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PM pays tribute to country's best-known novelist as coffin is covered in national flag and flowersThousands of Albanians have gathered in Tirana to pay tribute to their country's best-known novelist, Ismail Kadare, who died on Monday after a heart attack.Albanians flocked to the capital to pay their respects to Kadare's coffin, covered with the red and black national flag. Continue reading...

Hannah and Colin Ingram-Moore disqualified by Charity Commission, family saysCapt Sir Tom Moore's daughter Hannah Ingram-Moore and her husband, Colin, have been disqualified from being charity trustees by the Charity Commission, the family said in a statement.More details soon ...

PM would become first sitting British leader to be voted out of his constituency if his fears are realised

Fears of big regression' in climate action that could spread across Europe if National Rally gains power

Two died in detention facility and one in hospital, officials say, after protests over Mohamed Ould Ghazouani's winThree protesters have died in detention in Mauritania, the interior ministry has said, after mass arrests during protests in the opposition stronghold of Kaedi after the north-west African country's presidential election outcome.Officials said protests had turned violent in the southern town near the border with Senegal late on Monday, prompting security forces to confront demonstrators. Continue reading...

Hot sea temperatures are fuelling explosive growth of first ever category 4 storm in JuneHurricane Beryl's explosive growth into an unprecedented early whopper of a storm shows the literal hot water the Atlantic and Caribbean are in - and the kind of season ahead, experts said.Beryl smashed multiple records even before its major-hurricane-level winds approached land. The powerful storm is acting more like monsters that form in the peak of hurricane season thanks mostly to water temperatures as hot or hotter than the region normally gets in September, five hurricane experts told the Associated Press. Continue reading...

Uxbridge college student, 17, got into difficulty in sea during end-of-term trip to West SussexThe death of a 17-year-old student who got into difficulty in the sea during a college trip in West Sussex has been described as a tragic accident" by his college principal.Emergency services received a call of concern for the teenager's welfare in the water at a beach in West Wittering, near Chichester, at about 1pm on Tuesday. Continue reading...

Gabriel Attal urges on campaign to peg back rise of National Rally as candidates pull out to avoid splitting vote

Sunny spells expected but occasional showers likely across Scotland, Northern Ireland, Wales and north of England

Police report says 250,000 people had gathered at a Hindu event in Uttar Pradesh that had a capacity of 80,000About 250,000 people had gathered at the Hindu religious congregation in northern India where 121 people died in a crowd crush, triple the capacity permitted by authorities, a police report has said.The deadly crush took place on Tuesday at a religious function known as a satsang held in a village in Hathras, in the state of Uttar Pradesh, when hundreds of thousands of devotee turned up to see Bhole Baba, a popular self-styled guru. Continue reading...

Yvette Cooper warns of intimidation of would-be MPs and volunteers over party's previous stance on Gaza

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Tories accused of deploying tactic to limit losses after Mel Stride says Labour heading for largest majority ever'

Chart-topping singer cancels remainder of 2024 tour dates but says she hopes to return next yearAnn Wilson, the lead singer of rock band Heart, has announced that she has been diagnosed with cancer.The 74-year-old wrote in an Instagram post: I recently underwent an operation to remove something that, as it turns out, was cancerous. The operation was successful & I'm feeling great but my doctors are now advising me to undergo a course of preventive chemotherapy & I've decided to do it. And so my doctors are instructing me to take the rest of the year away from the stage in order to fully recover." Continue reading...

Scathing report says commission's investigations and decisions are opaque' and it responded to criticism by managing its own reputation

Maritime authorities say they called off pursuit of commandeered vessel to avoid inflaming conflictTaiwan has demanded that Beijing releases a Taiwanese fishing boat that was boarded by the Chinese coastguard and steered to a port in mainland China.The Dajinman 88 was intercepted by two Chinese vessels late on Tuesday near the Kinmen archipelago, which lies a short distance off China's coast but is controlled by Taiwan, the Taiwanese coastguard said. Continue reading...

Boundary changes mean the 2024 British general election will be fought in altered seats. Enter your postcode to see a map of your constituency and how these seats would have voted in 2019

Find out who's up and who's down in the latest general election opinion polls - and how many seats each party is likely to win in the 2024 general election

Nigel Farage is the party's best hope of winning a seat but it could win up to 18, including for chair Richard Tice

Baristas Ella and Lucy launched legal action against the famous bakery in March after they wore traditional Palestinian scarves to work

People in developing countries are particularly affected after the business stopped processing transactionsThousands of people in developing countries have been left waiting for vital payments that many rely on to live after the Small World money transfer service collapsed.The company, part of LCC Trans-Sending, which allowed users to send cash for pickup collection in more than 170 countries, ceased trading on 10 June. Continue reading...

