‘Don’t spend $20 on an acai bowl’: gen Z are shunning private equity’s restaurant takeover

As more PE firms invest in food establishments, people are bemoaning the ‘same-ification’ of NYC’s restaurant scene

Los Tacos No 1 is a classic New York success story. After the Mexican-style taco joint opened in 2013, it quickly became a critic’s pick in the city’s paper of record, drawing long lines and a devoted lunchtime crowd. As word spread about its juicy al pastor and handmade tortillas, it expanded to nine locations. Then, this September, bad news struck: Los Tacos No 1 had received an undisclosed amount of funding from private equity firm TSG Consumer.

According to a press release, this cash would help Los Tacos pursue “thoughtful, founder-led growth”. Customers were not so sure. Social media posts quickly declared “the beginning of the end” for the chain, half-jokingly anticipating tiny portions of bad food.

Published: September 21, 2026, 6:51 am

The Washington press corps needs to boycott White House events | Margaret Sullivan

CNN, MS Now and Politico accurately call last week’s sudden lockout ‘a direct assault on the first amendment’. That’s right

On Monday, the three news organizations that had been kicked out of the White House because of Donald Trump’s latest fit of pique sued the president and three top advisers.

An accompanying statement by CNN, MS Now and Politico accurately calls last week’s sudden lockout “a direct assault on the first amendment”.

Published: September 21, 2026, 8:21 am

How much is being close to your favorite artist worth? Superfans are reshaping the concert industry

Some admit to spending thousands of dollars for barricade spots and other VIP perks at concerts, which is slowly becoming common

When Harry Styles announced a fall residency at Madison Square Garden, 43-year-old Tara Bess knew she had to be there. She didn’t want to spend hours camping for a prime spot in the general admission area, so Bess bought a VIP ticket for $1,400 from a resale ticket site, which allowed her to enter the arena early and secure a spot at the barricade.

“When you’re up close, you can see him closing his eyes and almost meditating to the music,” Bess said. “You can hear the click of equipment on stage, you just feel very connected to the performance.”

Published: September 21, 2026, 4:00 am

Justin Herbert has been the quarterback of tomorrow his entire NFL career. Whose fault is that?

The Chargers star is huge, can run and has a golden right arm. But he has never quite reached the heights many expected for him

Justin Herbert is one of the most promising quarterbacks in the NFL. In fact, Justin Herbert has forever been one of the most promising quarterbacks in the NFL. That adjective, “promising”, continued to be load-bearing on Sunday, as Herbert and his Chargers turned in an underwhelming performance in a 26-14 loss to the Las Vegas Raiders. Los Angeles are now 0-2 on the year, with those losses coming to the team who picked No 1 in this year’s draft and a moribund Arizona who picked No 3. Stockholders in Herbert’s growth were taking a beating in after-hours trading. But, as ever, there’s plenty of reason to debate whether Herbert underachieved or whether his team let him down.

Herbert is 6ft 6in, can run, has a golden right arm and is capable of making astonishing throws. NFL decision-makers view him as roughly the sixth-best QB in the league but also say things like, “He should have more accolades at this point.” Certainly, he should have more wins this season, but on Sunday the 28-year-old found himself outdueled by one of the league’s senior citizens in Vegas quarterback Kirk Cousins, 10 years his senior. Herbert completed 15 of 27 passes for a touchdown and two interceptions, and he also took three sacks. Cousins threw a pick and took two sacks but was much more efficient from down to down (8.7 yards per attempt to Herbert’s 7.1). In 13 possessions, Los Angeles put together two long touchdown drives and otherwise didn’t march more than 30 yards in a series.

Published: September 21, 2026, 12:00 am

From the ridicule of Trump to the rise of Jack Welch: how the 1980s shaped and changed America

In When America Roared, Pulitzer-winning reporter Jonathan Kaufman looks back to a decade of greed and excess, and uses it to explore where we are today

Donald Trump is “so much a creature of the 80s but even in the 80s, everyone made fun of him,” Jonathan Kaufman said. General Electric CEO Jack Welch, “the most prominent business figure in the country, maybe in the world, mocked him. No one took him seriously.

“Even today, if you look at the [White House] ballroom, you look at all the things he’s doing, it’s this 1980s aesthetic, right? You can just see the way he looks at the world: the glitz, the cheapness, the gold brocade everywhere. That screams 1980s. All he needs is big hair and leg warmers and listening to, I don’t know, synthetic pop, and he’d be right back in 1985.”

Published: September 21, 2026, 3:00 am

All the signs say another financial crisis is coming. Here’s why we need to prepare for it now | Larry Elliott

War, AI disruption and markets in turmoil: the warnings are all there. But lessons from the 2008 crash could help us

Published: September 21, 2026, 12:00 am

‘Planetary boundaries’ necessary for flourishing of life have been massively breached, scientists warn

New report shows key indicators of Earth’s health are ‘outside the safe operating space’ as climate disaster looms

The planetary life support systems relied upon by humans have deteriorated to their worst levels ever recorded amid ongoing pollution and habitat destruction, according to a key yet grim annual update by scientists.

Of the nine “planetary boundaries” that help determine whether life can flourish on Earth, seven are being breached at their highest ever levels of transgression, according to the latest planetary health check, a process that was established in 2009.

Published: September 21, 2026, 7:00 am

US TV networks suspend White House pool coverage over Trump media ban

ABC, CBS, Fox News and NBC decline to participate after presidential ban that prompted widespread condemnation

Major US TV news networks agreed to refuse to air coverage of Donald Trump’s White House after the administration banned certain media outlets including CNN from the grounds.

The ban left CNN unable to fulfill its duties as Monday’s White House designated pool broadcaster.

Published: September 21, 2026, 1:10 pm

‘I lost my children, and I’m afraid of losing my baby again’: a day in the life of a pregnant woman in Gaza

Alaa lives in a tent pitched on the ruins of her house, which was destroyed by an Israeli airstrike that killed all three of her children. In one month, she will give birth again.

As the war in Gaza approaches its fourth year, this week, the Guardian follows five ordinary Palestinians as they go about their lives. Each will tell the story of their day, revealing the terrible toll of the ongoing conflict.

Alaa Hessi takes each step deliberately: raises her foot to land heavily on the stair above, takes a breath, slides her hand up the railing. Resting atop an uneven mess of rubble, the wooden staircase judders with each motion. Her movements are slowed by the heavy melon of her pregnant belly.

The sound that wakes me in the morning is the buzzing of flies inside the tent, and the noise of our neighbours.

Published: September 21, 2026, 4:00 am

ICE hides locations of thousands of detainees with final removal orders

Immigration agency’s move makes it harder for lawyers and family to find detainees, in line with stringent Trump policy

US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has stopped publicly revealing where it is holding thousands of detainees who are subject to final deportation orders, an unannounced move that has made it far more difficult for lawyers and relatives to find them, according to current and former officials familiar with the practice.

ICE removed those detainees from its online detainee locator system on 15 September, according to three current and former ICE officials who spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the change. Several lawyers contacted by the AP confirmed their clients vanished from the system this week, and the American Immigration Lawyers Association warned its members about the situation on Friday.

Published: September 21, 2026, 12:43 pm

Paramount settles lawsuits with 12 US states, clearing way for Warner merger

States including California and New York sued over concerns of ‘extinguishing competition’ with $81bn merger

Paramount has reached a settlement with California and several other states that sued over a proposed $81bn merger with Warner Bros Discovery (WBD), the California attorney general announced Monday, clearing the way to consolidate some of Hollywood’s most recognizable TV networks and studios under one owner.

Though the merger was approved by the justice department in June, a coalition of 12 states, led by California, had sued over concerns that combining two of the five last legacy studios in Hollywood would “extinguish competition” and lead to fewer movies in theaters and on streaming platforms.

Published: September 21, 2026, 9:52 am

Houthis move to seize strategic terrain after Trump calls off airstrikes at last minute

US president reportedly changed his mind over Saudi Arabia’s pleas for assistance as bombs were being loaded

Houthi fighters are moving to seize strategic heights in Yemen that would cut the Red Sea coast off from areas held ​by Saudi-backed forces after Donald Trump called off US strikes on the group at the last minute, reportedly as bombs were being loaded on to aircraft.

