Alabama holds second primary Tuesday, leading to confusion, concerns about low turnout

After Alabama redrew its congressional maps in May, voters in several districts saw their primaries pushed to August. Now, it's time to vote and there are concerns confusion will dampen voter turnout.

The school year begins in LA with one big change: limited screen time

As educators in the nation's second-largest district prepare for the new limits on classroom screen time, some teachers say it will be a difficult adjustment.

Oil prices rise and gold hits two-month high after Trump makes new deal demands on Iran – business live

US president demands compensation for damage incurred by US, complicating standoff with Tehran

Shares in International Workplace Group slumped more than 11% after analysts flagged risks to cashflow at the flexible office space provider.

Shares in IWG, which owns the Spaces ⁠and Regus brands, are now down 5%, still the largest loser on the FTSE 250 index this morning.

Our strategy remains clear. We continue to expand our global coverage at pace, building an unrivalled network that extends from the world’s largest cities to smaller towns and regional markets.

Football transfer rumours: Vardy to West Ham? Madrid move for Zubimendi?

Today’s rumours are just trying to orbit the sun

When did the summer of 2026 transform into a midfield merry-go-round? Now Bruno Guimarães has rocked up at Arsenal and Manchester United have a couple of new signings, it stands to reason that more midfielders will be on the move soon and Real Madrid appear to be chasing Gunners metronome Martín Zubimendi.

It seems odd that Arsenal would sanction a sale, given they spent most of the 2024-25 campaign coveting the former Real Sociedad star, but Mikel Arteta has forward and defensive targets to land instead. Pedro Neto is the latest winger to be linked, though Liverpool and Tottenham are also in the queue for the Chelsea flyer. Tricky Juventus wide man Kenan Yildiz has also been mentioned in relation to Arsenal.

Nvidia links with Wall Street firms for $500bn AI financing deal

Apollo, BlackRock, Goldman Sachs and KKR among those working with chipmaker to fund infrastructure

• Business live – latest updates

Nvidia ⁠has struck a deal with six large Wall Street firms to raise ⁠more than $500bn (£370bn) to fund the datacentres, chip factories and power stations needed to fuel the artificial intelligence boom.

The Nvidia chief executive, Jensen Huang, said on X that it marked “a major milestone for Nvidia and the AI industry”, as he posted a photo of himself smiling and giving a thumbs up alongside finance bosses involved in the deal, including Goldman Sachs boss David Solomon.

Morning news brief

Voters in six states head to the polls Tuesday for high-profile primaries, Trump signals his strategy with Iran is shifting, 7.4 magnitude earthquake kills at least 111 people in Colombia.

Does Sophie Cunningham benefit from white privilege? Of course she does | Etan Thomas

One of the player’s WNBA rivals said the Fever guard is treated differently from her Black peers. There’s plenty of evidence to back that statement up

White privilege. An accusation that triggers multitudes of white people in America as if you had insulted their mother. Mention racism, and people may debate you. Mention discrimination, and people may even listen. But say the words “white privilege”, and suddenly defenses go up, outrage erupts, and people start explaining why privilege couldn’t possibly have anything to do with what everyone just witnessed with their own eyes.

Which brings us to DiJonai Carrington and Sophie Cunningham.

Overnight Russian strikes on Ukraine used North Korean missiles, claims Zelenskyy – Europe live

Russian attacks on the Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia killed at least six people and injured 20, officials said

Ukraine’s drone forces issued an update on their strikes overnight.

They confirmed hitting a military base in Voronezh, an oil refinery in Orsk, a cargo ship in the Black Sea and energy facilities in the temporarily occupied Russian territories, the army said in a statement.

Zelenskyy warns Putin is preparing for escalation by bringing in North Korean military equipment

His comments come shortly after deadly Russian attacks on cities across Ukraine overnight.

Gangs using Airbnb-type rentals as drug stash houses, top Belgian official says

Flexible short-term bookings used to store and pack drugs and stash weapons and cash, says Ine Van Wymersch

Airbnb-type short-term rentals are being used as stash houses by criminal gangs for money, drugs, weapons and people, Belgium’s lead official in charge of countering drugs has said.

The booming e-commerce sector is helping “enormously” to facilitate organised crime, Belgium’s national drug commissioner, Ine Van Wymersch, said.

Reader Q&A: ask our reporters anything about fossil fuel profits and the climate crisis

Last week reporters Jillian Ambrose and Damian Carrington published a piece which revealed that biggest oil firms made $93bn in profits in three months amid the war in Iran and the climate crisis. They will be online at 2pm BST to discuss their story and any other questions you might have

Ask a question: log in or sign up here

Last week Jillian Ambrose and Damian Carrington published a front-page story that revealed the vast scale of the profits that eight of the biggest oil firms made in three months as the Iran conflict sent energy prices soaring and the emissions-fuelled climate crisis caused deadly heatwaves.

They will be online at 2pm to answer your questions about their reporting – and any others you might have about how the oil markets work – and how many of these companies have withdrawn from their commitments to a clean energy transition.

Mourinho review – if he didn’t want to open up, maybe he shouldn’t have starred in a docuseries…

Football manager José Mourinho stars in a three-parter from the creators of Bros: After the Screaming Stops. Don’t expect it to be quite so entertaining…

Among his previous credits, the director of this mini-series Joe Pearlman can count the revelatory and hilarious 2018 film, Bros: After the Screaming Stops. That documentary worked brilliantly because its subjects seemed so sweetly but devastatingly lacking in discretion or self-awareness that everything they said landed like a line from a Christopher Guest parody. They couldn’t help themselves.

In terms of a character study, storied football manager José Mourinho is a very different kettle of cold fish. Like the Goss twins, he takes himself very seriously indeed, but that’s pretty much where the similarities end. He’s something of a closed book. “You are pushing me to speak about myself,” he says, towards the end of the final part of this series. “And I don’t want to.” Which is fair enough but it does beg the question: why then, would you agree to be the subject of an in-depth three part documentary series?

