Coping with 54C heat: Delhi slum diaries detail living in extreme temperatures

With heatwaves now recognised as disasters, personal testimonies are key to a new project that looks to protect those living in the most cramped districts of India’s capital

Every summer evening, Gulshan follows the same routine. She washes the floor of her one-room home several times so it cools a little for her four children to sleep on. Last summer, the family saved enough to buy a desert cooler, which uses evaporation as a cheaper alternative to air conditioning.

The family uses the appliance cautiously to save on energy costs. But even when it is on, Gulshan, who does not use a surname, has to dampeneveryone’s clothes before sleeping. The 39-year-old and her children now have rashes and one has a skin infection from the wet cloth against their skin.

Published: August 16, 2026, 9:00 pm

‘His ache is real’: Bob Dylan and more on the wild genius of honky-tonk hellraiser Gary Stewart

Worshipped by everyone from Willie Nelson to Joe Strummer, the country star with the amazing voice imploded in a blaze of guns, knives, drugs and infidelities. What’s behind his astonishing posthumous rediscovery?

‘He sings like a man arguing with destiny. It sounds like the ache is real, that the ruin is real,” Bob Dylan tells me. “There’s a cracked truth there. What’s unsettling about him is that he sounds like he’s already living in the aftermath.” Dylan is talking about the late US singer-songwriter Gary Stewart. I had approached him because he was one of the few people to speak highly of this country music maverick.

Even while still alive, Stewart was a ghostlike figure. He had a period in the Nashville spotlight in the mid-1970s, but his death in December 2003 aged 59 barely registered. Stewart had been forgotten after he cast aside stardom in order to hunker down in a Florida trailer park where he and his wife Mary Lou consumed quaaludes, meth, marijuana and cocaine in industrial quantities.

Published: August 16, 2026, 9:00 pm

Italy’s mythic ‘month off’ in August was hard won. It would be good for us all | Jamie Mackay

The villeggiatura, a month-long break, was popularised in the 1960s when trade unions were strong – and so was economic productivity

On the Riviera di Ponente, sandwiched between the glitzy resort towns of the Ligurian coast, sits the Albenga plain. Dotted with campsites and bungalows, the area developed during Italy’s postwar boom as an affordable refuge for workers to escape the smog of nearby industrial cities like Turin and Milan. While much of the surrounding coast is now given over to boutique lidos, this corner of the riviera is still a place where families gather in the shade of eucalyptus trees to play cards, share picnics and nap through the afternoon heat to the chorus of cicadas. These are the stubborn devotees of villeggiatura: Italy’s mythic, month-long summer break.

The origins of villeggiatura go back to the Renaissance, when nobles would leave their urban palazzos for gilded countryside villas in the hills, for weeks at a time. During the 20th century, however, middle- and working-class Italians made their own claim on it, transforming an aristocratic privilege into a mass ritual. By the 1960s, millions of Italians had come to consider a long summer break a fundamental right, spending holidays in ancestral villages, seaside campsites, or even company-sponsored holiday resorts. It was the era immortalised in Gino Paoli’s 1963 jukebox hit Sapore di Sale (The Taste of Salt), which celebrates “lazy days passing by” at the beach, dreaming “of a different world” beyond the factory and office.

Jamie Mackay is a writer and translator based in Florence

Published: August 16, 2026, 9:00 pm

Are Microsoft’s AI plans being held back by a shortage of chips?

Guardian investigation finds apparent discrepancy between what tech company has said about its AI capacity – and the number of advanced chips it has in operation

The chips are quite small and some can be held in the palm of a hand. They are fundamental to the development of artificial intelligence models – and the world’s biggest technology companies need vast numbers of them to keep ahead.

Microsoft is one of them. And, on paper, it seems to have a problem. A Guardian investigation has found an apparent discrepancy between what the company has said about its AI capacity – and the number of advanced AI chips it has in operation.

Published: August 16, 2026, 9:00 pm

Blankets, baskets and a flask that holds a bottle of wine: nine great picks for an elevated picnic

Retire your plastic cups and paper plates in favor of some sturdy (and chic) upgrades to store and chill food and drinks

• The five best portable coolers in the US – tested

• Sign up for the Filter US newsletter, your weekly guide to buying fewer, better things

Picnics are a spectacular way to enjoy fresh air and sunshine, but packing and lugging food, keeping it chilled, and trying to find a comfortable place to sit might seem like more trouble than it’s worth. If you want to take advantage of the summer weather, whether it’s a barbecue in the park or an al fresco lunch at the beach, all you really need are your favorite foods, a few drinks and a big blanket.

But if the logistics of it all – such as finding the right cooler, plates or containers – are cramping your style, it’s possible to elevate your outdoor dining experience with a few upgrades.

Published: August 16, 2026, 10:15 am

Can exercise really help improve my sex life?

Here’s what experts say about how sex and exercise are linked, and whether the type, timing and intensity of movement matter

Here’s a reason to put your sneakers on: exercise can improve your sex life.

It’s not necessarily about changing how your body looks, or being strong enough to swing from the chandelier. Regular movement improves smaller, less visible bodily functions that increase your desire and capacity for sex – like the release of arousal-promoting hormones and enhanced circulation in the nether regions. Perhaps just as critically, it gets your mind in the right frame to do it.

Published: August 16, 2026, 9:00 am

Trump orders cuts to South Korea joint drills despite warnings of North’s growing battlefield experience

President says move is based on ‘very good relationship with Kim Jong-un’ but US military officials have said Ukraine war is boosting regime’s combat capabilities

Donald Trump has said he is scaling back joint US military drills with South Korea aimed at deterring North Korea, despite military officials from both countries warning that Kim Jong-un’s regime was learning new battlefield tactics from the Ukraine war.

The drills under Ulchi Freedom Shield, one of two major annual exercises held by South Korea and the US, start on Monday and run until 27 August.

Published: August 16, 2026, 9:07 pm

Jared Kushner meets with Hamas ahead of talks with Netanyahu on Gaza

Trump’s son-in-law and envoy held rare meeting with Hamas chief in Egypt in push for progress on ceasefire

Donald Trump’s son-in-law and envoy, Jared Kushner, held a rare meeting with Hamas’s political chief on Sunday in Egypt, in a new diplomatic effort to make progress in the stalled Gaza ceasefire. Kushner will meet on Monday with Benjamin Netanyahu, who is under pressure after rejecting the new 15-point, US-backed road map.

The talks aim to salvage the plan for Hamas to disarm and Israel to withdraw from the Palestinian territory shattered by war.

Published: August 16, 2026, 3:07 pm

Todd Blanche declines to pledge independence from White House

US attorney general says no one in his role ‘should ever’ make this vow amid concern over Trump steering DoJ

US attorney general Todd Blanche on Sunday declined to assure that the federal justice department he helms would always act independently of the White House and Donald Trump.

