likud’s depiction of Zohran Mamdani is latest move in spat between Israel’s prime minister and New York’s mayor

Benjamin Netanyahu’s party has compared the New York City mayor, Zohran Mamdani to the leaders of Iran and Hezbollah on a campaign billboard.

The billboard in central Tel Aviv depicts Mamdani alongside the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Iran’s supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei, and the chief of the militant group Hezbollah, Naim Qassem.

Trump says Kim Jong-un has responded to his overtures when asked about scaling back US drills with South Korea – live

Trump also claims he’s ‘actually making it much safer’ for South Korea by scaling back joint military drills just days after North Korea test-fired ballistic missiles

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Republican senator Thom Tillis deplored Trump’s decision to cut US military drills with South Korea, which comes despite military officials from both countries warning that Kim Jong-un’s regime is learning new battlefield expertise, including new drone tactics, from assisting Russia with its war in Ukraine.

Tillis wrote on X:

South Korea has been a solid military ally for over 70 years that possesses exquisite military capabilities. Reducing joint exercises with South Korea does nothing more than free up thousands of North Korea’s troops to support Putin’s systematic kidnapping, torture, rape, and murder of innocent Ukrainian citizens.

Democrat Rep. Jimmy Gomez being investigated over sexual misconduct allegations

The California Democrat has admitted to "personal mistakes" outside of his marriage, but also says his actions were consensual in nature did not violate House Ethics rules.

Hollywood continues to fail child stars and Hayden Panettiere is the latest casualty | Jesse Hassenger

The untimely death of the Heroes and Scream star was a tragic ending to a life filled with darkness in an industry that still lets its younger stars down

• Hayden Panettiere: an actor so magnetic that entire shows were rewritten for her

• Hayden Panettiere – a life in pictures

• Hayden Panettiere obituary

For a little while, it looked as if maybe former child actors had shed the stigma, long understandably held, that Hollywood success at a young age would lead to tragedy later in life. Child stars from the 1970s and 1980s seemed particularly mistreated and/or self-destructive, whether born into dysfunctional Hollywood families, like Tatum O’Neal, or the result of more sui generis success, like Brad Renfro, River Phoenix, or Corey Haim. But as these cases became more notorious, they seemed to act as cautionary tales for a generation of stars that seemed – broadly speaking – to be receiving better guidance, whether from family, friends, or themselves.

Look at the astonishingly well-adjusted core cast of Harry Potter kids, who worked for a full decade, from their pre-teen years to young adulthood: among Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, and Rupert Grint, there are more awards, charity work and seemingly happy relationships than genuine scandals. (The biggest malfeasance of anyone in the trio? Some mild tax problems for Grint.) Other awards-show fixtures like Natalie Portman, Christian Bale, and Kieran Culkin have come out the other side of child stardom with terrific careers and strong reputations closer to the Jodie Foster model. Even Lindsay Lohan, whose behavior in the 2000s and into the 2010s seemed to signal impending tragedy, seems to be doing well: sober, happily married, and back on the big screen last year with the hit sequel Freakier Friday. In terms of more recent young stars, a pop singer like Olivia Rodrigo appears to have much more autonomy than Britney Spears did, even in her early-2000s heyday.

Tupac Shakur murder: trial of ex-gang leader accused of ordering killing begins

Prosecutors allege Duane Davis was ‘on-site commander’ in murder of Shakur who died after drive-by shooting in 1996

• What we know about Tupac Shakur’s death

The trial of a former gang leader accused of orchestrating the 1996 killing of rap star Tupac Shakur began in a Las Vegas courtroom on Monday, featuring testimony from a witness to the shooting and a former police officer.

Duane “Keffe D” Davis is on trial for murder for his alleged role in the shooting of Shakur, who died after a drive-by shooting. Prosecutors allege Davis was the “on-the-ground, on-site commander of the effort to kill Tupac”.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed reporting

Trump tells 10-year-old rescued by teen lifeguard: ‘I don’t know if I’d do it’

President hosts Nathanial Rai and lifeguard Ryder Williams at White House after video of California rescue went viral

Nathanial Rai had been swept off his feet along the California coast, was rescued by a 16-year-old lifeguard – and was now sitting in the Oval Office with Donald Trump.

Of the rescuer, Ryder Williams, Trump said to Rai: “He’s a real hero. I don’t know if I’d do it.

I drove Tesla FSD, Rivian Autonomy+ ‘hands-free’ driving systems. Here’s how they compare

Rivian is trying to catch up to Tesla's "hands-free" capabilities, but with additional safety guardrails that the Elon Musk company doesn't have.

Trump’s move to gut South Korea alliance is ‘inane, haphazard decision’, lawmakers say

US president’s abrupt order to scale back joint exercises with Seoul is meant to ‘flatter’ North Korea’s dictator, top Democrat says

• US politics live – latest updates

Donald Trump’s move to gut Washington’s 73-year-old military alliance with Seoul has been called “inane” and “shortsighted” as lawmakers warned it risked strengthening Russia’s hand in Ukraine.

The US president abruptly ordered the Pentagon to scale back joint exercises with South Korea just days after North Korea test-fired ballistic missiles, justifying the decision by citing his “very good relationship” with Kim Jong-Un, the nuclear-armed dictator such exercises exist to deter.

Where the Trump administration's lawsuits seeking voter data stand

The Justice Department has filed lawsuits against 30 states and the District of Columbia in an effort to force them to hand over their unredacted voter rolls containing voters' sensitive information.

House Ethics investigating Rep. Jimmy Gomez for alleged sexual misconduct

The allegations include "engaging in inappropriate sexual contact with a House staffer," according to the committee.

Todd Boehly and Mark Walter consider selling Chelsea shares to Clearlake Capital

• Chelsea chair Boehly and Walter each own about 13%

• Sale would give Clearlake effective control of club at 86%

The Chelsea chair, Todd Boehly, and director Mark Walter are considering selling their shares in the club to the majority owners, Clearlake Capital, in a deal that would give the private equity company complete control at Stamford Bridge.

Clearlake, whose investment is managed by Behdad Eghbali and José E Feliciano, already owns more than 60% of Chelsea, but in an unusual arrangement agreed when buying the club from Roman Abramovich four years ago, they share operational control with a consortium led by Boehly, who along with Walter and Hansjörg Wyss each own about 13%.

Trump welcomes 16-year-old lifeguard and boy he rescued to the Oval Office

President Trump praised lifeguard Ryder Williams for his bravery, saying his rescue of a 10-year-old boy in treacherous waters was "incredible."

The Guardian view on Jason Arday: a tragedy that demands reflection | Editorial

Legitimate scrutiny became entangled with a racial argument about merit and diversity. His death raises questions about how society treats black success and failure

The tragic death of Jason Arday raises serious questions about race, institutional authority and what happens to people in a society increasingly organised around public reputation. Arday, who resigned earlier this month as a professor at the University of Cambridge, was found dead at his home last week. He was 41. His family and friends have lost somebody they loved and cared for. Arday had publicly said that the scrutiny of allegations concerning his academic work and claims he had made about his life was taking a profound toll. That he then died amid an intense and continuing media examination of his life is deeply troubling.

