THE GUARDIAN

President says ‘we’re going to use DC as a very positive example’ as city’s leaders say ‘crime crisis’ White House has cited does not existA senior official appointed to the defense department led a thinktank that promoted fake news about the Venezuelan Tren de Aragua (TdA) gang, according to InSight Crime, a non-profit analyzing organized crime.Joseph Humire was appointed this summer to be the head of policy focusing on the western hemisphere within the office of the under […]

US and Russian presidents to meet at 11.30am local time in Anchorage, Alaska, on Friday 15 Augustin BerlinGerman chancellor Friedrich Merz’s stab at heading up Ukraine diplomacy has received measured praise at home, with a perception that Donald Trump’s declarations after Wednesday’s video conference sounded slightly less alarming to European ears than before. Continue reading...

Israel’s far-right finance minister announces plan to advance tenders for housing which international community says would split West Bank in half, reports Times of IsraelThe health ministry in Gaza has just issued a statement, saying four more people have died from famine and malnutrition in the past 24 hours.This brings the total to 239 since the start of the war, including 106 children, according to the health ministry. Continue reading...

(Domino)With existential lullabies and ritualistic stomps, tear-jerking odes and ballads worthy of Sinatra, US indie’s steadfast storyteller makes a wonderfully unhurried double album his best yetAs bloated piles of “content” overfill our cultural to-do lists, a double album isn’t always met with a warm welcome: an 80-minute film is seen as lean, but an LP of the same length is seen as an exasperating slog. But if anyone can change this mindset it’s the US singer-songwriter Cass […]

Frank deserves a chance to prove himself but the new manager will need a strong start after last season’s calamitous league campaignGuardian writers’ predicted position: 6th (NB: this is not necessarily Ed Aarons’s prediction but the average of our writers’ tips)Last season’s position: 17th Continue reading...

Perhaps not coincidentally, the timing of tariff discussions was closely followed by the transfer of wanted criminalsMexico’s president, Claudia Sheinbaum, has denied that the transfer of 26 alleged cartel members to the United States was part of any kind of deal with Washington and was instead about her country’s own security priorities.This week’s expulsion marked the second time Mexico had sent top criminals to the US this year: in February, Mexican authorities handed over 29 cartel […]

With the Winter Olympics less than six months away, the Scottish medal hopeful talks about her hopes of improving on a muted, Covid-hit Games debut in 2021“I feel OK,” says Kirsty Muir. “It’s slightly overwhelming but somehow strangely feels normal.” The air at the Team GB media summit in Edinburgh crackles with a familiar Olympic buzz. Athletes from across winter disciplines navigate the bustling hall as they complete their press duties to mark six months until the 2026 Games in […]

Forward targeted on social media after missing penaltyKudus says PSG game showed Spurs can live with bestTottenham have condemned the racist abuse aimed towards Mathys Tel online after the forward missed a penalty in the Uefa Super Cup loss to Paris Saint-Germain. Tel was targeted after firing wide in the shootout and his club threw their backing behind him amid a spate of unacceptable comments on social media.“We are disgusted at the racial abuse that Mathys Tel has received on social media […]

NFL legend queried Rooney’s work ethic at BirminghamComments were ‘very unfair’, former striker saysWayne Rooney has bitten back at Tom Brady over comments aired in a recent documentary depicting their short spell working together at Birmingham.Brady, the legendary NFL quarterback and winner of seven Super Bowls, is heard during Built In Birmingham: Brady & The Blues, to question Rooney, when he was manager. “I’m a little worried about our head coach’s work ethic,” Brady tells […]

As insurer’s shares hit highest level since 2008, CEO says green issues are also important for many of its clientsAviva’s chief executive, Amanda Blanc, has reiterated the insurer’s commitment to climate goals in the face of growing pushback against net zero ambitions in the US and UK.Her comments came as Aviva’s shares on Thursday hit their highest level since the 2008 financial crisis, with investors cheering a rise in profits, and fresh payouts for investors, worth 13.1p a share. […]

Celine Song’s new film may have hint of glossy 2000s romcom about it, but its take on the age old question of love or money has the cynicism of todayLike all love triangles, Celine Song’s new film Materialists places you at a fateful fork in the road, peering at two points in the distance and evaluating the different futures that lie in wait. In Materialists, the first destination looks like this: a glossy Manhattan penthouse; regular dinner dates at five-star restaurants; few if no […]

The low-key glamour of watching the sunset in the buffet car and being woken with a bowl of porridge just can’t be beatIs there anything more glamorous than an overnight train? Even when you’re climbing aboard wearing your husband’s raincoat, carrying an oat-encrusted car seat, with a six-month-old in a sling and an apple core fermenting gently and secretly in the side pocket of your rucksack?Not that I know of. I love travelling by train – even now, when it’s as comprehensively bad […]

