Starbucks stock jumps as coffee giant raises full-year outlook

Starbucks posted its fourth straight quarter of same-store sales growth, as it continues a turnaround under CEO Brian Niccol.

Republican disenfranchisement bid drives Black voters to polls, study finds

Black voters in south motivated to turn out by Republican push to redraw maps after supreme court ruling

A new analysis of Black voters in the south indicates that Republican attempts to dilute their political power is driving them to the polls in larger numbers and shifting their counties further left.

After the supreme court effectively gutted section 2 of the Voting Rights Act protections in late April, Republican legislatures across the south rapidly pushed to disenfranchise Black voters by redrawing congressional maps. Louisiana, Florida, Tennessee and Alabama all immediately worked to pass new maps, while the Mississippi governor has said that he wants legislators to redraw maps before the upcoming midterm elections.

I’d never cried during a live broadcast – then three poignant words had me sobbing | Adrian Chiles

I couldn’t help choking up when the writer Katriona O’Sullivan told me her life story. Now I’m on a mission to get everyone to read her memoir

In more than 30 years of live broadcasting, I’ve only once sobbed on air. This was the other week, during a radio interview with a professor of psychology called Katriona O’Sullivan. That’s what she is now, a professor at Maynooth University in County Kildare. Before that, she was at Trinity College Dublin, where she also got her PhD. Before that, she was to be found on the access programme through which she got into Trinity. Before that she was living a life of chaos in Dublin, a single mother with next to nothing.

She was in Dublin escaping an even more chaotic life in Birmingham, which had followed a childhood in Coventry, growing up in harrowing, grinding, distressing, miserable, terrifying poverty. No single adjective feels adequate here, so I’ve thrown in as many as I can think of.

White House levels new allegation that China swept up voter data

The Trump administration on Thursday reiterated its view that China's alleged efforts to collect millions of American voter registration files constituted election interference.

Russian strikes across Ukraine kill at least 8 civilians and wound dozens

The blitz expanded Russia's almost daily bombardment of Ukrainian cities as Moscow apparently looked to exploit Kyiv's critical shortage of Western-supplied anti-ballistic missile defenses.

Root to captain England after Fleming confirmed as new men’s Test coach

• New Zealander will take over for South Africa series

• Trescothick named interim coach for Pakistan Tests

Stephen Fleming has been confirmed as the new coach of the England men’s Test team, with Joe Root returning for a second spell as captain. Marcus Trescothick will take interim charge for the three-game series against Pakistan which starts at Headingley in three weeks, with Fleming due to arrive in the country “later this summer” and assume the reins for this winter’s trip to South Africa.

Following what the England and Wales Cricket Board described as “a rigorous process, which involved numerous high-quality candidates”, Fleming emerged as a unanimous choice. Rob Key, the managing director of men’s cricket, who led the recruitment process, said England were “very fortunate that someone of his calibre is willing to take on the challenge”, adding: “I believe he is the best person to guide a team stacked full of potential and turn that talent into a world-class outfit that can not only achieve success but sustain it.”

It was ‘most likely’ a Russian cruise missile that crashed in Poland, defence minister says – Europe live

Inspector of the Polish Air Force says as part of Russia’s attack on Ukraine last night two missiles were identified as posing direct threat to Poland

Poland’s defence minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz confirms it’s “most likely” it was a Kh-101 air-launched cruise missile.

“That’s the most probable hypothesis,” he says.

Paul McCartney becomes first-time nominee for Mercury prize, up against Olivia Dean, Dave and more

Big names including Raye and Suede face off against smaller artists such as Knats and Nia Archives for prestigious album award

A formidable array of chart-topping A-listers feature in a competitive shortlist for the 2026 Mercury prize, the prestigious award that honours the best album of the year by a British or Irish artist.

Despite the prize’s history stretching back to 1992, Paul McCartney gets his first ever nomination this year, for his album The Boys of Dungeon Lane, a hugely affecting look back at his Liverpool childhood and his burgeoning friendships with his Beatles bandmates.

Commonwealth Games 2026: track cycling, athletics and weightlifting on day seven – live

• Updates from Thursday’s live action in Glasgow

• Medal table | Day six in pictures | Mail Taha

Weightlifting: In the men’s 110kg final, England’s Cyrille Tchatchet II has delivered the biggest lift of the snatch section, pulling off a Games-record lift of 166kg … scrap that, Fiji’s Taniela Rainibogi has just lifted 170kg.

Tchatchet has a remarkable story to tell:

WSL fixtures: London City Lionesses open 2026-27 season against Manchester United

• Big-spending club kick off season on Friday 4 September

• Champions Manchester City begin against Birmingham

Those desperate to see what London City Lionesses will look like with two-time Ballon d’Or winner Alexia Putellas in their ranks do not have to wait long, with the big-spending club kicking off the new Women’s Super League season against Manchester United on Friday 4 September.

The Michelle Kang-owned side welcome United to Hayes Lane in the first game of the 2026-27 season, which will also likely feature goalkeeper Mary Earps, who returns to the WSL for an opener against her former club after leaving Paris Saint-Germain to join London City this summer.

Excess deaths caused by heatwaves in England ‘almost double’ so far this year

UKHSA estimates 2,877 heat-associated deaths during heatwaves in May and June, almost twice the number in summer 2025

The number of excess deaths caused by heatwaves has almost doubled so far this year in England compared with 2025, the UK Health Security Agency, has said.

There were 2,877 heat-associated deaths during the heatwaves in May and June this year, a report has estimated, almost double the figure reported from the UK heatwaves in June to August last year.

