Alec Baldwin’s involuntary manslaughter trial came to a dramatic end on Friday, after a New Mexico judge dismissed the case against the actor and found that the state had improperly withheld evidence related to how live rounds of ammunition ended up on the film set where the cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was fatally shot.

Just days after courtroom proceedings had begun, Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer ruled in favor of the defense and agreed that the charges against Baldwin should be dropped, finding that the state had concealed evidence that would have been favorable to the actor. The dismissal, made with prejudice, puts an end to the involuntary manslaughter case against Baldwin.

“The state’s willful withholding of information was intentional and deliberate,” Sommer said. “There is no way for the court to right this wrong.”

The news was met with relief from Baldwin, 66, who appeared to weep and hugged his attorneys and his wife, as the judge issued her ruling. Baldwin swiftly left court without making a statement to media.

The evidence in question was live rounds of ammunition turned over to New Mexico police in March, following the conviction of Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, the film’s armorer. That evidence suggested the live ammunition that made its way on to the set came from the prop supplier, rather than the film’s armorer, Baldwin’s attorney Alex Spiro said.

A witness confirmed to the judge on Friday afternoon that a special prosecutor in the case, Kari Morrissey, was directly involved in the decision to file the evidence in an entirely different case file separate from the other Rust materials.

The day had the twists and turns of a Hollywood drama as Morrissey’s role was revealed, another special prosecutor in the case resigned mid-day, and Morrissey took the stand herself. During her testimony, Baldwin’s defense attorney asked her whether she had referred to the actor as an “arrogant prick” and “cocksucker” in a conversation with a witness.

The dismissal brings to a sudden end the criminal case against Baldwin over death of Hutchins on the Rust movie set. The 42-year-old cinematographer died after a gun Baldwin was holding during rehearsals fired a single live round of ammunition.

Prosecutors have long said evidence shows that Gutierrez-Reed, who was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in March, was the source of the live round, but the defense said the state had received evidence that suggested otherwise and “buried” it. A “good samaritan” had come forward to police this year with a box of munitions that he claimed came from the prop supplier, Seth Kenney, and matched the ammunition that killed Hutchins, Spiro had said on Thursday.

A report of that interview was not included with the other Rust evidence nor shared with the lawyer of Gutierrez-Reed, Spiro said. Testimony from Alexandria Hancock, with the Santa Fe county sheriff’s office, revealed that she and other officials made the decision to file it separately from the other Rust evidence in an entirely different case file.

Baldwin’s attorneys said the the report was relevant to the entire case and relevant to the credibility of witnesses who testified in the trial.

“If this evidence wasn’t as important as we say it is, they would have turned it over,” Nikas said.

In the morning, Morrissey had described the motion as a “wild goose chase” and said she had never before seen the report about the ammunition brought to the sheriff’s office. But as the judge questioned Hancock, the corporal said that Morrissey had taken part in the decision to keep the evidence separate from the Rust case – which elicited gasps in the courtroom.

Troy Teske, the man who came forward with the ammunition, is a friend of Gutierrez-Reed’s father, Morrissey had said earlier. She denied the defense’s accusations and said Baldwin’s team was aware of the evidence brought forward.

In a highly unusual move, Morrissey called herself to the stand to defend her conduct – despite instruction from the judge that she did not have to do so. “I was not aware at that point in time that it would not be linked to the Rust case number,” she said.

On cross-examination, Spiro asked Morrissey if she disliked Baldwin – which she denied – and if she had ever referred to the actor as an “arrogant prick” and “cocksucker” in a conversation with a witness.

She said she did not recall doing so.

“I actually really appreciate Mr Baldwin’s movies,” she said. “I really appreciated the acting he did on Saturday Night Live. And I actually really appreciate his politics.”

The developments upended the prosecution’s case and it was revealed during Morrissey’s testimony that the special prosecutor Erlinda Johnson had resigned in the middle of the day.

Baldwin could have faced 18 months in prison if convicted.

Five people have been jailed over the assassination of Ecuadorian presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio, who was killed by gunmen on motorcycles last year.

Villavicencio, 59, was a former journalist and killed on 9 August as he left a school in Ecuador’s capital, Quito, after a campaign rally. Thirteen people were injured.

