Defense department policy requires outlets to vow not to obtain unauthorized files and restricts access to some areas

Several leading news organizations with access to Pentagon briefings have formally said they will not agree to a new defense department policy that requires them to pledge they will not obtain unauthorized material and restricts access to certain areas unless accompanied by an official.

The policy, presented last month by the defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, has been widely criticized by media organizations asked to sign the pledge by Tuesday at 5pm or have 24 hours to turn in their press credentials.

Tim Robinson is hilarious as a man hellbent on taking down a negligent chair manufacturer in this cringe caper full of roaringly good slapstick

Meet Ron Trosper, a faithful office grunt in small town Ohio. Ron works for a company that builds shopping malls, and their latest one is the first for which Ron has been made project lead, despite some of his superiors’ misgivings. Today is his big day. He’s giving a speech at the launch!

Ron is the creation of Tim Robinson, the former Saturday Night Live writer/performer who reinvented the American sketch show in 2019 with I Think You Should Leave. In a new half-hour, eight-episode series that starts as a workplace comedy before sprawling into mystery/thriller territory, his alter ego is a stock Robinson character, a variation on the textbook comic protagonist who has to bear the burden of being the only sane man in every room. Ron is genuinely beset by absurdity, misfortune and other people’s idiocy and selfishness, but always manages to react in a way that makes everyone around him conclude that he is the problem. Whereas Larry David in Curb Your Enthusiasm met the world’s small annoyances in a rational but insensitive manner, Ron combats them irrationally and too sensitively.

• ‘He needs to push himself … there are no limits’

• Head coach opens door for Jude Bellingham role

Thomas Tuchel believes Marcus Rashford can still become one of the best in the world, but the England head coach has warned he will end up with regrets unless he pushes himself to the limit and improves in the final third.

Tuchel, who also cautiously opened the door to Jude Bellingham being part of England’s leadership group if the midfielder returns to the squad, pulled no punches as he discussed Rashford’s development in the leadup to the World Cup qualifier against Latvia in Riga on Tuesday night. England’s head coach said potential is not enough and made clear that the challenge for the 27-year-old, who has 18 goals in 64 international appearances, is to become more consistent.

Craig Bellamy cited Nostradamus in the buildup to this contest, advising to expect the unexpected given the 4‑3 thriller that unfolded the last time these nations met. But while Wales gave Belgium an early fright, two Kevin De Bruyne penalties and a Thomas Meunier strike paved the way to a comeback victory that surely ends the hosts’ hopes of qualifying automatically for the World Cup.

Nathan Broadhead, on as a substitute, pulled a goal back in the 89th minute but almost immediately Leandro Trossard converted from close range to cap the victory, this time featuring just the six goals. Joe Rodon headed in to give Wales a welcome leg‑up but Belgium stirred to maintain their pristine qualifying record; their last defeat in a qualifier coming here in June 2015, when Gareth Bale scored to propel Wales towards Euro 2016. Wales will likely have to do it the hard way if they are to reach North America next summer.

• Leeds half-back won the 2025 Man of Steel award

• First Test against Australia at Wembley on 25 October

The England head coach, Shaun Wane, has said the decision to leave Super League’s Man of Steel, Jake Connor, out of his squad for the Ashes was “not really difficult”. He added that he does not understand the obsession surrounding the exile of the Leeds Rhinos half-back.

Connor is by far the most notable omission from the 24-man squad to take on Australia in the first Ashes series since 2003. It begins on 25 October at Wembley, with Tests at Everton and Headingley to follow on successive Saturdays. There are a number of surprise inclusions, including a returnfor Hull KR’s Joe Burgess after his two-try performance in the Super League Grand Final on Saturday. The winger has been out of the national side for a decade.

Hyperemesis gravidarum – a condition routinely dismissed as ‘just morning sickness’ – doesn’t just affect your stomach, it hijacks your entire life

When I came back to my senses, I turned to the paramedic and whispered, “Did I say something about terminating the pregnancy?” My voice cracked. “Please … don’t judge me.” My mother was beside me as they wheeled me into the emergency room, and I was sick with worry that she’d heard me. That she’d be ashamed. But mostly, I was terrified they’d send me home. Again. That I wasn’t sick enough. That I was just another hormonal woman with a flair for drama.

