Trump says U.S. "semi-negotiating" with Iran after Tehran sets new demands

President Trump signaled he would be piling economic pressure on Tehran as the stalemate continued and Iran laid out new conditions to re-open the Strait of Hormuz.

UK employment market shows ‘rays of light’ for jobseekers with upturn in pay, study shows - business live

Robert Walters boss says legal, technology and accounting recruitment is picking up, as data shows temporary vacancies rise for first time in two years

A consortium including the Amazon founder Jeff Bezos is closing in on a deal to buy a one-third stake in Liverpool Football Club.

Sky News reported that Fenway Sports Group (FSG), the Anfield club’s controlling shareholder since 2010, could announce a deal as soon as this week.

Mother of Briton fatally shot by father in Texas urges Miliband to press US for new inquiry

Jane Coates says foreign secretary should draw attention to coroner’s finding that Lucy Harrison was unlawfully killed

The UK foreign secretary, Ed Miliband, is being urged to push US authorities to reopen an investigation into a man who shot dead his 23-year-old British daughter while she was visiting him in Texas.

Lucy Harrison, from Warrington in Cheshire, was fatally shot on 10 January 2025, the day before she was due to fly home to the UK.

Ukraine launches drone attack on Russian oil refining facilities – Europe live

Volodymyr Zelenskyy says that strikes on such facilities were directly linked with putting more pressure on Moscow

Meanwhile, Ukraine’s ⁠military ⁠has confirmed it ⁠hit ⁠the ​Taneko ‌oil ‌refinery in ‌Russia’s Tatarstan region overnight, ‌adding that a ​fire ⁠was recorded ​at ​the ​facility, Reuters reported.

Nordic correspondent

Uefa, Concacaf and AFC push for Infantino to quit and discuss rival competitions

• Confederations write open letter damning Fifa president

• Concacaf president Montagliani seen as top contender

Uefa, the Asian Football Confederation and Concacaf will push for Gianni Infantino to resign after writing an open letter calling for “leadership that serves football, not seeks to command it”.

In a dramatic escalation of the war that has threatened to tear football apart since details emerged of the Fifa president’s failed Football Forward Enterprise scheme, the three governing bodies accused Infantino of “trust broken through deception” and condemned his failure to acknowledge that the proposal should not have been unilaterally launched.

The pet I’ll never forget: Boone the neglected puppy, rescued alongside 250 others

Boone needed a home; my own dog needed company. When she picked him out at the shelter, all our lives took a turn for the better

After 30 years working in the RSPCA, I had seen animals in unimaginable conditions. I saw dogs who had been left unattended at home for so long they began chewing doors and drinking water out of toilet bowls. I saw animals who had been stamped, kicked and even stabbed. But nothing could prepare me for Boone’s situation.

Carson, the older of my two cocker spaniels, died in January. I could sense Bessie, an excitable bossy nine-year-old, was lonelier without him. They were both rescue animals. Carson was picked up by an RSPCA inspector and Bessie was abandoned at our local vet. Any dog I brought into our lives was a dog who needed a safe home.

Dr Fauci made mistakes. But his persecution is a travesty | Margaret Sullivan

It’s easy to second-guess decisions made during the pandemic. That doesn’t justify the Republicans’ politicized response

Like the rest of us, Anthony Fauci is far from perfect. His influential guidance, as the country’s top infectious-disease specialist during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, certainly didn’t get everything right.

A great deal about the deadly disease – where it came from, how it spread, how best to protect the public – was unknown, or was being learned midstream, during a crisis.

Man who allegedly arranged Tupac Shakur's 1996 killing going on trial in Las Vegas

The man who prosecutors say orchestrated the 1996 killing of rap icon Tupac Shakur, Duane "Keffe D" Davis, is scheduled to go to trial almost 30 years after the drive-by shooting in Las Vegas.

Trial of former gang leader to begin over Tupac Shakur murder

Prosecutors to allege Duane ‘Keffe D’ Davis ordered killing and provided gun in Las Vegas drive-by shooting of rapper

The trial is to begin of a former gang leader over the decades-old killing of the rapper Tupac Shakur, one of the most high-profile unsolved murders in the US.

The proceedings, which begin in Las Vegas on Monday and are expected to last a month, are unlikely to make clear who fired the shots that killed the hip-hop legend on 7 September 1996 while he was in the city to see a Mike Tyson boxing match.

‘Reaching 50 is a success story’: how one trans woman survived HIV and stigma in Latin America

Erika Castellanos has beaten the life expectancy of 35 for a transgender woman in the region, but warns aid cuts and a rollback in human rights risk reversing efforts to end Aids

Erika Castellanos has outlived what she describes as one of the cruellest statistics in Latin America. The life expectancy of a transgender woman in the region is estimated to be 35 years. “I am 50 years old. A lot of trans women are killed very early in life, either because of HIV or because of transphobia, so reaching 50 is a success story,” she says.

When Castellanos was diagnosed with HIV in 1995, doctors gave her six months to live. She had already spent years watching Aids devastate her community, with effective treatment beyond the reach of most people in low-income countries.

Convince an AI it’s not alive in psychological horror game Prove You’re Human

Sunset Visitor studio’s founder tells us about their new, unnerving Captcha-filled world which prompts players to ask what it means to have a ‘meat body’

Sunset Visitor is a studio that has long engaged with the idea that video games are an effective vehicle for ruminating on societal problems. Its Peabody award-winning project, 1000XResist, incorporated the development team’s complex feelings about the Covid pandemic. “We’re pretty used to absorbing the world into the work,” says studio founder Remy Siu. The outfit’s latest game, Prove You’re Human, continues this legacy of reflective game making, providing players with an AI-centric psychological horror experience where they must reason with a learning model convinced that it’s alive. “We’ve tried to situate ourselves in [the question]: what is the effectual feeling of being a person inside of all of this?” Siu says.

The story orbits around Santana, a living, breathing person who’s chosen to split herself in two for work, with her digital clone sent to test a corporate product, a computing system called Mesa. “A large part of [why Santana chooses to do this] is to allow her meat body a life that she doesn’t have, while the digital version of her gets to labour,” says Siu. As Santana’s copy wades into increasingly murky ethical waters, she becomes entangled with Mesa, completing surreal 2D and 3D Captchas to investigate the cyber-world and halt the hallucinations.

Voters are sick of the two-party system. A new poll shows they're open to big changes

A new poll shows support for moving the U.S. toward proportional representation, a system that elects multiple representatives in a single district in rough proportion to a party's vote share.

The FAA wants to reboot the nation's airspace. This airline shows how it might work

When Alaska Airlines wanted to optimize its operations, it turned to a small startup called Air Space Intelligence. Now the FAA has hired the company for a major reboot of the entire U.S. airspace.

