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2 August

In the headlines

Donald Trump has been charged with attempting to overturn the result of the 2020 election. The former president faces four criminal counts from federal prosecutors, and lead investigator Jack Smith says he wants a “speedy trial”. Trump’s 2024 campaign has released a statement rubbishing the charges as politically motivated and “reminiscent of Nazi Germany”. Artificial intelligence can be safely used in breast cancer screenings to halve the workload of radiologists, according to a new study. Research involving more than 80,000 women in Sweden has found that AI-supported scans could speed up diagnosis, with no loss of accuracy. The Royal Marines have lost an assault rifle in Dartmoor National Park. A group of commandos misplaced the (thankfully unloaded) SA80 firearm during drills, says The Sun, and it hasn’t been found despite a “fingertip search” of the area.

Drinking

The internet’s “favourite glass of the moment”, says Rachel del Valle in Punch, is a statement square coupe. With a “razor-sharp rim and long, thin stem”, they’re a nightmare to drink from. But the so-called “mature silhouette” adds a sense of occasion to any tipple, so much so that American interior brand Crate & Barrel has completely sold out of the cubic chalices until at least October. “Even if you’re drinking, like, juice,” says one cocktail blogger, “it’s going to make your drink look really, really sophisticated.”

Noted

When it emerged in April that a contractor had bought and set up a controversial Israeli spying tool for use by the US government, the White House claimed ignorance and tasked the FBI with finding the culprit. After a thorough investigation, says The New York Times, the FBI has an answer: “it was the FBI”. The intelligence agency says it had been using the NSO surveillance tech unwittingly, after being “misled” by the contractor.

Gone viral

This clip from the World Jump Rope Championships last month has racked up almost three million views on X (formerly Twitter). As one user said: “My knees hurt just watching.”

On the way up

Sales of hot sauce are rising fast in the UK, says The Guardian, in a sign that “the traditional British aversion to spicy food” is breaking down. Waitrose has seen a 55% rise in purchases, and now stocks more than 20 different tongue-sizzling condiments. Nando’s, which sells its fiery peri-peri sauces in supermarkets, has supplanted HP (of brown sauce fame) as the UK’s “third biggest name in table sauces”.

Noted

A recent correction in The Guardian:An obituary of Ann Clwyd referred to her as “the first female MP to represent a seat in the valleys of the south Wales minefield”; that should, of course, have been “coalfield”.

Snapshot

It’s Britain’s wonkiest pub, which will be closing its doors after 192 years. The Crooked House, in Himley, near Wolverhampton, is famously lopsided: one side is four foot higher than the other, reportedly because of subsidence caused by nearby mining. Now the slanty structure has been snapped up by a private buyer, who plans on putting it to “alternative use”

Quoted

Quoted

“Nothing is ever as good as it is in the beginning.”

Lauren Bacall