Founder of China’s Evergrande jailed for life after pleading guilty to fraud
The founder of Evergrande, one of China’s largest property developers, has been sentenced to life in prison and had all of his personal property confiscated.
Hui Ka Yan, 67 and once named by Forbes as China’s richest man, with a net worth of $42.5bn (£31.2bn) in 2017, pleaded guilty in April to eight charges.
Sweltering southerners head to Scotland for 'coolcations'
Coolcations: 'They used to joke about our weather - now they can't wait for the rain'

Como mayor bans bikes in city centre after being hit ‘by one of these beasts’
The mayor of Como has set the wheels of controversy in motion for banning bikes in the walled historical centre of the lakeside city after being hit by one.
Alessandro Rapinese’s ban, which comes into force in September, targets about 30 streets and means cyclists, whether on e-bikes or push bikes, will have to dismount and walk through those areas.
Pensioner had 'largest hoard' of child abuse images to be seized in Scotland
The court heard that MacPherson was arrested after police identified his IP address as being used to share the material online.
Prosecutor Rachel Wallace said that in July 2025 he had posted multiple images of child sexual exploitation, classed as the most serious Category A, during an online chat with an undercover police officer.
North Korea fires 10 missiles day after Trump curtails South Korea joint drills
North Korea has launched about 10 short-range ballistic missiles towards the sea, South Korea’s military said, a day after Pyongyang shrugged off Donald Trump’s order to scale back US military drills with South Korea in an apparent attempt to resume diplomacy.
Taliban secures pragmatic global alliances without formal recognition
The Taliban government in Afghanistan has successfully expanded its ties in security, trade, energy, and transport with various countries, five years after returning to power in Afghanistan almost as an international pariah.
From ‘elation’ to ‘terrible news’ in 10 minutes: how the confusion over missing bushwalker Lily Hooper unfolded
Police have blamed dense bushland and radio confusion for wrongly reporting to 18-year-old Lily Hooper’s parents, the New South Wales premier and the media that the missing bushwalker had been found alive.
Frustrated GP patients hang up as Yorkshire accent baffles AI receptionist
Patients in a South Yorkshire town are frustrated by an AI GP receptionist not understanding their “broad accents”, a health watchdog has said.
Healthwatch Rotherham, a local health and social care watchdog, said a number of practices in the area had introduced a new AI receptionist called Emma.
Drug-dealing, makeshift weapons and a ‘culture of fear’ at Villawood detention centre, report warns
Drugs are being openly dealt inside Villawood detention centre; makeshift weapons are being manufactured amid intimidation, standover tactics and a “culture of fear”; people are sleeping outside under CCTV cameras for their own safety; and children are being kept from going to school, a scathing report from the independent monitor has found.
Israeli settler violence forces Palestinians from West Bank homes: HRW
Human Rights Watch calls for sanctions and the suspension of military aid to Israel, as dozens of Palestinian communities in the occupied West Bank are at risk of erasure.
Dozens of Palestinian communities in the occupied West Bank are at risk of erasure due to escalating attacks by Israeli settlers, according to a new report by Human Rights Watch.