To win, Harris should talk more about working-class needs and less about Trump | Dustin Guastella

Our polling shows that the best way to defeat Trump is offer a compelling economic platform that puts working families first

The 2024 campaign has entered the final stretch and, as polls tighten, it seems Kamala Harris plans to lean into attacking Donald Trump as a threat to democracy.

Over the past week the Wall Street Journal, the Associated Press, the Washington Post, the New York Times and even the conservative National Review have all reported or commented on the messaging pivot. In a newly unveiled official campaign ad, a disembodied voice warns gravely that a second Trump term “would be worse. There would be no one to stop his worst instincts. No guard rails.” At a recent rally in Erie, Pennsylvania, Harris reminded her supporters of Project 2025, the “detailed and dangerous plan” that she believes an “increasingly unstable and unhinged” Trump will follow to cement “unchecked power”. She sounded the alarm about the dire threat Trump poses to “your fundamental freedoms” and how in his second term he would be “essentially immune” from oversight.

Sarah Beeny’s country house wowed me – but not as much as her sheer chutzpah | Zoe Williams

The Channel 4 presenter is in hot water with planners for building without permission – and she did it all under the eyes of prime-time viewers

Locals call Sarah Beeny’s house in Somerset “mini-Downton Abbey”, owing to its grandeur – and its treehouse, boathouse and greenhouse. I went there, to interview the presenter, just after she had made her documentary about having breast cancer in 2023. I liked her a lot, wished her well. I also thought her house was ridiculous: the space was absurdly lavish and ostentatious, before you even trained your eye on the cornicing, fabrics and whatnot. The boot room was the size of a primary school hall. But then she is the property expert; she is also a convincing construction expert, or at least a highly experienced dabbler. I figured she must know better than I do about what’s silly and what isn’t. Also, this was hardly news. The entire country had eyes on the place, as she built it in Channel 4’s New Life in the Country.

Other residents weren’t wild about it, which I knew thanks to not one but two taxi drivers, each of whom complained about something different. The first said more or less what I was thinking: what is that funny, gigantic thing doing there? There is something a bit old-school deferential about that objection, which ideally I would train myself out of: you wouldn’t give a second glance to a great big pile that had been built by an authentic aristo, back in the days when nobility meant something, so to object to ostentation just because it’s new is another way of objecting to new money.

Celebrities aren’t gods; they’re humans. After Liam Payne’s tragic death, can we accept them as flesh and blood? | Mark Borkowski

As a showbiz publicist, I know about the Faustian pact between stars and the public. The benefits are clear, but the costs are truly steep

As the worldwide tributes continue, the tragic death of Liam Payne at the cruel age of just 31 has shaken the foundations of how we perceive celebrity and fame. As a publicist and strategist who has worked with many famous people, I know something about this. They are just like us – but they are different.

Fame is as seductive as it is destructive. It offers an irresistible promise: transcendence from the mundane, and the opportunity to be more than just another face in the crowd. But it also demands a sacrifice: once your head is above the parapet of anonymity, it’s very rare to be able to submerge back into the crowd on your own terms. And most insiders know this, or at least they think they do.

Mark Borkowski is a crisis PR consultant and author

Braverman defends using personal email for work as minister, claiming there’s ‘tedious’ explanation – UK politics live

Suella Braverman forwarded government documents to her private email accounts at least 127 times while serving as attorney general

Suella Braverman, the former Tory home secretary, has put a post on social media explaining why she is backing Robert Jenrick for party leader.

I’m supporting @RobertJenrick to be the next leader of the Conservative Party.

We need to rebuild trust on one of the defining issues of our age: the global migration crisis.

Robert’s unequivocal commitment to leaving the ECHR and placing a cap on visas is how we start.

While Jenrick has set out a series of very specific commitments, most notably on immigration and leaving the European convention on human rights, Badenoch has rightly resisted the pressure to do so. She seems to know instinctively what I wish I had worked out before I became opposition leader in 1997: that before voters will pay any attention to the policies you announce, they need to understand your values.

Badenoch’s insistence that principles rather than policies are the starting point for political revival is correct. It is borne out by the experience of the more successful opposition leaders in recent history, from Churchill to Thatcher. Her chosen values of truth, personal responsibility, active citizenship, equality under the law and family – in the broadest, modern sense of family – are strong foundations on which to rethink policies over several years. And her emphatic view that the processes of government need to be re-engineered to achieve anything significant is also spot on. Add in her pugnacious personality and it is possible to discern the combination of values and energy that could yet lift the Conservative party up from the electoral floor.

Middle East crisis live: Air raid sirens in Tel Aviv after Hezbollah says it targeted city; Blinken lands in Israel

Israeli military said about 20 rockets were fired with many intercepted; US secretary of state arrives for talks with Israeli leaders

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As Israel continues its war in Gaza and assault on Lebanon, a growing number of international airlines are suspending flights to the region or to avoid affected airspace.

Reuters has helpfully compiled a list of some of them:

Aegean Airlines: The Greek airline cancelled flights to and from Beirut until 6 November and to and from Tel Aviv until 5 November.

AirBaltic: Latvia’s airBaltic cancelled flights to and from Tel Aviv until 30 November.

Air Algerie: The Algerian airline suspended flights to and from Lebanon until further notice.

Air France-KLM: Air France extended its suspension of Paris-Tel Aviv flights until 29 October and Paris-Beirut flights until 30 November. KLM extended the suspension of flights to Tel Aviv until the end of this year at least.

Air India: The Indian flag carrier suspended flights to and from Tel Aviv until further notice.

Bulgaria Air: The Bulgarian carrier cancelled flights to and from Israel until 31 October.
Cathay Pacific: Hong Kong-based Cathay Pacific cancelled flights to Tel Aviv until 25 October 2025.

Delta Air Lines: The US carrier paused flights between New York and Tel Aviv through March 2025.

EasyJet: The UK budget airline stopped flying to and from Tel Aviv in April and will resume flights on 30 March.

Egyptair: The Egyptian carrier in September said it had suspended flights to Beirut until “the situation stabilises”.

Emirates UAE’s state-owned airline cancelled flights to Beirut through to 31 October and flights to Baghdad and Tehran until 30 October.

Ethiopian Airlines: The Ethiopian carrier suspended flights to Beirut until further notice, it said in a Facebook post on 4 October.

FlyDubai: The Emirati airline suspended Dubai-Beirut flights until 31 October.

Iran Air: The Iranian airline cancelled Beirut flights until further notice.

Iraqi Airways: The Iraqi national carrier suspended flights to Beirut until further notice.

ITA Airways: The Italian carrier extended the suspension of Tel Aviv flights through to 30 November.

LOT: The Polish flag carrier cancelled flights to Tel Aviv until 26 October. Its first scheduled flight to Beirut is planned for 1 April.

Lufthansa Group: The German airline group extended the suspension of flights to Tel Aviv until 10 November, while its low cost carrier Eurowings suspended them until 30 November. Flights for Tehran are cancelled until 31 October and to Beirut until 30 November.

Pegasus: The Turkish airline cancelled flights to Beirut until 28 October.

Qatar airways: The Qatari airline temporarily suspended flights to and from Iraq, Iran and Lebanon, while flights to Amman will operate only during daylight hours.
Ryanair: Europe’s biggest budget airline cancelled flights to and from Tel Aviv until the end of December. Group CEO Michael O’Leary said in early October that the suspension was likely to be extended until end-March.

