Patients in Yorkshire complain AI GP receptionist cannot understand accent

Healthwatch Rotherham says Emma AI system’s failure to grasp local ‘twangs’ is leaving people frustrated

Patients in a South Yorkshire town are frustrated by AI GP receptionists not understanding their “broad accents”, a health watchdog has said.

Healthwatch Rotherham, a local health and social care watchdog, said a number of practices in the area had introduced a new AI receptionist called Emma.

North Korea fires a suspected missile toward the sea, Japan says

The suspected launch on Thursday comes a day after North Korea shrugged off a U.S. decision to scale back military drills with South Korea in an apparent bid to resume diplomacy.

Without action wildfires in Europe will increase 39% even in best-case climate scenario, study finds

Improvements in fire management however could mitigate increases by more than 70%, study shows

Wildfires are projected to burn 39% more of Europe by the end of the century even in the best-case scenario for stopping the planet from heating, a study has found, unless action is taken to manage them better.

The increase in hot, dry and windy weather that leads to small fires turning into raging infernos is to engulf more of Europe as carbon pollution pushes temperatures higher. In the worst-case scenario the researchers modelled, which would see global heating reach 3.6C above preindustrial levels, the burnt area would almost triple.

An open letter to Iran’s political prisoners, trapped ‘between two blades of a scissors’

On one side, you face the domination of the Islamic Republic; on the other, the imperialist forces that Republic claims to stand against

August marks the anniversary of the 1988 mass executions in Iran, a horror that echoes in the country’s current surge in death sentences. It also marks the 19 August anniversary of the UK- and US-orchestrated coup against the prime minister Mohammad Mosaddegh in 1953. Amid the current, indiscriminate waves of US-Israeli military assaults against Iran, this letter of solidarity denounces the repression of the Iranian people and their political prisoners by forces both at home and abroad.

***

‘It was a damn unicorn’: the pioneering, divisive power of Paul Simon’s Graceland at 40

On its anniversary, the author of a new book about the album explains the complex legacy and masterful musicianship of the 1986 classic

It was the summer of 1984 and things weren’t going well for Paul Simon. The year prior, a blockbuster Simon and Garfunkel tour ended in bickering. Meanwhile, even though the 1980 single Late in the Evening reached the US Top 10, Simon’s last two albums had not sold very well, and his marriage to Carrie Fisher was starting to unravel. In the midst of all that the 43-year-old folk icon was steadily working on building a beach home out on the far end of Long Island.

Many of Simon’s pilgrimages from Manhattan out to Montauk were soundtracked by a bootleg tape of accordion-heavy mbaqanga, a South African music style with jazz rhythms and bright guitar chords, he had received from a friend. It was on those drives that the seeds of Graceland, the crown jewel of Simon’s discography, were planted. “Many of us, in that day and age, found a moment of self-reflection – of being able to go deep inside ourselves – when we were in the car on these road trips,” said Ashley Kahn, whose new book, Days of Miracle and Wonder, follows the gestation process of Graceland. “If it wasn’t the radio, it was cassettes.”

Privacy advocates call on Maryland to investigate data brokers

Maryland has one of the strictest data privacy laws in the country. But privacy advocates allege data brokers are violating the law by selling data to police and federal immigration agencies.

Disabled adults learn and work in their communities. That right is under threat

Siblings Cody and Kaleigh Brendle have grown up with the right to community integration. Now, they worry those protections for people with disabilities like them are being eroded.

Morning news brief

Gulf countries react to protracted Iran war, U.S. debt tops $40 trillion, U.S. oil companies sign first deals with Venezuela.

Max Verstappen signs new Red Bull contract to stay in F1 until 2030

• Dutch driver had been linked with Mercedes and McLaren

• Verstappen: ‘The team is like a second family for me’

Max Verstappen has ended speculation about his future in Formula One by signing a new contract with Red Bull that will extend to the end of 2030.

The four-time champion had been linked with potential moves to Mercedes and McLaren and had also intimated that he might call time on his F1 career because he was so unhappy with the new regulations imposed this season and they way they have effected his enjoyment of racing.

‘An insult’: Zomi Frankcom’s family issues strongly-worded statement as Israel rejects criminal investigation into her killing

Penny Wong calls in Israeli ambassador as PM expresses ‘outrage’ over IDF decision

• Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast

The family of the slain Australian aid worker Zomi Frankcom has described a decision by the Israel Defense Forces not to open a criminal investigation into her death as deeply disappointing, and called on the government to push for the release of evidence, including audio from the drone strike.

Israel’s decision prompted outrage from Australia on Thursday. The country’s ambassador to Australia, Hillel Newman, was called in by the foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, while the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, expressed “outrage” and insisted he would press for justice for Frankcom and her colleagues.

Trump scaling down U.S.-South Korea drills could risk more than just joint military readiness

The move by Trump also will start to raise questions about the credibility of Washington's commitment to alliances.

Prince Harry and Meghan moving back to Britain this month

Duke and Duchess of Sussex intend to relocate from US, with children to start British school in September

• Harry and Meghan: the key moments, conflicts and controversies since their US move

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are planning to return to live in Britain, six years after leaving for the US, it is understood.

The couple and their two children, Prince Archie, seven, and Princess Lilibet, five, are expected to relocate later in August to a non-royal residence.

Chinese court sentences founder of property developer Evergrande to life in prison

Chinese property developer Hui Ka Yan has been sentenced to life in prison. The decision marks a milestone in Evergrande's saga after it collapsed with more than $300 billion in liabilities.

Kyiv comes under heavy Russian missile attack, killing at least 13

Children’s hospital and residential areas hit in latest bombardment of capital and surrounding region

• Europe live – latest updates

A heavy Russian bombardment has killed at least 13 people in Ukraine’s capital and its surrounding region overnight, authorities have said.

