Catalogue
Scenario archive
Open feed of trigger events. Click a card to see the chain, A/B/C probabilities and the fact-check after the horizon resolves.
Flavours of Iraq review – vivid childhood memories of 80s Baghdad from writer in Paris exile
Powerful animation portrays experiences of a French-Iraqi journalist Feurat Alani, with anecdotes about his father, a prominent leftist exile With a title translated a little inelegantly from Le Parfum d’Irak to “flavours of Iraq” when “the perfume of Iraq” might have been simpler and better, this film is a powerful, vivid animation co-directed by Léonard Cohen with its author, French-Iraqi journalist Feurat Alani, robustly narrated in Alani’s first-person by the actor Malik Zidi. The animation style is stylised and expressionist: shapes and forms like silhouette cutouts suggest the piercingly insistent forms of memory. It is about Alani’s childhood and fractured family experience growing up in Paris in the 80s as the son of a prominent leftist Iraqi exile who was forced out of his native country on account of his opposition to Saddam Hussein. The story itself is told through a loose series of flashbacks occasioned by his father’s funeral, at which mourners, members of Iraq’s 1970s socialist diaspora brought together by his death, start recounting anecdotes. To these, Alani adds his own reminiscences of going back to see his extended family in Iraq at the end of the 80s, and experiencing the madeleines of those flavours and smells of Baghdad and Falluja: the delicious taste of ice-cream and the fragrances of young men’s exotic hair oil. Continue reading...
July 31, 2026
A Sudden Flicker of Light by David Thomson review – a brilliantly eccentric history of the movies
From the golden age of Hollywood to harder times today, this is a rapturous account of more than a century of cinema Film critic, historian and author of more than 40 books, David Thomson is back with another three-hour free jazz solo on the subject of the movies, though it’s a performance delivered with the magnificent elan of a 1940s big band leader. He’s as brilliant, eccentric, exasperating and absorbing as ever. By “the movies”, incidentally, he means Hollywood, with a side order of established European and east Asian arthouse: he takes us from the cine-prehistory of photographer Eadweard Muybridge to Fritz Lang’s Metropolis, DW Griffith’s Birth of a Nation with its sinister Ku Klux Klan hero-worship, Chaplin, Stroheim, Hitchcock, Capra, Renoir, Bogart, Marilyn Monroe in The Seven-Year Itch, Monroe Stahr in The Last Tycoon, Scorsese’s GoodFellas, David Lynch’s Mulholland Drive (“Is it drive or dream?”), Kirk Douglas and his alleged rape of Natalie Wood, Barbara Loden’s Wanda, Sean Baker’s Anora, Tracey Emin’s Why I Never Became a Dancer and much more. He subtitles his book a “revisionist” history. Continue reading...
July 31, 2026
The Odyssey storms global box office with $264m opening
Epic film marks Christopher Nolan’s best opening since 2012’s The Dark Knight Rises when adjusted for inflation The Odyssey has stormed the global box office, taking US$264m (£196m, A$378m) in its opening weekend, according to studio Universal Pictures. Starring Matt Damon, Tom Holland, Anne Hathaway and Zendaya, the blockbuster is an adaptation of Homer’s ancient Greek epic poem, which follows Odysseus, the king of Ithaca, as he makes his perilous 10-year journey home after fighting in the Trojan war. Continue reading...
July 31, 2026
From Gary Lineker’s revenge to the bizarre tale of a missing cat: the best viral TV moments of the World Cup
A pranked England manager, a bored Beckham, a Viking takeover and an unwise Wayne Rooney wager: here are the TV treasures of the beautiful game’s biggest ever tournament A stodgy final saw silky Spain deservedly beat cynical Argentina. Football wasn’t coming home after all as England suffered semi-final heartbreak again, before salvaging some pride to finish third – their best World Cup finish since 1966. The Tartan Army drank America’s bars dry as their team went out with a whimper. Cape Verde lasted longer than Germany. It was the end of the road for Ronaldo and Modric, while the phrase “hydration break” entered everyday parlance. But beyond the pitch, it has been an eventful five weeks, too. Here are 26 viral World Cup moments you might have missed … Continue reading...
