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Jury finds Louis De Zoysa shot Matt Ratana in Croydon with revolver he probably hid under armpitA man has been found guilty of murdering a police custody sergeant with a gun he had smuggled into a cell.A jury at Northampton crown court convicted Louis De Zoysa, 25, of murdering Sgt Matt Ratana, 54, with a gunshot to the chest at a custody block in Croydon, south London, in September 2020. Continue reading...

Boat capsized in strong winds with most passengers feared dead, according to four survivors cited by migrants' organisationThirty-seven people are missing after their boat capsized between Tunisia and the Italian island of Lampedusa, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said on Friday, citing an account by four survivors of the shipwreck.The UN agency said the survivors, all from sub-Saharan Africa, arrived on Lampedusa late on Thursday, having been rescued from the shipwreck by another vessel. Continue reading...

The man was taken into custody in London after failing to provide the pin to his phone when asked to by officersNo further action will be taken against a French publisher who was arrested after being stopped at St Pancras station on suspicion of terror offences, the Metropolitan police have said.The 28-year-old man, who was previously named by his employer as Ernest Moret, was stopped by border officers as he arrived at the north London station at about 7.30pm on 17 April. Continue reading...

FSB opens criminal case after Yevgeny Prigozhin accuses Russia's military of rocket attack and says evil' leadership must be stoppedRussia's FSB security service has opened a criminal case for armed mutiny against Wagner's Yevgeny Prigozhin after the mercenary chief accused the Russian military of targeting his forces and vowed to destroy" his rivals.In an extraordinary series of audio clips released late on Friday, Prigozhin claimed that a Russian rocket attack had killed scores of his fighters, vowing to take revenge" and stop the evil brought by the military leadership of the country". Continue reading...

Film-maker who has dived to Titanic wreckage more than 30 times says it was only a matter of time' before tragedy occurredVeteran deep-sea explorer and film-maker James Cameron said on Friday that the design of the Titan submersible was critically flawed", and it was only a matter of time" before the tragedy occurred - as Canada's transportation safety board said it was launching an investigation.People in the deep sea submergence engineering community warned the company that this could lead to catastrophic failure," Cameron told ABC's Good Morning America show on Friday morning, referring to the carbon fiber hull of the 22ft (6.7m) vessel. Continue reading...

Vladimir Saldo, the Moscow-installed governor of the southern Ukrainian region of Kherson, says Chongar bridge would be closed for around 20 days. This live blog is now closed

Tony King from Eastbourne will serve at least 22 years and 182 days for killing Tommy Cooper's nieceA man has been jailed for life for the murder of the niece of late comedian Tommy Cooper.Tony King, from Eastbourne, East Sussex, will serve a minimum of 22 years and 182 days for the murder of Sabrina Cooper, which was described as motiveless and senseless" by the judge. Continue reading...

Yevgeny Prigozhin dismisses justification for war that Kyiv was planning 2022 attack on Donbas and Crimea

The award-winning lyricist, known for his longtime partnership with composer Jerry Bock, died of natural causesThe Tony and Grammy award-winning lyricist Sheldon Harnick, who with composer Jerry Bock made up one of the premier musical-theater songwriting duos of the 1950s and 1960s with shows such as Fiddler on the Roof, Fiorello! and The Apple Tree, has died. He was 99.Harnick died in his sleep on Friday in New York City of natural causes, said Sean Katz, Harnick's publicist. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Head of ground forces says everything is still ahead' in counteroffensive against Russia

Concerns raised over craft's safety standards and lack of certification as US Navy reports likely implosion

Ship that docked in Tilbury in 1948 with men, women and children onboard would become a byword for a generationOn 22 June 1948, the Empire Windrush approached the docks in Tilbury in Essex. Most of the people onboard - 1,025 passengers and two stowaways - listed a previous address in one of the Caribbean islands, British Guiana or Bermuda, all then part of the British empire.But while the journey must have been personally pivotal for many of them, none could have imagined that Windrush would become a byword for a generation arriving from the Caribbean, and that would help shape their new homeland. Continue reading...