Middle East crisis live: Jordan says it foiled Iranian missile attack as US launches ‘heavy’ strikes on Iran after pause

Jordanian military says it intercepted five missiles targeting the kingdom after US military says it hit dozens of Revolutionary Guard targets on Thursday

• US launches fresh strikes on Iran after days-long pause, amid fears the war is widening

A liquefied natural gas tanker controlled by QatarEnergy exited the strait of Hormuz overnight – the first such vessel ⁠visible on ship-tracking data to ⁠leave the waterway ​since 11 July, data from analytics firms showed on Thursday.

The Al Areesh tanker, which loaded a cargo at Qatar’s Ras Laffan terminal around 4-6 July, sailed ⁠out of the strait overnight on 29 July, according to Kpler and LSEG data.

Samsung says chip crunch will last until 2028 as quarterly profit soars

Samsung Electronics extended its record run with second-quarter operating profit topping analysts' estimates.

‘Why are you doing this to me?’: how one woman survived two years of slavery on a Spanish farm

Fatima left her family behind in Morocco for seasonal work in Spain. But the dreams of a better life quickly turned into exploitation, squalid conditions and violence

At the farm in the northwestern Spanish region of Castile and León, a typical day for Fatima* would start at 2am and then stretch late into the night as she carried out tasks that ranged from planting vegetables to herding sheep and cleaning the chicken coop.

After she arrived at the farm, her to-do list gradually lengthened until she was working up to 19 hours a day, seven days a week.

‘I had a really crippling break’: how author Michael Thomas lost 20 years to mania, depression and more

In 2006 the novel Man Gone Down made Thomas famous and won him a €100,000 prize. He expected to produce a follow-up within a year – but life had other plans

It should be some kind of happy ending when, after years of poverty and graft, an aspiring writer publishes their debut novel and it is greeted with acclaim and awards – but that’s not how it happened for Michael Thomas. His 2006 novel Man Gone Down seemed to augur the arrival of a powerful new literary voice, the beginning of a brilliant career. He featured on the cover of the New York Times Book Review, he won the €100,000 Dublin literary award – one of the most generous prizes in the book world – and he was promoted to assistant professor at Hunter College, New York, where he taught creative writing. But a follow-up would not arrive until now, 20 years later. Thomas’s new memoir, The Broken King, goes some way to explaining what happened in between. It also confirms his formidable talent.

The Broken King is an extraordinary read – deeply personal and intimate, but also expansive and free-ranging, taking in everything from TS Eliot (the title comes from Eliot’s poem Little Gidding) to James Baldwin, Brazilian football and the Rolling Stones. Thomas’s story runs through what he describes as a “perfect storm of conditions”: poverty, parental abandonment, racism, alcoholism, sexual violence, self-sabotage and mental illness. It would be tempting to classify it as some kind of misery memoir, but it is neither bleak nor generic – Thomas is simply too good a writer for that. Reviews in the US have been glowing: “Thomas has rendered beautifully an excruciating existence from which it is impossible to turn away,” raved the author Thomas Chatterton Williams in the New York Times.

How Harlan Coben became the king of potboiler TV

The prolific crime author’s latest Netflix thriller I Will Find You has become one of the streamer’s most-watched shows of all time – but what’s his secret?

Netflix’s all-time top 10 English language series chart is starting to look like a stale old thing. It is topped by Wednesday, which is four years old, and includes dusty old hits including Stranger Things season four (four years old), Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story (four years old), The Queen’s Gambit (six years old), and Bridgerton season one (six years old).

But wait. Just before you write off Netflix as a platform half a decade past its peak, a plucky new entry has entered the all-time top 10 to liven things up. That show is I Will Find You, the latest belched out from the glistening ovipositor of Harlan Coben. If you’re a fan of Coben’s work – and we’ll get into that in due course – then I Will Find You will be instantly recognisable, since it bears many of the author’s hallmarks.

Here's how 'parasite' went from a laughing matter to a serious biological threat

Odysseus did not face the parasite Cyclospora in his 10-year journey home. But the word "parasite" originated as a popular character trope in Greek literature.

Pediatricians and health officials are sidestepping Trump's CDC on vaccine advice

The Trump administration's upending of years of vaccine advice puts many pediatricians in a quandary. Some are steering patients away from the CDC to other authoritative websites, including their own.

U.S. resumes strikes on Iran in retaliation for attack on American troops

The U.S. said it had struck "dozens" of targets belonging to Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps. The multiple flare-ups, after several days of relative calm, raised the risk of a return to all-out war.

US borrowing costs hit 19-year high as Fed holds interest rates

Bank’s chair pledges to keep up fight against inflation but decision brings fears of a failure to keep pace

• Business live – latest updates

US government borrowing costs have hit their highest level since 2007 after the Federal Reserve voted to hold its key interest rate steady, feeding fears that the central bank may not move fast enough to tame a rise in inflation.

The yield – or interest rate – on the 30-year US Treasury bond rose 14 basis points to nearly 5.24%, a 19-year high, after the Fed announced its decision to hold its main rate at between 3.5% and 3.75% for the fifth meeting in a row.

From Hormuz to the Black Sea: Maritime battlefields are shaping ‘a new world order’

Attacks near the Strait of Hormuz, Red Sea and Black Sea are pushing shipowners to reroute cargo and rethink global trade risks.

Shell posts best quarterly profit in four years as Iran war boosts oil and gas prices

The bumper result comes as energy majors receive a profit boost from soaring fossil fuel prices amid the Iran war.

