2026 News Archive

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...

Anthropic says it will change way chatbot makes small, random choices, to comply with EU regulation The world is familiar by now with the usual tropes of machine-generated text: overuse of the word “delve”, an excess of em dashes, and the chirpy, relentless construction of “it’s not X but Y”. But is it about to get even worse?..

Nearly 30 million people have been placed under hosepipe bans due to higher demand and low rainfall.

Tupac Shakur was shot dead in an act of "revenge", Las Vegas jury heard on Monday, as the legendary West Coast rapper's assassination trial got underway more than three decades after his death.

The Berkshire film studio was previously home to iconic horror studio Hammer Films.

Test captaincy came too soon for 27-year-old but Pakistan series is latest chapter in year that could be the making of him You have to hand it to Bazball. Even when seemingly killed off, and the England team it left behind is thousands of miles away, preparing for a series against Pakistan, it has still managed to muscle its way into the fallout from Bangladesh’s seismic victory over Australia in Darwin. Talk about main character energy. By definition, that nine-wicket victory for Bangladesh was no fluke. Najmul Hossain Shanto’s men didn’t jag a tight one but rather dominated their hosts over four days. And in doing so, they also managed to unite Ashes rivals by demonstrating what a golden opportunity England blew against Australia’s greybeards last winter...

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US envoy Jared Kushner agreed Monday that an American general would oversee the disarmament of Hamas, an Israeli official said, as Netanyahu insisted Israel would not withdraw from Gaza until the group gives up its weapons.The understanding comes as President Donald Trump’s administration seeks to revive its Gaza peace plan amid tensions with Netanyahu.

The Australian, who notoriously poisoned her family members, is trying to overturn her conviction.

The prime minister announced on Monday €12m worth of aid to French regions that had been worst affected by the fires.

Abbott accuses airports of religious discrimination over wudu stations, calls for federal investigation.

US president’s abrupt order to scale back joint exercises with Seoul is meant to ‘flatter’ North Korea’s dictator, top Democrat says US politics live – latest updates Donald Trump’s move to gut Washington’s 73-year-old military alliance with Seoul has been called “inane” and “shortsighted” as lawmakers warned it risked strengthening Russia’s hand in Ukraine. The US president abruptly ordered the Pentagon to scale back joint exercises with South Korea just days after North Korea test-fired ballistic missiles, justifying the decision by citing his “very good relationship” with Kim Jong-Un, the nuclear-armed dictator such exercises exist to deter...

Family members allege security officers ignored warnings about the man's hemophilia and subjected him to severe abuse.

Teenager’s glorious strike made it 2-0 against Villarreal – but though they were pegged back to a draw the match sealed a feelgood return from the abyss “The poor kid couldn’t believe what had happened; none of us could have if we’d just done what he had just done,” said Álvaro Mantilla, Racing Santander’s captain in the match they had longed for more than anything in the world. Which was why the kid – a 19-year-old from just along the coast who had been at the club half his life – wasn’t the only one crying. The day Sergio Martínez played his first game for Racing, he had climbed into the stand to hug his grandad; the day he played his first in primera, on Sunday afternoon at the Sardinero, he just about managed to stand before it, legs giving way a little and tears coming to his eyes. All around him they felt it too, 22,413 people absolutely losing it. What he had just done was, well, everything. At least that’s how it felt right then. “Euphoria”, his captain called it. In his first game in the first division, his third start ever, Sergio hadn’t just scored; he had scored the kind of goal you get in a comic, all explosions and exclamation marks. The ball sat up like an invitation and Kapow! – Sergio smashed it on the bounce, a cartoon arrow drawn to the top corner. It tore through the air and through time, flashing past at 126km an hour and 14 years a second, so Sergio ran to the corner, holding the badge he has worn since he was 10. There, there was a wobble as it came to him just what he had done. Bloody hell, this was actually happening...

Government concedes ‘significant opposition’ requires new approach on quotas for medium-sized development sites Ministers have dropped plans to relax affordable housing rules for developers in England after a backlash from housing experts who warned it could drastically cut the number of cheaper homes available in rural areas. The government said on Monday it would not go ahead with proposals to end affordable housing quotas for private builders on sites between 10 and 49 houses after a consultation triggered an overwhelmingly negative response...

Heavy clashes broke out in Baidoa, Somalia between federal troops and armed opposition groups.

The data center, one of the world’s largest, could cost as much as $500 billion and will be leased by OpenAI.

The cause of the blast and the number of casualties have not been confirmed, with the Taliban government yet to comment.