Amid increasingly heavy fighting in Yemen, which has displaced tens of thousands of people in recent weeks, the New York Times reported on Monday that the US president had flip-flopped wildly in recent days after a call from Saudi Arabia for US strikes on the Houthis.

Published: September 21, 2026, 9:14 am

Charges dropped against Stanford students over pro-Palestine protest

Students faced prison terms and thousands of dollars in restitution over campus protest against Israel’s war on Gaza

Five Stanford University students who faced prison sentences and thousands of dollars in restitution in connection to a campus protest against Israel’s war on Gaza had all charges dropped on Monday.

The students also had their restitution severely reduced, ending a two-year legal saga that also saw the lead prosecutor in the case removed by the court.

Published: September 21, 2026, 10:22 am

Flights halted at three US airports as watchdog warns over hacking threat

Senator Ron Wyden calls for swift action after GAO report finds systems guiding US aircraft vulnerable to interference

A congressional watchdog has warned the systems guiding US aircraft are open to interference and deception as flights into three busy airports in the country’s north-east US were halted by a radio equipment problem.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) ordered a ground stop at about 10am on Monday for Newark Liberty international, Philadelphia international and Teterboro airports, saying some radio frequencies at the Philadelphia terminal radar approach control (Tracon) were affected until the early afternoon. Arrivals and departures across the north-east.

Published: September 21, 2026, 11:06 am

Chad Gilbert, New Found Glory’s founding guitarist, dies aged 45

Gilbert’s family says he died ‘peacefully in his sleep’ months after My Friends Over You musician shared stage four cancer diagnosis

Guitarist Chad Gilbert – a founding member of the US rock band New Found Glory that doled out the early 2000s anthem My Friends Over You – has died aged 45.

Gilbert’s family announced his death on Sunday, saying that he “passed away peacefully in his sleep” and “left this world surrounded by friends and family and took his final breaths with his wife and mother by his side, just as he wished”.

Published: September 21, 2026, 9:13 am

Lauren Boebert says claims of sexual relationships with staffers ‘utterly false’

Republican congresswoman rejects ethics complaint and says allegations part of ‘politically motivated’ hit campaign

Lauren Boebert, the firebrand Republican subject of a House ethics complaint that she had sex with three staff members, and paid one to keep quiet, has said the allegations are untrue – and part of a “politically motivated” campaign against her.

Boebert’s denials came through a formal statement from her office, which said “the congresswoman rejects the claims as utterly false”. She also published a verbose video rant on social media in which she accused the person who filed the document as a “sloppy, desperate, obsessive hack” – and journalists who reported the story as falling victim to a “scam”.

Published: September 21, 2026, 10:03 am

Key ally urges Trump to back US farmers amid anger over rising prices

Iowa senator Chuck Grassley calls for embargo on diesel exports as tariffs and Iran war drive up costs for sector

Donald Trump is facing growing calls, including from within his own party, to boost support for US farmers as his administration faces mounting anger over its treatment of the agricultural sector.

Republican senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa called on the US president to place an embargo on diesel exports this weekend and help farmers grapple with high prices.

Published: September 21, 2026, 9:18 am

Trump set to press Zelenskyy at UN to agree energy ceasefire with Russia

President to meet Ukrainian counterpart in New York as Ukraine steps up attacks on Russian energy sector

Donald Trump is expected to press Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy on an energy ceasefire during a face-to-face meeting this week during United Nations high-level week, as world diesel prices have soared due to the war in Iran, as well as Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Ukraine stepped up its attacks on Russia’s energy sector over the weekend, launching its largest reported strike yet on the Moscow region in a barrage that struck a major Moscow oil refinery and killed three people.

Published: September 21, 2026, 9:54 am

Race to be next UN secretary general could rest on US and China trade-offs

Numerous possible last-minute entrants being discussed as current field of seven candidates struggle to garner support

Numerous last-minute entrants in the race to become the new UN secretary general are being discussed amid concerns that the world powers may not be able to agree a successor to António Guterres from the current field of seven candidates.

Three rounds of secret ballots have so far not produced an obvious frontrunner, with probably only three candidates regarded as still having a realistic chance of gathering the required support.

Published: September 21, 2026, 9:56 am

Banished to alien lands: Trump’s secret deportation deals

After a plane journey in shackles, an Iranian woman found herself in the middle of Africa in a country she did not know existed. She is one of thousands deported from the US on the back of shadowy deals made with dozens of countries. An in-depth investigation reveals the ‘show of force’ costing American taxpayers millions

No one would tell the shackled detainees onboard the US immigration plane where they were going. The officers in charge would taunt them when they asked, they said. It was only when the seat-back video screens finally showed a map that the 18 migrants worked it out.

Published: September 20, 2026, 10:00 pm

Rise of the far right in Germany: how worried should we be? – The Latest

The German chancellor, Friedrich Merz, has vowed to stay in office despite heavy losses in two state elections that he described as a ‘disaster’. The anti-immigration, Kremlin-friendly Alternative für Deutschland won with 38% of the vote in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, while the leftwing Die Linke was victorious in Berlin.

Merz has promised political change, but speculation is growing that his party could soon oust him. Lucy Hough speaks to the Guardian’s Berlin correspondent, Deborah Cole.

Published: September 21, 2026, 9:47 am

Epstein survivors struggle financially as they continue to heal their wounds: ‘It doesn’t just go away’

Legislation proposed by House Democrats aims to address survivors’ financial and medical burdens

Danielle Bensky wants a typical life.

“I would just love to own a house one day and have a dog,” said Bensky, who is among the Jeffrey Epstein survivors advocating for accountability. “I think that’s the dream – literally just to have a normal existence where we’re not trying to fight the government and constantly be facing our own abuse.”

Published: September 21, 2026, 5:00 am

Whiplashed middle powers seek new alliances as Trump rages on world stage

While world leaders prepare for annual UN gathering, shifts in the global order continue in the face of a disruptive American president

In the event of a midterms election battering, it is possible that a deflated Donald Trump, constrained by a Democrat-controlled Congress, will gradually have to face up to the indignity of irrelevance.

While continuing to sign off Truth Social posts with his usual, “Thank you for your attention to this matter”, no one will actually be paying much attention. His meandering press conferences will no longer be carried live by TV networks. The Republican party will move on to the question of his successor. Trump could announce he had changed the name of the Champs-Élysées to Sunset Boulevard and even Google Maps will stifle a yawn. He would become that most pitied of political animals, the lame duck.

Published: September 20, 2026, 9:00 pm

Moviegoer using phone during film pepper-sprayed in LA, police say

California man charged with misdemeanor battery in Burbank over incident sending three patrons to hospital

A 34-year-old man from California has been arrested after allegedly pepper-spraying a person at a movie theater who was using his cellphone during the film, according to authorities.

Police arrested Matthew Ware on 15 September after purportedly pepper spraying a patron at the AMC Burbank 16 who was using his cellphone, while two other moviegoers nearby also experienced irritation from the pepper spray, according to the Burbank police department. All three people were treated at a local hospital.

Published: September 21, 2026, 1:11 pm

California braces for record El Niño storms as governor declares emergency

Super El-Niño has already broken temperature records and is predicted to bring an extremely wet winter to the state

• ‘Jaw-dropping’ El Niño bursts through temperature record months before peak

California is bracing for a record breaking El Niño that is expected to bring severe winter storms and flooding across the state, with the state’s governor declaring a state of emergency in anticipation of extreme weather in the months ahead.

The global climate phenomenon known as a “super El Niño” is already breaking temperature records and drawing predictions of an extremely wet winter in places such as California, where El Niño typically brings more severe winter storms and flooding risks. Several coastal California cities have recently faced high surf, flooding and coastal erosion linked to Hurricane Marie as well as El Niño. Experts have said the effects offered a glimpse at what the coming winter could look like.

Published: September 21, 2026, 12:31 pm

‘So surreal’: woman gives birth while stuck in heavy San Francisco traffic

Doula stopped to assist couple with birth while first responders were also stuck in traffic and arrived on foot

A woman stuck in heavy traffic in San Francisco went into labor and gave birth to a healthy baby girl, local authorities have said.