“No, I’m not going to pledge that,” he said when asked about the topic by NBC’s Meet the Press host, Kristen Welker. “And no attorney general should ever pledge that.”

Published: August 16, 2026, 9:33 am

Republican senator denounces Trump’s ‘crazy, stupid’ claims about MMR vaccine safety

Outgoing Louisiana senator Bill Cassidy, a medical doctor, voted to confirm anti-vaccine activist RFK Jr as health secretary before speaking out

Republican senator Bill Cassidy – a medical doctor who voted to confirm anti-vaccine activist Robert F Kennedy as federal health secretary in early 2025 – on Sunday denounced Donald Trump’s “crazy, stupid” claims about the safety of the combined MMR vaccine for undermining faith in immunization.

When Trump recently ordered changes to the recommended childhood vaccination schedule, with Kennedy by his side, the president called for two shots of the combined Measles, Mumps and Rubella vaccine to be scrapped in favor of two doses of three separate vaccines, claiming that the MMR shots are “sort of like a nuclear weapon” that could be “quite lethal”.

Published: August 16, 2026, 12:58 pm

Democrats demand answers from Trump on USS Abraham Lincoln conditions

Senator Ruben Gallego calls carrier’s months-long deployment a ‘deep problem’ as wellbeing concerns mount

Democrats on Sunday intensified their demands for answers from the Trump administration over conditions aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln as the aircraft carrier’s nearly nine-month deployment continued fueling concern over crew morale, mental health and living conditions.

Ruben Gallego, a Democratic senator from Arizona, said on Sunday that problems aboard the Lincoln had kept mounting – and he blamed the carrier’s prolonged deployment on the unresolved war that Donald Trump started in February with Iran as well as lackluster leadership in general from the Republican president’s administration.

Published: August 16, 2026, 10:08 am

Cambridge University defends its mental health support for Jason Arday

University says it continued to provide support after resignation of academic, who was found dead on Friday

The University of Cambridge has defended its mental health support for the academic Jason Arday.

The university said it had continued to provide Arday with extensive mental health support and security measures, including installing panic alarms and screening racist emails and post, after he resigned from his post as professor of sociology of education this month.

Published: August 16, 2026, 7:09 am

Ebola outbreak in Democratic Republic of the Congo now deadliest in country’s history

At least 2,325 people have died from the virus, according to official data, with outbreak on track to be biggest in history

The Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is now the deadliest in the country’s history with at least 2,325 people dead, according to government data, surpassing the toll from the 2018-20 outbreak.

The DRC’s public health institute said confirmed cases had risen to 4,945, including 101 detected in the previous 24 hours.

Published: August 17, 2026, 1:47 am

At least six people dead from days of storms and record flooding in Indiana

Four-year-old boy, two men and three women among those who died since storms began on 11 August, officials say

Days of storms and flooding in Indiana left at least six people dead as flood waters peaked in Indianapolis’s White River – and rains were expected to ease in the state capital region and other parts of the state on Sunday.

A four-year-old boy, two men and three women were among those who had died since the storms began on 11 August, state homeland security department spokesperson Liz Woods said.

Published: August 16, 2026, 12:27 pm

Hayden Panettiere, actor in Heroes and Nashville, dies aged 36

Panettiere’s death was announced by her father, who called her ‘an incredible light and a force of nature who brought immeasurable love and joy’

• Hayden Panettiere – a life in pictures

Hayden Panettiere, the actor known for her roles in television shows such as Heroes and Nashville, has died at the age of 36.

Panettiere’s death was confirmed in a statement from her representative to the Guardian on Sunday night, after it was first reported on US network ABC News. No cause of death was given.

Published: August 16, 2026, 9:39 pm

After Hormuz, China looks to the promise – and peril – of the Arctic’s ‘ice silk road’

China has established the first scheduled transit through the northern sea route, but questions remain over the environmental and political risks

When Marco Rubio suggested that the world should look to new shipping lanes to bypass the logjammed strait of Hormuz, it’s unlikely he had the Arctic’s northern sea route in mind.

And yet in recent months the promise of this 5,500km channel – cleaved through frozen seas by nuclear-powered icebreakers and illuminated by a sun that never dips below the Arctic horizon – has grown.

Published: August 16, 2026, 5:09 pm

Lala weakens to tropical storm as it lashes Hawaii with heavy wind and rain

Hurricane Lala downgraded after skirting Big Island as one person dies and 183,000 still without power

Hurricane Lala weakened to a tropical storm on Sunday after skirting Hawaii without making landfall, but it wasn’t done punishing the Big Island with hurricane-force gusts. Total rainfall of nearly 3ft (1 meter) was expected on the higher windward slopes, turning rivers into raging torrents and threatening mudslides.

The Hawaii governor, Josh Green, said at least one person died in a car accident in the South Point area of the Big Island, where more than 100 homes were destroyed. A little over 183,000 utility customers remained without power across Hawaii by Sunday mid-afternoon, according to utility tracker PowerOutage.us. At least three hospitals were operating on generator power, and 19 roofs were lost, Green said.

Published: August 16, 2026, 4:45 pm

California law would force companies to disclose toxic chemicals in disposable diapers

Legislation requiring disclosure of chemicals in diapers passed assembly and will go before state senate soon

New California legislation would require manufacturers to disclose the “mystery cocktail” of toxic chemicals used in disposable diapers.

Diapers often contain among the most toxic substances – phthalates, lead, Pfas, quats, arsenic, a range of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and “fragrance”, which can include any number of 1,200 compounds thought to be hazardous to human health.

Published: August 16, 2026, 4:00 am

‘Paul McCartney asked for my autograph!’ Su Pollard on Hi-de-Hi! and her amazing celebrity encounters

Even after half a century in the limelight, the actor can still surprise. Who’d have guessed she went clubbing with Freddie Mercury? Or that she watched Blair and Brown strike their fateful deal at Granita?

A quick run-through of some of the 20th-century icons that Su Pollard has met. Paul McCartney? “Absolutely fabulous,” Pollard says. “He was sat leaning against a wall, next to Linda.” She does a great impression of McCartney’s accent. “‘Hey Su, how are you? Love the show. Can I have your autograph? For my mother.’” The show was, of course, the hugely successful BBC sitcom Hi-de-Hi!, set on an Essex holiday camp and for which Pollard, playing chalet maid Peggy, will for ever be best known.

Queen Elizabeth, after a Royal Variety Performance? “She was absolutely marvellous. What struck me – I’ve always said this – was her skin. I was drawn to her skin. It was all peachified. And beautiful smile, her own teeth. Very regal, very straight-backed, not very tall, and quite a voluptuous bosom.”

