Skeleton found in pot is first ancient Egyptian to undergo whole genome analysis

Unusual burial of man, thought to have been a potter, in sealed vessel may have helped DNA survive past four millennia

A man whose bones were shaped by a lifetime of hard labour more than 4,500 years ago has become the first ancient Egyptian to have his entire genetic code read and analysed by scientists.

The skeleton of the man, who lived at the dawn of the Age of the Pyramids, was recovered in 1902 from a sealed pottery vessel in a rock-cut tomb in Nuwayrat, 165 miles south of Cairo, and has been held in a museum since.

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More than 400 media figures urge BBC board to remove Robbie Gibb over Gaza

Miriam Margolyes, Alexei Sayle and Mike Leigh among signatories to letter criticising Jewish Chronicle ties

More than 400 stars and media figures including Miriam Margolyes, Alexei Sayle, Juliet Stevenson and Mike Leigh have signed a letter to BBC management calling for the removal of a board member, Robbie Gibb, over claims of conflict of interest regarding the Middle East.

The signatories also include 111 BBC journalists and Zawe Ashton, Khalid Abdalla, Shola Mos-Shogbamimu and the historian William Dalrymple, who express “concerns over opaque editorial decisions and censorship at the BBC on the reporting of Israel/Palestine”.

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Witnesses describe grim aftermath of Israeli strike on busy Gaza cafe

Women, children and elderly people among at least 24 killed by attack that turned beach spot into scene of carnage

Witnesses have described the bloody aftermath of an Israeli strike on a crowded seaside cafe in Gaza, which left at least 24 dead and many more injured.

Al-Baqa cafe, close to the harbour in Gaza City, was almost full in the early afternoon on Tuesday when it was hit by a missile, immediately transforming a scene of relative calm amid the biggest urban centre in Gaza into one of carnage.

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Tuesday briefing: How weakened is Iran after Operation Midnight Hammer – and where might it go from here?

In today’s newsletter: With its nuclear capabilities down but not out and domestic support strong, the question is where Iran goes next

Good morning. The term “cakeism” – the false belief that one can simultaneously enjoy the benefits of two mutually exclusive choices – may forever be associated with the Brexit negotiations, when keeping the advantages of EU membership while also shedding its costs became the UK’s official bargaining position.

But the appeal of cakeism endures, and over the last week the US president’s approach to the conflict with Iran has started to look distinctly gateau-shaped. Donald Trump wants the glory of a decisive victory on the battlefield but is not so keen on the long-term repercussions that come with it: tit-for-tat retaliations, unforeseeable conflict spillage, focused diplomacy, or even regime change – the kind of talk the Maga movement associates with Trump’s predecessors.

Welfare | Downing Street’s plans to see off a major Labour welfare rebellion were in chaos on Monday night, amid continued brinkmanship between MPs and the government over the scale of the concessions. There was significant division between government departments over how to respond to rebels’ demands ahead of the knife-edge vote on Tuesday.

UK news | Police have formally opened a criminal investigation into comments made by Bob Vylan and Kneecap at Glastonbury after reviewing video and audio footage of the performances. Meanwhile on Monday, the BBC said that it should not have allowed chants of “Death to the IDF” at Bob Vylan’s performance to be broadcast.

Crown Estate | King Charles is set to receive official annual income of £132m next year, after his portfolio of land and property made more than £1bn in profits thanks to a boom in the offshore wind sector.

Arms trade | Britain’s decision to allow the export of F-35 fighter jet components to Israel, despite accepting they could be used in breach of international humanitarian law in Gaza, was lawful, London’s high court has ruled. The judges ruled that the “acutely sensitive and political issue” was “a matter for the executive … not for the courts”.

Crime | A 92-year-old man who evaded justice for almost 60 years has been convicted of raping and murdering a woman in Bristol, after a review by a cold case police team and scientists. Officers believe the 58-year gap between the crime and the conviction may be the biggest in modern English policing history.

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Trump signs executive order to lift some financial sanctions on Syria

White House says move will help stabilise country after ousting of Assad and could lead to broader sanctions relief

Donald Trump has signed an executive order to lift some financial sanctions on Syria in a move that the White House says will help stabilise the country after the ousting of Bashar al-Assad.

The order was designed to “terminate the United States’ sanctions programme on Syria”, a White House spokesperson said, cancelling a 2004 declaration that froze Syrian government property and limited exports to Syria over Damascus’s chemical weapons programme.

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Israel launches waves of Gaza airstrikes after new displacement orders

Scores of Palestinians reported killed as senior Netanyahu adviser due to arrive in Washington for ceasefire talks

Israel ramped up its offensive in Gaza on Monday, with new displacement orders sending tens of thousands of people fleeing the north of the devastated territory and waves of airstrikes killing about 60 Palestinians, according to local officials and medical staff.

