Ms Rachel, the controversial queen of toddler TV: ‘My goal isn’t to be the most liked. It’s to help kids and speak the truth’

Her catchy videos have racked up billions of views, but Rachel Accurso’s statements on everything from Gaza to LGBTQ rights have caused a stir. She talks about screen time, song fatigue and speculation she might enter politics

The YouTube star Ms Rachel, toddler whisperer extraordinaire, spots me before I clock her, and even from a distance and without her trademark pink T-shirt and denim dungarees, she is instantly recognisable by her wave, which is accompanied by an enthusiastic bounce. I half expect her to say, “Hi, friends”, as she does at the start of many of her videos. Instead she bounds over, wearing a classic off-duty mum uniform – Sesame Street sweatshirt, grey leggings, baseball cap that reads “Mama” – and removes her oversized sunglasses. She’s very sorry, she says, rubbing her eyes, that she is so tired – but her manner remains unfailingly, characteristically peppy.

It is only seven years since Rachel Accurso, who used to be a preschool music teacher, uploaded her first video to YouTube, a counting song for preschoolers called Bubble, Bubble Pop!. She and her husband, Aron Accurso, who worked as a music director on Broadway, made the video because their one-year-old son had a speech delay and there seemed to be a dearth of quality videos online that could help toddlers learn to speak.

Published: September 19, 2026, 10:00 pm

‘The rules have changed’: has Russia begun to order assassinations on US soil?

Exiled dissidents and an unsealed indictment suggest Kremlin may have abandoned longstanding taboo on attacks on its rival’s territory

Roman Dobrokhotov had been content enough for his appearance at a conference in Washington DC this week to be publicised, although it was not something he would normally risk in Europe. The dissident Russian journalist was named during a trial in London last year as one of the targets of a Russian spy ring that appeared to have murderous intent.

“Maybe burn him alive on the street, spray him with some super-strong acid, VX, like the North Koreans, or the ricin,” a Russian-hired operative had texted of the plans for Dobrokhotov in Britain.

Published: September 19, 2026, 9:00 pm

Are global stock markets heading for a crash?

Economies thrown into renewed turmoil as AI debt, Iran war and soaring government bond yields fuel alarm

At the height of the summer, the mood was optimistic in the world’s financial capitals. Powered by the AI revolution, the US stock market had rallied to a fresh all-time high, as investors bet the multitrillion-dollar investment spree would overshadow the hit from the Iran war.

Now the warning lights are flashing red. As the fighting in the Middle East intensifies without clear sign of a resolution, financial markets have been thrown into renewed turmoil. A slowdown looms in the AI arms race, and tinderbox conditions in the market for government debt are fuelling alarm.

Published: September 19, 2026, 10:00 pm

Suzi Quatro: ‘It is absolutely crazy I’m not in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. But I’m in good company!’

The 76-year-old rocker on her pre-gig routine, the one reality show she’d go on and who she’d cast as herself in a film about her life

Your new album is called Freedom and the title track interpolates The Girl Can’t Help It. You’re going to be rocking until they take you out in a box, aren’t you?

When I was 35, a journalist stupidly asked me, “When are you going to retire?” I said, “I will retire when I go on stage, turn my back on the audience, shake my ass, and there’s silence.” This followed me my whole career, so when I got to 65, I said, “I will retire when I go on stage, turn my back on the audience and my ass shakes by itself.”

Published: September 19, 2026, 1:00 pm

Our children may be surprised by what’s in our will – should we tell them now? | Ask Annalisa Barbieri

You don’t have to reveal the contents, but I’ve seen families torn apart by unexpected inheritance plans

My wife and I have three children and several grandchildren. Our will may contain some surprises for them. Is it better to reveal its contents while we are still alive, or let our beneficiaries discover them when we die?

We gave our children considerable financial help, enabling them to buy their first homes. We have also made sizeable contributions to our grandchildren’s education funds.

Published: September 19, 2026, 10:00 pm

Reαd carefully: how to spot – and avoid – a homoglyph attack

Scam emails are increasingly using psychological tricks, such as using near-identical URLs like miсrosoft.com

You’ve read the email carefully and it looks legitimate. The link it asks you to click on has none of the usual red flags: there are no weird numbers or extra parts to the URL. You feel safe to proceed.

But if you had looked slightly closer you may have noticed something slightly wrong with one of the characters. Just as in the headline of this piece where instead of “a” we used the Cyrillic “α”.

It just goes to show that the split-second decision you make when clicking a link is often the most vulnerable part of the whole security chain.”

Published: September 19, 2026, 11:00 pm

Denmark and Greenland say US military agreement will not compromise Arctic territory’s sovereignty

Statement sought to clarify Trump’s announcement that US will have ‘permanent control’ over Greenland’s security

Denmark and Greenland have said any agreement with the US to develop a significant military presence in the strategic Arctic territory will not compromise Greenland’s sovereignty.

In a statement on Saturday clarifying an announcement by Donald Trump that an agreement had been reached to give Washington “permanent control” ⁠over Greenland’s security, Denmark and the semi-autonomous territory ⁠expressed hope that a deal would end friction with the US over the issue.

Published: September 19, 2026, 7:43 am

Why China is pushing back on US warnings over rapid AI development

Beijing believes slowdown calls aim to lock in US advantage, and is pursuing a different balance between safety and pace

About two years ago, education entrepreneur Boris But had what he calls a “penny-drop moment” – that, like countless others in China, his company needed to embrace AI before it was made obsolete by it.