Eddie Howe leaves Newcastle United with Matthias Jaissle set to replace him

• Howe leaves after five years in charge at St James’ Park

• Al-Ahli’s German coach in line to take over

Eddie Howe has left Newcastle and is set to be replaced by the German coach Matthias Jaissle, who is currently in charge of the Saudi Arabian club Al-Ahli.

Although the timing of Howe’s abrupt departure following almost five years in charge at St James’ Park is unexpected, his position had been under intense scrutiny from Newcastle’s Saudi Arabian owners for some time.

Jeep maker Stellantis swings to profit on rising demand in North America; shares fall 5%

Auto giant Stellantis on Thursday swung to profit in the second quarter, boosted by rising demand in North America.

‘Grey lump with orange wings’: hummingbird hawk-moths descend on UK gardens

Boom in migrating moth sightings put down to hot weather, strong winds and food scarcity in Europe

He had just sat down to dinner in the garden when a speedy visitor whizzed by – a “grey lump with orange wings”, recalled Luke Burstow, from Sussex. It was a hummingbird hawk-moth, a flying insect that migrates to the UK from continental Europe and north Africa.

“I was like: ‘Wow!’,” said the software project manager. “I didn’t even know they existed.”

Shell’s profits more than double after jump in oil and gas prices

Environmental groups renew calls for windfall tax to support households following Q2 earnings rise to $9.84bn

Shell more than doubled its profit in its second quarter of the year, as Europe’s biggest oil and gas company reaped the benefits from the jump in oil and gas prices triggered by war in the Middle East.

The FTSE 100 company’s net profit hit $9.84bn (£7.4bn) in the three months to June, more than double compared with the same period last year.

Double tops: Littler and Pogacar in a class of their own, but nothing lasts for ever | Jonathan Liew

The champions are capable of shattering every record in a temporary aligning of the planets, the elusiveness of pure perfection

Treble-20. “Ohh, he couldn’t.” Treble-19. “Oh, you spiteful young man.” Bull. “You spiteful person! That is ridiculous!” As ever, Wayne Mardle – commentating on the World Matchplay final for Sky Sports on Sunday night – put it most succinctly of all.

The great individual champions require a vindictive streak. The ability not just to harness their own strength, but to tessellate it with their opponent’s moment of greatest vulnerability. To sense weakness, recognise doubt and pounce mercilessly upon it. To nurture and desire the very same qualities we try to extinguish and discourage in our children. To find a 167 checkout, when your opponent is sitting on double-10, in a major final.

‘They played noughts and crosses on the PM’s huge forehead!’ An Indian standup picks his favourite gen Z protest memes

They turned the news into a Funny or Die video. They cooked up a romcom between PM Modi and Giorgia Meloni. And they fought the police with Lana del Rey memes. Our writer observes the Cockroach party’s bold new strategy

I’ve spent 16 years doing standup in India, 10 of them under prime minister Narendra Modi’s government. I’ve learned – especially at corporate events, private shows and turns at various associations, universities and business schools among the English-speaking urban elite – that people are most thrilled when politics doesn’t come up, as if it doesn’t exist. I’m often told: “Anuvab, you can joke about anything – just don’t mention any specific names, places, incidents or events.”

You might read that and think I live in some humourless, semi-monarchic stasis. That isn’t true either. Many comedians and influencers joke about the government. Some get into trouble and some don’t, the overall assessment being that it is not worth the risk. In India, whatever is true, the opposite is often true as well.

Halo: Campaign Evolved review – they don’t make ‘em like this any more

PC, Xbox, PlayStation 5; Halo Studios/Xbox Game Studios
Halo’s modernised introduction to all that was great about the 00s’ first-person shooter is also a welcome return trip for those of us who were there at the time

This 25th-anniversary remake of Xbox’s most iconic shooter comes loaded with symbolism. It arrives at a time when Xbox’s whole gaming division (and indeed the games business as a whole) is in turmoil. It’s been made by Halo Studios, an outfit that has arguably never quite recaptured the magic conjured by Halo: Combat Evolved’s original developer Bungie, a studio now owned by rival Sony. It has been polished and prettified using Unreal Engine 5, making it look and feel more modern at the expense of visual uniqueness: Halo now looks similar to hundreds of other games made with those same tools, where Bungie’s 2001 original, made with a bespoke engine, still looks austerely distinctive. I never wanted to become this person, but: perhaps things were better in the old days?

I had my misgivings after opening level, in which the freshly defrosted supersoldier Master Chief fends off an alien attack on a disintegrating spaceship. Originally this was a masterclass in explosive action: you wake up, you look around (once a clever way to determine whether you needed to invert the controls), and you get right into it, firing gaming’s best pistol at chittering alien grunts who scatter from your bullets. Now it’s wrapped in needlessly expanded cutscenes and explanations. Where Halo Studios has made changes to Combat Evolved’s pacing, it really feels noticeable.

Halo: Campaign Evolved is out now

You be the judge: should my brother stop hogging the living room while staying in my flat?

Daniella doesn’t want to go to bed early. Seamus says she shouldn’t offer the sofabed if she doesn’t want guests. Who has room for improvement?

• Find out how to get a disagreement settled or become a juror

It’s not that I don’t want him here, but he needs to understand that I am giving up my space to host him

Was Florentine friars’ fatigue-fighting elixir a precursor to Coca-Cola?

