RSPCA says pet abandonments in England and Wales rose by almost 25% in 2025 compared with 2024 There is an “epidemic” of dogs, cats and other pets being abandoned as owners struggle to cope with the cost of living crisis, the UK’s largest animal welfare charity has said. The RSPCA said abandonments in England and Wales had risen by almost 25% in 2025 compared with last year, reaching their highest rate for at least five years. Continue reading...

Study calls for depression treatment to be suspended for more research after reports of heart problems and emotional blunting Electroconvulsive therapy could be causing a wider range of adverse effects when used to treat depression than previously understood, according to a paper that calls for the practice to be suspended pending more robust research. Although short- and long-term memory loss is widely known to result from ECT, the research identified 25 further concerning side effects, which included cardiovascular problems, fatigue and emotional blunting. Continue reading...

Molecular profiles will give detailed snapshot of person’s physiology and predict diseases from diabetes to cancer and dementia The world’s largest study into key substances in the bloodstream has paved the way for a swathe of pinprick tests that can detect early signs of disease more than a decade before symptoms appear, researchers say. Work on the tests follows the completion of a project by the UK Biobank to measure the levels of nearly 250 different proteins, sugars, fats and other compounds in blood collected from half a million volunteers. Continue reading...

Jerry Smith condemns opinion written by Jeffrey Brown and mentions Soros name 17 times in 104-page dissent In a highly unusual opinion, a US federal judge berated his fellow judge with a series of personal attacks, and suggested that the billionaire George Soros had a role in an opinion striking down Texas’s congressional districts. The 104-page dissent from US district judge Jerry Smith, a Reagan appointee, was issued a day after two of his colleagues on a three-judge panel said the new congressional map Texas adopted earlier this year was likely unlawful because it discriminated against non-white voters. Continue reading...

Forward makes claim about dressing room incident at Montpellier ‘It was hard to see it as merely a simple error,’ says Matildas star Matildas star Mary Fowler has claimed she experienced racism while at Montpellier in 2022 when she was given bananas while others in the squad received flowers at the end of her final season with the French club. The explosive revelations are contained in her memoir Bloom, which was released this week and details the extensive challenges she has faced in her young career, including a pattern of self harm she has worked hard to overcome. Continue reading...

Brown University researchers run joint-and-drink study to find alcohol consumption falls after smoking cannabis It turns out that going “California sober” may actually help you stay away from alcohol, according to new research published in the the American Journal of Psychiatry. A team of Brown University researchers conducted a study in which participants were given marijuana joints to smoke and then sent out to a controlled “bar lab”, in which they then were given the choice to have up to eight mini alcoholic beverages. The experiment was conducted three separate times: once with 7.2% THC cannabis, once with 3.1% THC cannabis, and once with 0.03% THC cannabis, which was considered a placebo. Continue reading...

Some may be nostalgic for a time when the landline made communication a family affair, before smartphones were an extension of each of us When something becomes old and then new again during my lifetime, I might be forgiven for feeling at once quite aged and a little sentimental. But suggestions that the landline telephone may be having a cultural renaissance just make me feel old and somewhat triggered by experiences of fraught teenage social negotiations over the long obsolete rotary dial phone of my youth. Sign up for a weekly email featuring our best reads Paul Daley is a Guardian Australia columnist Continue reading...

Critics warn move could have devastating impact on lives and wellbeing of those affected New Zealand has announced it is banning new prescriptions of puberty-blocking drugs for young transgender people, in a move that critics warned could worsen the mental health of those affected. The step comes amid growing global debate about the number of adolescents seeking to change gender, dividing those concerned about hastiness in prescribing such medications and those worried about access to remedies they deem lifesaving. Continue reading...

Alessia Russo’s second-half brace earned Arsenal a 2-1 comeback win against Real Madrid in the Women’s Champions League. The hosts enjoyed plenty of opportunities during the first half but the former Arsenal player Caroline Weir sent the visitors ahead on the stroke of half-time with a brilliant volley. Continue reading...

