2026 News Archive

America's downtowns are changing. Storefronts that used to showcase clothes or gifts are giving way to gyms and salons. Last year marked the first time that more retail space went to shops offering services rather than things.

Observers express concern that the division has lost its independence and commercial reality has taken over When Sir Demis Hassabis said AI had brought the world to a “pivotal moment in human history” last month, he knew another big change was imminent. This shift was closer to home. The Nobel prize-winning head of Google DeepMind, Google’s AI unit, announced this week he was relinquishing his day-to-day duties as chief executive and becoming chair. He is also taking on the role of chief scientist at DeepMind’s parent, Alphabet...

Four people in Kyiv region have been killed by russian strikes overnight. The youngest was a three-year-old who was killed along with grandparents.

A Manila-bound Cebu Pacific flight returned to Hong Kong airport after its cargo door was suspected to have opened on Saturday. Police said officers were alerted at 3.05pm to the incident involving flight CEB143. The aircraft, an Airbus A321, landed safely at Hong Kong International Airport and no one was injured, the force said. According to the flightradar24 website, the Philippine low-cost carrier’s flight was originally scheduled to depart at 2pm and arrive in the Philippine capital at...

Dipke, who was diagnosed with typhoid during the protests in Jantar Mantar seeking the resignation of Dharmendra Pradhan as Union Education Minister, had said he had been unwell for the past few days and was currently undergoing treatment

From an immersive MF Husain tribute to rare watches, jewellery and collectible design, Giftex’s inaugural Collectors’ Cove at Mumbai’s Ballard Pier Downtown Experience Centre aims to build a stronger culture of collecting in India

Robot dogs could one day lead the way across the moon, patrolling research stations, scouting hazards and helping astronauts search for scientifically valuable rocks, according to a blueprint by researchers working on China’s lunar base. The concept envisions three astronauts working alongside intelligent machines. As the crew explores the moon’s surface, one astronaut would direct two robot dogs across the landscape, while another collects rock samples and carries out detailed scientific...

In a historic breakthrough, a Chinese-led international team of scientists has confirmed the existence of the glueball – a rare form of matter made entirely of force. The finding was announced by a Chinese research team on Thursday at the International Conference on High Energy Physics in Natal, Brazil. Held every two years, the event features some of the most significant advancements in the field. After 15 years of research, the team finally gathered definitive evidence of glueballs using the...

A coalition of Hong Kong employers has called on the government to freeze the pay of foreign domestic workers this year, warning that any wage increases may result in mass sackings. They also proposed a new pay-for-performance mechanism to allow employers to reward high-performing helpers more than poor performers. Two employers’ groups – the International Domestic Service Industry Development Federation, and the Quadripartite Alliance for Harmonious Employment Practices – led about 30...

Global pharmaceutical giants are doubling down on investing in China’s fast-growing biotech companies given the sector’s huge room for valuation growth, according to speakers at the Global Health Summit, which concluded in Hong Kong on Saturday. “Multinational pharmaceutical companies are shifting their business strategies in China away from asset-heavy operations,” said Xu Chenming, head of the healthcare group at Hong Kong-based Citic Securities. “They are moving towards investing in companies...

Taiwan’s leader rehearsed a late-night emergency evacuation during the island’s largest annual military exercise in response to growing concerns over potential “decapitation” strikes by the People’s Liberation Army, local media reported on Thursday. Under cover of darkness on Wednesday night, William Lai Ching-te, wearing body armour and a helmet, was transported from his Presidential Office in a Clouded Leopard armoured vehicle to a secure command centre, in accordance with the long-standing...

A girl died from critical wounds Saturday after a pupil opened fire at a secondary school and his home outside Bangkok the day before, bringing the death toll from the attack to nine people. The 14-year-old opened fire at around 10am on Friday at Debsirin Nonthaburi School in Nonthaburi province northwest of the Thai capital before apparently taking his own life. He also appeared to have killed his two grandparents at his family home earlier in the morning, officials said. The girl, 12, died...

Sian Phillips will step back from full-scale stage shows but continue other projects.

Jobs and trade numbers released this week show that Canada is recovering from trade turmoil, but another round of tariffs may arrive this month.

New play, which has been a decade in the works, opens at the Royal Shakespeare theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon after five previews were cancelled A winter of discontent is anticipated by the embattled characters in Game of Thrones, but the Royal Shakespeare Company is banking on a glorious summer with its world premiere of a prequel to the hit TV series based on George RR Martin’s fantasy novels. The new play, The Mad King, arrives 30 years to the month after the original publication of A Game of Thrones, the first novel in Martin’s series A Song of Ice and Fire. It has a gala performance in Stratford-upon-Avon on Saturday evening in a reconfigured Royal Shakespeare theatre with a capacity of 870. Tickets for the entire run, priced from £10 to £95, have already sold out...