A missile attack on Kyiv struck residential areas and warehouses, said the mayor, Vitali Klitschko. The attack damaged residential buildings, a medical facility and an educational institution. Thirteen people were killed and 33 injured, he said.

Premier League: nine newcomers to watch in the top flight this season

Newcastle, Arsenal, Brentford, Everton, Leeds, Coventry, Aston Villa, Hull and Ipswich have all brought in exciting players

By Opta Analyst

Anthony Gordon will be a difficult act to follow at Newcastle, but Touré could be a shrewd replacement. Blessed with electric pace, the 20-year-old is a bit more of an old-fashioned winger in that he predominantly plays from the left and is left-footed. As a result, he was more of a creator than a goalscorer for Hoffenheim last season.

You be the judge: should my partner stop hogging my side of the bed?

Pádraig has a favourite side, whereas Dave likes to sleep farthest from the door. Help us put this argument to bed
• Find out how to get a disagreement settled or become a juror

I sleep better on the left side of the bed. I shouldn’t have to swap just because we’ve moved to a new flat

Ref, I barely brushed him! The artist who’s painted all of Roy Keane’s red cards

Before he was an irascible TV pundit, the Irish midfielder was equally feared on the pitch. Irish painter Seánie Harte has documented all the times Keane was sent off playing for Manchester United. ‘It’s a bit of fun,’ he says

Across his career in the 1990s and early 2000s, Roy Keane, the Ireland and Manchester United footballer, was a widely decorated midfielder with a relentless will to win. He also had his share of controversies, which included being famously sent off on several occasions.

These have now been documented in Irish painter Seánie Harte’s Red Card series, which marks the 11 times Keane received his marching orders while playing for Manchester United.

Erin Patterson’s mushroom murders sentence too lenient and she should die behind bars, prosecutors argue

Crown prosecutor tells Victorian court that all seven of Patterson’s grounds for appeal should fail while arguing for tougher sentence

• Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast

Triple murderer Erin Patterson should have been given no possibility of ever being released from prison, or a non-parole period so lengthy that she was likely to die behind bars, Victoria’s highest court has heard.

Patterson, 51, is appealing against her convictions in the court of appeal, with the director of public prosecutions is also appealing against the sentence handed down to her, arguing it is “manifestly inadequate”.

One killed when small plane, state police helicopter collide in Pennsylvania

One person was killed and two Pennsylvania State Police troopers were injured when a small plane and a state police helicopter were involved in a midair collision in central Pennsylvania, authorities said.

Prince Harry and Meghan are returning to the U.K. with their children

Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan, have decided to return to the United Kingdom for an extended stay starting this fall, but they won't resume their roles as working members of the royal family.

Farage using Christianity ‘to stir anti-Muslim feeling’, says Rowan Williams

Former archbishop of Canterbury also has ‘awkward questions’ for activist Tommy Robinson on his claimed faith

A former archbishop of Canterbury has accused Nigel Farage of misusing the UK’s Christianity “to channel anti-Muslim feeling” and said he also had “some awkward questions” for the far-right activist Tommy Robinson.

Dr Rowan Williams, who was the archbishop of Canterbury for 10 years until 2012, said there was an “inevitable scepticism these days about some claims to religious conviction”.

How I’ve Tried to Change the World by Alexei Sayle review – does protest make a difference?

The comedian charts his life in demos from 1960s Liverpool to 2020s London in this fiery and addictive book

At 74, the comedian Alexei Sayle is approaching a dangerous phase for veteran British leftists: becoming a national treasure. Once described by special branch, in a surveillance file gleefully quoted in this memoir, as an “intellectual thug” who made “foul-mouthed comments about the royal family”, Sayle now appears regularly on Radio 4. His jolly, self-deprecating, man of the people side – one of his radio series is called Alexei Sayle’s Imaginary Sandwich Bar – has made him almost cosy.

But not quite. One fascination of his meandering career, which has included villainous Hollywood cameos, subversive podcasts and successful novelty pop songs, is the persistent fierceness of his politics – the underlying subject of this short, sharp book. “My decision to become … a professional funny man,” he writes, “wasn’t a choice made simply out of monstrous vanity … I was also … taking part in [Antonio] Gramsci’s war of position: attempting to get examples of communist thought on to Top of the Pops, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and Doctor Who.”

Melancholy made in Hungary is fuelling bestsellers across the globe – and widely misunderstood

A ‘capacity for despair’ forged by political oppression has long been considered a Magyar national trait. But after Orbán, writers in the country remind us that melancholy must not always be bleak

A lone visitor looks for a garden outside an empty monastery. A morose housekeeper won’t let anyone behind the door of her own home. A retired general living alone on a crumbling estate waits 40 years to confront the only friend he ever had. Melancholy, an affinity with oblivion without a concrete cause, suffuses the Hungarian fiction translated for foreign audiences over the past 30 years, from the tortured tales of Sándor Márai to the taut novels of Magda Szabó.

In his book In Praise of Melancholy, essayist László F Földényi tells the story of an Englishman who monomanically decides to teach himself Hungarian. For Földényi, the commitment to studying a language with 26 cases and with no connection to any other language, from a culture besieged by centuries of invasion, is to embrace melancholy, a seductive “capacity for despair”. To read Hungarian literature as an outsider, the poet János Pilinszky claimed in 1972, is to acquire unique spiritual insights that come from centuries of rootlessness, alienation and strife.

Israeli military launches criminal probes into killings of 5-year-old and paramedics

Israel's military on Wednesday announced its first criminal investigations into troop conduct in Gaza, focusing on the killings of 5-year-old Hind Rajab and her family and of 15 Palestinian paramedics.

