Report ramps up criticisms of Europe, Brazil and South Africa but says little about abuses in Israel and El Salvador

Donald Trump’s administration has significantly changed a key US government report on human rights worldwide, dramatically softening criticism of some countries that have been strong partners of the Republican president, such as El Salvador and Israel, which rights groups say have well-established histories of abuses.

Instead, the US state department sounded an alarm about what it said was the erosion of freedom of speech in Europe and ramped up criticism of Brazil and South Africa – both of which Washington has clashed with over a host of issues.

Terraform Labs co-founder, pleading guilty to two charges, was accused of misleading investors in 2021 about TerraUSD

Do Kwon, the South Korean entrepreneur behind two cryptocurrencies that lost an estimated $40bn in 2022 and caused the market to implode, pleaded guilty on Tuesday to two US charges of conspiracy to defraud and wire fraud.

Kwon, 33, who co-founded Singapore-based Terraform Labs and developed the TerraUSD and Luna currencies, entered the plea at a federal court hearing in New York. He had pleaded not guilty in January to a nine-count indictment charging him with securities fraud, wire fraud, commodities fraud and money-laundering conspiracy.

Scientist says new species described from 25-million-year-old fossil found in Victoria ‘was a gnarly whale I wouldn’t want to get in the water with’

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“Small and deceptively cute, but definitely not harmless” is how scientists have described a new species of ancient whale, from a 25-million-year-old fossil found on Victoria’s surf coast.

This early species, called Janjucetus dullardi, was an extremely unusual animal, said Dr Erich Fitzgerald, senior curator of vertebrate palaeontology at Museums Victoria Research Institute.

Sheinbaum says Mexico City is safer than DC, but rejects Trump’s portrayal of the Latin American city as dangerous

Mexico’s president Claudia Sheinbaum has affirmed claims made by Donald Trump that Washington DC had a higher murder rate than Mexico City, a statistic used by the US leader to justify his takeover of policing in the US capital.

“He said something like ‘Washington is more unsafe than Mexico City,’ which is true,” Sheinbaum said on Tuesday. “What we don’t agree with is when he said that it’s the most unsafe city in Latin America.”

Ken Paxton asks judge to fine and jail ex-congressman for defying order to halt political fundraising

The Texas attorney general, Ken Paxton, has asked a local judge to consider jailing Beto O’Rourke, saying the former congressman was openly defying a judicial order blocking him and his political group from fundraising and paying the costs of Democrats who left the state to stop Republicans from passing a new congressional map.

Tarrant county district judge Megan Fahey granted a request from Paxton last week halting O’Rourke and a group aligned with him, Powered by People, from fundraising. The order bars the group from using funds to pay the costs of Texas lawmakers during the special session or paying the $500 daily fines the lawmakers face for each time they are absent.

Jose Mourinho’s Fenerbahce roared back to set up a playoff with Benfica, while Bromley stunned Ipswich in the Carabao Cup

15 min: Fenerbahce 0-0 Feyenoord (agg: 1-2) Jhon Duran – the very same – has just hit the side netting with Fener’s first half-chance. Feyenoord have probably played the more intricate football but Fenerbahce look a threat on the break.

Champions League qualifying latest (6pm KOs unless stated)

Qarabag 4-1 Shkendija (5pm, agg: 5-1)

FC Copenhagen 0-0 Malmo FF (agg: 0-0)

Fenerbahce 0-0 Feyenoord (agg: 1-2)

Pafos 1-0 Dynamo Kyiv (agg: 2-0)

Plzen 0-0 Rangers (agg: 0-3)

Poll says 44% of voters for Mamdani and 25% for Cuomo as Elise Stefanik chips away at Hochul’s lead in governor race

The closely watched New York mayoral and governor’s races appear to be forming into shapes that will bring little comfort to centrist Democrats, with both elections happening in November.

A new Siena Institute poll released on Tuesday shows New York City’s Democratic socialist mayoral candidate, Zohran Mamdani, leading former New York governor Andrew Cuomo by 19 percentage points – while the Republican congresswoman Elise Stefanik is chipping away at incumbent Democrat Kathy Hochul’s lead in a hypothetical contest for the New York governor’s mansion in 2026.

Numbers of return road and air trips continue to fall after trade policy row and threats to annex country

Travel to the US by Canadian residents has continued to drop significantly for the seventh month in a row, as new data confirms that Donald Trump’s threats have helped upend the summer tourism season.

Months of aggressive rhetoric from the White House have prompted widespread boycotts of US products by Canadians, who have also sworn off visits to their southern neighbour amid lingering feelings of betrayal and anger.

Billionaire accuses Apple of ‘unequivocal antitrust violation’ over app rankings, prompting testy response

Elon Musk has threatened legal action against Apple on behalf of his artificial intelligence startup xAI, accusing the iPhone maker of favoring OpenAI and breaching antitrust regulations in managing the rankings in its App Store. The posts elicited snide responses from Sam Altman, the OpenAI CEO, and began a spat between the two former business partners on X.