European Aquatics Championships taking place in city Threat to water quality tested two years after Games Paris is staging its first high-diving competition in the Seine, with athletes launching themselves from a 20-metre platform in front of the Eiffel Tower – a spectacular new test of the city’s effort to reclaim its river for sport. The event on the Pont de Bir-Hakeim has also exposed the fragility of that ambition. Organisers suspended training on Thursday when traces of hydrocarbons were detected upstream. By Friday, the French Swimming Federation said the affected area had been treated, allowing athletes to return to the water and the event to proceed as planned. High diving concludes on Saturday with the final two rounds and medal events, while the broader European Aquatics Championships run through to 16 August...

Japan 32-35 Australia Wallabies withstand early red card against former coach There was good, bad and plenty of ugly but the Les Kiss era is off to a winning start. Despite searing heat and a brave home side, the Wallabies shrugged off an early red card and a litany of reckless errors to welcome their new coach to international rugby with a brave but dramatic victory over Japan in Osaka. Against an unpredictable Brave Blossoms side coached by the former Wallabies mentor Eddie Jones, this Test was a banana skin for Kiss. But the former rugby league star, who is coaching Australia’s union side despite never having played the game himself, escaped the ambush Jones laid for him and comes home with a heartening triumph...

New chair Ed Warner suggests triangular tournament ‘Make it kid-friendly, make it a day at the seaside’ Sussex want to create a new T10 tournament for non-Hundred-hosting counties that would take place during August alongside the One-Day Cup. There is widespread frustration among the smaller counties at the limited cricket they currently play during the height of the summer, with Sussex having just four days’ play at home during this year’s Hundred, which began on 21 July and will conclude with the final at Lord’s on 16 August. Though the county of Sussex comes under Southern Brave’s umbrella, the franchise’s home matches take place at Hampshire’s Utilita Bowl...

Four-year deal signed after Newcastle’s reluctant sale ‘I want to win trophies and I’m in the right place to do it’ Bruno Guimarães says he “needed a new challenge in my life” after joining Arsenal from Newcastle for £75m and has targeted winning trophies. Guimarães is understood to have signed a four-year contract that contains a further one-year option after Newcastle reluctantly agreed to sell their captain. The 29-year-old, who captained Newcastle to their first trophy since 1955 when they won the Carabao Cup last year, had made it clear that he wanted to join the Premier League champions after meeting the club’s new manager, Matthias Jaissle, this week...

Drug addiction groups are reeling after Trump officials said federal grants cannot be used to hand out test strips to drug users. The strips help users check street drugs for dangerous adulterants.

K-pop conquered the world — now Chile's young creatives are remixing the movement and making it their own.

An Irish government jet is on its way to Dubai for the extradition of alleged gang boss Daniel Kinahan.

Researchers at the University of Delaware are set to tag sharks off the US East Coast with small electronic devices for collecting data that could prove useful for hurricane prediction.

French cyclist and defending champion Pauline Ferrand-Prévot pulled out of the Women's Tour de France ahead of Saturday's 8th and penultimate stage due to her feeling unwell. An Olympic champion in mountain biking at the 2024 Paris Olympics, Ferrand-Prévôt won the Women's Tour de France on her debut last year.

Saudi Arabia, Turkiye, and Pakistan form a new defence pact, leaving Israel’s response and its implications uncertain

At least four people, including a child, were killed in Russian drone and missile strikes on Kyiv and surrounding regions early Saturday. Moscow has been carrying out near-daily attacks, exploiting Ukraine’s strained air defences. Meanwhile, Ukraine struck another oil refinery in Russia, as Kyiv continues its campaign of long-range attacks on Russian energy facilities in an effort to fuel a growing fuel crisis. France 24 correspondent Emmanuelle Chaze tells us the latest.

Drought and record heat have forced the Norfolk and Suffolk league to move kick-off to the end of August as the ground is deemed too dangerous to play on This summer’s record drought has forced a football league to delay the start of its season because “rock hard” pitches are a danger to its players. The 2026/27 season in the Anglian Combination League of 85 amateur teams in Norfolk and Suffolk was due to start next weekend...

The mission of the Flock app is quietly subversive: to encourage users to ditch their screens and explore the wonderful world of birding On a brilliantly bright afternoon in his gallery and studio in Bolinas, a small town on the northern California coast, Keith Hansen was putting the finishing touches on a watercolor of an almost improbably flamboyant painted bunting. With an ultra-fine sable brush, he made a few intricate additions to the cobalt blue plumage on the bunting’s head, and, satisfied with his work, slipped the watercolor into a stout binder that every few days welcomes a new addition...