Monstera magic: Barbican hands out cuttings as ‘green lung of the city’ closes

Five hundred people turn up to adopt plants from conservatory that will reopen in 2030 after renovation project

Above the waxy monstera leaves and bright pink hibiscus flowers in the Barbican conservatory hangs a giant net to catch the panes of glass that are at risk of falling from the ceiling on the unwitting plant lovers below.

This precarious situation has caused the estate to shutter its greenhouse on the third and fourth floors for three years so a full refurbishment can take place. But the hiatus has a silver lining for many of those who visited on Wednesday to give the plants from the conservatory a new home.

Watermelons in Bristol: how UK heatwaves are affecting growers

Most allotment holders say the heat has meant more work for smaller crops, although some have found a silver lining

After a summer of repeated heatwaves and exceptionally dry weather in the UK, rain has brought some relief this week, but drought remains widespread and experts warn it will take weeks of sustained rainfall for water supplies to recover.

For people growing their own fruit and vegetables, it has been a challenging and sometimes surprising season. The Guardian spoke to growers across England about how they are adapting to a hotter, drier climate.

Oxfam ‘can’t guarantee future’ of charity shops as it also reviews warehouse business

Dwindling donations and stiff competition from secondhand sellers online prompt review but ‘no plans for closures yet’

Oxfam is reviewing the operations of its three warehouses in Batley, Bicester and Milton Keynes and says it “cannot give guarantees” on the future of its high street shops in a “difficult economic climate”.

The charity said it had no plans to close warehouses or shops but insiders fear that Batley, which houses Oxfam’s main textile recycling centre, will shut as part of a cost-cutting drive because the West Yorkshire site’s lease is up for renewal.

Rachel Roddy’s recipe for spaghetti with semi-dried tomatoes, garlic, herbs and breadcrumbs | A kitchen in Rome

Sun-drying tomatoes until they’re leathery on the outside and soft within is something of an art, but it’s more than worth it for this moreish pasta dish

One set of guidelines I received in Sicily for sun-drying tomatoes was two to seven days, depending on temperature, humidity, wind and the size of the fruit. I might as well have been given a surfboard and told “go”, because that advice felt far too broad and general to be helpful to a complete beginner. So I asked someone else.

For them, with an ideal temperatures of 35C and low humidity, trays of egg-sized tomato halves arranged on wire racks on wooden boards, sprinkled with salt and left in full sun during the day, and taken in at night, generally took three days to reach the desirable point: dry enough to store, but still with a flexibility and sweet chew. From broad to specific, this advice also felt overwhelming: What if the temperature changes or turns humid? What are the signs of humidity? What if my tomatoes are bigger than eggs? What happens if it rains? In the end, though, between these two extremes of advice and temperatures swinging between being in the pleasant 20Cs and burning 40Cs, too much humidity, rain (bring them inside) and not being particularly organised, I have managed to – relatively successfully – dry batches of tomatoes of all shapes and sizes.

Trump threatens Iran’s trade partners, as military strikes make way for economic pressure

US president pivots towards ‘crushing’ economic operation against Iran and its trading partners as military strikes fail to bring Tehran to the table

Donald Trump has announced a new campaign to isolate Iran’s economy, threatening “tremendous economic consequences” on any country that helps or does business with Tehran, a move that could set up a fresh confrontation with China if implemented.

“Today, I am announcing the most crushing economic operation ever taken against any country!” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “Any country that allows its financial institutions, businesses, airports, or government entities to provide any type of lifeline to Iran will itself face tremendous economic consequences.”

Harry and Meghan: the key moments, conflicts and controversies since their US move

Expected return to UK of Duke and Duchess of Sussex marks the latest twist in the long-running saga surrounding the couple since they left for the US in 2020

• Prince Harry and Meghan ‘moving back to Britain this month’

Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan, will reportedly return to Britain after six years of living in the US, a move that triggered a long period of strained relations with King Charles III, the Prince and Princess of Wales and others in the royal family.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex and their two children, Prince Archie, seven, and Princess Lilibet, five, are expected to relocate to the UK this month.

Country diary: All hail the horsetail, a plant that could survive anything | Kate Blincoe

Newton Flotman, Norfolk: It looks like a toilet brush yet predates the dinosaurs. I can’t help but give it a stroke by the roadside, even if I get strange looks

The rural road is flanked with a bank of green fuzz. It’s jungly and verdant – lush in a landscape that has turned brown and yellow from drought. I run my hand over the green bristles erupting from a bamboo-like stem.

Equisetum arvense, or field horsetail, looks fluffy, but it is wiry and rough. One could serve effectively as a toilet brush. The bristles are rich in abrasive silicon, which gives the texture of sandpaper. This explains another of equisetum’s common names, scouring rush, from when it was used to clean wood and polish metal. If you are careful, a hollow jointed stem can be separated at its junction and then rejoined like children’s tubular pipes for building, slotting back in a satisfying way.

The long shadow of Argentina’s dictatorship: she wasn’t who she thought she was – neither was her father | Meaghan Beatley

A young activist thought her father’s disapproval of her leftwing views was purely political. Then one evening, a kiss goodbye sent her on a remarkable journey that continues today

• Last chance to buy the summer issue of The Long Read magazine, now with 15% off. Click here to order

As a child, Analía Azic used to pretend she was secretly a princess, the heiress to a magical distant kingdom. In real life, she was the daughter of a greengrocer named Juan Antonio Azic and a demure housewife named Esther Abrego. The family lived in the province of Buenos Aires, which, as anyone from the area will tell you with a dash of pride, is not the city of Buenos Aires but its rougher neighbour. Analía was not royalty, but she had an iron will and audacity out of proportion to her small stature.

Analía cared little for grades at the Ladies Institute of the Sacred Heart, where she rolled with the dominantes, girls who hiked their school skirts up so high they served as little more than belts, and dreamed of the weekend when they could finally trade in their school uniforms for designer jeans and tight tank tops and sashay into Electric Circus, the one local club that allowed in minors. There, Analía would climb atop the speakers and dance, then leap back down to toy with the boys from the Argentine air force’s technical trade school.

