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Caroline Lucas, the Green Party's only MP, has announced that she will not contest the next election.
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Labour has delayed its plan to borrow ÂŁ28bn a year for a green prosperity fund under a Labour government, citing the poor economic backdrop.
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Gene Simmons, the bassist and co-lead singer of rock band Kiss, visited the House of Commons as a guest of DUP MP Ian Paisley and called for the return of the Stormont government.
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The head of the UK's largest police force has apologised for past failings towards the LGBTQ+ community, acknowledging that the way in which police enforced the law 'failed the community and persist(s) in the collective memory of LGBT+ Londoners of all ages'.
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Labour has rowed back on its pledge to invest ÂŁ28bn a year in green industries, saying it needs to be "responsible" with the public finances.
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Labour's pledge to ban new North Sea oil and gas developments has caused a rift with unions concerned over job security for oil and gas workers.
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Morgan Stanley and JP Morgan are reviewing their prime broking relationships with Odey Asset Management following allegations of sexual misconduct and bullying by Crispin Odey reported by the Financial Times and Tortoise Media on Thursday.
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Labour donor Dale Vince has joined a Just Stop Oil protest, which has fuelled fresh attacks on Sir Keir Starmer. The group has been criticised for their tactics, including blocking roads. The Labour leader has called the methods used by the protesters, which see traffic halted, "stupid" and said they put people's lives at risk.
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Consumer group Which? has reported Tesco to the UK's competition watchdog over the supermarket's failure to provide detailed pricing information on its loyalty card offers.
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West Ham fans celebrate their team's first major trophy in over 40 years with an open-top bus parade in east London.
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The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) has won a confidence vote over its future after members gave their backing following a series of scandals.
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Both Labour and the Tories have failed to address issues such as the privatisation of public utilities, outsourcing, the NHS, and the private rented sector.
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The Privileges Committee has sent Boris Johnson a draft of the report which will determine his political future, following an inquiry into whether he misled MPs with his assurances over lockdown-busting parties in Downing Street.
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Boris Johnson's resignation honours list is set to trigger two by-elections, as Rishi Sunak is reportedly set to sign off on the contentious list, which includes peerages for Nadine Dorries and Alok Sharma. Both MPs are expected to stand down to take up the peerages, leading to by-elections in the autumn. The list, which is understood to have about 50 names submitted, includes several Tory MPs and the Prime Minister's own father. The move will mean further electoral obstacles for Mr Sunak, as Sharma's seat in Reading West has a majority of only 4,117.
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Former health secretary Matt Hancock has testified in court against Geza Tarjanyi, who is accused of causing harassment without violence after allegedly targeting Hancock on two separate occasions in January this year.
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Boris Johnson and his wife Carrie are accused of hosting a friend who helped plan their wedding at Chequers during Covid restrictions.
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UK banks and building societies have been pulling swathes of mortgage deals from their books in the wake of a smaller-than-expected drop in the UK inflation rate to 8.7%, which led markets to bet that the Bank of England would raise interest rates well above 5% by the end of the year.
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Labour is facing criticism after blocking left-leaning candidates from running for new roles in the North East and Wales.
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Prince Harry appeared in court to testify against the Daily Mirror publisher in a case related to the publication of private photos.
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The GMB union has withdrawn its bid for recognition at Amazon's Coventry warehouse, accusing the shopping giant of 'dirty tricks'.
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The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) and the Met Office have issued a yellow heat alert for six regions in England, warning of the potential effects of hot weather on vulnerable people. The alert is in place from 9am on Friday 9 June to 9am on Monday 12 June, with balmy highs of 30C forecast to hit the nation over the next 48 hours. The regions affected are London, East Midlands, West Midlands, East of England, the South East and South West. The elderly and those with pre-existing health conditions are at particular risk.
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Drew Barrymore has clarified comments she made about her mother, Jaid Barrymore, in a recent interview with Vulture. Channing Tatum has spoken about his experience of fatherhood and the importance of setting boundaries with his 10-year-old daughter. Meanwhile, Al Pacino is reportedly expecting his fourth child with girlfriend Noor Alfallah, and Robert De Niro has become a father for the seventh time at the age of 79.
