Erin

• MotherDuck has acquired Tower, a startup that previously served as the underlying pipeline runtime for MotherDuck's own data pipelines. • The acquisition follows a period where MotherDuck rapidly became Tower's largest customer, leading the company to bring the critical infrastructure in-house. • This move aligns with a broader vision of data engineering shifting toward "agent-supervision," where AI agents manage pipeline construction and repair while humans oversee the process.

Gao Zhen sentenced to three years in prison after already spending two years in detentionGao Zhen, a prominent Chinese artist known for provocative sculptures of the former leader Mao Zedong, has been sentenced to three years in prison after being found guilty of slandering China’s “heroes and martyrs”. The sentencing came two years after he was detained while visiting the country with his family, according to his wife and human rights groups.The case has attracted international condemnation, largely because the artworks at the centre of the case were created more than 10 years before China created the law under which Gao was charged. Continue reading...

Ombudsman Iain Anderson says he is concerned police ‘had no clearly understood definition of racial profiling’Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastThe commonwealth and ACT ombudsman has criticised the Australian federal police for failing to clearly define “racial profiling” after police in Canberra pulled guns on an Indigenous teenager who they mistook for a suspect in an aggravated burglary.The scathing investigation, released on Tuesday, made eight recommendations to the Australian federal police (AFP) and ACT Policing after investigating the November 2025 incident. ACT Policing sits under the AFP as the community policing arm. Continue reading...

Chester zoo resident, 23, ‘back to her usual feisty self’ after electrochemotherapy for tumour in her jawA 15ft (4.5-metre) python is believed to be the first snake in the world to be given a pioneering, life-saving cancer treatment normally used on humans.The 50kg reticulated python, named Jodie Foster after the Hollywood star, has just turned 23 and lives at Chester zoo. Keepers first became concerned that she may be unwell when she began eating less and spending more time inactive in her habitat. Continue reading...

Court finds ‘defects’ in investigation of two senior constables charged over 2024 incident at Mareeba watch house in far north QueenslandTwo police officers charged with criminal offences over the use of capsicum spray, Tasers and restraints on a “cognitively and emotionally vulnerable” First Nations man in police custody have had the case against them permanently stayed, after a court found “defects” in the subsequent investigation.Andrew David Couchman, 54, and Ulrich Weiss, 45, both senior constables, were both charged over the incident at the Mareeba watch house in far north Queensland in January 2024. Continue reading...

• The author argues that Thailand may be entering a second consecutive "lost decade" of economic stagnation and political uncertainty. • This follows a first lost decade from May 2014 to August 2023, which the author attributes to the illegitimate nine-year rule of coup leader Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha. • The analysis highlights how prolonged political instability and leadership under Gen Prayut hindered the nation's economic growth and development.

Radio 2 DJ, who stepped back from work commitments in June, says operation went ‘incredibly well’Trevor Nelson, the BBC Radio 2 DJ, has revealed he had surgery after being diagnosed with a brain tumour and is now on the mend.The broadcaster, 62, said in June that he was taking a break from work commitments to deal with health issues. Continue reading...

Crown prosecutor tells Victorian court that all seven of Patterson’s grounds for appeal should failGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastVictoria’s highest court has been urged to dismiss Erin Patterson’s appeal against her triple murder conviction, hearing that the case against her during trial was “overwhelming”.On Thursday, three judges of Victoria’s court of appeal continued hearing arguments regarding Patterson’s bid to have her conviction overturned. Continue reading...

Victorian court of appeal also to consider whether triple murder and attempted murder convictions should be quashedErin Patterson argues mushroom murder convictions should be quashed due to ‘catastrophic’ failure of justiceGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastWelcome to day two of our live coverage of Erin Patterson’s appeals. We are expecting today’s hearing to begin at 10.15am.Yesterday, the Victorian court of appeal heard the seven grounds of appeal Patterson’s legal team is arguing against her convictions for three murders and one attempted murder. Continue reading...

• The National Science Foundation (NSF) has announced $1.5 billion in funding dedicated to science and engineering research. • The agency is implementing more flexible grant structures specifically designed to support emerging research and long-term projects. • This initiative aims to accelerate innovation by reducing rigid constraints on how research funds are allocated and managed.

Allowing jurors to stay in same hotel as police and prosecution denied Patterson a fair trial, lawyers tell Victorian court of appealLawyers for Erin Patterson argue that allowing jurors to stay in the same hotel as police and the prosecution while they deliberated over their verdicts in the triple murder trial represented a “catastrophic” failure of the justice system.On Wednesday, three judges of Victoria’s highest court started hearing two appeals – by Patterson herself and the state’s director of public prosecutions (DPP) – into the conviction and sentence in the case. Continue reading...

