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Yorgen Fenech, heir to property empire, on trial for alleged involvement in murder of journalist, which he deniesOne of Malta's wealthiest businessmen plotted to kill the investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, paying 150,000 (130,000) for three hitmen to carry out the murder, a jury has heard.Yorgen Fenech, the 44-year-old heir to a property empire that includes the Hilton Malta hotel and casino, is on trial for the 2017 murder. Continue reading...

Trump and US officials opted to keep USMCA alive on short leash of annual reviews rather than longer term renewalDonald Trump has refused to renew the North American trade pact he once championed as his signature deal, opting instead to keep it alive on a short leash of annual reviews rather than committing to another 16 years.Wednesday was the deadline built into the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) for the three countries to jointly decide its fate, which is set to expire in 2036. Continue reading...

Hundreds watched England in first round of knockout stages at Prospect Building in Bristol

With the much-anticipated release of Grand Theft Auto VI only available as download, Sony is following suiteSony said on Wednesday that it would stop releasing new video games for the PlayStation console on disc in January 2028 following a shift in consumer preferences.Following this date, new games will be available on PlayStation Store and at retailers in digital formats only," the company said on its official PlayStation blog. Continue reading...

Proposed development of protected shorelines and wildlife zones violates EU environmental policy, says MEPMEPs have warned Albania that EU accession talks are at risk if the government does not change course" over plans for a luxury resort backed by Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner.Tineke Strik, the Dutch MEP heading a European parliament fact-finding mission to the Balkan nation, said Albania's leadership was playing with fire" by pursuing the 1.4bn (1.2bn) real-estate venture that would, she said, wreak havoc on virgin coastline. Continue reading...

Avi Loeb's White House panel has asked the Pentagon for videos and files on unexplained aerial sightingsA controversial Harvard University cosmologist who has suggested alien lifeforms could be sailing into the solar system disguised as meteors is leading the Trump administration's secretive new scientific advisory panel on security risks posed by UFOs.Avi Loeb and his hand-picked committee have already begun looking into the origins of mysterious flying craft, now known as unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP), and last month asked the Pentagon for dozens of videos, images and documents of reported encounters and incidents, the Associated Press reports. Continue reading...

Labour leader-in-waiting wants to close loophole preventing deportation of sex offenderAndy Burnham will explore all possible options", if he becomes prime minister, to close a legal loophole that prevented the deportation of a vile" Rochdale grooming gang leader.In his first significant intervention as Labour leader-in-waiting, Burnham said nothing would be off the table" in the case of Shabir Ahmed, 73, who is expected to be released from prison on Thursday. Continue reading...

Minister and MPs have raised concerns that his poisoned chalice' plan will take cash from much-needed road projects

Country is first to join since Australia in 2015 as event director says it continues to welcome the world'Canada will join the Eurovision song contest in 2027, becoming the first new participant since Australia in 2015, organisers have announced.Participation is not limited to countries in geographic Europe and instead is open to all members of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), which Canada joined last week. Australia is an associate member. Continue reading...

The 79-year-old actor told media I don't feel like it's the end of my life. There's work to do. Your life continues'Lethal Weapon actor Danny Glover has revealed he has been living with Alzheimer's for several years.Glover, 79, announced the news during an interview on The Today Show, during which he explained that he had been diagnosed not long" after receiving an honorary Oscar in 2022. I could live with it, in a sense. I'm sure as it advances, things are going to be different and changing," he said, adding that his movements, speech and memory have slowed. However, the support of his family, who he said have got my back", was getting him through. Continue reading...

Culture secretary launches first review of how money is spent in more than two decadesFunding from the national lottery is too heavily concentrated in the south, the culture secretary has said, as she launched the first review in more than 20 years into how billons raised by ticket sales is spent.In comments that chime with Andy Burnham's pledge to devolve more power from London if he becomes prime minister, Nandy said the model governing how lottery money is spent was showing its age". Continue reading...