Document believed to be from 19th century details recipe using Bolivian coca leaves, kola nuts and wine

An Italian friar has unearthed a document from the pharmacy archives of an ancient convent in Florence describing a medicinal potion made from Bolivian coca leaves and kola nuts, prompting suggestions it could have been a precursor to the famous US soft drink, Coca-Cola.

Father Manuel Russo, rector of the San Marco convent, said he stumbled across the yellowed document, a sort-of promotional flyer, while sorting out the archives.

Death toll in Japan earthquake rises to 30 as aftershock and heat hamper rescue efforts

Soldiers and emergency teams search damaged shopping centre, paper mill and homes for survivors

• Earthquake rocks southern Japanese island of Kyushu – in pictures

The death toll from the powerful earthquake that hit Japan on Tuesday has risen to 30, as the search for survivors trapped in a badly damaged shopping centre, paper mill and collapsed homes across the south-west of the country continues.

The 6.8-magnitude quake, which struck Kumamoto prefecture on the island of Kyushu, injured at least 62 people, according to the prefectural government.

Mario Vargas Llosa by Gerald Martin review – the Peruvian leftist who fell in love with Margaret Thatcher

This stylish biography of the author traces his journey from left to right, and from ‘posh Lima’ to Cricklewood

“At what precise moment had Peru fucked itself up?” Those words on the opening page of Conversation in the Cathedral announced the arrival of a writer who understood that national history could become the organising principle of fiction. At precisely the moment when Latin America was discovering the intoxicating possibilities of magical realism – a form whose exuberance had an elective affinity with revolutionary politics, collapsing the distinction between the marvellous and the possible – Mario Vargas Llosa plumped for old-fashioned realism instead.

It was a question of sensibility as much as politics, Gerald Martin suggests in this chatty yet coolly analytical biography. He traces the path of a novelist who began by dissecting oligarchy with surgical precision and ended happily dining among its ranks, completing one of literary history’s most spectacular political migrations – from the hard left to the hard right, over the course of half a century.

My slow Swedish summer on the tranquil islands of Östergötland

Small boats and kayaks connect the sparse communities and flourishing wildlife living on the thousands of islets on the Baltic coast

At 5am on Arkösund bay, it is so light it could be midday. I slip out of the pretty clapboard Arkösunds hotell, opened in 1895, as a small boat putters into the Baltic Sea, the sun sparkling on its calm waters. A wooden boardwalk invites me on to a string of tiny islets as geese arrow overhead and a mother swan coaxes her fluffy cygnets into a nook under a bridge.

I’m on Sweden’s east coast to explore the Östergötland archipelago, a sprawl of about 9,000 islands scattered across the Baltic Sea a few hours south of Stockholm. Quieter and less crowded than the better-known isles off Stockholm or Gothenburg, it covers several pockets of coastline and smaller archipelagos: Arkösund, Sankt Anna, Gryt and Tjust. The larger islands are flecked with traditional red timber summer houses, and are home to seals, sea birds, and dense, verdant forests of alder, cedar, oak and pine.

Polls open in Greater Manchester mayoral byelection overshadowed by new PM and Farage’s antics

Labour’s Bev Craig expected to win contest that lost column inches to Andy Burnham’s ascent and Reform UK leader’s self-imposed Clacton vote

Voting has begun in the biggest byelection in British political history, with more than 2 million people eligible to choose Andy Burnham’s successor as Greater Manchester mayor.

In normal times, such a large and politically significant byelection would have dominated the headlines for weeks, particularly as senior Labour figures only weeks ago feared losing the prize mayoralty to Nigel Farage’s Reform UK.

Senate panel delays vote on Blanche's nomination as key Republicans withhold support

The Senate Judiciary Committee had been expected to vote Thursday on whether to advance Todd Blanche's nomination. But resistance from two Republican senators threw his confirmation into doubt.

Judge orders Amy Winehouse’s father to pay nearly £1m to her friends

Mitch Winehouse ‘knowingly and deliberately’ made unfounded allegations against Naomi Parry and Catriona Gourlay, judge says

The father of British music sensation Amy Winehouse has been ordered to pay £950,000 (US$1.26m, A$1.82m) to his late daughter’s friends, who he unsuccessfully sued for auctioning the singer’s clothes and other items.

Mitch Winehouse earlier this year lost a case in the high court in London against two of Winehouse’s friends who auctioned dozens of her clothes and other possessions years after her death.

UK government reviews why police ceding criminal cases to US military

Exclusive: ministers and police chiefs examining how cases involving US military personnel on UK soil are handled after Guardian revelations

The UK government and police chiefs are reviewing the process through which US military personnel accused of committing serious crimes on UK soil are avoiding the British justice system.

The effort, involving multiple government departments, is examining why UK police forces, which have primary responsibility for investigating such cases, have been ceding jurisdiction to US military investigators.

‘Lenin was an enemy of humanity’: Why Kyiv wants to put Cossack chief statue in place of Soviet leader

Removal of Soviet-era statues sped up when Russia seized Crimea in 2014, and since Putin’s 2022 invasion has moved at pace as Ukrainians question their identity

Since 2013 the plinth at the bottom of Taras Shevchenko Boulevard in Kyiv has been eerily empty. The scruffy monument is daubed in white paint and graffiti. Someone has stuck a Ukrainian trident where Lenin once stood, gazing down during the years of Soviet communism. A crowd toppled the sculpture during Ukraine’s Maidan revolution, which ousted the pro-Russian government, and smashed it with sledgehammers.

