Grain crash - Diners go cold on rice in haste of modern life

0.5% The proportion of Japan’s domestic rice production that gets sent overseas, despite a fi vefold increase in exports between 2014 and 2021

Farmers embrace Maya traditions

Yucatán villagers are reconnecting with milpa growing methods despite a changing landscape

Councils join calls for ban on disposable e-cigarettes

20%  Of 11 to 18-year-olds have tried vaping

Tatar-led resistance fighting back in Crimea

85% Proportion of political arrests and illegal searches carried out against the Ta tar community in the region

'My last war' - Foreign volunteers on the front

Alan from England tells of the battle from the trenches, while Steve from the US hasn't registered with his embassy

Seeing red - Record-breaking heatwaves are only going to get more severe

The world endured the hottest week ever recorded between 3-10 July. And meteorologists say there is more to come - a lot more.

Heating up - Soaring temperatures spark global concern

52.2 - The temperature in degrees celsius that was recorded in a remote township in China’s Xinjiang region – a new nationwide record

SONGS OF FREEDOM HIP-HOP IN EGYPT'S REBELLION

Ever since protests in Cairo in 2011, music has been vital to young people making their voices heard against an oppressive regime

The allergy timebomb

More and more youngsters are suffering extreme allergic reactions to everyday foods. What can be done to help the families living with constant terror?

'Life and death' - Stars argue action is aimed at protecting jobbing players

A lot of people are on the margins...this isn't an academic exercise

The quest for equity - What has been going on behind the scenes of raised fists?

63 Years since actors and writers last joined forces against the studios to fight for improved payments, including cover for healthcare

Lights! Camera! Industrial action!

Hollywood actors pulled focus as they joined a long-running strike by screenwriters who want to revisit how studios pay them for their work in an age of streaming and artificial intelligence

Imperial measures

This account of three South Asian nations and their journey to independence embraces food, cinema and personal history

Blonde versus bombshell

In the pink corner, Greta Gerwig's Barbie movie. In the other, Christopher Nolan's epic Oppenheimer. Which will triumph in the box office smackdown?

Why women love the Boss

Bruce Springsteen is seen as one of the quintessential writers of male experience, but as a new book explores, his connection with female listeners is just as complex

Africa, by Africans

A remarkable new photography show reveals a liberated view of the continent

It's only rock'n'roll, but the old timers teach us about more than music - Jonathan Freedland

It's a paper ticket, from before the age of the QR code, and it announces the Rolling Stones at Wembley Stadium on Saturday 26 June 1982. I was 15, but I still remember the buildup - the papers full of jokes about the band needing Zimmer frames to reach the stage and, perhaps, more frequent bathroom breaks. They called them \"the Strolling Bones\". On that day, Mick Jagger was 38 years old.

Addictive apps are bad for children's health it's time for regulation - Devi Sridhar

WhatsApp is for old people. At least that's what my first-year medical students tell me. Young people, especially teenagers, communicate through Snapchat, an app that reaches 90% of 13-to 24-year-olds and 75% of 13- to 34-year-olds across the UK.

Why is it so hard to create policies to effectively solve race inequality? - Kenan Malik

Should public policy be \"race-conscious\" or \"colour blind\"? Should it target the specific inequalities faced by minority groups or treat all citizens equally without any reference to individuals' racial and cultural backgrounds?

AI Utopia or dystopia?

From curing cancer to fighting the climate crisis, artificial intelligence could herald a limitless new dawn for humanity. Alternatively, it could just decide to wipe us all out. Steve Rose asks technology experts about the best and worst-case scenarios

Boxed in

Extreme hoarding is more than just 'too much stuff'. It can be a distressing and dangerous condition that requires careful, targeted help

With Trump in trouble, Republicans go for justice department

When Merrick Garland was nominated to the US supreme court by Barack Obama, Republicans refused to grant him a hearing. Now that Garland is the top law enforcement official in America, the party seems ready to give him one after all - an impeachment hearing.

Threads threat Zuckerberg's plan for the unravelling of Twitter

If Threads truly is going to upstage Twitter, then it claims it is going to do it with \"kindness\". Mark Zuckerberg, whose company Meta launched the social media platform last week, said positivity would be a big difference in a product that looks remarkably similar to its rival.

Hey, suckers

Biologist David Scheel's new study of the octopus separates misconceptions from the often more extraordinary facts

The female divers plucking waste from out the blue

The yacht Diversity leaves the harbour of Aqaba, the only coastal town in Jordan. To the right is the Israeli resort of Eilat; in the Red Sea, a boxfish makes leisurely circles in absurdly clear, turquoise water.

Last dance? Istanbul nightlife in peril as 100% inflation hits

It's 11pm at a rooftop restaurant overlooking Istanbul and the patrons are ready to party. In a corner, neon lights illuminate a DJ pumping Turkish pop music to long tables of patrons loose on raki, Turkey's aniseed-flavoured national drink.

Super-rich warned of a backlash over inequality

In the ballroom of the five-star Savoy hotel on the Strand in central London, the super-rich and their advisers were last month advised that they may soon need to watch out for people with \"pitchforks and torches\" unless they do more to use their fortunes to help the millions struggling with the cost of living crisis.

Has WFH brought Canary Wharflow?

Uncertain future lies ahead for London's docklands financial district as big firms quit

The Cornish village that's braced for a wealthy teen invasion

For many locals and visitors alike, the seaside village of Polzeath is the Cornish dream. By day, holiday-makers eating ice-creams and pasties wander barefoot down its one main street.

Macron's uphill battle to rebuild from deep divisions

Emmanuel Macron is facing the biggest domestic challenge of his fraught second term in office, after the police shooting of a teenager of Algerian origin at a traffic stop last month led to night after night of urban unrest.