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A ban on a “destructive” type of fishing that drags large nets along the seafloor could be extended across English waters, the government has said.

The proposal would expand the the prohibition of bottom trawling from 18,000km2 to 30,000km2 (around 11,500 sq miles) of the UK’s offshore areas that are already designated as protected. The plan is subject to a 12-week industry consultation.

The announcement comes as a UN Ocean Conference begins on Monday in France, and amid warnings from Sir David Attenborough that bottom trawling is destroying areas of the seabed and marine life.

Environment Secretary Steve Reed said “without urgent action our oceans will be irreversibly destroyed”.

Speaking before the summit, Sir David told Prince William he was “appalled” by the fishing method.

The naturalist’s latest documentary Ocean With David Attenborough showed new footage of a bottom trawling net bulldozing through silt on the seafloor and scooping up species indiscriminately.

Last week, MPs on the Environmental Audit Committee renewed calls to ban bottom trawling, dredging and mining for aggregates on the seabed in what are known as Marine Protected Areas (MPAs).

The extension proposed by the government would cover 41 of the UK’s 178 MPAs, and would protect rare marine animals and the delicate seabed they rely upon.

It says it has carried out detailed assessments into the harms caused to habitats and species.

A 12-week consultation will run until 1 September and will seek the views of the marine and fishing industry.

Ariana Densham, head of oceans at Greenpeace UK, said the consultation was “ultimately a long-overdue completion of a process started by the previous government”.

The Wildlife Trust said it hoped the extended ban would be put in place “rapidly”.

It would be a “win-win for both nature and the climate,” added the trust’s director of policy and public affairs, Joan Edwards.

Pressure is also building for more countries to ratify the High Seas Treaty at the Ocean Conference in Nice.

The treaty was agreed by 193 countries two years ago to put 30% of the ocean into protected areas.

The treaty will not come into force until it is ratified by 60 countries, with the current number standing at 28. The UK is among those countries that has yet to ratify.

Video from Al Jazeera Mubasher showed the crew of the Gaza Freedom Flotilla Coalition’s Madleen in life jackets with their hands raised as the ship was about to be raided by Israeli forces. Communications with the vessel were cut shortly after.

Liz Oyer, a lawyer with the United States Department of Justice handling pardons for a long time, was fired by the Trump administration in March. Since then, Oyer has publicly criticised the administration, including its approach to pardons.

In an April 30 video on TikTok, Oyer took issue with many of Trump’s pardons, not only because they short-circuited the justice system but also because of their financial impact.

“President Trump has granted pardons that have wiped out over $1bn in debts owed by wealthy Americans who have committed fraud and broken the law,” claims Oyer, who said she was fired because she opposed a pardon to restore gun rights to actor Mel Gibson, a Trump supporter who was convicted on misdemeanour domestic violence charges in 2011.

US Senator Cory Booker, a Democrat from New Jersey, shared her post on May 31 on Instagram, saying Trump is “selling pardons to criminals who dump money on him and ingratiate themselves to his ego. They not only get out of jail, but they get out of the money they owe to make restitution for their crimes. This is wrong.”

Oyer’s Substack includes a running list of Trump’s pardons, along with a dollar figure for each that she says the pardon erased. The dollar figures on her list include fines – a financial penalty for being convicted of a crime – and restitution, which is designed to compensate victims for their losses.

As of June 5, Oyer’s pardon tracker listed 24 people with federal convictions whom Trump pardoned, along with the dollar amounts to be forgiven.

People and companies pardoned by Trump could save up to $1.3bn

On the surface, the maths holds: collectively, the 24 pardoned people and companies Oyer listed were on the hook for $1.34bn.

“A full pardon would wipe out any payments that were required as part of the criminal sentence”, as long as they have not already been paid, said Brian Kalt, a Michigan State University law professor.

But legal experts offered some caveats about this calculation. Some of the dollar amounts on Oyer’s list were not finalised, which adds some speculation to her total.

Oyer did not respond to inquiries for this article.

The biggest debts erased by pardons so far

After four and a half months in office, Trump has surpassed all but three post-World War II presidents for the number of clemency actions, which include pardons and commutations. His total is dominated by the roughly 1,500 pardons he granted to people who faced legal consequences from their participation in the events of January 6, 2021, when pro-Trump rioters stormed the US Capitol.

Trump’s second-term clemency acts exceed all but three modern presidents

The vast majority of clemency actions by Trump’s predecessor, President Joe Biden, were commutations, meaning they did not affect fines or restitution. (Biden commuted sentences for 37 people on death row and about 2,500 others convicted of nonviolent drug crimes.)

Biden pardoned 80 people over four years; Trump has pardoned 58 people in four and a half months, excluding the January 6, 2021-related pardons.

The four pardon recipients on Oyer’s list with the highest debt would collectively exceed $1bn by themselves. They are:

• Trevor Milton, an electric-truck company owner, who had been convicted of securities fraud and wire fraud in 2023 and sentenced to four years in prison. He was ordered to pay $676m in restitution.
• Ross William Ulbricht, the founder of Silk Road, an online marketplace that sold illegal drugs such as cocaine and heroin. Ulbricht had been convicted of aiding and abetting the distribution of drugs over the internet, continuing criminal enterprise, computer hacking conspiracy, and money laundering conspiracy. He had been sentenced to life in prison. (Ulbricht’s pardon fulfilled a Trump campaign promise.) Ulbricht was ordered to pay almost $184m.
• HDR Global Trading Limited, operator of a cryptocurrency exchange that had been ordered to pay a $100m fine for violating the Bank Secrecy Act’s anti-money laundering provisions.
• Lawrence Duran, owner of American Therapeutic Corp, a Miami-area mental health company, convicted of multiple counts related to healthcare fraud; Duran was sentenced to 50 years in prison and $87.5m in restitution.

