2026 News Archive

Three trauma centres - Liverpool, Manchester and Sheffield - say they have treated nearly 500 casualties under the age of 16.

Organoids and tissues grown from human cells promise more accurate results, with £20m Cambridge project to create standardised models Miniature human organs and other tissues are to be grown from NHS patients’ cells in a drive to improve medicine testing and reduce the number of animals used in drug development. Scientists will use the clumps of tissue to learn how diseases vary between patients, helping them identify which treatments are best for different people based on the particular pathology underlying their condition...

Skywatchers are set to witness two major celestial events next week, with a deep partial solar eclipse followed by the peak of the Perseid meteor shower.

It’s a great betrayal: poor communities neglected while multimillionaires peddle a global Maga agenda. How is that America first? “THE CORRUPTION IS AT LEVELS RARELY SEEN BEFORE,” Donald Trump posted on Truth Social in February 2025. He was not referring to his own administration, but to the US Agency for International Development (USAID). “CLOSE IT DOWN!” the president added. Just a few hours later USAID was in effect closed down, with most of the staff placed on indefinite administration leave. This was framed as part of Trump’s “America first” agenda. USAID, the Trump administration and his sycophants in the rightwing media had argued, was wasting taxpayers’ hard-earned money on ridiculous projects abroad instead of improving life at home. In the lead-up to the shuttering of USAID, for example, one of the most shameless lies about the agency, repeated without any evidence by the likes of Fox News, was that it was spending millions on condoms for Gaza. Arwa Mahdawi is a Guardian columnist..

Trader Joe's Everything But the Bagel seasoning contains poppy seeds which are banned in both countries.

Thousands of people in Spain were buzzing with excitement as they dashed to find the best location from which to view Wednesday's total solar eclipse. Trains were jam packed, travellers booked last-minute carpools and social media users shared the best viewing spots. FRANCE 24 met several eclipse enthusiasts as they set off from Madrid.

Martin Jones expresses concern scheme will increase pressure on probation service as Burnham addresses controversy over PC Harper’s killers Good morning. Andy Burnham is chairing a meeting of the government’s Cobra emergency committee this afternoon to discuss the heatwave and the climate crisis. About time too, some people will say. One of them is Zack Polanski, the Green party leader, who has been calling for this and who posted this on social media in response. Good. Now we need action. Tax fossil fuel giants to pay for firefighting helicopters. A cool space in every community. A maximum working temperature...

World's largest contract electronics maker forecasts strong growth in 2026 amid AI boom.

Deliveries of electric vehicles (EVs) in China fell 3.9 per cent in July from a year earlier, extending their decline to a seventh consecutive month as fading government incentives and weaker consumer demand weighed on the market. Domestic sales of pure electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles last month also fell 5.8 per cent from June, according to data from the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA). “A bleak market outlook is likely to affect most small [EV] companies, as some of them will be...

Russia's Novorossiysk 'endured a horrific night', with a child killed and dozens of buildings damaged, says local mayor.

Eclipse chasers, tourists and astronomers searching for the clearest skies to watch the two minutes of totality The online forums are abuzz as people debate potential cloud cover and trade tips on the best viewing points. Hours before wide swathes of Spain were set to experience the country’s first total solar eclipse in more than a century, the excitement was palpable. “It’s going to be spectacular,” said César González, an astronomer and science communicator at the Madrid Planetarium. “A total solar eclipse is one of the best spectacles in nature.”..

Eclipse chasers have driven a tourist surge in sleepy towns and villages in Spain and several other parts of Europe as the continent gets set for its first total eclipse since 2006.

President Hakainde Hichilema was elected five years ago, promising to protect civil liberties in his copper-rich African nation. Now, he’s accused of trampling on them.

Nigel Farage forced a new election in his parliamentary seat after coming under pressure over his finances. His main challenger is Count Binface, a novelty candidate.

The insects, revered in local culture, are disappearing for many reasons, including rapid development to cater to tourists.

Israeli settlers demolish homes in village, leaving rubble and fear among displaced Palestinian families in Jericho.