Magicians and margarine: 10 of the funniest jokes from the Edinburgh fringe 2026

Every year, hundreds of standups from across the world descend on the venerable festival. Here are some of their finest one-liners

10 of the funniest jokes from the 2025 fringe

Olaf Falafel: I remember thinking, as I taped a piranha to my boomerang, this could come back to bite me.

Richard Stott: To the person who stole my bank card and spent all my money on ancestry.com – you know who you are.

Hyundai's new flagship vehicle is a large luxury Genesis EV

The GV90 features a new design direction for Genesis and expands the Hyundai brand's lineup to seven vehicles in the U.S.

Trump shows off White House renovations and ornate new helipad

Former real estate developer leads press corps on tour of grounds and says ‘one thing I know how to do is build’

As the US national debt climbed past $40tn for the first time on Wednesday, and the war with Iran he started nearly six months ago dragged on, forcing Americans already struggling to pay the bills to spend more on fuel, Donald Trump led the press corps on a tour of the extensive remodeling of the White House grounds he is personally overseeing in his role as the self-styled “builder-in-chief”.

The tour, during which Trump showed off upgrades such as a new granite driveway and refurbished columns, and expounded at length on newly laid grass, culminated in Trump autographing the back of a stone, inscribed with his name, to go in the center of the ornate new helipad he insists he needs.

The boy behind the Baby Shark phenomenon: I used to hum it without even realising

After 10 years and more than 17bn YouTube views, Geonroung Park, aka Baby Shark Boy, speaks about his life as a child star and his new K-Pop career

“I just remember having fun dancing and playing on what felt like a huge set,” Geonroung Park says, recalling the day 10 years ago when he was filmed, aged seven, doing the hand movements to a children’s song about a family of sharks.

That footage became Baby Shark Dance, now the most-watched video in YouTube’s history. It has racked up more than 17.2bn views and has held the platform’s global no 1 spot for 69 consecutive months.

How Moderna's melanoma mRNA vaccine could fight deadliest skin cancer

CBS News medical correspondent Dr. Céline Gounder, who has had melanoma herself, said Moderna's experimental trial is "a big win for mRNA vaccines against cancer."

‘Like a miracle’: 84-year-old woman pulled alive from rubble three days after Indonesian quake

A landslide triggered by the quake had blocked access to the village where Paulina Pobi had lived, leaving her buried under the collapsed remains

An 84-year-old woman has been discovered alive in the flattened remains of her home three days after a powerful earthquake hit eastern Indonesia, authorities have confirmed.

The 7.7-magnitude quake struck off Indonesia’s Flores island on Saturday morning, killing at least 73 people, injuring more than 900 people and displacing nearly 60,000 others.

UC Berkeley professor admits to using AI to edit op-ed on students’ math skills

Zvezdelina Stankova says she used AI to ‘help edit’ an article about some of her students being ‘five to eight years’ behind

A math professor at the University of California, Berkeley, criticizing a “severe” math deficiency among students in an op-ed for the San Francisco Standard, admitted to using artificial intelligence to help edit the piece.

The Standard published a 2,000-word piece by Zvezdelina Stankova last week, in which the professor said some of her math students were “five to eight years” behind and lacked a “middle school” education on fractions and basic algebra. Stankova said the UC system’s test-blind admissions were to blame, suggesting that students who weren’t sufficiently prepared for the rigor of Berkeley’s mathematics program were admitted because a longstanding benchmark like the SAT had disappeared.

Woman told House panel that Gomez sexually assaulted her, attorneys say

The California Democrat said Monday that he "made personal mistakes outside my marriage" and that his "actions were consensual in nature."

‘Like a seagull in a stiff breeze’: what it’s like flying into Wellington, the world’s windiest city

Anyone who has frequently landed in New Zealand’s capital has a hair-raising story to tell, and this year’s ‘super’ El Niño could only intensify the winds

It had been a smooth late-July flight from Auckland, until the plane started its descent into Wellington. Then the bumps and swaying began.

“The more we went down, the rockier it got,” says Laura, a Wellington resident who wished to give her first name only. “There was one point where we must have got a horrible cross-wind and it felt like the plane was about to flip over. At that point, the entire flight screamed.”

5 Americans among 7 people killed in Kenya helicopter crash

NBCUniversal said its Florida-based journalist, José Alberto Suárez, who worked for CBS Miami in the 1990s, was among those killed in the crash.

More than 100 dead after goldmine collapses in Central African Republic

The collapse was caused by a landslide, while local officials say the death toll is likely to rise as recovery efforts continue

More than 100 people have died after an artisanal goldmine at a small village in western Central African Republic (CAR) caved in due to a landslide, local officials and aid workers said on Wednesday.

The landslide happened on Tuesday afternoon in the village of Zamboye, about 50km (31 miles) from the town of Baboua and close to the border of Cameroon. Footage on social media appeared to show an avalanche of sand descend on a group of people, likely the miners, and cover them.

47-year-old father walks onto San Jose City College football team: "Joy of the game"

A 47-year-old father of three walked onto the San Jose City College football team this year. He is taking a beating, but is loving it, and spoke with Tony Dokoupil about the experience.

Manhunt on for Massachusetts wife of police officer found dead

A search is underway in Massachusetts for a 58-year-old woman considered armed and dangerous whose police officer husband was found dead Tuesday. Lilia Luciano has the latest developments.

Moderna stock surges as melanoma vaccine trial shows "landmark moment"

Moderna and Merck announced study results that reflect a "landmark moment" in treatment for one of the deadliest forms of skin cancer.

