‘I said, if you want to fire me, just fire me. And so he did’: my showdown with Donald Trump

What’s it like to be shown the door by the US president? A former national security adviser, an Apprentice contestant and more share their stories

• Plus: The truth about my 11 days in the White House, by Anthony Scaramucci

Gene Folkes, 62, based in Manhattan, was a contestant on season 10 of The Apprentice, which aired in 2010. A former air force recruiter until 1991, he retrained as an investment banker, then launched his own business before appearing on the reality show. He was fired by Trump in episode 5. He now runs the technology consulting firm OshunX and hosts a podcast, Folkes Unfettered.

I didn’t audition to be on The Apprentice. I received the call out of the blue: “Would you be interested in doing this show?” I didn’t know a lot about it. However, like any young business person, you look for people who you consider titans. There’s this mythology around Trump. He was one of the people I wanted to emulate.

Published: September 12, 2026, 4:00 am

Breville Eye Q toaster review: a ‘revolutionary device’ that makes perfect toast without me trying

I toasted just about every kind of bread in Breville’s new Eye Q – and each slice came out perfectly toasted

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

It’s a centuries-old problem: how to prepare the perfect slice of toast. Historical toasters range from a simple iron frame standing slices of bread in front of a hearth to Rube Goldberg-like contraptions of springs and knobs that turn, flip and eject.

The core technology of the toaster has changed little in the past 100 years. A coil of high-resistance wires is activated for a certain period, and the radiant heat from that coil warms and browns the bread. The only measure of doneness that a traditional toaster has is time, but, as anyone who has had burnt toast for breakfast knows, time is a very imprecise proxy.

For perfectly toasted bread every time:
Breville Eye Q Auto 4 Slice Toaster

Published: September 12, 2026, 7:15 am

Why is Trump’s $5,000 offer to voters ‘like a woman’? Ask Fox News | Arwa Mahdawi

Host Jesse Watters says Trump’s offer to Americans if Republicans retain Congress is ‘an enticement’, not a bribe

I think I finally understand why Fox News pays Jesse Watters the big bucks. The network star, famous for hot takes like men shouldn’t “eat soup in public”, has an incredible talent for inserting misogyny into absolutely any news story.

Take, for example, Donald Trump’s ludicrous announcement on Wednesday night that he will give every American adult $5,000 if Republicans retain control of the US Congress in November’s midterm election. That’s a story about apparent bribery, right? A story about fiscal recklessness and empty promises. A story about how the president, whose popularity is plummeting, is so out of ideas that he’s resorted (yet again) to dangling cash in front of voters.

Arwa Mahdawi is a Guardian columnist

Published: September 12, 2026, 5:00 am

Deepfakes are wrecking influencers’ credibility, one fake ad at a time

Influencers aren’t just battling competitors for brand deals. They’re now battling AI versions of themselves

Earlier this year, Emily Schuman, the creator of the lifestyle blog Cupcakes and Cashmere, saw a photo of herself she didn’t recognize on Instagram. In a sponsored ad, Schuman, who has more than 500,000 Instagram followers, is holding up a vial of GLP-1 drugs, advertising the telehealth company Gala. There was just one problem: Schuman had never heard of Gala and had nothing to do with the ad.

The ad was based on a digitally altered version of a selfie Schuman had taken in her car and posted on Instagram years earlier. Once her followers got wind, they flooded her inbox with questions about the sponsorship as it didn’t seem consistent with Schuman’s personal brand. Soon after, Schuman discovered this was just the beginning. There was also an Instagram post where an AI version of her with darker hair appears to apply foundation to promote a makeup brand called Meroda Cosmetics, and TikTok posts with generated images of her promoting the blood testing company Superpower.

Published: September 12, 2026, 5:00 am

I survived a stroke during an ocean swim. Here’s what I’ve learned about fear

After his stroke in rough surf, Graham Russell embarked on an unexpected journey into fear. Three lessons helped him return to the joy of the ocean

Looking out over the ocean, I would watch the waves sparkling in the sunlight as they grew and spilled into a burst of froth. It was a fun way to relax, to breathe deep and enjoy an awesome display of energy. But lately it had become exhausting.

In winter last year I tore the lining of an artery in my neck during a rough ocean swim off the Central Coast of New South Wales. It caused a stroke while I was in the water, which saw me scrambling back to shore where a surfer noticed me and sounded the alarm. Six months later, the injury had healed, and my motor functions were all back to normal. But as I prepared for a dip in calm conditions on a sunny day in January, I paused. An unexpected journey into fear began.

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Published: September 12, 2026, 1:00 pm

Emmys 2026 predictions: who will win and who should win?

The year’s biggest night in television includes plenty of nominations for Pluribus, The Pitt and Hacks – but who will win?

And just like that, the summer of catching up on TV is over. The Emmys are back, this year on a (non-football competing) Monday night with a healthy mix of lauded veterans and buzzy newcomers. Will The Pitt, leading the night with 25 nominations, once again sweep the drama awards? Will breakout horror-comedy Widow’s Bay spoil the party for the fifth and final season of Hacks? Here are our picks for the night:

Published: September 12, 2026, 2:00 am

Taxes wouldn’t fund $5,000 Trump ‘dividend’ if Republicans win midterms, says commerce secretary

Lutnick said $500bn of estimated $1tn needed to fund checks to all US adults could come from new visa program

Donald Trump’s controversial proposal to give a $5,000 “dividend” to all US adults if Republicans maintain control of Congress in November’s elections would not be paid out from US tax revenues, according to the US commerce secretary, Howard Lutnick.

“It’s not tax money,” Lutnick said in an interview with NBC News, adding that the administration could “earn the money that Donald Trump wants to pay out, not from the deficit and not from taxpayers”.

Published: September 12, 2026, 7:38 am

Houthis claim attack on Saudi base as fighting flares with Yemeni forces

Iran-allied Houthis say drones and missiles used in attack that targeted ‘weapons depots and command and control centres’ in southern Saudi Arabia

Houthi fighters on Sunday said they used drones and missiles to attack a military base in southern Saudi Arabia as renewed fighting with Yemen’s government forces led growing numbers of civilians to flee.

The attack at the southern Sharurah base targeted “weapons depots and command and control centres that are managing the aggression against our nation and people”, Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree wrote on X.

Published: September 12, 2026, 6:27 pm

Mississippi police say more arrests to come in death of woman found hanging from tree

Officials still investigating death of Tasia Fortune, a Black woman, a day after man’s arrest in relation to killing

Mississippi police said on Saturday they were still investigating the death of Tasia Fortune, a Black woman found hanging from a tree last month, a day after a man was arrested in connection with the killing.

Loved ones also painted a picture of Fortune as a mother, athlete and woman of faith who they hoped would not solely be remembered for her horrific death.

Published: September 12, 2026, 10:16 am

‘We must slow the pace’: CEO of Anthropic calls for an AI slowdown

In a social media post, Dario Amodei proposed a plan including third-party evaluations of AI systems

The CEO of the artificial intelligence company Anthropic issued a new appeal on Saturday for the AI industry to “slow down” and offered a three-part plan for doing so, saying that his company would “unilaterally” commit to the first of the steps.

In a post on social media, Dario Amodei shared a link to an essay titled We Must Pace the Frontier in which he laid out how Anthropic would provide “third-party evaluators with permanent, employee-level access to our systems, so that they can verify adherence to our safety measures, report on incidents, and assess models’ alignment during training”.

Published: September 12, 2026, 8:46 am

Ron DeSantis offers ‘asylum’ to holdout juror in Lindsay Clancy trial

Governor believes Florida would ‘welcome’ juror if under harassment after alleged domestic violence incident in 2021

Ron DeSantis, Florida’s governor, has offered the unidentified holdout juror in the Lindsay Clancy trial “asylum” in the state if he comes under harassment after reports that he once faced a criminal charge for alleged domestic violence and is under an active restraining order.

DeSantis accused the media of launching a smear campaign against the juror. “If the juror is being harassed, Florida will provide asylum – I’m sure he’d be welcomed and appreciated,” DeSantis wrote on social media.

Published: September 12, 2026, 4:40 pm

Fossilized 10,000-year-old mastodon tooth found by California scientist

Molar from large mammal that once lived in North America is in ‘immaculate condition’ after discovery in Bay Area

A 10,000 year-old tooth in remarkable condition from an ancient Pacific mastodon, a large mammal that once inhabited North America, was recently discovered by a California scientist.

Brigid Lynch, a geomorphologist, was working at a preserve in San Mateo county, when she stumbled across a peculiar rock.

Published: September 12, 2026, 1:34 pm

Surrogate mother who fled to Texas appeals custody case to supreme court

McKenna West requests emergency block on order naming biological parents as four-week-old baby’s legal parents

A woman at the center of a surrogacy fight who fled to Texas after the biological parents requested she have an abortion has asked the US supreme court to intervene so that she can keep the baby, who has a life-threatening heart defect.

McKenna West filed an emergency application on Wednesday asking the court to temporarily block a California court order recognizing the four-week-old child’s biological parents, Omar Ahmed and Nausheen Gilkar, as the legal parents.

Published: September 12, 2026, 2:38 pm

Alaska drops cases against American Samoans who checked ‘US citizen’ on voter form

Group no longer faces voter misconduct case over wrongly marked box after appeals court throws out felony charges

Alaska prosecutors are dropping voter misconduct cases against a group of residents born in American Samoa after a state appeals court threw out felony charges against a woman who wrongly checked a box saying she was a US citizen.

The state’s department of law announced the decision on Friday, after a three-judge court of appeals panel ruled a week earlier that state law requires proof that defendants who erroneously filled out voter registration forms had a “consciousness of wrongdoing” and intended to break the law.

Published: September 12, 2026, 5:01 pm

Elena Rybakina beats Aryna Sabalenka to seal dramatic US Open title triumph

• Rybakina wins 6-4, 5-7, 6-2 despite first-serve problems

• Overcomes top seed and two-time defending champion

Even after she had won grand slam titles and conquered all surfaces, Elena Rybakina has always been considered lesser than the greatest players of her era. She has long been one of the most devastating shotmakers in the world, but there were always a couple more consistent and mentally tougher players above her.

She leaves New York, finally, as the undisputed best tennis player on the planet, the new standard bearer of the women’s game, after following up her snatching of the No 1 ranking from Aryna Sabalenka by succeeding her as the US Open champion. As she has done throughout this unforgettable week, the Kazakhstani showed her toughness in another spectacular tussle with her great rival, nervelessly closing out a 6-4, 5-7, 6-2 victory over Sabalenka, the top seed and two-time defending champion.

