Body and blood and also bile, marrow, and spinal fluids
Image credit: PiqFocus Interactive
Hitherto, Turkish devs PiqFocus Interactive have specialised in cosy, laidback games like Lepidarium, in which you watch caterpillars bloom into gorgeous butterflies, and Easy Bubbles, in which you chillax with an aquarium of cute little fishies. Now they are making The Carcass, a text-based roguelike in which you carve out a colony inside the corpse of a spacegod.
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I am… curious to know what happened. The obvious explanation is that PiqFocus employ or commission a variety of people with different tastes and interests – some are passionate about recreating the charming orange-black livery of the Gulf Fritillary, while others really get a kick out of things like *checks notes* "bile fermentation" and the concept of a floating "clot bazaar" where people gather to trade dried blood.
Still, I'd love to hear that some Lepidarium writer just went a bit screwy after researching 160,000 varieties of moth. I picture them giggling over the Wikipedia page for human botflies. Myself, I'm a fan of both creature collecting sims and colonisable dead gods. What can I say – I contain multitudes.
The Carcass is out tomorrow on Steam, but I figured you'd like to hear about it now because there's still a demo as of writing, and this does feel like a game you'll want to Try Before You Buy. "The corpse is your world," explains the Steam page. "A continent of rotting organs, bone corridors, and forgotten chambers, rendered in retro terminal ASCII with authentic CRT glow."
Image credit: PiqFocus Interactive
You will "harvest biomass, calcium, bile, and neurons" as you seek to transform your seemingly not wholly dead surroundings into a tumorous sunken city, populated by factions of citizens with different traits and skills. You will research "combat, production, diplomacy, and forbidden arts", unlocking occult mutations as you send forth permakillable warriors to exterminate the other parasites squirming for possession of the divine cadaver. And the more you do these things, the more the carcass will "understand" you. "There are five main endings - "Dominion. Symbiosis. Awakening. Escape. Transcendence." - together with four secret ones.
The devs add that this is aimed at people who like Caves of Qud, Dwarf Fortress, Cultist Simulator, and Sunless Sea. I'd add Anoxia Station to that list - "fraught, delphic, and emotionally crushing" insectoid petro-horror. In general, it feels like a good pick if you like overripe "hand-written" descriptions (incidentally, there's no generated AI usage disclosure on the Steam page).
I'll be giving it a go. Perhaps I will buy that Lepidarium game and run them side by side – apparently, there's the option to release your butterflies and moths from the app, so they can flutter around your desktop. We shouldn't have to choose between looking at a Snowberry Clearwing and quarrying a slain deity's gizzards. %!s()
Saudi Arabia government official Turki Alalshikh has abandoned his proposed takeover of Derby County.
The deal with Alalshikh's Lion Sport looked set to go ahead, having been sanctioned by the English Football League (EFL) and the Independent Football Regulator (IFR).
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But Derby were told on Monday that Alalshikh no longer wanted to continue with the purchase of what BBC Radio Derby understands would have been a controlling stake.
"For the benefit of any doubt, the club is now off the market," a club statement said.
"It will continue to operate under the loyal, committed and unwavering support of Clowes Developments."
In a statement on social media, Alalshikh thanked those at Derby County for their involvement in the proposed deal, but suggested the time it took to be ratified meant he had to withdraw.
"We understood that the IFR process takes time and fully respect the importance of that," he posted on X.
"But unfortunately with the season already started, it would leave us with no time to prepare the team or the club for the season ahead.
"After careful consideration, we don't feel it is right to proceed at this time without the necessary preparation in place, but we will remain in conversation with the club and see what is possible in the future."
A deal for Alalshikh, the co-founder of boxing promotion company Zuffa, to take a controlling stake in the Championship club had been on the table with the football regulator since May.
An IFR spokesperson said: "The IFR has a statutory duty to thoroughly test all prospective owners of a club in the top five divisions of men's football.
"The assessment was completed in 55 days out of the 90 days allowed by law.
"The IFR had taken a 'minded-to decision' to approve the bid before the start of the 2026-27 season. This had been communicated to all parties last week.
"In every case, we must consider a broad but fixed list of matters, all set out in statute.
"This includes assessing all candidates against the IFR's test on financial soundness, sufficient financial resources, source of wealth, and honesty and integrity - including a check on any criminal proceedings or convictions, civil actions and other regulatory investigations."
The proposed deal had raised concerns among human rights campaigners, including Amnesty International, which said in June that the independent regulator faced a "defining test" over the investment.
Alalshikh, the chairman of Saudi Arabia's General Entertainment Authority - and someone who is close to the Kingdom's de facto ruler Mohammed bin Salman - has been criticised by human rights groups for his role in alleged 'sportswashing'.