Published: August 16, 2026, 11:18 pm

Post your questions for actor and musician Samantha Morton

As the reader interview goes to Green Man festival, tell us what you would like to ask the garlanded British artist, fresh from her turn as Circe in The Odyssey

At this weekend’s Green Man festival, Samantha Morton will join Guardian writer Kate Hutchinson to discuss a career spanning acting, directing and music.

From her Oscar-nominated performances in Sweet and Lowdown and In America to Morvern Callar, The Serpent Queen and her latest role as Circe in Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey, Morton has become one of Britain’s most distinctive actors. Her directorial debut, The Unloved, won the Bafta for best single drama, while in 2024 she released the deeply personal album Daffodils & Dirt with producer Richard Russell under the name Sam Morton.

Published: August 17, 2026, 1:36 am

Is it true that … it’s harder for women to do pull-ups?

The differences in body types does mean that, on average, women find the exercise more difficult – but that’s not the whole story

Pull-ups are a bodyweight exercise where you hang from an overhead bar, usually with an overhand grip, and pull yourself up until your chin clears the bar. “They’re a great upper-body exercise,” says Prof Leigh Breen, a specialist in muscle physiology at the University of Leicester. “They primarily work the muscles in the back, but also recruit the arms and the core.” They’re known for being tough – particularly for women. But is that true?

“If we take the population as a whole, doing a pull-up is typically more challenging for the average woman,” says Breen. There are a few reasons for this. First, women naturally tend to carry a smaller proportion of their muscle mass in their upper body than men – and these are the muscles relied upon for the exercise. Second, women generally have a slightly higher body fat percentage than men. Because a pull-up requires you to lift your entire bodyweight, having less upper-body muscle relative to the weight you’re moving can reduce what’s known as your strength-to-weight ratio.

Published: August 17, 2026, 12:00 am

Reader Q&A: ask our fashion editor Jess Cartner-Morley your questions now

Jess Cartner-Morley has been the Guardian’s fashion editor since 2000 and will be joining us at 3pm BST to answer your questions about her career on the front row

Sign in or create your Guardian account to ask a question and join the discussion

What’s changed in the industry since 2000, have there been any catwalk disasters, and can you really consume fashion ethically?

As Jess gears up for another round of fashion weeks beginning in New York next month, ask her anything about her years covering fashion.

Published: August 16, 2026, 10:00 pm

Life behind bars in Britain’s surviving Victorian prisons – photo essay

Dozens of prisons were built in Britain between 1842 and 1877, many of which are still in use today. For more than 20 years, Andy Aitchison has photographed behind the walls. His book Incarcerated explores how Victorian prison infrastructure has persisted, and what these old buildings mean for the people who live and work inside

What is now HMP Lincoln opened at the end of the most prolific period of prison construction in British history, when 90 prisons were built or significantly expanded between 1842 and 1877. Here, observes the introductory essay to Incarcerated, “was the Victorian faith in ‘progress’, rendered in bricks and mortar and applied to the challenge of remaking those who had set themselves against law and society”.

John, from E wing at HMP Lincoln, has dementia and spends his days shouting and screaming in his cell. When he gets out into the exercise yard he sits in silence and enjoys the space, fresh air and sunshine

Published: August 16, 2026, 11:00 pm

Conversations with an Executioner: a chilling classic reveals the mind of a Nazi mass murderer

Polish war hero Kazimierz Moczarski spent 255 days sharing a cell with an SS general. Nearly 50 years after it was published, an uncensored version of his account is appearing in English for the first time

In 1949, Kazimierz Moczarski, a leading member of the Polish resistance, was in his fourth year of incarceration when he was moved into a cell with two Nazis at Warsaw’s Mokotów prison. One of them was Jürgen Stroop – a war criminal and SS general who had led the infamous destruction of the Warsaw ghetto and was responsible for the murder or capture of more than 56,000 Jews. They shared the same four walls for 255 consecutive days.

A celebrated figure in modern-day Poland, Moczarski was regarded as a threat to the power of the postwar communist regime in the country. Like other resistance members, he was accused of collaboration and arrested. But Moczarski, who spoke German, used his imprisonment with Stroop as an opportunity to investigate a question: what turned some Germans into mass murderers, seeking to impose their “Ordnung”, order, across the world? His book about the experience, Conversations with an Executioner, was published in 1977. An instant bestseller, it was performed as a play the same year, directed by Andrzej Wajda. It is finally being published in the UK this month, in its first uncensored translation into English by Sean Gasper Bye.

Published: August 16, 2026, 11:00 pm

Move over, Odysseus: time for the women of ancient Greece to have their moment in the sun | Natalie Haynes

The hottest ticket in theatreland will soon be Cate Blanchett in Electra/Persona. Caged female rage continues to capture audiences

It feels like a very Greek summer here in the UK. The ground is scorched, it last rained months ago, and the giant publicity machine for Christopher Nolan’s billion-dollar-grossing The Odyssey – from red-carpet frocks to professorial disapproval – is a Charybdis, swallowing all other cultural events in its gaping maw. Mere Mortals – San Francisco Ballet’s astonishing work inspired by the story of Pandora – runs in Edinburgh this month before going to Sadler’s Wells in September. And Greek tragedy continues to fill London’s theatres.

Last week, I went to see Simon Stone’s reworking of Aeschylus’s Oresteia at the Bridge theatre in south London, and it was packed. Even on a Thursday afternoon, there was a huge audience for the story of a family who turn on one another, wreaking intergenerational violence until their whole house lies in tatters and madness. Partly that is because of the excellent cast: David Morrissey and Mary-Louise Parker play Christopher and Montie – a modern Agamemnon and Clytemnestra, their marital squabbles fizzing back and forth until he cracks and she snaps. Their children are the ones who will have to try to reconcile the impossible: duty to their murdered father, respect to their murderous mother.

Published: August 16, 2026, 12:00 am

My lovely French husband has made the ultimate sacrifice for me – he’s now officially British | Emma Beddington

In Leeds Civic Hall, I watched 20 new citizens pledge their allegiance to King Charles and his heirs. But it wasn’t patriotism that brought tears to my eyes

I haven’t felt great about asking my husband to become British. There was the idiotic Life in the UK test that every applicant has to pass; the cost; the faff; and the uncertainty, which still hasn’t ended. I found out his application had been accepted when he came into the kitchen in June with a face like thunder. “But that’s brilliant! You’ll never need to know how many Scottish ski resorts there are again!” I said, puzzled. He explained that, because we’re going on holiday before he can get a British passport to go with his French one, he’ll be in an immigration grey area that could mean he gets refused re-entry. He should, theoretically, be OK, but it’s confusing.

