THE 600 BILLION DOLLAR MEN

From the star-studded Pro League to golf, F1 and cricket, Saudi Arabia's dizzying strategic investment in global sport is as cynically ambitious as it is controversial.

Pulse of life Ancient folk music is still whipping up a frenzy

When Antonio Castrignanò listens to pizzica, he hears much more than tambourines and drums.

75 years on, Franco's cruel punishment still haunts village

Half an hour's drive uphill from the busy beaches of Nerja, on Spain's Costa del Sol, lies the isolated village of El Acebuchal, pretty but spookily quiet on a summer's morning. Seventy-five years ago, its people were victims of a grievous injustice.

Kennedy Jr dismays Democrats - but pulls in populists

It was standing room only when Kevin O'Keeffe, wearing a Robert Kennedy Jr campaign T-shirt, joined the audience to welcome the candidate, introduced as \"Bobby Kennedy\", who walked across the sunbaked stage decked with hay bales to whoops and applause.

Hawaii alert Non-native grasses 'raised risk of fires'

Scientists and academics say they have been warning for several years that invasive grasses covering a quarter of the Hawaii islands are a major fire risk.

Crackdown on illegal goldmines brings hope

Armed agents are destroying illicit camps in response to the rampant deforestation permitted under Bolsonaro

Windows of opportunity Lack of glass hits homes

Shortage of glazing materials is impeding efforts to restore normality in areas damaged by Russian artillery attacks

Netherlands and Denmark pledge fighter jets for Kyiv

The Netherlands and Denmark have announced they will donate up to 61 F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine once pilot training has been satisfactorily completed, as Volodymyr Zelenskiy visited both countries after months of entreaties to bolster the Ukrainian air force.

'Obscene' Guards accused of mass border killings

Saudi border guards have been accused of killing hundreds of Ethiopians using small arms and explosive weapons in a campaign that rights advocates suggest may be a crime against humanity.

How one of the UK's worst child killers went undetected

Before Lucy Letby's arrest and conviction, it took almost two years for the police to be called in over suspicious baby deaths at a Chester hospital

The next goal... How long until we see this spectacle not as 'women's sport', but simply 'sport'?

This Women's World Cup has been compelling viewing. Fans enjoyed a heady mix of breathtaking skill, dramatic incidents and unexpected results, with record attendances and viewing figures at every stage of the tournament.

How England's Lionesses are changing the game for girls

In five years, 100,000 more girls have taken up the sport in England, shattering myths about their relative abilities

Kick on

A month-long spectacle, culminating in Spain's thrilling triumph, is another landmark moment for the women's game, in which Europe is the new leader of player development at elite and grassroots levels

Marvel story

This tale of a pianist who finds love and renewal before mystical forces intervene is a reminder of Neil Jordan's gifts as a writer

The invisible woman

George Orwell's first wife has been ill-served by his own biographers, yet here the witty and fierce Eileen is stripped of agency all over again

AIrchitecture anyone?

AI heralds a world where design wonders are just a click away, but could it replace an entire profession?

Africans, not global powers, will forge the continent's stability

A \"coup belt\" now extends across the African continent, running along the Sahel region that bisects north and sub-Saharan Africa. Niger, where the democratically elected president was deposed by a military junta, has now become the last link that completed the corridor of countries run by coupsters.

How I learned to swim

As I entered my fifties, my body and my confidence started to falter and fail me. I was told swimming would help keep me fit and strong-minded. But first I had to navigate the aggravation of the slow lane

"My mother spent her life trying to find me"

Countless Bangladeshi children were put up for adoption without the consent of their parents in the chaotic wake of civil war. Denials and scant paperwork hid the truth for years

Trump indicted over bid to reverse 2020 election loss

Donald Trump and some of his closest confidantes have been indicted on state racketeering and conspiracy charges over efforts to reverse Trump's defeat in the 2020 election in Georgia. This indictment makes the former US president a criminal defendant in a fourth case as he campaigns to recapture the presidency.

A frail truce The battle for Tigray is not over

Despite a peace deal last year, Eritrean troops remain in border areas, and the Irob community pays the price

Why Taliban is desperate to silence musicians and artists

Hardline Islamist leaders have imposed brutal restrictions on cultural expression and the Afghan people are suffering

Shore bet Artwork with a mission to restore reefs

In the turquoise waters of Nacula Island, steel sculptures sit on the seafloor, adorned with coral. The artworks are part of a conservation effort to help grow and restore coral reefs as they face the threat of bleaching because of warmer seas.

Florida's united effort to turn the tide on coral bleaching

A race is under way in Florida to rescue corals being bleached at alarming rates as a result of historic heatwaves and rising water temperatures.

Thousands missing at sea as use of deadliest route rises

The number of people taking the world's deadliest migratory route-across the central Mediterranean - to reach the EU has more than doubled, driving irregular crossings at the bloc's external borders to their highest level in seven years.

Fresh anger over asylum policy after Channel boat deaths

Calls this week mounted in the UK and France for the introduction of safe routes for refugees crossing the Channel after a French organisation said it had received multiple distress calls from people making the crossing.

Questions fly after paradise is reduced to streets of ash

Atleast 99 people have died in the fire that consumed the historic town of Lahaina on the Hawaiian island of Maui, and officials warned that the effort to find and identify the dead was in its early stages. Meanwhile, residents raised questions over aspects of the government response, from warnings during the fire to aid distribution in the days since.

Phone apps hit home in Beijing's bid for hearts and minds

Ariel Lo spends a couple of hours most weeks sharing anime art and memes on Chinese apps, often chatting with friends in China in a Mandarin slightly different from the one she uses at home in Taiwan.

Great leap backwards? Deflationary slide sparks global fears

When two core indicators of Chinese inflation turned negative last week, alarm bells rang as the world's second-largest economy started sliding into deflation. According to Joe Biden, China's economy is a \"ticking timebomb\".

'You don't survive that' Sappers dice with death to clear mines

Oleksandr Slyusar, a Ukrainian sapper with a ready smile, had spent the past 30 hours under Russian shelling in the recently liberated village of Staromaiorske in the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine. A rocket fired at them from a Grad system had peppered the legs and back of a fellow landmine-clearer with shrapnel.