Why Abdul El-Sayed might not be winning Black voters in Michigan

The Michigan candidate for US Senate seat is running without directly acknowledging specific constituent groups

Abdul El-Sayed has an impressive résumé: Rhodes scholar, professor of epidemiology at Columbia University, executive director of the Detroit health department. And, at 41, the Michigan Democratic senatorial candidate represents a new generation of politicians, a shift that he also embodies sartorially. Whereas casual dress for many politicians is a tieless dress shirt with rolled up sleeves, El-Sayed has embraced a post-corporate, digital nomad-ish uniform: fitted black T-shirt, slim jeans and sneakers.

His progressive politics are having a moment among liberals, and he remains unswervingly disciplined about his message: “Money Out of Politics, Money in Your Pocket, Medicare for All.” On paper he appears well-aligned to Democratic sensibilities in this moment, and he is competitive in the polls. But his support is softer than overall Democratic sentiment would dictate, especially among Black voters.

Published: October 11, 2026, 5:00 am

'Straight out of a loveless, passion-free factory from Protein Inc': the best (and worst) protein powders

Whey protein powder is everywhere, but which ones will you savor and which will you choke down? The Guardian staff glugged them all so you don’t have to

• The best (and worst) instant coffee, protein bar or chocolate bars

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

Proteinmaxxing has gotten out of hand. It’s in everything from ice-cream to yogurt – yes, our protein has extra protein in it now. GLP-1 weight loss drugs are in part to blame; as Americans eat less overall, protein intake becomes more essential. And whey protein in particular has taken off.

The side effect: a price hike for whey protein concentrates as much as fivefold as demand sharply increased in the past few years, as we reported. In other words, whey protein powders are more expensive than ever.

Published: October 11, 2026, 7:15 am

Do we really ‘hold tension’ in our hips?

The idea is popular in wellness circles, but experts say there’s no evidence that trauma uniquely affects the hips. Here’s what causes hip tightness and what can help

In yoga classes, on TikTok and throughout other wellness spaces, you’ve probably heard the saying: your hips hold tension. These joints have a reputation of being emotional storage units of sorts – but is it true that they are affected by old traumas and painful memories?

Pain and muscle tension hit harder when you’re going through a difficult time. But should tight hips make you question your mental health? And what can you do to reduce hip tightness? Here’s what you need to know.

Published: October 11, 2026, 9:00 am

‘A living hell’: how Los Angeles got taken over by mosquitoes

Heat and humidity have led to one of the worst mosquito years in recent history, with West Nile virus at a decade high

Los Angeles might be best known for blue skies, beaches and film premiers — but for the last several years it’s held another, unenviable distinction: the most mosquito-infested city in America.

And this year has been especially nightmarish, thanks to a series of heatwaves and an extra-powerful El Niño. Locals have called it a summer of “living hell” as clouds of mosquitoes swarm backyards and leave diners at open air patios scratching their ankles.

Published: October 11, 2026, 4:00 am

I need smart glasses. How else can I monetize every second of my life? | Dave Schilling

They’re the latest technological innovation no one asked for – now with added consent issues!

I went to a party recently. A fancy one, filled with expensive people and interesting clothes.

You might find this surprising, as I expend hundreds of words a week in this publication bemoaning human interaction, but I love parties. I like free champagne, passed appetizers and forced, go-nowhere small talk.

Published: October 11, 2026, 4:00 am

Physicians’ group calls for ban on raw milk – as it’s becoming increasingly popular in the US

As raw milk industry experiences record growth, experts say it might contain pathogens that can sicken people

As raw milk becomes increasingly popular among Americans, there have been several recent disease outbreaks tied to the product, alarming public health officials.

Last week, the American Academy of Pediatrics called for a ban on sales of unpasteurized milk in the United States.

Published: October 11, 2026, 5:00 am

Trump announces partial ceasefire in Ukraine war as Zelenskyy says deal is ‘news to me’

Ukrainian president earlier rejected US call for Kyiv to stop bombing oil refineries, saying Moscow must first end attacks on energy infrastructure

Donald Trump has announced an energy ceasefire between Ukraine and Russia, apparently without consulting Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who said the deal to stop long-range attacks was “news to me”.

In a social media post, the US president claimed the two sides had reached an agreement. “Effective immediately, there is an ENERGY CEASEFIRE in the War between Russia and Ukraine. Both parties have agreed. Do not break it!” he wrote on Truth Social.

Published: October 11, 2026, 10:21 am

Riyadh airport hit again after deadly Houthi missile attack, Saudi authorities say

Unidentified projectile strikes King Khalid airport as escalating attacks threaten to draw more countries into Yemen conflict

• Middle East crisis live – latest updates

• Analysis: attack will force rethink of Trump strategy

A projectile hit a passenger terminal at the airport in Riyadh on Sunday, the day after a deadly missile attack on the facility carried out by Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebel group killed 13 people.

An unidentified projectile hit terminal 4 at King Khalid international airport, starting a fire and causing injuries, according to Saudi authorities. Air defences also intercepted a cruise missile in the vicinity of the airport. It was the latest of several attacks on the airport in the past week.

Published: October 11, 2026, 9:49 am

US maternity wards face wave of closures as Medicaid cuts kick in

Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill’ spending cuts will be fully felt next year, but hospitals are already feeling the squeeze

Maternity wards across the United States are facing a wave of closures as cuts to federal Medicaid funding take effect, experts have warned.

According to analysis by the non-profit Protect Our Care, 52 maternity wards have closed since the HR1 bill was announced in July 2025, with a further eight having announced their upcoming closure.

Published: October 11, 2026, 5:00 am

Abdul El-Sayed: Democrats must ‘win by massive numbers’ to fend off Trump election denial

Democratic Senate candidate’s remarks come as Trump has long baselessly claimed his 2020 election loss was stolen

Democrats must “win by massive numbers” during November’s federal midterm elections because Donald Trump and his Republican allies are bound to try to sow doubt about the integrity of the results, Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed of Michigan said on Sunday.

El-Sayed’s comments on NBC’s Meet the Press came with the Democrats favored to win control of the House of Representatives during the 3 November midterms – and polls show that the party could also win Senate seats in states that traditionally elect Republicans and gain a majority there, too.

Published: October 11, 2026, 10:23 am

Trump and Rubio weigh firing Kimberly Guilfoyle after reports of improper conduct

Senior official says president and US secretary of state are ‘extremely pissed off’ by conduct of US envoy to Greece

Donald Trump and Marco Rubio, the secretary of state, are considering firing US ambassador to Greece Kimberly Guilfoyle after a series of reports alleging she has engaged in improper and possibly illegal conduct before and during her tenure in Athens.

A senior US official said Sunday that Trump and Rubio are “extremely pissed off” by Guilfoyle’s reported conduct and would likely decide on what action to take this week after Monday’s federal holiday.

Published: October 11, 2026, 11:34 am

Thousands without power in Florida and Alabama as Isaias moves north

At least four deaths linked to storm amid warnings of flash flooding that could stretch into Appalachians

As what was left of Hurricane Isaias moved north on Sunday, bringing moderate to heavy rainfall across the central Appalachians and the mid-Atlantic region, nearly 396,000 customers across the Florida Panhandle and southern Alabama remained without power.

Heavy rainfall associated with the storm could bring isolated flash flooding and strong wind gusts and remain a threat across the south-eastern US, especially near the southern Appalachians, according to the National Weather Service (NWS). That could bring scattered power outages and downed trees and power lines. Life-threatening surf and rip current conditions were expected to continue along the Gulf and south-eastern Atlantic coasts.