His clients, well-off parents looking to send their children to study overseas, had begun arriving in his office reeling off information and opinions gleaned not from rival firms, but from chatbots.

Published: September 19, 2026, 11:00 pm

Gavin Newsom signs election security bills to thwart federal interference by Trump

Bills signed by California governor safeguard vote by mail and make seizing ballots or election records a felony

California governor Gavin Newsom has signed off on a package of bills aimed at bolstering election security, including measures to thwart federal political interference, his office announced on Sunday.

The pieces of legislation appear to address hot button national and state electoral issues, including an extension to the hours for mail-in voting drop off locations.

Published: September 19, 2026, 5:43 pm

Trump ally Stephen Miller leads sweeping push to accelerate removal of migrant children

Exclusive: key White House loyalist orchestrating multi-agency effort condemned by critics as cruel and racist

Stephen Miller is leading an unprecedented and intense White House drive across a host of government departments to accelerate the removal of undocumented immigrant children from the US, using tactics that critics say are cruel and racist and, in some cases, flout federal law, the Guardian has learned.

As deputy chief of staff at the White House, focused on immigration policy, Miller is seen as the mastermind and enforcer behind Donald Trump’s hardline anti-immigration agenda.

Published: September 19, 2026, 3:00 am

Ed Sheeran says situation in Gaza ‘unjustifiable’ in first show since tour plunged into turmoil

The pop star has faced boycott calls after rapper Macklemore was removed from his tour after shouting ‘Free Palestine’ at a concert this month

Ed Sheeran has opened a solo concert in Philadelphia with comments about Gaza, saying what’s happening is “catastrophic and unjustifiable”, in his first show since the his tour plunged into turmoil.

“My heart has been broken by the scale of devastation and loss of civilians’ lives, of children’s lives,” Sheeran said on Saturday, adding that he wanted his music and shows to be about unity and humanity, not politics.

Published: September 19, 2026, 6:01 pm

Future of German chancellor hangs in the balance as two states go to polls

Embattled Friedrich Merz faces nervous wait while far-right Alternative für Deutschland party targets further gains

Voters in two German states are going to the polls with the political future of the embattled chancellor, Friedrich Merz, hanging in the balance and an emboldened far right targeting further gains.

Coming two weeks after a seismic election in Saxony-Anhalt in which the anti-immigration, pro-Kremlin Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) scored its highest ever result in a regional poll, the nativist party is expected to drain support again from Merz’s conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU).

Published: September 19, 2026, 7:00 pm

Hundreds of drones target Moscow on last day of voting in Russia’s parliamentary election

Authorities accuse Ukraine of trying to disrupt poll and say 1,600 drones in total intercepted, while at least two people killed and oil refinery damaged

Hundreds of drones targeting Moscow and its surrounding region killed at least two people and damaged a major refinery on the final day of the country’s parliamentary elections, authorities said on Sunday.

The capital’s mayor said that more than 1,600 drones had been intercepted and shot down, 450 of which were aimed at Moscow.

Published: September 19, 2026, 11:04 pm

MS Now, CNN and Politico say reporters have been denied access to White House

President said he was banning journalists from those organizations, saying of their coverage: ‘You get sick of it.’

Journalists from three US outlets were denied access to the White House grounds on Saturday morning a day after Donald Trump said he would ban them from the executive branch complex in a move that has prompted outrage and shock from free-speech advocates.

The outlets were television broadcasters MS Now and CNN as well as the political news website Politico.

Published: September 19, 2026, 8:39 am

Hispanic voters’ support for Trump wanes over economy and immigration

Polls show voters who helped elect president unhappy – and may be willing to vote Democrat in midterms

Hispanic voters who helped re-elect Donald Trump in 2024 are discontent with his second-term economic and immigration policies, according to recent polling – indicating they may not be willing to support the president’s party in the midterm elections.

Despite a record number of Hispanic voters casting their ballots for the Republican president, more than 65% said they are displeased with Trump’s handling of his job and 78% said they would prefer to see the Democratic party in control of Congress, according to a September poll from the New York Times/Siena University.

Published: September 19, 2026, 5:00 am

Trump to create ‘AI Force’ to monitor technology as fears over out-of-control agents grow

President had brushed away suggestions to slow down AI technology, even as his own party counseled caution

Donald Trump on Saturday said he would appoint an artificial intelligence czar and create an “AI Force” to help monitor the technology, though he gave almost no details about either plan.

As global fears over AI have grown, especially in the past week in the face of multiple industry figures sounding the alarm about its dangers, the president has been critical of calls to slow down development of the fast-moving industry.

Published: September 19, 2026, 12:57 pm

The US air force admitted to deploying weapons in space. Don’t expect the White House to explain why

The revelation ‘left experts scratching their heads at exactly what Donald Trump has in his cosmic arsenal’

In Hollywood at least, space weapons are a relatively simple concept. The good guys, from Captain Kirk and his crew in Star Trek, to Luke Skywalker’s rebel alliance in Star Wars, battle intergalactic villains with an array of colorful lasers and particle-beam cannons, then the bad guys get dispatched in a spectacular, explosive finale.