Why would he even want to come back to this place with its threadbare services, toxic waterways, obsession with “picky bits” and ridiculous politics? His Home Office email arrived just after the Makerfield byelection and that night the news showed the returning officer’s poker-faced declaration again: our future prime minister flanked by a politely clapping Binface and an oversized, blank-eyed fox. I started laughing, hysterically, guiltily. What have I done to him? “Will the world go a different colour when I’m British?” he asked on the train to the ceremony. “Yeah, reverse Wizard of Oz – everything goes grey.”

Published: August 16, 2026, 6:00 am

Ali came to me seeking help for disordered eating. The real issue was a relationship built on control | Ahona Guha

She second-guessed herself and was eager to please. She ‘felt frozen’ when she believed she displeased someone

• The modern mind is a column where experts discuss mental health issues they are seeing in their work

Ali* initially came to therapy for disordered eating. She was a young and diffident woman. She described recurrent cycles of restricted eating followed by attempts to exercise it away. We used cognitive behavioural therapy for eating disorders to unpick her “food rules” – the underlying beliefs which can drive eating disorders, such as “the less I eat the better” or “carbs are bad”.

As we worked on understanding and shifting her beliefs and behaviours around food, we noticed that most of her assumptions around eating, shape and weight coincided with the start of her relationship with her ex-partner. She told me he was a “gym junkie” and spent hours working out and encouraged her to do the same. “He got angry if I ate carbs,” she said, “and created a couples meal plan for us so I could shred and look hot when we were out together.”

Published: August 16, 2026, 8:00 am

Tommy John, pitcher whose surgery changed baseball, dies at age of 83

• John was first player to undergo pioneering operation

• New York Yankees pay tribute to four-time All-Star

Tommy John, the namesake of a ligament-replacement surgery that paved a path to recovery for injured baseball players, has died. He was 83.

TMZ.com reported that the pitcher died at his home in Florida, surrounded by his family, including his wife, Cheryl. John ⁠had recently been in hospice ⁠care.

Published: August 16, 2026, 11:19 am

Djokovic’s medical malaise in Cincinnati exposes fraying edges of ageing great’s game

First-round exit for 24-time grand slam winner made for a difficult watch but there is an emerging pattern of saving his best for the big occasion

Novak Djokovic walked from the ­stadium court in Cincinnati to the corridor reserved for post-match press interviews practically without breaking stride. The 39-year-old had been cruising up a set and well on his way to a seemingly comfortable victory when he began to feel the full force of the elements. Djokovic would devote much of his time during the final two sets to crouching on all fours between points, vomiting into towels and desperately struggling to perform.

Such was his disappointment with his ageing body failing him once again that Djokovic, who is usually one of the most loquacious on the tour, briskly answered four questions in about a minute before offering his thanks and striding to the locker room. He wanted nothing more than to get out of there.

Published: August 16, 2026, 12:00 pm

Arsenal’s midfield depth signals ominous warning to title rivals – and Maresca’s City | Ed Aarons

Additions of Guimarães and Tzolis, plus re-emergence of Ødegaard, mean champions start clear favourites after Community Shield win

If this was a glimpse of the Premier League’s new order then the rest had better watch out. By the time Martin Ødegaard sat Gianluigi Donnarumma down to make it 3-0 to the champions, the Arsenal party was in full swing. “Can we play you every week?” their supporters gleefully taunted their counterparts in sky blue.

Those in red and white who had made the journey to south Wales could barely believe what they were watching, even if winning the Community Shield is unlikely to spark the same kind of celebrations that were seen on the streets of north London in May after ending a 22-year wait to win the title. Having been forced to settle for three successive second-place finishes before finally reaching the summit, this time it was Manchester City’s fans who had to face the reality of being humbled by their closest rivals. As Viktor Gyökeres had put it beforehand: “Against City? In a friendly? We want to win.” That much was clear from the opening whistle at the Principality Stadium.

Published: August 16, 2026, 11:32 am

Rodri set to complete Barcelona move after Manchester City accept £65.4m bid

• 30-year-old said to favour a move back to Spain

• Maresca chasing Lille’s Bouaddi as replacement

Rodri looks set to complete a move to Barcelona after Manchester City accepted a bid of £65.4m from the Spanish club.

The 30-year-old World Cup winner had entered the final year of his contract at the Etihad Stadium and made it clear he would like the opportunity to move to Barcelona. City, who are now closing in on a deal to sign Lille’s Ayyoub Bouaddi, were reluctant sellers but had little choice with the Spanish international out of contract next summer.

Published: August 16, 2026, 1:46 pm

Cyclists criticise ‘catastrophic’ safety measures after Finlay Tarling’s death

• Riders’ union expresses fury about Volta a Portugal

• Tarling died after collision with non-race vehicle

The professional cycling community has reacted with fury to the death of the teenage Welsh rider, Finlay Tarling, in the Volta a Portugal, with a leading former professional describing the race’s safety measures as “catastrophic”.

Tarling, the younger brother of the Netcompany Ineos professional Josh Tarling, was in collision with a non-race vehicle driving towards the peloton while he competed in the Portuguese race’s eighth stage. The 19-year-old’s death on Friday has led to a surge of anger, with the riders’ union, the Cyclistes Professionnels Associés (CPA), describing itself as “furious”.

Published: August 16, 2026, 10:40 am

How Australia found themselves on the wrong side of cricket’s most profound upset | Geoff Lemon

Despite overwhelming odds against them, Bangladesh still found a way to win – but their success wasn’t down to any Australian complacency

Sport coverage is powered by hyperbole and recency bias, but the following statement is justifiable: Bangladesh’s defeat of Australia in Darwin is the most profound upset, the greatest revolt against the pre-game odds, in international cricket history. Australia’s win in England in 1882 so shocked locals that they published a cremation-themed obituary, but the same result had already happened four times on the other side of the world. Zimbabwe stunned India in 1998, but that was at least in the underdogs’ home conditions.

India’s bench-depth win at the Gabba in 2021 has a claim, or the new nation of Pakistan winning either in India in 1952 or England in 1954. But in truth, Sunday’s result is now the title holder, not just because of the disparity between the resources and histories of the two teams, not just because of the location, but because of the manufactured rarity of this match-up even taking place. Since Bangladesh’s admission to Test ranks in 2000, Cricket Australia have treated a cricket populace of well over 100 million people with the most blatant condescension.

Published: August 16, 2026, 6:24 pm

The Fair Hill Five: horse racing’s bizarre transatlantic betting coup – explained

Four horses with little record of success suddenly won in the US. A seemingly coordinated betting operation across London did too – and now racing authorities want answers

To understand why horse racing on both sides of the pond has been gripped by the Fair Hill Five over the past week, start with a basic principle of betting: when two unlikely horses win in back-to-back races, a wager correctly picking both should pay off handsomely. Last Sunday at New Jersey’s Monmouth Park, it did not.