Published: October 11, 2026, 6:45 am

Cherki cracker caps Manchester City win at Liverpool in face of Anfield taunts

It is a soundtrack that Manchester City have heard before but never for such sustained spells during a match. It came from the Liverpool support, first ringing out around Anfield before kick-off and coming at regular intervals thereafter.

It was always going to be like this as City felt their way into a new reality, one conditioned by the guilty verdicts handed to them by an independent commission on virtually all of the 115 charges they have faced for breaking the Premier League’s financial rules. City maintain their innocence and have appealed.

Published: October 11, 2026, 10:42 am

Capital punishment is surging in the US – but after Christa Pike’s botched execution, what is its future?

Trump has used the full might of the presidency to supercharge executions, but an avalanche of mishaps has put the system’s flaws in the spotlight

It took more than an hour to establish the two intravenous lines through which Christa Pike would be injected with a giant and normally lethal dose of the sedative pentobarbital, and in that time she did everything she could to assist those who were attempting to kill her.

“Please try here,” she said over and over again to Tennessee’s execution team, pointing to specific parts of her body where she thought they might find a vein as they repeatedly stabbed her with needles. “Please try here, I think it will be OK. Please try up on my shoulder, higher.”

Published: October 10, 2026, 10:00 pm

‘When you look at the numbers, we win’: the prophetic Texas pastor poised to take Jasmine Crockett’s House seat

Rev Dr Frederick Douglass Haynes III is reclaiming a faith-based politics to counter Trump-allied white evangelicals

It was that point in the evening: dinner plates were cleared; speeches had run long; people were chatting, milling or eyeing the exit. But then the Rev Dr Frederick Douglass Haynes III took the stage. Bald, bearded, bespectacled and dressed in black, he delivered a mix of fiery sermon and performance poetry. Soon the guests were back in their seats – rapt, listening, clapping and whooping.

Haynes’s rolling cadence was evocative of the pulpit but the political message was far from kumbaya. Aiming to succeed Democratic star Jasmine Crockett in Texas’s 30th congressional district, he danced like a butterfly with references to the boxer Muhammad Ali and rapper Tupac Shakur. But he also stung like a bee, branding Donald Trump as “President Pickpocket” and Republicans as the authors of racist gerrymandering and voter suppression.

Published: October 11, 2026, 3:00 am

Trump urges John Fetterman to switch parties: ‘I’d love to see him as a Republican’

Comments were among the most direct overtures by Trump to woo Democratic senator into his Republican party

Donald Trump on Saturday openly encouraged Democratic US senator John Fetterman to switch parties and become a Republican just weeks before the federal midterm elections could reshape control of Congress.

“I’d love to see him as a Republican,” the presidents told reporters at Joint Base Andrews as he returned to Washington DC from a rally in Tennessee. “He does better as a Republican than he does as a Democrat.”

Guardian staff contributed reporting

Published: October 11, 2026, 6:25 am

‘Under tremendous strain’: CIA analyst turned spy novelist on a fraying US-UK alliance

David McCloskey’s new book depicts a calamitous collapse of the ‘special relationship’ – could things get darker still?

The “special relationship”, the time-honored emotional bond between the US and Britain that has sustained through war and peace, is in trouble.

The ties of history, culture and language that have bridged an ocean and bound the two countries politically for generations are fraying as perhaps never before – strained relentlessly by Donald Trump, who has gleefully sacrificed traditional alliances and diplomatic niceties on the altar of his “America first” agenda.

Published: October 11, 2026, 1:00 am

‘It’s not just about circling things on a map’: how our journalists use and corroborate satellite imagery

From the destruction of Gaza to climate breakdown, satellite imagery has become an indispensable reporting tool. But as a recent Guardian investigation illustrates, a lot of work goes into ensuring its veracity and keeping the focus on the people affected on the ground

How to bear witness when you can’t physically go there? Journalists have always grappled with this. Whether it’s because of armed conflict, repressive regimes or prohibitive terrain, some places remain too dangerous or difficult for reporters to access.

Enter low-orbit satellites. As the technology has evolved and proliferated, satellite imagery has become increasingly indispensable. But as with all reporting tools, it requires professional judgment and painstaking work to verify things.

Published: October 11, 2026, 6:00 am

Why a Chilean salt flat is a microcosm of the extractive frontiers of green capitalism

In the Atacama desert, the extraction of lithium – so crucial to addressing the climate crisis – comes with escalating social and environmental costs

A high-altitude desert plateau traverses Argentina, Bolivia and Chile. I am on the Chilean side, sitting in a Jeep along with two other researchers. The afternoon air is thin and brisk but the sun is piercing – a combination I am familiar with from years of living and travelling in South America’s Andean range.

The landscape is a study in contrasts and contours: broad basins suddenly cut off by sweeping curves; flat expanses sliced by near vertical ascents. The Licancabur volcano looms large above us. Vegetation and humidity levels change rapidly with the rising altitude, bringing cooler temperatures, wetter air and denser plant life.

Published: October 11, 2026, 5:00 am

Dollywood down under: Dolly Parton fans and drag queens turn a tiny Australian town pink

In Narromine – redubbed ‘Dollymine’ for the weekend – the country music star’s face is everywhere and a warm spirit of inclusivity is all-embracing

On a sporting oval in a rural Australian town 15,000km from Knoxville, Tennessee, dozens of Dolly Partons saunter down the runway as a boisterous crowd cheers and swats away flies with their cowboy hats.

As the sun begins to set, Jim Beams are flowing and music is blaring. One lucky punter is about to be crowned this year’s best-dressed Dolly, complete with sash, trophy and bragging rights.

The Narromine Line Dancers chat before performing for the crowd

Published: October 11, 2026, 7:00 am

Saturday Night Live: Shane Gillis is a game host but the season’s subpar streak continues

The comedian drops a surprise F-bomb in an episode that’s otherwise lacking in any real notable big moments

Saturday Night Live opens onboard the newly returned USS Lincoln. Even after a record 322 days at sea, the soldiers’ suffering isn’t over, as they’re made a captive audience to “the man who put you on the boat in the first place”, secretary of war Pete Hegseth (Colin Jost). Wearing an ammunition belt made of Fireball cinnamon whiskey, he welcomes the crew back to San Diego, “which the president just asked Iran to blow up”. He briefs them on the recent goings-on on dry land (“in case you want to go back to sea”), including a promised live-streamed execution in December and the new logo for the department of war featuring “an American eagle with a Nazi vibe”.

Hegseth turns things over to secretary of health and human services (and his “sad pull-up” partner) RFK Jr (James Austin Johnson), who uses the occasion to officially rename cold and flu season “cold and flu and listeria and measles and trench brain season”. He thanks the crew for being unwitting test subjects for the thousands of pounds of meat recalled over the past months, before leaving them with an unintelligible send-off – at least until Hegseth gives him a pat on the back that magically clears up his voice.

Published: October 11, 2026, 7:38 am

The kindness of strangers: In one of my darkest periods, a few compassionate words helped turn my life around

I was standing at the traffic lights with the weight of the world on my shoulders when a man approached. He will probably never know the impact he had on my life

• Read more in the kindness of strangers series

My cousin had recently died in a terrible accident and I had been the one who had to identify the body. It was one of the darkest periods of my life, on seemingly every front: I was in the midst of a divorce; it was during the global financial crisis and the company I worked for was badly struggling, making every day feel heavy with uncertainty and stress. Everything was a mess and I was emotionally exhausted.