The prime minister, Andy Burnham, was right to call this “a moment for reflection”. This does not mean suppressing difficult questions, ignoring why there remain a pitifully small number of black professors in British universities, or attacking legitimate journalism. But in a polarised world it should see the media ask how proper scrutiny can widen into something more encompassing; how race affects the meaning attached to an individual’s alleged failings; and whether separate valid stories can, via social media, have an overwhelming effect. In Arday’s case, alleged shortcomings in his record rapidly became weaponised by the right in an argument about diversity and black academic advancement.

Has your license plate been tracked by Flock? Here's how to check.

The website​ HaveIBeenFlocked has compiled a database of 4.6 million license plate records that have appeared in roughly 242 million Flock searches.

People with severe intellectual disabilities live 24 years less on average

Exclusive: Research also finds stark ethnic disparities, and 40% of deaths among group classed as avoidable

People living with severe intellectual disabilities are dying 24 years younger on average than the wider population, a study has found, with 40% of such deaths being avoidable.

The study also found that within this group, people from minority ethnic backgrounds were dying 14 years younger than their white counterparts.

Why are airlines banning humanoid robots from flights?

Four major U.S. airlines have quietly changed their policies to ban humanoid and animal-like robots from their flights.

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.

Ex-prosecutor fired over FACE Act case sues DOJ for unlawful termination

Sunita Doddamani argues that she was terminated as an assistant U.S. attorney because she prosecuted activists accused of blocking an entrance to an abortion clinic.

Supreme Court won't rehear Trump's appeal of $5 million E. Jean Carroll case

The Supreme Court declined for the second time to consider President Trump's appeal in the E. Jean Carroll case.

Hayden Panettiere, known for "Heroes" and "Remember the Titans," dies at 36

Hayden Panettiere, who starred in "Remember the Titans" as a child actor and rose to fame in the series "Heroes," has died at the age of 36. The coroner's office says she was found in cardiac arrest.

Sergio’s stunner lights up El Sardinero on Racing Santander’s emotional La Liga return | Sid Lowe

Teenager’s glorious strike made it 2-0 against Villarreal – but though they were pegged back to a draw the match sealed a feelgood return from the abyss

“The poor kid couldn’t believe what had happened; none of us could have if we’d just done what he had just done,” said Álvaro Mantilla, Racing Santander’s captain in the match they had longed for more than anything in the world. Which was why the kid – a 19-year-old from just along the coast who had been at the club half his life – wasn’t the only one crying. The day Sergio Martínez played his first game for Racing, he had climbed into the stand to hug his grandad; the day he played his first in primera, on Sunday afternoon at the Sardinero, he just about managed to stand before it, legs giving way a little and tears coming to his eyes. All around him they felt it too, 22,413 people absolutely losing it.

What he had just done was, well, everything. At least that’s how it felt right then. “Euphoria”, his captain called it. In his first game in the first division, his third start ever, Sergio hadn’t just scored; he had scored the kind of goal you get in a comic, all explosions and exclamation marks. The ball sat up like an invitation and Kapow! – Sergio smashed it on the bounce, a cartoon arrow drawn to the top corner. It tore through the air and through time, flashing past at 126km an hour and 14 years a second, so Sergio ran to the corner, holding the badge he has worn since he was 10. There, there was a wobble as it came to him just what he had done. Bloody hell, this was actually happening.

Shark selfies: why ‘finfluencers’ need to put their cameras away

More and more people are posting footage of themselves touching sharks or even riding them. This is, of course, a terrible idea

Name: Shark selfies.

Age: The phrase seems to have emerged in summer 2014 and will hopefully be retired as soon as possible.

Hunter Bell sets sights on Hodgkinson, Werro and Broeders-Bol in 800m clash of titans

• Big Three and Hunter Bell to meet in Zurich next week

• ‘I am really excited to throw my hat into the ring there’

Georgia Hunter Bell says she is ready to take on the “Big Three” of Audrey Werro, Keely Hodgkinson and Femke Broeders-Bol in a race for the ages over 800m in Zurich next week.

Hunter Bell has had an extraordinary season, adding the 1500m European Championship title on Sunday to her Commonwealth 800m gold and 1500m world indoor crown. She is now ready to put herself to the test in a fast-paced 800m against the three Birmingham medallists.

Claude to start watermarking AI-generated text – but will it make quality worse?

Anthropic says it will change way chatbot makes small, random choices, to comply with EU regulation

The world is familiar by now with the usual tropes of machine-generated text: overuse of the word “delve”, an excess of em dashes, and the chirpy, relentless construction of “it’s not X but Y”.

But is it about to get even worse?

US supreme court again rejects Trump’s bid to overturn E Jean Carroll verdict

Decision leaves intact $5m civil judgment against Trump after jury found him liable for sexually abusing writer

The US supreme court has rejected for a second time Donald Trump’s attempt to overturn a jury verdict in 2023 that found him liable for sexually ​abusing writer E Jean Carroll, and later defaming her.

The court announced the decision in an unsigned order on Monday, without providing an explanation of their decision. The order just listed the US president’s petition, along with several other petitions, under “rehearings denied”.

Holy water: nuns fight Italian town’s plans to take away their beach club

Sisters argue they should retain concession in Ligurian town of Spotorno because it funds charitable activities

A group of Italian nuns is fighting back against local council plans to take their beach club away from them – the latest flashpoint in the long-running debate about the monopoly of private concessions along Italy’s coastline.

The dispute, described as “a holy war” by some local press, unfolded when a 50-metre stretch of sand at Bagni Gino Garrone, a beach resort in the Ligurian coastal town of Spotorno managed by nuns from the Suore di Carità di Santa Maria order, was designated for public bidding by authorities as they seek to comply with EU beach concession laws as well as regional regulations on free beach quotas.

Can Trump’s peace plan for Gaza be saved? – The Latest

Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner is on a diplomatic mission in the Middle East to meet Hamas officials and the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, in an attempt to salvage a ceasefire in Gaza. The talks come after Netanyahu rejected the US-backed 15-point peace plan for the territory in a rare public break with the Trump administration this month. Nosheen Iqbal speaks to global editor Devika Bhat

Former Hurricane Lala drenches Hawaii, flash floods sweep away Big Island homes

Lala was weakening but still packing a punch as it moved away from the islands, forecasters said.

Niu Lai: derided animated film rivals blockbusters at Chinese box office

Commentary about the ‘so bad it’s good’ qualities of mother and son’s movie has driven people to see it at cinema

A crude, low-tech animation about a cow and a skylark has become a sleeper hit at China’s box office, sitting alongside blockbusters such as The Odyssey and Spider-Man: Brand New Day in cinema revenue rankings.

Niu Lai, which translates to The Cow is Coming, is an 86-minute budget animation about a newborn calf and a skylark whose relationship develops over the course of an abstract dream sequence.

Jordan Cox embraces Test ‘clarity’ but with it comes unfamiliar role for England

Essex opener faces unenviable task batting at No 3 against a new-ball master like Mohammad Abbas in Pakistan series

It has been a complicated start to Jordan Cox’s England career. There have been a handful of white-ball appearances and a Test debut that was taken away from him two years ago when he broke a thumb in the buildup. The cap eventually arrived this summer, though only at No 7 as a specialist batter, filling in when Ben Stokes was suspended against New Zealand at the Oval.

