Former ambassador calls on UK to advise citizens against travel to Egypt

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John Casson says Cairo ‘fobbing us off’ by refusing to release British-Egyptian national Alaa Abd el-Fattah

The former British ambassador to Egypt, John Casson, has urged the UK to advise its citizens against travelling to Egypt, in response to Cairo’s refusal to release dual British Egyptian national Alaa Abd el-Fattah.

A UN panel found on Wednesday that Fattah had been held arbitrarily in jail since 2019, but Egypt was refusing to give the UK consular access – let alone release him. His mother has been refusing food in protest at his detention.

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Missing family’s boat found in Alaska waters along with human remains

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Search for family from Texas was launched in August after report came in that a boat carrying eight people had begun taking on water

Nearly a year after the US Coast Guard suspended the search for a family of four missing after the boat they were on capsized in waters off south-central Alaska, the vessel along with human remains have been found, officials said Wednesday.

The discovery came after three private Alaska companies, including one that uses sonar equipment to search underwater, offered in April to help look for the family, who are from Texas, according to a statement released by the Alaska Department of Public Safety.

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Israel confirms plans to create 22 new settlements in occupied West Bank

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Defence minister says move ‘prevents establishment of a Palestinian state that would endanger Israel’

Israel has said it will establish 22 new settlements in the occupied West Bank, including the legalisation of outposts already built without government authorisation, after a security cabinet vote held in secret last week.

Israel occupied the West Bank, capturing it from Jordan, in the six-day war of 1967. Since then, successive governments have tried to permanently cement Israeli control over the land, in part by declaring swathes as “state lands”, which prevents private Palestinian ownership.

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Situation in Gaza reaches ‘catastrophic levels’ – Vatican News

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  1. Situation in Gaza reaches ‘catastrophic levels’  Vatican News
  2. A coalition of conscience must rise to stop Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza  Al Jazeera
  3. Opinion | A genocide is happening in Gaza. We should say so.  The Washington Post
  4. The fate of Gaza: ‘It all depends on Trump’  Financial Times
  5. When the Dead Speak and the Living Refuse to Listen  CounterPunch.org
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‘It’s pretty bleak’: A warming planet is poised to get even hotter, forecasters warn – Los Angeles Times

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  1. ‘It’s pretty bleak’: A warming planet is poised to get even hotter, forecasters warn  Los Angeles Times
  2. Earth is likely to cross a key climate threshold in two years  The Washington Post
  3. Earth's 5-year forecast is in: Brace for extreme heat  USA Today
  4. Arctic predicted to warm more than three times faster than global average: WMO report  The Barents Observer
  5. Global temperatures could break heat record in next five years  The Guardian
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How much does a Russian drone attack on Ukraine cost? The question is more complicated than it sounds – The Kyiv Independent

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  1. How much does a Russian drone attack on Ukraine cost? The question is more complicated than it sounds  The Kyiv Independent
  2. Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 1,190  Al Jazeera
  3. What do Ukrainians think of Trump? ‘Nothing good’  The Hill
  4. Russia Defies Trump With Largest-Ever Drone-and-Missile Attack on Ukraine  WSJ
  5. NATO Scrambles Fighter Jets After Long-Range Russian Missile Strikes  Newsweek
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Russia Appears to Launch New Offensive in Ukraine Amid Peace Talks – The New York Times

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  1. Russia Appears to Launch New Offensive in Ukraine Amid Peace Talks  The New York Times
  2. Putin masses 50,000 troops on Ukraine's north front as Trump again agrees to meet Russian, Ukrainian leaders  Fox News
  3. Russia masses over 50,000 troops for offensive on northeastern Ukraine, Zelenskiy says  Reuters
  4. Ukraine braces for expected Russian summer offensive in the east  The Washington Post
  5. Russian troops massing in north, says Ukraine after drone offensive  The Times
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Lead detective denies police errors in mushroom lunch investigation as Erin Patterson trial continues

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Defence argues photos taken by police inside Patterson’s home appear to show computers and a phone that were not seized during search

The detective in charge of the investigation into the deadly beef wellington lunch served by Erin Patterson has denied police made several errors in the case, including failing to seize electronic items during a search of her house and wrongly identifying her son on CCTV footage, a court has heard.

Patterson, 50, faces three charges of murder and one charge of attempted murder relating to poisoning her four lunch guests – relatives of her estranged husband, Simon Patterson – with a beef wellington served at her house in Leongatha, Victoria on 29 July 2023.

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