Cambridge experts recreate 336-year-old garden to commemorate ‘father of natural history’

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John Ray, 17th-century botanist who coined words petal and pollen, was a tutor at Cambridge when he created his first garden

He coined the terms petal and pollen, helped to lay the foundations of modern biology and is widely regarded as the greatest English naturalist of the 17th century.

But it was while he was a young college tutor at Cambridge in the 1650s that the botanist John Ray – also known as “the father of natural history” – created his first known garden and began to systematically study plants for the first time.

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UK unemployment rate falls to 4.9% and wages grow more than expected

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Drop will put pressure on Bank of England to raise interest rates despite peace deal in Iran war

Unemployment fell and wages increased in April, official figures showed, putting pressure on the Bank of England to raise interest rates despite a peace deal in the Middle East.

The latest figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed unemployment slipped to 4.9% in the three months to April from 5% in the three months to March.

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Tesco’s UK sales growth more than halves amid Iran war uncertainty

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UK’s biggest retailer reports better figures than expected by City analysts and is cheered by strong online sales

Tesco’s UK sales growth has more than halved as it said the conflict in the Middle East had created “ongoing uncertainty for many households”.

The UK’s biggest retailer said comparable sales rose 1.8% to £13.4bn in the three months to the end of May, below both the 4.2% reported in the previous quarter and the 2.3% growth City analysts had expected.

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Inquest into Melbourne influencer’s death following freebirth halted after new phone evidence discovered

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Coroner tells inquiry new material ‘of such significance’ any findings must be postponed so information can be analysed

The closing submissions in an inquest into the death of a woman who gave birth at home with no support from medically trained health workers has been delayed, after new evidence came to light after a forensic analysis of her mobile phone.

Stacey Warnecke, a 30 year-old nutritionist, died on 29 September in Frankston hospital in Melbourne.

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Death of Indigenous teen found on rail tracks with towel under head ‘suspicious’, NSW coroner says

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Police initially ruled Mark Haines’ 1988 death a suicide but coroner says investigation hindered by racism and deeply flawed

The police investigation into the death of Indigenous teenager Mark Haines in northern New South Wales nearly four decades ago was hindered by racism and deeply flawed, a coroner has found.

The body of the Gomeroi teenager was discovered on train tracks outside Tamworth on the morning of 16 January 1988.

A stolen Holden Torana was found crashed nearby.

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Western Europeans believe crime is rising despite fall in overall rates, poll finds

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YouGov survey of six countries shows respondents think crime is increasing – though most trust their national police

Western Europeans believe crime is rising in their country, according to a survey, despite long-term overall crime rates falling across the region since the mid-1990s.

The YouGov poll of Britain, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy and Spain found most countries trusted their national police, led by Denmark where 74% of respondents said they had a lot or a fair amount of confidence in police nationally.

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Rejoining customs union would not fix damage caused by Brexit, research finds

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Exclusive: Economists find Brexit caused 12% depression in UK exports, most of which is due to leaving single market

Brexit has depressed UK exports to the EU by 12%, and rejoining the customs union would undo only a fraction of the damage, research shared with the Guardian shows.

With the UK’s future relationship with the bloc likely to feature prominently in a potential Labour leadership contest, the economists John Springford and Anton Spisak, of the Centre for European Reform, provide fresh evidence of the damage caused by exiting.

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Harvard and Bard face fresh questions from lawmakers over ties to Epstein

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Democrat Jamie Raskin seeks ‘comprehensive accounting’ and requests interview with outgoing Bard president

Harvard University and Bard College are facing new questions about the institutions’ relationship with Jeffrey Epstein amid allegations that the convicted child sex trafficker leveraged his ties to the universities and their faculty to traffic women, while also burnishing his reputation to avoid detection.

Jamie Raskin, the top Democrat on the House judiciary committee, said in a statement that Harvard and Bard had both previously attempted to investigate the role their universities and leadership played in facilitating Epstein’s abuse, but that those attempts either failed or fell short of a full accounting of what occurred.

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Top Republican decries Trump’s Iran deal: ‘Reagan is rolling over in his grave’

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Senator Bill Cassidy attacks ‘worst foreign policy blunder in decades’ while others in his party skeptical over peace deal

A handful of Senate Republicans have sharply criticized the agreement Donald Trump reached with Iran, accusing the administration of committing “the worst foreign policy blunder in decades”.

On Wednesday, the Trump administration released the text of an interim deal between Washington and Tehran to end the 110-day conflict, framing it as a “major win” for the US – even as the 14-point accord made significant political and financial concessions to Iran to reopen the strait of Hormuz and prevent a “worldwide depression”.

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US House staff visit Ghislaine Maxwell’s prison after claims of laptop and puppy

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Epstein associate’s lawyer rejected preferential treatment claims in January, saying ‘humane treatment isn’t special’

Staff from the House oversight and judiciary committees visited the Texas prison where Ghislaine Maxwell, the longtime associate of Jeffrey Epstein, is serving her sentence, according to Democratic lawmakers.

In a statement, the Democratic representatives Robert Garcia and Jamie Raskin said staff from the committees traveled to the minimum-security federal prison camp in Bryan, Texas, on Tuesday to seek answers about Maxwell’s transfer there, and about allegations that she has received preferential treatment at the prison camp.

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Cannabis commercialisation not decriminalisation drives up usage, study finds

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Review reveals rise in users and rates of psychosis in countries where cannabis is sold commercially

Decriminalising the possession of cannabis or strictly regulating access to the drug do not appear to drive up usage, but when the drug is sold commercially the number of users increases and more mental health problems are seen, a review has found.

An international team analysed the dramatic shift in policies on cannabis between 2000 and 2025, including how the numbers of people taking the drug, its potency, and rates of psychosis changed after new rules came in.

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Families of eight women killed confront the Gilgo Beach serial killer: ‘Save a spot in hell’

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New York judge imposes life without parole after emotional statements at Rex Heuermann’s sentencing

The families of eight women killed by Rex Heuermann spoke at the Gilgo Beach killer’s sentencing in Riverhead, New York, on Wednesday, more than three decades after the 62-year-old Manhattan architect began his killing spree.

Heuermann pleaded guilty to murdering seven women and admitted to the killing of an eighth victim in April. Just before being sentenced to life in prison without parole on Wednesday for his admitted crimes, Heuermann offered a weak, generalized apology for his actions.

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