Ocado aims to raise £575m from investors to fund tech arm expansion

Firm wants to ‘invest in innovation at faster pace’ and help clients as online grocery market grows

Ocado is aiming to raise £575m from investors to fund the expansion of its technology arm, which enables overseas retailers to sell groceries online. It has also agreed a new £300m credit facility with a syndicate of international banks.

Ocado said it wanted the cash to “invest in innovation at a faster pace” and help its clients, which include the US supermarket chain Kroger and the French grocer Casino, to accelerate the shift to online shopping.

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Holiday travel adds pressure to stressed industry as more US flights canceled

Airlines, reeling from pilot and staff shortages and the effects of bad weather, have interrupted 19,000 flights since Thursday

The confluence of two holidays, Father’s Day and Juneteenth, and a season of “revenge travel” continued to heap pressure on the already stretched airline industry as 4,200 additional US flights were delayed and 900 canceled on Sunday, pushing the total number of flights interrupted since Thursday to 19,000.

Delta was hit hardest, with 6% of its total flights on Sunday cancelled. A further 200 flights were cancelled early Monday.

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Texas Republican party adopts far-right position that homosexuality is ‘abnormal’

Delegates at biennial convention also approve platform declaring that Joe Biden was not legitimately elected

The Republican party in Texas has officially adopted a series of extreme-right positions that includes claims Joe Biden was not legitimately elected and homosexuality is “abnormal”.

In a platform adopted at its biennial convention in Houston, delegates voted to oppose “all efforts to validate transgender identity”, including the use of taxpayer funds for any “medical gender dysphoria treatments or sex change operations”.

The anti-trans and anti-gay declarations are part of the state party’s new guiding principles, in a section titled homosexuality and gender issues, which contradict claims by some Republicans that the GOP wants to be more inclusive.

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Gustavo Petro becomes Colombia’s first leftist president | First Thing

Former guerrilla fighter beat populist business tycoon Rodolfo Hernández in runoff yesterday. Plus, Kyiv residents take steps towards normality

Good morning.

Colombia has elected a former guerrilla fighter as president, making him the South American country’s first leftist head of state.

What else did he say? During his victory speech, Petro issued a call for unity and extended an olive branch to some of his harshest critics, saying all members of the opposition will be welcomed “to discuss the problems of Colombia”.

What has the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, said? He congratulated “the people of Colombia for making their voices heard in a free and fair” presidential election. “We look forward to working with President-elect Petro to further strengthen the US-Colombia relationship and move our nations toward a better future,” he added.

What has she said to her colleagues who support Trump’s allies? “In our country, we don’t swear an oath to an individual, or a political party,” she said. “I say this to my Republican colleagues who are defending the indefensible: there will come a day when Donald Trump is gone but your dishonor will remain.”

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Republican states trying to ban abortion expand health benefits for new mothers

Bills with benefits for low-income mothers don’t counteract bans that would lead to higher risks for maternal mortality, say experts

A number of Republican-led states that are moving to ban abortion are, at the same time, extending health insurance benefits to new mothers, professing to support “women in crisis”.

As the US supreme court prepares to rule on national abortion rights, many Republican states are seeking severe abortion bans that would force many women to carry pregnancies to term, likely worsening the US maternal mortality crisis.

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China says anti-missile test not ‘aimed at any country’ despite rising tensions

Ballistic missile interception system trial follows North Korean tests and deployment of US THAAD system in South Korea

China has claimed a successful test of a land-based ballistic missile interception system amid heightened tensions in Asia, in a move its defence ministry described as “defensive and not aimed at any country”.

Beijing has in recent years been ramping up research into all sorts of missiles, from those that can destroy satellites in space to advanced nuclear-tipped ballistic missiles, as part of a modernisation overseen by President Xi Jinping. It came after North Korea conducted a series of missile tests, which prompted South Korea and the US to warn that Pyongyang could conduct a nuclear test at any time.