Continuous bombing disrupts routines, causing sensory shocks and behavioural relapses in Gaza's autistic children.

Football's most famous current player wed his long-term partner Georgina Rodriguez after a decade together.

Brent crude prices hover near $90 per barrel, as fallout from Iran war hits travel firm Tui’s profits Good morning, and welcome to our rolling coverage of business, the financial markets and the world economy. Oil prices are still on the rise, as fresh attacks on ships raise concerns about disruptions to Middle Eastern fuel supplies, adding to doubts over the prospects of a US-Iran peace deal. Yesterday, the rally in US crude paused for a minute after Pakistan’s Defence Minister said that they were getting “close to some sort of arrangement”, but the relief remained short-lived after Iran added that the Strait of Hormuz would remain closed until the conditions it demands from the US are met. And the conditions that both parties demand from each other suggest that the problems won’t be solved by tomorrow. 1.30pm BST: US inflation data for July..

Exhibition in Port Talbot is part of project exploring how communities experience endings and transitions Margaret Heggett, 95, does not remember a time when Port Talbot was ever quiet. Born and raised in the shadow of the steelworks, with a father, brother and husband who worked there, she never imagined what the town could look or sound like without its blast furnaces. “I’m not saying it was beautiful, but there were jobs. We did know the closure was coming and we have to move with the times but it’s affected the town a lot and it’s very sad,” she said...

The city is no stranger to complaints about soaring prices during August - but are costs on the rise?

The vessel is said to have overturned after being hit by strong waves.

Having lost 2-1 in the first leg, Lyon turned the tie around with a 3-0 victory over Sparta Prague in the third qualifying round of the Champions League. OL will face Fenerbahce in the playoffs to secure their place in the group stage.

Master’s student made first bar with 100% UK ingredients since 1932 to highlight affect of climate crisis on cocoa plants The late queen was the only person in history to have ever eaten a chocolate bar made with 100% British ingredients, after she was given one as a six-year-old in 1932 by the confectioner Rowntree’s. The bar was created from a glasshouse-grown cocoa plant, at Rowntree’s headquarters in York...

As Tokyo turns back mangoes, Beijing blocks rice, and European inspectors flag spices, Indian growers ask what's wrong.

Russia released an American military veteran, allowing his return to the U.S. after four years of what his family and U.S. officials allege was wrongful incarceration and abusive treatment.

Ukraine's president also says Russia will use its election next month as a pretext to declare a new mobilisation.

The earthquake killed at least 181 people and left 2,595 injured, according to Colombian authorities. At least 195 remained missing, but civilian-run databases put that number closer to 4,000.

Verdant thinktank says cost could top £25bn a year by 2030 and calls for maximum temperature for working and urban redesign to cool down cities Repeated debilitating heatwaves this summer are likely to have cost the UK economy more than £4bn in lost economic output by the end of July, new analysis shows. Green thinktank Verdant had suggested June’s unseasonally hot weather had an economic cost of £2.36bn. Updating its assessment to include last month’s high temperatures, it finds a £4.4bn hit to output...

The PM has announced a rake of measures to help people since taking office three weeks ago.

New reports reveal the US President hid in a catering truck to switch planes over an alleged bomb plot in July.

Israel’s PM Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected Donald Trump’s Gaza peace plan which has exposed tensions between the two.

Israeli forces arrest 23 Palestinians and demolish home of man killed in confrontation with Israeli settlers in July.

US President Donald Trump says the decision to make a plane switch in Turkiye after the NATO summit.

Andy Green set the fastest time ever recorded in a hydrogen-powered car, reaching 406mph (654km/h).

Exclusive: Horace Mason, 74, who has lived in Sweden for 25 years, faces being deported after court ruling A 74-year-old British man who has been living in Sweden for 25 years who needs round-the-clock care for dementia has been given 10 days to leave the country after he lost a post-Brexit migration court case. The deportation order comes after a Swedish court ruling in July that the government’s drive to reduce immigration trumped the needs of a man in full-time care...