Tarom: Romania’s flag carrier extended the suspension of Beirut flights until 15 November.
United Airlines: The Chicago-based airline suspended flights to Tel Aviv for the foreseeable future.
Virgin Atlantic: The UK carrier extended suspension of Tel Aviv flights until end-March.

Wizz Air: The Hungary-based airline suspended Tel Aviv flights through 14 January.

Chris Kaba shot man in club and was alleged core member of London gang

Judge rules details of Kaba’s criminal past can be reported after police officer who shot him was cleared of murder

Chris Kaba, the unarmed man killed by a police firearms officer, was pictured on CCTV shooting a man on a nightclub dancefloor and was alleged to be a core member of a London gang, it can be revealed.

A judge ruled on Tuesday that details of Kaba’s criminal past could be released, a day after a Metropolitan police officer, Martyn Blake, was cleared of murdering him.

HSBC splits operations into east and west divisions in major overhaul

The bank will also divide into four businesses as it seeks to cut costs and navigate rising geopolitical tensions

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HSBC’s new chief executive, Georges Elhedery, has unveiled an overhaul of the bank, dividing it into four businesses and a new geographical setup that splits operations into east and west in an effort to cut costs and navigate rising geopolitical tensions.

The bank also announced the promotion of its chief risk and compliance officer, Pam Kaur, to chief financial officer, the first woman to occupy the role in HSBC’s 159-year history. A qualified chartered accountant, she joined as head of audit in 2013 and has almost 40 years’ experience working for UK, US and German banks.

Cockatoo rescued after ‘living on brioche’ for four weeks inside Sydney supermarket

NSW environment minister hopes ‘Mickey will be flying free by tomorrow’ after successful capture by wildlife services

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A sulphur-crested cockatoo called Mickey that had been “living on brioche” inside a Sydney supermarket for four weeks has been captured by wildlife services and is expected to be set free soon.

The New South Wales environment minister, Penny Sharpe, announced on Tuesday evening that the bird had “been safely captured by wildlife rescuers after spending way too long in Macarthur Square”.

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Netanyahu, the brutal chancer, will keep on bombing, but his brinkmanship may go too far | Simon Tisdall

The notion that he will claim a victory and stop now is deluded. He will press on until there is the political will in the US to stop him

It’s blindingly obvious Benjamin Netanyahu does not want a ceasefire in Gaza or Lebanon or anywhere else – not yet, at least. The Biden administration and Keir Starmer’s government can persist with the politically convenient fiction that last week’s killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar has opened a window to peace if they must. But it’s nonsense. Israel’s prime minister violently rampages about like a drunken hooligan armed with a stack of US and UK-supplied bricks. He loves the sound of breaking glass.

The unpalatable truth is Netanyahu, his far-right allies and dismayingly large numbers of Israeli citizens believe, foolishly, that they are winning the war that Hamas began on 7 October last year and that Israel has since relentlessly, criminally expanded. They view Sinwar’s death, after a recent string of high-profile assassinations, as the latest vindication of Netanyahu’s slash-and-burn policy – even though it will inevitably backfire eventually. His next target? Iran.

Simon Tisdall is the Observer’s foreign affairs commentator

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.

'Europe is not paradise': one man's mission to stop Senegal’s youth dying at sea – video

The migration route from Africa to the Spanish Canary Islands is one of the world's deadliest, with young people often attempting the journey in flimsy fishing canoes. Moustapha Diouf, a Senegalese fisher, once tried to make the voyage himself, seeking a better life in Europe for his family, but catastrophe struck and he lost several friends on the way. Now back in Dakar, he is trying to persuade young fishers not to make the same journey, helping them instead to set up small businesses. But with fish stocks dwindling due to EU trawlers operating off Senegal's coast, work has evaporated and many are increasingly desperate, with more and more choosing to risk it all for the chance of a better life

‘His music has joy and energy. It is luminous’: Steven Isserlis on the genius of Gabriel Fauré

Fauré is widely known for his beautiful Requiem and Pavane. But, says the British cellist, there is far more of his often radical work to enjoy and explore

‘Fauré? Ah, yes, I love the Requiem. And there’s that lovely Pavane too …” This is the typical reply to the question: “Do you like the music of Gabriel Fauré?” But it’s about as satisfactory a response as would be, to a similar question about Beethoven: “Oh yes! There’s that great symphony – the one that goes da-da-da DAA.”

Glorious though Fauré’s Requiem and Pavane are (along with his other best-known works, such as the first violin sonata and first piano quartet), there are whole other worlds to his music that deserve to be far better known. Luckily, 2024 marks the centenary of Fauré’s death, which gives us Fauréans a wonderful opportunity to share with audiences his lesser-known masterpieces.

How a plastic cave made in Spain keeps Amazonian culture alive 5,000 miles away

When ancient carvings were vandalised, the Wauja feared their knowledge was lost. But 3D imaging has created a replica at the heart of Brazil’s first Xingu people’s museum

It is not yet dawn in Ulupuwene, an Indigenous village in the Brazilian Amazon, but the Wauja people have already risen to prepare for the festive day ahead. The sound of clarinet-like instruments floats across the village, on the banks of the Batovi River, as women sweep the earthen floor between the thatched oca, or traditional houses.

Men paint their bodies with charcoal and bright-red achiote seeds. As the sun rises over the rainforest, men, women and children all meet in the village centre to sing and dance.

The secret life of a careworker – ‘I was blown away by how meaningful and interesting it is’

When anxiety forced Kathryn Faulke to give up her NHS job and became a care worker, she never thought she would enjoy it. Now, she has written a ‘love story’ of a book about the profession

Care work, Kathryn Faulke thought as she scoured job adverts, “is a rubbish job. They’re not going to turn me down.” She had, after all, been a senior dietitian and worked for several years in the NHS – a career that had left her with anxiety and burnout. “I saw an advert and it said ‘in exchange for compassion and reliability …’ and I thought that sounded welcoming.” But the truth is, she says: “I just didn’t think I was good enough for anything else.”

In care work, she found the drudgery, exhaustion and low pay she was expecting, but also so much more. “I was blown away by how interesting and meaningful it was,” says Faulke. “And how it made me feel.” The brilliant book she has written about her experience, Every Kind of People, is, she says, “almost like a love story to care. I wasn’t expecting it.” She didn’t want it to be a “worthy” book. “I just want people to see the joy in it.”

Kamala Harris needs to win non-college educated white voters fast. Here's how | Joan C Williams

Democrats’ fate depends on winning enough non-college-educated voters in swing states. They aren’t trying hard enough

Kamala Harris is doing a lot of things right that recent Democratic campaigns got wrong. She took a chance on Tim Waltz – coach, solider, snow-shoveling-helper – because she hoped to build bridges to the non-college grads who have abandoned Democrats in large numbers.

Nearly 60% of Bill Clinton’s supporters were white people without degrees; only 27% of Joe Biden’s were. Non-college white people are the largest voting bloc in the country, so if Democrats lose them overwhelmingly, they need the immense support and turnout among people of color to win. Instead, Democrats have lost ground among non-white voters. Their advantage among Latinos has fallen from 39 points in 2016 to 19 points today; that same New York Times/Siena poll found the vice-president down 12 points among African Americans compared with Biden in 2020.

