New research raises hopes of exhuming foreign Spanish civil war dead

Catalan authorities ask relatives to provide DNA to help identify 522 members of International Brigades from US, Canada, Britain and Ireland

Researchers in Catalonia have identified 522 members of the International Brigades, including 286 American and 86 British volunteers, who died or disappeared in the region during the Spanish civil war, raising hopes their remains could be found and buried with dignity nine decades after they perished.

About 35,000 people from 50 countries travelled to Spain between 1936 and 1938 to join the brigades to help defend Spain’s democratically elected government against Gen Francisco Franco’s military coup.

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Belgian police search EU parliament office over Russian interference

Parliamentary staffer may have played ‘significant role’ in alleged payments to MEPs to promote propaganda on Voice of Europe website

Belgian police have searched the European parliament office and Brussels home of a parliamentary staffer who is believed to have played “a significant role” in a Russian interference operation, the national prosecutor has said.

French authorities also carried out a search of the employee’s European parliament office in Strasbourg at the request of the Belgian examining magistrate overseeing the inquiry into corruption and Russian interference.

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Anglo American rejects call by mining rival BHP to extend takeover talks deadline

British company says concerns not addressed during approach by Australian firm

Anglo American has survived an almost £39bn takeover plot by the Australian mining rival BHP after last-ditch talks over restructuring the 107-year-old company collapsed.

The five-week pursuit came to an end after Anglo rejected BHP’s 11th-hour appeal to extend the takeover talks for a second time, after three failed takeover proposals from the Melbourne-based miner.

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‘He couldn’t wait to join’: thousands of Russian youth die in Ukraine war

Moscow is spending millions to try to mould a new generation willing to give their lives in military service

Shortly after turning 18 in February, Daniil Yermolenko fulfilled a long-held wish and signed a contract with Russia’s armed forces. A month later, he voted for the first time, casting a ballot in the presidential election for Vladimir Putin, who had already been in power for six years when Yermolenko was born in 2006.

By late March Yermolenko had completed a basic two-week military training, and he was sent to Berdychi in eastern Ukraine where Russian forces were engaged in a devastating assault as part of its spring offensive.

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Singapore Airlines plane dropped 54 metres in seconds, flight data shows

Investigation report says aircraft ‘experienced a rapid change in gravitational force’ during turbulence

The Singapore Airlines flight hit by severe turbulence last week dropped 54 metres in altitude in less than five seconds, preliminary findings from an investigation show.

A 73-year-old British passenger died of a suspected heart attack and dozens of people were injured after flight SQ321 from London to Singapore encountered what the airline described as sudden, extreme turbulence while flying over Myanmar. The flight carrying 211 passengers and 18 crew diverted to Bangkok for an emergency landing.

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Delhi heatwave: officials investigating if temperature of 52.9C due to faulty sensor

Meteorological department examining data from Mungeshpur station amid soaring temperatures that came close to 50 degrees Celsius

Authorities in India are investigating whether a faulty sensor may have been behind a reading that showed temperatures in Delhi soaring past 50 degrees for the first time, amid a scorching heatwave in the capital.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) said it was examining the data and sensors at the Mungeshpur station after an unusually large variation in temperatures was recorded at the station compared to others.

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Dua Lipa denounces ‘Israeli genocide’ in Instagram post

Singer calls for 88 million followers to ‘show your solidarity with Gaza’ following Israeli attack on Rafah

Pop singer Dua Lipa has condemned the military operations in Gaza, describing them as “Israeli genocide” in an Instagram post to her 88 million followers.

Reposting a graphic from the group Artists4Ceasefire, along with the hashtag #AllEyesOnRafah that has trended in the days following Israel’s bombing of the Palestinian city, she wrote: “Burning children alive can never be justified. The whole world is mobilising to stop the Israeli genocide. Please show your solidarity with Gaza.”

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‘Every piece of evidence is vital’: Holocaust survivor calls for victims’ shoes to be salvaged

Manfred Goldberg, 94, urges authorities to preserve fragments of thousands of shoes left to rot at Stutthof concentration camp site

One of the last remaining survivors of the Stutthof Nazi concentration camp has appealed to authorities to salvage fragments of tens of thousands of shoes belonging to murdered Holocaust victims that were recently discovered in a forest at the site.

