2026 News Archive

NHS Blood and Transplant's medical director says waiting lists for organ operations are unfair but leaders are not solving the issue.

Scotland's best chance of seeing a solar eclipse in 27 years left some disappointed, though there were moments of magic.

Each year the Guardian runs a competition to find the invertebrate of the year. To They each nominate an incredible invertebrate that you might never have heard of, and argue why their choice should be crowned the winner. Vote for your favourite now and the winner will be crowned on 17 August Invertebrate of the year 2026: vote for your favourite Support the Guardian: theguardian.com/sciencepod..

Some see them as sinister or hunt them for ritual use but these birds play a vital role in nature's cycle.

The company, Thrive Holdings, acquires businesses to infuse them with artificial intelligence and drew interest from backers like SoftBank.

The court interpreted the scope of a Supreme Court judgment that provides one-time protection to law students who were prevented from appearing in their examinations

Armagh Planetarium hosts an early album listening party for American singer-songwriter Phoebe Bridgers.

Alan Cumming and Shirley Henderson's acting relationship goes back a long way, mirroring the show the pair have been reunited on.

The sky will go dark for six minutes or more over landmarks like the Rock of Gibraltar, the casbah of Tangier and the temples of Luxor, Egypt.

Sachie Mikawa has cancelled two shows following the theft of instruments she inherited from her late father.

The musician shares the personal stories behind her third album, and the time she teased a legend.

Traverse theatre, Edinburgh An encounter in a police cell with a Nazi officer could have been the end of the political theorist, but Jenny Lyn Bader’s play has little feel for the dramatic The Mrs Stern of the title is the married name of Hannah Arendt, the political theorist much remembered for her “banality of evil” insight. Jenny Lyn Bader sets her play not, as you might expect, in the Prussian state library, but in a police cell where Arendt has been hauled in for questioning not long after the Reichstag fire. The Nazi apparatus has extended its remit to political crimes and she, what with her bookish ways, errant husband and associations with Jewish intellectuals, has come under scrutiny...

Summerhall, Edinburgh With increasing speed, Sam Ward tells the story of a woman who finds holes in her garden – but is it just a shaggy dog story? And there is a man sitting at a desk, welcoming us to the theatre and opening a folder. And the folder contains a sheaf of paper that the man proceeds to read. And the more the man reads, the faster he goes. And the man hits such a speed we realise why he did not learn this script: it would be too prodigious a feat of memory. And as if to emphasise the pace, the man is soon accompanied by a percussive score by Carmel Smickersgill, which has a jazz freedom as well as a sense of urgency and is rather good. And as the story rattles out, so Han Sayles’s lighting design closes in on the man, who is the writer Sam Ward in this solo show by his company YESYESNONO and he seems to be going faster still. At Summerhall, Edinburgh, until 31 August All our Edinburgh festival reviews..

This documentary follows the shocking case of Neil Hopper, a top surgeon who had his own legs removed due to a fetish. No fetish or obsession is unique, and the internet can always connect you with others whose minds work the same way. It’s one of the great blessings and curses of the digital age, and central to An Amputation Obsession: the Monster and the Surgeon, a two-part documentary on which the “contains material some viewers may find disturbing” disclaimer is no exaggeration. We begin at the Royal Cornwall hospital, known locally as Treliske, in Truro, Cornwall. It used to have a man on its staff who was a minor medical superstar: Neil Hopper, a vascular surgeon, was well known for his clinical expertise and comforting bedside manner, particularly when advising on and performing amputations. He acquired full hero status in 2019, when he was diagnosed with sepsis and had both legs amputated below the knee but miraculously returned to work within six months, astonishing physiotherapists and other medical professionals with how well he adapted to disability. An Amputation Obsession: the Monster and the Surgeon is on Prime Video..

As his new film & Sons hits the screen, the actor turned podcast agony uncle relives his ‘cliched’ ambitions, deplores working lunches – and yearns to do the splits like Prince A dying patriarch summons his brood for a dramatic announcement. It may not be the most original starting point for a movie, but & Sons adds an eccentric twist – one that it would be unfair to reveal here but which nudges the material into the realm of science fiction. The father in question is a revered novelist who is as reclusive as JD Salinger and as whiskery and dishevelled as Catweazle. Dormant for decades, the fictional AN Dyer is first glimpsed in a horizontal position on the sofa, refusing to come to the telephone: “I don’t do phonecalls,” he grumbles. That is patently not true of the actor who plays him. “I spend a lot of time on the phone,” Bill Nighy says breezily. He is speaking to me from north-west London, where he has been nosing around bookshops. “I’m also an enthusiastic texter. I was always very quick on the old Nokia. Quite proud of myself, I was.” Where does he stand on emojis? “I used to be philosophically opposed. Most of them are a bit naff.” He then proceeds to list the exceptions. “I like the flamingo and the purple dahlia. I like the leaping shark. Sometimes I combine it with the leaping dolphin. Very occasionally, I like the golfer in mid-swing if I’m congratulating someone. I don’t do smiley faces.”..