Joan C Williams is Sullivan Professor and the current director of the Equality Action Center at UC Law San Francisco and the author of the 2017 book White Working Class. Her next book, OUTCLASSED: How the Left Lost the Working Class and How to Win Them Back, will be released in May 2025

The terrifying true story behind Woman of the Hour: ‘He was born with half a soul’

Netflix thriller looks back at the stranger-than-fiction tale of a serial killer who was a contestant on a 1970s dating show

“I am serving you for dinner,” said Cheryl Bradshaw, “What are you called and what do you look like?” Bachelor number one, Rodney Alcala, replied: “I’m called the banana and I look really good … Peel me.” Bradshaw burst into laughter and so did the studio audience.

This was a seemingly innocuous episode of the television show The Dating Game in 1978. Bradshaw, able to put questions to three contestants but unable to see them, selected Alcala, a longhaired photographer who enjoyed skydiving and motorcycling in his spare time. What she could not know was that she had booked a date with one of the most prolific serial killers in American history.

NBA 2024-25 predictions: Luka for MVP? And will the Knicks win it all?

Our writers give their verdicts on the new season, which tips off Tuesday night. Can New York or Oklahoma City thwart a Boston repeat? And will Bronny James make it to the show?

I can’t wait to see what Anthony Edwards looks like after his first taste of playoff success and a summer to soak up inspiration from playing alongside his heroes. As the lone No 1 overall pick remaining on the Wolves with the departure of Karl-Anthony Towns, the keys to the franchise are now his. He’s primed for a true breakout season. CDL

Royal fist bumps and sausage sizzles: King Charles and Queen Camilla visit Australia – in pictures

Dignities and crowds line up in Sydney and Canberra for King Charles III’s whirlwind 17th visit to Australia

• Barbecue, kangaroo pies and Jimmy Barnes: Charles and Camilla go quintessentially Australian for final day of tour

Australian senator Lidia Thorpe confronted King Charles with a string of claims. How do they stack up?

The Gurnai Gunditjmara and Djab-Wurrung woman accused the crown of a range of crimes against Indigenous people at Parliament House

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Independent federal senator Lidia Thorpe’s forthright haranguing of King Charles during his visit to the Australian parliament has made global headlines.

Reactions have been mixed. Many have criticised Thorpe’s decision to disrupt the event, labelling the 51-year-old’s behaviour as “disrespectful” and “grandstanding”.

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Lamar Jackson inspires Ravens as NFL winning streak continues in Tampa

• Baltimore claim fifth win in a row, 41-31 over Buccaneers
• Chad Ryland field goal gives Cardinals win over Chargers

Lamar Jackson threw for 281 yards with five touchdowns and the Baltimore Ravens extended their winning streak to five games with a 41-31 victory over the host Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Monday night.

The Baltimore wide receiver Rashod Bateman made four catches for a career-high 121 yards and a score. Jackson connected on 17 of 22 passes. After a slow start, the Ravens running back Derrick Henry had an 81-yard run late in the third quarter to set up the Ravens’ fourth touchdown. Henry finished with 169 yards on 15 carries, and he made his second touchdown reception of the season.

Fifa accused again over human rights risks in Saudi Arabia’s World Cup bid

• Gulf kingdom is sole bidder for 2034 tournament
• Trade union claims ‘epidemic’ of migrant worker abuse

Fifa has been accused for a second time of failing to engage with concerns over human rights risks in Saudi Arabia, two months before the Gulf state is expected to be confirmed as a World Cup host.

The Building and Wood Workers’ International, a trade union that has worked with Fifa on governance reforms and previously signed a memorandum of understanding with the governing body, says it has been ignored in attempts to discuss the exploitation of foreign workers in Saudi.

Manchester United’s £2m a year for Alex Ferguson as staff were axed was not a good look | Ewan Murray

Ferguson’s legacy at Old Trafford is assured but revelations over his earnings for ambassadorial duties leave a sour taste

Wayne Rooney had stolen the show in a 2-0 Manchester United win. The visit of the Premier League champions to Aberdeen in the summer of 2008 provided the kind of carnival occasion always guaranteed after Alex Ferguson’s defining move from Pittodrie to Old Trafford. This particular friendly was to mark the 25th anniversary of Ferguson leading Aberdeen to Cup Winners’ Cup glory. Friendly it was … until post‑match media duties.

Frank Gilfeather, a household name in the north east, asked Ferguson about the potential impact of Carlos Queiroz’s recently announced exit from United to take over as the Portugal head coach. Ferguson, hitherto unaware Gilfeather was in the room, shot a glance so vengeful it made the four horsemen of the apocalypse look like cartoon characters. After a pause of three seconds – which felt like three months – Ferguson answered the question in perfectly articulate terms. As the press conference concluded a group of us dived towards Gilfeather, desperate to know the basis for Ferguson’s extraordinary reaction. Gilfeather had reported throughout Ferguson’s spell in Aberdeen and, it was always assumed, had a decent relationship with the managerial icon.

Son of Singapore founder says ‘campaign of persecution’ forced him to seek asylum in UK

Exclusive: Lee Hsien Yang says Singapore is no ‘paradise’ after fleeing authoritarian regime that his older brother inherited and still holds sway over through their revered father’s legacy

A senior member of the family that has dominated Singapore since independence has been granted asylum in the UK after fleeing what he says was a campaign of persecution.

In an exclusive interview, Lee Hsien Yang told the Guardian the authoritarian regime founded by his father turned on him as he endorsed the opposition following a family rift.

Harvey Weinstein diagnosed with cancer – reports

Disgraced Hollywood movie producer undergoing treatment for chronic myeloid leukemia in a New York prison, NBC and ABC have reported

Disgraced Hollywood movie producer Harvey Weinstein has been diagnosed with a form of bone marrow cancer, according to NBC News and ABC News, which both cited anonymous sources.

The 72-year-old former entertainment mogul has chronic myeloid leukemia and is undergoing treatment in a New York prison, the US outlets reported on Monday.

Patriot by Alexei Navalny review – last testament

The late Russian activist’s memoir is an insightful, sharp, even humorous account of his fight against Putin’s regime – and a warning to the world

Alexei Navalny was watching his favourite cartoon show, Rick and Morty, when he suddenly felt unwell. He was 21 minutes into an episode where Rick turns into a pickle. The late Russian opposition leader was on a flight back to Moscow after campaigning ahead of regional elections in the Siberian city of Tomsk in August 2020. Something was clearly wrong, and Navalny staggered to the bathroom.

There, he recalls, he had the grim realisation: “I’m done for.” He told a sceptical steward that he’d been poisoned and then lay down calmly in the aisle, facing a wall. Life didn’t flash before his eyes. Instead, he compares his experience of death – or near-death, as it turned out – to something from a dark fantasy. It was like being “kissed by a Dementor and a Nazgûl stands nearby”.

Europe’s far right will look at Austria and say: this is how we do it | Cas Mudde and Gabriela Greilinger

The success of Herbert Kickl’s FPÖ is no surprise – it had been normalised by the centre right for years. Let that be a warning

While Europe may be “sleepwalking into a far-right trap”, Austria is consciously walking straight into it. After all, polls had predicted the most recent electoral success of the Austrian Freedom party (FPÖ) for almost two years. While the far-right party’s leader, Herbert Kickl, heralded its victory as the beginning of “a new era”, it is better understood as a seemingly unavoidable progression. If anything, the country’s recent election results confirmed a broader pattern of far-right normalisation in Europe in general and in Austria in particular.

Although 29% was indeed its best result ever in a nationwide election, the FPÖ has consistently achieved results in the double digits since 1990, has been included in the national government multiple times, and currently governs in several states with the conservative Austrian People’s party (ÖVP). After the most recent state election in Vorarlberg, the ÖVP is about to form its fourth regional coalition with the FPÖ there. As such, Austria is a perfect example of the dangerous shortsightedness of normalising far-right parties – a process led in the 21st century by, above all, conservative parties.

