Russia says its economy is strong. It just fired a top economist who warned otherwise

Andrei Klepach was reportedly fired from his role after presenting a report warning that Russia could not win a prolonged war of attrition with Ukraine.

Match review – gory and slyly satirical catfishing horror for the age of Hinge

Online dating’s eternal bugbear reaches a horrific apotheosis in this funny, grimy and impishly directed shocker

Paola (Humberly González) is a pretty young woman about to turn 30 who hasn’t found herself a steady boyfriend – so, like many people of her generation, she’s on all the dating apps. The algorithm finds her match in Henry, who looks clean cut and kind eyed – or, at least, that’s what he seems from a very short video conversation on the phone, which breaks up due to bad signal. Paola’s sister Maria (Shaeane Jimenez) is visiting town because her and Paola’s father (Peter Butler) is going in for an operation, and warns her more trusting sibling not to accept Henry’s invitation to come to dinner at his house, away from the public gaze.

Of course, Paola should have listened to her sister. The good looking guy (played by Luke Volker) turns out to have been a catfishing lure, and the real Henry (Jacques Adriaanse) looks like what you’d get if a troll mated with a slime mould. Plus, it’s actually Henry’s deranged mother, Lucille (a fantastic Dianne Simpson) who’s been writing all those courtly messages to Paola – who is soon sedated with drugged wine and wakes up about to be raped, exactly the sort of scenario your actual mother warned you about.

Trump 2.0 has deleted or altered nearly 400 US datasets, endangering public health, education and more

Health data appears to be most affected by administration’s attempt to wipe findings that don’t align with its priorities, tracker shows

A database of federal law enforcement officer misconduct records. A survey measuring physical, sexual and emotional violence against children and youth. Real-time pollution readings collected by air quality monitors from US embassies around the world.

These are among the hundreds of federal datasets that the Trump administration has taken down or altered as part of its aggressive campaign to wipe all mentions of data findings that do not align with the administration’s priorities.

‘Nowhere left for us’: the refugee who has known no peace since she was 10

Since Sudan’s civil war first reached her village in 2003, Samira has been displaced seven times, enduring devastating losses and injuries along the way

Every morning, she spreads small piles of rice and spices on an aluminium tray in the market of Korsi refugee camp. Some of it comes from her monthly food ration, already meagre, distributed by the UN’s World Food Programme; some she buys when she can and resells for a small profit.

Samira crouches quietly behind her modest display, greeting customers as they pass. Her loose red toub cloth frames her thin face and falls across one side of it, hiding her injured right eye. Every so often she adjusts the long cloth to cover the empty sleeve where her right arm would have been. It is a habit the 33-year-old has developed since the war, but her injuries are only part of the terrible damage it has inflicted.

In Portland, this soap box derby combines downhill speed with extreme pageantry

Soap box derbies send motorless cars down a steep incline. At one event, contestants make their cars look like cartoon characters, subway cars, food, and giant animals (among other outlandish shapes).

Homes destroyed by mudslide brought by Lala on Hawaii's Big Island

"The boulders that were coming down were so heavy they were like shaking the ground," resident Alice Birnbaum told CBS News.

England’s children’s commissioner says Prevent failing to help young people ‘fixated with violence’

Report by Rachel de Souza finds 71% of children referred to UK anti-terror programme do not have a clear ideology

The children’s commissioner for England has warned of a group of children “intoxicated by extremism” who need help the UK government’s anti-terror programme cannot provide.

Referrals to Prevent – the programme designed to safeguard vulnerable people from being radicalised or drawn into extremism – involving children have risen in the past decade, from 2,918 in 2016-17 to 4,715 in 2024-25.

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

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

Phoebe Bridgers review – high priestess of ambiguity turns grief Technicolor in intimate church show

Union Chapel, London
Ahead of playing arenas this winter, Bridgers gives her third album, Lost Weekend, a stripped-back UK debut that makes its bewitching songs sound even more astounding

Three days after the rapturous release of her third album, Lost Weekend, Phoebe Bridgers invites 900 people into her bedroom to hear her play some of its devastating songs live – or at least, that’s how it feels inside Union Chapel in north London on this Monday night. With Bridgers plopped on a throw-covered sofa, surrounded by lava lamps and with a TV showing the bouncing DVD logo screensaver, it becomes easy to forget the Victorian gothic architecture looming above our heads.

This intimate scene is the indie superstar’s hugely anticipated first solo UK show since 2022, and the reverent awe in the church is palpable. Fans have obediently locked away their phones in magnetic pouches – as they will also have to on her arena run later this year – and fidget in the pews clutching CDs and T-shirts emblazoned with the artwork for her new record. You can hear a proverbial pin drop when Bridgers opens the show by belting her breakout song Motion Sickness solo with her guitar, her voice somersaulting around the domed ceiling. (After this, she is joined on stage by two bandmates, Nick White and Christian Lee Hutson.) But Bridgers, who hums with a slightly nervous energy, characteristically pierces through any solemnity by encouraging us to scream and sing along as the gig rolls on. After all, she quips: “God’s watching – fuckin’ freak.”

