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Showing posts from August, 2026

Maresca concedes Manchester City ‘a work in progress’ after hair-raising escape

Gvardiol’s stoppage-time strike gives City points ‘I’m looking for solutions. When you win games it helps’ Enzo Maresca said Manchester City remain a “work in progress” after Sunday’s last-gasp win over Bournemouth at the Etihad Stadium. Marc Guéhi’s 85th-minute equaliser and Josko Gvardiol’s 91st-minute winner gave City’s new manager victory in his first game, after Marcus Tavernier’s first-half strike for the visitors. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/12v9BXb

I’d heard ringing in my ears before. This time, it didn’t stop

Miranda Luby was only 36 years old when her tinnitus arrived in the middle of the night, without warning and for no clear reason One night two years ago I was lying in bed when I began to hear a high-pitched, electronic hum. The scene that followed would be comical if it wasn’t so traumatic. I roamed around the house in my PJs, frantically pressing my ears against various electrical appliances. It took half an hour to realise the sound was coming from inside my own head. I’d heard ringing in my ears before, rising then falling, like a one-note crescendo of an orchestra. As a kid I used to believe the myth it was the sound of dying ear cells, playing a swan song for a frequency I’d never hear again. This was different. This time, it didn’t stop. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/39xCF61

Aston Villa upheaval is a risk but Emery can release v2.0 and reap rewards | Jonathan Wilson

After exodus of key players, youthful arrivals over the summer amount to a fresh beginning with plenty to get excited about Last season was the greatest Aston Villa have enjoyed since they won the European Cup in 1982. They claimed their second European trophy by lifting the Europa League , but even without that would have secured Champions League qualification by finishing fourth in the Premier League. Despite a miserable start during which they failed to win any of their first five league games, there was even a spell around Christmas when it looked as though Villa might be challengers for the title. The question after a season like that is always: where next? Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/QXg7j3k

Quarter of branded baby foods in UK still have too much sugar, analysis finds

Exclusive: Of 224 branded infant foods and snacks, more than half are in breach of guidelines brought in a year ago Almost a quarter of popular branded baby foods sold in UK supermarkets still contain excessive amounts of sugar, analysis suggests, a year after the government introduced voluntary industry guidelines . In August 2025 the government gave baby food manufacturers 18 months to reduce the sugar and salt content of their products, stop marketing snacks to infants under 12 months, and address misleading and inaccurate labelling that makes some infant foods appear healthier than they actually are. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/oRv2Cq8

33m tons of toxic seaweed clogs Caribbean beaches – video

A record amount of sargassum has piled up along coastlines of the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico. Sargassum is a brown seaweed that causes lower oxygen levels and foul-smelling gases when it decomposes on beaches. Researchers and marine scientists have warned that the algae build-up starves underwater plant life of sunlight, affects human health and can leak arsenic into sand Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/BYH349i

Crybabies: The Scaring review – chills and laughs abound in twisty tale of demonic possession

Pleasance Courtyard, Edinburgh This fantastic comic play from the Radio 4 trio unleashes a torrent of great gags and illusions Horror pastiche has a proud lineage at this festival – for example Garth Marenghi , and Andrew Doherty’s hit Gay Witch Sex Cult two summers ago. In that company, Crybabies ’ The Scaring can stand as tall as the demon Haeldrrun towering over its finale: it’s another fantastic comic play from the Radio 4 trio of Michael Clarke, James Gault and Ed Jones with chills as well as laughs, and production values rarely seen on the fringe. A tale of demonic possession and a disillusioned priest, set in a guesthouse that makes the Overlook in The Shining seem five-star by comparison, it’s as tightly packed with smart gags as a hotelier’s cellar with the corpses of slaughtered guests. The plotting, too, is twistier than Regan’s neck in The Exorcist , a moment referenced in one creepy/comical scene here featuring a haunted dolly. It begins with two priests exorcising a bea...

