New James Bond actor could be announced by end of year

Sudan's ongoing conflict has severely damaged its electricity grid, leading to frequent and long power cuts across the country. Many Sudanese families are now turning to solar panels for power, despite the high cost of about $5,000 for a typical home system. The lack of reliable electricity is causing major problems, including spoiled medicine and children unable to study.

Federal regulators are investigating if Tesla's new Cybercab robotaxis meet safety rules, just a day after the company launched them. The two-seat cars, which started providing rides in Austin, Texas, are missing the steering wheels and brake pedals. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration will audit Tesla's self-certification process for the driverless taxis.

Germany is planning a broad package of measures to protect against sabotage, according to a report by Bild on Sunday. The plan comes after an attempted drone attack at Leipzig/Halle Airport last month, which Berlin has blamed on Russia. A US envoy said the drone incident was more worrying than other recent events.

France's Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot called on European countries to restrict their commercial dealings with unlawful Israeli settlements located in the occupied West Bank. Barrot compared this to the EU's 2014 ban on imports from Crimea after Russia's occupation. He additionally condemned what he termed "unprecedented explosion of violence" perpetrated by Israeli occupiers within the West Bank.

Ten fire engines and specialist vehicles are tackling a large fire involving scrap metal and tyres on Boulder Bridge Lane, Carlton. South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue anticipates staying at the location all night and into the following morning. Locals are advised to keep windows and doors closed due to a lot of smoke.

Irish boxing star Katie Taylor dominated Flora Pili on Saturday at Dublin's Croke Park in her last professional fight. She secured a unanimous decision victory, taking the vacant WBC super-lightweight belt and ending her career as a three-time undisputed world champion. Taylor retired with an impressive 26-1 professional record, widely seen as the greatest female boxer ever.

Pristimantis milpe, a common frog, was hiding in plain sight for over 100 years, mistaken for another species. Scientists from Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador solved the mystery by studying 19th-century museum specimens in London. The newly described species is widespread across more than 67,000 square kilometres of forests in western Ecuador and southern Colombia.

America's top negotiators are hoping for positive meetings in Kyiv on Sunday, following three-hour talks with Vladimir Putin. Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner talked about "substantive plans for next steps" with the Russian President on Saturday in Moscow. Both sides shared generally positive remarks, with an announcement on peace efforts expected in the coming weeks.

The twin-seat F-4 Phantom jet crashed on Saturday during a low-altitude manoeuvre at Tanagra air base, about 60 kilometres north of Athens. Thousands of spectators were at the Athens Flying Week event and saw a fire and large plumes of black smoke after the impact. Greece's air force announced three days of mourning, and organisers cancelled remaining events.

A new government-funded National Roads Policing Coordination Centre will bring police forces across England together to tackle illegal number plates. The initiative aims to disrupt organised crime groups and drivers who avoid fines by using altered or missing plates. New technology, like specialist goggles, will help detect plates made unreadable to cameras, with fines up to £1,000 for offenders.

Jakarta's main airport suspended flights until 9:30 a.m. on Sunday due to volcanic ash from Mount Anak Krakatau. The transportation ministry said the disruption affected 209 flights, including some international services. Ash plumes reached up to 50,000 feet on the Sumatra side of the volcano, with schools and fishing trips also cancelled.

King Charles and Queen Camilla joined thousands of cheering spectators at the annual Braemar Gathering on Saturday. The event, held in the Cairngorms National Park, featured traditional Highland games like caber tossing and tug-of-war. The royal couple subsequently journeyed to Balmoral for a meeting with Prime Minister Andy Burnham.

A study revealed that individuals in older age groups whose calf circumferences measured less than 31cm experienced approximately twice the risk of mortality across a nine-year span. The link between calf size and longer life seems to be especially true for older people. Scientists believe calf size could show a person's sarcopenia, which is age-related muscle loss.

A new VAT cut on electricity, effective from October 1, may bring down the expense of powering an electric car at home to approximately 1.52p per mile. The Prime Minister's removal of the 5% VAT on domestic electricity for six months aims to help with the cost of living.

Robert Pattinson's new A24 film "Primetime" premiered at the Venice Film Festival on Saturday, earning a nearly eight-minute standing ovation. The movie sees Pattinson play Chris Hansen, the former host of "To Catch a Predator", and focuses on the show's most difficult year. Director Lance Oppenheim aimed to investigate the early 2000s media landscape and the individuals connected to it.