However, it is unclear whether these four would add up to $1bn plus in forgone payments to the federal government, because not every amount listed had been formally approved by a judge.

“Almost always, a pardon has come after sentencing, so we know the amount of the fine or restitution with certainty,” said Mark Osler, a University of St Thomas law professor. But at least in Milton’s case, the pardon came before the restitution portion of his sentencing was completed.

Milton is the most important pardon recipient for judging the accuracy of Oyer’s statement, because it is the largest, accounting for about two-thirds of the $1bn figure.

He was sentenced in December 2023, but legal skirmishing over his restitution package was delayed. In March 2025, federal prosecutors requested that the judge approve about $676m in restitution – $660.8m to shareholders in his company and $15m to one victim. That request was pending at the time of Milton’s pardon.

It is impossible to know whether the judge would have ultimately accepted that amount.

Defendants can contest the prosecution’s restitution request, and they often do, said Frank O Bowman III, a University of Missouri emeritus law professor.

However, “a judge will usually accept” what the government suggests, Osler said.

For the second-, third- and fourth-ranking dollar amounts on Oyer’s list, each was finalised in court. For these, though, it is unclear whether the pardon recipients had already begun to pay any of their restitution. If they had, that could reduce the dollar amounts on Oyer’s list. (Our reporting did not turn up a central, publicly accessible repository showing who had paid what by the time of their pardon.)

Restitution owed by January 6, 2021, pardon recipients, which is not included in Oyer’s figure, could also push the total higher. Democrats on the House Oversight Committee said in a March 2025 letter that people receiving pardons related to January 6, 2021, owed nearly $3m in restitution before being pardoned.

Other high-profile names on Oyer’s list with smaller dollar amounts include: Devon Archer, Hunter Biden’s former business partner, who was interviewed by congressional Republicans during an investigation of Joe Biden, Hunter’s father; Carlos Watson, the founder of Ozy Media Inc, who was convicted on several fraud counts; reality TV stars Todd Chrisley and Julie Chrisley, who were also convicted on fraud counts; and former politicians Michael Grimm, John Rowland, Michelle Fiore and Alexander Sittenfeld.

Oyer told The Washington Post that when deciding clemency, past presidents have hewed closer to the recommendations of her former Justice Department office, which has guidelines stating that potential pardon recipients should have already completed their sentence, including paying any restitution.

“It’s unprecedented for a president to grant pardons that have the effect of wiping out so much debt owed by people who have committed frauds,” Oyer told the Post. “They do not meet Justice Department standards for recommending a pardon.”

Legal experts told PolitiFact that courts have not ruled on what happens to fines or restitution payments after a pardon if they had not already been paid. A 1995 Justice Department memo said that although payments already made and received would not be subject to being clawed back, the obligations not yet paid at the time of the pardon would be forgiven.

“This question, to our knowledge, has not been decided by any court, but we conclude, based upon existing precedent, that a pardon does reach such restitution where the victim has not yet received the restitution award, provided the pardon does not contain an express limitation to the contrary,” the memo said.

Margaret Love, who held Oyer’s former post at the Justice Department from 1990 to 1997, said, “If money is paid to the government, you can’t get the money back except through a congressional appropriation.”

For restitution intended to compensate a person — such as the victim of a fraudulent scheme — it appears that the victims are out of luck once a pardon is issued if they have not received that money already, legal experts said. It is unclear whether the victims would be obliged to repay the restitution they had already received back to the pardoned convict who defrauded them.

“I don’t know if it has ever come up,” Osler said.

Our ruling

Oyer said, “President Trump has granted pardons that have wiped out over $1bn in debts owed by wealthy Americans who have committed fraud and broken the law.”

In 24 Trump pardons Oyer cited, the four biggest dollar amounts top $1bn. However, the single biggest – about $676m – relates to an amount sought by prosecutors that had not been formally approved by a judge before the pardon was issued, making the dollar figure speculative. It accounts for about two-thirds of the $1bn figure.

The statement is accurate but requires additional information, so we rate it Mostly True.

At least 13 Palestinians have been killed and more than 150 injured after Israeli troops and American security contractors opened fire on crowds waiting for food near two aid distribution sites in Gaza, one east of Rafah and another near the Wadi Gaza Bridge.

Sunday’s killings are the latest in a series of attacks on civilians seeking food at aid centres operated by the controversial Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a US-led initiative backed by Israel in Israeli-controlled zones.

More than 130 people have now been killed and more than 700 wounded by Israeli troops while desperately trying to access meagre food parcels for their hungry families from the aid sites since the GHF programme began on May 27.

At least nine people are still missing.

In a statement, Gaza’s Government Media Office condemned the distribution sites as “human slaughterhouses”, accusing Israeli forces of luring desperate civilians to their deaths.

“These are war crimes and crimes against humanity,” the statement said, urging an independent international probe and an immediate suspension of GHF’s delivery model.

The drive backed by Israel and the United States has faced growing criticism from human rights organisations and the United Nations for violating basic humanitarian standards and bypassing organisations that have decades of experience distributing aid to the entire population of the besieged enclave.