Mourinho is on Netflix

As conflict in the Middle East intensifies, India’s relationship with Israel deepens

An Amnesty International report reveals that the country is now a key part of Israel’s weapons supply chain. Plus, Assam floods, student anger spreads and a song to put in rotation

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Hello, and welcome back to This Is India.

For this week’s newsletter, I’m looking at India’s evolving relationship with Israel, and how it has deepened as conflict swept across the Middle East. Why is it that India has formed an even closer bond with a country that has faced mounting international isolation and backlash over a military campaign in Gaza that has left the territory in ruins and killed more than 70,000 Palestinians, – many of whom were children?

Trump reportedly hid in catering container to board secret flight in Turkey amid Iran threat

Elaborate ruse was used to transport president to military flight from Air Force One in July

Donald Trump departed on a secret military flight from Turkey to Britain last month when the White House said he was flying aboard ⁠Air Force One, in an extraordinary ruse – prompted by an Iranian assassination threat – that involved hiding the president in an airport catering container, according to reporting from the Washington Post and the New York Times.

The operation took place when Trump was in Ankara for a Nato summit with world leaders, according to the Post. The president reportedly boarded the old Air Force One jumbo jet in view of television cameras, and then was secretly shuttled minutes later to a smaller plane via an airport catering truck typically used to load meals and other supplies preflight, a US official told the Post.

Kelly Slater, 54, rolls back years with near-perfect surf in monster Tahiti swell

• American scores 19.06 to beat Medina at Tahiti Pro

• Eleven-time world champion tames Teahupo’o barrels

Even at the grand old age of 54, the evergreen Kelly Slater’s mastery of surfing appears to know no bounds. Having been handed a wildcard for the Tahiti Pro, the American delivered yet another masterclass as he tamed Teahupo’o, one of the world’s heaviest waves, to knock out Gabriel Medina with a near-perfect heat score.

Slater, who is still regarded as one of the best barrel riders in the world, has won the notoriously treacherous event five times before. And in pumping conditions on Tuesday that produced eight-to-10ft swell, the veteran rolled back the years with an imperious display as two deep barrels scored 9.73 and 9.33 for a heat total of 19.06 to blow his Brazilian opponent out of the water.

Turkey's parliament approves a pardon-like bill for thousands of PKK militants

Turkey's parliament approved legislation that would introduce a conditional pardon for thousands of Kurdish militants in a bid to advance the government's peace initiative with their insurgent group.

Consumer confidence at near two-year high as World Cup and UK holidaying lift summer spending

Barclays says survey shows people feel more secure in jobs and have more leeway to spend on non-essentials

• Business live – latest updates

Consumer confidence hit its highest level in almost two years in July, according to research that indicated the closing stages of the men’s football World Cup and more people holidaying in the UK lifted summer spending.

A truce in the Middle East conflict in June and the arrival of a new prime minister in No 10 also gave a lift to consumers after a long period of heightened uncertainty.

A bit on the nose! The world’s longest-running photography exhibition – in pictures

Now on its 167th edition, the Royal Photographic Society’s annual show features moving explorations of kinks, visual disorders … and long-snouted clowns

In the footsteps of the Victorians on the Isle of Man

Steam trains, horse-drawn trams and glorious coastal paths are all part of the adventure on a new self-guided walking tour of the island

On the shores of Douglas Bay, I could barely see the sand. Crammed on to the beach, on every available inch, were tourists bustling for the best spot. Luckily, I wasn’t there at the same time. I was looking at a black and white photograph taken some 135 years earlier, displayed in the Manx Museum in Douglas, the Isle of Man’s capital. When I’d stepped off the ferry earlier that day, the crescent-shaped beach was still there – but the crowds weren’t.

The self-governing British Crown dependency in the Irish Sea has always been a haven for outsiders. From the early hunter-gatherers who ventured here in 6500BC, to the Irish Celts (who brought over Christianity in the fifth century) and Vikings who established Tynwald (one of the oldest continuous parliaments in the world) to the Victorian tourists who transformed it into a popular holiday destination.

Trump pivots back to sanctions for Iran as other strategies to end his war fizzle

The shift comes as U.S. stockpiles of key weapons have dwindled and as stop-start talks seem again to have stalled. But Trump insists the pressure can lead to a breakthrough.

Powerball jackpot nears $1 billion after no one won $905 million grand prize

There were no winning tickets sold for Monday night's $905 million Powerball jackpot, so the estimated grand prize for Wednesday night's drawing will be at least $975 million, Powerball says.

Love me, love my bruised ego: what the narcissist-artist film tells us about the fear of ageing

Bitter Christmas, Late Fame and The Christophers all depict geniuses aware of their waning acclaim and terrified it will end

Entertainment culture is so preoccupied with nowness that last month we were inundated with speculation about how directors under 30 topping the box office would change the industry. The flipside of a youth obsession is the conviction that age will increase irrelevance, and this is something that a new crop of films about ageing artists is zeroing in on. Specifically, Bitter Christmas, Late Fame and The Christophers are films in which artists – all male – indulge in selfishness, vanity and spite, and egotistical behaviour and a loss of creative (and masculine) virility are part of the same phenomenon. None of them is dislikable – they might be catty, pathetic or abrasive, but they’re always entertaining – but they all bend to the ego whispering in their ear, believing it will shield them from the pain of their fading art.

It’s no surprise to discover that an artist is an egotist: in fact encountering a narcissistic creative type may be joyless in the moment but it’s also an affirming – if petty – way of feeling better about ourselves. Plenty of classic films give us a close-up view into what makes an egotist artist tick or self-destruct. But decades on from Sunset Boulevard, 8½ and All About Eve, a sadder, bitterer crop of films has emerged in which self-absorption flourishes to protect an ageing male artist from self-sabotaging fears of his mortality and legacy.

