UK’s post-Brexit policing pact put at risk by migration laws, say peers

Committee concerned illegal migration legislation will jeopardise sharing of DNA, fingerprinting and criminal records

The UK’s post-Brexit policing pact with the EU on sharing DNA, fingerprinting and criminal records could be put at risk by Suella Braverman’s migration laws, a House of Lords committee has said.

Lady Hamwee, the chair of the Lords justice and home affairs committee, has written to the home secretary to say its members are “particularly concerned” that the new illegal migration legislation along with new data laws could lead to the “termination and/or suspension” of the security cooperation elements of the Brexit trade deal.

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Russia-Ukraine war at a glance: what we know on day 522 of the invasion

Putin says Russia ‘building up power’ of its navy; drone attack on Moscow damages two office blocks

President Vladimir Putin praised Russia’s navy in an address at the annual Navy Day parade. He announced 30 new ships this year as he said Russia was “building up the power” of its navy.

Putin has said African and Chinese proposals could serve as a basis for finding peace but added elements were “difficult or impossible” to implement. He was speaking at a press conference after meeting African leaders in St Petersburg.

A night-time drone attack on Moscow damaged two office blocks, the mayor of the Russian capital said early on Sunday, Russia’s state news agency Tass reported. The capital’s Vnukovo airport was temporarily shut. City mayor Sergei Sobyanin posted on Telegram that there were “no victims or injured”. However, Tass reported a security guard had been injured in the attacks.

Ukraine’s ministry of defence has said Saturday’s Russian missile attacks killed one person and 10 were injured in Sumy. In Zaporizhzhia two people died and two were injured.

Moscow said on Sunday its forces had thwarted a Ukrainian attempt to attack Russia-annexed Crimea with 25 drones overnight.

The latest UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) update says satellite imagery captured on 19 July has identified approximately 300 tents and 200 vehicles in Tsel, Belarus, where Wagner troops have likely established a military camp there. The MoD said it was unclear what happened to the heavy equipment Wagner used in Ukraine, suggesting it was possible it was forced to return these to the Russian military.

Pope Francis has called on Russia to revive the Black Sea grain deal, through which Moscow had allowed Ukraine to export grain from its seaports despite the war.

The general staff of Ukraine’s armed forces said Russia has lost 245,700 troops in Ukraine since the start of the war. According to the report, as of 9am (EET) on 30 July, Russia has also lost 4,205 tanks, 8,178 armoured fighting vehicles.

Ukrainian soldiers fired UK-donated AS90 self-propelled artillery guns to mark the end of their training in south-west England. British army instructors taught the 72 Ukrainian army personnel how to operate and maintain the guns when in combat, the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) said.

The Associated Press has reported that Saudi Arabia will host a Ukrainian-organised peace summit in early August.

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Spain stalemate drags on as Pedro Sánchez’s socialist party loses crucial seat

Votes from overseas means left and right blocs now neck and neck in race for power

Spain’s socialist party has suffered a setback in its efforts to form a new leftwing coalition government after this month’s inconclusive election as a count of overseas votes handed a crucial seat across to the opposition conservatives.

The result means the left and right blocs are now neck and neck as MPs prepare for a vote in congress that will determine who gets to govern.

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Storm leaves eight dead after trees fall on campsite in Russia

Emergency services clear debris after storm hits site in Mari El, along northern bank of Volga River

Eight people died and another 10 were hospitalised in Russia when trees fell at a campsite during a severe storm described as a hurricane.

“According to the latest information, eight people died in Mari El due to the hurricane that took place the day before,” said Yevgeny Maslov, the mayor of the city of Yoshkar-Ola.

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Family of US woman who died from ingesting kratom wins $11m damages

Krystal Talavera, 39, took legal herbal extract, which has opioid-like effect on the brain, in 2021 and died shortly after

The family of a Florida woman who died in 2021 after ingesting kratom has been awarded more than $11m from a distributor of the south-east Asian herbal extract that has an opioid-like effect on the brain.