The San Francisco fire department said in a statement that a couple had been snarled in heavy congestion near the city’s Golden Gate Park when they were forced to pull over due to the imminent birth.

Published: September 21, 2026, 7:17 am

Harry Styles walked eight miles in loafers. Is he ruining his feet? There’s only one way to find out

For his trek across New York City, the singer wore a pair of Prada slip-ons. I tried to do the same in my penny loafers – and soon found out why experts advise against it

Last month, just before his 30-night residency at Madison Square Garden, Harry Styles was spotted walking the streets of New York. According to the paparazzi who trailed him throughout his journey, he walked eight miles – all the way from Brooklyn into Manhattan – in loafers.

If, like me, you own a pair of loafers, your first thought is probably: that doesn’t sound like a good idea. On Instagram, Grazia called Styles’ shoes “perhaps the least sensible footwear for such an undertaking”.

Published: September 21, 2026, 4:00 am

Get tested and talk to your partner: how to have safer sex after age 50

At 51, I want many more years of a healthy, happy sex life. So I decided to compile my own guide

When I got divorced after 28 years of monogamy, I was excited to be having sex again, but had concerns. I was 48, and the last time I’d been single was in the 90s; terrified of pregnancy and hyperconscious of HIV/Aids, I hadn’t considered condomless intercourse an option back then.

Now, at 51, I’ve been wondering how important barrier protection is for me. Though I haven’t hit menopause, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) says that “by 45 getting pregnant naturally is unlikely”, and HIV/Aids prevention and treatment have improved significantly in the last three decades.

Published: September 21, 2026, 9:00 am

Ten lessons from Jakob Ingebrigtsen, one of the world’s most beguiling athletes

Norwegian is meticulous in his training regime – ‘if there’s anything that’s out of my control, then I’ve not done my job properly’

On a snowy Norwegian morning in January, Jakob Ingebrigtsen was on his treadmill, shooting the breeze about his running philosophy before our more formal interview. I should write something on this, I told him. Sure, came the reply.

In recent weeks, the 26‑year‑old has added to his legacy with a European 5,000m gold, the World Ultimate 5,000m title and a world road silver medal despite achilles surgery in February and a flu that lingered through May and June. So now seems as good a time as any.

Published: September 21, 2026, 12:00 pm

Is it true that … cycling affects fertility?

Saddling up is only likely to be an issue for elite athletes – and those with low sperm counts

“Cycling isn’t big on the radar of fertility doctors,” says Prof Colin Duncan, a fertility expert at the University of Edinburgh.

For women, he says, the only time cycling is likely to affect fertility is when it’s done at extreme levels, such as the kind of training undertaken by elite athletes.

Published: September 21, 2026, 12:00 pm

Sense and Sensibility review – Daisy Edgar-Jones leads sober-minded next-gen do-over of Austen romcom

With Edgar-Jones and Esmé Creed-Miles as the Dashwood sisters, this fresh take on a beloved classic is not to be confused with Ang Lee’s

There’s no reason for anyone working on a new adaptation of Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility to be intimidated by the celebrated 1995 movie by director Ang Lee and screenwriter Emma Thompson, any more than they should be or overawed by Austen’s original novel. Sacred cows are there to be … not slain, but re-invented. The decision to bring out a next-gen Sense and Sensibility, with a new young cast – as opposed to, say, a new Northanger Abbey or a new spin on the unfinished The Watsons – might bemuse some and at first it bemused me, like hearing about a Love Actually remake starring Millie Bobby Brown. But this turns out to be a more downbeat, ruminative version, happening in much cloudier weather than 30 years ago and without the sugar-rush final wedding scene. The mood is cooler, but interestingly austere, sober and thoughtful. There are also some strange casting decisions.

The sisters at the heart of the story, Elinor and Marianne Dashwood, played in 1995 by Emma Thompson and Kate Winslet, are now played by Daisy Edgar-Jones and Esmé Creed-Miles, and frankly don’t look and sound much like the sisters we thought we knew. They look like young women who knew each other reasonably well at uni and are now in a flatshare in London. It is a story of financial and romantic crisis. Mrs Dashwood and her three daughters, having happily occupied a handsome Sussex estate, are forced to move to humble Barton Cottage in Devon when Mrs Dashwood’s stepson John Dashwood inherits their property and effectively evicted them.

Published: September 21, 2026, 8:00 am

We’re not in a new Gilded Age in America: inequality is now far worse | Casey Michel

Today’s wealth gap is much bigger, and the country’s richest have much more power than they once did. It’s an Age of Oligarchy

For many, the era of US history that most resembles contemporary America is easy to identify: the Gilded Age.

It is, in certain ways, an apt comparison. Like modern America, the Gilded Age saw a small number of men tower over US politics and industry alike. Rising atop a swell of wealth inequality, figures like Cornelius Vanderbilt, Andrew Carnegie and John D Rockefeller mixed private interests with public policy, opening doors in Washington and beyond with ease. Their model is a clear precedent for figures such as Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Larry Ellison and more.

Published: September 21, 2026, 5:00 am

Mark Carney is making an eloquent case for an alliance sidelining the US | Ted Widmer

The Canadian prime minister’s remarks before the European parliament outlined a vision of the west without its most powerful member

The speeches keep coming, each building on the previous one, as the Canadian prime minister builds a case for a new world order that has strikingly little to do with the United States of America, the country that has led the west since the second world war.

On 20 January, in Davos, Mark Carney proposed that the world’s middle powers do more to support each other, in light of a “rupture” in the global order. That was clearly a reference to the destabilizing policies of Donald Trump, who had been inaugurated exactly one year earlier, and had spent most of that year insulting the US’s allies.

Published: September 21, 2026, 9:00 am

The US supreme court issued a fragile win for voting rights – the real test comes later | Claire Finkelstein

The court’s decision was based entirely on the timing of proposed new mail-in ballot rules. The larger question could re-emerge

Last week’s supreme court decision upholding the district court’s restraining order on USPS’s mail-in ballot restrictions is being hailed as a victory for electoral integrity by politicians, political commentators and voting rights advocates alike. The senator Chuck Schumer, for example, called the decision “one of the most important cases to protect voting rights before the supreme court”. But the unsigned, three-sentence opinion, with only a brief concurrence and a lengthy dissent, is no such thing.

The court based its brief opinion entirely on the timing of the roll-out of the new rules, which became effective on 21 August, just weeks away from the midterm elections and only days before several states were scheduled to begin mailing out their ballots. California’s submission to the court, joined by twenty-two states and the district of Columbia, asking the court to leave the injunction against the rule change in place, made clear that compliance with the rules in advance of the midterms would not only be difficult; it would be impossible without disenfranchising thousands of voters. And that, of course, is the point.

Published: September 21, 2026, 6:00 am

Canada is seeking new global neighbours – no wonder, as Trump rolls out stupidities at scale | David Moscrop

As the White House doles out threats and insults, it would be easy to hold out for better times. Mark Carney is right to court the EU instead

The absurdities of the Trump administration and its hangers-on could be written off as a distraction if the stakes weren’t so high. People might be used to banal trolling on social media platforms, but the global hegemon has forced this petulance onto hundreds of millions of people who are worried about their future and the future of the world. That makes the trolling something worse than distracting.

The White House’s online personality is at once extremely disconcerting and extremely juvenile. It’s easy to be stunned by the scale and brazenness of it. During a trade dispute with Canada, and feeling insulted by the premier of Ontario, Doug Ford, the president of the United States decides to rename Lake Ontario Lake America, and then proceeds to share memes showcasing the renamed body of water – which remains Lake Ontario outside US borders (and inside it, for some states, such as New York). Not to be outdone, the US defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, posted an attack against a Canadian cadet and her instructor, mocking them and the Canadian armed forces.

Published: September 21, 2026, 8:00 am

The Houthis’ offensive is the latest spillover from Trump’s Iran disaster | Mohamad Bazzi

Trump’s mess has rekindled Yemen’s civil war and a years-long conflict between the Houthis and Saudi Arabia

When the US and Israel launched a war of aggression against Iran in late February, Tehran’s allies in the Middle East jumped into the fray. Lebanon’s Hezbollah militia fired rockets at Israel, while Shia militias in Iraq attacked US bases and diplomatic outposts. But the Houthis, who control large parts of Yemen, mostly stayed on the sidelines.