The elderflower drink is enjoying explosive growth, with Campari, Sarti Rosa and limoncello varieties also taking off It’s the summer of spritz as British sales figures show the Hugo elderflower cocktail snapping at the heels of the market-leader Aperol to be this year’s favourite drink. The number of Hugos ordered in bars nearly tripled in the three months to the end of June while demand for the vibrant red Campari spritz surged 52%...

What was the thinking of the investors backing the now-canned plan, and are such proposals in the future inevitable?

Days after Gen Z protesters led by the Cockroach Janta Party brought down India’s education minister, dozens of women who took part in the demonstrations say they are facing a barrage of online threats. The protesters say that while the movement itself has ended, they are now facing a new battle on two fronts: in the courts and through doxxing. Our team on the ground sent this report.

Tonight and throughout the weekend, thousands of people across France will be looking up at the stars for the annual Nuits des Étoiles. The three-night event offers free stargazing in more than 400 towns, with astronomers on hand to help visitors spot Saturn, Mars and even distant galaxies. Camille Knight has the details.

US Senate confirms Todd Blanche in narrow vote despite concerns over independence of office.

Patients in Yemen who cannot afford healthcare or access relevant treatment are turning to alternative medicine.

The pact between Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Turkiye is yet another step towards a new regional security architecture.

Thailand has one of the highest rates of gun ownership in Asia.

For Gen Z in India, PM Narendra Modi is trying to become an unlikely friend through late-night Instagram reels.

Brazil international signed on a four-year contract with further one-year option for reported fee of about $101m.

Last month, Atletico filed a complaint to FIFA over Barcelona allegedly tapping up the 26-year-old forward.

Police bodycam and CCTV catches Idaho mall shooting as it unfolds

Ivory Coast's 'talking drum' returns to home village after 110 years

Red high-temperature warnings remained in effect for much of southern and western Italy through Saturday.

A rampage at a high school in Thailand on Friday was the latest episode of gun violence in a country that has grappled in recent years with several attacks.

Memphis Grizzlies forward Brandon Clarke's death was due to the effects of heroin and cocaine, the Los Angeles medical authority reveals.

Republican Senator Bill Cassidy was the deciding vote after a lengthy stand-off.

An exchange between Dr Erica Schwartz and Senator Josh Hawley during her confirmation hearing is alarming Robert F Kennedy Jr’s new cooking show isn’t the only big news out of the public health world this week. On Wednesday, Dr Erica Schwartz was confirmed by the US Senate as director ‌of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), making her the first Black woman to hold the position. This is the first time in almost a year that the agency has had a permanent leader; the previous director, Susan Monarez, only lasted 29 days before she was ousted for butting heads with RFK about US vaccine policies. Translation: she was a little too keen on following accepted science for the Trump administration. So is Schwartz an RFK-approved vaccine skeptic who thinks you can cure cancer by praying to trees? Surprisingly: no. Schwartz, who served as deputy surgeon general during Trump’s first term, actually has government experience and a public health background. During her confirmation hearing in July, she walked a careful tightrope when asked about her stance towards vaccines. Schwartz said she “will never betray the science” but also dodged questions about how she would handle pressure from Kennedy. Arwa Mahdawi is a Guardian columnist..

New York mayor’s policy set to generate revenue and address housing crisis despite outcry in some quarters New York City’s introduction of a pied-à-terre tax has provided fodder for Zohran Mamdani’s critics, who accuse the democratic socialist mayor of attacking the rich – even as others welcome it as a much-needed effort to tax the wealthy in a city known for its yawning inequality and cost-of-living crisis. The tax, aimed at closing the city’s budget gap, covers people who own but do not live full-time in a house worth more than $5m or a condominium or cooperative unit worth at least $1m...

South Western and GTR announce fightback after move away from paper tickets increases fare dodging There is more than one way to commit fraud and, for some rail travellers, it has been as simple as a couple of taps on their phone as their train approaches its destination. That telltale last-minute purchase of a digital ticket – for the shortest journey that will allow them to bleep through the gates, regardless of how far they have travelled – is one of a number of illegal wheezes that train operators are trying to eliminate, with the enthusiastic backing of the government department that will directly oversee most of England’s rail services when they are renationalised next year...

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky is making his first official visit to Serbia, in a notable move given Belgrade’s close ties with Moscow and its refusal to impose sanctions on Russia. Zelensky is seeking to shore up international support as Russian strikes on Ukraine intensify. He met Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić for dinner on Friday, with the two leaders set to hold official talks on Saturday. Helena Ivanov, Associate Research Fellow at The Henry Jackson Society, shares further insights on the importance of this visit.