In a ruling finalized Thursday, judge Donald Middlebrooks of the federal courthouse in West Palm Beach, Florida, told a company operating as the Kratom Distro to pay damages to the four surviving children of Krystal Talavera as well as her estate.

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Poland raises fears about ‘dangerous’ situation with Wagner troops near border – as it happened

Poland has been concerned about the spillover of war on to its territory ever since Russia invaded Ukraine. This blog is now closed

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has issued a special invitation to a Ukrainian fencer to take part in the Paris Olympics next year, after she was disqualified from a tournament for refusing to shake hands with her defeated Russian opponent.

The IOC president, Thomas Bach, a former Olympic champion fencer himself, wrote in person to Olha Kharlan to make a “unique exception” to Olympic qualifying procedures, in an unusually emotional letter.

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Pentagon hit by ‘critical compromise’ of US air force communications – report

Forbes reports claim that engineer at Arnold air force base in Tennessee had taken home government radio technologies

The Pentagon is investigating a “critical compromise” of communications across 17 US air force facilities, according to reports.

The US department of defense’s investigation comes amid a tip from a base contractor that a 48-year-old engineer at the Arnold air force base in Tennessee had taken home various government radio technologies, Forbes first reported Friday.

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Channel Island Nazis inquiry under pressure to find out why perpetrators never faced justice

Thousands of people may have perished on Alderney during the second world war but their murderers never stood trial

The official inquiry into Nazi atrocities committed on Alderney in the Channel Islands is under pressure to investigate why those responsible for committing war crimes on British soil were never brought to trial in the UK.

Prof Anthony Glees, the security and intelligence expert who advised Margaret Thatcher’s war crimes inquiry, told the Observer: “This is a vital opportunity to establish all the facts, and it must examine why those who perpetrated such heinous war crimes were never brought to trial in this country. The review into the atrocities on Alderney is to be warmly welcomed, but I believe it should not just focus on the numbers killed, as important as that is.”

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Colombian president’s son arrested in money-laundering inquiry

Nicolás Petro held as part of investigation into funds he allegedly collected from drug traffickers during 2022 election campaign

The son of the Colombian president has been arrested as part of a high-profile money-laundering investigation into funds he allegedly collected from convicted drug traffickers during last year’s presidential campaign.

The president, Gustavo Petro, a former rebel who rose through Colombia’s political ranks as an anti-corruption crusader, said he would not interfere with the investigation.

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‘Stop’: Black Republican congressman attacks DeSantis over slavery curriculum

John James of Michigan says presidential contender has ‘gone too far’ as outrage grows over Florida teaching of history

Florida governor and presidential hopeful Ron DeSantis has “gone too far” in defending his state’s new educational standards which require public schools to teach that enslaved Black Americans benefited from their forced labor by learning useful skills, Republican congressman John James has said.

James – who is Black – made his remarks in a post on X, the social media platform previously known as Twitter.

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Firecracker warehouse blast kills nine in southern Thailand

More than 100 injured and hundreds of homes reportedly damaged near border with Malaysia

An explosion has ripped through a firework warehouse in Thailand , killing nine people and injuring more than 100, a senior official has said.

The blast in the town of Sungai Kolok, in the southern province of Narathiwat, on Saturday is thought to have been caused by welding during construction work on the building.

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Human rights lawyer fleeing China is arrested in Laos

Activists and family members fear Lu Siwei will be deported back to China, where he could be sent to prison

A Chinese rights lawyer stripped of his licence for taking on sensitive cases has been arrested in Laos, and activists and family members are worried he will be deported back to China, where he could be jailed.

Lu Siwei was seized by Laotian police on Friday morning while boarding a train for Thailand. He was on his way to Bangkok to catch a flight to the US to join his wife and daughter.

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US man who killed woman by driving car through BLM protest pleads guilty

Dawit Kelete, 30, pleads guilty to multiple charges after hitting two protesters, one fatally, during 2020 protest in Seattle

A man who hit two Black Lives Matter protesters with his car, killing one of them, during a 2020 demonstration in Seattle has pleaded guilty to multiple felonies.