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A 15-year-old boy has died after colliding with an ambulance while being followed by police on his e-bike in Salford.
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Lambeth Council has tripled diesel surcharge parking fees and increased the cost of a year-long permit to ÂŁ140 for diesel cars, with the aim of becoming diesel-free in the near future. The move has been welcomed by campaigners, who hope other London boroughs will follow suit. Meanwhile, several Labour-led London councils have been accused of pursuing an anti-motorcycle agenda after putting forward charges for vehicles parking within their boroughs.
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The UK Covid-19 Inquiry is facing a legal battle with the Cabinet Office over unredacted messages and diary notes from Boris Johnson and other ministers and officials involved in the pandemic.
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Foo Fighters have been revealed as the mysterious band, The ChurnUps, set to play the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury 2023.
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Princess Kate visited Maidenhead Rugby Club to participate in training exercises with the team and talk with the rugby players for her Shaping Us initiative. She spoke with players about their childhoods, and the importance of teamwork and supportive environments for kids. She also spoke with the players about fatherhood, and their roles in children’s formative years.
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The Daily and Sunday Telegraph and The Spectator magazine are to be put up for sale after talks between their owners and lenders collapsed.
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Lucy Letby, a nurse at the Countess of Chester Hospital, has denied murdering seven babies and attempting to murder 10 others between 2015 and 2016. She is accused of intentionally overfeeding a baby boy to get the attention of a male registrar she allegedly had a crush on, and of poisoning two baby boys with insulin. Letby is also accused of taking a photo of two dead babies and sabotaging a baby boy so she could get the registrar's attention.
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Prince Harry testifies in court against News Group Newspapers for unlawful information gathering.
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Labour leader Keir Starmer has pledged to invest in the UK steel industry as part of the party's broader green plans, promising to protect the embattled industry from a cycle of crisis and bailout. Starmer visited the British Steel site in Scunthorpe and discussed plans to pour ÂŁ3bn into slashing emissions from the sector. Labour's proposals for the sector include steel being among the recipients of investment support from a proposed national wealth fund, which will back business investment in new technology such as hydrogen and electric arc furnaces. The party also believes that its plan for British-produced green energy will boost the long-term competitiveness of UK steel and drive down costs.
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A megapoll of new constituency boundaries suggests that Labour is on course for a landslide victory at the next UK general election.
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Patients in Uganda are avoiding HIV treatment centres for fear of being identified and arrested under the country's new anti-gay laws, which include life imprisonment for gay sex and the death penalty for 'aggravated homosexuality', including transmitting HIV.
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Arctic Monkeys and Kiss are set to perform in Scotland, with thousands of fans already having snapped up tickets for the events.
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Scientists have solved the mystery behind the brightest explosion ever seen, which was recorded by telescopes across the world. The explosion was a gamma-ray burst, officially known as GRB 221009A, but better known as the Brightest of All Time (BOAT). It is believed to have erupted when a massive star collapsed into a black hole. The discovery adds a new dimension to the electrical complexity of the Milky Way. Astronomers have discovered hundreds of mysterious cosmic threads that point towards the supermassive black hole at the heart of the Milky Way, after a survey of the galaxy. They spread out from the galactic centre 25,000 light years from Earth like fragmented spokes on an enormous wheel. The observatory, the most sensitive radio telescope in the world, captured images of the threads during an unprecedented 200-hour survey of the galactic core.
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New rules will require banks to reimburse victims of authorised push payment (APP) fraud within five days, in cases where users at a business send money to a bank account controlled by fraudsters.
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A survey of 504 primary and early years teachers in schools in England found that 84% agree that primary children’s attention span is “shorter than ever” post-Covid, while 69% say that they have seen an increase in inattention and daydreaming since their young pupils returned to school after the pandemic. The majority of teachers say pupils are more likely to move around the room post-Covid (57%), are quicker to complain about being bored (57%), and are more likely to annoy and provoke others in the classroom (55%).
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Conservative ministers have criticised Labour's green strategy, warning that it would spook markets and drive up mortgage rates.
