‘This is seriously bold’: How China turned Taiwan tensions into a top-rating TV spy drama

Dismissed in Taiwan as simply propaganda, the Long Watch, or Jiaofeng, has proved a sensation across the strait with its references to real-life crises

After shaking off the people trailing her through a crowded market and emerging from a bathroom in disguise, the double agent appears to have escaped. But a sip of water on a plane eventually gets her. She is poisoned after Taiwan’s military intelligence service discovers that she has been working secretly for China.

The plot comes from a new Chinese spy drama co-produced by the Ministry of State Security. Since its premiere on 6 September, it has become a TV hit, with a fictionalised take on a subject rarely treated so directly: the modern history of tensions with Taiwan.

Emmy awards 2026 live: the red carpet, the winners, the losers, the speeches

The Emmys are here – and tonight’s ceremony is likely to be dominated by The Pitt, Pluribus, Hacks and Widow’s Bay. Follow live updates

With a little under an hour till showtime, the stars are starting to trickle in, including a very glam Detective Olivia Benson AKA first-time host Mariska Hargitay:

Well, it wouldn’t be a red carpet without Hacks’s Meg Stalter and Paul W Downs stunting with a coordinated costume … and for the show’s final Emmys go-around, Stalter is going as Miss Emmy Trophy herself, gold overhead globe and angel wings and all. Which is making for some amazing cutaways from the more serious folk posing for photos nearby.

It’s a superfood but natto as we know it. Japan’s slimy fermented beans are coming your way

Comprised of smelly soya beans held together by strands of mucus, the ancient dish is appearing in health food shops across the world

It is smelly, slimy and contains bacteria – and a sizeable number of Japanese wouldn’t touch it with a pair of barge pole-length chopsticks. But after centuries as a breakfast food for Japanese diners with nerves of steel, natto is emerging as a global superfood to rival kimchi, kombucha and kefir.

Its exact origins are unknown. Some believe it was introduced to Japan from China by Buddhist monks during the Yayoi period (300BC-AD300), before becoming a staple among rural communities during the Edo period (1603-1868).

O calvário reformista de Fernando Alexandre

Depois dos exames, esta é mais uma prova de que a reforma da educação está a falhar?

Uma história de duas políticas

As histórias que as políticas públicas em matéria de finanças e em matéria de educação nos contam são, a todos os títulos, rigorosamente antagónicas. Opinião de Pedro Norton

Com um pouco de água e adubo se fabrica um monstro

O consenso moral, nascido em 1945, segundo o qual os crimes de guerra, limpeza étnica e genocídio deveriam ser julgados independentemente de quem os cometesse, está comprometido. Opinião de Amílcar Correia

Seremos capazes de um sobressalto cívico na educação?

Agora que a OCDE tem a coragem de assumir que os resultados se conseguem com esforço apoiado pela escola e não pelo facilitismo, temos o caminho aberto para encontrar as nossas soluções. Opinião de José Ferreira Gomes

Alunos diferentes, escolas iguais

Portugal tem uma enorme dificuldade em produzir alunos de excelência e, se é verdade que não podemos deixar ninguém para trás, também não podemos estar a travar aqueles que vão à frente. Opinião de Angélique Da Teresa

Emigração: notas de um fim de verão

A emigração portuguesa não ocorre num vazio, nem é um simples determinismo, destino ou fado da população. É, sim, consequência de sucessivas escolhas políticas. Opinião de Mariana Garrido

Trump queria limitar vistos de estudantes e jornalistas, mas juiz travou a medida

Administração apresentou, segundo o juiz, justificações “particularmente frágeis” para limitar vistos de estudantes e jornalistas.

O efeito Espanha nos impostos sobre os combustíveis

O peso dos impostos sobre os combustíveis em Portugal está próximo da média europeia. A comparação com Espanha penaliza o país, mas acompanhar a dimensão dos descontos espanhóis tem custos. Opinião de Hugo Pais

Democracy indicators in US at lowest levels for 50 years, data shows

Trump administration undermining rule of law at home and worldwide, according to intergovernmental report

Key indicators of democracy in the US have fallen to their lowest levels in 50 years, with the global rule of law significantly undermined by the Trump administration’s “threats and actions”, data from a leading thinktank shows.

Around the world, judicial independence, credible elections and freedom of expression, press freedom and access to justice are all at their lowest levels for at least 30 years, according to the Stockholm-based International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International Idea).

Estudo: Portugal recua nas liberdades civis e de expressão desde 2020

Relatório global coloca Portugal como um dos países com maiores retrocessos democráticos da Europa, atrás da Rússia e da Geórgia. Democracia regrediu em 57% dos países do mundo e estagnou em 81%.