One morning during rush hour, I stood at the traffic lights waiting to cross on my way to the office. I was lost in my thoughts but must have looked like I had the weight of the world on my shoulders, because something unexpected happened.

Published: October 11, 2026, 7:00 am

‘We look like soft, made-up blokes, but we’re really tough’: Duran Duran on 80s excess, tabloid scrutiny and their Halloween glow-up

They spent their heyday on yachts, then rolled up their sleeves in the wilderness years. Ahead of a Halloween show at the O2, pop’s great survivors explain their staying power

In 2022, Duran Duran were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. It felt like a big deal, a sweet moment of acknowledgment for the band’s five-decades-long career, the 100m records sold, the string of bulletproof hits: Save a Prayer, Rio, Hungry Like the Wolf, Girls on Film. They were inducted by actor Robert Downey Jr; Drew Barrymore, Naomi Campbell and Gwen Stefani were on hand to pay heartfelt tribute and, as keyboard player Nick Rhodes points out, “It’s a big national live TV broadcast in America that goes out to millions of people,” so the band booked some warm-up shows. “And it so happened that there was a date that came up in Las Vegas on 31 October,” says Rhodes. “And I looked at everyone and said: ‘Well, we can’t do a normal show. Las Vegas on Halloween – surely that’s the opportunity for a little bit of fun?’”

They worked up a set of suitably themed material, including covers of Billie Eilish’s Bury a Friend and Talking Heads’ Psycho Killer. There were, of course, costumes involved, because, as Rhodes drily notes, “When have Duran Duran ever not dressed up?”

Published: October 11, 2026, 2:00 am

‘What could be discovered? What is new there?’: blockbuster exhibition celebrates Roy Lichtenstein

The often-criticised pop artist is the focus of a monumental new survey including rarely seen pieces and ambitious new restagings at New York’s Whitney Museum

When the American artist Roy Lichtenstein created his monumental Greene Street Mural in 1983, he took inspiration from the Bayeux tapestry for its serial storytelling technique. But whereas the embroidery depicting the Norman conquest continues to delight after nearly 1,000 years, Lichtenstein’s site-specific mural was destroyed after six weeks, in accordance with his wishes.

More than four decades later, however, the monumental Greene Street Mural is to mesmerise art lovers once more. This week a 96ft (29-metre) recreation of the work will span the entire entryway to Roy Lichtenstein: Like New, the first major New York retrospective of the pop artist’s work in 33 years, at the Whitney Museum of American Art.

Published: October 11, 2026, 2:00 am

This is how we do it: ‘At our age we get to wake up and say: What are we doing today? Let’s make love’

A sex podcast opened up a whole new way of communicating for Helen and Ian

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

I’ve discovered I like to be spanked – my orgasms have become much stronger

Published: October 11, 2026, 3:00 am

Fixated on AI, the world has forgotten what is staring it in the face: nuclear annihilation | Simon Tisdall

This is no scoffing matter. The accelerating proliferation of advanced nuclear weapons is bringing ‘end times’ closer by the day

Humankind has fearfully and sometimes joyfully anticipated the end of the world ever since it began. The Bible’s Book of Revelation speaks of “end times”, a period of tribulation, war, famine, plague, floods and environmental catastrophe that may seem a less absurd prospect today than perhaps it once did. Islam, too, posits a fateful day of judgment or day of reckoning. Christian evangelicals believe that, in the final rapture, a chosen few – the righteous or the “elect” – will be saved while sinners burn. It’s a minority view. Matthew’s gospel predicts most people will defy, ignore or ridicule warnings of imminent Armageddon. Peter, another of Jesus’s disciples, agreed: “In the last days, scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires.” Yet such worldly scepticism does not mean a universal cataclysm is less likely. It may make it more probable.

Donald Trump’s blanket denials of the dangers ostensibly posed by artificial intelligence, whose uncontrolled development is seen by some as the latest harbinger of apocalypse, could be interpreted as fulfilling Peter’s prophecy. This US president, the nearest thing the world has to a one-man doomsday machine, is a great one for scoffing and evil desires. In Robert Harris’s 2019 novel, The Second Sleep, a worried scientist lists half a dozen ways the world might end. They include devastating climate change, pandemic disease, a giant asteroid collision with Earth, or some other overwhelming calamity. Few heed the fictional scientist’s fears. In the event, what destroys him and almost everybody else is a disturbingly plausible cyber crash – a global digital and internet meltdown.

Simon Tisdall is a Guardian foreign affairs commentator

Published: October 11, 2026, 2:00 am

The most successful people I meet are often the ones struggling most | Darren Lee

Sometimes the behaviours that helped us survive become so embedded that they mask our past traumas and adversity

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

Some of the most successful people I meet as a psychiatrist are also some of the most dissatisfied with life. They don’t necessarily look unwell. They are executives, entrepreneurs, doctors, lawyers and high achievers. They run companies and families. They are the people others depend on when something goes wrong. Often, they are exceptionally good at coping. Until they aren’t.

Holly* came to see me after years of depressive symptoms and worsening substance use, both of which she had largely managed to conceal from family, friends and colleagues. Her GP recommended a residential treatment program. In her early 40s, she held an executive position in a demanding organisation. She was ambitious, respected and known for her extraordinary work ethic. She was also exhausted.

Published: October 11, 2026, 7:00 am

​I’ve seen what Amazon thinks about me – and it revealed a depressing truth | Emma Beddington

From ‘has flat buttocks’ to ‘likes brunettes with muscles’, the retailer’s About You pages offer some remarkable insights into customers’ lives and tastes. Naturally, I rushed to check out mine …

There’s been a disturbing development in the surveillance capitalism space for me and other Amazon users: we can now find out exactly what the site thinks about us. The tax-agnostic shopping behemoth launched an “About You” function, which allows shoppers to see what assumptions and beliefs it has gathered from our purchases, in May, but last week things got interesting. Threads user Megan Montgomery found her “About You” page, and discovered Amazon thinks she “has flat buttocks”, prompting other shoppers to post the implacably devastating verdicts they uncovered: “husband has skinny legs”; “likes brunettes with muscles”; “cusses when scared”; “cannot keep real plants alive”; “too short to reach into a 40in-deep box” and “treats cats as biological children”. A TikTok user says hers includes “has a bad father”.

By their fruits shall ye know them, if by “fruits” you mean compression socks, shapewear, cat carriers and self-help guides. Obviously, this is bad, but it’s a well-deserved kind of bad – we’ve sacrificed privacy for convenience and this is the result. It’s also bleakly funny, so just as obviously, I was over there like a ferret up a trouser leg to find out what the stuff Amazon has delivered here over the years has caused it to deduce about my household. The results were disappointing. You don’t need a particularly sophisticated algorithm to deduce “likely lives in York”; “feeds wild birds consistently” (not in summer! I follow RSPB guidance!) and “cycles recreationally” (absolutely not, but I live with a multi-bike-owning MAMNILYBOROD – that’s “middle-aged man not in Lycra yet because of risk of divorce”).

