Andy Burnham urges cabinet to examine ‘all possible ways’ to tackle cost of living crisis
Posted on Tuesday July 21, 2026

As new prime minister briefs cabinet on ‘cost of living government’, critics ask where money will come from

Andy Burnham is under mounting pressure to explain how he will pay for his policy pledges as he implored his new cabinet to examine “all possible ways” to tackle the cost of living crisis.

On his first full day in power, the prime minister faced questions about how he would fund the removal of VAT from electricity bills and an expected uplift in defence spending – an issue that led his new chancellor, John Healey, to resign as Keir Starmer’s defence secretary last month.

Read more...

Ozempic maker Novo Nordisk sues US rival over ‘materially misleading’ ads
Posted on Tuesday July 21, 2026

Danish pharma company says Eli Lilly using outdated trial data to make its weight-loss drugs appear more effective

Ozempic maker Novo Nordisk said on Tuesday it is suing arch US rival Eli Lilly over “false and materially misleading” adverts for its competing weight-loss and anti-diabetes treatments.

The Danish pharmaceuticals heavyweight complained that the US group – which makes rival weight-loss treatments Zepbound and Mounjaro – “intentionally selected outdated studies” that compared Lilly’s highest doses against lower doses of Novo Nordisk’s medicines.

Read more...

‘The explosion is what I remember’: man nearly sucked out of Ryanair plane recounts ordeal
Posted on Tuesday July 21, 2026

Exclusive: Ljubisa Karović tells Guardian the fact that he lived to tell the tale is nothing short of a miracle

It is the explosion just before he was nearly sucked out of the aircraft that Ljubisa Karović remembers. The thunderous noise of the window shattering that roused him from slumber in 11F, his window seat on the early morning Ryanair flight from Greece to Germany.

Eleven days and 11 nights later, it remains the prelude “to the chaos, the catastrophe” that keeps him awake at night.

Read more...

Fiscal hawk or big spender – what kind of chancellor will John Healey be?
Posted on Tuesday July 21, 2026

Diligent, popular, unexpected pick for the Treasury has been given a straitjacket – and the job of funding PM’s policy promises

On the frequent occasions that John Healey would travel abroad as defence secretary, he was so determined to keep working he would get the crew to tether a desk to the inside of his military aircraft so he could read his papers.

His diligence is one reason why Andy Burnham, the new prime minister, made Healey his unexpected pick for chancellor on Monday. Allies say others include their shared commitment to re-industrialisation and devolution.

Read more...

Election voting advice from AI chatbots ‘inaccurate and unreliable’
Posted on Tuesday July 21, 2026

Research during Hungary election shows AI recommended parties not running and gave highly volatile answers to identical prompts

AI chatbots provide inaccurate, inconsistent and unreliable guidance to voters asking which party they should back, a study suggests, often recommending the wrong party, not mentioning the right one, or listing parties not even running.

“The results raise serious concerns about the reliability of general-purpose AI systems in electoral contexts,” the study, published by the civil liberties group Liberties and based on research during this year’s Hungarian parliamentary elections, concluded.

Read more...

Inside the horrifying online network where children extort others to commit violence and self-harm
Posted on Monday July 20, 2026

The 764 network is just one part of a growing online ecosystem that pushes young members into brutal and degrading acts. It has perpetrators and victims in dozens of countries

In late 2024, in a quiet suburb of Stockholm, a 14-year-old boy approached a man in his 80s who was using a walker. He stabbed the man three times in the back.

The video of the attack in Hässelby was streamed and spread quickly. It fed a global online ecosystem that actively encourages and glorifies acts of violence and degradation – the “gamification of harm”, as the researcher Marc-André Argentino puts it.

Read more...

Could the World Cup be back in the US as soon as 2038? Absolutely
Posted on Tuesday July 21, 2026

Explosion in ticketing and hospitality revenue goes along with a Fifa desire to recoup lost TV income in future deals

As is often the case, it has been left to Donald Trump to say the quiet bit out loud. “We have to do this again and we have to do it while I’m around, you hear that Gianni?” the US president told Fox News in an interview broadcast in the buildup to the World Cup final.

An American bid for the 2038 World Cup has been the talk of the hotel lobbies populated by administrators from around the world over the past month, who have watched this country’s seemingly limitless appetite for major events and willingness to pay whatever it takes to attend them.

Read more...

Morgan Rogers ‘excited to join biggest club in London’ after making £117m Chelsea move
Posted on Tuesday July 21, 2026

• England international signs seven-year contract

• Xabi Alonso was key factor in Chelsea’s record signing

Morgan Rogers has joined Chelsea from Aston Villa for a fee of £117m, signing a seven-year deal to become the Blues’ record signing.

A deal was agreed on Saturday for the 23-year-old to move to Stamford Bridge as the club stole in ahead of Arsenal, who had been in talks to sign the England international and had appeared to be favourites to secure his signature.

Read more...