This was week five of what I now know is hyperemesis gravidarum (HG), a condition where pregnancy nausea and vomiting go full Tarantino. I’d already been to the emergency department five times in two weeks. No diagnosis. Just a rinse-and-repeat routine: some staring down the tiles while holding a tie-and-twist vomit bag, some pokes and wriggles to find my dehydrated veins, some fluids and the awkward assurance that “baby is like a parasite, it will take everything it needs”. As if maternal suffering were a footnote. As if I were the side salad to the main course of foetal development.

• Updates from the 7.45pm BST kick-off in Cardiff

• Live scores: all the goals as they go in | Email Michael

In other World Cup qualification news …

The teams are out at the Cardiff City Stadium. The anthems are belted out, Wales fans in their bucket hats, Belgium supporters with the devil horns on their heads. Ben Davies, holding his young son, looks about as emotional as I have seen as the camera pans across the players.

UN warns Gaza still needs ‘lifesaving aid’ as world leaders gather in Sharm el-Sheikh to discuss 20-point proposal

There was a rare moment of joy among Israelis and Palestinians on Monday as Hamas released the remaining 20 living hostages in Gaza as part of a swap deal for nearly 2,000 Palestinian detainees, on a day world leaders met in Egypt to try to ensure the current limited truce is extended into a durable peace.

“The prayers of millions have finally been answered,” Donald Trump declared at the peace summit, with his counterparts lined up behind him. “At long last, we have peace in the Middle East.”

• Blue Sharks beat Eswatini 3-0 to top qualifying group

• Cameroon second in Group D after draw with Angola

Cape Verde have booked their place as debutants at the 2026 World Cup after a 3-0 home victory over Eswatini secured top spot in their African qualifying group.

With a population of around 525,000, the tiny Atlantic island nation will become the second-smallest country by population to play at a men’s World Cup finals, behind only Iceland, who qualified in 2018.

In speech to Israeli Knesset hours after hostages released, US president spoke of ‘historic dawn of new Middle East’

Donald Trump has vowed to use the power of his presidency to ensure that Israel recognises it has achieved “all that it can by force of arms”, and begin an age of cooperation in the Middle East that may ultimately extend as far as peace with Iran.

In a speech to the Israeli Knesset, made hours after the last remaining Israeli hostages were released from Gaza, Trump hailed the “historic dawn of a new Middle East” and an end to the “long and painful nightmare” of the Gaza war.

George Finch, 19, says he was called a ‘racist’ and ‘fascist’ during incident in Warwickshire on Friday

The Reform UK leader, Nigel Farage, has criticised “disgraceful” rhetoric from the Labour and Green parties after the UK’s youngest council leader was allegedly assaulted.

George Finch, 19, the Reform leader of Warwickshire county council,said he was called a “racist” and a “fascist” before being allegedly assaulted on Friday.

María Corina Machado has made downfall of Maduro regime in Venezuela her mission

• In Venezuela’s ‘darkest hours’, will peace prize boost opposition or backfire?

Norway’s foreign ministry has said that Venezuela has closed its embassy in Oslo without giving a reason, days after opposition leader María Corina Machado was awarded the Nobel peace prize.

“We have been informed by the embassy of Venezuela that it is shutting its doors and no reason has been given,” the foreign ministry spokesperson, Cecilie Roang, told AFP.

Universities, law firms and businesses that have changed course should have stood by convictions, says ex-president

Barack Obama took aim at institutions and businesses who made deals or worked out settlements with the Trump administration, noting on a new podcast episode: “We all have this capacity, I think, to take a stand.”

In a talk with Marc Maron on the comedian’s last edition of his long-running WTF With Marc Maron, the former US president said institutions – including law firms, universities and businesses – that have changed course during the Trump administration should have stood by their convictions.

Third film adapted from the romance novels by Mercedes Ron, originally written in Spanish, feels clunky and cliched

This is the third film in a series, after My Fault in 2023 and Your Fault in 2024, that have been adapted from the Culpable trilogy, romance novels by Mercedes Ron, originally written in Spanish. It’s obviously aimed at a specific market that expects a certain blend of melodrama, softcore sex and lush lifestyle porn, and (more importantly) is invested already in the trilogy’s story. Given those parameters, it probably delivers – although the dialogue, at least judging by the subtitles, is super clunky and cliched.

