Misleading Home Office advice leaves Hong Kong protester fearing deportation from UK

Student who took part in anti-Beijing protests is in legal limbo after withdrawing her asylum claim to make a visa application that was then rejected

A Hongkonger who fled to the UK after being targeted by Chinese security officials has been left fearing deportation after appearing to be wrongly advised by the Home Office.

Olivia (not her real name) left Hong Kong in July 2022 after someone claiming to be from the new national security department – created two years earlier when the Chinese Communist party (CCP) imposed a draconian security law on the city – approached her in the street and accused her of supporting Hong Kong independence.

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Mariupol’s exiled leaders look to the future with plans to rebuild

Exclusive: Ukrainian mayor says there is no time to waste in drawing up vision for devastated city, which is under Russian control

A tram glides pasts cyclists and pedestrians making their way along green and pleasant streets. A submerged diver swims in clear waters by an underwater research centre while families enjoy a picnic at the nearby beach, gazing over at the yachts in the distance as they enjoy the afternoon sun.

It is a vision of a thoroughly modern coastal city, but two strangely familiar images in the bundle of architectural drawings hint at the identity of this place and its dark and troubling recent past: there is the “Memory Centre Dram”, an amphitheatre overlooked by a towering steel and glass structure in the shape of what was Mariupol’s elegant drama theatre, and then, on the following page, an industrial works given over to nature, now described as the Azovstal memorial park.

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West needs strategy to tie Ukraine aid to corruption progress, thinktank says

German Marshall Fund says oligarchs biding their time until after war ends to reassert their influence

Western powers will only protect Ukraine’s multibillion-dollar postwar recovery if they agree a unified strategy to make aid conditional on clear progress on combating judicial corruption, reinstating the obligation on Ukrainian public officials to declare assets and ensuring all recovery finds can be digitally traced, according to an authoritative report from the German Marshall Fund.

The US thinktank’s proposals, matching calls from Ukrainian civil society and G7 ambassadors in Ukraine, reflect a concern that donors have not yet assembled a strategy to ensure how recovery funds can be monitored in a country that has made progress in tackling capture by oligarchs since 2014 but still has many unreformed institutions.

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Titanic tourist submersible: desperate search for sub missing with five onboard

French expert and British explorer believed to be among five onboard submersible missing in north Atlantic since Sunday

Search and rescue teams were racing against time on Monday to find a tourist sub that went missing in the north Atlantic while on a dive to the wreck of the Titanic.

The US Coast Guard said “a small submarine with five persons onboard” had gone missing in the vicinity of the Titanic wreck and that the vessel had the capacity to be submerged for 96 hours, but it was unclear whether it was still underwater or had surfaced and was unable to communicate.

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Dutch study reveals extent of wealth made via slavery from three past rulers

Report comes shortly before an expected apology from King Willem-Alexander in a speech in Amsterdam

Inside the stables of Paleis Noordeinde in The Hague is a golden coach embellished with images of colonial offerings to Dutch rulers that many, including the current Dutch king, regard as a symbol of exploitation that, according to a new study, netted three Dutch rulers the equivalent of more than €545m (£465m).

Historians calculated the staggering value of colonial profit for Willem III (also king of England, Ireland and Scotland), Willem IV and Willem V for a report published at the request of the Dutch parliament last week before a widely expected apology over slavery from the Dutch king.

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Succession drives ‘quiet luxury’ look at Milan fashion week

Menswear has moved away from logos to more refined silhouettes, with collections from Prada to Raf Simons ditching streetwear

Such is the piercing influence of Succession on the wardrobes of the rich and famous that its stars didn’t even need to make a front-row appearance at Milan fashion week to make their presence felt. Excess is out and elegance is in as designers pursue the “quiet luxury” look that owes much of its recent popularity to the Roy family stone.

At Prada, the bellwether of where the fashion mood heads next, the co-designers Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons used the humble white shirt as a springboard for “a reconsideration of simple things”, said Prada after the show on Sunday.