All trains to Heathrow Airport were stopped on Saturday due to a trackside grass fire near Scrubs Lane, North Kensington, blocking lines from London Paddington. National Rail warned of major disruption until Saturday night, potentially impacting Sunday morning services, after the fire caused an electricity supply failure.

Prince William will attend the funeral of Norway's King Harald V in Oslo next week, as Buckingham Palace announced. He will be joined by his aunt, Princess Anne, who is attending as godmother to the new King Haakon VIII. King Harald V, who died on 28 August aged 89, was praised for modernising the monarchy during his 35-year reign.

Google's AI assistant, Gemini Spark, can now help with tasks like editing images and creating albums in Google Photos. Shimrit Ben-Yair, the Google Photos lead, announced the new features. These capabilities will be introduced over the next few weeks for Gemini AI Pro and Ultra subscribers in the US.

Apple's new iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max will be unveiled on September 9, with new CEO John Ternus leading the event. The iPhone 18 Pro Max is expected to have a larger battery, potentially up to 5,567mAh, making it heavier and thicker. Leaks suggest the Pro models will come in Dark Cherry, Sky Blue, and Black, with no white or silver option.

The US and UK have signed a deal to work together on shutting down scam centres that steal billions through investment and romance fraud. Officials from the US Department of Justice and the UK's National Crime Agency agreed on Thursday to share information and run parallel investigations into the organised crime groups behind these centres.

The largest British automotive manufacturer, Jaguar Land Rover, has initiated a voluntary redundancy scheme targeted at its salaried and management employees. The firm intends to achieve savings of approximately £1.7 billion in the upcoming two years, having experienced various setbacks, including a cyber attack and new tariffs. Reports on Friday indicated that job losses might reach 4,000, although JLR has not confirmed specific figures.

The US military said on Saturday it disabled two tankers and destroyed a third after Iran targeted two American warships. US Central Command claimed the tankers were part of a “shadow network” funding Iran’s Revolutionary Guards and proxy groups. Iran’s state media acknowledged the strikes, stating Tehran initiated attacks on six ships in retaliation.

Joheirry Mola Dominguez, representing the Dominican Republic, was crowned Miss World 2026 at the 73rd edition of the pageant. The final competition took place on Saturday, September 5, in Nha Trang, Vietnam, with 111 national candidates. Spain's Elisabeth Reynés Alabern was named first runner-up, and Malaysia's Taanusiya Chetty secured second runner-up.

New data shows a tiny fraction of customers generate most income for leading AI companies OpenAI and Anthropic. For Anthropic, two coding tools, Cursor and GitHub Copilot, were responsible for almost a quarter of its $5 billion revenue last year. This high concentration of spending is unusual for software companies, but 95% of financial firms already use AI.

Erling Haaland reached a major career milestone on Saturday, scoring his 300th club goal for Manchester City against Coventry City. His opening goal came just before the half-hour mark at the Etihad Stadium, breaking the deadlock in the Premier League match. City won 1-0, with Haaland's goal also making him the club's record holder for headed Premier League goals with 20.

OpenAI has stopped providing its AI models to Cursor, a coding startup recently acquired by SpaceX. SpaceX acquired Cursor in June 2026 in a stock transaction valued at about $60 billion. The deal is part of SpaceX's broader strategy to control multiple layers of the AI ecosystem.

Adobe's shares dropped about 6% on Friday after the software company named longtime executive Anil Chakravarthy as its new president and chief executive officer. He takes over from Shantanu Narayen, the previous CEO. Investors are worried about how new AI technology might affect Adobe's business.

Barcelona has named its new five-man leadership group for the 2026-27 season, with teenage star Lamine Yamal, 19, stepping into a formal captaincy role. Manager Hansi Flick chose Raphinha and Pedri as the first and second captains, while the squad voted for Eric Garcia, Frenkie de Jong, and Yamal. His promotion is based on his significant influence on the pitch, rather than traditional seniority.

The BepiColombo mission, undertaken collaboratively by the European Space Agency and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, represents the third expedition dispatched to investigate Mercury. Following an eight-year transit, the module providing power for the mission detached on 3 September, separating from two data-gathering spacecraft. These spacecraft, ESA’s Mercury Planetary Orbiter and JAXA’s Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter, will start collecting scientific data in April 2027.

