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Hart was the primary songwriter for the Philadelphia sweet-soul group, who recorded with Thom Bell and were covered by Prince and Aretha FranklinWilliam Hart, lead singer of US R&B group the Delfonics, has died aged 77. He was admitted to hospital in Philadelphia with breathing trouble and died from complications during surgery on Thursday, his son told TMZ.Raised in Philadelphia, Hart was a prolific singer with local groups such as the Four Gents, the Four Guys, the Veltones, the Everglows and Little Hart. Around 1964, he formed the Orphonics with his brother, Wilbert, alongside Randy Cain and Richie Daniels, inspired by the likes of Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers, Dionne Warwick and Burt Bacharach. Continue reading...

Steve Martin found guilty of gross misconduct after punching and verbally abusing 15-year-old boyA Metropolitan police officer who punched a handcuffed black child in the face has been sacked.PC Steven Martin, who was serving in the firearms command, also verbally abused the 15-year-old despite him not resisting, as he tried to arrest him, believing he was a suspect in a knifepoint robbery. Continue reading...

We take a look at who is covered by the latest recommendations from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation

Head of national security council says ‘more and more civilian targets’ being hit, after deadly Vinnytsia attack

Union says customers can expect disruption to services including repairs, installations and supportBT staff are to go on strike on 29 July and 1 August in the first nationwide action at the telecoms company in 35 years, with consequences for customers across the country having broadband services installed or faults fixed.The two 24-hour strikes by BT engineers and call centre staff belonging to the Communication Workers Union (CWU) represents the majority of its 58,000-strong frontline workforce. Continue reading...

Mayor of Greater Manchester and former health secretary gives evidence to infected blood inquiryAndy Burnham has suggested there may be a case for charges of corporate manslaughter in relation to the contaminated blood scandal, as he challenged the Conservative leadership candidates to commit to making interim compensation payments to infected survivors.The former health secretary, now mayor of Greater Manchester, wrote to each of the five remaining candidates on Friday to coincide with his evidence to the infected blood inquiry. Continue reading...

Pay-TV, broadband and mobile company aims to build scale to take on BT and SkyVirgin Media O2 has explored making a multibillion-pound offer for broadband and the telecoms company TalkTalk in its latest move to build scale to create a new “national champion” to challenge BT and Sky.The pay-TV, broadband and mobile company, which is jointly owned by Spain’s Telefonica and John Malone’s Liberty Global, is understood to have held exploratory talks with the Salford-based TalkTalk. Continue reading...

Paul Urey, who was captured and accused of being a mercenary, has died, Donetsk official saysThe British aid worker Paul Urey, 45, has died while being held hostage by pro-Russia separatists in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DNR), a local official in the rebel-held territory has said.His mother, Linda Urey, said she was “absolutely devastated” and described the separatists as “murderers”. Continue reading...

Brenda Venables’s body was found in a septic tank 37 years after she disappearedDavid Venables, 89, has been found guilty at Worcester crown court of the 1982 murder of his wife, Brenda, whose body was found hidden in a septic tank 37 years after she disappeared.The retired pig farmer, who was required to sit in the dock after previously being allowed to sit beside his legal team, was convicted of his wife’s murder in a 10-2 majority verdict. Continue reading...

Foreign secretary announces tax cut proposals worth billions of pounds during online leadership debateLiz Truss has sought to breathe new life into her faltering Tory leadership campaign with a flurry of new tax cut promises worth billions of pounds, as the five remaining candidates took part in their first mass debate.Ahead of a televised event on Channel 4 on Friday evening, Truss and the four other would-be successors to Boris Johnson joined a Zoom-based Q&A hosted by the Conservative Home website. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Tory leadership candidate has voiced support for what others say is bogus treatmentPenny Mordaunt, a leading contender to win the Conservative party leadership contest and become prime minister, has repeatedly advocated the use of homeopathy on the NHS, analysis of her parliamentary records and public comments shows.Homeopathy is a treatment based on the use of highly diluted substances that practitioners claim can cause the body to heal itself. It has been called bogus by the most senior doctor in the NHS, and the health service does not fund it because of “the lack of any evidence for its effectiveness”. The NHS position is backed by a high court judgment. Continue reading...

Battle to be in final two has been beset by mud-slinging as frontrunners bid to pick off supporters from rivalsWhat happens when the “most duplicitous, lying electorate that you’ve ever come across” holds an internal contest via secret ballots covered breathlessly by the media with the fate of the country at stake?That description of the race to become prime minister by the former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith goes some way to explaining why there has been a torrent of blue-on-blue attacks, “dark arts” and betrayal of long-held loyalties over the past week. Continue reading...

