In a critical press conference meant to make or break his presidential campaign, Joe Biden spiritedly defended his foreign policy record even as he faced a barrage of questions on his mental fitness and, in another gaffe, mistakenly referred to Kamala Harris as “vice-president Trump”.

Biden offered extensive remarks on thorny foreign policy issues including competition with China and the Israel-Hamas war, in which he said he had warned Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu away from an occupation of the Gaza Strip.

He said he was directly in contact with Xi Jinping to warn him not to offer further support for Russia’s war in Ukraine, but not with Vladimir Putin, whom he said: “I have no reason to speak to him right now.”

But Biden, who is running to be president until January 2029, fielded an equal number of questions during the press conference on his mental fitness, an issue that has loomed over his campaign since a faltering debate performance against Donald Trump that he called “that dumb mistake”.

Ultimately, it was a performance that supporters will probably say shows he is capable of handling his responsibilities as commander-in-chief, but unlikely to convince those already in doubt about his mental fitness that he can serve another four years in office.

Biden, 81, insisted he would stay in the race despite calls from some in his party to drop out and to allow another figure, including Harris, run in the November election.

Shortly after he finished speaking, Connecticut congressman Jim Himes, the top ranking Democrat on the House intelligence committee, called on Biden to step down from the campaign, writing on X: “We must put forth the strongest candidate possible to confront the threat posed by Trump’s promised MAGA authoritarianism. I no longer believe that is Joe Biden.”

Appearing later on CNN, Himes said: “Imagine that three months from now, we get another performance like there was in the debate, right before the election. Do you want to take that risk? I don’t.”

Two more congressional Democrats also called on Biden to step aside, bringing the total to 17. Representative Scott Peters of California said, “The stakes are high, and we are on a losing course,” while Representative Eric Sorensen of Illinois said that Biden should “put country over party”.

Wrapping up a summit of the 32-member bloc in Washington DC, Biden said: “I’ve not had any of my European allies come up and say, ‘Joe, don’t run’. What I’ve heard them say is, ‘You’ve got to win’.

“If I slow down and can’t get the job done that’s a sign I shouldn’t be doing this,” he said. “But there’s no indication of that. None.”

Biden said he wouldn’t leave the race unless polls showed him that he had no chance of winning against Trump, even if they showed that Harris’s chances in the election were better than his own.

Nonetheless, he said Harris was qualified to be president as well, although he misnamed her in the endorsement. “I wouldn’t have picked vice-president Trump to be vice-president, if she’s not qualified to be president,” he said.

That gaffe was compounded by the fact that he had introduced the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, as “President Putin” just hours earlier, before correcting himself and saying “we’re going to beat Putin”.

Biden initially used the final Nato summit press conference as something of a stump speech, brandishing his national security record in supporting Ukraine against Russian aggression and saying that the November vote was “much more than a political question … It’s a national security issue.”

He then turned to his record on the economy, border security and his efforts to broker a peace in the Israel-Hamas war to bolster his case for his campaign in November.

Biden spoke for 58 minutes, including 50 minutes of unscripted question-and-answer. He appeared most comfortable and cogent as he discussed thorny foreign policy questions.

“Don’t make the same mistake America made after [Osama] bin Laden,” he said he told Netanyahu, as he sought to ward off a potential occupation of the Gaza Strip. “There’s no need to occupy anywhere. Go after the people who did the job.”

He also indicated that European countries were prepared to cut their investments in China if Xi continued to “[supply] Russia, with information and capacity, along with working with North Korea and others, to help Russia in armament”.

But at times he got lost in the weeds. Asked about reports that he had asked his schedule to be moved up, he said: “I’m not talking about, and if you’ve looked at my schedule since I, since I made that stupid mistake in the campaign, in the debate. I mean, my schedule has been full bore.”

“Where’s Trump been?” he continued. “Riding around on his golf cart? Filling out his scorecard before he hits the ball?”

In the two weeks since that disastrous debate performance, Joe Biden has been busy.

He spent the first few days visiting donors, trying to reassure his financiers that he was up to the job. Then – more than a week later – he kicked off his public reconciliation tour, holding a series of interviews as he seeks to convince Americans that his halting 27 June debate appearance was just a bad night.

So far, the results have been mixed. In a 22-minute interview with ABC on 6 July, Biden attempted to pass off the debate, where he at times struggled to complete his thoughts and stumbled over words, as the result of both a cold and a busy travel schedule.

But while his tone was defiant – Biden said only “the Lord almighty” could persuade him to leave the race – some of his answers were still meandering. A couple of interviews with local radio stations in swing states in the following days largely went unnoticed, until a Philadelphia radio host was fired for asking Biden questions that had been submitted by his campaign team.