Houseplant hacks: should you always quarantine new plants to avoid pests spreading?

Any new addition to your collection can contain stowaways, so you’d be wise to deploy a little patience – but how long is long enough?

The problem
There is nothing quite like the joy of bringing home a new plant. You find the perfect spot, nestle it in among your others, and stand back to admire the new arrival. What you cannot see are its passengers: a few spider mites tucked under a leaf, mealybug eggs in a joint, or fungus gnat larvae in the compost. A fortnight later, plants that were perfectly healthy are speckled, sticky or swarming, and you have no idea how it happened.

The hack
Quarantining means keeping any new plant separated from the rest of your collection for a few weeks before letting it join the others. The logic is simple: if something is going to emerge, you want it to do so in isolation, where it can be dealt with before it spreads to the whole crew.

The rise and fall of Tony Romo: what comes next for CBS’s $180m NFL analyst?

The former Dallas Cowboys star is on indefinite leave after being arrested on suspicion of drunk driving. His future in a competitive business is now in doubt

After Tony Romo’s arrest last month, TMZ published a 31-minute “extended cut” of the body-camera footage from the Wisconsin police officer who arrested CBS Sports’ star NFL analyst on suspicion of operating a vehicle while under the influence.

It’s an uncanny watch. The former Dallas Cowboys quarterback’s familiar goofy geniality collides with the gravity and stilted formality of an encounter with law enforcement. The video of a disoriented Romo struggling to answer basic questions and failing a field sobriety test, and his rictus-grinning, disheveled, head-askew mug-shot, form a glaring contrast with his smart-suited look a year earlier: beaming as he posed in the spotlight with his play-by-play partner, Jim Nantz, at the network’s preseason media preview.

Dressmaker – a canvas for the creativity of dream dress design

Co-created by a developer and his sewing-obsessed partner, this design game is ‘the most technically challenging’ its lead programmer has ever made

When Jonathan Hau-Yoon wanted to make something as meaningful as the environmental strategy game Terra Nil, he turned for inspiration to his longtime partner. Sabrina Becker had worn a dress she made herself to their very first date, and would have studied costume design abroad had hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (a connective tissue disorder I also have) not put those plans on hold.

The pair developed a concept around the creative decisions involved in dressmaking, like trying to fit pattern pieces on to available fabric while observing the grain line (the direction of the thread in woven fabric). Other decisions followed: a 3D model on which to place garment pieces, buttons and trims with which to decorate them, clients with commissions as creative prompts.

She told no one about her agony except ChatGPT. What her death reveals about AI risks

A 29-year-old woman confided her suicidal thoughts to an AI chatbot — not to her therapist, not to her parents, not to her best friend. What can AI learn from her death?

Many recent grads say AI is making it harder to get a job. Economists aren't so sure

The unemployment rate for young adults with new degrees is higher than the rate for all workers, according to the New York Fed. Is AI the problem, or is it more complicated?

Morning news brief

Jared Kushner and Israel's prime minister meet in attempt to move Gaza ceasefire plan forward, U.S. focus on Iran draws key resources from Asia, voters head to the polls for primaries Tuesday.

Football transfer rumours: Atlético want Alvarez to join Arsenal over Barça?

Today’s gossip is being advertised in imaginative ways

A new Premier League season is just days away, so it stands to reason that a few clubs are getting panicky in the transfer market. Newcastle are certainly in need of some fresh faces after being raided earlier in the summer so, after being linked with Christopher Nkunku, could move for RB Leipzig midfielder Nicolas Seiwald. The Austria international played under Matthias Jaissle at RB Salzburg.

Newcastle have shunned Manchester United’s attempts to snare Lewis Hall, so the Old Trafford club are still in the market for a left-back. Joaquin Seys, 21, of Club Brugge, is said to be a carbon copy of Hall and the Belgian has apparently been shunted to the top of United’s hitlist. Barcelona midfielder Marc Casadó is also a potential United midfield target with the Catalans ready to move on the 22-year-old after agreeing a deal for Rodri.

Waves Turn review – the exhausting, joyful, boring, wondrous realities of new motherhood

Josephine Ahnelt’s gentle but truthful documentary has home-movie intimacy and some incredibly touching moments

As a piece of art depicting motherhood, Judith Rohrmoser’s self-portrait of breastfeeding sticks two fingers up at the tradition of the Madonna with child. In her painting, Rohrmoser’s baby feeds contentedly, chubby cheeked and sleepy under damp lashes. The artist is less serene, looking directly at us, headphones clamped over her ears, eyes filled with what might be a roar of grief, or possibly an overwhelming sense that everything has changed.