A violência israelita está a desproteger os judeus no mundo

A impiedade do Governo radical de Netanyahu desrespeita a memória do Holocausto e desprotege todos os judeus que vivem fora de Israel. Opinião de João Miguel Tavares

Russian oligarch close to Putin paid for part of Donald Trump Jr’s lavish wedding

US president’s eldest child married Palm Beach socialite Bettina Anderson in three-day celebration across two exclusive private islands

US politics live – latest updates

Donald Trump Jr and his wife, Bettina, confirmed on Monday that a Russian oligarch close to Vladimir Putin partially paid for the couple’s wedding celebrations in May, following a ProPublica report revealing Umar Kremlev spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on the events.

Trump Jr, the US president’s eldest child, married the Palm Beach socialite in a lavish three-day celebration across two exclusive private islands in May.

AI-linked stocks slide after tech bosses call for slowdown in ‘reckless’ development

Donald Trump dismisses attempts to increase controls on artificial intelligence as ‘sick conspiracy’

AI-linked stocks tumbled on Monday after the bosses of Anthropic, OpenAI and SpaceX called for a slowdown in AI “reckless” development, citing fears the technology could soon run out of control.

Shares in the semiconductor designer Nvidia – the world’s most valuable company – were down 3.3% by market closing in New York City, while Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) slid 4% and Micron Technology and Sandisk shares slumped by 5%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq index fund was down 0.5% by the end of the day.

European football: Inter roar back to beat Udinese and join Roma at the top

Inter and Roma lead Serie A, Como move up to third
Real Betis beat struggling Villarreal in La Liga

Inter fought back ⁠from two goals down to beat Udinese 5-3 on Monday, maintaining their perfect Serie A start alongside Roma, who won 2-0 at Torino before Saturday’s match between ⁠the joint leaders. Both sides have 12 points from four matches and share top spot before their encounter at the Stadio Olimpico, while Como are third on 10 points ⁠after beating Parma 2-1.

Udinese stunned Inter with two goals in the opening 16 minutes, as James Abankwah headed home unmarked after nine minutes before Jurgen Ekkelenkamp doubled ‌the visitors’ lead with a ‌close-range finish seven minutes later. Inter hit back through Carlos Augusto, whose long-range effort flew into the bottom corner, ‌before Nicolò Barella levelled 10 minutes before half-time.

La ampliación de los aeropuertos impedirá a España cumplir los objetivos climáticos aunque use combustibles verdes y mejores aviones

Varios aviones en una pista del aeropuertonJosep Tarradellas Barcelona-El Prat, en una imagen de archivo.

Los planes para ampliar los 20 mayores aeropuertos de Europa son incompatibles con los objetivos climáticos a los que se han comprometido los países europeos. Así lo muestra una modelización de la ONG Transport & Environment (T&E), que concluye que con el aumento de vuelos y viajeros previstos en esas instalaciones se triplicará el límite de emisiones correspondiente al sector necesario para no superar un calentamiento de 1,7º, aun usando combustibles de aviación sostenibles (SAF) y aviones más eficientes. España ha anunciado que ampliará 12 aeródromos, cuatro de los cuales están incluidos en el informe.

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Uno de cada dos españoles apoya usar animales en investigaciones científicas

Foto de un macaco hecha por un empleado del laboratorio Vivotecnia, en Madrid, investigado por maltrato animal.

No recibieron aplausos durante la pandemia. No tienen monumentos en las plazas. No aparecen en ningún billete. Los animales al servicio de la ciencia suelen pasar desapercibidos, pero están allí. Son, por el momento, esenciales para el desarrollo de vacunas —como las de la covid— o en las terapias génicas. Y así lo entiende la mitad de los españoles, que están de acuerdo con usar seres vivos en investigaciones científicas. En la otra cara de la moneda, cerca del 46% de la población considera esta práctica como un problema (19% muy grave, 27% bastante grave). Estos son algunos de los hallazgos del informe Percepciones y actitudes ante los animales, publicado por la Fundación BBVA tras encuestar a 2.000 españoles.

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Elsinore review – Andrew Scott is astonishing as Ian Charleson in devastating Aids drama

Toronto film festival: the actor gives his greatest screen performance to date as the Chariots of Fire star who spends his final months playing Hamlet on stage

It was an endlessly parodied cliche that any queer film released during a certain period would be about one thing and one thing only: Aids. In 1993, Philadelphia showed a wider audience a mostly clean and palatable version of the crisis, and won Oscars for doing so, and for a time, when gay men weren’t acting as sassy friends to women in need, they were coughing up blood in lonely hospital beds.

The inevitable and understandable pushback, allowing for a wider breadth of stories, brought us more “queer joy” and “chosen family” but it also allowed some to forget just what a time of unimaginable annihilation it was. It also reframed the period as an onslaught of Aids movies when the majority of them existed on the outskirts still, films such as Buddies, Longtime Companion and Jeffrey seen by mostly queer arthouse audiences. If anything, I’d argue that something so relatively recent and horrifying has been rather under-explored on screen especially in comparison with other, even fresher tragedies (Aids has killed more than 44 million people worldwide compared with just more than 7 million for Covid).

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