US envoy Jared Kushner met Hamas leaders in Egypt and Israeli PM Netanyahu to push Trump’s 15-point Gaza roadmap.

On Monday, Israel's governing party will determine its candidate list for the next election.

The FBI has warned of 'malicious actors' misusing AI to impersonate senior government officials.

Lev Schlosberg is found guilty of "discrediting" Russia's army - a verdict he condemns as punishment for his political position.

The latest game from ‘reality-inspired’ studio the Pixel Hunt sees you transporting precious human cargo – and deciding what to do with it Ithaca has one hell of an opening: Penelope, a disillusioned environmental lawyer, stops her car at a petrol station. But upon returning, she discovers something shocking: the unconscious body of an oil company CEO in her boot, his hands hog-tied together, dangling limply towards the vehicle’s number plate. This tantalising eco-thriller setup is a long way off the typical knights-and-castles fantasy fare of most role-playing games, more How To Blow Up a Pipeline than Dragon Quest. But road-trip RPG Ithaca arrives via refreshingly original developer the Pixel Hunt, a French outfit that specialises in what it calls “reality-inspired” games. The studio has made a number of arresting works in recent years. One was about a Syrian refugee couple making a perilous migrant journey across Europe; another tackled the life-shattering effects of child sexual abuse. The climate crisis was always in the back of Pixel Hunt founder and Ithaca writer Florent Maurin’s mind. After all, he says, it is the uber problem of our day, the problem that touches all others. It was just a case of when, and, more importantly: “What do we say about it?”..

Vegetable and grain growers call for urgent action, warning of ‘catastrophic’ harvests due to continent-wide drought Successive intense heatwaves and an increasingly severe, continent-wide drought have left many of Europe’s farmers in an “unprecedented” crisis, with vegetable and grain growers in particular warning of “catastrophic” harvests. French vegetable production is down by “a very significant extent” compared with previous years, French growers have said, with shortfalls put at 25% for courgettes, 35% for lettuces, 40% for peas, 60% for broccoli and 50% to 100% for artichokes...

Somali forces repel rebel fighters in Baidoa after intense fighting involving explosives and dozens of casualties.

As an earthquake tore apart homes, buildings and bridges in eastern Indonesia on Saturday, Maria Florida Nogo Kelen was giving birth to her daughter. The 39-year-old went in for emergency surgery during the quake that killed 68 people.

Iran is offering $30,000 for captured or killed US soldiers. Trump cuts back South Korea drills.

Russia’s Supreme Court on Monday upheld the exclusion of liberal opposition party Yabloko from September’s legislative elections, eliminating the country’s only explicitly anti-war party from the ballot, as dozens of the party's supporters were detained outside the court. The decision comes amid a wider crackdown on critics of Moscow’s war in Ukraine.

Richard Tice suggested Britain should 'adapt' to the climate crisis, arguing we 'can't stop it', at a Reform UK press conference. When asked if climate change was real during the Q&A section of the event, the party's deputy leader sought to downplay the catastrophic effects of the crisis, including on crops, animal habitats and human health, amid the extended period of hot and dry weather this summer. Tice suggested people should adapt to the 'changing' climate and celebrate a boom in English sparkling wine UK politics – latest updates..

Deputy leader says it is ‘arrogant’ to try to halt global heating, despite UK being left reeling by summer firewave Reform’s deputy leader has dismissed efforts to tackle climate breakdown as futile, as he urged British people to “enjoy” the warmth of the recent heatwaves. Richard Tice told a press conference on Monday he believed it was “arrogant” to try to stop the climate emergency and added that politicians should focus instead on adaptation efforts, while encouraging people to focus on upsides such as better English wine...

While Moscow is stripping citizenship rights, European states are curbing access to legal status for Russian emigres.

The US president has already paid the writer over $5m in damages in the assault and defamation case.

Spotify, LinkedIn and others are trying to dig out of a digital sewage heap full of low-quality content made with artificial intelligence.

Industrial output and retail sales slump in July after one of the country’s weakest quarterly growth rates ever China’s economy is showing signs of extending a slowdown with a slump in industrial output and retail sales in July, adding to pressure on Beijing to intervene with measures to support activity. After the world’s second largest economy posted one of its lowest quarterly growth readings on record in the three months to June, the latest figures suggest it continued to falter in July...

FairSquare says the FIFA president should not be able to run again under the world football organisation's statutes.

The armed group, based in Yemen and backed by Iran, said it had launched missiles near the vital maritime trade route, in a conflict that shows no sign of abating.