Experimental melanoma vaccine shows promising results

An experimental melanoma vaccine could reduce the risk of the cancer returning or spreading for some high-risk patients. It's personalized for each patient and optimized using artificial intelligence. Dr. Jon LaPook has more details.

Psychologist who treated Lindsay Clancy testifies at trial

Lindsay Clancy, the Massachusetts woman on trial for killing her three children in 2023, has pleaded not guilty, citing her own struggle with postpartum psychosis. On Wednesday, a psychologist who treated Clancy after the killings testified about her state of mind the night of the tragedy. Shanelle Kaul reports.

Trump flaunts White House improvement projects

White House reporters were called to the South Lawn Wednesday for a surprise tour of some of President Trump's favorite home improvement projects around the White House. Nancy Cordes reports.

Americans fighting brutal heat coast to coast

Coast-to-coast heat is scorching the southern U.S., with the temperature in Charleston, South Carolina, with a heat index of 113 degrees, while California's Death Valley was seeing a high of 118 degrees. Jason Allen reports from Phoenix, Arizona, which is also experiencing triple-digit heat.

5 Americans among 7 killed in luxury safari helicopter crash in Kenya

A luxury safari helicopter crashed in Kenya with no survivors, according to investigators there. Five of the seven people killed were Americans. Imtiaz Tyab reports.

He spied for the U.S. in the war on terror. Now ICE wants to deport him.

The Trump administration is trying to deport a self-described CIA spy who won permission to live in the U.S. by helping convict terrorists.

Young vapers ‘at risk of breathing problems and becoming smokers’

Review by paediatricians links child vaping with poor respiratory health such as coughing, wheezing and asthma

Young people who start vaping risk developing breathing problems and going on to smoke cigarettes, children’s doctors have warned.

Child vaping is consistently linked with poor respiratory health, such as coughing, wheezing, bronchitis symptoms and asthma exacerbations, while vapes have been shown to act as a gateway to smoking cigarettes, according to one of the most comprehensive reviews of the available evidence so far undertaken by the Royal College of Child and Paediatrics Health.

Premier League 2026-27 preview No 17: Newcastle

After the departure of the manager and some of their best players, fans on Tyneside are braced for a transitional season at best

Guardian writers’ predicted position: 17th (NB: this is not necessarily Louise Taylor’s prediction but the average of our writers’ tips)

Last season’s position: 12th

Publix frozen blueberry recall upgraded to highest health risk level

Recalled frozen blueberries and mixed berries that could be contaminated with E. coli pose the most severe category of health risk, according to the FDA.

U.S. government debt passes $40 trillion, more than doubling in a decade

8/19: CBS Evening News

5 Americans were killed in a tourist helicopter crash in Kenya; nearly 100 million in the U.S. felt the heat coast-to-coast.

2 members of Tennessee college cycling team killed in highway collision

Two members of the Milligan University cycling team were killed, and several more injured, in a collision with a vehicle on a rural highway in eastern Tennessee Wednesday morning.

NASA's Swift telescope will plunge toward Earth after rescue mission called off

The mission to save NASA's sinking space telescope has been called off, dooming the telescope to a fiery reentry later this year.

Teenage ace Rafael Jódar endures defeat by Cobolli but his star is rising

Spaniard loses narrowly in fourth round of the Cincinnati Open yet the buzz around him will only get louder

As Rafael Jódar slowly trudged from the court, he could only bring himself to wave at his adoring crowd for no more than a millisecond. The 19-year-old was appropriately devastated after he had come within two points of victory on numerous occasions before losing 4-6, 7-6 (3), 6-3 in the fourth round of the Cincinnati Open to an excellent Flavio Cobolli.

No matter, Jódar departs Ohio having further solidified himself as the subject of so much conversation on the ATP Tour. This has been a turbulent and unpredictable year in men’s tennis, largely thanks to Carlos Alcaraz’s extended injury layoff. The one certainty through it all has been the imperious rise of Jódar. After a short period competing at the University of Virginia, Jódar started to play regularly on the tour only in May last year. In August 2025, he was ranked No 540. He began the 2026 season at No 165.

Zuckerberg lied about concern for child safety, Meta whistleblower testifies at landmark trial

Arturo Béjar, former Meta safety engineer, tells jury tech company was aware of products’ potential harm to children

Meta has taken a “don’t ask, don’t tell” strategy when it comes to the safety of children on its social media platforms, according to a whistleblower who testified during a landmark trial against the company on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Arturo Béjar, a former Meta safety engineer, told the jury that the company was aware of the harm its products caused children, which included its recommendations pushing content from sexual predators and violent and graphic images. He said he repeatedly raised the issue to various Facebook and Instagram executives but that they did little to resolve it.

Trump bemoans Fed interest rate policy, says U.S. should be paying much less

As he has done in the past, Trump accused Fed officials of having political motives.

Trump nominates policy aide Dr. Heidi Overton as next FDA commissioner

President Trump announced he's nominating Dr. Heidi Overton, a deputy assistant to the president for domestic policy, to be the next head of the FDA.

8/19: The Takeout with Major Garrett

Angie Nixon pulls off upset win in Florida primary; Trump says peace talks with Iran will resume "maybe at some point."

‘You don’t have many halves’: Robinson and Tongue split cricket ball after heroics

• Robinson and Tongue take five wickets each in first Test

• Ball cut in half so duo could share honour against Pakistan

A ball cut in half was the solution to Ollie Robinson and Josh Tongue’s novel problem. Courtesy of a helpful member of the Headingley ground staff, the two quicks shared the souvenir after each took five wickets on the opening day of England’s first Test against Pakistan, with the visitors bowled out for 171.

“You don’t really have too many halves of cricket balls, so it’ll be something that we never forget,” said Robinson, showing off his share in his post-match press conference as he reflected on his haul of five for 51, including a wicket with the first ball of the series.