Over the past few weeks, however, the Houthis have changed their tactics and have entered the conflict in full force. They led a rapid advance along Yemen’s Red Sea coast, seizing a strategic port city and several islands that gave the militia control over the Bab al-Mandab strait, a vital waterway for energy shipments and other global trade. Thanks to Donald Trump’s war, Iran and its allies now dominate the Middle East’s two major regional energy chokepoints: Bab al-Mandab and the strait of Hormuz.

Published: September 21, 2026, 3:00 am

Europe is under attack from three sides – but the EU and Nato are unfit to defend us | Nathalie Tocci

Ursula von der Leyen’s outreach to Canada and new security proposals are wise – but she may not be the right messenger

Europe’s strategic predicament is ever clearer, and ever darker. The continent is at war, which is being fought militarily in Ukraine, but is escalating rapidly across Europe through hybrid attacks. Germany’s disclosure that it blames Russia for the drone attack at Leipzig airport; a Russian drone strike on a train near the Ukraine-Poland border; an Italian jet shooting down a Russian drone over Lithuania; flares fired from a Russian warship at a Danish helicopter – all within the space of a couple of weeks – tell a coherent story. Whether because Russia is bogged down and unable to advance in Ukraine, or because it believes the US will not come to Europe’s rescue, Vladimir Putin’s regime is ever more bent on escalating its aggression in Europe.

Putin’s calculus is not irrational. Trump never misses a chance to lash out at Europe – the latest example being his threats of further tariffs on the EU if Brussels proceeds to offer Canada “associate membership”. Europeans have grown numb to Trump’s insults and threats, but these threats do underline his deep antipathy, suggesting that if a Russian attack warranted a response, Trump might look the other way. The US certainly can’t be relied on to have Europe’s back.

Published: September 21, 2026, 8:37 am

The Guardian view on Friedrich Merz: Germany’s chancellor must change course to halt the rise of the AfD | Editorial

A failure to address widespread economic insecurity, and a crisis in living standards, is allowing the far right the harness a growing protest vote

After less than a year and a half in office, Germany’s beleaguered chancellor, Friedrich Merz, is already looking like a lame duck leader. Anticipating dire results in two state elections which were held on Sunday, Mr Merz cancelled a planned speech at this week’s United Nations general assembly in order to plot an emergency response. A night of extraordinary humiliation for his conservative Christian Democratic Union party (CDU) must have confounded even his own low expectations.

In the eastern state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, the far-right Alternative für Deutschland party (AfD) won its second regional election this month with 38% of the vote. The CDU meanwhile recorded its worst result since the second world war, failing even to meet the 5% threshold for representation in the state parliament. Mr Merz took over the leadership of the CDU promising to see off the threat of the AfD. Instead it has ascended to a menacing and unprecedented position of electoral strength, and enjoys a comfortable lead in national polls.

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 21, 2026, 10:34 am

Bears say Caleb Williams is week-to-week with hamstring injury and will ‘miss some time’

• Quarterback sustained injury in loss on Sunday

• Tyson Bagent lined up to replace Williams

Bears quarterback Caleb Williams’s hamstring injury is going to be a “week-to-week thing,” Chicago coach Ben Johnson said Monday in a ⁠radio interview on ESPN 1000.

Johnson did not put a definitive timeline on Williams’s recovery.

Published: September 21, 2026, 11:05 am

‘I needed an IV’: shoes melt as turf temperature reaches 157F in Eagles-Titans game

• Eagles coach says game was ‘hot as shit’

• Cam Jurgens had to replace cleats several times

The Tennessee Titans were happy to get off the field on Sunday, and not just because they lost their second game in a row.

Amid sweltering conditions in Nashville, the temperature on the artificial turf at Nissan Stadium reached 157F (69.4C), according to the Fox broadcast.

Published: September 20, 2026, 9:33 pm

Infantino proposes an ‘independent external review’ of Fifa governance

• President writes to council and member nations

• Infantino says he is ‘fully committed to leading Fifa’

The Fifa president, Gianni Infantino, proposed an outside review of how the governing body ⁠makes major decisions on ⁠Monday, acknowledging in a ​letter to members that its handling of a now-abandoned investment plan had caused concern.

“First, I will ask the council whether it wishes to commission an independent external review ⁠of Fifa’s current governance framework for major strategic initiatives and recommend potential improvements,” Infantino wrote to the Fifa council and all 211 member association presidents.

Published: September 21, 2026, 1:15 pm

Paper trail of protests: José Mourinho plays the hits in Madrid derby defeat | Sid Lowe

Facing Diego Simeone 13 years on, José Mourinho brought a print-out and paranoia. Some things don’t change. Some people don’t, either

There were many questions to emerge from the Madrid derby, which Atlético won 2-1 in front of 70,514 very, very noisy people at the Metropolitano on Sunday afternoon, even if not the one José Mourinho was asking. Like: what year is this? Or: what was Dean Huijsen thinking? Why always Arda? And whatever happened to Vinícius Júnior? How come Koke is still the best? And how long before Giuliano Simeone actually bursts, his atlético insides exploding across the pitch? Above all though, you were left wondering: where did Real Madrid’s manager get a printer from? And how did he get the bloody thing to work?

You could still hear the singing outside when Mourinho turned up in the press room, laid down his glasses and sat. In his hand was a piece of paper. Thirteen years after his last derby, on the Santiago Bernabéu night when Madrid lost the Copa del Rey final and a 13-year unbeaten run against their neighbours, Diego Simeone had defeated him again. The stage was new – this stadium didn’t exist then – but his adversary was somehow still the same man, still dressed in black, and the scene was a bit like old times, a classic. Mourinho unfolded the paper and held it up. “We can save ourselves the bother of the press conference,” he said, “because the story is right here.”

Published: September 21, 2026, 8:13 am

The last two seasons were grim for Spurs. This is as bad as it’s ever been | Jonathan Wilson

Pre-season thoughts of European qualification are already beginning to look bafflingly optimistic for Roberto De Zerbi’s team

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In March, Tottenham, fearing possible relegation, spent big to bring in Roberto De Zerbi, who will probably never go into a negotiation with a stronger hand. There was obvious improvement and they stayed up on the final day of the season. Since then, Spurs have spent a net £175m ($234m) on improving the squad. The message seemed clear: the fiscal caution of the Daniel Levy era was over and this was a club willing to spend. Yet Spurs go into the first international break bottom of the Premier League table.

To an extent, the issue is confidence. On the opening weekend at Brentford, with a weird mishmash of a side, a team that was clearly undercooked, they were hammered 3-0 by much better-prepared opponents. That was not hugely surprising given how sensible Brentford’s transfer dealing had been and how early they had done it. More worrying was what happened the following week as Spurs, starting well before fading, lost 2-0 at home to Newcastle.

Published: September 21, 2026, 8:20 am

‘A terrible, terrible accident’: Cubs’ Bregman undergoes CT scans after taking foul ball to face

• Third baseman was standing near on-deck circle

• Player taken to hospital for X-rays and CT scan

Chicago Cubs third baseman Alex Bregman was taken to the hospital for tests after being struck in the face by a foul ball while standing in front of the on-deck circle during Sunday’s game against the Cincinnati Reds.

Bregman underwent X-rays and CT scans, and the team were hopeful he would be able ⁠to travel back to ⁠Chicago on Sunday ​night. The Cubs are off Monday before beginning a three-game home series against the Miami Marlins on Tuesday.

Published: September 20, 2026, 3:20 pm

Lynx’s Olivia Miles breaks Caitlin Clark’s WNBA rookie scoring record

• Guard was named an All-Star in first WNBA season

• Miles has broken several records in first campaign

Olivia Miles broke Caitlin Clark’s WNBA rookie scoring record on Sunday in the Minnesota Lynx’s 101-89 victory over the Connecticut Sun.

Miles, who finished with 21 points, was tied with Clark at 769 points coming into the game and moved to the top of the list when she made a free throw in the second quarter. The Lynx rookie came into the game averaging 19.7 points, 6.0 assists and 4.7 rebounds, and is a big reason the team have the best record in the WNBA.