All in all, it hasn’t quite been a roaring return to form.

“The real challenge for him will be that it’s awfully hard to prove, as an 81-year-old man, that somehow you’re not an 81-year-old man,” said Marjorie Hershey, professor emeritus of political science at Indiana University Bloomington.

“The slightest deviation from immense competence will be perceived as fatal to him.”

That was evident in a telephone interview with the left-leaning MSNBC news channel on Monday, when Biden fiercely criticized Democrats who wanted him to drop out. The White House was later forced to deny that he was speaking from notes, after people noticed the sound of apparent paper shuffling during the interview.

Undeterred, Biden plans to sit down with NBC on Monday for an in-person prime-time interview, and Hershey said it was difficult to see whether Biden’s strategy should change.

“Voters who have already made up their minds about Biden will likely be convinced that recent events, no matter how dramatic, simply prove what they already thought about the election,” she said.

“And those who were unsure – and who will probably decide the election result – will likely vote on the basis of how they feel about Donald Trump anyway.”

Away from the media arena, Biden had another chance to prove his credentials during an hourlong Nato press conference on Thursday night. But while he demonstrated his grasp of foreign policy during questions about Ukraine, there will have been groans from his campaign team when Biden, just before the press conference, gave a glowing introduction to “President Putin” as he welcomed Volodymyr Zelenskiy, the president of Ukraine, on to the stage.

Emmitt Riley, a professor of politics and African and African American studies at Sewanee University and the chair of the National Conference of Black Political Scientists, said it was difficult to say how effective Biden’s strategy of being more visible and more open to questions would be.

“I think it’s a little too early to tell. Right now, it appears that the president is trying to do damage control by doing this media tour to convince the American public that he’s still up to the job,” Riley said.

“But when you look at some of the core constituents of the Democratic party, namely Black voters, they’re still in support of Joe Biden. And so time will tell, I think by the end of this week, whether or not Joe Biden has weathered the storm.”

While Biden has undoubtedly been shaky, Riley said there had been a double standard in how the media has covered the president’s weaknesses compared with Donald Trump’s.

“I think that when we contextualize a poor debate performance with the threat that Donald Trump poses to American democracy and the instability of our Nato alliances, of our international coalitions and international institutions, the choice just pales in comparison,” Riley said.

“I think that we would be wise to pivot the conversation back to: if we’re going to ask Joe Biden to leave the race, then we certainly should be asking a person who’s convicted of 34 felonies in a state court to leave the race as well.

“And in addition to that, at a time where convicted felons in the United States are barred from voting in certain states, we now have a convicted felon running for political office and not even being asked to leave the race by mainstream media.”

Joe Biden has accidentally introduced the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, as “President Putin” in a gaffe that will fuel further concerns about his mental acuity that have threatened to scuttle his presidential campaign.

Biden made the mistake while flanked by Nato leaders during a signing ceremony alongside Zelenskiy on the final day of the Nato summit in Washington. It came just an hour before a rare press conference by Biden that has been called “make-or-break” for his campaign, as a growing number of political allies and donors have been calling for him to drop out of the race.

Concluding his opening remarks, Biden handed over to Zelenskiy with the words: “Now I want to hand it over to the president of Ukraine, who has as much courage as he has determination.”

He said: “Ladies and gentlemen, President Putin!”

A number of European leaders began clapping hesitantly. German chancellor Olaf Scholz and Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni turned their heads in surprise as Biden mentioned the Russian leader, while other European leaders broke into an awkward smattering of applause.

Realising his mistake, Biden caught himself and said: “President Putin! We’re going to beat President Putin. President Zelenskiy. I’m so focused on beating Putin. We’ve got to worry about it. Anyway, Mr President.”

“I’m better,” Zelenskiy said, shaking Biden’s hand.

“You are a hell of a lot better,” Biden responded in concluding his remarks.

The remark elicited gasps in a press centre, where hundreds of journalists were watching the remarks live on an internal television feed. A number of people in the room shouted out “Zelenskiy” to correct Biden’s mistake, after which he returned to the podium.

Zelenskiy had been due to give a press conference at the end of the Nato summit an hour later. But journalists who were waiting were told at short notice that the event was cancelled – meaning he didn’t have to respond to questions about Biden’s gaffe.

The news about the mistake quickly filtered into other press conferences with heads of government, rehashing questions about Biden’s mental state that have loomed over the conference since it began.

Keir Starmer, asked about President Biden’s gaffe, insisted that the Nato summit had made breakthroughs that were welcomed by President Zelenskiy and had left Nato in a stronger position.

Pressed by reporters on whether the US president was capable of serving another four years in office, he said: “Look, I was with him last night. We spent the best part of an hour together. We covered a lot of ground.

