2026/08/28 Daily Edition

Beijing has formally removed former senior officers Zhang Youxia and Liu Zhenli as members of China’s supreme military command. The two generals have been under investigation for alleged discipline violations since January and were officially stripped of their positions on the Central Military Commission (CMC) at a meeting of the National People’s Congress’ Standing Committee on Friday. As the CMC’s senior vice-chairman, Zhang was the highest-ranking uniformed officer in the Chinese military....

Within hours of a devastating glacier collapse on the China-Nepal border, a Beijing-based satellite company had already redirected six of its satellites to survey the disaster zone. The high-resolution radar images they captured revealed a massive collapse site near a remote mountain pass. Unlike optical sensors, radar signals can pierce through haze and cloud, mapping terrain changes with high precision even in the rugged Himalayan plateau. The swift commercial response also underscores a...

Shreya Ahuja is searching for her parents after devastating floods struck Nepal. She is calling for international help and communications access as her family waits for news.

The Strictly Come Dancing star appeared on the latest series of the Channel 4 challenge show.

Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu’s inclusion may be a classic piece of misdirection from South Africa in their must-win match against New Zealand On the face of it, South Africa have been beset by disruption before their most significant match since the successful defence of their World Cup title. Rassie Erasmus had sought to lean further on the Springboks’ set-piece strengths by selecting Handré Pollard at fly-half for the second Test against New Zealand in Cape Town, suggesting a narrow gameplan. A return to the tried and tested. A reliance on what he knows best. Then came news of the “niggle”. Out goes Pollard, who, according to the Friday morning bulletin, suffered said niggle in training on Wednesday and failed a fitness test 24 hours before the match, and back comes the far more adventurous Sacha Feinberg‑Mngomezulu into the No 10 jersey. Feinberg‑Mngomezulu struggled in last week’s 33-16 defeat at Ellis Park, as he did on his comeback from injury against Argentina earlier this month, but the 24-year-old has a skill set that has marked him out as a future global star...

Former jockey reflects on remarkable story from overcoming hardship to breaking barriers as the first trainer of black or Asian heritage at Flat racing’s HQ “It’s just unbelievable, isn’t it?” Gihan Arnolda says as he reflects on his first three months as a trainer: five winners from 33 runners, £50,000 prize money banked and a string that is, according to the much-respected Timeform operation’s “run to form” statistic, outperforming every other Flat yard in Britain. But it could equally apply to the story of Arnolda’s journey from the east end of London to Cadland Cottage Stables at the bottom of Warren Hill in Newmarket. He was the first trainer of black or Asian heritage in Flat racing’s HQ when he received his licence earlier this year, and that is just one among a host of unlikely firsts and Sliding-Doors moments along the way...

The government will examine recruitment made through the Kerala Public Service Commission every three years and conduct special recruitment if backward sections are not properly represented in service, says Satheesan

A gang leader in Haiti has threatened to execute more than 50 hostages days after 47 people from a once-peaceful farming community were killed.

A new series has finally been confirmed, with Carr rumoured to be the next Clarkson. But there are others ready to take the wheel, including a Cbeebies host, a Celebrity Traitors favourite and a motor-head model Top Gear is the show that cannot die. Nothing can kill it; not the dryness of the original, the violence that ended the Clarkson era, or the horrifying crash that brought its most recent incarnation to a halt. And so, inevitably, yesterday the BBC confirmed that Top Gear was being resurrected once again. The corporation’s director of entertainment, Ed Havard, told the Edinburgh TV festival: “There has been a lot of speculation about this, and we can confirm that Top Gear is coming back. I’m not going to talk about talent today.” Which is fair enough – but I can. Casting a show like Top Gear is a dangerously tricky proposition. Whoever the BBC picks to host needs to be funny, charismatic, good at driving and knowledgable about cars. Lots of people are good at one of these things, but few are good at more than that and almost none are good at everything...