Published: September 20, 2026, 3:09 pm

Chancellor vows to stay on for Germany’s ‘democratic future’ after latest loss to far-right AfD

Merz seeks to shore up support after CDU loses two state elections and is ejected from Mecklenburg parliament

• Latest German election humiliation puts Merz on borrowed time as CDU unrest grows

Germany’s beleaguered leader, Friedrich Merz, has vowed to keep his fractious coalition government together for the good of the country’s “democratic future” after his conservative party suffered a drubbing at the polls in two state elections.

Merz, who has vowed to plough ahead with an unpopular reform agenda, dismissed speculation over his position, saying it was vital that he and his coalition government remained in place.

Published: September 21, 2026, 8:38 am

US strikes on alleged drug boats may constitute ‘crimes against humanity’, UN expert says

Dozens of US attacks on boats in the Pacific and Caribbean have killed more than 230 people since September 2025

A special rapporteur for the UN human rights council has concluded that there are “reasonable grounds to believe” that the United States attacks on boats allegedly carrying drugs in the Pacific and Caribbean “constituted crimes against humanity”.

The boat strikes, carried out since September 2025 on the stated grounds of stopping drugs being trafficked by sea to the US, have killed more than 230 people. The latest, on Saturday, killed four people in the Caribbean.

Published: September 21, 2026, 8:54 am

Vermont man convicted of attempted murder of three Palestinian students

James Eaton, 51, faces life in prison after jury rejects insanity defense rooted in claims he was acting on orders from US and Israeli intelligence

A jury has convicted a Vermont man of attempted murder in the shootings of three Palestinian college students who were walking near his home, rejecting an insanity defense rooted in his claims that he was acting on orders from the CIA and Mossad.

Jason Eaton, 51, faces up to life in prison over the November 2023 attack near the University of Vermont campus in Burlington, which left Hisham Awartani paralyzed from the waist down and wounded his friends, Tahseen Aliahmad and Kinnan Abdalhamid.

Published: September 21, 2026, 1:38 pm

US hunter charged after fatally shooting woman he mistook for a deer, police say

Walter Moorhead, 74, jailed on suspicion of manslaughter after allegedly shooting a woman while hunting in Delaware

A Maryland hunter was recently jailed on suspicion of manslaughter after he allegedly fatally shot a woman whom he mistook for a deer, according to authorities in Delaware.

Walter Moorhead, 74, was hunting from a ground blind in a field near Ellendale, Delaware, at about 7.40pm on Friday when he believed he saw a deer and fired his rifle, state police said in a statement. Yet it was actually a woman whom Moorhead fired at and struck as she walked across the field with two children, the statement added.

Published: September 21, 2026, 6:37 am

Putin consolidates grip on Russia as 49 Ukraine war veterans elected to parliament

United Russia party’s record victory in tightly controlled vote likely to be used as evidence of support for war against Ukraine

Russia’s new parliament will include 49 deputies who have taken part in the war against Ukraine, officials have said after a landslide victory by the ruling United Russia party in widely criticised elections.

The pro-Kremlin party won a record 355 seats in the country’s 450-seat Duma lower house of parliament, according to preliminary figures. The result further consolidates Vladimir Putin’s grip on power and gives United Russia a super-majority bigger than its previous 2016 record of 343 seats.

Published: September 21, 2026, 6:40 am

Man and police officer wounded in exchange of gunfire near Ontario synagogue

Officials say man was critically injured and officer was wounded in Yom Kippur incident near Belleville synagogue

A police officer and a man were wounded in an exchange of gunfire on Sunday near a synagogue in Ontario as members of the Jewish community marked Yom Kippur, authorities said. The man was hospitalized in life-threatening condition.

The Canadian province’s special investigations unit said the exchange of gunfire happened near the Sons of Jacob Synagogue in Belleville, Ontario, about 110 miles (160km) east of Toronto. Belleville police said the officer encountered the man at about 7.10pm and that both were taken to a hospital.

Published: September 21, 2026, 7:56 am

No avoiding the cost of inaction on climate, Anthony Albanese says in New York

Before United Nations meeting, prime minister says Australians knows the impact of global heating as well as anyone

Australia understands the dangers of global warming and the urgency of climate action as much as any other country, Anthony Albanese has said in a keynote speech shortly before the United Nations general assembly.

Speaking at the opening of the Climate Week event at the UN in New York on Monday, the prime minister said Australians had experienced the impact of climate breakdown up close with a series of disastrous bushfires and floods in the past decades.

Published: September 21, 2026, 10:00 am

Millions of dollars in funding but still no plan: can Quebec save its caribou from extinction?

The Canadian government has committed C$25m to try to rescue the caribou in the province – but there is no agreement on how best to save the keystone species

The caribou of Quebec are at breaking point. The province, home to 15% of Canada’s population of woodland caribou, has seen numbers crash to about half of what they were a decade ago. For years, local First Nations people, researchers and environmental groups have criticised the provincial government’s lack of action on protecting caribou, an animal considered a keystone species by Indigenous peoples.

A recently announced agreement between the federal and Quebec governments has raised hopes that the province will finally be compelled to release a protection strategy. The federal government has committed C$25m (£13m) to the province for caribou over five years, with an additional C$15m for the First Nations communities on whose land the herds live.

Published: September 21, 2026, 4:00 am

Babies ‘will face almost twice as much’ extreme fire weather in Europe than great-grandparents

Children born after 2025 will experience three more years of brutally fire-conducive weather as global heating intensifies

European babies will face almost twice as much extreme fire weather as their great-grandparents if climate action does not ramp up quickly, a study has found.

Global heating under current policies will expose a child born in Europe in 2025 to three more years of brutally fire-conducive weather over their lifetime than someone born in 1950, the researchers found.

Published: September 21, 2026, 2:00 am

How Saudi oil scientists ended up working on the world’s most important climate reports

Guardian investigation reveals fossil fuel links of IPCC authors, with experts declaring the body’s conflict of interest policy ‘not fit for purpose’

On her first day as an expert author on the world’s most important climate reports, Prof Julia Steinberger knew nobody else, so she sat down at a stranger’s table for breakfast.

“Hi, I’m Julia. I’m from the University of Lausanne,” she said. The man across the table replied: “I’m Mustafa Babiker. I work with Saudi Aramco.”

Published: September 20, 2026, 10:00 pm

Starbucks baristas reel from surges in health insurance costs: ‘I’m considering a second job’

Several workers say they’re opting to go without health coverage due to premium costs soaring this year

Starbucks workers say their health insurance premiums have soared this year, in some cases more than doubling, according to a recent survey conducted by Starbucks Workers United.

The survey of more than 130 Starbucks workers in both unionized and non-unionized stores, shared exclusively with the Guardian, found baristas are experiencing significant hikes in costs for their health insurance coverage starting 1 October.

Published: September 21, 2026, 4:00 am

Converse apologizes and pulls ad that critics said evoked racist imagery

Sneaker company removes social media ad after backlash from critics who said it resembled KKK imagery

The sneaker company Converse has removed a social media ad that sparked outrage among critics who viewed it as evoking the Ku Klux Klan and lynching.

The Instagram ad photo showed K-pop singer Karina wearing a skirt and holding a pair of Chuck 70 X sneakers. Critics lashed out online, saying that a white triangular image created by lighting on the skirt resembled a KKK hood – and that the way she held the sneakers made them look like the dangling feet of a lynching victim.

Published: September 21, 2026, 5:03 am

‘He was well loved’: families mourn victims of Amazon cargo plane crash in Miami

Questions remain over tragedy that killed five as families file wrongful death lawsuits against Amazon and cargo firm

Among Junior and Jachel Pineda’s most treasured photographs of their father, Julio, one of five men killed in the Amazon cargo plane crash in Miami earlier this month, is one of him wearing his favorite red apron. Embroidered on the front are the words Chef Mago – the “wizard chef” in English – and Julio is clutching a ladle and tending to a pot on the stovetop.

The kitchen was one of the 75-year-old Cuban immigrant’s happy places, where he would cook for his family, his friends and his neighbors in the Hialeah community where he lived. He would feed and entertain them even after an exhausting shift for the aircraft cleaning company he was employed by.