Published: October 11, 2026, 6:00 am

Angry French students take to the streets. British students don’t – and I think I know why | Kitty Sayers

I grew up in France, where all children are taught about the revolutionary roots of their nation and what the state owes its citizens. The lessons leave their mark

Young British people have plenty to be angry about. Crushing student debt, private-school privilege, a housing market they can’t enter. Yet unlike their French counterparts, they have little tradition of turning that frustration into collective action. I grew up in France as a Briton, and for years I have watched my French friends do something my British ones never seem to: take to the streets.

“To arms, citizens! Form your battalions! Let’s march, let’s march!” It shouldn’t be too surprising, given the rousing lyrics of La Marseillaise, that France’s revolutionary spirit is not a relic of the past.

Kitty Sayers is a master’s student in journalism

Published: October 10, 2026, 2:45 am

What’s my first decision as CEO? I’m giving myself the day off | Polly Hudson

A life coach has helpfully pointed out that we’re all chief executives of our own existence. So let’s start enjoying the perks

To-do lists are done, apparently: the latest tactic to motivate and galvanise yourself is a “CEO hour”. The rationale for this method, courtesy of career and life coach Eva Katzler, is that you are the chief executive officer of your own existence, so you should routinely sit down and check in, just as they do in other businesses, reflecting on the past week and setting intentions for the next. Regularly having a formal meeting with yourself may be the kind of behaviour that makes people start worrying about you, particularly if you power dress for the occasion, but at least you can be sure you’ll get all the best biscuits.

Katzler is against the to-do list because she sees it as “our fast track to feeling like we’re completely out of control, because we can never get through it. When you never get that sense of achievement, what you’re left with is a feeling of failure.”

Published: October 11, 2026, 8:00 am

The Guardian view on the US, Russia and the international criminal court: Trump’s assault on the rule of law intensifies | Editorial

A fuel deal with Vladimir Putin, and sanctions against the legal institution, ram home the president’s belief that might is right

On Friday, Donald Trump drove home his belief that might is right and the rule of law is an obstacle rather than an essential foundation stone of international order. First came the escalated assault on the international criminal court (ICC), sanctioning the body itself. Then he announced a deal with Russia to buy diesel.

The US has long chafed at the notion of being bound by the rule of law that it espoused publicly. That hypocrisy now appears as a lesser vice. The president has declared that “my own morality” is all that constrains him. His brazen flouting of the law, embrace of dictators and rhetorical attacks all undermine global standards.

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: October 11, 2026, 9:25 am

Jaguars stun Eagles in wild finish; Packers thrash Bears; 49ers v Seahawks: NFL week five – live

Mike Ditka: legendary Bears head coach’s life in pictures
Players ejected after brawl in London | And mail Graham

TOUCHDOWN! Bengals 7-0 Dolphins 14:03, 1st quarter

J Burrow to M Gesicki for four yards

J Croskey-Merritt 33 yard rush

Published: October 11, 2026, 1:57 pm

Canelo Álvarez ‘fears nothing’ and will fight in Riyadh despite deadly attacks, Al-Sheikh says

• Álvarez vows to fight in Riyadh despite deadly strikes

• Airport attacks leave at least 12 dead, hundreds hurt

• Mexican seeks redemption after Crawford defeat

Canelo Álvarez intends to go ahead with his world title fight in Saudi Arabia later this month despite a series of deadly attacks on airports and other infrastructure in the kingdom, according to Turki al-Sheikh, the Saudi official who has become one of boxing’s most influential power brokers.

The Mexican superstar is slated to challenge the unbeaten Christian Mbilli for the WBC super-middleweight title in Riyadh on 31 October, three weeks after Saturday’s missile strike on the Saudi capital’s main international airport killed at least 12 people and wounded more than 300.

Published: October 11, 2026, 1:42 pm

Kyrie Irving returns from 20-month injury layoff with vintage display in Macau

• Mavericks star dazzles in return from ACL tear

• Irving scores 17 points in Dallas’s 132-115 win

• Dusty May hails nine-time All-Star as an ‘artist’

Kyrie Irving waited nearly 600 days for his return to the NBA. The Dallas Mavericks didn’t keep him waiting any longer for his welcome-back basket.

Irving scored a reverse layup on the game’s opening possession on Sunday night, setting the tone for a team-high 17 points in the Mavericks’ 132-115 pre-season win over the Houston Rockets in Macau.

Published: October 11, 2026, 12:18 pm

Resurgent Verstappen holds off Leclerc to seal dominant F1 Singapore GP win

• Red Bull driver claims second victory in a row

• Kimi Antonelli third and closes in on title

Delivering an emphatic reminder of how imperious he can be when he has the car beneath him, Max Verstappen was untouchable in victory at the Singapore Grand Prix.

It has taken Red Bull most of the season to deliver said ride, however, and the title is beyond the Dutchman. In his wake at the Marina Bay circuit the champion in waiting, Kimi Antonelli, did enough to move to within a race of taking the crown.

Published: October 11, 2026, 7:19 am

Taylor Knibb wins Ironman world title after leader collapses in dramatic Kona finish

• Knibb overtakes Norwegian rival in final kilometer

• Defending champion Løvseth collapses while leading

• France’s Vincent Luis wins men’s title on Kona debut

American triathlete Taylor Knibb has won her first Hawaiian Ironman world title after one of the most dramatic finishes in race history.

With a mile left, Norwegian defending champion Solveig Løvseth led Knibb by more than a minute and looked rock-solid, having taken the lead from her inside the final 10km of the 42.2km marathon run.

Published: October 11, 2026, 7:44 am

Williams strikes out 12 as Guardians blank White Sox to complete ALDS comeback

• Williams fans 12 as Cleveland win decisive Game 5

• Ramírez’s two-run homer provides only scoring

• Guardians to face Rays for place in World Series

Gavin Williams struck out 12, José Ramírez homered on a pitch just above home plate and the Cleveland Guardians beat the Chicago White Sox 2-0 on Saturday night to complete a comeback from a 2-0 deficit in their best-of-five American League Division Series.

Cleveland open the American League Championship Series at Tampa Bay on Monday night, seeking their first World Series appearance since 2016. The Guardians/Indians franchise have not won the title since 1948, the longest drought among MLB teams.

Published: October 10, 2026, 7:58 pm

‘That’s when I begin to scream’: Mick Fanning on punching a great white shark

The Australian surfing champion was monstered by a great white shark while competing against fellow Aussie Julian Wilson in the 2015 world tour event final at Jeffreys Bay in South Africa. The attack was broadcast live on TV. Here, in an extract from his memoir, All Heart, he relives the encounter

I’m locked in on my take-off spot in the J-Bay lineup, scanning the horizon, biding my time. Assessing my position against the rippling lines of the oncoming set, I decide to move slightly further inside.

As I move, there’s a big splash behind me. Glancing over my left shoulder, I catch a glimpse of a huge dark shape in the water. A jolt of fear grips me. What the hell is that?

Published: October 11, 2026, 7:00 am

Oklahoma stun No 1 Texas as Sandell’s last-second kick seals Red River upset

• Sandell’s 47-yard kick seals 27-24 upset in Dallas

• Sooners overcome offensive struggles to stun Texas

• Manning throws three TDs but two costly picks

Tate Sandell kicked a 47-yard field goal on the final play and Oklahoma overcame their continued offensive ineptness with touchdowns on special teams and defense in a 27-24 win over No 1 Texas in the Red River rivalry game on Saturday.

The Sooners (3-2, 1-1 Southeastern Conference) beat a No 1 team for the first time since a 38-17 win over Missouri in 2007. They had been 0-4-1 when facing a top-ranked Texas team.