“We’ve been through two days of this council and come to a very good outcome. He’s led through all, spoken at every session, pulled people together, and we got a good outcome and I think he should give credit for that.”

French president Emanuel Macron in his press conference said: “Slips of the tongue happen, it’s happened to me.”

Scholz was asked, in English, about Biden’s gaffe in a press conference a few minutes later. He sidestepped the question, and said he hoped that Biden would continue to strongly support Ukraine.

About 6,400 Palestinians reported as missing to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) since the outbreak of the war in Gaza on 7 October are yet to have been found, the group has said.

Many are believed to be trapped under debris, buried without identification, or held in Israeli detention while others have been separated from their loved ones, who have been unable to contact them.

Approximately 1,100 new cases of missing people have been registered and remain unsolved since April, the ICRC said.

“Each week we can receive anywhere between 500 and 2,500 calls to our hotlines, and the majority of these are requests for missing family members,” said Sarah Davies, an ICRC spokesperson. “The level of requests fluctuates, sometimes depending on the situation in areas of Gaza – if there are hostilities close to large numbers of people, or evacuation instructions issued, our hotline operators receive more calls with tracing requests in the hours and days that follow.

“Unfortunately, in such chaotic situations, people can be separated easily. People are panicked, sometimes it is dark and difficult to see, if there are explosions nearby people flee and lose one another.”

Davies said that when people were injured and taken to hospital in an ambulance, their family members don’t always know which one they are at. “People can lose their phones, connections can be disrupted, sim cards are changed. There are untold reasons people get separated in a war zone.”

The persistent violence has severely disrupted communications, with hospitals coming under attack, complicating efforts for medical personnel to document casualties and identify the deceased. The unrelenting warfare, coupled with movement restrictions and communication breakdowns, has created significant challenges in monitoring and locating missing individuals. Moreover, access for forensic and human rights experts has been restricted, preventing the identification of victims.

In a recent report, Save the Children said: “Even if they had the equipment, the intensity of Israeli airstrikes and hostilities between the parties – as well as unexploded bombs and missiles in the debris – means it’s too dangerous for families, first responders, and humanitarian workers to search through the rubble.”

Since 7 October, the ICRC has reported more than 8,700 missing Palestinians in Gaza and has engaged with 7,429 Palestinian families to gather information. About 2,300 cases have been resolved, meaning families have found their relatives, either alive or dead.

Muhammad Naji, a resident of al-Falluja in the north of Gaza, said emergency response teams managed to rescue eight people from the rubble after a recent attack, but that 17 others were still buried beneath the debris, and that some of his cousins were missing.

“We don’t know anything about them,” Naji said. “The whole building collapsed on their heads. Are they dead? Are they alive? No one can tell us anything … If my cousins are dead we want to bury them. We can’t think or comprehend.

“I am not the only one who has missing family members. Many people here have the same problem.”

Davies said: “We know from our work in conflict zones all around the world that the most excruciating pain people experience is being separated from a loved one with no knowledge of where or how they are, or what has happened to them. People are fearful, they are anxious, and many of them feel helpless because there is very little they can do in this situation. It’s heartbreaking to hear the pain of people who are frantically trying to reconnect with their family members or hear some news about their fate and whereabouts.”

Abu Ali Zahir lost 23 family members when the three-storey residential building they lived in was destroyed by an Israeli airstrike. Sixteen bodies were pulled out from the rubble about 60 days after the attack, but another seven have not been found.

“I don’t think any of the seven members of the family still under the rubble are alive, but we live in hope,” he said. “We want to give them a proper burial. The pain that the family went through is unbearable.”

The actual number of missing Palestinians is believed to be considerably higher, in part because not all families are aware they can contact the ICRC but also because in some cases entire families have been killed, meaning there is no one to report them missing.

Gaza’s health ministry says the death toll from the war is more than 38,000, and that this figure doesn’t account for missing individuals – including those trapped under rubble, detained or buried in mass graves. The ministry estimates that as of 6 July about 10,000 people were missing.

Locating the missing is a complex process involving cross-referencing information on their status with data from various conflict parties and other sources, such as hospital patient lists or records of detainees returned to Gaza.

“A challenge in this situation is that the conditions for our search activities in the field – where, for example, teams would go door to door, or shelter to shelter and check or ask about the fate and whereabouts of the missing person – don’t exist right now in Gaza,” Davies said. “People are moving so often; they are living in tents and don’t have fixed addresses.”

Every day, Abu Ali Zahir ventures among the rubble of his destroyed home, holding out for miracle. “I go every day among the rubble and call their names, shouting, hoping that someone will reply,” he said.