On Friday, two people who were described as instigators were each sentenced to 34 years and eight months in prison, and three accomplices were each jailed for 12 years.

Prosecutors accused at least two of those tried of belonging to the Los Lobos crime gang, among 22 criminal gangs designated as terrorists by President Daniel Noboa in January.

According to the prosecutor’s office, one of the instigators, Carlos Angulo, alias “Invisible”, coordinated the murder from a prison where he was held in Ecuador and gave instructions by videoconference to another person for the execution, which was recorded in their mobile phones. The latter has not been tried.

Laura Castillo, the other instigator, was described as being in charge of providing the gunmen with logistical elements including motorcycles and money.

The three accomplices – Erick Ramírez, Víctor Flores and Alexandra Chimbo – were in charge of alerting the actual killers of the victim’s movements, prosecutors said.

The prosecutor’s office had requested the maximum sentence for the five defendants.

The sentences for Angulo and Castillo included a compensation payment of $100,000 by each to the politician’s family. The other three defendants were ordered to pay $33,000 each.

As the judges announced the sentence, family and friends of Villavicencio demonstrated in Quito carrying posters, his photographs and flags.

Villavicencio’s journalism exposed corruption and connections between organised crime and politicians and he had previously reported receiving threats, but authorities have never said anything about the motive for the killing.

A total of 13 people were accused in the case, including several Colombians who, after being arrested, were murdered last October in prisons in Guayaquil and Quito where they were being held in pre-trial detention.

The ruling, read out by Milton Maroto, one of the court’s three judges, can be appealed against by both the prosecution and the defence.

Prosecutors are conducting a separate investigation into who requested the murder.

With Associated Press and Reuters in Quito

Joe Biden delivered a defiant speech on Friday evening in the battleground state of Michigan, firmly dismissing the doubt swirling around his survival as the Democratic presidential nominee.

Biden held a rally at a high school gymnasium in Detroit as part of his visit to the critical swing state that chose Trump in 2016 and Biden in 2020. He walked on stage to audience chants of “don’t you quit” and addressed the speculation head on: “I am running, and we’re gonna win,” he said. “I’m not going anywhere.”

Throughout the speech, Biden reiterated his plans for a second term, including codifying abortion rights, signing the John Lewis Voting Rights Act, ending medical debt, raising the minimum wage and banning assault weapons.

He also took direct aim at Trump, calling the former president and presumptive Republican nominee “a loser” and challenging his record on jobs and the economy.

“Donald Trump is the only president in American history, other than Herbert Hoover, who lost more jobs than he had when he came in,” Biden said. “That’s why I call him Donald ‘Herbert Hoover’ Trump.”

He also referenced Trump’s continuing legal battles, including his conviction over paying hush money to Stormy Daniels, his sexual abuse case involving E Jean Carroll, and the case over his handling of classified information.

“Do you really want to go back to the chaos of Donald Trump as president?” he asked the crowd, which responded with a booming “no!”

Biden also targeted Project 2025, a policy plan led by the Heritage Foundation, a rightwing thinktank. Trump has tried to disavow the project, which Democrats say shows his extremist agenda.

“Project 2025 is the biggest attack on our system of government and our personal freedom that has ever been proposed to this country,” Biden said, outlining its aims to criminalize the shipment of abortion medication, deny contraceptive coverage, make cuts to Medicare, and eliminate the Department of Education.

“We’ve never seen anything like this,” he said. “It’s not a joke. It’s time for us to stop treating politics like entertainment and reality TV. Another four years of Donald Trump is deadly serious. Deadly serious.”

He ended his speech with a joke about his age, saying “I know I look 40”, and telling the crowd that “with age comes wisdom”.

“I know how to tell the truth, I know right from wrong, and I know I have demonstrated how to do this job,” he said. “We’re going to stop Donald Trump. Let’s get this done.”

The speech was initially received positively among pundits and voters, with MSNBC’s Chris Hayes saying it was “the best performance [Biden’s] given since the State of the Union”.