At Paris's Rock en Seine, visually impaired festival-goers can enjoy concerts through live audio description. The festival is offering dedicated platforms, as well as headphones and receivers provided by the Valentin Haüy Association, a pioneer in audio description in France. Spectators can experience a concert with audio description each day of the music festival, from August 26 to August 30.

Before The Witcher 4 arrives in 2028, CD Projekt Red is returning us to the world of The Witcher 3 for one last foray. Looks like wind’s still howlin’ The game that graced us with Bathtub Geralt, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, arrived more than a decade ago. So it was a touch surprising this summer when developers CD Projekt Red announced a new expansion to the venerable adventure, titled Songs of the Past, for next year. It will release alongside a full remaster of the original game, which will be free for anyone who bought it back in 2015. (The studio is also working on a sequel, The Witcher 4, but that’s not due until 2028.) As it turns out, this is all possible thanks to a partnership with Fool’s Theory, a studio founded by CD Projekt Red veterans, which took on the brunt of the development work. “We’ve had this story in a drawer for many years,” explains Marcin Blacha, VP story director at CD Projekt Red. “Of course, we moved on to Cyberpunk 2077 and now The Witcher 4, as well as our other projects. But because we knew The Witcher 4 would take time, we saw a gap in our release calendar where Songs of the Past could go. Thankfully, we were able to find the right partner to help execute it.”..

Video shows the moment a Russian attack hit a parking lot near Ukraine’s capital.

Qatari minister meets army chief amid efforts to bridge longstanding political divisions in Libya.

Retired Madras HC judge Justice V. Bharathidasan has been appointed as its Chairman

The star has long been French cinema’s favourite tousle-haired Adonis, which makes his latest performance – as a schlubby, stay-at-home dad – all the more surprising. ‘I appreciate people laughing at me,’ he says ‘Even though I’ve been working in film for over 20 years, I still have this desire to look beautiful on screen,” says Louis Garrel, on a video call from his bed inside a boat off the coast of Corsica. The French film star is lying on his stomach, occasionally kicking up his bare legs, ruffling his curls and running the nail of his thumb over his moustache. I think the person he sees on the laptop screen in front of him is me, but I am pretty certain he is flirting with his own reflection. The attraction between the Paris-born 43-year-old and the camera tends to be reciprocal. Long of limb, tousled of hair and chiselled of nose, Garrel has spent a career on screen as French cinema’s favourite Adonis – the man film-makers turn to when they need an erotic wrecking ball to smash up bourgeois twosomes and turn them into quivering menages a trois...

Chair Allan Leighton says lower prices and an improved online service are attracting more shoppers Asda has heralded its first quarterly growth in more than two years as the supermarket’s boss said it was attracting more shoppers with lower prices and an improved online service. Allan Leighton, the executive chair of the UK’s third-largest grocer, said a 0.2% rise in sales at established stores, excluding fuel, in the three months to the end of June was “a huge milestone” which was “psychologically important for the business”. In the previous quarter sales had fallen 2.3%...

The sale comes before a proposed merger between parent company Unilever and McCormick.

Survivors of the catastrophic flash floods in Nepal and Tibet, some still missing family members, shared harrowing accounts of their escape from raging floodwaters that brought devastation to the Himalayan border region, leaving more than 550 people dead and some 1,500 missing.

Families are waiting for news of their loved ones as rescue teams race to reach survivors of the Nepal-Tibet flash flood

Rescue operations are continuing after the devastating Nepal-China floods, but authorities have ordered emergency teams to stay on high alert as a newly formed upstream lake threatens to burst and trigger fresh flooding. Satellite imagery suggests the lake formed in the same area where a glacier collapse on Wednesday unleashed the deadly chain of events. FRANCE 24's Navodita Kumari has the latest from India.

Nepali soldiers rescued around 100 people trapped inside a flooded hydropower tunnel as the death toll from the Nepal-China floods continued to climb, with more than 1,500 people still missing. Rescue efforts were briefly suspended over fears that an overflowing landslide lake could trigger more flooding, while families across the disaster zone continue searching for loved ones.

