World news | The Guardian

Scheme in England to identify signs of oesophageal cancer forms part of government's 10-year health planHundreds of people in England are to be offered a sponge on a string" test to identify a precursor to one of the deadliest cancers in high-street pharmacies for the first time.Patients with persistent heartburn or acid reflux can take the game-changer" tablet-sized capsule that when washed down with a glass of water expands in the stomach. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Mohammed Baraka asks von der Leyen for help, saying he is stranded in Cairo without residency rightsA Palestinian man who worked for the EU in Gaza has appealed to the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, after the closure of his office left him in Cairo without a job or residency rights.Mohammed Baraka, who served at the EU border assistance mission at Rafah in southern Gaza and was evacuated to Egypt when the war broke out, has accused Brussels officials of coldly" dismissing him from his job by email and abandoning" a loyal employee. Continue reading...

Industry lobby group draws up 20-point plan to stop London drifting into irrelevance'

For more than two months, the Australian mushroom triple-murder trial has gripped the world - here's how it finished up on the front page

Dr Tim Gregory argues that nuclear power is safe, relatively cheap and the only realistic route to achieving net zero targetsDr Tim Gregory is a nuclear evangelist. A chemist who works in the labs of Sellafield, Britain's oldest nuclear site, he argues that embracing nuclear energy is the only way to achieve net zero.He tells Helen Pidd it is an energy source long misunderstood - unfairly tainted by the Three Mile Island, Chernobyl and Fukushima disasters. It is a safe technology, he says, and despite the billions it costs to build nuclear plants, it represents good value for money. Continue reading...

US defendants can waive right to jury trial and in Germany jury trials were abolished in 1924One of the most significant recommendations in a review of the criminal courts in England and Wales, expected to be published this week, is likely to be the scrapping of jury trials for certain offences.The idea in Sir Brian Leveson's independent inquiry is that it will help reduce the record backlog in the courts. But for many the right to a jury trial, except for the most minor offences, is synonymous with the right to a fair trial and watering it down would be hugely controversial. Continue reading...

Convicted murderer told trial she made multiple changes to Nagi Maehashi's recipe in preparing the fatal lunch two years ago

TSA ends screening check in place for almost 20 years after Richard Reid's failed attempt to take down flight in 2001For the first time in almost 20 years, travelers are no longer required to take off their shoes during security screenings at US airports, Kristi Noem, the Department of Homeland Security secretary, announced on Tuesday.The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has abandoned the additional security step that has for years bedeviled anyone passing through US airports, according to media reports. Continue reading...

Son of Lindsay Foreman said they had also not known for fortnight if she and husband, Craig, had survived Israeli bombingThe son of a British woman who has been held in Iran since January on espionage charges along with her husband has told the Guardian he lived with the agony of not knowing their whereabouts for a month or in the past fortnight whether they had been killed in the Israeli bombing on Tehran's Evin prison on 23 June that left more than 70 dead.Lindsay and Craig Foreman, both 52, were arrested on 3 January in Kervan City in southern Iran while travelling through the country from Armenia to Pakistan on a motorcycle journey to Australia. The Foreign Office were informed they were due to be taken to Tehran on around 8 June, raising fears they may have been caught in the Tehran attack, but on Tuesday they were informed they were still held in Kervan. Continue reading...

RCMP arrested and charged four people who were trying to form an anti-government militia' and capture landPolice in Canada have arrested and charged four people, including active military members, who they allege were planning to create anti-government militia" and to forcibly take possession of land" in the province of Quebec.The scope of material uncovered by police, including explosives and assault rifles, marks the largest weapons cache ever seized as part of terrorism investigation. Continue reading...

Amit Mehta rules against violence prevention groups, saying he does not have the authority to enact an injunctionA federal judge has ruled against five non-profit organizations that sued the Trump administration over the rescinding of hundreds of millions of dollars meant to prevent and respond to issues such as gun violence, substance abuse and hate crimes.In an opinion released on Monday, judge Amit P Mehta, who was appointed by Barack Obama in 2014, said that while the cuts were shameful", he does not have the authority to enact an injunction that would keep the dollars flowing. [The] defendants' rescinding of these awards is shameful. It is likely to harm communities and individuals vulnerable to crime and violence. No federal agency, especially the Department of Justice, should conduct itself in such [a] manner," Mehta wrote. Continue reading...