The messaging coming out of the White House on the subject, by contrast, could not be more vague.

Published: September 19, 2026, 4:00 am

Kevin Warsh may be the adult in the room. But can he calm the US economy?

Fed chair presided over unanimous decision to raise interest rates despite intense campaign from White House

In the end, Kevin Warsh’s Federal Reserve acquitted itself well. For all the uncertainty he had sparked at the previous meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee, when he refused to provide any indication of what he was prepared to do to tame stubborn inflation, the chair on Wednesday presided over a unanimous decision to raise interest rates for the first time in three years.

“Today’s action starts to show that we’re serious about this,” he said at the press conference after the meeting, with “this” meaning inflation in excess of the Fed’s 2% target for over five years. Welcome though it was, his embrace of economic orthodoxy nonetheless did little to dispel the Keystone Cops quality of governance in Donald Trump’s US.

Published: September 19, 2026, 4:00 am

Trump’s battle to rename the Kennedy Center has put its future at risk

The president has threatened to block renovations and suggested the landmark could be demolished after courts ruled against his bid to rename it

It was born with the world premiere of Leonard Bernstein’s Mass. “Young people will come here and they will see this cultural centre,” Rose Kennedy, the mother of slain US president John F Kennedy, said at that opening night gala. “They will carry some of these ideas back to their different communities.”

More than half a century later, the potential death knell came just after 4.30pm on Tuesday with a perfunctory announcement on the public address system: “The centre is now closed to the public. Please exit the centre by way of the Hall of States.” Soon barricades had been erected and security guards were blocking access.

Published: September 19, 2026, 6:30 am

China bogeyman looms large over American firms’ AI doomsday scenario

Silicon Valley China hawks, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei among them, fear the country surpassing US’s AI lead as much as superintelligence destroying humanity

When reporters asked Donald Trump this week if he supported calls to slow down the development of artificial intelligence out of growing fears for cybersecurity, public safety and the fate of humanity, he said no. His argument: China.

“We’re leading China in AI,” Trump said. “We’re the most sophisticated country in the world, and frankly, I want to ⁠keep it that way, because whoever wins AI, wins.”

Published: September 19, 2026, 3:00 am

A deadly crash and the perilous history of LA’s news helicopters: ‘The eye in the sky’

An on-air helicopter crash killed journalist Eliana Moreno and pilot George Marciniw, shaking LA’s news tradition

The whir of news helicopters flying overhead has long been a familiar soundtrack to life in Los Angeles – and the footage they gather of high-speed chases, wildfires and celebrity sightings a fixture of local television.

For nearly 70 years, Angelenos have gotten their news from “the eye in the sky” – from scenes of OJ Simpson’s fleeing white Bronco, the 1992 LA riots and even Madonna’s wedding to Sean Penn.

Published: September 19, 2026, 7:00 am

Your AI doomsday questions answered: ‘What, if anything, can people like me do about it?’

After a week of alarming warnings about artificial intelligence’s potential to destroy the world as we know it, our technology reporters Aisha Down, Blake Montgomery and Dan Milmo answer your questions on the reality of the AI threat

In realistic terms how would artificial intelligence actually kill me? What is the main proxy threat? Nuclear war, death due to breakdown of society, a virus? I hear all these reports it could kill us but still unsure how that could practically happen? To be honest all sounds too wooly to really take seriously. Pottys99

Aisha: For what it’s worth, it seems unlikely that AI at this point can significantly change the equation around bioweapons or viruses … What has prevented bioweapon attacks through the past decades is not the difficulty of inventing new deadly viruses, but other, more prosaic issues. Consider the failure of Aum Shinrikyo to kill vast numbers of people with botulism and anthrax by spraying these around central Tokyo. There are a lot of logistical challenges, and chemical weapons seem more straightforward. Those exist without AI needing to invent new ones.

Published: September 19, 2026, 1:00 pm

10 of the best mountain huts in Europe: bunkrooms, bothies and bonhomie

Beautifully situated refuges with superlative views offering sanctuary to intrepid hikers and climbers

A good mountain hut, I reckon, should be small and only accessible on foot after considerable effort. Throw in a bit of historical interest and I’m bound to be happy. In which case, Cabaña Verónica in the Picos de Europa is a fine start to this list. It sleeps six, and at 2,325 metres requires a two-hour trek from the nearest cable car station, never mind road. It has incredible views and a friendly custodian who keeps things in good order. Yet the real attraction is that this place was formerly a gun turret of a US navy battleship that was scrapped in Bilbao in 1960. An enterprising engineer, Conrado Senties, had it carried up on horseback and reassembled on a plug of rock in the middle of nowhere. Don’t ask why, just enjoy the eccentricity.
€15, reservarefugios.com

Published: September 19, 2026, 11:00 pm

Water your plants and get an eye mask: 48 life rules every student – and adult – needs to know

If you’re a fresher, this may be the first time you’ve ever lived away from home. So how should you socialise, feed yourself and look after your health?

You don’t realise until you leave home just how idiosyncratic every family is, and how many of its customs are tacit, invisible, or maintained by someone else. Now you’re among people who emphatically aren’t related to you. How would you have any idea which of your practices were universal, and which common courtesies your upbringing had totally skipped? How do you even know how to keep your own body and soul together without the behind-the-scenes input of parents, who also have peculiarities of their own? Here’s a starter pack on how to function.

