Labour MP pushes Burnham to launch leadership bid ‘really quickly’ after Makerfield byelection result – UK politics live

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Rachael Maskell said she hoped Andy Burnham could become prime minister before the Labour party conference in September

Andy Burnham may have trouble getting through to Keir Starmer if he tries ringing him after the Makerfield byelection to urge him to set a timetable for his departure. Burnham reportedly wants to call Starmer this weekend. (See 9.47am.) But, in his interview with Sky News, Starmer said: “I’m sure I’ll talk to Andy after the weekend.”

If Starmer declines to take Burnham’s call, he may be following Ed Miliband’s example. In a Times story today, Patrick Maguire and Steven Swinford report:

Sir Keir Starmer’s relationship with Ed Miliband has broken down to such an extent that the energy secretary has been accused of “ghosting” the prime minister in recent weeks.

Senior government sources claimed that Miliband declined to take calls from the prime minister during a tense stand-off over defence spending.

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One-year-old killed and woman injured after Mississippi police shoot at car

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Child was fatally shot and his mother’s friend is wounded after Senatobia police responded to shoplifting call

A one-year-old boy is dead and another person wounded after a northern Mississippi police officer shot at a vehicle while responding to a shoplifting call, according to authorities and the child’s grandfather.

Kohen Wiley, the slain child, was in the car at the center of the shooting on Sunday alongside his mother and her friend, said Marquell Bridges, a local community advocate.

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Recently single Australian men are seven times more likely to report a suicide attempt, study shows

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Fathers particularly affected, with almost 15% reporting suicidal plans after relationship breakdowns, according to survey of 20,000 men

Men who have recently gone through a breakup are seven times more likely to report a suicide attempt than those who haven’t, a new study shows

The Ten to Men project has followed more than 20,000 Australian men and identified the mental health risks in relationship breakdowns, which can include changes in their contact with their children, in their finances, and in their support network.

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Ancient DNA provides evidence of earliest known plague outbreak

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Discovery in Siberia suggests bacterium from raw marmots devastated hunter-gatherer tribes about 5,500 years ago

The earliest evidence for an outbreak of plague has been uncovered at late stone age cemeteries in south-eastern Siberia where dozens of hunter-gatherers and their children were buried.

Ancient DNA collected from the remains suggests the disease tore through the sparse communities in devastating waves that began about 5,500 years ago, at least two centuries after the bacterium responsible, Yersinia pestis, first emerged.

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UK critical infrastructure hit by 200 cyber incidents in a year, agency says

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Head of National Cyber Security Centre says UK in ‘ongoing contest with capable adversaries’ and AI could add to threat

The UK’s critical national infrastructure has been hit by more than 200 cyber incidents over the past year and state-linked assailants were behind three-quarters of the attacks, according to the state cybersecurity body.

Richard Horne, the chief executive of the National Cyber Security Centre, said hostile states such as Russia, China and Iran were increasingly targeting systems behind the UK’s key services. Examples of critical national infrastructure include the UK’s nuclear deterrent, power plants, hospitals and airports.

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NetJets aircraft crashes on Texas highway, killing one and injuring five

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The jet, owned by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, lost contact with air traffic control and crashed in Laredo

A private jet carrying six people crashed on a highway in Laredo, Texas on Tuesday night, killing one person, local police said.

Videos shared online by the Laredo police department showed the wreckage of the aircraft and firefighters working at the scene. Other footage, shared by the Associated Press, captured the immediate aftermath of the crash, with flames rising from the plane as police and others worked to pull people from it.

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Harry and Meghan to bring children to UK for first time in four years

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Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet last visited Britain in 2022 during late queen’s platinum jubilee celebrations

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex will bring their two children to the UK for the first time in more than four years, it has been reported.

Prince Archie, seven, and Princess Lilibet, five, last visited Britain in 2022 during the late Queen Elizabeth II’s platinum jubilee celebrations.

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Trump’s Department of Labor claims without data that states defrauded government

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Keith Sonderling, acting head of the agency, threatens to withhold administrative funds from states for first time in history

Keith Sonderling sent letters to 53 states and US territories demanding action to “combat waste, fraud, and abuse” within the unemployment insurance program, threatening to withhold administrative funds from states for the first time history.

“We are officially putting governors on notice,” said the acting US secretary of labor. “The American people will no longer tolerate the blatant waste, fraud, and abuse of their hard-earned tax dollars – no state should allow it either. If states allow it, they will suffer the consequences. This department is no longer afraid to use every lever available to ensure taxpayer money is protected.”

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Construction equipment multinationals may be aiding Israeli war crimes, experts say

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Images show Israeli military using six companies’ bulldozers and excavators to demolish south Lebanon villages

Human rights experts have alleged that six multinational construction equipment conglomerates may be aiding and abetting war crimes by supplying excavators and bulldozers to Israel, after photos and videos showed the Israeli military using their equipment to demolish villages in south Lebanon.

The Guardian geolocated and verified images showing the Israeli military using excavators made by six companies – Caterpillar, Volvo, Hyundai, Doosan, Hitachi and Komatsu – to destroy homes, public utilities, shops and other structures across southern Lebanon.

Israel has levelled entire villages inside the “yellow line”, a 608 sq km area occupied by Israel along the Lebanese-Israeli border. At least 46 villages in south Lebanon have suffered heavy damage, most of it caused by demolitions carried out after the 17 April Lebanon-Israel ceasefire, according to a satellite analysis by Bellingcat.

