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Several US states have accused Instagram and Facebook’s parent company of deliberately causing young people harm with its products. Plus: the Italian nuns fighting to keep control of their spot in the sun

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Good morning. More than half of the states in the US have joined together in an unprecedented lawsuit against Meta that goes to trial on Tuesday, accusing the parent company of Instagram and Facebook of deliberately designing addictive products that lured in young people and caused them harm.

The sweeping legal proceedings could have profound consequences for the company. The attorneys general say that if Meta is found liable, damages could be as high as $200bn – equivalent to the company’s 2025 annual revenue. The lawmakers are also asking that Meta be compelled to change the design of its products to make them safer for children, which may have longer-term effects than a fine.

What is Meta accused of? The 233-page lawsuit, first filed in October 2023, alleges that Meta regularly collects data on children under the age of 13 without parental permission. The lawmakers claim in court documents that Meta “refuses to abandon its use of known harmful features” and that its motives are based solely on profit.

How has Meta responded? Meta denies all allegations and says: “Rather than sticking to the facts or the law, the states have instead decided to chase an outlandish payout. The state AGs may call this a landmark case, but their limited claims are unsubstantiated and their financial demands are vastly disproportionate.”

Why have conditions onboard the ship become contentious? The Lincoln, a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier left port from San Diego on 21 November 2025 and has now set a modern record for the longest time at sea without a port call. It has been more than 250 days since it has touched land.

What else is causing concern with US navy ships? A US guided-missile destroyer reportedly spent four days adrift and without power in the South China Sea in July. The USS Benfold was reported to have been towed to Subic Bay in the Philippines.

Officials have had to remove thousands of tons of sargassum from Florida’s beaches amid the climate crisis

Dealing with seaweed is the bulk of Chris Bumpus’s job during the summer. As chief of conservation for Miami-Dade county’s parks, recreation and open spaces department, Bumpus is in charge of cleaning sargassum off 17 miles (27km) of county beaches. But some days, the odds are stacked against him and his team.

More and more sargassum, a kind of floating brown algae, has been washing up on the beaches of south Florida, west Africa, the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean.

Sonic’s creators explain how the speedy scamp has kept on running through generations as an enduring avatar of ‘attitude in the face of adversity’

One day in the early 1990s, I came home from university for the weekend and discovered that my dad had bought himself a Sega Mega Drive, bundled with a copy of Sonic the Hedgehog 2. I knew about Sega’s mascot of course. The launch of the original Sonic the Hedgehog game in 1991 was a landmark moment for the company, massively boosting the sales of its 16bit console in the west, ripping market share from the dominant Super Nintendo. While Mario was the family favourite, Sonic with his speed, attitude and brash visual energy encapsulated the edgy spirit of the early 1990s MTV culture. That weekend, Dad and I did little else but team up for daylong Sonic sessions, the game’s two-player mode letting us play cooperatively as we zoomed through those dense, beautiful play zones.

Thirty-five years later, I am still a Sonic fan. There have been plenty of rough times (Sonic 06, Sonic and the Secret Rings, Sonic Free Riders – sorry, I can’t go on), but there have been plenty of good ones too. (Rush, Mania and Colors, and I have a soft spot for Sonic R, a racer developed by Traveller’s Tales, which went on to make the Lego games). Few people know this rollercoaster better than Takashi Iizuka, who worked on Sonic 3 as a designer and has been series producer for almost 20 years. When he joined Sega in 1992 he wanted to work for the company’s arcade division, but after playing the original Sonic – especially Sonic 2 – he was seduced.

Bond yields in US, UK, Germany France and Japan rise after ceasefire ends and Trump threatens to bomb Oman

• Business live – latest updates

Government borrowing costs in several advanced economies continued to rise to levels not seen in decades on Tuesday, as hopes of an end to the US-Iran war faded.

Concerns about the inflation outlook worsened after the ceasefire between Washington DC and Tehran ended on Monday night without an agreement, with no progress on the reopening of the strait of Hormuz.

Tackling grief, time, parties and spaceflight, the Scottish artist uses film stills, magazine ads, family photos and even her own furniture to create a show you can settle into and figure out

‘I love parties,” says France-Lise McGurn, “but they’re complicated, and there’s a time when you leave.” Her new show at Dundee Contemporary Arts, called The Charm Offensive, carries her dynamic, vital paintings into a new era – and on an unprecedented huge scale. Grappling with grief, the passing of time, and the paradoxes and slippery truths of modern womanhood, the work chases the desire to be present, balancing the fun of the party with the melancholy of leaving it.

McGurn was born and raised in Glasgow and studied painting in Dundee, so this show is something of a homecoming. As a student, she lived three doors down from DCA. Although she knows nostalgia can be a “dirty word” among artists, McGurn says that “a melancholic grappling with the past is part of painting”. She has always worked from extensive source material, but for this show, she has allowed that archive of images to be visible to viewers.