The reception will probably be welcomed by Biden’s teams, as calls in Washington for the 81-year-old president to quit intensified. The Democratic leader in the House of Representatives said he had discussed the issue with Biden on Thursday, after Biden’s press conference following the Nato summit.

In a letter to colleagues, Hakeem Jeffries of New York said discussions about Biden’s age and fitness for office had been “candid, clear-eyed and comprehensive”.

“On behalf of the House Democratic caucus,” he said, “I requested and was graciously granted a private meeting with President Joe Biden.

“That meeting occurred yesterday evening … I directly expressed the full breadth of insight, heartfelt perspectives and conclusions about the path forward.”

Biden’s response was not disclosed, nor details of Democratic “conclusions”. But as the letter was released, an 18th congressional Democrat said Biden should let someone else face Donald Trump in November.

The 19th Democrat to say Biden should go, Mike Levin of California, was reported by Politico to have told the president so to his face on Friday, during a virtual meeting with the Congressional Hispanic caucus. Levin then stated his position publicly.

Politico also quoted a “pro-Biden Democrat who attended the meeting” as saying the president “sounded very lucid, sharp, engaged”.

There was further worrying news for Democrats when the New York Times reported that so long as Biden remains the nominee, major donors will put on hold “roughly $90m in pledged donations”.

The Sunrise Movement also called for Biden to quit. Aru Shiney-Ajay, executive director of the youth-led climate-focused activist group, said she was “concerned Joe Biden isn’t in a position to mobilise young voters and win”.

As Biden headed for Detroit, the capital remained abuzz. At the Nato summit on Thursday, Biden spoke assertively and showed his foreign policy experience but also made embarrassing slips, introducing Volodymyr Zelenskiy of Ukraine as “President Putin” and referring to Kamala Harris, his vice-president, as “Vice-President Trump”.

Trump seized on that, posting on social media: “Crooked Joe begins his ‘Big Boy’ press conference with, ‘I wouldn’t have picked Vice-President Trump to be vice-president, though I think she was not qualified to be president.’ Great job, Joe!”

Biden had appeared to say: “Look, I wouldn’t have picked Vice-President Trump to be vice-president [if] I think she’s not qualified to be president.”

Online, Biden fired back, posting: “By the way: Yes, I know the difference. One’s a prosecutor, and the other’s a felon.”

Trump, 78 and facing questions about his own cognitive fitness, was convicted on 34 charges arising from hush-money payments to an adult film star. He faces 54 other criminal charges, concerning election subversion and retention of classified information, and was fined millions of dollars in civil cases over business fraud and defamation arising from a rape allegation a judge called “substantially true”.

There was good news for Biden on Friday: a poll showing him improving since the disastrous debate against Trump in Atlanta that pitched Democrats into crisis.

“Biden actually gained a point since last month’s survey, which was taken before the debate,” wrote Domenico Montanaro of NPR, which carried out the poll with PBS and Marist. “He leads Trump 50%-48% in a head-to-head matchup. But Biden slips when third-party options are introduced, with Trump [leading] 43%-42%.”

But Politico noted telling dissonance in responses to Biden’s Nato performance. One unnamed Biden aide said the president exceeded expectations and had some great lines. A Democratic aide said Biden had “lowered the bar … until it’s on the floor”.

Jim Clyburn of South Carolina, the dean of the Congressional Black caucus, told NBC that Biden “sometimes mangles words and phrases but all of that is almost natural for people who grew up stuttering”.

He added: “He has one of the best minds that I have ever been around … and so I would hope that we would focus on the substance of this man … and how he has run this country.

Asked “Is this the same Joe Biden that we saw four years ago?”, Clyburn said: “No!”

“I’m not the same Jim Clyburn that I was four years ago and in 10 days I’ll be 84. But I’m a bit wiser than I was before … It’s biblical. When I became a man I put away childish things. Joe Biden has put away childish things because he has become a man. His opponent [Trump] is still a child.”

The Associated Press contributed reporting

As he addressed reporters at the conclusion of the Nato conference on Thursday, Joe Biden sent a defiant message to his critics: I’m not going anywhere. Despite demands from dozens of Democratic lawmakers that he withdraw from the presidential race following his disastrous debate performance, Biden argued he was the best candidate to defeat Donald Trump in November.

