Australia’s central bank expects inflation will only return to the top of its 2-3% target by end-2025 and

The family of a North Carolina man who died after driving his car off a collapsed bridge while following Google Maps directions is suing the technology giant for negligence

Federal prosecutors have accused former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried of witness tampering after he allegedly leaked the personal writings of his former girlfriend and business partner, Caroline Ellison, to the New York Times.

The US could begin withdrawing troops from Niger in the coming weeks, according to two US officials, which would mark a significant change to the American military presence in the country following a coup that toppled the democratically elected government in Niamey in late July.

Our bellies have always been the target of derision and ire. Long have they been poked and prodded. Sighed at and sucked in. Reprimanded and insulted. But ever since social media became the new WebMD for chronic self-diagnosers, it’s been open season on every little bodily function. Every involuntary twitch, skin bump and mood shift has been analysed to death – but none more so than the dreaded bloat. Stomach bloating can happen for all sorts of reasons. Often the main culprit is a big meal. It’s that feeling of being uncomfortably full and needing to undo the top button of your jeans, as if you’ve just had a particularly heavy Sunday roast. Unless you have real food intolerances or irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), or the symptom is caused by hormonal changes, bloating is the body’s normal reaction to eating a little too much. It usually subsides after a few hours. But this is 2023. A bit of bloating is no longer something you can just wait a few hours to get rid of – social media dictates that it needs to be gone immediately, and if it doesn’t then there must be something wrong with you. And not to stop there, either. You should also be cutting 10 different types of foods out of your life, doing five simple exercises 200 times a day and taking an assortment of supplements and pills because God forbid your stomach be round for the next two hours. According to Dr Tamara Alireza, a functional medicine specialist at Skinfluencer London, bloating should be taken seriously if it doesn’t come and go with food. If it becomes a chronic problem, or is accompanied by other symptoms such as persistent stomach and pelvic pain, changes to bowel habits, unexpected weight loss, fatigue and fever, vomiting, or bleeding, it may be something different entirely. “Excess bloating can be linked to IBS, inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), and coeliac disease, but also to more serious conditions,” she says. But we are a society obsessed with quick fixes, and anti-bloating pills have become a popular “cure” for the woes of a distended belly. Last month, fitness influencer Sam Cutler took it to new heights when she provided the pills for her wedding guests during the meal. Some viewers of her TikTok video – which sparked so much horror that it rapidly went viral – claimed that the pills were essentially “laxatives”. The glut of brands that have emerged in recent years would disagree, though. Many claim to use all-natural ingredients to “speed up digestion” and reduce gas without a laxative effect. Admittedly, curiosity got the better of me. I am lucky enough not to suffer from any particularly gut-churning conditions, but I do have eyes bigger than my stomach. It means I regularly end up regretting wearing trousers to a meal, cursing myself as my belly strains against the waistband. Could these pills really make me feel more comfortable after a big dinner, or would they just lead to some unfortunate toilet habits? I am kindly sent a couple of packs by Wild Dose, which lists extracts of ginger, liquorice, fennel seed, turmeric, peppermint leaf and dandelion root alongside a “proprietary enzyme complex” and a probiotic blend in each brown pill. They smell very herbal and are a rather unappealing greenish-brown colour – it initially makes me wonder if it’s an omen for what my guts are about to experience. After two weeks of taking them daily, I found that they did make a slight difference in my post-meal stupor and I feel comfortable quicker than before. However, the change has been marginal and, if anything, they made me more gassy, to the chagrin of my significant other. The medical community is reluctant to support the efficacy of similar supplements, as there remains little clinical research to back up their claims. Dr Alireza describes anti-bloat pills as a “Band-Aid on a fire hydrant” for people who have genuine problems with their gut. “I generally would not recommend taking any pills to counteract the bloating,” she says, “rather I would be keen to first determine the source of the issue.” She points to her practice, which aims to determine the root cause of symptoms and treat it – instead of providing temporary fixes. But I think the real reason behind social media’s obsession with bloating has nothing to do with #guthealth. Instead, it is our inherent fatphobia and fear of fatness that fuel this battle against the bloat. Are we so afraid of looking fat for even a couple of hours that we flock to pills and exercises with such abandon? Given the way people have fallen over themselves to get their hands on Ozempic, a drug intended to help diabetes patients but which has made a name for itself as a weight-loss miracle, it appears the answer is yes. It’s no mistake, either, that women are the primary targets for anti-bloating content online. Studies show that women are twice as likely to experience it as men, particularly during menstruation and menopause because of hormonal fluctuations. But the expectation for women to