It’s not hypothetical: the dangers of AI are already here | Granate Kim and Mohamed Hussein

Israel and the US have used AI to kill in Gaza and Iran, while law enforcement uses it in surveillance and arrests. The future is here

In recent weeks, concerns about AI have forged unlikely alliances in the tech and policy worlds. Tech moguls such as Sam Altman, Elon Musk and Demis Hassabis joined Dario Amodei, Satya Nadella and Bill Gates in sounding the alarm about the dangers of AI and called for a slowdown of the technology’s development despite years of racing for dominance. The senator Bernie Sanders teamed up with Steve Bannon to urge Congress to regulate AI, which has become one of the very few issues to unite Americans across the political spectrum.

The latest moves were sparked in part by the AI researcher Jacob Coxon’s warnings on Twitter/X that AI companies are “gambling with our lives” and believe that the technology “could kill us all by the end of the decade”.

Published: September 25, 2026, 5:00 am

NAZA - official trailer

Watch the official trailer for NAZA, an award-winning documentary produced by the Guardian that details the systems behind Israel’s mass killings in Gaza. The critically acclaimed film, produced with the team behind the Zone of Interest and directed by Oscar-winning film-makers Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor, includes testimony from 24 Israeli military insiders, shot at night on the rooftops of Tel Aviv. Abraham and Szor are the two Israeli directors of the four behind No Other Land, which won the Oscar for best documentary in 2025. It will be released in cinemas in more than 50 countries in the coming weeks, and then will stream on the Guardian’s website, for free, from late November

Published: September 25, 2026, 7:21 am

‘In our deepest hearts we are voyeurs’: the paedophile-hunting show that inspired Robert Pattinson’s new film

Experts and insiders explain how To Catch A Predator became the most controversial show on 2000s TV

A man from Long Beach, California, is here to have sex with someone he believes is a 13-year-old girl. When the journalist Chris Hansen walks in, the man’s stomach drops. He is caught, and it is the end of his life as he knew it. Hansen asks what his fate should be. “The electric chair?” he asks. No, replies Hansen. “Dateline NBC.”

This is the opening scene of Primetime, a film directed by Lance Oppenheim, released in the US this week (a UK release follows on 30 October). It explores how a network news show turned sting operations into must-see television, raising a host of ethical questions about justice, voyeurism and society’s willingness to dehumanise certain offenders for profit and entertainment.

Published: September 25, 2026, 5:17 am

The comedians turning AI anxiety into punchlines: ‘It’s so good, it’ll completely alter our grasp on reality’

Across videos, standup and cartoons, humorists are skewering big tech’s attempt to make AI ubiquitous and inevitable

“Best case scenario, we never have to do any admin again,” says an AI CEO. “Worst case, we all die.”

A young man struggles to the top of a beautiful mountain, words echoing in his ears: “AI will most likely lead to the end of the world, but in the meantime, there will be great companies created.” At the top of the mountain, he triumphantly holds up a sign: “Build a datacenter here.”

Published: September 25, 2026, 5:00 am

Taylor Swift: The Life of a Showgirl: The Encore review – flashes of humanity and bafflingly vindictive love songs

(Republic)
This four-track addition to a critically maligned album works hard to remind fans what they love about Swift, with some sweet highs and galling lows

One downside of turning your release strategies into scavenger hunts and layering clues within your work is that it invites enormous amounts of scrutiny about your potential motive. When Taylor Swift announced an expanded edition of last year’s critically maligned The Life of a Showgirl this week, subtitled The Encore, many fans instantly suspected one of two things: that it was designed to remind Grammy members of Showgirl’s existence during their voting period to determine next year’s nominees, or to oust country ingenue Ella Langley from her record-breaking US No 1 run.

If that sounds cynical, it’s also worth remembering that when Swift announced Showgirl last year, she said that unlike her previous album, The Tortured Poets Department – a 16-track record immediately inflated to 31 songs on release day – the purposefully concise, 12-track Showgirl would not be expanded. (This didn’t stop her releasing 34 variants of the record, with various acoustic demos and so on, to juice sales.)

Published: September 25, 2026, 6:13 am

‘She never accepted no’: Liam Neeson on dogged heroine behind Tuam mass baby grave film

Catherine Corless’s exposure of almost 800 infant deaths at a home led by nuns prompted Neeson to bring the story to screen

Liam Neeson still remembers his shock and shame when he read a New York Times article about the mother and baby institution in Tuam, County Galway.

It was 2017 and the article chronicled the campaign by Catherine Corless, an amateur local historian, to expose abuse and neglect by Irish nuns that led to hundreds of children being buried in a mass, unmarked grave.

Published: September 25, 2026, 2:53 am

Trump administration guts data collection on US education as math and reading scores plummet

National Center for Education Statistics, which collects critical data to guide policy on learning, was decimated after Doge canceled crucial contracts

As reading and math scores fall to their lowest point in the past quarter-century, the US now has fewer tools to understand and develop interventions for this troubling trend.

When the Trump administration took a wrecking ball to the Department of Education last year, firing nearly half of its workers and allowing the so-called “department of government efficiency” (Doge) to cancel nearly $900m in contracts, a little-known agency called the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) was among the hardest hit.

Published: September 25, 2026, 8:00 am

US supreme court lifts restrictions on controversial voter database

Trump and officials claimed database combats noncitizen voting but critics said it could disenfranchise eligible voters

The US supreme court has lifted restrictions on a controversial federal database of voters as Donald Trump seeks to impose tougher restrictions on voting ahead of November’s midterm elections.

The ruling issued Friday by the chief justice, John Roberts, in the name of the court temporarily sets aside an injunction issued by US district judge Sparkle L Sooknanan, who ruled on 22 June against the Trump administration’s plan to use the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements – Save – database to vet voter registration eligibility. A federal appeals court later declined to pause that ruling.

Published: September 25, 2026, 10:58 am

Alarm at UN over sanctions threatened by US on international criminal court

Group calls for proper enforcement of ICC rulings as Trump administration widens attacks on court

The US threat to impose sanctions on the international criminal court (ICC) as an institution, not just its leading judges, could fundamentally disrupt its operation and needed to be resisted, a coalition of countries to defend international law heard at the United Nations on Friday.

Ronald Lamola, South Africa’s foreign minister, issued the warning at an event during the UN general assembly called to protect the system of international law from a growing array of threats, including open flouting of its tenets and rulings by Israel.

Published: September 25, 2026, 11:33 am

‘Significant’ nor’easter brings high winds and heavy rain to US east coast

Forecasters say up to 40 million people in multiple US states could be affected by the early season northeasterly storm

High winds and heavy rain were beginning to batter New England on Friday as a “significant” nor’easter, the first such storm of the fall, threatened to disrupt weekend plans for millions.

In the Pacific Ocean, meanwhile, three separate hurricanes, one threatening “catastrophic flooding”, including life-threatening flash floods, in Hawaii, were churning as a record-setting El Niño continued to amplify severe weather events on a global scale.

Published: September 25, 2026, 6:36 am

US senators propose legislation to limit ICE arrests and indefinite detention

Exclusive: Democrats Dick Durbin of Illinois and Alex Padilla of California seek to prevent unlawful arrests

US senators have introduced legislation aimed at cutting down warrantless or specious ICE arrests, and curbing the agency’s ability to indefinitely detain immigrants who do not pose any danger to their communities.

The new legislation, shared exclusively with the Guardian, would require immigration officers to obtain an administrative warrant from a supervisor outlining a probable cause for detaining someone. Such a warrant must also be presented to each person who is detained, the bill says, alongside notice of when the detainee must appear in immigration court.

Published: September 25, 2026, 11:40 am

New Jersey lieutenant governor resigns after sexual harassment accusation

Investigation determined Dale Caldwell violated state ethics rules and engaged in harassing behavior

Dale Caldwell, the lieutenant governor of New Jersey, resigned from his position on Friday, after the release of a report accusing him of sexually harassing a female staffer, among other ethics violations.

New Jersey’s governor, Mikie Sherrill, announced on Friday afternoon that Caldwell had submitted his resignation to her earlier in the day.

Published: September 25, 2026, 12:52 pm

Pomp over progress in Xi’s US summit with Trump is a win for China

While US president hailed visit as ‘great’, almost nothing of substance was achieved on resolving thorny issues

• Key takeaways from the Trump-Xi summit in Washington

If the Beijing meeting between Donald Trump and Xi Jinping in May was the “stalemate summit”, the second round of talks between the presidents of the US and China this week seemed to give up entirely on the idea of breakthroughs.

Instead, it was described as a celebration of “diplotainment” rather than diplomacy, where pomp prevailed over progress and where one of the main outcomes was the news that two giant pandas would soon be sent from China to Atlanta zoo.

Published: September 25, 2026, 5:41 am

Civil rights lawyer Ben Crump releases data from Nolan Wells’ cellphone

Messaging ‘very telling’, says Crump after grand jury said it found no evidence of criminal conduct in teen’s death

Civil rights attorney Ben Crump released information from a forensic examination of Nolan Wells’ cellphone as well as details of the official autopsy on Thursday, just days after a Mississippi grand jury said it found no evidence of criminal conduct in the teen’s death.