Hundreds in London flats left without regular running water since last year

Supply in nine blocks in Tower Hamlets affected with some residents suspecting nearby building developments

• They cannot even flush their toilets: life in east London blocks where taps often run dry

Hundreds of residents in blocks of flats in east London have been left without regular running water for more than seven months after development in the area may have left it without an adequate supply.

Taps have been running dry in nine blocks in Tower Hamlets, where residents have been forced to use bottled water while their landlord, the housing association Poplar Harca, delayed works to solve the problem.

José Pizarro’s recipe for peach and moscatel granita

Something light, cooling and refreshing to finish a big summer meal

For me, the best desserts are often the simplest. In Spain, we often finish a meal with something light, something that refreshes rather than fills you up. This is exactly that. It has a lovely texture that sits somewhere between a drink and something you eat, and is perfect at the end of a long meal. It feels relaxed but still special, the kind of thing you enjoy on a warm day, when all you want is something fresh and uplifting.

Typhoon Dolphin: Beijing braces for one-third of its annual rainfall as storm sweeps China

More than a million people were moved to safety across eastern China over the weekend as Typhoon Dolphin made landfall

Beijing is expected to hit by more than one-third of its annual rainfall over a ⁠24 hour period starting late Tuesday, as Typhoon Dolphin moves deeper ⁠inland prompting the closure of tourist areas and suspension of construction projects.

From ‌Tuesday evening through to Thursday, most areas in Beijing will experience heavy ‌downpours with a cumulative rainfall of more than 150mm in 24 hours, the city’s meteorological service has forecast. That compares with Beijing’s average annual rainfall of 528mm, the bulk of which normally falls between June and September.

The great silence: why haven’t we found any aliens yet?

Given the size and age of the universe, it should be full of species with technology far more advanced than our own. So where are they?

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

During a visit to the Los Alamos National Laboratory in 1950, Enrico Fermi, one of the architects of the Manhattan Project, was having lunch with other physicists when the conversation turned to flying saucers. At one point during the discussion, Fermi blurted out: “Where is everybody?” – or, as another participant remembered it, “Don’t you ever wonder where everybody is?” If aliens exist, in other words, why have we never encountered them?

The episode has become famous, marking the moment when extraterrestrial life went from a theme for philosophical speculation to a serious scientific problem. For centuries, people had wondered whether life exists on the moon or Mars, but they accepted that we would never know for certain, since making contact with another planet was impossible. By the 1950s, those limits no longer seemed so fixed. In addition to space flight, researchers were developing tools to detect the radio signals that reach us from stars many light years away. These developments were still in their infancy, but it was already clear that humanity was no longer bound to Earth the way it always had been.

‘We are still here’: a day in the life of 12 Afghan women

In the five years since the Taliban’s return to power, the walls have been closing in on the women and girls of Afghanistan.

As the regime has tightened its grip, it has banned girls from education after the age of 12, ejected many women from the workplace and created legal frameworks for child marriage and husbands beating their wives. Taliban rule has ushered in a new era of women being whipped for minor infractions and constant inspections by ‘vice and morality’ officials, with men compelled to become enforcers in their own homes. Even the borders of the online world have been creeping inward, with a new spate of smartphone bans and internet restrictions.

Marking the grim anniversary, a dozen women and girls have, at great risk to their safety, documented their lives for the world to see

Herat province
Every day, I wake up to the silence of dawn. I feel as though I am still holding my weapon. I lie on my bed for a few moments, taking deep breaths. With every awakening, I make a promise to myself: if my husband manages to return home safely today, I will thank God even more.

The myth of Anthony Bourdain: how the bad boy chef became a hero to boozehounds and bullies

The author of Kitchen Confidential has inspired a new movie, Tony, about his days as a dishwasher. But do today’s chefs still admire his self-sabotaging rock’n’roll spirit – or have they outgrown it?

The trope of the Angry Young Man was not born in a kitchen, but Anthony Bourdain’s particular myth-making created what might be the prototype for fin de (20th) siècle masculinity. As the director of Tony, the new biopic of Bourdain focusing on his first job, has said, the film is about “a magical world where nothing can go wrong and a young man who’s angry about it”.

Bourdain arrived in that job, as a dishwasher in a restaurant in Provincetown, Massachusetts, aged 19. He was hellbent on a life of formless, self-sabotaging rebellion, and found his tribe. But when he published his book Kitchen Confidential in 2000, a quarter of a century later, he set the ethos of that kitchen tribe in stone, and attracted an ever-replenishing pool of chefs who, if they weren’t already just like him, were prepared to die trying.

Yeehaw! Bring on the tap-dancing cowgirls! How the Edinburgh Military Tattoo suddenly got cool

With its marching bands, billowing flags and precision drills, the Tattoo has never exactly been cutting edge. But now an experimental theatre-maker has been let loose on it …

Dusk has settled on Edinburgh Castle and now a laser beam is scribbling a route across its ramparts and high into the sky. The voice of actor Richard Rankin is talking solemnly about lonely soldiers answering a call, while a ferocious light rises in the gatehouse. Out of it emerge scores of drummers and pipers, their sound both melodic and awe-inspiring. They crisscross the esplanade to the stirring lament of The Skye Boat Song.

This is the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo, an event often overlooked amid the festival cacophony – and yet its popularity eclipses any other event in the city. Last year, it played to 230,000 and raised £1.5m for charity. Like an outsize variety show, it is a formidable spectacle: fireworks, projections, flags dragged over the audience and a soundtrack that ranges from Carmen to Star Wars.

Magnitude 7.4 quake rocks western Colombia, killing at least 111 people

Search teams and civilians picked through the remains of destroyed buildings in the country's third-largest city, Cali, passing large pieces of concrete and rubble down a long line of volunteers.

