Boris Johnson seeks to defuse row over abandoning defence spending pledge

PM insists manifesto promise of above-inflation increase will be kept despite Downing Street ‘reality check’ briefing

Boris Johnson faces a potential rift with senior ministers and generals at the start of a vital Nato summit in Madrid, after Downing Street indicated it would ditch a key manifesto commitment on defence spending.

In a chaotic sequence of events, a senior government source said there needed to be “a reality check” on the pledge to increase the defence budget each year by 0.5% above inflation, only for Johnson to try to argue it would be achieved.

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PM says EU trade talks stalled over perception of Australia as ‘handbrake’ on climate action

Anthony Albanese blames lack of climate leadership and relationship breakdown with France for hindering European deals

Negotiations for a “critical” trade deal with the EU have stalled over perceptions Australia isn’t “fair dinkum” on climate change action and due to a fractured relationship with France, Anthony Albanese said.

The prime minister met with his Spanish counterpart, Pedro Sánchez, on Tuesday in Madrid before the Nato summit, marking the first bilateral visit by an Australian prime minister.

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Italian hairdressers face fines for shampooing amid heatwave

Mayor of town near Bologna says thousands of litres of water wasted due to double-shampooing of customers’ hair

The mayor of an Italian town has banned hairdressers and barbers from shampooing their customers’ hair twice in an attempt to conserve water during one of the most severe droughts in decades.

Carlo Gubellini, the mayor of Castenaso, near Bologna in the Emilia-Romagna region, said thousands of litres of water was squandered each day through double-shampooing, which many hairdressers believe is beneficial, and hence double-rinsing.

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Former Nazi camp guard, 101, convicted of complicity in murders

Josef Schütz given five-year jail sentence in Germany but is unlikely to be put behind bars

A German court has handed a five-year jail sentence to a 101-year-old former Nazi concentration camp guard, the oldest person so far to go on trial for complicity in war crimes during the Holocaust.

Josef Schütz was found guilty on Tuesday of being an accessory to murder while working as a prison guard at the Sachsenhausen camp in Oranienburg, north of Berlin, between 1942 and 1945.

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World leaders condemn Russian attack on Ukraine shopping centre

G7 leaders say missile strike on mall in Kremenchuk was a war crime, as rescue efforts continue

World leaders have denounced Russia’s deadly strike on a shopping centre in the Ukrainian city of Kremenchuk as “abominable” and a war crime.

The search for survivors continues after the missile strike on a mall that had more than 1,000 people in it at the time, according to Ukraine’s president, Volodoymyr Zelenskiy.

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At least 16 dead as Russian missile hits shopping centre in Ukraine

Scores of people injured and at least 40 feared missing after strike in central city of Kremenchuk

A Russian missile hit a crowded shopping centre in the central Ukrainian city of Kremenchuk on Monday, killing and injuring scores of people, the Ukrainian authorities said.

Ukraine’s president, Volodoymyr Zelenskiy, said more than 1,000 people were inside the building at the time of the strike. Images from the scene showed giant plumes of black smoke and flames, with emergency crews rushing in to search for victims and put out fires.

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Johnson issues open invitation to Russian scientists ‘dismayed by Putin’s violence’

Prime minister asks disaffected Russian academics to defect to the UK alongside Ukrainian colleagues

Boris Johnson has issued an open invitation for disaffected Russian scientists to defect to the UK, as he used the G7 summit to argue that allowing Russia to prevail in Ukraine would usher in a highly damaging era of global instability.

As part of an expansion to a twinning system with Ukrainian universities, allowing Ukrainian academics to continue their research at UK institutions, Johnson said this offer extended to their Russian counterparts.

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Cyprus unity in fight against wildfires hailed as ‘very positive’

With relations between island’s two communities at a low, assistance from Greek Cypriots has been welcomed

There is not much that can bring Greek and Turkish Cypriots together these days. But when wildfires raged across the Mediterranean island last week, they put differences aside to jointly combat the blazes. So rare was the sight that on Monday the war-split country’s permanent UN representative praised the “very positive” show of unity.