The climate crisis and worsening disparity could be responsible for more than 100,000 deaths a year in Europe, which should set off alarm bells for policymakers Don't get This Is Europe delivered to your inbox? Sign up hereCall it a tale of two heatwave experiences.As brutally hot conditions brought much of western Europe to its knees, an American writer living in Paris asserted that, for many, the heat was not nearly as apocalyptic" as most media were suggesting. He said he had yet to buy a fan, instead relying on closed shutters, misting sessions and open windows in the evening to keep his ground-level flat cool. Continue reading...

Unions pleased with rise above forecast inflation but concerned nearly a third of it will come from school budgets

Dr Bill Kirkup said section of Valerie Amos's report criticising normal birth ideology' was removed before publicationThe author of a major inquiry into maternity care altered its final report to remove criticism of normal birth ideology", one of her expert advisers claims.Dr Bill Kirkup said Valerie Amos had listened to the wrong voices" before a section outlining the potential risks of encouraging women to have a vaginal birth disappeared" from the final version of her government-commissioned report. Continue reading...

Rowan Williams and Mark Kermode join campaign against proposed cuts for arts and social sciencesLeading writers, broadcasters, academics and theologians have thrown their weight behind a campaign to save 150 jobs at the University of Exeter, amid growing outrage at a sector-wide hollowing out of the humanities.In excess of 21,000 people - and counting - have signed a petition railing against the proposed redundancies at Exeter, which are expected to disproportionately fall on the humanities, arts and social sciences for which the highly ranked Russell Group university is famed. Continue reading...

Two-seat Cessna aircraft was being used for short flight experience when it crashed in Ongar on Tuesday, police sayTwo people have died after a light aircraft on a short flight experience" crashed in a field near Ongar in Essex, police have said.The two-seat Cessna plane crashed in a field off Mill Lane, Ongar, on Tuesday after taking off from North Weald airfield about seven miles west, Essex police said. The two people onboard have not been formally identified. Continue reading...

Ukrainian leader among guests in Dublin as Micheal Martin says we will stand unswervingly by your people'Pistorius talks about changes in the German military reserve system, with the Bundeswehr building up."He talks about reforms needed to allow to mobilise reservists better and more efficiently. Continue reading...

Consecrations by Society of Saint Pius X bring automatic excommunication for bishops - and crisis for Pope LeoA rebel group of ultra-conservative Catholics has defied Pope Leo by ordaining bishops without his consent, which they declared a sacred duty" despite it causing their automatic excommunication.In a ritual-filled ceremony on Wednesday, streamed live from the Swiss village of Econe, the Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX) went ahead with the consecrations of four bishops, one from Switzerland, one from France and two from the US. Continue reading...

Anger at authorities and government grows as local people, volunteers and rescue teams continue search for survivorsFour Venezuelan police officers have been arrested and are facing dismissal after being accused of looting cash from the rubble of a building that collapsed during last week's devastating twin earthquakes.Local people and national and international rescue teams continue to search for survivors in the aftermath of the back-to-back quakes, which have killed almost 2,000 people, injured more than 10,000, and left tens of thousands missing. Continue reading...

EU urged to make UK exempt from rules that risk becoming the most damaging consequence of Brexit yetThe EU's car industry has called for the UK to be fully included in new Made in Europe" rules that threaten to shut out British manufacturers from their biggest export market.The European Automobile Manufacturers Association (Acea) on Wednesday urged Brussels to give the UK, Turkey and Morocco justified, targeted exemptions" to the rules, which will require cars and parts to be made within the EU to qualify for subsidies or public procurement. Continue reading...

Report accuses paramilitary force of crimes including ethnic cleansing in systemic campaign against civiliansThe Sudanese paramilitary Rapid Support Forces committed crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing during its campaign to capture El Fasher, Amnesty International has alleged.Many of the crimes, including murder, torture, rape, enslavement and sexual slavery, were carried out as part of a widespread and systematic attack against civilians and amounted to crimes against humanity, the human rights organisation said in a report released on Wednesday. Continue reading...