Edmonton Marathon admits 2026 route was more than half a kilometre too long

Canadian contest sparked outrage from scores of frustrated runners online and in Canadian media The organisers of the Edmonton Marathon have admitted the course was more than half a kilometre too long, after outrage from scores of runners who complained about the distance. The error resulted in the upending of runners’ personal bests and potentially prevented some from breaking records. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/de0Snzs

Wladimir Klitschko pays tribute to ex-partner Hayden Panettiere: ‘She left this world too soon’

Boxing champion says he will raise their daughter, Kaya, to remember the late actor’s ‘immense talent’ Hayden Panettiere ’s daughter will be raised to remember her mother’s “immense talent” and “incredible career”, according to a tribute posted on social media on Tuesday by Wladimir Klitschko, the ex-lineal world heavyweight boxing champion and the late Hollywood actor’s former partner. Their daughter, Kaya, has been raised by the Ukrainian retired world boxing champion since 2018, when Panettiere ceded full custody to concentrate on her battles with alcoholism, depression and substance abuse. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/xCwhDmG

It is time for freakishly gifted Harry Brook to come of age in England’s post-Bazball era | Ali Martin

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. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/pbLfrqd

Todd Boehly and Mark Walter consider selling Chelsea shares to Clearlake Capital

Chelsea chair Boehly and Walter each own about 13% Sale would give Clearlake effective control of club at 86% The Chelsea chair, Todd Boehly, and director Mark Walter are considering selling their shares in the club to the majority owners, Clearlake Capital, in a deal that would give the private equity company complete control at Stamford Bridge. Clearlake, whose investment is managed by Behdad Eghbali and José E Feliciano, already owns more than 60% of Chelsea, but in an unusual arrangement agreed when buying the club from Roman Abramovich four years ago, they share operational control with a consortium led by Boehly, who along with Walter and Hansjörg Wyss each own about 13%. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/CdSJZ49

Blackbox review – a legendary escape from slavery is told with magic tricks

Underbelly, Edinburgh The story of Henry ‘Box’ Brown, who succeeded in mailing himself out of bondage, is recounted rather than fully dramatised Henry “Box” Brown is wrapped up in chains when he has an idea to claim his freedom. As inspiration hits him, actor Josiah Alpher flexes his muscles and, miraculously, the chains appear to pass through his neck. Magic! It is a neat visual metaphor for a true story that seems miraculous in itself. In 1849, Brown made a break to flee slavery near Richmond, Virginia, by posting himself in a wooden crate to Philadelphia, a state where ownership of human beings had been phased out by the Gradual Abolition Act of 1780. Alpher describes a painful journey, squashed, upturned and knocked about, before Brown’s happy delivery . Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/QJnAhoL

‘Dangerously hostile’: heatwaves leave hospital wards unsafe, data reveals

Figures disclosed by 33 NHS trusts show temperatures on wards during July rose above 28C limit set by NHS England Hospitals in England have recorded temperatures of almost 42C this summer, with surgeries being cancelled because operating theatres’ cooling units stopped working in the intense heat. The Northern Care Alliance NHS foundation trust, which runs four hospitals in Greater Manchester, recorded a temperature of 41.8C during last month’s heatwave – 14C above the recommended safe maximum. Some patients are also cancelling their own surgery because it is too hot for them to travel. Hospitals and GP surgeries are offering frail elderly patients appointments at the start and end of the day, when it is less hot, to make it easier for them to attend. Ambulance services are struggling to keep some medications at the right temperature because it gets so hot in the back of their vehicles. NHS ambulance trusts have relaxed their usual dress code rules to help crews stay cooler, for examp...

Cheryl Hall obituary

Actor who played Shirley Johnson in the sitcom Citizen Smith, and whose dozens of other roles included EastEnders, Doctor Who and The Bill Cheryl Hall, who has died aged 76, was an actor best known for her roles in 1970s sitcoms. As Shirley Johnson in Citizen Smith, she was the girlfriend of Wolfie, the would-be revolutionary leading the Tooting Popular Front with the battle cry “power to the people”. Wolfie Smith, played by Hall’s then husband, the actor Robert Lindsay, and his small “army” of self-styled urban guerrillas, are simply inept, concocting plans such as stealing a Scorpion tank in order to mount an attack on the House of Commons, only to discover that parliament is in recess. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/Ugnf2lV

Come Back Home review – loss and love in Palestinian artist’s intriguing fringe hour

Summerhall, Edinburgh Fadi Murad’s unconventional drama is a collage structured with the free-form imagination of a poet Last year, a group of Scottish producers staged a four-day mini festival called Welcome to the Fringe, Palestine . One of the excerpts was a scratch performance by Fadi Murad, which now returns as a full-length show. It is not a conventional drama. Rather, Come Back Home is structured with the free-ranging imagination of a poet, an impressionistic collage that resists straightforward interpretation. Murad’s theme is one of loss and the pull of home, focusing in particular on the death of his mother in a car accident when he was nine. He speaks touchingly from a child’s perspective of what it meant to lose the nurturer in his life, the one he turned to in just such a moment of distress. And he shares video footage of his younger self singing Mad World by Tears for Fears at her memorial. It is as cute as it is sad. At Summerhall, Edinburgh , until 31 August All our Ed...