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Uber has announced plans to become carbon neutral in North America and Europe by 2030 and globally by 2040. The company will start applying a 10% discount to electric journeys from Heathrow and other airports. Uber journeys in petrol cars will become more expensive than in their electric counterparts when travelling from the airport as part of a push to decarbonise the taxi service. Uber Eats couriers will use zero-emission vehicles by 2040, and the company has pledged to end all unnecessary plastic waste from deliveries by 2030 by making all participating restaurants use sustainable packaging.
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England is gearing up for the Ashes series against Australia, with the first Test starting on June 16th at Edgbaston. England captain Ben Stokes has urged his team to enter the series without fear, having won 11 of his 13 Tests since he was installed as permanent skipper. Stokes and coach Brendon McCullum have overseen a change of approach in preparation for an attempt to regain the Ashes urn for the first time since 2015, following their 4-1 drubbing Down Under in 2021/22. England has adopted a more aggressive approach to Test cricket, which has brought them 10 wins from 12 Tests. The Ashes series is seen as a significant event in the cricketing world, and England's success in the series is often used to judge the team's performance. The sources provide a consistent portrayal of England's preparations for the series, with some articles providing additional background on England's recent success and the changes in approach that have led to it.
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Mohamed Amersi, a Conservative party donor, has lost his defamation case against former Tory MP Charlotte Leslie.
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Prince Emanuele Filiberto of Savoy has announced that he will renounce his claim to the Italian throne in favour of his 19-year-old daughter, Princess Vittoria of Savoy.
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The Edinburgh Festival Fringe has announced its programme of over 3,000 shows for August 2023, featuring performers from across the globe. The line-up includes Sir Cliff Richard, TV presenter Gail Porter, and film director Ken Loach, as well as politicians such as Scottish First Minister Humza Yousaf, Welsh First Minister Mark Drakeford, Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey, and Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham. The festival is aiming to rebuild its finances and win back audiences after the pandemic and economic crises.
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The police watchdog has called for new laws to compel failing police forces to improve and keep the public safe, warning that reforms demanded seven years ago are only happening now in the wake of recent scandals. The Chief Inspector of Constabulary, Andy Cooke, has demanded sweeping new powers to compel police forces to tackle what he described as the worst crisis in law and order in living memory. Public trust in the police is hanging by a thread, he said.
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The Children's Commissioner for England, Dame Rachel de Souza, has called for disposable vapes to be banned and for stricter regulation of the e-cigarette market. She cited research that found children feel pressured to vape, with addictions preventing some from concentrating for whole lessons, while others are avoiding school toilets for fear of peer pressure to vape. She also called for a ban on nicotine-free vapes, which are seen as a gateway to vapes with nicotine. The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health has also called for a ban on disposable vapes, saying youth vaping is fast becoming an epidemic and that e-cigarettes are not a risk-free product and can be just as addictive, if not more so, than traditional cigarettes.
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The Daily and Sunday Telegraph newspapers and The Spectator magazine are up for sale after Lloyds Banking Group grew tired of waiting for the Barclay family to repay long-standing loans made by Bank of Scotland. The seizure of Telegraph Media Group by AlixPartners has fired the starting gun on the sale of some of Britain's oldest and most popular newspapers and magazines.
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Marks & Spencer has removed use-by dates from most of its milk and replaced them with best-before dates, encouraging customers to use their judgement to decide if it is still safe to drink.
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The Labour Party has commissioned a report from the Fabian Society think tank, which proposes a 10-year plan for a National Care Service (NCS) to address the inadequacies of the current social care system in England. The report suggests that a 10-year government spending commitment is required, with a promise to increase real-terms funding for adult social care by a significant percentage each year. The NCS would include higher wages for care workers, greater regulation of care home providers, and expanding the scope of free support. The report also suggests that all people should contribute ÂŁ50 a week towards costs.
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HSBC and Saffron Building Society have announced increases to interest rates on some of their savings accounts, with HSBC's MySavings and Premier Savings youth accounts rising 0.75 percentage points to 5%. Saffron Building Society has launched a market-leading account paying a fixed 9% interest, double the current Bank of England base rate of 4.5%, but only available to members who have been with the institution for a year or more.