At a temple in Thailand, parents mourn a 12-year-old mass shooting victim, and a father pleads for forgiveness

Hundreds gathered in Nonthaburi province to remember Naphat Chaimar, the youngest victim of last week’s school mass shooting, including the shooter’s father

When the mother and father of the youngest victim of last week’s school mass shooting arrived at the temple north of Bangkok, teary-eyed parents came up to quietly offer condolences before the prayers began in front of the 12-year-old girl’s casket.

Then, in a moment, the tone changed.

Donald Trump says it would be a ‘terrible mistake’ to replace Fifa’s Gianni Infantino

• US president backs ‘fantastic’ Infantino in Truth Social post

• Infantino under pressure following doomed World Cup sell-off plan

US president Donald Trump has warned Fifa would be making a “terrible mistake” if they get rid of Gianni Infantino as the head of world football’s governing body.

Infantino has come under pressure following his doomed plan to sell off stakes in the men’s World Cup to private investors.

Scores dead in Colombia after powerful earthquake strikes west of country

Quake of 7.4 magnitude collapses and severely damages buildings in several major cities, including Cali and Pereira

More than 100 people died after a powerful earthquake struck western Colombia, collapsing and severely damaging scores of buildings in major cities including Cali and Pereira.

The US and Colombian geological surveys reported that a 7.4-magnitude earthquake struck at 7.34am local time on Monday, with its epicentre in the western department of Chocó. It was felt in neighbouring Venezuela, still reeling from a deadly double earthquake on 24 June.

Trump signs order on vaccination recommendations

President Trump signed an executive order on childhood vaccine schedules Monday.

Judge temporarily blocks Mamdani’s pied-à-terre tax on second homes

New York mayor’s office plans to appeal ruling, which comes after homeowners sued over property surcharges last week

A judge has temporarily blocked Zohran Mamdani’s pied-à-terre tax, which would place a surcharge on second homes in New York City, dealing a blow to the progressive New York City mayor after homeowners sued over the policy.

The tax would apply to people who own, but do not reside full-time in, any house worth more than $5m, or a condominium or cooperative unit worth at least $1m.

5 takeaways from Zuckerberg's essay on his vision for superintelligence

In a 6,500-word post, the Meta CEO argues that superintelligence should be shared "with as many people and businesses as possible."

Captain of boat that capsized in New York facing federal charges after mom, infant die

Manuel Hernandez, the boat's 46-year-old captain, was arrested on reckless endangerment charges and also charged in federal court with two counts of misconduct and neglect.

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

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

WNBA faces new controversy after Sky's DiJonai Carrington ejected over foul on Sophie Cunningham

WNBA star Sophie Cunningham, already at the center of a fight over transgender participation, took a flagrant foul from an opposing player who was ejected from the game. Jan Crawford has more details.

Chuck Grassley's beloved vacuum, Beth, has retired

Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley has been posting little snapshots of his "old reliable" vacuum. But after nearly 50 years of service in the family, she has retired. Tony Dokoupil has the story.

Taylor Farms recalls jalapeño items at Walmart, Target over salmonella risk

The recalled products with jalapeño were distributed at national retailers, including Walmart, Target and Trader Joe's, in 26 states.

Jackie, a beloved bald eagle from Big Bear, dies after attack by 2 other eagles

Jackie, of the beloved bald eagle duo Jackie and Shadow, watched by millions on the Big Bear live feed, has died.

Taylor Farms recalls jalapeño products potentially contaminated with salmonella

Taylor Farms, the company linked to this summer's lettuce-related parasite outbreak, is now recalling jalapeño pepper products after new concerns about salmonella. Tom Hanson reports.

Wildfires ravage the West: Details and the forecast

Hot and dry conditions out west fueled at least 200 major wildfires across the U.S. and Canada. Jonathan Vigliotti reports from Spokane, Washington, and Paul Deanno has the forecast.

Trump orders new vaccine recommendations, experts urge parents to listen to their kids' doctors

As kids head back to school amid the worst measles outbreak in decades, President Trump signed an executive order slashing the number of vaccines recommended for children. Ed O'Keefe has the details and Dr. Jon LaPook discusses what parents should know.

Premier League 2026-27 preview No 3: Bournemouth

New head coach Marco Rose has a lot to live up to after last season’s sixth-placed finish while fans have a first year in Europe to look forward to

Guardian writers’ predicted position: 12th (NB: this is not necessarily Ben Fisher’s prediction but the average of our writers’ tips)

Last season’s position: 6th

Amanda Knox in Cartwheel review – rookie standup acquitted of murder tells her story

Gilded Balloon Teviot, Edinburgh
Performer cleared of death of her roommate in Italy uses new motherhood as framework for her defiant comedy show

‘Welcome to the most controversial show on the fringe!” Some audiences will diagnose self-regard in that intro by rookie standup Amanda Knox. For others, as for Knox herself, it merely acknowledges the continuing efforts to silence her. But then, Knox is “the human version of the blue/gold dress”, a canvas on to which we all project guilty, innocent – or weird. Her innocence now proved, it’s the last of these charges she takes on in this fringe outing, retelling her oft-told tale through the lens of new motherhood.

Is it a disgrace that she’s telling it at all – and profiting from it, some would say (although they’ve presumably never taken a show to the Edinburgh fringe)? Classifying Cartwheel as comedy may be a misstep; it risks looking insensitive and inaccurately describes the show. But, judging by the evidence, Knox would be damned whatever she did. Now at least she can tell her story in her own way, articulating a growing anger at her treatment and a determination to raise her daughter, not to be silenced and scared but “to be the exact girl I was punished for being”.

At Gilded Balloon Teviot, Edinburgh, until 17 August

All our Edinburgh festival reviews

Alabama heads into a second primary election after redistricting

Alabama voters are again selecting candidates for four Congressional districts after the state changed the district map to favor Republicans. The redistricting is causing confusion among voters.

