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Ukraine claims to have incapacitated a ship in Russia's Black Sea fleet; Ukraine and allies aim to rally global support for Saudi peace talks

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Lucky was left in kennels in Bern but escaped and made her way to Lake Geneva before being found and traced to ownersAn escaped border terrier named Lucky made an epic 100-mile journey across Switzerland on the eve of the country's national holiday, according to local media reports.Her owners had left her in kennels in the region of Bern, but the 14-year-old dog broke out on Monday evening. The following morning she turned up in Geneva 160 kilometres (100 miles) away, the RTS public broadcaster reported. Continue reading...

Mahek and Ansreen Bukhari convicted over killing of pair who died when car was rammed off roadA former TikTok influencer and her mother have been found guilty of murdering two men who died in a fireball when their car was rammed off the road during a late-night chase outside Leicester.Mahek Bukhari, 24, and her mother, Ansreen Bukhari, 46, were convicted alongside two other defendants of killing Saqib Hussain and his friend Mohammed Hashim Ijazuddin, both 21, in February last year. Continue reading...

Farmers warn wheat, oilseed rape, potatoes and other crops have been affected after wettest July on recordUK farmers have warned that harvests of wheat, oilseed rape, potatoes and other crops have been hit by the cool, wet summer, raising fears of further food price inflation.The wettest July on record for parts of the UK risks colliding with rising prices of essential ingredients on global markets due to the ongoing conflict in Ukraine and unpredictable weather affecting harvests from southern Europe to China. Continue reading...

Margolis, who played drug lord Hector Salamanca in Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, also appeared in Scarface and The WrestlerMark Margolis, the American actor best known for his role as former drug kingpin Hector Salamanca in Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, has died. He was 83.Margolis died at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City following a short illness, his publicist said. His wife, Jacqueline, and son, Morgan, were at his bedside. Continue reading...

Plans to cut waiting lists in England were welcomed but critics say they do not address deeper staffing issuesRishi Sunak has been warned his plan for more private sector partnerships with the NHS in England to cut waiting lists will amount to reshuffling the deckchairs on the Titanic" without addressing deeper structural issues with staffing.The recommendations of an elective recovery plan, published on Friday, were broadly welcomed by opposition parties and health experts, but said to be overdue. Critics also said they only addressed a fragment of the much wider capacity and staffing issues across the whole of the country's health systems. Continue reading...

Amid criticism of its anti-oil protest at constituency manor, group says action would not have gone ahead if Sunak had been at homeKhan suggests drivers start looking for alternative cars now, when asked if there is enough time to buy a Ulez-compliant vehicle with the 2,000 scrappage grant before the expansion comes in on 29 August.Well, the good news is that people can now start looking for alternative cars if their car's not compliant, but the even better news is more than likely not your car is going to comply, and what people don't realise because of the misinformation is they're probably driving, if they are driving, a compliant vehicle as it is.Almost half of households in London don't even own a car. Those that do, in inner London, 97% of cars that are seen driving are complying. In outer London, nine out of 10 are compliant.I'm quite clear in relation to this policy, which is to clean up the city, but also tackle climate emergencies.I've been listening throughout my years as mayor: when I first announced the policy in November, as a consequence of me listening.These policies are policies that are popular when they're properly explained. Continue reading...

Footage appears to show a strike on Olenegorsky Gornyak landing ship, which transports troops and military hardware

Putin critic faces harsh prison regime after being found guilty of charges decried as politically motivatedA court in Russia has extended Alexei Navalny's prison sentence by 19 years, and sentenced him to a special regime with the harshest prison conditions in the country.Navalny, 47, once led street protests against the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, built a nationwide political opposition, and revealed salacious details of Kremlin officials' corrupt lifestyles. As revenge, Russia has sentenced him to a cumulative three decades in prison, a term that will most likely keep the Kremlin critic behind bars and out of politics for as long as Putin remains alive. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Increasing involvement of investment funds could leave nursery places at risk