Something quick that has protein in it and is not toast. Suggestion: an omelette.

Something that is a full meal, covers protein and vegetables, and can be eaten over several days. Suggestion: bolognese or vegetarian chilli.

Something that you can scale up to feed two or four without bankrupting yourself or showing off. Suggestion: pesto pasta, but please always add broccoli right at the end – such a small price to pay to not get scurvy.

Something that you can make for others that is comforting and nobody can take against or be allergic to. Suggestion: risotto.

Something that you can just pour boiling water over, like a cup of tea, only it’s food. Suggestion: miso soup or soba noodles.

Published: September 19, 2026, 9:00 pm

Maga wants more babies. But they don’t seem too worried about miscarriages in ICE detention |

Officials lack data on miscarriages after October 2025. Detained women aren’t getting the prenatal healthcare they need

Maga men have babies on the brain. They may not all be interested in changing diapers or hands-on parenting, but they’re very keen on population growth. “[W]e want more babies, to put it very nicely,” Donald Trump said last year.

Trump, who has called himself the “father of IVF” and joked that he will be known as the “fertilization president”, surrounds himself with people who profess a similar fondness for children. Only a few days after being sworn in as vice-president, JD Vance declared he wanted “more babies in the United States of America” and went on to make pronatalist policies a theme of his time in office.

Arwa Mahdawi is a Guardian columnist

Published: September 19, 2026, 5:00 am

Ed Sheeran thought fans didn’t want artists to be politically engaged. He’s finding out how wrong he was | Jason Okundaye

Twenty years ago, even Madonna faced radio blacklisting for being overtly political. But in our age of streaming, there’s less excuse for not speaking out

It must have come as a surprise to Ed Sheeran when all of his support acts withdrew from the remainder of the US leg of his tour. The American rapper Macklemore had triggered the walkout when he gave an impassioned speech calling for a “free Palestine” on stage and was dropped for doing so. The decision by the remaining acts to drop out in solidarity exposed a deep divide in the modern music industry. Some artists still insist on keeping politics out of music, while others expect music to speak to our perilous times.

After he was dropped, Macklemore wrote that Sheeran’s “typical apolitical stance was being challenged in a way it never had been before”, to which Sheeran responded: “I am not complicit” and “those who come to my shows do not expect a political forum”.

Jason Okundaye is an assistant Opinion editor at the Guardian

Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.

Published: September 19, 2026, 2:00 am

After 20 years of my school dinners campaign, I’m a happy man. At last, we’re going to feed kids properly | Jamie Oliver

This week’s government announcement on school food standards is huge. It’s based on common sense and science. Beautiful!

More than 20 years ago, when I started the campaign and TV series School Dinners, I couldn’t believe that we had standards for dog food but no standards for the food we fed our children at school. I have never, and will never, stop banging that drum – even after this week’s momentous announcement on school food standards in England. Because it is so important we remember where we started from.

Children in the state sector are at school for 190 days a year. And if they’re eating breakfast and lunch there, the majority of what they consume each day is in the hands of their school. When we know that children are consuming less than half the recommended fruit and vegetables, but twice the recommended sugar, school food is a massive opportunity to directly improve diets at scale.

Published: September 19, 2026, 12:00 am

Brighton demolish champions Arsenal 3-0 to mark anniversary in style

So much for the new Invincibles. Arsenal were brought back down to earth with a shuddering bump by a scintillating display from Brighton as Fabian Hürzeler’s vibrant side celebrated the club’s 125th anniversary in style.

The special edition shirts they wore to mark the occasion will end up being collector’s items after the Premier League champions were ripped apart. Arsenal were attempting to record an eighth successive victory in all competitions to start the new campaign for the first time since 1903 when they were still known as Woolwich Arsenal.

Published: September 19, 2026, 9:06 am

Belmont Park is back: inside New York’s $555m bet on horse racing

The storied Long Island racetrack, rebuilt with a $455m state loan, is smaller, sleeker and designed for a changing audience. Can it create the public needed to sustain it?

Henry Miller stood on the trackside apron of the new Belmont Park on Friday trying to decide what he thought of the place.

“It has to grow on me,” said Miller, a 59-year-old retired sanitation worker from Brooklyn’s Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood who has been coming to New York racetracks for 47 years. “For me, it’s too much concrete. I don’t think it’s as friendly as the old Belmont.”

Published: September 19, 2026, 12:50 pm

Union Jack Classic fails to spark on the pitch but electric atmosphere fires up Wembley

The Arizona State Sun Devils cantered to victory in the first ever Union Jack Classic in front of a noisy crowd – despite thousands of empty seats

You sensed that Britain’s first US college football game in nearly 40 years was going to be a very different experience when Wembley Way began to reverberate to the sound of steel, muscle and a few whoops long before kick-off.

The noise came from the Arizona State Sun Devils’ marching band, who were so energetic their horns and trombones swished from left to right like air raid lights hunting a target as they played.

Published: September 19, 2026, 3:36 pm

NC State’s unfathomable last-second blunder gifts Vanderbilt miracle win

• Wolfpack fumble with six seconds left proves decisive

• Vanderbilt recover in end zone for stunning 35-31 win

• Commodores complete comeback from 17 points down

Call this one the Music City Miscue.

