RFK Jr urges Alzheimer’s screening but blunts key panel that could drive research 26. July 2026 (13:00) Experts say evidence for cognitive screening desired by health secretary ‘not great’ as taskforce idle since last yearThe US health secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr, has called for better Alzheimer’s screening – but a critical federal panel that might have helped researchers find practical ways to do that has been prevented from meeting for more than a year.The panel, formally called the US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF), had planned to issue a recommendation on screening for cognitive decline this year, alongside 13 other topics as varied as autism screening and food allergy prevention. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Trump revives old tropes as he pushes warnings of ‘communist menace’ 26. July 2026 (12:00) President harks back to red scare of his childhood to attack US left – but will such language resonate beyond Maga base?Perhaps above all else, Donald Trump is a child of the cold war.Three months before the US president was born, Winston Churchill delivered a historic speech in Fulton, Missouri, that ushered in a generations-long existential struggle between western capitalism and Soviet communism. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Andy Burnham says he will disagree with Trump in public if necessary 26. July 2026 (11:13) PM promises to ‘defend national interest before anything else’ in first big broadcast interview since entering No 10Andy Burnham has promised to disagree with Donald Trump if necessary, including in public, in his first big broadcast interview since becoming prime minister.Burnham’s comments came as Wes Streeting, the new defence secretary, said he did not believe the Trump administration was looking for allies who “suck up”, but rather those with the confidence to set out disagreements when needed. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
‘Weekday games were amazing’: pubs toast extra £150m in World Cup sales 26. July 2026 (10:00) England’s progress provides best football-related uplift of recent years, with one pub too packed to host its Dolly Parton tributeLate opening hours and England’s progress to the semi-final of an expanded World Cup helped provide the best football-related uplift of recent years for pubs, figures suggest.Pubs poured 30m extra pints over the course of the tournament compared with a normal trading period, with busy pumps delivering £150m in added sales, according to the British Beer & Pubs Association (BBPA). Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Europe wildfires: more than 300,000 flee homes and holiday accommodation in France and Spain as fires rage 26. July 2026 (08:36) Fires displace people on massive scale and trigger one of the largest peacetime civilian evacuation operations ever carried out in FranceMore than 250,000 people flee wildfires in France and SpainAbout 220,000 people have now been evacuated from the main forest fire raging in the south-west of France that threatens the city of Bordeaux, according to French authorities.The latest evacuations have been in villages around Bordeaux while 60km (37 miles) of the main A63 highway from Bordeaux to the Spanish border has been closed because of the fires, regional authorities said. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Family of former Vodafone manager found drowned call for ‘Adrian’s law’ to protect franchisees 26. July 2026 (08:00) Adrian Howe’s family believe that fears his deal would be financially ruinous led him to kill himselfThe family of a former mobile phone store manager who was found drowned days before his new Vodafone franchise was to open its doors is pressing the government to introduce a new franchising law in his name.The call comes a week after Vodafone settled a long-running legal claim filed by 62 of its former franchisees who alleged that the company “unjustly enriched” itself at their expense by up to £85m. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
UK journalists are self-censoring stories about Trump and the right over safety fears’ 26. July 2026 (07:00) Government-backed investigation finds risks are normalised amid ‘a narrowing of the public conversation’ Journalists are self-censoring their reporting on rightwing protests, Donald Trump’s administration and trans issues because of growing concerns about their personal safety, with newsrooms accused of “normalising” the risks they face.Hundreds of journalists from across the UK have anonymously disclosed increasing nervousness over their security. Some have reported avoiding or altering coverage on certain topics due to intimidation, leading to self-censorship and “a narrowing of the public conversation”. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
How Trump could undermine the midterms 26. July 2026 (07:00) The president really has no power over elections – but that hasn’t stopped Trump from laying the groundwork to challenge results in NovemberWhen Donald Trump commandeered primetime US television last Friday, he delivered a familiar, but still extraordinary, message. The president argued once again that the results of the 2020 election, which he lost to Joe Biden, were illegitimate.US elections are “vulnerable to being rigged and stolen”, Trump alleged, claiming that “the trust of the American people was lost” when he was defeated. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Venezuela men sue aviation firms who flew them to notorious Salvadorian jail 26. July 2026 (07:00) Exclusive: CSI Aviation and GlobalX accused of violating civil rights as part of Trump immigration crackdownVenezuelan men sent last year to a notorious Salvadorian terrorism prison by the Trump administration are suing the US aviation companies that transported them there.A lawsuit filed this week in federal court in Washington DC accuses the companies CSI Aviation and GlobalX of violating the Venezuelans’ civil rights, false imprisonment, intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligence and other violations, for their role in flying the three planes that took the men to El Salvador. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
‘Scandalous, irrational and irresponsible’: French beekeepers’ fury at lifting of pesticides ban 26. July 2026 (07:00) Allowing use of two neonicotinoids to combat crop-ruining disease will kill bees and reduce harvests, union saysBeekeepers and environmentalists in France have reacted furiously after parliament approved a bill reauthorising two banned pesticides scientists say can poison bees.“There are no words to describe the frustration,” said Carolyn Bouguet, a beekeeper in Essonne, greater Paris. “Bee populations have already been badly compromised by climate change, new parasites and loss of habitat. And now this.” Continue reading...(The Guardian)