Published: October 10, 2026, 4:52 pm

‘Deeply concerning’: Democratic congressional candidate rebukes ICE’s presence in New York

Darializa Avila Chevalier criticizes NYPD’s ‘inaction’ in protecting Marble Hill protesters after ICE shot a man

Democratic congressional candidate Darializa Avila Chevalier believes that the New York police departments’ conduct towards protesters after an ICE agent shot and wounded a man in the district she is running to represent violated “the spirit, if not the letter” of the city’s sanctuary laws.

These rules ban local police from helping federal immigration authorities in civil immigration enforcement operations.

Published: October 11, 2026, 4:00 am

Pope Leo to have surgery to remove nodule on his lung

Pontiff says it was detected at an early stage and procedure will take place in the coming days

Pope Leo XIV has said he will undergo surgery in the coming days to remove a nodular lesion on his lung that was recently discovered during medical checks.

The 71-year-old said the nodule was found at an early stage and was “circumscribed” or well localised. The Vatican later said Leo would undergo surgery in the first days of this week, with an expected recovery time of a week.

Published: October 11, 2026, 4:55 am

Families of 9/11 victims await key ruling in New York as truther conference is held nearby

Families say Saudi Arabia provided aid to hijackers while conspiracist conference casts doubt on official narrative

“It’s shocking to me that we are still fighting for justice,” said Terry Strada, national chair of 9/11 Families United, whose husband, Tom, a bond broker at Cantor Fitzgerald, was killed in the north tower of the World Trade Center 25 years ago last month.

Strada began her odyssey toward justice in 2004, but last week in New York she and dozens of family members of those lost in the 9/11 terrorist attacks sensed they were closer to a US court hearing their case that Islamists gained influence in Saudi Arabia’s government and provided aid to at least two of the 19 hijackers.

Published: October 11, 2026, 5:00 am

Wildlife park confirms tiger will not be euthanised after man mauled to death

Ed Miliband, whose constituency includes the park, offers ‘deepest condolences’ to family of visitor who entered enclosure on Saturday

A wildlife park in Yorkshire has confirmed the tiger that mauled to death a man who entered its enclosure will not be euthanised.

A man, who has not yet been named, was seen entering a tiger enclosure at the Yorkshire Wildlife Park, located near Doncaster, before police were called at 1.35pm on Saturday.

Published: October 11, 2026, 6:48 am

Nine people, including children, dead after mass shooting in Pennsylvania

Authorities say suspect among dead in house after standoff with police in Erie and there is no ongoing threat

A man fatally shot eight people, including a pregnant woman and children, at a Pennsylvania residence on Friday before killing himself, police say.

The victims have not been publicly identified, but seven relatives and a family friend died in the rampage.

Published: October 10, 2026, 4:24 pm

ICE agent strikes man with vehicle during pursuit in Texas, officials say

Parra-Hernandez suffered a broken leg and taken to a hospital after being hit by car during an ICE operation

An Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent driving a vehicle struck a man on Saturday while trying to pursue him and someone else in the Houston area, according to authorities.

The federal agency had been trying to pull over and arrest Jose Mendoza-Cervantes in north-west Harris county, Texas, when he and the victim, Miguel Parra-Hernandez, exited the vehicle, officials said.

Published: October 11, 2026, 7:54 am

Man accused of child rape set to become police chief in small Louisiana town

Republican Christopher Paul is running unopposed for seat despite allegations he raped two girls 20 years ago

A candidate for police chief in a small Louisiana town candidate is on course to be elected unopposed despite two charges of child rape pending against him, leaving his community to weigh whether to convert the position into an appointed office rather than one determined at the ballot box.

Christopher Paul, a Republican who on 6 August signed up to run for chief of police in the south-western Louisiana village of Elizabeth, was arrested on 8 September on allegations that he raped two girls in 2005 and 2006.

Published: October 11, 2026, 2:00 am

At least 139 dead including children after migrant boat capsizes off Djibouti

Eighty-four others still missing from vessel heading to Yemen with 305 people onboard, UN migration agency says

At least 139 people, including 15 children, have died after a boat carrying 305 migrants capsized off the coast of Djibouti, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said.

Another 84 people are still missing after the incident, which, according to survivors, happened near Guhere, north of the fishing town of Obock, during the night of 8-9 October when the boat was travelling from Djibouti to Yemen.

Published: October 11, 2026, 6:56 am

Andy Burnham says it is clear Russia interfered in Brexit referendum

PM says he asked question upon entering No 10 but does not reveal who gave him ‘clear answer’ Russia meddled

Andy Burnham has said it is clear Russia interfered in the Brexit referendum, after seeking answers on the Kremlin’s involvement in the 2016 vote when he entered Downing Street.

Burnham said he had asked whether Moscow had attempted to influence the referendum and received a confirmation that it had.

Published: October 11, 2026, 8:33 am

Did Trump get one thing right about Greenland?

Threatening an ally is a terrible idea, but there’s no denying the Arctic’s increasing strategic importance

One of Donald Trump’s more diabolical talents is his ability to land on the right things in the wrong way. Since his first term, Trump has been obsessed with the Arctic – Greenland in particular – something that has puzzled and enraged many, particularly in Europe. He first brought up the idea of buying the icy landmass from Denmark in 2019. Right after re-election, he began ramping up his rhetoric about acquiring it “one way or another”, threatening the Nato alliance and the foundations of post-second world war security.

Trump got his way – thankfully without military force – in September, when the US and Denmark signed an agreement that allowed for many more US troops on the island, albeit without the sort of takeover that the president enjoys “joking” about. “The United States will FOREVER have the complete ability to do what is necessary in Greenland,” Trump wrote on social media. “We will work with the people of Greenland in its development and construction.”

Published: October 11, 2026, 4:00 am

Developing nations face triple shock from energy crisis, El Niño and borrowing costs, UN warns

UN’s development arm calls for urgent action as crises could ‘throw tens if not hundreds of millions back into poverty’

Developing countries face a triple shock from the energy crisis, El Niño and surging borrowing costs and need urgent support from the international community, the UN’s development arm has warned.

Speaking before the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank annual meetings in Bangkok this week, the UNDP’s administrator, Alexander De Croo, called for “solidarity and global action”.

Published: October 10, 2026, 9:00 pm

Marina Silva on Flávio Bolsonaro: He will try to finish his father’s ‘perverse project’ to destroy the Amazon

Exclusive: Former Brazilian environment minister warns of destruction as far-right scion favourite to become president

The former Brazilian environment minister Marina Silva has said that if Flávio Bolsonaro becomes president he will seek to finish the “perverse project” of rampant rainforest destruction initiated by his jailed far-right father.

The Amazon was thrown into chaos during Jair Bolsonaro’s 2019-2022 presidency, when Brazil’s environment and Indigenous protection agencies were gutted and environmental criminals ran riot, causing surges in deforestation and violence.

Published: October 10, 2026, 6:00 am

Tourism expansion v turtle nests: the dispute dividing communities in one Tobago resort

Plans for a 200-room project on an unspoiled beach have pitted developers against the conservationists fighting for smaller-scale schemes to protect the island’s habitat

Visitors to Rocky Point in south-west Tobago are drawn to its sandy beach, fringed by coral reefs and dark rock formations and carpeted with the fruit-bearing trees found on Caribbean coastlines – almonds, sea grapes, coconuts, and the poisonous manchineel. The beach is part of Back Bay, a 500-metre swathe of land, and trekking through its undulating terrain, thickly covered in bush and shrubs, feels akin to walking through a rainforest.