The violence in Gaza came as a senior adviser to Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, was due to arrive in Washington for talks on a new ceasefire, a day after Donald Trump called in a social media post for a deal to end the 20-month war and free 50 hostages held by Hamas.

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Sleeper cells and threat warnings: how the US-Iran conflict is spinning up fear

Experts stress that a weakened Iran isn’t in a position to attack on US soil and doesn’t want to invite Trump’s wrath

As the war between Iran and Israel intensified, teasing the eventual involvement of the US military, American security agencies began to warn of a looming threat of Tehran-backed “sleeper cells” known to be active stateside that could be called in for retaliatory attacks.

But as the B-2 bombers struck nuclear sites across Iran and the Iranian military responded with a missile barrage on US bases in the region, a ceasefire took shape. In the end, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) – Iran’s elite military and intelligence branch, wielding a global web of terrorist groups and agents acting on its behalf – didn’t appear to sponsor or carry out any covert operations inside the US, nor has it since.

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Benjamin Netanyahu corruption trial delayed on diplomatic and security grounds

The Israeli court’s decision to cancel this week’s hearing in the long-running trial came after Donald Trump said the case should be thrown out

An Israeli court has cancelled this week’s hearings in Benjamin Netanyahu’s long-running corruption trial, accepting a request made by the prime minister on classified diplomatic and security grounds.

“Following the explanations given … we partially accept the request and cancel at this stage Mr Netanyahu’s hearings scheduled” for this week, the Jerusalem district court said in its ruling, published online by Netanyahu’s Likud party.

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Iran’s nuclear enrichment ‘will never stop’, nation’s UN ambassador says

Amir-Saeid Iravani says Tehran is ready for negotiations but Trump’s ‘unconditional surrender is not negotiation’

Amir-Saeid Iravani, Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations, said on Sunday that the Islamic republic’s nuclear enrichment “will never stop” because it is permitted for “peaceful energy” purposes under the treaty on the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons.

“The enrichment is our right, an inalienable right, and we want to implement this right,” Iravani told CBS News, adding that Iran was ready for negotiations but “unconditional surrender is not negotiation. It is dictating the policy toward us.”

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Tens of thousands flee Gaza City after Israel warns of major offensive

Israeli forces urge people to evacuate eastern areas before ‘military operations that will escalate and intensify’

Tens of thousands of Palestinians were fleeing eastern parts of Gaza City in the north of the territory on Sunday after Israel warned of a major offensive.

The messages on social media from the Israel Defense Forces warned of “military operations [that] will escalate, intensify, and extend westward to the city centre to destroy the capabilities of terrorist organisations” and directed those living in several crowded neighbourhoods to al-Mawasi, a coastal area much further south that is already overcrowded and has very limited facilities.

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Trump considers forcing journalists to reveal sources who leaked Iran report

President dismisses leaked assessment suggesting strikes only temporarily disrupted Iran’s nuclear development

Donald Trump said he is weighing forcing journalists who published leaked details from a US intelligence report assessing the impact of the recent American military strikes on Iran to reveal their sources – and the president also claimed his administration may prosecute those reporters and sources if they don’t comply.

In an interview Sunday with Fox News host Maria Bartiromo, Trump doubled down on his claim that the 21 June airstrikes aimed at certain Iranian facilities successfully crippled Iran’s nuclear program. He insisted the attacks destroyed key enriched uranium stockpiles, despite Iranian assertions that the material had been relocated before the strikes.

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Iran says it has ‘serious doubts’ over Israel’s commitment to ceasefire – as it happened

Iran’s armed forces chief of staff says it is ‘ready to respond with force’ if attacked again; Iran says airstrikes on Evin prison killed at least 71

Gaza’s civil defence agency said Israeli attacks have killed at least 14 people, including three children, so far on Sunday.

Civil defence spokesperson Mahmud Bassal told the Agence France-Presse (AFP) news agency that 13 people were killed in airstrikes at four locations around the Gaza Strip, and another from Israeli gunfire near an aid distribution centre.

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Iran will likely be able to produce enriched uranium ‘in a matter of months’, IAEA chief says

Rafael Grossi says some of Iran’s enriched uranium stockpile could have been moved before US attacks

The UN nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi says Iran likely will be able to begin to produce enriched uranium “in a matter of months”, despite damage to several nuclear facilities from US and Israeli attacks, CBS News said on Saturday.

Israel launched a bombing campaign on Iranian nuclear and military sites on 13 June, saying it was aimed at keeping Iran from developing a nuclear weapon – an ambition the Islamic republic has consistently denied.

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Israeli strikes kill dozens in Gaza as Qatar calls for peace talks – as it happened

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Emirates extended its cancellation of flights to and from Iran’s capital Tehran until July 5 due to the “regional situation“, it said in a statement on Saturday, Reuters reports.

The Dubai-based airline said it will recommence operations to Baghdad on 1 July and Basra on 2 July.