Cas Mudde is the Stanley Wade Shelton UGAF professor of international affairs at the University of Georgia, and author of The Far Right Today. Gabriela Greilinger is a PhD student at the University of Georgia

Look sharp: 13 standout trends from the season’s key collections – in pictures

This autumn saw a return to tailoring, elegant eveningwear and elevated casual classics. Here are the top runway looks to inspire your winter wardrobe in our menswear collections story

iPhone 16 Plus review: Apple’s battery beast

Enlarged iPhone gains two new buttons, faster chip and better camera, while lasting a long time on a charge

Apple’s iPhone 16 Plus takes the regular iPhone and adds two things: a much bigger screen and even longer battery life.

The new plus-sized model has the exact same specs, camera and multiple additional buttons as the vanilla 16, offering the big screen Apple phone experience without blowing the budget on the most expensive 16 Pro Max with its massive 6.9in display.

Screen: 6.7in Super Retina XDR (OLED) (460ppi)

Processor: Apple A18

RAM: 8GB

Storage: 128, 256 or 512GB

Operating system: iOS 18

Camera: 48MP main + 12MP UW; 12MP front-facing

Connectivity: 5G, wifi 7, NFC, Bluetooth 5.3, Thread, USB-C, Satellite, UWB and GNSS

Water resistance: IP68 (6 metres for 30 mins)

Dimensions: 160.9 x 77.8 x 7.8mm

Weight: 199g

Northumberland is back on track: a new railway line is opening up this lesser-visited county

The Northumberland line will soon return passenger services linking Newcastle to coastal towns such as Blyth, giving a much-needed boost to the region

Some of Northumberland’s attractive coastal towns, wild countryside and interior villages are about to become more accessible thanks to a new railway line from Newcastle to Ashington set to open in December. Coupled with the Tyne and Wear Metro receiving its first new fleet of trains in more than 40 years, visitors without a car will find travelling around the county so much easier.

Arriving into Newcastle by train from the south provides a spectacular aerial tour of the Tyne Gorge, which is crossed by seven bridges in short succession and densely packed with buildings spilling down the banks.

The play that changed my life: Jim Broadbent on Ken Campbell’s electrifying epic Illuminatus!

In the 70s, Campbell’s sprawling sci-fi odyssey was a huge education and a hysterical adventure for an eclectic bunch of actors

A teacher at Lamda had recommended early on that I might be suited to Ken Campbell’s way of working. I didn’t have the nerve to do anything about it. Eventually I did call and he said: “Oh, this is remarkable because I’m just about to do the most remarkable play yet done on Planet World! Read these books and come and have a chat.” So I did.

The Illuminatus! Trilogy [by Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson] is a sort of science fiction piece, drawing together an awful lot of the then current conspiracy theories. It’s a huge thing that spreads over lots of different stories and characters.

Rugby, hockey and cricket cut from streamlined 2026 Commonwealth Games

• Ten sports to feature in Scotland after Victoria pulled out
• Lawn bowls retained on stripped-down Glasgow schedule

The global rugby community has led a chorus of disappointment after 12 sports were shunted from the 2026 Commonwealth Games, following the announcement of the program for the streamlined event to be held in Glasgow.

Rugby sevens, hockey and cricket were the highest-profile sports to be axed as part of Glasgow’s 11th-hour offering to help salvage the Commonwealth Games, prompted by last year’s withdrawal of Victoria as host.

Woman wedged upside down between boulders for seven hours after trying to retrieve phone in regional NSW

Authorities say 500kg boulder moved with specialist winch as Matilda Campbell rescued from ‘unlikely predicament’ in Laguna through careful manoeuvring

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A woman was wedged between boulders for seven hours after she slipped head-first into a three-metre crevice while trying to retrieve her phone in regional New South Wales.

Matilda Campbell’s friends initially spent an hour attempting to free her while she was hanging upside down before they called triple zero for help, NSW Ambulance said this week.

S8, Ep2: Rob Rinder, barrister and television host

TV presenter Rob Rinder joins Grace in her east London home to share his comfort food. Rob has been on our TV screens for a decade as Judge Rinder on the hit ITV show and, more recently, making documentaries. His 2020 BBC documentary My Family, The Holocaust and Me, about his Jewish heritage, garnered him an MBE for services to Holocaust education and awareness. Listen in as Rob swigs scotch and regales Grace with tales of his baker grandfather, his friendship with Benedict Cumberbatch, and how he turns to takeaway food at times of stress

New episodes of Comfort Eating with Grace Dent will be released every Tuesday

How the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs made ants into farmers – podcast

Madeleine Finlay hears from Ted Schultz, curator of ants at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, about his recent study into the origins of fungi farming in ants. He tells Madeleine about the incredibly complex way that ants cultivate and protect their fungi gardens, and how the asteroid that hit Earth 66 million years ago could have kickstarted it all

Horniness, hedonism and hope: why Rivals makes me surprisingly nostalgic

The TV drama doesn’t shy away from the worst aspects of the Thatcher era. But this version of Jilly Cooper’s bonkbuster also captures the lust, laughter and late-night parties

There is no watching Rivals, the Disney+ adaptation of the Jilly Cooper classic, and pretending the 80s weren’t like that. The poisonous, unabashed homophobia of Tory politics; the hushed-up rapes, the sexual exploitation, the abuse of power, the objectification. Not to mention the inequality, the snobbery, the vulgar excess, the truly nauseating deference to aristocracy – a craven surrender to their innate superiority – and the racism and misogynoir. There is a highly plausible depiction of just how hard a black woman had to fight to exist and to be seen, even by the characters who are meant to be right-on. There is no denying any of it. So why does this high-camp, warts-and-all frolic through the 80s make me feel so nostalgic? Is it just because I had forgotten how much I liked Wham!?

No, it is not just the Wham!. It’s not even just for the bam, thank you ma’am, but let’s start there.

‘We were banging our heads against a wall – the wall won’: the genius pop and tragic demise of Boys Wonder

They swaggered into the late 1980s, a potent brew of punk, glam and classic rock. But they went nowhere, then had to watch as their recipe conquered the charts. Now they’ve returned – so are they looking back in anger?

The song begins with a barrage of power chords, brazenly stolen from the Who’s Won’t Get Fooled Again. The opening lyrics are mewled out in an estuary accent: “I get bored so easily – that’s why I only say hello.” And the list of influences from here includes the Sex Pistols and Ziggy Stardust-era Bowie – before it ends with a brazen lift of the coda from the Beatles’ version of Twist and Shout. When it gets to the chorus, everything becomes clear: this is a ferocious, wonderfully camp blast against the stifling cultural dominance of classic Americana: “Goodbye Jimmy Dean, don’t tell me what to wear / See you later Monroe, if anybody cares.”

All this might suggest a lost classic from the mid-1990s, and the gaudy wonders of Britpop. But Goodbye Jimmy Dean was actually by Boys Wonder, a visionary band whose star rose and fell between 1986 and 1988. They were about eight years ahead of their time, and in retrospect, their chronically awkward fit with their era was probably always going to be their undoing. But while they lasted, they were great. In 1987, I saw them performing on the Channel 4 comedy show Saturday Live, swaggeringly delivering another three-minute manifesto titled Shine on Me. I was smitten, but given their large-scale blanking by the music press (and the fact that the world wide web had yet to be invented), I was left wondering what on earth had happened to them.