Sentencing of stepfather of Jacob Crouch for boy's murder is latest case from first year of Covid-19

Stores saw unseasonal spending pattern as rain-soaked July shoppers plumped for winter comfort foodSummer is traditionally the time of year for barbecuing, eating ice-cream and drinking sundowners but after a rain-soaked July, weary Britons are taking solace in wintry comfort food such as roast dinners, soup, rice pudding and custard.For campers and festivalgoers, the fact that the UK had one of the wettest Julys on record is not news. Indeed, in Northern Ireland and parts of England such as Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Merseyside, rainfall records were broken. And there is no end in sight soon, with Storm Antoni due to bring strong winds and heavy rain on Saturday. Continue reading...

Pilot of about 20 patients in London will track success of hormone-free intracervical insemination kitsNHS patients will be given free at-home fertility kits as part of a trial to explore methods beyond IVF that could be used for those struggling to conceive.Currently the only fertility treatments funded by the NHS are IVF, when a fertilised egg is inserted into the womb, and intrauterine insemination (IUI), which involves directly inserting sperm into a woman's womb. Access can depend on location, relationship status, BMI and sexual orientation. Continue reading...

GTR blames driver overtime ban but seaside resort's council frustrated by lack of creative solutionThere will be no trains between London and Brighton on Saturday, causing major disruption for people travelling to the coastal city's Pride festival.Talks between Brighton and Hove city council and Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR), which operates Southern rail, collapsed after a compromise was unable to be found. Continue reading...

Clashes between the army and a regional militia threaten public security and are causing serious economic and humanitarian damage', said officialsEthiopia's council of ministers has declared a state of emergency in the Amhara region after its leader said he was no longer able to contain a surge in violence between a local ethnic militia and the army.The office of the prime minister, Abiy Ahmed, announced the emergency on Friday, saying attacks by armed extremist groups" posed an increasing threat to public security and were causing significant economic damage. Continue reading...

With elections due next year, there are fears unrest will grow as the ruling BJP faces criticism over its alleged inactionAn imam stabbed and shot to death in a mosque that was then burned to the ground. A young doctor, walking home, set upon by an armed mob who thrashed and molested her. A railway officer, boarding a train, prowled the carriages for his targets and shot dead three men. The incidents, which all took place in India this week, were seemingly unconnected, yet the victims were united by a common factor: they were all Muslim.Since the ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) came to power in 2014, led by prime minister Narendra Modi, incidents of sectarian violence targeting the Muslim minority, who make up about 14% of the population, have become increasingly frequent. Continue reading...

Communist party secretary for Hebei made comments after visiting flood-hit areas earlier this weekChinese social media users have reacted angrily to comments from a local Communist party official suggesting that the city of Zhuozhou and other flood-hit areas near Beijing should be used as a moat for the capital".Ni Yuefeng, the Communist party secretary for Hebei, a province that borders the capital on three sides, made the comments after visiting flooded areas earlier this week. Typhoon Doksuri has ripped through north-east China, destroying homes and forcing hundreds of thousands of people to evacuate. Continue reading...

Thousands of people evacuated from homes in Beijing, while South America swelters during heatwaveChina has been battered by two typhoons in recent weeks that have caused severe flooding across the east coast. Typhoon Talim hit the south on 17 July, with gusts of 85mph (137km/h), according to the Guangdong weather bureau.Days later, on 28 July, Typhoon Doksuri struck Fujian province on China's south-eastern coast with gusts above 100mph. Continue reading...

Parliamentary ombudsman says Matthew Hedges was let down by UK government during imprisonmentThe UK's parliamentary ombudsman has found that the Foreign Office failed to notice signs of torture" when officials visited a British academic imprisoned in the United Arab Emirates.Matthew Hedges was convicted on spying charges by the UAE in 2018 after travelling to Dubai to conduct research for his PhD at Durham University. He spent six months in prison, where he has said he had been handcuffed, drugged and questioned for hours, before being pardoned from a life sentence for spying. Continue reading...