Published: September 21, 2026, 5:00 am

Newly identified Bolivian wildcat 'Tigrino' plays in his enclosure – video

Scientists who identified a previously unknown wildcat in Bolivia have called the new species Leopardus tilcayo. The 10-year-old wildcat, called Tigrino, had been adopted by a family that thought he was a domestic cat

Published: September 21, 2026, 11:33 am

Presley Gerber, son of Cindy Crawford and Rande Gerber, dies aged 27

The model, who struggled with addiction and prescription medication dependency, died at a rehab facility

Presley Gerber, son of supermodel Cindy Crawford and businessman Rande Gerber, has died aged 27.

According to the Los Angeles county medical examiner, the former model died on Sunday 20 September at a rehab facility. The cause of death has not been disclosed.

Published: September 20, 2026, 9:53 pm

Inquest into British aid workers killed in Gaza may call on Israeli and UK military chiefs

Lawyer tells hearing that families wish to know whether weaponry involved in deaths was made in Britain

Israeli and UK military commanders could be requested to give evidence to an inquest concerning three British workers killed in Gaza when aid vehicles they were travelling in were hit by an airstrike.

It is also possible that the inquest into the deaths of John Chapman, 57, Jim Henderson, 33, and James Kirby, 47, may examine whether the weaponry that killed the men was made in the UK.

Published: September 21, 2026, 11:49 am

Meta bans ads for Virginia Woolf play in Spain because they relate to feminism

Theatre told that Facebook and Instagram filter out ads mentioning ‘social topics’ such as civil rights or feminism

A theatre in Barcelona has been banned from promoting a stage adaptation of Virginia Woolf’s A Room of One’s Own on Instagram and Facebook because the work includes “social topics”.

When the newly reopened Teatre Raval, which seats 193 spectators, asked Meta, the parent company of the two social media sites, why its publicity had been blocked, it was told “any mention of civil rights, feminism or social reform [topics that are central to Woolf’s work] are usually classified as ‘social topics’ by our automatic system” and are filtered out.

Published: September 21, 2026, 7:11 am

John Oliver on UnitedHealth Group: ‘Algorithmically driven, ruthless arbiters of who lives and who dies’

Ahead of Luigi Mangione’s sentencing, the Last Week Tonight host looked into the corporate healthcare behemoth that is UnitedHealth Group

After a month hiatus, John Oliver returned to Last Week Tonight with a look at United Healthcare, the largest insurance company in the US, which served over 50 million people last year. The company, part of the widely reviled private, for-profit health insurance industry in the US, was again under the microscope ahead of the sentencing of Luigi Mangione, who in August pleaded guilty to killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson’s in on 4 December 2024.

The shooting, outside a conference of health insurance executives in Manhattan, was “notably not met with universal sympathy”, Oliver recalled. “But it’s not just that Luigi was handsome. One reason many found it hard to completely condemn the murder is that so many Americans are furious with UnitedHealthcare.” Oliver cited a poll conducted shortly after the shooting, in which 69% of respondents in some part blamed denials for healthcare coverage by insurance companies for the killing.

Published: September 21, 2026, 8:43 am

Dunesday: will this be Barbenheimer on steroids – the biggest weekend of cinema ever?

Since the mammoth success of the films Barbie and Oppenheimer in 2023, Hollywood has taken to jointly marketing movies released on the same day – and December’s matchup of Dune: Part Three and Avengers: Doomsday could break all records

Name: Dunesday.

Age: Nascent.

Published: September 21, 2026, 5:29 am

‘Still feel a jolt of joy’: why Dirty Dancing is my feelgood movie

The latest in our ongoing series of writers highlighting their most rewatched comfort films remembers a 1987 teenage girl classic

There is probably a Swedish word for the emotional state engendered in me by Dirty Dancing. A kind of turbo-nostalgia which blends solace, joy and a sense of continuity with a yearning so acute I can feel it in my ribs.

I must have been around 12 years old when I first watched Baby (Jennifer Grey) and Johnny (Patrick Swayze) fall in love while bumping pelvises as dance partners (before Strictly Come Dancing, this trajectory felt more surprising.)

Published: September 21, 2026, 2:00 am

Heart of the action: why organ couriers are cinema’s new heroes

Whether its a nod to frontline Covid heroes or a return to biology in a world of digital noise, there’s a rich vein of new films featuring organ deliveries, including Runner and the latest Resident Evil

Hollywood loves a ticking clock – especially when there’s a delivery involved. For decades, dangerous cargo has been entrusted to certain types of action hero: spies, soldiers, hitmen, Jason Statham.

Lately, however, Hollywood seems interested in a different kind of hero – not to mention a different kind of cargo. Forget your nuclear launch codes, stolen diamonds and mysterious briefcases, for human organs are the new MacGuffins du jour, and the medical professionals charged with getting them to the ICU have become unlikely action heroes.

Published: September 21, 2026, 2:23 am

Legend of the White Dragon review – Power Rangers alumni back for more in low-budget superhero retread

Simple but emphatic martial arts and a couple of classy cameos are all that give this blandly modern action film a fighting chance

Despite featuring a clutch of Power Rangers graduates, including Jason David Frank, who died in 2022, this crowdfunded effort is beholden to a more recent action tradition. It feels like it’s been cobbled together by ticking tropes off the modern superhero bingo card: Dark Knight-esque pariah hero, Gotham-style civic pantomime with the mayor, police and media, Iron Man helmet-cams, a sprig of eastern mysticism in the initiation sequence, western fighters appropriating said eastern mysticism … the list goes on.

After a dustoff with his nemesis Ashtagor that levelled downtown Virtuo City, the superhero White Dragon (Frank) has been held responsible for the catastrophe and forced into exile. With the death count – 1,263 – tattooed in red above his right ear, and the crystal that was the source of his power shattered in two, he is now plain old Erik Reed. It’s not only the authorities who are bent on finding him: the pharma mogul Jai Katua (Aaron Schoenke), who lost his pregnant wife, wants payback. If Katua spending his time on solo katana sessions in his billionaire superlab wasn’t already a mental health red flag, accepting one of the crystal halves and a revenge mandate from Ashtagor should definitely merit an intervention.

Published: September 20, 2026, 11:00 pm

‘Love and respect’ or ‘a cash grab’? The furious battle over the final album by the Fall

Creators of Post Script, made with vocals by the late Mark E Smith, defend it as ‘a great, positive record’, but fiancee describes it as ‘ethically wrong’

The fiancee and last manager of the late Mark E Smith, frontman of the Fall, has hit out against the release of an album being marketed as the band’s final official album, calling it “ethically wrong” and a “cash grab”.

When Post Script was first announced in June, several media reports assumed the nine-track album contained recordings that the final Fall lineup were working on before the singer’s death, in January 2018. However, it subsequently emerged that it contains unused studio vocals recorded between 2001 and 2014, to which longtime Fall associates Ed Blaney and Simon “Ding” Archer have posthumously added music.

Published: September 21, 2026, 5:30 am

The American Way of Killing by Malcolm Gladwell review – wide of the mark

Gladwell’s highly readable investigation into US gun culture fails to engage with the bigger questions

Once, while having a steak dinner with Republicans in a small town in Indiana, the man sitting opposite me asked: “How do you cope in London, when Muslims elected that mayor and you have all that gun control?” I’d been in enough such situations to know that there was no “winning” a conversation that starts like this and so did my best to playfully bat the question away.

“Well, the Muslims didn’t elect a mayor – Londoners elected a Muslim mayor,” I said. “And we don’t talk much about gun control for the same reason we don’t talk about polar bear control: we don’t have many polar bears and we don’t have many guns.”

Published: September 20, 2026, 11:00 pm

Celebrity, sex and motherhood misery: the 10 best books by Rachel Cusk … ranked!