Paddington Bear given UK passport by Home Office

Government issues specimen document to Peruvian-born character, listing him as ‘Bear’ under its observations

He has been one of the UK’s favourite and most prominent refugees for two-thirds of a century. Now Paddington Bear – official name Paddington Brown – has been granted a British passport.

The co-producer of the latest Paddington film said the Home Office had issued the specimen document to the fictional Peruvian-born character – listing for completeness the official observation that he is, in fact, a bear.

US presidential election briefing: Harris courts Republicans with Liz Cheney as Trump says he was ‘saved’ by God

Kamala Harris toured swing-states with the Republican, while Donald Trump appeared with faith leaders with 15 days to go until the presidential election

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Moldova’s razor-thin EU referendum result – podcast

On Sunday, Moldovans narrowly voted yes in a referendum on joining the European Union. Why was the result so close? Pjotr Sauer reports

On Sunday, 50.46% of Moldovans voted yes in a referendum on joining the EU, according to the eastern European country’s central electoral commission.

“The referendum asked voters whether they would change the wording of the country’s constitution,” the Guardian’s Russian affairs reporter Pjotr Sauer tells Michael Safi. “The wording would be changed to make joining the EU a main strategic goal of the country.”

Liam Payne had ‘pink cocaine’ in his system at time of death – reports

An official in Argentina, where the boy band star died last week, has spoken anonymously ahead of the final toxicology results being released

Former One Direction singer Liam Payne had multiple drugs including crack cocaine and methamphetamine in his system when he fell to his death from a hotel balcony in Argentina, according to anonymous Argentinian sources familiar with the initial toxicology reports.

The British singer and former One Direction member died last week at the age of 31 after plunging from a third-floor hotel room in Buenos Aires.

Peru ex-president Alejandro Toledo jailed for 20 years over involvement in Car Wash scandal

Former leader convicted of taking $35m in bribes from Brazilian construction company Odebrecht

Peruvian former President Alejandro Toledo has been convicted of taking bribes from Brazilian construction company Odebrecht and was sentenced to 20 years and six months in prison on Monday.

The verdict marks Peru’s first high-profile conviction related to Brazil’s continent-spanning Operation Car Wash (Lava Jato) corruption investigation.

Trump courts Christian vote and says ‘God saved me for a purpose’

Republican nominee reflects on assassination attempt and says ‘my faith took on new meaning on July 13’

Donald Trump urged Christian voters on Monday to participate in the 2024 election, claiming that a Kamala Harris administration would restrict religious freedoms and casting himself as a protector of Christians.

During an event in North Carolina billed as an “11th-Hour Faith Leaders Meeting”, a series of conservative pastors warmed up for Trump, including Guillermo Maldonado, an “apostle” and longtime Trump ally who cast the election in perilous terms.

Lidia Thorpe shrugs off Dutton’s call to resign, saying she’s looking for ‘justice’ not re-election

Independent senator, who made international headlines for heckling King Charles about Indigenous injustices, says people should ‘get used to truth-telling’

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Independent senator Lidia Thorpe has shrugged off calls from conservative opponents to resign from parliament after interrupting a reception for King Charles, defiantly responding, “I’m not looking to be re-elected – I’m looking to get justice for my people.”

Speaking on Radio National, Thorpe said: “I will be there for another three years, everybody. So, you know, get used to truth-telling.”

Celebrated musician Janusz Olejniczak, who played piano parts in The Pianist film, dies at 72

Polish musician and teacher, whose hands starred in the Oscar-winning film, was remembered as an outstanding performer of Chopin

Polish musician and teacher Janusz Olejniczak, who played the piano parts in the 2002 Oscar-winning movie The Pianist, has died at the age of 72, his family said on Monday.

The family’s statement to the media said Olejniczak died on Sunday of a heart attack.

Ukraine war briefing: Kyiv incensed as UN’s Guterres ‘to meet Putin’ in Russia

Secretary general did not immediately confirm trip which Ukrainian foreign ministry says ‘damages UN reputation’; two dead in Zaporizhzhia attack. What we know on day 972

• See all our Russia-Ukraine war coverage

Archbishop of Canterbury reveals ancestral links to slavery

Justin Welby says ancestor owned enslaved people in Jamaica and was paid compensation upon abolition

Justin Welby, the archbishop of Canterbury, has revealed that his ancestor owned enslaved people on a plantation in Jamaica and was compensated by the British government when slavery was abolished.

Welby disclosed his ancestral links in a personal statement that reiterated his commitment to addressing the enduring and damaging legacies of transatlantic slavery.

Millions of teenagers in Africa have undiagnosed asthma – study

Rapid urbanisation thought to be damaging adolescent health, as researchers say need for medication and diagnostic tests is urgent

Millions of teenagers in Africa are suffering from asthma with no formal diagnosis as the continent undergoes rapid urbanisation, researchers have found.

The study, published in the Lancet Child and Adolescent Health, involved 27,000 pupils from urban areas in Malawi, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Uganda, Ghana and Nigeria. It found more than 3,000 reported asthma symptoms, but only about 600 had a formal diagnosis.

US investigation of IDF unit over alleged abuse against Palestinians could jeopardize aid

Nine members of Force 100 investigated over allegations of sexual assaulting prisoner at Sde Teiman detention camp

An Israeli military unit that has been accused of human rights abuses against Palestinian detainees is reportedly under investigation by the US state department in a move that could lead to it being barred from receiving assistance.

The inquiry into the activities of Force 100 was instigated following a spate of allegations that Palestinians held under its guard at a detention centre have been subject to torture and brutal mistreatment, including sexual assault, Axios reported on Monday.

Nottingham Forest’s Chris Wood floors Crystal Palace after Henderson blunder

Oliver Glasner absolved Dean Henderson of blame after the Crystal Palace goalkeeper’s second-half blunder handed Nottingham Forest a hard-fought victory. Henderson allowed Chris Wood’s first-time strike to slip through his despairing dive to extend Palace’s miserable start to the season.

The game was in the balance when Wood tried his luck from 20 yards following Trevoh Chalobah’s weak headed clearance from Àlex Moreno’s hopeful ball. But Henderson was slow to get down and then allowed Wood’s shot to squirm under his right arm, just six days after he returned to England’s starting lineup for their Nations League win in Finland.

Rupert Murdoch’s Dow Jones and New York Post sue AI firm for ‘illegal copying’

Publishers file suit against Perplexity AI, accusing startup of ‘brazen scheme’ and ‘freeriding on valuable content’

The media baron Rupert Murdoch’s Dow Jones and the New York Post filed a lawsuit against Perplexity AI on Monday, claiming the artificial intelligence startup engages in a “massive amount of illegal copying” of their copyrighted work.

The lawsuit is the latest salvo in a bitter ongoing battle between publishers and tech companies over how the latter may use copyrighted content without authorization to build and operate their AI systems.

Canadian military refused apology to sexual assault victim over fears of bad press

Documents obtained by Ottawa Citizen show officials were concerned about negative media in case of Kristen Adams

Canada’s military decided not to apologize to an employee after she was sexually assaulted while working with Nato allies, over fears that any apology would be reported by an Ottawa newspaper.

For years, the country’s armed forces has publicly acknowledged a culture that bred abuse and assault, and a longstanding failure to root it out. The crisis, which prompted a shake-up at the most senior ranks, has eroded public trust in the institution and weakened morale within the military’s ranks.