Ukrainian drone attack on the Russian city of Nizhnekamsk kills 12, authorities say

Ukraine has targeted Russian oil facilities with long-range drones almost daily in recent months. The barrage has caused fuel shortages in Russia and unsettled the Russian public.

Woman assaulted after Travelodge staff gave room key to her abuser

Woman had gone to London hotel for ‘night away from the fear’ in latest incident of chain giving keys to men without checking

Travelodge staff gave a room key to the domestic abuser of a woman, who then physically attacked her.

The woman, who is remaining anonymous, told the BBC she was staying in a branch of the hotel in London to escape the man, but he followed her and was given a key by the reception staff.

Morning news brief

Iran aims to put pressure on Trump amid negotiations with Oman, Labor Department to release new report on inflation, new report reveals decades of abuse at arts school linked to Epstein.

Thames Water faces row over £1m payment to finance chief

Campaign group says firm is ‘taking the mickey’ by paying fee and Andy Burnham should nationalise it

• Business live – latest updates

Thames Water has paid its chief financial officer, Steve Buck, a £1m signing fee despite intense scrutiny of Britain’s biggest water company’s finances as it tries to avoid being taken into public control.

The utility revealed that it made the payment last month, in a letter sent last week by Adrian Montague, its chair, to MPs on the environment, food and rural affairs select committee, Sky News first reported.

Australian rare earth miner surges after U.S. Department of War investment

The Trump administration has backed plans to build an Australian scandium mine as part of a push to challenge China’s critical-minerals dominance.

Messy is chic again. But is the world ready for my kind of crumpled grubbiness? | Emma Beddington

All my clothes are stained and creased and my house is cluttered, so I should be thrilled by this moment. But it’s naive to think we are about to be tolerant of the real mess of life

Stand down Stacey Solomon; hush, quiet luxury: mess is back, though in this household, and I suspect many others, it never went away. “Messiness in all its aesthetic glory is being celebrated in a meaningful way,” Susie Lau writes in this month’s Elle, highlighting some recent fashion mess – dirty shirt cuffs and frayed embroidery at Prada; battered handbags at Chanel; an “extreme-treated denim” homage to the walk of shame at Diesel. Beauty and homes are on a similar trajectory, apparently, with morning-after makeup and interiors that make a virtue of clutter and imperfection, “from unmade beds to breakfast leftovers”.

The mess revival Lau observes in style has also been gathering momentum in other areas: goblin mode, bed rotting and sloppy, blurred Instagram photo dumps. Now “gen Z is drinking again” (74% of them, up from 66% in 2023 according to a drinks industry study), there seems to be a broader sobriety backlash brewing and cigarettes are, depressingly, back in fashion (deployed as accessories by Kylie Jenner, Dua Lipa, Hailey Bieber and many more).

Ancient Roman pottery discovered in shipwreck off Sicilian coast – video

Italy's Carabinieri cultural protection unit has discovered the wreck of a Roman ship off Sicily. Divers found hundreds of amphorae and parts of anchors inside the vessel, which was located about 3 miles off the coast of Mazara del Vallo. Sicily, colonised by the ancient Greeks from around the eighth century BC, and conquered by the Romans in about 240BC, was an important centre of trade in the ancient world

Is Beauty Good by Rosalind Belben review – the literary equivalent of free jazz

Combining hilarious detail with harsh observation, this rediscovered novel takes the reader on an exhilaratingly strange journey

‘But after all, writing is nothing more than a guided dream,” wrote Jorge Luis Borges. Dreams and dreaming are fertile concerns for Rosalind Belben, too. Her fourth book, originally published in 1979 and reissued last year, was titled Dreaming of Dead People. It was followed, a decade later, by Is Beauty Good. Now available in a new edition from the Sheffield indie And Other Stories, this eccentric polyphonic novel contains dozens of considerations of dreams, including dogs’ dreams and horses’ dreams as well as human beings’. Yet what makes it extraordinary is Belben’s ability to capture in words the slippery state that is neither dreaming nor sleeping nor waking, but somewhere in the edgelands between all three.

“I fall awake and think, I want to go home. But there is no home.” So begins the chapter entitled Exile, a deliciously elusive story that is, most of the time at least, narrated in the first person by someone who is probably a woman, “a grizzled, cropped person”, and probably quite old and alone. They might be travelling through mountains somewhere, perhaps on a bus. They aren’t sure: “I am quite lost, wherever I am. I want to surrender. I wish to retire. I am tired.” Swishing about are uncertain memories of a childhood “shrouded” in nightmares: there was an orchard with an abundance of flora and fauna, and larks and swallows and “swifts to scream”. Like the author, the narrator was “born in the mud month” of February, and longs to disappear into marshlands to “be touched and stroked by plants”. But Belben never lets us rest in one place for long. Slipping in and out of sleep, “suffering glimpses”, the narrator stares at “a pink and blue angel” in the plaster of the wall. Which wall, you wonder, and how did we get here? This is the lure of Belben’s hypnagogia, the dizzying space into which she writes.

Harry Potter fans force relocation of £430m undersea cable to avoid Dobby’s ‘grave’

Power cable linking UK and Ireland now passes near Bronze Age human burial remains instead of fictional grave on Welsh beach

Harry Potter fans have forced a new multimillion-pound power cable between the UK and Ireland to be relocated after complaining it would desecrate the “grave” of Dobby, a fictional elf.

The character was laid to rest on Freshwater West beach in Pembrokeshire, Wales, in the film Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Fans of the wizard series come to leave stones reading “Here Lies Dobby” despite being asked not to by the land owner, the National Trust, because the beach is an ecologically sensitive site.

UK temperatures could hit 36C as fifth heatwave of summer looms

Met Office considers amber or red warning as forecasters say Thursday is likely to be hottest day of the week

Temperatures could reach 36C (97F) or higher this week, forecasters have said, with possible disruption to railway lines and power networks as the Met Office considers issuing rare amber or red extreme heat warnings.

Parts of the UK are forecast to experience the fifth heatwave of the summer as the country continues to bake in an unprecedented period of dry, hot weather.

Vondrousova’s antics put tennis doping tests in spotlight – a far cry from football’s view | Tumaini Carayol

Former Wimbledon champion’s suspension comes as Mykhailo Mudryk returns for Chelsea, exposing stark contrast in processes

In the months between the first announcement of Marketa Vondrousova’s doping test refusal and the release of the full reasoned decision after her four‑year ban, the 2023 Wimbledon champion did her best to grab hold of the narrative. Between her social media posts and later interviews, Vondrousova explained that she had serious concerns about her safety during the encounter, that the doping control officer at her door had acted improperly, and that her mental health problems had affected her judgment.