ABC executive Jo Puccini tells court rival radio station derided all' of public broadcaster's alleged war crimes coverage

The event began with a solemn and loving tribute to beloved late Gumatj leader Yunupingu

ACT says it remains extremely disappointed' Walter Sofronoff released report to media outlets

Group, which runs services for NHS, councils and military, reports loss of almost 68m for first half of yearCapita expects to take a financial hit of as much as 25m as a result of a cyber-attack that began in March, pushing the outsourcing group to a pre-tax loss of almost 68m for the first half of the year.The group is still recovering from the attack by the Black Basta ransomware group, which hacked its Microsoft Office 365 software and accessed the personal data of staff working for the company and dozens of clients. Continue reading...

Second victim in a stable condition after shots were fired when fight broke out in city centreOne of two people who were shot in downtown Auckland on Thursday night has died in hospital, police have confirmed.Police were called after receiving reports of a fight between a group of people at about 11.30pm on Thursday on lower Queen Street, in Auckland's city centre. Continue reading...

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North Yorkshire police criticised over major security breach' after protesters covered PM's home in black fabricA group of Greenpeace activists arrested following an anti-oil protest on the roof of Rishi Sunak's constituency manor house have been released while inquiries continue, police have said.North Yorkshire police, who have come under criticism following the security breach at the prime minister's grade II-listed mansion in Kirby Sigston on Thursday, said their investigation remains ongoing". Continue reading...

Potential test case on the state's use of watch houses to detain children takes unexpected turn, with hundreds possibly affected

Five Australian women are suing the airline and its subsidiary over what they claim was unlawful physical contact' in Doha in October 2020

Children suffering from shameful' failure to protect play with park budgets falling by 350m in 11 yearsPlaygrounds around England are falling to pieces, missing large pieces of play equipment, or simply being locked up, as councils facing huge budget cuts struggle to maintain them. In some of the poorest parts of the country, family groups are warning that children face a summer spent indoors because of a lack of safe and free spaces to play.The head of Play England has said that children's mental health will suffer as a result, and has called for radical change from what he called a shameful" lack of protection for children and play in planning. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Deleting national emissions ceiling regulations as part of scrapping EU laws a clear example of deregulation'The government is ignoring its post-Brexit green watchdog over the removal of air quality regulations, in a move that has been described by experts as a clear example of deregulation".The Office for Environmental Protection (OEP) was set up in 2020 to replace the role the EU had played in regulating and enforcing environmental law in the UK. Campaigners raised concerns at the time that it might not have the same teeth as the EU and that it would not be able to stop the government riding roughshod over environment protections. Continue reading...

Campaigners urge more openness after more than $1m handed to influential British thinktanks by donors in USTransparency campaigners have called for thinktanks to be more open about their funding sources, after it emerged that some of Britain's most influential ones received more than $1m (787,000) from from donations in the US in 2021.They include the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA), regarded as an inspiration for policies adopted by the Liz Truss government, and Policy Exchange - a conservative thinktank used as a platform by ministers to trail new measures and which recently incubated hardline immigration plans. Continue reading...

ACT chief police officer Neil Gaughan says Mr Dutton was not briefed in relation to Radiance International or Mr Bhojani' regarding Nauru contracts

The Reserve Bank's latest update predicts a retreat in GDP per capita but rent inflation will increase

Academic says Indigenous voice supporters are being maliciously targeted by those in the referendum no camp

Announcement comes weeks after the Australian state of Victoria pulled out of hosting the 2026 GamesThe province of Alberta has withdrawn its support for a bid centred around Calgary/Edmonton to host the 2030 Commonwealth Games, weeks after the Australia state of Victoria pulled out of hosting the 2026 Games.Alberta's tourism minister, Joseph Schow, said that cost was behind the decision. Continue reading...

