The Guardian

Britain’s spooks take quiet satisfaction from survey ranking Secret Intelligence Service Europe’s top espionage agency MI6 has the swagger of James Bond; its French equivalent, DGSE, the complexities of the television drama Le Bureau. The film and TV shows may be fictional, but a survey run by a French magazine that placed the British spy agency above the French as No 1 across all of Europe this …

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 no…

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 bru…

Ryder Williams, 16, presented with distinctive red jacket by star of TV rescuer reboot, Stephen Amell As life imitates art and vice versa, the star of the Baywatch reboot recently presented one of the distinctive red jackets seen on the beach rescuer drama to the teenage lifeguard who went viral for saving a boy off the California coast on camera. Stephen Amell, who was cast as the main protagoni…

Donald Trump’s former defense lawyer confirmed by 50 votes to 49 early on Saturday morning, with senators deferring action on president’s voting bill until after recess Todd Blanche faced heavy criticism for the department’s sloppy rollout of files related to Jeffrey Epstein, which redacted information that should not have been redacted and left unredacted the names of victims that should have be…

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 frag…

The US president’s profound ignorance of his enemy has led to an impotent cycle of empty threats, analysts say Being the subject of mockery may be the most intense of all Donald Trump’s known aversions. Yet more than five months after embarking on a war of choice against Iran, the US president risks attracting ridicule as he struggles to secure a military victory – while repeatedly threatening de…

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 w…

Watchdog examines alleged failure to pursue a line of inquiry ‘which may have been relevant’ Counter-terrorism police investigating the death of Ann Widdecombe have reopened an inquiry into an attempted incident last year, in which Nigel Farage’s home was allegedly firebombed. During the incident in April 2025, a lit incendiary device was pushed through the Reform UK leader’s letterbox, according…

Major win for president as former personal lawyer wins approval despite outcry over $1.8bn slush fund The US senate voted to confirm Todd Blanche as attorney general in a major win for Donald Trump, who will now have his one-time personal attorney sitting atop the nation’s law enforcement apparatus. Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana cast the deciding vote in Blanche’s favor after two other Republ…

London mayor points to ‘terrifying scenes’ this summer amid speculation Burnham may back Jackdaw and Rosebank projects Sadiq Khan: This burning summer is the proof: the voices of climate denial aren’t just delusional, they’re deadly Sadiq Khan has called on the government to commit to revamped climate action and to reduce the UK’s reliance on oil and gas, as the UK endures a summer of drought, wi…

UK hosts decades-old event for first time where many participants are from opposite sides of global disputes from Israel and Palestine, to India and Pakistan On the surface it looks like a normal summer school in the Devon countryside, with teenagers playing volleyball in the sun, doing arts and crafts in the hall, and preparing for the night’s talent show. But behind the scenes, intensive discus…

Somosierra will be prime spot to view celestial alignment on 12 August, an event that poses logistical challenges Little stirs in the mountains above Somosierra beyond the wind that lashes the flat peaks, the cows that graze on parched grass and the sun that beats down on the abandoned aerodrome where generations of glider pilots learned to ride air currents alongside squadrons of vultures and re…

Documents published on US embassy’s website prompt claims of attempt to export Maga propaganda to UK The US embassy in London is offering grants of up to half a million dollars for new “public education” programmes in what has been criticised as interference in British domestic politics. Using language that the pro-Trump Maga movement has sought to appropriate, a funding notice identifies a goal …

Scientists race to untangle complex links between exposure and mortality as fire weather grows more prevalent A thousand kilometres from the infernos gorging on northern Ontario’s boreal forests, Erin O’Connor watched the sky above Canada’s biggest city turn an “almost post-apocalyptic” orange as it filled with light-scattering particles of soot and ash. Stepping outside the halls of Toronto Gene…