Then came the 58-page document, a summary of the court tribunal process, which was finally released a little over a week ago. Among the ample questionable decisions it showed Vondrousova to have made that evening, the text to her boyfriend shortly after the doping control officer arrived was particularly revealing, an indication that she felt disdain towards the tester rather than fear: “So like here is ringing some cunt from the doping,” she wrote.

Why is poetry booming? It’s the only language for times of violence and chaos | Charlotte Higgins

From the Odyssey to conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza, we can see how poetry fills the gap when ordinary ways of writing or speaking aren’t enough

The biggest sales of poetry since records began are expected this year. The reason? The movies, of course. UK print sales of The Odyssey increased by 1,400% in the four weeks to 25 July compared with the same period last year. In the US, year-to-date sales of The Odyssey are up 76% so far. Christopher Nolan is doing miracles for Homer – whatever problems one might have with the movie (and Emily Wilson, who made the most popular recent translation, has a few).

Strip out the Odyssey factor, though, and poetry is still doing exceptionally well, driven by writers whose work is often mildly denigrated as “Instapoetry”, such as Lucas Jones. His is a kind of versifying that delivers immediate uplifting aphorisms rather than either the kind of dense, allusive play with language that might reward repeated reading; or the sort of limpid, performable music that propels a well-translated Homeric epic. But even so, the poets of Instagram reach for something that can’t quite be expressed through everyday speech. And readers respond to it.

Is it true that … you need to detox your scalp?

A good scalp cleanse can be useful, but it partly depends where you live

We’re experiencing the “skinification” of the scalp, says Desmond Tobin, professor of dermatological science at University College Dublin. After decades of consumer obsession with improving the quality of facial skin, attention is now being turned to our heads.

A wave of products have launched – from scalp scrubs and acid exfoliants to deep-cleaning shampoos – claiming to “detox” the scalp and promising everything from shinier hair to boosted growth.

Meme factories are churning out hard right AI slop on Facebook | First Dog on the Moon

What does it even mean? You don’t want to know – stop reading now! I’m serious

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Football transfer rumours: Endrick set for Villa loan? De Jong offered in Rodri deal?

Today’s fluff is counting the pennies

A sense of excitement is what Aston Villa need at the moment after selling off key players. What better way to create it than signing a prodigious talent from Real Madrid? The Villans have inquired about the Brazilian Endrick, who impressed on loan at Lyon last season, and may make a similar temporary move to the Premier League.

Manchester City are not particularly keen to sell Rodri but, with a year left on his contract money may well talk, especially if the midfielder wants to leave. Barcelona’s first bid was rejected but they are readying another. One idea is to offer Frenkie de Jong as part of the deal, so at least Enzo Maresca would have a shiny new midfielder to play with.

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 review: your passport to a folding phone future

Novel squat Android opens to an iPad-like screen for video or multitasking, with plenty of power and battery life

Samsung’s latest folding phone breaks the mould with a squat, passport-like shape reminiscent of the Blackberry, which opens up to become a tablet similar to an iPad mini. It is certainly a better shape for a tablet than other designs, but is a short and wide phone when closed a compromise too far?

The Galaxy Z Fold 8 is an entirely new variant in Samsung’s foldable family for this year launched alongside the Z Fold 8 Ultra with a more familiar candy bar shape. Both folders are extremely expensive, with the Fold 8 starting at £1,699 (€1,999/$1,899.99/A$2,699) and the Fold 8 Ultra at £1,899 (€2,199/$2,099.99/A$2,999), with RAMageddon driving up prices even at the top of the market.

John Berger: From Life by Tom Overton review – a vibrant biography of the pioneering critic

This multi-layered portrait is a fitting tribute to the man behind Ways of Seeing

The cultural critic John Berger was still alive and kicking when he donated his literary archive – heaped boxes of letters and notepads, sketches and scripts – to the British Library in 2009. From his home in the Alps, he proceeded to liaise with the collection’s curator, Tom Overton, sorting each item and recounting the wild stories behind them. When Overton sought permission to write Berger’s biography, though, the critic insisted that he wait a few years. Death changes the relationship between the writer and his subject. More often than not, it complicates and enriches it. Berger – who spent much of his career in passionate conversation with the past – probably knew that better than anyone.

Berger typically described himself as a storyteller, an elastic job title which allowed him to swing between fiction and poetry, essays and screenplays. Implicitly, too, the term helped frame his criticism as something propulsive and inclusive, an invitation to dance as opposed to a judgment from on high. Berger had no time for the “great man” theory of art as espoused by the popular historian Kenneth Clark and instead urged his audience to view each piece as a manifestation of society and politics: the tainted fruit of capitalism, inseparable from the marketplace. Oil paintings were status symbols. Nudes were the product of the lusty male gaze. Looking itself was a political act. “You cannot reply to me,” he would tell 1970s TV viewers, breaking the fourth wall to highlight the medium’s limitations. He liked pointing out the mechanics behind the manufacture of art, demystifying the process to better appreciate its results.

A slow, boozy bus tour of Hungary’s secret vineyards

The spa town of Balatonfüred is a bucolic gem for sailors, hikers … and wine lovers. A new hop-on, hop-off bus tour offers a chance to get a taste of its little-known wineries

The 90-minute train journey south-west from Budapest to the spa town of Balatonfüred unveils a landscape that segues from gritty industrial compounds to long sweeps of golden sunflowers and fields of pale grain. The carriage is pleasingly retro, with thick velour upholstery; windows that open, awkwardly, with a stiff metal lever; and a bushy eyebrowed conductor replete with ticket machine slung over his shoulder.

But the real retromania is yet to come. Arriving at Balatonfüred station, I board a 1984 DAF bus, painted an almost audacious shade of green. From the open-air rear, I take in the view over Lake Balaton, central Europe’s largest freshwater lake, often referred to as the “Hungarian Sea”.

A new start after 60: I took up slalom skateboarding – and I’m off to the world championships!

Darren Miles had skateboarded all his life. But in his 50s, he realised he was losing his skills and flexibility. So he took it in a new direction

Darren Miles never thought he would compete in any sport for Britain. But in October, he will represent Great Britain in slalom skateboarding – a form of downhill racing – at the World Skate Games in Paraguay. Last week, he completed his World Anti-Doping Agency awareness training. He had to tick a box confirming: “I’m an international athlete.”

“Justification” is the word that comes to mind, he says. “A feeling that I haven’t wasted my life skateboarding, that diverging into something new” – he took up slalom in his late 50s – “and working hard at it has yielded a result of which I am very proud.”