Victorian court of appeal to consider whether triple murder and attempted murder guilty verdicts should be quashedGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastWelcome to our live coverage of Erin Patterson’s appeals.It’s been more than a year since a Victorian jury found Patterson guilty of murdering three of her estranged husband’s elderly relatives and attempting to murder a fourth. Continue reading...

Person dies after landslide hits apartment building in southern city of Geoje as torrential rains lead to power cuts and mass evacuationsTorrential downpours that pounded southern parts of South Korea since Saturday have killed one person and injured four others, officials have confirmed.Heavy rains have been recorded in South Gyeongsang province, including the city of Geoje, where an 800mm (31in) deluge over the weekend triggered a landslide, the interior and safety ministry said. The rain continued on Monday, bringing the cumulative rainfall total to 912mm by 6pm. Continue reading...

Ethics experts and Democrats express alarm as Trump uses office to grow his personal fortune to ‘unprecedented’ level Donald Trump’s use of his second presidency to grow his personal fortune has alarmed legal and ethics experts and congressional Democrats as he has reaped an “unprecedented” $2.2bn in 2025 revenues by amassing big cryptocurrency holdings, benefitting from wealthy foreign interests, expanding his Truth Social business and more, while federal oversight of his actions has waned.Trump last year raked in at least $1.4bn from his crypto ventures according to financial disclosure forms he filed in June. Simultaneously, about one million investors in a Trump crypto scheme suffered almost $3.8bn in losses as their volatile crypto holdings tanked in value. Continue reading...

• Democrats could reclaim the U.S. House of Representatives majority if they flip just three seats in the upcoming November midterm elections. • This potential shift follows a historical trend where the party controlling the White House typically loses seats during midterms, such as the 40-seat gain Democrats achieved in 2018. • The outcome is significant as it would mark the first time Democrats have held the House majority since 2022.

People came from far and wide to witness phenomenon that has thrilled humans for thousands of yearsAt 6pm the beach and village began to empty, and those in the know headed up the hill towards the old granite coastguard station on the headland.“This is the best spot,” said Sennen Cove resident Lisa Redfern, who had built a pinhole camera for the eclipse out of an old Ryvita Thins box. Continue reading...

Elaborate ruse was used to transport president to military flight from Air Force One to return from Nato meetPrompted by an Iranian assassination threat, Donald Trump departed on a secret military flight from Turkey last month when the White House said he was flying aboard ⁠Air Force One, in an extraordinary ruse that involved hiding the president in an airport catering cart, according to reporting from the Washington Post and the New York Times.The operation took place when Trump was in Ankara for a Nato summit with world leaders, according to the Post. The president reportedly boarded the old Air Force One jumbo jet in view of television cameras, and then was secretly shuttled minutes later to a smaller plane via an airport catering truck typically used to load meals and other supplies preflight, a US official told the Post. Continue reading...

• AI coding tools have significantly increased individual developer speed, yet overall engineering productivity and confidence remain stalled. • Research from DX and LinearB indicates that gains are offset by larger pull requests, inadequate performance measurement, and outdated legacy processes. • This gap matters because the efficiency of AI is being neutralized by systemic bottlenecks in the software development lifecycle.

• Many enterprises spend approximately $7.5 million annually and dedicate 60 staff members to build and operate custom internal developer platforms. • These high costs often remain hidden from executives because expenses are distributed across various engineering cost centers rather than tracked as a single line item. • The financial burden highlights a critical trade-off between the perceived control of building a proprietary platform versus the potential ROI of buying an existing solution.

• The "Hong Kong Football Festival 2026" has launched at the Kai Tak Main Stadium, featuring top European clubs including Manchester City, Inter Milan, Chelsea, and Juventus. • The event aims to reignite football passion in the city following previous fan disappointment when star player Lionel Messi failed to play during a prior visit. • This spectacle highlights the critical role of sports mediation in managing high-profile contracts and organizing complex international events to prevent previous failures.