But this still relatively unspoiled location is at the centre of a struggle between two opposing interests – those who see large-scale development as the most profitable path and those who believe smaller, incremental developments owned by the community would be best.

Published: October 10, 2026, 4:00 am

New Orleans court deputy who handcuffed journalist disciplined – for violating etiquette

Herschel Green handcuffed WWL producer and lawyer for not leaving public space, but was only punished for arguing about it with administrator

A New Orleans criminal court deputy who handcuffed a journalist covering July’s indictment of Louisiana’s state attorney general has been disciplined for breaching his employer’s professionalism policy – albeit for an argument with the facility’s judicial administrator that day, according to an internal agency report.

New Orleans sheriff’s office deputy Herschel Green was ordered to undergo counseling for that argument after he and his colleague Diedra Rayfield placed both WWL Louisiana investigative producer Danny Monteverde as well as station attorney Elana Beiser in handcuffs, a 33-page agency report released on Friday said.

Published: October 10, 2026, 6:12 am

FDA may allow some toxic chemicals to be added to food without safety review. Experts are alarmed

Regulator looks to expand loophole to allow dangerous compounds in food as long as they’re not carcinogenic

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is proposing to expand a controversial loophole to allow some of the world’s most toxic chemicals to be added directly to food without a safety review.

The “threshold of regulation” (TOR) exemption currently allows dangerous compounds to be used without review in food contact materials, such as packaging or processing equipment, if they are not carcinogenic, and are added at levels below 0.5 parts per billion (ppb).

Published: October 10, 2026, 5:00 am

United Auto Workers president Shawn Fain easily wins re-election

Fain was dogged by investigation but still decisively beat challenger Rich Boyer, who received just 13% of vote

The president of the United Auto Workers, Shawn Fain, has easily won his re-election bid after an campaign period marred by accusations of corruption and election interference.

The union’s election of leadership for a four-year term began with mail-in ballots being sent out in late August 2026, with vote tabulating commencing on 6 October.

Published: October 10, 2026, 6:46 am

Suicide memorial in Chicago signals compassionate shift by Catholic church

First US memorial for suicide victims dedicated by Chicago archdiocese earlier this year at Queen of Heaven cemetery

The Chicago archdiocese has recognized the Rev Charles Rubey’s work supporting families whose loved ones died by suicide this year by dedicating in his honor a memorial to the lives lost to suicide and the victims’ surviving families.

In 1979 Rubey founded the Loving Outreach to Survivors of Suicide, a counseling and support program run by Catholic Charities of the archdiocese of Chicago.

Published: October 10, 2026, 3:00 am

‘It was a terrible thing’: Panama declares state of emergency as quake aftershocks rattle communities

More than 100 aftershocks as high as magnitude-5.8 recorded after two quakes toppled buildings and prompted evacuations

Panama’s government has declared a state of emergency on Saturday as the aftershocks of two powerful earthquakes that roiled the country shook communities for hours.

Officials did not attribute any deaths to Friday’s 7.7- and 6.6-magnitude earthquakes, but reported damages in all 10 of Panama’s provinces and two Indigenous territories.

Published: October 10, 2026, 11:56 pm

Former Irish Olympic swimming coach and child abuser George Gibney to be sentenced

Gibney, 77, will face justice for abusing athletes in the 1970s and 80s after decades of effort to track and extradite him

More than half a century after he started sexually abusing children, and enjoyed prestige as Ireland’s Olympic swimming coach before fleeing to the United States, George Gibney is to face justice.

The 77-year-old will be sentenced at the central criminal court in Dublin on Monday for abusing four young female athletes in the 1970s and 1980s.

Published: October 11, 2026, 2:38 am

Christian nationalism in Britain driven by people who seldom go to church, says report

Research challenges the notion that the growing visibility of crosses and other symbols reflects a revival of Christianity

Christian nationalism in Britain is being driven largely by people who rarely attend church and are more concerned with defending the country’s Christian heritage, according to research.

The report, by the thinktank Theos, identified five different groups within the UK in a survey that looked at their attitudes to Christianity and Britishness.

Published: October 10, 2026, 10:00 pm

‘I want to do everything I can to head off dementia’: why demand for the shingles vaccine is soaring

Could a drug intended to prevent painful rashes also protect our brains as we get older? The signs are promising – but not conclusive. Yet that’s enough to be driving a boom in shingles jabs

When Jenny, a 50-year-old marketing and branding professional from Cambridge, went for her shingles vaccine last year, an entirely different disease was on her mind. Having witnessed three of her four grandparents succumb to dementia, with all the distress that brought, she wants to avoid the same fate. She hopes the shingles vaccine might help.

Jenny is far from alone. Britain’s high street chemists have reported a rise in demand for the shingles vaccine, at least some of which is driven by people more worried about dementia than shingles. And while the vaccine is free for some on the NHS, most under-65s pay around £450 for the full two doses.

Published: October 11, 2026, 6:00 am

‘The crime fiction I’m interested in is political’: Ian Rankin on his new novel about the super-rich

The bestselling writer talks about leaving Edinburgh for London in his latest mystery, and what the future holds for Rebus

Sir Ian Rankin rarely watches television. Certainly, there’s no gleaming flatscreen in the corner of the apartment in Edinburgh where he writes, listens to music and constructs elaborate Lego models (all four Beatles, their Yellow Submarine and, once, a 6ft version of the Eiffel Tower). Did he not see the most recent incarnation of his most famous creation, Detective Inspector John Rebus, this time played by Richard Rankin (no relation), in the wake of previous performances by Ken Stott and John Hannah? “I did,” he concedes. “They gave me them on DVD, so I could play them on my computer.”

Ah, his computer – it’s had its screen and hard drive replaced, and there are grooves in the keys. It sits on top of a plain, compact trestle-table desk he bought on London’s Charing Cross Road in 1987 and lugged back to his Tottenham flat on the tube; both have accompanied him from London to rural Dordogne, in southwest France, where he lived for a few years with his wife, Miranda, in the 1990s, and back to Edinburgh, where the couple and their two sons have been ever since.

Published: October 11, 2026, 4:00 am

‘I’d wander through the park all angsty listening to Arctic Monkeys’: Arlo Parks’ honest playlist

The singer shamelessly blasts Lady Gaga in the car and is brought to tears by Portishead – but which song does she have to be careful listening to?

The first song I fell in love with
I remember listening to Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) by Eurythmics when I was really young. There was something about the line at the beginning that I was completely intoxicated by.

The first download I bought
When I was about 10 or 11, I would put my headphones on and wander through the park all angsty listening to Fake Tales of San Francisco by Arctic Monkeys, my first download on my iPod Nano. I loved the storytelling, the characters and the gritty tableaux they described: it felt so real, even though it was far away from where I grew up.

Published: October 11, 2026, 1:00 am

Wildwood review – Laika’s pleasingly old fashioned stop-motion magic-forest odyssey

The makers of Coraline return with their distinctive animation style in a magical tale of a secret world of strange beasts, talking animals and evil governesses

Here is an engaging family movie from the Portland-based Laika studio that created Coraline. It is a fantasy adventure in Laika’s distinctively crafted stop-motion animation, written by Chris Butler from the bestseller of the same title by Carson Ellis and Colin Meloy, the latter being a band member of The Decemberists, one of whose tour posters we duly glimpse in this film. The director is Laika’s lead animator Travis Knight. It’s a forthright, exuberant, good-natured and old-fashioned children’s tale which CS Lewis and JRR Tolkien might have recognised, a story about the mysterious glory of going on a quest and the terrible fear and wish-fulfilment euphoria of being called upon to confront secret forces that the grownups know nothing about.