The Philippine peso has dropped to an all-time low of 62.71 against the US dollar, losing about 6% of its value since January 1. Rising oil prices force Philippine importers to convert more pesos to dollars for crude oil. International investors are also moving money from developing economies to safer US dollar assets, pushing the peso lower.

The Reform UK leader faced pressure from loved ones after party spokesman Ann Widdecombe was killed in July. Speaking at his party's conference on Saturday, he admitted losing his usual cheerful mood but insisted he never seriously considered stepping down. He noted that the group now gives top politicians 24-hour protection, while some relatives recently dealt with closed bank accounts.

The first official US-China AI talks since President Donald Trump began his second term will focus on monitoring AI-directed cyberattacks. Washington plans to propose that AI labs in both countries "police themselves" and share safety data to prevent AI-linked cyber incidents. These discussions are a prelude to a September 24 summit between President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Three people died and a minimum of 23 were injured in an Israeli air strike in Kfar Reman, southern Lebanon, the Ministry of Public Health stated. The state-run National News Agency of Lebanon stated on Friday that a strike impacted Nabatieh, which is situated close to the Ali al-Taher ridge. Israeli forces have intensified attacks on southern Lebanon since March 2.

America's biggest car companies are pushing Congress to permanently ban Chinese-made vehicles, software, and hardware from the US market. The Alliance for Automotive Innovation wrote to House and Senate leaders on Thursday, citing concerns over unfair trade and intellectual property theft. They want the ban enacted before the current Congress ends on January 3, 2027.

A US court has ruled that a new social network is permitted to use the term "tweet" and the Twitter bird logo, but not the name "Twitter". Operation Bluebird, a startup, launched its site as Tweet.app after the judge found X likely abandoned those trademarks. The company, led by two lawyers, charges users $20 to reserve a handle and join the network.

A new global study wants to enrol roughly 1,600 older adults to find out whether dementia can be blocked before symptoms emerge. UK volunteers without memory issues will take a blood check looking for a specific marker that warns of future cognitive decline. High-risk participants will get either a dummy pill or Trontinemab, an experimental medicine from Swiss manufacturer Roche that targets harmful brain proteins.

Hollywood's domestic ticket sales between May 1 and August 31 totalled $4.61 billion. A 26.1% increase from 2025 was driven by Gen Z audiences and filmmakers like Christopher Nolan and Curry Barker. The success of films like "Spider-Man: Brand New Day" and low-budget hits such as "Obsession" helped bring moviegoers back to cinemas.

Tech leaders like Sam Altman and Jensen Huang met at a G20 event in North Carolina to talk about AI and the need to build more data centers, but faced hundreds of protestors outside. Locals are concerned about data centres polluting water and air, and the lack of long-term jobs they create. A recent poll found two-thirds of Americans oppose building a data centre in their local area.

Some Chinese rare earth suppliers are refusing to ship materials to US companies, even with export licences, due to concerns about potential sanctions from Beijing. These delays are keeping supplies of critical materials tight, with prices remaining near record levels. Rare earth metals are vital for industries like defence, semiconductors, aerospace, and energy.

Microsoft will sell high-end PCs later this year with a pre-configured, distraction-free version of Windows 11 Pro called Project Zenith. While aimed at programmers using local AI agents, anyone can already achieve a similar setup using a free open-source script. Project Zenith acknowledges user complaints about notifications and bloat in standard Windows.

The Russian leader ordered the midnight ceasefire to allow American envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff to safely conduct their work. Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy previously promised to halt military action during the Washington trip, though Moscow originally brushed off his request with overnight attacks. A Kremlin spokesperson confirmed to state media that the new pause specifically protects the capital.

Six months of conflict, US pressure, and regional retaliation have led to calls for diplomacy or continued confrontation. President Masoud Pezeshkian argues the economy cannot withstand endless isolation, with the rial at 2.2 million to the dollar and gas shortages. However, hardliners believe compromising now would only encourage more demands from the US.

The Mercedes driver clocked a lap of 1m 22.219s to finish two-tenths clear of his former teammate, who now drives for Ferrari. Max Verstappen took third for Red Bull during a busy Saturday hour that included a tense on-track scrap with Hamilton. Kimi Antonelli grabbed fourth for Mercedes, but an engine penalty means he will start the actual race from the back.