Now comes another unfamiliar role, starting on Wednesday in the three-match series against Pakistan – but Cox is grateful for the straightforward message provided by the England selector Marcus North. He will bat at first drop in the first two Tests in the absence of the injured Jacob Bethell. “Northy didn’t have to go: ‘You’re batting at three in these two Test matches’, but he did. This is 100% – unless I get injured,” Cox said. “Clarity’s one of the best things in sport.”

Hayden Panettiere remembered by co-stars and friends after her death

Co-stars and friends of Hayden Panettiere​ are remembering her for her friendship, intelligence and talent after her shocking death on Sunday.

Meta faces ‘astronomical’ consequences as legal fight reaches critical moment in California

Meta faces a federal trial over child safety claims that could bring major financial penalties and changes to Facebook and Instagram.

European farmers face ‘unprecedented crisis’ after successive heatwaves

Vegetable and grain growers call for urgent action, warning of ‘catastrophic’ harvests due to continent-wide drought

Successive intense heatwaves and an increasingly severe, continent-wide drought have left many of Europe’s farmers in an “unprecedented” crisis, with vegetable and grain growers in particular warning of “catastrophic” harvests.

French vegetable production is down by “a very significant extent” compared with previous years, French growers have said, with shortfalls put at 25% for courgettes, 35% for lettuces, 40% for peas, 60% for broccoli and 50% to 100% for artichokes.

Supreme Court again rejects Trump bid to overturn E. Jean Carroll verdict

President Trump was held civilly liable in the case by a New York federal jury for defaming and sexually abusing the writer E. Jean Carroll.

‘I was carrying a lot of shame’: why people are sharing breakdowns of their debt online

In an era of transparency, people are more willing to talk about money struggles on the internet, breaking one of the last social taboos

Discussions regarding personal finances have traditionally been taboo. But gen Z and millennials in the US are finally normalizing conversations about money, openly sharing about salaries, rent and investment strategies, but also their (sometimes substantial) debt.

In recent years, financial influencers (finfluencers) – some licensed professionals, others not – have gained visibility, sharing advice on once-covert, perhaps unsexy topics such as Roth IRA contributions, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and maxing out 401(k)s. The most popular have a big audience: for instance, Humphrey Yang, a former financial adviser, has more than 2 million YouTube subscribers, and Erika Kullberg, an attorney and financial expert, has more than 20 million followers across social media.

My son is leaving home for university – and my severe denial has surprised me | Zoe Williams

My cherished first-born will soon be off to start a big new phase of his life, shiny saucepans in tow. ‘Empty nesting’ implies this is as nature intended, but it’s knocked me for six

My son sent me a picture of his university accommodation, which looked perfectly nice, but there was something off about it. It was a little bit too tidy, of course, and had the slightly dystopian atmosphere of a neutral colour palette, but the main problem was that places look weird without people in them. That’s why architects, when they’re trying to sell a development, always add the magic ingredients: a child with a balloon, a couple pushing a buggy and a gentleman with a bicycle.

So I squinted a bit and tried to imagine my son in that room, which is when it hit me: he’s actually serious about this. He truly intends, in one month’s time, to get all his stuff, put it in bags, take it to another city and live there. I can neither convey nor explain my surprise, which is bottomless. It’s not that I thought he wouldn’t get the grades; I’m not one of those harridan sceptic-parents. I just had “I’m going to university” filed as one of those cute, dumb things kids say, along with “I’m going to space”, “I’m changing my name to Unnamed Being” and “I’m an otter now”.

Premier League to allow audio of conversations between players and referees

• Audio to be used during live broadcasts for first time

• Move is part of an expansion of the RefCam system

The Premier League will permit audio of on-field conversations between players and referees during live broadcasts for the first time this season.

The use of audio by the Premier League’s domestic TV rights holders, Sky Sports and TNT Sports, is part of an expansion of the RefCam system, which became a permanent feature of top-flight coverage last season after a six-week trial at the start of the campaign. The head-mounted RefCams were used by broadcasters to ­provide near‑instant replays of match ­incidents from a new angle in an attempt to enhance the viewer experience, but under the terms of their agreement with clubs the audio captured by the cameras was not televised until several days later.

China’s economy showing signs that slowdown may be extending

Industrial output and retail sales slump in July after one of the country’s weakest quarterly growth rates ever

China’s economy is showing signs of extending a slowdown with a slump in industrial output and retail sales in July, adding to pressure on Beijing to intervene with measures to support activity.

After the world’s second largest economy posted one of its lowest quarterly growth readings on record in the three months to June, the latest figures suggest it continued to falter in July.

‘She never forgot where she came from’: Bonnie Tyler mourners turn out for Swansea service

Many in the crowd watching on screen outside minster have stories of meeting or knowing singer, who died in July

Bonnie Tyler’s songs have echoed through her home town of Swansea in recent days in memory of the late singer, but on Monday the church bells stopped and wellwishers lining the streets fell silent as her coffin arrived for a service celebrating her life.

As the white coffin, covered in bouquets of white roses, was carried into the minster, shouts of “God bless you Bonnie” and “bye Bonnie” punctured the quiet. Those gathered to pay their respects burst into applause. Tyler’s If I Sing You a Love Song and It’s a Heartache played before the private service began, which mourners outside watched on a screen in nearby St David’s Square.

Luigi Mangione pleads guilty in federal case related to UnitedHealthcare CEO killing

Mangione's lawyers argue his federal plea bars his prosecution for murder in state court for Brian Thompson's slaying due to New York's double jeopardy law

‘Look in the mirror. That’s the trick’: our fashion expert Jess Cartner-Morley answered your questions

The Guardian’s fashion editor on tips for the well-dressed man to the ethical issues of fast fashion, how to wear jewellery and whether Andy Burnham looks good

PetertheGray asks: Why are so many high end items made from synthetic fibres? And are synthetics always bad?

Jess:

The answer to the first part of your question is just, price. As to the second part - as a rule of thumb, natural fibres are a sustainable choice. Virgin polyester - which is made from oil, and doesn’t biodegrade - is to be avoided. But there are also sustainable synthetic fibres. Look out for Tencel, which is the most common brand name for a fabric called lyocell, which is made from wood pulp, and is biodegradable.

I commend both of you for having figured out what you like and what suits you. That’s the hardest part. My personal bugbear front-fastening trousers where the ‘hidden’ hook-and-eye fastening is too close to the edge of the fabric so the metal keeps showing. Drives me insane.

What is Ebola and why is the outbreak in DRC causing so much concern?

Strain of virus with no vaccine has potential to overrun response impeded by conflict and misinformation

Health authorities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo are losing their battle to contain the country’s deadliest Ebola outbreak.

DRC’s health ministry declared an outbreak in Ituri province on 15 May, though sequencing shows it had begun in February. It has since spread to five other provinces and is on track to overtake the 2014-16 west Africa outbreak as the largest in history.

Leading economies’ borrowing costs hit highest since 2008 crisis

Concern over impact of Iran war pushes up government bond yields in US, UK, France, Germany and Japan

Government borrowing costs in several advanced economies hit their highest level since the 2008 financial crisis, or even earlier, on Monday as investors feared the Middle East crisis would keep inflation persistently high.