NC State quarterback CJ Bailey fumbled in the end zone while trying to take an intentional safety in the final seconds and essentially handed Vanderbilt a 35-31 victory no one saw coming in Nashville.

Published: September 19, 2026, 4:02 pm

Zidane’s next move as France coach may reveal the wizard behind the curtain | Jonathan Wilson

It is apt that the most perplexing football country will now be guided by the most enigmatic of leaders

Even in his playing days, Zinedine Zidane seemed unknowable. As a manager, the sense of distance has only grown. He won three Champions Leagues with Real Madrid without ever giving a sense of what his idea of football looked like.

France are perhaps the most perplexing football country: a squad that teems with such talent that a B team would be serious contenders at a World Cup, that reached three major finals under Didier Deschamps with a sense of unfulfilment, a team that progressed but rarely entranced, or at least didn’t until this summer’s World Cup, when they attacked with gusto and ended up overrun in midfield by Spain.

Published: September 19, 2026, 12:00 pm

Aston Villa grab victory despite late Spurs goals as De Zerbi’s side are booed off

Spurs have a remarkable ability to find new ways of inflicting pain on their fanbase and they did it again here, petering out from a strong start into humiliating defeat to confirm their worst ever start to a Premier League campaign. On the upside, they did get two goals. They were both late consolations, but beggars can’t be choosers.

Aston Villa were meanwhile ruthless in claiming their first victory of the season. They capitalised in first-half added time to take the lead while Spurs were temporarily down to 10 men. In the second, Unai Emery’s side were robust in defence and clinical on the counter, and supreme strikes from both Nicolas Jackson and Emi Buendía decided the contest. With Johan Manzambi the other goalscorer, there were pleasing signs for the Spaniard’s turbo-charged refit of his team.

Published: September 19, 2026, 6:57 am

Elderly man allegedly beaten to death in Virginia Walmart by parents of employee

Bert Atienza and teen worker reportedly exchanged words before parents showed up and allegedly attacked shopper

A 77-year-old Walmart shopper died after he was allegedly attacked inside a Virginia store by the parents of a teenage employee he had confronted over a shopping cart incident involving his wife, according to US media reports.

Bert Atienza died from blunt head trauma on 8 June, one day after the attack at the Walmart in Norfolk, Virginia, WTKR reported on Monday. The shocking incident was captured on surveillance video.

Published: September 19, 2026, 9:05 am

Lindsay Clancy ex-husband says ‘I think I did the best I could’

Patrick Clancy and wife Rachel Danis to speak publicly on 60 Minutes on Sunday about Massachusetts murder trial

Patrick Clancy and his wife Rachel Danis are set to describe their experiences of the Massachusetts triple-murder trial of his former wife Lindsay Clancy, with Clancy telling 60 Minutes: “I live with it every day, but I think I did the best I could.”

The couple will on Sunday night make their first public comments on the case. CBS has been trailing excerpts of the broadcast.

Published: September 19, 2026, 9:35 am

US fashion CEO resigns after physically restraining animal rights activists

Steven Kolb of the Council of Fashion Designers of America was filmed during an altercation at New York fashion week

The chief executive of the Council of Fashion Designers of America, Steven Kolb, has resigned after he was filmed physically restraining two animal rights activists during an altercation at New York fashion week.

“After 20 years leading the CFDA, I have made the difficult decision to step down as CEO and president,” Kolb said in a statement. “I am enormously proud of what we have built together and believe this is the right moment for both me and the organisation to begin a new chapter.”

Published: September 19, 2026, 4:58 am

Farage says he wants to ‘hijack’ Trump’s ICE czar to help secure UK border

Reform leader also tells US event Europe should have ‘more sensible view’ of president’s administration

Nigel Farage has said he wants to “hijack” Donald Trump’s hardline ICE adviser and bring him to the UK “to secure our borders”.

Speaking at an event in the US, the Reform UK leader also called for Europe to take a “more sensible view” of the US president’s administration rather than seeing it as “villainous”.

Published: September 19, 2026, 11:00 pm

Baby born via surrogate can leave Texas for treatment in California, court rules

Ruling latest step in legal fight over medically fragile child born after surrogate rejected couple’s request for abortion

The Texas supreme court has decided that the month-old infant that surrogate McKenna West gave birth to can be relocated to Los Angeles, a Thursday ruling that came weeks after a California court had recognized the biological parents’ custody rights.

“Sustaining the life of the medically fragile child is the paramount concern in this time-sensitive matter,” the court wrote in a Thursday order, referring to the baby’s rare severe heart defect. West had attempted to block the biological parents from removing the child from Texas and taking him to a hospital in Los Angeles where the couple live.

Published: September 19, 2026, 3:46 pm

California warns of measles exposure in six counties from unvaccinated train passenger

Health authorities work to notify people who were exposed to person who traveled through at least six counties

California public health officials are warning of a possible measles exposure spanning multiple counties after an infected and unvaccinated passenger traveled through the state via Amtrak trains and thruway buses.

The warning comes as the US faces its largest measles resurgence in more than three decades, fueled largely by growing vaccine hesitancy.

Published: September 19, 2026, 10:57 am

George Osborne ‘thought Peter Thiel’s Bayeux tapestry visit would be secret’

British Museum chair tells Big Brue festival he thought no one would find out about the private viewing

George Osborne has said he thought no one would find out about a private viewing of the Bayeux tapestry he organised for the tech billionaire Peter Thiel at the British Museum.