Attorneys representing the 18-year-old Black college student’s family have called for transparency, asking that the grand jury investigative materials and the official autopsy report be publicly released.

Published: September 25, 2026, 6:03 am

Partner of woman killed by US hunter who allegedly mistook her for deer says death ‘no accident’

Walter Moorhead, arrested on suspicion of manslaughter, murdered Santos Maria Chilel Soto, partner alleges

The partner of a Delaware woman who was shot dead by a hunter allegedly mistaking her for a deer has said the killing was “senseless” and the hunter had “no excuse”.

“I have never seen a deer with only two legs,” Minivaldo Velásquez told the Delaware public news outlet WHYY in an interview published on Thursday about the death six days earlier of Santos Maria Chilel Soto. “It doesn’t make sense – no.”

Published: September 25, 2026, 11:00 am

‘We skate on the rooftops of damaged buildings’: a day in the life of a skateboarder in Gaza

As the war in Gaza approaches its fourth year, the Guardian follows five ordinary Palestinians as they go about their lives. Each tells the story of their day, revealing the terrible toll of the conflict. Rajab al-Reefi teaches children to skate to ‘bring some joy’, but finding boards and safe spaces is a daily challenge

Rajab al-Reefi remembers the day the club’s last skateboard broke. Those pastry-thin layers of maple, carefully pressed into a curve, had carried child after child up and down the homemade ramps of the skatepark. Having endured years beyond their typical lifespan, the board’s layers buckled, cracked and finally snapped.

At 30, Rajab is a leader of the Gaza skate club, a group that has spent the past decade teaching girls and boys to skate. But Israel’s siege of Gaza blocks a vast array of ordinary household goods from entering the territory, with the Israelis claiming they could be used by Hamas. One of the banned items is a skateboard.

Published: September 25, 2026, 4:00 am

Revealed: the undisclosed safety data emerging as weedkiller maker faces Parkinson’s lawsuits in US

Syngenta denies keeping relevant data from the EPA as paraquat stays in the US market despite global bans

Sweden started ringing the alarm bell more than 20 years ago, calling for a ban on the weedkilling chemical paraquat in 2004. One by one, dozens of other countries did the same as evidence of paraquat risks to human health mounted. Even the Chinese government, which owns the longtime paraquat maker Syngenta, halted domestic use of the pesticide a decade ago after conducting its own studies on paraquat safety and finding troubling results.

In the US, two states – Vermont and California – have recently also banned paraquat, citing risks that include an association between paraquat and Parkinson’s disease shown in years of scientific research. And California regulators announced in August that paraquat makers voluntarily agreed to stop selling the chemical after the state identified health concerns in connection with its use in new research. Several federal lawmakers have pushed for a nationwide ban.

Published: September 25, 2026, 5:00 am

Protests erupt as Netanyahu gives inflammatory UN speech - The Latest

More than 100 people were arrested at large protests against the Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s address to the UN general assembly. Susan Sarandon, Chelsea Manning and Caleb Hearon were among the famous faces arrested. Inside the assembly hall, Netanyahu faced a mass walkout as he took to the stage. Then, in an inflammatory address, he claimed Israel’s war in Gaza was the ‘opposite of a genocide’ and labelled the New York mayor, Zohran Mamdani, antisemitic. Lucy Hough speaks to UK global editor Devika Bhat - Watch Thursday’s episode of Stateside with Kai and Carter on whether Netanyahu has lost America here

Published: September 25, 2026, 10:42 am

In latest blow to Obamacare, Trump is threatening the entire US health system

The Trump administration is removing 760,000 people enrolled in the Affordable Care Act marketplace

• Reader Q&A: who’s spending big on the US midterms? Our reporters take your questions

The Trump administration is removing 760,000 people enrolled in the Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplace on allegations of fraud, officials said on Tuesday – adding to previous efforts to chip away at federally subsidized insurance programs and likely causing some of the lowest-income Americans to forego healthcare, experts said.

The US government is also investigating about 420,000 people whom they suspect of fraud, and they are putting a six-month enrollment moratorium on new agents and brokers selling Obamacare policies, officials said at a press conference.

Published: September 25, 2026, 12:34 pm

California sheriff ordered to return ballots he confiscated in voter ‘fraud’ inquiry

Court says Chad Bianco’s conduct unlawful and seizure of ballots ‘creates substantial risk to election integrity’

California Republican sheriff Chad Bianco must return more than 650,000 ballots his department confiscated earlier this year in an unprecedented move that violated election law, a state supreme court ruled on Thursday.

“Allowing law enforcement unfettered access to ballots, or the ability to handle and count them in secret, based on unregulated protocols, itself creates a substantial risk to election integrity,” the chief justice, Patricia Guerrero, wrote in a Thursday opinion.

Published: September 24, 2026, 1:54 pm

Gavin Newsom condemns Democrats’ ‘climate hushing’, predicts Trump’s downfall and expects AOC to run in 2028

Democrats must show links of climate shocks to ‘kitchen table’ issues, California governor says

It’s a mistake for Democratic politicians not to talk about climate change, and the reason they don’t is “because they don’t know how to talk about it”, the California governor, Gavin Newsom, said on Wednesday in an interview with the Guardian and the global journalism collaboration Covering Climate Now.

Speaking on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly meeting and New York Climate Week, Newsom also predicted that the midterm elections in November would bring “the end of Donald Trump’s presidency as we know it”. To prevent Trump from stealing those elections, voters must turn out in such overwhelming numbers that he “couldn’t possibly contest” the outcome. If the US president nevertheless declares a national emergency or otherwise attempts to invalidate the results, Newsom said, then “we the people have to step up. The courts have to intervene. Congress has to do its job and stand up for the rule of law.”

Published: September 24, 2026, 9:00 am

Worth it: these square food containers changed lunch forever for me (and now they’re on sale)

Anyday, our editors’ and readers’ favorite food storage, is now 15% off. Here are our top picks for meal prep and leftovers

• Anyday’s glass containers changed how I store leftovers

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

Welcome to Worth it, where Filter editors spotlight one genuinely good discount on something we’ve tested and loved. Each week, we filter endless sales so you don’t have to.

What’s the big deal? Anyday, the brand behind our readers’ favorite food storage containers, has temporarily discounted all of its square containers by 15% off with the code SQUARE15, for up to $63 off. The brand doesn’t often have sales, and this one ends on 27 September.

Published: September 25, 2026, 8:04 am

‘Your body fights to stay cool’: workers toil in record heat as federal rule frozen

Trump officials and Republicans are rolling back protections against heat-related illnesses and deaths

When it’s 90F on a hot summer day, Esther Minton wears a long-sleeved shirt to work.

“Working outside, you don’t have cover. There’s nowhere for you to really go if you’re on a roof or if you’re on the side of a building,” said Minton, a member of the Sheet Metal Workers Local Union 28 in New York City. “Having the sun beaming on your skin all day long, you’ll never make it through, so what you wear makes a difference.”

Published: September 25, 2026, 4:00 am

This family of five was torn apart by ICE raids: ‘Why did they take my dad away?’

Like many other families coping with a loved one’s detention, Alma Ramirez and her children have faced financial struggles and mental health tolls

A version of this story was originally published in La Opinión. Read the story in Spanish here.

Every night, for months, as they settled into bed at their home in Watts, California, seven-year-old José, named after his father, would look over to his mother, Alma Ramirez, and ask her one question:

Published: September 25, 2026, 7:00 am

‘Birdwatching is close to rapture’: Margaret Atwood on why she has given C$1m to avian research

Award-winning novelist celebrates late partner’s love of birds with gift to establish the Graeme Gibson chair in avian biology

If she could be any bird, Margaret Atwood would transform into a raven. “They’re very smart. They’re social, playful and just a very successful bird,” she says while seated in a corner of a bird observatory in the Lake Erie Islands archipelago. “They’re quite an intelligent problem solver.”

The observatory, which she set up with her late partner, Graeme Gibson, is located on the west shore of Pelee Island – the southernmost community in Canada – and is so new that there are no lightbulbs in a handful of lamps.

Published: September 25, 2026, 6:00 am

My dad was a monster! Sara Karloff on reviving Frankenstein, 95 years on

Boris Karloff’s daughter and composer Michael Shapiro, whose musical score for the 1931 film is finally coming to London, talk about how it became a much-loved classic

Once seen, never forgotten – the 1931 Frankenstein is 95 years old, but still one of the most instantly recognisable of classic horrors. Whether it’s the sight of lanky Boris Karloff lumbering into the frame with his squared-off head, neck bolts and oversized leaden shoes, or the sound of a thunderclap and Colin Clive exclaiming “It’s alive!” as the monster comes to life one stormy night in the laboratory – the film still raises hairs on the back of the neck.