Rohrmoser is one of five women who agreed to be filmed at their most vulnerable in the first year of motherhood for this Austrian documentary. It’s a gentle but truthful look at new motherhood, making the point that – ignore the Renaissance artists – having a tiny baby does not put you in perpetual state of bliss. The reality is exhaustion, joy, boredom, wonder and a rush of other feelings. Director Josephine Ahnelt shoots in 16mm, her camera up close, filming with the intimacy of a home video, cutting off heads to at one point zero in on what interests her: a mother snipping her baby’s tiny fingernails.

Sunrise by Téa Obreht review – secrets and myths in the American west

Set across three interwoven timelines, this absorbing tale of an abandoned mining town explores courage, cowardice and how history is recorded

Téa Obreht’s novels teem with conflicting narratives, treacherous landscapes and speculative fictions. Her 2010 prizewinning debut, The Tiger’s Wife, examined themes of death, miracles and outsider status in the midst of a fictional Balkan war. Her fourth novel, Sunrise, returns to a western frontier haunted by ghosts and stalked by outlaws, a territory Obreht first explored in her second book, Inland.

It is August 2024. Nina Terzic has just jumped – or was she pushed? – from a crash-landing Cessna into a lake somewhere in the mountains of Wyoming. She manages to swim to shore. There is no sign of her boyfriend Ben, who was in the plane with her, and her phone – though miraculously intact – has no signal. Nina, a postgraduate student, was supposed to be on holiday from her job as a live-in nanny in New York. We get the feeling that her relationship with Ben might have a darker underside.

Russia warns UK of ‘consequences’ over reports Ukraine using British drones in attacks

Ministry of Defence rebuffs threats, saying UK ‘committed to providing equipment Ukraine needs to defend itself against Putin’s illegal invasion’

Moscow has threatened the UK with “consequences” after reports that British drones have been used to strike targets on Russia’s mainland for the first time.

Ukraine used drones made by two UK companies as part of a so-called deep-strike campaign, the Sunday Times reported.

US states take on Meta in pivotal trial over child social media addiction claims

State attorneys general allege that tech company intentionally designed addictive products that harm young people

More than half of the states in the US have joined together in an unprecedented lawsuit against Meta that goes to trial on Tuesday, accusing the parent company of Instagram and Facebook of deliberately designing addictive products that lured in young people and caused them harm.

The jury trial is taking place in federal court in Oakland, California, and is expected to last between six and eight weeks. The jury is expected to hear from Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri and employee turned whistleblower Arturo Béjar.

From Fenerbahce to Drita: six European ties to check out this week

There will be some familiar faces involved in this week’s European qualifiers as a number of smaller clubs have a chance to make their mark

Fenerbahce v Lyon, Tuesday 8pm
Romelu Lukaku is the latest familiar face to rock up at Fenerbahce. The 33-year-old striker is, however, unlikely to be fit for Lyon’s visit to Istanbul on Tuesday – he sat out Saturday’s 2-1 defeat to Genclerbirligi, the club his father played for in the 1990s. “This beautiful country is a second home to me,” Lukaku, who spent part of his childhood in Turkey, said last week. Fenerbahce have also added Mason Greenwood and Nathan Aké to a squad that includes Ederson, N’Golo Kanté and Marco Asensio. Failure to get past Lyon, who are aiming to qualify for the Champions League for the first time since reaching the semi-finals in 2019-20, would not be the best start to Ismail Kartal’s fourth spell as head coach.

Here is the news from the US: Woke 1.0 is over. But what did progressives do wrong? | Nesrine Malik

A movement with safety, dignity and equality at its heart may now be blamed for the rightwing backlash. But within it were principles worth carrying forwards

Every once in a while, the discourse gods send a tablet down to the people, announcing that a previous era is dead and a new age is upon us. Recently, it was the “vibe shift” – a post-pandemic change in culture that encompassed everything from fashion to politics. The vibe shift consolidated with Donald Trump’s second election, a harbinger of the end of fragility and of movements for racial and gender equality – a rejection of the long 2010s with their hashtags and pink pussy hats and women’s marches and protests. The vibe shift has recently been followed by a calling of time on what has come to be known as “Woke 1.0” – a term that represents what is now seen as a culture of hysterical overreach triggered by the momentary breakthrough of movements such as #MeToo and Black Lives Matter. “Woke 1 was crazy,” said Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez this month, quoting a New York City councilman. And there we have it, time to walk back some things said and done in the giddy heat of those moments. It was crazy!

This rush to the future away from what some perceive to be an embarrassing past groups together various disparate phenomena. But I’m afraid it’s not that simple. Woke 1.0 (or “peak wokeness” – I wish the gods would use less trivialising ways to refer to roiling social tides, but there we are) was about politics and culture and also about the behaviours and trends it triggered. It was about concrete problems: policing of minority communities, the right of women not to be sexually harassed or violated, the systemic racism and sexism that damaged both. And it was about reforming the cultural structures that created and perpetuated those systems; asking university curricula to expand and diversify intellectual sources, recognising the long shadow of glorified imperial histories, and updating institutions – from the media to the academy – in order to enfranchise change. None of this is “crazy”.