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‘He suffered’: Pakistani relatives mourn sons on Greek shipwreck

Poverty drove young men from small Kashmir town to board ill-fated fishing trawler, say families

The last time Mohammed Yousaf talked to his son, Sajid Yousaf, on 8 June, the son was waiting anxiously in Libya for smugglers to pack him and hundreds of others on to a boat bound for the other side of the Mediterranean.

Six days later, the overcrowded fishing trawler sank off the coast of Greece. Sajid, 28, a shopkeeper and father of two from the small town of Khuiratta in Pakistan-administered Kashmir, is among the hundreds missing, presumed dead.

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Russia says Navalny’s ‘extremism’ trial must be held in private

Kremlin critic faces charges that could lead to a substantial extension of his jail time

A Russian court has ordered that the latest trial of Alexei Navalny be held behind closed doors, as the Kremlin critic faces extremism charges that could mean his prison time is extended for decades.

Navalny is being tried at the maximum-security prison where he is jailed: IK-6 penal colony, about 150 miles (250km) east of Moscow.

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Israeli forces launch helicopter raid on Jenin in occupied West Bank

Five Palestinians killed and 45 injured, according to Palestinian officials as Israeli army enters city to arrest ‘suspects’

The Israeli military has used combat helicopters in the occupied West Bank for the first time in years, as an arrest operation in Jenin encountered unexpectedly fierce Palestinian resistance.

The heavy fighting intensified calls by settler leaders to call for a broader military campaign in the West Bank.

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Antony Blinken and Xi Jinping hold ‘candid’ talks in Beijing

Meeting between China’s president and US secretary of state takes place at time of heightened tension

The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, has wrapped up a rare trip to Beijing where he met China’s president, Xi Jinping, concluding a high-stakes visit aimed at stabilising spiralling relations.

Speaking at a press briefing in Beijing before his departure, Blinken said he had had “an important conversation” with Xi during the 35-minute encounter and stressed it was the responsibility of both countries to find a path forward.

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Sunak urged to rethink visit by Chinese official linked to forcible removal of dissidents

Liu Jianchao accused of directing fugitive recovery operations targeting regime’s opponents

A cross-party group of British MPs and peers has written to the prime minister urging him to reconsider a decision to allow a visit this week by a senior Chinese government official accused of overseeing the forcible repatriation of hundreds of dissidents back to China, including some from the UK.

Liu Jianchao, the head of the international department of the Communist party of China central committee, is due to speak at the Chatham House thinktank and meet UK parliamentarians.

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Well-funded Christian group behind US effort to roll back LGBTQ+ rights

Advocacy groups condemn Alliance Defending Freedom as ‘a danger to every American who values their freedoms’

With the US besieged by a rightwing culture war campaign that aims to strip away rights from LGBTQ+ people and others, blame tends to be focused on Republican politicians and conservative media figures.

But lurking behind efforts to roll back abortion rights, to demonize trans people, and to peel back the protections afforded to gay and queer Americans is a shadowy, well-funded rightwing legal organization, experts say.

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AstraZeneca considers spinning off its China business

UK’s largest stock-market-listed firm weighs up Hong Kong or Shanghai listing to shield it from geopolitical tensions

AstraZeneca is considering spinning off its business in China and listing it in Hong Kong or Shanghai to shield the multinational drugmaker from geopolitical tensions.

Britain’s largest stock-market-listed company has drawn up the plans in attempt to protect its business from the fallout from increasing tensions between China and the US and its allies.

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Russia-Ukraine war: ‘difficult situation’ in east as Russia deploys more troops to frontline, minister says – as it happened

Ukraine deputy defence minister says Russia is continuing efforts to occupy the whole of the Donbas

Ukraine’s state emergency service has issued an image of firefighters battling a blaze in Kherson. Suspilne, Ukraine's state broadcaster, reports that “As a result of Russian shelling in Kherson, a gas tank at one of the city’s gas stations and a company warehouse were on fire at night. Three units of equipment and 15 personnel of the state emergency service went to the scene of the fire.”