However, this classic has arguably long been missing one element: a continuous musical soundtrack – the original movie had dialogue but no music. In 2001, the American composer Michael Shapiro wrote a full-length score, which he will be conducting alongside the film for the first time in London next month, at Cadogan Hall with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. “It becomes one artistic expression, one artistic experience,” he says. “The film and the music, together, and the audience forgets that I am there.” Shapiro says his music emphasises what is already up on the screen. “Suddenly the film jumps out in a way it never did before.”

Published: September 25, 2026, 12:00 am

Israel and the US have battered the international legal order. The impunity must stop | Varsha Gandikota

A group of nations will gather on Friday to address the crisis. The only response to unilateral bullying is collective action

The international legal order is in shambles. But from the ruins of impunity and lawbreaking, a group of nations is working to enforce accountability.

On Monday, the UN general assembly’s high-level meetings opened to news that Washington had drawn up sanctions against the international criminal court, targeting its bank accounts, software, insurers and staff.

Published: September 25, 2026, 3:00 am

Meryl Streep’s casting as Aslan has angered the Christian right. Don’t they have more pressing issues?

The Oscar-winner is voicing Narnia’s wise lion in Greta Gerwig’s adaptation of The Magician’s Nephew, leading to roars of fury from US evangelical commentators

It is a confusing time to be alive, given how often these days Hollywood indulges in revisionism. Who knew that the Wicked Witch of the West was the heroine after all, that Cruella de Vil simply had a difficult childhood, or that Mufasa was adopted? Now it turns out that Aslan, CS Lewis’s messiah with a mane, is a lioness – or at least, may sound like one in Greta Gerwig’s upcoming adaptation of The Magician’s Nephew, because Meryl Streep is providing the voice.

News that the Oscar-winner might be portraying Narnia’s Christ-like big cat first surfaced in April last year, prompting a flurry of complaints from conservative Christians. This week, the naysayers were back after Empire published a first look at the film, along with an interview with Gerwig in which the director confirmed the casting and explained her choice of actor. Streep, it turns out, was hired not because the Barbie director desperately fancied stoking the flames of controversy, but because she needed someone over 70 who could convey both wisdom and childlike wonder.

Published: September 25, 2026, 4:50 am

We all know a lack of exercise is bad for our bodies. So what is relying on AI doing to our brains? | Devi Sridhar

I suspect nearly all of my students use AI, and I worry about its corrosive effects. We must not entrust tech companies with our long-term health

• Prof Devi Sridhar is chair of global public health at the University of Edinburgh

When I was a postgraduate student at the University of Oxford in the early 2000s, I interviewed for a major consulting firm. All my friends were being recruited, and I thought why not give it a shot? Aside from the usual maths-proficiency test (how quickly can you crunch numbers in front of a client and look smart), I was asked about what the future of streaming could look like. I gave a long-winded answer about the unintended consequences of changing how humans interact with each other when a new technology is introduced, and why this may not be in the best interests of health and society.

I even remember saying something like: “Can you imagine just being stuck at home, alone, watching show after show and never having to move or see any other people? Why would anyone choose that over going out to rent a DVD at a local shop, or to a movie theatre?” You won’t be surprised to learn that I wasn’t invited for a follow-up interview.

Prof Devi Sridhar is chair of global public health at the University of Edinburgh

Published: September 25, 2026, 2:00 am

Berlin’s new political star is offering something all of Europe needs – hope and housing | Fatma Aydemir

Elif Eralp wants lower rents and more public housing. It’s not rocket science but mainstream parties still don’t get why they are failing

Hope is a fragile thing. You can only hold on to it as long as you find reasons to believe tomorrow can be better. A woman, for instance, who has the resources and opportunity to rent her own flat will be more likely to leave her abusive husband and recover. A pupil who has their own room and desk to do their homework might find more meaning in thriving at school. And an elderly person who can afford to live in a neighbourhood where they feel safe and connected is less likely to become isolated and depressed.

It’s not by chance that the examples above all revolve around the same topic. Affordable housing is possibly the most personal and most urgent social issue of our time. In Berlin, a city where 85% of residents live in rented accommodation, rents have risen by almost 70% in the past 10 years. And that is despite a rent control law that has been in effect since 2015. How? Loopholes and illegal practices have allowed property owners to continue putting pressure on the housing market. The social anxiety caused by this crisis, far from affecting just low-earners and single-parent households, affects vast parts of the middle class, too.

Fatma Aydemir is a Berlin-based author, novelist, playwright and a Guardian Europe columnist

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 24, 2026, 9:00 pm

Our lives and identities have moved online – and it’s driving us insane | Brigid Delaney

People have become servants to social media. The ultimate flex is to walk back to real life

Think of your online life as a garden. At first it’s just a few seeds here or there – a Facebook profile where you created entire albums from a night at the pub, or maybe a Tumblr or a Myspace page listing your favourite bands. It is fun – something just for you and your friends to enjoy.

Then the garden grows. You get an Instagram account and document moments from each day on Stories, use LinkedIn for networking and sharing career triumphs, and check your X/Twitter hyper-vigilantly in case you wrote something that just got you cancelled.

Published: September 25, 2026, 8:00 am

The Guardian view on Trump and Xi: a show of friendship, but no real attempt to address the tensions | Editorial

The Chinese leader’s visit to Washington appears to have done nothing to shift the stalemate in bilateral relations

Within days, two high-profile Chinese visitors will arrive in the US – envoys of friendship, as Xi Jinping described them when he met Donald Trump at the White House this week. The giant pandas, Ping Ping and Fu Shuang, will be hosted at Atlanta zoo. Beijing dispatched the first panda pair to the US in 1972 following President Richard Nixon’s landmark visit to China. It uses the animals to indicate satisfaction or displeasure with other nations. But it also charges heftily for their lease: reportedly, around $1m a year per pair. Americans’ views of China have warmed from a pandemic nadir, but are unlikely to be shifted much by two animals, however charming. These days they are more of a token gesture than a striking symbol.

It is telling that the announcement was one of the main takeaways of Mr Xi’s visit to Washington. Expectations were low after May’s stalemate summit in Beijing, but this meeting still struggled to meet them. The US president gave Mr Xi a lavish welcome – unusually, travelling to meet the “strong, vibrant and fit” Chinese leader off the plane. He insisted that they had “never gotten along better”.

Published: September 25, 2026, 9:53 am

The Guardian view on the 2026 Booker shortlist: what it takes to be a man | Editorial

All the contenders for this year’s prize are a reflection of the crisis in masculinity

Jarvis Cocker, one of the judges for this year’s Booker prize, has expressed surprise that the shortlist, announced this week, contains four male authors and only two female writers, because, “generally speaking, the male-written books weren’t as good as the ones written by women”.

The Pulp frontman might be on to something. Over the past 10 years, however, seven Booker winners have been men; the number of women boosted to four by the controversial joint win between Bernardine Evaristo and Margaret Atwood in 2019. The 2024 Booker shortlist was the first to have five female authors in the prize’s history. Last year’s winner Flesh, by British-Hungarian author David Szalay, stripped what being a man means down to its bones.

Published: September 25, 2026, 9:52 am

Manchester City found guilty of breaking Premier League’s financial fair play rules

• City face sanctions after more than 100 rule breaches

• Club insist on innocence and are expected to appeal

Manchester City have been found guilty of the vast majority of more than a hundred charges related to breaches of the Premier League’s financial rules, throwing English football into turmoil.

The serial champions now face the possibility of being relegated from the Premier League, or expelled from the competition altogether, after a verdict in the biggest disciplinary case in the history of the sport was finally delivered.

Published: September 25, 2026, 8:35 am

Turkey v France, Italy v Belgium, Northern Ireland win in Georgia: Nations League – live

⚽ Updates from Friday evening’s Nations League games
⚽ Live scoreboard | Read Football Daily | Mail Michael

Before kick-off in Italy, there is a minute’s applause for Sandro Mazzola, the legendary Inter midfielder who won two European Cups and a World Cup runners-up medal. You can read our obituary, by Richard Williams, here.

The teams are out! It’s quite the atmosphere in Izmit as the Turkish fans give the France side a warm welcome. Real Madrid teammates Kylian Mbappé and Arda Güler embrace, both talismen for their countries. Zidane looks typically stoic in the French dugout, dressed head to toe in navy suit, shirt, tie.

Published: September 25, 2026, 1:34 pm

55,000 fans and nowhere to hide: what it’s like to play in basketball’s biggest arena

The sprawling Philippine Arena hosts games in a country of fanatical basketball fans. Jamie Malonzo was lucky enough to play there in a Game 7

Jamie Malonzo got there early, one of the first players to arrive. He knew this was a different thing altogether. He knew the 55,000-capacity Philippine Arena was something else.

As Malonzo warmed up, the crowd began to file into the stands for Game 7 of the PBA Commissioner’s Cup. Fans tried to get his attention, yelling and waving their arms madly. This game, Malonzo knew, would be unlike any other he had ever played in.

Published: September 25, 2026, 2:00 am

Falcons trample punchless Packers as Bijan Robinson runs riot in Penix return

• Robinson rushes for 194 yards and two touchdowns

• Penix throws TD pass in return from torn ACL

• Packers’ 13-game home-opener winning streak ends

Bijan Robinson rushed for 194 yards and two touchdowns as the Atlanta Falcons capitalized on the return of quarterback Michael Penix Jr and trounced the punchless Green Bay Packers 35-14 on Thursday night.