Nesrine Malik is a Guardian columnist

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.

‘We are impatient’: meet the women protesting for change in India

From student organisers to a model-turned-activist, these women are risking their reputations – and sometimes their lives – to fight against injustice. Plus, actor Imran Khan recommends a classic film

There is much to be said for the extraordinary women living ordinary lives, who nonetheless shaped India. Women have changed public life in the country far more than their presence in formal politics would suggest.

And so, as India marked its 79th birthday over the weekend, I found myself reflecting on the multitude of people’s movements, big and small – as well as the women who helped shape them. During India’s struggle for freedom from British rule, women organised boycotts of British goods, made contraband salt and marched to confront the police, taking on roles usually dominated by men. In the 1970s Chipko movement, protesting deforestation, women put their bodies on the line, wrapping them around trees to stop them being felled, turning a local struggle into a national reckoning over environment and development. More recently, grandmothers in Shaheen Bagh sat to protest the citizenship law, which critics have denounced as discriminatory, creating space for dissent when many thought none existed.

Cricket great David Warner decries ‘media onslaught’ after drink-driving conviction

• Former Test opener fined $1,500 after failing a breath-test at Easter

• Future work opportunities will be affected, says barrister

Australian cricket great David Warner has lamented global media attention about his drink-driving offence, suggesting it cost him valuable overseas commercial opportunities.

The 39-year-old was convicted and fined $1,500 on Tuesday for mid-range drink-driving after he tried to switch seats with a passenger when approaching a random breath-testing site on Easter Sunday.

Giddy up! Stage Coach Mary rides again – in pictures

Using ‘equestrian embodiment’, photographer Ayana V Jackson celebrates great horsewomen who galloped through prejudice
• The best of Arles 2026 – in pictures

Isles of Scilly named friendliest place in England – and Barking least friendly

Rankings based on community life survey put two Devon districts in top five and Stoke and Ipswich near bottom

The Isles of Scilly have been named as the friendliest place in England as part of a major study into social division across Britain.

All 296 local authority areas have been ranked in a new index using government data from the community life survey, measuring how often people chat to neighbours, feelings of loneliness and belonging, local pride, and levels of participation in civic life.

Transylvania beyond the spooky castles: a family adventure in Romania’s mountains

Forget the vampire tales – the Eastern Carpathians deliver dramatic peaks, roaming bears and deep solitude

As the sun disappears behind the high tree line, our campfire spits and crackles. Four plump trout are sizzling on a flame-heated slab of rock, a cooking technique used by people in the Gurghiu mountains, part of Transylvania’s Eastern Carpathians, for centuries. Apart from gentle birdsong, it’s the only sound up here, 1,550 metres above sea level and far from any town or village.

“This area is very wild,” says Samir Teslovan, who drove us up through the densely forested peaks from his guesthouse in Toplița. “When I come here to the mountains, I charge my battery, charge my soul. I feel free, like the wind.”

Ukrainian Lessons by Charlotte Higgins review – when art and war collide

A vivid and hopeful study of how culture endures in the midst of extreme violence

Towards the end of her subtly piercing book about art in wartime, Charlotte Higgins recounts an autumn visit to Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second city, in the north-east of the country, a short drive from the Russian border. In a tranquil park, she sees a man standing in a stream, making stones balance on top of each other in a teetering tower – “a metaphor of life in that city,” she writes, “that would have seemed too obvious for a novel”.

Still, as a good novelist would, Higgins doesn’t seem to beg telling details from a place so much as have them leap to her open eye and ear. The cartoons a boy is watching that fall silent in a power cut, allowing the distant boom of explosions on the frontline to be heard. A cityscape tattooed on a young poet’s arm that cuts off suddenly where skin from his leg was grafted after he was torn up by shrapnel. Cataracts of larkspur, as Higgins describes them, in a field in the frontline Donbas region, “pouring down the hill, pooling at the bottom into a great lake of blooms … Larkspur thrives on ground where there has been recent disturbance.”

A dispute about fact vs. fiction at the trial over Tupac Shakur's 1996 killing

A prosecutor said that while few have been willing to speak about the 1996 killing of Tupac Shakur, Duane "Keffe D" Davis is the "one person who has a hard time being silent."

Palestinian American returns to his West Bank home, under siege by Israeli settlers

The Palestinian American whose home in the occupied West Bank has been besieged by Israeli settlers traveled to his property on Monday to join other family members who have been defending it.