Energy minister decides against zonal pricing', backed by Octopus founder but opposed by many other energy firmsEd Miliband has abandoned plans to charge southern electricity users more than those in Scotland, after senior officials warned it could put off investors and make it more difficult to build renewables.Sources have told the Guardian that the government has decided not to proceed with the scheme, known as zonal pricing", and that the decision will be announced once it has been signed off by the cabinet. Continue reading...

French president also spoke of empowered wider Europe' on first day of state visit to UKEuropean countries need to reduce their dual dependencies" on the US and China, Emmanuel Macron has warned, as he sketched out his vision of an empowered wider Europe" on the first day of a historic state visit.The French president addressed several hundred MPs and guests at the start of a three-day state trip - the first state visit of a European leader since Brexit. Continue reading...

Exclusive: most of defense department's discretionary spending from 2020-2024 went to military contractorsA new study of defense department spending previewed exclusively to the Guardian shows that most of the Pentagon's discretionary spending from 2020 to 2024 has gone to outside military contractors, providing a $2.4tn boon in public funds to private firms in what was described as a continuing and massive transfer of wealth from taxpayers to fund war and weapons manufacturing".The report from the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft and Costs of War program at Brown University said that the Trump administration's new Pentagon budget will push annual US military spending past the $1tn mark. Continue reading...

Some have demanded that Trump fire attorney general Pam Bondi, who had earlier said client list was sitting on her deskRightwing influencers in the US who are often aligned with Donald Trump are angry that a joint justice department and FBI memo has dismissed the existence of a client list" in the case against late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.The disgraced financier killed himself in a jail cell at the Metropolitan Detention Center in New York City in 2019 while awaiting prosecution on child sex-trafficking and conspiracy charges. Continue reading...

Sacking comes before publication of report on claims about presenter's behaviourGregg Wallace has been sacked as a MasterChef presenter, before the publication of a long-awaited report on a series of allegations about his behaviour.It comes as the BBC said it had been approached by more than 50 more people with fresh claims about the presenter after a series of allegations last year. They include allegations, denied by Wallace, of groping one co-worker and having pulled his trousers down in front of a second. Continue reading...

Comments suggest obstacle to Trump's wish to announce deal during Netanyahu's Washington visitProgress towards a ceasefire in Gaza has been slow, officials in Qatar say, dashing hopes of a rapid end to hostilities in the devastated Palestinian territory.The new round of indirect talks between Israel and Hamas began on Sunday, after both sides accepted a broad US-sponsored outline of a deal for an initial 60-day ceasefire that could lead to a permanent end to the 21-month conflict. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Charities say planned universal credit changes fail to account for progressive or fluctuating conditionsHuge swathes" of severely disabled people will be hit by the planned universal credit cuts, contrary to government claims that they will be protected, charities say.Organisations including Scope, Z2K and the MS Society say the legislation, which is due to be voted on again by MPs on Wednesday, fails to account for disabilities if they are progressive or fluctuating. Continue reading...

US president Donald Trump says the US is probably two days off from sending them [the EU] a letter' on tariffsDanish prime minister Mette Frederiksen is now giving a major speech in the European parliament, outlining Denmark's priorities for the EU as it takes the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union.Opening, she warns that Europe is facing the greatest challenges since the 1940s," as she lists a growing lists of urgent issues, with Russia's aggression on Ukraine, migration, the Middle East, trade, and terrorism.The threats may be many, and they are indeed serious, but I have trust in Europe.Trust that we can move our continent forward, build a more secure Europe, a greener and more competitive Europe, a new Europe of tomorrow with possibilities and welfare for our citizens, but only if we remember what we are capable of, what our societies are built upon, and who we really are as Europeans." Continue reading...

The French president was addressing parliament on the first day of his state visit to the UKFrench police slashing the boats of people smugglers is not pleasant" but the right tactic, Heidi Alexander, the transport secretary, has said. Jessica Elgot and Peter Walker have the story.Boris Johnson, the former Tory PM, has issued this tribute to Norman Tebbit.Norman Tebbit was a hero of modern Conservatism. In the early 1980s he liberated the British workforce from the socialist tyranny of the closed shop. He tamed the union bosses, and in so doing he helped pave the way for this country's revival in the 1980s and 1990s.At a time when the Labour government is now disastrously reversing those crucial reforms we need to remember what he did and why. In his single most famous phrase he once said that in the 1930s his unemployed father had got on his bike and looked for work. That wasn't a heartless thing to say - as the Labour Party claimed. It was because he believed in thrift and energy and self-reliance. It was because he rejected a culture of easy entitlement. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Jamie Raskin and 15 others accuse justice department of withholding Epstein files to protect Trump