An app that allows users to track trucks across China has been disabled after a scandal in which reporters discovered that tankers used to transport fuel were also being used to transport cooking oil, without proper cleaning in between.

On Thursday, Chinese media reported that the tracking function on Shipping Help, an app used to track cargos, had been disabled. The app displayed a message saying the service was being “upgraded” and was therefore “temporarily unavailable”.

Previously, Shipping Help’s tracking function could be used by normal people and businesses to inquire about the location of specific trucks, using satellite monitors.

The app reportedly received a surge in queries this week after reports emerged about long-distance tankers used for transporting fuel being loaded up with edible oil for their return journeys, without the tankers being disinfected in between loads. The reports led to fears that oil that may be contaminated with toxic chemicals is finding its way into people’s food.

The news caused outrage in China, and the government has vowed to investigate and punish rule-breakers. There are widespread concerns about food safety among the Chinese public, with many people fearing that health and safety standards are not properly enforced.

After the scandal was first reported by Beijing News, a state-run outlet, earlier this month, people started to independently track where the potentially contaminated oil ended up. Some reports suggested that the tankers delivered oil to packaging facilities run by household brand names in China, including Jinlongyu, a brand of soya bean oil that is widely available in Chinese supermarkets. The company said its trucks meet requirements.

There has been some surprise that a state-run outlet was allowed to publish such a damning report, given the government’s strict censorship regime. Some people speculated that the removal of Shipping Help’s tracking function was motivated by a desire to limit the size of the scandal.

“In the information age, data is power,” one Weibo user wrote. “However, this power sometimes makes people feel helpless. I hope that every ‘system upgrade’ is to better serve users, not to cover up the problem.”

A former security guard obsessed with Holly Willoughby has been sentenced to life with a minimum term of 16 years for masterminding a plot to kidnap, rape and murder the TV presenter.

Gavin Plumb, 37, carefully planned a “home invasion” at Willoughby’s property where he planned to tie her up and rape her in front of her family before murdering her and disposing of her body in an abandoned building on the outskirts of London.

He had amassed more than 10,000 images of Willoughby on his phone, including deepfake pornography, and was caught after unwittingly communicating online with an undercover police officer based in the US.

During his trial at Chelmsford crown court, the jury heard that Plumb had previous convictions for attempted kidnap and false imprisonment. Using a fake gun and threatening note, he tried to force two female airline workers off trains in separate incidents in 2006, and he attempted to tie up two teenage girls in a Woolworths stock room in 2008.

He was found guilty last week of three charges: soliciting murder, encouraging or assisting the commission of kidnap, and encouraging or assisting the commission of rape.

During the sentencing hearing, the prosecutor, Alison Morgan KC, said Willoughby, who did not attend any of the court proceedings, wished for her victim personal statement to be private but said it set out the “catastrophic impact of these offences”.

Morgan added: “The impact of this offending has been life-changing for the victim of these offences – both in private and personal terms – private, personal and indeed professional.”

Sentencing Plumb, Mr Justice Murray said: “There is no doubt that if you had genuinely found one or more accomplices who were seriously interested in and had been willing to join you in carrying your plan through then you would have put this plan into action.”

The judge sentenced the defendant to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 16 years, minus the 280 days he had spent on remand. Accounting for the time served, it leaves 15 years and 85 days remaining on the minimum term.

He said: “Over a number of years, you pursued an unhealthy sexual obsession with Holly Willoughby that led you ultimately to plan over that period to kidnap, to rape and to murder her. You intended to harm her husband and her children as part of your plan.

“You had previously been convicted of terrifying offences involving the threat of sexual violence against four different young women. I found you to be dangerous.

“The jury saw through your various lies that you told at the trial, and convicted you of these offences.”

Willoughby stepped down from her role as presenter of ITV’s This Morning six days after Plumb was arrested on 4 October 2023, after 14 years on the show. She returned to screens as the co-host of Dancing on Ice this year.

For his planned attack on Willoughby, Plumb had bought cable ties and a folding knife, and appeared to have sourced chloroform. He had also engaged in graphic and sexually motivated discussions about it online.

He was unaware that one of the people with whom he was communicating was an undercover officer based in Owatonna police department in Minnesota, who alerted UK authorities, leading to Plumb’s arrest.

Plumb, of Harlow, Essex, gathered information about Willoughby on social media and followed her activities and movements. He identified where she lived in December 2021 and shared images of her home with someone online referred to as “Marc”, who the court heard was thought to live in Ireland and had boasted of being convicted of stalking.

Plumb shared images of Willoughby’s address and discussed “a home invasion” while wearing masks, and he discussed the layout of the property, gates, CCTV and the alley to the side. He also discussed identifying “abandoned places” outside London, trying to get on a tour of the ITV studios, and using his training as a security officer to get employment with Willoughby.