Group confirms it will stop opening new accounts under the name and move existing ones to LloydsLloyds Banking Group has announced it is axing the Halifax brand, meaning the 173-year-old former building society's name will disappear from UK high streets.The group will stop opening new accounts under the Halifax brand, and kickstart a process of shifting existing accounts to Lloyds branding over the coming days. Continue reading...

Supporters of the method say it's foolproof - but forensic experts say it can be excruciating' amid allegations it's been intentionally botchedThe tangled path of US capital punishment takes a new turn on Wednesday as Idaho becomes the first state to adopt the firing squad as its primary form of execution, embracing the brutal killing technique even as concerns grow that it can inflict excruciating pain and suffering.The state's department of corrections (IDOC) says it has met its deadline, set by the legislature, to have its death chamber at a maximum security prison south of Boise retrofitted and open for business by 1 July. It has spent more than $1m in the venture, including $24,000 on a rack of AR-style, .308-caliber, scoped rifles that will be wielded by volunteer marksmen. Continue reading...

Figure in John Hutton's west screen, considered a 20th-century masterpiece, cracked by ladder used in lighting rigDeep cracks have appeared in one of the huge angels etched into John Hutton's west screen of glass panels at Coventry Cathedral after a major music event.It has prompted concern that the increase in cathedrals hosting outside events, a big source of revenue, risks damaging some of the UK's most important religious architecture. Continue reading...

IOPC to consider if race was a factor in response to student, whom officers initially handcuffed and treated as a suspectTwo police officers in the case of Henry Nowak have been placed under investigation for gross misconduct by the police watchdog.Nowak, 18, died in December 2025 after being stabbed by Vickrum Digwa in Southampton. Digwa falsely told police he had been the victim of a racist attack, which led officers to handcuff Nowak and treat him as a suspect, despite him saying he had been stabbed and that he could not breathe. Continue reading...

Consumer advocacy group Choice blind tested 30 olive oils - and found many of the highest ranked came from Australia

Average price of typical home little changed at 277,484 in June, says Nationwide, while housebuilder shares fall

Airlines and airports say passengers are struggling in queues of up to five hours for biometric checksAirlines and airports have called for the new EU biometric border check system to be suspended during the peak summer holiday period,saying some flights are leaving half full and passengers are struggling in queues of up to five hours.In a letter to Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, airlines and airports asked for an option to suspend checks under the system over fears the situation will get much worse during the busy summer season. Continue reading...

Three-time Olivier winner to play general viewed through urgent new lens' of misogynoir in futuristic productionThe Royal Shakespeare Company has cast Sharon D Clarke as a black lesbian Othello in a futuristic reimagining of the play which is being billed as projecting the 400-year-old story through an urgent new lens".Clarke, who is a three-time Olivier winner and has starred in West End and Broadway productions, brought the project to the RSC with the twist that Othello would be depicted as a black lesbian general married to a younger Desdemona. Continue reading...

Robert Jenrick and MP for Lincoln among those whose constituencies could be hit by cuts to road infrastructure plansThe MP for Lincoln and the Middle East minister, Hamish Falconer, and the Reform MP Robert Jenrick have voiced anger at the cancellation or delay of key transport infrastructure projects to fund the defence investment plan.Falconer and Jenrick were among MPs who have had cuts to road improvements in their constituencies, with savings contributing towards the increase in defence spending. Two roads in the East Midlands are among those where investment cuts have been made to fund a 15bn uplift in defence. Continue reading...

Fears of resurgence of HIV/Aids amid loss of access to PrEP drugs as at least 40 people arrested in toxic' climateA witch-hunt" is under way in Niger, where dozens of people have been arrested for homosexuality in the west African state following the introduction of a new penal code earlier this year.Up to 40 people have been arrested and 16 men, including high-ranking military officials, have been imprisoned across the country, according to local media. Continue reading...

