At least six publications have taken down articles under the name Margaux Blanchard that were AI-generated

Multiple news organisations have taken down articles written by an alleged freelance journalist that now appear to have been generated by AI.

On Thursday, Press Gazette reported that at least six publications, including Wired and Business Insider, have removed articles from their websites in recent months after it was discovered that the stories – written under the name of Margaux Blanchard – were AI-generated.

• 32-year-old charged after incident at Liberty game

• Objects thrown at a number of games this summer

A man has been arrested for throwing a sex toy during an WNBA game in New York, police said Thursday.

It is the latest development in a string of disturbances where similar toys were tossed at WNBA games across the country, resulting in at least three arrests.

Charles Burgess, 32, from Dayton, Ohio, was arrested on Wednesday for allegedly throwing an object at the Dallas Wings v New York Liberty game on 5 August, New York police said. The object hit a 12-year-old girl, and Burgess was charged with two counts of assault. It wasn’t immediately clear whether Burgess had an attorney.

The 51-year-old, who left the successful heavy metal group earlier this year, died in a collision in Atlanta

Brent Hinds, the former lead guitarist of the acclaimed heavy metal group Mastodon, was killed in Atlanta overnight.

Police said Hinds, 51, died late on Wednesday after his Harley-Davidson collided with a BMW SUV whose driver did not yield while making a turn. The crash occurred at about 11.35pm.

• Men’s champion Sinner opens against No 87 Vit Kopriva

• Women’s title holder Sabalenka draws Rebeka Masarova

Emma Raducanu has avoided the top seeds in the first two rounds of the US Open but she still faces a challenging path as she tries to convert her recent positive form into her first match win in New York since her shock triumph here four years ago.

Britain’s Raducanu, who is unseeded, will open her tournament against a qualifier. However, she could face the in-form 24th seed Veronika Kudermetova, a recent semi-finalist at the Cincinnati Open, in round two. A potential third-round opponent is a resurgent Elena Rybakina, the 2022 Wimbledon champion and another semi-finalist in Cincinnati last week.

Researchers ‘shocked’ to discover some species settling down for sleep 50 minutes later than rural counterparts

Urban birds stay up significantly later than their rural counterparts, according to research that highlights the impact of light pollution on wildlife.

The study, based on recordings submitted by bird enthusiasts to a popular species identification and mapping website, showed that light pollution caused birds to sing for an average of 50 minutes longer each day, with some species waking up an hour earlier and settling down for the evening an hour later.

Margaret Qualley is a horny private eye in an easy-going noir that might not amount to much but provides diversion on the way

Margaret Qualley’s Chandler-esque private eye Honey O’Donahue is actually not that good at her job. That’s one of the many running jokes in Ethan Coen’s comic sun-blasted noirish caper Honey Don’t!, in which the titular gumshoe even tries to talk a potential client (Billy Eichner, a hoot) out of hiring her. Having Honey expose his cheating partner would just be wasting his money, she insists. Turns out, she’s right.

It’s not that Honey is incapable. She’s got all the right instincts, and can typically sniff out the scoundrels in her midst. Her brow almost always stays furrowed, especially when she’s in a room with men, as if she’s got a resting interrogator face. But she’s rarely committed to the assignment, or just too easily distracted by curious subplots and hot lesbians to get the job done.

UK Lawyers for Israel accused of sending ‘vexatious and legally baseless’ letters to silence support for Palestine

An organisation of pro-Israel lawyers in the UK is under investigation after a complaint that it threatened people with legal action to suppress support for Palestine.

UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI) has been accused of sending eight letters to individuals and organisations between January 2022 and May 2025 that “demonstrate a seeming pattern of vexatious and legally baseless correspondence aimed at silencing and intimidating Palestine solidarity efforts”, according to the complainants.

Selected employees will join Trump’s mass deportation campaign and ‘offer critical support’ to Ice operations

The Pentagon is recruiting civilian employees to join Donald Trump’s mass deportation campaign and asking staff to sign up for deployments to immigration enforcement facilities across the United States.

The defense department has posted a job listing requesting volunteers for civilian federal employees apply to join a “volunteer force” supporting Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) operations. On Wednesday, the department reportedly emailed civilian employees asking them to take up this opportunity.