In June, Volodymyr Zelenskyy proposed putting a new figure on the plinth: Ivan Mazepa, a Cossack military and political leader, who broke with Moscow and fought for Ukraine’s independence. “I am certain that where Lenin fell, Mazepa will stand firm,” Zelenskyy said. He spoke next to a bust of Mazepa in the Pechersk Lavra, an ancient Kyiv monastery hit by Russian missiles.

A quarter of young Africans believe USAID cuts could be positive, survey finds

Losing funds should force leaders to confront their own challenges, they said, while many voiced concerns over increasing foreign influence

A quarter of young Africans believe aid cuts by the US could have a positive impact, saying that losing foreign money will force leaders to confront and solve their own challenges, according to a new survey.

In Ghana and Nigeria, almost half (41% and 40% respectively) of young people aged 18 to 24 were optimistic, with Liberia not far behind (37%). A further one in 10 (11%) young people were uncertain about the impact, according to the African Youth Survey, which interviewed almost 5,000 people across 16 of the continent’s 54 recognised countries.

I’ve seen what can confound Farage on his home turf: optimism. People need a politics that offers them that | Owen Jones

You can’t blame his constituents in Clacton for their pessimism – because they have been let down for years

Under battered England flags, cynicism, pessimism and exhaustion stalk the streets of Clacton.

As the byelection called by Nigel Farage approaches, one young couple do not know which candidates are standing. Neither has ever voted. Living in Britain is “depressing”, says the woman in a black floral dress. “The cost of living these days is stupid,” says her partner, wearing a black and grey mechanic’s shirt and a black and red cap. They both work 40 or 50 hours a week, he says, yet “we’re still struggling to pay rent, food, electric, everything else”. They rarely get a day off, and time spent together is rarer still.

One big chart: deaths in the Odyssey

Would you rather be eaten by a Cyclops or fall off a roof and break your neck? Here’s how the plucky adventurers perish during the course of the story

If you have watched or read the Odyssey then you are aware that – SPOILER (do you need spoiler warnings on a 2,700-2,800 year-old poem?) – all of Odysseus’s crew die, some in strange and horrible ways.

In this chart, I have tracked the decline in the crew over time, as well as the causes of death, until only one man is left.

Country diary: A trip down Dungeon Lane for Beatles nostalgia and coastal beauty | Jennifer Jones

Liverpool: Paul McCartney’s latest album has brought tourists here, but there’s so much more to see than the sign

Earlier this year, Paul McCartney released an album called The Boys of Dungeon Lane. Among the unashamed nostalgia is a wistful track, Days We Left Behind, which evokes memories of his visits to the Mersey shore with George Harrison and friends. Young Paul was, it turns out, a keen birdwatcher.

Perhaps inevitably, the album has brought crowds of tourists to photograph the sign. The Speke end of the lane where they mostly gather is uninspiring, bounded by remnants of a demolished pub, a solar farm and an electricity substation.

Senate Judiciary postpones Blanche AG nomination vote over Trump-IRS settlement concerns

Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, says the DOJ has failed to satisfy his concerns about a deal to shield President Donald Trump and others from IRS tax audits.

The body snatchers: how a young Nigerian man was lured to London in an organ-trafficking plot

David Nwamini was working at a market in Lagos when he was given the chance to start anew in the UK. He had no idea what was expected of him in return

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

David Nwamini arrived in Lagos for the first time in 2016. He had come from a village in Ebonyi, a state in southeastern Nigeria. He was 15 years old, the eldest of nine siblings and his parents were farmers. When he was a boy, his father became sick and David started working to assist his family, helping to cut trees and clear land. A few years later, he decided to seek his fortune in Lagos.

In Nigeria’s commercial capital, David spent his days in the open-air Ikotun Market, where thousands of people shop every day for everything from tomatoes and fabric to suitcases and electronics. He sold cellphone accessories out of a wheelbarrow under a wide umbrella, making less than £10 a day. After living with a relative, he moved into a room with two friends, Chukwudi and Friday, who also worked in the market. David had grown up in the same village as Chukwudi. A photo from their early childhood shows the boys together, David in a red sportswear shirt.

‘It makes you feel you’ve got a really dirty house’: what’s behind the UK’s plagues of flies?

From Leicestershire to Carmarthenshire, neighbourhoods are struggling with wave after wave of houseflies. Why are they suffering while others are spared? And is there no alternative to nets and zappers?

Francesca Davies’s living room is absolutely teeming with flies. You can’t enter the contact centre worker’s home without a cluster of insects rising from the sofa or the floor to buzz around your face. Davies and her family live in West Heath, a suburb of the Cheshire town Congleton. Davies’s husband, Alex Andrew, a 29-year-old maintenance engineer, grew up in the market town and he used to think of West Heath as a desirable area, with its well-maintained houses and access to green space. When he and Davies were able to buy a new-build here in 2019 via a shared ownership scheme, they felt incredibly lucky. That is, until they moved in, and realised that every summer swarms of flies descend on their neighbourhood, an issue that is “getting worse”, Davies says.

At the moment, the 27-year-old swats flies out of her young daughters’ bedroom every night before she puts them to bed, and keeps doors and windows closed or covered with fly nets as much as possible. She and Andrew have even bought an industrial fly killer (like the ones often found in fish and chip shops) for their kitchen, as it is impossible to start cooking without attracting even more insects. The pair have become used to the sound of flies “getting zapped throughout the night”, Davies says.