This is Martin Belam taking over the live blog in London. You can contact me at martin.belam@theguardian.com.

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UK strikes laws must conform with international rules, says UN agency

Intervention by International Labour Organization ‘hugely embarrassing’ for government, says TUC

The UN’s labour standards body has told the UK government it must make changes to highly controversial new strikes laws, which critics say threaten the fundamental rights of British workers.

The International Labour Organization (ILO), a UN agency, said the UK needed to “ensure that existing and prospective legislation is in conformity” with international rules on freedom of association, and added that the government must seek technical assistance from the agency’s experts.

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Sudan paramilitary group boasts of detaining Islamists

Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, leader of the Rapid Support Forces, wants to frame Islamist opponents as a threat

Hundreds of Islamist leaders and activists in Sudan have been detained by the Rapid Support Forces in a wave of repression targeting the paramilitary group’s political opponents.

The arrests began before the outbreak of fighting in April between the RSF and forces loyal to Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the de facto military leader, but have intensified since.

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Nine due in Greek court over shipwreck as Pakistan holds day of mourning

Suspected people smugglers to appear in court in Kalamata, as police in Kashmir announce 10 arrests

Nine suspected people smugglers are to appear before a Greek court accused of piloting the fishing trawler that sank off the coast of Greece last week leaving hundreds missing and presumed dead in one of the Mediterranean’s worst boat disasters.

Greek authorities have said 78 dead and 104 survivors – mostly from Syria, Afghanistan, Egypt and Pakistan – were brought ashore after the overcrowded boat sank about 50 miles (80km) off the southern Greek town of Pylos early on Wednesday, days after it set sail from Tobruk in Libya heading towards Italy.

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Antony Blinken in China: all eyes on whether US secretary of state will meet Xi Jinping

A meeting is yet to be confirmed, a day after ‘candid’ talks with China’s foreign minister, who said ties were at their lowest point since diplomatic relations began

Antony Blinken was greeted by China’s top diplomat on Monday, and will perhaps meet its president, on the final day of a rare visit aimed at trying to resurrect relations between Washington and Beijing from historic lows.

Neither Blinken nor Wang Yi made any comment to reporters as they greeted each other and sat for their discussion during what is the first visit by a US secretary of state to China in five years.

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Russia-Ukraine war live: Ukrainian forces reportedly take control of Piatykhatky on the Zaporizhzhia battle front

Russian-installed official says Ukraine has made new gain on battle front since launch of counter-offensive earlier this month

The Russian military blogger War Gonzo has also reported that Russian troops have abandoned the village of Piatykhatky, on the Zaporizhzhia front. The writer suggests Ukraine has concentrated large reserves in the area, mostly infantry but also “heavy armoured vehicles”, and wonders if Kyiv will activate its reserves for what would probably be a major attack in the area.

If confirmed, it would be Ukraine’s first village gain for nearly a week, and significantly it marks an apparent escalation of the offensive on the most direct route to Crimea, although this is the area where Russian defences are believed to be strongest.

A Russian-installed official acknowledged on Sunday that Ukraine had recaptured a village in the southern Zapororizhzhia region, its first gain on that front since it launched its counteroffensive earlier this month.

The official, Vladimir Rogov, said Ukrainian forces had taken the settlement of Piatykhatky and were entrenching themselves there while coming under fire from Russian artillery.

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Blinken will seek China’s cooperation in curbing fentanyl at high-stakes visit

US secretary of state ‘held candid, substantive, and constructive talks,’ state department spokesperson says

US secretary of state Antony Blinken will seek China’s cooperation in curbing the production of the deadly synthetic opioid fentanyl during his two-day visit to Beijing, one of several contentious issues that the high-stakes diplomatic outreach will touch on.

Aides to Blinken have said the issue will feature prominently in discussions between US and Chinese officials during the trip as the US seeks China’s help in curbing Chinese manufacture of precursor chemicals used to create the drug that helped drive more than two-thirds of 100,000 American overdose deaths in each of the past two years.

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