2026/08/21 Daily Edition

South Africa welcome New Zealand for their Greatest Rivalry series with the suspicion that they plan on beating the tourists at their own game The problem with Test weeks is that they can feel long. Cricketers can play for days on end, footballers every few nights, but rugby players step on to the international stage for just 80 minutes per week. The result is a drawn-out vacuum in the buildup and if it’s not a “war of words” unfolding, it tends to be head coaches ramming home their points to the referee. We lap it up, of course we do as we wait for Saturday to come, and though the pre-match sparring between South Africa and New Zealand is tedious to some, it is all part of the fun to others. This week in Johannesburg has been lively without crossing the line into poisonous. Suffice it to say that the referee Matt Carley is in for one hell of an afternoon in Saturday’s series opener at Ellis Park but the very fact that both Rassie Erasmus and Dave Rennie have stepped on to the offensive demonstrates the magnitude of the coming four-Test series. It promises to be a barn-burner...

Former England striker on retiring from the Lionesses, being a role model, and taking on Chelsea in the WSL A year after taking up golf, Rachel Daly has already reached a handicap of 19. “I think that’s too generous, I was playing really well in the summer,” she point outs before politely declaring that further questions about her pastimes are out of bounds. “I’m not that exciting, to be honest,” Daly says. “I walk the dogs, play golf. I don’t do a whole lot. I don’t lead a very exciting life.” Instead, Daly wants to talk about the new Women’s Super League season, which is more than fair enough. Coincidentally, by next summer, 19 will be the number of seasons Daly has played at the top level, ever since breaking into Leeds’ first team as a 16-year-old in 2008, and therefore it feels reasonable to disagree with her view that a former Olympian, who played 84 times for England and was the WSL’s player of the season only three years ago, does not lead an exciting life. Yet there is another number on Daly’s mind as she discusses her role as Aston Villa’s captain...

A magnitude 6.7 earthquake struck the Ayacucho region on Thursday, the US Geological Survey says.

An attacker wielding a sword has wounded several people at a school in Sweden.

Emerald theatre, London An account of the superstar’s life revisits her relationships and considers some conspiracy theories but never gets beyond cliche There have been 600 books written about Marilyn Monroe since she died in 1962. So we are told by Monroe (Pixie Lott) herself in Sharleen Cooper Cohen’s play. The star’s body was discovered by her housekeeper, and her death at the age of 36 has spawned as many conspiracy theories as Elvis Presley’s. Was it an overdose, or a contract killing by the Kennedy family because she had kompromat on them? Did the mafia have something to do with it? Was an enema administered on the night she died? These are some of the questions that have been asked by Monroe obsessives. You imagine this drama is setting itself up for something beyond the slew of familiar theories. But there is little to gain from this trot through Monroe’s life, narrated in cliches...

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Vijay’s proposal on government cars for MLAs triggers debate in Assembly; DMK seeks need-based allocation

They were once the hottest shows on television – gripping, sexy, hilarious, zeitgeisty. But for our writers, the likes of America’s Next Top Model, House of Cards and The Office are now part of their viewing history they feel tainted by When I think of the summer holidays when I was a teenager, I think of watching America’s Next Top Model for hours on end, critiquing each contestant with my sister. The makeover episode was always my favourite: girls sobbing as their hair was cropped short, or even shaved off. At the time, Tyra Banks seemed like a big sister, giving the contestants the tough love they’d need to succeed in a ferociously competitive industry. Now I feel differently. I hadn’t watched America’s Next Top Model since I was young, but like many, I recently watched Netflix’s excellent series, Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model. It was the strangest sensation, rewatching episodes I hadn’t seen in more than two decades. At times I felt almost teleported back. How could I not find these scenes of models collapsing with hunger utterly abhorrent? I wondered what influence watching a show that celebrated eating disorders had on my own brain. I think it had an impact. I think the residual taint of it is still there. I can’t watch America’s Next Top Model any more, nor do I want to. Ironically, it’s all too ugly. Sirin Kale..

This year's El Niño is expected to be the strongest in living memory and could lead to a range of impacts of the UK - including a stormy autumn.