‘This is a trap for us, not aid’

The latest bloodshed reportedly began around 6am local time (03:00 GMT), as hundreds of Palestinians stalked by starvation gathered near the aid point in the al-Alam area of Rafah.

Witnesses said people had started forming queues as early as 4:30am, desperate to get food before the site became overwhelmed.

“After about an hour and a half, hundreds moved toward the site, and the army opened fire,” said witness Abdallah Nour al-Din.

The Israeli military later said its troops opened fire on individuals who “continued advancing in a way that endangered the soldiers”, and claimed the area had been designated an “active combat zone” at night. However, survivors insist the shooting took place after sunrise.

“This is a trap for us, not aid,” said Adham Dahman, speaking to the Associated Press from Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza with a bloodied bandage on his chin. He said a tank fired towards the crowd, and people were left scrambling for cover.

Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said that 13 wounded individuals and one person who was dead on arrival came to its clinic in the al-Mawasi area of southern Khan Younis today.

MSF said the injured and dead were “carried in donkey carts, on bicycles, or on foot”.

The wounded were all men between the ages of 17 and 30. The victims said they were shot in the Shakoush area while travelling to a food distribution site in Saudi village.

Footage from outside the hospital showed mourning families weeping over blood-soaked shrouds, as emergency workers rushed to treat the wounded.

UN Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories Francesca Albanese called the GHF operation “humanitarian camouflage” and “an essential tactic of this genocide”.

In a post on social media, Albanese blamed “the moral and political corruption of the world” for enabling the destruction of Gaza.

Al Jazeera’s correspondent Hani Mahmoud, reporting from Gaza City, said the GHF’s delivery model has proven woefully inadequate. “Today’s deadly attacks in the south show that the GHF is insufficient in the way it’s running aid delivery,” he said.

“In the north, living conditions are becoming even more difficult. People are not just spending hours searching for water and food — they are spending the entire day. By the end of it, many are completely exhausted and dehydrated, simply because they could not find anything.”

An unnamed GHF official claimed there has been no violence in or around its aid distribution sites, all three of which delivered food on Sunday, according to The Associated Press.

Hospitals overwhelmed

The violence comes as Gaza’s Health Ministry reports that the total death toll from Israel’s ongoing war has reached 54,880, with more than 126,000 injured since October 7, 2023. Since Israel ended a ceasefire on March 18, 4,603 Palestinians have been killed and more than 14,000 injured.

In just the last 24 hours, Israeli strikes have killed at least 108 people and wounded nearly 400 more across the besieged enclave, the ministry said.

Hospitals are overwhelmed and on the brink of collapse, the ministry said.

Rafah’s Red Cross Field Hospital has declared 12 mass casualty emergencies in just two weeks, with more than 900 wounded arriving during that period — 41 of them already dead. Most of those treated had been trying to reach food distribution sites when they were shot or injured.

A spokesman at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir el-Balah warned that fuel supplies for Gaza’s health facilities may run out within 48 hours, leaving patients without care. “The hospital’s artificial kidney department is out of service due to the occupation’s attacks,” he told Al Jazeera.

Meanwhile, the director of al-Shifa Hospital told Al Jazeera that the lives of 300 kidney failure patients hang in the balance. “We are facing a real disaster in the hospital if electricity is not provided,” he warned.

Activists say Israeli troops have boarded a yacht trying to bring humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip.

“Connection has been lost” on the Madleen, the Freedom Flotilla Coalition campaign group said on the Telegram app.

It posted a photo showing people in life jackets sitting with their hands up. The report could not be independently verified.

Climate activist Greta Thunberg is among those aboard the vessel, which is believed to be off the Egyptian coast.

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz earlier ordered the military to prevent the ship from breaking the blockade of Gaza. Israel says the blockade is necessary to prevent weapons from reaching Hamas.

Last week, a prominent Saudi Sheikh, Mohammed Al-Issa, visited the Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland to commemorate the 75th anniversary of its liberation, which signalled the end of the Nazi Holocaust. Although dozens of Muslim scholars have visited the site, where about one million Jews were killed during World War Two, according to the Auschwitz Memorial Centre’s press office, Al-Issa is the most senior Muslim religious leader to do so.

Visiting Auschwitz is not a problem for a Muslim; Islam orders Muslims to reject unjustified killing of any human being, no matter what their faith is. Al-Issa is a senior ally of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman (MBS), who apparently cares little for the sanctity of human life, though, and the visit to Auschwitz has very definite political connotations beyond any Islamic context.

By sending Al-Issa to the camp, Bin Salman wanted to show his support for Israel, which exploits the Holocaust for geopolitical colonial purposes. “The Israeli government decided that it alone was permitted to mark the 75th anniversary of the Allied liberation of Auschwitz [in modern day Poland] in 1945,” wrote journalist Richard Silverstein recently when he commented on the gathering of world leaders in Jerusalem for Benjamin Netanyahu’s Holocaust event.

READ: Next up, a Saudi embassy in Jerusalem 

Bin Salman uses Al Issa for such purposes, as if to demonstrate his own Zionist credentials. For example, the head of the Makkah-based Muslim World League is leading rapprochement efforts with Evangelical Christians who are, in the US at least, firm Zionists in their backing for the state of Israel. Al-Issa has called for a Muslim-Christian-Jewish interfaith delegation to travel to Jerusalem in what would, in effect, be a Zionist troika.