Concerns over rising prices and government spending pushed up the cost of debt issued by Paris, Berlin, Washington DC, Tokyo and London as investors fretted that rising prices would push up interest rates.

A job that changed me: After years of being a marriage celebrant, I became uneasy with the institution

My favourite part was sitting with couples, talking about their lives and why they wanted to marry. But I’m equally happy to have left it behind

• Read more in this series here

I was in my mid-20s in the mid-2000s when I became a professional yapper. I’d had to bow out of a career in Auslan interpreting due to injury, but could still talk under wet concrete. Studying to become a civil marriage celebrant felt logical – I wanted to know what love was, and I knew it could show me.

Being appointed by the Attorney-General’s Department involved a Certificate III and rigorous application process. I had to prove I was “of good standing” and “believed in the definition of marriage”. As a card-carrying homosexual, I wrote about my belief in all kinds of love, including marriage. It couldn’t take that long, I thought, for us to be recognised as having committed partnerships. Waiting a long, loathsome decade proved me wrong.

3M knew for more than 50 years that its products could harm humans, Australian government alleges in court documents

Exclusive: federal government court filings claim internal company documents included warnings about products being toxic

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Manufacturing company 3M knew more than 50 years ago that its firefighting products – including components in Pfas “forever chemicals” – could be hazardous to the health of humans and animals and damage the environment, the federal government has claimed in court documents.

In filings as part of its $2bn lawsuit against the multinational company, commonwealth lawyers said products sold to Australia were known to stay present in water and soil, were persistent in the human body and in animals, and contributed to conditions including reduced kidney function, alterations in immune function, effects on fertility and puberty and lower birth weight in babies.

Enzo Maresca’s Manchester City opener was startlingly bad

The Community Shield isn’t always a sign of things to come, but City’s form in their defeat to Arsenal is concerning in the wake of Pep Guardiola’s departure

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There are caveats. It was only the Community Shield – and no side has gone on to win the league after lifting the Community Shield since 2018. It was against the league champions, whose pre-season has involved far less strenuous travel than their own. By the time the season really gets going, there will be greater clarity in central midfield, with Rodri set to complete his move to Barcelona imminently. But this was a startlingly bad opening for Enzo Maresca at Manchester City.

Succeeding a manager of Pep Guardiola’s stature is never easy, as numerous clubs have found. But it’s not just Guardiola’s stature, the sense that whoever follows him stands in his shadow. It’s that his style of play is so idiosyncratic that the transition process inevitably becomes more difficult. Even though Maresca was Guardiola’s assistant at City in 2022-23, and his football is Guardiola-inspired, it is not identical, not least because Guardiola was always evolving. Even allowing for all that, though, it was remarkable how poorly City defended in their 3-0 defeat by Arsenal on Sunday.

This is an extract from Soccer Desk, a newsletter from the Guardian US. Subscribe for free here.

The Sinking City 2 review – Ukrainian cosmic horror, come hell or high water

PlayStation 5, Xbox Series S/X, PC; Frogwares
Frogwares’ Lovecraftian action-horror is full of grim tenacity and pulp paperback charm, despite a few frayed edges

I’m standing in the prosthetics lab of a campy horror hospital, hunting for a preacher’s flayed face to wear so I can trick the world’s grisliest smart doorbell. Pinned to a board in the corner of the room are a dozen X-rays: shattered bones and metal splints in sepia negative, each with a note attached. It’s a stark, clinical intrusion on the theatrical gore elsewhere. It takes a beat to realise that I’m reading the stories of injuries sustained by soldiers fighting for Frogwares’ native Ukraine. Fingers amputated after severe burns. Limbs lost in mine explosions. Toes torn off by shell fire.

Like so many of my favourite PS3-era seven-out-of-tens, The Sinking City 2 is a pulpy action horror. It’s fuelled by scrappy ambition, Lovecraft fan fiction and wonderfully unhinged scenario design. A puzzle that has you determine which talking jarred brain is telling porkies. A scavenger hunt to fix a crane to move a rotting whale carcass. A gunfight amid the grisly results of a siren pop star’s fan meet-up turned battle royale.

Support for Jason Arday’s family shows ‘Britain still cares’, says Windrush campaigner

Calls grow for inquiry into media reporting of the case as Cambridge chancellor criticises ‘racist feeding frenzy’

A Windrush campaigner who launched a fundraiser for Jason Arday’s family has said the outpouring of support shows “Britain still cares”.

Arday, who was found dead on Friday, had resigned the previous week from his post as professor of sociology of education at the University of Cambridge after allegations of plagiarism were made against him.

Trump family crypto firm granted conditional approval to establish a bank

The plan has sparked criticism from Democrats, who argue that granting bank status to a business affiliated with the Trump family poses a conflict of interest.

‘You’ve got to see this girl!’ Tanita Tikaram on making Twist in My Sobriety

‘People tell me it helped them with their rehab. I have to explain: Sorry, it’s not about alcohol – I was just a kid singing about injustice’

I wrote the lyrics on the floor of my bedroom in Basingstoke when I was 16 or 17, as a way of decompressing from studying for my A-levels. I had the idea for “Twist in my …” something, but didn’t know what else to put in there. I tried “Twist in my gravity” before ending up with “sobriety”, but it’s not a song about alcohol. It’s about feeling that things aren’t right in the world, and that adults can do terrible or immoral things – but none of it will change you. Fundamentally, it’s a song by an alienated teenager who feels there’s a lot of injustice. There’s something lovely about how intensely you feel things as a teenager.

Ebola outbreak in Democratic Republic of the Congo now deadliest in country’s history

At least 2,325 people have died from the virus, according to official data, with outbreak on track to be biggest in history

The Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is now the deadliest in the country’s history, with at least 2,325 people dead, according to government data, surpassing the toll from the 2018-20 outbreak.

The DRC’s public health institute said confirmed cases had risen to 4,945, including 101 detected in the previous 24 hours.

Next year’s Eurovision host is Burgas, not Sofia. Some Bulgarians are baffled

Next year’s competition won’t take place in the country’s capital, an announcement that even surprised Bulgarian winner, Dara

Ever since Bulgarian singer Dara was crowned winner of the Eurovision song contest this May, it has been clear that the Balkan nation would for the first time in its history have the opportunity to host Europe’s biggest party.

So when Bulgarian officials announced last week that the world’s largest live music event in 2027 will be held not in the capital Sofia but in Burgas, a Black Sea port city home to 200,000 people, it came as a surprise – even to last year’s winner.

Finland halts deportation of Russian family who ‘risked everything’ to oppose Ukraine invasion

Mother and son Olga and Nikita Belov say they were facing jail and potential torture after asylum case was rejected

A Russian family who were on the brink of being deported from Finland after repeatedly being denied asylum – despite the threat of arrest, imprisonment and torture for their pro-Ukrainian activism – have won a court appeal and will have their case reconsidered.

Nikita Belov and his mother, Olga Belov, fled their homeland for Finland in 2022 after attracting the attention of Russian authorities – including a military summons, threatening messages and attempts to locate them – for expressing opposition to the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Mark Rydell obituary

Actor and director whose movies notched up more than 20 Oscar nominations between them

Stars flocked to work with the director Mark Rydell, who has died aged 97, and no wonder: he had trained as a performer alongside James Dean and Steve McQueen, later becoming west coast artistic co-director of the prestigious Actors Studio, while his movies notched up more than 20 Academy Award nominations between them.

