- Extreme temperatures continue to affect large parts of southern Europe – liveby Jakub Krupa on August 14, 2025 at 8:53 am
Wildfires reported in Spain, Greece and Albania as Nicosia, capital of Cyprus, expected to hit 44C on ThursdaySpeaking on BBC NewsIt’s interesting seeing those images, because you’ll remember after that Oval Office meeting, the first place that President Zelensky came to was London, and there was a big demonstrative hug by Keir Starmer, the prime minister, of Zelensky, a sort of show of solidarity after a bruising encounter with Trump and JD Vance. Continue reading...
- Bezalel Smotrich approves 3,000 new housing units in controversial West Bank settlement, reports say – Middle East crisis liveby Caolán Magee on August 14, 2025 at 8:49 am
Israel’s far-right finance minister approves 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...
- Record proportion of A-level students get top grades in Englandby Richard Adams and Michael Goodier on August 14, 2025 at 8:30 am
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 […]
- Tottenham ‘disgusted’ by racial abuse of Mathys Tel after Super Cup defeatby PA Media on August 14, 2025 at 8:16 am
Forward targeted on social media after missing penaltySpurs working to take ‘strongest possible action’ Tottenham have said they are “disgusted” after the forward Mathys Tel received racial abuse on social media after Wednesday’s Uefa Super Cup defeat by Paris St Germain. Tel missed in the penalty shootout, which Tottenham lost 4-3 after they had surrendered a late 2-0 lead to draw 2-2.The France Under-21 international, whose loan from Bayern Munich was made permanent in a £30m deal […]
- Economic bounceback may be under way but Reeves cannot afford to relaxby Phillip Inman Senior economics writer on August 14, 2025 at 8:11 am
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. […]
- Skye: A Thriller review – gothic family drama simmers with otherworldly tensionby Mark Fisher on August 14, 2025 at 8:00 am
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 […]
- Rashford status shows Barça plight before La Liga’s English-tinged title raceby Sid Lowe in Madrid on August 14, 2025 at 7:32 am
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 […]
- Nobody 2 review – Bob Odenkirk’s suburban tough guy beats action sequel into submissionby Peter Bradshaw on August 14, 2025 at 7:00 am
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 […]
- Can’t pay, won’t pay: impoverished streaming services are driving viewers back to piracyby Gabriel V Rindborg on August 14, 2025 at 7:00 am
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 […]
- ‘I always loved a camera’: Maud Muir on life through a lens in England women’s rugby teamby Sarah Rendell on August 14, 2025 at 7:00 am
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 […]
- ‘I have to believe I deserve to be here’: ‘Tesco TikToker’ Hannah Lowther on her path to West End stardomby Anya Ryan on August 14, 2025 at 7:00 am
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 […]
- A policy that benefited the richest and cost the UK £100bn: it's long past time to end the fuel duty freeze | Larry Elliottby Larry Elliott on August 14, 2025 at 7:00 am
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 […]
- You be the judge: should my girlfriend stop leaving so many lamps on and use the big light instead?by Interviews by Georgina Lawton on August 14, 2025 at 7:00 am
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...
- Truck drivers, doctors and bakers: ordinary Yemenis turn to veteran journalist when justice failsby Saeed Al-Batati in Al-Mukalla, Yemen on August 14, 2025 at 7:00 am
Fatehi Bin Lazreq has used social media, newspapers and radio to expose corruption and everyday injustices since the country’s civil war started a decade agoWhen dozens of gas tankers near Yemen’s southern city of Aden were held up at a checkpoint by soldiers demanding heavy bribes, the frustrated drivers and traders turned to a man they trusted: Fatehi Bin Lazreq, a prominent Yemeni journalist.Known for using his media outlets and social media platforms to demand accountability, Bin Lazreq […]
- Triumph and disaster for you, soft power for the Premier League: fantasy football is back | Jonathan Liewby Jonathan Liew on August 14, 2025 at 7:00 am
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 […]
- Indian Super League in turmoil with domestic game on brink of collapseby John Duerden on August 14, 2025 at 7:00 am
Dispute between governing body and commercial partner has forced top-flight clubs to suspend player salariesCrystal Palace may be disappointed the court of arbitration for sport ruled against them on Monday but at least they now know their fate. Imagine if all Premier League clubs were waiting for a court decision that would, in effect, determine whether the season would go ahead at all. That is the situation the 14 Indian Super League (ISL) teams find themselves in. The whole of football there […]
- UK economy posts surprise 0.3% growth in three months to Juneby Richard Partington Senior economics correspondent on August 14, 2025 at 6:27 am
GDP figure slower than previous quarter but beats expectations thanks to 0.4% expansion in JuneBusiness live – latest updatesBounceback may be under way but Reeves cannot relaxThe UK economy grew at a faster rate than expected in the second quarter, official figures show, despite a slowdown from a strong start to the year amid pressure from tax increases and Donald Trump’s global trade war.Figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed growth in gross domestic product slowed […]