“I think I’m the most qualified person to run for president. I beat him once, and I will beat him again,” Biden said. “There’s a long way to go in this campaign, and so I – I’m just going to keep moving.”

That message did not assuage some skeptics in Biden’s party, as three more House Democrats called on the president to drop out in the hours after the press conference. Biden and his team have not yet quieted critics’ concerns, but the president’s detractors have few options beyond their public pressure campaign to get him to step aside.

With just one month left before the Democrats convene in Chicago for their convention, the party has limited time to determine who will be on the top of the ticket in November.

Here’s what you need to know about Biden’s path forward:

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.”

US senator Susan Collins didn’t vote for her fellow Republican Donald Trump for president in 2016 or 2020 – and the third time will not be the charm.

The longtime moderate conservative from Maine told reporters on Friday that she intended to write in former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley’s name on the ballot in November. The move recalls 2016, when Collins said she wrote in then-US House speaker Paul Ryan for president over Trump, who won the White House before losing to Democratic rival Joe Biden in 2020.

Collins is the only New England Republican in Congress and the only Republican holding statewide office in Maine, where Trump has twice won an electoral vote. She said Friday that she is sticking with her endorsement of Haley despite the fact Haley will not be on the ballot.

“I publicly endorsed Nikki Haley, and I wanted her to win. She’s still my favorite candidate, and I think she could do a great job. She’s my choice, and that’s how I’m going to express it,” Collins told WMTW-TV.

Collins made the remarks about the election at an event in Limerick, about 34 miles west of Portland, where she was speaking at a ribbon-cutting for a new fire and emergency medical services station.

After the event, Collins spokesperson Annie Clark said the senator “has said this before”, including during a June television appearance.

During that appearance, on Spectrum News, Collins said she “does not support the Democratic nominee either” and supports “some of … Trump’s policies”.

However, she also said Trump’s style is “divisive at a time when our country is already so polarized”.

Collins was also one of seven Republicans who voted at an impeachment trial to convict Trump of inciting an insurrection after his supporters attacked the US Capitol on 6 January 2021.

Collins was elected to the Senate in 1996. She is the longest-serving Republican woman in the Senate, is often a key vote and is famous for not missing votes.

Collins is not on the ballot in 2024 and was most recently reelected in 2020, when she defeated Democratic challenger Sara Gideon.

She represents a state where Trump has twice lost the statewide vote – but he picked up one electoral vote because Maine is one of two states to apportion electoral votes by district.

Trump has many fans in rural Maine, which makes up most of the second congressional district.

• Russian forces carried out “massive shelling” in the city of Kherson, the head of the regional military administration said on Friday. The assault targeted the central Dnipro district and lasted about an hour, Roman Mrochko said on Telegram. “Miraculously, no one was hurt.” The post included footage of collapsed and heavily damaged buildings. Mrochko said damage to infrastructure meant the water supply in the area might be affected but that restoration work was ongoing.

• Ukrainian air defences shot down five cruise missiles and 11 drones targeted at cities across Ukraine overnight to Friday, the commander of the country’s air forces said. The missiles were fired from the Saratov region of southern Russia and downed over the Ukrainian regions of Khmelnytskyi, Sumy and Cherkasy, Lt Gen Mykola Oleschuk said on Telegram. He added that 19 drones in total were fired and 11 were shot down over Mykolaiv, Kyiv, Vinnytsia, Khmelnytskyi, Kherson and Sumy. He said the remaining eight drones were lost but were probably only dummy drones intended to overload the air defences.

• Three civilians were injured by a mine in the eastern Ukrainian region of Kharkiv. The regional military administration said it occurred in the village of Staritsa, about 46km (28 miles) from Kharkiv city and just a few kilometres from the Russian border. The people wounded were two men aged 18 and 63 and a woman aged 43, it said on Telegram. Other statements from the administration have warned of mine clearances taking place in other areas along the Russian border.