The sequence began with The Great Amira, a 17-1 longshot who went from finishing last in her previous two starts to winning wire to wire by nine and a half lengths. Her little-known trainer then won the very next race with Tepeyac, who went off at about 4-1, and the meager Daily Double payout for picking both outsiders suggested the exact combination had been unusually well backed. Later that afternoon, two more longshot winners emerged at Saratoga. They were among five runners with recent workouts at Maryland’s Fair Hill Training Center, the common link behind the name Fair Hill Five.

Published: August 16, 2026, 12:00 am

Brazil’s Lula launches historic fourth term bid – but son of jailed Bolsonaro stands in his way

President, 80, vows to keep far-right from power as Flávio Bolsonaro tells supporters he will ‘fight this system’

Brazil’s leftwing president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, has launched his campaign for a historic fourth term and vowed that as long as he lived he would not allow the “shameless” right to return to power.

Addressing a sea of supporters in São Bernardo do Campo, the industrial city where his political career began nearly half a century ago, the 80-year-old politician reminded voters of the chaos and violence that unfolded during the 2018-22 presidency of his far-right predecessor, Jair Bolsonaro, whose son Flávio Bolsonaro will face Lula in October’s presidential election.

Published: August 16, 2026, 11:44 am

Who is Hasan Piker – and why are some Australian conservatives outraged about his return to the ABC?

The leftwing commentator has been invited to appear on the Planet America program on Monday night

The ABC is set to air the return of its Planet America program on Monday night as the US midterm elections gain steam, with a new episode featuring the leftwing commentator Hasan Piker.

Host John Barron said the episode will focus on the “rise of Democratic socialists and the populist left”, with Piker speaking about “what it’s like in the eye of a political storm”. But the appearance quickly sparked the ire of conservatives in Australia.

Published: August 17, 2026, 12:46 am

Why cancer, not cost of living, may be the biggest issue in Iowa’s midterm elections

A broad group of diseases in the agricultural powerhouse is top of mind for the midterm elections

In Iowa, one of the key battleground states in November’s midterm elections, just about every political candidate agrees on one thing: something must be done about the state’s rising rates of cancer.

The midwestern state has the second-highest rate of cancer nationwide and, together with Utah and West Virginia, is one of only three states where incidents of the disease are rising, according to cancer rate monitoring from the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities.

Published: August 16, 2026, 5:00 am

Spotlight on UN desertification summit as it mulls how to spend $12bn war chest

Extreme weather has raised the significance of Cop17 talks starting this week on tackling drought and land degradation

As swathes of the northern hemisphere bake in what could be the hottest year on record, with wildfires blazing across North America and Europe and heatwaves afflicting millions across Asia, the UN’s bi-annual talks on desertification have assumed much greater importance – and have started attracting more money.

Work will begin this week on allocating more than $12bn (£8.9bn) to vulnerable countries to help them deal with drought and land degradation, when scores of countries gather in Mongolia for Cop17.

Published: August 16, 2026, 10:00 pm

Wildfires kill two in Greece and torch Belgian nature reserve

Couple die in Salamis, while multinational forces and local farmers tackle Belgium’s biggest fire in a century near Liège

An elderly couple died in fires on the Greek island of Salamis on Sunday and Belgium is battling its largest modern-day wildfire at an inaccessible area near Germany, in the latest wave of European wildfires.

The couple died outside their home in the Peristeria beach area of Salamis, Greece’s coastguard said. More than 500 people were ordered to evacuate.

Published: August 16, 2026, 2:27 pm

Florida sets record for sea turtle nests but Trump move could stall recovery

Loggerhead turtles abound this season but rollback of Endangered Species Act protections could threaten future

Wildlife groups in Florida are celebrating record numbers of sea turtle nests this season, but experts warn Donald Trump’s recent gutting of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) could reverse decades of their recovery from the edge of extinction.

With more than two months of the summer nesting season still to run, loggerhead turtles have already made 13,770 nests, hundreds more than recorded in any previous year, along an 8.5-mile stretch of shoreline monitored by the Loggerhead Marinelife Center in Juno Beach, on Florida’s Atlantic coast.

Published: August 16, 2026, 5:00 am

‘If only people knew’: the fascinating lives of flies

Most people associate the insects with filth, but they are vital to the food cycle and sometimes even pretty

• Vote for your favourite invertebrate

Every spring, billions of flies commute thousands of miles in a huge web around the world. They may begin life in Iran and then spend the rest of it in the UK. They may hatch in India but undertake seasonal migrations to the fertile regions of Mongolia, China and Siberia.

Most of us assume that bees carry out pollination. But look closely at the creatures flitting around our gardens and parks, and you will see that many of those “bees” aren’t bees at all. They fly differently, sound different and, indeed, on closer inspection, look a bit different.

Published: August 16, 2026, 4:00 am

University spinout to launch water quality app for UK and US waters

Molendotech will collate data from daily tests that detect E coli and other bacteria amid reports of swimmers falling ill

A UK university spinout behind a rapid bacterial water testing kit is planning to launch live water quality maps, as scores of beachgoers report falling ill after swimming.

Molendotech, a spinout from the University of Plymouth, sells a portable test that detects E coli and other bacteria in water and delivers results on the spot, without waiting for days to get laboratory results.

Published: August 16, 2026, 2:00 am

‘She is a hero’: 13-year-old survivor of Michigan shooting rampage called 911

Girl called police after she was shot four times in shooting spree that left six dead, including gunman

A 13-year-old girl in Michigan survived being shot four times in a shooting spree that left six people dead – including the suspected attacker – and called emergency help herself shortly before investigators identified the gunman, according to a state police official and her family.

Those actions made the teen a “hero”, said a relative of hers as well as two of the dead victims.

Published: August 16, 2026, 8:47 am

US law to investigate foodborne illness outbreaks has been delayed for 15 years

Law was set to go into effect in January, months before cyclosporiasis outbreak, but now is set for 2028

Congress passed a law to help federal agencies investigate outbreaks of foodborne illness – a regulation experts said could have stopped the US’s largest cyclosporiasis outbreak much sooner.

The only problem? The rule has been delayed – for 15 years, including most recently amid lobbying in 2025.

Published: August 16, 2026, 4:00 am

Suspect in Virginia State University shooting found hiding in dorm closet

Suspect, 19, who is not enrolled at the university arrested in connection with shooting of five people, authorities say

A young man suspected in connection with the shooting of five people on Saturday on the campus of Virginia State University (VSU) hid in a dormitory closet for more than 14 hours before being found and arrested, according to authorities.

The suspect – identified as 19-year-old Camron Harris – was found in Seward Hall on VSU’s campus at 4pm, local police Lt James Lamb said, according to the Virginia news outlet WTVR. The shooting occurred at about 1.30am on Saturday.