July 31, 2026
Russia hits residential areas of Kramatorsk six times overnight: one killed, others injured – photos
Russian forces attacked Kramatorsk in Donetsk Oblast six times on the night of 19-20 July, killing one person and injuring three civilians.
July 31, 2026
Ten people, including child, injured in Ukrainian drone attack on Moscow Region
According to Governor Andrey Vorobyov, seven people sought medical assistance in Domodedovo, but a 27-year-old man with shrapnel injuries to his shin refused hospitalization
July 31, 2026
Broadcaster and journalist Edward Stourton dies aged 68
Stourton hosted Radio 4's Today programme for a decade and was a founding member of Channel 4 News.
July 31, 2026
Infantino tries to usher Trump away as Spain lift World Cup
Infantino tries to usher Trump away as Spain lift World Cup
July 31, 2026
‘Being American feels helpless and scary’: actor Ben Platt on nerves, queer songs and why he couldn’t do it without his husband
The star of Dear Evan Hansen plays a 1960s Greenwich Village crooner in hit queer musical Midnight at the Never Get. It’s the perfect outlet for his anxiety, he says In performance, Ben Platt is a mellifluous singer and loose-limbed dancer, with a fizzy back-note of neurotic New York. The stage – most famously, as star of Dear Evan Hansen – is his safe space. In person, in a south London rehearsal room, he is sweet, earnest, nervy. He crosses his legs, knots his arms about him. The chat roams widely, the body language is wound tight. Platt talks frankly about anxiety, like it’s his constant companion. So, how’s that going? “My relationship with my husband is a huge factor in being able to manage anxiety. There’s still highs and lows, but everything’s more in my sights, because I thankfully have him. And having something creative to focus on is a big help.” Continue reading...
July 31, 2026
A Ruhr treat: can a giant pigeon and a pink basketball revive Germany’s depressed industrial heartland?
The Manifesta biennale is taking over a dozen tiny churches in German towns ravaged by division and decline – and filling them with ball games, bouncy castles and a radical community spirit After Germany’s Ruhr conurbation – the third-largest urban area in western Europe – was pummelled during the second world war, planners came up with an ingenious idea. About 80% of the sprawl – which incorporates big cities such as Essen and Duisburg, and dozens of smaller towns like Bochum and Gelsenkirchen – had been destroyed. And so, for the reconstruction, a newly formed Diocese of the Ruhr built literally hundreds of closely packed Pantoffelkirchen or “slipper churches”, so named because they were close enough to housing developments for churchgoers to walk to mass in their slippers. Today, Pantoffelkirchen are declining sharply. Estimates of the amount of disused or derelict churches are as high as 300, and 100 have been sold off in the last year alone. Until October, 12 of them are home to Manifesta, the travelling art biennale. They stand as centrepieces of communities that have been ravaged this time not by war, but by deindustrialisation, mass unemployment and environmental decline. Continue reading...
July 31, 2026
‘Everything I know about evil I learned in that small town’: John Carpenter on terrifying the world with Halloween, The Thing and The Fog
At 78, the king of horror and sci-fi movies is as much of a rebel as ever. He talks about creativity, compromise (he’s not a fan) and how he became addicted to moviemaking In 2024, John Carpenter had a dream that sounds like one of his movies: it involved a portal to the underworld beneath a disused church, monstrous demons and people being turned inside out. “I woke up and thought: wow! What an elaborate story,” he says. “I rarely have cinematic dreams, but this was one of them.” He liked it so much that he has turned it into a graphic novel, Cathedral, with an accompanying soundtrack. “It seemed to fit this heavy metal groove that we were starting on, and it worked out pretty well.” Most people would consider this a nightmare rather than a dream, I suggest. “No. Nightmares, for me, are personal – something that happened to me,” he replies. “Usually my nightmares are, I’m directing a movie and no one will listen to me. No one will follow my directions. Seriously, that’s what I wake up from.” Continue reading...
July 31, 2026
'That's just ludicrous!' - best shots from The Open 2026
Enjoy the best shots from the 2026 Open Championship, featuring Rory McIlroy, Scottie Scheffler and tournament winner Ryan Fox.