EJ Swift wins the 2026 Arthur C Clarke award for science fiction

The writer – who was also shortlisted in 2023 – has won the prize for her book When There Are Wolves Again, a speculative work of eco-fiction set in near-future Britain A novel about rewilding and climate activism in Britain has been named this year’s winner of the Arthur C Clarke award for science fiction. When There Are Wolves Again by EJ Swift is an “ambitious study in the power of long-term hope in the face of climate breakdown”, said the award’s director, Tom Hunter. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/Sd752QT

Former Mexican governor charged in case of 43 students who vanished in 2014

Ángel Aguirre indicted in case that rocked Mexico and became symbol of its brutal cartel violence The former governor of Guerrero state in Mexico has been formally charged over his alleged involvement in the disappearance of 43 students in 2014, a case that has become a symbol of the country’s brutal cartel violence and government impunity. Ángel Aguirre, who was arrested last week , is accused of forced disappearance and obstruction of justice for ordering the destruction of surveillance tapes that may have shed light on what happened to the students from the Ayotzinapa teacher training college on the night of 26 September 2014. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/0Nxe6mA

Stokes’ presence and group stage drama add to One-Day Cup’s quiet resurgence

Dawn of the Hundred may have ‘devalued’ the competition, but events at New Road show there is still life in county cricket The Metro Bank One-Day Cup has been a bit of a sleeper hit this summer. Words such as “devalued” and “second tier” have followed the tournament since the dawn of the Hundred in 2021 but there has been a quiet resurgence of late. The prolonged dry spell has provided certainty and pleasant conditions. But the big one has been the Hundred’s tractor beam slightly easing. Essentially, the full availability of England players – plus one extra overseas spot per franchise – has lessened the strain on county 50-over squads and upped their quality a touch. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/4yfuWHb

Ten Ways to Die Happy review – gameshow invites you to don a robe and treasure time

Underbelly, Bristo Square, Edinburgh Audience members are invited to examine what they will do with their lives in this earnest shared thought experiment If you could hold the years of your life in your hands like coins, would you choose to spend them differently? This is the thoughtful, earnest tone of Ten Ways to Die Happy, an existential but somewhat formulaic Italian production (performed here in English) created by Emanuele Aldrovandi and Jacopo Giacomoni. In this gentle gameshow, we are asked not just to consider how we would use the finite time we have, but to put this thought experiment into practice. Eight people are plucked at random from the audience. My number is called, so I don a white robe, choose a new name for my new life, and take a seat on stage. Perla Ambrosini is our ethereal host, standing in fabric armour in a shallow pool of water. Each of us has a tray of flowers that we throw into the pool, every plastic bud representing the “energy” available to invest in wor...

Harriet Richardson: Creep review – a scandalous delve into shame and desire

Pleasance Courtyard, Edinburgh With the air of a hungover postmortem, Richardson gives a head-spinning account of an encounter with an older comedian If you’re partial to a bit of gossip and scandal, Harriet Richardson is your girl. In this gloriously juicy debut hour, she dishes the dirt on the DMs she received from an older comedian and the intense, utterly absorbing events that followed. Yes, she found his eBay account. And yes, she spent six months tracking him down on a dating app only to play his profile song hundreds of times. But what else is a girl driven by obsession supposed to do? We meet Richardson, who until now has worked primarily as a performance artist, all smiles and ready to share. She takes us back to the creation of her 2024 viral piece 100 Dates , in which she spent Valentine’s Day online speed-dating in an attempt to analyse her relationship with infatuation and connection. The comedian in question used the project as the opening line of his first message to her...

Perseid meteor shower set to dazzle northern hemisphere this week

Astronomers say viewing conditions promising for this year’s shower, and 50 to 100 meteors an hour may be visible The Perseid summer light show is back, and viewing conditions are especially promising across the northern hemisphere. The meteor shower’s is expected to peak on Wednesday night into Thursday morning, and coincides with a total solar eclipse across Spain, Iceland and Greenland and a six-planet parade – though the best time to view the fireballs will come after totality. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/zYXwFsn

Navy says it is spending 25% more time monitoring Russian vessels around UK waters

Warning of increased activity as patrols spent 21 days in July shadowing Moscow’s ships in Dover Strait and North Sea The Royal Navy has warned of increasing Russian activity around the UK’s waters after it spent 21 days in July monitoring Moscow’s ships. Naval operations to monitor Russian vessels increased by 25% last month compared with the previous year, with warships making repeated voyages through the strait of Dover and the North Sea. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/C9gruUJ