Federal prosecutors described planned ambush with intent to kill Ice correction officers' on 4 July in AlvaradoTen people have been charged with attempted murder after allegedly ambushing US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) agents in Texas on 4 July.Federal prosecutors said attackers drew the agents out of an Ice detention center in Alvarado, Texas with fireworks and by vandalizing vehicles. They allegedly shot a police officer in the neck and unloaded between 20 and 30 rounds on immigration agents, and were later apprehended by local law enforcement near the scene. Continue reading...

Conservative former PM to be restricted from lobbying government for another year and will give salary to charity

FCA finds digital bank failed to employ adequate controls when signing up new clients

The ICRC said the scale and frequency of these incidents are without precedent'Five Israeli soldiers were killed in an attack in Gaza, the Israeli military said on Tuesday, while health officials in the Palestinian territory said 18 people were killed in Israeli strikes.The bloodshed came as Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu was visiting the White House for talks with US president Donald Trump about a ceasefire plan to pause the Gaza fighting. Continue reading...

Data made public by Ulf Kristersson's security revealed his location, routes and movements over several yearsSecret service bodyguards have been accused of jeopardising the Swedish prime minister's safety over several years by sharing details of their running and cycling routes on the fitness app Strava.Ulf Kristersson's bodyguards appear to have inadvertently revealed his location, routes and movements - including details of hotels and his private addresses - by uploading their workouts to the app, making them publicly available. Continue reading...

Archie Norman tells MPs companies should be legally required to report major hacks

Supplier failed to issue final bills to 34,000 prepayment customers who stopped using it, Ofgem finds

Men convicted over fire at industrial estate last year, which UK officials say was ordered by Russia's Wagner groupThree men have been found guilty over an arson attack on Ukraine-linked businesses in London, which British officials said was ordered by Russia's Wagner mercenary group and was the latest malign activity on behalf of Moscow in the UK.Last year's fire at an industrial estate in east London targeted two units, including one for a company that delivered packages to Ukraine, including satellite equipment from Elon Musk's Starlink. Continue reading...

First report from Horizon IT hearings lays bare disastrous' human impact as 10,000 people seek compensation

Cuts and chaos instigated by Trump come as human-caused climate crisis increases threat of extreme weather. Plus, the Italian towns selling houses for 1Good morning.The deadly Texas floods could signal a new normal in the US, as Donald Trump and his allies dismantle crucial federal agencies that help states prepare and respond to extreme weather and other hazards, experts warn.Where were the victims killed? At least 84 of the victims - 56 adults and 28 children - died in Kerr County, the worst affected area, where the Guadalupe River rose to critical levels in multiple locations. Camp Mystic summer camp has confirmed that 27 campers and counselors were killed.What else is happening in the region? Iran's government has said at least 1,060 people were killed in the war with Israel. Officials say that this figure could rise to 1,100, given how badly some people were wounded. Continue reading...

Vote comes after BMA criticised woefully inadequate' 5.4% award for medics formally known as junior doctors

Heidi Alexander says new tactic of slashing people smugglers' boats will discourage dangerous journeys

Exclusive: Low stockpiles for the crucial Patriot missile interceptors led to Trump administration pausing transfers to UkraineThe United States only has about 25% of the Patriot missile interceptors it needs for all of the Pentagon's military plans after burning through stockpiles in the Middle East in recent months, an alarming depletion that led to the Trump administration freezing the latest transfer of munitions to Ukraine.The stockpile of the Patriot missiles has fallen so low that it raised concern inside the Pentagon that it could jeopardize potential US military operations, and deputy defense secretary, Stephen Feinberg, authorized the transfer to be halted while they reviewed where weapons were being sent. Continue reading...

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Decision will come as shock to financial markets and large majority of experts who were sure RBA board would cut for a second straight meeting

Tebbit, MP for constituencies of Epping and Chingford, was one of Margaret Thatcher's most loyal supporters

Ed Pilkington explains the president's Big Beautiful Bill' and what it will mean for millions of poorer Americans who voted for him last NovemberOn 4 July - as Americans celebrated their country's independence - Donald Trump signed into law his sweeping tax and spending bill.Trump's Big Beautiful Bill', as he and fellow Republicans call it, is a sprawling piece of legislation covering everything from tax cuts to border walls to repealing environmental protections, the Guardian US's chief reporter, Ed Pilkington, explains. Continue reading...