Trump Media posts $238 million second-quarter loss as crypto declines

TMTG said it has signed more than 10 customer agreements for Truth API, the service offering faster access to President Donald Trump's posts.

8/10: CBS Evening News

Trump called for fewer vaccines in a new executive order; a catastrophic earthquake hit Colombia.

Trump extends limited waiver of shipping law to keep oil flowing in U.S. amid Iran war

The Jones Act waiver extension comes after the Trump administration's latest signs of a deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz failed to materialize.

Trump says he spoke recently to Fed Chairman Warsh, denies regular calls

The president said he had recently been in touch with the Fed chairman, but denied regular contact amid concerns about central bank independence.

8/10: The Takeout with Major Garrett

Trump signs executive order updating childhood vaccine recommendations; primary day for five states on Tuesday.

Trump signs executive order calling for fewer childhood vaccines, falsely linking shots to autism

The order builds on the Trump administration's efforts to reshape the childhood shot schedule under HHS Secretary RFK Jr., a longtime vaccine skeptic. 

After his Reflecting Pool vandalism case is dismissed, David Hearn looks for closure

The ex-Olympian accused of damaging the reflecting pool tells NPR the experience has been "Orwellian" and "Kafkaesque." And it's not over yet: His lawyers are fighting to close the case permanently.

Jakob Ingebrigtsen returns from injury woe to win historic European 5,000m gold

• Norwegian kicks to superb win in first race for 11 months

• ‘I dreamt of this two weeks ago when I put name on list’

There are some people who believe that Jakob Ingebrigtsen lacks a sprint finish. The evidence of the Norwegian’s spectacular victory charge to claim his fourth European 5,000m title suggests otherwise.

So much for all the doubts and questions swirling around him ­coming into the championships. He had been injured. He had not raced for 11 months. He was apparently vulnerable. Yet, as usual, Ingebrigtsen found a way to win gold again.

Trump demands Iran pay compensation for decades of US soldier deaths

US president’s statement is latest sign that negotations to end war and reopen strait of Hormuz have stalled

Donald Trump has said he will demand that Iran pay compensation for the deaths of thousands of US soldiers and Iran’s own civilians killed in recent decades in the latest sign his negotiations to end the war and reopen the strait of Hormuz have reached an impasse.

The US president is trying to end conflicts in Iran, Gaza and Lebanon, and his additional demands of Iran are likely to provoke anger in Tehran at the same time as Israel has rejected Trump’s terms for a 15-point roadmap to end the war in Gaza.

Court clears way for social media addiction suits against tech giants

Appeals court ruling could open the door to a flood of litigation against Google, Meta and other social media players.

Why Taylor Farms faces scrutiny over salmonella and cyclospora outbreaks

Despite a rash of foodborne illnesses in recent months, one expert said the nation's food supply is "remarkably safe." Here's what to know.

US judge drops criminal charges against Indian billionaire Gautam Adani

Justice department says it decided to abandon fraud and bribery case in which Adani Group has denied wrongdoing

A US judge on ⁠Monday dismissed criminal charges against the Indian ⁠billionaire Gautam Adani, after ​the justice department said it had decided to abandon the fraud and bribery case.

The Brooklyn-based district judge Nicholas Garaufis’s decision to grant federal prosecutors’ rare attempt to ⁠toss the case came after he inquired into their reasons for doing so, including by asking Adani whether anything was promised in exchange for the dropping of the case. In November 2024, before ⁠the charges were unsealed, Adani had promised to invest $10bn in the United States.

Contiguous U.S. breaks its record for hottest month ever, NOAA says

Temperatures last month averaged 76.9 degrees Fahrenheit as above-average warmth blanketed the U.S.

July was hottest month ever recorded in US as heatwaves scorched country

Scientists have made clear that the elevated heat in the US was being amplified by the human-caused climate crisis

July was the hottest month ever recorded in the US, with repeated, scorching heatwaves across much of the country helping shatter all previous monthly temperature records stretching back over the full 132 years of reliable measurements.

Last month’s average temperature was 3.3F (1.8C) higher than the 20th century average for the contiguous United States, which excludes Alaska and Hawaii, according to new data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa).

Blanche sworn in as attorney general, formally taking reins at DOJ

Todd Blanche was sworn in as attorney general after the Senate narrowly voted to confirm the president's former defense lawyer to helm the Justice Department over the weekend.

Inside a New York City clinic that allows hard drug use

Inside a building with a colorful facade in Upper Manhattan, cubicles stand ready for drug users to wrap tourniquets around their arms and inject themselves with new, sterilized needles. Supporters say supervised drug-use sites like this reduce overdose deaths and street drug use. But critics say the centers are magnets for hard drug users and dealers, leaving the local community feeling less safe.

The Guardian view on the failed Gaza peace plan: Trump’s hollow claims are ignored in Jerusalem | Editorial

Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has no interest in agreeing to a deal. For relief to come to Gaza, real US pressure must be exerted

At the end of July, Donald Trump announced that a “monumental” US-backed deal had been struck on Gaza, securing the phased disarmament of Hamas in parallel with Israeli military withdrawal. Three days later it was reported that another 18 people had died in Israeli airstrikes. Not for the first time, it appeared that Mr Trump’s rhetoric had only a distant relationship with the reality it purported to describe.

Such suspicions were duly confirmed yesterday. Under pressure from far-right members of his coalition, Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, explicitly rejected the sequencing of a 15-point plan from the increasingly hapless Board of Peace – an international body set up by the US president – and poured scorn on “a wave of rumours of … Israeli withdrawals on all fronts”. In a direct message to the White House, Mr Netanyahu stated that “we know how to stand our ground, even against our best friends when necessary.”

