A curated selection of news and stories for your midday escape.

We’ve all been there: you’ve got 20 minutes, a fork in one hand, and your phone in the other ready to scroll something while you eat. But instead of getting pulled into another doomscroll or ad-stuffed feed, why not read something that actually feeds your brain?

That’s the idea behind Lunch Break Reads: a curated newsletter of short, excellent stories sent daily. No fluff. No paywalls. Just the internet’s most interesting writing, selected for your lunch break.

ABC pre-empts "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" over Kimmel's Charlie Kirk comments by Faris Tanyos (CBS News)

Machu Picchu is at risk of losing its ‘credibility’ as one of the New 7 Wonders of the World. What’s happening? by Jimena De La Quintana (CNN)

Tests show Navalny was poisoned in jail, his widow says by Laura Gozzi (BBC)

Hunt on for pharaoh's missing 3,000-year-old gold bracelet by Charlene Gubash and Jamie Gray (NBC News)

‘I love you too!’ My family’s creepy, unsettling week with an AI toy by Arwa Mahdawi (The Guardian)

The (Mostly) True Story of Galveston’s Legendary Deaf Lifeguard by Lea Konczal (Texas Monthly)

We booked a ride in Tesla’s Robotaxi, then raced it against a Waymo. Guess which won? by Zara Stone and Rya Jetha (The San Francisco Standard)

Teen shark attack survivor Lulu Gribbin shares recovery journey and new mission by Robyn Weil, Stefan Joyce, Erin Brady, and Shafiq Najib (ABC News)

Wild chimpanzees consume the equivalent of 2 cocktails a day in the form of boozy fruit, research finds by Sarah Metz (CBS News)

Thanks for reading!