A rain festival with no rain: the Indian farmers bracing for a ‘super’ El Niño as monsoon arrives late

Raja is normally a celebration of the start of the monsoon, but in the eastern state of Odisha, the rains came so late the seeds were sown under clear skies

Kasturi Gamango and Pramila Sabar cannot contain their giggles as they explain one of the big attractions of the Raja festival, which they attended a few days earlier along with 20 other farmer families in Laxmipur, in Odisha’s Ganjam district.

“We do no work for three days during the festival,” they say. “Our husbands cook and clean while we enjoy our free time.”

Artists find creative haven in Côte d’Ivoire’s ‘calm and soothing’ Grand Bassam

Creatives priced out of Abidjan have breathed new life into a city that was hit by a jihadist attack in 2016

By the poolside of La Fourchette de Rōze hotel in Grand Bassam, a Côte d’Ivoire city sandwiched between the Ébrié lagoon and the Atlantic Ocean, a birthday party was in progress. On the second-floor gallery, the artist Nuits Balnéaires stood by a huge painting in one corner and looked out through the window towards the billowing waves of the Atlantic Ocean.

“It’s poetic … that immense energy of the ocean, which also fuels my work,” the Ivorian visual artist said. “The natural elements are the very essence and foundation of my artistic practice,” he added, as he reflected on the way in which his name, which translates as “coastal nights”, matched the ambience.

DOJ asking secretive court to remove Afghan woman allegedly tied to terror plot

The DOJ is seeking to deport an Afghan woman who prosecutors allege is an "alien terrorist," in the first-ever test case before a secretive court that has never convened since it was created three decades ago.

Microsoft jumps 8% as it boosts capital spending plans, citing demand

Microsoft sees positive free cash flow for the new fiscal year as it changes accounting for data centers and office buildings.

Husband of North Carolina woman missing in Grenada doesn't suspect foul play

The husband of a North Carolina woman who went missing last week​ while visiting the Caribbean island of Grenada said Wednesday he believes "there was no foul play" in her disappearance.

Videos show dangerous flooding in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania

Dangerous flash floods hit the Northeast this week as heavy rains and thunderstorms inundated the area. Videos show the chaos and damage. Some footage has no sound.

China threatens retaliation against U.S. humanoid robot ban, says it 'severely damages' relations

China's Commerce Ministry said Thursday the U.S. Federal Communications Commission has repeatedly ignored Beijing's restrained stance.

After eight months, the body of Bikram Lama – Sydney’s ‘birdman’ – is finally going home

Exclusive: A funeral director confirms that the remains of the former international student who died while sleeping rough in Hyde Park will be on its way to his family in Nepal in coming days

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Grief has consumed Seti Maya Lama these last eight months.

The 71-year-old has been lost in it.

Analysis: Fed Chairman Warsh's credibility in question after leaving interest rates unchanged

The Fed held interest rates steady, but long-term Treasury yields jumped. Investors are questioning whether he will act forcefully enough on inflation.

Zuckerberg lays out Meta's AI capacity dilemma: What to sell vs. what to keep

For investors anxious to hear more about Meta's plans to make money from its big AI spending, Mark Zuckerberg said there's a trade-off.

Salman Rushdie attacker convicted in federal trial over 2022 stabbing

A man has been convicted of federal terrorism charges in the 2022 stabbing of author Salman Rushdie.

Lindsay Clancy murder trial centers on ex's 911 call: "She killed the kids"

Prosecutors allege Lindsay Clancy made a "calculated decision" in killing her kids, while the defense says she was overmedicated and suffering from extreme postpartum psychosis.

SpaceX faces House Energy Committee demand to tour its AI data centers in Memphis

The ranking member of the House Committee on Energy is demanding SpaceX records and a tour of its data centers and power plants in and around Memphis.

Fauci invokes 5th in hearing, citing Rand Paul's "unhinged obsession"

Dr. Anthony Fauci appeared before the Senate to testify on the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic but invoked his Fifth Amendment rights in answering all questions.

Maps show where heavy rainfall poses flood risks across Northeast

The storm system that brought dangerous tornadoes to the Midwest earlier this week has now moved into New England, threatening to cause flooding in multiple states.

Extended Interview: NIH director Jay Bhattacharya on Fauci hearing, COVID-19 origins, more

Rob Gutman speaks with Jay Bhattacharya, director of the National Institutes of Health and acting director of the CDC, about Dr. Anthony Fauci's actions during the pandemic, the possible origins of COVID-19, vaccines and more.

Elon Musk’s xAI sues Minnesota over law banning ‘nudification’ technology

First-in-nation law sets up test on states’ power to regulate use of AI as it tries to outlaw fake nude images of real people

Elon Musk’s company xAI has sued Minnesota over the state’s first-in-the-nation law banning “nudification” technology on websites and apps, potentially providing a test for how far states can go in constitutionally regulating the use of artificial intelligence.

Musk’s company sued on Monday in federal court, days before the law is set to take effect on Saturday and make Minnesota the first state to try to outlaw the increasingly proliferating technology that lets people use AI to create fake nude images of real people. The law was signed in May.

Lawyer, 42, tries on a different suit, gives lifeguarding a try: "Best summer of my life"

Ben Schweer, a medical malpractice lawyer from Pittsburgh, tried on a different summer suit, becoming a lifeguard at Delaware's Rehoboth Beach. Mark Strassmann has the story.

Pack of coyotes moves into condo construction site in Los Angeles

When developers started construction on a residential building in the Los Angeles suburb of West Hollywood years ago, they likely didn't expect these potential occupants. Carter Evans has more on what neighbors call the "coyote condos."