Atlanta (1-2) erased an early 7-0 deficit by scoring 27 straight points to take control amid a chorus of boos at Lambeau Field. The Falcons outrushed the Packers 242 yards to 17.

Published: September 24, 2026, 8:37 pm

Mauricio Pochettino regrets not being ‘more involved’ with Balogun decision

• US striker had red card ban suspended for Belgium game

• Trump said he called Infantino asking for review

• Coach says ‘energy of everything’ changed in moment

US men’s national team head coach Mauricio Pochettino has said he regrets not being “more involved” in the situation surrounding US forward Folarin Balogun at this summer’s World Cup.

Balogun was given a red card after a challenge against Bosnia and Herzegovina defender Tarik Muharemovic, which by rule is accompanied with a one-game suspension. Balogun’s ban for the next game against Belgium was suspended after the US Soccer Federation and Donald Trump lobbied Fifa, with Trump saying that he personally placed a call to Fifa president Gianni Infantino to ask the ruling be reviewed. Infantino maintains that the decision to reinstate Balogun was made independently by Fifa’s disciplinary committee.

Published: September 25, 2026, 8:02 am

‘A lot of people counted me out’: Ashley Sanchez on goal records, grit and potential USWNT return

After playing zero minutes at the 2023 World Cup, the attacker embraced a new club, a new mindset and a new position. Now she’s making NWSL history in North Carolina

It was a familiar sight: Ashley Sanchez running at the left post, controlling a lofted cross, deftly finding a window between defenders and taking a quick shot to the inside of the far post beyond the reach of the goalkeeper. It’s how the North Carolina Courage winger has scored so many of her 19 goals this year. This would be her 20th, tying Temwa Chawinga’s 2024 record for most goals scored in an NWSL season.

But on Saturday against Gotham, it wasn’t meant to be. As Sanchez celebrated with her teammates and fans in the WakeMed Soccer Park stands updated their handmade “Sanchez Goal-O-Meter”, the center referee was summoned to the VAR monitor, and the goal was called off; Sanchez’s teammate Gianna Paul was a touch offside when the play began. No tied game, and no tied record.

Published: September 25, 2026, 3:00 am

Kimi Antonelli hits wall as George Russell takes F1 Azerbaijan GP pole

• Championship leader Antonelli crashes out in Q1

• Mercedes teammate takes pole by 0.837 from Leclerc

For all his youth, such has been Kimi Antonelli’s consummate control this season he has barely put a foot wrong. In qualifying for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix however he was given a salutary reminder that the full-on commitment that makes him so engrossing to watch can still bite.

The F1 championship leader was disconsolate at being eliminated after hitting the wall in the first session but with his Mercedes teammate George Russell on pole it has set up a potentially fascinating showdown for Saturday’s race.

Published: September 25, 2026, 6:44 am

Israel’s Saied Abu Farchi sent off for corner flag celebration in defeat by Austria

• Forward gets second yellow card after equalising

• Nations League match ends in 3-1 loss for Israel

Israel’s forward Saied Abu Farchi was ⁠sent off as a result of his goal celebration against Austria in ⁠his side’s 3-1 ​Nations League defeat on Thursday.

Abu Farchi headed home in the 55th ⁠minute to bring Israel level after ​Austria had ‌taken the lead ‌through a Romano Schmid penalty before ‌half-time at the Raiffeisen Arena in Linz.

Published: September 25, 2026, 12:58 am

‘I want more from my rugby’: Georgie Perris-Redding’s journey from England to leading the US Eagles

The flanker found the game at Crewe & Nantwich and plays for Sale but she was born in Detroit. On Saturday, her improving team will hope to conquer Cardiff

It’s a long way from Crewe & Nantwich RUFC to Little Rock, Arkansas, but five years ago Georgie Perris-Redding, who started playing rugby at the Cheshire club, made the 4,300-mile trip. She’s racked up plenty of air miles since and on Saturday she will run out at Cardiff Arms Park, against Wales as US Eagles co-captain.

Perris-Redding explained: “Jess Wooden, [a wing out of the University of Florida] who played for USA, she was at the time playing for Sale, and her and [England flanker] Hannah Field, who was another one of my teammates, were going to do a bit of coaching at ARPTC.”

Wales v USA will be broadcast in the US on Paramount+, in the UK on BBC iPlayer and BBC Wales, and around the world on RugbyPass TV. Martin Pengelly writes about rugby in America on Substack at The National Maul

Published: September 25, 2026, 3:00 am

Trump faces tough choices as Iran dangles deal to reopen Hormuz before US midterms

Iran’s seven-day timetable would restart nuclear talks, but will the US be willing to deliver on terms that include reining in Israel in Lebanon?

Iran’s seven-day timetable to reopen the strait of Hormuz and start talks on its nuclear programme has been pitched as a deal that could rapidly extricate Donald Trump from a political crisis but requires the US president to make difficult concessions.

In the five days left before the proposed reopening of the strait, which is expected to relieve pressure on global energy markets, Trump would need to lift Iranian asset freezes, permit Iran to export its oil and, probably most difficult of all, order Benjamin Netanyahu to end Israel’s attacks on Hezbollah in Lebanon, thus achieving the “ceasefire on all fronts”.

Published: September 25, 2026, 8:43 am

Republican Florida congressman introduces bill requiring warrants for Flock Safety cameras

Greg Steube’s Flafo Act would require federal agencies to obtain warrants before accessing or sharing data from networked license plate readers

A Florida Republican has introduced a bill that would bar US federal agencies from using Flock Safety’s licence plate cameras and similar systems without a warrant, amid a nationwide backlash against the surveillance company.

Greg Steube’s Facilitating Liberty and Accountability for Flock Observations (Flafo) Act, introduced on Friday, would require a judicial warrant before federal agencies could buy, operate, access or share data with networked licence plate readers. It would also make US Department of Justice grants to local police conditional on their adopting similar rules.

Published: September 25, 2026, 8:39 am

Pope Leo warns of AI threat to humanity at start of three-day France visit

Pontiff says artificial intelligence must remain at service of people in first official papal visit to country in 18 years

Pope Leo has warned against losing humanity in a “paradise of machines” as he addressed global concerns over the dangers of artificial intelligence at the start of a three-day visit to France.

“If we are to avoid losing our humanity amid a paradise of machines invading and conditioning our daily lives, there is an urgent need for people to be educated in ethical discernment, capable of seeing what is morally right,” he said in a speech at the Élysée.

Published: September 25, 2026, 9:01 am

Idaho cold case may be tied to unsolved 1982 Tylenol murders, authorities say

Idaho officials say man found dead in a church decades ago may be tied to unsolved poisonings in Chicago area in 1982

A man found dead in an Idaho church decades ago may be connected to unsolved poisonings in 1982 in the Chicago area that were dubbed the “Tylenol murders” and ushered in child safety caps for medicines, authorities announced recently.

Detective Tim Cooper of the Ada county sheriff’s Office reopened a cold case investigation in 2019 that led authorities to identify Dr Mathew Francis Betkouski posthumously. Betkouski fatally poisoned himself with cyanide more than 40 years ago and was buried anonymously.

Published: September 25, 2026, 12:38 pm

Alberta’s self-image as world’s only rat-free region shattered by discovery of rat

Province’s rat patrol called in to investigate as town of Bowden announces discovery of dead vermin

For more than seven decades, residents of Alberta have shared something in common with Antarctica and the high Arctic: all locations are officially free of rats.

But on Thursday the Canadian province’s reputation as a firewall against rodent infestation took a hit when the town of Bowden announced the discovery of a dead rat and called on the province’s “rat patrol” to investigate.

Published: September 25, 2026, 9:34 am

Earth microbes survive simulated conditions of Saturn moon’s ocean

Experiment suggests organisms could live in harsh environment under Enceladus’s icy crust, strengthening possibility moon could support life

From the moment scientists spotted plumes of water erupting from Enceladus, one of Saturn’s moons, it became the most tantalising place in the solar system to search for life beyond Earth.

Now the case is even more compelling after researchers found that organisms that live in deep-sea waters off Japan can survive the harsh conditions expected in the briny ocean that lurks beneath Enceladus’s icy crust.

Published: September 25, 2026, 11:00 am

Dolly Parton Day declared in various cities and states across the US on 9/25

Late Queen of Country and philanthropist celebrated with parades, karaoke and live music across the country

Cities and states across the country are declaring 25 September as Dolly Parton Day, one month after the late Queen of Country died at age 80.

The date, 9/25, is a tribute to Parton’s popular single, 9 to 5.

Published: September 25, 2026, 10:54 am

New Jersey datacenter fined $1.1m after visual investigation showed dozens of unpermitted generators

State regulator’s record fine for DataOne facility in Vineland follows Floodlight investigation with the Guardian

New Jersey regulators issued their largest-ever fine against a datacenter on Tuesday following a recent Floodlight investigation with the Guardian that found DataOne’s facility in Vineland operating at least 45 gas-powered generators without a state permit.