Zionism is not a religion, and there are many non-Jewish Zionists who desire or support the establishment of a Jewish state in occupied Palestine. The definition of Zionism does not mention the religion of its supporters, and Israeli writer Sheri Oz, is just one author who insists that non-Jews can be Zionists.

Mohammad Bin Salman and Netanyahu – Cartoon [Tasnimnews.com/Wikipedia]

We should not be shocked, therefore, to see a Zionist Muslim leader in these trying times. It is reasonable to say that Bin Salman’s grandfather and father were Zionists, as close friends of Zionist leaders. Logic suggests that Bin Salman comes from a Zionist dynasty.

This has been evident from his close relationship with Zionists and positive approaches to the Israeli occupation and establishment of a Jewish state in Palestine, calling it “[the Jews’] ancestral homeland”. This means that he has no issue with the ethnic cleansing of almost 800,000 Palestinians in 1948, during which thousands were killed and their homes demolished in order to establish the Zionist state of Israel.

“The ‘Jewish state’ claim is how Zionism has tried to mask its intrinsic Apartheid, under the veil of a supposed ‘self-determination of the Jewish people’,” wrote Israeli blogger Jonathan Ofir in Mondoweiss in 2018, “and for the Palestinians it has meant their dispossession.”

As the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia, Crown Prince Bin Salman has imprisoned dozens of Palestinians, including representatives of Hamas. In doing so he is serving Israel’s interests. Moreover, he has blamed the Palestinians for not making peace with the occupation state. Bin Salman “excoriated the Palestinians for missing key opportunities,” wrote Danial Benjamin in Moment magazine. He pointed out that the prince’s father, King Salman, has played the role of counterweight by saying that Saudi Arabia “permanently stands by Palestine and its people’s right to an independent state with occupied East Jerusalem as its capital.”

UN expert: Saudi crown prince behind hack on Amazon CEO 

Israeli journalist Barak Ravid of Israel’s Channel 13 News reported Bin Salman as saying: “In the last several decades the Palestinian leadership has missed one opportunity after the other and rejected all the peace proposals it was given. It is about time the Palestinians take the proposals and agree to come to the negotiations table or shut up and stop complaining.” This is reminiscent of the words of the late Israeli Foreign Minister Abba Eban, one of the Zionist founders of Israel, that the Palestinians “never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity.”

Bin Salman’s Zionism is also very clear in his bold support for US President Donald Trump’s deal of the century, which achieves Zionist goals in Palestine at the expense of Palestinian rights. He participated in the Bahrain conference, the forum where the economic side of the US deal was announced, where he gave “cover to several other Arab countries to attend the event and infuriated the Palestinians.”

US President Donald Trump looks over at Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia Mohammad bin Salman al-Saud as they line up for the family photo during the opening day of Argentina G20 Leaders’ Summit 2018 at Costa Salguero on 30 November 2018 in Buenos Aires, Argentina [Daniel Jayo/Getty Images]

While discussing the issue of the current Saudi support for Israeli policies and practices in Palestine with a credible Palestinian official last week, he told me that the Palestinians had contacted the Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro to ask him not to relocate his country’s embassy to Jerusalem. “The Saudis have been putting pressure on us in order to relocate our embassy to Jerusalem,” replied the Brazilian leader. What more evidence of Mohammad Bin Salman’s Zionism do we need?

The founder of Friends of Zion Museum is American Evangelical Christian Mike Evans. He said, after visiting a number of the Gulf States, that, “The leaders [there] are more pro-Israel than a lot of Jews.” This was a specific reference to Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince, and his counterpart in the UAE, Mohammed Bin Zayed.

“All versions of Zionism lead to the same reactionary end of unbridled expansionism and continued settler colonial genocide of [the] Palestinian people,” Israeli-American writer and photographer Yoav Litvin wrote for Al Jazeera. We may well see an Israeli Embassy opened in Riyadh in the near future, and a Saudi Embassy in Tel Aviv or, more likely, Jerusalem. Is Mohammad Bin Salman a Zionist? There’s no doubt about it.

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.

Ruben Neves scores winning penalty kick as Portugal defeat Spain 5-3 in a shootout to win the Nations League title.

Cristiano Ronaldo was in tears as Portugal picked up their second Nations League title by beating holders Spain 5-3 on penalties following a thrilling 2-2 draw in the final.

Ronaldo’s 138th international goal took the final on Sunday to a shootout, with Alvaro Morata’s miss proving costly for Spain as Ruben Neves struck the winning spot kick to spark wild scenes of celebration, with emotion overwhelming the veteran captain.

Spain’s exhilarating 5-4 victory over France in Thursday’s semifinal ensured Luis de la Fuente’s side had continued an unbeaten run that stretched back to March 2023 coming into Sunday’s showpiece final in Munich.

They appeared on course for yet another trophy, on the back last year’s European Championship triumph, as Martin Zubimendi tapped home his second international goal in the 21st minute.

The holders’ lead did not last long, however, as flying Portugal full-back Nuno Mendes slotted home the equaliser after good work from Ronaldo in the build up.

A sublime pass from midfielder Pedri helped Mikel Oyarzabal, who netted the winner against England in last year’s European Championship final, restored Spain’s lead before the break.

The tussle between the Iberian neighbours was billed as a clash between old and new – 40-year-old and five-time Ballon d’Or winner Ronaldo and Spain’s teenage sensation Lamine Yamal.

While Yamal, among the favourites to take home one of the most prestigious individual awards this year, struggled to make inroads, Ronaldo pounced on his chance, firing Portugal level from close range just past the hour mark.