Iran targets U.S. forces in Jordan, Trump says the U.S. will hit back

Iran released video it claimed showed advanced ballistic missiles targeting U.S. forces in Jordan in a surprise attack at the same base where three Americans were killed less than two weeks ago. Charlie D'Agata reports.

Birx says Fauci hearing shows there's still anger over handling of COVID

Dr. Deborah Birx offered "The Takeout" her takeaways on what the contentious Senate hearing with former colleague Dr. Anthony Fauci says about the nation's ability to move on from COVID.

Battacharya speaks on Fauci's diary, COVID-19

Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, the director of the National Institutes of Health and the acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention spoke with Matt Gutman about Dr. Anthony Fauci's hearing on Wednesday and other health issues that affect many Americans.

Fauci faces angry senators over diary, COVID response

Dr. Anthony Fauci faced an angry Senate hearing on Wednesday, with Republicans confronting him over diary entries and his handling of the government's response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Nikole Killion has more.

New testimony, evidence in Lindsay Clancy's trial

On the second day of the triple murder trial of a Massachusetts mom who killed her three children, the judge heard new testimony and evidence. Prosecutors asked her ex-husband to describe the moment he returned home on Jan. 24, 2023. Shanelle Kaul reports on the details.

Chaotic, dangerous weather sweeps U.S.

Historic, life-threatening flash floods swamped parts of the Northeast this week. In the West, a rare firenado was caught on camera as scorching temperatures bake several states. Rob Marciano is tracking it all.

Here are the five big takeaways from this week's Fed meeting

The Federal Reserve on Wednesday followed through on expectations for no interest rate change.

7/29: CBS Evening News

Parts of U.S. inundated by flash flooding and scorching temperatures; jurors in Clancy murder trial hear new testimony and evidence.

New DOJ rule would allow immigration judges to hold lawyers in contempt

The Justice Department is proposing a new rule to empower federal immigration judges to hold attorneys, their clients and witnesses in contempt if they violate court orders.

Why are workers at leading AI companies calling for a slowdown in AI development?

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and other AI leaders say they support pacing the rapid advancement of AI's capabilities.

Chipotle hikes same-store sales forecast, says cyclospora fears hit sales in late July

Chipotle Mexican Grill stock has fallen more than 7% this year, dragging its market value down to roughly $44 billion.

Carvana stock falls as auto retailer’s 2026 earnings guidance misses Wall Street’s expectations

Carvana said Wednesday it expects earnings of between $2.7 billion and $3 billion this year after reporting record quarterly results for the second quarter.

Fed holds interest rates steady, but 3 officials vote for hike

Fed officials are leaving their benchmark rate unchanged for a fifth straight meeting, a sign they expect inflation to ease.

Meta misses earnings forecasts after Zuckerberg media push to promote AI

Stock tumbles nearly 8% after weaker-than-expected results, despite CEO’s blitz to tout positive effects of AI

Mark Zuckerberg’s media spree touting the positive effects of artificial intelligence did little to cushion the blow of Meta’s second-quarter earnings, which sent its stock tumbling on Wednesday.

In a Wall Street Journal op-ed published on Tuesday, the Meta chief executive expressed his optimism for a world where everyone has access to a super-intelligent machine.

FTC sues Hims & Hers, alleging it shared health data with Meta, Snap

Telehealth platform disclosed users' "most private" health info and locked consumers into subscriptions, regulators allege.

Qualcomm to raise prices during memory crunch as chipmaker issues light earnings guidance

"Cost went up, prices are going to go up," Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon said in an interview.

Senate unanimously passes resolution opposing pardon for Ghislaine Maxwell

Longtime Epstein associate serving 20-year sentence for sex-trafficking crimes has exhausted series of appeals

The US Senate on Wednesday unanimously passed a resolution declaring its opposition to any presidential pardon for Ghislaine Maxwell, the longtime Jeffrey Epstein associate who is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence for sex-trafficking crimes.

Introduced by Senator Jacky Rosen, a Democrat of Nevada, the resolution states that Maxwell “should not be granted a Presidential pardon or any form of clemency for her crimes with Jeffrey Epstein relating to the sexual exploitation and abuse of minors”.

Trump-affiliated companies distance themselves from Trump-IRS deal

Top Senate Democrats sought answers about Trump IRS deal from mining company Kaz Resources, cryptocurrency companies World Liberty Financial and prediction markets Polymarket and Kalshi.

7/29: The Takeout with Major Garrett

Dr. Anthony Fauci invokes the Fifth Amendment in Senate hearing; Fed leaves interest rates unchanged.

Meta’s Reality Labs lost over $4.6 billion in second quarter

Meta's Reality Labs unit, which develops virtual reality and wearable devices, continues losing money.

Trump unveils plans for overhaul of Dulles airport outside Washington

President Trump said he hopes the renovations will take Dulles from "an impossible airport" to one of the world's best.

Secret Service 'illegally' surveilled Comey in Trump ‘8647’ threat case: Court filing

Ex-FBI Director James Comey says he's the subject of vindictive prosecution for posting on Instagram a photo of seashells forming the numbers "8647."

How Trump drafted renovation plans for Dulles, a "terrible airport"

President Trump asked for 3D models of the renovation proposals as he personally tweaked ideas to overhaul Dulles International Airport that are scheduled to be unveiled on Wednesday.

Uefa calls emergency meeting as opposition to Fifa plan hardens

• 55 members to meet on Thursday to coordinate response

• ‘Uefa knows there is significant and growing opposition’

Uefa has called an emergency ­meeting of its 55 members for Thursday afternoon to discuss a coordinated response to Gianni Infantino’s plan to sell off stakes in the World Cup to private investors. A European boycott of Fifa tournaments is among the options under consideration.