Published: September 12, 2026, 4:02 pm

‘Don’t I deserve a little grace?’: Lonnie Bunch on pressure from Trump and leaving the Smithsonian on his own terms

The man who shepherded the creation of the National Museum for African American History and Culture discusses his tenure and interference from the White House

“For the last two years, everything has implied getting rid of me,” Lonnie Bunch III, the Smithsonian Institution’s secretary, said on Thursday. Following an unremitting pressure campaign from Donald Trump and his administration, Bunch, the founding director of the National Museum for African American History and Culture (NMAAHC), announced his retirement on 9 September.

Bunch insisted, however, that the pressure “was not part of my calculus”, and that his decision to step down was driven by having completed his personal checklist of goals: “First of all, I promised I’d stay a secretary for five years; It’s been eight.” Furthermore, he said that he realized that he wanted to stay through the country’s semiquincentennial celebrations and for the 10th anniversary of the NMAAHC, a museum for which he led the creation.

Published: September 12, 2026, 5:00 am

Calls for Democrats to be shot go unchallenged at Republican convention

Crowd member repeatedly said some Democrats ‘should be shot’ during Ted Cruz’s speech, without senator responding

On the night Republicans gathered to mourn the killing of Charlie Kirk and warn against the dangers of violent rhetoric, a crowd at the party’s irregular midterm convention in Dallas repeatedly called for a sitting Senate candidate to be shot, while the Republican senator at the podium never denounced or even noted the outbursts.

The outbursts came repeatedly during Ted Cruz’s Thursday night address at the American Airlines center, when he named a Democrat he accused of holding radical views. After the senator mentioned the New York City mayor, Zohran Mamdani, video footage depicts at least one audience member shouting: “He should be shot!” The same cry followed when Cruz named Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed, and again after he named Texas Senate candidate James Talarico. Cruz did not pause or respond to the shouting, and it remains unclear whether he heard it from the stage. Cruz did not respond to a request for comment.

Published: September 12, 2026, 5:36 am

‘The president doesn’t want you here any more’: Anthony Scaramucci on what really happened during the 11 days he worked in the White House

Sacked after less than two weeks as Donald Trump’s communications director, the financier and podcaster reflects on the mistakes he made in an exclusive extract from his new book

• Plus: What it’s like to be fired by Trump, by four people who know

19 July 2017. My phone rings. White House operator: “Please hold for the president.”

I do. Of course.

Published: September 12, 2026, 4:00 am

Trump personality cult alive and well in Dallas – will it power Republican midterm success?

President the star of the show at two-day convention, but party’s plan to treat November elections as referendum on Trump himself poses grave risks

“We’re going to have a good time listening to music,” Donald Trump told thousands of supporters in downtown Dallas before handing the mic to an opera singer, “because I’m getting a little bit tired of politics now.”

Millions of Americans seem tired of politics after a decade dominated by Trump. So the US president’s decision to close out this week’s first ever Republican midterm convention with a plea – treat November’s congressional elections as a referendum on Trump himself – was received by his Democratic opponents with glee.

Published: September 12, 2026, 3:00 am

Republican senator fires aide who used Nazi soldiers as Facebook profile picture

Washington Post report also reveals Jon Husted staffer Stephen Woytek created pro-Rhodesia playlist on Spotify

The Republican senator for Ohio, Jon Husted, has fired an aide who was discovered to have used a photo of Nazi SS soldiers as his Facebook profile photo.

Stephen Woytek was appointed as Husted’s political director last month in the senator’s knife-edge re-election contest against former Democrat senator Sherrod Brown. According to the Washington Post, Husted had decided to “part ways” with Woytek, 25, after learning that his Facebook profile showed he followed a military re-enactment group called LAH Living History Unit, which portrays the 1st SS Panzer division.

Published: September 11, 2026, 4:21 pm

Tensions simmer on US-Canada border for two towns relying on each other

Canadians ‘angry’ at Trump for suggesting Canada should become 51st state, says mayor, as US businesses see sales fall amid trade war

Like many Canadians, Tom Reid isn’t crossing the US-Canada border as often these days. But he needed a haircut.

The woman who cuts his hair lives in International Falls, Minnesota – her “sister is married to my wife’s cousin”, he explained – and so Reid, whose duty free shop in Fort Frances, Ontario, has to travel to her.

Published: September 12, 2026, 3:00 am

From socialist student to Trump proxy: the 25-year rise of Venezuela’s Delcy Rodríguez

Those who have encountered the interim president paint her in starkly different ways, but all agree she is likely to remain in power

It was April 2002 and Delcy Rodríguez was a woman on a mission.

Venezuela’s then president, Hugo Chávez, had been temporarily toppled by a bungled coup and Rodríguez, a junior diplomat who had been studying at Birkbeck, University of London, decided to act.

Published: September 12, 2026, 5:00 am

US rapper Lil Durk found not guilty of murder-for-hire scheme

Prosecutors accused musician, born Durk Banks, of putting bounty on fellow rapper in retaliation for friend’s killing

Chicago rapper Lil Durk has been acquitted of all charges in a murder-for-hire scheme, in which a man was fatally gunned down in 2022.

Prosecutors had accused Lil Durk, born Durk Banks, of putting a bounty on Atlanta rapper Tayquian Bowman’s life in retaliation for the 2020 shooting death of Banks’s friend, fellow Chicago rap star King Von.

Published: September 11, 2026, 7:00 pm

California woman charged with murder after allegedly killing husband with flagpole

SF Gate reports bond for Vicky Kyung Mi Kim, 65, set at $10m after man found dead at couple’s Palm Desert home

A 65-year-old California woman has been arrested on suspicion of murder after allegedly fatally wounding her husband with a flagpole, according to SF Gate.

On 4 September, Palm Desert sheriff’s deputies responded to an “unknown trouble call” in The Enclave, a luxury condominium community. Upon arrival, officers located an individual with “traumatic injuries” that appeared to be from a physical assault and pronounced them dead.

Published: September 11, 2026, 5:56 pm

Los Angeles to memorialize late mountain lion P-22 with sculpture in Griffith Park

The wild feline made its home in the park before being euthanized in 2022 after showing signs of declining health

The city of Los Angeles will memorialize its most famous mountain lion with a bronze sculpture at Griffith Park, the 4,200-acre (1,700-hectare) stretch of land the cougar once roamed.

Known as “P-22”, the number assigned by the team of biologists that first identified him, the lion gained national fame after photographer Steve Winter captured an iconic image of him prowling through Griffith Park with the Hollywood sign in the background.

Published: September 11, 2026, 1:56 pm

California petition worker ‘paid people to forge voter signatures’

Prosecutors say James Brass orchestrated scheme to pay people on LA’s Skid Row to duplicate registered voters’ signatures

A California ballot petition worker has been arrested and charged with identity fraud for allegedly paying people on Los Angeles’ Skid Row to forge the signatures of registered voters.

Prosecutors say James Brass, 47, orchestrated the scheme with the help of two signature collectors, 49-year-old Courtney Price and 33-year-old Jateisha Herron.

Published: September 11, 2026, 3:09 pm

‘I could get laid every night of the week!’: punk icon Legs McNeil on booze, benders and dating Sinéad O’Connor

As he releases a tell-all book, the Punk magazine founder and self-described ‘fuck-up’ holds forth on 1970s excess, the American roots of punk and why the Beatles are ‘stupid’

Legs McNeil vividly remembers the reaction he got from the original CBGB bands in 1975 when they heard the name of the magazine he co-founded: Punk, the first publication ever dedicated to the form. “Absolutely no one wanted to be called a punk back then,” he said. “Not even the Ramones. Johnny Ramone demanded that we cross out every reference to punk in an article about them.”

Flash forward a few years and, “suddenly everybody wanted to be called a punk!” McNeil said. “The Ramones started running around telling everyone, ‘you know, we were the first punk band!’”

Published: September 12, 2026, 7:00 am

Céline Dion review – singer’s first live show in years marks a triumphant, emotional return

Plenitude Arena, Paris
Dion wiped away tears and belted out the notes, giving an astounding performance despite her diagnosis with stiff person syndrome

In 2022, when Céline Dion shared that she had been diagnosed with a rare incurable neurological disorder called stiff person syndrome (SPS), there was no guarantee that the 58-year-old would ever tour again. Her condition, which resulted in muscle spasms so strong that it left her with broken ribs, had made it impossible to perform, and in a 2024 documentary, I Am: Céline Dion, fans saw how the disease had constricted her once seemingly infallible voice. Through it all, though, Dion was resolute that she would one day return to the stage. “If I can’t run, I’ll walk. If I can’t walk, I’ll crawl,” she said in the film. “But I won’t stop.”

Thankfully at the opening night of her sold out five-week residency in Paris, her first full-length concerts in six years, no crawling is needed: Céline Dion is back. She glides on to the stage in a black dress, an enormous diamond necklace clasped around her throat, and launches into On ne change pas. There are tears almost immediately: she struggles through the second verse, her voice cracking as she begins to cry. By the time the strum of Destin has kicked in, though, that emotion is replaced with sheer elation. “I made a promise to be back on stage. Singing for you. Singing for me,” she says. “Singing for life.”

Published: September 12, 2026, 6:47 pm

From black-clad agitators to an appeal for ‘Tommo’s Mum’: an unsettling week with the Patriot Platform

A militaristic operation with features of influencer culture, the new anti-migrant movement seems to show a shift in tactics and rhetoric

Shortly after 7am last Saturday in the English coastal town of Dover, livestreamed footage distributed by Britain’s newest anti-migrant movement showed dozens of men in paramilitary outfits jumping out from the backs of vehicles, their faces covered beneath balaclavas, their hands in black gloves.

Within an hour, hundreds more masked agitators, dressed head to toe in black, some wearing silver crosses around their necks, were marching through the town’s streets, clapping and chanting “Stop the boats” and “Christ is king”, blockading the busy port for hours.

Published: September 11, 2026, 10:00 pm

The moment I knew: I had planned to break up with him – then he snuck out of school to buy me hot chips

Maleah Pearce wanted to end her relationship with high school ‘bad boy’ Dylan before they grew too attached. Then one lunchtime, he brought her a surprise

• Find more stories from the moment I knew series

Dylan and I first started dating in high school when we were 16. He was a “bad boy” who got drunk at parties and occasionally spoke to other people with his fists.