Israeli PM again insists troops will not withdraw from strip until Hamas first disarms, but calls meeting constructive

Benjamin Netanyahu has told Donald Trump’s son-in-law and envoy Jared Kushner there can be no progress on the stalled Gaza ceasefire deal or an Israeli withdrawal from the coastal strip until Hamas first disarms.

An Israeli official said there had been no breakthrough in ‌the meeting between the pair, saying Netanyahu had made it clear the IDF would not withdraw and would continue to carry out operations in Gaza.

Woodland Trust says trees struggling in drought stress, with older ‘survivors’ disproportionately affected

England’s ancient oak trees are dying in the summer’s extreme heat and dry weather, according to the Woodland Trust, with trees and ecosystems unable to adapt fast enough to the changing climate.

The heatwaves across much of Europe this summer have had a notable impact on crop growth and plant health. To cope with the extreme conditions, many trees are undergoing “early autumn”, wilting and losing their leaves early.

Crow Leasow oak, Shropshire.

Tea Party oak, Suffolk.

King John oak, Devon.

Enmore oak, Somerset.

Lydham Manor oak, Shropshire.

Old Knobbley, Essex.

Pwllpriddog oak, Carmarthenshire.

Andoni Iraola has his hands full – replacing Mo Salah and restoring faith at Anfield – and will hope big name investors bring stability not disharmony

Guardian writers’ predicted position: 4th (NB: this is not necessarily Andy Hunter’s prediction but the average of our writers’ tips)

Last season’s position: 5th

Trip-prepping shouldn’t be a grim exercise in minimising your milligrams. Take day outfits, night outfits, gymwear, swimwear – and prepare for an adventure

If you’re on the hunt for a streamlined way to travel internationally while only packing a toothbrush, an iPad, a single white T-shirt made of technical fabric and a lukewarm sachet of Huel, then keep scrolling. I simply couldn’t care less.

Packing for travel shouldn’t be a grim logistical exercise in minimising the milligrams of mass one must transport. It should be a prelude to an adventure – and an adventure in itself!

Max Olesker is a writer and comedian. His show Max Olesker: Making the Cut is playing at the Edinburgh fringe, until 30 August 2026

Marie Ebert, Alexander Cromie and their pilot died when their aircraft crashed on island of Sifnos

Greek police believe a mechanical fault may have caused a helicopter to crash moments before it was due to land on the island of Sifnos, killing a British couple on honeymoon and the pilot.

Authorities were focusing on Tuesday on the “strange noise” the aircraft, a privately chartered Bell 206, is reported to have made before falling to the ground and exploding on impact.

Case of Abderrahim Fakir is first in which legal shield giving police greater protection from prosecution has been invoked

If, before 19 July, few people in Italy beyond his family and friends knew who Abderrahim Fakir was, by the late afternoon of that day the final moments of his life were being watched across the country.

Video footage widely shared online showed him being handcuffed and forcibly restrained by police on a street in Pilastro, a neighbourhood in the north-east of Bologna.

После прошлой статьи про железо нашего беспилотного трактора от Когнитив в комментариях набралось много конкретных вопросов: как он вообще «видит» мир, как едет там, где нет спутников, и что происходит, когда перед ним внезапно оказывается корова. Отвечаю на них здесь, и заодно рассказываю, как устроена работа в коровниках, потому что это одна из основных текущих задач для платформы.

Я достаточно долго жил с тревогой и паническими атаками, и пять лет потратил на попытки справиться самому. Это были самые бесполезные пять лет в моей жизни. Собрал девять блоков про ментальное здоровье, которые могут кому-то сократить путь до улучшений.

Bond yields in US, UK, Germany France and Japan rise after ceasefire ends and Trump threatens to bomb Oman

• Business live – latest updates

Government borrowing costs continued to rise to levels not seen in decades on Tuesday, as hopes of an end to the US-Iran war faded.

Concerns about the inflation outlook worsened after the ceasefire between Washington DC and Tehran ended on Monday night without an agreement, with no progress on the reopening of the strait of Hormuz.

Woodland Trust says trees struggling in drought stress, with older ‘survivors’ disproportionately affected

England’s ancient oak trees are dying in the summer’s extreme heat and dry weather, according to the Woodland Trust, with trees and ecosystems unable to adapt fast enough to the changing climate.

The heatwaves across much of Europe this summer have had a notable impact on crop growth and plant health. To cope with the extreme conditions, many trees are undergoing “early autumn”, wilting and losing their leaves early.

Crow Leasow oak, Shropshire.

Tea Party oak, Suffolk.

King John oak, Devon.

Enmore oak, Somerset.

Lydham Manor oak, Shropshire.

Old Knobbley, Essex.

Pwllpriddog oak, Carmarthenshire.

Case of Abderrahim Fakir is first in which legal shield giving police greater protection from prosecution has been invoked

If, before 19 July, few people in Italy beyond his family and friends knew who Abderrahim Fakir was, by the late afternoon of that day the final moments of his life were being watched across the country.

Video footage widely shared online showed him being handcuffed and forcibly restrained by police on a street in Pilastro, a neighbourhood in the north-east of Bologna.