The New Jersey department of environmental protection’s $1.07m fine against DataOne “sends a clear message that these facilities will not be constructed or operated with impunity in this state”, said the department’s commissioner, Ed Potosnak, in a press release.

Published: September 25, 2026, 8:52 am

Trump’s executive order on recreational fishing is a ‘giveaway of fish and ocean ecosystem’, advocates warn

Federal agencies told to prioritize recreational fishing and to reconsider scientific standards as well as regulations

Donald Trump’s latest fishing order is raising new concerns about US marine protections, as it directs federal agencies to prioritize recreational fishing while reconsidering the scientific standards and environmental regulations that govern American fisheries.

The National Marine Fisheries Service hailed last Thursday’s order, Restoring American Saltwater Angling and Recreation, telling the Guardian: “By addressing long-standing flaws in federal data collection, streamlining permitting, and expanding marine habitats, this action delivers long-overdue stability to America’s $1.2tn outdoor recreation economy.”

Published: September 25, 2026, 5:00 am

Week in wildlife: a tiny tiger-cat, backyard bears and a frilly pink sea cucumber

This week’s best wildlife photographs from around the world

Published: September 25, 2026, 12:00 am

‘We wanted to prove we didn’t need air conditioning’: the airport cooled by natural ventilation

At Roland Garros airport on Réunion island, the ceiling design funnels a light tropical breeze into the terminal

At the arrivals terminal at Roland Garros airport on Réunion island, visitors are greeted by floor-to-ceiling windows framing the lush green mountains of the French Indian Ocean territory.

What they may have also expected was the icy chill of air conditioning; this island just off Madagascar sits in the tropical zone to the south of the equator. But instead, the terminal is cooled by a light tropical breeze, the result of natural ventilation built into its unique design.

Published: September 24, 2026, 10:00 pm

When Trump’s narrative meets voters’ realities

By Donald Trump’s telling, we’re in a US ‘golden age’. Americans may feel differently. Plus: Anger at the elite and a gunfluencer runs in Texas

• This was originally published in The Stakes 2026, a newsletter about the midterm elections. Sign up to get it in your inbox

• Reader Q&A: who’s spending big on the US midterms? Our reporters take your questions

One of Donald Trump’s greatest talents – deployed during his time as a real estate tycoon, source and subject of tabloid gossip, reality TV protagonist, and president of the United States – is his ability to tell stories. With six weeks until the US midterm elections, he is likely to lean on this instinct more than ever.

Rarely does the US president appear more comfortable than when behind a microphone, speaking without interruption, sometimes for multiple hours. Long before entering the White House, he wholeheartedly embraced social media as a means of crafting his narrative, going so far as to launch his own social network when booted off others.

Published: September 25, 2026, 4:30 am

Susan Sarandon and Hannah Einbinder arrested at anti-Netanyahu protest in New York

Actors detained at Jewish Voice for Peace demonstration against Israeli prime minister’s address to the UN general assembly

Oscar-winning actor Susan Sarandon and Hacks star Hannah Einbinder were among people detained by police in New York on Thursday as they moved in to break up a protest against Benjamin Netanyahu.

Agence France-Presse footage shows NYPD officers cuffing Thelma & Louise star Sarandon at the demo in the city as the Israeli prime minister was readying to address the United Nations general assembly.

Published: September 24, 2026, 4:23 pm

Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes reportedly to be transferred to halfway home next year

Holmes was sentenced to 11 years in prison in 2022 but has seen her sentenced reduced several times

Elizabeth Holmes, the disgraced founder of blood testing startup Theranos, will reportedly be transferred from a minimum security prison to a halfway home next August.

In 2022, Holmes, 42, was sentenced to more than 11 years in prison for defrauding Theranos investors out of hundreds of millions of dollars and ordered to pay restitution. The company falsely promoted its technology as being capable of detecting diseases, including types of cancer, from drops of finger-pricked blood.

Published: September 24, 2026, 4:12 pm

Man shot and wounded during Trump assassination attempt in Butler dies

James Copenhaver, 76, left with lingering injuries after gunman opened fire from rooftop at 2024 Pennsylvania rally

James Copenhaver, one of three campaign rally attendees shot in 2024 during an assassination attempt on then candidate Donald Trump, has died in Pittsburgh, his lawyer said Thursday. He was 76.

Copenhaver was in the bleachers during the event in Butler, Pennsylvania, when a 20-year-old gunman opened fire from a nearby rooftop, grazing Trump’s right ear with one bullet. Copenhaver was struck in the arm and in the abdomen, wounds that left him with lingering injuries and walking with a cane.

Published: September 24, 2026, 4:32 pm

Tall, dark and hated: plan to renovate ‘Paris’s ugliest building’ put on hold

Tour Montparnasse modernisation project at a standstill after clashes over pricing and other issues

It has been called a carbuncle on the Paris skyline, a sombre skyscraper where visitors to its viewing platform often joke that the city looks better when you can’t see the building itself.

The much-maligned Tour Montparnasse, a lone, dark monolith with tinted windows rising above a historic neighbourhood in the south of the city, is once again at the centre of controversy after its long-awaited renovation was halted this week because of disagreements between its many private co-owners.

Published: September 25, 2026, 4:25 am

Meloni accused of ‘running scared’ with cap on foreign children in classrooms

Critics say decree also banning burqa in schools shows Italian PM worried about losing far-right voters in next year’s elections

The Italian government has been accused of ramping up divisive rhetoric to try to court far-right voters ahead of next year’s general election after it passed a decree aimed at capping the number of newly arrived migrants in classrooms and banning the burqa and niqab in schools.

The prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, who leads the far-right Brothers of Italy party, said her government had approved what she called “commonsense measures that do not divide but genuinely help to integrate”.

Published: September 25, 2026, 4:31 am

Nepal’s PM says flash flood was ‘warning to world’ as he scolds leaders at UN over climate change

Shah ⁠said ​Nepal’s recovery and reconstruction needs were estimated at about 10% of GDP, as he appealed for more international support

Nepal’s prime minister scolded world leaders at the UN on Thursday, saying last month’s catastrophic deadly flood was a reminder that climate change keeps hurting people who didn’t cause the crisis.

The disaster “was a warning to the world,” Balendra Shah told the general assembly. “And I ask you today: Have you really heard that warning?”

Published: September 24, 2026, 10:17 pm

‘Africa hasn’t decolonised education enough’: how world’s youngest continent can unlock potential

Dr John Nkengasong, a former WHO adviser who worked with Biden administration on Aids policy, says innovation and investment are key to unlocking potential of continent’s graduates

African governments need to shake off the legacy of colonialism and underfunding if their education systems are ever to harness the vast potential of the continent’s young talent, says the public health expert Dr John Nkengasong.

Africa’s young demographic – it is the world’s youngest continent with 70% of people aged under 30 – is seen as its greatest asset. But a lack of cohesion between education institutions and employers means graduates in Africa, whose number is rising, are not well prepared when they start work, Nkengasong says. In an interview with the Guardian, he says students should be primed to address the continent’s socioeconomic problems, whether through influencing public health policy or technological innovation.

Published: September 25, 2026, 2:00 am

‘I’d strip for £100!’ Dominic West and Sienna Miller on nudity, narcissism and their juicy new show War

The stars are no strangers to public scrutiny of their most intimate relationships – but they’ve never experienced anything like this. They talk about playing a famous divorcing couple, and how money makes things revolting

In a London hotel room, Dominic West is weighing up how much he would accept to strip to his socks. In the new series War, West plays a social media billionaire who is supposed to be fairly decent, though there’s one excruciating scene – goading someone to strip for money – that reveals he’s definitely also a bit of a git. “That, I suppose, is the kick billionaires must get: that people would do anything for money,” he says. He wonders what his price would be. His co-star Sienna Miller laughs and says he’d do it “for the lols”, and West grins and says: “No, I’d want three figures. A hundred quid.”

War is a juicy eight-part legal drama, where Miller and West are a divorcing couple – she a narcissistic film star, he said billionaire – so just about all their scenes together are suppurating with contempt, which is fun, but also a bit of a shame because they have such good chemistry. They first worked together 21 years ago in the West End production of Shakespeare’s As You Like It. “So we had a history, which was great,” says Miller. There have been many times she’s gone into jobs where “on the first day you’re married to someone and you don’t know them. It’s helpful to have some sort of rapport.”

Published: September 25, 2026, 5:00 am

Novelist accused of using AI to write book removed from French prize list

Thélyson Orélien had been in the running to win a top literary prize before the AI claim emerged on social media

The organisers of France’s most prestigious literary prize said they had removed a critically acclaimed novel by a Canadian-Haitian writer from the longlist after an anonymous online account claimed the book was “almost entirely” written by AI.

The Académie Goncourt, a Paris-based literary organisation, said on Friday its decision to withdraw Thélyson Orélien’s novel C’était ça ou mourir (It Was That or Die) was “driven by the desire to preserve the integrity of the Goncourt prize and the academy itself, whose central role is to promote and honour literature written by women and men”.