From an abstract portrait of an actor who might be Natalie Portman to a groundbreaking work of autofiction, we rate the best from the coolly controversial author

In Cusk’s headline-grabbing latest, a writer invents the biography of a film star who sounds very like Natalie Portman. Set in the now standard late-Cusk sans serif typeface (no frivolous flourishes!), Life of M serves up observations on fame in a light fictional coating. “To always be playing a part is to have no home.” Having made her name as a devilishly good creator of brainy social comedies, Cusk’s pivot to wintry autofiction since the Outline trilogy appears to have reached its logical conclusion in this flat, abstracted portrait of empty celebrity. The New York Times called it “rarefied, cosmopolitan, self-serious”.
Sample line: “Everything I did or said in her company was false. It was as if I was acting, while M came across as authentic and real.”

Published: September 21, 2026, 4:00 am

The Recovery House by Derek Owusu review – a uniquely honest view of mental health

Writing from firsthand experience, the author offers an affecting meditation on art, mental fragility and faith

“What’s in your head?” Dolores O’Riordan’s raw, plaintive refrain loops through the Cranberries’ 1994 hit Zombie. A protest song about the Troubles could, on paper, hardly seem further removed from Derek Owusu’s third novel, about a young writer recovering from a mental health crisis. But in an author’s note before The Recovery House begins, Owusu instructs the reader to listen to the song “at least two to four times before going beyond this page”. Gradually it becomes clear that the song’s central question is one Owusu’s protagonist asks in various forms throughout the novel.

Can we ever fully understand what is going on in our own heads? We meet Jamal, a young novelist who has woken up in a recovery house – a residential alternative to hospital admission – after a breakdown. It transpires that he has overdosed, is an alcoholic, and has been diagnosed with borderline personality disorder. He is in a frazzled, frantic state, initially less interested in getting better than in piecing together how he got there.

Published: September 21, 2026, 1:00 am

I was asked to write a new Miss Marple, so I sent her to the Alps

Her last case was 50 years ago, written by Agatha Christie just before she died. Could I really follow in the footsteps of the Queen of Crime?

When I was asked to write the first full-length Miss Marple novel since Sleeping Murder was published posthumously, 50 years ago in October, I immediately thought of my granny. My first encounter with the world of Agatha Christie was through her. Now I come to think of it, she was a rather Marple-ish figure in many ways: a keen knitter and gardener with a brilliant mind (she could complete the “big” crossword in seemingly about 15 minutes), highly perceptive about people and human nature and with a powerful moral compass. While kind and generous beyond measure, at times, like Miss Marple, she showed a steelier side.

Christie created Jane Marple in a Christmas magazine story called The Tuesday Night Club in 1927, and this “white-haired old lady” made her book debut in 1930 with The Murder at the Vicarage. Rivalling Hercule Poirot in her readers’ affections, Miss Marple eventually appeared in 12 of the author’s 66 detective novels, plus 20 of her 160 short stories. With more than 1bn Agatha Christie books sold in English, and another 1bn sold in translation, they are some of the most perpetually loved works ever written. But though Sophie Hannah was commissioned by Christie’s family to publish an authorised continuation of her Poirot novels in 2013, no one had ever been asked to write a new Miss Marple. Until now …

Published: September 20, 2026, 4:00 am

Roman Sands RE:Build review – marooned in a crumbling vaporwave dream

PC, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4/5, Xbox; Arbitrary Metric
The latest work from the team behind Paratopic is part compulsive time-loop management sim, part eerie subterranean adventure

Fetch the chair from storage. Deliver a message that causes disgust. Clean vomit in the afternoon and pour another glass in the evening. In Roman Sands RE:Build, you provide concierge service to delirious, broken people who couldn’t care less about the sweat on your forehead and the bags under your eyes.

In this reimagining of the 2019 visual novel Roman Sands, crafted by the team behind the Americana horror road trip Paratopic, you’re trapped in a beach resort and tethered in a time loop. The task is deceivingly simple: fulfil menial directives from four gluttonous individuals, unlock tools and items to open more rooms and then do it all over again.

Published: September 21, 2026, 1:53 am

‘Being in Madness kept some of them out of jail’: how the baggy-trousered nutty boys made a guerrilla cinema classic

From a jail-inspired light sabre fight to the moment a sax-player flew, Take It or Leave It brilliantly captured the hit-makers’ grimy origins. Will the film’s return see it finally honoured as a music movie landmark?

It’s March 1981 and Madness are revisiting the haunts of their recent youth with a film crew in tow. In the 18 months since releasing their debut single, The Prince, the group have become the UK’s most beloved hit-makers, their ascent abetted by inventive music videos that have left viewers of Top of the Pops and Tiswas believing a man could fly – while blowing a sax.

But this new project is something else. Instead of squandering their newfound wealth on fast cars and country piles, the seven-piece have invested in a semi-fictional big-screen telling of their origin story that tempers their trademark “nuttiness” with a kitchen-sink realism suiting their working-class roots. While Take It or Leave It sank into obscurity soon after release, a new 4K restoration has primed the film for rediscovery as a time-capsule of grimy 70s London, and perhaps cinema’s most honest depiction of the challenges involved in trying to get a band together.

Published: September 21, 2026, 6:55 am

‘My whole identity was wrapped up in Ally McBeal’ – Calista Flockhart on her smash hit 90s comedy rollercoaster

‘In the street or at restaurants, people still come up to me and say, “I became a lawyer because of you.” But I just went to work and said my lines!’

I was doing a play in New York, Three Sisters by Chekhov. We regularly got scripts sent to us. One going around was written by David E Kelley. I flew out to Los Angeles to screen test, and I got the part right in the moment. It was a difficult transition as I felt very much settled and happy in New York and I had only been to LA briefly, to shoot The Birdcage. I was such a bad driver that I didn’t get on the freeway there for a year. I was afraid of it.

Published: September 21, 2026, 5:12 am

‘Brown men are fearless, funny and sexy’: Salman Toor on clubbing, queerness and New York’s Muslim moment

Toor’s electrifying pictures have made him a global star – and he’s even painted Zohran Mamdani. As the artist hits London’s prestigious Courtauld Gallery, he talks about Manet, mullahs and the mayor

In Salman Toor’s paintings, queer south Asian men hang out in bars, twerk at trippy gatherings and lose themselves in phone screens. Sometimes they huddle in the back of taxis or pillow-fight on beds. In one portrait, a brown man stares apprehensively while facing customs officials. For the 43-year-old Pakistani American artist, it’s crucial that these figures take centre stage, after years of being demonised and erased.

“It excites me that the cuteness and sexiness of brown protagonists can become familiar,” says Toor when we meet at his sun-drenched Brooklyn studio, a few weeks before his first solo show in Europe. “Their stories are not a gay side story in a family saga. It’s the main story. And everyone else is in the background.”

Published: September 20, 2026, 9:00 pm

‘I feel betrayed’: inside Ed Sheeran’s controversial return to the stage

Some fans were hesitant to turn the page after Sheeran’s tour resumed in Philadelphia after the removal of Macklemore, who spoke out in support of Palestine

“This is not usually how I would open the show,” Ed Sheeran told the crowd at Philadelphia’s Lincoln Financial Field on Saturday night, a humble preamble to a three-plus-minute speech addressing the greatest controversy of his career. Shaky-voiced and stealing glances at the monitor at his feet, he looked every bit the chastened superstar.

“I have tried in my career not to be a political commentator of any kind, because I want my music and shows to be about unity, not division, about humanity, not politics, but this is a humanitarian issue and I cannot hide how I feel about it any more,” Sheeran said. He described the Hamas-led attack at the Nova music festival in Israel on 7 October 2023 as “horrific”, and expressed heartbreak over civilian deaths in Gaza and the West Bank, describing the situation as “catastrophic and unjustified and disproportionate”.

Published: September 20, 2026, 8:12 am

A job that changed me: I cried nearly every day working in aged care, then realised I could bring joy instead

I once asked a resident what she would do if she could do anything. She replied: ‘I’d run in a field’

In my 40s, I was beginning to wonder where I fit in the employment world. I had a variety of jobs including an improv instructor, actor and corporate facilitator, then Covid arrived and all those people-facing roles disappeared.

Living in Sydney, with my kids at school and a mortgage to pay, I took on some temp work through an agency.