South Korea president calls for military independence in wake of Trump call to cut joint drills

Lee Jae Myung reiterates desire for full command back in Seoul’s hands after Donald Trump cuts joint exercises, citing warm ties with Kim Jong-un

• ‘Inane, haphazard decision’ by Trump to gut South Korea alliance

South Korea’s president ⁠has renewed his push to regain independent control of the military from the US in the event of war and urged faster progress in acquiring nuclear-powered submarines after Donald Trump’s order to cut joint drills.

On Sunday night, Trump instructed the Pentagon to “substantially reduce” this week’s joint military exercises with South Korea, saying the nuclear-armed North “has been unthreatening and respectful” and that the US president had a “very good relationship with Kim Jong-un”.

Two dead including gunman in school shooting in southern Philippines

Country’s second fatal school shooting in two months took place in city of ⁠Zamboanga and video appeared to be live-streamed on social media

A student was shot dead at a high school in the southern Philippines before the alleged killer took his own life, the local mayor said, in the second school shooting in the South-east Asian nation in two months.

The shooting took ⁠place at a school attached to Ateneo de Zamboanga University in the southern city of ⁠Zamboanga, a Catholic private institution in western Mindanao.

‘I’ve always been fond of hairy creatures!’ Visual effects maestro Rick Baker on a monstrously good career

Rick Baker helped define Hollywood’s creature features with his wild makeup effects skills. From Locarno, he talks Gremlins, his love of simians– and why AI will never replace expert design

When Rick Baker was 22 years old and laying the first bricks of what would become one of the great Hollywood careers, he travelled to Hatra in Iraq with director William Friedkin to assist with Max von Sydow’s makeup on The Exorcist. “Oh, he was definitely a lunatic,” Baker recalls of Friedkin, his signature goatee and ponytail still intact, if a little more salt than pepper these days. “But he made a great movie.” Friedkin had been travelling with a fake passport, and the production was plagued by extreme heat and dust storms – but the show went on. “I did von Sydow’s hands,” Baker says. “I pretty much just held a glue bottle.”

We are speaking in Locarno, Switzerland, during the film festival, where Baker has accepted a lifetime achievement award and introduced screenings of An American Werewolf in London and The Nutty Professor – the first and fourth of his seven Oscar wins. When he completed his last big production, Maleficent, in 2014, it ended a more than 40-year career in which he made some huge contributions to popular culture. The monsters in Michael Jackson’s Thriller video? They were Baker’s handiwork. The Mos Eisley cantina band in Star Wars? That was him, too. In 1999, he leaked a story to the press to stop the studio from simply painting Jim Carrey green instead of using his designs for How the Grinch Stole Christmas; he won the argument and a sixth Oscar followed.

Iraq’s ghost villages: Islamic State drove people away – now a new enemy is preventing their return

Nearly a decade after fighting ended in northern Iraq, the climate crisis has brought extreme heat and a water shortage, making life almost impossible

The first thing that strikes visitors arriving in Faka, a small village in Sinjar district, northern Iraq, is the silence. No children play in the streets. No shops are open. Roofless houses stretch across the hillside, their walls pockmarked by shellfire, while weeds and wild grasses grow through collapsed living rooms.

A decade after Islamic State (IS) swept across the region, war remains visible everywhere. But according to the people who returned, another enemy has quietly taken its place.

Rajab Mohammed says the problem in his village of Faka is no longer Islamic State but water and jobs

Rising number of people seeking ADHD diagnosis without treatment, say experts

Psychiatrists in Channel 4 documentary argue it is more a ‘social construct’ than a medical condition

People are increasingly seeking to an obtain an ADHD diagnosis without pursuing treatment, according to experts who have called for more research to understand why.

Some people now regard ADHD as “an identity, rather than a disorder”, with the result that many obtain assessments from poor quality private providers, which lead them to “believe they have a condition needing treatment”, said the psychiatrist Dr Marios Adamou, the founder of the UK Adult ADHD Network.

At least 109 BHP workers sexually harassed colleagues in a single year, mining company says

Further 104 allegations not investigated due to ‘insufficient information or the wishes of the impacted person’, according to annual report

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More than 100 workers at BHP lost their jobs, or resigned, during the last financial year after sexually harassing colleagues, which included numerous instances of indecent touching, stalking and grooming.

The harassment cases, disclosed in the mining giant’s annual report on Tuesday, come during a period of heightened scrutiny of remote work sites, where female workers across the industry have raised allegations of systemic sexual harassment, violence and retaliation.

What legacy do we leave behind when we die? As Sam Neill taught me, it’s more about sweetness than ego | Clarke Gayford

As men we’re often taught to chase lives defined by vanity and hollow expressions. But genuine decency lasts far longer than any name on a building

Occasionally, in our lives, there are markers that arrive with enough strength to hop us off the treadmill just long enough to remind ourselves that everyone’s race has a finish line, and none of us are getting out of this jolly for free.

One of these blots is often when someone we know passes away.