Published: September 25, 2026, 9:14 am

East of Eden to Kill Jackie: the seven best shows to stream this week

Florence Pugh shines as the icy sociopath at the heart of the Steinbeck classic, plus Catherine Zeta-Jones plays an international cocaine dealer in a truly bananas thriller

“A girl like that doesn’t just fall out of the sky.” Charles Trask has a bad feeling about Cathy Ames, the woman who has arrived, beaten almost to death, on the doorstep of the farm he shares with his brother Adam. But it’s too late – Adam is smitten and therefore doomed. Zoe Kazan is behind this adaptation of John Steinbeck’s study of family, free will and arbitrary evil. Her new twist is a closer focus on Cathy (played with icy sweetness by Florence Pugh). She’s a more ambiguous figure here: not a purely sociopathic destroyer of lives but instead a ruthless survivor at all costs. The script doesn’t always do the ideas justice but there’s still plenty to like.
Netflix, from Thursday 1 October

Published: September 24, 2026, 11:00 pm

A Different World review – it was only a matter of time before they remade this trailblazing black sitcom

Many of the original cast of this Cosby Show-spinoff are back (including Jada Pinkett-Smith, briefly). Its look at life on a black college campus has its sights set firmly on comedy

In the golden age of remaking old content and young-adult television, it was only a matter of time before a streamer got its hands on A Different World, the pioneering black sitcom that ran from 1987 to 1993 in the US. Set at a historically black college (one of a discrete group of US higher education institutions known as HBCUs), it covered issues ranging from HIV/Aids to date rape. It was a laughter-track-heavy affair that helped to pave the way for other series about upwardly mobile black Americans, among them The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and Living Single. In any case – for reasons that will probably be abundantly clear – A Different World is an easier sell for a 2026 reboot than the programme it was an offshoot of: The Cosby Show.

This new version is still steeped in the world of its predecessor (A Different-ish World?), and even boasts many members of its cast – among them Jasmine Guy, Kadeem Hardison, Darryl M Bell and Cree Summer, with a cameo from Jada Pinkett Smith. The original series ended with Dwayne (Hardison) and a pregnant Whitley (Guy) preparing to move to Tokyo; now their daughter, Deborah (Maleah Joi Moon), is attending their alma mater. (Yes, if we were following real-world time, Deborah would be in her 30s, but – from experience – it would have probably been considerably less exciting to watch a series about Deborah indulging in such thirtysomething pursuits as planning a get-together with your friends eight weeks in advance, or realising your knees have started making a weird noise every time you stand up.)

Published: September 24, 2026, 12:01 am

‘Everyone can relate to pain and struggle. So I’m sharing mine’: Michael Kiwanuka on life after his devastating stroke

The Mercury prize winner hasn’t been able to go home since falling ill last summer. In his only interview, he opens up about the ‘poignancy’ of finally releasing the new album his stroke shelved

At the end of July 2025, Michael Kiwanuka was back home in Southampton after a series of European gigs. His 2024 album Small Changes had been critically acclaimed and was kept off the UK No 1 slot only by Kendrick Lamar’s GNX. His fifth record, Fudge, was due that autumn. All was going perfectly for the virtuoso singer-songwriter, whose eccentric, genre-busting mix of psychedelic rock, prog soul, blues and gospel had marked him as a real one-off.

Kiwanuka had been expected to appear at the All Together Now festival in County Waterford, Ireland, in the coming days, when an announcement was posted to his Instagram story: “We are so sorry to announce that due to continued illness, and on the advice of doctors, Michael will sadly be unable to perform at the rest of his scheduled festival performances throughout the rest of the summer and the shows in North America in October.”

Published: September 24, 2026, 9:00 pm

Add to playlist: the defiant queer dancehall of Destin Conrad and the week’s best new tracks

Every one of the Grammy-nominated Floridian’s songs reveal a different side of him. His latest album, Roadrunner, is all languid reggae basslines and come-hither lyricism

From Tampa, Florida
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Destin Conrad has had a busy couple of years: three albums, one Grammy nomination and a string of collaborations with fellow R&B up-and-comers such as Bellah and Nia Smith. Pick any record and you’ll hear a different side of the 26-year-old. His spring 2025 debut Love on Digital pays its dues to the genre that raised him while swerving derivative cliches with small production quirks – a vocal glitch here, a skittering Jersey beat there. Last summer’s Whimsy is a sprawling alt-jazz album that was written in two weeks, inspired by his time in a high-school jazz choir. A year later, Roadrunner arrived as a celebration of his Jamaican roots and queer identity – all languid reggae basslines, gyrating dancehall rhythms, drinks-in-the-air swagger and come-hither lyricism.

Published: September 25, 2026, 4:00 am

Norma Tanega and Aida Pavletich: Saturday Dancer review | Safi Bugel's experimental album of the month

(Freedom to Spend)
Far from her conventional 60s and 70s hits, Tanega joined up with a friend for an endearingly eccentric ‘rap opera’ spanning swampy synths and sardonic showtunes

Perhaps you know Norma Tanega for her chirpy 60s folk pop, such as Walkin’ My Cat Named Dog, which charted in the US and Canada. Or perhaps you know her swooning ballads from the 70s, which have had a streaming-aided resurgence in popularity. Lesser known are her wonky, nocturnal keyboard and drum machine experiments, recorded between the late 80s and early 90s with friend and writer Aida Pavletich. Together, the pair produced a trio of tapes on a four-track in Tanega’s home studio, which are now being reissued.

The first of the three, Saturday Dancer, is billed as a “rap opera”, which gives a sense of the album’s theatrical tone, if not the genre. Over 19 scuzzy and shapeshifting vignettes, the duo narrate a noirish night out on the town, from stripteases and sticky tables to the dread that seeps in when the lights come on – with some frankly bizarre tangents. The lo-fi instrumentals are suitably delirious, with clattering, likely improvised percussion and eerie synths lurking somewhere between strange and seductive.

Published: September 25, 2026, 1:00 am

Jae Stephens: Audacity review – a thrilling lesson in why more debut albums should go for broke

(Def Jam)
After five EPs in in seven years, the Dallas native with the big voice pours everything into this bonkers cauldron of maximalist R&B and hyperactive pop

There is so, so much happening on Jae Stephens’ debut album Audacity. Thankfully, it seems like mess is her medium. Although the 29-year-old Dallas native is often sold as a big voice – and she undoubtedly does have a big voice – her debut album has more in common with hyperactive, magnetic records such as PinkPantheress’s Fancy That or Salute’s True Magic: recent albums whose need for speed and sweetly toned maximalism fostered an irrepressible sense of personality.

Stephens is an apt case study of a career in the contemporary pop industry: she started writing, producing and performing alone in her room, and dropped a whopping five EPs in the seven years before Audacity’s release. She has written with a host of pop also-rans and, inexplicably, hosts a music interview podcast. But listening to Audacity forces me into that age-old cliche: why isn’t this artist a bigger star?

Published: September 25, 2026, 12:30 am

‘My generation of novelists is dying’: Rose Tremain on 70 years of writing, and late-life inspiration

As her latest novel about Daphne du Maurier is published, the bestselling author reflects on age and creativity – and why at 83 she has no plans to stop

My generation of writers is dying. Of Granta’s fabled list of 20 Best of Young British Novelists, 1983, six are gone, including our most princely satirist, Martin Amis. We’re all approaching birthdays where the cake is too small for the candles. Some of us are wounded: Salman Rushdie by an attacker’s knife, Julian Barnes lives with blood cancer, others with the fatal hurt of being forgotten.

But what’s the likely fate of those of us who are surviving – for now? Do readers still love us? When Barnes announced that he was signing off because of illness, was he also intuiting that the younger generations had heard enough from us old birds and geezers who were young when Sean Connery had dimples, when David Hockney first coloured his hair yellow?

Published: September 25, 2026, 2:00 am

Big Little Truths by Liane Moriarty review – Big Little Lies sequel shoots for high drama but fails to deliver

At 400-plus pages, Moriarty’s follow-up is too long and offers too little reward, with menopause, vaping teens and even a stalker failing to raise the stakes

Liane Moriarty’s Big Little Lies was such a runaway success – debuting at No 1 on the New York Times bestseller list and adapted for a television miniseries starring Reese Witherspoon, Nicole Kidman and Zoë Kravitz – that she always had her work cut out for her if she was to return the fluctuating narrative back to the page. Recognising this hurdle, Moriarty opens the sequel (her first) with a note to readers that details the way the new novel both responds to its TV adaptation – by making Laura Dern’s Renata and Meryl Streep’s Mary-Louise more central characters – and returns readers to the original landscape, the fictional Pirriwee Peninsula along Sydney’s northern beaches.

Moriarty immediately situates the reader back in Australia: a magpie swoops “like a missile” at an unsuspecting cyclist against a backdrop of “bright yellow native wattle” and “lush-purple” jacarandas. Time has passed, in both the real and fictional world. It has been 12 years since the 2014 publication of Big Little Lies, and the sweet kindergarteners at the heart of the original are teenagers now, with mothers in the midst of menopause. The idyllic setting is shattered when a severed human finger is posted to the local high school, setting the scene for a sequel packed with all the intrigue, drama and suspense of the first.