‘Body’ found in suitcase near Goulburn was actually lifelike doll with ‘bruises and grazes’

What was originally reported as a body found in Oallen on Sunday was ‘very realistic in the terms of looking like human remains’, NSW police say

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What appeared to be a woman’s body found in a suitcase by the side of a road in regional Australia was in fact a lifelike doll with markings resembling bruises and grazes, police say.

New South Wales police said they were called to Wolgon Road in Oallen, near Goulburn, about 12.50pm on Sunday “following reports a body had been located”.

Centrist Democrats dismiss Abdul El-Sayed as a freak radical. Do they want to win in 2028 or not? | Nesrine Malik

Americans want someone on their side in the fight against vested interests – that means politicians like the Michigan primary winner and Zohran Mamdani

Abdul El-Sayed’s win in the Michigan Senate primary was a historic breakthrough. Not only because he is a Muslim son of immigrants who broke with almost every single tenet of establishment Democratic party politics. But because he has wiped that complacent sneer at progressive wins off the faces of centrist gatekeepers. Zohran Mamdani? Relax, he’s just a mayor. And it’s New York City. Outside urban and liberal corridors, there is nothing to worry about. Now El-Sayed has won the Democratic party’s nomination in a swing state that is also on the list of presidential nomination states.

There is a lot to be excited about. Not only within the US, but for observers abroad hopeful for the emergence of a truly revolutionary left that is able to weather powerful and well-funded adversaries and prevail. The money raised to defeat El-Sayed was staggering. He was outspent by more than nine to one. It was the most expensive Democratic congressional primary ever. A roll call of cartoon bad guys, such as Chevron and Philip Morris, funded his opponent, Haley Stevens, to the tune of over $60m. Of that funding, nearly half came from a Super Pac backed by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (Aipac).

Broth, tart and salad: Kirk Haworth’s vegan tomato recipes for summer

A smoky tomato broth, a grilled peach, tomato and almond ‘ricotta’ salad scattered with roast almonds, and a sparky tomato tarte tatin

August is peak tomato season. This most versatile of fruits can be put to just about any use, from raw to slow-cooked and from oven- or sun-dried to desserts (believe it or not, they go incredibly well with summer berries, especially strawberries and raspberries). Not only that, but tomatoes have high glutamate levels that rise even further as they ripen, which gives them an umami kick. However you prepare them, though, the key thing is never to keep tomatoes in the fridge: the chill breaks down their cell structure and, even more importantly, affects their flavour in an alarming way.

Trump says oil supermajors are making too much money. What will they do with it?

The windfall is fueling fresh political and environmental backlash, with Trump accusing Exxon Mobil and Chevron of making “too much money.”

Typhoon Dolphin: more than a million people evacuated in China as record rainfall dumped on Shanghai

Authorities warn that days of intense rain could trigger widespread flooding and landslides as storm moves north and further inland

More than a million people were moved to safety across eastern China by Sunday evening as powerful Typhoon Dolphin made landfall amid fears torrential rain would cause flooding and landslides.

Wenzhou, a coastal city in Zhejiang province, said it relocated more than 900,000 people and opened more than 1,500 emergency shelters. In neighbouring Fujian, 98,900 people were moved from high-risk areas.

The view from the proving grounds for next-generation nuclear reactors, Atomic City, Idaho

A new generation of small nuclear reactors is poised to come online in the next few years. Public opinion remains split.

‘I’ve sat at the very precipice of life’: ex-footballer Clarke Carlisle on gambling, depression – and survival

The former Leeds and Burnley defender has struggled with his mental health for most of his life. But it took five suicide attempts for him to admit how badly he wanted to end it. He talks about how he turned the corner – and his hopes for his new post with the charity Mind

‘How are you?” I ask Clarke Carlisle. Usually when you meet people it’s a nicety. Not with Carlisle. He smiles ecstatically. “I’m incredibly well, thank you. Yeah, really, really good,” says the former footballer and incoming chair of the mental health charity Mind. “I have been consistently well – not just stable, but well – for three or four years now.”

Few people understand what it is to be mentally unwell quite like Carlisle does. And few understand what recovery means like he does. “It doesn’t happen by accident. Once you get stable that’s not the end of the journey. And that seems to be the MO of our society these days. You do something, you go into hospital and they patch you up, then send you on your way. And that’s the same with mental health. You might get some pills, have a counselling session, you might have a hug and a chat with someone, and they think that’s the end of the journey. And it’s not.”

Movie paradise? How Malta became a magnet for big film shoots

EU’s smallest country has played ancient Rome, the Land of Spells and Bay of Pentos and draws more than 30 productions annually

What links the Caribbean, ancient Rome, Enid Blyton’s Land of Spells, the south of France and the Bay of Pentos from Game of Thrones? They are all places that have been portrayed in recent and forthcoming films by a sunny archipelago in the Mediterranean Sea, no bigger in size than Sheffield.

Malta has over the last decade risen to become one of the most popular places in Europe for American and British film-makers to set their works in, taking a lead in what has been described as an “arms race” to lure big movie productions with tax incentives.

‘This is asking a lot of the buttocks’: my 23-hour Wagner marathon on a rock hard seat in a heatwave

How does it feel to be locked into a venue notorious for its unpadded seating to experience a full-throttle Ring cycle and more? Our critic found out at the 150th anniversary of the mighty Bayreuth festival

Liszt and Bruckner were there from the start. Debussy, Mahler and Puccini all subsequently made the journey. So did writers from Virginia Woolf and Thomas Mann to WEB Du Bois, not to mention choreographer Sergei Diaghilev, anarchist Emma Goldman, British fascist Diana Mosley (wife of Oswald) and – most notoriously and fanatically – Adolf Hitler.

Culturally and politically, Germany’s Bayreuth festival doesn’t so much have baggage as its own industrial-scale luggage hangar. But it’s also prized as the ultimate place to hear Richard Wagner’s operas. One hundred and fifty years after the composer launched the festival with the premiere of his epic Ring cycle, tickets for this summer’s edition sold out within 90 minutes. No mean feat for a theatre with famously uncomfortable seats, no air conditioning and only one man’s music on the menu. The shortest work lasts two-and-a-half hours without a break.

Mother, 5-month-old die in New York Harbor after boat capsized; Captain arrested

A 46-year-old man was arrested on reckless endangerment charges, and authorities are investigating whether the boat was an illegal charter.

World’s seas have hit hottest temperature on record for July, say scientists

Average sea surface temperature outside polar regions was highest on record for July, beating previous high in 2023

The world’s seas were hotter last month than in any July on record, scientists have said, as devastating heat struck western Europe.