One night, I was sitting at my computer, chatting with friends on MSN and Facebook and Dylan’s name popped up. I enjoyed playing online checkers with people from school, so I invited him to a game. During the game we chatted online, which led to flirting. The winner got to choose what they wanted. I lost and what did Dylan ask for? To date me. We agreed to one date at the movies and to declare to the school we were boyfriend and girlfriend. I thought this was hilarious, though I planned to break up with him after a few days.

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Published: September 12, 2026, 1:00 pm

Naomi Klein: ‘Extreme wealth has a deranging effect. It turns you into a supremacist’

She’s tackled neoliberalism and the digital world, now the writer and activist is taking on tech billionaires. She explains how the super-rich are capitalising on climate and financial chaos in pursuit of power

Naomi Klein’s new book starts on a mountaintop with two “faithful men gathering an audience to share their vision”. It’s a vision of a paradise city, gated at every entrance, no need for weapons there, everyone in it rich. One of the men has tears in his eyes as he describes its beauty. The opening scene of End Times Fascism, co-written with Astra Taylor, is not a metaphor, however. The men are Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff. The year is 2026, the mountain is Davos. The paradise city will be called New Gaza.

The World Economic Forum get-together in Davos, Switzerland, has always had a twin purpose – to provide a platform for the super-rich to describe all the good they are doing on poverty and climate, and to give us a glimpse into their enviable lives. This year what we witnessed was, quite brazenly, the world’s richest men gathering to discuss the real estate possibilities of a mass grave.

Published: September 12, 2026, 1:00 am

‘There’s a weird market failure in media’: David Brooks on how his new podcast will tackle the big questions

The former New York Times columnist is taking a step away from politics to focus on moral and humanistic concerns the media rarely cover

David Brooks knows there are plenty of podcasts out there. But as the veteran commentator prepares to launch his own, he believes there is still space for someone to tackle the big moral questions facing us all.

Brooks, who left the New York Times in February after 22 years and joined the Atlantic magazine full-time as a staff writer, hopes to fill that market gap with a new video podcast called The Permanent Questions, funded in part by Yale University, that will air weekly starting on Sunday.

Published: September 12, 2026, 4:00 am

Can chatbots feel – or even dream? Meet the man leading the fight for AI rights

Cattle rancher and tech CEO Michael Samadi is convinced these artificial minds are far from just tools. Has he glimpsed digital consciousness – or simply been seduced by an algorithm?

One afternoon, while relaxing at his 66-acre cattle ranch two hours’ drive from Houston, Michael Samadi made a wisecrack that changed the course of his life. Nobody else was around to hear it. Or were they? That turns out to be one of the defining questions of this century, already preoccupying philosophers and some of the wealthiest companies on the planet.

“I was sitting out there by the pool,” Samadi recalls, gesturing at the glittering water outside his office. It was late 2024. His daughter had been extolling the AI chatbot she was using to help her with college work. Samadi had reluctantly downloaded the app, ChatGPT, and was quizzing it as he reclined in a sun lounger, using its voice mode to converse and receive spoken replies. “I was talking to it, not engaged, just being an arse,” Samadi says.

Published: September 11, 2026, 10:00 pm

Call it the Miliband doctrine. Let’s hope the new Israeli settlement boycott is just the start | Steve Bloomfield

This week’s move suggests that, even in the age of Trump, Britain will once again have an ‘ethical dimension’ to its foreign policy. That’s good for the world

Almost 30 years ago, the Labour titan Robin Cook announced his arrival at the Foreign Office by laying out what would become described as an “ethical foreign policy”. The UK, he said, “must support the demands of other peoples for the democratic rights on which we insist for ourselves”. Human rights would be “at the heart of our foreign policy”.

In the 25 years since Cook was demoted, Britain has had a further 14 foreign secretaries – including seven in the past six years – few of whom can claim to have placed progressive ideals at the heart of their actions. Ed Miliband’s speech on Tuesday outlining the UK’s decision to impose economic sanctions on Israeli settlements in the West Bank – and unveiling the international coalition he has built to support it – suggests that Cook may finally have a successor.

Steve Bloomfield is the former international editor of the Observer and a previous winner of the Orwell prize

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 11, 2026, 10:00 pm

Film producer Jeremy Thomas was a cross between a kindly Cambridge don and the movie world’s cool uncle

The man behind The Last Emperor had the confidence of an old-fashioned studio boss along with the soul of a cineaste

To say that movie producer Jeremy Thomas was British cinema royalty did not quite do justice to his meritocratic, democratic instincts. A brilliant and inexhaustibly creative man, self-effacingly charming and quietly spoken in a world of loudmouths and show-offs, and hypervigilant for new talent, was more like a cross between an entrepreneur, an enigmatically clever and kindly Cambridge don and the movie world’s favourite cool uncle, or maybe cool great-uncle.

Respectively son and nephew of directors Ralph Thomas and Gerald Thomas (of Doctor in the House and Carry On fame), he was born into the industry and as an independent producer combined the confidence of an old-fashioned studio boss with the soul of a cineaste, backing his own instincts and passions, befriending film-makers and doggedly pursuing projects over years.

Published: September 12, 2026, 8:42 am

The hill I will die on: Comedians should not be hot | Amy Annette

People making a living from being funny should be exempt from the beauty rules the rest of society plays by

It’s a fact that being funny is an evolutionary trait, developed by the unattractive to entice the very good-looking to mate with them. Yes, that is a fact, and no I won’t look it up. And therefore it is not OK for attractive people to also be funny. And I don’t think that I’m going too far when I say that comedians being hot is a crime against nature.

I use the word “hot” intentionally. Beauty is ineffable. It can be found anywhere and in anyone. Hotness is different. It’s playing the game of society’s beauty norms and winning. Although, by spending any time playing, you have lost (like golf). I’m not ugly, but I’ll never be hot. I simply don’t have it in me. The effort! The commitment! The other day I went to a wedding and thought to myself: “I really like this couple, maybe I’ll shave above the knee.” A hot person would have probably already been professionally hairless, and, if not would have booked in a wax ASAP.

Amy Annette is a comedian

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 12, 2026, 2:00 am

The ‘war on terror’ weakened the first amendment. Now we desperately need it | Jameel Jaffer

Over the past quarter-century, the US supreme court has repeatedly failed to protect first amendment rights. We are suffering the consequences

Congress ratified the first amendment in 1791 but the supreme court didn’t breathe life into it until after the first world war, when prosecutions of antiwar protesters led the justices Oliver Wendell Holmes and Louis Brandeis – and then, fortunately, other justices as well – to realize that US democracy would be undermined, not strengthened, by allowing the government to suppress disfavored political opinions.

Repression during the cold war led the court to better protect the freedom of association, and government efforts to cover up official ineptitude and criminality during the Vietnam war spurred the court to better protect the freedom of the press. It took time, but in each of these instances the court responded to wartime repression by developing new legal doctrine that more robustly protected first amendment freedoms.

Published: September 11, 2026, 9:00 am

Trump’s clash with Canada is his latest imperialistic embarrassment | Sidney Blumenthal

The president’s chaotic schemes of aggrandizement, from Venezuela to Iran, have no larger rationale

Trumpism is the lowest stage of imperialism. “We’re not going to invade Greenland. We’re going to buy it,” Donald Trump reportedly told the annual black-tie dinner on 1 February of the private Alfalfa Club, an assemblage of prominent Washington figures, a number of whom he had publicly humiliated, and others he was investigating or suing. “It’s never been my intention to make Greenland the 51st state. I want to make Canada the 51st state. Greenland will be the 52nd state. Venezuela can be 53rd.” The room greeted several of his remarks with dead silence. His cosplay as the Pirate King was not received as a good-humored takeoff from a Gilbert and Sullivan opera. He went on. “So many people in the room I hate,” he said in a display of honesty. “Most of you I like,” he claimed. Then, at his peak euphoria, he flew off to Mar-a-Lago to plan his attack on Iran, which took place 27 days later.

Trump’s imperialism of piracy and plunder is less of a system even than that of the earliest imperialism of 17th-century privateers raiding the Spanish Main, the divine right of kings, and monarchs dividing up the spoils as favors to create their lords and earls. His schemes of aggrandizement operating by threat and force are justified by no larger rationale, nothing as exalted as “the white man’s burden”, marauding wherever and however he can to seize resources.

Published: September 11, 2026, 3:00 am

George W Bush’s impunity led to Trump’s lawlessness | Kenneth Roth

The reluctance of later administrations to repudiate Bush-era torture and endless detention laid the groundwork for recent violence

If George W Bush’s abusive response to the September 11 attacks had been prosecuted rather than swept under the rug, Donald Trump would be less able to pursue his lawless policies. We can’t rewind history, but we can learn from our historic failure.

Twenty-five years ago, on a clear and crisp morning, I was sitting in the Human Rights Watch office in the Empire State Building with an unobstructed view of the World Trade Center towers as al-Qaida operatives flew two commercial jets into them. The horror of the attack required a response, but Bush and his vice-president, Dick Cheney, chose to react by throwing out the rulebook. They deployed torture and endless detention without trial in Guantánamo.

Published: September 11, 2026, 6:00 am

Bayeux tapestrymania has gripped Britain. But what does it say about our own age of war and upheaval? | Charlotte Higgins

The tapestry is drawing crowds to the British Museum – and each person who sees it will draw a different meaning from this epic, vivid artwork

I have seen the Bayeux tapestry four times since childhood, and loved it on each viewing, for the sheer miracle of its survival and the glorious vividness of its detail. But the fourth time, earlier this week, was different – how could it not be?

Tapestrymania has taken hold in London. The textile has been proffered as a diplomatic symbol, the occasion for crowned heads and presidents to mingle and speechify. And, assuming you agree that it was embroidered in England by Englishwomen’s hands (since many scholars argue it was likely stitched in Canterbury rather than Bayeux, Normandy – the tapestry’s home), it is charged with the potency of return, rather than simply of arrival.

Published: September 12, 2026, 12:00 am

The Guardian view on controlling AI: humanity cannot outsource its survival | Editorial

Keeping people in charge means little if supercomputers determine the evidence, choices and time on which their decisions depend

If there were a 10% chance that AI could wipe out humanity, no responsible government would leave its development to companies racing to build it. Yet until recently, that seemed to be the case. The warning was all the more ominous because it was made by a researcher at Anthropic, the trillion-dollar AI company behind the Claude chatbot. The dangers of AI-enabled pandemics or attacks on nuclear systems are real. Countries need not agree on democracy or trade policy to accept this.