Paris Mayo, now 19, violently assaulted newborn in 2019 to stop family finding out about the birthA woman has been found guilty of murdering her newborn baby when she was 15 to prevent her family discovering she had been pregnant.Paris Mayo, now 19, gave birth to her son, Stanley, alone and in silence in the living room of her home in Ross-on-Wye, Herefordshire, while her parents and brother slept upstairs. Continue reading...

Pioneering lives of people who arrived in Britain in 1948 must be documented before they are lost to historyWhenever I pass a war memorial or even a single gravestone I cannot help but wonder what stories lie beneath each name. Where were they born, what sort of family did they come from, where did they work, did they marry, have children, what did their children go on to achieve, where and how did they die?Nowhere is this feeling stronger than when I view the passenger list of the Empire Windrush. A series of names - 1,027 of them - but what was their story? Three years ago, I began to research and document the lives of these people before they are for ever lost to history.Bill Hern is a retired civil servant turned historian, who is a fellow of the Royal Historical Society Continue reading...

Exclusive: Maj Gen Aidarus al-Zoubaidi says a Houthi-run north and STC-led south is the new realityThe leader seen as integral to solving Yemen's nine-year civil war has said the west has to accept a new reality in which Yemen's north is controlled by the Houthis and the south is run by his separatist Southern Transitional Council (STC).In a Guardian interview, Maj Gen Aidarus al-Zoubaidi, the president of the STC and vice-president of the UN-recognised government of Yemen, said the planned talks on the country's future had to be reconfigured to meet that new reality, including by putting the issue of a separate southern state at the foreground of discussions. The talks are largely under the control of Saudi Arabia, which wants to find a way to extricate itself from a war that is estimated to have caused more than 250,000 deaths. Continue reading...

Infosys executive vice-president tells parliamentary committee he met with former Coalition minister 11 times

Finance committee focusing on tax treatment of billionaire mega-donor's gifts to supreme court justiceThe rightwing billionaire real estate developer Harlan Crow is facing a possible showdown with Senate investigators looking into the financial arrangement behind lavish vacations, private flights and other perks that were given to the conservative supreme court justice Clarence Thomas but never publicly disclosed.At the centre of the Senate investigation are questions about the tax treatment of the gifts - which could be worth millions of dollars - and what Crow's financial treatment of those expenses might reveal about the true nature of his relationship with Thomas. Continue reading...

Strike will be longest single period of industrial action by junior doctors in history of health serviceJunior doctors in England will strike for five days from 13 July in their longest single period of industrial action in the history of the health service, the British Medical Association has said.The announcement was made as a BMA survey found junior doctors have been inundated with more opportunities to move abroad in the last four months than ever before. Just over half of the nearly 2,000 junior doctors surveyed said they had received more job advertisements from recruiters to overseas jobs since strikes were announced. Continue reading...

Matteo Bottarelli accused of three counts of attempted murder over incident at Central Middlesex hospitalA man has been charged after two people were stabbed at a hospital in north-west London.Matteo Bottarelli, 43, of Central Way, north-west London, will appear at Willesden magistrates court on Friday charged with three counts of attempted murder and two counts of threatening violence with a bladed article in a public place. Continue reading...

In today's newsletter: On the anniversary of Roe v Wade's overturning, one woman tells her story of being forced to carry a baby to term

Inner west and south-west suburbs are first priority under state plans but change will come too late for some

US president sought to play down the impact of his comments, saying I don't think it's had any real consequence'The Chinese government has reportedly reprimanded the US ambassador to China over comments made by President Joe Biden in which he referred to President Xi Jinping as a dictator".Nicholas Burns received the diplomatic note hours after Biden made comments about Xi at a fundraiser in California, according to the Wall Street Journal, citing three unnamed US officials. Continue reading...

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Tories are likely to bear the brunt of homeowning voters' anger in marginal constituencies in next year's electionAs the former chancellor who warned presciently during last summer's leadership contest that Liz Truss would crash the economy, Rishi Sunak's calm competence was meant to be his key electoral selling point.But after Thursday's half-point rate rise by the Bank of England left thousands of voters facing eye-watering mortgage hikes, a shirt-sleeved Sunak was reduced to insisting he was totally, 100% on it" when it comes to fighting inflation. Continue reading...