“Apple is behaving in a manner that makes it impossible for any AI company besides OpenAI to reach #1 in the App Store, which is an unequivocal antitrust violation. xAI will take immediate legal action,” Musk said in a post on X.

About 100 people turn up for ‘not welcome’ party in town of Charlbury

There was cake and music. The weather was perfect. At first glance, it could have been a joyful community gathering in a sun-dappled Cotswolds village park, but the placards gave the game away.

These pulled no punches, criticising the policies and stances championed by the US vice-president, JD Vance, who is enjoying a country break down the road.

• Removal vans seen at player’s Ponteland residence

• Striker made to train alone as he seeks exit

The house Alexander Isak has been living in just outside Newcastle is back on the rental market. The striker is trying to secure a move to Liverpool and it emerged on Tuesday that new tenants are being sought.

Removal vans have been sighted at Isak’s Ponteland home, which is understood to have been put on the market some weeks ago. The Sweden international started renting the property after he joined Newcastle from Real Sociedad in 2022.

The Al Jazeera reporter is only the latest of many media workers to be killed. But silencing their voices won’t stem international outrage

Anas al-Sharif knew that far from offering protection amid the slaughter in Gaza, his press credentials further endangered him. The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) warned last month of acute danger to the 28-year-old’s life as the Israel Defense Forces stepped up online attacks on him. These were not merely smears, but a death threat in response to his coverage, the Al Jazeera reporter said. And now he is dead, one of five media workers killed in an airstrike on Sunday.

The CPJ says that more than 180 Palestinian journalists and media workers have been killed in almost two years of war – more than the number who have died globally in the previous three years. This does not merely reflect Gaza’s vast death toll – 61,599, most of them women and children, according to the health ministry and many more if independent experts are correct. Nor does it merely reflect the courage shown by reporters, photographers, camera operators and others in a war zone. The CPJ says 26 of the reporters were targeted.

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Ukrainian leader sees no sign of Russia preparing for ceasefire after reports of frontline breach in Donbas

Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said Ukraine could not agree to a Russian proposal to give up more of his country’s territory in exchange for a ceasefire because Moscow would use what it gained as a springboard to start a future war.

The Ukrainian president said he did not believe that Donald Trump supported Russia’s demands, and he expressed hope the US leader would act as an honest mediator when he meets Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday.

A filthy animated comedy about a dog preparing to be neutered offers some ribald humor but not much else

Dogs dry humping humans, and whatever else they can get between their legs, is always good for a laugh – at least when we’re looking down on these adorable house pets, as they satisfy their base instincts, from above. Fixed, the filthy animated comedy unleashed on Netflix with a content warning that should apply to this review as much as the movie, both indulges in and tests our limits when it comes to that humour, largely by getting down (on all fours) and dirty with its hand-drawn canines.

Here’s a movie with talking pets that rarely rises above a bull terrier’s vantage point. Humans remain mostly out of frame. We see their legs – a regular scene of the crime – but never their faces. In the opening minutes, we’re right there with Bull (voiced by Pitch Perfect’s Adam DeVine), the movie’s pudgy un-neutered protagonist, as he works hard to bust a nut on his household’s nana.

Kim Keon Hee in custody on three charges while husband Yoon Suk Yeol detained over attempt to impose martial law

A South Korean court on Tuesday ordered the arrest of Kim Keon Hee, the wife of the impeached former president Yoon Suk Yeol, making her the first former first lady to be arrested in the country’s history.

The Seoul central district court ruling creates an unprecedented situation in which both members of a former presidential couple are simultaneously in custody.

• Tottenham coach: ‘The latest time was one too many’

• Midfielder’s north London future in doubt

Thomas Frank has flexed his muscles to Tottenham’s squad by excluding Yves Bissouma from the travelling party to face Paris Saint-Germain owing to persistent lateness.

Spurs make their Uefa Super Cup debut in Udine on Wednesday in a fiendish early test for their manager, who is overseeing his first pre-season since moving from Brentford in June. Frank has wasted no time pressing home his standards and explained he had opted against selecting Bissouma, the Mali international midfielder, because of multiple lapses.

Families in Tres Cantos and Soto de Viñuelas take in scene of destruction after blaze and pay tribute to man who died

Adolfo López plunged his head and hands into his parents’ swimming pool early on Tuesday afternoon, keen to wash off the soot and dirt he had acquired from the gutted house his mother and father had called home for the past 25 years.

The wildfire that would devour 1,000 hectares of land, consume their house, destroy some neighbouring properties and kill a man trying to rescue horses from a local stables was just a column of smoke when López saw it approaching Soto de Viñuelas at 7.45pm on Monday.