July 31, 2026
FACTBOX: Russia's latest strikes on Ukrainian ports
According to the Russian Defense Ministry, air-launched precision-guided weapons and loitering munitions struck fuel and lubricant storage tanks intended for the Ukrainian armed forces at the port of Odessa
July 31, 2026
EU test pilots find ‘no major hardware risks’ with China’s C919 jet: sources
European pilots have found “no major hardware risks” with the Chinese-made C919 passenger jet during a months-long flight testing process in China, which is now beginning to wrap up, according to two sources with knowledge of the matter. The news indicates that the C919 has taken a step closer to winning a crucial endorsement from European safety regulators, but the sources cautioned that the completion of in-flight testing did not mean that certification was imminent. The “test drive” by...
July 31, 2026
Indian police clash with ‘cockroaches’ marching to protest exam irregularities
India’s riot police baton-charged protesters in New Delhi as they tried to march to parliament on Monday, escalating a protest over irregularities in major examinations. Protesters ran for cover as police in blue riot gear charged at them near the Jantar Mantar protest site. The protesters are demanding the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan over the irregularities, including question paper leaks and technical glitches. “We want the government to hear us, not silence us,” said...
July 31, 2026
The man running against Benjamin Netanyahu
Former military chief Gadi Eisenkot is the main opponent to Israel’s divisive prime minister ahead of October election
July 31, 2026
Tips Music shares jump 11% as board set to approve buyback on July 22
Tips Music shares jumped up to 11% after the company announced that its board will consider a proposal to buy back equity shares alongside approving its June quarter results on July 22. The announcement comes after the music label delivered strong FY26 earnings growth and continued to expand its music catalogue and digital audience.
July 31, 2026
Russian strike on civilian vessel near Odesa: death toll rises to 10
The Ukrainian Sea Ports Authority has reported that 10 people have been killed in a Russian strike on a Guinea-Bissau-flagged merchant vessel carrying grain near Odesa.
July 31, 2026
US attacks Iran's southern city of Bushehr
US attacks Iran's southern city of Bushehr US strikes several locations in Iran's southern port city of Bushehr, home to the country's civilian nuclear plant, state news media reported. "A few minutes ago, several locations in Bushehr city were hit by American enemy's projectiles," said Bushehr governor Mohammad Mozaffari, adding that the scope and extent of the strikes are under investigation.
July 31, 2026
North Korea paves way for possible Kim trip to Moscow
North Korea’s top diplomat was in Moscow this weekend for talks analysts say likely focused on fresh ammunition and missile shipments to feed Russia’s war in Ukraine, while also laying the groundwork for a possible visit by Kim Jong-un. Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui met Vladimir Putin on Sunday, more than two years after Russia’s president had invited Kim to Moscow during their landmark summit in Pyongyang in June 2024. On Sunday, Putin expressed fresh gratitude for North Korea’s assistance in...
July 31, 2026
Number of US troops killed in conflict with Iran reaches 17 — agency
The number of US service members injured during the military operation against Iran has exceeded 400
July 31, 2026
Russian drones strike Mykolaiv and Poltava oblasts, damaging petrol stations and industrial plant
A Russian drone attack on Mykolaiv and Poltava oblasts damaged two petrol station buildings, a high-rise residential building and an industrial facility. No casualties have been reported.
July 31, 2026
Lockheed Martin launches cheaper Patriot missile as air defence demand surges
Lockheed Martin announced a lower-cost Patriot interceptor on Monday as militaries seek cheaper ways to counter drones and missiles, while defence contractors face competition from start-ups making low-cost weapons that can be produced at scale. Lockheed said its new PAC-3 Adapted Capability Effector (ACE) missile would cost less than half as much as its PAC-3 MSE interceptors, which cost roughly US$4 million per missile, according to US Army budget documents. Initial production could start...
July 31, 2026
Last night, I was Spanish, and so were millions around the world
For many of us, Gaza was on our mind when we watched and celebrated Spain’s triumph at the World Cup.
July 31, 2026