Ronaldo went off injured late on and neither side could find a winner in extra time, with the game going to a shootout and Portugal netting all five of their penalties to claim the trophy.

Earlier on Sunday, Kylian Mbappe led France to third place with a 2-0 win over host nation Germany in Stuttgart.

The Real Madrid star scored one goal and set up the other for Michael Olise as France recovered from a lethargic first half.

Carlos Alcaraz defends his French Open title with one of tennis’s greatest comebacks against Jannik Sinner.

Carlos Alcaraz rallied from two sets down and saved three match points to beat Jannik Sinner 4-6, 6-7 (4), 6-4, 7-6 (3), 7-6 (10-2) in an all-time classic win at the French Open – a title the Spaniard won for a second straight year.

Alcaraz, who won his fifth Grand Slam tournament in as many finals, produced one of the greatest comebacks in the history of the clay-court tournament.

It was even better than his performance here last year, when he came back from 2-1 down in sets in the final against Alexander Zverev. This time, Alcaraz emulated Novak Djokovic’s feat from the 2021 final at Roland-Garros, when the now 24-time major winner fought back from two sets down to beat Stefanos Tsitsipas.

“I’m just proud. I’m just really, really happy,” Alcaraz said after the match on Sunday before praising Sinner. “I know how hard you are chasing this tournament. You’re going to be champion, not once, but many, many times. It’s a privilege to share the court with you in every tournament, making this story with you.”

It was the first time that Sinner had lost a Grand Slam final, but the fifth time in succession he has now lost to Alcaraz, who clinched the 20th tennis title of his career at the age of 22.

It was also the longest-ever French Open final — 5 hours, 29 minutes — in the Open Era.

After 3 hours, 43 minutes, Sinner had his first match point. But with just over five hours since the match began, Alcaraz served for the title at 5-4 up.

The drama was still not over.

Sinner made a remarkable retrieve from yet another superb Alcaraz drop shot. At the very limit he could stretch to, Sinner glided the ball over the net, with the ball landing with the softness of an autumn leaf and out of Alcaraz’s reach to make it 15-40.

When Sinner won the game to make it 5-5, it was his turn to milk the applause and he was two points away from victory in the 12th game, with Alcaraz on serve and at 15-30 and at deuce.

But Alcaraz made a staggering cross-court backhand to make it 6-6 and force a tie-breaker, with the crowd going wild when Alcaraz’s cross-court winner made it 4-0.

Sinner could not find a way back, and Alcaraz won the match with a superb forehand pass down the line and then fell onto his back to celebrate. Then he rushed over to dance and hug the team members in his box.

“I’m very happy for you, and you deserve it, so congrats,” the 23-year-old Sinner told Alcaraz. ”It’s an amazing trophy, so I won’t sleep tonight very well, but it’s OK.”

A murder investigation has been launched after a teenage boy died in north Manchester.

Officers were called to Nevin Road in the New Moston area at about 17:00 BST, Greater Manchester Police said.

The force has not yet said how the boy died. Three people have been arrested in connection with the incident.

Supt Marcus Noden said it was “distressing and heartbreaking” that a boy had lost his life and urged witnesses to come forward.

The force said it was “still trying to establish the circumstances” around the incident and several areas had been cordoned off, including outside the Fairway Inn Pub on Nuthurst Rd.

The boy’s family is being supported by specialist officers.

Supt Noden appealed for anyone with information to come forward.

He said they wanted to hear from “anyone who was in the Nevin Road area” who saw the incident take place.

“We will bring updates as we get them as the investigation continues,” he added.

Under the slogan “welfare not warfare”, protesters have come out in force in London, objecting to the British government’s plans to increase military spending while cutting back on social support.

Like its European allies in NATO, the United Kingdom is under pressure from the United States to take responsibility for its own security in light of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

But the European public – most of whom are facing a cost-of-living crisis – may well object as much as the British.

So can NATO allies build a defence force strong enough to counter any threats from Russia without US support?

And how will European leaders address possible public discontent?

Presenter: Elizabeth Puranam

Guests:

Paul Beaver – defence analyst

Aaron Gasch Burnett – senior fellow at the Democratic Strategy Initiative, a political think tank

Jeremy Corbyn – independent member of the UK Parliament

The latest prisoner exchange between Russia and Ukraine is scheduled for next week as already agreed with Russian officials, Ukraine’s intelligence chief has said, rebuking Moscow’s allegation that Kyiv had indefinitely postponed the swap.

“The start of repatriation activities based on results and negotiations in Istanbul is scheduled for next week, as authorised persons on Tuesday were informed,” military intelligence chief Kyrylo Budanov said in a statement on Sunday.

“Everything is moving according to plan, despite the enemy’s dirty information game”.

That barbed comment followed Russia’s pointed accusation on Saturday that Ukraine had indefinitely postponed the return of the bodies of 6,000 soldiers on each side and the exchange of wounded and seriously ill prisoners of war and prisoners of war under the age of 25.

Ukraine was “carefully adhering to the agreements reached in Istanbul”, Budanov countered, referring to a second round of negotiations that took place in the Turkish city on Monday.

Meanwhile, Russia said that it brought more than 1,000 bodies of slain Ukrainian soldiers to the exchange point while also handing over to Ukraine a first list of 640 prisoners of war, but that Ukrainian negotiators were not at the swap location. Ukraine denied the allegations and said Moscow should stop “playing dirty games”.