Cancer vaccine from Moderna, Merck shows promise in late-stage trial; both stocks soar

The combination regimen significantly extended the time patients lived without their melanoma returning, compared with Keytruda alone.

National debt tops $40 trillion after doubling in under 10 years

Federal debt has mounted amid tax cuts and trillions in pandemic spending, adding to the nation's interest payments.

Five Americans among seven killed in safari helicopter crash in Kenya

Officials say all seven people onboard killed, including Telemundo executive and Ecuador intelligence chief

Seven people, including five Americans, were killed when a safari helicopter crashed on Wednesday morning in a remote part of northern Kenya, according to local police and the state department.

Among the dead were an executive with Telemundo, the US-based Spanish-language network owned by NBC Universal, and the director of Ecuador’s national intelligence service.

Trump touted a deal to avert new tariffs on Canada. Here's what we know so far

Trump's new tariffs on about $20 billion worth of Canadian goods were set to take effect Wednesday, but were postponed by three days.

Stripe to buy OpenRouter as fintech expands deeper into AI

Stripe said it's acquiring OpenRouter, as the payments company expands into the artificial intelligence model market.

Bessent moves to curb Treasury yields, putting new pressure on Warsh's Fed

Treasury's move to buy back more long-term debt cooled a bond selloff, but economists warn it could raise new inflation and independence questions for the Fed

Michael Cohen, Trump's fixer-turned-nemesis, says he'll interview former boss

"This is the first public conversation between the president and myself in eight years," said Cohen.

Truck computer contains clues to motive in murder, prosecutors say

The state argues an "infotainment system" is a window into the brain of a South Carolina man who mowed down his estranged wife's boyfriend.

Women lag in high-paying AI jobs boom, LinkedIn study finds

AI jobs can command a premium, but women are disproportionately underrepresented in such roles, according to hiring data.

Fed officials saw need for rate hike if inflation doesn't cool, minutes show

The Federal Reserve on Wednesday released minutes from its July 28-29 policy meeting.

DOJ cites Comey's novel in urging judge not to toss ‘86 47' seashells threat to Trump case

"There is no serious dispute that an objective viewer of Comey's post could read it to mean 'Kill President Trump,'" prosecutors said.

Edmonton Marathon admits 2026 route was more than half a kilometre too long

Canadian contest sparked outrage from scores of frustrated runners online and in Canadian media

The organisers of the Edmonton Marathon have admitted the course was more than half a kilometre too long, after outrage from scores of runners who complained about the distance.

The error resulted in the upending of runners’ personal bests and potentially prevented some from breaking records.

Army unit offers 4-day pass to play Grand Theft Auto as reenlistment incentive

Eligible soldiers must reenlist for a minimum of two years and up to six years.

The Guardian view on the Ebola outbreak in the DRC: a case study in why international aid matters | Editorial

The Trump administration’s ‘America first’ approach has contributed to the scale of the crisis now unfolding in one of the world’s poorest countries

For months health experts have warned that the scale of the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) could surpass the one that swept west Africa in 2014-16. This week, the authorities in the DRC announced that a grim milestone has already been passed: at least 2,325 people have died from the virus, making it the deadliest of the country’s 17 outbreaks and the fastest-growing in history.

There is no effective vaccine against Bundibugyo – a rare strain of the virus that spread fatally undetected during the spring, often being misdiagnosed as malaria or typhoid. In contrast to neighbouring Uganda, which succeeded in eliminating an outbreak, multiple factors are combining to let the disease rip through the DRC. The worst-affected region is contested by armed groups, and a context of population displacement and chronic insecurity has made monitoring and surveillance more difficult. Ebola treatment centres have been attacked as a result of misinformation and community distrust.

How progressive wins in Democratic primaries are shaping the midterms

Progressive momentum has been a prominent storyline as Democrats look to flip control of the House and Senate next year. But how far will it go?

Kim Jong-un’s sister casts doubt on Trump’s claims of secret US-North Korea talks

President says he plans to meet dictator this year but Kim Yo-jong says Washington remains Pyongyang’s enemy

Donald Trump has said he is planning to meet North Korea’s Kim Jong-un later this year, though the reclusive leader’s younger sister cast doubt on their communications and dampened hopes of a diplomatic breakthrough between them.

Trump, who also claimed North Korea had 57 nuclear weapons, had suggested he and Kim were holding secret negotiations on Tuesday after announcing the US would downgrade its participation in military exercises held by South Korea, a US ally. Asked whether Kim had responded to his request for a conversation, Trump said: “Yeah, he has.”

Otter spotted for first time in 100 years in New York City’s Bronx River

Image captured in early June shows animal foraging in the waterway in first since early 1900s, signaling its recovery

An otter has been spotted in the Bronx River for the first time in more than 100 years, in a further sign that New York’s previously befouled waterways are recovering some of their ecological health.

The North American river otter was photographed by a motion-activated camera foraging near some vegetation in the Bronx River, a waterway that flows through New York’s Bronx and empties into the East River.

Moving pillowcase leads to discovery of reptiles in car seized at border

Federal officers found a moving pillowcase in a car that was seized at the U.S.-Mexico border. A collection of stolen exotic reptiles was inside.

Judi Dench has inspired a new decorating trend – and I oppose it with every fibre of my being

Reverse decluttering is here, prompting a shudder from me and my fellow neat freaks. Why would you want to be surrounded by mementos when you could be perfectly tidy?

Older doesn’t always mean wiser. Jo Whiley has spoken about a home hack she picked up from – clang! – Dame Judi Dench, and I’m afraid I’m opposed to it with every fibre of my being. Whiley is in a new phase – her four children are grownup – so she recently began the most satisfying project of all: a decluttering spree. Hard even to type those words without a shiver of anticipation. Trigger warning for fellow neat freaks, though: this anecdote does not end well.