Sea surface temperatures hit record highs for July on the Atlantic coast and western Mediterranean, the EU’s Copernicus climate change service found, with severe marine heatwaves roiling Europe’s seas. Globally, the average sea surface temperature outside the cold polar regions was the highest on record for the month, beating the previous July record set in 2023.

Prison inmates train service dogs, changing lives of people they've never met

At a state prison in Stockton, California, some inmates train service dogs that will go on to help people with disabilities. Max Darrow has the story.

The Odyssey becomes Christopher Nolan’s highest grossing film as it passes $1.1bn at box office

The film-maker’s take on Homer’s epic has beaten his previous record holder The Dark Knight Rises

The Odyssey has become the highest grossing film of Christopher Nolan’s career, having made more than US$1bn at the global box office less than a month after its release.

The blockbuster, which was released on 17 July, is an adaptation of Homer’s ancient Greek epic and follows Matt Damon as Odysseus, the Greek king of Ithaca, on his perilous 10-year journey home after the Trojan war.

Taiwan practices war games as it fears increasing Chinese aggression, questions Trump's support

Taiwan continued its 10-day war games this weekend, preparing for a potential invasion by China, which claims the territory as its own and has threatened to seize it by force. Anna Coren has more details from Taiwan.

Winning Powerball numbers drawn for $863 million jackpot

The total is also the eighth-largest Powerball jackpot in the game's history.

Powerball prize increases to $905 million

The Powerball jackpot powered up after there was no winner this weekend. The prize for Monday's drawing is now an estimated $905 million, the biggest jackpot this year.

Gas prices stubbornly stuck, up more than $1 since war with Iran started

The cost of the war with Iran on taxpayers continues to grow, not only to finance the Pentagon's plans, but at the pump. Taurean Small has more.

Iranian leaders demand U.S. pay for war damage or will keep Strait of Hormuz closed

Iran's Revolutionary Guard insisted that the Strait of Hormuz will remain closed until the U.S. complies with a list of demands, including paying for war damage. Imtiaz Tyab reports on the latest in a series of mixed messages from the regime.

Fires grip western U.S., British Columbia: "It doesn't seem like it's real"

Nearly 100 large wildfires strained firefighting resources around the U.S. this weekend. The fire danger also exploded in Canada amid hot and dry conditions. Gwen Baumgardner reports, and Andrew Kozak has the forecast.

Don Nelson, former NBA coach and 5-time champion as a player, dies at 86

Don Nelson was one of two coaches in NBA history to have at least 250 wins with three different franchises — Milwaukee, Dallas and Golden State.

José Mourinho reveals he signed contract to succeed Alex Ferguson at Manchester United in 2013

• Mourinho: I reneged on deal and returned to Chelsea

• Ferguson confirms story in new Netflix documentary

José Mourinho has revealed he signed a contract to succeed Sir Alex Ferguson as Manchester United manager in 2013 only to tearfully renege on the deal and return to Chelsea.

The football world was rocked when the Scottish great announced he was retiring having overseen a 13th Premier League title triumph during a spell of unrivalled dominance at Old Trafford.

Premier League 2026-27 preview No 1: Arsenal

With most of their rivals changing managers, can the champions go back-to-back for the first time in more than 90 years?

Guardian writers’ predicted position: 1st (NB: this is not necessarily Ed Aarons’ prediction but the average of our writers’ tips)

Last season’s position: 1st

8/9/2026: Generally Recognized as Safe; Growing Up Behind Walls; Hoosier Hysteria

First, a report on how GRAS fuels the rise of ultraprocessed foods. Then, a look inside author Mitch Albom's Haiti orphanage. And, Indiana Hoosiers: from outcast to undefeated.

8/9: CBS Weekend News

Wildfires rage in Canada and the western U.S.; 2 were killed from a capsized boat in New York Harbor.

Crews battle wildfires in western U.S. and Canada

There have been 183 new wildfires, including eight large ones, across the U.S. since Saturday, the National Interagency Fire Center reported on Sunday.

Netanyahu rejects US-led 15-point Gaza peace plan in rare public break with Trump

Israeli PM says IDF will not withdraw until Hamas is disarmed and rebukes US pressure to end wars without his country’s buy-in

Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has rejected a US-backed 15-point peace plan for Gaza in a rare public break with Donald Trump.

In a statement on Sunday, Netanyahu said that he was confronting a “wave of rumours about Israeli weakness and Israeli withdrawals on all fronts” and rebuked US pressure to end wars in Gaza, Lebanon and Iran without Israel’s buy-in.

Game of Thrones: The Mad King review – an action-packed saga of dry ice and fire

Royal Shakespeare theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon
This prequel to the TV series has one joust after another, spectacular stagecraft and plenty of modern resonance

During the RSC’s 65 years, numerous Lears have lost their minds and frequent Caesars been slaughtered by their courts. Now, though, a tyrant new to its stages faces both fates. He is King Aerys II Targaryen, ancestor of one warring bloodline in Game of Thrones, the dramatisation of George RR Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series of fantasy novels that helped TV streamers’ rise to global domination during eight HBO seasons from 2011 to 2019.

Some may balk at an institution named for England’s greatest dramatist staging an American drama franchise. There is, though, a compelling economic imperative: rising costs due to current wars (a frequent problem for Martin’s ancient oligarchs too) and Covid-era debts now exacerbated by paying back government loans means that the RSC could use another big commercial transfer – as its musical Matilda may not be immortal.

Full transcript of "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan," July 19, 2026

On this "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan" broadcast, Sens. Bill Cassidy and Bernie Sanders join Margaret Brennan.

Bhattacharya says "I trust the science" on childhood vaccines

Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, director of the National Institutes of Health, said "I trust the science" on vaccines as measles cases have risen to their highest levels in 35 years.

Perseid meteor shower set to dazzle northern hemisphere this week

Astronomers say viewing conditions promising for this year’s shower, and 50 to 100 meteors an hour may be visible

The Perseid summer light show is back, and viewing conditions are especially promising across the northern hemisphere.

The meteor shower is expected to peak on Wednesday night into Thursday morning, and coincides with a total solar eclipse across Spain, Iceland and Greenland and a six-planet parade – though the best time to view the fireballs will come after totality.

Max Miller stays in Ohio House race as GOP ballot deadline passes

Rep. Max Miller is set to remain the Republican nominee in Ohio’s 7th District after the window for the GOP to replace him on the November ballot closed.

Tour de France Femmes: Vollering wins second title but tactics row rumbles on

• Dutch cyclist finishes 1:18 clear of Kasia Niewiadoma

• ‘I know what’s right and what’s not,’ runner-up says

In the end, there was no debate. Demi Vollering went clear on the Col d’Èze, overlooking Nice, to win her second Tour de France Femmes from rival Kasia Niewiadoma, champion in 2024, by one minute and 18 seconds.