The jury was played a voice note Plumb sent in which he explained his “plan of action”, which included picking “outfits of hers that we like”.

In early October 2023, the US police officer in Owatonna, using the name David Nelson, was monitoring conversations in a group called “Abduct lovers”, which discusses the abduction of others, and their torture and murder.

Under the identity “BigBear”, Plumb posted pictures of Willoughby, then not recognised by the officer, and boasted about her security arrangements. The detailed nature of the messages concerned the officer, who reported him to the Metropolitan police via the FBI.

When Plumb was arrested, in a video seen by the jury, he told police officers: “I’m not gonna lie. She is a fantasy of mine.”

After the sentencing, Essex police’s senior investigating officer, DCI Greg Wood, said: “This case has brought violence against women and girls and misogyny to the fore. It has demonstrated that all of us, whoever we are and whatever we do, have much to do to stamp out this scourge on our society. It cannot be right that men like Gavin Plumb are able to join online forums where they vent their hatred towards women and girls and plot to harm them.”

As many as 35,000 England fans are expected at Berlin’s Olympiastadion for Sunday’s Euro 2024 final against Spain, despite an official allocation of 10,000.

Many of the tickets on general sale are expected to be snapped up by England supporters, who will take their place inside the ground alongside the customary extensive retinue of Uefa dignitaries and corporate sponsors.

A spokesperson for the Football Supporters’ Association said that the allocation for the 71,000-stadium confirmed “the old story” of tickets being kept from supporters. “It’s tickets going to the wrong people in the first place,” they said. “There will still be 30,000 England fans in the stadium but many will have ended up paying way over the odds on the black market.”

The 10,000 number is roughly a 50% increase on the official allocation to this point and is distributed to members of the England Supporters Travel Club. This is the group found behind the goal at matches and where the most vocal support (and drumming) comes from.

England are expected to be given the bank of seating at the Olympiastadion’s west stand, where the cauldron which once held the Olympic torch during the Nazi games of 1936 still resides. The Olympiastadion is in the far west of the German capital.

The FSA has repeated warnings to supporters looking to buy tickets via unofficial channels that they could leave themselves exposed to scams. “We are reminding supporters of the risks when purchasing tickets via unofficial third party websites or social media accounts,” it said. “There is every chance you could lose your money and end up with no ticket – it happens to many fans at every tournament.”

As many as 35,000 England fans are expected at Berlin’s Olympiastadion for Sunday’s Euro 2024 final against Spain, despite an official allocation of 10,000.

Many of the tickets on general sale are expected to be snapped up by England supporters, who will take their place inside the ground alongside the customary extensive retinue of Uefa dignitaries and corporate sponsors.

A spokesperson for the Football Supporters’ Association said that the allocation for the 71,000-stadium confirmed “the old story” of tickets being kept from supporters. “It’s tickets going to the wrong people in the first place,” they said. “There will still be 30,000 England fans in the stadium but many will have ended up paying way over the odds on the black market.”

The 10,000 number is roughly a 50% increase on the official allocation to this point and is distributed to members of the England Supporters Travel Club. This is the group found behind the goal at matches and where the most vocal support (and drumming) comes from.

England are expected to be given the bank of seating at the Olympiastadion’s west stand, where the cauldron which once held the Olympic torch during the Nazi games of 1936 still resides. The Olympiastadion is in the far west of the German capital.

The FSA has repeated warnings to supporters looking to buy tickets via unofficial channels that they could leave themselves exposed to scams. “We are reminding supporters of the risks when purchasing tickets via unofficial third party websites or social media accounts,” it said. “There is every chance you could lose your money and end up with no ticket – it happens to many fans at every tournament.”

China posted a record $99bn (£76.4bn) trade surplus last month amid signs of importers bringing forward orders to beat higher tariffs on goods from the world’s second biggest economy.

The latest official figures from Beijing showed exports growing at their fastest rate in 15 months, while the weakness of China’s domestic economy resulted in falling imports.

The size of China’s trade surplus was far bigger than the $85bn expected by the financial markets and comes at a time of heightened concern in developed countries about Chinese exports.

Higher US tariffs on Chinese-made electric vehicles and other hi-tech products come into force on 1 August, while higher EU import duties on Chinese electric vehicles came into force earlier this month.

Analysts said the disparity between booming exports and sluggish imports highlighted the reliance of China’s economy on access to the west’s affluent consumers and would put pressure on Beijing to do more to stimulate domestic demand.

“This reflects the economic condition in China, with weak domestic demand and strong production capacity relying on exports,” said Zhiwei Zhang, the chief economist at Pinpoint Asset Management.