Dawit Kelete, 30, pleaded guilty Thursday to vehicular homicide in the death of 24-year-old Summer Taylor, the Seattle Times reported. He also pleaded guilty to vehicular assault and reckless driving charges.

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US Mega Millions lottery jackpot soars to $1.05bn

No winner of Friday’s $940m prize, meaning only fifth time in history of Mega Millions grand prize has reached into the billions

The Mega Millions jackpot climbed to an estimated $1.05bn Friday night, only the fifth time in the history of that particular lottery that the grand prize has reached into the billions.

It has been less than two weeks since someone in Los Angeles won a $1.08bn Powerball prize that ranked as the sixth-largest in US lottery history. The winner of that Powerball prize still has not come forward.

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US officer who put handcuffed woman in car hit by freight train found guilty

Jordan Steinke convicted on misdemeanour charges but found not guilty of more serious charges over 2022 crash in Colorado

A Colorado police officer who put a handcuffed woman in a parked police vehicle that was hit by a freight train was found guilty of reckless endangerment and assault but was acquitted of a third charge of criminal attempt to commit manslaughter during a trial Friday.

Jordan Steinke was the first of two officers to go to trial over the 16 September 2022 crash that left Yareni Rios-Gonzalez seriously injured.

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Five wounded, two critically, in Seattle parking lot shooting

Shooting on Friday night, in lot near where community event was taking place, the 413th US mass shooting this year

The latest mass shooting in the US left five people wounded in a Seattle parking lot Friday night, including two who were in critical condition, the city’s police chief said.

Seattle police responded to the shooting about 9pm on Rainier Avenue South in the parking lot of what was formerly known as King Donuts, and a community event was occurring nearby, the city’s police chief, Adrian Diaz, said at the scene.

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‘We’re angry’: Israel tensions mount as army reservists threaten to refuse duty

Conflict over Netanyahu’s plans to overhaul judiciary is leading to new levels of civil disobedience – and potential security risks

Over his many years of service, Zur Allon, 46, a reservist lieutenant colonel in Israel’s artillery special forces, never imagined a day when he would refuse to report for duty.

“Half of my company was blown up in Lebanon. I have given many years of my life defending this country,” said Allon, one of the leaders of Brothers and Sisters in Arms, a pressure group of more than 60,000 Israel Defence Forces (IDF) reservists established earlier this year in protest against the government’s proposed overhaul of the judiciary.

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Bangladesh police clash with protesters calling for PM to resign

Officers use rubber bullets and teargas to disperse demonstrators blockading main roads into Dhaka

Bangladesh police have fired rubber bullets and teargas to disperse stone-throwing crowds blockading main roads in the capital, Dhaka, in a protest demanding the prime minister’s resignation.

The opposition Bangladesh Nationalist party (BNP) and its allies have staged a series of protests since last year demanding that Sheikh Hasina step down and allow a caretaker government to oversee the elections that are scheduled for January next year.

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Greece wildfires under control but strong winds still a threat, say officials

‘No active front’ in Rhodes, Corfu and central Greece blazes as more than 460 firefighters remain on alert

Wildfires that have scorched Greece for more than two weeks are under control, but firefighters remain in key hotspots as strong winds remain a threat, officials have said.

“Scattered fire pockets are being extinguished,” the fire department said on Saturday, adding that there was “no active front” in the three biggest wildfires in Rhodes, Corfu and central Greece that forced thousands of people to flee.

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‘This is another beast’: UN chief heat officer on living amid fires, how to cool cities and fears for her daughter

Eleni Myrivili, whose job is to help cities prepare for extreme heat, says many people do not understand how deadly it can be

It is “shocking” how little people know about the danger of hot weather, the United Nations global chief heat officer has said, as high temperatures bake cities across the northern hemisphere and politicians backslide on climate promises.

A study this month found that extreme heat in Europe last summer killed 61,000 people, most of whom were women and older people. As well as killing people through heatstroke, hot weather can push the bodies of people with heart and lung disease into deadly overdrive.

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