2026 News Archive

Nearly four million women in England can order a self-testing kits to check for high-risk HPV.

Huge blazes in central and western regions of Indonesia have scorched wide areas of forests and peatland, creating a choking haze that blanketed some cities.

Dozens have been injured and more than 300 homes damaged after a tornado swept through a small village in southwestern France.

The American poet and essayist weaves memoir, fiction, criticism and lyrical lament into a tale of friendship in an age of existential crisis “Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental,” writes the multi-award winning Jamaican-American poet, essayist and playwright Claudia Rankine in the disclaimer to her latest work. “Unless it isn’t.” The pretzel-logic of this statement, its assertive ambiguity, sets the tone for a book that digs directly into the question of what we are to do with the idea of truth, when the world we live in is asking us “to hold, visually and emotionally, realities we do not yet have a viable system of language for”. In Triage, Rankine borrows from her personal history and from a world whose landscape now encompasses “the rise of fascism, the implementation through deportations of the Great Replacement theory, the starvation of devastated populations subjected to war and climate change”, and uses the material she gathers to pose a simple question. When faced with realities such as these, what do you do? Do you stand, or do you fall? The book begins with a friendship. Two young people – our narrator, and another she refers to only as “the theorist” – meet in college in the late 20th century, and are drawn to each other. They’re passionate; they’re idealistic; they’re committed to the activism of the time (“shantytowns were built on campus to protest apartheid South Africa”) and steeped in the texts and authors and philosophical conceits of the humanities. Over time, they develop a game. “When we spied each other during the day,” the narrator explains, “we had to collapse.”..

A year on from an Israeli double strike on a hospital in Gaza that killed 22 Palestinians, including journalists and rescue workers, no one has been held accountable.

A deadly gang attack on the village of Kenscoff in Haiti has left between 30 and 40 people dead. Located in the southeast of Port-au-Prince, the farming community that was targeted has a strategic position useful to armed groups. Over 3,000 people have died in 2026 alone from gang violence in the country.

The talks were held during a daylong diplomatic mission to Tehran by Pakistan’s army chief and interior minister.

As people grow used to AI chatbots, we’d like to hear your views about Google’s search engine Google has put artificial intelligence at the front and center of its search bar. The most-visited site on the internet still shows the same list of links to users, but they have to scroll past a summarized response from an AI chatbot, a feature Google calls AI Overviews. The change to what was once the gateway to the rest of the internet has been profound, and the browsing habits of billions of people are shifting. “AI is driving the most significant upgrade of the Google Search experience ever,” Liz Reid, Google’s vice-president of search, wrote last August. In May, the company said more AI is coming...

Holyrood ‘inching towards moratorium’ amid concerns over massive proposed developments in Auchtertool and beyond In a village 21 miles north of Edinburgh, a real estate consultancy plans to build a datacentre larger than the village itself – 35 metres high, with an area larger than 100 football pitches. Billed as the second-biggest datacentre in the world, the development in Auchertool, Fife, has attracted 1,600 objections...

More than 3,000 products were shown at the 2026 World Robot Conference in Beijing as China showcased its rapidly growing robotics industry. The event, which ran from 19-23 August, showcased the latest advances across the robotics industry, from humanoid robots to embodied intelligence and cutting-edge components..

Rohingya refugees protest, nine years after exodus to Bangladesh

The 20-time Grand Slam champion confirmed he’s only going to play in an exhibition match and has no plans to return.

Analysts say an Indian commitment not to allow ousted Bangladesh PM to engage in politics from their soil would help.

A Thai vendor confronted Israeli tourists outside his shop on the island of Phuket, waving a Palestinian flag.

Under new rules, recordings developed using generative A.I. will only be allowed if they are “substantially human-made,” the peak body says.

Copernicus warns of 'unprecedented strain' on world's oceans as El Nino and climate change drive up sea temperatures.