Towards the end of World War II, as US troops advanced across the Pacific, Japan resorted to a desperate strategy: kamikaze attacks. Thousands of Japanese pilots, with an average age of just 21, were ordered to crash their explosive-laden planes into enemy ships. More than 3,800 pilots gave up their lives, killing over 7,000 allied naval personnel. Our reporter Mélodie Sforza met one of the last surviving former kamikaze pilots.

A glacier broke apart. An ice and rock avalanche followed. Then came an earthquake, before a landslide triggered devastating floods that tore through kilometres of valley. This is what happened along the Nepal-China border, where rescue teams are still trying to recover survivors 48 hours after the catastrophe. FRANCE 24 breaks down the chain of events and the scientific explanations behind the disaster.

Comedian Tarang Hardikar opens up about his debut special at the Fringe, which draws parallels between his observations about lines and life post his autism diagnosis.

High blood levels of xylitol associated with higher risk of major cardiovascular events, in largest study of its kind A common sweetener used in products such as chewing gum, toothpaste, jam, yoghurts and ice cream worldwide has been linked to an increased risk of strokes, heart attacks and death. Xylitol is a sugar alcohol present in some natural foods in very low amounts. It is also added – often in amounts 1,000 times higher – to artificially sweeten foods, beverages and oral care products...

More than 50,000 doses of the Ervebo vaccine have been received, according to Congo's state news agency

With 110 matches to feature two coaches appointed this year, tactical history is becoming harder to ignore in a league of rapid turnover New managers are facing an almost one-in-two chance of being fired before the end of the season, a finding from Guardian analysis that shows 22 of the last 50 permanent Premier League managers to leave their roles lasted less than a year. The betting markets reflect this reality. Six of the eight Premier League managers deemed most likely by bookmakers to be next to leave their post were appointed in 2026. Football management is a very precarious employment position. It looks inevitable that some of the 11 men who have only been in their role since earlier this year will fall before the final hurdle of the 2026-27 season – even if none of them are the first to move on...

Average cost of petrol reaches 161.6p a litre, while diesel costs average of 183.4p, according to the AA UK petrol prices have hit their highest level since 2022, piling more financial pressure on motorists before the bank holiday weekend. The average cost of petrol has reached 161.6p a litre, while diesel costs an average of 183.4p a litre, according to the breakdown company the AA...

The court in The Hague convicted the 66-year-old of war crimes and the crime of genocide.

Qatar’s Minister of State for Foreign Affairs has visited eastern Libya for the first time in 14 years.

From Kuwait to Saudi Arabia, Gulf states are deepening defence ties with Pakistan, but its own gains remain unclear.

Carlos Alcaraz and Aryna Sabalenka look to defend their titles as the year's final Grand Slam begins on Sunday.

Thirty-three people were also wounded as gunmen raided village and seasonal cattle camp in northwest of the country.

The death toll continues to rise in the Nepal and Tibet floods as the situation remains fast-moving. The Red Cross says around 93,000 people have been affected. International aid is arriving from several countries, but rescue efforts have been hampered by the difficulty of coordinating operations in the remote Himalayan terrain. The epicentre of the disaster was only reached 48 hours after the floods began. FRANCE 24's Jamie Smith-Maillet has the latest.

Al Jazeera tracks six months of the Iran war, from the dead and displaced to the shock delivered to the global economy.

The two new zones affected are Biena and Manguredjipa in Congo's North Kivu Province, where the case fatality rate is much higher than the overall rate of 48%, due in part to delayed response efforts, according to Congo's Ministry of Health data

News that Scott is working on a follow-up to his maligned 2017 film leaves me worried the franchise has run out of shocks If any science-fiction saga looked beyond recovery, it was the Alien franchise. For the 38 years that followed James Cameron’s Aliens, film-makers contrived to find every imaginable way of not making a good Alien film. They tried killing everyone the audience cared about before the opening credits, marooning Sigourney Weaver on a planet populated entirely by bald British character actors, cloning Ripley, pitting xenomorphs against Predators, and sending scientists across the universe to ask an enormous, hairless space bodybuilder why he made them. They even ponied up the thick end of $100m for a film in which Michael Fassbender teaches himself to play the flute. And then in 2024, we got Fede Álvarez’s Alien: Romulus, in which actual xenomorphs chase actual human beings down actual corridors for the clearly defined purposes of either killing them or putting smaller xenomorphs inside them. Better still, a year later we got Noah Hawley’s Alien: Earth, which reminded us that giant, murderous space insects are in fact less awful than tech trillionaires...