- ‘Censorship’: over 115 scholars condemn cancellation of Harvard journal issue on Palestineby Alice Speri on August 14, 2025 at 6:05 am
In an open letter, writers denounced abrupt scrapping of a Harvard Educational Review issue dedicated to PalestineMore than 115 education scholars have condemned the cancellation of an entire issue of an academic journal dedicated to Palestine by a Harvard University publisher as “censorship”.In an open letter published on Thursday, the scholars denounced the abrupt scrapping of a special issue of the Harvard Educational Review – which was first revealed by the Guardian in July – as an […]
- Katabasis by RF Kuang review – a descent into the hellscape of academiaby Beejay Silcox on August 14, 2025 at 6:00 am
The bestselling author’s sixth novel is far from perfect, but this journey into the underworld is delivered with heretical gleeThe more academia has broken your heart, the more you’ll love RF Kuang’s new novel. Katabasis knows the slow grind of postgrad precarity: the endless grant grubbing and essay marking; the thesis chapters drafted, redrafted and quietly ignored by a supervisor who can’t be bothered to read – let alone reply to – an email. Living semester to semester, pay […]
- Laid-back Noord: a scenic antidote to the crowds of central Amsterdamby Joanna Moorhead on August 14, 2025 at 6:00 am
A four-minute train ride from Amsterdam Centraal is an easygoing world of floating homes, art galleries and inexpensive waterside barsThe evening sun glints across the quiet marina, and the wooden gable ends of the houses lean gently into a street whose silence is broken only by the trundle of an occasional bicycle. I’m having a glass of inexpensive, decent wine in a waterside bar: and even on this picture-perfect night it’s quiet, with every customer around me speaking Dutch.This can’t […]
- A journey to belonging: asylum seekers reflect on 10 years in Europe – in picturesby By Zohra Bensemra/Reuters on August 14, 2025 at 6:00 am
Ten years ago, 1 million people fled into Europe, escaping conflict and poverty. Many had travelled for years in search of peace, prosperity or stability, and found it in countries such as Italy, Germany and Belgium. But the journey to truly belong continues.A decade on, after finding work and learning a new language, four asylum seekers feel torn. They recall the woodlands of northern Nigeria, a river that flows through a Syrian town – or the nightmare of child abuse in Afghanistan. They are […]
- Israeli airstrikes on Tehran killed inmates in ‘apparent war crime’ – reportby Deepa Parent on August 14, 2025 at 5:57 am
Human Rights Watch also finds that Iran abused survivors of June attack, which killed 80 peopleIsraeli airstrikes on Tehran’s Evin prison in June killed scores of detainees, visitors and staff in what Human Rights Watch (HRW) has called an “apparent war crime”. Iranian authorities have since subjected survivors to abuse, enforced disappearances and inhumane detention conditions, the rights group said.HRW’s investigation, based on satellite imagery, videos and witness accounts, found the […]
- TV tonight: a heart-racing series following RNLI rescue missionsby Hollie Richardson, Phil Harrison, Graeme Virtue and Simon Wardell on August 14, 2025 at 5:20 am
Storm Eunice causes havoc on the south coast. Plus: Ben Fogle meets a model who moved to the Botswana desert. Here’s what to watch this evening8pm, BBC TwoStorm Eunice is about to hit the south coast – not the best day for a windsurfer to be caught out there, especially as he needs diabetes medication. But the Portsmouth rescue team aren’t even sure whether they can get to him. Will they make it there in time? More tense scenes in this heart-racing series that highlights the great work of […]
- Eight things we learned from Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s marathon New Heights podcastby Sian Cain on August 14, 2025 at 5:10 am
If you don’t have a spare two hours to listen to Swift talking about The Life of a Showgirl on her boyfriend’s podcast, we did it for youGet our weekend culture and lifestyle emailTwo years ago, American footballer Travis Kelce famously used the New Heights podcast – which he hosts with his brother Jason – to announce that he wanted to date Taylor Swift. This was after he failed to get her attention at her Eras tour show at Arrowhead Stadium, home to his team, the Kansas City Chiefs. […]
- Nicola Sturgeon’s immense political talent is undeniable. The nationalism was the problem | Martin Kettleby Martin Kettle on August 14, 2025 at 5:00 am
Many of her admirers gloss over her desire to break up the UK as Scotland’s first minister. But in her open and touching memoir, it plays a starring roleNicola Sturgeon was – and still is – important, talented, personable and, to many, inspirational. She was also extremely lucky and often wrong, sometimes seriously so. There are examples of all these qualities in her newly published memoir, Frankly. Sturgeosceptics should concede at once that it contains much that is fascinating, […]
- Anchorage abuzz ahead of Trump-Putin summit – but ‘please don’t sell us back’by Aisha Kehoe Down on August 14, 2025 at 5:00 am
Residents torn between excitement over high-profile visit and trepidation over what US-Russian leaders might agreeIt is set to be one of the last good summer weekends in Anchorage, Alaska – the peak of the salmon run and the middle of berry season – and residents hope that Friday’s summit between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin isn’t going to ruin it for them.“I’m looking forward to taking my boat out on the water at Prince William Sound – that’s my plan,” said Andy Moderow, […]