The setting is modern-day Portland, Oregon, a groovy city whose hipster-ish stores (there’s a coffee shop actually called Dripster) and Woke 1.0 signage are affectionately mocked. But most of all, the film is aware of a huge forest park next to the city, a place here mythologised as the impassable wilderness or “wildwood” where strange creatures, fairytale nobility and wisecracking talking animals reputedly dwell, of which the city-dwelling humans are entirely ignorant. Prue (voiced by Peyton Elizabeth Lee) is a 12-year-old girl whose parents (voiced by Jake Johnson and Maya Erskine) are a couple of amiable hippies who believe in natural forces and benign magic. They have another child, Prue’s baby brother Mac, who Prue has to look after one day, pushing him in his stroller around the city and having to endure a certain classmate of hers tagging along. This is nerdy Curtis (Jacob Tremblay) who has a crush on her.

Published: October 11, 2026, 6:21 am

Parents fear YouTubers are bringing ‘brain rot’ to Netflix. But are kids wising up to ‘slop’?

As streamers poach viral creators to appeal to children, digital whack-a-mole has become a new kind of family challenge

Exasperated dad Simon Hooper shakes his fist at the camera in a viral video. “We managed to get rid of YouTube in our household six months ago and the kids are finally OK with it,” he says – but Netflix is “now commissioning YouTubers to make their brain rot and putting it back in front of my kids’ faces”.

The precise “brain rot” he’s referring to is the arrival of a polarising show that’s lighting up parent chats around the globe. And while Salish and Jordan Matter might be new to Netflix Kids users, the father-daughter content creators are familiar to anyone who’s spent any time on the internet.

Published: October 10, 2026, 12:00 pm

Ray Gunn review – Brad Bird’s animated film-noir sci-fi caper is an old-school family classic

Sam Rockwell voices the gumshoe who becomes embroiled with Scarlett Johansson’s femme fatale in this big-hearted and beautifully designed fantasy spectacular

Brad Bird, the Spielberg of animation, applies his masterly authorial touch to a terrific family film that retrieves the genre from the doldrums of dull, AI-formulaic stories and visuals. This animation is smart, witty, humane: a fantasy spectacular with old-fashioned entertainment values and some amazing cityscape design showcasing a beguiling and sweet romance.

The setting is a city of marvels in a world to come, a retro-futurist urban landscape with hints of Metropolis and Blade Runner; there are plenty of regulation moving walkways, flying cars and eerie hologram billboards, yes, but a light touch to put the fun back into what could be just cliche. Here is where an old-school noir thriller is to take place with tough private detectives and bad guys wielding state-of-the-art laser-particle firearms (this explains the title, though I’d hoped that it might also include some reference to 1980s Republican politics). There are careworn cops, cynical club owners and alluring shady ladies with touches of Lana Turner and Veronica Lake. The airborne automobiles also have the bulbous lines of a previous century, and the TV monitors show black-and-white images; plasma flatscreens have evidently been disinvented.

Published: October 10, 2026, 6:45 am

‘People forgot I existed’: Audrey Niffenegger on taking 14 years to write a sequel to The Time Traveler’s Wife

Her debut made her a global star. Now she has finally written a follow-up – and this time, it’s political. She talks about impostor syndrome, screen adaptations and becoming radicalised

The artist and novelist Audrey Niffenegger began writing the long-awaited sequel to her bestselling debut, The Time Traveler’s Wife, in 2012, just after Obama’s re-election. It was a “rosy” time in American politics, “as good as it gets over here”, she says now, but her new novel required her to imagine what the world might look like in 20, 40, 60 years’ time. In the 14 years she spent exploring various dystopian futures, American politics moved on. And her imaginings began to look worryingly realistic.

An early scene in the new book involves a group of neo-Nazis at a house party. When she was writing it, few people believed the US would witness a resurgence of neo-nazism. It’s not like she is “psychic or anything”, she tells me, the clues were all there. “The first thing I remember reading in the news was Watergate, and so I’ve grown up with Reagan, and the Republicans coming on stronger and stronger, so that every Republican president we get is more of a disaster. And I thought the logical progression of that would be fascism,” she says.

Published: October 10, 2026, 1:00 am

‘Jelliness is my life motto’: jackpot theatre prize winner Jaha Koo on kimchi, K-pop and his robotic eel

Feted for cooking up shows that can be mouthwatering as well as thought-provoking, the artist discusses his fusion of South Korean and European culture

When I meet Jaha Koo in Oslo, where he has just been honoured with the prestigious International Ibsen award, I hand him a congratulatory packet of Haribo. The alternative would be a jar of kimchi but one of the many things you learn from Koo’s captivating theatre shows is that air travel and fermented vegetables can be a disastrous combo. When he moved to Berlin from South Korea with 10kg of his grandma’s finest kimchi, it became “bloated like a dead whale” and exploded on his balcony. His new neighbours were unimpressed.

In Koo’s current touring production, Haribo Kimchi, he examines how this unlikely fusion of two foods represents his cultural identity. He does so while preparing an onstage banquet for two lucky audience members. Despite spending many years in Europe, where Haribo gummies originated around a century ago, Koo still finds himself considered foremost as Korean by Europeans. But when he returns to his original homeland he is not always seen as Korean either.

Published: October 10, 2026, 5:00 am

Amélie allowed me to embrace my neurodivergence

Watching a DVD of the French film alone in my room, I saw for the first time a character who moved through the world like I do

Amélie likes the sound of cracking creme brulee with a teaspoon, plunging her hand into a sack of grain, and turning around in the cinema to watch people’s faces in the dark. I like the smell of books and I love cinema, but I hate the sound of people eating popcorn.

Amélie was not the first neurodivergent-coded woman I’d seen depicted in film. There had been Margot Tenenbaum in The Royal Tenenbaums and Suzy Bishop in Moonrise Kingdom – two Wes Anderson characters in whom I’d recognised myself. But Amélie was the first who was at the centre of the story; she’s the titular character and we see things through her eyes. It was the first time I’d seen a woman on screen move through the world as I did: overstimulated, a bit lonely and afraid of the unknown, comfortable in her own company, with firm likes and dislikes and a powerful sense of social justice.

Published: October 10, 2026, 4:00 am

‘They looked like two curtain-twitchers, though not very subtle ones’: Peter Crome’s best phone picture

The photographer was walking home in London when he caught the attention of a pair of canine snoops

Walking home after dropping his little girl at school, Peter Crome sensed he was being watched. A former professional ballet dancer now living in London, he had supplemented his income with photography work for 20 years. “But since having my daughter, my Nikon gear has sat idly by,” he says. “I got so used to lugging my heavy equipment around with me, it’s been quite refreshing to go somewhere just with a phone and still come back with wonderful pictures. My iPhone has also been a blessing for keeping in touch with family back home in Sydney,” Crome adds.

The cause of his disquiet that day was, to his happy surprise, these two dogs. “It was such a comical moment,” he says. “They looked like two curtain-twitchers, though not very subtle ones. I liked how they were perfectly framed with the different layers of window frames, and the brickwork and hedge provided some pleasing textures, but it was the disapproving expression on their faces that made the photo for me.”