The decisive attacks came on the narrow snaking climb of the Chemin du Vinaigrier, past swimming pools and art deco villas, where breakaway rider Isabella Holmgren was finally overhauled and ­Vollering and Niewiadoma again went head-to-head.

Canadian government steps in as ‘out of control’ wildfires force thousands to flee

British Columbia battling 102 fires day and night across province, as breakneck speed hampers firefighters’ efforts

Canada’s federal government has announced it will provide urgent assistance to British Columbia after an onslaught of unprecedented fast-moving wildfires that killed one person and forced about 22,000 people to flee their homes in frantic evacuations.

A total of 102 wildfires were raging across the province on Sunday, of which nearly half were categorised as “out of control”, according to the BC Wildfire Service. Of those fires, 78 ignited during the past week.

Alleged crime boss Daniel Kinahan’s return to Ireland ends global game of cat-and-mouse

Kinahan built boxing empire while in exile in Dubai but now faces trial in Dublin charged with directing organised crime

A decade after escaping assassination and fleeing into exile, Daniel Kinahan is back in Ireland – but it is not the homecoming he wanted.

The alleged leader of the Kinahan organised crime group was extradited from Dubai in an Irish government jet on Sunday and met by a huge security operation in Dublin, marking the end of a global game of cat and mouse with European, US and Gulf authorities.

Iran denies any direct talks with U.S. on opening Strait of Hormuz as Houthis claim attack on Saudi refinery

Iran's foreign minister reportedly said his country is not engaging in talks with the U.S., but added: "Messages are being exchanged through intermediaries."

Lake Mead plummets to historic low water level as Colorado River struggles

Levels at reservoir along Arizona-Nevada border dipped below previous record set in 2022, amid water crisis in west

Lake Mead, the largest reservoir in the United States, has plummeted to its lowest water level since it was filled some 90 years ago, the latest sign of a deepening water crisis in the American west.

Water levels at the reservoir, which straddles the Arizona-Nevada border outside Las Vegas, hit 1,040.4ft (317.1 meters) above sea level on Friday, according to federal data. That’s just below the record set on 28 July 2022, according to the US Bureau of Reclamation.

Sen. Bill Cassidy says his decision to confirm Todd Blanche wasn't "black or white"

"If you're looking for a black or white decision here, you're not going to find it," GOP Sen. Bill Cassidy said about his decision to support Todd Blanche's nomination for attorney general.

Sanders calls on Democratic leaders to ban "corrupt" super PAC donations

Sen. Bernie Sanders highlighted the hundreds of millions of dollars spent by outside organizations during the 2026 midterm cycle.

The Kettlewell scarecrow festival – in pictures

The two-week event celebrates the creativity of the Yorkshire Dales village and has gone from strength to strength since beginning as a fundraiser for the local primary school in 1994

William Orbit obituary

Musician and record producer who reignited Madonna’s career with his work on her 1998 album Ray of Light

The career highlights of William Orbit, who has died aged 69, would run to several pages, featuring collaborations with Robbie Williams, All Saints, Prince, Kraftwerk, Britney Spears, Beth Orton and U2, but one of the most celebrated was his partnership with Madonna on her 1998 album Ray of Light.

Coming at a point when Madonna had starred in the movie of Evita and had her first child, Lourdes, and her music career seemed to be waning, Ray of Light marked a decisive step into a new world of techno and ambient music. Orbit, who had previously made remixes of Madonna’s Justify My Love and Erotica, proved to be the perfect production partner, and Ray of Light’s blend of styles and textures made it one of Madonna’s most admired achievements, with 16 million copies of the album sold worldwide.

This week on "Sunday Morning" (Aug. 9)

A look at the features for this week's broadcast of the Emmy-winning program, hosted by Jane Pauley.

The Guardian view on the two cultures: bridge the divide, starting with A-levels | Editorial

Seventy years after CP Snow warned of estrangement between the sciences and arts, breadth in education should be encouraged

After the playwright Tom Stoppard died last year, one of the most striking tributes to his work came from a clinical scientist. Michael Baum explained in the British Medical Journal how, in the interval of a 1993 performance of Arcadia, he experienced an epiphany. Thomasina Coverly’s attempt to plot the equation for a rose prompted him to realise that chaos theory was the best way to explain breast cancer’s pattern of recurrence. It was, he wrote, “the bond that links the arts and the sciences as one enterprise rather than the contents of two silos”.

Mr Baum was not the first person to celebrate the bridging of this gap. CP Snow famously criticised the incuriosity of “literary intellectuals” about technology in his essay The Two Cultures (later turned into a lecture and a book). Whether or not this was justified at the time, many literary intellectuals besides Stoppard have since taken a close interest in science; Richard Holmes’s latest book, about the influence of evolutionary theory on Tennyson, is just one example. But the split between the humanities and sciences remains pronounced, and will be evident when this year’s A-level results are released on Thursday.

The Guardian view on India’s green growth gamble: it will need more than private finance | Editorial

The world’s most populous country needs state-generated demand to industrialise, decarbonise and avoid China’s overcapacity trap

India is attempting to do something the world has never seen before. So claimed Niti Aayog, the government of India’s policy thinktank, earlier this year. It said that no major economy has tried to expand GDP nearly eightfold within a generation while simultaneously redirecting its energy and industrial systems to reach net zero within two generations. Hence its detailed report’s claim that there is “no historical precedent”.

There is something to this. China industrialised at vast scale, but not on a sustainable net zero path. Korea, Japan and Europe became wealthy by industrialising before decarbonising. Today, rich nations have already satisfied the basic demands of their people and created the infrastructure and high per-capita energy use that India is still trying to build. The world’s most populous country has to do this while also reducing emissions.

Pakistani grooming gang suspect ‘refuses to give date for return to UK’

Rukhsar Ahmed was recently elected an MP in Pakistan while on bail over alleged child rape in 1990s Manchester

A grooming gang suspect released on bail in the UK and then re-elected as an MP in Pakistan has reportedly declined to say when he would return to face rape charges.

The Guardian disclosed that Rukhsar Ahmed, a former Pakistan state minister, was arrested at Manchester airport in July 2024 on suspicion of raping and trafficking at least two underage girls from care homes in the city’s Rusholme area during the 1990s.

Christine Borland obituary

Turner prize nominee whose installations, sculptures and films returned repeatedly to the histories embedded within bodies

In 1994, Christine Borland, who has died aged 61 of cancer, opened her first solo exhibition at Tramway in Glasgow. Its starting point was a mail-order catalogue through which human skeletons could be legally purchased for medical teaching.