Experts warn the 336-page plan from RFK Jr’s advisers deflects federal dollars into unreliable alternative therapies Autism groups and researchers have reacted with alarm to a federal research roadmap drawn up by advisers handpicked by the US health secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr, fearing it will promote unproven fringe therapies at the expense of promising genetic research. A slew of scientific bodies and groups within the autism community are warning that the 336-page plan risks deflecting federal dollars away from potentially groundbreaking genetic research in favor of unreliable alternative therapies...

The UK prime minister clearly still adores the band. Perhaps he’s attracted to songs about sham justice and murderous meat factories, shot through with nihilism and exquisite despair As an origin story, Andy Burnham: Smiths Fan has a lot going for it. It’s plainly authentic: he can name the time he saw them live (Salford University, Queen Is Dead tour, 1986). A cynical young man in a hurry might fake that now, but not back when he first said it, in 2013. Asked by Labour Uncut for his desert island tracks during his 2010 leadership bid, three of the eight were sung by Morrissey (two Smiths singles and one off Viva Hate), which is superfan territory. That’s a softball exercise to endear yourself to Labour members; you have eight chances to hit every base, and to blow three lives on an artist who had already, by then, been dabbling in nationalism for 18 years (we’ll come back to this) was dicey and brave. You’ll recall that Burnham did not win that election. If you were an enemy state, amassing this hinterland for an asset, you’d have basically done a really good job...

As well as being quieter, cheaper to run and easier to clean, induction cookers can cut kitchen temperatures by up to 10C Leaping flames, searing heat, copious sweat and scorchingly inventive swearing – restaurant kitchens are never a place for the faint-hearted, but this summer they have been sweltering in successive heatwaves to a dangerous degree. Some restaurants, cafes and bakeries in the UK grew so hot that they were forced to close, or reduce their hours, for the safety of their staff. There is still no maximum working temperature, despite calls from the TUC, and tens of thousands of kitchen staff are thought to have carried on working in “furnace-like” conditions...

Protesters targeted Trump’s Ayrshire resort with red paint and slogans saying 'Gaza is not 4 sale'.

Glacier collapse in Nepal triggered flash floods, mudslides and a barrier lake where a landslide dammed the river.

#Rescue operations are underway in #Nepal after devastating #floods killed hundreds and left more than 1,400 missing. The #RedCross has also raised concern over humanitarian #aid, as it estimates nearly 100,000 people were affected by the #disaster.

Unpopular new policy comes as midterms loom and control of Congress could be decided by several Michigan races Every day $1bn worth of goods crosses the river dividing Detroit, Michigan, and Windsor, Ontario, two largely blue-collar US and Canadian cities that have come to act as one in the creation of North America’s auto industry. News this week of Donald Trump’s escalating trade spat with Canada has everyone worried. Political and economic leaders and observers labeled the move an act of “hubris”, blamed Trump’s “ego”, and called the escalation “insanity”...

Meta negotiated an unusual provision in their landmark settlement: If TikTok and YouTube also agree to penalties and changes to their products, Meta will pay more.

NPR's Steve Inskeep talks to Shreya Ahuja about her parents, who are missing in the floods in Nepal.