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‘Period tax’ on sanitary products to be abolished, says Pakistan minister

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Campaigners welcome announcement cutting levies on menstrual health items, but say their work to end period poverty is ‘far from over’

Pakistan plans to abolish “period tax”, in a victory for young campaigners who had taken the government to court over the charges.

Finance minister Muhammad Aurangzeb announced that sanitary towels and related items were “daily necessities that are indispensable for women’s health, dignity and full participation in social activities”, and said he intended to remove the sales tax.

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Milan tram drivers ‘used WhatsApp for sexist chat about female passengers’

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Drivers suspended as prosecutors investigate group said to have been used to share and comment on CCTV images

A group of tram drivers in Milan have been suspended from their jobs amid an investigation into a WhatsApp group in which they allegedly exchanged sexist and vulgar comments about images of female passengers.

Milan prosecutors placed at least one employee of ATM, the city’s public transport firm, under investigation on Tuesday for allegedly accessing an IT system without authorisation and for hacking a CCTV system to obtain images of female passengers.

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Lululemon apologises after Japanese drum row at Great Wall yoga event

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Online uproar follows Canadian brand’s use of taiko drum at sponsored festival held to celebrate Chinese culture

The activewear brand Lululemon has apologised after a promotional event held on the Great Wall of China appeared to mistakenly feature a Japanese drum, prompting an uproar.

The Canadian-headquartered company, known for its upmarket leggings, has been growing rapidly in China and arranged for a yoga festival to take place in late May on a section of the wall near Beijing.

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Two children dead after pram hit by car in Sydney despite ‘phenomenal’ bystander efforts to save them

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Police found two children – both aged under five – had been struck by a car in Cabramatta, in the city’s south-west

Two children in a pram have been struck and killed by a car in Sydney’s south-west.

Emergency services were called to the intersection of Joseph and Gilbert streets, Cabramatta at about 3.15pm on Wednesday after reports of a crash, New South Wales police said.

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Vietnam police rescue hundreds of cats stolen for meat by crime ring

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Major operation launched after spate of pet thefts in Ho Chi Minh City, according to local media

Police in Vietnam have rescued more than 400 cats in a bust of a cat meat crime ring in Ho Chi Minh City, according to animal welfare groups and local media reports.

More than 40 cats were reunited with their owners after the multiday operation last week, but several dozen of those rescued have died due to the harsh conditions in which they were found, the groups said.

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AFP investigates banner stunt during Pauline Hanson’s National Press Club speech

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Activist group GetUp claims responsibility for incident, saying ‘we thought the occasion deserved some honesty’

The Australian federal police is investigating a protest incident during Pauline Hanson’s speech at the National Press Club after political activist group GetUp claimed responsibility for the stunt.

In a statement on Wednesday afternoon, the National Press Club said it had referred the incident to police after concluding none of its own staff were involved.

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Sierra Leone’s first lady refuses to condemn FGM without ‘reliable data’ on harms

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Exclusive: health professionals, survivors and politicians voice concerns in open letter over comments by Fatima Maada Bio, who denies supporting the practice

The first lady of Sierra Leone has denied that she supports female genital mutilation amid rising anger around her perceived approval of the practice.

But in an exclusive response to the Guardian, Fatima Maada Bio, the wife of President Julius Maada Bio, also said she would not openly condemn FGM until she saw “reliable data” that the practice was harmful.

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Ghana to advance reparatory justice at first major gathering since landmark UN resolution

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Heads of state and participants from more than 80 countries at three-day event in Accra to pursue actionable commitments to reconciliation and restitution

Ghana is hosting a conference to advance the continent’s push for reparatory justice after the adoption of the landmark United Nations (UN) resolution declaring the trafficking of enslaved Africans as the gravest crime against humanity.

Heads of state and government, ministers, civil society representatives, historians, researchers and legal experts representing more than 80 countries are converging in the capital, Accra, for the three-day event, billed Next Steps, which starts on Wednesday. It is the first major gathering on the issue since the resolution was adopted.

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Live Updates: Iran says deal with U.S. requires Israeli forces to leave Lebanon – CBS News

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  1. Live Updates: Iran says deal with U.S. requires Israeli forces to leave Lebanon  CBS News
  2. Iran’s top envoy says peace deal with US dependent on Israel’s withdrawal from Lebanon  The Guardian
  3. Iran says the deal to end the war with the US requires Israel to withdraw from Lebanon  Yahoo
  4. Fragile quiet in Lebanon as US-Iran truce leaves unanswered questions  BBC
  5. US, Iran, Hezbollah spar over murky terms of ceasefire deal  DW.com
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Lifeguard paddles toward screaming swimmer as 11-foot shark drags her underwater off Sydney beach – Yahoo

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  1. Lifeguard paddles toward screaming swimmer as 11-foot shark drags her underwater off Sydney beach  Yahoo
  2. Half of all fatal shark bites take place in Australia. How can you protect yourself – and do electronic deterrents work?  The Guardian
  3. Woman mauled by shark off Sydney beach grabs onto a lifeguard’s paddleboard  NBC News
  4. Shark attack pushes Australian state to review drone curbs  Reuters
  5. Coogee shark attack survivor loses arm, family pay tribute  SMH.com.au
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