JMW Turner left behind some 37,000 sketches when he died, many of which have rarely been seen. Do they – including a huge collection of explicit sketches – reveal truths about the elusive man? The hook for Turner: the Secret Sketchbooks is meant to be that many of the 37,000 sketches left behind by the great British painter JMW Turner have rarely been seen and never been filmed; therein may be hints at the nuances of his elusive character that his main oeuvre kept hidden. Equally remarkable, though, is the documentary’s bold choice of contributors. As well as the art historians and present-day British artists who would dominate a standard art film, there are famous laymen, from the obviously somewhat qualified – Timothy Spall played the artist in Mike Leigh’s biographical film Mr Turner; Chris Packham is well placed to comment on Turner’s reverence for the natural world – to the more surprising hire of Ronnie Wood from the Rolling Stones. Neither the sketchbooks nor the celebs turn the documentary format upside down, but they add something to a distillation of Turner’s life and legacy that balances accessibility with analytical muscle. Will a previously uninitiated viewer now be more likely to attend a Turner exhibition? Yes. Can existing Turner experts finesse their knowledge? Yes. Job done. Continue reading...

Fortnight-long event to be held in Antalya but Australia may lead negotiations Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Turkey will host the Cop31 climate conference after the Australian government dropped its push to hold the event in Adelaide at the last moment – despite having invested in a more than three-year campaign. Independent sources confirmed to the Guardian that the fortnight-long event would be held in Turkey’s Mediterranean resort city of Antalya in November 2026. Continue reading...

The clip of the US president on Air Force One last Friday has taken off without much help from the media itself It’s one outrage in days full of outrageous material. “Quiet, piggy,” Donald Trump told a female reporter in a press gaggle, pointing his finger at her angrily. Continue reading...

Plans for 39 grass courts were given approval in 2024 Pressure has led to judicial review of that decision Wimbledon’s battle to build 39 new grass courts on a nearby golf course has taken a fresh twist after local residents were granted permission to take a judicial review case to the court of appeal. Last year the All England Club (AELTC) was given approval by Jules Pipe, the London deputy mayor for planning and regeneration, to build the courts on what used to be Wimbledon Park Golf Club – a decision that was then endorsed in the high court on 21 July. However, the Save Wimbledon Park pressure group challenged that verdict and on Monday it was announced that Lord Justice Holgate had granted a judicial review of the court’s decision. Continue reading...

Autocrats like Prince Mohammed are eager to benefit from Trump’s brazen effort to use the presidency to enrich himself and his family Donald Trump and Mohammed bin Salman, the Saudi crown prince, appeared together at a US-Saudi investment summit at the Kennedy Center. It’s all part of a rehabilitation tour for Prince Mohammed, years after US intelligence agencies concluded that he had ordered the assassination of Jamal Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist and Saudi dissident. In October 2018, Khashoggi was ambushed inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul by a 15-member hit team, who dismembered his body with a bone saw. For a time, the killing turned Prince Mohammed into an international pariah. But Trump never wavered in his support of the Saudi leader, and during his first term protected the prince from US sanctions and pressure from Congress. Mohamad Bazzi is director of the Center for Near Eastern Studies, and a journalism professor, at New York University Continue reading...

CCRC says new evidence undermines narrative Durrell Goodall, Reano Walters and Trey Wilson were in a gang The convictions of three young black men for murder after a controversial 2017 prosecution under the “joint enterprise” legal doctrine have been referred back to the court of appeal. The Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) said on Wednesday that new evidence submitted on behalf of Durrell Goodall, Reano Walters and Trey Wilson, who were 20, 19 and 19 respectively when they were convicted, undermines a core of the prosecution’s case that they were members of a gang. Continue reading...

As the US president has flailed around looking for someone to shout at, it’s the media, his familiar old foe, which has drawn the sharpest attacks This was originally published in This Week in Trumpland; sign up to receive it in your inbox every Wednesday “I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody,” Donald Trump claimed in 2016, “and I wouldn’t lose any voters.” Coming two weeks before the Iowa caucus, it was an unusual message from a politician, but the last nine years have served to underscore the point. His “Make America great again” base, and the bulk of the Republican party, stood with him through (deep breath): two impeachments, children in cages, “very fine people on both sides”, 34 felony convictions, an insurrection, “shithole countries”, attempting to overturn an election, hush money payments to an adult film actor, “they’re rapists”, a brutal immigration crackdown, Four Seasons Total Landscaping, “grab ‘em by the pussy”, billions of dollars made by the Trump family, cosying up to dictators, “don’t look!”, mass pardons for his allies and friends, an unfinished wall, “liberation day”, presenting himself as a king, forcing Donald Trump Jr into the public consciousness, and more. Trump has responded to the insubordination in the ways he knows best: pettiness and cruelty. Continue reading...

