BBC World
Isabel Rose was convicted of trying to extort £100,000 from the UK banker and perverting the course of justice.
The Guardian
EU set for for worst crop harvest in decade after total grain yield estimated to be 9m tonnes smaller than expected, analysis findsThe heatwave that swept across Europe in June is estimated to have cost the continent’s grain farmers €2bn (£1.7bn) in lost revenue and destroyed 10m tonnes of crops, according to a new analysis, raising concern about the impact on food prices.The European harvest of crops including wheat, barley, maize and oats is now predicted to be 9m tonnes smaller than forecast
The Guardian
As measles, hantavirus and cyclospora spread, experts say lost staff and expertise are slowing the responseA series of health challenges – hantavirus, screwworm, Ebola, cyclospora, measles, whooping cough, bird flu – are exposing the widening gaps in America’s ability to prevent, identify and halt infectious disease outbreaks.The rapid dismantling of the US public health system at all levels means the US is in worse shape than it was before the Covid pandemic, former top CDC officials say. Conti
WSJ World News
French prosecutors are investigating the death of Daniel Siad who scouted models for Jeffrey Epstein.
The Guardian
Daniel Siad faced allegations of rape and trafficking in France and appeared in more than 1,000 documents in Epstein filesA modelling scout who recruited women for Jeffrey Epstein has been found dead at his home near Paris, French officials have said.Daniel Siad, 69, was under investigation by the prosecutors specialising in human trafficking in France, accused of rape and other charges. His name appeared in more than 1,000 documents in the US Department of Justice Epstein files that were declas
The Guardian
US secretary of state says international community should ‘join forces’ against authoritarian Ortega regimeNicaragua’s congress, controlled by the country’s long-serving president, Daniel Ortega, has announced a “work plan” to implement the authoritarian leader’s order that the country should no longer hold elections.The UN and the US strongly condemned Sunday’s announcement by Ortega, who has been in power since 2007 and, after a controversial constitutional change last year, now governs alongs
Washington Post World
Amid battlefield gains, President Volodymyr Zelensky removed popular officials in a major shakeup.
The Guardian
Bloomsbury has 14,087 titles listed within settlement between AI startup and authors over use of protected workThe publisher of Harry Potter has received a multimillion-pound payout as a beneficiary of a $1.5bn copyright settlement between AI startup Anthropic and thousands of authors over the use of their protected work to power chatbots.Bloomsbury, which is home to bestselling novelists Sarah J Maas and Susanna Clarke as well as JK Rowling, said it had 14,087 titles listed within the settlemen
WSJ World News
The president’s comments are the latest indication that the fragile ceasefire is on the verge of collapse.
WSJ World News
We evaluated the nation’s top auto insurance companies to find the best overall value.
NY Times World
The president said punishing 50 percent tariffs would begin by Aug. 19, a significant escalation of the trade war between Canada and the U.S. that he started over a year ago.
The Guardian
Researchers listening off the Caribbean island of Dominica found variations in the mammals’ audible clicks when marine traffic was closeSperm whales produce a specific pattern of clicking noises when they hear the noise of boats, researchers have found. The pattern is so distinct that the scientists who identified it said they can now use it to predict when ships are nearby.Researchers from Project Ceti (the Cetacean Translation Initiative), a non-profit research organisation working to decode s
The Guardian
Ex-chief executive Matthew Wright among those named in criminal proceedings by Environment AgencyBritain’s Environment Agency (EA) is bringing a fraud case against four former Southern Water employees, including the former chief executive Matthew Wright, over allegations they manipulated wastewater testing results.The regulator said the four had allegedly conspired to defraud the Environment Agency and water regulator Ofwat between 2012 and 2017 by creating artificial “no-flow” even
BBC World
The agreement would fulfil a long-held Saudi ambition but could attract concern in Israel and from some US lawmakers.
The Guardian
Anthony Albanese will cast ‘practical’ policies as the key to countering the anxiety and frustration in AustraliaGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastStudents in 10 fields including physiotherapy, speech pathology and clinical psychology will receive financial assistance to complete mandatory placements under a major expansion of the federal government’s paid work experience program.The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, will make the announcement in a speech to open the Lab
The Guardian
Isabel Rose, 26, given six-year sentence for blackmail and perverting course of justice after accusing British bankerA British woman who reported being raped to police in Hong Kong has been sentenced to six years in prison for blackmail and perverting the course of public justice.Isabel Rose, 26, from south-east London traveled to Hong Kong in early 2024 to visit a British banker she had met while travelling in south-east Asia. Continue reading...
NY Times World
An Israeli minister sought to downplay the deal, but critics said it could spur other regional countries to pursue a nuclear program, and potentially the creation of a bomb.
The Guardian
Administration will also overhaul how US government funds federal research by supporting individual scientists and AI over universitiesThe US will spend $5bn to tackle longstanding scientific problems across multiple fields using AI, the Trump administration said in a statement on Wednesday. The agencies will use the funding to identify the root causes of chronic diseases, accelerate drug discovery and develop longer-lasting building materials, among other tasks, according to the statement.S
The Guardian
Pete Hegseth reveals costs so far as Trump administration seeks more funding. Plus, rediscovered plane wreck that changed flying for everGood morning.The US defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, has told the Senate that the US-Israel war on Iran has cost $37.5bn so far, as he faced lawmakers furious over the conflict’s soaring price tag and the deaths last week of three American service members. He defended the Trump administration’s roughly $88bn supplemental funding request, calling it “urgent, nec
The Guardian
Whales flown to US aquariums after long-running saga in which Marineland had threatened to euthanise cetaceansSix beluga whales have at last left Marineland, the embattled Canadian marine park in Niagara Falls that previously threatened to kill its own animals, and are arriving at US aquariums this week.While the whales’ journey into the US marks the end of their long and controversial saga of captivity in Canada, advocates say the new conditions, though superior to Marineland, could bring conti