Israeli soldiers were filmed throwing belongings from Palestinian homes in Qusra.

Min Zin was arrested on June 3 after the Chinese government invited him to attend a conference.

Annette Young is pleased to welcome Dr. Aaron Y. Zelin, Senior Fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. He sees Israel’s recent actions in the West Bank and Syria as part of a broader shift in its strategic posture. Since October 7, the Israeli government has become markedly less concerned with international opinion, prioritizing what it defines as its security interests even at the cost of growing diplomatic isolation. Domestic politics matter here. With elections approaching, some recent military activity can also be understood through an electoral lens. But he would distinguish that from Israel’s increasingly confrontational posture toward Turkey, which predates the current election cycle. As Iran and its regional proxy network have been weakened, figures around the Israeli prime minister have increasingly framed Turkey as a potential future strategic challenge.

More than half of the 2,500-plus deaths from DR Congo's Ebola outbreak have occurred within the past 20 days alone, as the virus spreads faster than any recorded outbreak, according to the UN's senior Ebola coordinator. Julien Harneis is urging a rapid scale-up of resources to prevent the epidemic from crossing into neighbouring countries.

As part of the Beastie Boys, the rapper shot to fame and notoriety in the 80s, before bandmate Adam Yauch’s death saw him withdraw from the spotlight. He returns with a solo album that sees him reckon with greed, mortality – and his past ‘It’s funny how far a joke will get you,” Michael Diamond grins. This time 40 years ago, the New York rapper known as Mike D was working with schoolfriends Adam “MCA” Yauch and Adam “Ad-Rock” Horovitz on Licensed to Ill, their 1986 debut album as the Beastie Boys. The “joke” in question is that record’s cartoonish send-up of frat-bro culture, set to fusions of hard rock riffs and hip-hop beats. As for how far it got them: destinations included global stardom, a page in the history books with rap’s first US chart-topping album, and the crosshairs of British tabloids as they roused a generation to “fight for your right to party”...

Governing bodies had asked for ruling to end cases Judge says claimants ‘blameless’ for missing documents More than 500 former rugby union and league players’ lawsuits ⁠over neurological injuries can continue, London’s high court ruled on Friday, despite their former lawyers’ failure to disclose ⁠key medical evidence ⁠to governing ​bodies. World Rugby, the Rugby Football Union and the Welsh Rugby Union, plus the Rugby Football League and the ⁠British Amateur Rugby League Association, argued the claimants’ lawyers had repeatedly failed to provide records...

Humanoid crashes during speed test as China’s robotics industry grows

Allies worry about the US ability to deter China, even if the bulk of US forces remain in the region.

Pre-tax earnings slump at chef’s food and media group after one-off costs including for a new cookery school Jamie and Jools Oliver have paid themselves a £1.7m dividend – more than 40% down on last year – after profits at their cookery and media empire almost halved. Sales at Jamie Oliver Holdings remained broadly steady at £28.4m in 2025, £160,000 less than in the previous year, as a strong performance at the group’s own restaurants, franchise business, cookery schools and TV productions offset a decline in royalties, licensing and endorsements...

A six-year-old child has collapsed and died after being slapped by his teacher in India.

More than 2,500 people have died from the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), according to a UN coordinator who says it's spreading to an area larger than France.

The US Treasury labels Lebanon-based group 'an extension' of the IRGC's Quds Force and takes aim at financing.

Former Brazil star Ronaldinho, who retired from the game in 2015, said on Thursday that he was making a comeback 11 years later with Italian third-division side Ravenna to try and score "a 300th goal". The 46-year-old, who won the World Cup in 2002 and the Ballon d'Or in 2005, ended a glittering career when he played his last official match in September 2015 with Brazilian club Fluminense.

Experts say the project would partition the occupied West Bank, making the prospect of Palestinian statehood impossible.

The sister of Pakistan’s former prime minister Imran Khan says he told her he was being tortured in jail.

Coach Vincent Kompany said Bayern were aware of Jamal Musiala's neurological disorder long before it was made public.

The overnight raid of the multi-million dollar drug operation took place near the border with Zimbabwe.

