2026/08/23 Daily Edition

Harvard study finds traffic fatalities increase by 15% on release dates compared with similar days either side The release of a new album by Taylor Swift might be a cause for celebration among her fans, but such events have also been linked to a more sombre phenomenon: an increase in fatal car crashes. The team behind a new study say it sheds light on the impact of distracted driving. “You can’t randomise people into using their phones, and drivers rarely volunteer what they were doing in the seconds before a crash,” said Dr Vishal Patel, first author of the study based at Harvard Medical School...

At least 2,325 people have died from the virus, according to official data, with outbreak on track to be biggest in history The Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is now the deadliest in the country’s history, with at least 2,325 people dead, according to government data, surpassing the toll from the 2018-20 outbreak. The DRC’s public health institute said confirmed cases had risen to 4,945, including 101 detected in the previous 24 hours...

Teen version is intended for children aged 13 to 17 and includes content protections on self-harm and sexual chats OpenAI is launching a version of ChatGPT designed for teenagers – the first generation to grow up with artificial intelligence – who are already using it for schoolwork, questions about daily life and even companionship. The San Francisco-based company says ChatGPT for Teens, which launches on Tuesday, is tailored for children aged 13 to 17 with stronger protections including content restrictions around things such as suicide, self-harm and romantic or sexual chats. It also provides homework and study support designed to help students learn rather than spit out answers and school essays...

Beto Coral held up banners in Florida warning fellow Colombians to not vote for Abelardo de la Espriella In the week before Colombia’s presidential election, Beto Coral, a well-known activist living in the United States, travelled to Florida to persuade fellow Colombians not to vote for the far-right candidate Abelardo de la Espriella. Coral held banners outside polling stations in Miami warning that the millionaire lawyer, whose candidacy was endorsed by Donald Trump, would “help deport all of you”...

Sale of one of UK’s top collections overseas prompts call new rules to help keep items in country One of UK’s best fossil collections sold in ‘loss to the nation’ An MP has called on ministers to change export controls so that significant fossils can be classed as national treasures after one of the UK’s best collections, unearthed on Dorset beaches, was sold overseas. Last week, a Guardian investigation revealed that an unparalleled collection of fossils from the UK’s Jurassic Coast, comprising hundreds of specimens including ichthyosaurs, had been sold to the Natural History Museum in Abu Dhabi for what one source described as an “eight-figure sum”...

Saudi crown prince and de facto ruler Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) was welcomed on Sunday by French President Emmanuel Macron for a two-day visit to the country. Several agreements on health, transport and energy will be signed on the second day of the visit on Monday underlining the strength of the Paris-Riyadh relationship.

A table tennis tournament and a throat lozenge could help Erin Patterson's lawyers overturn her convictions.

Hardliner Mohsen Rezaei also threatens American economic interests in first interview since appointment to supreme national security council The new leader of Iran’s top security body has warned its neighbours against joining new US efforts to squeeze Tehran’s economy, and threatened US commercial interests in the region, as Donald Trump doubled down on his fanciful view that the strait of Hormuz was a new US territory. Mohsen Rezaei, the hardline new leader of Iran’s supreme national security council, told state television that Iran would target oil-shipping routes out the Gulf – alternatives to the strait of Hormuz – if its neighbours joined what he called the “economic war” waged by the US. Those neighbours would be “considered an enemy” and “we will target their interests”, he said...

Students like Jessica say they worry about missing out on student life, but feel they have no choice but to stay at home.

Housing minister Matthew Pennycook said the change was "essential" for helping mayors "effectively deliver new homes".

Industry body Energy UK says the current support for households most in need does not go far enough.

The government says at no point was there a risk to the UK's energy system during the attack in July.

Rubén Rocha Moya of Sinaloa reversed course a day after returning to office, amid widespread criticism, including from members of his own party.

Surge in proposals follows Labour’s lifting of de facto ban, with about 45 plans submitted in the year to March Plans for new onshore windfarms in England have reached their highest annual level in a decade, after the government overturned the Conservatives’ de facto ban in 2015. About 45 applications for new onshore windfarms were submitted in the year to March,according to a Guardian analysis of government data...

Following the collapse, the CMC Commissioner has directed the Town Planning Wing to undertake a comprehensive inspection of unauthorised constructions across the Cyberabad Municipal Corporation limits

The rule to require efficient replacement tires was praised by environmentalists. But manufacturers warned that the change would hurt American companies and increase tire prices.

North Sea oil, once the driving force of the UK economy, may be dwindling but it remains a symbol of prestige and a rich resource for political debate When oil was first discovered off the north-east coast of Scotland in September 1969, industry folklore has it that the duty superintendent on the rig carefully poured it into a pickle jar commandeered from the canteen and took it back to Amoco’s Great Yarmouth office in Norfolk. There, it was emptied into an ash tray, sniffed and then set alight. From that modest start, North Sea oil – as the huge basin of oil and gas reserves quickly became known – emerged as a driving force of the British economy and a symbol of national power and renewal as the UK emerged from the Opec oil crisis...

Ex-Colombian President, Gustavo Petro, says restoring ties with Israel amounts to applauding the Gaza genocide.

Coal-dependent Indonesia is reviving decades-old plans to build nuclear power plants that were put on hold following the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan, as it seeks to meet its decarbonisation targets. Some members of the public and experts, however, have voiced concerns about the risks of a nuclear disaster in the quake-prone country, despite one of the leading candidate sites being an uninhabited island considered not to be in an active seismic zone. The government began discussing...

The pilot had reported a "cabin fire in the back" of American Airlines Flight 2398, which landed safely.

After repeated volcanic eruptions near a fishing town in Iceland, two architects are pushing a novel, futuristic way to harness vast lava fields - by turning molten rock into a construction material.

Runners will receive a medal at the 2026 Sydney Marathon with an engraving of a German stadium.

Armed men have kidnapped a number of people from a mosque in Nigeria's north-central Niger state, residents and police have said, in the latest mass abduction in a region plagued by violent gangs.

The mysterious collapse of a European cryptocurrency exchange helps to explain why the industry hasn’t shaken off its reputation as a magnet for criminals.

Solar-powered telemedicine is helping rural Chadians overcome distance and limited access to doctors.

Provincial premiers have joined Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney, firing back after US President imposed tariffs.

Thousands flee Sudan’s Kordofan fighting for relative safety of El Obeid.

Two boys aged 12 and 17 were also injured in the attack, while an 18-year-old suspect has been detained.

Exclusive: campaigners warn 600-year-old New Barn at Harmondsworth could be ‘shaken to pieces’ by vibrations Six hundred years after it was built, England’s largest surviving medieval timber-framed barn could now be “shaken to pieces” by aircraft vibrations, campaigners warn. The public has until 1 September to submit objections to the Heathrow airport expansion, which could threaten the survival of the New Barn at Harmondsworth, considered a remarkable example of medieval architecture...

Iran warns that countries joining the US economic war against Iran will face ‘tit-for-tat’ action.

The latest incident comes days after reports emerged Israel had struck a military airbase close to the Turkish border.

The warning comes as US President Donald Trump threatens to isolate Iran economically to weaken its government.