Versatile Bruno Guimarães gives Mikel Arteta options to shuffle midfield pack | Ed Aarons

While able to play deeper, the onus will also be on Arsenal’s £75m signing to provide creativity in an attack that has struggled to break down the low block Data shows deal could be another set-piece masterstroke If there was one of his many assets Newcastle supporters grew to love above all about Bruno Guimarães then it was best summed up by the man himself after being unveiled as Arsenal’s new £75m signing . “That’s a tough one,” said the Brazil midfielder when asked what fans in north London can expect from him. “I would say I can pass the ball, run a lot and play like a warrior. I’ll never give up.” After more than four years on Tyneside and having seen Alexander Isak, Anthony Gordon and Sandro Tonali precede Eddie Howe’s departure, Guimarães – who was devastated after missing a penalty for the Seleção in their defeat against Norway in the last 16 of the World Cup – was determined to seize his opportunity. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/4wPtBMl

Jay-Z’s Roc Nation Sports making waves in European football transfer market

Vinícius Júnior and Yan Diomande are among more than 100 players at an agency owned by the hip-hop legend In the end there was a clear winner. And Jay-Z’s latest victory came only 24 hours after the first record featuring him actually rapping for four years had been released by his wife, Beyoncé, on an extended remix pack of Morning Dew (Donk). These days, the man who remains one of the most influential artists in hip-hop has his fingers in many pies, from the streaming service Tidal and his own streetwear brand, to champagne and cognac. But it is Roc Nation Sports – an offshoot of his entertainment company of the same name founded in 2008 – making headlines in the summer transfer window. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/ycG76DR

At least one person dead in California wildfire allegedly sparked by chainsaw

Police arrested Herbert Wayne Smith, 65, in connection with the Gann fire, which has burned more than 15 sq miles in Calaveras county At least one person has died in a wildfire burning in the foothills of California’s Sierra Nevada mountain range that officials believed was sparked by a man using a chainsaw. Police arrested Herbert Wayne Smith, 65, in connection with the Gann fire, which has destroyed seven buildings, scorched more than 15 sq miles in Calaveras county and killed a well-known dog breeder in the town of Angels Camp. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/DmGZCJO

Trump signs executive orders to deny US citizenship to children of so-called ‘birth tourists’– live

Pair of orders come month after supreme court struck down administration’s earlier attempt to place restrictions on birthright citizenship enshrined in US constitution Sign up for the Breaking News US email One quick note on the contempt resolution: Senator Rand Paul may try to send it straight to the Department of Justice, since advancing it in the Senate would require 60 votes . Republicans hold just 53 seats, making it almost certain to fall short of that threshold. Republicans on a Senate committee voted to hold Anthony Fauci in contempt of Congress on Thursday. This comes after a bitter hearing last week, where the retired public health official invoked the fifth amendment for fear of self-incrimination and possible prosecution by Republican lawmakers on the homeland security and governmental affairs committee – who have routinely vilified Fauci for his handling of the Covid-19 response. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/1vKYaLS

US Pacific north-west blanketed in thick smoke as firefighters push back blazes

Cities in Washington and Oregon seeing some of world’s worst air quality indices as smoke from fires cloaks region Wildfires raging in the US Pacific north-west are blanketing the region with thick smoke, delivering some of the world’s worst air quality even as firefighters made progress against larger blazes in Washington state. As of Thursday afternoon, Seattle, Washington, and Portland, Oregon, hovered at the top of Swiss company IQAir’s list ranking the most polluted cities globally. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/fsSVB9R

Aipac-linked Super Pacs spend millions in California to thwart progressive candidate

More than $5m in recent weeks have been spent in ads targeting Aisha Wahab and in support of Melissa Hernandez Super Pacs tied to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (Aipac) have spent millions in a California congressional race to keep a progressive Democrat from winning Eric Swalwell’s former seat. Aisha Wahab, a state senator who has been endorsed by the California Democratic party, is widely considered the frontrunner in the special election for the district covering a swathe of the East Bay. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/0EsuCYA

Real Madrid agree club-record £115m deal for Yan Diomandé and want to keep Vinícius