Author Michael Grunwald reckons with the challenge of food-based climate emissions in his new book We Are Eating the EarthRidding ourselves of fossil fuels has been a tortuously ponderous process and, in the current political era, one that can seem to be in full retreat. But we do have the tools to run our cities, vehicles and industries on clean energy and even through the murk of vested interest, the contours of a post-fossil world are becoming clearer.Our system of producing food, though, is […]

They need a new generation of leaders with fresh faces and bold ideas, unbought by corporate Super Pacs and billionaire donorsIf the Democratic party wants to win back power in 2028, then look no further than the 2026 election cycle as the most important moment to focus on.It is not three years from now when working class voters will decide, like they did in November, whether they still believe the Democratic party isn’t fighting for their interests – it’s the next 12 months. And to make […]

Dozens of hospital patients treated with opioid for unrelated conditions suffered serious bacterial infectionsAs many as 96 people are now thought to have died in Argentina after being treated with medical-use fentanyl that was tainted with bacteria.The official death toll stands at 87, and a judicial source has told the Buenos Aires Herald that nine further deaths are under investigation. Continue reading...

He doesn’t kiss me or touch me intimately. I am starting to feel self-conscious and worried that I’m just not his typeMy boyfriend and I have been together for a few months. The first time we were physically intimate it took him almost an hour to just kiss me because he was shaking so much. He hasn’t had physical contact with anyone for four years. He says his last breakup was traumatic. Since then, he has found it hard to maintain an erection, even while watching porn.When we are […]

Beate Gangås says attack in April by Norway’s ‘dangerous neighbour’ aimed to cause fear and chaosEurope live – latest updatesRussian hackers took control of a Norwegian dam this year, opening a floodgate and allowing water to flow unnoticed for four hours, Norway’s intelligence service has said.The admission, by the Norwegian Police Security Service (PST), marks the first time that Oslo has formally attributed the cyber-attack in April on Bremanger, western Norway, to Moscow. […]

Professional body says firefighters ‘pushed to brink’ by climate crisis-fuelled blazes, as wildfire in North Yorkshire continues to burnUK firefighters have warned that 2025 is on track to beat the national record for wildfires, with frontline staff “pushed to their limits”.On Wednesday, a major incident was declared in the North York Moors national park, with 20 fire engines deployed to tackle at least 5 sq km of moorland that has been burning since Monday. Continue reading...

Actor says reaching milestone made him want to not waste time and reveals his top regret is not doing Boogie NightsOften romantically linked to women much younger than himself, Leonardo DiCaprio may have hinted at why the age gap is of no significance to him as he reflects on turning 50.The Hollywood star of films including Titanic and The Wolf of Wall Street claims he feels as if he is only in his early 30s. Continue reading...

A heated bidding war for the future of the Bourne franchise is over, so whether we need him or not, the amnesiac assassin is set to returnWhat do you consider to be the end of Jason Bourne? For connoisseurs, Bourne’s story definitively ended in 2007’s The Bourne Ultimatum, which masterfully wrapped up the story that began five years earlier with The Bourne Identity. For the less discerning viewer, it ended with 2016’s scraggy and inconsequential Jason Bourne. For the three people who […]

Exclusive: Michael Weston King, grandfather of Bebe King, warns government against ‘kowtowing to the likes of Farage’The family of Bebe King, one of the three girls killed in the Southport attack last year, have urged ministers to reconsider their support for disclosing the ethnicity of serious crime suspects, saying this information is “completely irrelevant” and that “the propensity to commit crime happens in any ethnicity, nationality or race”.Bebe was six when she was murdered […]

As a new Netflix documentary looks back at the hugely successful – and highly controversial – TV weight-loss competition, its longest-serving trainer tells allIn Netflix’s new documentary about The Biggest Loser, Joelle Gwynn, a contestant on the televised weight-loss competition, has a message for her former fitness trainer: ‘Fuck you, Bob Harper.’ Gwynn was a contestant on the US show in 2008, and she has just watched a clip of Harper screaming at her to “shut the fuck up” after […]

The rumble, the explosions and the deaths: they are so frequent that they seem normal. It’s a fight to protect our homes, our cities and the psycheDay 1,254 of the invasion; 31 July 2025, Kyiv, 4.30am. The air-raid alarm started again just a moment ago. I wake up from the roar and rumble of rockets. It’s a sound that makes you want to flee in primeval terror.Time slows down. I roll over on the bed, embrace my girlfriend Dasha, make another half-turn and we drop down softly to the floor. I […]

Pleasance Courtyard, EdinburghThe sometime Mr Swallow sidekick’s hour of interiors improv is a skilful, unshowy treat‘Shall we give ourselves a night off from being funny?” There are unassuming performance styles, then there’s David Elms. At a festival that teems with ingratiating theatrics, it’s quite the gearshift to watch Elms deliver this hour of improv with no mic, props, a set or anything else prepared. We have to lean in, which is useful for a show that relies on the […]