Final vowel in words such as happy, baby and chilly varies clearly by social class across the cityPronunciation of the happy vowel" is one of the key indicators of social class in Mancunian accents, researchers have found.A sociolinguistic study, led by Lancaster University, found that the final vowel in words such as happy, baby, chilly and city - known to linguists as the happy vowel" - varies clearly by social class across Manchester. Continue reading...

Security footage images show a friend went to Simon Peter Carman's apartment in Pattaya, Thailand after reporting Thunchanok Donhomla missingThe friend of the 17-year-old girl allegedly murdered in Thailand reported her missing to police and then visited the condo of the Australian man charged over her death.Security footage images obtained by the Guardian shows the friend at the apartment of Simon Peter Carman. The footage is time stamped 1.49pm on Friday 26 June, although it is not clear whether the time stamp was added manually. Continue reading...

In today's newsletter: A country already in crisis since the removal of its leader earlier this year by the US, now has to find a way to rebuild with little state presence in evidenceThe shaking seemed to come from nowhere. In a moment captured by fishers off Venezuela's Caribbean coast, two earthquakes struck seconds apart. Plumes of dust appear where buildings once stood in the recording as the camera rises and falls with the swell. The men rapidly head for the shore in search of their families. I'm shaking," says the cameraman.Since the quakes struck last Wednesday, the search for missing loved ones has not stopped for scores of Venezuelans. Officially, more than 1,700 people have died. But tens of thousands remain missing: desperate relatives are walking up and down streets lined by rubble and collapsed buildings with photos of those they cannot find, asking for help.World news | A child has been rescued from the rubble in Venezuela, six days since the country was hit by devastating twin earthquakes.UK politics | Andy Burnham will have to find an extra 4.7bn for defence in his first budget, after Keir Starmer announced a 298bn defence investment plan (Dip) without having fully identified how it will be funded.US politics | The US supreme court has upheld the constitutional guarantee of birthright citizenship, affirming that nearly all people born on US soil are American citizens and rejecting a central pillar of Donald Trump's anti-immigrant agenda.UK news | The European media group Axel Springer has completed its 575m takeover of the Telegraph, ending years of uncertainty over the future ownership of the 171-year-old titles.US news | Nine matches in the World Cup group stage were played amid potentially dangerous heat and humidity, a Guardian analysis shows. Continue reading...

David Lammy's decision to increase minimum sentence for domestic murder victims follows years of tireless lobbyingDavid Lammy had gone quiet. Sitting in his ministerial office in the Palace of Westminster, the justice secretary had just been presented with pictures of women killed by their partners in their own homes, by their grieving mothers.As she put the photographs in front of him, Carole Gould explained that her 17-year-old daughter, Ellie, was killed by fellow sixth-former Thomas Griffiths the day after she ended their relationship in 2019. Julie Devey, who was joining the call remotely, showed a photograph of her daughter, Poppy Devey Waterhouse, who was 24 when she was murdered by her ex-boyfriend, Joe Atkinson, on 14 December 2018. Continue reading...

Study reveals extreme heat causes sharp drop with knock-on effect for pollination of food crops in following yearsWe know heatwaves have serious health consequences for humans, but what about other species? A study has shown they severely diminish bees' fertility, with significant implications for the pollination of food crops in the following years.Prof James Gilbert of the University of Hull his and colleagues simulated a three-day UK heatwave in the lab and measured its effect on solitary red mason bees, compared with those kept under control conditions of an ordinary summer. Continue reading...

Typical bill will surge by 220 a year from Wednesday, forcing 13.5m homes to spend over 10% of income on fuelMillions of households in Great Britain will be pushed into fuel poverty after months of volatility on the global gas markets as energy bills rise by more than 220 a year under the government's price cap from Wednesday.As the cap on gas and electricity rates rises to the equivalent of 1,862 a year, the number of households forced to spend more than 10% of their income on energy bills will increase to 13.5m from almost 11.3m in April, according to fuel poverty campaigners. Continue reading...