Saudi Arabia has been accused of using sports to improve its image in the wider world to distract from its human rights record, treatment of women, use of the death penalty and its anti-LGBT stance.
As well as being the owner of Egyptian club Pyramids between 2018 and 2019, Alalshikh recently owned Spanish side Almeria but sold the club to an investment group from Saudi Arabia last May. %!s()
President Donald Trump will be able to update his defamation lawsuit against the BBC to exclude claims the outlet hurt his businesses, a judge ruled Monday, allowing the president to likely escape having to turn over vast amounts of financial information to the broadcaster.
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President Donald Trump speaks on July 30 in Washington, DC.
Getty Images
Key Facts
Judge Roy K. Altman ruled Monday that Trump is allowed to submit an updated complaint in his lawsuit against the BBC, in which he alleges the broadcaster defamed him by misquoting his speech to supporters on Jan. 6, 2021, in a 2024 documentary.
While Trump initially alleged the documentary harmed both his personal reputation and his businesses, the updated complaint will be narrowed to only allege the documentary harmed his personal reputation.
The edit comes after the BBC subpoenaed the trust holding the president’s assets to turn over a vast amount of financial information in order to prove the documentary actually caused $10 billion in damages—as Trump initially claimed—including information about approximately 400 companies with ties to the president.
By narrowing his complaint, Trump and the trust can now argue the financial information isn’t relevant to the case—though Altman noted Monday that the issue of what can be subpoenaed will still have to be litigated in court.
Altman ruled Trump has “good cause” to amend the lawsuit, as the law requires, because Trump didn’t have some information needed to amend the lawsuit until more recently.
The BBC declined to comment to Forbes on the ruling.
What to Watch for
Trump is required to file his updated lawsuit today, Altman ruled.
What We Don’t Know
What information Trump’s trust could still have to turn over. Altman acknowledged in his ruling Monday that the updated complaint “might change the scope of discovery,” referring to what information the BBC is able to get from Trump. “Whether the amended complaint actually alters the Plaintiff’s discovery obligations is a question we’ll leave for Magistrate Judge Lett,” the judge added, however, referring to the magistrate judge who initially ruled Trump’s trust had to turn information over.
Surprising Fact
While the BBC fought Trump updating his complaint, Altman noted the amended lawsuit “will, in some respects, help the BBC,” as it will reduce the scope of potential damages Trump can ask the BBC for. Trump’s proposed narrowing of the lawsuit “represents a substantial diminution in the scope of the available damages,” Altman wrote, also noting it “removes several contested allegations … allowing the BBC’s re-filed motion to dismiss to focus more squarely on its most important arguments.”
Forbes Valuation
Forbes values Trump’s net worth at $6.4 billion as of Monday afternoon. The president’s 10-figure wealth is made up of assets that are all held by his revocable trust, which was created in order to distance Trump from his business empire without having to divest from it. The trust is maintained by Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr., and only contains the president’s assets.
What Documents Could Trump’s Trust Still Have To Turn Over?
It’s unclear. The initial subpoena called for the trust to hand over a wide variety of documents, including tax returns, showing the value of the overall trust, all the assets in it and the value of hundreds of businesses with Trump ties. Much of that could be considered information that’s specific to Trump’s businesses, however, and thus wouldn’t be applicable to the case once the defamation claims involving his businesses are removed. The initial subpoena did include assets that could be argued are more tied to his reputation, however, like licensing deals that rely on his political popularity. While it hasn’t made any formal court filings regarding what information it will request in response to the updated lawsuit, the BBC previously suggested in court the president’s business dealings are inextricably tied to his public reputation, making them still relevant to the case. Trump “ran for president of the United States on a platform of the art of the deal,” BBC attorney Chuck Tobin said in a July hearing, as quoted by Politico. “You cannot separate the man and his reputation from his operation of his businesses.”
Key Background
Altman’s ruling comes after the judge paved the way for it last week, issuing a ruling that kept the Trump trust from having to turn over documents until issues over the new complaint are resolved. Lett, a magistrate judge, previously ruled the financial documents had to be turned over to the BBC starting last week, but Altman agreed with the trust as it argued the documents should be hidden while the issue is litigated—since once they’re turned over, they can’t be taken back. Trump sued the BBC for defamation in December over its 2024 “Panorama” documentary, which quoted the president as telling supporters on Jan. 6, “We're going to walk down to the Capitol... and I'll be there with you. And we fight. We fight like hell.” In actuality, Trump said, “We're going to walk down to the Capitol, and we're going to cheer on our brave senators and congressmen and women.” He then made the comment to “fight like hell” more than 50 minutes later. The BBC has apologized to the president for the editing job, saying it gave “the mistaken impression that President Trump had made a direct call for violent action,” but has strongly denied it was defamatory.