Williams sisters come unstuck in Cincinnati in first doubles outing together since 2022

• Marta Kostyuk and Peyton Stearns beat American pair 6-2, 1-6, 10-8

• Serena and Venus enjoy ‘fun’ on-court reunion despite defeat

Just one game into the family reunion of the decade, Venus Williams launched herself inside the baseline in her single-minded pursuit of a puffball second serve. For a brief moment, grandstand stadium at the Cincinnati Open had been transported back 15 years. Williams pounded her forehand return directly at the right hip of her opponent Marta Kostyuk, instantly eliciting gasps from the audience as she snatched the point. Back when the Williams sisters spent their spare time racking up grand slam titles for fun, this is how they dealt with most adversaries.

In the end, Venus and Serena’s first doubles match in four years, and just their second in the past decade, ended in a rollercoaster 6-2, 1-6, 10-8 defeat to Kostyuk and Peyton Stearns, another wildcard pair and two formidable singles players. For once, the result did not seem to matter.

I was abused as a child – and thought I had healed. Then I began drinking in lockdown

Decades after being sexually abused, the author and doctor Frank Spinelli believed he had moved on emotionally. But alcohol destroyed his sense of security. He describes how he confronted his shame

Not so long ago, Frank Spinelli seemed to have sorted out his life. He was happily married, working as a doctor and had a sideline writing medical thrillers. He thought he had dealt with the sexual abuse he had suffered as a child – not only had he helped bring the man who groomed and abused him to justice, but also he had written a memoir about it. “I felt that I had closure,” he says. “I had the good fortune of working with some amazing therapists and I believed I had done the work and moved past it and I was a healed person.”

Little did he know that his recovery was fragile. The Covid pandemic took away his routine and structure: “All the external pillars that were tightly holding me together – the engagements at the office, the work trips.” Two years earlier, he and his husband had moved from Manhattan to a leafy suburb, from where he is speaking to me over a video call today. He was dealing with uncertainty and felt isolated. “We know one thing about shame: shame breeds in isolation.”

Democracy v the machine: the birth of the digital age and the warnings that were ignored

Many hoped that the march of technology would usher in an egalitarian utopia – but some foresaw the threat it would pose to liberal society. Why did nobody listen?

One of the stranger things about this dizzying, headlong moment in time is that it doesn’t have much of a past. Everything is about the future of this, the future of that: the future of work, the future of humanity, the future of the planet. It’s as if everyone is screaming (some ecstatically, most terror-stricken): robots are taking over the world! Meanwhile, you can’t put down your phone, unplug, delete your AI apps, tell Zoom to piss off; it feels as if you are racing toward something, and can’t stop, or look back, or think straight.

But of course this weird moment in history does have a past. It comes from somewhere. It wasn’t inevitable. Things could have turned out differently. They still can. And if you look back, one thing you’ll see is that a lot of people saw this all coming. They foresaw our present when it was still the future. They thought it might turn out fabulously, a computer utopia. And they worried it might turn out disastrously. Above all, they issued warning after warning about the rise of what I call the artificial state, the replacement of the liberal democratic nation-state, the consent of the governed, with the rule of people by machines. They warned of a future in which democratic deliberation would be replaced by prediction by calculation, the public sphere would be supplanted by data-driven commerce, and drones would take the place of the demos. Why didn’t anyone listen?

The new underworld is made up of innocent and well-intentioned people who work with slide rules and calculating machines and computers which can retain an almost infinite number of bits of information as well as sort, categorise, and reproduce this information at the press of a button. Most of these people are highly educated, many of them are PhDs, and none that I have met have malignant political designs on the American public. They may, however, radically reconstruct the American political system, build a new politics, and even modify revered and venerable American institutions – facts of which they are blissfully innocent.

Robot helpers and flying houses: Edinburgh fringe tips for families

From wacky versions of The ABC Song to Quentin Blake’s eccentric Mrs Armitage, these five shows offer fun for young audiences

Underbelly until 31 August

DOJ asks court to reinstate criminal charges against Abrego Garcia

In May, a federal judge dismissed a criminal indictment against Abrego Garcia, who had been accused of smuggling immigrants in the U.S. illegally.

Judge blocks plan to move FBI headquarters to Reagan Building

U.S. District Judge Theodore Chuang ruled that the Trump administration's move to divert funding and cancel a plan to move the FBI to Maryland was "arbitrary and capricious and not in accordance with law."

Bondi library removes book How to Sell a Genocide from shelves after complaint

Author Adam Johnson criticises Waverley council saying ‘reality is often upsetting’ while Palestinian group says libraries should hold ‘challenging’ books

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A Sydney library has removed a book critical of Israel called How to Sell a Genocide, following a complaint reportedly from a survivor of the Bondi beach terror attack.

Waverley library at Bondi Junction is in the same council area as Bondi beach.