“The sustainability of strong exports is a major risk for China’s economy in the second half of the year. The economy in the US is weakening. Trade conflicts are getting worse.”

Exports grew by 8.6% year on year in June to $308bn (£238bn) and over the first half of 2024 China’s exports totalled $1.7tn, up by 3.6% year on year.

Auto exports rose by 18.9% in terms of value in the first half of 2024 and by 25.3% in volume amid lower export prices.

Lynn Song, the chief China economist at ING Bank, said there was likely to be a front-loading effect before auto tariffs from the EU and US came into effect, “but tariffs could lead to a slowdown in auto exports towards the end of the year”.

Household electronics sales climbed by 14.8% in value terms but showed even faster volume growth of 24.9%.

Semiconductor exports grew by 21.6% year on year in terms of value, and by 9.5% in terms of volume. “Strong semiconductor export growth shows that China’s self-sufficiency push in tech and its pivot towards hi-tech manufacturing is starting to pay some dividends,” Song said.

Kelvin Lam, a China economist at Pantheon Macro, said there had been a pickup in Chinese exports to the US, the UK and Germany last month. “Export growth of hi-tech products, mechanical and electrical items, cars, and ships is outperforming those low value-added products that China thrived on in the 1990s.”

Spain’s socialist prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, has hailed a great day for the country after the far-right Vox party relinquished its grip on power by abandoning its coalition governments with the conservative People’s party (PP) in five key regions after disagreements over migration policy.

Vox’s leader, Santiago Abascal, announced the withdrawal on Thursday night, after days of arguments with the PP over its decision to support the central government’s plans to bring about 400 unaccompanied minors from the Canary Islands and redistribute them around the mainland.

More than 19,000 migrants and refugees have reached the archipelago by sea on the deadly Atlantic route in the first six months of this year, an increase of 167% on the same period in 2023. The surge in numbers has again strained reception resources and sparked familiar political rows.

Absacal said Vox’s “attachment to our principles rather than our seats” had led the party to end its coalitions in Valencia, Aragón, Murcia, Extremadura and Castilla y León.

He said the PP leader, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, had “impeded and then torpedoed” all of its regional deals with Vox. “No one voted for Vox, and I dare say no one voted from the PP so that the invasion of illegal immigration and of unaccompanied foreign minors could continue,” he said.

Not all of Vox’s regional MPs endorsed the move, however, and a handful left the party on Friday morning, insisting they would remain in their posts.

Sánchez, who secured another term as prime minister after the PP came first in last July’s inconclusive general election but failed to attract sufficient parliamentary support even with Vox’s backing, welcomed the news.

“I think this is a great day for Spain,” he said. “I think Spain is a better country today. And I can’t hide my joy and happiness about that. There’s going to be a lot of political manoeuvring and the analysts are going to ask: ‘Who will this benefit? Who will it hurt?’ I don’t know who it will hurt and who it will benefit in political terms, but the net beneficiaries of the departure of the far right from regional governments are the majority of Spaniards.”

Feijóo said Vox’s decision would not alter the PP’s focus on governing the five regions “by even a millimetre” and hit out at what he termed the government’s disastrous migration policies. “It’s obvious, and I want to be very clear about this, that the regions’ capacities are limited, and whoever says they’re infinite is an unscrupulous demagogue,” he said.

The PP has taken different positions on its relationship with Vox since the far-right party won its first seats in the national congress five years ago.

Feijóo’s predecessor once memorably accused Vox of practising a politics based on “fear, anger, resentment and revenge”, but the PP entered into its first regional coalition government with the party in Castilla y León less than two years later.

Keir Starmer’s government will release thousands of prisoners after they have served 40% of their sentences and recruit 1,000 probation officers to solve an overcrowding crisis that threatens “a total breakdown of law and order”, the justice secretary has announced.

The lord chancellor, Shabana Mahmood, described the policy as “the only way to avert disaster”, saying if prisons were to run out of places, courts would be forced to delay jailing offenders and police unable to arrest dangerous criminals – a crisis that would leave the public at risk.

“If we fail to act now, we face the collapse of the criminal justice system. And a total breakdown of law and order,” she said at a press conference at HMP Five Wells in Northamptonshire.

From September, the government will temporarily reduce the proportion of certain custodial sentences served in prison from 50% to 40% in England and Wales. It says it will implement safeguards and exemptions to keep the public safe and clear release plans to manage offenders safely in the community.

Sentences for serious violent offences of four years or more and sexual offences will be automatically excluded. In a distinction from the end of custody supervised licence scheme (ECSL), the early release of offenders in prison for crimes related to domestic abuse will also be excluded. This will include:

• Stalking offences.