Yoon Suk Yeol tells officials to provide cold water trucks and improved food, after hundreds fall ill with heat-related illnesses amid soaring temperatures

US statement comes as ousted president says he is being held hostage and calls on international community to restore orderJoe Biden has called for the immediate release of Niger's elected president and for the country's democracy to be restored, in the highest profile statement by the US since the coup that removed Mohamed Bazoum from power, as Senegal also ramped up the pressure by saying its troops would join a a military intervention if necessary.I call for President Bazoum and his family to be immediately released, and for the preservation of Niger's hard-earned democracy," the US president said in a statement on Thursday, the 63rd anniversary of Niger's independence. In this critical moment, the United States stands with the people of Niger to honour our decades-long partnership rooted in shared democratic values and support for civilian-led governance." Continue reading...

The former US president appeared in court on Wednesday charged on four counts related to his efforts to overturn the result of the 2020 election. Hugo Lowell reportsThe attack on our nation's Capitol on 6 January 2021 was an unprecedented assault on the seat of American democracy," special counsel Jack Smith said on Tuesday. As described in the indictment, it was fuelled by lies."Donald Trump has been charged over his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election. The former president faces four counts: conspiracy to defraud the United States; conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding; obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding; and conspiracy against rights. Continue reading...

ACCC says second-tier banks such as Suncorp are important competitors against major banks which dominate market

Police allege Ellen Craig, 60, killed Tillie Craig near Oberon, NSW, and disposed of her remains at the Ministry of God cult headquarters

Andrews government unveils plan for 20-bed Collingwood facility as public drunkenness is decriminalised

Emergency services were called to the fire at a Teviotville property in the Scenic Rim region during the early hours of Friday morning

Defence minister launches first security strategy warning New Zealand faces greatest geostrategic challenges in decadesNew Zealand needs to spend more on its military and strengthen ties with countries in the Indo-Pacific to help meet the challenges of great power rivalry and climate change, the government said amid an ongoing defence review.Launching the country's first ever national security strategy, defence minister Andrew Little said New Zealand faced more geostrategic challenges than it had in decades. Continue reading...

Health secretary says every available resource' must be used to help patients access diagnosis and treatment fasterMore private and third sector providers should be used by the NHS to help cut post-Covid waiting lists, Steve Barclay, the health secretary, will say after a review of capacity in the health service.Barclay will draw on the work of his elective recovery taskforce" - a group convened by ministers to look at how to bring down waiting times. Continue reading...

Buenos Aires records hottest start to August in 117 years, Chile sees highs towards 40C and Bolivia, Paraguay and Brazil also bakeNow should be South America's bleak midwinter, but several parts of the continent are experiencing an extraordinary unseasonal heatwave that scientists believe offers a disturbing glimpse of a future of extreme weather.Argentina's riverside capital, Buenos Aires, this week recorded its hottest 1 August in 117 years. Continue reading...

Some legal experts are concerned changes to the law could curtail freedom of speech

Police in remote Welsh town appeal to anyone who may have seen someone have sudden influx of beehives'Police in a remote Welsh town are on the hunt for a thief who stole 14 beehives.Witnesses have been urged to come forward after the hives disappeared from Blackwood Road near Llangollen, North Wales, over the weekend. Continue reading...

Chancellor wants Financial Conduct Authority to investigate whether practice is widespread'Jeremy Hunt has asked the financial regulator to urgently investigate whether banks are barring politicians from accounts on a widespread" basis, after Nigel Farage had his account shut down by private bank Coutts.The chancellor said everyone must be able to express their opinions and people must have access to banking. Continue reading...

Deputy PM suggested FBU's Labour affiliation influenced its decision to raise concerns about the Bibby StockholmThe deputy prime minister has been accused of making disgraceful" comments after claiming that the firefighters' union had raised safety concerns over a barge due to house asylum seekers because of close links to Labour.Oliver Dowden suggested that the Fire Brigades Union's affiliation and donations to the opposition were a motivating factor behind fire and overcrowding concerns raised about the Bibby Stockholm in Portland, Dorset. Continue reading...