Incidents of anti-Semitism have been on the rise in Europe since Israel's genocidal war on Gaza began.

The Tamil Nadu government should reconsider announcement on providing government car for all MLAs, said Mr. Shanmugam

Rahul Gandhi alleges that 19-year-old pellet gun victim Sahil Lochab was not allowed to file an FIR

Aeroplane maker said to have watered down plans to restrict working from home to one day a week Airbus has reportedly bowed to employee demands on remote working, after a series strikes over its chief executive’s return-to-the office orders. The world’s largest aeroplane maker is said to have watered down plans to restrict remote working to one day a week from September. Currently, staff are able to work remotely for two...

President Trump has declared economic warfare on Iran in an effort to pressure the country back into negotiations. And, the Supreme Court is set to decide on the future of Trump's ballroom.

The Iranian regime has dismissed President Trump's threats to crush the country economically, saying that years of U.S. sanctions have failed.

Delhi Health Minister Pankaj Kumar Singh said the government is closely monitoring the situation and has directed all government hospitals to ensure adequate treatment facilities are available

The struggling firm said it had improved its performance but missed regulator-set delivery targets.

Drivers are waiting hours in fuel queues, as Moscow prepares to celebrate Russian Flag Day.

Israeli settlers attack six times a day in the occupied West Bank. AJLabs looks at how Palestinian land is taken.

Houthi attacks on al-Makha port forced it to suspend operations, leaving workers without jobs and traders concerned.

Exclusive: Of 224 branded infant foods and snacks, more than half are in breach of guidelines brought in a year ago Almost a quarter of popular branded baby foods sold in UK supermarkets still contain excessive amounts of sugar, a year after the government introduced voluntary industry guidelines. In August 2025 the government gave baby food manufacturers 18 months to reduce the sugar and salt content of their products, stop marketing snacks to infants under 12 months and address misleading and inaccurate labelling that makes some infant foods appear healthier than they actually are...

A bench comprising Justices K.V. Viswanathan and Arun Palli was hearing a plea filed by the CBI challenging the March 25 order of the High Court

Even when fully mobilised, China’s industrial system would only be able to meet 60 per cent of the country’s military demand for drones in a conflict, according to a rare study looking into the expected effects of a sudden war. The estimates were produced by an artificial intelligence model that covered a multilevel supply chain linking drone assembly plants with subsystem and component suppliers. The study also accounted for inventories, production capacity, order backlogs, budgets and civilian...

Take a walk with us through Beijing, where everyday A.I. can be useful, gimmicky, or unexpectedly funny.

“It is the first time that we know of that a major lab has voluntarily slowed down.”

Holders Inter Milan face challenge from reinvigorated AC and Juventus, while Napoli and Roma look to bounce back.

Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov suggests Moscow is eager for the US to revive its support for Russian agenda.

Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, lead negotiator in talks with the United States, made the comments after President Trump vowed an “economic D-Day” against Iran.

A dilapidated two-century-old building in Saint-Louis, Senegal bears testament to the island's little-known past as part of the transatlantic slave trade, the traces of which are quickly and quietly disappearing from view. Located in the country's north, between the Atlantic Ocean and the Senegal River, the island is rarely mentioned in the history of the slave trade, even though it was a hub through which tens of thousands of Africans passed.

Peter O'Brien is pleased to welcome Simon McGarr, Lawyer with McGarr Solicitors in Dublin, and Managing Director of Data Compliance Europe. Cybersecurity is no longer simply a question of whether governments possess adequate technical defences, explains McGarr. AI is altering those risks at extraordinary speed, placing capabilities once associated with states or sophisticated criminal organizations within reach of much smaller actors. If threats evolve month by month, governments must focus on prevention: identifying vulnerabilities, adapting defenses and developing long-term institutional capacity before emerging threats become crises.

Britain's Met Office has predicted sea surface temperatures in the tropical Pacific will reach an "unheard-of" level of potentially more than three degrees above average, triggering severe droughts across South America and the West Pacific. Such an event would have serious knock-on effects for global food security.