Singer has likened live show to theatre rather than a conventional concert but fans have criticised the performances and lack of crowd interactionLily Allen has defended the live tour of her latest album West End Girl, after fans complained about feeling short-changed by the 55-minute shows that have no crowd interaction.Allen is currently on the UK leg of the world tour for the album that was inspired by her divorce from the actor David Harbour. The show sees her perform the 45-minute album in its entirety, without speaking to the crowd or performing any of her back catalogue. Continue reading...

Two sides yet to have face-to-face meeting since signing deal to reopen strait of HormuzTalks at an indirect level between US and Iranian officials over unfreezing at least $6bn Iranian assets will recommence on Wednesday in Doha, Iran has said. The two sides are yet to have their first face-to-face meeting since signing a deal to extend the ceasefire and reopen the strait of Hormuz.US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner were in Qatar on Tuesday for talks covering regional issues including the Iran ceasefire and Lebanon, but Qatar's foreign ministry spokesperson, Majed Al-Ansari, stressed these were with Qatari mediators. They are not here for their negotiations with the Iranians," he said. Continue reading...

Local officials said preliminary reports showed the centre was unregistered and operating inside a privately owned residential buildingFourteen children died after the roof of a tutoring centre collapsed in Pakistan's eastern city of Lahore on Tuesday, rescue officials have said, as authorities opened the way for a possible negligence investigation.Punjab's emergency service said rescuers found children and a 30-year-old female teacher under the rubble of the private after-school facility. The children killed were aged five to 16 with most below nine. Continue reading...

Doctors say survey shows need for morning-after pill to be available at corner shops, petrol stations and supermarketsAlmost half of the UK population believe it would be difficult to access emergency contraception on a Sunday, while nearly two-thirds think they would struggle after 10pm, according to a survey.The research, carried out by YouGov, found that only 7% of people believe it would be difficult to access emergency contraception during the daytime on a weekday. Continue reading...

Polyendocrine metabolic ovarian syndrome is underdiagnosed and inconsistenly managed, according to NiceUp to 4 million women with irregular periods should be investigated for polyendocrine metabolic ovarian syndrome, according to new NHS guidance.PMOS, previously known as polycystic ovarian syndrome, is believed to affect up to 13% of reproductive age women, the World Health Organization estimates. Continue reading...

Visit to monarch planned for 6 September and will take Jamaica's mission for reparatory justice to the next level'Jamaican officials will travel to the UK in September to formally lodge an unprecedented petition with King Charles to seek legal guidance on their slavery reparations claim from Britain, the country's government announced on Tuesday.Speaking in the parliament of the Caribbean nation, Olivia Grange, the culture minister, confirmed that the trip was planned for 6 September, and was intended to take Jamaica's mission for reparatory justice to the next level. Continue reading...

European powers resist Trump administration's pick for high representative after incumbent pushed outDiplomats from the US and Europe have been unable to resolve their differences and agree on a new top international envoy in Bosnia and Herzegovina, in a standoff which has become a transatlantic test of wills over influence in the Balkans.A meeting in Sarajevo to select a new high representative, a post with far-reaching powers, ended without a compromise, in a spat that has undermined western cohesion in the region in the Trump era. Continue reading...

Critics call proposed limits on asylum claims a quick fix that will create long-term chaos'More than half of the people whose asylum and visa claims will be rejected under tightened human rights laws will continue to live in the UK, according to the Home Office's own assessment.Documents released on Tuesday show that plans to set new limits on article 8 of the European convention on human rights are expected to result in another 11,700 people having their claims rejected. Continue reading...

Justices upheld laws in West Virginia and Idaho, boosting similar restrictions in 25 other statesTransgender youth athletes have vowed to keep playing sports and fighting for equal access to teams after the US supreme court ruled in favor of laws banning their participation.The court's conservative supermajority on Tuesday upheld laws in West Virginia and Idaho prohibiting trans girls from participating in women's teams, finding the laws were constitutional. Continue reading...

Ally of PM-in-waiting says four-year boost for the armed forces is an unexploded bomb'