Forward becomes most expensive African player Club are in positive talks with Vinícius Júnior Real Madrid have agreed a club-record fee of €135m (£115.7m) with RB Leipzig for Yan Diomande and are confident of warding off Arsenal’s interest in Vinícius Júnior after offering an improved contract to the Brazil forward. After several weeks of negotiations that saw Paris Saint-Germain pull out of the race, the deal for Diomande – the 19-year-old who joined the German side from Leganés last summer and starred for Côte d’Ivoire at the World Cup – was finally struck on Wednesday afternoon. It is understood that Madrid will pay an initial €125m plus another €10m in add-ons, a total that would eclipse the fee the Spanish side paid Borussia Dortmund to sign Jude Bellingham in 2023 , believed to have been worth up to €134m including add-ons. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/JNu9b35

Peter Gill: a theatrical visionary with an unsparing honesty

Gill’s dramas of divided class loyalties such as The York Realist had a clear-eyed precision matched by his rigorous work as a director Peter Gill, playwright who turned ordinary lives into extraordinary drama, dies aged 86 Peter Gill, who has died aged 86, was one of the unsung heroes of British theatre. As both director and playwright his work was characterised by its uncompromising honesty and unflinching integrity. Much admired by his fellow artists, he at last achieved a degree of public fame in his annus mirabilis of 2002 when his terrific play The York Realist won a number of awards and the Sheffield Crucible staged a month-long retrospective of his work as well as a brand-new play, Original Sin . Few remember that Gill, born into a Welsh, working class Catholic family, began life as an actor: look closely and you can spot him in the film of Zulu. But it was at London’s Royal Court, where he began work as an associate director in 1964, that he learned his craft and acquired th...

Charlton up for sale again as US owners look to cash in after three years

Owners led by Gabriel Brener paid £15m in 2023 Buyer would be the club’s fifth owner in six years Charlton’s US owners have put the club up for sale just three years after taking over at the Valley. The Championship’s ownership group is understood to have engaged Oakwell Sports Advisory to find what would be the club’s fifth owners in the past six years. In a sales deck sent to potential investors, which has been seen by the Guardian, Oakwell describes Charlton as “the last remaining football club upside opportunity in London”. Oakwell also claims that Charlton would provide new owners with an opportunity for five to 10 times equity growth through promotion to the Premier League, commercial expansion and investment in women’s football. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/MNFVxdC

UCI president backs night-time drug testing after Tour de France controversy

David Lappartient says selective night testing is justified ‘We always have suspicion in cycling, due to our past’ The UCI president, David Lappartient, has said there will “always be suspicion in cycling” and insisted this year’s men’s Tour de France was clean. Lappartient, speaking at the start of stage two of the Tour de France Femmes in Aigle, also said he supported night-time testing during races in “exceptional cases”. Tadej Pogacar, the five-time champion, and his rival Jonas Vingegaard were subjected to night-time tests, at 5am and 2am respectively , by the International Testing Agency (ITA) midway through this year’s race. “We will not support something they do every night on the riders. The normal hours [of testing] are not in the night,” said the head of cycling’s governing body. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/DjUC5LS

Notes from a nursing home: ‘Our books told of who we were. The story of us. Then the movers came and asked what should go’

Pencil marks in the margins of books gathered over a lifetime was proof of a life lived. So when it came time for Andrew McKean to move into aged care, leaving his books behind made the self thinner My wife, Patricia, and I came to our nursing home with little more than clothes, a few photographs and some books we could still carry. The shelves we left behind still stand in the emptied rooms of the house we called home for 30 years. Those shelves once groaned under the weight of books we had gathered, page by page, year by year. Our books told of who we were, or who we thought we might become. There were the novels Patricia read in the long evenings after the children slept, their spines cracked from her hands. There were the histories I brought home from the library sales, dusty volumes of wars and voyages that filled the quiet hours when rain beat on the roof. Poetry too, slim books with thin paper, marked where a line struck true. We kept them not only for the stories printed insi...

Yealimi Noh leads Women’s Open by three shots after Ryu Hae-ran stumbles

Ryu’s bid for third consecutive major win in doubt England’s Lottie Woad and Charley Hull in contention Ryu Hae-ran has 18 holes to recover from events in the third round of the Women’s Open. Her stumble at Royal Lytham and St Annes would have counted as one of the most remarkable in recent major championship memory had it taken place a day later. Saturday proved it is never, ever over on terrain such as this. Adam Scott can verify that, such was his horrible capitulation here as Ernie Els claimed the Open of 2012. There must be something about Lytham. Ryu is looking to set an extraordinary record of three major wins in as many starts. Early in the third round, she looked firmly on course for that. The South Korean marched to a four-shot lead after four. Her advantage was the same on the 7th tee. By the time she walked from the 18th green, Ryu was three adrift of Yealimi Noh. Quite the turnaround. How damaging? That remains to be seen. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://i...