RFU warned schools crisis risks rugby becoming a ‘declining minority sport’

• Changes urged over damaging fall in participation levels
• Fears over head injuries and image problem highlighted

The Rugby Football Union has been warned it is facing an existential crisis and has been urged to make radical changes in schools rugby to avoid becoming a “declining ­minority sport” that could weaken Steve Borthwick’s England side amid a damaging decline in participation.

According to an independently chaired review commissioned by the RFU, “rugby is not winning” in the schools marketplace because of “changing attitudes and values ­coupled with greater risk aversion in the part of society”. The review, entitled Changing the Game: the Future of Schools Rugby in England, also highlights fears over head injuries and an image problem of a sport for “posh white boys” as reasons behind the decline in participation numbers.

US election extra: could Trump steal the election? – podcast

Democrats are fearful that Trump could attempt to overturn the result of the election if he loses in November. Archie Bland reports

Luka Modric may be Real Madrid’s oldest ever player but he’s still got it | Sid Lowe

It’s not the moments or the music, the joy in how he plays. It’s something simpler with ‘the eternal solution’

Ferenc Puskas played pregnant, teammate Amancio Amaro liked to say. The day he arrived at Real Madrid in 1958, he was 31 years old, 18kg overweight and, banned by Fifa for defecting after the Hungarian uprising, hadn’t played football for two years. He couldn’t possibly go on a pitch like this: signing me is all well and good, he told the club’s president Santiago Bernabéu, but have you seen me? “I was the size of a large balloon,” he recalled and the coach, Luis Carniglia, didn’t know what to do with him either. That, Bernabéu replied, was their problem not his. As it turned out, blessed with a left foot like no other, 242 goals followed, the only problem that he hadn’t come sooner.

Most called him Cañoncito pum! (Little Cannon Bang!), although Alfredo Di Stéfano called him little cannon big belly. That summer Puskas trained wrapped in plastic and woolly jumpers. By the season’s end, he had scored the goal that took Real Madrid to the European Cup final; a year on, he scored four in the final but gave Erwin Stein the match ball. Old when he came, supposedly finished, he helped Madrid reach three more. He scored a hat-trick in 1962 and played in 1964 but when the 1966 final arrived, eight years after he had, it was over. Left behind while they travelled to Brussels, he was in a makeshift cup team facing Betis three days before and 1,000 miles south.

Smoke pollution from wildfires may be killing an extra 12,000 people a year, new research suggests

Global heating particularly increasing risk of death from smoke inhalation in Australia, South America, Europe and parts of Asia

Global heating is causing more of the planet to be burned from wildfires and probably killing an extra 12,000 people a year from breathing in smoke, new research has found.

Global heating was particularly increasing the risk of death from wildfire smoke in Australia, South America, Europe and the boreal forests of Asia, one modelling study found.

Solo diners: tell us why you prefer to eat out on your own

We would like to hear from those who prefer go to restaurants and regularly dine alone

We would like to find out more about people who regularly go to restaurants on their own. Why do you prefer to eat alone and where do you like to go and why? How affordable do you find it?

Face value: the masterly theatrical masks of Kitazawa Hideta – in pictures

A new book celebrates the Japanese masks carved by Hideta, a traditional wood-carving artist. They are for classical and contemporary noh and kyōgen theatre performances

My first time at teacher-less pilates: ‘There is a soothing quality to the digital instructor’s voice, like an early childhood educator or a cult leader’

There is no human teacher at Michael Sun’s reformer pilates class but it is more affordable than a typical session. Is the trade-off worth it?

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It is a weekday afternoon and I am at a pilates studio on Sydney’s north shore, face contorted and limbs asunder, staring down my impending demise. An abhorrently cheerful voice radiates from a screen at the front of the room: “You got this!” I grunt in response.

If you live anywhere within 30km of a Lululemon, you might be familiar with the epidemic known as reformer pilates: an exercise where lithe people in matching sets mount a machine halfway between a bondage device and a medieval pillory to spend the better part of an hour performing increasingly excruciating positions in springs and straps.

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Foam-covered students and Trump serving burgers: Monday’s photos of the day

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

• US politics – live updates

Labour wants your views on the NHS – Politics Weekly Westminster

The Guardian’s Pippa Crerar and Kiran Stacey look at Wes Streeting’s plan for a ‘national conversation’ on NHS reform. Plus, with the budget just 9 days away, there is plenty of speculation on what will be in it and how departments are reacting to more cuts

Support the Guardian today: theguardian.com/politicspod

Sausages, beans, soups – Nigel Slater’s robust autumn recipes

The season of ‘big cooking’ means taking your time in the kitchen over mushroom bourguignon, braised tomatoes, and other gentle simmers

The changing season brings with it a need for more robust cooking. In come the bags of golden-skinned onions, the woody-stemmed herbs and the root vegetables. The fat carrots and mushrooms, the beans and sticky rice and full-bodied soups. The season turned rather quickly this year: one minute it was all melons and tomatoes, the next I was rummaging for the cast-iron casserole.

Big cooking, by which I mean those recipes that take a little longer to cook and tend to come to the table with a ladle, has been the order of the day in this kitchen for a few weeks now. The season kicked off with a tray of late tomatoes, baked with shallots until their skins had blackened here and there, then served with a thick tahini sauce. By the time the autumn rains got stuck in I was simmering mushrooms with thyme, onions and red wine, and serving broccoli with a pungent sauce and sticky rice.

Conspiracy theories and a $1m check: a night at Elon Musk’s surreal election giveaway

Musk’s latest ploy to assist Trump to win the US election has been to give away $1m every day to a member of the public

• US politics live – latest updates

Standing before a large US flag, which spanned the breadth of a vast stage, the world’s richest man told an assembled audience that he loved them.

“This kind of energy lights a fire in my soul,” he said, having just made one of the crowd a millionaire after everyone chanted his name.

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How to solve cryptic crosswords – the ultimate beginner’s guide

The Guardian is the friendliest place for new solvers. If you’re not sure where to start, here’s your welcoming party

… is that there’s no such thing as cheating. Use the dictionary. Look up a solvers’ blog. Phone a friend. It’s your puzzle. In any event, most of our online puzzles offer a “reveal this” option.

the quiptic is “for beginners and those in a hurry”, online-only, every Sunday – archive here

the Everyman has been the Observer’s friendlier offering since 1945: I am its sixth setter – archive here

and on Mondays, the Guardian’s setters are asked to take a little less of your time while still making sure to amuse – scroll through these.

Liverpool pass their first big test as title contenders: Football Weekly - podcast

Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Jonathan Wilson and Sam Dalling as Liverpool beat Chelsea 2-1 to stay ahead of Manchester City at the top of the table

Rate, review, share on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Audioboom, Mixcloud, Acast and Stitcher, and join the conversation on Facebook, Twitter and email.

On the podcast today: Liverpool’s first big test of the season and they pass it with a relatively scare-free 2-1 win over a much-improving Chelsea.

What are the odds of witnessing the presence of a deceased spouse? – datablog

There’s not much research on death, but one study asked widows and widowers about experiencing their late partner’s presence

If you’ve recently seen a ghost, you could be in line for $100,000 – just so long as you caught your supernatural sighting on a Ring camera. With Halloween around the corner, the home surveillance company is offering a hefty sum to anyone who can capture footage of paranormal activity, with a Ghostbusters actor, Finn Wolfhard, helping to choose the winner.

But while Ring’s competition might be a PR stunt, ghostly experiences can feel very real, especially for those who are grieving.