Document from 1642 made by husband of Shakespeare’s granddaughter found in unlabelled box at National Archives

A will that has been lost for more than 150 years and was at the centre of a bitter legal battle by William Shakespeare’s family over who owned the playwright’s final home has been unearthed in an unlabelled box at the National Archives.

The original 1642 document was made by Thomas Nash, who was married to Shakespeare’s granddaughter Elizabeth Hall. In it, he bequeathed New Place, reputedly the second grandest house in Stratford-upon-Avon, to his own cousin Edward Nash.

More than 750 health workers say Kennedy’s misinformation fuels violence and endangers lives

Current and former employees at US health agencies released a letter on Wednesday outlining how misinformation spread by Robert F Kennedy Jr is endangering the lives of federal employees and the American people.

Experts emphasized to the Guardian that he’s “an existential threat to public health”.

Cranes hoisted statues from depths of submerged site that authorities say may be extension of ancient city of Canopus

Egypt has unveiled parts of a sunken city submerged beneath waters off the coast of Alexandria, including buildings, artefacts and an ancient dock that date back more than 2,000 years.

Egyptian authorities said the site, located in the waters of Abu Qir bay, may be an extension of the ancient city of Canopus, a prominent centre during the Ptolemaic dynasty, which ruled Egypt for nearly 300 years, and the Roman empire, which governed for about 600 years.

Eisenhüttenstadt offered spacious central flats rent-free for two weeks in effort to attract valuable professionals

An innovative contest by a city in formerly communist east Germany to curb depopulation by offering a fortnight of free housing has stunned local officials with its success.

The competition drew more than 1,700 applications from around the world to try living in Eisenhüttenstadt, a Soviet-style planned city on the Polish border, near Berlin, which was built around a steel plant in the aftermath of the second world war.

Exclusive: One NGO placed on an online hitlist had to temporarily close its office owing to harassing phone calls

Refugee support organisations have been forced to install safe rooms in their premises, relocate to less visible sites and in some cases close their offices in response to the threat of far-right violence.

Half of NGOs and charities supporting people seeking refuge have faced threats, a “hostile environment” of protest and safety concerns since the riots of 2024, according to research documents seen by the Guardian.

Who had an accent that could skin a corgi? Who was one of the greatest TV monsters of all time? And who did far too much flashing of their buttocks? We put television monarchs under the microscope

Rejoice! For the historical fiction stork has descended from on high with another bundle of monarchical joy. King and Conqueror (BBC) – a hugely entertaining depiction of the events that led to the Battle of Hastings – is the latest addition to that most stately of small-screen genres: the royal drama.

Heavy is the head that wears the crown, though! For the portrayal of any British royal – and here we have Harold II (James Norton) and Edward the Confessor (Eddie Marsan) – is subject to a set of unspoken rules, most of which apply to the circumference of the royal nostrils and vowels, all of which must expand to fill the space available and, where necessary, beyond.

Supporting Spurs means imagining the most embarrassing thing that could befall a club and knowing it’s going to happen

Earlier this month, my Spurs WhatsApp group was debating whether, if you could only have one, you’d sign Eberechi Eze or Savinho. Ever the ray of sunshine, I confessed that my “gut feeling” was that we wouldn’t get either. A few days later, I doubled down.

Despite reports suggesting Eze was practically on the 149 bus heading for N17, I had the nagging sense that Arsenal might gazump us at the last minute. The reason for such a grim forecast was that I’d seen this tragi-comic movie before. Spurs have “nearly” signed everyone from Jean-Pierre Papin to Eden Hazard to Rivaldo, who famously wrote to Glenn Hoddle outlining why he’d inexplicably chosen San Siro over White Hart Lane.

From starting new careers and reconstructing houses to keeping children’s rooms the same, these parents are navigating a ‘rollercoaster’

The term “empty nest” first emerged in the late 19th century, gaining traction in psychological and sociological discourse by the 1940s. Originally, it evoked a singular image: a mother alone in a quiet house, mourning the departure of her last child. But the reality, then and now, is far more nuanced. While the term was once gendered, today the emotional impact is felt across all parents, regardless of role or identity.

The empty nest is not a fixed state but a mutable one. For some, it arrives with a deep ache, a sense of disorientation or loss. For others, it marks a period of renewal, space reclaimed, silence embraced, autonomy rediscovered. The nest may stay quiet or grow noisy again with boomerang children, ageing parents or new partners. Some preserve their homes like time capsules; others transform them entirely, reimagining their lives within, claiming room for new identities, desires and rhythms.