Whiley went to interview Dench for her RHS Roots podcast and found the actor’s house “packed with family photographs, children’s drawings and memories everywhere”. Mind-blowingly, she means this as a positive. “Seeing Judi’s reminded me that lived-in spaces are often the most beautiful because they reflect a lifetime of love, family and shared experiences,” she says. “I suddenly thought: ‘Why am I putting all these things away?’” As soon as I got home, I immediately put all the family photographs back out.” TLDR: I cleaned up and then I made it all messy again. Shudder.

‘I love provocative stories’: producer Christine Vachon on fighting for her ‘offensive’ movies

The maker of indie classics Kids, Swoon and Poison on daring to have a temper in the 90s, what some producer credits mean – and what happened between her and Joaquin Phoenix

Trailblazing producer Christine Vachon bestrides the world of US independent film-making like a colossus. She has championed idiosyncratic American cinema for more than 35 years, scoring hits such as the romcom Materialists, which starred three superhero actors (Dakota Johnson, Pedro Pascal, Chris Evans) and grossed $108m, alongside curiosities such as Zola, a strippers’ road-trip comedy based on a string of viral tweets.

Vachon got her start in the early 1990s. Her often scandalous movies – from Poison (gay prison sex) and Swoon (gay child killers) to Happiness (paedophile dad) and Kids (delinquent teens) – dominated the cultural conversation decades before boutique studio A24 had sold its first tote bag. Her production outfit Killer Films, which she founded in 1995 with Pamela Koffler, has as its logo a cartoon bunny with a target for a body, mischievously evoking the company’s blend of irreverence and danger. “I don’t think we’ve ever made a movie that somebody hasn’t been offended by,” Vachon said in 2000.

Is the US actually too chicken to take on China for trade?

A weak yuan guarantees Beijing massive trade surplus even as the White House tries tamp down on Chinese imports

Since China offered a truce in the trade war last October following its threat to deprive the United States of rare-earth magnets, the Trump administration has been happy to stop escalating. After all, imports from China have been falling, down by 40% in the year to June, compared with the same period in 2024. Best to declare victory and call it a day.

But the US hasn’t won this battle – and there’s strong evidence to show it’s too chicken to really try.

‘Success story’ hailed as bluefin tunas caught off Yorkshire for first time since 1960s

Researchers laud return of giant tuna to North Sea after being fished almost to point of extinction

Researchers have lauded two giant bluefin tunas being caught off the coast of Yorkshire for the first time in more than six decades as a “success story” for marine conservation.

The tunas, which were caught a day apart off the coast of Whitby earlier this week, have mostly been absent along the north-east coast of Britain since the 1960s.

Woman describes confronting man in Chucky-style mask who chased her

Police in Philadelphia are searching for a man they say chased at least a half dozen people last week within a half hour while wearing a Chucky-style mask.

Mutiny review – Jason Statham’s fight-by-numbers action thriller just about stays above water

The hard-working action hero gives us exactly what we expect, and often want, in this sturdy cargo ship-set caper

The dog days of August have already seen the trotting out of some usual suspects from a junky Eli Roth horror to a belated nostalgia comedy sequel to a Mike Pence-approved Ronald Reagan drama. This weekend, yet more howls will be heard in cinemas with a lower-tier horror instalment and an even lower-tier girlies on tour comedy being shuffled out. It’s all amounting to a rather rubbishy end to what’s been a pretty remarkable summer (easily the biggest since the pandemic), allowing for Spider-Man supremacy until September slowly returns the industry from the D-list closer to the A.

There can still be low-level popcorn pleasures to be had in August. Last weekend’s throwback dino caper The End of Oak Street was a B-movie made with just the right balance of serious to silly while last year Zach Cregger gifted us Weapons, the rare genre film to end up winning an Oscar. Trophies are unlikely for this weekend’s other medium-sized release Mutiny (if only the Blockbuster Entertainment Awards hadn’t died off at the turn of the 2000s) but if the words “Jason Statham vehicle” possess a safe, soothing quality then there are far worse ways to spend a Saturday night.

Astronomers detect fastest known star in Milky Way

Star’s extreme proximity to Sagittarius A* means it could open new window onto black hole’s fundamental properties

Astronomers have detected the fastest known star in the Milky Way, hurtling around the supermassive black hole at the heart of the galaxy.

The star, called S301, travels at about 25,000km (15,500 miles) per second, 100,000 times faster than a commercial plane. It is also the closest known star to the Milky Way’s central black hole, Sagittarius A*, approaching it around the distance of Saturn to the Sun.

Insidious: Out of the Further review – evil returns but so does boredom

Uninteresting mythology and junky effects push a once-promising horror franchise further from what it once was

When the Insidious franchise started in 2010, it felt like a liberating moment for director James Wan and writer (and later director) Leigh Whannell, the Australian duo who captured the zeitgeist with the original Saw movie, which imported the gonzo energy of low-budget Ozploitation flicks. As the partners quietly ceded control to other film-makers, the Saw sequels sunk into gross, dreary exercises in mechanized murder, and they moved on to other projects. When they emerged with Insidious, another shoestring horror movie, it was a confident and wildly entertaining return to form, like a down-and-dirty fusion of 80s staples such as Poltergeist and Ghostbusters.

Now the pattern has repeated itself. Though Whannell stuck around longer than Wan – Wan directed the sequel, but Whannell directed the third film and has writing or story credits through the most recent sequel, Insidious: The Red Door – the creative returns have diminished over time, even if the cheap productions are still like a license to print money. Insidious: Out of the Further arrives as the sixth entry in the series, and the fun has almost completely evaporated, replaced by a dull mythology that would be hard to piece together even if the sequels hadn’t come out in scrambled chronology.

Nicola Jennings on Putin under pressure – cartoon

Continue reading...