Danish toymaker also scores success with KPop Demon Hunters, Star Wars and botanicals products Business live – latest updates Lego sales have risen by more than a fifth as tie-ups with the football World Cup, Formula One and the hit film KPop Demon Hunters as well as its flower-based and Star Wars kits drive demand. The Danish toymaker said its revenues increased by 21% to 41.9bn Danish kroner (£4.8bn) in the first six months of 2026, driven by strong growth in the Americas, Europe and the Asia Pacific regions. Sales by its clients to consumers rose by 22%...

For months, Masoumeh Zakeri has endlessly replayed the last night she spent with her nine-year-old daughter before she was killed in a strike on her school during the opening hours of the US-Israel war with Iran. Motahreh excitedly talked about coming holidays, planned weddings and the clothes she wanted to buy. She had a Ramadan pre-fast meal shortly before dawn and then Zakeri tucked her into bed. “I never saw her again. (That was) the last time,” the 44-year-old mother told Agence...

In Xabi Alonso’s first match as manager, Chelsea beat Fulham 3–2 in the Premier League.

Trump ally should cut budget deficit rather than try to suppress bond yields, says billionaire Stanley Druckenmiller Scott Bessent’s attempt to calm the bond markets and push down America’s cost of borrowing have attracted a rebuke from the US Treasury secretary’s former mentor. Billionaire investor Stanley Druckenmiller, who worked with Bessent at George Soros’s fund management firm in the 1990s, has warned that his former pupil is courting danger by trying to suppress US bond yields...

Gao Zhen, part of a brotherly duo famous for satirical artworks, was convicted of slandering one of China’s heroes after a secret one-day trial.

Spot gold touches almost $4,700 an ounce and Bitcoin tops $80,000 while oil prices fall despite threat of heavy US sanctions on Iran and any country trading with it Ipek Ozkardeskaya, senior analyst at Swissquote, has sent us her thoughts on gold. Renewed appetite for gold despite elevated long-term US yields is striking and sends a clear message: investors are moving back to the precious metal as: A hedge against unclear US fiscal plans and the lack of conviction in the US administration’s capacity to rein in exploding debt when military expenses are adding to already heavy bills. A hedge against inflation, amid questions over the Fed’s willingness, or ability (!), to fight inflation independently. A hedge against a potential rout across global risk assets on worries about high valuations, massive AI spending and the growing financing web around the companies involved in building the AI ecosystem – the circularity. The question is: will gold gather enough momentum to return sustainably above the $5,000 mark? Possibly, yes. The broad de-dollarization trade that’s quietly building in the background, justified by global institutions’ efforts to diversify away from US Treasuries and toward gold, remains supportive of gold in the longer run. In the shorter run, overbought conditions could lead to downside corrections, giving dip-buying opportunities to long-term bulls. Well, we are giving everyone the opportunity to remedy bad behaviour. Why would I want to blow up the global financial system? We believe that it is important to level set and give people a cure period, but they should know that that will move very quickly and that we are serious...

Libyan factions sign an initial an election pact, but divided institutions and deep legal gaps threaten its execution.

Reese broke Chamique Holdsclaw's record of 24 rebounds and added 11 points for her 27th double-double of the season.

Joao Pedro, Morgan Rogers and Cole Palmer on target as Chelsea open scoring within 31 seconds of the match in London.

Recent attacks in the UK and the US demonstrate critical vulnerabilities that governments need to urgently address.

Rupert Murdoch said in newly released correspondence that it would be a disaster if his media empire fell into the ‘wrong hands’ A year ago, Rupert Murdoch resolved the long-running fight over which of his children would control his sprawling media empire, ending a bitter legal battle and anointing his eldest son, Lachlan, as his successor. Now, court documents have offered a rare glimpse into the family’s clashes before the decision, revealing the patriarch’s view of son James as a troublemaker who had to be ousted from the business and detailing tensions between Murdoch’s four eldest children and their airing of “petty grievances” about their father...