- Rachel Roddy’s recipe for almond and cherry biscuits | A kitchen in Romeby Rachel Roddy on August 14, 2025 at 5:00 am
If a fig roll married a bakewell tart, their offspring might well end up looking like these rustic, fruity and nutty Puglian biscuitsSimilar in principle to fig rolls, biscotti di ceglie consist of pastry wrapped around a filling of jam, so they have an irregular and extremely rustic cube form. Known locally as u’ piscquett’l, these biscuits are typical of the town and commune of Ceglie Messapica in the province of Brindisi in Puglia. Ceglie Messapica is also part of the southern reaches of […]
- StubHub allowed prolific tout to list 300 tickets for sold-out Lewis Capaldi showby Rob Davies on August 14, 2025 at 5:00 am
Expert says ‘reason to suspect industrial-scale criminality’ as TGCES lists 306 Sheffield tickets for up to £248 eachThe ticket resale website StubHub may have failed to prevent breaches of consumer law on its platform when it allowed a prolific tout to advertise more than 300 tickets for a Lewis Capaldi concert, experts have said.StubHub and fellow secondary ticketing platform Viagogo are under intense scrutiny from ministers, who are considering whether to ban for-profit ticket resale in […]
- Wildly incoherent, utterly flummoxing, blissful: how And Just Like That rewrote the rules of TVby Lara Williams on August 14, 2025 at 5:00 am
The Sex and the City spinoff – which ends this week – is so bizarre it has barely made sense as a television show. Unless you think of it as an attempt to redefine the whole genre …Sex and the City’s divisive spin-off And Just Like That is set to end after three bizarre seasons and a deluge of critical contempt, with bemused fans losing it on Reddit, and articles about how the programme became a hate watch. There has been little heartache in the discourse after the announcement of the […]
- How to leave a sinking nation: Tuvalu’s dreams of dry landby Atul Dev on August 14, 2025 at 4:01 am
With sea levels rising, much of the nation’s population is confronting the prospect that their home may soon cease to exist. Where are they going to go?In November 2022, Simon Kofe, then foreign minister of the island nation of Tuvalu, announced a sensational plan for his country’s survival. Climate breakdown poses an existential threat to small island-nations in the Pacific, but Tuvalu’s geography makes it especially vulnerable. The highest point of elevation in the country is 4.5 […]
- Julio Torres: Color Theories review – prismatic brilliance from comedy’s most vibrant absurdistby Ryan Gilbey on August 14, 2025 at 4:00 am
Soho theatre, LondonThe nonconformist TV writer, film-maker, children’s author and standup is hired to find a new colour in this charismatically surreal hourFans of the former Saturday Night Live writer Julio Torres know him to be the current torchbearer of Izzardian absurdism. Whether on television (Los Espookys, Fantasmas), in cinema (Problemista) or in his children’s book about an aspirational toilet plunger (I Want to Be a Vase), his is a world where inanimate objects are sentient and […]
- Drop in new properties for rent is steepest since Covid, says Ricsby Shane Hickey on August 14, 2025 at 4:00 am
Monthly report from surveyors’ body sees ‘firmly negative trend’ that is expected to push up rental pricesThe flow of new rental properties coming on to the market has fallen at the fastest rate since the first Covid lockdown five years ago, according to research by Britain’s property surveyors.Although the demand for properties is steady, there are fewer new rentals from landlords coming available, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics) found. Continue reading...
- London museum tells forgotten story of African and Indian troops in second world warby Lanre Bakare Arts and culture correspondent on August 14, 2025 at 4:00 am
National Army Museum’s Beyond Burma exhibition examines stories of soldiers from Britain’s coloniesThe forgotten story of African and Indian troops who fought in south Asia against Japanese forces during the second world war and who have largely been omitted from the official history is to be brought to life in a London exhibition.The National Army Museum’s Beyond Burma: Forgotten Armies show includes rare items from Indian and African soldiers who toiled in some of the harshest […]
- As Ukraine battles to hold lines, Trump may find Putin difficult to persuadeby Dan Sabbagh in Kyiv on August 14, 2025 at 4:00 am
Despite huge numbers of casualties, Russian leader believes he is slowly winning war – so he can afford to string talks outFor Ukraine, the break in the frontline is unfortunately timed. Lightly armed Russian saboteur groups – three on one count – cut though Ukrainian positions in the Donbas countryside east of the key junction at Dobropillia. Though one group has been eliminated, as of Tuesday two were thought to remain at large – and although their numbers are small for now, perhaps […]
- ‘We popped the baby in a flowerpot!’ Anne Geddes on the beloved photos that made her famousby Morwenna Ferrier on August 14, 2025 at 4:00 am
Her whimsical, instantly recognisable pictures swept the globe in the 1990s. Yet she has rarely been treated with reverence. As she prepares for her first big retrospective, she discusses the secrets of her 40-year careerWhen Anne Geddes began shooting her famous photographs, she soon learned she would need a backup baby – or 20. “Connecting with a child who considers you a stranger is high stress,” she says. “I remember trying to shoot one baby sitting in a tank of water, surrounded by […]