• The Russian defence minister and his US counterpart held a phone call where they discussed lowering the risk of “possible escalation”, the Russian defence ministry said on Friday. The call between Andrei Belousov and Lloyd Austin, which was initiated by Moscow, comes as tensions between the two sides flare over Washington’s plan to deploy long-range missiles in Germany, a decision the Kremlin warned could spell a return to cold war-style confrontation.

• Volodymyr Zelenskiy is expected to travel to the UK next week to address European leaders who are meeting to discuss Ukraine, European security and democracy. The Ukrainian president will also make his first visit to Ireland on Saturday morning when he touches down there for a meeting with the Irish taoiseach, Simon Harris. Ireland is expected to offer more support to Ukraine’s efforts to return an estimated 20,000 children who have been forcibly relocated to Russia and Belarus.

• Ukraine’s foreign ministry dismissed an allegation by a Russian official on Friday that Kyiv was planning to stage attacks on the country’s own hydropower dams in order to blame Russia for the assault. The ministry described the statement as a new intimidation tactic designed to mislead.

• Ukraine’s top prosecutor has called on the international criminal court (ICC) to prosecute Russia over a missile strike on a children’s hospital in Kyiv on Monday. The strike was one of a number across Ukraine that killed 38 people, including four children, and injured hundreds. “For the sake of international justice, cases like the intentional attack on the biggest child hospital in Kyiv [are] worth lifting to the ICC,” Andriy Kostin, the prosecutor general, told Reuters.

• Any decision by western countries to allow Ukraine to use weapons they have supplied to strike further into Russian territory would be a “dangerous escalation”, the Kremlin warned. “The main thing is that these missiles are already hitting our territory,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Friday. “As for increasing this distance, this is pure provocation – a new, very dangerous escalation of tension.” Use of the weapons is currently limited to strikes on Russian forces and positions that are launching attacks on Ukraine, but multiple world leaders including the Nato chief, Jens Stoltenberg, and the French president, Emmanuel Macron, have said the restrictions should be relaxed.

• Russia’s decision to open a new front in the Kharkiv region has led to its average daily casualties reaching its highest level since the start of the conflict, the UK Ministry of Defence said. Its latest intelligence update, posted to X, said the figure reached 1,262 in May and 1,162 in June, and that total casualties over the two months were about 70,000. Casualties would remain similarly high over the next two months as Russia tried to “overmatch Ukrainian positions with mass”, it said.

• Russia’s state-owned telecoms provider said YouTube would be slowed down due to “technical problems”. Rostelecom’s announcement came amid reports of plans by Russian authorities to block the service altogether.

• Russian forces carried out “massive shelling” in the city of Kherson, the head of the regional military administration said on Friday. The assault targeted the central Dnipro district and lasted about an hour, Roman Mrochko said on Telegram. “Miraculously, no one was hurt.” The post included footage of collapsed and heavily damaged buildings. Mrochko said damage to infrastructure meant the water supply in the area might be affected but that restoration work was ongoing.

• Ukrainian air defences shot down five cruise missiles and 11 drones targeted at cities across Ukraine overnight to Friday, the commander of the country’s air forces said. The missiles were fired from the Saratov region of southern Russia and downed over the Ukrainian regions of Khmelnytskyi, Sumy and Cherkasy, Lt Gen Mykola Oleschuk said on Telegram. He added that 19 drones in total were fired and 11 were shot down over Mykolaiv, Kyiv, Vinnytsia, Khmelnytskyi, Kherson and Sumy. He said the remaining eight drones were lost but were probably only dummy drones intended to overload the air defences.

• Three civilians were injured by a mine in the eastern Ukrainian region of Kharkiv. The regional military administration said it occurred in the village of Staritsa, about 46km (28 miles) from Kharkiv city and just a few kilometres from the Russian border. The people wounded were two men aged 18 and 63 and a woman aged 43, it said on Telegram. Other statements from the administration have warned of mine clearances taking place in other areas along the Russian border.

• The Russian defence minister and his US counterpart held a phone call where they discussed lowering the risk of “possible escalation”, the Russian defence ministry said on Friday. The call between Andrei Belousov and Lloyd Austin, which was initiated by Moscow, comes as tensions between the two sides flare over Washington’s plan to deploy long-range missiles in Germany, a decision the Kremlin warned could spell a return to cold war-style confrontation.