Peruvian eateries have been a fixture in top 50 list for close to a decade and now one has claimed the crownWhile Peru's archeology heritage began in the 20th century to attract millions of tourists to locations such as Machu Picchu and the Nazca Lines, the country's cuisine remained one of South America's best-kept secrets.But in the last two decades, Peru's food - a product of its rich range of crops, ecosystems and a particular history - has become a global brand, with restaurants opening in cities from San Francisco to Sydney. Continue reading...

Statues were unearthed last year in what was a place of worship for both the Etruscans and RomansA trove of bronze statues buried by mud and boiling water for thousands of years before being found in the ruins of a network of ancient thermal springs in a small town in Tuscany are going on display in Rome.The 24 bronzes, mostly dedicated to the gods, are the largest discovery of their kind in Italy and were unearthed last year in the ancient springs of San Casciano dei Bagni, in what used to be a place of worship for both the Etruscans and Romans. Continue reading...

Footage appears to show driver being repeatedly punched through a car window before he was Tasered

Anthony Albanese reveals the solicitor general agrees Senate delays over the housing Australia future fund constitute a failure to pass the bill

Nanjiao weather station in southern Beijing hits 41.1C, half a degree higher than the station's previous monthly recordBeijing logged its hottest June day since records began on Thursday, the national weather service said, as swathes of northern China sweltered in 40-degree heat.On Friday the capital upgraded its warning for hot weather to red" - the highest in a colour-coded alert system - saying most parts of the city could roast in temperatures of up to 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit). China has a four-tier weather warning system, with red the most severe, followed by orange, yellow and blue. Continue reading...

Depending on which critics you asked this week, the voice is either a toothless tiger or a threat to treasured institutions - it can't be both

Russia killed 136 children in Ukraine last year, says UN report; Kyiv accuses Moscow's forces of hiding bodies in aftermath of Kakhovka dam breach

Mario Marcelo Santoro confessed to killing his former girlfriend in Australia only after extensive evidence was produced against him, judge says

Rare 1623 missal bears signature of Catholic priest John Huddleston, who hid king after final defeat by Cromwell's forcesA 400-year-old prayerbook owned by a Catholic priest who helped save the life of Charles II, son of the executed King Charles I, has gone on public display at the house where he sought refuge after being defeated by Oliver Cromwell's forces.The rare missal was bought by the National Trust (NT) at auction, more than 60 years after a man paid sixpence for it in a Liverpool secondhand bookshop. Continue reading...

Faye Purbrick will represent Conservatives in Somerton and Frome's local elections, expected to take place on 20 JulyThe Conservatives have selected a councillor as their candidate to contest the byelection to replace David Warburton as the MP in Somerton and Frome after his resignation after allegations of harassment and drug use.Faye Purbrick, who sits on Yeovil Town Council and Somerset county council, was chosen to contest the vote that is expected to take place on 20 July - the same day as two other byelections in England. Continue reading...

Titanic film-maker discusses loss of five lives at Titanic wreck site, claiming engineering experts were very concerned' about min-subDirector James Cameron has spoken out about the Titan submersible tragedy.The Titanic film-maker appeared on ABC News after today's announcement that the crew are believed to have died in a catastrophic implosion". The five men were in a remotely operated vehicle to tour the wreckage of the Titanic two miles beneath the ocean's surface. Continue reading...

Five people who were on the Titan submersible thought to have died instantly when vessel implodedFive people were onboard the Titan submersible vessel when it went missing during an expedition to the wreck of the Titanic in the Atlantic Ocean. The US Coast Guard confirmed on Thursday that all five were killed in what is thought to have been a catastrophic implosion of their submersible.Here we take a look at who the victims of the Titan sub tragedy are: Continue reading...

As the US Coast Guard announces the vessel suffered a catastrophic implosion', we chart its journey over the last week

Move to allow spyware to be placed on reporters' phones would have a chilling effect', say media expertsDraft legislation published by EU leaders that would allow national security agencies to spy on journalists has been condemned by media and civic society groups as dangerous and described by a leading MEP as incomprehensible".On Wednesday, the European Council - which represents the governments of EU member states - published a draft of the European Media Freedom Act that would allow spyware to be placed on journalists' phones if a national government thought it necessary. Continue reading...