Published: September 21, 2026, 8:00 am

The pet I’ll never forget: Bud, the parrot with a crisp addiction who was too fat to fly

When my husband and I adopted her, Bud had to go on a strict diet. Thankfully, she got healthy and became the diva everyone loves today

Bud came into my life at the start of the Covid pandemic in 2020. I work at RSPCA Norwich as head of animal welfare and, when we all had to work from home, I offered to foster Bud, a blue-fronted amazon parrot. My husband and I thought it would be a short-term thing, but by the time the pandemic had settled down we had really bonded with her, so she never left.

Back then, Bud had a crisp addiction and was too overweight to fly. She was about 200g heavier than a parrot should be. We had to put her on a strict diet because she had some health concerns – we found a lipoma, a fatty lump, on her keel bone (which runs down from the breast); it doesn’t bother her, but we still have to monitor it. Thankfully, she has lost weight; her feathers are all better quality and she loves her life.

Published: September 21, 2026, 3:00 am

The best plastic-free cutting boards: I spent six weeks testing 10 boards, and these won

A good, sturdy chopping board will last you many years. I tested the best non-plastic, non-toxic ones, including some made out of wood and synthetic rubber

A cutting board is literally the foundation of most things you cook. It’s a must-have for any recipe that needs chopping, smashing, mincing, carving or sometimes even serving. And, let’s be honest, it’s also where we pile up other kitchen items while we make a mess.

Plastic cutting boards are affordable and convenient, but research shows they shed significant amounts of microplastics into food. And though the health damage caused by microplastics is still being studied, we don’t need microplastics in our minestrone.

All our cutting board picks, in detail

How we tested (and our mission at The Filter US)

How to clean and maintain a wooden cutting board

How to choose the right cutting board material

Published: September 21, 2026, 1:05 pm

This is how we do it: ‘As a Catholic monk, I was celibate. But sex with Orla feels so natural’

Rory left the monastery after feeling lonely; with Orla, herself a Catholic, he’s been making up for lost time

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

We had sex after a week. I remember thinking afterwards wow, everything has changed

Published: September 20, 2026, 3:00 am

The agony of life with chronic body odour: ‘I swear I’ve tried every deodorant’

Modern lifestyles seem to be exacerbating the problem of bromhidrosis – an underresearched condition that is widely misunderstood and devastating for sufferers

If Hayat goes out to eat, she’ll choose a table far away from other diners, ideally by a door or open window. She likewise tries to avoid people at the cinema or on planes, even if it means paying extra – whatever it takes to avoid being too close to others.

She chalks it up to a persistent past insecurity. “I still have that paranoia … It’s just in my head, because of everything I went through.”

Published: September 20, 2026, 9:00 pm

McQueen comes home to happy, dark place at London fashion week

Brand returns to its physical and unconventional roots as it battles undergoes stark restructuring

Back when a young Lee McQueen was showing at London fashion week, there was Dante, the show in a Hawksmoor church with a skeleton in the front row and a blaring soundtrack of organ music and gunfire. And there was Voss, where models were trapped inside a giant mirrored box set up as a psychiatric ward.

Twenty-five years later, the Alexander McQueen brand returned from the Paris schedule to a creepily beautiful subterranean 17th century London chapel, with steel harnesses, bulky ankle strapped heels that looked like electronic monitoring tags, and a chain mail dress of tiny silver skulls.

Published: September 21, 2026, 2:40 am

‘I got married in it’: readers on their favourite secondhand fashion finds

To mark Oxfam’s Second Hand September, here are some of your best thrift discoveries and the stories behind them

Oxfam’s Second Hand September campaign encourages people to avoid buying new clothes for 30 days and choose preloved pieces instead. From £28 Prada skirts to £5 wedding dresses, we asked people to share their favourite fashion finds and the stories behind them.

Published: September 20, 2026, 6:00 am

Christopher Kane and Mulberry make swaggering joint comeback at London fashion week

Appointment of Kane as creative director signals the return of serious style ambition for former It-bag brand

With spicy leather mini-dresses and shoes with miniature axes for heels, two beloved British names made a swaggering joint comeback at London fashion week.

Fifteen years ago, Christopher Kane and Mulberry were two of the biggest shows on the line-up. Kane was the brilliant young designer who could find fashion in the most unlikely places: rubberised lace minis were inspired by “Princess Margaret on acid”; while illustrations from the 1972 classic The Joy of Sex appeared on slinky slip dresses. Mulberry was London’s home-grown It-bag brand: anyone who was anyone had a Bayswater or an Alexa.

Published: September 20, 2026, 11:14 am

Jamie Oliver’s recipes for fish pie pasta bake and tomato and feta lentils

Sometimes cooking is about celebration or indulgence, but there are other times when you just need a speedy but delicious midweek meal

Of course, the act of cooking can be many things – joy, ritual, nourishment, comfort, celebration, indulgence – but this fish pie pasta bake and tomato and feta lentils are strictly about speed. Because, in reality, these are exactly the kind of recipes we all need in our repertoire, ready to whip out on a Wednesday night.

Published: September 21, 2026, 5:00 am

A new start after 60: I’m 92 and cycling is my life – despite the crash that left me unconscious

Arthur Plummer got a bike when he retired at 65 and joined a cycling club as one of its youngest members. Now he is its oldest but still racking up 5,000km every year

When Arthur Plummer retired at 65, he bought a secondhand bicycle. His sister was a member of a cycling club for seniors in the Canadian city of Waterloo, Ontario, where they lived, and Plummer joined, too, becoming one of the club’s youngest members. Now he is 92 and its oldest member – but he still cycles thousands of kilometres every year. His odometer for this year so far reads 4,270km (2,650 miles). After our conversation, he intends to cycle another 40km.

“I love cycling,” he says. “Wherever I go, even if I ride on the same roads, there’s something new happening. When I get on my bike, I feel great. I come home at about 3pm and I feel exhausted. However, it’s the nicest feeling. It’s exhilarating, and it’s resulted in me being extremely healthy.”

Published: September 20, 2026, 10:55 pm

Pixel 11 Pro XL: Google’s big-screen superphone with top-class camera

Fantastic display and two-day battery life plus everything that’s great about Google’s more pocketable Pixel Pros

Google’s latest super-sized Pixel takes everything that’s great about the relatively pocket-friendly 11 Pro and adds a huge, high-quality screen and a big battery.

That makes the Pixel 11 Pro XL one of the largest smartphones available in Europe and the US, competing directly with Samsung’s giant Galaxy S26 Ultra and Apple’s iPhone 18 Pro Max, with an equally sizeable £1,279 (€1,399/$1,299/A$2,099) price tag – £80 (€100/$100/A$100) more than last year with less memory because of the cost of RAMageddon.

Published: September 20, 2026, 11:00 pm

‘I suck at breaks’: a day in the life of an aerial cellist

Cellista, an aerialist who regularly performs upside down with her cello, shares what her life looks like training for the stage

Mastering the cello is hard enough, but Cellista also regularly performs upside down. She’s based in Las Vegas, but the aerialist spoke to us while traveling in Germany, and told us about what her life looks like training and writing for the stage.

Published: September 20, 2026, 9:00 am

‘I don’t trust him any more’: Pennsylvanians come to grips with John Fetterman’s rightwing turn

The maverick senator has isolated himself from supporters as he has become a strident supporter of Israel

Two eras, two videos, shot against the same physical backdrop, convey political messages that seem a world removed from each other.

The contrasting films, produced eight years apart, neatly distill the evolution of John Fetterman, Pennsylvania’s maverick senator in his journey from progressive icon to a man seemingly more at ease with his nominal Republican opponents than his fellow Democrats.

Published: September 20, 2026, 4:00 am

Bear-y good neighbors: humans and animals are learning to live together in an expanding LA

People are increasingly crossing paths with the wild animals as homes ring the outskirts of forests, sparking a new era of coexistence

Every year, as summer draws to a close and fall begins, California’s bears get hungry.

Black bears have long roamed the state, hunting for acorns, ants and pine nuts by the bucketload to pack on calories before hibernation. But increasingly, for every berry and root, there’s an even greater temptation: our trash and the detritus of human existence.

Published: September 20, 2026, 7:00 am

Typhoon Dujuan and festival clear-up: photos of the day – Monday

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

Published: September 21, 2026, 6:06 am