“It illustrates a fundamental point about this island, and that is the solidarity among Cypriots,” Colin Stewart said on Monday after meeting the Greek Cypriot leader, Nicos Anastasiades, whose forestry department had rushed to help extinguish the blaze.

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Olaf Scholz says world must ‘avoid Putin’s trap’ and claims of discord

German chancellor argues there is more unity in the west and support for Ukraine against Russia’s invasion

The German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, has said the world is more unified in its support for Ukraine than Russia suggests, as the war dominated a G7 meeting also tasked with crises in food supply, the climate emergency and a breakdown in global order.

“We must not walk into the trap Putin sets of asserting that the world is divided into the global west – the G7 and its friends in the north – and all the rest. That’s not true,” Scholz told Germany’s ZDF television.

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Moroccan authorities accused of trying to cover up Melilla deaths

Concern at apparent plan to bury victims without investigating cause of death or trying to identify them

There are growing calls for an investigation into the deaths of up to 37 people who died trying to scale a fence to enter Melilla, Spain’s enclave in north Africa.

About 2,000 people stormed the heavily fortified border between the Moroccan region of Nador and the Spanish enclave on Friday. The Moroccan authorities say 23 people died and 140 police were injured during the attempt, while several NGOs say the number of dead is 37.

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Russia-Ukraine war latest: at least 16 killed after missile strike hits busy shopping centre in Kremenchuk

Zelenskiy says over 1,000 civilians were inside mall at time of attack, as eight civilians killed while collecting water in Lysychansk

Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskiy is set to address world leaders at the G7 meeting virtually today. He has just posted to Telegram pictures of damage from missile strikes in Kyiv, with the message:

No Russian missiles, no strikes can break the morale of Ukrainians. And each of their missiles is an argument in our negotiations with partners.

Our armed forces continue to destroy the occupiers on the line of contact. In the Kharkiv direction, the invaders attacked in the direction of Dementiivka and Pitomnyk, suffered losses and retreated. In the area of Izium, the enemy does not stop trying to advance. Our defenders are resisting, destroying the occupiers’ manpower and armoured vehicles.

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Zelenskiy calls on G7 leaders to help end war in Ukraine by winter

President speaks on video link, as leaders discuss economic measures and US confirms plans to send air defence system

The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has urged G7 leaders gathered in Germany to help end the war in Ukraine by the winter as they planned new economic measures against Russia and vowed to “stand with Ukraine for as long as it takes”.

A six-page communique from the group of seven industrialised countries – the US, UK, Canada, Japan, Germany, France and Italy – said it was “committed to helping Ukraine to end Russia’s war … to defend itself and to choose its future”. It said it would provide materials, training, logistics, intelligence and economic support.

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Russia defaults on debt for first time since 1998 – reports

Kremlin owes about $40bn but has been shut out of international financial system since invasion of Ukraine

Russia is poised to default on its debt for the first time since 1998, further alienating the country from the global financial system after sanctions imposed over its war in Ukraine.

The country missed a deadline of Sunday night to meet a 30-day grace period on interest payments of $100m (£81.2m) on two eurobonds due originally on 27 May, Bloomberg reported on Monday morning.

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Ukrainian spouses in Gaza suffer from double conflict

Women who relocated to Gaza are unable to visit or contact family, and face similar problems in their adoptive home

For more than a decade, Natalya Hassoumi’s family in Ukraine have worried about her safety in the Gaza Strip; they have been unable to reach her for days at a time while airstrikes have pummelled the isolated Palestinian territory. Now, Hassoumi is experiencing something similar. She has not heard from her parents and siblings in Russian-occupied Kherson for three weeks.

“I think the Russians must be making people switch to using Russian networks and sim cards, but I don’t know what’s happening,” the 41-year-old doctor said. “It’s very hard not knowing.”

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‘There is a lot of excitement’: Tour de France comes to Denmark

Anticipation mounts in greatest cycling nation in the world for world’s greatest cycling race

Cycle paths have been painted yellow, knitting enthusiasts have made a giant yellow jersey, and preparations are being made for a flotilla of boats flying yellow flags. The “big yellow party” comes to Denmark on 1 July when the country widely regarded as the best in the world for cyclists hosts the opening stage of the world’s greatest cycling race.