‘What is my faith? What am I doing?’ The American evangelicals ‘deconstructing’ their religion to save it

When a young Southern Baptist came out as gay, it prompted a ‘major reckoning’: could he reconcile his religion with his sexuality?

In 2017, at the end of his first year at Samford University, a private Christian university in Birmingham, Alabama, Nathan Peace realized he’d never “pray the gay away” and he’d never “turn straight”.

Peace had grown up in a “churchy” family in Georgia and attended Southern Baptist services his entire life. In high school, he showed up early for Bible study and participated in group prayers before marching band performances. In the 2016 election, he voted for Donald Trump. It’s what he thought he had to do to be a “faithful” Christian.

Do you feel stuck? It’s time to simplify your thinking

Our minds often seek to muddle rather than clarify. But we have the power to notice this in ourselves, and others

Psychodynamic psychotherapists do not give their patients advice, and although this is a column and not a psychotherapy session, I do try to stick to this when writing about how to build a better life. However, I am now breaking that rule. I advise you never to read anything by ChatGPT, ever. Or, as ChatGPT might put it, having taken all factors into consideration in the process of reaching the aforementioned conclusion, it could be beneficial to note the following if you find yourself in the position of wishing for your life to be different in a positive way from how it currently is: Never. Read. Anything. Written. By. ChatGPT. Ever. And don’t @me.

This kind of wordy “slop” with its multiple mind-numbing clauses often features in the text produced by AI chatbots. It’s what I call the thickening agent: something added to the text that brings no meaning – no flavour or nutrition; that takes up page/brain space and makes it more difficult to understand, not easier. The text seems to be saying something and then, suddenly, it isn’t. In journalism school I learned to KISS – Keep It Simple, Stupid. AI chatbots do not appear to have been taught the same.

‘I’m not voting for either’: fracking’s return stirs fury in Pennsylvania town whose water turned toxic

The small town of Dimock saw its water become brown, undrinkable, even flammable – and its residents are still feeling the effects

Fracking has burst back on to the national stage in the US presidential election contest for the must-win swing state of Pennsylvania. But for one town in this state that saw its water become mud-brown, undrinkable and even flammable 15 years ago, the specter of fracking never went away.

Residents in Dimock, a rural town of around 1,200 people in north-east Pennsylvania, have been locked in a lengthy battle to remediate their water supply that was ruined in 2009 after the drilling of dozens of wells to access a hotspot called the “Saudi Arabia of gas” found deep underneath their homes.

With her protest before the king, Lidia Thorpe bursts the warm bubble of nostalgia around the royal visit | Karen Middleton

Charles and Camilla entered the Great Hall from a door behind the stage – not from the foyer, down the centre aisle, and past Thorpe. Now we may know why

• King Charles heckled by Indigenous senator Lidia Thorpe at Australia’s Parliament House
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As soon as Lidia Thorpe RSVP’d to the royal reception at Parliament House, it would have been clear to those in charge of protocol that there was probably going to be a protest.

Perhaps this was why the king and queen and their hosts entered the Great Hall from a door behind the stage and not straight ahead from the foyer, down the centre aisle and right past where Thorpe, dressed in a possum-skin cloak, had taken up an early position at the front of a group of waiting MPs.

Cop16 at a glance: the big issues that will define talks at Colombia’s UN summit

Delegates from 196 countries are discussing progress in preserving biodiversity. So what are the sticking points?

Every two years, leaders from around the world gather to discuss the state of life on Earth, negotiating agreements to preserve biodiversity and stop the destruction of nature. This week, representatives of 196 countries are gathering in Cali, Colombia, for the 16th UN Conference of the Parties summit (Cop16).

It is the first biodiversity-focused meeting since 2022, when governments struck a historic deal to halt the destruction of ecosystems. Scientists, Indigenous communities, business representatives and environment ministers from nearly 200 countries will discuss progress towards the targets and negotiate how they will be monitored. Here are the main things to look out for during the summit.

Find more age of extinction coverage here, and follow the biodiversity reporters Phoebe Weston and Patrick Greenfield on X for all the latest news and features

In the workshop with the Royal Academy of Music’s luthiers – in pictures

Since its foundation in 1822, Britain’s oldest conservatoire has created an important collection of musical instruments, artworks, memorabilia, manuscripts, letters and scores. The academy’s luthiers enable active use of the collections today, while responsibly preserving them for tomorrow. They are responsible for conserving and maintaining the academy’s collection of bows and stringed instruments

Humanity is on the verge of ‘shattering Earth’s natural limits’, say experts in biodiversity warning

As the Cop16 conference begins, scientists and academics say human activity has pushed the world into a danger zone

Humanity is “on the precipice” of shattering Earth’s limits, and will suffer huge costs if we fail to act on biodiversity loss, experts warn. This week, world leaders meet in Cali, Colombia, for the Cop16 UN biodiversity conference to discuss action on the global crisis. As they prepare for negotiations, scientists and experts around the world have warned that the stakes are high, and there is “no time to waste”.

“We are already locked in for significant damage, and we’re heading in a direction that will see more,” says Tom Oliver, professor of applied ecology at the University of Reading. “I really worry that negative changes could be very rapid.”

‘One-man anti-abortion army’: shadow of US global gag rule looms over Nepal’s family planning services

Since the country legalised abortion, maternal mortality rates have plummeted. But US-funded programmes and a Trump victory could reverse that progress, warn experts

“One, two, three,” says Soman Rai slowly, to the click of his fingers. “Every three seconds a baby dies by abortion. One, two, three,” he repeats. Behind him, the word “Abortion” is projected on to a screen in a red font that drips down the slide to resemble blood. Underneath is written: Abortion is world history’s greatest genocide.

It is an uncompromising message in an unlikely location; a church in a remote valley in Nepal.

‘For me, there was no other choice’: inside the global illegal organ trade – podcast

I spoke to dozens of people – from ‘donors’ to brokers – to find out how this exploitative trade thrives on chaos and desperation. By Seán Columb

The Prodigy’s Leeroy Thornhill on fame, raves and his late best mate Keith Flint: ‘I love him and I always will’

He and Flint joined the band as teenagers, leaving Essex to travel the world and mix with royalty. As Thornhill publishes a book of photographs from that era, he talks about the fun, friendship, chaos – and sorrow

The first time I encountered Leeroy Thornhill, he invited me around to his place to smoke banana skins. I was only 12 years old at the time – but before you call social services, let me reassure you that this wasn’t a real-life interaction. I was simply reading the sleeve notes of his band the Prodigy’s debut album, Experience, where the peculiar fruit-based invitation was offered up to the band’s fans. Just above it was a photograph of the group sharing a joint. They seemed thrillingly above the law – and the rules of being in a band itself.

For a start, half of them – Thornhill and his best mate, Keith Flint – were employed as dancers. A third member, Maxim, was a vocalist who didn’t seem to appear on half the songs, which left only Liam Howlett to make all the music, a furious collision of breakbeats, helium vocals and space-age synthesisers. It was the kind of outfit you might dream up after a night smoking, well, banana skins. Did they actually do that?

Afraid of rejection and humiliation? Here is how to take up space with confidence

Everyone feels like a shrinking violet now and then, but it needn’t hold you back. Experts share their tips for speaking out, socialising and leaving timidity behind

When Laura, 34, was growing up in a genteel neighbourhood in Edinburgh, her parents taught her that the worst thing a person could do was make a show of themselves. “By that, they meant wearing bright colours, laughing or talking loudly; doing anything at all to attract attention.”