Lyceum theatre, Edinburgh At the Edinburgh international festival, the Narcos star and director Christiane Jatahy transform the 1882 classic into a resonant, fourth wall-breaking event This dramatised trial takes Henrik Ibsen’s 1882 play about a man’s campaign to expose the secret scandal of contaminated water in his town and turns it into a modern day interrogation: of speaking out versus remaining silent, of a family at war and of fiction and reality itself. In fact, is this a drama at all? It starts off as such but minutes later, the celebrated Brazilian screen actor Wagner Moura, playing Ibsen’s Thomas Stockmann, seemingly breaks character to talk to us directly. Stockmann still sits invisibly on stage and we as an audience are here to judge him, he says, before returning to inhabit him...

Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Turkey signed a mutual defence pact on Friday that would treat any act of aggression on one of the three nations as an attack on all of them, the allies said in a joint statement. However, it did not specify if the agreement would bind them to any particular military action in each other's defence. Adjunct Senior Fellow for Middle East studies at Council on Foreign Relations, Henry Barkey, shares further insights.

The drone incidents in Europe have ignited fears that Moscow's war on Kyiv is now entangling NATO nations.

The protagonist of A Little Princess wills reality to bend to her desires. Comedians need that same idiot confidence when we’re starting out, or else we’d all give up Explore the rest of our coverage of the Edinburgh festival 2026 I was 28 the first time I did standup. It was an open-mic competition where the audience decided the winner. As I held the tiny gold trophy, I decided to quit my job the next day. Some people might call that crazy, and it probably was. But I’d been honing that delusional self-belief since I was eight when I first watched the film adaptation of Frances Hodgson Burnett’s story A Little Princess. I already almost had the same name as its protagonist, Sara, a young girl who is sent off to boarding school while her father fights in the war. I wanted to be exactly like her. She was so sure of herself, and believed so completely in the worlds she created, that all the other girls at school wanted to be her friend. My favourite scene is the one where the girls sit on Sara’s bed, forming a circle round her as she tells fantastical stories. I would watch it and think: I want to tell stories that make people gather round me...

The US songwriter’s third album has drawn rave reviews, she counts Taylor Swift as a fan and pop bears the imprint of her wit and pathos. Her peers explain how she did it This week, indie star Phoebe Bridgers releases her long-awaited third album, six years since her pandemic-era breakthrough. Alongside a slew of glittering reviews for Lost Weekend, including five stars from the Guardian, with it comes her first solo charting single in the UK – although the Californian musician’s influence runs far deeper than reviews or record sales could measure. Just how did a RuneScape-referencing, Halloween-costumed Berklee drop-out become the most influential songwriter of the 2020s? Bridgers’ idiosyncratic writing has shaped the sound of the decade. Her second album Punisher, released in June 2020 (and recorded many months before), spookily anticipated that strange, lonely year: in her eerie double-tracked vocals (a nod to Bridgers’ musical hero, Elliott Smith), Bridgers sang of empty shopping malls and conspiracy theories over lush, unsettling music made from watery electric guitar, Mellotron, strings, screams and birdsong. Today, Bridgers’ distinctive mix of dry wit and pathos is traceable in the lyrics of pop’s new chart toppers, such as Olivia Rodrigo and Gracie Abrams, while heavyweights across generations and genres, including Paul McCartney, Taylor Swift and SZA, have clamoured for collaborations. “She is the reference now,” Swift told the Guardian in 2022...

Unexploded ordnance and a military motorcycle also recovered owing to record heat and drought conditions Record-low water levels in the Danube have exposed remnants of Europe’s Nazi past, with dozens of second world war warships emerging from the riverbed during an intense drought. In the middle of the river on the Serbian and Romanian border, a broken-up hull was visible on a sandbank that is normally underwater. Other vessels were partly submerged, some still believed to be laden with weapons...

Mike Ashley says it’s in a ‘death spiral’ but a refocus on design could be what the department store needs Such was the buzz around Harvey Nichols in its 90s heyday that the department store was regularly name-checked in Absolutely Fabulous, with Edina and Patsy’s frequent retail therapy trips to the store reflecting its position at the heart of the fashion industry at the time. How times change. These days Harvey Nichols is a business in trouble, one that has not turned a profit since the pandemic. Pre-tax losses were £35.3m in 2024. The retail chain – comprising the the original store in Knightsbridge, London, plus stores in cities including Bristol, Leeds and Manchester – was put up for sale in June by its current owner, Sir Dickson Poon, with Mike Ashley’s Frasers Group and Next bidding to take control...

Viral video fuels concerns over Ukraine’s ‘busification’ and alleged abuse by recruitment officers.

Instead of scrapping its network of bomb shelters after the Cold War, Switzerland kept building them. The country has more than 370,000 nuclear bomb shelters. Some are now used to house migrants.

Abelardo de la Espriella used his maiden speech to promise an "all-out war" on what he calls "narco-terrorism".

While the Middle East waits to hear whether a deal can be reached to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, the Yemeni government’s conflict with Iran-backed Houthi rebels escalated overnight.