Published: September 24, 2026, 8:00 am

Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve review – brilliant aerial combat game fulfils the Top Gun fantasy

PlayStation 5, Xbox, PC (version played); Bandai Namco
The game generates blood-pumping moments as you twist, turn and weave through the skies, while your locked-on missiles speed away to obliterate an enemy plane

The core appeal of any Ace Combat game lies in the moment when the beautiful clouds part, the sunlight glints off your perfectly rendered state-of-the-art fighter jet, and guitar-shredding music kicks into overdrive as your locked-on missiles speed away to obliterate an enemy plane. All of that is 100% present in Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve. What’s new is the way it delivers its unexpectedly compelling story.

Set in the Earth-like alternative world of Strangereal, where every country is absolutely obsessed with fighter planes and giant superweapons, Ace Combat drafts you into the role of a fake ace pilot called the Wings of Theve – a propaganda invention to raise the morale of a besieged nation, similar to real-life rumours about Ukraine’s Ghosts of Kyiv. You rapidly find yourself becoming an actual legendary pilot, soaring through the skies with your buddies and raining hell upon your oppressors as everybody cheers on the radio. Speaking of ghosts, you have one in your ear – your predecessor, whom nobody else can hear, a gravelly voice waxing lyrical about flying, war and whatever else is on his mind as you flit about.

Published: September 25, 2026, 7:00 am

Meet the real-life Pokémon professors, the unsung heroes of competitive monster-battling

They offer advice, referee card games and manage players’ tantrums – we caught up with some of the volunteer profs who keep the competitive game going at this year’s world championships

Professors may be the most revered characters in the fictional world of Pokémon (apart from perhaps the Gym Leaders). In Pokémon Red and Blue, Professor Oak greets the player in a pixelated lab coat, and later provides trainers with their first battle partner; since then, each successive generation of games has introduced another professor to aid and guide trainers through their journeys. If you’ve ever played a Pokémon game, they are often the first people that you meet, apart from your in-game mom.

But you may not know that there are also real-world Pokémon professors – volunteers who help organise the game’s competitive communities around the world. Instead of lab coats, they can be seen at events wearing red Pikachu-mascot shirts labelled “staff”, paired with black trousers and shoes.

Published: September 24, 2026, 2:00 am

Woman who accused Jay-Z of raping her aged 13 says claims were false

Unnamed woman who filed and later dropped lawsuit against rap superstar states that she never met him, contrary to initial allegation of 2000 assault

A woman who accused Jay-Z of raping her when she was 13 years old has formally withdrawn her allegation, saying that she has never met the rap superstar.

The unnamed woman had originally made the allegation in a lawsuit filed in 2024, claiming that Jay-Z, real name Shawn Carter, had drugged and raped her with Sean Combs, known as P Diddy. The incident was alleged to have happened at a party after an MTV awards ceremony in 2000.

Published: September 25, 2026, 6:00 am

Oasis, Leicester punks and Ukraine techno: Abbey Road music photography awards 2026 – in pictures

A selection of winners and notable finalists in the awards celebrating the art of music photography, which saw 24,500 images submitted from 42 countries

Published: September 25, 2026, 8:21 am

Jimmy Kimmel: ‘The only thing more unwelcome in the Oval Office than CNN is a salad’

Late night hosts discussed the overturning of Trump’s White House media ban and Xi Jinping’s visit

On Thursday’s late night shows, hosts discussed Donald Trump’s visit by Xi Jinping, reports of China gifting two giant pandas to the US and news that the White House had lifted their press ban.

Published: September 25, 2026, 8:00 am

Greek epics, gory obsessions and awkward invites: where does this year’s Oscars race stand?

Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey might be the one to beat but a crop of competitors is starting to materialise

Reporting from fall film festivals used to be a more streamlined process – what’s good, what’s bad, what’s being sold, what has Oscars chances – but with each year, the season arrives with larger, more existential questions.

The 2025 run, from Venice to Telluride to Toronto, was notably underwhelming and took place months after Sinners went from box-office hit to legitimate contender and at the same time as One Battle After Another skipped festivals and went on to win best picture. The pipeline that had once birthed winners such as Birdman, Spotlight, 12 Years a Slave and The King’s Speech had no longer played as big of a part with Covid-affected Nomadland being the last fall festival film to win the top prize. Even without an awards hat on, there has been a more general lack of buzz, an excitement of something new that much harder to find as more films of considerably lower quality took up underserved space. If the trades are to be believed, a lot of it is down to studios choosing against the risk of bad buzz and potential embarrassment to A-listers because for every The Shape of Water or Poor Things, there’s a White Noise or Joker: Folie à Deux. So while this season might see new films starring Tom Cruise, Timothée Chalamet, Anne Hathaway, Christian Bale, Amy Adams, Daisy Edgar-Jones, Ben Affleck and Mikey Madison, none of them are braving a festival premiere.

Published: September 24, 2026, 2:00 am

Game, set … match? Can a dating coach help you win at love?

Would you pay thousands to meet the love of your life? In an age of app fatigue, many singles are hiring coaches to help them find partners. But are they chancers preying on the lovelorn, or do they hold the key to true romance?

Modern dating is a hellscape. Just ask any single person, who will probably regale you with stories of endless swiping, ghosting, cringe Hinge dates and unfulfilling “situationships”. But what if there was a way to escape all this and put yourself on a fast track to finding The One?

That very aim is driving the rise of dating coaches – people who make money from helping their clients to find a partner. According to the New York Times, now is a better time than ever to be a relationship coach, with the widespread dissatisfaction with dating apps and a growing sense of “heteropessimism” fuelling their popularity. In 2023, Shirley Williams, a then 37‑year‑old from New York, went viral when she posted a video sharing that she spent $10,000 on a dating coach, and got engaged within a year. Her post sparked intense debate between people who thought it was a ridiculous expense, and others who wondered why this was so much more controversial than, say, investing in education, travel and work.

Published: September 25, 2026, 7:00 am

Experience: a brain surgeon dropped part of my skull on the floor

I was a healthy 34-year-old when a mass of blood vessels ruptured in my brain. It took three neurosurgeons and a risky 16-hour operation to fix me

On a Sunday in May 2017, I was at the gym and using a chest press when there was this pop. It wasn’t a sound – it was more like a sigh in my body. There was no pain, but I went limp. I shuffled along the wall to some mats. I thought I was having a stroke, but I wasn’t slurring and my eyes and arms seemed fine. But my left leg felt numb – it was the weirdest feeling. Lying on my back with my legs bent, both knees stayed upright when I looked at them. When I looked away, the left one fell to the side.

I ended up in A&E for hours at nearby St Thomas’ hospital in London. I was 34, healthy and had started regaining feeling in my leg, so they theorised it was a bruised spine and thought it was safe to discharge me. Overworked staff and shift changes meant that when MRI images of my brain went missing, nobody tracked them down.

Published: September 24, 2026, 9:00 pm

The best earplugs in the US, for concerts, power tools or just sleeping better – tested

From inexpensive foam options to silicone models with customizable filters for concerts, we found the best earplugs for every ear and situation

• The eight best Bluetooth speakers in the US

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

You don’t have to operate a jackhammer for a living to invest in a good pair of earplugs. While they used to live solely in the domain of high-visibility vests and safety helmets, you’ll now find plenty of folks using earplugs to protect their hearing at concerts, to concentrate in busy coffee shops, or simply to sleep better.

But choosing the right earplugs isn’t quite as simple as walking into your local CVS and grabbing the first pack of disposable foam you find in the checkout aisle. In addition to those reliable old standbys, you will now find a new generation of reusable earplugs that come in different sizes, filter out different frequencies, and come in Noise Reduction Ratings (NRR) from 12 (take the edge off a concert) to 33 (blot out the world).

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

Other earplugs we reviewed

FAQ: Earplug questions you may have

Published: September 24, 2026, 7:15 am

I love my life and my cup is full but I’m drowning in shame for things left undone. How can I balance it all? | Leading questions

You are not the only one, advice columnist Eleanor Gordon-Smith writes. It will help to ask whether you have a time problem or a bandwidth problem

• Read more Leading questions

I love my life in so many ways. I have a rewarding job, I’m making stellar progress towards a graduate degree, I have incredible friends and community, plus I’m even reconnecting with estranged family. My cup is very full but I still feel grief and shame for how much falls to the wayside.

I have missed countless doctors’ appointments. My vehicle’s license plates have been expired for almost a year. I often apologise to angry friends and acquaintances after they confront me for not seeing them in months. My significant other says she doesn’t see me enough. So do my parents. I clock out of work and shudder at the thought of facing my growing avalanche of text messages. I panic whenever I receive an email that demands I arrange yet another appointment or submit to a lengthy phone call. The stack of forms I’m overdue to submit makes me feel so irresponsible, as if I’m the only adult alive who can’t seem to take care of business.