Complete outsiders coming to this cold may be a little baffled by what’s going on, since this concluding instalment makes no effort to fill in any blanks. But even total newbies will get the gist that heroine Noah (Nicole Wallace) still has feelings for her ex Nick (Gabriel Guevara) – who also, somewhat disturbingly, was once her stepbrother, although their respective parents didn’t marry until Noah and Nick were well into adulthood. At the Ibiza-set wedding of comic relief best friends Jenna (Eva Ruiz) and Lion (Victor Varona), Noah and Nick bump uglies before having the inevitable row that will separate them for most of the narrative until the final-act rapprochement. In the middle part, Noah hooks up with nice (and therefore doomed to romantic failure) Simon (Fran Morcillo), and Nick goes around offices wearing suits and issuing orders in boardrooms. There’s a bad guy, Michael (Javier Morgade), who looks almost identical to Nick but with more perma-stubble, and he tries to wreak havoc on our central lovers.

A new study shows twitches and involuntary movements between throws can lead to things going wrong at the oche

Sunday night in Leicester. A study in contrast. At one point Luke Humphries’s eyes widen as another 22g Red Dragon dart flies past double 16. He shakes his head. Looks down. Bites his lip. Meanwhile, the automaton beside him powers on. Until the moment Luke Littler is pumping his fists, revelling in his 6-1 victory and a first World Grand Prix title.

Littler’s extraordinary immunity to pressure is fast reaching the stage where even peak-era Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal would be taking notes. In his quarter-final against Gerwyn Price, Littler looked down and out at times until he hit a 156 checkout to clinch the match. Against Humphries, it didn’t matter that his three-dart average was more than a point lower as he won five of his six sets in final-leg deciders.

Hostage and prisoner releases are bringing joy to families. But there is no guarantee that the ceasefire will end Palestinian suffering

The reprieve brought by the end of fighting in Gaza is immense. In Israel, the release of the living hostages has led to widespread elation. In Gaza and the West Bank there are also celebrations, as up to 2,000 Palestinian detainees start to be released – though there is distress, too, due to uncertainty about who is being freed and where they will be sent. In northern Gaza, people can finally return to dig through rubble for the remains of an estimated 10,000 missing people.

As recently as three weeks ago, the likelihood of a ceasefire appeared remote. But it has taken effect, and on Monday Donald Trump travelled from Jerusalem, where he was cheered in the Knesset, to Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt. There, he joined a high-powered peace summit of more than 20 world leaders, including Sir Keir Starmer. The plan for peace begun there is due to be continued at a conference in the UK. The US president, acting with international partners, did make this deal happen – despite, not because of, Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.

A lucrative sector is spreading fast as criminal enterprises force abused and trafficked workers to cheat others

A Chinese court last month sentenced 11 people to death over their roles in a illegal scam empire along the border with Myanmar. But it won’t end a noxious multibillion-dollar industry that devastates the lives of two sets of victims. The first are those cheated out of money, often by people posing as potential romantic or business partners in what are known as “pig‑butchering” schemes. The second are those who are forced to cheat them, working in conditions amounting to modern slavery.

The recent study, Scam: Inside Southeast Asia’s Cybercrime Compounds, by Ivan Franceschini, Ling Li and Mark Bo, paints a terrifying picture of the sector. Workers are trafficked into heavily guarded, prison-like compounds, where they are routinely abused and tortured for failing to meet targets, or extorted for ransoms. Others take the jobs willingly, but find that they cannot repay ruinous charges for food and accommodation. Their work requires them to be connected to the outside world round the clock, yet they are too terrified to seek help because of the surveillance and violence they endure.

Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.

• Reports have said coach wants out of UNC contract

• Tar Heels have lost three of first five games this season

Bill Belichick has denied reports that he has been considering an exit strategy from his role as North Carolina’s head coach.

“Some of the reports out last week about my looking for a buyout and trying to leave here and all that, it’s just categorically false,” Belichick said on Monday during his first public comments since a blowout loss to Clemson at the start of the month. “Glad I’m here. Working toward our goals and the process.”