Melinda Haring, a non-resident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Eurasia Center, told Al Jazeera that it’s a good sign that the process seems to now be back on track.

“This is a big deal, because the prisoner exchange will be the largest that Ukraine and Russia have engaged in so far. And in the past, these exchanges have gone off pretty seamlessly,” Haring said. “So the fact that there were dual narratives about this in the middle of a big push at getting the Russians and the Ukrainians to agree on a peace negotiation was really troubling.

“POW [prisoner of war] exchanges are considered to be low-confidence ways of building trust in a bigger negotiation. So the fact that there was friction over this, and I believe it was on the Russian side, shows that there’s not a lot of interest in an actual peace negotiation on Moscow’s terms,” she said.

The two sides are no closer to any temporary ceasefire agreement as a concrete step towards ending the conflict despite some initial momentum from the United States, though US President Donald Trump appears to be losing patience in his campaign for a ceasefire, even suggesting the two be left to fight longer like children in a park before they be pulled apart.

Nor has Trump followed Ukraine’s European Union and United Kingdom allies in imposing harsher sanctions on Russia.

Fighting continues

The duelling narratives and fading diplomatic momentum remain the backdrop to the grinding war, now in its fourth year, as both sides ratchet up attacks against each other.

In the early hours of Sunday, Russia said it shot down 10 Ukrainian drones near the capital, Moscow, forcing two key airports to suspend their activities. That came a week after Ukraine conducted an audacious and unprecedented drone operation targeting nuclear-capable military aircraft in multiple airbases deep inside Russia, including in Siberia. Kyiv claims it destroyed 14 percent of Russia’s strategic bombers.

But Ukrainians have also been under heavy attack. In the past days, Russian forces have pounded the country, hitting multiple locations and killing more than a dozen civilians over the weekend, with Ukraine’s second-largest city, Kharkiv, the worst hit.

They have also made significant advances on the ground. Russia says its forces have entered Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk region for the first time since the war began three years ago. The Russian Defence Ministry said tank units have reached the western border of the region and are continuing their offensive. The industrial region is home to three million people and includes the major city of Dnipro. Ukraine has not yet commented.

“It is significant because the region of Dnipropetrovsk is not one of the regions that Russia sees as now being part of the Russian Federation after the referendums that were held back in 2022,” said Al Jazeera’s Charles Stratford, reporting from Kyiv.

“Putin sees Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk, and Zaporizhia as being part of Russia – Dnipropetrovsk is not part of that plan. So if indeed these forces are crossing over into Dnipropetrovsk, that is hugely significant”.

In a brief firefight at the end of May, a Cambodian soldier was killed along the countries’ shared border.

Thai and Cambodian forces are expected to return to their previously agreed-upon positions on the border after the two governments reinforced their military presence following an eruption of violence that killed a Cambodian soldier.

Thai Defence Minister Phumtham Wechayachai said on Sunday that both sides hoped the thorny border issue could be fully resolved through a meeting on Saturday of the Joint Boundary Committee, which was set up to facilitate bilateral negotiations.

But Cambodian Foreign Minister Prak Sokhonn reiterated that his government had called on the International Court of Justice to resolve the border dispute.

“Given the complexity, historical nature and sensitivity of these disputes, it is increasingly evident that bilateral dialogue alone may no longer suffice to bring about a comprehensive and lasting solution,” Sokhonn said.

However, Thailand has said it does not recognise the court’s jurisdiction and proposes to settle the matter through bilateral negotiations.

The two countries have, for more than a century, contested sovereignty over undemarcated points along their shared border when France mapped out Cambodia in 1907 when it was a French colony.

Since 2008, when fighting first broke out over an 11th-century Hindu temple, bouts of violence have sporadically occurred, resulting in the deaths of at least 28 people.

In the most recent outbreak on May 28, a Cambodian soldier was killed in the disputed border region between Cambodia’s Preah Vihear province and Thailand’s Ubon Ratchathani province.

While the Thai and Cambodian militaries agreed to quell tensions, Cambodia said it could keep its troops in the area despite Thailand urging it to leave.

On Saturday, the Thai army took control of the “opening and closing” of all border crossings it shares with Cambodia, referring to a “threat to Thailand’s sovereignty and security”.

According to government data, Thailand operates 17 official border crossings along the shared 817km (508-mile) frontier.

Earlier on Sunday, the army shortened operating hours at 10 border crossings.

DEVELOPING STORYDEVELOPING STORY,

Buildings reportedly shake and sirens blare around the Colombian capital as people rush into the streets.

A powerful magnitude 6.3 earthquake has shaken the Colombian capital of Bogota, according to the United States Geological Survey (USGS).

Reporters of the AFP news agency on the ground said buildings shook and sirens sounded around Bogota as people rushed out onto the streets for safety on Sunday.

The German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ), however, said it was a magnitude 6.5 earthquake, with the epicentre at a depth of 10km (6.21 miles).

More to follow…

It’s official: United States President Donald Trump and the world’s richest person, Elon Musk, have broken up.

At the end of last month, Musk departed from his post as the head of Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), where he oversaw the mass firing of federal employees and dismantling of various government agencies – all the while benefitting from his own companies’ lucrative contracts with the government.

Anyway, US “democracy” has never met a conflict of interest it didn’t like.

Musk’s service at the White House initially appeared to end on an amicable note as Trump praised him for the “colossal change” he had achieved “in the old ways of doing business in Washington”. The former head of DOGE in turn thanked the president for the opportunity.