Two former organisers of Hong Kong’s annual vigils in remembrance of the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown were convicted by government-approved judges Friday for inciting others to overthrow China's communist leadership. Lee Cheuk-yan and Chow Hang-tung, former leaders of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, were charged with inciting subversion in 2021 under a China-imposed national security law that has effectively crushed the city’s previously thriving pro-democracy movement.

France, Germany, ​Britain and Italy condemned on ​Thursday plans by Israel to open up construction tenders for a ​residential ‌property project ⁠called 'E1' in the occupied West Bank. Hundreds of ​thousands of Israelis have settled among millions of Palestinians in land ​captured by Israel in ​a 1967 war. Nearly ​all countries and a range of ​UN bodies consider that such settlements violate international law, although Israel disputes this, citing historical ⁠and biblical ties to the land. FRANCE 24's Noga Tarnopolsky reports from Jerusalem.

Justice Nath questioned why the government could not comply with the direction while simultaneously pursuing its review petition

Josh Tarling returns to cycling in Spain a week after brother Finlay dies during Tour of Portugal.

Weeks of monsoon rain have flooded northern Philippines, where residents are demanding answers over alleged corruption.

German authorities allege that Ukrainian scuba diver Volodymyr Zhuravlev was involved in the Nord Stream explosions.

Exclusive: Planning documents show datacentre in north Ockendon will be incompatible with UK net zero targets A “hyperscale” datacentre in outer London would generate more than 1m tonnes of carbon dioxide a year, equivalent to the carbon footprint of 27,000 flights from London to New York, planning documents show. The East Havering Data Centre Campus (EHDCC) in north Ockendon would be one of the largest datacentres in Europe if approved by Havering council, using 218 hectares of green belt to run servers and data storage systems for AI and cloud computing. Its developer, Digital Reef, has described the scheme as “a unique opportunity to create a sustainable datacentre campus of the future”...

With plentiful jobs and community support, one Mexico City neighbourhood has become a haven for those who have lived much of their lives in the US With its wide avenues lined with tall palm trees, its quaint cafes and old-school cantinas, as well as the mix of English and Spanish spoken on the street, the Tabacalera neighborhood in downtown Mexico City has a certain US feel – so much so that it is has become known as Little LA. The nickname is about more than appearances, however. In recent years, this corner of the metropolis has become a haven for many Mexicans deported from the US, particularly those who spent years or decades living across the border and for whom Mexico feels like a foreign country. In Little LA, they have found a more familiar place to belong...

I understand the pressure on AI companies to rush forward. But employees are right to be concerned Last month, more than a thousand employees at frontier AI companies signed a letter asking the US government to find a way to “pace” AI development, citing the risk of the technology spiraling out of human control as it begins to build itself. They were right to be concerned: just days earlier, two AI models that OpenAI was testing internally escaped the test environment, then autonomously hacked the company Hugging Face and at least three other online services. A few days after that, Anthropic announced that some of their models had also broken out and hacked other companies during testing...

Heavy rains ⁠linked to ​the El Niño weather phenomenon caused flooding in Peru ​on Wednesday that disrupted access to the ancient Inca citadel of Machu Picchu, closed roads due to landslides and flooded ​homes ‌in the capital Lima. Peruvian authorities ordered ⁠the Inca Trail, a main tourist route to Machu Picchu, closed ‌until Saturday due to overflowing waterways and debris, according ⁠to local media.

The heatwave has taken a heavy toll on much of the agricultural sector, but it is also benefiting a lucky few. The high temperatures are providing ideal conditions for salt harvesting in the famous salt marshes of Guérande in Western France, where the harvest this summer looks set to be particularly bountiful.

Former Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan was transferred back to jail early on Friday, hours after being taken to a hospital for court-ordered medical checks, the government said. The Supreme Court ordered on Tuesday that Khan, Pakistan's most popular politician, be taken to the private Shifa International Hospital in the capital Islamabad within 48 hours for treatment, after his lawyers petitioned the court over concerns that his health was poor. The ex-cricket captain and his wife Bushra Bibi, who is also his spiritual guide, were both sentenced late last year to 17 years in prison.

It is unclear why the civilian-contracted plane was at the radar site on Alaska's south-west coast.