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 Guardian view on Meta’s smart glasses: regulators must get on the front foot | Editorial

Privacy needs defending against invasive wearable gadgets. So far, businesses are ahead of the government

It is not yet clear to what extent Meta’s new smart glasses will live up to the nickname of “pervert glasses” – bestowed in recognition of the obvious appeal of wearable cameras to voyeurs. The past week has seen rising criticism of the devices, which in the UK have been banned by the pub chain Wetherspoons and the theatre group ATG, as well as restaurants, schools and members’ clubs. These organisations deserve praise for standing up for privacy. By contrast, regulators appear once again to be on the back foot.

There have, inevitably, already been reports of women being mistreated. Earlier this year the BBC spoke to several who had been filmed without their consent, with footage subsequently uploaded to social media. In one case, the content creator demanded a fee to remove it. In the year to March 2025, image-based sexual abuse and cyberflashing were responsible for more than half of an 11% increase in reported sexual offences in England and Wales. Normalisation of smart glasses would, clearly, make such offences easier to commit.

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.

Bernie Sanders calls on Silicon Valley to ‘pause AI development’ in interest of humanity

Progressive US senator urges Meta, OpenAI and Anthropic to ‘stop building machines that humans cannot control’

Senator Bernie Sanders has called on Meta, OpenAI and Anthropic executives to halt their development of artificial intelligence, warning that the US Senate will implement regulation if the companies continue deploying AI at their current pace.

In a new letter addressed to the CEOs of three of the country’s leading AI companies, Sanders said the capabilities of these AI models have reached a critical risk threshold and that the companies are losing control over the technology.

AOC shares her egg-freezing journey. Here's what to know about the process.

"This is a choice that I am making to feel more in control of my life," said 36-year-old Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

Flip-flopping Netanyahu rejects Gaza plan but cannot placate all his allies

Israeli prime minister faces incompatible demands from his far-right government ministers and from Donald Trump

Benjamin Netanyahu’s public rejection of a US-backed deal for Gaza drew scepticism in Israel, amid reports he was personally hammering out details of a pilot military withdrawal days earlier.

The Israeli prime minister is struggling to balance incompatible demands on Gaza policy from his key domestic and international allies.

Cyclospora fears lead consumers to lose their appetite for salads

Traffic to salad chains has fallen as consumers avoid greens due to the ongoing cyclospora outbreaks across the U.S.

Police use teargas on young Indians as government jobs protest escalates

Demonstrators accuse authorities of failing to tackle irregularities in exams for sought-after civil service jobs

Thousands of angry young job-seekers clashed with police in Jharkhand, one of India’s poorest states, on Monday as a weeks-long protest over alleged irregularities in recruitment drives for coveted government jobs escalated into a march on the state legislature.

Police fired water cannon and teargas and swung batons as they tried to stop flag-waving demonstrators from clambering over barricades and surging towards the assembly in Ranchi, the state capital. Some of the protesters responded by dancing and cheering as jets of water drenched the crowd.

Barack Obama launches podcast about books that ‘shaped his worldview’

The former US president will host six episodes of A Great Book for Audible, discussing work from Toni Morrison and John le Carré to James Baldwin

Barack Obama is set to host a podcast about books that have “profoundly shaped his worldview and our society”, from Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison to Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy by John le Carré.

The podcast, called A Great Book with Barack Obama, will launch on Audible on 24 September.

No winners in latest Powerball drawing, jackpot swells to $905 million

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

‘Safe, quick and painless’: what is a DXA scan, and do you need one for bone health?

The imaging test is most often used to help determine a person’s risk of osteoporosis and bone fractures

DXA – or sometimes DEXA – scans are important for people in their 60s and above. They are also increasingly used by younger people interested in body composition.

A DXA – dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry – scan is an imaging test that uses low-dose X-rays to evaluate a person’s bone health, explains Dr Michael Perry, associate professor of radiology and medical imaging at the University of Virginia’s school of medicine. Most often, DXA scans are used to measure the strength and mineral content of an individual’s bones. This in turn helps determine that person’s risk of osteoporosis and bone fractures.

Wildfires rage, force evacuations in western U.S., Canada amid drought

More than 40 large wildfires are burning in the West, fueled by severe drought, as over 100 blazes scorch parts of western Canada.

‘I can’t watch it without sobbing’: your happiest TV endings

From poignant farewells to adorable cuddly toy monkeys, these are the televisual finales that turn Guardian readers into puddles of joy

A missing monkey, a token tennis bracelet, and the end of the Korean war! These are the most uplifting and moving finales in TV history, according to Guardian readers. Warning, spoilers lie ahead.

Flesh-eating bacteria kill at least 7 along Gulf Coast. How to protect yourself.

Vibrio vulnificus, a so-called flesh-eating bacterium, lurks in warm coastal waters and can enter the body through open wounds or from eating raw shellfish.

Tell us about your favourite lesser-known European island

Share a travel tip on an island escape – the best tip wins £200 towards a Coolstays break

For a true sense of getting away from it all, few things rival an island escape. We’d love to hear about your favourite under-the-radar islands in Europe, whether it’s a remote Scandinavian archipelago or an airport-free Mediterranean outpost that’s managed to avoid the package holiday crowds.

The best tip of the week, chosen by Tom Hall of Lonely Planet wins a £200 voucher to stay at a Coolstays property – the company has more than 3,000 worldwide. The best tips will appear in the Guardian Travel section and website.

Thames Water’s £1m payout to finance chief is ‘unacceptable’, says government department

Utility firm’s payment criticised by Defra and campaign groups, with some urging Andy Burnham to nationalise it

• Nils Pratley: Water companies circumventing bonus rules? What did ministers expect?

Thames Water has paid its finance chief a £1m signing fee despite teetering on the brink of a government-handled administration – a decision the environment department labelled “unacceptable”.

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

Mark Zuckerberg's yacht missed boat's call for help, spokesperson says

The issue arose when a skiff ran out of fuel off the coast of Alaska and called for assistance from nearby ships.

Trump taps staff secretary Will Scharf to be next White House counsel

Will Scharf, who is responsible for overseeing President Trump's paperwork and executive orders, will start Sept. 1, the president announced.