As the next major event in the Fifa calendar, a boycott of next year’s Women’s World Cup has been ­mentioned in preliminary ­discussions, although there would be a reluctance in some quarters to make the women’s game suffer as a consequence of a protest against Fifa proposals that primarily revolve around ­monetising the men’s World Cup and Club World Cup.

Fauci invokes fifth amendment and declines to testify in Senate Covid hearing

Adviser to Trump and Biden for pandemic says Republican senator has ‘unhinged obsession’ with him

• US politics – live updates

Dr Anthony Fauci refused to answer questions at a high-profile Senate committee hearing on the origins of Covid-19 and accused the Republican senator leading questioning of having an “unhinged obsession” with him.

Fauci, the veteran former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (Niaid), served as a key adviser to Donald Trump and Joe Biden during the Covid-19 pandemic. The hearing was called by Kentucky senator Rand Paul, who has investigated Fauci for years.

Divided Fed holds interest rates steady, but three members voted to hike

Despite increasing support for a rate increase, the Federal Open Market Committee voted 9-3 to leave the federal funds rate in a range between 3.5% and 3.75%.

Here's what changed in the second Fed statement under Warsh

This is a comparison of Wednesday's Federal Open Market Committee statement with the one issued after the Fed's previous policymaking meeting in June.

‘I’m very sorry’: Mancini apologises after being reappointed as Italy head coach

• Mancini quit Italy job to take over Saudi Arabia in 2023

• ‘Some will be against me … maybe people will forgive’

Roberto Mancini issued an apology in his first public comments after being reappointed as the Italy head coach, three years after he abandoned the same job for a lucrative contract with Saudi Arabia.

“I’m very sorry,” Mancini said. “It was like losing the woman of your life. And it means you did something that shouldn’t have been done. So I’m sorry, very sorry also for everything that happened over these last three years … I’m going to try to bring the national team back where it belongs.”

The Guardian view on selling off the World Cup: a red-card offence by Gianni Infantino | Editorial

Fifa’s president hopes to sell stakes in the planet’s most watched sporting event. In the wider interests of football, he must be resisted

Like a sporting Dr Pangloss, Fifa’s president, Gianni Infantino, would like to persuade football followers that they are living in the best of all possible worlds. Maddeningly for him, many disagree. On Monday, Mr Infantino published a 15-page Instagram rant in which he bemoaned the “hate and false rumours” in circulation during the recent men’s World Cup. White House interference over a crucial refereeing decision, prohibitive ticket prices, unnecessary but lucrative hydration breaks; it was all, as his best friend in politics, Donald Trump, would say, “fake news”.

But where the president of world football’s governing body sees haters, others see lovers of the game rightly concerned over where he is taking it. On Tuesday, Fifa confirmed that it hopes to sell stakes in the World Cup and other tournaments to private investors who may include Joshua Kushner, the brother of Mr Trump’s son-in-law Jared. The investors would buy into a new $20bn company, Fifa Forward Enterprise, which would sell all of Fifa’s commercial rights, including ticketing, and take charge of “operational delivery” of World Cups.

Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.

‘The breath just went out of us’: people return to their homes after wildfires near Madrid

Residents struggle to take in the devastation five days after El Morro was evacuated as fires burned across countryside west of Spanish capital

The handwritten sign taped to the front gate of a house in the mountains an hour west of Madrid offered as succinct a summary of recent events as you will find.

“EMPTY,” it said. “No people or animals here.”

Ben Jennings on plans to allow private investors to buy stakes in the World Cup – cartoon

• Discover and buy more of Ben’s cartoons here

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Norwegian teenager guilty of travelling to UK to carry out contract killing

Johannes Kongsnes Natland was recruited to murder unknown person by international crime gang linked to Iran

A Norwegian teenager has been found guilty of travelling to England to carry out a killing ordered by an international crime gang linked to Iran.

Johannes Kongsnes Natland, 19, from Stavanger, Norway, agreed to shoot an unknown person for €25,000 (£21,500) in March last year. Two days after he arrived in the UK armed police arrested him in a hotel room in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, seizing two guns and ammunition.

Elon Musk's xAI sues Minnesota over law to ban 'nudify' apps

Elon Musk's xAI, now owned by SpaceX, is challenging a law that would ban so-called nudify apps in Minnesota

BTS boycott Grammys after introduction of new Asian pop prize

K-pop superstars will not submit Arirang album or its songs for 2027 ceremony

BTS, the biggest pop act in east Asia, have withdrawn themselves from the 2027 Grammy awards, intimating that their decision is due to the addition of a new award for best Asian pop music performance.

Writing on Instagram, each of the South Korean group’s seven members said: “We have decided not to enter the Grammys this year. I hope that music can be heard and loved for what it is, rather than being divided by region or language.”

Revealed: George Cottrell transferred $2m to his mother days before her donations to Reform UK

Exclusive: Sources say Fiona Cottrell told bankers the transfers, received 24-72 hours before her donations to Reform, came from her son

The convicted fraudster George Cottrell transferred a total of more than $2m to his mother, Fiona Cottrell, in the days before her 2024 donations to Reform UK, the Guardian understands.

Financial industry sources told the Guardian that Fiona received one deposit of $1.4m and two tranches of more than $300,000 each – money she attributed to having come from her son, George, when bankers asked about the deposits.