The US has put the world on notice to cease doing business with Iran, but experts say Washington is wary China could retaliate against any sanctions The US has unveiled an expansion of sanctions that it says will cut off Iran’s economic lifeline but stopped short of the most punishing measures, instead putting the world on notice to cease doing business with the Islamic republic. Treasury secretary Scott Bessent ⁠warned other countries would need to sever ⁠business ties with Iran or risk being ​forced out of the dollar-based financial system. He previously urged cooperation from China – the biggest buyer of Iranian oil for several years – although the US blockade of Iran’s ports, renewed in mid-July, has already cut much of the Iranian oil flows to China...

Rise in claims linked to heat-related deaths and illness, especially among older people, could drive up premiums Europe’s intense heatwaves could hit insurers’ earnings as companies face a rise in claims linked to heat-related deaths and worsening health conditions, the rating agency S&P has said. While a long summer of extreme heat will have increased drought and wildfire-related claims, the rating agency said there would also be fallout for life and health insurers, and for the reinsurers who provide financial protection to insurance companies...

Burnham, who was in Kyiv for Ukraine's Independence Day, said defense firm MBDA will release details on U.K.-made parts for the SCALP missile to Ukraine to help the country assemble the weapons.

The comments on BBC Newsnight come after the UK announced it has agreed to hand over blueprints for British-made missile components to Ukraine.

True figure likely to be much higher as it only covers about half of continent and does not include August totals At least 35,000 more people died during Europe’s four record-breaking, back-to-back heatwaves this summer than would normally be expected, according to incomplete figures from barely half the continent. Excess mortality in three of the EU’s larger countries – Germany, France and Spain – alone has already exceeded 25,000, according to the provisional national figures, and experts say the toll will rise significantly once August totals are consolidated...

Deploying two US carrier strike groups to the Middle East represents a significant concentration of firepower

Exclusive: Economic harm of CO2 pollution from Rosebank and Jackdaw forecast to far outweigh any boost to UK The climate damage caused by developing the Rosebank and Jackdaw oil and gas fields under consideration by the UK government would destroy their economic benefits many times over, according to an analysis. It estimates the economic damage caused by the carbon pollution from the oil and gas produced would be between £119bn and £336bn in the coming decades, compared with the £28.7bn in value to the UK estimated by Adura, the fossil fuel company promoting the new fields...

A fundamental rupture in the values that have united North America is not a problem that can be wished away: this is a warning to the western alliance The Canadians are exceedingly angry. I realise this can sometimes be difficult for foreigners to deduce, given our national struggle to express the full range of human emotion outside ice hockey riots. However, let me assure you that the prime minister Canadians saw take the stage on Saturday morning in the wake of the collapse in trade negotiations with the US was a Mark Carney practically vibrating with fury. “You’re at war when you get attacked. We got attacked,” he said, in a rare press conference that was as candid and clear as he ever tends to be. “That’s fine … We’ve got the reserves, we’ve got the resilience, we’ve got the plan, we’ve got the focus. We’re gonna respond, we’re going to focus on what we can control and what we’re going to build.” Jen Gerson is a Canadian commentator and co-founder of The Line. She lives in Calgary, Alberta..

The move comes weeks after a DJ admitted using AI to remix a Madonna song that topped the Australian charts.

Theme park project is among a raft of deals spanning energy, defence, AI and tourism signed during MBS's visit to Paris.

Syrian president Ahmed al-Sharaa thanks his nation for getting off US state terror list.

In Indonesia’s Kalimantan, fires have ravaged tens of thousands of acres, with suffocating smoke reaching Malaysia and putting Singapore on alert Suwadi can barely see five metres in front of him when he steps outside his home in Indonesian Borneo. Each breath, he says, feels “like smoking a cigarette”...

The body of 70-year-old Shulai Wang was found near a marina in Auckland in 2024.