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‘Everything is opportunistic’: Can Netanyahu expect more years in power after Israel’s war with Iran?

Loyalists hope for boost after apparent victory, but political divisions and 7 October security failures still loom large

When Benjamin Netanyahu described the opportunities for peace that Israel’s successes in its brief war with Iran might bring, supporters took him at his word.

“This victory presents an opportunity for a dramatic widening of peace agreements. We are working on this with enthusiasm,” Israel’s longest-serving prime minister said on Thursday in a pre-recorded statement.

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IDF opens inquiry into possible war crimes after deaths near Gaza aid sites

Israel Defense Forces to examine growing evidence of shootings of Palestinians trying to obtain food

The Israeli military has launched an investigation into possible war crimes following growing evidence that troops have deliberately fired at Palestinian civilians gathering to receive aid in Gaza.

Hundreds of people have been killed in recent weeks after being subjected to air attacks, shootings and bombardments by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) while waiting for food to be distributed or while making their way to distribution sites.

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Cautious optimism in UK on progress to secure British-Egyptian dissident’s release

Writer’s mother eases hunger strike as Starmer raises Alaa Abd el-Fattah case in phone call with Egypt’s president

The family of Alaa Abd el-Fattah have expressed cautious optimism that progress is being made to secure the British-Egyptian dissident’s release from jail in Cairo after Keir Starmer managed to secure a long-delayed phone call with the Egyptian president, Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, in which the two leaders discussed improving UK-Egypt trade relations.

The call coincided with a decision by Abd el-Fattah’s mother, Laila Soueif, to ease her hunger strike in the hope diplomacy may work. She is on a glucose drip in St Thomas’ hospital in London. The 69-year-old’s decision came after discussions with doctors and her family. She has been on hunger strike for more than 270 days to secure improvement in Abd el-Fattah’s jail conditions or his release.

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18 killed in Israeli strike targeting Gaza police distributing flour, officials say

Attack at market is latest in series by Israeli forces that have killed hundreds of civilians seeking aid

Eighteen people have been killed in an Israeli strike targeting Palestinian police distributing flour in a market in the central Gaza city of Deir al-Balah, medical officials have said.

The reported strike, on Thursday afternoon, is the latest in a series of air attacks, shootings and bombardment by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) that has killed hundreds of desperate civilians seeking aid in the devastated Palestinian territory.

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‘We don’t want to go’: Australian couple told to pay $3,500 to postpone flights amid Middle East volatility

Experts say consumers are unlikely to have any legal rights to defer flights unless the airline’s fine print allows it

Sharon Latour and her husband are scheduled to fly through Abu Dhabi on an Etihad flight on Wednesday, just nine days after Iran launched a missile strike on a US base in nearby Qatar.

As of Friday, the Australian couple’s flight was still scheduled for takeoff despite the volatility in the region. Latour is upset that Etihad are insisting on charging her $3,500 to change their tickets if they want to postpone their trip until early next year.

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Friday briefing: How ​years of ​siege, ​war and ​blockade ​led to ​the ​unravelling of Gaza’s ​economy

In today’s newsletter: Once sustained by agriculture and industry, Gaza’s economy has been dismantled​, leaving nearly every resident dependent on aid and the hope of a future that feels increasingly out of reach

Good morning. While much of the world’s attention has been focused on Israel’s conflict with Iran, the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza has worsened by the day. Since March, when Israel broke a ceasefire agreement and imposed a total blockade, very little food or medicine has been allowed in. Though the blockade was partially lifted on 19 May, only a trickle of desperately needed aid has made it through – and yesterday Israel closed the most direct route. Israeli forces have killed hundreds of Palestinians who are trying to access it, in what aid workers are now calling a “death trap”. Israel is fighting allegations of genocide in Gaza, where it has killed more than 55,000 people.

Truly to understand the scale of the catastrophe in Gaza, it’s necessary to place it in historical context. This isn’t just a crisis born in 2023: it’s the culmination of nearly two decades of siege.

Middle East crisis | Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has threatened to respond to any future US attack by striking American military bases in the Middle East.

Welfare | Keir Starmer has offered Labour MPs “massive concessions” on his controversial welfare bill in a move that has won over key rebels and is likely to have saved the prime minister from a damaging Commons defeat. The changes will reportedly cost the government several billion pounds over the next few years but will shore up the prime minister’s precarious authority.

UK weather | An amber heat health alert has been issued by the UK Health Security Agency for much of England because of predicted temperatures above 30C over the weekend.

UK news | Two police officers who were involved in the strip-search of a black teenager at her school have been found to have committed gross misconduct. The search was “disproportionate, inappropriate and unnecessary” and made the girl feel degraded and humiliated.

Health | Scientists have developed a test to identify women with an increased risk of miscarriage, which could pave the way for new treatments to prevent pregnancy loss.

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