Published: August 16, 2026, 12:39 pm

Trump’s midterm malaise: endless war and high prices could spell doom for Republicans in November

‘Complete unraveling’ of Trump and Republican project reflects attitude of not caring at all about governance

He was always one step ahead. Donald Trump won the US presidency as a wildly unlikely outsider in 2016 and staged an astonishing comeback to win it again in 2024. Even his foes grudgingly called him a political savant with an intuition for exploiting grievances that left so-called experts floundering.

But now they are asking if the dark genius has lost his touch. Trump is trapped in the quagmire of an unpopular war, obsessing over monuments in Washington and looking for a new spokesperson after his White House press secretary quit. If the 80-year-old was deliberately trying to sabotage his Republican party in November’s midterm elections, it is not clear what he would do differently.

Published: August 16, 2026, 3:00 am

Wildfires rage in France and Greece as Belgium tackles enormous blaze – Europe live

Wildfire thought to be largest in Belgium’s history creeps closer to German border prompting evacuations

Over in France, prime minister Sébastien Lecornu was booed on arrival to Le Porge, one of the towns most affected by the massive wildfire in the Gironde region last month.

Lecornu was set to meet with the local officials to discuss the reconstruction of the region, but a clip published by BFMTV showed a group of frustrated local residents booing his arrival.

Published: August 17, 2026, 1:50 am

Ukraine war briefing: Kyiv could hit Russia with domestic ballistic missiles in months, former defence minister says

Mykhailo Fedorov says Ukraine is innovating its arsenal of weapons quickly; Moscow hit with ‘one of the most massive drone attacks’. What we know on day 1,637

Ukraine could be capable of striking Russia with domestically made ballistic missiles in three to six months, the former Ukrainian defence minister Mykhailo Fedorov has estimated. Kyiv has so far relied mostly on long-range drones and cruise missiles for deep strikes against Russia, but attacks with ballistic missiles will be far harder for Russian forces to thwart. In an interview with CBS News, Fedorov said: “We need to defeat Russia in every technological cycle.” Though Ukraine is innovating quickly, Fedorov warned that Russia is also advancing rapidly. Fire Point, a Ukrainian defence manufacturer, is developing ballistic missiles and conducted a launch test in June. Fedorov was one of the key drivers of Ukraine’s highly effective drone programme but was controversially fired in July.

Ukraine on Sunday launched one of its largest drone attacks since the start of the war, causing a fire at a Wildberries distribution warehouse near Moscow and killing at least six people, according to Russian authorities. The defence ministry in Moscow said it had shot down 1,478 Ukrainian drones in the past 24 hours – the highest ever total claimed, Dan Sabbagh reports. Moscow’s regional governor Andrey Vorobyov described the overnight assault as “one of the most massive drone attacks in recent memory”.

In the attack, Ukraine hit ⁠a ⁠missile fuel production ​facility in ⁠Russia’s Rostov region, the Ukrainian ​military ‌said ‌on Sunday. It said the company “manufactures solid rocket propellant for multiple ‌launch rocket systems, ​as well as ⁠for a ​range of missile ​systems ​and ​airborne ‌weapons”.

A Spanish fighter jet on Sunday shot down a drone that had breached Romanian airspace near the border with Ukraine and Moldova, Nato said. The interception of the drone – which entered from Moldova – was carried out by an F-18, deployed on Nato duties, the Romanian defence ministry said. Debris fell in an unpopulated area of the Galati region, near the Ukrainian border. A growing number of drones have crossed into Nato states in eastern Europe as Russia pursues its invasion of Ukraine.

The EU foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, has said she wants to increase by one-third the number of Russian entities sanctioned over the Ukraine war, German newspaper Die Welt reported on Monday. The bloc has adopted 21 rounds of sanctions against Russia since 2022. “For autumn I am putting forward the most far-reaching sanctions listings since the start of the war,” Kallas told the paper. “Once adopted, they would immediately raise the total number of sanctioned Russian entities by a third.” In July, the EU adopted a watered down sanctions package only approved after protracted negotiations among member states, after some objected to tougher measures.

In Ukraine, a barrage of Russian drones and missiles on Sunday killed two people and wounded 14 at ArcelorMittal’s steel plant in Kryvyi Rih, the home town of the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The plant, one of Ukraine’s biggest steel producers, said it had partially halted operations because of the strike. Another attack hit Kryvyi Rih on Sunday evening, killing one person. Strikes also killed two people in the Zaporizhzhia region. In Kyiv, a popular outdoor book market at Pochaina, long the place to find rare and antiquarian volumes, was hit by the Russian attack. Bookseller Dmytro Semenukha saw all four of his stalls burn to the ground. “There used to be a store. And books, and flags of all the countries, all the countries. Tons of everything. And that’s it,” the 45-year-old told Agence France-Presse.

In a social media post on the overnight raid, Zelenskyy said that “wherever the Russians can reach with their ballistic missiles, they strike civilian infrastructure”. Over the past week, Zelenskyy said, Ukrainian cities had been pummelled by “more than 1,550 attack drones, nearly 1,560 guided aerial bombs, and 62 missiles”, as he renewed his appeal to allies for more air defence.

Russian officials said on Monday that an overnight Ukrainian missile ⁠strike ⁠had killed ​six people and ⁠wounded another ⁠four, ​including ‌a ‌14-year-old child, in ‌the Belgorod region.

Published: August 16, 2026, 5:51 pm

Taliban threaten former Afghan police worker after MoD leak reveals identity

UK has refused resettlement application despite ‘years of loyal service’ that have resulted in ‘constant fear’ of reprisals

A man has received threats from the Taliban after his work for the Afghan police was revealed by a Ministry of Defence leak and the UK refused his application for resettlement.

Hamid* worked for the Afghan national police special unit and received certificates for his work signed by senior British figures praising his “dedication, unparalleled service and leadership”. His details were also included in an accidental 2022 leak by an MoD official that identified 18,700 Afghans who had worked with or for the British government.

Published: August 16, 2026, 6:00 am

Ariana Grande Eternal Sunshine tour review: pop illusion at its most effective – for good and bad

The O2, London
On her last live dates before she steps back from the public eye, Grande holds her own – but it’s also impossible to avoid feeling concerned for her wellbeing

There’s a thrum of excitement in the air as an eight-minute countdown starts and Ariana Grande’s unmistakable silhouette appears on a giant backlit curtain on the stage of the O2. Is it actually her? Posing there for eight minutes before the show starts? It can’t be. But is it? It’s the first time we question what is and isn’t real at this Eternal Sunshine tour stop, a 10-night residency and a robust arena show that ultimately wants us to see one thing and experience another.