• Controlling or coercive behaviours in an intimate or family relationship.

• Non-fatal strangulation and suffocation.

• Breach of restraining order, non-molestation order, and domestic abuse protection order.

The scheme is expected to allow several thousand prisoners to leave early this year. Sources said the numbers would be eased out gradually.

During her first visits as lord chancellor, Mahmood met probation staff before a tour of HMP Bedford and HMP Five Wells, and delivered a speech to highlight the dire state of prisons.

She said: “When prisons are full, violence rises – putting prison officers on the frontline at risk. When no cells are available, suspects cannot be held in custody. This means vanloads of dangerous people circling the country, with nowhere to go. The police would have to use their cells as a prison overflow, keeping officers off the streets. Soon, the courts would grind to a halt, unable to hold trials.

“With officers unable to act, criminals could do whatever they want, without consequence. We could see looters running amok, smashing in windows, robbing shops and setting neighbourhoods alight. In short, if we fail to act now, we face the collapse of the criminal justice system. And a total breakdown of law and order.”

The chair of the National Police Chiefs’ Council, Chief Constable Gavin Stephens, said: “It is pleasing to see the new government has taken action on this pressing issue so quickly.

“We are supporting the Ministry of Justice and other partners in the criminal justice system to manage the impact of these changes, particularly around supporting victims, families and others who will be affected.”

With only hundreds of places left in the adult male estate, prisons have been routinely operating at more than 99% capacity since the start of 2023. Prison cells are expected to run out within weeks, the government has said.

Before setting out the next steps to tackle this impending crisis, Mahmood confirmed the ECSL scheme, introduced by the previous government in October 2023, would come to an end.

The early release scheme was designed to address capacity pressures on the prison estate. Prisoners were initially released 18 days early but the measure has been repeatedly expanded over the past six months. Over the course of the scheme, more than 10,000 offenders were released.

Anyone released under the new scheme would be strictly monitored on licence by the Probation Service through measures that could include electronic tagging and curfews, justice officials said. Those freed face being recalled to prison if they breach their licence conditions.

The rules will not apply to most serious offenders, who already either spend two-thirds of their sentence behind bars or have their release determined by the Parole Board.

Mahmood said: “There is now only one way to avert disaster. I do not choose to do this because I want to … but we are taking every protection that is available to us … let me be clear, this is an emergency measure. This is not a permanent change. I am unapologetic in my belief that criminals must be punished.”

Mahmood also set out plans to recruit more than 1,000 additional trainee probation officers by March 2025, allowing for greater oversight and management of offenders once they leave.

She added: “The measures I have set out are not a silver bullet. But … they will give us the time we need to address the prisons crisis, not just today but for years to come. That means continuing the prison building programme. And only by driving down reoffending will we ever find a sustainable solution to the prisons crisis.”

Four people died overnight trying to cross the Channel to reach Britain, French officials have said.

A rescue operation took place off Boulogne-sur-Mer on France’s northern coast after reports of people in the sea. Four of those pulled from the sea had drowned.

At least 56 survivors were rescued early on Friday morning, according to French officials. They are being cared for by the French authorities.

The boat was launched off the coast near Boulogne-sur-Mer at about 2am French time. The drownings happened after one of the tubes from the dinghy the group were travelling in deflated, according to the French maritime prefect of the Channel and North Sea.

After the alarm was raised by a French fishing boat in the area, which took part in the rescue operation, the French coastguard spotted the dinghy at 4.30am and a French navy boat and a helicopter were drafted in to assist with picking up those onboard.

Three people who were found unconscious in the water and a fourth found clinging to the wreckage of the dinghy could not be resuscitated. The survivors were taken to the quayside at Boulogne.

The local state representative, Prefect Jacques Billant, said 56 passengers were picked up. Four men, reported to be from Somalia, Eritrea or Ethiopia, died, Billant told French journalists. He said the boat was “very poor quality … under-inflated and under-motorised”.

“Only one migrant was wearing a lifejacket. A few others had inner tubes,” Billant said.

An HM Coastguard spokesperson said assistance was offered to the French coastguard on Friday. “An RNLI lifeboat from Dover and Border Force vessel were initially sent to provide support but were not required to attend the scene,” they said.

Billant said a second migrant boat was rescued on Friday after leaving Le Touquet with 40 people onboard.

The deaths are the first to happen since Keir Starmer took office as UK prime minister. He has pledged to “stop the criminal gangs” responsible for organising Channel crossings but it is unlikely any new policy can be put into action quickly enough to make a dent in the peak in crossings through the summer months.

The home secretary, Yvette Cooper, said: “The further loss of life in the Channel this morning is truly awful. My thoughts are with all those affected. Criminal gangs are making vast profit from putting lives at risk. We are accelerating action with international partners to pursue and bring down dangerous smuggler gangs.”