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Film-maker Paul Haggis arrested over sexual assault allegations in Italy

Prosecutors say allegations involve ‘young foreign woman’ who was forced to have ‘non-consensual’ sexual relations over two days

Authorities detained Oscar-winning film director Paul Haggis on Sunday in connection with allegations that he sexually assaulted a woman in southern Italy, Italian news media said, quoting local prosecutors.

The Canadian-born Haggis, 69, has been in Italy for a film festival that begins on Tuesday in Ostuni, a tourist town in Puglia, the region that forms the “heel” of the Italian peninsula.

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Two actors from Netflix show The Chosen One die in Mexico crash

Raymundo Garduno and Juan Francisco Aguilar, as well as six other people who were injured, were in van that flipped in desert

A traffic crash in Mexico last week killed two actors from an upcoming original series by Netflix and injured six other people, according to officials and media reports.

The killed actors, Raymundo Garduno and Juan Francisco Aguilar, were in a van that accidentally flipped Thursday in a patch of desert near the community of Mulege on the Baja California Sur peninsula. Other cast and crew members were hurt during the wreck, which reportedly occurred offset but during filming of the show The Chosen One.

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US travelers face new wave of chaos as flight cancellations continue

1,000 flights cancelled Sunday after approximately 14,000 flights were cancelled or delayed on Friday and Saturday

Travelers were subjected to a new wave of flight chaos across the US on Sunday, with about 1,000 flights cancelled. The toll added to about 14,000 flights within, out of, or into the US that were cancelled or delayed on Friday and Saturday.

Hartsfield-Jackson in Atlanta was one of the worst hit airports – the facility saw passengers stranded over the weekend as Delta cancelled or changed dozens of scheduled flights.

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Yellowstone to partially reopen Wednesday after catastrophic flooding

Visitors will be allowed on southern loop under system designed to manage crowds after flooding destroyed bridges and roads

After catastrophic flooding destroyed bridges and roads and drove out thousands of tourists, Yellowstone national park will partially reopen at 8am Wednesday.

The National Park Service announced this weekend that visitors will once again be allowed on Yellowstone’s southern loop under a temporary license plate system designed to manage the crowds.

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Kinzinger: Trump’s actions surrounding January 6 amount to ‘seditious conspiracy’

Republican member of the Capitol attack panel also says Trump’s actions surrounding the deadly riot had ‘criminal involvement’

A Republican member of the congressional committee investigating the January 6 attack on the Capitol said on Sunday that he believes Donald Trump’s actions surrounding the deadly riots amount to “seditious conspiracy” and “criminal involvement by a president”.

Illinois congressman Adam Kinzinger’s remarks on ABC’s This Week came after three hearings held by the House January 6 committee presented searing testimony and mounting evidence about Trump’s central role in a complex plot to overturn his defeat at the hands of Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election.

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Apple workers in Maryland vote to join union, a first for the tech giant in US

Move comes as unionization efforts gain momentum across country, including at Amazon and Starbucks

Apple Store workers in Maryland have voted to join a union, becoming the tech giant’s first retail employees to join a labour-force movement as part of a wider trend across US retail, service and tech industries.

Workers voted to unionise on a nearly two-to-one margin and the result, announced on Saturday by the National Labor Relations Board, provides a foothold for a budding movement among Apple retail employees who want a greater voice over wages and policies pertaining to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.

Reuters and Associated Press contributed to this report

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CDC recommends Covid vaccines for infants, toddlers and preschoolers

Children as young as six months will be able to get shots from either Pfizer or Moderna after Friday’s FDA approval

Children as young as six months old, through age five, will be able to get the US’s first Covid-19 vaccines approved for infants, toddlers and preschoolers.

The development came after final sign-off on Saturday from Rochelle Walensky, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

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Gianforte was vacationing in Italy as Montana flooded, governor’s office says

As state suffered record flooding – and Yellowstone national park closed – his office initially declined to say where he was

Montana’s governor, Greg Gianforte, was vacationing in Italy during that state’s historic flooding, which caused Yellowstone national park to close, his office confirmed on Friday.