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The UK Government's Illegal Migration Bill has faced criticism from retired judge Baroness Butler-Sloss and opposition peers, who have called for the legislation to be delayed until an impact assessment is published.
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Judges at the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals have declared Rwandan genocide suspect Felicien Kabuga unfit to stand trial due to dementia.
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Lionel Messi has announced that he will join Inter Miami in Major League Soccer after leaving Paris Saint-Germain, rejecting a more lucrative offer from Saudi Arabian side Al-Hilal.
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Top Indian wrestlers have returned to work after a month-long protest demanding an investigation into the president of the Wrestling Federation of India, who has been accused of sexually abusing them and other women wrestlers, including a minor.
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Pope Francis underwent a three-hour abdominal surgery to remove intestinal scar tissue and repair a hernia in his abdominal wall. The surgery was successful and the Pope is expected to remain at the Gemelli hospital for several days.
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Sir Ivan Menezes, the CEO of Diageo, has died aged 63 following a brief illness. He was set to retire at the end of the month. Debra Crew, the CEO-designate, will take on the role on an interim basis ahead of her formal appointment. Menezes had been in hospital for treatment of conditions including a stomach ulcer.
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Iga Swiatek will attempt to win her third French Open title in four years when the Pole faces Karolina Muchova of the Czech Republic in Saturday’s final.
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A dam in the Russian-controlled area of southern Ukraine has been destroyed, causing a flood of water that poses a catastrophic flooding risk to communities in the area. The Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant is in the city of Nova Kakhovka in Ukraine's Kherson region, which is currently under Russian occupation.
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Canada is experiencing one of the worst starts to wildfire season, with forest fires burning in nearly all provinces and forcing tens of thousands of evacuations since late April.
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Polish President Andrzej Duda has proposed amendments to a controversial law aimed at investigating Russian influence in Polish politics, which drew criticism from the US and EU. The law would create a powerful committee to investigate Russian influence in Poland, but critics see it as primarily targeting opposition leader Donald Tusk. The initial bill included a ban on running for public office, which was passed by a narrow margin last Friday. Duda has removed the use of sanctions for people found guilty of acting under the influence of the Kremlin, including banning them from public office, and instead proposed that the sanctions should be replaced by a statement by the commission that a person who has been found to have acted under Russian influence does not provide a guarantee that they will properly carry out their activities in the public interest.
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Tesla is in talks with the regional government of Valencia in Spain to build a car factory. Panasonic will expand the production of electric vehicle batteries at a factory in Nevada jointly operated with Tesla. Volkswagen will start selling battery-powered versions of its VW bus in North America from 2024 onwards. Stellantis will need one or even two additional large factories for electric vehicle batteries in the United States to reach its output targets.
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NATO leaders will meet in Vilnius in July to discuss Ukraine's future membership and security guarantees.
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A Malaysian climber was rescued from Mount Everest in a rare high-altitude rescue by Nepali Sherpa guides and another climber.
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COVID-19 and influenza cases are on the rise across Australia, with a fifth wave of COVID-19 infections looming this winter.
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Two Saudi astronauts, including the first Saudi woman in space, have returned to Earth after a nine-day trip to the International Space Station.
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Former Prime Minister Imran Khan and his political party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), are facing a crackdown by the Pakistani government and military. Dozens of PTI members have been arrested and some have been tried in military courts. Khan himself has been arrested and released on bail. The military has been accused of trying to destroy the PTI and Khan has accused the military of being behind the crackdown. The situation has led to violent protests across the country.
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US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has arrived in Saudi Arabia for a three-day visit aimed at strengthening ties with the oil-rich kingdom. The visit comes at a time of shifting regional alliances, with Saudi Arabia forging closer relations with Washington's rivals. Blinken met with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and other top Saudi officials to discuss a wide range of bilateral issues, including the possible normalisation of ties between Saudi Arabia and Israel, the conflict in Yemen, and unrest in Sudan.
