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Putin's admission of funding Wagner could open doors for war crimes trial; Zelenskiy warns of serious threat' at Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant

At-risk children between 12 and 17 reported seeing promotions from a wide range of sources including their homes, school and social media

Despite the Climate Change Committee's warnings to stop growing capacity, Gatwick is gearing up for another try at a second runwaySo what bit of no new airport capacity" did airports not understand? The Climate Change Committee (CCC) spelled it out again on Wednesday: flying accounted for 7% of UK carbon emissions last year, the trend is upwards, and more airport capacity is incompatible" with national net zero targets.Of course, they've said it before: but as the committee noted in its 2023 progress report, airports have since have been racing to expand. This time, hammering it home, the CCC says that no expansion at all should go ahead until the government sorts out a proper way to manage it. Continue reading...

Police braced for unrest after funeral for Nahel, killed by police on Tuesday, held near Paris on SaturdayMore than 1,000 people were arrested in the fourth night of unrest, as family and friends prepare to bury the 17-year-old fatally shot by police.Associated Press reports that France's interior ministry said that 1,311 people were arrested as protesters once again clashed with police. Continue reading...

Warwick McKibbin says Australia's central bank has been slow to react as supply pressures from Covid and war in Ukraine abate

Incident at South Australia's Kurlana Tapa centre was downplayed, lawyer claims, but government says safety and wellbeing of children is highest priority'

Health service shown to be under some of worst pressure in its history in week Rishi Sunak launched plan to retain and recruit workforce You start thinking you will crack': former NHS tell their storiesNearly 170,000 workers left their jobs in the NHS in England last year, in a record exodus of staff struggling to cope with some of the worst pressures ever seen in the country's health system, the Observer can reveal.More than 41,000 nurses were among those who left their jobs in NHS hospitals and community health services, with the highest leaving rate for at least a decade. The number of staff leaving overall rose by more than a quarter in 2022, compared to 2019. Continue reading...

Emmanuel Macron has to find a way to deal with the anger and resentment simmering in communities on the marginsAt about 3am last Friday I was woken up by what sounded like gunfire. I wasn't far wrong. From the back windows of my apartment in southern Paris I could make out fireworks being hurled at the police and hear the immediate response with flash-balls", the less than lethal" weapons used by French police for riot control.I had spent the evening following the news coverage of the violent riots that were breaking out spontaneously all over France. There were familiar images of cars and buildings on fire and heavily armed police lines - familiar at least to anyone who has lived through the past few years of angry protest in France. But what was most disturbing about these riots was the sheer scale of it all: the violence was not just contained to the banlieues of the big cities but was everywhere, including picturesque towns such as Montargis in the Loiret. Continue reading...

Man, 23, and 15-year-old Leonardo Reid stabbed to death in north London on Thursday, while third man also woundedA man has been arrested on suspicion of murder and attempted murder after a young man and a teenage boy were stabbed to death in north London.The 46-year-old man was arrested on Saturday afternoon and was in custody at a north London police station. Continue reading...

Gen Mark Milley says no one should have any illusions about difficulty of Ukrainian offensive

In 2021 Emmanuel Macron promised victims of the city's drug crime he would help. Grieving residents tell how he failed themInside, Emmanuel Macron was sharing a typically polished vision of a rejuvenated, safer Marseille. Yet it was outside the spruced-up gym in the impoverished Busserine district - tensions building on the hottest day of the year - where the real story was playing out.Little more than 12 hours before the police killing of a 17-year-old boy 500 miles north in Nanterre would convulse the country, scores of officers clutching assault rifles and bulletproof riot shields clashed with teenagers of north African descent, trading insults as officers profiled potential troublemakers. Continue reading...

Truck lost control at notorious junction in Londiani, hitting people and vehicles in latest road catastropheThe death toll of a road crash in western Kenya rose to 52 on Saturday, officials said, as rescuers worked to clear the wreckage from one of the deadliest traffic accidents in the country in recent years.A truck carrying a shipping container veered out of control and ploughed into multiple other vehicles and people thronging a busy roadside junction on Friday evening, plunging the nation into shock and mourning. Continue reading...

President Macron cancels visit to Germany amid France's worst violence for 18 years

Local government minister Lee Rowley says he has concerns about value for money for taxpayersA minister has ordered a Cambridgeshire council to end its experiment" with a four-day working week.South Cambridgeshire district council had announced plans to extend its trial until next April but it has been overruled. Continue reading...