Henry Fonda and Katharine Hepburn won best actor and actress Oscars respectively for his reflective, sentimental drama On Golden Pond (1981), which put Fonda, then a frail 75-year-old, on screen with his daughter Jane for the first and only time. Rydell received a best director nomination for the picture, which ruminated on the themes of family and mortality. “I’m attracted to material that is substantial enough to deal with life and death issues,” he said in 2001. “I don’t like to waste my time with trivia.”

Storm Lala damages bridges and more than 100 homes on Hawaii’s Big Island

Lala was downgraded from hurricane to tropical storm Sunday, but could become a hurricane again by Wednesday

Cleanup efforts started on Hawaii after Hurricane Lala rolled past the Big Island and dumped heavy rain across the US Pacific state.

Lala was downgraded to a tropical storm by the time it grazed the islands, but it brought heavy rains and winds strong enough to sweep about 100 homes off their foundations on the Big Island.

Donald Trump threatens to bomb Oman if it ‘gets in the way’ of ending Iran war

President issues threat to ‘bomb the shit out of them’ after previously threatening Gulf ally in May

Donald Trump has again threatened to bomb Oman if it “gets in the way” of his effort to end the US-Israel war on Iran, as the two-month window to negotiate peace with Iran expired on Monday with no end to the conflict in sight.

The latest threats against Oman, which is not a party to the war, have illustrated how Trump’s unpredictable and often outrageous approach to diplomacy has upset US partners and failed to achieve the breakthrough that he has promised to end the war.

DHS defends investigating agency critics and giving them warning notices

Federal officials acknowledged that ICE special agents tracked a New York man to his house, the airport and a hotel to question him about a critical email he sent to the former head of ICE in January.

US tourist dies after being struck by lightning on Italy’s Mount Etna

Italian firefighters say a man, 29, was killed by a lightning strike on the Sicily volcano while hiking in a restricted area

A tourist from the US was killed by a lightning strike on Sicily’s Mount Etna while hiking in an area that was closed to visitors due to recent volcanic activity, Italian firefighters said on Monday.

The 29-year-old man from Kansas was rescued by helicopter after being struck Sunday evening in an exposed area above the tree line. He was later declared dead by medical personnel. His name was not released.

Beatles film recreates iconic Abbey Road album cover

Social media footage this weekend revealed the cast of Sam Mendes’ four-film band biopic on the zebra crossing near the studio, posing for the famous image

The production team behind the forthcoming four-film Beatles biopic, directed by Sam Mendes, has been spotted filming outside Abbey Road studios in London. Inevitably, this includes a recreation of the celebrated Abbey Road album cover, for which the band was photographed on the nearby pedestrian crossing – now a popular tourist landmark.

Footage posted on social media on Sunday shows the actors playing the Beatles lining up on the kerb and walking across the road. Harris Dickinson, as John Lennon, is leading the walk, with Barry Keoghan as Ringo Starr, Paul Mescal as Paul McCartney and Joseph Quinn as George Harrison following in sequence.

As Ebola kills thousands in DRC, a perfect storm is making the virus hard to stop | Devi Sridhar

New species and regional instability are factors – but decisions made in the US and Britain are also costing lives

Did you know that there is a major Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and it’s on track to be the deadliest ever? It is already the second-worst Ebola outbreak in history, with the fastest community transmission we have ever seen. It’s estimated that there have been at least 4,900 cases and more than 2,300 deaths, giving a mortality rate close to 50%. The situation is bad. That’s the consensus among global health experts.

Yet this Ebola outbreak isn’t attracting much media or public attention. If I compare it with working on the 2014 Ebola outbreak, the current silence is astounding. That year, Ebola was one of the most Googled terms in the world, covered regularly on broadcast news in many countries outside the region, attracting newspaper headlines and magazine covers. Perhaps everyone is just tired of disease after the pandemic – Covid-19 fatigue, as it’s called. Trust me, no one wants to hear about infectious diseases.

Prof Devi Sridhar is chair of global public health at the University of Edinburgh

Johnny Depp in talks to return to Pirates of the Caribbean franchise

The actor, who previously said he would not play Captain Jack Sparrow again for ‘$300m and a million alpacas’, is being lined up for sixth film in the series according to producer Jerry Bruckheimer

Johnny Depp is in talks to return as Captain Jack Sparrow in a sixth Pirates of the Caribbean film, according to the producer of the series, Jerry Bruckheimer. Bruckheimer told Deadline: “We’re talking with Johnny, we’re working on a screenplay, and hopefully we can get this done.” This is despite the actor having said under oath in 2022, during the notorious televised trial of the defamation case he brought against his ex-wife, Amber Heard, that Disney had dropped him from the series and he would not play Sparrow again even if he were offered “$300m and a million alpacas”.

Depp first appeared as the charismatic, roguish, rum-swilling Captain Sparrow in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl in 2003, and it has become his most recognisable – and profitable – role. Taking its name and golden age of piracy setting from a ride at the Disney World theme park, the swashbuckling adventure also featured Keira Knightley, Orlando Bloom and Geoffrey Rush, and grossed more than $650m (£480m) at the worldwide box office.

Marble dust mounds and a praying mantis: photos of the day – Monday

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

Vista Energy up 4% after billionaire Peter Thiel buys stake in the Argentine shale oil producer

Peter Thiel’s hedge fund disclosed a $76 million stake in Argentine oil producer Vista Energy, sending its shares higher in premarket trading.

Ithaca: a scintillating eco-thriller RPG that aims to confront our violent moment

The latest game from ‘reality-inspired’ studio the Pixel Hunt sees you transporting precious human cargo – and deciding what to do with it

Ithaca has one hell of an opening: Penelope, a disillusioned environmental lawyer, stops her car at a petrol station. But upon returning, she discovers something shocking: the unconscious body of an oil company CEO in her boot, his hands hog-tied together, dangling limply towards the vehicle’s number plate.

This tantalising eco-thriller setup is a long way off the typical knights-and-castles fantasy fare of most role-playing games, more How To Blow Up a Pipeline than Dragon Quest. But road-trip RPG Ithaca arrives via refreshingly original developer the Pixel Hunt, a French outfit that specialises in what it calls “reality-inspired” games. The studio has made a number of arresting works in recent years. One was about a Syrian refugee couple making a perilous migrant journey across Europe; another tackled the life-shattering effects of child sexual abuse. The climate crisis was always in the back of Pixel Hunt founder and Ithaca writer Florent Maurin’s mind. After all, he says, it is the uber problem of our day, the problem that touches all others. It was just a case of when, and, more importantly: “What do we say about it?”

Teenager charged with murder after mass shooting at Kentucky park

Sixteen-year-old dead and four others wounded including two children at community celebration in Lexington

Authorities in Kentucky charged an 18-year-old man with murder and several counts of assault after a shooting in Lexington park left a teenager dead and four others injured – one of multiple similar cases around the US over the weekend.

Jametrius Griffin was arrested less than 24 hours after Saturday night’s mass shooting at Charles Young Park in the city’s downtown. According to the Lexington police department, officers responded to reports of gunfire in the park at about 7pm and found five people shot, including two adults, a 14-year-old and a four-year-old.