The last major incident was on 23 April when five people died off the French coast trying to reach the UK.

The deaths take the total number killed on the perilous crossing from France to Britain this year to 19.

Home Office figures show 419 people made the journey across the Channel from France in six boats on Tuesday. The figures mean there was an average of about 70 people on each boat and take the provisional total for 2024 to date to 14,058, according to PA Media.

The chief executive of the Refugee Council, Enver Solomon, said: “This devastating loss of life in the Channel highlights the scale of the challenge facing the new government. Preventing more deaths which are now happening too often is a critical and urgent task.

“We need to bring an end to men, women and children who have fled war and oppression in countries such as Afghanistan, Syria and Iran being driven into the arms of the smuggling gangs by opening safe routes so refugees wanting to be with their families are not forced to take deadly risks. We also need to put in place cooperation agreements with our European allies to provide safe passage from France and trial the use of refugee visas.”

The shadow home secretary, James Cleverly, said on X: “Reports of more deaths in the Channel are a tragedy. As a country we must do everything in our power to stop the boats and put an end to this vile trade in human suffering.”

Steve Smith, the chief executive of Care4Calais, said the news of more lives lost in the Channel was “deeply upsetting” and it should prompt politicians to create safe routes.

“Every life lost in the Channel is avoidable, and politicians have the power to end these tragedies. Channel crossings are fuelled by a lack of safe routes to claim asylum in the UK, and as a refugee charity that operates in both northern France and the UK we know the only way to stop crossings and save lives is to open safe routes.

“I hope the new government acts, creates safe routes and saves lives.”

Dr Wanda Wyporska, the chief executive officer at Safe Passage International, said the tragedy “was entirely preventable” and required urgent action to stop it happening again. She added: “Sunak’s government took a cruel approach to refugees’ lives, failed to break the smugglers’ grip on dangerous journeys and refused to open safe alternatives.

“A new government is an opportunity for a radically different direction. Rather than continuing an anti-refugee approach, the new government must urgently open safe routes and restore the right to seek protection so people fleeing war and persecution have safe ways to reach the UK.”

In a report published on Friday the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, called on the UK government to uphold the right to asylum and for regional and international cooperation to deal with refugee issues.

Vicky Tennant, UNHCR’s representative to the UK, said: “In recent years, arrivals across the Channel have generated a perception of crisis, often obscuring the desperation driving these journeys, as refugees move in search of safety and stability. While the challenges of addressing irregular movements of refugees and migrants are real, practical solutions are at hand that work for states and refugees.”

Conservative groups are threatening to block Switzerland from hosting next year’s Eurovision by forcing budget referendums on potential host cities, saying the song contest is a “propaganda event” that “celebrates satanism and occultism”.

Switzerland won the right to host the world’s largest live music event after the Swiss singer Nemo triumphed in Sweden with The Code. The cities of Zurich, Geneva, Bern and Basel have all filed applications to host the five-day spectacle.

The Christian conservative Federal Democratic Union of Switzerland (EDU) party, however, has said it will seek to make use of the country’s direct democracy system to put the bidding cities’ loan applications to the vote.

“The Eurovision song contest is a ghastly propaganda occasion”, the EDU said in a social media post on Tuesday. “A country that provides a stage to such disgusting trash won’t elevate its image but merely showcase its own intellectual decline.”

Samuel Kullmann, a senior EDU politician, told the Swiss broadcaster SRF his party was disturbed by Eurovision’s increasing “celebration, or at least tolerance of … satanism and occultism”. “More and more artists present openly occultist messages and underline them with respective symbols,” he said.

The Irish singer Bambie Thug’s stage show at the 2024 contest involved a devil-like horned dancer and a circle of candles containing a pentagram, which in its inverted form is a common satanic symbol.

In the final in Malmö, Nemo became the first non-binary artist to win the contest in its 68-year history with a song celebrating their identity beyond male and female gender norms.

The EDU is a minor political party with only one seat on the Swiss national council, but its calls for referendums have been supported in some cantons by the larger rightwing Swiss People’s party (SVP) and the Swiss taxpayers’ association.

The SVP’s youth wing cited what it called the introduction of a third gender and “overt antisemitism” as a reason for supporting a referendum. There were large pro-Palestine protests outside the venue for the Malmö final and semi-finals in May.

Any referendums against Swiss cities hosting Eurovision would not necessarily swing in the political right’s favour, but the threat of plebiscites introduces immense uncertainty for planners.

Votes could not be held before November, but the host city for the May 2025 event is scheduled to be chosen by the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation in consultation with the European Broadcasting Union by the end of August.