In Big Walk, players just walk and talk – and find joy along the way: ‘Some stories we’ve heard are punch-in-the-gut beautiful’

After their hit Untitled Goose Game, Australian studio House House is back with a new game where your only goal is to go exploring with friends – so we took them on a big walk inside Big Walk

When I arrive to meet with the tiny team at Melbourne game developer House House, they’re sitting in a circle under a eucalyptus tree. After introductions, the five of us set off into the scrub. Over the course of our hike we take a train to the beach, huddle on deck chairs in the sand dunes and climb a mountain as the sun rises. All without ever leaving our desks.

Welcome to the world of Big Walk: House House’s new game after the runaway global success Untitled Goose Game, which saw millions fall in love with being a naughty goose rampaging through a bucolic village. After Untitled Goose Game’s overwhelming success, House House wanted their next game to be very different and “unusual”. Despite this, Big Walk has been an immediate success, with more than 1m downloads in the first week of release.

Weekly mortgage demand stalls along with interest rates, but rates are now moving higher again.

Mortgage rates were unchanged last week, as was mortgage demand, and total volume remains lower than year-ago levels.

Did someone wearing Meta Glasses film you today? Are you sure?

People say they’ve been secretly filmed in their own homes, at concerts and at work. Are the wildly popular smartglasses the final nail in the coffin of personal privacy?

“I’ve had one person who told me that their intentions were creepy,” a man tells me over a video call, on condition of anonymity. He’s based in Los Angeles, and while we speak, he eats what appears to be tuna directly out of the can. “He said: ‘I go to strip clubs, and I want to record the strippers … Normally I put my phone in my chest pocket, but the glasses are more convenient.’”

The man I’m talking to runs a business called Ghost Metas. He’s one of hundreds of vendors, easily discoverable online, who specialise in disabling the flashing LED light embedded in Meta’s smartglasses that blinks when wearers capture photos, videos and audio. After Ghost Metas disables the LED, it’s impossible for someone to know they’re being filmed.

Firefighters sound alarm as US faces critical staffing shortage: ‘We don’t have enough people’

Firefighters describe being pushed to limit by a brutal wildfire season, with key leadership roles going unfilled

The US has faced a critical shortage of firefighters at the US Forest Service (USFS) this summer as thousands of fires erupted across the country.

Despite officials’ claims that the firefighting workforce was stronger than ever, the agency has failed to keep pace with escalating conditions and the catastrophic fires fueled by them, according to nine firefighters who spoke to the Guardian anonymously, because they are barred from disclosing the information to the public.

Hogging weights, loud grunting and sweaty benches: 11 gym dos and don’ts from fitness experts

Here’s what professionals have to say about good workout etiquette, from using equipment to being on your phone

I like to think of myself as a fairly laid-back person. Other people’s behavior is not my business. There is one notable exception: my gym nemesis.

He brings his computer to the gym and takes work conference calls at full volume. He has four to six pairs of dumbbells around him at all times – then doesn’t put them away. Intellectually I understand he is a fragile, flawed human like the rest of us, but in my gut I sometimes wonder if he arrived here from another galaxy.

‘A critical crossroads’: who is the woman vying to become the first Caribbean head of the UN?

If elected, Guyanese politician Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett wants to prioritise climate issues and ensure the United Nations remains a force for good

• Don’t already get The Long Wave in your inbox? Sign up here

As the Guardian’s Caribbean correspondent, I sometimes encounter stories that everyone is talking about in the region, but are not on the radar of the international media. Today, I’m taking over the Long Wave to bring you one of those stories. This summer, Guyanese ambassador Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett has made history as the first Caribbean candidate for the prestigious post of United Nations secretary general. If successful, she will be the first woman to hold the position too. I spoke to her about the value of the UN, and what a Caribbean leader could bring to the role.

Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett started life in the remote Indigenous village of Santa Rosa, in the interior of the Caribbean and South American nation of Guyana.

Freefall: A Reckoning for Boeing review – like a horror movie … only this is real life

In 2022, Rory Kennedy exposed the aviation safety scandal in which 346 people died – but since then, a plane door has blown out mid-flight and more whistleblowers have come to the fore. Will anyone pay for this?

It is unfortunate that a sequel was required to Rory Kennedy’s 2022 documentary feature, which alleged that the profit-driven culture at a US aeronautics firm led to two plane crashes and the deaths of 346 people. But given the lack of corporate accountability evident at the end of Downfall: The Case Against Boeing – and the apparent complicity of regulatory body the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) – it was inevitable.

Freefall: A Reckoning for Boeing opens with a rundown of a significant development in the story: the mysterious death in March 2024 of John Barnett, a former Boeing employee turned whistleblower. Barnett, a contributor in the first film, was in the middle of a deposition when he was found dead at his hotel, which investigators ruled a suicide. Is this another casualty to add to Boeing’s mounting death toll? And is the alarming aviation safety scandal – supposedly resolved in November 2020, when the FAA lifted its grounding order on the Boeing 737 Max – in fact still ongoing?

Jah Wobble on covering the Beatles, London buses and why punk went wrong: ‘Being kind is seen as square’

The maverick former Public Image Ltd bassist takes us on a typically picaresque journey through his ‘Kafka-esque’ days at Transport for London, being named by Sid Vicious and his spiritual learnings

Sometimes, on the top deck of a London bus, pension-age punks will politely disturb the concentration of a man on his iPad. “They’ll say: ‘Are you Jah Wobble?’” recounts the musician born John Wardle, his upbeat cockney accent ringing with delight. They will ask if he’s working on anything. “And I like to say: ‘Yes, I’m recording an album. I’m doing it right now.’”

In the 2020s, the 68-year-old bassist and bandleader has been revisiting the city of his birth and youth, composing and producing albums including the cosmic dub of The Bus Routes of South London, or the celestial electronica of Thames Symphony, while traversing London on public transport.