Formed by the daughter of Iranian refugees, the UK trio are sampling the sound of Israeli bombs and championing women’s rights as they confront authoritarianism

Nina Saeidi is wearing a green, gold-encrusted robe and holding an antique knife above her head. After unsheathing the blade, she pokes it into her stomach, then makes a slitting motion across her throat. Although these may seem like the ritual actions of a priestess, Saeidi is actually performing on stage at Bristol festival ArcTanGent last weekend, singing with her metal outfit Lowen in a crammed tent.

“It’s a Turkish Ottoman dagger,” she tells me backstage later that day. “I got it in some very cool, obscure-looking vintage shop in Turkey last year. I’m really interested in historical items from that region – but, because I can’t go to Iran, I have to gather things from around the Silk Road and places like that.”

Drama co-starring Sean Bean and Samantha Morton sees triple Oscar-winner return to screen for first time since 2017’s Phantom Thread

The first trailer for forthcoming drama Anemone has been released, offering a glimpse of Daniel Day-Lewis’s screen comeback after eight years.

The triple Oscar-winner retired from acting in 2017 after completing Paul Thomas Anderson’s Phantom Thread which, he said, left him “overwhelmed by a sense of sadness” during filming.

Moscow backs away from accepting western security guarantees for Ukraine as US president appears to vent frustration in Truth Social post

Moscow threw Donald Trump’s Ukraine peace initiative into disarray on Thursday, insisting it must have a veto over any postwar support for the country as its forces carried out a large-scale overnight missile barrage.

In a series of hardline remarks, Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, said European proposals to deploy troops in Ukraine after a settlement would amount to “foreign intervention”, which he called absolutely unacceptable for Russia.

Divided decision by New York appeals judges dismisses ‘excessive’ penalty but leaves room for further appeals

A New York appeals court has thrown out the massive civil fraud penalty against Donald Trump, ruling on Thursday in the state’s lawsuit accusing him of exaggerating his wealth.

The decision, which was not unanimous, came seven months after the Republican returned to the White House. A panel of five judges in New York’s mid-level appellate division said the verdict, which stood to cost Trump more than $515m and rock his real estate empire, was “excessive”.

• Universidad de Chile v Independiente was abandoned

• Violent clashes resulted in injuries and more than 300 arrests

Violent clashes between fans at Wednesday’s Copa Sudamericana match between Independiente and Universidad de Chile in Buenos Aires resulted in the second leg of the last 16 tie being abandoned.

Players left the field in the second half as security concerns grew at the Estadio Libertadores de América. The tie was locked at 1-1 when the match was suspended, with the Chilean side leading 2-1 on aggregate.

Still in its torn packet, the cheese has evolved into something other than food. I refuse to imagine the meal when I finish it

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My father died suddenly and I’m still working my way through the half block of cheese that I rescued from his fridge. After a hastily organised funeral where I delivered a eulogy too long for the warm afternoon, he was cremated. My brother collected his ashes and his favourite T-shirt.

But his cheese lives on. Still in its torn packet, with one of Dad’s trademark purple elastic bands keeping it sealed, it has evolved into something other than food, and I refuse to imagine the meal when I finish it. My logic being that if it exists then so, somehow, does my dad.

Four music greats – Mick Harvey, Mick Turner, Adalita and Marty Brown – have created a genuine collaboration that leaves room for all their talents

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Occasionally the musical universe offers unexpected gifts that we might never have thought to ask for and had no right to expect. Strange Love, the debut album by new Melbourne supergroup Bleak Squad, is one such gift. The names who brought the band together speak for themselves: Adalita (Magic Dirt), Mick Harvey (the Bad Seeds, the Birthday Party), Mick Turner (Dirty Three) and Marty Brown (Art of Fighting, SodaStream, Claire Bowditch), who brought the band together.

Brown’s intuition that such a combination would go well together has proven inspired. Such things can easily end up sounding better on paper than in practice. Instead, Bleak Squad sound pretty much exactly as you’d expect, given their name and collective histories: the hour is late, the lights are low, the writing is sharp, the arrangements are tight – but the playing is expansive and open-ended, with songs designed to be stretched out in live performance.

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