Growing backlash amid privacy concerns over Flock cameras

There's rising scrutiny over Flock Safety's nationwide network of cameras that record license plate numbers. Over the weekend, a protest turned physical in Fargo, North Dakota, while officials in Hood County, Texas, shut down and covered its cameras over privacy concerns. Anna Schecter reports.

Trump family's World Liberty Financial granted bank status

A Trump-appointed bank regulator has given conditional approval for World Liberty Financial, a crypto business established by President Trump's sons and the sons of special envoy Steve Witkoff, to become a bank. Nancy Cordes reports.

Questions over when USS Lincoln will return following concerns about ship conditions

The head of U.S. Central Command visited the USS Lincoln over the weekend amid questions over when the ship will return from the Middle East. Families of sailors and members of Congress raised concerns over conditions on the ship during its nine-month deployment. Charlie D'Agata reports.

Aerial video shows extensive damage after Hurricane Lala slammed Hawaii

The cleanup is beginning in Hawaii after it was hit by Hurricane Lala, which has now weakened to a tropical storm. Floodwaters washed out roads, and thousands of people are without power. Jonathan Vigliotti reports.

Hayden Panettiere, known for roles in "Nashville" and "Heroes," dies at 36

Actor Hayden Panettiere has died at the age of 36, her father confirmed in a statement. The star was known for her roles in "Heroes" and "Nashville." Gayle King has a look at her life and career.

Woman fights off bear with spray after being attacked on trail in Alaska

A woman was running alone on a path called the Wolverine Bowl Trail when the brown bear attacked her, officials said.

Is dating draining your bank account? Here’s a cheap solution | Dave Schilling

I understand gen Z’s concerns about the cost of romance. But anything can be a date if you want it to be

A couple of months ago, I wrote a column imploring young people to keep trying to find love, to not become cynical about romance and avoid the temptation of the accursed “loneliness influencers” peddling antisocial behavior as some sort of newfangled experiment that no one had thought of before. I stand here today saying, hey, I can’t be right all the time. Maybe it is better to be alone, since it costs a hell of a lot less.

Apparently, young people across the country are forgoing dating because it’s too damn expensive. Or at least, I think they are, based on the multiple newspaper articles saying so that came out in the last two weeks. As the New York Times put it, the “prospect of a tab of $150 or more for two entrées, two drinks, an appetizer and tip” is too pricey for many gen Z singles. I say, only $150? Where are you going, Chili’s? I went on a date with (shameful brag incoming) a very famous political figure from the late 90s and spent twice that amount, sending my bank account into cardiac arrest. I practically begged her to get dessert, even though it was clear our decade of age difference and general lack of chemistry meant I was better off going home and journaling about it. I paid for the whole thing, and in return, I got an amazing story to tell at parties.

No oven required: Alexina Anatole’s quick and easy no-heat recipes

Cucumber and avocado gazpacho and addictive carrots: when it’s too hot to cook, contrast, texture and seasoning bring dishes to life

Heat brings caramelisation, char, the slow collapse of ingredients into something rich and deep, but when it’s too hot to cook, flavour has to be built differently – through contrast, texture and a more deliberate hand with seasoning. Salt, in particular, becomes transformative: drawing out moisture, softening structure, shifting raw into something more yielding. That principle underpins this carrot salad, inspired by the Japanese yamitsuki (‘addictive’) method most commonly used on cabbage, while a chilled cucumber gazpacho offers clean, cooling clarity.

USS Washington to relieve USS Lincoln. And, Jared Kushner to meet with Netanyahu

The USS Washington is on its way to the Middle East to relieve the USS Lincoln amid concerns about conditions aboard. And, Jared Kushner is expected to meet with Prime Minister Netanyahu to move Gaza talks forward.

Thom Yorke, Romy and Brian Eno among 200 musicians urging PM to reject new North Sea drilling

Robert Smith, Olly Alexander and Paris Paloma also among signatories to letter saying exploitation of Rosebank and Jackdaw fields defies climate reality

• Business live – latest updates

More than 200 musicians including Massive Attack and Brian Eno have written to Andy Burnham urging him to reject plans for more oil and gas drilling in the North Sea.

The letter, signed by 211 artists such as Bobby Gillespie, Olly Alexander and Paris Paloma, called on the prime minister to reject the Rosebank oilfield, warning that the project would fail to lower energy bills or provide energy security as most of the oil was likely to be exported.

Top U.S. commander acknowledges mental health issues on USS Lincoln

Cooper's visit and statement come after reports of widespread morale and mental health concerns aboard the Lincoln.

Premier League 2026-27 preview No 12: Ipswich

They have a new manager and a higher net spend than Manchester City, but will that be enough for Ipswich to avoid another yo-yoing relegation?

Guardian writers’ predicted position: 19th (NB: this is not necessarily Will Unwin’s prediction but the average of our writers’ tips)

Last season’s position: 2nd (Championship)

Share your memories of someone you lost in 9/11

Did you lose someone in 9/11? What do you want people to remember about them 25 years later?

To mark 25 years since 9/11, we would like to hear from people who lost loved ones in the attacks. What do you want people to remember about them 25 years later?

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

What will TV look like in three years? Media insiders share their predictions

CNBC asked media insiders what they think the TV market — from pay TV subscribers to sports ratings — will look like in three years.

Sen. Mark Kelly says USS Lincoln sailors 'can't get basic needs met'

NPR's Sacha Pfeiffer talks with Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona about conditions aboard the USS Lincoln and his calls for an investigation into sailors' treatment.

Chris Carter is mistaken if he thinks more gore will bring The X-Files: I Want to Believe back to life

The director’s cut includes a host more body parts but no more insight into the villains’ personalities. What could be a gothic masterstroke is turned into a dreary procedural in the snow

Warning: this article contains spoilers

Everyone loves a director’s cut. But unlike some, The X-Files: I Want to Believe – Vrach Frankenshteyn, which debuted on Friday on Disney+, is not the kind of director’s cut that will radically alter critical perspectives on the original 2008 film. Much has been made, mainly by director and X-Files creator Chris Carter, of the new version’s grisly additions. But there is still so much about this movie that is underwritten, preposterous and lacking in basic dramatic intrigue that upping its body horror quotient merely makes the same old problems slightly more unpleasant to look at. Perhaps unsurprisingly, this new version is hidden away behind the “Extras” tab for the original film.

For those who have sensibly forgotten, I Want to Believe reunites Mulder (David Duchovny) and Scully (Gillian Anderson) several years after their departure from the FBI, when a female agent disappears and the bureau’s only lead comes from a disgraced former Catholic priest (Billy Connolly) who claims to be receiving psychic visions. So far, so X-Files. The priest, Father Joe, is a convicted paedophile who abused dozens of altar boys, which gives Scully some fairly understandable reservations about accepting his apparent supernatural gifts at face value.

A tale of two Dan Sullivans: Republicans with same name contest Alaska primary

Democrat Mary Peltola, who won the red state’s House seat twice, is also running to unseat the incumbent senator

Dan J Sullivan is a retired schoolteacher and US Forest Service employee living in the town of Petersburg in south-eastern Alaska, who is running as a Republican for the US Senate. Dan S Sullivan is a Republican US senator, who has represented Alaska since 2015.