Back-to-back world champions can use Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry to establish themselves as one of the greatest teams of all time South Africans are supposed to care about the All Blacks more than this. On Tuesday night 14,759 people dotted the 52,000-seat Kings Park Stadium to watch New Zealand dismantle the Sharks 54-0. Durban was cold and soaked, with snow falling elsewhere in KwaZulu-Natal, but even allowing for the weather it made for an awkward for a grand new project. Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry – the eight-match tour by New Zealand, culminating in four Tests, including one in the US – is an attempt to turn more than a century of history into a modern commercial property. The unions have formed a 50-50 venture, sharing commercial income, while taking the final Test to Baltimore is expected to generate $4m-$6m more than another game in South Africa. Both unions need the money and professional sport is supposed to generate revenue. But a rivalry cannot live on branding alone...

Latest scorecard from the first Test between Australia and Bangladesh in Darwin.

The US military campaign against Iran has so far failed to force Tehran to capitulate. The Trump administration is betting once again that suffocating economic pressure will do the job. Facing a shortfall of necessary munitions and wary of continuing an unpopular war, Trump and his top officials are returning to a familiar playbook with Iran: relying on a steady increase in economic sanctions and a naval blockade to stifle oil exports. The renewed emphasis on economic pain – it was dubbed...

Palestinian family's home demolished despite court order, leaving them homeless under sweltering heat in the West Bank.

Nigel Farage, the right-wing populist leader, forced a by-election in his parliamentary seat of Clacton after he came under pressure over his financial declarations.

With forecasters issuing a warning for very high temperatures, this summer is on track to be one of the hottest yet.

The deadly strikes are part of a long-running maritime battle with Ukraine and echo battles over other key shipping routes around the world.

The chief minister of Andhra Pradesh has 25,000 workers building his dream capital with waterways, bike lanes and a “Quantum Valley” tech hub.

Russia struck the area ​around Ukraine's largest Danube port of Izmail overnight, causing damage ​and setting ‌off a fire, ⁠regional authorities said Thursday. Meanwhile Moscow said it downed 362 Ukrainian drones overnight as an attack in Russia's Salavat area triggered a blaze at an oil refinery, according to local authorities. Follow our liveblog for the latest updates.

The designation of PCC and CV serves to expand Washington’s reach into the country’s politics and security.

As the sky darkened, gradually at first and then quickly, people broke into applause and cheered. It was the Spain's first total solar eclipse in more than a century.

Live, rolling coverage of business, economics and financial markets as GDP rises in June despite Iran war after stagnating in May Good morning, and welcome to our live, rolling coverage of business, economics and financial markets. The UK economy grew by 0.4% in the second quarter of 2026, in line with economists’ expectations, but with faster growth than expected in June as the football World Cup and warmer weather helped retailers and leisure sectors. The FIFA Football World Cup, which started on 11 June 2026, was cited as a reason for an increase in turnover in June 2026 by businesses in industries such as the manufacture of alcohol, wholesale, food and beverage serving activities, publishing activities, television production and advertising. Some positive impacts were cited by some businesses across a range of manufacturing industries, retail, accommodation, and amusement and recreation activities. On the reverse, the warm weather was also cited as having a negative impact in terms of construction activities and also in education where schools were closed because of the heatwave. 10am BST: Eurozone industrial production (June; previous: -0.2%; consensus: -0.1%) 1:30pm BST: US producer price index inflation (July; prev.: -0.3%; cons.: 0.2%)..

The UK economy grew by 0.4% with some firms reporting hot weather and sports helped growth in June.

The vote will test if incumbent Hakainde Hichilema's reforms are enough to overcome widespread economic frustration.

GDP expanded by 0.4% in three months to June, down from 0.6% in the first quarter, says ONS Economic growth slowed in the second quarter of the year, as the disruption unleashed by the Iran war began to take its toll, official figures show. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said GDP expanded by 0.4% in the three months to June, down from 0.6% in the first quarter, in line with City economists’ expectations...

The announcement of a new naval blockade threatens to restart full-scale war between Yemen's Houthis and Saudi Arabia

One in 10 children in Afghanistan are suffering as healthcare funding plummets, Save the Children says.

Russian President Vladimir Putin visited the far-eastern Kuril islands near Japan's northernmost Hokkaido island for the first time on Thursday. Tokyo issued a strong protest in response to the Russian leader's visit to the disputed territory claimed by Japan that was seized by the Soviet Union in 1945.

Rise in new mine proposals, mainly in states of Odisha and Jharkhand, comes despite plateau in global demand Enough new coalmining projects were proposed last year to increase global supplies by 2.5bn tonnes a year, an increase of 11% from the year before, even as demand for coal plateaus, according to a new report. Global Energy Monitor, an NGO, found that India ignited a rise in new coalmine proposals in 2025 despite a global slowdown in the number of mine openings because of falling demand for the fossil fuel...

Ukraine has reported an acute shortage of Patriot interceptors since the US went to war with Iran in February.

Donald Trump’s second term has been defined by tariffs, but experts question whether they actually work.