Manfred Goldberg, who was imprisoned as a teenager at Stutthof, 24 miles (38km) east of Gdańsk, said he was “shocked and dismayed” to hear of the existence of the remnants, eight decades after the shoes’ owners were forced to remove them before being gassed and cremated.

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White House says Israel’s latest actions in Rafah do not cross US red line

Washington says it is also monitoring Israel’s inquiry into attack on Sunday that killed at least 45 people in Gaza camp

The Biden administration has said recent Israeli operations and attacks in Gaza’s southern city of Rafah do not constitute a major ground operation that crosses any US red lines, adding that it is also closely monitoring an investigation into Sunday’s deadly strike on a tent camp.

Speaking after Israeli tanks were seen near al-Awda mosque, a landmark in central Rafah, the national security council spokesperson, John Kirby, told reporters the US was not turning a “blind eye” to the plight of Palestinian civilians.

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Alarming levels of ‘forever chemicals’ found in water near Bangladesh garment factories

Study confirms huge concentrations of potentially dangerous PFAS in rivers, lakes and taps in Dhaka

Rivers, lakes and tap water in areas of Bangladesh that host garment factories are swarming with dangerous levels of toxic “forever chemicals”, some with links to serious health issues, according to new research.

In the first study of its kind conducted in Bangladesh, a global fashion hub supplying international brands, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), commonly known as forever chemicals, were found in 27 water samples collected close to textile factories in the capital, Dhaka.

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South Africa elections: voting under way amid grim national mood

Ruling African National Congress party could lose majority for first time since apartheid ended 30 years ago

Explainer: what are the issues and will the ANC lose its majority?

South Africans are voting in what are expected to be the most competitive elections since the end of apartheid, which could result in the ruling African National Congress (ANC) party losing its majority for the first time since Nelson Mandela led it to power 30 years ago.

The national mood is grim owing to some of the world’s highest rates of unemployment and inequality, power cuts, water shortages and violent crime. Younger generations do not feel the same gratitude and loyalty to the ANC as many of their parents and grandparents do, for leading the successful fight for multi-racial democracy.

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Wednesday briefing: How Israeli intelligence spent nine years interfering with an international court

In today’s newsletter: a Guardian investigation details a ‘war’ on the international criminal court by the country – here’s what we know so far

• Sign up here for our daily newsletter, First Edition

Good morning. “You should help us and let us take care of you. You don’t want to be getting into things that could compromise your security or that of your family.”

That is a terrifying message for anyone to hear from the head of the Mossad, Israel’s foreign intelligence agency. Even more astonishing is that this was a message to the chief prosecutor of the international criminal court (ICC).

Israel-Gaza war | The Biden administration has said recent Israeli operations in Gaza’s southern city of Rafah do not constitute a major ground operation that crosses any US red lines, and that it is closely monitoring a probe into Sunday’s deadly strike on a tent camp it called “tragic”. The comments came as Israeli tanks were seen in central Rafah.

General election 2024 | Angela Rayner has been cleared of criminal wrongdoing by the Greater Manchester police, with the deputy Labour leader attacking the “desperate tactics” of Tory MPs that led to the investigation. Elsewhere, it has been reported that Diane Abbott has had the party whip restored – but will not be allowed to stand again for Labour at the next election.

Trump trial | Donald Trump’s secret plot to bury negative press ahead of the 2016 election deprived Americans of their right to choose a candidate at the ballot box, the prosecution said in closing arguments at the former president’s New York hush-money trial. Read the key takeaways as the jury begins its deliberations on Wednesday.

Georgia | Georgia’s parliament has voted to override a presidential veto on the controversial “foreign influence” law, a move that is poised to derail the EU aspirations of many Georgians in favour of closer ties with Moscow. The bill is now likely to become law in the coming days.

Ticket prices | Some of the most powerful ticket touts in the UK have discussed a secret plan to try to scupper a Labour crackdown on the industry via a lobbying campaign, footage filmed by the Guardian reveals. At a private event this month, one of the UK’s biggest ticket touts warned that “we are fucked” if Labour’s clampdown went ahead.