South Korea city deluged by almost a metre of rain, triggering deadly landslide

Person dies after landslide hits apartment building in southern city of Geoje as torrential rains lead to power cuts and mass evacuations

Torrential downpours that pounded southern parts of South Korea since Saturday have killed one person and injured four others, officials have confirmed.

Heavy rains have been recorded in South Gyeongsang province, including the city of Geoje, where an 800mm (31in) deluge over the weekend triggered a landslide, the interior and safety ministry said. The rain continued on Monday, bringing the cumulative rainfall total to 912mm by 6pm.

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

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

Key moments from the Lindsay Clancy trial as the defense starts to make its case

Lindsay Clancy has pleaded not guilty to murdering her children, but her attorneys don't deny that she caused the deaths of 5-year-old Cora, 3-year-old Dawson and 8-month-old Callan.

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

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

Lakers governor Jeanie Buss says siblings cannot sell family’s stake to Bob Iger, Joshua Kushner

Jeanie Buss's lawyer says she has not agreed to sell the team and that any vote suggesting the Buss family is selling "would be and is void."

Gray skies turn bright yellow after lightning strike causes gas tanks to explode in Oklahoma

Lightning struck a natural gas tank south of Tulsa, Oklahoma, sparking a massive fire that spread to nearby tanks. Jason Allen has new developments.

After a mother went missing in Las Vegas, her family received texts from her phone

After a 63-year-old woman in Las Vegas didn't return from a trip to the drugstore, her family said they started getting text messages from the woman's phone. The family spoke with Nicole Valdes.

Trump takes aim at longtime ally Oman as Strait of Hormuz remains gridlocked

With no deal in sight to end the conflict in Iran or reopen the Strait of Hormuz, oil prices are up once again. Charlie D'Agata reports.

Details as Lindsay Clancy's mom and sister take the stand

The defense began its work on Monday in the case of Lindsay Clancy, the Massachusetts woman on trial for killing her three children. Her mother and sister took the stand and Shanelle Kaul has the details.

14 charged in alleged Penn State cocaine ring

Thirteen former and current Penn State students, and one student's father, are facing charges related to an alleged cocaine ring. Prosecutors allege drugs were cut and packaged at two frat houses, sometimes by pledges. Michael George reports.

Indiana inundated with historic flooding, more than 100,000 without power

Flooding continued to inundate parts of the central and southern regions of Indiana on Monday. Tom Hanson reports.

Hawaii reels in the aftermath of Hurricane Lala

The eye of Lala passed just 30 miles off the Big Island of Hawaii's coast over the weekend, but it was the rain that caused catastrophe for its residents. Jonathan Vigliotti reports.

Hollywood grieves Hayden Panettiere as authorities investigate her death at 36

With no signs of foul play or trauma, authorities said the investigation into actor Hayden Panettiere's death is just beginning. The former child star was on "Guiding Light" and also had breakout roles in "Heroes" and "Nashville." She died at 36 years old. Mark Strassmann reports.

Baby with heart defect at center of surrogate dispute receives first surgery

The baby was born with hypoplastic left heart syndrome, which requires a series of surgeries. The parents had asked the surrogate to get an abortion when they learned of the diagnosis.

L3Harris ousts CEO Chris Kubasik over unspecified 'conduct,' stock drops 4%

Chris Kubasik was ousted as Lockheed Martin's incoming CEO in 2012 after what that company called a "close personal relationship with a subordinate employee."

Tupac Shakur murder trial: gang leader plotted killing to avenge beating of nephew, court hears

Prosecutors accuse Duane Davis of orchestrating 1996 shooting in retaliation for attack by rapper’s entourage

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

Duane “Keffe D” Davis is on trial for murder for his alleged role in the shooting of Shakur, who died after a drive-by shooting. Prosecutors allege Davis was the “on-the-ground, on-site commander of the effort to kill Tupac” and that he planned the shooting in retaliation for Shakur’s entourage attacking Davis’s nephew.

Part of a key firearms law lapsed following a federal court decision. What happens now?

A federal judge's decision in Texas has major implications for the National Firearms Act. What does this mean for certain guns and other weapons?

8/17: CBS Evening News

Hayden Panettiere died at 36; parts of Hawaii were buried in mud from Hurricane Lala.

Extended interview: Becky G on her music, her rise to fame and more

Becky G speaks with Gayle King about the latest developments in her career, her new music, the intersection of advocacy and art in her latest videos and more.

Melbourne’s Armenian-Lebanese eatery Zareh named Gourmet Traveller’s restaurant of the year

Previous winners of the award have included Saint Peter, Attica, Orana by the late Jock Zonfrillo, and Quay

Armenian-Lebanese eatery Zareh has been named Gourmet Traveller’s restaurant of the year, in a category of the annual industry awards that has historically been dominated by European-leaning cuisine and fine-dining establishments.