But soon after his departure, Musk publicly criticised the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act”, a tax and spending bill that Trump is currently obsessed with passing, slamming it as a “disgusting abomination”.

There ensued predictably dramatic social media exchanges between the two right-wing billionaires with Trump pronouncing Musk “so depressed and so heartbroken” after leaving the White House and offering the additional coherent analysis:

“ It’s sort of Trump derangement syndrome. We have it with others, too. They leave, and they wake up in the morning, and the glamour’s gone. The whole world is different, and they become hostile.”

Musk has repeatedly taken credit for Trump’s 2024 election victory on account of the gobs of money he donated to the president’s campaign and those of other Republican candidates. Now that the relationship is over, Trump has wasted no time in warning Musk that he’ll face “very serious consequences” if he chooses to fund Democratic campaigns in the future.

But some Democratic ears, at least, have perked up at the possibility of getting the planet’s richest person back on their side – which he abandoned in favour of Trump after having extended support to Democratic former Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden. The political switcheroo was hardly extreme. At the end of the day, ideology matters little when you’re just in the business of buying power.

California Congressman Ro Khanna, for example, recently opined that Democrats should “be in a dialogue” with Musk in light of their shared opposition to Trump’s big beautiful bill.

As per Khanna’s view, “we should ultimately be trying to convince [Musk] that the Democratic Party has more of the values that he agrees with.” He went on to list a few of these alleged values: “A commitment to science funding, a commitment to clean technology, a commitment to seeing international students like him.”

Never mind that Musk’s main “value” is a commitment to controlling as much of the earth – not to mention the whole solar system – as he possibly can for the benefit of himself and himself alone. Beyond his mass firing activities while head of DOGE, a brief review of Musk’s entrepreneurial track record reveals a total lack of the “values” that Democrats purport to espouse.

Over recent years, reports have abounded of sexual harassment and acute racism at Musk’s Tesla car factories. In October 2021, a federal jury in San Francisco ordered Tesla to pay $137m to a Black former employee who claimed he was told to “go back to Africa” among other abuses suffered at his workplace.

Along with violating federal labour laws, Musk as chief executive of Tesla threatened workers over the prospect of unionisation. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020, he violated local regulations to keep his factories up and running, underscoring a general contempt for human life that, again, should not be a “value” that anyone aspires to.

To be sure, not all Democrats are on board with the proposal to woo Musk back into the Democratic camp – but he may be getting a growing cheering squad. In addition to Khanna’s advocacy on his behalf, New York Democratic Congressman Ritchie Torres seems prepared to give Musk his vote as well: “I’m a believer in redemption, and he is telling the truth about the [big beautiful] legislation.”

Anthony Scaramucci, Trump’s former White House director of communications, has, meanwhile, suggested that Democrats could “bring Elon Musk back into the fold as a prodigal son” by foregoing more left-wing policies – as if there’s anything truly left-wing about the Democratic Party in the first place.

Newsweek’s write-up of Scaramucci’s comments observed that “It would be a coup for Democrats if they could court the influence of the world’s richest man once more.” It would not, obviously, be a coup for democracy, which is supposed to be rule by the people and not by money.

And yet a longstanding bipartisan commitment to plutocracy means the US has never been in danger of true democracy. Instead, billions upon billions of dollars are spent to sustain an electoral charade and ensure that capital remains concentrated in the hands of the few – while Americans continue to literally die of poverty.

Now it remains to be seen whether the Trump-Musk breakup will drive Democrats into Musk’s arms. But either way, the country’s plutocratic values remain rock solid – and that is nothing less than a “disgusting abomination”.

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.

Flights are halted at Moscow’s Vnukovo and Domodedovo airports amid safety concerns after the drone attacks.

Russian forces have shot down 10 Ukrainian drones heading towards Moscow, according to the city’s mayor, Sergei Sobyanin, as Ukraine reports at least one person killed in Russian attacks.

There were no reports of any damage in Moscow on Sunday, but the Ukrainian attack led to a short-lived fire at the Azot chemical plant in the neighbouring Tula region, injuring two people, and seven drones were destroyed above the Kaluga region, regional governors said.

Rosaviatsia, Russia’s civil aviation authority, said on Telegram that to ensure air safety, it halted flights at Moscow’s Vnukovo and Domodedovo and nearby Kaluga (Grabtsevo) airports. They were later reopened.

The drone attack was carried out as Kyiv launched an unprecedented drone operation last weekend deep inside Russia, targeting nuclear-capable military aircraft at Russian airbases. Moscow promised to retaliate, unleashing a barrage of attacks in recent days.

Early on Sunday, Russian air attacks pummelled multiple locations across Ukraine. At least one person was killed in the industrial region of Dnipropetrovsk, which was hit by drones, artillery and rocket launchers, according to the head of the regional council.

“The invaders struck … Synelnykivsky district with a guided aerial bomb. A man was killed. Our sincere condolences to his family,” Mykola Lukashuk said.

“Five private houses and a kindergarten were also damaged,” he added.

In the Nikopol district of Dnipropetrovsk, a business, four homes and power lines were damaged, he said.

Later on Sunday, Russia said its ground forces had pushed into Dnipropetrovsk for the first time in its three-year offensive in Ukraine.

The Russian Ministry of Defence said forces from a tank unit had “reached the western border of the Donetsk People’s Republic and are continuing to develop an offensive in the Dnipropetrovsk region”, referring to the part of the Donetsk region held by Russia-backed rebels since 2014.

