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EnvironmentFacing a near unprecedented ‘rainfall deficit’, the Panama Canal has been forced to restrict the number of vessels passing through it From his office perched on the edge of the Pacific Ocean, Steven Paton looks over the entrance to the Panama Canal; the high rises of the country’s capital resting upon the horizon behind him, and an increasingly long queue of tankers lining up in the bay. For 33 years his job with the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute monitoring the region’s climate has given him a front-row seat to how the weather’s familiar patterns have changed, upending axioms of old and calling into question the future viability of one of the most important trade routes in the world. [Read More]

Cirque du SoleilCirque du Soleil performer dies in 15-metre fallAcrobatic performer appeared to slip from safety wire in front of horrified cast and audience in Las VegasA Cirque du Soleil performer has died after falling about 15 metres from the show's stage during a performance of Ka in Las Vegas. Sarah Guyard-Guillot, from Paris, was taken from MGM Grand in an ambulance and pronounced dead at the University Medical Center at 11. [Read More]

Indie This article is more than 13 years oldJay Reatard died from cocaine and alcohol overdoseThis article is more than 13 years oldGarage-rock musician's autopsy reveals he died from 'cocaine toxicity, with alcohol as a contributing factor'Autopsy results for garage-pop musician Jay Reatard show that cocaine and alcohol led to his death, coroners said yesterday. The 29-year-old Memphis musician was found dead at his home on 13 January. Reatard, whose real name was Jimmy Lee Lindsey Jr, died from " [Read More]

Original writingMrs Pike: A True StoryOnce upon a time - and this is more or less a true story - there was a lady called Mrs Pike. Mrs Pike lived in a lovely new-brick bungalow in Lime Tree Gardens and had a dachshund called Gretchen, an H-reg Alfa Romeo and two lava lamps. Mrs Pike had always been keen on having The Latest Thing. When colour TVs came in, she put her order in straight away, and she always had the very newest model of sports car, never mind about her cataracts. [Read More]

Books This article is more than 5 months oldMuch-hyped biography of Tucker Carlson struggles to sell This article is more than 5 months oldTucker by Chadwick Moore sells just 3,227 copies in first week after publication on 1 August, Publishers Weekly figures reveal A much-hyped biography of the former Fox News host Tucker Carlson has struggled to find favour with readers, a leading US publishing authority said, listing just over 3,000 copies sold in the first week of its release. [Read More]

Carol Rumens's poem of the weekPoetryFrom one of the great black American poets, this harvest song combines formal and vernacular language to potent effect The Corn-Stalk Fiddle When the corn’s all cut and the bright stalks shine Like the burnished spears of a field of gold; When the field-mice rich on the nubbins dine, And the frost comes white and the wind blows cold; Then its heigho fellows and hi-diddle-diddle, [Read More]

FamilyShare your tips for dealing with children’s tantrums on car journeysWe’d like to hear how people successfully manage bored kids in the backseat on long trips in the car Long traffic jams, bickering siblings, extreme boredom – backseat temper tantrums have knocked the wheels off many a family holiday. Now a statistician, Dr James Hind, from Nottingham Trent University, has calculated the exact formula for predicting the chances, and timing, of children throwing a tantrum in the back of a car during a long journey. [Read More]

The 100 best footballers in the worldSoccerThe 100 best female footballers in the world 2022Alexia Putellas wins our joint list with The Offside Rule Podcast for a second year in a row, before Beth Mead and Sam Kerr. The men’s top 100 will be out in January Meet the judges | Putellas tops 2021 list | 2020 edition | 2019 | 2018 Subscribe to our free women’s football newsletter Football Next Generation 2017: 20 of the best talents at Premier League clubs The Guardian picks the best prospect from each club born between 1 September 2000 and 31 August 2001, an age band known as first-year scholars. [Read More]

(From left) Robin, Barry and Maurice Gibb in 1979. Photograph: APAs their worst album, Life in a Tin Can, turns 50, we celebrate the best of a catalogue that spans post-Beatles experimentalism, elegiac psychedelia – and, of course, disco by Alexis Petridis40. For Whom the Bell Tolls (1993)The Bee Gees’ biggest 90s hit sums up the pros and cons of their output during the decade. On the one hand, it’s an exceptionally high-quality song, the product of master craftsmen at work. [Read More]

Irreverent and fun: Bong Bong Restaurant, Cambridge Heath, London. Photograph: Karen Robinson/The GuardianIrreverent and fun: Bong Bong Restaurant, Cambridge Heath, London. Photograph: Karen Robinson/The GuardianGrace Dent on restaurantsFoodReviewA slightly chaotic but warm-hearted Filipino street-food joint that doesn’t play by the rules When BBQ Dreamz scooped £350,000 on BBC Two’s My Million Pound Menu last year, the cash came with the advice that their street food stall’s name suggested nothing of its Filipino flavours and that a name upgrade was sorely needed. [Read More]