Prime minister says he experienced racist abuse when growing up but progress has been made in tackling itRishi Sunak has spoken of the pain he felt from racism when he was growing up, as he said he believed the cricketing authorities were committed to stamping out widespread discrimination in the game.Speaking to the BBC's Test Match Special during the Ashes Test at Lord's, the prime minister said he felt the sting" of racism while growing up. He said his children were less likely to be exposed to racist abuse because of the progress made in tackling it. Continue reading...

On day to remember 160th anniversary of abolition of slavery in Netherlands, Willem-Alexander says racism is still a problemThe Dutch king, Willem-Alexander, has apologised for the Netherlands' historical involvement in slavery and the effects that it still has today.The king was speaking in Amsterdam on the 160th anniversary of the legal abolition of slavery in the Netherlands, including in former colonies in the Caribbean. Continue reading...

Admission that Russia paid 86bn roubles to Yevgeny Prigozhin's mercenaries this year is potentially significant, say legal expertsVladimir Putin's efforts to end a coup by the Wagner group may have made it easier for an international court to prosecute him, and the Russian state, for war crimes committed by the mercenary fighters, according to experts in international law.After the mutiny led by Yevgeny Prigozhin, Putin said the mercenaries had been fully funded" by Russian authorities. In the year to May 2023 alone, they received more than 86bn roubles from the state budget, or over a billion dollars, he added. Continue reading...

Tory peer says in light of Thames Water troubles that firms should not have been allowed to borrow so muchThe former Conservative leader Michael Howard has stood by the privatisation of the water sector, of which he was a leading proponent, despite the crisis surrounding Thames Water.The Conservative peer did admit, however, that with hindsight some companies should have been prevented from taking on so much debt. Continue reading...

Met police make arrests after activists block parade in Piccadilly by sitting in front of Coca-Cola truckJust Stop Oil protesters have disrupted London's Pride march in protest over the event accepting sponsorship money from high-polluting industries".A number of protesters were arrested after blocking the road in front of a Coca-Cola truck. Continue reading...

The Wagner mercenary group boss who marched on Moscow has had his internet outlets blocked and troll factory closed downSuddenly, Yevgeny Prigozhin is a phantom. Is he in Belarus or St Petersburg? In unconfirmed footage that makes him look like a Bond villain, he struts across a rooftop, shadowed by a muscled bodyguard, takes a seat in a helicopter, and vanishes into the skies of St Petersburg.For nearly a decade, Prigozhin has sown scandal in Russia, creating a troll factory empire, leading Russia's interference into foreign elections and bankrolling the Wagner mercenary group that fought in Ukraine and has propped up dictators in Africa. Continue reading...

Man taken to hospital with serious injuries after deadly blaze in early hours of FridayTwo children and a woman have died in a fire in a flat in Cambridge.More than 30 firefighters attended the blaze at a two-storey maisonette in Sackville Close in the early hours of Friday morning. Continue reading...

Austria's Wiener Zeitung to publish online only after recent law change makes it unprofitable as print productThe world's oldest newspaper has printed its last daily edition almost 320 years after it began.Wiener Zeitung, a Vienna-based daily newspaper, will no longer print daily editions after a recent law change meant it had ceased to be profitable as a print product. Continue reading...

Man arrested on suspicion of driving offences after incident on Friday eveningA 16-year-old boy has died after being hit by a car near Bournemouth airport.A man has been arrested on suspicion of driving offences after the incident in Parley Lane, Christchurch, at 9.37pm on Friday. Continue reading...

Felipe Figueiredo, 28, is accused of fatally stabbing 15-year-old Dylan Bragger in Skelmersdale on ThursdayA man has been charged with the murder of a teenager who was stabbed in Lancashire.Dylan Bragger, 15, was killed in Skelmersdale, about six miles west of Wigan, on Thursday night. Continue reading...

Sunday night political programme will not return this year and plans for 2024 still uncertainAndrew Neil's Sunday night political show has become the latest victim of cuts at Channel 4.The veteran broadcaster moved to the channel last year after his departure from GB News and received plaudits for his eponymous half-hour weekly Sunday evening programme. Continue reading...

Former ministers, veterans and newcomers to quit Commons after years of exhausting political chaosSenior ministers are expecting a total clearout" of Tory MPs ahead of the next election, as party sources cited the experience of Boris Johnson's premiership, the increasing stresses of the job and a continuing slump in the polls as reasons for a forthcoming bumper crop of departures.More than 40 Conservative MPs have already announced they will step down at the next election - the most for a ruling party since the exodus of 100 Labour MPs ahead of the 2010 election in the wake of the expenses scandal and 13 years in government. Continue reading...