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Spanish football is famed for nothing if not its integrity. Whether it’s Franco using his influence to elevate Real Madrid, in general, but with particular regard to the Di Stéfano affair; the way the government facilitated the sale of Madrid’s training ground for a gazillion euros; Barcelona conjuring then pulling their beloved levers; the way it treats the women’s game, in general but with particular regard to the Luis Rubiales affair; racism more suited to a dissertation or police report than a tea-timely email; to say nothing of the Fuentes blood bags.

To Manchester United I decided and said yes. I wanted to join Manchester United, to see Alex Ferguson … [but Dortmund] could not sell me, because they knew if I stayed they could earn more money, and that I could wait maybe one or two more years” – Robert Lewandowski on how he almost became a Red Devil in 2012, two years after a volcanic ash cloud scuppered a planned move to Blackburn Rovers.

Jimmy Floyd-Hasselbaink now being reduced to doing Strictly Come Dancing is quite depressing but seeing a big picture of him smiling is even more unsettling (he should always be stood by the corner flag grimacing after smacking a goal into the top corner against Arsenal). However, the pièce de résistance, is the quote attributed to him: ‘I’m looking forward to tackling a fun challenge! Bring on a new type of footwork, with hopefully no own goals’, which was clearly written by a PR intern who has no idea who Jimmy is and appears to have never even seen an actual game of football” – Noble Francis.

Court refuses to block ‘department of government efficiency’ from accessing data such as citizenship status

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A US appeals court on Tuesday rejected a bid by a group of unions to block the Trump administration government downsizing team known as the “department of government efficiency” (Doge) from accessing sensitive data on Americans.

The Virginia-based fourth US circuit court of appeals in a 2-1 decision said the unions were unlikely to prevail on claims that Doge would violate federal privacy laws by accessing data at the US Department of Education, treasury department, and office of personnel management.

Israel’s actions are an assault not only on individual reporters but on the entire global public’s right to know the truth

• Asef Hamidi is the director of news, Al Jazeera Channel

As the world witnesses the horrors unfolding in Gaza, a related tragedy continues with chilling regularity: the systematic targeting and killing of journalists. Just as the Gaza journalistic community thought matters could not get any worse, Benjamin Netanyahu’s brutal occupying forces carried out yet another cold-blooded murder on Sunday, this time of the Al Jazeera journalists Anas al-Sharif and Mohammed Qraiqea, along with videographers Ibrahim Thaher, Mohammed Nofal and their colleagues. They were sheltering in a media tent near al-Shifa hospital, and were killed by a direct strike.

The Israeli war machine, accelerating its stated goal of occupying Gaza, showed no restraint in targeting journalists, in violation of international conventions. So far in this war it has killed 238 of us. The war on Gaza has become the deadliest conflict for journalists and media workers in living memory, with 2024 recording the highest number of journalists killed, the vast majority at the hands of Israeli forces. The systematic targeting and elimination of journalists is not merely a local or regional tragedy; it is a catastrophic breach of international norms regarding the protection of journalists in conflict zones, signalling a global collapse of the moral responsibility in safeguarding those who risk everything to shed light on the realities of war.

Exclusive: Chancellor also looking at tweaks to capital gains tax to try to bridge £40bn-plus spending gap before budget

The Treasury is looking at ways to raise more money from inheritance tax amid growing pressure on the country’s finances ahead of the autumn budget, sources have told the Guardian.

Officials have been tasked with examining whether tightening rules on the gifting of money and assets could be one way of addressing a gap between revenue and spending that is estimated to reach more than £40bn.

• World No 34 yet to win match in New York since title

• Briton has impressed on hard court circuit this year

Emma Raducanu said she will return to New York feeling calmer and more confident about herself and her prospects at the US Open than she has since she won the title there four years ago. She put together a brilliant performance against Aryna Sabalenka in the third round of the Cincinnati Open on Monday, narrowly losing 7-6 (3), 4-6, 7-6 (5) after three hours and nine minutes.

Her impressive level was a reflection of the significant progress she has made in a positive summer on the North American hard courts.

Trump deploys national guard troops after taking control of DC police, sparking fears of similar moves elsewhere

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About 850 officers and agents took part in a “massive law enforcement surge” across Washington DC on Monday night and made nearly two dozen arrests, the White House has said.

The show of force came after Donald Trump announced he was sending the national guard into the capital and putting city police under federal control, even though the violent crime rate is at a 30-year low.

Rates of colorectal cancer have risen in those under 50, but many are nervous about screening. Here’s what to know

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Colorectal cancer is the third-most diagnosed cancer and third leading cause of cancer deaths in the US, according to the Cancer Research Institute. It is also the third-most common cancer in the UK, and accounted for 12.6% of new cancer cases in the country in 2021.

Rates of the disease have dropped overall in recent decades, but in those under 50, rates have increased significantly.