Collectively, we’ve been scolded for talking about it – the “endless, ongoing public scrutiny” of Ariana Grande’s body has pushed her to “[take] a step back from visibility” when this tour ends. It can’t be nice or fun to have your body examined and discussed for any reason but it is impossible to witness the 33-year-old’s frame on stage and not be gripped by genuine concern for her. Two songs in, a lump forms in my throat, which is not the intended effect of Positions, the zippy title track of her 2020 album. As the set around her is engulfed in digital flames, Grande sings about her infinite flexibility vis a vis relationship boundaries and sexual olympics and all I can think is: she looks like a little kid.

Published: August 16, 2026, 7:20 am

‘I see the incredible promise’: on set of an AI film shoot as new studios embrace controversial tech

Amid fears for jobs, some film-makers say AI could enable them to bypass studio giants and take more creative risks

Near the collonaded entrance to Sony Pictures’ historic Culver City film studio, a tech-powered rival has sprung up this summer. The artists at Promise, a new studio feeding off the potential of AI, can glimpse the lots where Singin’ in the Rain and Men in Black were shot, but no longer do they need to get beyond the studio’s high walls to make their visions come true.

From far more modest premises, they are making movies with rapidly accelerating AI models that create backgrounds, special effects and even “synthetic performers” – using US models but also driven by market-leading Chinese AI.

Published: August 16, 2026, 5:00 am

A Rimbaud review – legendary poet’s unlikely transformation into entrepreneur is as odd as ever

Australian actor Blake Draper delivers a committed one-man performance tracking the writer as he morphs from enfant terrible to merchant

US experimentalist Patrick Wang here curates an intriguing if very austere experience, a theatrical-style one-man show about the eventful life of the poet Arthur Rimbaud, presented as a microbudget epic of nearly three hours, an episodic piece taking place entirely within a “black box” stage space, ventilated occasionally by back-projection videos of the great outdoors.

Australian actor Blake Draper plays Rimbaud, with an English accent tinged occasionally with scouse, speaking to a range of invisible characters including his mother, his sister and his lover and artistic comrade Paul Verlaine, whose voices are represented by musical instruments. But fundamentally this is an extended, bravura monologue.

Published: August 17, 2026, 1:00 am

Brandon Flowers: Thrasher review – Killers frontman’s country pivot is a rootin’ tootin’ cowboy-bootin’ hoot!

(Island)
Even a couple of bafflingly misguided social commentary songs can’t detract from the joys of Flowers’ classically full-throated commitment to the Nashville bit

Here are three immutable facts about Brandon Richard Flowers: he was born just outside Las Vegas, Nevada. He is 45 years old. And he never does anything by halves. When he and his band the Killers debuted in the early 2000s, as disaffected New York cool was on the rise, he was writing scream-along choruses sung in his upper register. When the Killers were searching for a sound even bigger and grander than the euphoric Springsteen pastiche of 2006’s Sam’s Town, they didn’t think twice before recruiting Stuart Price to produce the spangly 2008 disco-rock record Day & Age.

That’s how you get a record like Thrasher. Flowers’ third solo album finds Vegas’s chosen son decamping to Nashville for a full-throated exploration of country music – not subtle, trendy Americana, but rip-snorting, honky-tonking, Nudie suit-wearing country. In many ways, Thrasher is a stylistic follow-up to the Killers’ maudlin 2021 Pressure Machine, which saw Flowers explore windswept balladry and tasteful story-songs. But that record was as forgettable as Thrasher is a hoot; Flowers wilts when he doesn’t fully commit, as was the case on Pressure Machine, and he doesn’t make that mistake here. Thrasher features many of Nashville’s most revered country musicians, including pedal steel legend Bruce Bouton, 85-year-old harmonica player Charlie McCoy, Gillian Welch’s musical partner Dave Rawlings and lauded Americana musician Margo Price.

Published: August 17, 2026, 12:00 am

‘Have I tried having sex to my own music? God, no!’: Natalie Imbruglia’s honest playlist

The singer was wooed with some knocked-off Joni Mitchell and might even be persuaded to sing Torn at karaoke. But what fan comment winds her up the most?

The first song I fell in love with
My dad gave me California Dreamin’ by the Mamas & the Papas on vinyl for my fifth birthday. I said: “Oh thanks, Dad,” but really, I thought: “Who is this weird bunch of people?” Obviously, the present was really for him.

The first single I bought
I remember begging my mum to buy me Beat It by Michael Jackson at a record shop in the ’burbs of Sydney. I mean – he’s Michael Jackson.

Published: August 16, 2026, 1:00 am

The Ego Trip by Kimon de Greef review – a bizarre tale of psychedelic toads and hair-raising treatments

A journalist investigates the unsettling world of a charismatic shaman and the people who trusted him

Which, in your opinion, is the worst current cultural trend: social media influencers; unregulated wellness practitioners; macho manosphere posturers; psychedelic bores; cultural appropriators? The good news is that, with Octavio Rettig, the central character in Kimon de Greef’s The Ego Trip, you don’t have to choose between them. He’s all five wrapped into one objectionable package, and so much more besides.

The tale begins with the Sonoran desert toad, an improbable amphibian that spends most of its life hiding underground in the baking badlands along the Mexico-Arizona border, and has done so blamelessly for millions of years. Whenever it rains, the toads emerge from their hiding places to mate, laying strings of eggs wherever water has pooled.

Published: August 17, 2026, 1:00 am

‘It is not only a future certainty – the disaster is already here’: why we need climate fiction

As wildfires rage across Europe and Britain swelters through its hottest summer on record, literary fiction has a vital role to play in capturing the severe consequences of climate crisis

Earlier this summer, I travelled through Europe on a book tour. Everywhere I went, the heat broke records. In Italy, Germany and Spain, I sought refuge from the afternoon sun in air-conditioned hotels. In normally temperate Zurich, it averaged 37 degrees. I jumped into the Limmat for relief. On my final day in Warsaw, Poland had never been hotter – one of 14 countries to hit a historic high. In June, when I left to return to the US, Europe was scorching. At the end of July, as I write this, it is burning.

Since the heatwaves began, there have been more than 10,000 excess deaths. Yet for many, myself included, the high temperatures brought nothing more than inconvenience – uncomfortable commutes, heat rash, less time outdoors. This seems to be a defining feature of today’s climate crisis; deadly for some, banal for others. Even when the world is on fire, it somehow doesn’t feel like an emergency for everyone.

Published: August 16, 2026, 4:00 am

‘The kids were right’: 30 years of Pokémon, from school-wide bans to multimillion-dollar trading cards

Pokémon outlived the moral panic of its early days in Australia and its staying power has proved that simple joy can cross borders

There’s a generation of Australians for whom Cheez TV was a religion. Every morning before school, I’d sit in my little white plastic chair about three feet from our big wooden television and watch 90 minutes of cartoons “curated” by the show’s teenage hosts, Jade and Ryan.

