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Voting booths open across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, with results due in early hours of Friday

Beachgoers express amusement and doubt at Marbella's attempts to clean up its coastlineMarbella city council has denied suggestions that anyone caught relieving themselves in the warm waters off one of the Costa del Sol's best-known destinations could soon face a fine of up to 750 (635).At the end of May, the council approved a series of initiatives designed to improve the quality of the city's famous beaches. Although the proposals also include sanctions for antisocial offences such as playing loud music or playing annoying ball games, the most eye-catching measure was the fine for those who carry out physiological evacuations (bowel movements and urination) in the sea or on the beach". Continue reading...

Auctioneers taken aback by high price fetched by porcelain collected by local woman's grandfather during Boxer rebellionGill Stewart was in her attic rooting around for the Christmas decorations when she came upon the box unpromisingly labelled broken porcelain" passed on to her by her grandfather 20 years before.Her first instinct was to put it in the bin but, happily, she decided to take it to an auctioneer on the off-chance and the pieces have netted her a very pleasant 160,000. Continue reading...

Australian Medical Association is urging both parties to reach an agreement for the sake of patients

An imminent Nato summit, bursting prisons and another strike by junior doctors for starters mean whoever takes the keys to No 10 will have little to no time to celebrateThe campaign is over, but it's only now that the really hard work begins. Every new prime minister faces a bulging in-tray of issues, decisions and potential mishaps, but this one will be arguably more laden than most. Continue reading...

Boundary changes, paper thickness and ace returning officer's transfer could have a bearing on who declares firstOne of the most notable quirks of a British election begins with the sound of running shoes squeaking on a sports hall's varnished floor.But balls and rackets are nowhere to be seen, because the activity is a lot more niche than the usual fare. It is part of the race to be the UK's fastest election count - where ballot boxes filled with thousands of votes are opened, counted and collated before the result is declared less than 90 minutes after the last vote was cast. Continue reading...

Review launched into security breach after parliament partly locked down as activists climbed on to roof

Chinese national Jie Shao receives prison sentence for manslaughter after performing illegal breast surgery that killed Jean Huang in 2017

It's festival season! But are festivals any good for the environment? This week Chante chats to Lewis Jamieson of Music Declares Emergency and the Grammy-nominated House DJ Jayda G about how festivals can become more sustainable and why the music industry can be an important voice in the fight for climate justice.Jayda G's documentary Blue Carbon can be watched hereArchive - BBC, TikTok (billsvids), CNN, Blue Carbon (WaterBear), Instagram (liamcmusic_), BBC 5Live, Continue reading...

The girl was last seen swimming at Mango Creek, near the remote community of Palumpa, 350km south-west of Darwin

Police confirm drug's presence after deaths of boy, 17, and three adults in Broadmeadows last week

Man, 28, charged with 15 assaults allegedly committed during 35km ride from city to Wantirna South

Final polls predict unprecedented Labour victory, with Starmer declaring Britain a great nation, with boundless potential'Keir Starmer has hailed a new age of hope and opportunity" as millions of people prepare to vote in a general election that could deliver the biggest shake-up of British politics in a generation.The Labour leader said he was ready for government" and that his intended cabinet would hit the ground running" if it wins Thursday's election. Continue reading...

Many have moved more than once, with estimated 1.9m Palestinians relocating since Israel's invasion, says OCHAAbout 90% of the population of the Gaza Strip have been displaced at least once since the war between Israel and Hamas began, according to the UN's humanitarian agency.Andrea De Domenico, head of the UN's OCHA agency in the Palestinian territories, said on Wednesday that about 1.9 million people are thought to be displaced in Gaza. Continue reading...

Rishi Sunak rejects Mel Stride's claim Labour are likely to win a large majority

Conservatives appear to be close to conceding defeat the day before the election. And Archie Bland hands out his campaign awards Continue reading...

Artist calls impounding of MV Louise Michel vile and unacceptable' after rescue of 17 unaccompanied childrenA rescue boat financed by Banksy has been seized by Italian authorities after being involved in an effort to rescue 37 people from the central Mediterranean sea, the British street artist and the vessel's crew have said on social media.The move comes just days after an inflatable boat carrying dummy refugees was launched into the crowd during a set by the British rock band Idles at the Glastonbury festival, a stunt masterminded by the anonymous graffiti artist and criticised by the UK home secretary, James Cleverly, as vile". Continue reading...

Tim Parker tells inquiry the firm relied too heavily on lawyers and should have shown key report to the boardThe former chair of the Post Office has expressed sincere regret" for the the state-owned body's failings in the Horizon IT scandal and said it was a mistake not to show a key report on the problem to its board.Tim Parker, who was chair of the Post Office between 2015 and 2022, told a judge-led public inquiry that he felt deep sympathy" for the Post Office operatives affected by what MPs have described as one of the biggest miscarriages of justice in UK history. Continue reading...

Anthony Bray said the item, a miniature copy of a weapon in the Nintendo series, had been a fidget toy for his handsA man has been jailed for brandishing a replica of a sword from the Nintendo game The Legend of Zelda on the streets of a Midlands market town, which he said was a fidget toy" to keep his hands busy.Anthony Bray, 48, of Nuneaton, was sentenced to four months in prison after being found in possession of a bladed article in public. Continue reading...

Staff, students and writers criticise decision to issue programme's co-founder with a redundancy noticeGoldsmiths, University of London has been accused of being determined" to close its Black British literature course after selecting its co-founder for redundancy as part of a cost-cutting programme.On Monday provisional redundancy notices were issued to 97 academic staff across 11 university departments, the Guardian understands, including Prof Deirdre Osborne. Continue reading...

Labour leader also says he cannot foresee circumstances where UK would re-enter single market or customs union

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...