President also claims US is in direct contact with IRGC, denies a rush to end conflict ahead of November's US midterms.

Video footage released by police on Sunday shows Slovak bomb disposal experts executing a mine detonation.

Concern over impact of Iran war pushes up government bond yields in US, UK, France, Germany and Japan Government borrowing costs in several advanced economies hit their highest level since the 2008 financial crisis, or even earlier, on Monday, as investors feared the Middle East crisis would keep inflation persistently high. Concerns over rising prices, and government spending, pushed up the cost of debt issued by Paris, Berlin, Washington DC, Tokyo and London, as investors fretted that rising prices would push up interest rates...

The president also told Fox News the US had a direct backchannel with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps - something it denies.

The 30-year-old was on the active volcano when a thunderstorm developed, local media report.

Court issues notice to Union government and Atomic Energy Regulatory Board in petition challenging provisions of the Act, which limit liability of operators of nuclear installations, suppliers, manufacturers, etc

An American tourist has been killed by a lightning strike after hiking in a restricted part of Mount Etna.

Nearly 10 years after the attempted referendum on Catalan independence which led to violent clashes between the public and the police, the political demands of the independence movement have not been met. ENTR travelled to Catalonia in June to meet with young people there who are continuing the fight to preserve Catalan identity – not with politics, but with culture.

Global condemnation of Israeli settler violence against Palestinians

Twelve people including the captain are on board the vessel named Kate, in the latest attempt to deliver aid.

Iran's more offensive posture follows Trump's comment that the US would soon make the Strait of Hormuz its territory.

Rescuers found a 29-year-old man in serious condition on the volcano’s eastern slope on Sunday. He was later pronounced dead at a hospital in Catania.

Italian media reports that the Cagliari forward was rescued after swallowing a lot of water in a swimming pool in Porto Cervo.

As Trump pushes allies to do more for their own defence, three US partners have created a security pact of their own.

Belgium is battling its worst wildfires in over a century, with hundreds of firefighters fighting flames in the Hautes Fagnes nature reserve. Germany, Sweden, Norway and the Netherlands have sent reinforcements, including helicopters, as several towns are evacuated.

Three works by Renaissance painter Antonello da Messina, valued at up to €80 million, were stolen from a museum in Messina, Sicily. Police are investigating the theft, which comes days after Italian authorities recovered three stolen works by Cézanne, Renoir and Matisse.

Massive wildfires are burning across Europe, from Belgium and Greece to Spain, Italy and France. Alexander Held, Senior Expert at the European Forest Institute, explains why fires are spreading into unexpected areas and whether Europe is facing a new normal. He also looks at how citizens can help prevent and limit wildfires, while stressing the need for greater resilience and better funded government support to deal with increasingly extreme fire seasons.

Supermarket chain says ‘human error’, not its Facewatch technology, to blame for ejecting a customer Sainsbury’s has paused the use of AI face scanning in one of its stores after a customer was wrongly identified as a shoplifter and ejected from the shop. “I was embarrassed, mortified even, and felt quite humiliated and powerless,” Matt Arnold, 46, said of his ordeal...

Cameroon wins its first WAFCON title, beating Malawi 3–0 in the final.

Billionaire CEO of world’s biggest bank says any windfall tax on sector’s bumper profits could harm jobs in City Business live – latest updates Jamie Dimon, the boss of the US bank JP Morgan, has urged John Healey not to use his first budget as chancellor to increase taxes on banks’ bumper profits. Speculation has been growing that a windfall tax could be imposed on UK lenders to fund Andy Burnham’s cost of living agenda, with campaigners estimating such a move could raise £19bn...

Strain of virus with no vaccine has potential to overrun response impeded by conflict and misinformation Health authorities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo are losing their battle to contain the country’s deadliest Ebola outbreak. DRC’s health ministry declared an outbreak in Ituri province on 15 May, though sequencing shows it had begun in February. It has since spread to five other provinces and is on track to overtake the 2014-16 west Africa outbreak as the largest in history...

A prominent Malian broadcaster and an influencer were on Monday jailed for seven years after criticising the ruling junta. Mohamed Youssouf Bathily was convicted by the Bamaka court of criminal conspiracy and discrediting the state alongside Rokia Doumbia, a noted campaigner.

Houthi and government forces exchange drone attacks, marking a major shift in war tactics.

Prime Minister Andy Burnham messaged briefly with a person impersonating Susie Wiles, a British government official said.