From killings in Gaza to the alleged use of a sonic weapon on a vigil in Belgrade, the Lebanese-British artist reveals how his work for activist group Earshot is inseparable from his art Lawrence Abu Hamdan has a double identity. He is an artist who, in 2019, jointly won the Turner prize; and one of his works is, for my money, among the most striking on show at this year’s Venice Biennale. But he is also the director of a young NGO, founded in 2023, called Earshot, which investigates human rights abuses using sound evidence. In less euphemistic language, that means, on occasion, investigating horrific killings. He and his team might analyse the direction and position of bullets Israeli soldiers have fired at emergency workers in Gaza, or build evidence that a sonic weapon was likely used to disperse a mass silent vigil in Belgrade. The foundational work he did in this field was a project with the London-based research agency Forensic Architecture for Amnesty International. Back in 2016, he interviewed rare survivors of the unimaginably barbaric conditions in Syria’s Sednaya prison. There was a paradox at play in this murderous place – prisoners were held in complete darkness, and enforced silence, killed for making any sound. Listening was both the inmates’ only source of information, and a tool for survival and resistance. Their acute sonic memories of screams of distress and pain; keys turning in locks; bread being slapped down outside their cells; even of lice being snapped – helped Abu Hamdan and his colleagues build a picture of the prison architecture and its conditions, nearly a decade before it was opened to the light after the fall of the bloody Assad regime...

Footage shows a rare tornado making its way through southern France.

Australia confirmed its first case of H5N1 in June in migratory seabirds. Since then, the virus has spread rapidly, straining government responses.

An oil tanker was struck by a projectile in the Strait of Hormuz off the coast of Oman, causing damage but no casualties, the the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said early Tuesday. Follow our liveblog for the latest updates.

Tens of thousands of people faced another night away from home on Monday as a wind-driven wildfire threatened Reno, Nevada, blanketing the city in smoke and closing schools. About 24,000 people remained under evacuation orders, down from more than 40,000 at the peak, while tens of thousands more were on alert.

Amnesty says India used lethal weapons on ‘Cockroach’ protesters.

The 68-year-old man was found dead in California's salt flats amid 116°F (46.6C) heat.

Experts have warned that he and Chancellor John Healey will have little room to manoeuvre in their first Budget.

Muslims in Iraq, Libya and Morocco gathered for Mawlid al-Nabi, marking Prophet Muhammad’s birthday

Gang members killed around 40 displaced people sheltering in a church near Haiti’s capital, a local mayor said on Monday. The victims were killed in an attack on Sunday night in Kenscoff, in the hills above Port-au-Prince, Mayor Massillon Jean said, describing a “night of terror”. Some people remained missing.

The world’s largest open road bullfighting event turned deadly when a 29-year-old man was killed.

The south-western village of Pomas was hardest hit, with hundreds of homes damaged and fifteen people taken to hospital.

What leverage does Canada, which sells about 70% of its goods to the US, actually have in this spiraling trade dispute?

At least 30 people have been killed in a gang attack on a hillside community that overlooks routes into Haiti's capital.

If the action happens, it will be the largest single mass revocation of visas in US history, AP reports.

After repairs to Hirosaki Castle in Aomori prefecture, officials employed a technique known as hikiya to move the structure more than two metres To chants of “so-re, so-re”, about 1,800 people came together in northern Japan over the weekend to pull a 360-tonne castle keep a little more than two metres closer to its original resting place as part of ongoing renovations. The keep – a fortified tower within a castle – had to be moved to repair a wall that was damaged in a major earthquake...

Tshisekedi’s reform push is fuelling a political battle over DR Congo’s 2028 succession and rules for the next election.

Far-right leader echoes ally Donald Trump and says operations to ‘track down illegal immigrants’ should begin this week, amid earthquake aftermath Colombia’s far-right president, Abelardo de la Espriella, has announced a crackdown on immigrants, ordering authorities to detain and deport people who are in the country irregularly or have committed crimes. In office for just over two weeks, the millionaire former lawyer made the announcement on Sunday as the country continued to grapple with the aftermath of a 7.4-magnitude earthquake on 10 August that killed more than 300 people and destroyed more than 30,000 homes...

The tornado has injured more than 40 people and destroyed homes in villages.

US tells countries to choose between Washington and Tehran, warns Iran's trade partners they will face consequences.