Manchester United succumbed to the first defeat of their inaugural Champions League campaign 5-2 against Wolfsburg thanks to braces from both Ella Peddemors and Lineth Beerensteyn and a late finish from Vivien Endemann. The temperature in Wolfsburg may have been close to freezing but the players on the pitch did their bit to warm up the 3,817 spectators in the Volkswagen Arena. Five first-half goals raised the temperature of those present as momentum swung between the two. Continue reading...

Samantha Niblett highlighted government’s multi-billion-pound deals with Microsoft and ‘getting locked in’ Microsoft has “ripped off the NHS”, it was alleged in parliament on Wednesday, as MPs called on ministers to divert more of the government’s multi-billion-pound computing budget away from US technology firms and towards British companies. The Seattle-based firm’s UK government contracts include a five-year deal with the NHS to provide productivity tools reportedly worth over £700m, while the wider government spent £1.9bn on Microsoft software licences in the 2024-25 financial year alone. Continue reading...

Can Ben Stokes really lead England to victory in Australia? Set your alarms and gird your loins, this one’s not just big, it’s positively Brobdingnagian Continue reading...

Company set to beat Wall Street expectations but analysts await projections for future demand for firm’s AI chips All eyes are on Nvidia, the bellwether for the AI industry, as analysts and investors hope the chipmaker’s third-quarter earnings assuage concerns about whether the high-flying valuations of AI firms have peaked. A great deal will ride on how confident Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang appears in his forward-looking guidance. Analysts and experts say that although they are largely confident Nvidia will beat Wall Street expectations, they’re anxiously awaiting news on the status of industry demand for the firm’s AI chips. Continue reading...

David Maltinsky, a 16-year veteran, says in lawsuit agency retaliated against him for engaging in protected speech A longtime FBI employee has filed a lawsuit alleging that he was fired for displaying a Pride flag at his desk, naming FBI director Kash Patel, the justice department and attorney general Pam Bondi as defendants. According to David Maltinsky, an intelligence specialist who had served with the bureau for 16 years, his wrongful termination earlier this year was “unconstitutional and politically motivated”. Continue reading...

More than 300 people most at risk are move to shelters as tallest peak on Java island unleashes clouds of hot ash Indonesia’s Mount Semeru, the highest peak on Java island, has erupted, blanketing several villages with falling ash, prompting evacuations and leading authorities to raise the alert to the highest level. The volcano in East Java province unleashed searing clouds of hot ash and a mixture of rock, lava and gas that travelled up to 7km (4 miles) down its slopes several times from midday to dusk, while a thick column of hot clouds rose 2km into the air, Indonesia’s Geology Agency said in a statement. Continue reading...

WCL updates from Meadow Park; kick-off 8pm GMT Scores | Table | Read Moving the Goalposts | Mail Scott Real Madrid coach Pau Quesada speaks to Disney Plus. “A very attractive fixture … we have similar identities as teams … this is one of the most attractive fixtures in Europe … Arsenal are still a very good team [despite their early-season form] … they will create chances … they will be up there in the WSL and Women’s Champions League … having said that we hope to capitalise on any mistakes … we weren’t clinical enough [against Barcelona] so we need to improve that, especially against the best teams in Europe.” Beth Mead might not be starting tonight. But she’s leading the line in the campaign to tackle climate change. Here’s her piece from today’s Guardian, a vivid picture of how global warming is already impacting on football around the world. Continue reading...

The government wants major social networks to be less attractive for foreign agents after MPs faced ‘covert and calculated’ attempts The government is holding talks with LinkedIn on how it can clamp down on prolific Chinese espionage activity after a rare interference alert was issued by MI5. The National Protective Security Authority, which is part of the UK’s security services, is speaking to major social media platforms about making them less attractive for foreign agents, a government official told the Guardian. Continue reading...

Unclear if Trump administration backs deal that would mean Kyiv giving up territory and slashing size of military US and Russian officials have quietly drafted a new plan to end the war in Ukraine that would require Kyiv to surrender territory and severely limit the size of its military, it was reported on Wednesday as Russian drone and missile strikes killed at least 25 people in the city of Ternopil. . Continue reading...