Both candidates will appear on the ballot, one name after the other, when Alaskans vote in primary elections this week – a complicated quirk of the contest that has drawn howls from Republicans.

‘I had to learn how to be a feminist’: Greg Dulli on surviving grunge, shunning misogyny, and Afghan Whigs’ glorious return

With a soulful sound and soul-baring lyrics, the Afghan Whigs rode the post-Nirvana boom to the big leagues. Their frontman explains his exploration of the male ego – and how Usher got the band back together

The Afghan Whigs were always heavier than their grunge-era brethren. Not musically – their turbulent, sophisticated rock was rooted in soul and funk, and frontman Greg Dulli says the group only embraced distortion in order to be heard over the volume of metalhead drummer Steve Earle’s playing. “Any kind of jangle wasn’t gonna work.” But Dulli’s lyrics, inspired by the likes of Motown bards Holland/Dozier/Holland, were pitch-black, depicting lovers in co-dependent cycles of betrayal and recrimination. Afghan Whigs songs take place in a world where sin is irresistible, punishment inevitable and some kind of judgment inescapable.

“My songs acknowledge consequence, more than they deal in judgment,” Dulli says, between sips of water in the bar of a London hotel. Forty years on from their formation, the Whigs are resurgent. Their new album, Soft Control, ably holds its own with earlier dark masterpieces such as their 1993 breakthrough Gentlemen, and its bleakly funky conceptual follow-up, 1996’s Black Love – records that affirmed their frontman as alt-rock’s poet of arch romantic dysfunction. “I understood sorrow and loss and loneliness from an early age,” he says. His dad was the youngest of 14; several of Dulli’s uncles died when he was young. “I had been there, so why wouldn’t I explore it?”

The Hounds Gate Haunting review – a ghostly critic lurks in the stalls in this suspenseful spooker

This mockumentary from low-budget horror veteran Richard Mansfield isn’t the most subtle take on the artist-critic relationship but it has a certain sprightliness

Where Quentin Dupieux’s 2023 theatre hostage-taking comedy Yannick pointed out that inside every punter is a critic, this no-frills British mockumentary suggests that if artists aren’t literally haunted by their reviews, then their inner critic might be just as deadly. It begins as a documentary crew arrive to chart theatre director Martin Beswick (Jonathan Cleaver) and his new production of MR James’s A Warning to the Curious at Nottingham’s Hounds Gate theatre (in real life, filmed at the city’s Arts theatre).

He’s getting to grips with his cast, mostly amateurs apart from egomaniac thesp Colin Collins (Matthew Hunt). One day during rehearsals, one of the auditorium seats suddenly flips up, is eerily cold to the touch and has pistachio shells scattered underneath. The old ham Colin seizes the opportunity for an old Hounds Gate tale: about Cyril Cobb, a legendarily vicious director who sat in that very berth to critique other productions – hence his nickname, “Stalls”. After dying in a freak pistachio-swallowing accident, he has now apparently become, Overlook Hotel-style, part of the furniture. Captured in spectral audio recordings, he is heard opining that this new staging is: “Not … good … enough!”

Hayden Panettiere, who starred in 'Heroes' and 'Nashville,' dies at 36

A child actor since she was cast in various commercials as an 11-month-old, Panettiere was best known for her role as the country music star Juliette Barnes in the series Nashville.

Russia targets Danube port after one of Ukraine’s largest aerial attacks of the war

Russia struck port infrastructure in Ukraine’s Odesa region, damaging a Togo-flagged civilian vessel near Izmail after Kyiv launched a major drone attack on Moscow.

‘Our new normal’: how marine heatwaves affect life in British seas

As warming seas push native species to cooler waters farther north, once-rare visitors have become more common

‘It sounds silly but I thought it was a person in the water waving,” says Kurt Lander, skipper of the Yellowfin charter boat, based out of Brighton. But when he grabbed his binoculars, he realised the fluttering movement he had noticed in the middle of the Channel shipping lane was a pair of sunfish.

The huge fish were lying on their sides and flapping their fins. “Apparently, they do it as a visual attraction to birds,” he says. “They’re trying to get the birds to eat the parasites off them.”

‘Fated to become a cult classic’: why Barcelona is my feelgood movie

The latest in our series of writers detailing their most pleasurable comfort films is a trip to 1980s Spain courtesy of Whit Stillman

An hour into Whit Stillman’s 1994 film, Barcelona, the protagonist, Ted Boynton (Taylor Nichols), considers using “maneuver x” in his stalled romantic life. He’s an American working in the Spanish branch of an auto conglomerate, looking for love in the titular city’s post-Franco, sexually liberated nightlife. As Ted explains to his cousin Fred (Chris Eigeman) – visiting as an underqualified scout for a naval diplomatic mission – the sales tactic of “maneuver x” involves removing all pressure and allowing the customer to cross the threshold themselves. No tricks, no cloying, no badgering. Fred thinks the move is just another way of “playing it cool”, and it’s a handy metonym for the film. Barcelona plays it very, very cool.

Which isn’t to say Stillman’s second film, after his Oscar-nominated Metropolitan, is itself cool. Ted likes Glen Miller. He opens conversations with “You know how at parties, everybody talks about marketing?” If you want cool, look to Stillman’s The Last Days of Disco, where Chloë Sevigny frequents an unnamed Studio 54.

As wildfires get worse, some states are struggling to pass fire protection rules

There's a lot homeowners can do to prepare for wildfires, such as managing flammable plants and using fire-resistant building materials. But some states struggle to pass rules requiring those steps.

Cialis is an erectile dysfunction drug. Could it also help you live longer?

In some wellness circles, tadalafil is promoted as a longevity drug. There is evidence showing a link between it and a lower risk of death in men, but there are no well-controlled trials in humans.

A Rimbaud review – legendary poet’s unlikely transformation into entrepreneur is as odd as ever

Australian actor Blake Draper delivers a committed one-man performance tracking the writer as he morphs from enfant terrible to merchant

US experimentalist Patrick Wang here curates an intriguing if very austere experience, a theatrical-style one-man show about the eventful life of the poet Arthur Rimbaud, presented as a microbudget epic of nearly three hours, an episodic piece taking place entirely within a “black box” stage space, ventilated occasionally by back-projection videos of the great outdoors.

Australian actor Blake Draper plays Rimbaud, with an English accent tinged occasionally with scouse, speaking to a range of invisible characters including his mother, his sister and his lover and artistic comrade Paul Verlaine, whose voices are represented by musical instruments. But fundamentally this is an extended, bravura monologue.

The Ego Trip by Kimon de Greef review – a bizarre tale of psychedelic toads and hair-raising treatments

A journalist investigates the unsettling world of a charismatic shaman and the people who trusted him

Which, in your opinion, is the worst current cultural trend: social media influencers; unregulated wellness practitioners; macho manosphere posturers; psychedelic bores; cultural appropriators? The good news is that, with Octavio Rettig, the central character in Kimon de Greef’s The Ego Trip, you don’t have to choose between them. He’s all five wrapped into one objectionable package, and so much more besides.