• Volodymyr Zelenskiy is expected to travel to the UK next week to address European leaders who are meeting to discuss Ukraine, European security and democracy. The Ukrainian president will also make his first visit to Ireland on Saturday morning when he touches down there for a meeting with the Irish taoiseach, Simon Harris. Ireland is expected to offer more support to Ukraine’s efforts to return an estimated 20,000 children who have been forcibly relocated to Russia and Belarus.

• Ukraine’s foreign ministry dismissed an allegation by a Russian official on Friday that Kyiv was planning to stage attacks on the country’s own hydropower dams in order to blame Russia for the assault. The ministry described the statement as a new intimidation tactic designed to mislead.

• Ukraine’s top prosecutor has called on the international criminal court (ICC) to prosecute Russia over a missile strike on a children’s hospital in Kyiv on Monday. The strike was one of a number across Ukraine that killed 38 people, including four children, and injured hundreds. “For the sake of international justice, cases like the intentional attack on the biggest child hospital in Kyiv [are] worth lifting to the ICC,” Andriy Kostin, the prosecutor general, told Reuters.

• Any decision by western countries to allow Ukraine to use weapons they have supplied to strike further into Russian territory would be a “dangerous escalation”, the Kremlin warned. “The main thing is that these missiles are already hitting our territory,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Friday. “As for increasing this distance, this is pure provocation – a new, very dangerous escalation of tension.” Use of the weapons is currently limited to strikes on Russian forces and positions that are launching attacks on Ukraine, but multiple world leaders including the Nato chief, Jens Stoltenberg, and the French president, Emmanuel Macron, have said the restrictions should be relaxed.

• Russia’s decision to open a new front in the Kharkiv region has led to its average daily casualties reaching its highest level since the start of the conflict, the UK Ministry of Defence said. Its latest intelligence update, posted to X, said the figure reached 1,262 in May and 1,162 in June, and that total casualties over the two months were about 70,000. Casualties would remain similarly high over the next two months as Russia tried to “overmatch Ukrainian positions with mass”, it said.

• Russia’s state-owned telecoms provider said YouTube would be slowed down due to “technical problems”. Rostelecom’s announcement came amid reports of plans by Russian authorities to block the service altogether.

Volodymyr Zelenskiy is expected to travel to the UK next week to address European leaders at Blenheim Palace who are meeting to discuss Ukraine, European security and democracy.

He will also make his first visit to Ireland on Saturday morning when he touches down in Shannon airport, Co Clare, for a meeting with the Irish taoiseach, Simon Harris.

Ireland, which has a longstanding policy of military neutrality but is contributing non-lethal aid such as clearance of landmines to Ukraine through the EU, is expected to offer more support to Ukraine’s efforts to return an estimated 20,000 children, who have been forcibly relocated to Russia and Belarus.

The Ukrainian president met Keir Starmer last week at the Nato summit in Washington, but this would be his first opportunity to meet a wider delegation of the Labour government, who will be eager to reiterate the UK’s continued support.

His travel arrangements are rarely confirmed but a source said it is “90% certain” Zelenskiy will be there.

Thursday’s conference is the fourth meeting of the European Political Community, a collective launched after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 that was the brainchild of the French president, Emmanuel Macron.

It is being seen as a “very significant” opportunity for Starmer to not just host up to 50 European leaders but to restore confidence in the UK and show the world the country is back on the international stage after years of reputational damage caused by Brexit.

The EPC is designed to facilitate the strengthening of ties between EU and non-EU leaders in an informal setting, with previous conferences held in Spain, Moldova and the Czech Republic.

Apart from the UK, non-EU countries including Norway, Iceland, Georgia, Kosovo, Serbia, Albania and Turkey are invited, though it is understood that Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the Turkish president who did not attend previous summits, has not confirmed participation.

As host Starmer will address the opening plenary session, which will be held in one of the halls in Blenheim Palace, the birthplace of Winston Churchill. He is expected to underline the UK’s commitment to Ukraine and Zelenskiy, and to resetting the country’s post-Brexit relationship with the EU.