During the second of two off weeks in a three-week span, the subject of Belichick’s status and future with the Tar Heels was a hot topic, so much so that last Wednesday the university released brief statements from the coach and athletics director Bubba Cunningham reaffirming commitments between Belichick and the school. Reports had said the 73-year-old wanted to return to the NFL as a coach or in the media.

On a powerfully emotional day, 20 Israelis went home, hundreds of Palestinians were freed from prison and Trump had his perfectly scripted moment

The estimated 65,000 people in “hostages square” in Tel Aviv heard it before they saw it. Like so many sunflowers, their faces turned up to search the clear blue morning sky for the source of the sound. Then it swept into view from the west, from the direction of Gaza.

A helicopter, military brown, was on the way to Ichilov hospital a few hundred metres away. But it diverted. It circled around the crowd giving each person below a view, and then tilted to its right, in an apparent salute to the cheering, waving, smiling faces below.

• Captain could return for November’s north London derby

• Eberechi Eze and Ethan Nwaneri to deputise

Arsenal expect Martin Ødegaard to miss another six weeks with the knee injury he sustained before the international break.

The Arsenal captain went down clutching his left knee after clashing with Crysencio Summerville in the first half of a 2-0 victory against West Ham that sent Mikel Arteta’s side top of the table. Ødegaard twice attempted to carry on after treatment before being replaced by Martín Zubimendi, and Arteta said the 26-year-old had left the ground with his knee in a brace.

Online marketplace paid just $18m in corporation tax, leading campaigners to call for government action

The Chinese online marketplace Temu’s EU operations more than doubled pre-tax profits last year to just below $120m (£90m) despite employing just eight people, accounts show.

They rose 171% in the 12 months to December 2024 compared with the $44.1m the year before, as shoppers snapped up its low-cost goods, which are widely promoted on social media.

It was a brutal killing spree that gripped Italy – yet so little is still known. Why were lovers murdered in their cars? Why were their sexual organs often targeted? Author Tobias Jones sifts the evidence

Some criminal cases are so vast that even the number of victims is uncertain: in the case of the unsolved “Monster of Florence” crimes that have gripped Italy for half a century, it is known that seven couples were murdered. But some say it’s eight, and at least another 16 murders have been connected to the case. The number of suspects almost matches that of the victims. First there was the pista sarda, the Sardinian line of enquiry into the swinging, pimping Vinci brothers who probably had a hand in the “first” murder in 1968. In the 1990s, a rapist, Pietro Pacciani, was convicted and then cleared. In 2000, Pacciani’s co-accused, Mario Vanni and Giancarlo Lotti, were sentenced to life and 28 years respectively for the murders committed between 1981 and 1985.

Gianluca Monastra, author of Il Mostro di Firenze, writes that it’s a case in which “there’s a seductive and ever more abstract ballet of hypotheses … it’s a story in which everything can seem true, as can its contrary.” Filled with intrigue and sex (most of the victims were young couples making out in the countryside), it has spawned its fair share of obsessives, who have come to be known as monsterologists. The frequency with which evidence suddenly appeared or disappeared has persuaded some monsterologists to suspect that elements within law enforcement were involved.

Ferrer, who has been imprisoned repeatedly, says he opted for exile after facing ‘torture’ behind bars in Cuba

The prominent Cuban dissident José Daniel Ferrer has been freed from prison and put on a plane to the US where he will live in exile with his family, the communist country’s foreign ministry has said.

Ferrer, who has been imprisoned repeatedly as the long-term leader of the island’s pro-democracy movement, announced this month he had opted for exile after facing “torture” and “humiliation” behind bars.

Lindsey Graham says closure won’t push him to meet Democrats’ demands on Obama-era healthcare subsidies

Republican and Democratic senators Lindsey Graham and Mark Kelly have dug their heels in over the government shutdown – which is now approaching two weeks, with the former saying that the closure won’t push him to meet Democrats’ demands for a restoration of Obama-era healthcare subsidies.

Graham said on NBC News’s Meet the Press on Sunday that he was in favor of the Senate voting to reopen the government and prepared to “have a rational discussion” with Democrats – but not with the government shut down.