From Europe to India and the US, the revelations have fuelled anger from across the spectrum, from the drivers to politicians

President shown surrounded by smiling and clapping Uyghur residents on first visit in eight yearsChina’s president, Xi Jinping, has paid his first visit to Xinjiang in eight years, as western nations continue to accuse Beijing of genocide against the region’s mostly Muslim Uyghur population.State media reported on Friday that the visit from Tuesday to Thursday including stops at a university and a trade zone in the regional capital, Urumqi. A photo from the official Xinhua news agency showed a maskless Xi surrounded by smiling and clapping residents, many of them apparently Uyghurs wearing traditional costumes and Muslim prayer caps. Continue reading...

Network Rail says safety restrictions will include slower trains to avoid buckled rails and trackside firesRail passengers across England and Wales have been urged to only travel if necessary next week, with extreme temperatures forcing blanket speed restrictions across much of the network.Network Rail said the impact on train services would vary by region, but that journeys would take significantly longer. It said there was a high likelihood of cancellations, delays and last-minute alterations to services on Monday and Tuesday. Continue reading...

Lord of the Dance star ‘thrilled’ self-financed film finally being released four years after premiereAlmost four years after it premiered and promptly disappeared, a spy thriller written, directed, produced, financed by and starring the Irish-American dancer Michael Flatley will be released in Irish cinemas in September.According to its blurb on IMDb, Blackbird is about a “troubled secret agent” who retires and opens “a luxurious nightclub in the Caribbean to escape the dark shadows of his past”. Then, in a bittersweet development for the eponymous former spy, “an old flame arrives and reignites love in his life, but she brings danger with her”. Continue reading...

Little attention has yet been paid to key ally of Tory leadership hopeful who lists his job title as ‘Grand Enchilada’On Wednesday night, dozens of journalists and political aides joined the Tory leadership hopeful Penny Mordaunt at a drinks event in the garden of Westminster Abbey. Guests such as Ukraine’s ambassador to the UK enjoyed plenty of wine and were joined by costume actors dressed as traditional British icons such as Beefeaters, Paddington Bear and Edina from Absolutely Fabulous.Mordaunt was the star of the party, which was held by a charity run by the multimillionaire PR agency boss Chris Lewis, an ally of Mordaunt over the last decade. Continue reading...

As first ever national emergency red alert for heat is issued, here’s how to spot the signs of heat exhaustion and heatstrokeWith temperatures in the UK rising amid a summer heatwave, experts have warned the public to be on their guard against heat exhaustion and heatstroke, which can be life threatening. We take a look at how to spot the signs:What are the signs of heat exhaustion? Continue reading...

Franco Albrecht plotted against politicians he blamed for the ‘disintegration of German society’A German soldier with far-right views has been found guilty of planning to carry out “false flag” attacks on senior politicians and public figures while successfully posing as a Syrian refugee.Frankfurt’s Higher Regional Court on Friday sentenced Franco Albrecht, 33, to five and a half years in prison for plotting a “serious act of violent subversion”, violating German arms and explosives laws and two accounts of fraud. Continue reading...

High court judge rules boy has ‘no hope’ of recovery from brain damage apparently suffered while taking ‘blackout challenge’The parents of a 12-year-old boy who suffered a “catastrophic” brain injury have lost their battle for his life support treatment to continue.Archie Battersbee, a child with an “infectious enthusiasm for life”, sustained brain damage about three months ago when, his mother believes, he choked while taking part in a viral social media trend known as the “blackout challenge”. Continue reading...

Snap national cabinet meeting is shaping as Anthony Albanese’s first major domestic test since taking office

Portugal declares ‘state of contingency’ as France, Spain and Morocco also battle fires, while record heat hits ChinaThousands of people in Portugal, Spain, France and Morocco have been evacuated from their homes as firefighters tackle wildfires caused by this week’s heatwave, which has brought extreme temperatures of more than 45C (113F) to parts of Europe and north Africa.One person has died and at least 135 people have suffered mainly minor injuries since wildfires began in Portugal last week. A “state of contingency” has been in effect since Sunday, and about 800 people have been evacuated from their homes, according to the country’s Civil Protection Authority. Continue reading...

Estimated 3.5 million people thought to have disease in first week of July, with Omicron sub-variants blamedCovid infection levels in the UK have risen by almost 30% in a week, with an estimated 3.5 million people thought to have had the disease in the first week of July.Figures from the Office for National Statistics based on swabs collected from randomly selected households, show that in the week ending 6 July, 2,873,600 people in the community in England are estimated to have had Covid – about one in 19 people. The week before, the figure was 2,154,000 people, or about one in 25. Continue reading...