The restaurant’s menu pulls from the Armenian, Egyptian and Lebanese backgrounds of co-owners Tom Sarafian and Jinane Bou-Assi: aish baladi (Egyptian flatbread) is made with flour milled in the Mornington Peninsula; kafta nayyah comprises raw minced lamb from Tasmania and Victoria; hummus is crowned with spanner crab.

Palestinian family in West Bank fear settler violence will rob them of home

The family of a Palestinian-American man remain holed up in his West Bank home for more than a week, after Israeli settlers laid siege to the house and the Israeli army then turned it into a closed military area.

Luigi Mangione New York murder trial postponed after guilty plea in federal case

Lawyers seek dismissal of state charges after Mangione pleaded guilty in federal case over Brian Thompson killing

A New York state ⁠judge on Monday ⁠effectively ​postponed Luigi Mangione’s trial on murder and weapons charges over ⁠the 2024 killing of a health insurance company CEO, after Mangione pleaded ⁠guilty last week to separate federal charges.

The ​trial had ‌previously been ‌scheduled to begin on September 8. Mangione ‌has pleaded not guilty to the state charges. Mangione’s lawyers on Friday asked New York state justice Gregory Carro, who is overseeing the state case, ‌to dismiss the charges.

Trial starts in Microsoft exec's murder allegedly hatched by ex-wife

Jared Bridegan was repeatedly shot outside his vehicle while his 2-year-old child was strapped in a car seat.

School vaccination rates inch down again to record low

U.S. kindergarten vaccination rates have declined again, with exemptions reaching a record high for the 2025-2026 school year

Former federal prosecutor is suing DOJ for 'unlawful and retaliatory' firing

A federal prosecutor who was fired earlier this year is suing the DOJ, alleging she was unlawfully dismissed for political reasons tied to her work prosecuting a case against anti-abortion activists.

8/17: The Takeout with Major Garrett

Iran war continues 60 days after memorandum of understanding signed; Florida primaries on Tuesday.

Tropical storm Lala wreaks ‘devastation’ to some areas of Hawaii’s Big Island

Storm that brought heavy rains and winds left one person dead and more than 100,000 without power and damaged at least 100 homes and bridges

Hawaii residents began to clean up after tropical storm Lala blew past the Big Island, leaving more than 100,000 without power, damaging at least 100 homes and bridges and leaving one person dead.

Lala was downgraded to a tropical storm by the time it grazed the islands, but it brought heavy rains and winds to the Big Island. Hawaii’s total rainfall over 48 hours topped 3.5ft in some areas, according to AccuWeather. The rising flood waters damaged or swept away about 100 homes in the area, along with six bridges.

Stellantis recalls nearly 850,000 vehicles over rearview camera issue

The car manufacturer is also recalling another 107,000 vehicles outside the U.S. over the same issue.

Tens of thousands pay tribute to Jason Arday at Trafalgar Square vigil

MPs, friends and campaigners gathered to remember former Cambridge professor after his death on Friday

Tens of thousands of people gathered in Trafalgar Square in London to remember and pay tribute to Jason Arday, the former Cambridge professor who died on Friday.

Stand Up to Racism, which organised the vigil, estimated that 30,000 mourners had gathered in the square to listen to emotional speeches from MPs, friends and campaigners on Arday’s life and legacy and join in a minute’s silence. Many were dressed in black and held flowers, which they were asked to leave beneath Nelson’s column. People also carried placards reading “rest in power”.

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

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

Fifa chief sacked after criticism of Infantino’s World Cup sell-off plan

• Kevin Lamour said Fifa administration was ‘deceived’

• Chief operating officer knew he could lose his job

The Fifa chief operating officer, Kevin Lamour, has been sacked after openly criticising Gianni Infantino’s ill-fated plan to sell parts of the World Cup to private investors.

In a significant development at the pinnacle of world football’s deeply troubled governing body, Lamour has departed less than two years after joining from a previous role at Uefa. He had come out strongly against Infantino’s FFE scheme after it was revealed, saying Fifa’s administration had been “deceived” and that the president “believes he embodies Fifa when he is supposed to be at its service”.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

• Hayden Panettiere – a life in pictures

• Hayden Panettiere obituary

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

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

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

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

Where the Trump administration's lawsuits seeking voter data stand

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

House Ethics investigating Rep. Gomez for alleged sexual misconduct

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

Why are airlines banning humanoid robots from flights?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Name: Shark selfies.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

‘Bad in every aspect’: derided low-tech animation Niu Lai rivals blockbusters at Chinese box office

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

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

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

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

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

European farmers face ‘unprecedented crisis’ after successive heatwaves

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

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

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

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

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

Would you tell strangers how much debt you have? The people sharing how much money they owe online

In an era of transparency, people are detailing their financial struggles on the internet, breaking one of the last social taboos

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Jess:

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

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

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

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

• Read more in this series here

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

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

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

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

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

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