The tale begins with the Sonoran desert toad, an improbable amphibian that spends most of its life hiding underground in the baking badlands along the Mexico-Arizona border, and has done so blamelessly for millions of years. Whenever it rains, the toads emerge from their hiding places to mate, laying strings of eggs wherever water has pooled.

Is it true that … it’s harder for women to do pull-ups?

The differences in body types does mean that, on average, women find the exercise more difficult – but that’s not the whole story

Pull-ups are a bodyweight exercise where you hang from an overhead bar, usually with an overhand grip, and pull yourself up until your chin clears the bar. “They’re a great upper-body exercise,” says Prof Leigh Breen, a specialist in muscle physiology at the University of Leicester. “They primarily work the muscles in the back, but also recruit the arms and the core.” They’re known for being tough – particularly for women. But is that true?

“If we take the population as a whole, doing a pull-up is typically more challenging for the average woman,” says Breen. There are a few reasons for this. First, women naturally tend to carry a smaller proportion of their muscle mass in their upper body than men – and these are the muscles relied upon for the exercise. Second, women generally have a slightly higher body fat percentage than men. Because a pull-up requires you to lift your entire bodyweight, having less upper-body muscle relative to the weight you’re moving can reduce what’s known as your strength-to-weight ratio.

Brandon Flowers: Thrasher review – Killers frontman’s country pivot is a rootin’ tootin’ cowboy-bootin’ hoot!

(Island)
Even a couple of bafflingly misguided social commentary songs can’t detract from the joys of Flowers’ classically full-throated commitment to the Nashville bit

Here are three immutable facts about Brandon Richard Flowers: he was born just outside Las Vegas, Nevada. He is 45 years old. And he never does anything by halves. When he and his band the Killers debuted in the early 2000s, as disaffected New York cool was on the rise, he was writing scream-along choruses sung in his upper register. When the Killers were searching for a sound even bigger and grander than the euphoric Springsteen pastiche of 2006’s Sam’s Town, they didn’t think twice before recruiting Stuart Price to produce the spangly 2008 disco-rock record Day & Age.

That’s how you get a record like Thrasher. Flowers’ third solo album finds Vegas’s chosen son decamping to Nashville for a full-throated exploration of country music – not subtle, trendy Americana, but rip-snorting, honky-tonking, Nudie suit-wearing country. In many ways, Thrasher is a stylistic follow-up to the Killers’ maudlin 2021 Pressure Machine, which saw Flowers explore windswept balladry and tasteful story-songs. But that record was as forgettable as Thrasher is a hoot; Flowers wilts when he doesn’t fully commit, as was the case on Pressure Machine, and he doesn’t make that mistake here. Thrasher features many of Nashville’s most revered country musicians, including pedal steel legend Bruce Bouton, 85-year-old harmonica player Charlie McCoy, Gillian Welch’s musical partner Dave Rawlings and lauded Americana musician Margo Price.

Ferrari Luce: Polarizing EV becomes a $40 million collector’s item

The auction of the Luce comes nearly three months after Ferrari unveiled its first fully electric car, which was priced at 550,000 euros (roughly $640,000).

‘Paul McCartney asked for my autograph!’ Su Pollard on Hi-de-Hi! and her amazing celebrity encounters

Even after half a century in the limelight, the actor can still surprise. Who’d have guessed she went clubbing with Freddie Mercury? Or that she watched Blair and Brown strike their fateful deal at Granita?

A quick run-through of some of the 20th-century icons that Su Pollard has met. Paul McCartney? “Absolutely fabulous,” Pollard says. “He was sat leaning against a wall, next to Linda.” She does a great impression of McCartney’s accent. “‘Hey Su, how are you? Love the show. Can I have your autograph? For my mother.’” The show was, of course, the hugely successful BBC sitcom Hi-de-Hi!, set on an Essex holiday camp and for which Pollard, playing chalet maid Peggy, will for ever be best known.

Queen Elizabeth, after a Royal Variety Performance? “She was absolutely marvellous. What struck me – I’ve always said this – was her skin. I was drawn to her skin. It was all peachified. And beautiful smile, her own teeth. Very regal, very straight-backed, not very tall, and quite a voluptuous bosom.”

An Agatha Christie classic with an impressive cast: best podcasts of the week

Toni Collette heads a list of familiar voices playing out the village murder-mystery. Plus, Guz Khan and Kiell Smith-Bynoe go off on some rather wild tangents

Toni Collette is an eagle-eyed amateur sleuth in this big adaptation of Agatha Christie’s first Miss Marple novel. When Colonel Protheroe is found dead in sleepy St Mary Mead, suspects include his spouse, Anne, and daughter, Lettice. But as false confessions and red herrings stack up, can Marple crack the case? Kit Harington, Lolly Adefope and Vicki Pepperdine – who wrote the adaptation – are among the cast.
Widely available, episodes weekly

Agrippa by Robert Harris review – persuasive portrait of rivalry in ancient Rome

This fictional memoir by Octavius’s right-hand man shows us bloodshed, betrayal and hectic jockeying for power

If you’re one of those people who thinks about the Roman empire several times a week, Robert Harris has you covered. He follows his trilogy of novels about the life of Cicero and his one-off about the unpleasantness in Pompeii with a narrative that takes us from civil war through the assassination of Julius Caesar, with all the bickering and bloodshed that follows, on to the decisive battle of Actium and Octavius’s apotheosis as Caesar Augustus. We meet Cicero, Fulvia, Lepidus, two Caesars and a burly Antony (“Imagine, if you will, a statue of Hercules with a club in one hand, a wineskin in the other”).

Here’s the clever bit: he narrates it all from the point of view of Octavius’s right-hand man, Agrippa, a much less well-remembered figure. Harris tells us he “left behind no speeches, few letters and only a couple of sentences of direct quotation”. Yet Agrippa was “effective co-ruler of the Roman world for many years” and “the greatest general of the period”. Octavius couldn’t have risen without him, but he seems to have done his best to write him out of the story afterwards, according him only two passing mentions in the Res Gestae Divi Augusti.

Spotlight on UN desertification summit as it mulls how to spend $12bn war chest

Extreme weather has raised the significance of Cop17 talks starting this week on tackling drought and land degradation

As swathes of the northern hemisphere bake in what could be the hottest year on record, with wildfires blazing across North America and Europe and heatwaves afflicting millions across Asia, the UN’s bi-annual talks on desertification have assumed much greater importance – and have started attracting more money.

Work will begin this week on allocating more than $12bn (£8.9bn) to vulnerable countries to help them deal with drought and land degradation, when scores of countries gather in Mongolia for Cop17.

Sabrina Ghayour’s recipes for mango and chilli chicken, sticky spring onions and latke

A sweet, tangy and spicy chicken dish that matches well with crisp fried potatoes and apricot-glazed spring onions

I use this exact cooking method to make every kind of traybaked chicken, and this one is a blend of store-cupboard staples with the addition of fresh lime to push the flavour. Then, I love hash browns, röstis and latkes – give me crispy fried potatoes of any description, and I’m a happy girl – but I won’t lie and tell you that I love frying, because, if I can avoid it, I do: it’s messy, greasy, smelly and uses a fair bit of oil, which is pretty costly. But how to produce a perfectly crispy latke by baking? Well, I’ve managed to do it, and I’m really happy with the results.