Prime minister says the Western Australian senator has made decision to place herself outside the Labor party'

One man dead after crash in Burwood as police urge those who they say fled the scene to come forward

SCO summit brings together leaders of global south but also likely to test Beijing and Moscow's strategic partnership'Leaders from China, Russia and countries in the global south are gathering in Kazakhstan for the annual meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), a group that has been described as the anti-Nato".The summit is part of China's efforts to establish what it calls a multilateral" world order that is not dominated by the US. But it is also a forum in which China and Russia's strategic partnership" will be tested by their competing desires to wield influence in central Asia. Continue reading...

Writer, who died in his Los Angeles home, also worked without credit on The Godfather and Bonnie and ClydeRobert Towne, the Oscar-winning screenwriter of Chinatown, considered one of the greatest screenplays of all time, has died at age 89.Towne, the screenwriter also nominated for his films Shampoo and The Last Detail, died on Monday among family members at his Los Angeles home, said his publicist, who did not disclose a cause of death. Continue reading...

Rightmove calls on new government to prioritise sector as rents outside London climb 7% in a yearAverage private rents in Great Britain have climbed to record highs, prompting a call for the next government to prioritise measures to help create an extra 120,000 rental properties.Data shows that the typical advertised rent outside London reached a record 1,316 a calendar month in May, the property website Rightmove said. The figure for London was 2,652 a month - almost three times the 894 asked for in north-east England. Continue reading...

Ex-PM claims Labour will be most leftwing government since the war' at Tory election rally in National Army MuseumBoris Johnson made his only appearance on the general election campaign on Tuesday night, less than 48 hours before voters head to the polls, and did not appear with or praise Rishi Sunak.The former prime minister made a surprise appearance at a Tory rally in Chelsea, accusing Keir Starmer of trying to usher in the most leftwing Labour government since the war" and claiming he would increase taxes and fail to stand up to Vladimir Putin. Continue reading...

The last time five women made it through to the second round of the tournament was in 1987Britain's female tennis stars have enjoyed a record-breaking start to Wimbledon, with five players through to the second round for the first time in 37 years.Katie Boulter, the British No 1, and Harriet Dart, 27, were triumphant in their first-round matches on Tuesday. They joined former US Open champion Emma Raducanu, the 28-year-old wildcard Yuriko Lily Miyazaki, and London-born Sonay Kartal, 22, who won on Monday. Continue reading...

Labour administration says globally pioneering' legislation will be brought in before next Senedd elections in 2026The Labour-led Welsh government has committed to introduce globally pioneering" legislation that would in effect make lying in politics there illegal.Members of the Senedd described it as a historic moment that would combat the existential threat" that lying in politics poses to democracy. Continue reading...

Deputy PM says Victoria Atkins is star' and is one of only people he could see leading Tory party

With winds up to 160mph, the monster storm pushed through Grenada and is on track for Jamaica and the Yucatan peninsula

Jury sent out three times during address by Roger Hallam, who is on trial for alleged role in organising M25 blockadeA climate protester ignored a judge's instructions and refused to leave the witness box, instead delivering an hours-long speech telling jurors that his alleged role in a conspiracy to block the M25 was justified by the risk of human extinction.Roger Hallam, 58, spoke for more than two hours on why a judge was wrong to rule that he and co-defendants could not bring evidence in their defence on the impacts of climate breakdown, and why such evidence justified the sort of acts of which they are accused. Continue reading...

Former neonatal nurse is convicted in retrial after jury in original trial last year was unable to reach verdictLucy Letby has been found guilty of trying to kill a two-hour-old baby girl on the hospital ward where she murdered seven other infants.The cold-blooded, calculated killer", who is serving 14 whole-life prison terms, was convicted on Tuesday of attempting to murder the extremely premature" infant after a retrial at Manchester crown court. Continue reading...

Labour leader says Post Office minister should urgently get on with the job' of sorting out problem

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Thinktank polled 15 European countries and only 1% expect Russia to emerge victoriousA negotiated outcome with Russia, as opposed to an outright Ukrainian military victory, is now seen as the most likely outcome in most European countries, according to a major poll of 15 countries.Support for Ukraine's cause remains strong across Europe despite battlefield reverses, but European voters increasingly regard arming Ukraine as necessary not to achieve a complete Ukrainian battlefield victory, but instead to strengthen Ukraine's hand in future negotiations with Russia. Continue reading...

Charity alleges doorknocker in Torbay suggested Steve Darling was using his guide dog for political purposes'

With evidence that infections are on the rise, we look at the so-called FLiRT variants, and assess the risks Continue reading...