The former chancellor, who is chair of the museum, told the Big Brue festival in Somerset that he had been on holiday when Thiel was shown the medieval artwork.

Published: September 19, 2026, 8:41 am

Jewish heirs of Holocaust victims sue California museum over Nazi-looted art

Pasadena’s Norton Simon Museum holds 16th-century paintings stolen by the Nazis during the second world war

Jewish heirs of Holocaust victims and their representatives have filed two lawsuits in California staking their claims to Nazi-looted paintings that still hang on the walls of prominent museums in Los Angeles and Auschwitz.

This pair of lawsuits are the first to be filed after the recent passage of laws by California and the US Congress, which strengthen US-based claims to artwork that were forcibly taken from Jewish families during the second world war.

Published: September 19, 2026, 7:52 am

Sea dragon populations decimated in ‘mind-blowing’ mass mortality event caused by South Australian algal bloom

Thousands of sea dragons, pipefishes and seahorses have washed up along state’s coastline according to analysis of citizen scientist records

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Thousands of sea dragons, pipefishes and seahorses died during South Australia’s devastating algal bloom, in what ecologists say is the worst mass mortality event for the fish family globally.

More than 1,600 weedy and leafy sea dragons, 1,400 pipefishes and 160 seahorses washed up as the harmful algae spread along the state’s coastline, according to analysis of citizen scientist records by Dragon Search SA.

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Published: September 19, 2026, 6:19 pm

Brazil’s wind farms have been a huge success. So why isn’t everybody reaping the benefits?

While the country’s ambition is to be the ‘Saudi Arabia of green energy’, communities in the north-east are bearing the cost in diminished health and livelihoods

Beneath the power lines cutting across Antonio de Souza’s property in Serra do Mel, in north-east Brazil’s Rio Grande do Norte state, rows of cashew trees once stood – until the clean energy company ordered them to be cut down.

De Souza cannot plant crops in the affected area and the tractor cannot be driven through it in bad weather, as the driver risks an electric shock. Cattle, another source of local income, are forbidden from grazing near the cables.

Published: September 19, 2026, 5:00 am

Likelihood of eating fresh produce increases with income for US adults, new CDC report shows

The report highlights deep divides between low- and middle- income, a disparity that dates back decades

A new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reaffirms that adults are more likely to eat fresh fruits and vegetables as their income increases.

The data brief comes as Republican cuts to food assistance programs, colloquially called “food stamps”, have led enrollment to “plummet”. Changes to US dietary guidelines, led by health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr, have also made a government-recommended diet more expensive. A new “food pyramid” released in January emphasized animal protein, fresh fruit and vegetables, all of which cost more, according to studies.

Published: September 19, 2026, 6:00 am

‘It’s almost impossible not to feel inspired’: how the story of Terry Fox fired up Canada’s patriotic spirit again

Canada’s citizens are finding unity again in the story of the man who ran cross-country on one leg to raise awareness for children’s cancer research

Rob Stickle was six years old and waiting to see The Empire Strikes Back when a ripple passed through the crowd. His mother hoisted him on to her shoulders to see a man loping down one of Toronto’s busiest streets.

“I was a Star Wars fanatic, and I remember saying to mom: ‘He has a robot leg.’”

Published: September 19, 2026, 3:00 am

‘Just cut the wires’: why UK conspiracy theorists are destroying traffic scanners

Sensors that monitor vehicle volume are said to be ‘electronic assault weapons’ by the ‘Blade Runners’ group

At the top of an extendable ladder on a quiet street of Ilfracombe, in Devon, an older woman dressed smartly in cropped trousers, a red rain jacket and matching red socks is chopping at some wires at the top of a set of traffic lights with a small pair of pliers.

A grey-haired man holding a takeaway coffee supports the ladder, while others, filming their activities, give encouragement from behind the camera. “Yeah, that’s how you do it,” says one man. “Just cut the wires.”

Published: September 19, 2026, 4:00 am

UK politics increasingly funded by billionaires as mega-donations surge

Exclusive: A total £179m has been donated by wealthy individuals since 2019, research reveals

British politics is increasingly being funded by individual billionaires with a wave of mega-donations having flooded into UK political parties over the past two parliaments.

A total of £179m has been donated by wealthy individuals since 2019, research reveals.

Published: September 19, 2026, 9:00 am

Jonathan Franzen: ‘It’s still mysterious to me that I was angry for so long’

The author of The Corrections talks about a new TV adaptation, the future of reading and why creating new work is ‘horrible’

When HBO dropped its plan to adapt Jonathan Franzen’s bestselling novel The Corrections in 2012, the author was so relieved he says he performed his first and last cartwheel on the lawn of his home in Santa Cruz, California. There had been an attempted film adaptation before that, but he had been unsurprised by its failure, having warned that it was impossible to condense his densely plotted doorstopper of a novel into a feature-length film. This time, Franzen had signed up as co-writer, with filmmaker Noah Baumbach. He says that HBO was “excluded from the development process. Mistake, because we didn’t know how to do TV.” Franzen himself hadn’t even owned a telly until a few years earlier and certainly didn’t have cable, so as he was wrestling with the script, he began renting box sets. Around three episodes into one drama series, he realised “we have no idea what we’re doing. This is not how you do TV. This is bad,” he recalls. The result, he says, was “one of the worst pilots anyone has ever made”.