Published: September 24, 2026, 8:00 am

‘It’s luxury that wants to be seen’: aristocrats and eccentrics inspire Demna’s vision for Gucci in Milan

Collection by the designer, brought in to return the ailing fashion house to profit, is on the money

He’s the mononymic designer who has been charged with rescuing Gucci from plummeting sales. So where better for Demna to stage his third catwalk show than at the forefront of commerce – a purpose-built Gucci shop.

During Milan fashion week on Friday, the designer transformed a convention centre into a sprawling retail space that mirrored the design for the brand’s new boutiques.

Published: September 25, 2026, 10:21 am

Check mate: what to wear with checked trousers

From tartan to plaid, these styles come into their own during pumpkin-spice season

Published: September 24, 2026, 10:00 pm

‘Going places with panache’: Max Mara channels audacious women for Milan show

Chore jackets and loose-fit trousers nod to ‘nonconformist glamour’ of Amelia Earhart and other pioneers

The Max Mara catwalk at Milan fashion week had well-cut coats, sturdy block-heeled boots, crisp white shirts and capacious suede handbags. What it quite deliberately did not have was shock value. “I hope everyone watching this show can recognise something of themselves in what they see,” said Ian Griffiths, the British designer who has been at this Italian house since 1987. “I think that’s really important. Without being critical of other brands or designers, so much of fashion alienates people and makes them feel that they aren’t good enough or thin enough or young enough to wear what’s being represented.”

Trousers were pleated and roomy, skirts long enough to be elegant but not long enough to trip you up. In shades of sand and chalk, grey and black, every piece was designed to work with everything else, and to blend into an existing wardrobe. The styling gestures – a popped collar here, a knotted belt there – stopped short of gimmick. The models could have walked off the runway and on to the Milan street – which, Griffiths said backstage, was the point. “The catwalk show is only the prelude to what to me is the real presentation, which is when I see women walking down the street in my clothes.”

Published: September 24, 2026, 4:52 am

After a fiery summer, I’m choosing resilient crops to future-proof my garden

From kale to hostas, there are many vegetable patch options that are hardy, low-maintenance and delicious

You’d have to have been living under a rock (which would have been a cool and sensible place to dwell) to not have felt the intensity of the heatwaves this summer. I’ve yet to meet a plants person who isn’t concerned by the impact of the changing climate on the living things we share the planet with – as well as our fellow humans. If one had any doubts, the sight of parched grasslands and garden plants withering to a crisp should have set those aside.

As I’ve shared in previous columns, this summer I was sparing with what I watered. I emptied the water butts and only used mains water on plants that were likely to survive and provide a harvest. Any sign of floundering and the crops were for the chop – sorry, stunted courgettes! And if you’ve been reading my column for a while, you’ll also know that I turned over one of my annual beds to golden raspberries and tayberries this year in a bid to have more plants that are less needy. So you can imagine my joy when I saw that brilliant gardener Jack Wallington has written a book that delves deep into this low-impact, resilient approach to edible gardening. Perfect timing.

Published: September 25, 2026, 3:00 am

Toys are us: the adults swapping scrolling for Lego, remote control cars and sewing

To escape the stresses and strains of adulting, more people are choosing to rekindle their love for childhood toys, games and pastimes

A growing number of adult enthusiasts are rediscovering their love for Lego, helping to fuel a surge in sales that has increased the Danish toymaker’s revenues by 21%.

But Lego isn’t the only childhood pastime people are returning to. We spoke to people who have rediscovered old hobbies about what drew them back. For some, returning to an old pastime offers an escape from the pressures of adult life, while for others it is a chance to reconnect with a younger version of themselves.

Published: September 25, 2026, 2:00 am

The lure of the loo: how restaurant bathroom design went wild

Plush or pared back, flatteringly lit or full-on disco camp, a TikTokkable loo is now part of the hospitality experience

Anthony Bourdain was typically forthright when it came to his expectations for the toilet facilities in a food business. “I won’t eat in a restaurant with filthy bathrooms,” wrote the late chef and author, in his seminal, turn-of-the-millennium memoir Kitchen Confidential. “This isn’t a hard call. They let you see the bathrooms. If the restaurant can’t be bothered to replace the puck in the urinal or keep the toilets and floors clean, then just imagine what their refrigeration and work spaces look like.” Setting aside the fact that, in later life, Bourdain softened his stance (“Some of the best food experiences I’ve ever had [have been in] places where they really don’t give a shit [about bathroom cleanliness],” were his words in a 2018 interview) his initial take tells us plenty about what the average customer historically demanded of restaurant restrooms. They needed to be clean. They needed to be functional. They needed, at a push, half-decent hand soap and the faint, reassuring waft of pine-scented floor cleaner.

Today, things could hardly be more different. Where once restaurant toilets tended to be a boring, unglamorous afterthought, in recent years, they have emerged as arguably the most unexpectedly attention-grabbing room in the building: atmospherically distinct sites of creativity and muscle-flexing design, where lavish amenities, bespoke lighting, custom soundscapes, selfie mirrors and all manner of other eye-catching flourishes abound, and are documented by social media channels, such as @LoosOfLondon (TikTok followers: 78k).

Published: September 25, 2026, 12:00 am

Benjamina Ebuehi’s recipe for Belgian buns | The sweet spot

These old-school classic treats may struggle for attention among today’s more Instagram-worthy cardamon buns, but they’re simple to make and divine to devour

Belgian buns are among a dying breed of bakes, forgotten about in favour of pretty cinnamon and cardamom buns and creative laminated doughs. I’d love to see more of these old-school, classic treats in bakeries, not least because they’re really simple to make. There are no twists or extra frills, just soft, buttery dough swirled with lemon curd and juicy sultanas. The icing glaze and cherry on top are essential, though, for maximum eating pleasure.

Published: September 24, 2026, 10:00 pm

Trump swoons over strongman soulmate Xi – are you feeling jealous, Vladimir?

Deference was deafening as US president rolled out red carpet for world’s biggest jailer of journalists – perhaps he was seeking tips

One is an authoritarian who represses the media and has a strong allergy to democratic elections. The other is head of the Chinese Communist party.

Donald Trump welcomed the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, to the White House on Thursday, setting the stage for a scene quite unlike anything the august old building has seen over more than two centuries.

Published: September 24, 2026, 11:30 am

Amid soaring living costs, America’s biggest convenience-store chains quietly overcharge consumers

Guardian investigation: 7-Eleven and Circle K stores often fail to honor advertised prices – charging more at pump and register for gas, snacks, and other items

Marco Cruz pulled off a four-lane road into the parking lot of a Circle K convenience store in McAllen, Texas, 12 miles north of the US-Mexico border. It was 1.20am on a mild November night in 2025, and Cruz was looking for a bedtime snack after a day of visiting family and friends. He grabbed a pack of beef and jalapeño cheese sticks from the shelf, where they were priced at $3.99. At the counter, though, they rang up at $4.19.

Cruz asked the cashier to charge him the lower shelf price. The employee refused, he said, and threatened to call the police when Cruz grew more insistent. “All I’m asking you is honor the price,” Cruz told the attendant before leaving the store and, later, filing a complaint with the Texas attorney general.

Published: September 24, 2026, 4:00 am

Parents and carers: how has your view on your children’s use of social media or AI changed?

Is the scrutiny tech firms are facing making you rethink your children’s relationship with technology? Let us know

AI and social media companies have drawn intense scrutiny in recent months for some of the ways the technology they’re building operates, especially when it comes to their younger users.

Parents and regulators have accused companies like Meta of designing products that are addictive to younger users. AI developer OpenAI is facing dozens of lawsuits that allege its ChatGPT bot lacks safety guardrails. Now, in the last few weeks, employees of the biggest AI firms say the companies are more focused on competing with each other than building their AI models safely.

Published: September 24, 2026, 8:59 am

Have you taken GLP-1s for a year or more? We would like to hear from you

We would to hear about the changes in your life after taking GLP-1s

Around 100 million people globally are taking GLP-1s. The majority experience significant weight loss. Research has shown that women in particular experience greater success in dating and job-seeking as a result. We would like to explore the impacts of this: how do you go about processing this change? How hard is it to balance, or make peace with, such differing experiences of life before and after GLP-1s? Do you feel you have a “before” and “after” self?

If you have taken GLP-1s and lost weight as a result, and experienced changes in your workplace, your romantic life, or in how you feel about yourself before and after, we would love to hear from you for an article exploring the emotional adjustments involved in rapid and significant weight loss.

Published: September 25, 2026, 7:18 am

Tell us: do you enjoy listening to music on CDs?

Is this a recent development, or are you a die-hard compact disc fan? What do you like about the format?

Despite the prevalence of music streaming services, CDs players appear to be having a resurgence.

John Lewis said searches are up 96% since July, and portable CD players are also proving popular, which chimes with a report this year that found CD sales are up 16%.

Published: September 24, 2026, 4:35 am

The week around the world in 20 pictures

Russian strikes in Kyiv, Netanyahu in New York, floods in Japan and the Asian Games – the past seven days as captured by the world’s leading photojournalists

Published: September 25, 2026, 11:18 am