Taiwan’s statement comes a day after reports that suspected China-linked hackers had carried out a first-of-a-kind breach Taiwan says it detected AI-assisted cyber-attacks on government agencies that came from overseas last month, a new kind of threat that has been reported as “first-of-a-kind breach”. The Ministry of Digital Affairs (MDA) said its cybersecurity monitoring units ‌detected the “abnormal attack” targeting government agencies, which began on 20 July. The National Institute of Cyber Security issued a series of warning alerts while it investigated...

In an exclusive interview with the BBC’s Steve Rosenberg, Dmitry Muratov says the Kremlin leader can only “destroy Ukraine, not conquer it,” with the war now in its fifth year.

Brigg, Lincolnshire: I should be busy, but the boom-bust climate has upset all my usual routines By the time you read this, I will be away in the Scottish Borders – a British arable farmer on holiday in August? This is unheard of. I’ve never done it myself in 30 years of farming. The reason I’m going away is that, remarkably, I have very little to do, and it’s all down to this destructive modern climate. We have finished the harvest, all done in almost entirely the month of July. Overall our farm will be 20% down on our long-term average yield, with winter cropping 2 tonnes per hectare and spring cropping 1 tonne per hectare below normal. Winter barley will be the only crop close to normal yields due to its natural maturity at the time of the first heatwave in late May. Beans finished five weeks ahead of schedule, and are almost 50% down on expectations...

President de La Espriella promises to set up an emergency fund to help rebuild destroyed hospitals and schools.

Three Palestinian families in Qusra, occupied West Bank, are being besieged inside their homes.

The Russian leader visited the Kuril islands for the first time, according to state media.

Many of those affected in England and Wales think offences are not treated with the seriousness they deserve, says commissioner Bereaved families or seriously injured victims of road crime feel “forgotten by the system” with offences not treated with the seriousness they deserve, an official review has found. The victims’ commissioner for England and Wales found that many of the thousands afflicted each year by criminal driving felt that “the harm they had suffered mattered less” than that from other serious crimes...

Hakainde Hichilema is bidding for second term, but feud between him and family of Edgar Lungu, who died in 2025, continues As Zambians go to the polls, the ghost of the current president’s predecessor hangs over the elections. Hakainde Hichilema, 64, is bidding for a second term leading the southern African country after defeating his arch-rival Edgar Lungu by a landslide in 2021...

The K-pop star says he has suffered hearing issues for over two years before revealing it publicly this week.

David McBride was jailed after pleading guilty to leaking military secrets about Afghanistan.

Twitch's executives said users can opt out of AI training, which has become a common industry practice.

Venezuela's interim government and opposition ended their first round of talks on Wednesday with agreements to reform the Supreme Tribunal of Justice and seek access to the country's frozen reserves at the Bank of England, in order to finance recovery from June's devastating earthquakes.

A partial solar eclipse illuminated Paris’s sky over the city’s iconic Eiffel Tower.

Spanish Olympic skateboarder Danny León timed a jump with the moon passing in front of the sun during a solar eclipse.

A new land policy is reopening disputes over farms seized during Zimbabwe’s land reform after 2000.

The outbreak, declared on 15 May, has caused more than 2,000 deaths, with thousands more reported cases.

'We’re only semi-negotiating with them; we are just watching Iran with its huge inflation and the fact they have no money', said U.S. President Donald Trump

Zambians vote Thursday in a general election widely expected to give President Hakainde Hichilema a second term, as his economic record faces a test from voters frustrated by the cost of living and opposition parties seek to capitalise on discontent despite deep divisions.

South Korean farmers are suffering in record heat, as Hong Kong reports its highest ever temperature and Japan swelters through newly designated ‘cruelly hot’ days In a potato field in Yanggu county, 80 miles (130km) north-east of Seoul, Lee Sang-hyuk dug into the soil and found nothing worth saving. A week earlier the crop, located in Gangwon province, had looked fine. Now the potatoes came up soft and collapsing, “like boiled potatoes”, spoiled by heat that had turned the ground into something closer to an oven...

Erling Haaland’s name and image turned up on hundreds of cocaine bricks seized by Ecuadorian police.

President Trump again insists US has 'total control' of strait, while Tehran resolute that the US must meet its demands.

New owner is said to be involved in AI industry, as new class of multimillionaires is entering the real estate race A luxury Lake Como-inspired estate in the San Francisco Bay Area has sold to a buyer “in the AI world” for a record $70m, in the latest sign of a new tech wealth boom that’s pushing home prices to extraordinary heights in the region The property south of San Francisco not only becomes the most expensive sale in its affluent town of Hillsborough, doubling a previous record, but is also the most expensive sale in northern California this year, according to listing agent Jennifer Gilson of Golden Gate Sotheby’s International Realty...

Heidi Beirich, an expert on far-right extremism, has been charged over alleged misuse of donor funds to pay informants.

Lawsuit claims Trump profits unfairly by charging up to $100,000 monthly for exclusive access to presidential posts.