Franzen used to think TV was the “enemy” of the serious novelist. In a well-known 1996 essay for Harper’s Magazine about the decline of high literature he had complained bitterly about the “banal ascendancy of television”. But after the HBO series failed, he watched Breaking Bad, Nurse Jackie and Silicon Valley and loved them. In the age of social media, AI and the endless scroll, TV has started to look like a “friend”, he says now. And The Corrections is finally being adapted into an eight-part Netflix series, with Meryl Streep playing Enid Lambert, the matriarch clinging to dreams of hosting a perfect last family Christmas, even as her husband Alfred is in terminal decline with Parkinson’s and dementia and their grownup children’s lives are falling apart in terrible, comical ways. Once Streep announced she was in, Franzen felt the “chances of making this show have gone up above 50%”. He says he’s a month away from finishing the script.

Published: September 19, 2026, 1:00 am

John Wilson on his unlikely concrete movie: ‘There might be a kind of sickness in shooting things this way’

The creator of How To with John Wilson has returned with his first film, a documentary about how to sell a documentary about concrete

As mayor of New York City, Zohran Mamdani has frequently demonstrated impressive media savvy, but arguably nothing has proved his genius for in-the-know promo more than a video, released in April, with the documentarian John Wilson.

The spot, in support of the mayor’s plan to reduce the presence of the city’s ubiquitous sidewalk sheds, suggested that either he or someone on his team was a fan of How To With John Wilson, the film-maker’s cult-beloved HBO series that remains a taste signifier for alt-humorous New Yorkers. And for good reason: over three near-perfect seasons, Wilson, armed with his ever-present camera and diffident, memoiristic narration, explored the city’s disintegrating streets with a singular eye for the weird and unintentionally hilarious, turning the most mundane of NYC preoccupations – public restrooms, parking spots, scaffolding – into profound meditations on the glories, indignities and absurdities of modern life.

Published: September 19, 2026, 2:00 am

Portrait power: photojournalist Lorrie Graham’s five-decade career – in pictures

Drawn from more than 100,000 images and negatives created between 1975 and 2025, the exhibition Lorrie Graham: Photojournalist is on now at the State Library of NSW.

Graham was the first female photography cadet at the Sydney Morning Herald and worked in London at the Observer and the Times on Sunday before returning to Australia to freelance there and overseas

• Fashion, form and the beach: the photography of Max Dupain – in pictures

Published: September 19, 2026, 6:00 pm

‘A losing battle’: will UK public service broadcasters survive amid US onslaught?

Jobs and programme budgets in firing line at BBC, Channel 4 and ITV as they are outgunned by YouTube and Netflix

“I wouldn’t be surprised if the BBC or Channel 4 disappeared,” says one of the thousands of TV staff at risk of redundancy, as British broadcasters face what has rapidly become a fight for survival against US digital rivals.

“My generation grew up with Netflix and YouTube … Honestly, I feel like it is a losing battle.”

Published: September 19, 2026, 2:00 am

‘It felt like an eternal moment of silent tranquillity’: Amit Lennon’s best phone picture

On holiday in Greece the photographer came across two elderly people bathed in the beautiful evening light

Amit Lennon describes his approach to portrait photography as “always respectful and collaborative”. Originally from Israel but now living in London, Lennon was holidaying in Greece in 2023 when he took this image of an elderly couple.

“I’d been for a swim in the sea, then ambled through the outskirts of Poros town, looking for a restaurant for dinner that evening,” Lennon says. It was late afternoon when he happened upon the couple. He tried to strike up a conversation, but they only spoke Greek. As Lennon did not, “the interaction became entirely nonverbal”, he says. “I play-acted that I wanted to take their photo and whether that would be OK. I’m not interested in taking a photo without someone noticing. I prefer to make a connection, however fleeting,” he says.

Published: September 19, 2026, 3:00 am

‘I feel like I’m cancelling out her life’: the wrenching work of clearing out a parent’s home

From old love letters to pieces of string, our homes are stuffed with stuff. When it comes time to empty a parent’s home, sorting the junk from the memory can be overwhelming

Soon after her marriage in 1952, Ellen Rogers’ mother, Fay, bought a coordinated bedroom ensemble – a floral dressing gown and matching bedspread. The day I talk on the phone with Rogers, she has made a tough decision – she is putting the gown and bedspread in a garbage bag to be sent off to a charity shop. “I feel so bad,” she says.

Fay died in May aged 97, and had lived in the same terrace house in Camperdown in inner Sydney her whole life. Rogers grew up in the house and returned three years ago to be a live-in carer for her mother. Now she’s cleaning out the house so it can be sold. The decisions she must make are endless; which pile for what item – family, rubbish or charity? “It’s overwhelming – there’s so much,” Rogers says, “including every bloody card she ever received.”

Published: September 19, 2026, 1:00 pm

The Black women who choose to have children on their own: ‘We’re going in eyes open’

With growing support networks online and in person, these moms say they’re changing the narrative around Black single motherhood

When Chamise Alston was ready to have a child, she connected her computer to her TV and scrolled through profiles with her best friend, dismissing people who seemed like the wrong fit. Unlike the average millennial on a dating app, Alston was scanning a sperm bank catalogue for potential donors. The Maryland-based therapist hoped to conceive a child through the assisted reproductive technology in vitro-fertilization (IVF).