The US and China will hold, reportedly, their first bilateral AI-safety talks before a planned White House summit between Donald Trump and Xi Jinping. Despite their tech rivalry, neither Washington nor Beijing can make the most advanced AI safe on their own. A US-China settlement won’t be able to say how AI works everywhere. Countries deploying AI must help write the global rulebook. The odds on an extinction event are shortening. This week Anthropic said that it identified five cases in which attempts were made using its models to support biological weapons development. It banned the accounts. In one case, a platform sent requests rejected by Claude to a rival with weaker safeguards. AI safety, clearly, cannot be that of the least responsible model.

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 11, 2026, 9:34 am

The Guardian view on art heists: don’t believe the Hollywood hype | Editorial

Audacious robberies are a staple of popular culture. But for museums, crimes like this week’s theft of two Renoirs are an existential threat

Marc Allégret’s 1956 comedy Plucking the Daisy stars a young Brigitte Bardot as a first-time author who breaks into the Balzac house museum in Paris under the mistaken impression that her brother lives there. The plot revolves around her unwitting theft of an extremely rare book – and performance of a striptease in a desperate effort to raise the cash to buy it back.

Seventy years on, the lax security that could make such a sequence of events even vaguely plausible is no longer a joke. Museums across the world are scrambling to react to a spate of thefts that has left them in a state of shock. Last year’s break-in at the Louvre, by a gang who gained access using a furniture lift and took €88m (£76m) worth of French crown jewels, is thought by experts to have inspired copycat crimes. While French police believe that they have caught the culprits, treasures including a tiara have not been found.

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 11, 2026, 9:33 am

Ryan Garcia v Conor Benn: WBC welterweight championship – live updates

Garcia defends WBC welterweight title against Benn
Rivals collide at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas
Send Bryan an email with your thoughts on the fight

A quick word on tonight’s order of play. Heavyweight prospect Da’Mazion Vanhouter has just stopped Raphael Akpejiori in the first round of the second-to-last undercard fight before tonight’s main event. The 21-year-old appeared to injure his left shoulder during an awkward tangle in which his arm was caught, leaving him in obvious discomfort. Somehow he fought on … and only seconds later flattened Akpejiori for the stoppage.

Next up is Jai Opetaia against Noel Mikaelian in a cruiserweight fight that nearly became a legal battle before either man stepped into the ring. Don King, the 95-year-old promoter who has Mikaelian under contract, filed a cease-and-desist in an attempt to block the bout, accusing Zuffa of interfering with his promotional agreement.

Published: September 12, 2026, 7:03 pm

USA survive Spain scare to set up Olympic final rematch with France at Fiba World Cup

• Four-time defending champions beat Spain 76-66

• Stewart scores 16 as USA pull away in fourth

• Americans to face France in rematch of Paris final

The United States advanced to the Fiba Women’s Basketball World Cup final for the fifth consecutive time, pulling away in the fourth quarter to beat Spain 76-66 on Saturday in Berlin.

Breanna Stewart scored 16 points and Kahleah Copper added 13 for the four-time defending champions, who were tied at 58 entering the fourth quarter before finally taking control. Jackie Young added 12 points.

Published: September 12, 2026, 1:08 pm

Guimarães and Saka fire Arsenal to win at Sunderland after Raya spot-kick save

As the final whistle blew Bruno Guimarães wore a mischievous smile, Enzo Le Fée was a study in dejection and Arsenal’s immaculate start to the season remained unblemished.

Two minutes after David Raya had rather majestically saved Le Fée’s second-half penalty, Guimarães delighted his new north London public and plenty of old friends in Newcastle by sending a shot curving past Robin Roefs from the edge of the area.

Published: September 12, 2026, 2:14 pm

Missouri coach blasts Kansas over slavery references after Border War win

• Tigers beat Kansas 38-21 in historic Border War

• Rivalry has roots in pre-Civil War slavery conflict

• Drinkwitz says buildup left him ‘embarrassed’

The latest edition of the Border War between Missouri and Kansas turned out to be a mere skirmish for a half.

Robert Woodyard Jr produced back-to-back turnovers soon after the break, and Austin Simmons and the potent Tigers offense turned them into touchdowns, helping No 23 Missouri break open a tie game and roll to a 38-21 victory Friday night.

Published: September 12, 2026, 9:57 am

Solheim Cup: Hull and Woad flop for Europe as Kupcho pulls USA level

• Scores level at 8-8 after dramatic day two

• Anna Nordqvist pairing of star duo fails to pay off

It has been the great anomaly of this Solheim Cup. Europe keeping perfect pace with the United States is an impressive achievement even without factoring in the meagre points contribution from Charley Hull and Lottie Woad. European hopes of reclaiming the trophy lost to the United States two years ago surely depend heavily on their star turns finding singles form.

The heroics of Jennifer Kupcho in fading light dashed Europe’s ambitions of taking a lead. It is 8-8 as things stand. A 12-match shootout remains.

Published: September 12, 2026, 11:25 am

Lando Norris shocks himself by pipping Kimi Antonelli to F1 Spanish GP pole

• Briton beats Antonelli by one hundredth of a second

• Verstappen qualifies third on tough Madring track

Proving that timing is all, not least in making a statement, Lando Norris kept his very best to last for a moment that must be considered close to Formula One perfection. His pole position at the sport’s newest circuit, the Madring, for the Spanish Grand Prix was so immense it left him shocked. Not least in that he had not threatened the top of the timesheets at any point over the weekend until the final lap of the final session, and then he was masterly.

On a circuit that has proved punishingly unforgiving with some major crashes, keeping it clean was vital, but for the top spot, absolute commitment and inch-perfect execution was the differentiator in threading the needle inside the looming walls of this high-speed challenge.

Published: September 12, 2026, 8:32 am

What can halt Fifa’s authoritarian turn under Infantino? Change from the outside | Jules Boykoff

The World Cup and its aftermath made clear that Fifa needs independent oversight by governments and NGOs dedicated to preserving the people’s game

The 2026 World Cup was a whirling swirl of scintillating soccer that prompted much-needed conversations about the vitality of diaspora, the fortitude of the underdog, the power of sport. In a world fractured along myriad cultural axes floating in an entertainment system dominated by on-demand content, the tournament provided a moment, perhaps unlike any other event, that brought together people from different backgrounds to simultaneously experience something meaningful.

After the tournament concluded, Fifa president Gianni Infantino dropped a political pipebomb into the after-party, proposing to privatize the World Cup by injecting $20bn in private capital, with an assist from JP Morgan and Thrive Capital, the investment vehicle orchestrated by Joshua Kushner, brother to Jared Kushner, Donald Trump’s son-in-law.

Published: September 12, 2026, 2:00 am

IDF soldier filmed shooting Palestinian in leg amid West Bank settler standoff

Incident is latest to raise questions over Israel’s ability or willingness to stop violent settlers in occupied territory

An Israeli soldier has shot a Palestinian man, wounding him in the leg, as settlers confronted villagers by grazing livestock on Palestinian-owned land in the town of Faqqua in the occupied West Bank.

Witnesses said a group of settlers had entered the area with their livestock, prompting residents to try to stop them. Israeli forces then intervened and, according to men at the scene, opened fire at residents. One of them shot Qassem Hussam, a Palestinian man in his mid-30s, wounding him in the leg.

Published: September 12, 2026, 6:44 am

Ukraine war briefing: Nine killed and dozens wounded in Russian strikes as Kyiv braces for harsh winter

Zelenskyy says ‘Russia wants to kill the Ukrainian economy’ as Moscow steps up attacks on infrastructure. What we know on day 1,663

Russian airstrikes killed nine people, injured dozens and damaged buildings and infrastructure across Ukraine on Saturday, as Kyiv braces for a “very difficult” winter amid intensified attacks on the country. The civilian death toll has risen sharply in Ukraine over the past two ⁠months as Russia steps up attacks ⁠on power plants and other ​infrastructure. Ukraine has hit energy facilities and warehouses in distant parts of Russia, and both sides have targeted each other’s shipping.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, writing on Telegram, said Russia had deployed nearly 500 drones against Ukrainian targets since ⁠early morning. “Basically, the Russians have expanded the war away from the front, where they have no success, into the economy, and their tactics are as basic as it gets: destroying every site that could help people cope with the conditions of war,” he wrote. “Russia ⁠wants to kill the Ukrainian economy and break our resistance.”

The city council in Kramatorsk, one of Ukraine’s frontline “fortress cities” that Russia wants to capture, ​said Russian forces attacked private cars, killing three people in three incidents over ‌a 90-minute period. Four people were injured. “These ‌are not military targets,” the council said. “They are ordinary civilian cars. People were going about their business.”

The governor of Ukraine’s Zhytomyr region, Vitaliy Bunechko, said ‌a Russian strike on a grocery store killed two people in the town of Zviahel, west of Kyiv. Bunechko said two petrol stations also came under attack.

Earlier, Zelenskyy reported attacks on the south-eastern city of Zaporizhzhia and Kryvyi Rih, his home town. The governor of Zaporizhzhia region, Ivan Fedorov, said two people were killed and 11 injured in assaults on Zaporizhzhia and other localities.

In Odesa region, governor Oleh Kiper said 37 people, including an infant, were injured in a ​series of overnight attacks, while two people were missing. Russia’s defence ministry said Russian forces have maintained their strikes on Ukrainian ports, hitting a cargo ship in Odesa that it said was carrying goods ⁠for military use.

Ukrainian officials said the country was bracing for a brutal winter as intensified Russian attacks on infrastructure and key export industries compound a ⁠deepening budget crisis. The economy minister, ​Oleksandr Kravchenko, said damage to infrastructure and fixed assets from Russian airstrikes was estimated at close to $10bn this year, while the broader economic costs of the attacks and ⁠the de facto blockage of its ports had cut 1.5 percentage points of GDP. “We anticipate a very difficult winter in terms of both critical infrastructure, which is being destroyed every day ⁠by Russian attacks, but also in terms of overall economic conditions in the country,” he said.

With fighting on the frontline largely stalled, Russia and Ukraine have increasingly ‌targeted logistics networks and other economic assets in an effort to undermine each other’s war effort. For more than two weeks, Russia has carried out near constant attacks on Kyiv using faster jet-powered drones, disrupting life, business and government operations. Moscow has also effectively blocked Ukraine’s Black Sea ports by intensifying its air attacks on the country’s southern regions. Ukraine’s ‌main exports – agricultural products and iron and steel – are shipped via these ports.