How to protect yourself from flesh-eating bacteria as concern grows for swimmers

At least seven people along the Gulf have died from a rare but deadly flesh-eating bacteria that's found in warmer waters. Mark Strassmann reports.

House Dems call for AI companies to testify on recent hacks: ‘Clear risk to safety’

A group of House Democrats is calling on leaders of Anthropic, OpenAI and other AI companies to testify in Congress about recent hacking incidents.

Ofcom investigates GB News over guest’s pride and paedophilia remarks

Regulator acts after 12,000 complaints over comments by Caroline Farrow linking parades with bestiality and paedophilia

GB News is being investigated by the UK’s media regulator after a guest appeared to link pride parades with bestiality and paedophilia.

The remarks are thought to have set a new record for individual complaints about a GB News programme, with more than 12,000 people raising concerns about comments made by the guest Caroline Farrow.

The media is infatuated with Gadi Eisenkot, the ‘anti-Netanyahu’. Why? | Mehdi Hasan

The challenger to Netanyahu is more of the same. His record makes that abundantly clear

Western media outlets cannot seem to get enough of Gadi Eisenkot.

Israel’s former military chief and the leader of the newly formed Yashar party has been embraced by the international press as he and his party take the lead in the polls in the run-up to October’s elections.

Mehdi Hasan is Guardian US columnist and the editor-in-chief and CEO of Zeteo.

SpaceX plan for vast rocket launch site on Louisiana coast sparks backlash

Opponents fear Elon Musk firm’s plan to develop 18-mile strip of Pecan Island will badly damage fragile ecosystem

Plans by Elon Musk’s SpaceX to build a vast rocket launch site on a stretch of Louisiana’s rapidly eroding coastline have stirred a backlash among some local opponents who fear it will badly damage the area’s fragile ecosystem.

A deal for SpaceX to take control of 130,000 acres of coastal Vermilion parish is reported to be close to being finalized, allowing the company to escalate its number of launches, including of its new Starship mega rocket. SpaceX also has ambitions to deploy artificial intelligence datacenters in space, and while some experts have doubts about this, it has submitted regulatory filings to build a constellation of up to a million of them.

Liverpool owners close to £1.35bn sale of 30% stake to consortium including Jeff Bezos

• Group including Amazon founder has held talks with FSG

• Bhatia and Facebook co-founder Saverin also involved

A consortium including the Amazon founder, Jeff Bezos, is close to completing a deal for a 30% stake in Liverpool after months of talks with Fenway Sports Group. The investors are led by Amit Bhatia, the son-in-law of the Indian billionaire Lakshmi Mittal and who previously was a shareholder and director at Queens Park Rangers.

The Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin is another member of the group who will pay in the region of £1.35bn. The deal is effectively agreed, but may take up to a month to complete.

Is Andy Burnham seriously about to tour Britain like some medieval monarch? | Zoe Williams

The ‘King of the North’ is on the march – or rather, on a bus. But maybe he’d be better off staying at home and thinking than heading out to press the flesh

Andy Burnham is going on a “listening tour”, travelling the country on a bus to find out what real people are concerned about. I’ve heard commentators rationalise the idea in various ways: apparently it underscores the difference between him and his predecessor, who only ever relaxed when he was out of the country; what else is Burnham going to do in recess, with his cabinet already chosen – organise his Post-it notes?; he’s been out of politics a long time, and many people will be only dimly aware of who he is; his speeches to date have had a very urban focus, and particularly with farming being this season’s crisis sector, he needs to broaden his sphere of interest to take in rural areas. Truly, the prime ministerial honeymoon period is like a one-year-old’s birthday party – all you have to do is stand up and smile, for everyone to clap.

None of the rationalisations are in any way true: an in-person focus group, where you journey to discover a range of concerns you could figure out for yourself with one report from the Institute for Public Policy Research and half a brain, is exactly the kind of thing Starmer would have done, if he’d thought of it. There’s quite a bit to be getting on with, between now and September, since autumn’s looming crises – food shortages, energy price hikes due to the ongoing war in Iran – are plain, and there’s no better time to plan than when you don’t have the leader of the opposition yanking your chain. Burnham actually has tremendous household-level recognition, thanks to a combination of hinterland and eyelashes, as evidenced by the fact that even when contesting Makerfield he got mobbed every time he got out of a car. Now, the conditions devastating farmers, being the direct result of climate crisis, would be better addressed by a long-range strategy on the transition to renewables, not a chinwag.

Mouse Tower trekkers and an angry sunflower: photos of the day – Monday

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

People flocking to Spain to view solar eclipse could spark more ‘devastating’ wildfires

Northern Spain will be one of the best places in world to view phenomenon with 460,000 extra visitors expected

Authorities in Spain have warned of an increased risk of fires when hundreds of thousands of people head to the hills and beaches to get a better view of Wednesday’s total solar eclipse.

“The vegetation is extraordinarily dry and the smallest spark or carelessness could lead to devastating forest fires,” the environment minister, Sara Aagesen, said on a visit to Niebla in the south of the country, the site of Spain’s latest fire.

How to feel optimistic in the face of crisis? Ask the kids fighting slug-like aliens | Alexander Hurst

The Animorphs books taught my generation about digging deep in the face of an existential threat. We need that spirit now more than ever

Recently I found myself thinking about slug-like aliens that crawl through people’s ears and into their brains, with the ultimate purpose of global domination. It would explain a lot about what has gone so wrong with the world, wouldn’t it? And it was why I immediately flashed back to the children’s fantasy series Animorphs when Donald Trump’s health secretary and conspiracy theorist, Robert F Kennedy Jr, admitted to having had a worm in his brain.