Streaming company’s family drama marks shift from locally made ‘edutainment’ to shows that reflect complex realities of Kenyan lifeKenya’s first homegrown Netflix series, the family drama Country Queen, has its premiere on Friday, marking the beginning of a significant investment in African film by the streaming company.Shot in English, Swahili and a mix of other local languages, the series features a female lead character and chronicles the lives of ordinary Kenyans fighting against corporate power and land grabs. It explores urban and rural Kenya through characters intertwined by love, betrayal and conflict. Continue reading...

More than 400 sign open letter expressing opposition to tie-in with green energy subsidiary of coalminerHundreds of teachers have pledged not to take their students to the Science Museum in London until it cancels its sponsorship deal with a company linked to the coalminer Adani.More than 400 teachers and educators have so far signed an open letter to the museum warning that it faces a widespread boycott over a deal with Adani Green Energy, whose parent company, Adani Group, is a major operator of coalmines and coal-fired power stations. Continue reading...

Warning of ‘exceptional hot spell’ on Monday and Tuesday, covering much of EnglandThe Met Office has issued its first extreme heat weather warning for next week, covering much of England. It warns of an “exceptional hot spell on Monday and Tuesday leading to widespread impacts on people and infrastructure”.“Exceptional, perhaps record-breaking, temperatures are likely on Monday, then again on Tuesday,” the Met Office said on its website. Continue reading...

Brexit is not the dividing line it was, but members spooked by the byelection loss nearby have divergent visions of the party’s futureOn a sun-drenched common, supporters of Tory leadership candidate Penny Mordaunt, Andrew Wood and Jaspal Chhokar periodically pause as yet another truck from the HS2 rail project rumbles through a constituency that is home to one of Britain’s largest local Conservative parties.While the scheme weighed heavily in the Tories’ byelection loss in neighbouring Chesham and Amersham – raising questions about the party’s so-called blue wall in southern England – the din is also a reminder here in Beaconsfield of the cocktail of factors that fuelled Boris Johnson’s downfall. Continue reading...

Royal commission told NDIA services and communications need to be tailored to meet the needs of First Nations people

Phantom Labs, which crafted stage sets for West’s concerts, accused rapper of ‘weaponising fame and reputation to take advantage of eager collaborators’Kanye West has been sued by a production company alleging that he has not paid $7.1m (£6m), owed for work it completed for the rapper’s concert performances.Phantom Labs, based in Los Angeles, created the stage set – dubbed The Mound – for the Free Larry Hoover benefit concert in December 2021, where West performed alongside Drake. It also worked on a concert marking the release of the album Donda 2, on West’s Sunday Service gospel and prayer events, and on his cancelled 2022 Coachella performance. Continue reading...

Lola handbag range and signature trenchcoat give luxury fashion retailer boost elsewhereBurberry has reported sales growth of only 1% in its latest financial quarter because of the impact of Covid-19 lockdowns in China, while sales were boosted elsewhere by its Lola handbag range and signature trenchcoat.The luxury fashion retailer said sales fell 35% in mainland China because of restrictions and store closures to contain the latest outbreak of the coronavirus, while sales grew 16% across the rest of the world in the 13 weeks to 2 July. Continue reading...

Ukrainian city captured by Russians in late May is thought to be burying people found under ruined buildings

Albanese government aims to provide $10bn in funding to build 30,000 social and affordable properties in five years

Bruce Morcombe asks filmgoers to not see Thomas M Wright’s The Stranger, but producers say it does not name Daniel or depict his death

Officer who allegedly flagged the dropping of charges was not authorised to make that decision, Victoria police tell court

Exclusive: doctors will use pay row to expose ‘desperate state’ of NHS after years of government neglect, Prof Philip Banfield warnedA doctor’s strike is “inevitable” and will expose how dangerously threadbare the Conservatives have left the health service, the profession’s new leader has said.In his first interview since taking over as the British Medical Association’s chair of council, Prof Philip Banfield warned ministers that doctors will take the fight to them by using a pay dispute to tell the public patients are dying as a direct result of government neglect of the NHS. Continue reading...

Thousands of staff have been left up to £500 short on payday, which has forced some to use food banks or leave bills unpaidAsda employees are having to skip household bill payments, take out loans, and even use food banks to get through the month due to regular payroll errors that have seen some underpaid by £500 or more.The scale of the problem emerged after the private equity-backed company admitted to members of the Scottish parliament that its external payroll firm had made nearly 11,000 errors in recent months, affecting the wages of 5,500 staff. Continue reading...

Ranil Wickremesinghe to be interim president until MPs vote for a new leader next week following months of mounting protests over economic crisisSri Lanka’s President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has officially resigned, the parliamentary speaker confirmed, after a dramatic week which saw the beleaguered leader flee the country after his presidential palace and offices were stormed by protesters.The formal announcement of Rajapaksa’s resignation was made in a televised address by the speaker, Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena, on Friday morning. Continue reading...