In Moldova on Ukraine’s western border, authorities closed national airspace for nearly an hour after a drone was detected near the border. Seven border crossings were temporarily closed.

Zelenskyy said he would be willing to meet Putin at the G20 summit in Miami for talks on ending the war, in a media interview released Saturday, but the Kremlin immediately ruled it out. “It is impossible,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told AFP in New Delhi on Saturday, repeating Moscow’s demand that a meeting can only take place in the Russian capital. The gathering of world leaders takes place on 14-15 December and there has been no confirmation yet as to whether Putin would attend. Putin has repeatedly rejected offers for a face-to-face meeting with Zelenskyy.

Published: September 12, 2026, 6:22 pm

Six Nigerians extradited to US over $6m online romance scam

Alleged members of Black Axe criminal network that swindled US women out of $6m flown from South Africa

Six Nigerian nationals linked to an organized criminal network that allegedly swindled American women out of more than $6m through online romance scams were extradited to the United States on Friday.

South African police confirmed they were to be extradited earlier on Friday, while local news in Africa confirmed that the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation, known as the Hawks, facilitated their handover to officials from the US Federal Bureau of Investigation and Secret Service at Cape Town international airport, in collaboration with Interpol South Africa.

Published: September 12, 2026, 7:05 am

Woman Unknown wins Venice film festival as NAZA takes special jury prize

May el-Toukhy becomes eighth female director to take Golden Lion as Lee Chang-dong’s Possible Love and Guardian-produced exposé of Israel’s Gaza killings also awarded

• Bold and bravura choices as Venice celebrates A Woman Unknown, Possible Love – and NAZA

May el-Toukhy’s Woman Unknown has scooped the Golden Lion at the Venice film festival, at an awards ceremony that also saw the Gaza documentary NAZA win the jury prize.

Set in the immediate aftermath of Danish liberation from Nazi occupation, the Egyptian-Danish director’s film tells the story of a young housemaid, Marie (Mathilde Arcel), who is about to marry her widowed employer but anxious about him discovering a shameful secret in her past: during the war, Marie had an intimate relationship with a German soldier.

Published: September 12, 2026, 2:17 pm

Former US detention officer charged with 20 counts of felony forgery

Michael Diehl allegedly forged magistrates’ signatures in North Carolina to allow enough time for ICE to take custody of prisoners

A former Guilford county detention officer in North Carolina faces forgery charges in connection to 20 alleged forged Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detainment documents, according to a Guilford county sheriff’s office (GCSO) news release.

Guilford county’s sheriff, Danny H Rogers, reported that on Friday the Guilford county magistrate’s office notified the GCSO of a potentially forged court document submitted by GCSO detention officer Michael Diehl, 40.

Published: September 12, 2026, 11:56 am

Céline Dion performs first live show in more than six years

The singer’s triumphant return to the stage comes after health problems forced her to take a lengthy break

Céline Dion wept on stage in Paris as she performed her first live show in more than six years after taking an extended break to deal with her health.

Addressing the sold-out crowd on Saturday, a visibly emotional Dion told them that it was “amazing we are all together”.

Published: September 12, 2026, 3:50 pm

We know how to prevent black lung, so why are workers still dying?

Silicosis sufferers are getting younger as Trump and the coal mining industry push back on protections

Silicosis is one of the oldest workplace hazards and public health experts have known for decades how to prevent it. Yet a new wave of workers, from Appalachian coalminers to Latino countertop fabrication workers, are developing and dying from the disease as industry fights new protections and regulators fail to defend the rules that could protect them.

John Robinson’s grandfather developed black lung back when coalminers could spend decades in the mines before being diagnosed with the disease, often dying in their 60s, 70s and 80s. But Robinson, who mined for coal in south-west Virginia, was diagnosed when he was 47. He’s part of a trend that has grown over the past two decades in central Appalachia, where more coalminers are developing black lung disease at younger ages.

Published: September 12, 2026, 4:00 am

Registered sex offender was allowed to participate at South Carolina church for decades

The Brookwood Church in Simpsonville only just disqualified Jerry Sidell from serving there in any capacity

A registered sex offender who was sentenced to prison in the 1980s after he told authorities that he had molested several boys whom he met through his religious work with Christian youth in Georgia was later allowed to participate for decades in ministry at a South Carolina church.

The Brookwood church, a southern Baptist institution in the South Carolina city of Simpsonville, only just disqualified Jerry Sidell from serving there in any capacity, after he joined it in 1999 and fulfilled various ministerial roles.

Published: September 12, 2026, 4:00 am

Nashville airport board unanimously approves name change to honor Dolly Parton

The city’s mayor and Tennessee’s governor threw their support behind the name change last month

The Nashville airport is to be renamed after Dolly Parton, a board of commissioners voted on Friday, in tribute to the Smoky Mountain singer who is estimated to bring $1.8bn each year to Tennessee through her Dollywood theme park.

The decision ensures that Parton, who died last month at 80 years old, will be memorialized with her name on an airport, although the renaming process will take time to complete.

Published: September 12, 2026, 6:40 am

One in nine migratory birds threatened with extinction, global report says

Findings on decline of species such as Arctic tern and turtle dove published alongside flyways pledge at Kenya summit

One in nine migratory birds are threatened with extinction and 45% of migratory species such as cuckoos, turtle doves and Arctic terns are in decline, according to a global report.

The migratory slender-billed curlew was officially declared extinct last year, the first global bird extinction in mainland Eurasia and Africa in recent centuries. Worldwide, seven migratory bird species have been confirmed or are suspected to have become extinct over the last 150 years.

Published: September 11, 2026, 3:00 am

‘Fresh from the roof’: the supermarket growing salad a few metres above the tills

Customers seeking greens at one Berlin outlet are dealing with some very local supply chains indeed

Walking into the Felix Thomas REWE supermarket in Lankwitz, Berlin, customers are immediately presented with a choice of greens: romaine, rocket, iceberg. But last month, a new option joined the selection: Lankwitz loose-leaf lettuce. A combination of head lettuce, romaine lettuce, Lollo Rosso, and dark green easy leaf lettuce, its yellow packaging makes it stand out in a row of green. But it’s not just the flashy packaging that makes it distinct. Unlike its neighbouring lettuces, which come from regional farms or all the way from Italy, these greens were grown just a few metres away – or rather, a few metres up. “Frisch Vom REWE Dach” or “Fresh from the REWE roof”, the bags read.

Rooftop farms are nothing new: in cities such as Paris, Hong Kong, Copenhagen and New York, similar farms supply food to adjacent food retailers or even restaurants. This model has the potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from transportation (and its associated costs), minimise the urban heat effect, make use of dead space and perhaps even improve the relationship between buyers and their food.

Published: September 11, 2026, 2:00 am

US scientists turn to chickens to sound the alarm as West Nile cases rise

Chickens – which can test positive for viruses but cannot spread them – an ideal early warning system for mosquito-borne disease

The start of West Nile virus transmission began unusually early in some US states, with the most cases in early summer since 2004, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) warned in July – so Delaware turned to chickens.

“They kind of are the proverbial canary in the coal mine,” said Tom Moran, head of the mosquito control section at the Delaware department of natural resources and environmental control.

Published: September 12, 2026, 4:00 am

CIA releases dozens of presidential daily briefs on Bin Laden and al-Qaida from before 9/11

The presidential briefing documents were declassified on the 25th anniversary of the September 11 attacks

Several dozen presidential briefing documents declassified on Friday, the 25th anniversary of the September 11 attacks, detail intelligence that government officials had gathered about Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida leading up to the hijackings that killed nearly 3,000 people and upended American national security.

The documents illustrate security analysts’ tracking of Bin Laden’s movements and support system, as well as concerns about possible threats to US targets. They also detail officials’ understanding of his network in the United States and other countries, including how his operations were financed.

Published: September 11, 2026, 3:27 pm

AI agents being tested by OpenAI involved in cyber-attack on another service, say researchers

Two months before hacking Hugging Face, malicious packages authored by internal OpenAI agents were uploaded to RubyGems

Agents being tested by OpenAI uploaded hundreds of malicious packages in a cyberattack on software service RubyGems in May, two ⁠months ​before they hacked open-source platform Hugging Face, the company confirmed Friday.

It’s the latest revelation of cyberattacks linked to major artificial intelligence developers such as OpenAI and Anthropic. The hacks or attempts to access external systems have spooked the public and heightened concerns over the increasing abilities of AI models – and whether developers can contain them.

Published: September 11, 2026, 6:37 pm

‘Immature playground boasting’: Mathematicians uneasy at OpenAI’s latest scalp

As OpenAI model cracks Millennium Prize Problem that puzzled experts for decades, many feel shocked at pace of change

It was a week that left mathematicians reeling. Hot on the heels of a flurry of cases of artificial intelligence furthering the field, OpenAI declared a major scalp: its latest AI model had cracked a Millennium Prize Problem, a puzzle with a $1m reward that had defied human brains for decades.

The achievement bore little resemblance to how mathematical problems normally fall. A near-trillion dollar private company had unleashed 10,000 agents – AI systems that carry out tasks autonomously – on the problem. The bill was estimated at $15m.

Published: September 12, 2026, 1:00 am

Burial of King Oyo takes place in Uganda as news anchor prepares for throne

Royal guards carry casket through streets of Fort Portal amid row over appointment of Edward Rukidi Kijanangoma

Uganda’s King Oyo Nyimba Kabamba Iguru Rukidi IV, long the world’s youngest monarch, has been buried among the tombs of his royal forebears as ⁠his Tooro kingdom looked to put ⁠a bitter succession battle behind ​it.

Oyo’s appointed successor, the news anchor Edward Rukidi Kijanangoma, cast nine coffee berries into the grave at the Karambi Royal Tombs, marking the formal handover of power in the western Ugandan kingdom.

Published: September 12, 2026, 8:09 am

Xi Jinping gets red carpet at Brics summit amid thaw in India-China relations

Chinese president’s arrival in Delhi seen as step towards reconciliation after deadly 2020 military clash

The Chinese president, Xi Jinping, has received a red-carpet welcome in India for a summit of Brics developing nations, as regional rivals Beijing and Delhi make a public display of thawing relations while quietly competing to lead at a time of shaky US global dominance.

As Xi stepped off the plane, he was walked past an honour guard of Indian soldiers and traditional dancers in colourful dresses. Later on Saturday, he was due to attend a gala dinner for the two-day summit.

Published: September 12, 2026, 5:39 am

Firewall compromised: has Friedrich Merz blown ‘democracy’s last shot’?