The Treasury boss blames the Middle East conflict for slowing economic growth and pushing global borrowing rates to an 18-year high. Speaking to the Financial Times, he promised to honour Labour's election pledge by leaving income tax, VAT and national insurance alone. He intends to shrink the welfare bill instead, hoping to preserve a £24bn financial safety net left by the previous chancellor.

Savers are warned to prepare for major cash ISA changes coming into force next April. The yearly tax-exempt cash ISA allowance for working-age households under 65 is set to decrease from £20,000 to £12,000. People affected with more than £10,000 in ISAs can put the remaining £8,000 in stocks and shares, but interest will be taxed.

To earn about £12,000 yearly in Apple dividends, you'd need to own 11,111 shares of the company. Based on a recent share price of £325, this would cost you more than £3.6 million in total. The stock currently has a low dividend yield of 0.33%, although its annual gains have averaged 4.2% over the last five years.

Missouri's top court blocked the state's new congressional map and ordered a statewide vote on it in November. The state wants the US Supreme Court to immediately halt the state court's decision. Catherine Hanaway, the attorney general, stated that no court had previously overturned a congressional map at such a late stage.

Germany's decriminalisation of cannabis in April 2024 led to younger people increasing the amounts they consume. A study of 49 individuals found more cannabis was used outdoors and on holidays, but less in public places. The research offers early insights into how legal changes influence cannabis consumption patterns.

Billionaire Peter Thiel, co-founder of PayPal and Palantir, has put over £418 million into eight stocks, including several energy companies. His fund, Thiel Macro, had zero investments for two consecutive quarters before this move. He bought 495,000 Amazon shares, making the tech giant 28% of his total portfolio.

Gal Gadot, who starred in two Wonder Woman films, revealed on a podcast that DC Studios never formally informed her she was no longer playing the role. She said she was previously assured by James Gunn and Peter Safran that a third film would be developed with her. Gadot noted the situation with Henry Cavill, who was also dropped as Superman, was not handled elegantly.

Apple is reportedly developing an AI-powered home security system that will use cameras to monitor surroundings rather than recording video. Macrumors, citing a Bloomberg report on Friday, September 4, said the service is expected to launch in 2027. The home security system is thought to work alongside a home hub to control smart devices.

PlayStation's recent State of Play events revealed new games and updates, alongside limited-edition hardware. Gran Turismo 7 will get a two-part Spec IV update later this year, bringing new cars, circuits, and modes. Limited-edition Grand Theft Auto VI DualSense controllers will launch on November 19 for $84.99 USD (approximately $131 AUD).

Uber drivers across Europe have started a class action lawsuit, claiming the company's AI algorithm makes "quiet changes" to pricing that cut their earnings. Drivers from the UK, Belgium, France, Germany, Poland, Romania, and the Netherlands are involved in the legal challenge. They say these changes to dynamic pricing took up to half of the fare from them.

Anthropic, the AI laboratory behind the Claude chatbot, expects to submit its IPO prospectus for public review as early as next week. Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs are among the banks collaborating with Anthropic for the initial public offering. The IPO's commencement is reportedly moving to mid-October, according to individuals acquainted with the situation.

World food prices reached their highest point since November 2022 in August, driven by bad weather and trade problems in the Black Sea. The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) reported on Friday that grain prices are at a three-year high and sugar prices are at a one-year high. This rise is a warning that climate shocks and geopolitical tensions are increasing supply concerns.

For the fourth time in five major tournaments, no British players made it past the first week of a Grand Slam. British singles players were eliminated early from the Australian Open, French Open, and Wimbledon tournaments this year. Despite this, some LTA figures say things are improving, with nine Brits in the US Open main draw.

Football legends Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo could play on the same team in Buenos Aires this December. Carlos Tevez wants to invite both stars to his retirement match, which is planned for the weekend of 12 or 13 December. Around 60 former teammates from clubs like West Ham and Manchester United are also expected to feature.

Philippine Vice President Sara Duterte posted bail on Saturday after a court ordered her arrest for allegedly threatening to assassinate President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and two others. The charges stem from a 2024 online news conference where she reportedly made the threats, which she denies. She paid 360,000 pesos, about $5,740, for three counts of grave threats.

Wembley Park is now home to a 30ft Freddie Mercury mural, which commemorates the singer's 80th birthday. Named 'I'm Mr Mercury', the artwork is anamorphic, appearing correct only when viewed from a specific point approximately 65ft distant. Street artist Frank Styles created the mural across all 58 Spanish Steps, linking Wembley Stadium and the OVO Arena.