The discovery that a person’s remains could be bought anonymously through the post gave rise to one of the defining questions of her career. Working with forensic experts, police and medical professionals, Borland attempted to reconstruct the life behind one such skeleton, producing a bronze facial reconstruction alongside the original bones.

My Brilliant Career: inside Netflix’s horny, ‘bonkers’ take on an Australian classic the world is about to love

Starring Philippa Northeast and an extremely buff Christopher Chung, Miles Franklin’s 1901 novel has been adapted into a spirited series ‘unashamedly intended for women’

Within the first 10 minutes of My Brilliant Career, Netflix’s new adaptation of the classic Australian novel by Miles Franklin, there’s smutty performance poetry and a Divinyls needle drop that suggests it’s not going to be your standard turn-of-the-century period drama. By the end of the first episode – in which our teen heroine, Sybylla Melvin, pops a squat for a bush wee and flashes her knickers at a drawing room full of toffs while dancing to a Rod Stewart cover – you sense that anything could happen. And yet somehow, the alfresco fingerbang later in the series still surprises.

“It’s bonkers,” admits the show’s star Philippa Northeast, who plays Sybylla. “You really see this world through a teenage lens – which is true to Sybylla’s spirit and Miles’ age at the time she wrote the book … it reads like a teenager’s diary entry, pretty much.”

Inside a meme factory: meet one of thousands of Indonesians trading political outrage clicks for Facebook cash

Exclusive: Adira says she doesn’t know much about her target countries or even know who their leaders are. Instead she’s chasing money from Meta, which pays for engagement

From her home in West Java, Adira* often starts the day with a Facebook post about coffee and the busy day ahead. Then she gets to work.

In a Facebook group called Team Pauline Hanson, she shares a photo of the Australian senator and One Nation leader and asks its almost 26,000 members for thoughts about Hanson’s comments about Islam and Australia’s way of life.

Kindness of strangers: Leo drove us home in a blizzard, and his parting words have stayed with me

The roads were so treacherous that what should have been a five-minute drive took 40 minutes. My mum didn’t speak much English, so I did the talking

• Read more in the kindness of strangers series

I was graduating from university the same day Storm Goretti was due to hit Birmingham. The forecast was for snow – and lots of it – so I decided to get the bus in, rather than risk driving and having to leave my car behind in a snowstorm. Joining me was my mum.

We successfully attended the ceremony and managed to get on a bus back home but as the snow worsened, it broke down a kilometre from my house. The whole bus emptied and we were forced to walk through the blizzard. It was like The Day After Tomorrow out there. Tough conditions for anyone, but my mum, who was in her late 60s, was struggling to take even a few steps.

Italy condemns Spain’s ‘unacceptable’ border controls as Ceuta fallout intensifies

Travellers caught up in migration row as Madrid introduces checks on visitors from Italy in retaliation for Rome’s move

Italy’s foreign minister has called Spain’s decision to impose retaliatory checks on travellers from Italy “incomprehensible and completely unacceptable” as people making their way between the two EU countries were left grappling with the effects of the escalating feud.

Spain started carrying out spot checks on visitors from Italy at midnight on Saturday. The tit-for-tat move came after Rome infuriated Madrid by launching checks on 1 August for travellers from Spain in response to the recent influx of about 72,000 people into Ceuta, a Spanish territory in north Africa.

Ocasio-Cortez hasn't 'ruled out' running for president or Senate in 2028

The congresswoman, who has emerged as a polling favorite to be the Democratic nominee, said she also has not ruled out a run for the Senate in 2028.

I Rarely Wake Up Dreaming review – brilliant bulletin from Ukrainian frontline dives deep into culture war

Locarno film festival
A couple attempting to leave Ukraine when the war begins encounter gender identity issues in this bold and challenging film

A movie’s themes could hardly be more urgent and contemporary than those on offer in this entirely absorbing film from German director Isabelle Stever and Ukrainian critic turned screenwriter Anna Melikova. It’s a bulletin from the frontline of Russia’s war on Ukraine, and from the culture war too. It is about identity and choices made in peacetime when less was at stake. There is a bold and brilliant premise that may at first look artificially satirical but is actually inspired.

When Russia begins its attack, the crisis is very specific for a scared young Ukrainian couple, recently engaged: Olya (Tania Myronyshena) and Oleh (Markus Bright). As bombs rain down, they head west in the cramped car of Olya’s elderly mum and dad – with Olya grumpily objecting to her dad’s sexist comments from behind the wheel about female drivers – to stay with Olya’s sister, who is married with a young baby and whose husband, to her fury, has joined up. Oleh’s plan is to get out of Ukraine and live with Olya in the safety of Germany and the EU.

Nature: Otters in California

We leave you this Sunday morning among river otters frolicking at Point Reyes National Seashore in Marin County, Calif. Videographer: Lee McEachern.

8/9: Face The Nation

This week on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan," Sen. Bill Cassidy joins to discuss his pivotal vote to confirm Todd Blanche as attorney general. Plus, Sen. Bernie Sanders and National Institutes of Health Director Dr. Jay Bhattacharya join.

How THC tests have landed new mothers onto child abuse registries

In Idaho, new mothers have ended up on a child abuse registry after testing positive for THC – a chemical found in marijuana. An investigation raises hard questions about who gets punished, and who doesn't.

The bond between dog and duck

Barley, the golden retriever, lost her spunk once she started taking medication. But when Justin and Tori Cannarelli, of New York, brought Louie, a duckling, home for a short visit, the bird and the dog immediately bonded – and Barley was once again good as gold. Steve Hartman reports on a healing friendship that transcends species.

How THC tests have landed new mothers onto child abuse registries

In more than 40 states, marijuana is now a legal method of relieving pain. But in Idaho, more than a thousand new mothers have ended up on a child abuse registry after testing positive for THC – a chemical found in marijuana – following childbirth. In other states, women have even been sent to jail. The findings of a joint investigation by "CBS Sunday Morning" and the Marshall Project raise hard questions about who gets punished, and who doesn't. Erin Moriarty reports. [This story was produced in partnership with The Marshall Project, a nonprofit news organization covering the U.S. criminal justice system.]

Passage: Remembering Jeanne Gibson, a.k.a. "Rosie the Riveter"

Jeanne Gibson, who at age 18 joined the war effort by becoming a "Rosie the Riveter" to help build Navy destroyers as a welder, died July 29, 2026 at age 100. Seth Doane looks back on the life of a woman who stepped up during World War II. Gibson later earned a Ph.D. and worked as an educator, while continuing to tell the story about the contributions of millions of Rosies during World War II.