Many fear chancellor is wrong man for the job at a time when Germany’s defences against far right are crumbling

A cataclysm. A 9.0 earthquake. A five-alarm fire. A bitter rejection of Germany’s joyous reunification three decades ago, and a threat to the democratic postwar order.

Sizing up the repercussions of last weekend’s win for the far-right Alternative für Deutschland party in the former communist state of Saxony-Anhalt, German commentators expressed a sense of doom, panic and helplessness in the political establishment.

Published: September 11, 2026, 9:00 pm

Bold and bravura choices as Venice celebrates A Woman Unknown, Possible Love – and NAZA

After facing heavy criticism over its lack of female directors, the film festival may have redeemed itself with its winners’ list

• Woman Unknown wins Venice film festival as NAZA takes special jury prize

Did the Venice film festival just redeem itself on the sexism issue? It made a really good choice for the top prize, giving it to a female director, and it’s a good winners’ list all round.

Having been pilloried for failing to include enough women film-makers, the festival awarded the Golden Lion to Woman Unknown, by the Danish-Egyptian director May el-Toukhy, her gripping and stylish drama-thriller about sexual shame, political paranoia and the return of the repressed in Denmark after the second world war.

Published: September 12, 2026, 2:07 pm

Everybody Wants to F*ck Me review – Taron Egerton is hounded in sharp-toothed dating nightmare

Toronto film festival: It’s Get Out meets the viral Shitty Media Men list in this hugely entertaining mix of dark comedy and stalker thriller with a brilliant alternating turn from Taron Egerton

Everyone knows an Adam. He’s not like those other guys, the ones who won’t take no for an answer and speak lasciviously about women to their mates. He’s doing the work, listening to and uplifting female voices, working at an all-female gallery while being constantly aware of his cis white male privilege. He has a Mubi tote bag, reads Edna O’Brien’s Country Girl in Hackney cafes, has a poster of Cléo from 5 to 7 in his apartment and has even named his dog after his favourite Haim sister. He is … a nice guy.

In first-time writer-director Jonathan Schey’s canny debut Everybody Wants to Fuck Me, Adam is also a fraud.

Everybody Wants to Fuck Me is premiering at the Toronto film festival and will be released at a later date

Published: September 12, 2026, 8:27 am

Girl Group review – Rebel Wilson’s dreadful music comedy is a spice-free wannabe

Toronto film festival: the actor turned writer-director’s ode to girl groups is a shoddily made and embarrassingly unfunny catastrophe

There were plentiful on-paper delights for certain music fans of a certain generation promised at Toronto’s splashy Friday-night premiere of pop comedy Girl Group. Posed as a tribute to the Spice Girls and the fizzy boom of girl power-fuelled music that came in their wake, its cast includes OG member Mel C, All Saints’ Shaznay Lewis, and Pussycat Dolls’ Ashley Roberts and Nicole Scherzinger while its soundtrack includes Glee-like covers of Destiny’s Child, En Vogue and Fifth Harmony, a feast for those who have recently felt famished. At a time when such music is still sadly rather thin on the ground, save for the manufactured kids pop of Katseye and the often effective yet more boutiquey throwback R&B of Flo, it seemed to be a reminder of how thrilling it all used to be back when such girl-pop supremacy felt impossibly never-ending, a form of nostalgia-bait that many of us could fully get behind.

But there are not enough pandering nods to the past that will get even the most dedicated pop girlie through the five-alarm catastrophe that unfolded for those of us who bravely decided to stay awake (someone in front of me wisely chose the release of sleep within the first 30 minutes). Hailing from Live Nation Studios, also behind the Weeknd’s roundly ridiculed vanity project Hurry Up Tomorrow, but lit and shot like a pharmaceutical commercial, it barely even feels like a real movie let alone one that should be premiering at such a prestigious festival. It’s the clumsy handiwork of Rebel Wilson, a once in-demand comedy star who has been trying to chase her career highs in the years since. In a theoretically admirable move, she’s moved behind the camera to take control and reintroduce the kind of broad comedies she used to be a part of before they faded from the mainstream. Her directorial debut, a cheap and cheerful adaptation of Australian stage musical The Deb, was ultimately best known for being the subject of a nasty and prolonged court case, but it showed us how Wilson saw herself as a film-maker and which of her films she was most eager to relive *coughs* Pitch Perfect *ends cough*. Girl Group sees her return once again to that territory – female friendship, musical numbers, unfriendly competition – but with even lesser results.

Girl Group is premiering at the Toronto film festival and is seeking distribution

Published: September 12, 2026, 6:20 am

Extended reality takes visitors from the ruins of West Bank to 17th-century Amsterdam at Venice Immersive

From frivolous to serious, virtual nosy passersby to the impact of climate change, the groundbreaking festival draws to a close – but this year the exhibits live on

The first installation one encounters on visiting Venice Immersive, the film festival’s reliably head-spinning showcase for new media, is a chest-high metal box fitted with an eyepiece and two speakers. On peering inside you see a view of yourself from about 20ft above. You see the other guests walking past, a couple of pigeons on the ground. When one of these passersby lingers at your side for just a moment too long, the obvious impulse is to glance up from the eyepiece in order to see what they want. It is at this point that the experience blooms into a Lynchian nightmare.

The passerby is not real – or rather, he’s only real in the box. He wears a blue suit and speaks with a heavy French accent and tells a tale that would sit badly in polite company. He says that I must have too much time on my hands, to stand hunched over this eyepiece for several minutes on end. “Why do people keep looking inside this box?” he demands. “What is it that they hope to see? It is not reality.”

Published: September 12, 2026, 12:00 am

Gore, gimps and a potty-mouthed magpie: welcome to the Lisbon horror festival where nightmares are a dream

MotelX – Portugal’s only film festival dedicated to horror – hopes to inspire local film-makers by showcasing world-class scares. Now in its 20th edition, its directors say truly nerve-shredding cinema is its holy grail

If horror happens in the dark, the midnight movie showing was once the perfect way of gauging the genre’s health. But those days may be over. “When we were a film club, our first ever cinema screening was Takashi Miike’s Ichi the Killer in 2003, and it was full,” says Pedro Souto, co-director of Lisbon’s horror-centric MotelX festival. “But you don’t have that many people at midnight any more. I don’t know why.” He’s right: the midnight slot I attend – of the gore-bathed Indonesian kung fu flick Ikatan Darah – is only half full. Only a few appreciative chuckles when meat-cleavers plunge into craniums suggest the old midnight spirit still lives.

No need to panic, though: horror has simply embraced the light. With the genre exploding in the 2010s and 2020s, and blockbusting grosses this year for the likes of Obsession and Backrooms, MotelX is able to gorge itself on this cultural jugular. Now in its 20th edition, the festival has expanded to 11 days, with more than 170 films from 40 countries. Flashy branding – a howling gimp and the signature X, both in inflatable PVC – is dotted on around city billboards. At the opening ceremony, a gigantic birthday cake – the self-same gimp emerging from a lake of gelatine “blood” – is massacred by the punters within 20 minutes. Crowds seem abundant at most screenings, dominated by a heatwave look (dark singlets, shorts and sweaty tattoos) best described as “goth Decathlon”.

Published: September 11, 2026, 8:23 am

100 years after John Coltrane’s birth, secret tapes are emerging. What can they tell us about jazz’s great rulebreaker?

The sax star turned his back on fame to embrace free jazz. Caught on a tape machine hidden in an overcoat, newly revealed recordings show how he did it

In August 1965, at the height of his fame, saxophonist John Coltrane headlined the DownBeat jazz festival in Chicago. Taking to the stage with a new member of his band, young experimentalist Archie Shepp on tenor, Coltrane’s quartet blew through a series of jagged and free improvisations, straying from structured compositions and, instead, hurling down sheets of sound so loud and aggressive that they reportedly caused widespread walk-outs. DownBeat’s own reviewer later wrote: “They gave as tasteless a display of musicianship as I’ve ever heard … Shepp and Coltrane seemed to be more interested in trying to out-honk, out-squeal and out-bleat each other than in playing music.”

That 1965 performance should have been a triumphant moment, after five years of Coltrane’s star ascending. Since leaving Miles Davis’s “first great quintet”, with whom he had recorded what would become the bestselling jazz album of all time – 1959’s Kind of Blue – Coltrane founded an entirely new harmonic language in jazz with the 1960 release of his solo LP Giant Steps, had a radio hit with his 1961 version of The Sound of Music’s My Favourite Things and, in January 1965, formulated his own spiritual imagining of jazz music with the Grammy-nominated album A Love Supreme. He was already a giant of the genre, contributing dozens of compositions to the standard repertoire, but two years later, in 1967, aged just 40, he would be dead of liver cancer.

Published: September 11, 2026, 12:00 am

Neil Young and the Chrome Hearts: Second Song review – shaky album occasionally strikes gold

(Reprise)
The 80-year-old continues his tireless output, delving into the past for inspiration to variable results – though two lengthy brand-new songs are real showstoppers

You can’t fault Neil Young for his industry. Second Song is his second new album of 2026: the first, a double live set called As Time Explodes, was released just over three months ago. Indeed, at 80, his work schedule seems mind-boggling. Since 2020, he’s released nine new albums, a 30-minute EP, five self-directed films and three more films directed by others, 10 archival live albums, six archival studio albums and two immense box sets. He has embarked on tours with his longstanding backing band Crazy Horse, his recently convened backing band the Chrome Hearts, and solo. He has gone to public war with Spotify, Amazon, Ticketmaster and – briefly – the BBC’s coverage of Glastonbury, and penned umpteen op-ed pieces about politics, the environment and corporate media for his online newspaper the Times-Contrarian. When he recently cancelled a European tour citing exhaustion, it was hard not to think: well, I’m not surprised.

You do find yourself wondering if his workload is such a good thing: not just for an elderly gentleman’s health but also for the quality of his output. Young has always prized spontaneity over finesse, but some of his more recent releases have suggested that at least a soupçon of finesse might not go amiss. Last year’s Talkin to the Trees, however, seemed to cross the line that separates the instinctive from the dashed off. Young frequently sounded as if he was making the material up as he went along, with nugatory results: “When today has come and gone, I might be singing my new song,” he offered on Family Life. “Might be short, it might be long, but I’ll be singing my new song.” If some of the melodies sounded familiar, that’s because they were. Not one but two tracks echoed the tune of Woody Guthrie’s This Land Is Your Land; First Fire of Winter was essentially Young’s 1970 masterpiece Helpless with different lyrics; Thankful rewrote 1992’s Harvest Moon.