The Tour de France was originally slated to start in Copenhagen in 2021, but was transferred to Brest in response to a Covid-related scheduling conflict with the European Championships.

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Russia-Ukraine war: one killed as Kyiv hit by missile strikes; G7 leaders gather in Germany – live updates

Strikes hit Shevchenkivskiy district of Ukraine capital, says mayor Vitali Klitschko; G7 leaders to discuss energy and food crisis at Bavarian retreat

Kyiv’s mayor, Vitali Klitschko, says two people have been taken to hospital after Sunday morning’s missile strikes, with search and rescue operations continuing. In a Telegram post, Klitschko said people may still be trapped under rubble at a residential building in the Shevchenkivskyi district.

Some of the dozens of long-range Russian missile strikes on Saturday were, for the first time, launched from Tu-22 bombers deployed from Belarus, Ukraine’s military says.

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Russia-Ukraine war: what we know on day 123 of the invasion

Kyiv under attack as G7 leaders meet in Germany; focus of Russia’s campaign shifts to Lysychansk

Kyiv has come under attack for the first time since 5 June, with Russian missiles striking at residential buildings and a Kindergarten in the Shevchenkivskyi district of the capital. At least five people were injured, including a seven-year-old girl. There are unconfirmed reports that her father was killed in the attack. A Russian woman was among the injured.

Another civilian was killed in a missile attack on Cherkasy south-east of the capital. A bridge over the Dnipro river was also hit.

Both the attacks on Kyiv and Cherkasy are being seen message of defiance by Russia to G7 leaders gathering at a summit in Bavaria, Germany. Russia said it hit military targets in Chernihiv, Zhytomyr and Lviv. Joe Biden condemned the Russian attacks as “more barbarism”. Germany’s chancellor Olaf Scholz said they showed the importance of G7 unity.

Members of the G7 have confirmed a ban on imports of Russian gold. The move by Britain, the United States, Japan and Canada is part of efforts to tighten the sanctions squeeze on Moscow. Gold exports were worth $15.2bn to Russia in 2021, and their importance has increased since Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.

The UK and France have agreed to provide more support for Ukraine, according to Downing Street. Leaders of the G7 have spoken of their solidarity for Ukraine. “We have to stay together,” Joe Biden said.

Russian forces are trying to cut off the strategic twin city of Lysychansk in eastern Ukraine, having reduced Sievierodonetsk to rubble. Lysychansk is set to become the next main focus of fighting, as Moscow has launched massive artillery bombardments and airstrikes on areas far from the heart of the eastern battles. Ukraine called its retreat from Sievierodonetsk a “tactical withdrawal” to fight from higher ground in Lysychansk on the opposite bank of the Siverskyi Donets river.

Russian news footage has showed defence minister Sergei Shoigu’s visiting troops involved in the Ukraine war. It is unclear if he visited Ukrainian territory, but the footage appeared to confirm that colonel-general Gennady Zhidko is now commanding troops in Ukraine.

The mayors of several European capitals have been duped into holding video calls with a deepfake of their counterpart in Kyiv, Vitali Klitschko. The mayor of Berlin, Franziska Giffey, took part in a scheduled call on the Webex video conferencing platform on Friday with a person she said looked and sounded like Klitschko. “There were no signs that the video conference call wasn’t being held with a real person,” her office said in a statement.

The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said on Saturday that Ukraine will win back all the cities it has lost to Russia, including Sievierodonetsk. “All our cities – Sievierodonetsk, Donetsk, Luhansk – we’ll get them all back,” he said in a late-night video address. Zelenskiy also admitted that the war was becoming difficult to handle emotionally.

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Oslo shootings won’t stop fight against hate, says Norway’s prime minister

Jonas Gahr Støre joined mourners, church leaders and royalty at the memorial service to the victims of the attack

Fatal shootings at a gay bar in Oslo would not halt the fight against “discrimination, prejudice and hate”, Norway’s prime minister has said, as the country paid tribute to the victims of the attack in the early hours of Saturday morning.

The altar and aisles of the Norwegian capital’s cathedral were draped with rainbow flags for a special memorial service on Sunday attended by mourners, government ministers, church leaders and Crown Princess Mette-Marit.

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