Dmytro Povorotnyi is one of 160 priests who comfort Kyiv's soldiers. This weekend he's ready to bless more lost comrades as the counteroffensive intensifiesA hundred or more empty graves have been freshly dug into the vast scrubland that is Krasnopillya military cemetery, between the old Dnipro tyre factory and the E50 motorway on the southern perimeter of Ukraine's fourth largest city.When the time comes, and it surely won't be long, Lt Dmytro Povorotnyi, chaplain at Dnipro military hospital, is likely to be leading the rolling verse of Orthodox prayers as the long lines of prepared holes are filled with flag-draped coffins. Continue reading...

Ipso does not rule out investigation at later stage after family criticised appalling' coverage by some outletsThe press watchdog has said it has no plans to conduct an investigation into newspaper coverage of the disappearance of Nicola Bulley but has not ruled it out at a later stage.The 45-year-old mortgage broker became one of the most high-profile missing people in living history when she vanished in January after dropping off her daughters, six and nine, at school and taking her usual walk with her dog beside the River Wyre in Lancashire. Continue reading...

Days after Pride celebration mood near historic Stonewall Inn has changed: Who is to say this will stop at queerness?'Along New York's Christopher Street in New York's West Village, which last weekend saw the largest Pride celebration in the country, there are still fragments of rainbow confetti in sidewalk crevices. But the mood on Friday, hours after the US supreme court dealt a major blow to LGBTQ+ rights, no longer aligned with those festivities.Stasha Wyskiel, at the bar of the landmark Stonewall Inn, said her community was under attack: It's interesting we're still calling our parades celebrations and not marches, because I think we're going to return to making clear how under duress our community is in the United States and in places around the world." Continue reading...

Three teenagers arrested after Victor Lee, 17, pulled from water at Ladbroke Grove on SundayA teenager who died after being found with stab wounds in a canal in west London has been named by police.Victor Lee, 17, from Ealing, was found in the water at Ladbroke Grove on Sunday. He was pulled from the canal but, despite efforts to save him, he was declared dead at the scene. Continue reading...

Foreign Office updates travel advice for France, saying location and timing of clashes is unpredictableBritish holidaymakers travelling to France have been warned they could face disruption after four nights of unrest in reaction to the police killing of a 17-year-old boy of Algerian and Moroccan descent.The Foreign Office has changed its travel advice, warning of the potential for disruption to travel, curfews and that the location and timing of riots are unpredictable". Continue reading...

Bus was travelling on expressway to city of Pune when it hit a pole, overturned and caught fireAt least 25 people were killed and eight others injured after a bus caught fire on an expressway in western India, police said.The bus was travelling to the city of Pune when it hit a pole and overturned in the early hours of Saturday, causing its diesel tank to catch fire, a senior police officer told the Agence France-Presse news agency. Continue reading...

Airlines warn of disruptions as Sydney airport braces for single runway operations for a second day due to worsening conditions

Fourth night of demonstrations sees 45,000 police deployed as authorities claim the situation is calmer

Insurer told to reassess vehicle write-offs to identify any unfair settlementsBritain's second-biggest car insurer, Direct Line, has been ordered to go back through five years of claims after admitting it had underpaid some customers who had their cars and vans written off.After an investigation into the car insurance market that began in December 2022, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), this week ordered Direct Line to conduct a review of claims where vehicles had been written off to identify any policyholders who received unfair settlements and provide them with appropriate redress". Continue reading...

LGA says services being put at risk by huge cost and calls way Whitehall funds scheme not fit for purposeCouncils in England are being hit by a completely unsustainable" annual bill of more than 450m to prop up the free bus pass scheme, according to an analysis.The Local Government Association (LGA), which calculated the figure, said the enormous cost was putting services at risk. Continue reading...

Which? finds some Starbucks, Costa Coffee and Caffe Nero coffees contain more sugar than recommended daily allowanceAn iced coffee is a cool pick-me-up on a hot day, but it might not be the caffeine boosting your mood as many of the blends sold by well-known high street coffee chains contain more sugar than a Mars bar or can of Coke.The consumer group Which? looked at the sugar load in frappes and Frappuccinos being served up this summer by three of the biggest coffee chains, Starbucks, Costa Coffee and Caffe Nero, and found many regular" size drinks contained more than an adult's recommended daily allowance. Continue reading...