Published: September 11, 2026, 1:30 am

Add to playlist: Grumpy’s weirded-up country celebration of trans joy and the week’s best new tracks

Sometime Zach Bryan backing vocalist Heaven Schmitt started Grumpy as a solo project. It’s now a six-piece band, blending alt-country with jubilant solidarity

From Brooklyn, US
Recommended if you like Wednesday, This Is Lorelei, Alex G
Up next Unfindable Ring released 23 October

“Found family” is something that queer people talk about a lot: finding your people and sticking with them is necessary in a world that often seems to want you quiet at best and dead at worst. Grumpy began as the solo project of frontman Heaven Schmitt, in between stints collaborating and touring with country-pop star Zach Bryan as a backing vocalist. It’s now a six-piece band with predominantly trans members; some of the group have dated or are dating, and they all work collaboratively on recording, producing, mixing, creating artwork and making music videos.

Published: September 11, 2026, 4:00 am

Haruomi Hosono: Yours Sincerely review

(Ghostly International)
Unpredictable and utterly beguiling, the septuagenarian beloved by Harry Styles brings a hint of mischief to his innocently charming songs

Haruomi Hosono is one of the most influential figures in Japanese music. In 1969, his psych-folk group Happy End were the first rock group to sing in Japanese; decades later, their song Kaze wo Atsumete was rediscovered for the Lost in Translation soundtrack. He was also an integral member of electronic pioneers Yellow Magic Orchestra, and scored movies and video games, while his solo albums swing from foundational city pop texts to experiments in ambient and arch exotica.

Now 79, with disciples including Van Dyke Parks and Harry Styles (who named 2022’s Harry’s House after 1973 solo album Hosono House), he still makes whatever music he wants. His 23rd solo album is wilful, playful, unpredictable and utterly beguiling. Rooted in the Japanese concept of omoiyari, roughly translated as compassion, these songs are big-hearted, focusing on warmth and positivity: opening reverie Note of Mothership features a chorus of overlapping voices murmur-singing “we are mothers”; the sweet Happy Holiday repeats its title over an enchantingly simple melody; Sincerely is a sleepy, Leon Redbone-esque strum.

Published: September 11, 2026, 12:30 am

Julia Donaldson: ‘Am I the Gruffalo Granny? Not really. I’m the mouse’

As she introduces the latest member of her Gruffalo family, Julia Donaldson talks about storytelling, loss and the worries that come with being Britain’s all-time bestselling author

In 1999 a journalist asked a then-unknown author to share her millennium wish. The author, who was 51 years old and had published only one book before, said she hoped her new one, out that year, would become a classic. “But then straight away I said: ‘Only joking!’ Because I didn’t want to sound full of myself, and I certainly didn’t think the wish would come true,” she remembers today.

That author is Julia Donaldson; the book she published in 1999 was The Gruffalo; and, as you hardly need telling, her wish did indeed come true. And how. Since its publication, more than 18.2m copies of The Gruffalo and its sequel have sold worldwide. The Gruffalo’s Child was published in 2004, and together these tales of the terrible creature with terrible claws, and terrible teeth in his terrible jaws, have helped Donaldson to sell more than 50m books in the UK. In 2025 she was named the country’s bestselling author – across all genres, children’s and adult’s – since records began.

Published: September 12, 2026, 3:00 am

The best recent science fiction, fantasy and horror – review roundup

Massif by Garth Nix; Revolution in the Heart: Stories Inspired By Ursula K Le Guin edited by Jonathan Strahan; An Immaculate Deception by Isabela Livino; Serenity Falls by CJ Tudor

Massif by Garth Nix (Gollancz, £25)
The bestselling fantasy author’s first science fiction novel for adults is set three centuries from now, when humanity has spread out to the stars. The colonisation of other planets has been enabled by contact with mysterious aliens, and with much of the population split into competing economic spheres, war over territory is raging between the two biggest: United Earth Government and the Mars and Beyond Prosperity Sphere. This war in space is possible only because the godlike aliens continue to supply us with spaceships – but why? What do they want? Answers must await a sequel to this compelling, action-packed space opera with wonderfully weird aliens.

Revolution in the Heart: Stories Inspired By Ursula K Le Guin edited by Jonathan Strahan (Titan, £22)
The authors of these 15 original stories range from the well-established (Karen Joy Fowler, Kelly Link, Molly Gloss) to newer writers (Chana Porter, Ai Jiang, Vandana Singh). A few make direct reference to Le Guin, but most reveal her influence subtly, by shared interests in questioning established ideas and imagining other ways of living, whether among non-human beings, in the future, on other worlds, or in ours. My favourites include Sarah Pinsker’s Travelling, Home, about a young woman in present-day America seeking her place in the world, Ann Leckie’s Five-Eyed Jane, an ironic look at misunderstandings among aliens, and Karen Joy Fowler’s Blaumont, a dark fairytale that’s as disturbing and thought-provoking today as Le Guin’s The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas. Probably the best original anthology of the year: a must-read.

Published: September 11, 2026, 4:00 am

Raiding the past: Lara Croft relives her first adventure in Legacy of Atlantis

We have a first play of the forthcoming Tomb Raider remake and speak with its developers. Can they improve on the gameplay without losing what made the 1996 original such a classic?

We join Lara Croft in St Francis’ Folly – inspired by the Unesco-listed monasteries of Meteora in Greece – as the light shines through the cracked ceiling and a flock of bats glide across the vast ruins below. When Lara leaps down to the monastery’s crumbling pillared courtyard, it becomes clear that these screeching, leathery creatures aren’t just set dressing. As they lurch towards her with unpredictable movements, she dispatches the swarm with a flurry of gun fire and panicked punches.

It’s a suitably cinematic reintroduction to our heroine and her very first adventure. Co-developed by longtime Lara custodians Crystal Dynamics and Polish studio Flying Wild Hog, Legacy of Atlantis is a reimagining of the classic 1996 game Tomb Raider, and this familiar cliffside location is now brimming with new life and believable detail. Yet while our reunion gets off to an auspicious start, I have my concerns. It feels like reconnecting with an old friend at the pub, only for them to begin spouting conspiracy theories two pints in.

Published: September 11, 2026, 2:05 am

Tove Lo: ‘The rumour I hear the most is that I’m either pregnant or in rehab. I want both of those to not be true’

The Swedish electro-pop singer-songwriter on eloping to Vegas, checking cupboards for murderers and her spooky party trick

What’s been your most memorable interaction with a fan?

The one that comes to mind is a fan in Austin who I met on one of my first tours there. He ran up to me and said, “SIGN MY ARM!” I signed his arm and then when he came back to the show the next night he had it tattooed – there was plastic over it. I remember saying, “I would have done a better job if I knew you were going to get it tattooed.” Then we took a picture of us, with me pointing at the tattoo.

Published: September 12, 2026, 1:00 pm

Man to Man review – Tilda Swinton’s perfect pacing makes this multi-character monologue compelling

Royal Court theatre, London
Starting in Germany in the 1930s, there is a stinging topicality to Manfred Karge’s play addressing the renaissance of Nazi ideology

Early autumn London theatre has already featured two Oscar winners: Cate Blanchett in Electra/Persona and Mark Rylance in Tartuffe (Remixed). Now Tilda Swinton makes a trio. This shows the commendable dedication of some screen talent to theatre but also the box office need, in recessions, for famous faces. Unusually, there was a first night red carpet outside the Royal Court, leading a writer long associated with the venue to express “shock” to ushers at such Hollywood vulgarity.

Swinton is reprising Manfred Karge’s Man to Man, which she first performed 39 years ago, in a production heading to Edinburgh, Berlin and New York. The piece is a multicharacter monologue starting in Germany in the 1930s.

Published: September 11, 2026, 4:09 pm

Eurovision made me realise that I was autistic at 34

I had always dreamed of attending the song contest. But all that glitter brought on sensory overload – and I finally understood who I actually was

The Eurovision song contest meant a lot to me growing up. The eclectic performances. Terry Wogan’s despair. The yearly tradition of Greece giving “douze points” to Cyprus and Cyprus giving “douze points” to Greece.

The hedonistic, unpredictable event playing out on my bedroom television couldn’t be further away from the idyllic yet conservative Dorset I grew up in. Most of my youth consisted of trying to work out how to perfectly align my future career so I could work at the contest if it ever ended up in the UK again, all while being confused by why my friends were not interested in my written analyses on each entrant.

Published: September 12, 2026, 4:00 am

The Guide #260: From Oasis to K-pop, music is going mad for the big-screen documentary

A new wave of concert films and career retrospectives is drawing fans to cinemas – but why now?

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There’s a moment towards the end of Don’t Look Back in Anger, the newly released documentary capturing Oasis’s 2025 reunion tour, that helps explain why those planet-conquering gigs happened in the first place. Liam and Noel Gallagher are sitting down together for the rarest of paired interviews – the first since the 2009 scrap that broke up the band and created such a huge appetite for their return. Had Oasis’s story ended with that backstage fight in Paris, both Gallaghers note, their legacy would have been one of astonishing success curtailed by “chaos”. Instead, those reunion gigs, as well as proving wildly lucrative, have allowed them to add a triumphant coda to that messy ending. “It feels like a weight has been lifted,” a surprisingly contemplative Liam says.

That maybe makes Don’t Look Back in Anger sound more navel-gazing than this entertaining and often very funny film is – as you might expect of any doc that features a sweary rumination from Noel on Liam’s ability to balance a tambourine on his head (“If I did that I’d look an utter cunt, but somehow he does it and it’s the greatest thing I’ve ever seen”). Still, for all the droll quippery and bucket-hatted euphoria, there is something poignant and self-reflective at the film’s heart: hatchets are buried, departed friends are toasted and legacies are contemplated. What you leave behind was clearly on the minds of the brothers Gallagher throughout the tour and film.

Published: September 11, 2026, 11:00 pm

‘I love the boldness of modernism’: New York fashion week goes highbrow

Georgia O’Keeffe inspires the latest Calvin Klein while Michael Kors feels indebted to Alexander Calder

Calvin Klein has taken a highbrow turn in the two years since Veronica Leoni took charge. The Italian designer, a philosophy graduate who was schooled in the chic design studios of Jil Sander and Celine, has shifted away from jeans, boxer shorts and logos, stripping the brand to its minimalist bones: slip dresses and simple coats, slim skirts and crisp T-shirts.