Brent crude climbs as renewed violence dampens hopes for a return to stability in energy markets.

The boy from the most-watched YouTube video of all time is now 17 years old, and wants to be a K-pop star.

The US military announced on Tuesday that it had shot a Panama-flagged ship that was trying to approach an Iranian port in violation of Washington's blockade. President Donald Trump asserted again that the United States was exercising "total control" over the Strait of Hormuz. Follow our liveblog for the latest developments.

An overloaded ferry capsized on Zimbabwe’s Lake Kariba, killing at least 15 people and leaving 27 missing.

Police charged Ahmed al Ahmed in June after an alleged incident with his father at a Sydney home.

Christopher Luxon says he has "full support" of his party, after a vote of confidence 12 weeks before a general election.

Syrians in Idlib gathered in celebration after a court sentenced ousted President Bashar al-Assad

Iran's top security official says the Strait of Hormuz will not reopen unless the US meets its conditions.

North Korea fired a ballistic missile Wednesday, its second test in less than a week, as Seoul and Washington prepare to begin annual military drills next week. The launches appear to signal Pyongyang’s opposition to the exercises, which it views as a rehearsal for an invasion.

The Comac C919 will fly from Beijing to Ulaanbaatar in Mongolia, although experts say it could take generations for it to challenge the west’s dominance of the industry China hopes to break into the world of commercial aviation with the first international flight of a Chinese-made passenger jet scheduled for Wednesday. The Comac C919 will take off from Beijing capital international airport at 3pm, landing in Ulaanbaatar, the capital of Mongolia, just over two hours later...

The president says the Secret Service wanted him to go on a different flight after the Nato summit in Turkey.

Reporting from the rubble of an apartment building, Al Jazeera’s Latin America Editor Lucia Newman describes the scene.

Debt restructuring, inflation and copper revenues are emerging as key issues in the vote.

Prime minister Anutin Charnvirakul calls for tighter gun controls and ‘decisive penalties’ after nine dead in school shooting Thailand has suspended firearms licences after last week’s deadly school shooting, as the bodies of the teenage attacker and the grandparents he killed were cremated. The prime minister, Anutin Charnvirakul, said he had ordered the interior ministry and police to stop issuing licenses to possess, purchase and carry firearms, and called for “tighter controls and decisive penalties”...

Pyongyang conducts second weapons test in less than a week as Seoul, Washington gear up for annual military exercises.

The prime minister tells the Guardian that last year’s diplomatic rift with ally New Zealand could be on voters’ minds as they head to the polls As voters in the Cook Islands prepare to head to the polls in a high-stakes general election, they will have much to reflect on. Over recent years, politics in this small island nation has been defined by fierce debates about deep-sea mining, diplomatic rifts with ally New Zealand and a major reshaping of the country’s foreign partnerships. In an exclusive interview with the Guardian, days before Wednesday’s poll, Cook Islands prime minister Mark Brown defended his four-year term and the decisions he made that have seen this South Pacific nation of 17,000 people pushed into the international limelight, turning it into a battleground for influence between Beijing and western powers...

Up to 96% of the Sun will be covered by the Moon in the UK, while parts of Spain, Greenland, Iceland, Portugal and Russia will see a total eclipse.

It marks another striking episode in the turbulent history of his relationship with Iran, writes Anthony Zurcher.

Footage shows an Egyptian-owned cargo vessel in flames in the Bab al-Mandeb strait after a suspected Houthi attack.

The Portuguese superstar has posted an image of two hands - presumed to be his on top of his wife's - both wearing wedding rings.

Libya's eastern-based army said Tuesday that a car bomb killed its military intelligence chief, Fawzi al-Mansouri, in Benghazi. The assassination raises fresh questions over security in the stronghold of military commander Khalifa Haftar as efforts continue to reunify the divided country.

US forces disable a Panama-flagged cargo ship attempting to sail towards an Iranian port.

Buyers of AI services are struggling to control costs and sellers are not sure how much to charge.

Malaysia's Forest City was pitched as "paradise" but last month police raided it over alleged scam operations.