Although she deplored their attitude, Laura finds she has inherited their mindset. “The other Sunday, I had to have a difficult conversation with a neighbour about their incessantly barking dog. They ended up shouting at me and I wanted the earth to swallow me up. There were other people around and I’m sure they were all wondering what I had done to create this scene. I can’t stop replaying it in my mind.”

Mikey Madison: from Tarantino bit part to hot tip for an Oscar playing a sex worker

The actor, who stars in Sean Baker’s Palme d’Or winner Anora, talks about the reaction of the strip club community to the film, how she managed to learn Russian, and her lucky break in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

You know what it’s like: you’ve ordered an important package, but you can’t be at home when it’s delivered so you ask a friend to take it in for you. So it was for Mikey Madison, except the item was a professional-grade dancer’s pole and the person she co-opted to help out was her father. “I was filming a different project,” says the 25-year-old American actor, “and I said, ‘Dad, can you please install this thing in my house?’ He was like, ‘Of course, sweetie.’ And I think it was good I asked him. He had kind of an idea what the film might be, so he was able to watch it and not be completely surprised.”

That film is Anora, in which Madison stars as an exotic dancer called Ani, a performance that’s already generating lots of talk of a best actress Oscar nomination. Ani is working in a Manhattan strip club one night when she is assigned to entertain the playboy son of an oligarch, Ivan, played by Mark Eidelstein (an actor sometimes described, enticingly, as “Russia’s Timothée Chalamet”). They hit it off and Ivan hires Ani for a week, drastically upending her life: she goes from living in a shared apartment, bickering about why there’s no milk in the fridge, to padding around a mansion with a lift, daily maid service and a cryotherapy chamber. In a fever dream of expensive booze and drugs, the new couple descend on Las Vegas where, almost inevitably, they get married in a chintzy chapel: “Fuck yeah, I do,” Ani tells the registrar.

How Nasa’s Artemis Accords are laying the ground for global space cooperation

Space agency has expanded its diplomatic reach in recent months, signing 12 of 45 signatories since January

It was a simple pledge made amid the excitement of a landmark moment in space exploration: “We go together,” Bill Nelson, the head of Nasa, promised the world as the agency prepared to launch Artemis 1, its first moon-capable rocket in more than half a century.

Now, nearly two years on from that successful uncrewed mission, and as the US – despite delays – edges ever closer to placing humans on the lunar surface for the first time since 1972, the resonance of Nelson’s message has become clear.

Cop16: Colombia prepares to host ‘decisive’ summit on biodiversity

Experts say UN event will be critical for world’s declining wildlife population as host nation pushes for inclusivity

World leaders, environmental activists and prominent researchers have begun to arrive in Cali, Colombia, for a biodiversity summit that experts say will be decisive for the fate of the world’s rapidly declining wildlife populations.

The host nation is also hoping that the summit, which formally opens on Sunday evening, will be the most inclusive in history.

Good with numbers: the sketchbook art of director Tim Burton – in pictures

In the early 1980s, while working as an apprentice animator at Disney, a young Tim Burton channelled his creative energies into personal projects. One of these was this series of extravagantly decorated numbers, created for an unpublished children’s book; they were later repurposed as chapter headings for The Art of Tim Burton , a 2009 book bringing together 40 years of his artistry. “Anthropomorphic creatures feature heavily across Burton’s work,” says Maria McLintock, curator of a new exhibition displaying more than 600 Tim Burton designs and objects including costumes and storyboards. “He sketches voraciously, often engrossed in a pocket-sized sketchbook with a small watercolour kit in tow. The genesis of almost every shot in his films is a drawing.”

• The World of Tim Burton is at the Design Museum, London, 25 October to 21 April 2025

King Charles and Queen Camilla touch down in Sydney for royal tour – video

Minutes after a downpour at Sydney airport, King Charles and Queen Camilla stepped on to Australian soil. The scaled-down trip is the couple’s first Australian visit since the king ascended to the throne in 2022 and the first by a reigning monarch since his mother Queen Elizabeth toured the country in 2011

• From monarch mania to the slimline tour: how Charles and Camilla’s Australian visit will break with tradition

Zelenskyy presents 'victory plan' to EU, saying it could end Ukraine war by 2025 – video

Volodymyr Zelenskyy presented his 'victory plan' to the EU on 17 October, pitching for a Nato membership invitation and a major increase in military support for Kyiv's campaign against Russia's invasion. The plan contains requests that Ukraine's allies have so far declined, such as a call for an invitation to join the Nato military alliance and permission to use western weapons to strike deep inside Russia. Zelenskyy presented the plan at a critical time, as Moscow's forces advance in the east, a bleak winter of power cuts looms and a US presidential election casts uncertainty over the future of western support

• Zelenskyy lays out Ukraine ‘victory plan’ which Moscow calls an escalation

• Ukraine war briefing: Australia to send 49 Abrams tanks to Kyiv

Tell us your experience with Australia’s housing affordability crisis

Guardian Australia is asking both renters and owners to share their stories about how the housing crisis has affected their living arrangements, relationships and general wellbeing

Rents have been increasing at alarming levels, potential buyers are being priced out of the housing market, and homelessness levels are rising.

As many Australians struggle to buy food, let alone meet rental and mortgage payments, debates about which polices could fix the crisis continue.

Bodycam video shows dramatic rescues from Milton flood waters – video

Families and their pets have been rescued by emergency services after Hurricane Milton brought widespread flooding across parts of Florida. Farm animals, such as pigs, donkeys and goats have also been helped to safety. Millions of Floridians began a long and difficult recovery after the state's second major hurricane in two weeks

• Biden says Hurricane Milton caused staggering $50bn in estimated damage

• ‘It’s mindblowing’: US meteorologists face death threats as hurricane conspiracies surge

Search for survivors continues in Beirut after deadly Israeli strikes – video

Israeli airstrikes on central Beirut killed 22 people and wounded some 117 others, as well as further escalating Israel’s bloody conflict with Iran-backed Hezbollah militants. Rescuers searched for survivors in the smouldering remains of an apartment complex. The Guardian has confirmed that a US-made munition was used in the strike.

• US-made munition used in Israeli strike on central Beirut, shrapnel shows

• Search for survivors continues after deadly Beirut strikes

• UN peacekeepers in Lebanon say Israel has fired on their bases deliberately

Share your tips on how to avoid feeling overwhelmed

We’d like to hear about the changes that have helped you combat feeling overwhelmed

It can be easy to feel overwhelmed – whether it’s by the length of your to-do list, or by the number of social commitments in your diary – and, since the pandemic, an increasing number of people have reported feeling stressed and overwhelmed by their everyday lives.

But there are things you can do to help mitigate feelings of overwhelm. Maybe you’ve deleted social media apps from your phone and found that you are better able to concentrate? Or perhaps you quit meal prepping and found you actually felt far less stressed about mealtimes? Or maybe you gave up cleaning your house on a daily basis and found that you had more space in your life for fun and joy?

Living in Lebanon: how have you been affected by the recent violence?

We would like to hear from people living in Lebanon and those who are part of the diaspora on the situation in the region

• UK nationals in Lebanon: have you been affected by the strikes?

The Israeli military has told the residents of over 20 villages in southern Lebanon including al-Bas, Majdal Salm and Touli to evacuate immediately.

Spokesperson Avichay Adraee wrote in a post on X that civilians must head north of the Awali river, which meets the coast about 50km (30 miles) from the border with Israel, if they want to escape Israeli attacks.