Samuel William Davidson can apply for parole after 15 years over deaths of three children from Abdallah family and their cousin• Get our free news app, morning email briefing and daily news podcastA drunk and drugged driver who killed four children walking along a Sydney footpath to buy ice-creams has had his jail term slashed.Samuel William Davidson was driving erratically and speeding when he struck Sienna Abdallah, eight, her siblings Angelina, 12, and Antony, 13, and their 11-year-old cousin Veronique Sakr. Continue reading...

Marcelo de Arruda was shot at his birthday party by a supporter of President BolsonaroBrazilian political leaders called for calm this week after the killing of a Workers’ party member prompted fears that political violence in the polarised nation will erupt in the runup to October’s presidential election.Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, the leftwing former president and Workers’ party leader who is currently leading the polls for the ballot on 2 October, sent his condolences to the family of the dead man, who belonged to his party, and called for “dialogue, tolerance and peace”. Continue reading...

Town festival authorities refuse to play chart-topping Layla by DJ Robin & Schürze, prompting complaints of censorshipThey are loud in volume, unsophisticated in tune and often offensively bawdy in content. With titles ranging from Sex With a Bavarian to Big Tits Potato Salad, the ballermann sub-genre of schlager pop is a big hit in German-dominated nightclubs on the Balearic island of Mallorca, but is more likely to elicit winces of embarrassment or Fremdschämen at home.Yet this week German newspapers have been filled with detailed analysis of schlager song lyrics, and even the country’s justice minister felt inclined to share his musical taste after a Bavarian city decided to banish this holiday season’s ballermann hit from its beer halls for its sexist tendencies. Continue reading...

Coldest temperatures recorded near Cooma and Bega at -8C as Southern Ocean cold front moves across country

Scientists say aerosols thrown into stratosphere in January responsible for volcanic twilight ‘afterglows’The great white continent of Antarctica has been awash in dazzling pink and plum hues, thanks to the “afterglow” effect of the Tongan eruption.The unusually fiery skies have already been reported across New Zealand and Australia in the past month, which scientists put down to a spike in aerosols that were hurled up into the stratosphere following the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcanic eruption in January. Continue reading...

Ministers have suggested states should pick up the cost of Covid leave payments as calls grow for support to continue

Boom lift, digger and resuscitation used in operation that took place in heavy rain in Khao Yai national parkVeterinarians and park staff have pulled off a dramatic rescue of a pair of elephants in Thailand that involved the use of a boom lift, a digger and the resuscitation of an unconscious mother by three people.The rescue took place in the pouring rain in central Nakhon Nayok province on Wednesday when a one-year-old elephant fell into a roadside drainage hole. The distressed mother stood guard over her calf, according to national park staff, but also fell in shortly after she was sedated. Continue reading...

Three children among dead and dozens of people injured after missiles hit civilian buildings in Ukrainian city

Exclusive: company acknowledged in documents leaked to the Guardian it had used ‘hyper-aggressive tactics’ in global expansion

This live blog is now closed, you can find our latest coverage of the Russia-Ukraine war hereImages of Ukrainian territorial defence troops having dinner outside the town of Bucha, near Kyiv, have dropped over the wires this morning.Hot meals were served to servicemen after a combat tactic training exercise.It is going to be a tough 2022—and possibly an even tougher 2023, with increased risk of recession.The human tragedy of the war in Ukraine has worsened. So, too, has its economic impact especially through commodity price shocks that are slowing growth and exacerbating a cost-of-living crisis that affects hundreds of millions of people—and especially poor people who cannot afford to feed their families. And it’s only getting worse. Continue reading...

The Rings of Power series to air on Prime from September, and is set thousands of years before films based on JRR Tolkien’s storiesThe first full-length trailer for Amazon’s £1bn Lord of the Rings prequel has been released, with Morfydd Clark’s debut as Galadriel getting a starring role in the promotion for the keenly awaited series that will be released in September.The Swedish-born Welsh actor, 33, plays a much younger version of the elf, who was played by Cate Blanchett in Peter Jackson’s films of JRR Tolkien’s novels. Continue reading...

Ripudaman Singh Malik, 70, was accused of being a part of the worst terror attack in Canadian history in which 329 people diedA man acquitted over the bombing of a 1985 Air India from Montreal to Mumbai has been killed in Canada, in what police believe was a targeted shooting.The family of Ripudaman Singh Malik confirmed the 70-year-old was shot and killed Thursday morning in front of his clothing import business. Continue reading...

Move comes after widespread industrial action announced by Aslef union, which will bring many services to a haltDrivers at 14 train operating companies are to go on strike for two days in August, in a move that will bring many services around Britain to a halt. The announcement was made hours after another union confirmed strike action for July.RMT members at Network Rail and 14 train operators will strike for two further days on 18 and 20 August in the row over jobs, pay and working conditions, the union announced. Continue reading...