Of more than 1.1m entries, 28.2% gained A or A* and 9.4% gained A*, though regional variations remainA-Level results – live updatesStudents in England gained record levels of top grades in this year’s A-level exams, driven by young men producing their strongest performances outside the pandemic years.Ofqual, the exam regulator for England, shrugged off any suggestions of grade inflation, pointing to the lower proportion of 18-year-olds taking A-levels and saying that fewer low-achieving […]

Growth of 0.3% is a positive sign but the chancellor still has major difficulties to confrontUK economy posts 0.3% growth in three months to JuneBusiness live – latest updatesBritain’s economy has defied the doomsayers. After growing strongly in the first quarter this year, it expanded again in the three months to June – and not by the measly 0.1% forecast by City economists, but a respectable 0.3%.The latest data shows a 0.4% expansion in June alone as manufacturing recovered its mojo. […]

Summerhall, EdinburghA woman pieces together her memories of a family tragedy in Ellie Keel’s atmospheric two-hander set on SkyeIt starts with a shriek. A deliberate false alarm, this sets the spooky tone of Ellie Keel’s two-hander – a playwriting debut to add to a career that already includes novel writing, theatre producing and the co-founding of the Women’s prize for playwriting. If Skye: A Thriller has more narrative drive than dramatic purpose, it is no less a confident and […]

Forward has not yet been registered by financially troubled club in a summer when Real Madrid have spent €200mLa Liga begins again in Girona on Friday evening, a five-day weekend to start it off, and for the first time the division’s biggest clubs, every side competing for the title, share a vital weapon: they all have Englishmen in their team. Trent Alexander-Arnold, just Trent now on his No 12 shirt, has joined Jude Bellingham at Real Madrid. Nine players have left Atlético Madrid, but […]

The Better Call Saul star reprises his role as a kickass family man in a forgettable follow-up riddled with endless gonzo fight sequencesBob Odenkirk’s unlikely new career journey as a kickass tough guy continues in this pretty formulaic and forgettable sequel to the amusing original hit, which first showed us Hutch (Odenkirk), an apparent suburban nobody with wife-plus-kids who keeps forgetting to put the garbage out in time – then from nowhere busts out some serious fight moves.This […]

As subscription costs rise and choice diminishes on legal sites, film and TV fans are turning to VPNs and illicit streamers, with Sweden – home of both Spotify and The Pirate Bay – leading the wayWith a trip to Florence booked, all I want is to rewatch Medici. The 2016 historical drama series tells of the rise of the powerful Florentine banking dynasty, and with it, the story of the Renaissance. Until recently, I could simply have gone to Netflix and found it there, alongside a wide array […]

The up-and-coming musical theatre star’s online audience of 1.2 million has been crucial in scoring her major roles. Her career is part of a shift in the industry towards performers with social media clout – but not everyone is happyIf you’re on TikTok, you’ll probably recognise Hannah Lowther. Known affectionately as the “Tesco TikToker”, she found viral fame during lockdown by filming herself singing and dancing in the aisles of the supermarket during her shifts there.“I got […]

Red Roses prop on her creative endeavours and England expectations before the Rugby World Cup on home soil“I like capturing people’s laughs; I think being able to hear it through the picture is so cool,” Maud Muir says as she discusses her favourite photographs from hundreds she has taken behind the scenes in the England women’s camp over the past five years.Muir, the 24-year-old prop, and her teammates are preparing for a home Rugby World Cup, starting with the opener against USA in […]

Successive chancellors have steered clear of increasing taxes for motorists for 15 years, but this should be a no-brainer for cash-strapped Rachel ReevesNothing speaks so eloquently of the rundown state of Britain than potholes on the roads. Motorists rightly complain of the damage caused to their vehicles. Cyclists risk serious injury every time they mount their bikes. Increased road use from a rising population is one reason for the problem. Cuts to repair budgets are another. Fixing the […]

Mona likes her mood lighting and keeps at least two lamps on in every room; Monty feels it’s a waste of electricity. You decide whose argument is a turn-off?• Find out how to get a disagreement settled or become a jurorIt seems illogical to have so many lights on in a small room. She turns them on, then leavesI know it’s not energy-conscious to have all these lamps on, but I just love cosy mood lighting Continue reading...

Celebrities play it. Footballers play it. Gradually, insidiously, fantasy football has seeped into the way we consume the gamePerhaps you’re a template kind of guy. Perhaps, by contrast, you’re spurning the triple Liverpool consensus and stacking your team with handy differentials like Jarrod Bowen and Donyell Malen. Perhaps even Erling Haaland could be considered a differential given his historically low current ownership stats. Perhaps you’re feeling a cheeky BB GW1, followed by a FH […]