У каждого опубликованного сайта GitBook уже есть MCP-сервер. Мы узнали об этом случайно и вместо конвертеров просто дали агенту ходить в документацию напрямую — сотня страниц переехала на Diplodoc за четыре дня. Что агент сделал сам, где проходит граница его возможностей и какие десять вещей пришлось доделывать руками.

Marie Ebert, Alexander Cromie and their pilot died when their aircraft crashed on island of Sifnos

Greek police believe a mechanical fault may have caused a helicopter to crash moments before it was due to land on the island of Sifnos, killing a British couple on honeymoon and the pilot.

Authorities were focusing on Tuesday on the “strange noise” the aircraft, a privately chartered Bell 206, is reported to have made before falling to the ground and exploding on impact.

• Amazon Prime captures strain of manager’s final season

• Club chair says Spaniard threatened to leave ‘100 times’

Pep Guardiola clashed with his captain and almost broke down in tears as he railed at players during his worst run as Manchester City manager.

Guardiola stood down at the end of last season after winning 20 trophies in a 10-year spell at the Etihad Stadium. One of the lowest points of his glittering reign came during a testing run in the autumn of 2024, when City lost nine times and won just once in the space of 13 games. Guardiola outwardly showed signs of strain, notably when he scratched his face after City surrendered a 3-0 lead to draw 3-3 with Feyenoord in the Champions League.

Politics that worked for Democratic candidates in New York, Minnesota, Michigan won’t cut it in red Florida, analysts say

If primary elections elsewhere this summer were tussles between progressives and moderates for the direction of the Democratic party’s political future, Tuesday’s contests in Florida could not be more different.

In a former swing state that has in recent years become reliably red, moderate Democratic candidates Alex Vindman and David Jolly are heavily favored to become the party’s nominees for November’s Senate and governor’s race, respectively.

• Right-back worked with Matthias Jaissle at RB Salzburg

• Sunderland to announce signing of Dayann Methalie

The chance to be reunited with Matthias Jaissle convinced Amar Dedic to swap Benfica for Newcastle in a £29.5m transfer. Dedic becomes Newcastle’s sixth signing of a turbulent summer on Tyneside and the 24-year-old Bosnia and Herzegovina international is likely to start at right-back at home to Liverpool on Sunday.

“Working with Matthias again was a big factor for me,” said Dedic, who previously played for Newcastle’s new manager at RB Salzburg. “We know each other well; he knows what I can bring to the pitch and I’m really happy to play for him again. It’s a special feeling and a real honour to join Newcastle.”

Our cartoonist on the nine fresh faces in club dugouts and their potential impact as they begin work

• Buy a cartoon | Some of David’s favourite works

• And his latest book, Chaos in the Box: get it now

Воронка продаж или любая другая воронка (производства, закупок, HR) в любой CRM всегда начинается с бизнес-аналитики, т.е. надо понять процессы в бизнесе клиента и под них настроить IT инфраструктуру, а не наоборот.

Тыкать пальцами кнопки в Битрикс24 много ума не надо, а вот сделать правильно, именно так как надо клиенту - это и есть специальность интегратора CRM.

Воронка продаж это всегда определение:

This live blog is now closed.

• Donalds and Jolly to face off in Florida governor race

• Democratic socialist Angie Nixon wins Senate primary

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President Donald Trump posted an image of a map of the strait of Hormuz on his social media platform Truth Social, with a circle around the strait and the words “New US Territory” as the title on Tuesday morning.

This follows comments made on Friday at a speech at a police academy on Long Island, New York, where Trump said “After we finish defeating Iran, which is being very badly defeated, pretty soon I’ll be declaring the Hormuz strait a territory of the United States. … Essentially, that’s what it is. We have the blockade. No ships get through unless we want them to.”

Consumers also turn to supermarket deals to save money, helping slow grocery price inflation

• Business live – latest updates

Shopping baskets took on a decidedly summery complexion during last month’s heatwaves as consumers filled up on a British picnic staple: picky bits, and grocery inflation slowed.

Spending rose on foods such as potato salad, olives and coleslaw, while ice-cream sales also increased, according to new data from Worldpanel by Numerator, a market research company.

AI can generate songs in seconds. But behind every AI track is a complicated question: Who should get paid? And, how? The fights have started.

Сегодня ИИ позволяет генерировать тонны шаблонного кода за секунды. Нагрузка на опытных инженеров сместилась: мы теперь не столько пишем фичи, сколько разгребаем сгенерированный мусор.

Откуда взялся демпинг? Бизнес попал в ловушку метрик. Менеджмент видит, что скорость генерации строк кода выросла в разы, и считает, что разработка стала дешевой и простой. Раз «код пишется сам», значит, ценность программиста упала — отсюда и попытки демпинговать рынок, срезая офферы на 25%. Но это иллюзия. Бизнес не понимает, что ИИ увеличил скорость создания хаоса, а не готовых систем. И вместо проверки системного мышления — того, как архитектор наводит порядок в ИИ-хаосе, — на техсобесах продолжают устраивать школьные викторины. Этот перекос отлично проявился на задании с «Code Review».