Prosecution case rested largely on testimony of Dr Ravi Jayaram, who was said to have walked in on murder attemptEven as a doctor who has appeared regularly on television, Dr Ravi Jayaram may have felt some trepidation about his latest lead role. The consultant paediatrician, 56, who has appeared on the BBC's The One Show and ITV's Good Morning Britain, was the key prosecution witness in the trial of Lucy Letby over the attempted murder of a newborn baby girl.Letby, 34, was found guilty on Tuesday of trying to kill the two-hour-old infant by tampering with her breathing tube on the neonatal unit at the Countess of Chester hospital. She will be sentenced on Friday. Continue reading...

Artist behind controversial piece in Linz cathedral says vandalism shows there are still people who question women's right to their own bodies'Vandals have beheaded a sculpture of the Virgin Mary giving birth to Jesus on display in the cathedral in the Austrian city of Linz. The work had drawn criticism from some Catholics, who said it was blasphemous.The sculpture had been on view at the St Mary Cathedral, Austria's largest, as part of an art installation about women's roles, family images and gender equality, the Linz diocese said in a statement. It said the vandalism, which occurred on Monday, had been reported to police. Continue reading...

Party appealed to engineering firms and management consultancies, requesting help with policy workMore than a dozen private sector lobbyists and consultants have been embedded in the shadow cabinet teams, after Labour approached businesses for help with shaping its policies.The party is understood to have sent out an appeal to private companies to send staff to assist it with policy work, particularly in complex areas such as artificial intelligence (AI). Continue reading...

Danielle Carr-Gomm, 71, regarded Hongchi Xiao, who ran the workshop in Wiltshire, as messenger sent by God'A woman with diabetes who died after stopping her insulin while taking part in a four-day slapping therapy workshop regarded the person who ran the retreat as a messenger sent by God", a jury has heard.Danielle Carr-Gomm, 71, wrote glowing testimonials about Hongchi Xiao saying she believed he was starting a revolution in healthcare, Winchester crown court was told. Continue reading...

Antoine Kolias invented own branding and said the medicines were a natural remedy' for erectile dysfunctionA Manchester University graduate has been jailed for importing and selling illegal medicines on eBay and Amazon.Antoine Christopher Kolias was sentenced on Friday to three and a half years in prison. Continue reading...

Hungarian PM, an outspoken critic of aid to Ukraine, makes first trip to country since start of Russia's full-scale invasionHungary's prime minister has made a surprise visit to Kyiv for talks with Volodymyr Zelenskiy, the first trip by Europe's most pro-Russian leader to the Ukrainian capital since the start of Vladimir Putin's full-scale invasion 28 months ago.The visit on Tuesday morning by Viktor Orban, an outspoken critic of western military and financial aid to Ukraine, came a day after Hungary took over the rotating EU presidency until the end of the year, to the dismay of many other European politicians, given the country's frequent clashes with Brussels over domestic rule-of-law issues and foreign policy. Continue reading...

Mark Keel arrested in connection with death of 36-year-old Maxine Clark in RiddrieA man has appeared in court charged with the murder of a woman at a house in Glasgow.Maxine Clark, 36, was found dead at home in Riddrie in the north-east of the city last Thursday evening. Officers from Police Scotland had been responding to reports of woman with serious injuries at the property. Continue reading...

IDF bombards ruined city and orders mass evacuation after rocket barrage claimed by Islamic Jihad

Ruling leads to claims that BG's right to free speech unfairly challenged in another case putting rap lyrics on trialA US federal judge has refused prosecutors' request to prohibit the maker of the 1990s rap classic Bling Bling from promoting and glorifying future gun violence/murder" in songs and at concerts while on supervised release from prison, saying such a restriction could violate his constitutional right to free speech.But the artist known as BG must provide the government with copies of any songs he writes moving forward, ahead of their production or promotion - and, if they are deemed to be inconsistent with his goals of rehabilitation, prosecutors could move to toughen the terms governing his supervised release. Continue reading...

As the election nears, we scrutinise how each of the main contenders would deal with problems around the worldConflicts and environmental disasters are stretching humanitarian resources, and a new UK government will have to decide what role it will play on the world stage in dealing with global problems, especially after budget cuts and closure of the Department for International Development by the Conservatives, and with priorities so focused on Ukraine. We've talked to the main parties and looked at their manifestos to see what their plans are. Continue reading...

Euro 24 lifts TV sales at Argos but purchases of clothing, paddling pools and garden furniture fall

Greens welcome announcement as Jim Chalmers says half-baked' idea could make competition problem worse not better