There was no immediate comment from Ukraine about Russia’s statement.

In more than a decade of conflict with Kremlin-backed separatists and the Russian army, Ukraine has never had to fight on the territory of the central region until now.

Dnipropetrovsk is an important mining and industrial hub for Ukraine, and deeper Russian advances into the region could have a serious knock-on effect for Kyiv’s struggling military and economy.

It was estimated to have a population of about three million people before Russia launched its full-scale war on Ukraine in February 2022.

Ukrainian military personnel previously told the AFP news agency that Russia could advance relatively quickly in the largely flat region, given there are fewer natural obstacles or villages that could be used as defensive positions by Kyiv’s forces.

Also on Sunday, Russian forces hit villages in the neighbouring southern regions of Zaporizhia and Kherson, injuring two civilians, local officials said.

Failed peace efforts

Russia has accelerated its advance in recent weeks as the latest negotiations in the Turkish city of Istanbul failed to broker an end to the war.

The warring sides accuse each other of delaying a large-scale prisoner exchange – the only concrete outcome of the talks in Istanbul.

The prisoner swap, originally due to take place this weekend, would see more than 1,000 people released from each side.

But Moscow accused Kyiv on Saturday of not agreeing to a date to swap the captured soldiers while Ukraine said Russia was playing “dirty games” by not sticking to the agreed parameters for the swap.

Hundreds of thousands of demonstrators have marched through the streets of the Italian capital, Rome, against the war in Gaza in a protest called by Italy’s main opposition parties, who accuse the right-wing government of being too silent.

At the start of Saturday’s march, protesters held a banner, reading: “Stop the massacre, stop complicity!”

The protest attracted a diverse crowd from across the country, including many families with children.

According to organisers, up to 300,000 people participated in the rally organised by the left-wing opposition to ask the government for a clear position on the conflict in Gaza.

“This is an enormous popular response to say enough to the massacre of Palestinians and the crimes of [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu’s government,” the leader of Italy’s centre-left Democratic Party, Elly Schlein, told reporters at the march.

“There is another Italy that doesn’t remain silent as the Meloni government does,” she said, referring to Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.

Meloni was recently pushed by the opposition to publicly condemn Netanyahu’s offensive in Gaza, but many observers considered her criticism too timid.

Earlier this week, the Italian leader urged Israel to immediately halt its military campaign in Gaza, saying its attacks had grown disproportionately and should be brought to an end to protect civilians.

Israel faces mounting international criticism for its offensive and pressure to let aid into Gaza during a humanitarian crisis.

Gaza has been under an Israeli blockade for nearly three months, with experts warning that many of its two million residents are at high risk of famine.

Israel’s war on Gaza has killed at least 54,772 Palestinians and wounded 125,834, according to Gaza’s Ministry of Health. An estimated 1,139 people were killed in Israel during the Hamas-led attacks of October 7, 2023, and more than 200 were taken captive.

With US President Donald Trump in attendance, Dvalishvili dominates challenger O’Malley in a third-round victory in New Jersey.

Merab Dvalishvili defeated Sean O’Malley effortlessly in the main event of UFC 316 in Newark, New Jersey, securing a third-round modified choke in their rematch to retain the bantamweight championship.

With United States President Donald Trump watching from cageside on Saturday night, Dvalishvili (20-4 MMA) emphatically displayed his wrestling base to tire out the former champion and make an argument as one of the sport’s best bantamweights, perhaps of all time.

Dvalishvili, who won at 4:42 of the third round for his 13th consecutive victory, said he would welcome his next title defence against Cory Sandhagen (18-5 MMA), a winner of four of his last five fights.

“You’re the man, let’s go,” Dvalishvili said, indicating that he would be interested in fighting Sandhagen next.

O’Malley (18-3 MMA) fell to Dvalishvili last September by unanimous decision, relinquishing his title. O’Malley confirmed the loss is a minor setback, reassuring of a steady return.

“100 percent, thank you guys for coming out,” O’Malley said.

The women’s bantamweight title changed hands in the co-main event, as Kayla Harrison submitted Julianna Pena with a second-round kimura, a submission technique also known as the double wristlock or reverse keylock.

Harrison and Pena embraced in the Octagon afterwards, showing utmost class for one another after the 34-year-old controlled every aspect of the fight.

Harrison said during her post-fight interview that her weight cut was so draining on Thursday night that she “wanted to quit”, but it would have been a mistake in her eyes, given that most fighters in MMA do not win a UFC title.

Harrison (19-1 MMA) called out Pena’s (13-6 MMA) former rival, Amanda Nunes. Nunes (23-5 MMA) is a former two-division champion who retired in 2023. As time passed, she teased a comeback. It now seems inevitable, as Harrison and Nunes posed for a face-off and talked of a bout later this year, as the Prudential Center crowd beamed.

Kevin Holland kicked off the UFC 316 main card in style, securing a D’Arce choke over Vicente Luque at 1:03 of the second round.

Holland (28-13 MMA) has now won three of his last five, emphasising the need to remain a prominent welterweight contender. Luque (23-11-1 MMA), who resides in New Jersey via Brazil, has lost two of his last three.

Middleweight Joe Pyfer made good on his UFC return, defeating TUF alumnus Kelvin Gastelum by unanimous decision 29-28, 29-27, 30-27.

Pyfer (14-3 MMA) has won his last two outings, whereas Gastelum (19-10 MMA) is in the midst of a slump.