That winter day in 2023, Alston and her friend chose a donor who would help her become pregnant with her now 16-month-old daughter. As a Black woman, she felt empowered taking control of her reproductive destiny.

Published: September 19, 2026, 4:00 am

The best beauty sales worth buying this fall, picked by our editors

Whether you’re looking for a new skincare gem or in the market for new makeup – we’ve rounded deals worth your dollar at Nordstrom

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

It’s finally autumn, the season when we can wear more than tinted sunscreen without sweating it off before 10am.

After recommending the best skincare for ageing skin, trying over a dozen lip balms and adding new beauty products to our own personal regimens, we have accumulated a list of the ones worthy of your dollar.

Published: September 19, 2026, 10:00 am

The moment I knew: On a bike ride, she did a bunny hop over a speed hump – her pure joy for life delighted me

Anna Malos and Georgie bonded over their shared love of travel and horses. By their third date, an awkward encounter cemented their relationship

• Find more stories from the moment I knew series

Georgie and I met at a kick-boxing club in London in 2004. We sparred together in a few beginner classes, just hitting soft pads. Although I didn’t pay her too much attention initially, I immediately recognised she was tall, elegant and very good looking.

It wasn’t until the club’s Christmas drinks that things kicked off between us. We started talking and couldn’t stop. We’d both travelled and worked in Latin America, and also loved horses – Georgie had volunteered with a horse-riding business for tourists in Ecuador. The sparks were flying all over the place.

Published: September 19, 2026, 1:00 pm

Hunk – or ‘unc’? What magazine covers of Michael B Jordan and Tom Cruise tell us about manhood

Images of two actors on front of Vogue and GQ land at a time when masculinity is increasingly dominating headlines

Tom Cruise and Michael B Jordan share many similarities as box-office powerhouses known for their death-defying action hero stunts. But this week the two stars went head-to-head, or more accurately chest-to-chest, on magazine stands.

In one corner there’s 64-year-old Cruise on the cover of GQ, his first for the magazine in 20 years. Posing in an unbuttoned shirt, one hand running through his tousled hair, the other gripping his belt buckle, this is Cruise playing the role of sexy Cruise.

Published: September 19, 2026, 5:00 am

‘Everyone assumed it represented a poo emoji!’ 27 writers on the greatest cake of their life

From the blissful threat of ‘death by chocolate’, to a book made of sponge and the lemon drizzle to end them all, these are the bakes that left the biggest impressions

The Sorting Hat sponge I made for my son’s Harry Potter party is not the best cake I’ve ever tasted. That would be anything baked by my granny, or the coffee religieuse (a choux pastry puff) I ate in Boulogne-sur-Mer with my mum. But it’s the most surprisingly edible cake I’ve ever made – a vaguely Jamie-Oliver recipe with buttercream filling and tinned mandarin slices. It didn’t only work; it tasted great, and wasn’t quite as teeth-screechingly sweet as expected. My one regret is that I over-pimped the decoration: it looked so sinister in the fridge with its cold, Sorting Hat stare that the next day I stuck on googly eyes and further sparkles. This perhaps explains why everyone assumed it was a poo emoji cake, despite it being a Harry Potter party with heavy-touch theming. That people thought I actually wanted children to eat shit is a shame, but it still remains my greatest culinary success. Catherine Shoard

Published: September 19, 2026, 3:00 am

Don’t be afraid to be masculine, laugh more, and phone your mum: letters to our sons, by Stephen Graham, Riz Ahmed, Danny Dyer and other wise men

The Adolescence actor and the psychologist Orly Klein asked fathers to write to their sons. The results – from famous dads to the wisdom of strangers – were moving and motivating. Here’s a selection

What can I say? From the moment you and your sister were born my heart has been full of a love I never thought was humanly possible. As a baby you were filled with wonder and so much energy. You had a beautiful, mischievous and inquisitive nature, which has always made me smile. You were climbing, running and jumping everywhere. You’d walk into a room wearing shoes that were four times, five times, 10 times too big for you … Sometimes they were ye mother’s.

Published: September 19, 2026, 4:00 am

‘Way too many guns around’: the common theme in US family killings

Acts of ‘familicide’ have increased dramatically this year – in the US, the killer is more likely to have easy access to a gun

The US is often known globally for its shocking levels of violence, but acts of “family annihilation” or “familicide” rank among the most disturbing of crimes.

They occur when an assailant kills four or more of their own family members and often see the killer also kill themselves. These types of crime have increased dramatically this year, according to data from Northeastern University.

Published: September 19, 2026, 5:00 am

Revenge of the labor movement: Democrats with union backgrounds aim to retake Congress

Meet the candidates with labor ties vying for Senate and House seats in midterm races. Most of the nominees are Democrats as the party looks to rebuild support among working-class voters

The US labor movement is having a banner election year.

More than three dozen nominees for open House and Senate races across the US have backgrounds as labor union representatives or members.

Published: September 19, 2026, 5:00 am

Lederhosen, sauerkraut and tapping the first barrel: Oktoberfest 2026 opens – in pictures

Crowds gather as the 191st edition of the world’s biggest beer festival kicks off in Munich, Germany

Published: September 19, 2026, 6:29 am