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A former executive at ByteDance, the Chinese company that owns TikTok, has alleged that China's ruling Communist Party used data from the company to spy on protesters in Hong Kong.
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Days of clashes between security forces and supporters of opposition leader Ousmane Sonko have killed at least 16 people and injured hundreds of others. Sonko was convicted of corrupting youth but acquitted on charges of raping a woman who worked at a massage parlor and making death threats against her. His supporters maintain his legal troubles are part of an effort by President Macky Sall's government to derail his candidacy. The violence has led to the destruction of public and private property and the government has issued a blanket ban on the use of several social media platforms.
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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has denied any involvement in the Nord Stream pipeline attack, following reports that a European spy agency had informed the CIA of a Ukrainian special operations team's plan to blow up the pipeline. The attack, which occurred in September 2022, damaged the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines, cutting off crucial supplies of energy for Europe. The sources differ in their portrayal of the event, with some suggesting that pro-Ukrainian groups were responsible, while others point to a Ukrainian military plot. The attack is significant as it cut off a potential source of billions of dollars in earnings for Russia and sparked a region-wide emergency.
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Federal prosecutors have informed Donald Trump's legal team that he is the target of a criminal investigation over the mishandling of classified files after his departure from the White House.
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Kosovo's foreign minister Donika Gervalla-Schwarz has said that the country is open to the possibility of new elections in four northern Serb-majority municipalities following unrest, but other steps need to be taken before then.
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The UK government has pledged to remove Chinese-made surveillance cameras from sensitive government sites over national security measures related to China.
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A 16th century painting attributed to Alessandro Turchi, which was looted by the Nazis during World War II, has been returned to Poland after being discovered in Japan. The painting, Madonna with Child, was part of the collection of Polish aristocrat Stanislaw Kostka-Potocki and was on the Nazis' list of the 521 most valuable artworks they had stolen. Poland has successfully repatriated 600 looted art pieces, but more than 66,000 so-called war losses remain unaccounted for.
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Kathleen Folbigg, who was convicted of killing her four children, has been freed after 20 years in prison.
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Smoke from wildfires in Canada has caused hazardous air quality in parts of the US and Canada, leading to health warnings and advice to stay indoors.
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Opposition politicians won 29 of the legislature's 50 seats in Kuwait's third election in three years, with 37 lawmakers retaining their seats. Voter turnout was low at 51%, indicating dissatisfaction with the political process. The country's politics remain in deadlock and are not expected to move, according to Rob Matheson, reporting from Kuwait City.
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A female crocodile in Costa Rica has given birth to a fully formed foetus without contact with a male, in what is the first recorded example of a virgin birth in the species.
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An Air India flight from New Delhi to San Francisco was forced to land in Magadan airport in Siberia due to an engine problem. The 216 passengers and 16 crew members were provided with support on the ground and moved to makeshift accommodations due to infrastructure limitations. A replacement plane carrying all passengers and crew has left for San Francisco. The incident has raised questions over how quickly the $200m Boeing 777 U.S.-built plane, whose engines are made by General Electric, could be repaired amid U.S. and European Union sanctions on exports of aviation items to Russia.
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An orphanage in Sudan's capital, Khartoum, has been evacuated after dozens of orphans died since mid-April due to nearby fighting between rival military factions. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) facilitated the evacuation of 300 children aged between 1 and 15 to a safer location in Wad Madani, about 200 kilometres southeast of Khartoum. The children died of starvation, dehydration and infections as fighting prevented staff from reaching the orphanage. The orphanage is in an area that has been at the heart of the fighting between the military and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
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WhatsApp has launched a new feature called Channels, which allows users to follow people and organisations and receive updates from them. The feature is designed to work like a social network, replicating some of the functions of a news feed like those on other Meta apps such as Instagram and Facebook. Channels is a one-way broadcast tool for admins to send text, photos, videos, stickers and polls. Users can follow channels for their favourite sports teams, hobbies or updates from local officials.
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Protesters waved Israeli flags and sang 'Am Yisrael Chai' during Roger Waters' concert in Frankfurt, in response to his recent antisemitic controversies.