Italy condemns Spain’s ‘unacceptable’ border controls as Ceuta fallout intensifies 09. August 2026 (16:59) Travellers caught up in migration row as Madrid introduces checks on visitors from Italy in retaliation for Rome’s moveItaly’s foreign minister has called Spain’s decision to impose retaliatory checks on travellers from Italy “incomprehensible and completely unacceptable” as people making their way between the two EU countries were left grappling with the effects of the escalating feud.Spain started carrying out spot checks on visitors from Italy at midnight on Saturday. The tit-for-tat move came after Rome infuriated Madrid by launching checks on 1 August for travellers from Spain in response to the recent influx of about 72,000 people into Ceuta, a Spanish territory in north Africa. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Captain charged after woman and five-month-old die in New York boat capsizing 09. August 2026 (16:47) Manuel Hernandez charged with 13 counts of reckless endangerment after boat overturned in New York harborThe captain of a boat that capsized in the New York harbor on Saturday evening has been charged following the deaths of a 27-year-old woman and five-month-old girl.Manuel Hernandez, 46, was arrested and charged with 13 counts of reckless endangerment in the early hours of Sunday morning, a New York police department spokesperson told the Guardian. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Taylor Swift songs removed from Trump and White House’s social media posts 09. August 2026 (16:33) Rage-baiting efforts of Trump accounts silenced after posts such as a video linking her Red album to RepublicansSome of Taylor Swift’s songs have been removed from videos posted on social media by Donald Trump’s campaign and the White House, silencing efforts to mock the pop star.A video posted 3 August featuring the US president and the first lady, Melania Trump, watching fireworks was posted this month on TikTok with Swift’s song August. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Chinese EV sales surge to new high in Europe putting tariffs under scrutiny 09. August 2026 (16:30) Imports this year now account for 14% of the market amid claims vehicles are being dumped in the EU and UKChinese electric car sales have risen across Europe to a record high driven by strong demand and low tariffs in the UK and a surge in buyers in Italy.Against a backdrop of claims that Chinese carmakers are “dumping” state-subsidised vehicles in the EU and UK to gain market share, the figures will give impetus to calls for quotas and higher tariffs to protect European manufacturers. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Three Banksy artworks in London have cost taxpayers nearly £150,000 09. August 2026 (16:09) Costs of security and removal efforts have reignited debate over whether work is vandalism or valuable public artThree Banksy artworks have cost taxpayers almost £150,000 in removal efforts, security and other costs, with the bill expected to rise.The largest bill relates to a mural painted on the Royal Courts of Justice in London in September 2025, where efforts to remove it and provide security have so far cost more than £85,000, according to the BBC. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Most X accounts posting about Belfast and Southampton unrest were based outside UK 09. August 2026 (16:00) Exclusive: Analysis shows 55% of accounts were located overseas – and seven of 12 most-read posts came from USMore than half the accounts that posted on Elon Musk’s X about the rioting in Belfast and the civil disorder in Southampton in June were based outside the UK, an analysis by the Guardian can reveal.Of the 8,672 accounts whose combined posts about the events exceeded 1,000 views, just 45.3% were shown as from the UK, according to the social media platform’s own location function. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Parents of baby girl killed at nursery fear unsafe sleeping ‘rife’ in sector across England 09. August 2026 (15:00) Katie and John Meehan say responses to campaign they launched after death of daughter Genevieve must be ‘wake-up call’The parents of a nine-month-old girl who died after being placed in an unsafe sleeping position at nursery said they feared poor practice may be “rife” across England.Genevieve Meehan suffocated when she was strapped face down to a beanbag for an hour and 37 minutes at a nursery in Cheadle Hulme, Stockport, in May 2022. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Middle East crisis live: Netanyahu rejects US’s Gaza plan and vows no withdrawal until Hamas disarms 09. August 2026 (14:48) Israeli prime minister says he will not support 15-point plan hailed by Donald TrumpIranian president Masoud Pezeshkian met the country’s supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei around the start of the president’s third year in office in late July, state media said on Sunday, and a paramilitary leader promised footage of Khamenei in the future, Reuters reports.Pezeshkian has given differing accounts in recent weeks about his access to Khamenei, who has not been seen in public since he succeeded his father in the role in March. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Yemen’s Houthis claim responsibility for attack on Saudi oil refinery 09. August 2026 (14:29) Drone strike comes after Riyadh signs defence pact and Iran issues tough demands to reopen of strait of HormuzMiddle East crisis live – latest updatesYemen’s Tehran-aligned Houthis have claimed responsibility for an attack on a refinery in Saudi Arabia, two days after the kingdom signed a defence pact with Turkey and Pakistan in response to growing regional instability caused by the US-Israel war on Iran.The attack early on Sunday came after Iran issued tough new demands to reopen the strait of Hormuz, and the United Arab Emirates said one of its ships had been targeted by an Iranian missile, as a deal to open the strategic waterway remained out of reach. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Top Democrats simulate election threats as Trump continues assault on voting 09. August 2026 (14:00) Chuck Schumer and other senators took part in exercises in which legal experts laid out election disruption scenariosIn a Washington DC conference room last month, some of the most senior Democrats in the US Senate gathered to plan for a prospect that only recently would have felt more attune to science fiction: they started to wargame democracy.Chuck Schumer, the US Senate minority leader, and senators including Alex Padilla, Adam Schiff, Mark Warner, Elissa Slotkin and Raphael Warnock were among those in the room as a team of legal experts offered scenarios. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