Premiering in 1995, Cheez TV dominated the children’s breakfast market by 1998, stealing the crown from Channel Seven’s bogan-muppet icon Agro. A daily dose of Cheez TV was such an important ritual to me that I remember feeling active resentment towards Princess Diana’s death because the news coverage bumped Earthworm Jim.

Published: August 16, 2026, 8:00 am

Renaissance paintings by Antonello da Messina stolen from Sicilian museum

Theft of four works on national holiday described as wound to historical memory and cultural identity of city of Messina

Four of the most important works of art by the 15th-century Renaissance master Antonello da Messina were stolen during a national holiday from a museum in the Sicilian port city of Messina.

Thieves gained access to the Regional Museum of Messina, or MuMe, on Saturday evening, possibly capitalising on attention being focused on La Vara, a huge religious festival that takes place in the city on 15 August, when Italy marks the Ferragosto national holiday.

Published: August 16, 2026, 6:44 am

‘I thought – if I die, I’ve had a good innings’: producer James Ford on life, death and making an album from his hospital bed

The Arctic Monkeys, Pet Shop Boys and Pulp collaborator was at the height of his powers as Britain’s most in-demand music producer when leukaemia struck. ‘I realised life is exceptionally fragile,’ he says

There was a moment outside the door of a recording studio in rural France, staring at a half-eaten apple that he believed possessed psychedelic properties, when James Ford knew things had really got out of hand. He was stood with Klaxons; all of the band members were hypnotised by this rotting fruit which throbbed on the floor with kaleidoscopic intensity. They were convinced that its blooming mould was in fact their spiritual guru.

The band had been riding the wave of their huge, scene-defining debut album, 2007’s Myths of the Near Future – which was produced by Ford – and were now trying to record the interminably difficult follow-up, aided by daily doses of a concoction they’d taken to calling “the five-star general”.

Published: August 16, 2026, 2:00 am

This is how we do it: ‘Sex was our glue – now if we fight, we can’t just screw and come out glowing’

Pam and Mike couldn’t keep their hands off each other when they met. But as aging and biology have taken their toll, their sex life has suffered

• How do you do it? Share the story of your sex life, anonymously

We haven’t had sex in two years. Mike says it’s because his dick is dead

Published: August 16, 2026, 3:00 am

‘It was barbaric. I was crying my eyes out’: why are so many women left in agony by routine womb examinations?

There are more than 70,000 hysteroscopies every year in England alone. The NHS calls them ‘low complexity’ – yet a shocking number of patients complain of inadequate pain relief and medical staff who refuse to take them seriously

In February this year, Beth Harris sat in the day surgery waiting room of her local hospital and tried to steady her nerves.

She was there for a hysteroscopy, in this case to remove a fibroid. A thin surgical instrument with a lens, a light, a blade and an irrigation system for pumping saline solution would be inserted through her vagina and cervix, into her womb. The saline solution would widen the womb and the fibroid would be shaved away. Her hospital had advised taking paracetamol or ibuprofen an hour before the appointment, which Harris had done. However, the appointment was for 1pm, and by 4pm, she was still waiting in her hospital gown, surrounded by other patients.

Published: August 16, 2026, 6:00 am

‘I don’t always go full banana!’ From the yellow man to a playful shrink, stylish people on what they wear every day – and why

How does a rabbi choose her shoes? Why does a psychoanalyst like slogan tees? And why does a doctor avoid wearing scrubs at work? Seven striking dressers share their surprising style stories

Andrew Geldart, 65, retired engineer, Cornwall

Published: August 16, 2026, 4:00 am

Readers reply: How is it physically possible to continue breaking sporting records?

The long-running series in which readers answer other readers’ questions on subjects ranging from trivial flights of fancy to profound scientific and philosophical concepts

• This week’s question: Is it inevitable that consumerism will literally fill up the planet?

Obviously, progressions in sports clothing technology must make a small difference to the abilities of an athlete – but how on earth is it physically possible that we continue to break world records, year on year? Are humans really faster or stronger than they were decades ago? Jennifer Michaelson, Newlyn

Send new questions to nq@theguardian.com.

Published: August 16, 2026, 6:00 am

Rock stars Ash look back: ‘Mark broke his feet jumping off a balcony – for the rest of the tour he self-medicated with gin and buckets of ice’

The Northern Irish band on jamming together at school, booze and breakdowns, and being a weirdly functional family

Tim Wheeler, Mark Hamilton and Rick McMurray are the founding members of Ash. School friends from Downpatrick, County Down, they started out as a covers band called Vietnam in 1989. As Ash, their debut full-length album, 1977, went to No 1 in 1996. Shining Light, from 2001’s Free All Angels, won them an Ivor Novello award. The group have released nine albums, three of which feature guitarist Charlotte Hatherley. They are releasing a 30th anniversary edition of 1977 on 16 October and are on a world tour, including the UK and Ireland, until December.

Published: August 16, 2026, 6:00 am

Dining across the divide: ‘At one point she said, “I don’t want to offend you, but you seem quite privileged”’

A trainee accountant and a company director had differing views on opportunities for young people, but could they find common ground on the new prime minister?

• Want to meet someone from across the divide? Click here to find out how

Margaret, 22, London

Occupation Trainee accountant and part-time arts producer

Published: August 16, 2026, 4:00 am

‘Awed by nature’: fans mourn California’s beloved Jackie the bald eagle, whose legacy soars on

Famous raptor helped livestream viewers in difficult moments, and inspired a conservation project at her lake home

The bald eagle Jackie made her home on the shore of southern California’s Big Bear Lake for most of her 14 years. But her death earlier this week drew international attention.

The Los Angeles Times described her as “arguably the world’s most famous bald eagle”. For years, millions of people tuned into a live stream of Jackie’s nest, watching her rear her eaglets, work out life with her mate, Shadow, and, perhaps most memorably, incubate her eggs while almost completely buried in snow.

Published: August 16, 2026, 7:00 am

The first anti-AI protester to be jailed has a message for OpenAI, Anthropic and Meta: ‘Regain your humanity’

Wynd Kaufmyn, 69, chained and locked the front doors of OpenAI’s headquarters last year with members of StopAI

An activist who blocked the entrance to one of the world’s biggest AI companies is believed to have become the first person jailed for protesting against artificial intelligence as supporters dub her the “Rosa Parks of AI risk”.

Wynd Kaufmyn, 69, surrendered herself on Friday to authorities in San Francisco. She was found guilty by a jury for her role in an action last year that saw members of the group StopAI chain and lock the front doors of OpenAI’s headquarters in protest against the pursuit of artificial superintelligence.

Published: August 16, 2026, 1:00 am

A Madonna installation and wildfires in Europe: photos of the weekend

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

Published: August 16, 2026, 6:29 am