Chief inspector says jails in England and Wales are overwhelmed by contraband, overcrowding and lack of staffThe volume of drugs being delivered by drones into prisons is severely undermining hopes of rehabilitation among inmates, a watchdog has warned.Criminal gangs are smuggling contraband to bored and vulnerable inmates who are locked up for most of the day in filthy cells with little activity, the chief inspector of prisons' annual report said. Continue reading...

President Lula rejects foreign interference' as Trump claims far-right former leader victim of witch-hunt'Donald Trump has issued his strongest defence to date of Brazil's former president Jair Bolsonaro, claiming the far-right leader is the victim of a witch-hunt" in his home country.Posting on his social media platform Truth Social on Monday, the US president claimed that Bolsonaro - often dubbed the Trump of the Tropics" - is not guilty of anything", in an apparent reference to the legal cases Bolsonaro is facing in Brazil. Continue reading...

Forty-nine-year-old is 140th child found by Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo, who search for people disappeared' under 1976-83 dictatorshipA man taken from his mother as a newborn by Argentina's military has been reunited with his relatives after almost 50 years.The man, 49, whose identity was not disclosed for privacy reasons, was identified after he took a DNA test. Continue reading...

Ex-MP for Clwyd West says he will not stand for election and joined as a private individual'The former Conservative cabinet minister David Jones has joined Reform UK.Jones, who was the MP for Clwyd West from 2005 until standing down in 2024, said he had quit the Tories after more than 50 years of continuous membership". Continue reading...

Three were in critical condition but have since improved after incident in Aurillac, south-central FranceA unusual attack by bees in the French town of Aurillac has left 24 people injured, including three who were in critical condition but have since improved, according to local authorities.Passersby were stung over a period of about 30 minutes on Sunday morning, according to the prefecture of Cantal, in south-central France. Firefighters and medical teams treated the victims, while police set up a security perimeter until the bees stopped their attack. Continue reading...

An Israeli directive gives a green light for demolitions in Masafer Yatta, where residents keep watch at night for attackers in the darknessAli Awad is tired. The 27-year-old resident of Tuba, one of the dozen or so villages that make up Masafer Yatta in the arid south Hebron hills of the occupied West Bank, had been up all night watching as a masked Israeli settler on horseback circled his family home.When we saw the masked settler, we knew he wanted violence," said Awad, his eyes bloodshot. They were lucky this time: the settler disappeared into the darkness before police could show up. Continue reading...

Starmer and Macron could set out plans for a one in, one out' returns scheme for asylum seekers

Show will include 30 monumental pieces displayed across gardens and 90 works filling Shirley Sherwood GalleryHenry Moore believed sculpture is an art of the open air" and that his works should be seen in almost any landscape, rather than in or on the most beautiful building".Now the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, is planning the world's largest outdoor exhibition devoted to the miner's son who became one of the most important sculptors of the 20th century, it will announce on Monday. Continue reading...

In 2015, a nationwide campaign rounded up hundreds of rights advocates. Since then, suppression has become more systematic and less visible, lawyers sayA decade on from China's biggest crackdown on human rights lawyers in modern history, lawyers and activists say that the Chinese Communist party's control over the legal profession has tightened, making rights defence work next to impossible.The environment for human rights law has steadily regressed, especially after the pandemic", said Ren Quanniu, a disbarred human rights lawyer. Right now, the rule of law in China - especially in terms of protecting human rights - has deteriorated to a point where it's almost comparable to the Cultural Revolution era." The Cultural Revolution was a decade of mass chaos unleashed by China's former leader Mao Zedong in 1966. During that time judicial organs were attacked as bourgeois" and the nascent court system was largely suspended. Continue reading...

Management ask visitors to choose clothing in keeping with the decorum of the theatre' after complaintsOperagoers have been warned they will be banned from entering Milan's prestigious La Scala theatre if they turn up wearing shorts, tank tops or flip-flops. Kimonos, however, are acceptable.The venue's management team reminded people how not to dress for an opera after complaints that some spectators were donning attire more suitable for the beach. Continue reading...

Evidence presented in the mushroom murder trial shows the dining table used in the fateful lunch and social media chats

With each guilty verdict, Patterson looked straight at the jury, unflinching, her face unreadable