US and Iran threaten return to war after fiercest exchange of fire since truce

Iran and the US have threatened to reignite their conflict after the most extensive exchange of fire since an interim deal was signed last month.

On a chaotic day at the Nato summit in Ankara, Donald Trump said the US would probably hit the country again on Wednesday evening and renewed his threat to take control of the strategic Kharg Island in the strait of Hormuz - a move that could provoke Iran to hit energy installations across the Gulf states.

Continue Reading »

Hundreds of jobs at risk in John Lewis' gift wrapping and money exchange services

Around 200 John Lewis staff could lose their jobs as the retailer looks to close its in-store money exchange services and dedicated gift wrapping areas.

No final decision has been made but the job cuts will happen in the autumn if the redundancy plans it is consulting on are approved.

Continue Reading »

How the US-Iran conflict is reshaping Africa’s geopolitical opportunities

Lagos, Nigeria – The first economic shockwaves from the United States-Israel war on Iran have been felt through oil markets, shipping routes and financial uncertainty. But its longer-term consequences could extend far beyond the Middle East, reshaping energy markets, trade networks and geopolitical alignments worldwide.

Continue Reading »

NASA's New Horizons spacecraft wakes from its longest hibernation in good health

NASA's New Horizons Spacecraft Wakes from Hibernation in Good Health - NASA Science
From left, flight controllers Mark Lahr and Josh Albers, and Mission Operations Manager Alice Bowman, monitor telemetry streaming from NASA's New Horizons spacecraft to the mission operations center at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland, on June 24, 2026. Now approximately 5.9 billion miles (9.5 billion kilometers) from Earth, New Horizons is ready to begin transmitting science data after being awakened from its longest ever, nearly yearlong hibernation period. Credit: NASA / Johns Hopkins APL / SwRI / Justin Gladden

Following its longest hibernation period ever of nearly a year, NASA's New Horizons spacecraft has emerged in good health and is ready to begin transmitting science data gathered in the distant Kuiper Belt far beyond Pluto.

Continue Reading »

Island life changed how Brazil's Noronha skink reproduces, but the lizard's strategy might be failing

by Henrique B. Braz, Selma Maria Almeida-Santos, Serena Najara Migliore, The Conversation

Island life changed how Brazil’s Noronha skink reproduces, but the lizard’s strategy might be failing
The small Noronha skink (Trachylepis atlantica) is a lizard native to Africa that has evolved on Fernando de Noronha over millions of years: due to its isolation, the archipelago serves as a natural laboratory for evolution and is the subject of great scientific interest. Credit: Vinicius Gasparotto, CC BY

Visitors to the Fernando de Noronha archipelago, located about 340 miles (545 kilometers) off the coast of Pernambuco in northeastern Brazil, soon notice a small lizard. Seemingly ubiquitous, it roams among rocks, trails and urbanized areas, approaching people and stealing food in plain sight when it can, and rarely flees.

Continue Reading »

Task Bar Hero class tier list and the best team compositions for idling your way through the endgame

Task Bar Hero - Left to right: Sorcerer, Knight, and Ranger classes in action poses
(Image credit: Nugem Studio, Tesseract Studio)

I've spent weeks playing Task Bar Hero as part of my daily work routine, and after pouring over 300 hours into the desktop auto-battler, it's safe to say it sits among my favorite idlers. Micromanaging the tiny pixel heroes at the bottom of my screen has also brought out the best worst parts of my 'number must go up' broken gamer brain, so I have some thoughts on what a Task Bar Hero tier list looks like.

Continue Reading »

ICE agent fatally shoots motorist during traffic stop in Houston

A federal immigration agent fatally shot a driver in Houston on Tuesday morning, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency (ICE) has said.

Agents stopped Lorenzo Salgado Araujo at about 6.50am and tried to arrest him, according to ICE, which described Salgado Araujo as a Mexican national and an “illegal alien” whom the agency was seeking as part of a “targeted enforcement operation”.

Continue Reading »