As the state suffered record flooding and rockslides, Gianforte’s office had initially declined to say where he was or when he might return, citing “security concerns”, even as a statewide disaster was declared.

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‘I’m good’: Joe Biden falls off bike during Delaware ride with first lady

President braked to speak with a crowd and tipped over, saying the ‘toe cages’ on his bike got caught

Joe Biden fell off a bicycle near his Delaware beach home Saturday morning, moments after greeting reporters with a wave and a cheery “Good morning!”

The president was near the end of a bike ride with the first lady, Dr Jill Biden, near Rehoboth Beach where the couple are celebrating their 45th wedding anniversary.

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Heat: Robert De Niro and Al Pacino reunite to discuss their hit thriller

At a special Tribeca film festival event, the stars of Michael Mann’s acclaimed crime saga reminisced while offering suggestions of who could play them in a remake

Any misgivings about terseness at a Q&A panel dedicated to Heat, a film in which men prefer to let their automatic rifles talk about their feelings for them, were quickly put to one side last night at the dazzling United Palace theater in Manhattan’s Washington Heights.

The Tribeca film festival event dedicated to the 1995 crime classic from Michael Mann – who couldn’t attend due to a positive Covid test, but took care to record a video message from the Italian set of his forthcoming Enzo Ferrari movie, wistfully recalling his initial pitch all those years ago at a Broadway Diner lunch – began with an out-of-the-gate standing ovation for the assembled talent: producer Art Linson, as well as stars Robert De Niro and Al Pacino, a couple of guys unable to get a cup of coffee in New York without a round of applause. Things only got rowdier from there.

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Stephen Colbert staff members arrested for trespassing on Capitol Hill

Robert Smigel, the voice behind Triumph the Insult Comic Dog, was among the employees detained by Capitol police

Seven staff members from The Late Show with Stephen Colbert were arrested for allegedly trespassing in a Capitol Hill building on Thursday night, authorities have said. All seven were each charged with unlawful entry.

The employees, including Robert Smigel, the voice behind Triumph the Insult Comic Dog, were found by US Capitol police (USCP) officers inside the Longworth House Office Building, which houses offices for members of the House of Representatives.

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Two Uvalde officers had chance to shoot gunman, sheriff’s deputy says

Unidentified officers said they feared hitting children outside the school, chief deputy tells the New York Times

Two Uvalde city police officers passed up a fleeting chance to shoot a gunman outside Robb elementary school before he went on to kill 21 people inside the school, a senior sheriff’s deputy told the New York Times.

That would mean a second missed opportunity for officers to stop Salvador Ramos before the 24 May attack inside the school that killed 19 children and two teachers. Officials said that a school district police drove past Ramos without seeing him in the school parking lot.

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Gunman, 70, kills three people at Alabama church dinner

Police say the man fatally shot people attending monthly dinner at Episcopal church in Birmingham suburb

A 70-year-old man has shot and killed three people at a church potluck dinner in Alabama.

Police said the man, who had previously attended services at St Stephen’s Episcopal church, pulled out a handgun and fatally shot three of the participants, one of whom died in his wife’s arms.

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Trillion-dollar crypto collapse sparks flurry of US lawsuits – who’s to blame?

Kim Kardashian and Floyd Mayweather among those being sued, but prosecuting fraud in the crypto arena is notoriously difficult

With investors worldwide looking at a collective $1.5tn in recent cryptocurrency losses, a blizzard of class-action lawsuits are being prepared. One big question is: who, if anyone, is to blame – and who could be held to account?

With inflation and interest rates rising, the best-known cryptocurrencies have been hit with heavy and continuing losses: Bitcoin has lost more than 50% of its value this year; Ethereum, its largest rival, is down 65%; and the total value of crypto assets has dropped to less than $1tn from its November 2021 peak of $3tn. US federal regulators say 46,000 people have reported losing $1bn in crypto to scams since January 2021.

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