2026 News Archive

Most evacuees have been allowed to return to their homes near burn zones in Spokane, despite concerns about lingering toxins.

In July, an unreleased OpenAI model went rogue and demonstrated remarkable hacking abilities. This week, a lab called Z.ai will release a similarly powerful system to everyone.

A Pennsylvania summer camp helps children who have survived brain injuries. But the future of federal funding for brain injury research, as well as grants to states to help such patients, is in limbo.

As the senior climate editor at NPR, when extreme weather impacts us, I often send out guidance to the newsroom to help everyone understand the role of climate change. Here's what I tell them.

A person’s wish to die can be shaped by whether they have access to proper palliative care – and in England and Wales, too many do not Zubir Ahmed is a transplant surgeon and former Labour minister As a doctor, I have spent much of my professional life caring for people at some of the most vulnerable moments they will ever face. I have seen the anxiety that surrounds the prospect of dying, and the desperate wish of patients and families to avoid unnecessary suffering. Naturally, we all want people facing the end of life to be treated with kindness and respect. But when considering the debate on assisted dying, true compassion demands that we ask a more fundamental question. What kind of society are we building if, before we’ve fixed the systems designed to care for people, we introduce a system designed to help them die? As a former health minister who has seen the system from the inside, I am able to say it is not ready or equipped to answer this question. Zubir Ahmed MP is an NHS vascular and transplant surgeon, and served as the parliamentary under-secretary of state at the Department of Health and Social Care from 6 September 2025 to 12 May 2026. 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..

A new generation of green thumbs are creating beautifully designed seed packets to encourage the growth of lush gardens — and social consciousness.

At least 14 babies have died at a hospital nursery in Pakistan, officials say.

Listening to debate, you’d think bringing English water companies into public ownership was a radical socialist idea. Here, we call it common sense Prof Devi Sridhar is chair of global public health at the University of Edinburgh Every few months, there are more shocking headlines about the behaviour of England’s water companies. The latest are about the ever-increasing pay of the chief executives and chief financial officers, which rose to a total of £25.3m across 14 companies over the past year. Meanwhile, people living in England struggle with rising water bills and untreated sewage being discharged (often illegally) on to beaches and in to lakes, and companies such as Thames Water are on the brink of insolvency and want government backing. It’s not surprising that we’re in this situation: England’s water companies have long been accused of putting the interests of shareholders above those of customers. From their perspective, the privatisation of water has been an astounding success. Between 1991 and 2019, dividends to the shareholders of the parent companies totalled £57bn, which averages out to more than £2bn every year. The majority of these private parent companies are foreign-owned, so the profits aren’t even kept in Britain. Prof Devi Sridhar is chair of global public health at the University of Edinburgh..

MVRDV – the firm behind Marble Arch Mound – says Rotterdam ROCKS! will inspire visitors to live sustainably. But in an era when the greenest building is the one that already exists, this tottering cairn looks set to misfire ‘It looks like something Shrek would throw up,” sniffed one online commentator, unflatteringly comparing Rotterdam ROCKS!, the recently unveiled proposal for a waterfront site in Europe’s largest port, with the vomitings of a cartoon ogre. Designed by Dutch architectural firm MVRDV, which gave London the supremely underwhelming Marble Arch Mound in 2021, Rotterdam ROCKS! (the use of EMPHATIC CAPITALS connoting an in-your-face energy) is the winner of a major architectural competition intended to create “a new world wonder”. But instead of a modern Hanging Gardens of Babylon or contemporary Colossus of Rhodes, MVRDV’s super slick renderings depict a pile of artificial “rocks” (or ROCKS!) stacked together in a humongously scaled tottering cairn, wreathed in suspiciously luxuriant foliage and sluiced by a preposterous waterfall...

A new study says at least one in four ex-NFL players who died between 2016 and 2021 had a degenerative brain disease but the true figure could be much higher.

There are countless initiatives around the world that can inspire people and spur them into action. Amid the devastation of the climate crisis, our journalists strive to highlight these stories of hope Climate campaign 2026: help us reach 30,000 acts of support The news is very often about the bad things (especially if you’re on the Guardian’s environment desk). Wildfires, floods, tipping points, billionaires making huge profits and buying themselves island refuges for the apocalypse … And yet, ticking along beside that is the steady pulse of what the rest of humanity is doing in response to the climate crisis. From housing developments with no cars to buildings made out of hemp, all over the planet people are ploughing ahead and changing their neighbourhoods and cities and the world. But as news stories typically need to be about new developments or things people didn’t previously know about, it can be hard to cover all those brilliant initiatives being undertaken in the background – no matter how cheering they are. Which is why, back in 2023, we decided to ignore the usual rules about what constitutes “news” and start writing about them anyway. Readers, we knew, would like to hear about them. Climate campaign 2026: help us reach 30,000 acts of support..