High 30s celsius forecast for France, Spain and Italy next week, before affecting Germany, Poland and CzechiaAnother pulse of heat is expected to affect central and western Europe next week. The latest forecast models show daily maximum temperatures well into the high 30s celsius widely across France, Spain and Italy during the first half of the week, while Germany, Poland and Czechia will experience the highest temperatures towards the end of the week. The shift in the focus of the heat as the week progresses can be attributed to the movement of high pressure. At the start of the week, low pressure centred in the Atlantic and high pressure centred over the low countries will draw warm air in from southern Europe northwards into parts of France. During the working week, the high pressure will slip a little farther south and east, enabling the warm air once situated over western Europe to make inroads into parts of Germany and central Europe.The heat in central and western Europe this summer has been unrelenting. Last week’s weather tracker highlighted extreme recording breaking temperatures for the month of July in Austria. However, only a few days later, on 4 August, the all-time record was shattered with 41.0C achieved in Stammersdorf, north-east of the capital, Vienna. This comfortably broke the previous all-time record set in the August of 2003 by 0.7C. Unbelievably, that record was broken again the following day when 41.2C was recorded in Deutsch-Altenburg. Slovakia also set a new all-time record on the same day of 41.4C. The continuing European heatwave is associated with a vertically extensive anticyclone, and had the effect of raising the freezing level above 4,000 metres across much of the Alpine region. This represents a level in the atmosphere well above many Alpine glaciers, accelerating the seasonal melting process. On the opposite side of the Atlantic, 51.8C was recorded in Badwater, California, the highest temperature in the US for 2026 so far. Continue reading...

The president is constantly assigning motives, identifying heroes and villains, and telling his audience what to thinkThis was originally published in This Week in Trumpland. Sign up to receive it in your inbox every WednesdayFrom Charles Barkley to Thierry Henry to John McEnroe, the path from the arena to the commentary box is well trodden, and plenty of politicians have made the transition from elected office to the TV studio. One man, however, insists on doing both at the same time.Donald Trump is the US president, empowered to kill terrorists, grant pardons, sign and veto bills, and represent the nation on the world stage. But when issues become thorny, as they have of late, he is wont to embrace an alternative role as commentator-in-chief. Continue reading...

Toast the cat escaped his namesake fate when blaze ripped through building and displaced more than 40 familiesA pet cat quite fittingly named Toast survived a devastating fire that recently gutted an apartment complex in Utah by hiding in a closet – and then safely endured a days-long wait before being rescued, according to officials.Beside prompting comments across the news and social media landscapes about cats having nine lives, Toast’s death-defying story provided a slight measure of glad tidings surrounding a blaze that ultimately displaced hundreds of residents. Continue reading...

Minister says PM has agreed to meet victims of sex offender – and is mulling separate inquiry into Mohamed Al FayedAndy Burnham is considering launching a public inquiry into the UK activities of the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, a minister has said.The victims’ minister, Alex Davies-Jones, said the prime minister had agreed to meet Epstein’s victims, was “looking into” an inquiry and was “taking this very seriously”. A separate inquiry into the alleged actions of the former Harrods owner Mohamed Al Fayed is also being considered. Continue reading...

BBC actor Sera Cracroft says if disgraced former newsreader had won it would be hurtful to abuse survivorsThe disgraced former BBC presenter Huw Edwards has been criticised after entering a Welsh poetry competition under a pseudonym.Actor Sera Cracroft, best known for her role in the long-running BBC Welsh language soap opera Pobol y Cwm, told the BBC it would have been “catastrophic” if Edwards had won the prize, and that the “image of him being crowned in front of the nation” would be “hurtful to survivors”. Continue reading...

• Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez is facing intense criticism from EU leaders following a surge of migrants arriving in Ceuta, a Spanish territory in North Africa. • Sanchez defended his migration policies by citing Spain's previous solidarity, specifically noting the intake of migrants from Belarus in 2021 and those arriving at Lampedusa in 2023. • The tension highlights a broader political shift as right-wing parties across the EU gain power by promising stricter crackdowns on migration.

• India is accelerating its semiconductor ambitions by investing in R&D centers, indigenous design tools, and Outsourced Semiconductor Assembly and Test (OSAT) facilities to reduce import dependence. • HCLTech is expanding into the full-stack AI market by establishing its first AI data center at the upcoming Odisha Sovereign AI Park, partnering with the Government of Odisha and startup Sarvam. • These strategic initiatives aim to strengthen domestic capabilities, support technology exports, and build an integrated base for telecom hardware and research.

• US stock markets are currently unstable as investors prepare for a critical week featuring a new jobs report and major corporate earnings. • Market participants are closely monitoring employment data, as significantly higher job growth could signal an overheated economy and prompt the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates. • LSEG data from Friday shows that Fed funds futures currently indicate a 64% probability of a rate hike at the next meeting in September.