maintain at least the illusion of thinness at all times is also much higher. Many of us learned at an early age how to suck in our stomachs and – even as adults – keep them sucked in pretty much all day. As I write this, I realise that I’ve been subconsciously engaging my core muscles despite sitting behind a desk. No wonder the promise of no more bloating is so appealing, if it makes looking mildly smaller less of a chore. Joanna Dase, fitness expert and operations director of female-focused health clubs Curves, says that any medical conditions should be diagnosed by qualified professionals rather than social media. She acknowledges that while bloating can affect body image, no one should worry about your normal, natural responses to digestion. “If you have a professional opinion and there is no health problem related to it, then you just need to have an actual understanding of your body and its natural functions, and being OK with yourself. It’s just how your body breaks down food.” Read More Wellness gurus claim your hormones are out to get you – but is it just another scam? ‘Thanks Pfizer’: The weird world of shakes, health anxiety and illness online A One Direction fan claimed she had a brain tumour. 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After US Attorney General Merrick Garland designated a special counsel to oversee investigations into Hunter Biden, his attorney is “confident” that the federal prosecutor will draw the same conclusions that the US Department of Justice reached earlier this year. If newly appointed Justice Department special counsel David Weiss continues the five years of work that led to initial charges against President Joe Biden’s son, “then the only conclusion can be what the conclusion was on July 26,” attorney Abbe Lowell told CBS Face the Nation on 13 August. There is “no new evidence to be found” following the two misdemeanor tax and gun charges that Hunter Biden pleaded not guilty to last month, Mr Lowell said. “I don’t know the possibility exists after this kind of painstaking investigation for them to be, ‘Oh, my gosh, there’s a new piece of evidence,’” he added. His remarks follow heightened Republican scrutiny into the president and his son, as a parallel congressional probe appears to come apart and Donald Trump’s allies attempt to bolster their defence of the former president against a mountain of federal charges by deflecting to allegations of rampant corruption and criminality under the current administration. Less than a year ago, Senate Republicans – eager to persecute the Biden family – urged Mr Garland to designate David Weiss as special counsel. When he did, those same Republicans spent the days that followed railing against it. They claim that a “sweetheart” plea deal compromised the investigation. Hunter Biden was set to plead guilty to misdemeanour tax charges and enter a diversion agreement related to a felony gun charge in July, but the agreement appeared to hit a snag during a federal court hearing, and the judge presiding over the case ultimately rejected the arrangement. “One, they wrote something and weren’t clear what they meant; two, they knew what they meant and misstated it to counsel; or, third, they changed their view as they were standing in court in Delaware,” Mr Lowell said on Face the Nation of the prosecutors involved with the case. “One of the possibilities is the prosecutor stood up and decided for lots of reasons that might be apparent to the viewer, they didn’t like what people were saying about the deal they approved,” he added. Mr Weiss, who has served as the US attorney for Delaware since 2018, has led federal investigations into Hunter Biden since 2019 under Mr Trump’s administration, and while his title changed this past week, “he’s the same person he’s been for the last five years,” Mr Lowell said. “He’s a Republican US attorney appointed by a Republican president and attorney general who had career prosecutors working this case for five years looking at every transaction that Hunter was involved in,” he added. “If anything changes from his conclusion … the question should be asked, what infected the process that was not the facts in the law?” Mr Lowell also was critical of right-wing media for its coverage of the case, as pundits devote significant airtime to allegations and spurious congressional probes to his client while trying to connect President Biden to his son’s alleged crimes. Several House Republicans have threatened to file articles of impeachment against the president invoking those claims; US Rep Greg Steube filed an impeachment resolution on 11 August “for high crimes and misdemeanours” based on accusations of fraud, obstruction of justice and bribery. “The facts and the evidence that have been pursued by however many members of Congress and their staffs and media, looking for any possible connection has shown time and time again – it doesn’t exist,” Mr Lowell said. If President Biden calls his son on speakerphone and “says hello to the people in the room, that is not an offence,” he said. “That is nothing other than a loving father.” Democratic US Rep Dan Goldman said Hunter Biden should face criminal charges if prosecutors find that he has committed crimes. “I’m a Democrat saying that,” he told CNN’s State of the Union. “You don’t hear any currently elected Republican saying that if Donald Trump committed crimes, he should be charged with them and held accountable. And that’s a critical distinction that the public needs to understand.” Read More Ted Cruz rails against Hunter Biden special counsel appointment that he requested Prosecutor in Hunter Biden case is given special counsel status by attorney general Trump and Hunter Biden legal blockbusters rock Washington – but offer a contrast

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