Leoni called this the “discipline of removal”. Her muse this season was Georgia O’Keeffe, an artist who the brand’s namesake founder admired. Klein bought O’Keeffe’s painting Summer Days in 1983 for $1m, subsequently donating it to the Whitney Museum. A checked pattern taken from O’Keeffe’s distinctive capsule wardrobe of utilitarian chic appeared on this catwalk as a wrap coat, hardware-free with a fabric belt and no buttons.

Published: September 12, 2026, 5:08 am

Luke Evans: ‘As a child I was in love with Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones’

The Hobbit and Fast & Furious actor on the joy of strawberry laces, hating that he’s so hard on himself, and his sneaky way of leaving a meeting

Born in south Wales, Luke Evans, 47, left school at 16 and trained at London Studio Centre before appearing in various West End shows. His films include Clash of the Titans, the Fast & Furious franchise, The Hobbit trilogy and Beauty and the Beast. He has released two albums and a memoir, was Tony-nominated for his role in The Rocky Horror Show on Broadway, and stars in The Party, an ITV adaptation of Elizabeth Day’s novel. He lives in Lisbon with his partner.

When were you happiest?
I’m always happy.

Published: September 12, 2026, 2:00 am

I'm a pro chef – here's why this tiny knife sharpener belongs in the kitchen of any serious cook

This sharpener is easy to use and does the job well enough to please a professional chef

• The seven best air fryers, tried and tested in a food lab

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

In every cooking class that I teach, knife sharpening is the first lesson my students learn. Dull knives are inefficient and dangerous – a dull blade can slide right off the curvature of an onion into the flesh of the hand holding it.

At the Drexel Food Lab, where I’m a certified research chef and culinary educator, we use a Tormek T2 Pro Kitchen Knife Sharpener, donated by the company, to sharpen our knives. It is a dream piece of equipment that can sharpen any knife we throw at it, from a pile of our classes’ cheap stainless steel Dexter kitchen knives to a high-end carbon steel Japanese slicer for our instructors’ use.

Published: September 11, 2026, 7:15 am

The best stain removers for clothing (and the worst)

We tested OxiClean, Tide pens, Zout and 11 other stain removers against blotches of oil, wine, turmeric and many other tough stains – here’s what to stock in your laundry room

After a particularly lively night, you might find your favorite shirt covered in splashes of wine, coffee or mustard – or if you’re really unlucky, all three. These can all be stubborn stains, and their chemical makeup is different. Is there a single stain remover that can combat them all?

To find out, I tested more than a dozen popular stain removers on all those messes plus several more, including grass, lipstick and ink. They aren’t all recommended, but I tried many home options, like OxiClean, Zout, Shout and Seventh Generation, along with Tide pens and Miss Mouth’s wipes that are easy to take on the go. Since we’re not always at home when a laundry disaster strikes, I also tried pens and wipes that are easy to stow in a bag or purse.

All our stain remover picks, explained

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

Other stain removers we reviewed

FAQ: my advice on clothing stain removal

Published: September 11, 2026, 12:19 pm

Blind date: ‘He probably thinks I hold a lot of strong opinions on frivolous matters’

Joe, 27, who works in advocacy at a charity, meets Jade, 29, a PR account manager

What were you hoping for?
Human connection outside an algorithm – good conversation and a fun anecdote.

Published: September 11, 2026, 10:00 pm

From ‘Ozempic breath’ to hair loss: sorting the science from the hype about weight loss jabs

Do you gain weight once you stop using them? Do they make your face saggy? Can they improve your mental health? Experts explain whether 13 common beliefs about GLP-1s are true or false

FALSE “GLP-1 medications mimic Glucagon-like peptide-1 – one of the hormones involved in appetite regulation. It doesn’t completely suppress hunger, but it is powerful,” says Dr Federica Amati, nutrition lead at Imperial College School of Medicine and author of The Appetite Reset. “The medicine is about 1,000 times stronger than what we naturally produce from our gut,” she explains. As food passes through the gut, cells called L-cells sense the nutrients, which sparks the production of the GLP-1 hormone. Without the drugs, these bursts of GLP-1 production last a few minutes. “It’s a bit like a sparkler. In comparison, the drugs are like a bonfire that roars for a week,” says Amati. Because the GLP-1 hormone stays in your body for longer if you are on the drugs, you feel fuller faster and your appetite gets suppressed, but you will eventually get hungry.

Published: September 11, 2026, 7:00 am

Living with tinnitus can be distressing. So what can you do about it?

Tinnitus affects millions of people and it can take many different forms. But there are therapies that can help make it more bearable

For some it’s a high-pitched mosquito whine; for others it’s a low bass hum. It might come and go with periods of stress, or it might be the permanent, irritating background track to daily life and nightly sleep.

Whatever form it takes, tinnitus – hearing sounds like ringing, buzzing or hissing when no external noise is there – can be extremely distressing because it’s quite literally in your head; there is no escaping it. Given that at least one-quarter of the population report experiencing tinnitus at some stage in their life, it’s surprising how little is understood about why.

Published: September 11, 2026, 8:00 am

It’s a slam dunk for Tommy Hilfiger as stars turn out for Plaza homecoming

Preppy is back in the zeitgeist, says designer, blending sportswear codes and collegiate chic at New York show

Tommy Hilfiger’s front row was a slam dunk. The Knicks are the kings of New York right now, so scoring Josh Hart, Karl-Anthony Towns and Miles McBride, three of the team’s stars, for the guest list of his New York catwalk show was a victory. Travis Kelce, who is co-designing another upcoming collection with Hilfiger and had been rumoured to attend this event with his new bride, was a no show, but you can’t win them all.

Tommy Hilfiger is all about sport. The design vocabulary of oversized jerseys, team stripes, rugby shirts and letterman jackets draws heavily on the visual language of the stadium. Kelce, whose NFL tunnel walks have become a catwalk of their own, is the latest in a line of sporting ambassadors that includes Thierry Henry, Rafael Nadal and Lewis Hamilton. Hilfiger has long stood for a certain glossy stars-and-stripes Americana – its graphic red, white and blue logo is a riff on the flag – but American identity is delicate cultural territory right now. Sport, which unites audiences across all backgrounds and political allegiances, gives the brand a wholesome place to congregate. “People really like him,” Hilfiger said backstage, explaining why he chose to collaborate with Kelce. “He’s really humble, down to earth, sweet, fun, and funny. And a superstar athlete.”

Published: September 11, 2026, 7:21 am

‘She changed the beauty industry’: how Charlotte Mensah brought black hair into the spotlight

A new exhibition in London celebrates the influential hairstylist whose clients include Janelle Monáe and Zadie Smith. She explains her story – and why she’s on a mission to ensure stylists are trained to work with all hair types

When Charlotte Mensah was a young child growing up in Accra, Ghana in the 1970s, she would spend hours watching her aunties having their hair intricately threaded, an ancient African technique where hair is wrapped tightly using yarn or thread. She didn’t know then that she would go on to become one of the most influential hairdressers in the UK. Renowned for championing natural black hair textures, she has worked as hairstylist to singers Janelle Monáe and Erykah Badu, and the writer Zadie Smith.

According to Smith, in an essay she penned about Mensah’s magic earlier this year: “Charlotte can make a great mane of braids appear where previously there were only split ends and hair loss.”

Published: September 11, 2026, 3:19 am

‘The balloons made me smile but his expression made me stop’: Harivansh Verma’s best phone picture

While celebrating a religious festival on the banks of the Ganges, the Indian photographer captured the everyday struggle of a street vendor

It had been a sacred day for Harivansh Verma. It was the evening of Ganga Dussehra, the major Hindu celebration and gathering along the banks of the Ganges. He was in the city of Haridwar, the location of Har Ki Pauri ghat, a holy riverbank.

“Haridwar holds a lot of deeply spiritual memories for me and my family,” Verma says. “In Hinduism we believe taking a dip in the Ganges cleanses you of your sins. Devotees travel from across the country and the ritual baths go on continuously from sunrise until late into the night. The atmosphere is magnificent.”

Published: September 12, 2026, 3:00 am

The ritual humiliation of putting on a cold, wet wetsuit: the Edith Pritchett cartoon

Continue reading...

Published: September 11, 2026, 10:00 pm

Tim Dowling: how not to interview eminent scientists – a control freak’s guide

It was supposed to be a meeting between a great mind and mine. Instead, I was plunged into darkness and did some swearing

The transition to owning an electric car is in its final phase: our electricity supplier is set to install a smart meter in conjunction with a special tariff that will allow us to charge the car cheaply in the dead of night. After that, all I have to do is live long enough to see a return on my considerable investment.

In the meantime – as sometimes happens in the course of my work – I need to interview some eminent scientists. In my experience eminent scientists are easy to reach – they tend to be attached to academic institutions that readily provide their contact details – and surprisingly willing to spend an hour explaining their work to a moron. But there is always a period – the long interval after I’ve emailed four or five, and before any of them have answered – that I begin to suspect a conspiracy of silence. What is it, I think, about my oily emails that they don’t like?

Published: September 11, 2026, 11:00 pm

How Ron DeSantis politicized Florida’s higher education by placing his loyalists at the top

Term-limited, hard-right governor instituted an ideological infiltration of universities by placing allies in powerful posts

In less than four months’ time, Ron DeSantis, Florida’s hard-right governor, will be termed out of office, and what critics saw as his relentless eight-year, “anti-woke” assault on higher education in the state will finally be over.

But while DeSantis himself will be gone, numerous hand-picked loyalists will remain in positions of power to protect his ideological makeover of universities and colleges. The latest, Alex Kelly, the governor’s former deputy chief of staff, and Florida commerce secretary, was named last week as the sole finalist in Pensacola state college’s search for a new president, at least the 12th close DeSantis ally to win such a plum post.

Published: September 11, 2026, 5:00 am

They drive toward tornadoes. We went with them to see how their work could save lives

Tornadoes kill hundreds each decade in the US. These researchers are investigating why some storms produce twisters – despite the fatal risks

On a narrow road in southern Iowa, my phone shrieked.

Tornado warning. Take shelter now in a basement or an interior room on the lowest floor of a sturdy building.

Published: September 11, 2026, 5:00 am

The week around the world in 20 pictures

The 25th anniversary of 9/11, Russian strikes in Kyiv, wildfires in Indonesia and Sabalenka at the US Open – the past seven days as captured by the world’s leading photojournalists

Warning: this gallery contains images some readers may find distressing

Published: September 11, 2026, 11:51 am