Venezuela’s Delcy Rodríguez defends ‘endless’ benefits of her oil deal with Trump
Posted on Sunday August 30, 2026

Deal that will reportedly see US take control of 65bn barrels of Venezuelan oil has provoked outrage in her country

Venezuela’s interim president, Delcy Rodríguez, has defended her government’s highly controversial energy deal with Donald Trump, insisting the South American country will maintain ownership and sovereignty over its massive oil reserves.

Rodríguez, who assumed power in January after Trump ordered the abduction of the president, Nicolás Maduro, took to the airwaves on Saturday to push back against criticism of what the US president has called “the biggest oil deal in world history”.

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Nurture not nature? How young women can learn to better wield economic power | Heather Stewart
Posted on Sunday August 30, 2026

Project in Zambia shows how teaching young women to negotiate better can have a long-term impact on their prospects

Women making their way in patriarchal societies down the ages have always had to wield their meagre economic power deftly. New evidence from a fascinating research project in Zambia suggests that’s a skill that can be learned.

A team of female US academics have been gathering data for more than a decade, which shows that teaching young women to negotiate better can have a long-term impact on their prospects.

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Recruiter places ‘phoenix’ firm into liquidation just months after repurchase erased millions in debt
Posted on Sunday August 30, 2026

New company reportedly quickly fell behind with promised repayments to administrator

A recruitment executive who was allowed to buy back the assets of his bust company in instalments, despite it accumulating almost £3m of debt, has placed his new business into liquidation after falling behind with promised payments to the administrator.

The news is the latest event to raise questions about the practice of “phoenixism”, accounting’s controversial art of liquidating companies to allow directors to return with a new entity, free of debts.

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‘Without us, no wheel would turn’: the unsung heroes keeping England’s transport moving
Posted on Sunday August 30, 2026

On shift, but out of sight – from ‘that person with the table tennis bats’ on the airport tarmac to remote signallers managing rail traffic

Not many people get to park their car here – bang in the middle of Heathrow airport, on the taxiway just a stretch of grass away from where a line of passenger planes is coming in to land.

It’s close enough to see the shimmering air and smoke as nose tyres hit the tarmac. “An A380 will put down as much rubber as a car’s entire tyre,” Jack Quantick-Thorne says. He knows – part of his job is to ensure the runway team scrapes it off and patches things up overnight. And it is all recycled, he adds.

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Sharp rise in incidents of AI escaping users’ control, research finds
Posted on Saturday August 29, 2026

Exclusive: Number of times AI lies, ignores instructions and pursues goals in harmful ways almost doubles in July

Incidents of AIs escaping users’ control to lie, ignore instructions and pursue goals in harmful ways have hit a new high, according to research that also suggests the severity of deception and misalignment is worsening.

Analysis of real-world loss of control incidents involving AI models flagged by businesses and individuals almost doubled in July compared with June, with more than 300 cases in the month, according to the Loss of Control Observatory, which monitors reports made by AI users on the social media platform X.

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Faster, higher, funnier: what we learned from China’s robot games
Posted on Saturday August 29, 2026

Five-day showcase reveals leaps Beijing has made in humanoid tech, but also its limitations as US rivals come up from the rear

With exploding pelvises, enough comic pratfalls for a Buster Keaton show reel and the odd moment of ruthless violence, the World Humanoid Robot Games in Beijing gripped the world this week with an unsettling mixture of hilarity, trepidation and relief.

The five-day showcase staked out China’s claim to undisputed leadership in humanoid robotics as android martial artists landed knockout roundhouse kicks and robot teams marched into the arena heralded by flag-waving captains astride giant robotic dogs. The games’ blue-riband event, the 100m, did not disappoint when the robot-sprinters ran quicker than Usain Bolt before slamming mindlessly into a padded wall in a blaze of sparks, flames and flying mechanical limbs.

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Welcome to Ozball, the low-key story of a low-key England summer | Barney Ronay
Posted on Sunday August 30, 2026

Ollie Robinson’s metronomic medium-nip represents the new age – sometimes, you just get the heroes you need

Each age makes its own heroes. Two hours from the end of the final day of the second-last Test at the fag‑end of the post‑Bazball summer, the cheer from the Lord’s crowd at deep fine leg had something pointed about it, a crackle of event glamour.

Ollie Robinson turned as he ambled back and raised an arm in gladiatorial salute. “Oh Ollie Ollie, Ollie Ollie Ollie Ollie Robinson” was the response from a scattered, woozy swell, again with something arch and transgressive in it, the smell of anti-hero. What are you rebelling against, Johnny? What have you got? Also, if you really want to know, buzzword culture and enforced fitness regimes. Sometimes, you just get the heroes you need.

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Marcus Rashford’s Manchester United return feels like a marriage of convenience | Will Unwin
Posted on Sunday August 30, 2026

A lack of offers and problems in finding a replacement may be behind the move, but that does not mean it cannot work

The first chant of the match was for Marcus Rashford, Manchester United’s returning rogue son, the one banished for 18 months, first to the Midlands and then Catalonia. Every football fan loves an academy product who has risen up the ranks, from scrawny child to getting 76,000 off their seats. Rashford is one of these, living out the dream of everyone inside Old Trafford and they are willing to forgive but want something in return.

Not since 7 December 2024 has Rashford been seen in red at Old Trafford. Then it was as a substitute forlornly trying to turn things around in an eventual 3-2 defeat by Nottingham Forest. His relationship with Ruben Amorim was already deteriorating, the second head coach to have become irritated with Rashford. After loans with Aston Villa and Barcelona, everyone is surprised to see him back; it feels like a marriage of convenience because of a lack of offers and securing a replacement was deemed complex.

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