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.

Want to help support the Lunch Club? Consider buying me a cup of coffee.

Family tell of ‘immense joy’ at release of British couple detained in Afghanistan by Jamie Grierson and Matthew Weaver (The Guardian)

Highway 20 cold case solved: DNA identifies ‘Swamp Mountain Doe’ as missing woman from mid-70s by Noelle Crombie (The Oregonian)

Egyptian officials reveal sad end in case of 3,000-year-old golden pharaoh's bracelet stolen from museum by Ahmed Shawkat (CBS News)

There's a new, longer U.S. citizenship test with more history questions. Can you answer some? by Nicole Acevedo, Melinda Yao and Jiachuan Wu

Syria’s quest to build its own Silicon Valley by Emily Wither (Rest of World)

Thank You for Finding Me by Lisa Bubert (LongReads)

The Last Days Of Social Media by James O’Sullivan (Noema Magazine)

Fat Bear Week is here early, and the bears are fat and playful by Bill Chappell (NPR)

Frida Kahlo portrait could sell for $60 million and shatter records at Sotheby's by Jill Lawless (ABC News)

Man in a Ferrari on an aircraft carrier attempts to set record for fastest car driven on a boat (CBS News)

Thanks for reading!

Help me grow! For a limited time, I am giving away Lunch Break Reads t-shirts to anyone who refers 25 new readers to the Lunch Club with their unique link below.