National broadcaster embroiled in a real-life drama over clandestine payments to its star presenterIt has become Ireland's top-rated show - a tale of celebrity, secrets and lies that has entranced the public and dominated the airwaves. Some reckon it is the most gripping drama ever produced by RTE.Unfortunately for the national broadcaster, it is an all too real scandal over clandestine payments that has engulfed its star presenter and senior managers and planted a question mark over RTE's future. Continue reading...

Nationwide ban on bus and tram services follows violence triggered by the fatal shooting of a 17-year-old on Tuesday. This blog is now closed

The Wagner mutiny has damaged the Russian president's standing but close watchers of the Kremlin believe he is biding his time before respondingFour days after Vladimir Putin faced the most serious challenge to his 23-year leadership, the Russian president called in the country's top media figures for a briefing in the Kremlin.The panic of last weekend, as the troops of renegade warlord Yevgeny Prigozhin seemed set to march into Moscow, was still fresh in people's minds. Putin, who had disappeared from public view for nearly two days as the crisis came to a head, was now holding meetings with various key players, including the editors of loyal media outlets, to project an image of calm control. Continue reading...

Director of Yes23 says support is growing within communities and the movement has the right message to win referendum

Ukraine's counteroffensive hobbled by a lack of firepower, says military chief; Belarus president says Russian nuclear weapons in his country will not be used

Ex-producer had also accused network's lawyers of pressuring her to make misleading statements in Dominion Voting Systems caseFox Corporation has settled for $12m a lawsuit by the former Fox News producer Abby Grossberg, who had made claims of gender discrimination.She also accused the network's lawyers of pressuring her to make misleading statements in the Dominion Voting Systems case, her lawyer Tanvir Rahman said on Friday. Continue reading...

The Sun will have to print a front-page statement explaining that its columnist was found to have discriminated against the duchessJeremy Clarkson discriminated against the Duchess of Sussex when he used an article in the Sun to describe his hatred" of her with a series of sexist tropes, a press regulator has ruled.Clarkson used his national newspaper column to describe how he hated Meghan on a cellular level" and suggested she had used vivid bedroom promises" to transform Prince Harry into a warrior of woke". Continue reading...

East coast cities under air quality alerts while southern states grapple with record-breaking deadly heatwaveHere are some pictures coming across the newswires of the heatwave in Texas:The National Weather Service has issued a fireworks warning as the country heads into next week and Independence Day with record-breaking temperatures across the country.In addition to the increasing temperatures, fire danger will also be increasing as we head into next week and Independence Day. Please be safe with fireworks and review any and all burn bans in your area," it said. Continue reading...

Health bosses will welcome tens of thousands of new recruits, but the plan has little to say on how to change the culture to keep themIt was on 8 November 2017 that Jeremy Hunt, the then health secretary, first promised that the government would bring forward a long-term, comprehensive plan to end the NHS's lack of staff.It would, he said, be the first proper NHS workforce plan that we have had since 2000". And the plan would emerge quickly, he added, reflecting the urgency of tackling what has become the most debilitating of the NHS's many problems - shortages of staff, everywhere. Continue reading...

45,000 police officers deployed as cities across country ban public demonstrations and limit transport French riots - latest updatesFrance's interior minister, Gerald Darmanin, has said the coming hours will be decisive" as violence triggered by the fatal police shooting of a teenager during a traffic stop in a Paris suburb flared for a fourth consecutive night.Darmanin said on TF1 television that 45,000 police officers, including special forces, would be deployed across France on Friday night, adding: Entirely legitimate emotions can in no circumstances justify disorder and delinquency." Continue reading...

Court turns away case on law implemented over a century ago with explicit goal of preventing Black people from votingThe US supreme court turned away a case on Friday challenging Mississippi's rules around voting rights for people with felony convictions, leaving intact a policy implemented more than a century ago with the explicit goal of preventing Black people from voting.Those convicted of any one of 23 specific felonies in Mississippi permanently lose the right to vote. The list is rooted in the state's 1890 constitutional convention, where delegates chose disenfranchising crimes that they believed Black people were more likely to commit. We came here to exclude the negro. Nothing short of this will answer," the president of the convention said at the time. The crimes, which include bribery, theft, carjacking, bigamy and timber larceny, have remained largely the same since then; Mississippi voters amended it remove burglary in 1950 and added murder and rape in 1968. Continue reading...

Ukraine's military intelligence directorate warns that staff are leaving Zaporizhzhia as Moscow has mined power units; Pope Francis calls for peace

Unions say government proposals to cut training by a year and introduce apprenticeships could dilute skills