Further Reading
Trump Can Keep Financial Info Hidden From BBC, Judge Rules—For Now (Forbes)
Trump Tries To Keep Financial Information Hidden From BBC In Emergency Filing (Forbes)
What Trump Suing The BBC Could Reveal About His Finances (Forbes) %!s()
Players flocking to ply their trade in England can still be a positive for women's football in Scotland, insists Scottish Women's Premier League managing director Fiona McIntyre.
Second tier Ipswich Town alone have snapped up six players from the SWPL this summer, part of a wider trend of players heading south.
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Celtic's Emma Lawton has joined the Tractor Girls along with Hearts trio Georgia Hunter, Bayley Hutchinson and Georgia Timms and Hibernian pair Rosie Livingston and Eilidh Adams.
Hibs have also lost influential striker Kathleen McGovern to Newcastle United in the same division, while Mia McAulay has departed Rangers for WSL side Aston Villa.
McIntyre says these transfers are inevitable given the resources in England, but hopes Scottish clubs will start to receive larger fees for developing players.
"We don't want to lose talent, but when you're on the border of one of the best resourced leagues in the world, the fact they're coming to Scotland is a real positive in the sense it reflects well on the standard we have," McIntyre said, speaking at the new season launch.
"In an ideal world we want the best players to stay in Scotland, of course we do.
"Our priority is that the SWPL has a really high standard but we're not naive and if there's opportunities for players to go down south and play in a league that is so well resourced then we absolutely accept that.
"As long as the clubs get a financial reward for that then that's something that can become part of the economic model of women's football."
That aspect is something McIntyre thinks "will grow" but the majority of summer moves to England were under freedom of contract, with no compensation required.
"We're not yet, from a club perspective, really creating a lot through player trading," she explained. "That will come in time and will be a new revenue source."
McIntyre also stressed that the recent departures will provide openings for others to step up and gain valuable experience.
"Look at Hearts in the Champions League qualifiers with some really young players and doing fantastically well," she said. "Those opportunities, to some degree, come about because other players have left.
"So I think you have to see the positive and how we can use it to make Scotland a real hotbed of talent.
"Some of it may leave and that may benefit the national team, and when players leave it creates opportunity for young Scottish players to really get a chance."
The SWPL 2026-27 season kicks-off on Sunday 16 August.%!s()
It’s eight months into 2026 and Anne Hathaway is about to release her fourth movie of the year.
The star is on quite a run, with her latest film The End of Oak Street joining her recent releases The Odyssey, Devil Wears Prada 2 and Mother Mary; and she’s not even done, with an adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s Verity coming in October.
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“When I got my schedule for this year from all the wonderful film studios that I’ve worked with, I saw it and I kind of thought I was being punked,” Hathaway admitted to The Hollywood Reporter at The End of Oak Street premiere on Sunday. “But then they showed me that no, no, no, all these [release] dates were going to hold and I just said as long as audiences don’t get sick of my face — which I wouldn’t blame them, I would not blame them if they did— let’s go.”
She continued of her busy and wide-ranging slate, “I think it’s fun. Obviously I love making movies, take a look, but I also love that audiences want to go see original things and this movie is really original. It’s David Robert Mitchell in the director’s chair, directing a script that he wrote, and I’ve never seen anything like this so I was just really happy to be a part of it.”
The End of Oak Street sees Hathaway starring alongside Ewan McGregor, Maisy Stella and Christian Convery as a family trying to survive when their neighborhood mysteriously uproots and they find themselves surrounded by dinosaurs.
And it’s not the only sci-fi on the actress’ plate, as Hathaway is set to produce and star in a big-screen adaptation of Caro Claire Burke’s smash novel Yesteryear. The book is one of the biggest of 2026, having spent 17 weeks on the New York Times Best Sellers list, and follows a tradwife influencer who finds herself transported back to the 19th century.
Speaking for the first time about the project on the carpet, Hathaway noted, “That’s been a really fun discovery because I read a draft two years ago and I knew the intense feeling that I had for it, so it’s been really fun watching people discover it. I have friends writing me, they’re like ‘What, how?'”
She continued, “One of my friends wrote me and said ‘I can’t remember the last time that I immediately re-read a book.’ People are just loving it and I couldn’t be happier for Caro, what a triumph for her. And now we just have to do the movie justice.”
In the meantime, The End of Oak Street hits theaters on Friday. %!s()