Labour and Lib Dems both say they can win Tory seat, where constituents angry at being left in limboNadine Dorries' announcement that she would step down as an MP, before then delaying her exit, has brought a new focus on her Mid Bedfordshire constituency - and claims that the former culture secretary is barely visible in an area she has represented since 2005.It's been quite surprising how many people say, We never see her here,' or She's never done anything for this area,'" one opposition campaigner said. We're also getting lots of people who are angry at being left in limbo by her failure to resign." Continue reading...

Leader says there is no quick fix and there are problems with approach advocated by Lib DemsKeir Starmer has said he would not support subsidising mortgage holders to spare them the pain of rising interest rates, as the Bank of England pushed its base rate up by 0.5 percentage points to 5%.The Labour leadersaid there were problems" with the approach advocated by some, including the Liberal Democrat leader, Ed Davey, who has called for a 3bn support scheme to help vulnerable borrowers. Continue reading...

Hannah Smethurst, 23, tweeted screenshot of messages from sender who claimed to have looked up details in airline's systemAn airline passenger received unsolicited WhatsApp messages from a contractor working for Etihad Airways while she was waiting to board a flight from Abu Dhabi to Manchester, she has said.Hannah Smethurst, 23, tweeted a screenshot showing WhatsApp messages from a United Arab Emirates number she did not recognise, displaying the name Muhammed, at 1.32am on Wednesday. Continue reading...

Church pension and endowment funds shed holdings after U-turns by BP and ShellThe Church of England is divesting from fossil fuels in its multibillion pound endowment and pension funds over climate concerns and recent U-turns by oil and gas companies.The church said it was abandoning oil and gas companies and all firms primarily engaged in the exploration, production and refining of oil or gas by the end of 2023, unless they were in genuine alignment with a 1.5C reduction pathway. Continue reading...

Rescues come as refugee charities say more than 30 people may have died after dinghy sank on same route this weekEmergency services say 168 people have been rescued near Spain's Canary Islands, one day after refugee charities said they feared more than 30 people had died after their inflatable dinghy sank on the same route.The Canary Islands, off the coast of west Africa, have become the main destination for refugees and migrants trying to reach Spain, with a much smaller number also seeking to cross the Mediterranean Sea to the Spanish mainland. Summer is the busiest period for all attempted crossings. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Democracy Index downgrades country amid backsliding under nationalist rule of Narendra ModiThe Indian government has been secretly working to keep its reputation as the world's largest democracy" alive after being called out by researchers for serious democratic backsliding under the nationalist rule of Narendra Modi, according to internal reports seen by the Guardian.Despite publicly dismissing several global rankings that suggest the country is on a dangerous downward trajectory, officials from government ministries have been quietly assigned to monitor India's performance, minutes from meetings show. Continue reading...

Disciplinary panel rules PC Phillip Smith's actions were excessive and gratuitousA police officer who Tasered a vulnerable man six times has been sacked after a disciplinary panel ruled his actions were excessive and gratuitous.PC Phillip Smith was part of a group of officers responding to reports of concern for the welfare of a suicidal man at his home in Dukinfield, near Manchester, in June 2018. Continue reading...

The PM says a yes vote should lead to more cost-effective health, education and housing programs for Indigenous people

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Dozens of events targeted by extremist groups in past year, raising fears of backslide on LGBTQ+ rightsConservative MPs and peers are mainstreaming hostility to drag events, which are increasingly being targeted by extremist groups as part of a wider anti-LGBTQ+ narrative, a report says.Across the UK, at least 57 drag events have been targeted over the past year, according to the Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD), which has also documented how anti-LGBTQ+ messaging from the US is increasingly being imported to the UK. Continue reading...

Starting in Nairobi, the initiative aims to provide daily lunches for 4 million primary school children and to eliminate the shame of hunger'The largest school meals programme in Africa is to begin in Nairobi this August, in a drive to eliminate the shame of hunger in [Kenya]".Ten new kitchens, now under construction, will provide 400,000 daily lunches for children in 225 primary schools and Early Childhood Development centres in the Kenyan capital. The programme will start on 28 August, the first day of the autumn term, and the kitchens will employ 3,500 people. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Program hosted by David Speers bucks trend of declining audiences for broadcast TV, according to internal documents