Nepalis and Tibetans must not pay the price – with their lives, livelihoods and money meant for education and health – for global heating caused by wealthy states Sunil Acharya is an international climate policy and just transition specialist based in Kathmandu, Nepal As a Nepali citizen working on international climate policy for more than a decade, it is difficult to look at the harrowing images coming out of the catastrophic flash flood that thundered down valleys in Nepal, sweeping down the Lhende Khola, Bhotekoshi and Trishuli rivers, and not feel angry. Not just because of the destruction, but because it comes after years of warnings from scientists and civil society that a rapidly warming planet would make disasters more frequent, more intense and harder to predict. This is what the cost of delaying global climate action looks like. Sunil Acharya is an international climate policy and just transition specialist based in Kathmandu, Nepal..

Given the challenges in forecasting and detecting such calamities, researchers advised banning construction on floodplains and marking out clear evacuation routes.

As the death toll rises from flash floods that hit the Nepal-Tibet border, experts are warning more flooding could be on the way. And, Fed Chairman Kevin Warsh is expected to give a key address today.

P. Venkataramanan was responding in the Legislative Assembly to the concerns raised by the Opposition over the rise in prices of essential commodities, including sugar, rice, pulses, and cooking oil

The killing has drawn criticism from the Samajwadi Party and Congress, which have targeted the BJP-led Uttar Pradesh government over the law and order situation.

Updates from the latest round of Championship matches Day one roundup | Sign up for the Spin | Mail Tanya I want to eat all my breakfasts on the North Bay drinking coffee out of a cornflower blue cup, in the shadow of a ruined castle, to the rhythm of the waves. Delicious cheese scone too. Durham coach Ryan Campbell told BBC sport last night thatBrydon Carse was mortified by events in Derby, but would play for Durham unless they were told otherwise...

NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope launches Aug. 30 on a mission to explore some of the most pressing mysteries of the cosmos.

Sulaiman and Kasim Khan are increasingly worried after hearing their father is 'agitated' and suffering from anxiety.

Sales of beans, lentils and soya bean derivatives on rise while Britons buy less real and fake meat British shoppers are munching more beans, lentils, tofu and tempeh – while cutting back on both real and plant-based fake meat – to save money and improve their diet. The amount of beans, pulses and soya bean derivatives sold in the UK increased by 7.3% in the first half of 2026 compared with the same period last year, led by a surge in cheap dried lentils, an analysis has found...

Chancellor pledges ‘fiscal discipline’ as plan to spend 3% of GDP on defence by 2030 deferred until 2027 review The new chancellor, John Healey, will delay setting out when the UK will meet the target of spending 3% of GDP on defence until next year’s spending review, the Treasury has confirmed. Healey resigned as the defence secretary in June under Keir Starmer’s leadership, accusing the then prime minister of being “unable” and the Treasury “unwilling” to “commit the resources that the nation needs to defend the country”...

Annette Young is pleased to welcome Gareth Redmond-King, Head of the International Programme at the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit. He warns we are entering a period in which climate change is not only intensifying extreme weather but adding greater instability to the climate system itself. Natural phenomena such as El Niño will then amplify, and intensify, that disruption, effectively “fanning the flames of climate change” and making already dangerous extremes even more severe. For Europe, this means that the extreme heat, drought, water shortages, storms and flash flooding we are experiencing should no longer be regarded as exceptional. They are increasingly part of a new normal for which governments remain inadequately prepared.

Alison Sargent is pleased to welcome Sunita Sharma, Head of Programs of Karuna-Shechen. While Nepal has considerable experience responding to natural disasters, the scale of the present devastation exposes a deeper challenge: Placing greater emphasis on preparedness. The immediate priorities are clear: finding those still missing and providing survivors with drinking water, food, shelter, clothing and medicine. But recovery cannot end there. Ultimately, they will need to rebuild confidence and entire communities. Given the scale of the destruction, that process could take years.

King Oyo Nyimba, leader of the Tooro kingdom in western Uganda, has died at the age of 34, the region's prime minister of his kingdom announced Thursday. Crowned at three years old, he became the world's youngest reigning monarch in 1995.

Liverpool struggled to 2-2 draw at Newcastle in first league game of season, while Forest lost to Leeds twice this week.