Creatine has become the go-to supplement for anyone wanting to give their fitness a boost and build muscle. It’s even made it out of the gym, with influencers touting its cognitive benefits. But what’s the science behind creatine, and does the evidence stack up? Madeleine Finlay hears from science editor Ian Sample and Dr Justin Roberts, professor of nutritional physiology at Anglia Ruskin University..

Savinho's arrival, which comes in a busy transfer window for Spurs, takes their spending past $400m.

These special and run-off elections will continue setting the stage for November's midterm elections.

The forces raided and seized the Qalandiya Training Centre, a key facility operated by the UNRWA.

The actual prevalence, researchers said, may be much higher.

A rare tornado that swept through the Aude department in southern France devastated the tiny village of Pomas, the mayor said Tuesday, destroying homes, the town hall and local school, and leaving residents feeling like they are living through "a wartime situation".

At a time when fashion is increasingly dominated by mass production, a young Kenyan designer is taking a slower approach. Hillary Mukabwa, the founder and lead designer of Mukabwa Studio in Nairobi, works with hand looms to create cotton fabrics that he turns into clothes, bags and more in a deliberate attempt to reconnect with a craft increasingly being pushed aside by modernisation.

One million children subject to severe acute malnutrition in Afghanistan are at risk of dying if they do not receive immediate treatment, the UNICEF warned on Tuesday. Nearly 40 percent of those admitted to hospitals comprise babies under six months old.

UK PM Andy Burnham visited Kyiv on his first foreign trip, pledging to give cruise missile designs to Ukraine.

The United Council of Rohingya refugee group says it organised the protest to highlight 'ongoing humanitarian crisis'.

Rwanda says FDLR threat justifies its continued involvement in eastern DRC, as efforts to verify a ceasefire advance.

A Palestinian spring now fills a swimming pool that belongs to Israeli settlers. AJLabs on how water became a weapon.

A trek in a remote corner of the Iberian Peninsula brought a writer face-to-face with ancient oaks, rewilding efforts and prehistoric cave art.

Israel deepens Gaza attacks and West Bank expansion as countries condemn abuses but impose few consequences.

Military recruitment efforts are reportedly more aggressive as Russia prepares for a winter offensive in Ukraine.

Rohingya refugees face deep aid cuts in Bangladesh and forced evictions in Malaysia and India.

The Czech was issued a suspension in June after she did not submit her sample when notified by a doping control officer.

Gao Zhen sentenced to three years in prison after already spending two years in detention Gao Zhen, a prominent Chinese artist known for provocative sculptures of the former leader Mao Zedong, has been sentenced to three years in prison after being found guilty of slandering China’s “heroes and martyrs”. The sentencing came two years after he was detained while visiting the country with his family, according to his wife and human rights groups. The case has attracted international condemnation, largely because the artworks at the centre of the case were created more than 10 years before China created the law under which Gao was charged...

US sanctions Chinese firms over Iran links but spare big banks as Trump and Xi eye key talks.

Beijing says it will take ‘all necessary measures’ to protect its interests as US steps up efforts to isolate Tehran Explainer: could US sanctions threaten China-Iran ties? China has denounced the threat of US sanctions for its trade with Iran, saying any such measures would be illegal, and warned it will take “all necessary measures” to protect its national interests. Beijing’s rejection of the US threat of secondary sanctions for any country or entity continuing to trade with Tehran had been predicted. China buys an estimated 80% of Iran’s oil exports and it has defied previous US efforts to limit the flow of revenue to the Tehran regime...

Exclusive: Buckinghamshire and Bedfordshire sites predicted to emit 4.5m tonnes a year when fully running The carbon emissions from just two planned datacentres in England will exceed all of the fossil fuel company ExxonMobil’s UK emissions, analysis has revealed. Experts have said this demonstrates the “serious threat” datacentres pose to the UK’s legally binding climate goals...

Eve Irvine is pleased to welcome Ronita Bardhan, Professor of Sustainable Built Environment and Health at the University of Cambridge. Extreme heat is no longer simply a question of climate exposure. It is a question of thermal safety, public health, energy security, urban design and inequality, explains Professor Bardhan. Her starting point is that, in an emergency, protecting human life must come first: people need immediate access to cooling, through shade, hydration, cooling centres, passive design or, where necessary, air conditioning. The challenge, she says, is not to choose between adaptation and mitigation, but to pursue both simultaneously.

CERD says India must tackle hate crimes against Bengali-speaking Muslims and increase protections for other groups.

At least 47 people were killed and 22 more injured in an overnight gang raid on a neighbourhood overlooking Haiti's capital of Port-au-Prince, the UN said on Monday, prompting anger over the ​lack of protection from ‌ repeated deadly attacks.

The powerful pro-Israeli lobby group is increasingly becoming liability for both the progressive as well as right-wing.

Investors will buy your life insurance policy today — and collect the payout when you die.

The US has threatened to isolate nations that continue to do business with Tehran, which sells much of its oil to Beijing.

President Trump is calling on world leaders to join his economic war against Iran. And, the Supreme Court is backing the president for now on his order to restrict mail-in voting.