While visiting my parents in Cleveland, Ohio recently, I realised that a few books from the children’s fantasy series were still sitting on the shelves in my old bedroom. No fewer than 54 Animorphs titles were published between 1996 and 2001, and a total of 35m copies have been sold. “I may have just landed a job thanks to Animorphs,” my childhood friend Clifton texted me with excitement in the mid-2010s, when we were fresh out of college. “It was an interview for a vegan food cart and the last question they asked me was what Animorph I would morph into. I said an orangutan.”

Alexander Hurst writes for Guardian Europe from Paris. His memoir Generation Desperation is out now

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.

Georgina Hayden’s quick and easy recipe for spiced sticky chicken with plums and pancakes

A quick, takeaway-style chicken dish full of spice and flavour, with a homemade plum sauce, to serve with pancakes or rice

I have a real aversion to the term “fakeaway”. I don’t know why. But as much as I resist the terminology, I guess it’s exactly what this dish is – it’s 100% based on and inspired by a Chinese takeaway classic: crispy duck pancakes. A real people pleaser, and something my girls adore. Making this with pan-fried chicken takes next to no time and is the perfect after-school/work quick dinner. And for a different ending, I sometimes serve the chicken and plum sauce over jasmine rice instead. With the same accompaniments, of course.

‘For this record, I took an edible and said, screw it’: jazz pianist Sullivan Fortner on confronting the trauma of Hurricane Katrina

The New Orleans native is a three-time Grammy winner at the top of his game – and is now using his instinctive style to celebrate the resilience and clarity of Katrina survivors

‘Black music is forward and upward in movement, you know? Never forward or upward,” pianist Sullivan Fortner declares. “It’s a tornado that’s always getting bigger and moving faster,” he adds, whizzing his fingers around with delight.

On a video call between sets at Rotterdam’s North Sea jazz festival, the 39-year-old speaks like he plays, with quirkiness, subtlety and mischief. A three-time Grammy winner – including for 2025’s Southern Nights – Fortner also recently received the Larry J Bell award, a prize of $300,000 (£225,000) given every four years to a standout jazz pianist, which gave him the confidence to present an all-encompassing version of himself on Leave That in There, his sixth album. “I’ve tried the self-editing way,” he says of previous albums involving multiple takes and endless post-production tinkering. “For this record, I took an edible and I just said, screw it.”

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

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

Riffing on classic British comfort food

Jimi Famurewa, restaurant critic and food journalist, travels to Edinburgh, London and Manchester eating at the female-fronted cafes and bistros reviving regional comfort food favourites, passed down through generations. Starting with soda bread and a fry-up cooked by Irish-born owner Claire Hanrahan at her bistro Norah, named after her late grandmother. Onwards to Bara, where Cecily Dalladay and Zoë Heimann are celebrating the Welsh ingredients they grew up with and feed Jimi a hearty Caerphilly cheesesteak. Finally he visits Auntie Lou’s, where Emily Witts recreates her grandmother’s recipe for scones with apricot jam and cheese.

Overmono review – irresistible dance duo swap club intimacy for well-earned spectacle

Old Royal Naval College, London
Playing their biggest headlining gig to date, the Russell brothers are in a bouncy mood, though their grandstanding rave melodies lose some punch in an outdoor environment

In the age of shortform video supremacy, there has been a great deal of angst about the authentic club music experience being rendered a vapid spectacle. Stop expecting DJs to be social media stars, put your phones away on the dancefloor, close your eyes and lose yourself in the beats, goes the revanchist wisdom.

It’s understandable, but worries about superstar DJs stomping on the face of the pure rave experience are almost 30 years old now. It is decades since the Prodigy, Chemicals, Orbital and Fatboy Slim lit up festival stages and the charts. And anyway, spectacles can be fun – and funny – and so can dance music.

OpenAI tightens controls on its new model over cybersecurity risks, as AI security debate intensifies

The AI lab said it could not rule out a new model had reached "Critical" capability, meaning it could launch cyberattacks against sophisticated cyber defenses.

Lesbians, latex and $2,000 condoms: why are this summer’s movies so obsessed with sex?

From One Night Only to The Invite, a wave of new movies are a raunchy antidote to gen Z celibacy

The first alarm bells sounded nearly 10 years ago, and since then, a deluge of books, podcasts and roundtables has tried to get at the bottom of the problem: why is gen Z not having sex?

Recently it’s as though culture has been recalibrated to make up for the youth’s apparent frigidity. “Smut” literature is on the rise, prestige TV is now depicting OnlyFans models, and indie films have taken a turn towards kink. This summer, through confused young protagonists and their sexual misadventures, the movies are zeroing in on generational attitudes about sex.

Stuff of nightmares? Meet the bootlace worm – super-long, super-elastic, and it fires toxic slime

Its mucus, which can kill crabs and cockroaches, could be the basis of new insecticides

It’s the shuddery stuff of nightmares for some, but for a select group who admire extending ladders, giraffes and the Odyssey, one of the longest animals in the world is bound to appeal.

This creature is nneither the blue whale, nor a lion’s mane jellyfish but the humble bootlace worm, Lineus longissimus, one of the most remarkable marine invertebrates of them all.

It’s invertebrate of the year again! From 3-12 August, every day we will profile one of the thousands of amazing invertebrates that our readers have nominated. And then, when you’ve heard about all of them, we’ll open the voting so you can choose your favourites. Don’t hesitate to get in touch with thoughts and ideas: email us at [email protected] with Invertebrate in the subject line.

Sinking ships, dark humour and really good bad guys: Beryl Bainbridge – ranked!

From the last days of the Titanic to desperate romantics, we rate the work of a British master of black comedy

Bainbridge’s novel of the last days on RMS Titanic was acclaimed and popular (“They probably thought it was the book of the film,” she said), and the scenes of the sinking are brilliantly delivered. “There is about me an element of showmanship,” says one character, but Bainbridge’s own showmanship is muffled here by her need to stick with facts, meaning the novel lacks the humour, fluidity and eccentricity of her others. And unlike her earlier books, the final tragedy never feels personal to the characters.