Published: October 10, 2026, 3:00 am

Blood of My Blood review – gripping ghost story is a reckoning with slavery

Royal Court theatre, London
A Black British woman traces her family’s enslaved past in Joy Nesbitt’s supernaturally charged play

Joy Nesbitt’s fantastically chilling play is both a ghost story and a reckoning with the undocumented history of enslaved people. It takes us from present-day America into the past, towards the exact moment when slavery was abolished.

A white couple has turned their South Carolina plantation into a holiday rental. People come for celebrations and weddings, we hear. It is tantamount to slave-plantation tourism, says Talulah (Jodie Campbell), a Black British woman who has traced her family line to this spot. Talulah is trying to channel her descendant Ginnie (Ronkẹ Adékọluẹ́jọ) through the ritual practice of “conjuring” – making contact is a way to fill in the gaps of her family’s enslaved past.

Published: October 10, 2026, 4:00 am

My partner’s obnoxious conduct at our sons’ football matches is putting me off him | Annalisa Barbieri

His behaviour is certainly inappropriate, but take a quiet moment to try to find out where the anger is coming from

My partner and I have been together for 25 years and we have two sons, aged 14 and 16. Both are football crazy and have played since they were very young. My partner’s competitive nature was one of the things I initially found attractive about him (I wanted someone with drive).

However, this side of him rears its ugly head when our kids play matches. He shouts, criticises and, worst of all, swears at teenagers. I’m so embarrassed by it and it’s also affecting the boys. Their teammates hear their dad and it’s creating tension. I’ve tried to speak to him about it but he brushes it off. Our boys and the coaches have spoken to him too, but to no avail.

Published: October 10, 2026, 10:00 pm

The moment I knew: We were babysitting my younger siblings and he wore a tutu to make them laugh

When Sarah Maloney’s primary school crush danced back into her life, she braced for a ‘teenage whirlwind romance’. Then one night, she realised they were both all in

• Find more stories from the moment I knew series

In 2017 I was 16, went to an all-girls Catholic school in Melbourne and had zero tolerance for teenage boys and their nonsense. Instead I spent a lot of gossip time lamenting Jake, who broke my tiny heart in primary school and then moved hours away.

A debutante ball was coming up. It was an expensive tradition that was fundamentally at odds with my values but I couldn’t say no to a pretty dress and dancing – I was a teenage girl, after all. Some friends asked cousins or co-workers from our part-time jobs to be partners. I got knocked back by everyone. When I complained to my mother, she let me know Jake had moved back to town, and did she want me to ask his mum if he would be willing?

Published: October 10, 2026, 12:00 pm

Venta review: a humidifier that fixes the worst part of humidifiers

Venta’s evaporative mechanism add cool moisture without mist, mineral dust or disposable filters

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

If you live with forced-air heating, you know that winter can bring chapped lips, dry eyes and waking up with a scratchy throat. A common ultrasonic humidifier attacks the issue with an eye-catching stream of cool mist – and they work well. But as I found out after setting up two of them, they also bring an unwelcome guest: dust.

Minerals dissolved in the water travel with those droplets, leaving a messy residue behind. With two running, it was like an invisible dust storm rolled through every day, raining fine white powder everywhere. It coated furniture, clogged air filters and even choked computer fans. I don’t mind dealing with household dust, but a maddening amount accumulated daily.

Published: October 10, 2026, 10:15 am

Readers reply: Why are national anthems almost always orchestral?

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

• This week’s question: Why is a child saying ‘Na-na, na-na-na!’ so annoying?

Why are national anthems almost always orchestral? When – and by whom – was it decided that brass and strings best represent a country’s identity? Where are the power-pop or folk varieties? Ross Gomes, by email

Send new questions to nq@theguardian.com.

Published: October 11, 2026, 6:00 am

‘There is no secret agenda’: Nara Smith on home-making absolutely everything, raising four kids at 25 – and why she’s definitely not a tradwife

The model, actor and influencer is known for making her own frozen yoghurt, bubblegum or even toothpaste while dressed in immaculate haute couture. But she insists she is not who the internet thinks she is

Nara Smith is not a tradwife, she wants you to know that. Nor is she an ex-tradwife – pace the New York Times who included her in a feature on how ex-tradwives are as popular a movement now as the tradwives were in the first place. Nor was she peddling a tradwife-adjacent lifestyle choice by marrying at 18, having four children by 24, and devoting hours to cooking and documenting it online. Nor is she Mormon, by the way. Although, yes, her husband, the model and former teen heart‑throb Lucky Blue Smith, was raised Mormon, but we’ll get to that. Nor was she telegraphing subliminal religious messages in her content: “There is no secret agenda.” Nor was she abandoning her biracial heritage by wearing her hair in a sleek little bob. Nor was she leaning into a 1950s housewife archetype – even when dressed in a pink and red polka-dot minidress to batch-cook sourdough.

Smith wants you to scrap everything you think you know about her and start again. She also doesn’t care if you don’t. As with her content: “Those that get it, get it. Those that don’t, don’t. And that’s totally fine. I tell people: ‘If you don’t like my content, I won’t see you scroll past me.’ ‘If you need to block me for your own sanity, please do. I promise I won’t know.’ And if you want to stick around, that is beautiful, I’m grateful, welcome.”

Published: October 10, 2026, 4:00 am

‘I just wasn’t going to give up’: the fight to free the longest-serving political prisoner in the US

Leonard Peltier was imprisoned for 49 years before his sentence was commuted. A new Netflix documentary exposes the ‘corrupt’ system that allowed it to happen

On 20 January 2025, with 14 minutes remaining in his term as president, Joe Biden commuted the life sentence of Leonard Peltier, after years of pressure to release a figure seen by many as the longest-serving political prisoner in the US. The Indigenous activist, a leader within the American Indian Movement (Aim) and an icon of Native American resistance, served nearly 50 years in prison for allegedly killing two FBI agents during a shootout on the Pine Ridge reservation in South Dakota, in 1975 – killings he has always denied, prosecuted in a railroaded trial widely seen as corrupt.

Outside the Florida prison where Peltier was being held that morning were several of the many activists and lawyers who fought for his release, as well as film-makers David France and Jesse Short Bull. The two directors’ long-gestating documentary on Peltier’s fight for justice was set to premiere just a week later at the Sundance film festival with a very different ending, the octogenarian still awaiting a chance to return home to the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa reservation in North Dakota. That morning, there was “a sinking feeling that it wasn’t going to happen”, France said.

Published: October 10, 2026, 2:00 am

A replica of Donald Trump’s Oval Office goes for the gold in Washington DC

The tourist attraction just unveiled an elaborate, full-scale overhaul to match Trump’s second-term aesthetic

Sitting behind a replica Resolute Desk, nine-year-old Sydney Wright posed for the camera like a future US president. “I love it,” she smiled. And what about the dazzling gold appliqués, gold leaf and gold trim surrounding her? “It’s cool.”

Sydney was among a steady stream of visitors on Thursday to The People’s House: A White House Experience, an interactive museum – with an orientation film narrated by The West Wing star Martin Sheen – at 1700 Pennsylvania Avenue, just 150 yards from the real thing.

Published: October 10, 2026, 8:00 am

Marge Simpson rides the subway and Ali G returns: photos of the weekend

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

Published: October 11, 2026, 5:03 am