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Papua New Guinea PM blames extraordinary rainfall for deadly landslide

James Marape says the estimated death toll is more than 2,000 people, as rescue efforts in Enga province continue

Papua New Guinea’s prime minister James Marape has blamed “extraordinary rainfall” and changes to weather patterns for multiple disasters in the Pacific Island nation this year, including a landslide last week which may have killed thousands.

Parts of a mountain in the Maip-Mulitaka area in Enga province in PNG’s north collapsed in the early hours of last Friday and Marape said more than 2,000 people are estimated to have died, with up to 70,000 people living in the area affected by the disaster.

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Greens ‘will not back von der Leyen’ for re-election if she does deal with far right

German Green MEP chair warns that EU plan to tackle climate crisis will be put at risk by agreement with hard right parties

Green members of the European parliament will not support Ursula von der Leyen for a second term as the commission president if she makes a deal with hard-right nationalists, the party’s joint lead candidate has said.

Terry Reintke, the German Green MEP chair, said her group would “absolutely” not support von der Leyen – the incumbent centre-right commission president who is seeking a second term – if she made a deal with the Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni’s group in the European parliament, the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR).

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Prosecutor argues each story Trump tried to have buried amounts to unlawful campaign contribution – live

Former president in court for closing arguments in trial charging him with 34 counts of felony falsification of business records

Donald Trump is entering the courtroom. He’s wearing a red tie and a suit that appears to fall somewhere between black and slate gray.

Tiffany Trump is here as well as two of Trump’s sons.

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Election conspiracies are ‘done all the time’, Trump lawyer tells trial jurors

Hush-money trial enters final stages as defense makes closing argument in case centered on allegedly falsified business records

Donald Trump’s secret plot to bury negative press ahead of the 2016 election deprived Americans of their right to choose a candidate at the ballot box, said the prosecution in its summation on Tuesday at the former president’s New York hush-money trial.

Steinglass’s closing statement reminded jurors of a summer 2015 meeting at Trump Tower where the real estate mogul sat with then consigliere Michael Cohen and tabloid honcho David Pecker.

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Nikki Haley writes ‘finish them’ on IDF artillery shells during Israel visit

Ex-governor also criticises Biden administration for temporarily withholding weapons to discourage attack on Rafah

Nikki Haley, the failed Republican presidential nominee, signed Israeli artillery shells with the inscription “Finish Them!” on a Memorial Day visit to Israel.

The former South Carolina governor’s graphic display of support came on a trip to Israel’s northern border with Lebanon, where she was accompanied by Danny Danon, a former Israeli ambassador to the United Nations and a noted hawkish member of Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party in the Knesset.

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Nikki Haley pictured writing ‘finish them’ on IDF artillery shells in Israel visit – as it happened

This blog is now closed. You can read our full story here:

Up next was Harry Dunn, a former Capitol police officer.

He referenced his campaign for Congress representing a Maryland district, which ended last week when he lost the Democratic primary.

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Trump judge in Mar-a-Lago case denies prosecutors’ request for gag order

Setback for special counsel Jack Smith as Aileen Cannon denies motion filed after Trump falsely claimed FBI was ready to kill him

The judge handling Donald Trump’s classified documents case has rejected a request by prosecutors to impose a gag order on the former president over his false claims that FBI officers were prepared to shoot him when they raided his Mar-a-Lago estate.

The ruling, by Aileen Cannon, Florida federal district judge, is the latest in a series of setbacks for Jack Smith, the special counsel who has spearheaded the prosecution into Trump’s alleged mishandling of documents from his time in the White House.

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Kenya begins public hearings into alleged abuses by UK troops

British soldiers stationed in Kenya have been accused of rights violations and offences including murder

Kenya has launched public hearings into allegations of human rights violations and abuses of power by British troops based in the former colony.

The British Army Training Unit Kenya (Batuk) is an economic lifeline for many in the central town of Nanyuki, where it maintains a permanent base, but soldiers stationed there have also been accused of committing offences including murder.

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