‘I’ve definitely lost followers’: influencers face backlash over Meta ‘pervert glasses’ content

Using ‘spy glasses’ made by Facebook owner leads to floods of negative comments, say content creators

It was hardly an offensive video. Amid the buzz of the Tour de France finale, Oliver Hooson filmed himself whipping up a delicious-looking flat white for a fellow cycling enthusiast. But after posting the footage on social media, the comments that soon rolled in were a real shock. “PERV,” read one. “Out here pushing creep glasses,” said another. His mistake? Documenting the moment with Meta’s “spy glasses”.

Despite being marketed as the latest must-have gadget, Meta’s smartglasses, which can record video footage while being worn, have faced a vicious backlash, particularly relating to concerns about surveillance. There are widespread fears about the glasses being used to film people, especially women, without their consent, and the resultant footage being posted on social media. This has earned them the label of “pervert glasses”, and content creators, no matter how they are used, have faced a flood of negative comments for deploying them.

Visiting the Iowa 80 Truckstop, the world's largest

The Iowa 80 Truckstop, on Interstate 80, claims to be the world's largest truck stop – and who would argue? Luke Burbank pulls up to the Walcott, Iowa truck stop larger than 150 football fields, catering to those who keep America moving, which features everything from 24-hour restaurants and maintenance shops, to a dentist, ministry office, and movie theater. (Originally broadcast Aug. 31, 2025.)

Dog Days of Summer

How did the "dog days of summer" get their name?

Protecting the Venus fly trap

The carnivorous Venus fly trap is native to the Carolinas, but its population is dwindling due to loss of habitat. Correspondent Seth Doane talks with botanist Julie Moore, who has spent much of her life helping to save these remarkable plants; and with Damon Waitt, director of the North Carolina Botanical Garden, who discusses the unusual traits of a species that Charles Darwin called the most interesting plant in the world. (Originally broadcast April 26, 2026.)

Comedian Mo Gillligan looks back: ‘Drake shared my video, Ian Wright liked a post – then I quit my job in retail’

The standup and presenter on performing at the back of the school bus, his funny aunts and uncles, and swerving a career selling perfume

Born in Lambeth, south London, in 1988, Mo Gilligan is a comedian and presenter. His online sketches went viral in 2017, which led to his debut tour, Coupla Cans, and the start of his TV career, co-hosting The Big Narstie Show and presenting The Lateish Show. The winner of two Baftas, Gilligan has released three standup specials, most recently In the Moment. His new documentary, Big Chicken: A Fast Food Conspiracy, is available on Netflix now.

This was my go-to pose as a kid. The expression is a combination of me being a bit cheeky, my mum telling me I shouldn’t smile with my teeth out, and someone else telling me that I had a nice smile when I did that grin. It was a safe bet, and I would bring it out for every school photo.

Avoid rare species and only take what you need: how to forage and save money on your food shopping

While there are fears that people harvesting their food could put pressure on habitats, some ecologists suggest responsible foraging can boost conservation and biodiversity

Angus Morton crouches behind a cricket pavilion in a London park to snip stinging nettles from an unkempt patch of greenery.

“They’re so abundant and they’re so good,” says Morton, a regenerative gardener who pops out once a week to forage bits for dinner. “I use them in pesto, tea … I’ve even seen someone putting them in croquetas.”

The secret lives of theatre workers: ‘People were having full sex in the stalls’

Domestic dramas, bodily fluids, drink, drugs, rudeness and worse … ushers and box office staff have seen it all. So much for the myth of the ‘genteel’ theatregoer

‘Theatre still has a sheen of respectability, so people feel they can behave badly because where they are cancels out how dreadful they are being,” says John, who has been a box office manager for 15 years. From my early 20s to my mid-30s, I too worked in the box office, at some of London’s top theatres. During my decade in the job, I witnessed audience behaviour ranging from the odd and the outrageous to the outright belligerent. If you are under any illusion that theatre audiences are classy, allow my former colleagues to disabuse you of that notion.

The misuse of phones is one of the most common offences. In April, Cynthia Erivo stopped her one-woman West End production of Dracula mid-performance to urge an audience member to stop filming. Former Love Island winner Amber Davies, starring in a tour of Legally Blonde, last month asked staff to kick out an audience member who was filming the performance from the front row of a Dublin theatre. And in May, Rosamund Pike spotted an audience member texting during the climax of her performance in Inter Alia. After the curtain call, Pike returned to the stage and shamed the behaviour, without singling out the culprit. Part of me hoped that, like a teacher, she would make the individual in question read their texts out to the rest of the theatre.

8/9: Sunday Morning

Hosted by Seth Doane. Featured: Saving a candlepin bowling alley; THC tests jeopardize young mothers; writer Gay Talese; actor Tim Curry; protecting the habitat of Venus fly traps; and the world's largest truck stop.

How to cook the perfect apricot galette – recipe | Felicity Cloake's how to make the perfect …

A free-form fruit tart that’s easy to throw together with whatever seasonal fruit you have to hand

The galette takes its name from the pebble it’s said to resemble – as Elizabeth David observes, it takes many forms, all of them round and flat. For me the word conjures the buckwheat pancakes of Brittany while French friends, in a quick straw poll, tend to think first of the frangipane-stuffed puff pastry galette de rois served at Epiphany, with one vote for a buttery Breton biscuit.

Ask the English-language internet, however, and you’ll be served what is more commonly known as a tart(e), more specifically a charmingly rustic, free-form version which doesn’t require a tin. Though Anne Willan references prune and apple three-tier galette pies from the Pyrenees in her 1981 classic French Regional Cooking, and David includes a yeasted version that sounds more like a cobbler in French Provincial Cooking, most fruit galette recipes I find seem to be American. My hunch is that Alice Waters’ tradition of a daily seasonal galette at Chez Panisse may have popularised the name across the pond, but the general idea never needed upselling. As a quick and easy way to turn a punnet of fruit into a dessert, it’s hard to beat, whatever you call it.

How a small Israeli startup was linked to rogue AI hacks at OpenAI, Anthropic and Meta

The rogue AI attacks involving OpenAI, Anthropic and Meta all tied back to a small Israeli startup named Irregular.

We know sleep, exercise and diet are vital for health. But why?

The benefits of all three come down to a crucial piece of cellular kit

Sleep. Exercise. Eat well. It’s the oldest recommendation in medicine, repeated so often it’s become a cliche. We know the advice, even if we don’t always follow it. But have you ever stopped to wonder why these three seemingly different habits have such remarkably similar effects on our brains and bodies?

For generations we’ve treated them as separate prescriptions – sleep restores us, exercise strengthens us and food fuels us. Yet neuroscience is beginning to suggest something rather more elegant: they’re all essentially doing the same job.