Pakistan says progress was made in Tehran, but Iran’s security establishment remains wary of Washington.

The 26-year-old faces up to seven years in jail for allegedly stealing a denim jacket from an airport shop in 2024.

Sliman Mansour's art captured the essence of Palestine, blending ancient traditions with modern themes of resistance.

New documentary To Use a Mountain spotlights the pain and triumph of resisting government efforts to turn parts of rural US into disposal sites Nuclear energy was supposed to be our salvation, humanity’s chance to retool technology first conceived as a weapon of mass destruction into an engine of limitless prosperity. But even as the industry touted nuclear fission as an economic game-changer (never mind the astronomical startup costs), a safety paragon (never mind the spills at Chornobyl, Three Mile Island and Fukushima) and harmless fodder for an American comedy institution (never mind that glowing rod on Homer’s back or the three-eyed fish), there was no getting around the matter of what to do with all the toxic waste (never mind nuclear’s claimed green credentials). The stagnant state of that dirty business brought Casey Carter, the director of the new avant-garde documentary called To Use a Mountain, back to his interview with a Washington state farmer who was part of a class-action lawsuit against the government over the release of radioactive material from the Hanford nuclear reservation – site of the world’s first full-scale plutonium production reactor. The farmer’s words still echo, despite ultimately being cut to fit the film’s 90-minute runtime. “He joked that nuclear power is the only faith-based energy because everyone always asks, ‘Do you believe in it?’” Carter says. “He was like, ‘You don’t have to believe in solar. It’s just a pretty good idea.’”..

There has been a 76% increase in under-construction gas-fired projects amid ‘frenzy’ to build more datacenters The US has surged ahead of China in the building of new gas-fired power generation, largely to feed a boom in artificial intelligence (AI) that is adding vast amounts of planet-heating emissions, a new analysis has found. For decades, China’s rapid economic growth has seen it outpace the US in the addition of new gas power generation but a recent “frenzy” in datacenter construction for AI has reversed this, said Global Energy Monitor (Gem) in its new report...

The site hosts a range of subscription-based content from cooking to fitness videos, but it is best known for pornography.

More than half of what Brits eat is ultra-processed. Now we’re a nation of food snobs – with no ingredient safe from judgment Lewis Bassett is a young sociologist and chef who I first encountered through his podcast, The Full English, where he thinks about the cultural meaning of, say, Delia Smith; gazpacho; whelks. This was thinking you didn’t know you needed until you heard it. Now he’s written a book of the same name, asking: why do we eat the way we do in Britain, and why do we think the way we do, even about the stuff we wouldn’t be caught dead eating? About 57% of all the food eaten in Britain is ultra-processed, which feels familiar from at least a decade of hand-wringing about it, but is radically defamiliarised when set against the rest of Europe. In France it’s 14%, and Italy is also in the teens. It’s amazing they don’t all live to be 150. And while this plainly has its roots in inequality, there is a hefty side order of attitude, which Bassett contemplates while working through the history of sourdough, curry and olive oil, and describing his own life cheffing in fancy kitchens and gastropubs...

A week after her first historic spacewalk, French astronaut Sophie Adenot will venture outside the International Space Station (ISS) again on Tuesday as part of her mission.

The Ultimate Trail of Mont Blanc is about to get underway, an annual 174km alpine running race that's world renowned. However, the event has come under increasing criticism from residents of Chamonix with a tense atmosphere leading up to this 23rd edition.

Roadblocks and burning tyres in Libya protests over power cuts

Artemis Ghasemzadeh, who had escaped religious persecution, was deported to Panama under Trump’s immigration crackdown. Now, Canada has given her asylum.

Ukraine pleaded for the expensive weapons, and ultimately got them, but drones have rendered them almost unusable.

Experts warn that a campaign aimed at avoiding military escalation could instead provoke it, as Iranian leaders vow retaliation across the oil-rich Gulf.

Evacuated foreign service officers could begin heading back to their posts as early as this week, an internal document shows, suggesting Washington does not anticipate a renewal of full-scale conflict with Iran.

Iranian officials are maintaining their strong rhetoric against the US, after Washington announced a fresh raft of sanctions against Iran. Tehran has pledged to hit back with its own measures, while the country is already suffering from already high inflation.

Nine years after the 2017 atrocities, Rohingya are still being forced to flee because the genocide has never stopped.

The US wants to isolate Iran from the global economy. Here is who Tehran trades with, and how much is at stake.

Irregular, an Israeli start-up, worked with OpenAI, Anthropic and Meta to assess the security of their A.I. models. It made a mistake. Then the tests went off the rails.

Shiru Kihara, a nurse in Kenya, explains why she and thousands of other nurses are on strike demanding fair pay.

On the heels of a visit from Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince to Paris, there’s a lot of talk about one of the investments his country is making here in France. It's a set of attractions that includes a massive manga-themed amusement park in the greater Paris region, with a total investment of six billion euros.

Taiwanese authorities indict nine people over alleged chip smuggling scheme.