The prime minister has already pledged to establish closer ties with the EU, and the new minister for European relations, Nick Thomas-Symonds, travelled to Brussels for an introductory meeting with the former Brexit negotiator Maroš Šefčovič on Monday.

Ahead of the meeting, Starmer said: “Europe is at the forefront of some of the greatest challenges of our time.

“Russia’s barbaric war continues to reverberate across our continent, while vile smuggling gangs traffic innocent people on perilous journeys that too often end in tragedy.

“I said I would change the way the UK engages with our European partners, working collaboratively to drive forward progress on these generational challenges, and that work starts at the European Political Community meeting on Thursday.”

Harris has pledged to support the UK at a European level and has instructed his ministers to increase contact with London counterparts.

Starmer will have a number of bilateral talks – he is meeting Harris the night before at Chequers and is expected to have a separate meeting with Macron on Thursday in addition to taking soundings from EU leaders on what a new security and defence pact with the UK could look like post-Brexit.

Ukraine will dominate the plenary discussion with leaders, who will then be invited to join three break-out working groups centring on defence and democracy, which will include sessions on the disinformation crisis, energy and migration.

Macron is also determined to use the occasion to send a strong message of support to Ukraine from the EU in face of renewed threats from Vladimir Putin and more ominous comments this week by the former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev, who denounced Nato’s summit promise to eventually support Ukraine’s membership of the defence bloc.

Security around the summit is tight with airspace restrictions in place over the Oxfordshire palace between 14 and 18 July. Police drones and the police air service will enforce the restricted airspace, according to Thames Valley police.

A New York judge dismissed Rudy Giuliani’s bankruptcy case on Friday, clearing the way for two Georgia election workers to try to recover nearly $150m Giuliani was ordered to pay them for defaming them after the 2020 election.

“The court finds that cause exists to convert or dismiss the case. The record in this case reflects Mr Giuliani’s continued failure to meet his reporting obligations and provide the financial transparency required of a debtor in possession,” US bankruptcy judge Sean Lane wrote in his ruling. Lane also barred Giuliani from filing for bankruptcy again within one year.

The decision comes after lawyers for the two women, Ruby Freeman and her daughter Shaye Moss, as well as other creditors accused Giuliani of concealing information about his finances.

“Since day one, Giuliani has regarded this case and the bankruptcy process as a joke, hiding behind the facade of an elderly, doddering man who cannot even remember the address for his second multimillion-dollar home and claims impending homelessness if he must sell that second multimillion-dollar home,” lawyers for creditors wrote in a filing earlier this month.

Giuliani had initially asked a judge to convert the case from chapter 11 bankruptcy – a type of bankruptcy that allows a debtor to reorganize their assets – to a chapter 7, which would allow him to liquidate his assets. He abruptly reversed course and requested that Lane dismiss the bankruptcy altogether.

In addition to retaining control of his finances, dismissal also means that Giuliani can pursue an appeal of the judgment awarded to Freeman and Moss.

“We’re pleased the court saw through Mr Giuliani’s games and put a stop to his abuse of the bankruptcy proceeding. We will move forward as quickly as possible to begin enforcing our judgment against him,” Rachel Strickland, a lawyer representing Freeman and Moss, said in a statement.

While Freeman and Moss requested the case be dismissed, a lawyer representing all creditors in the case favored instead appointing a trustee to take control of Giuliani’s finances. If the bankruptcy case were to continue with a trustee, Lane noted in his ruling, the claims of all creditors would be treated equally. Dismissing the case allows Freeman and Moss to pursue their claim faster.

Lane chose dismissal, writing that continuing the bankruptcy case with a trustee could allow Giuliani to delay things further and accumulate additional expenses that could cut into his ability to pay creditors.

“There is little reason to conclude that the Mr Giuliani’s uncooperative conduct will change after the appointment of a chapter 11 trustee,” he wrote.

At another point in his ruling, Lane said Giuliani had engaged in “self-dealing” and that his business practices were “concerning”.

Giuliani lied repeatedly about Freeman and Moss after the 2020 election, promoting false claims that they had been involved in a scheme to steal the election in Georgia. During a trial in Washington DC in December, both women – who have spoken little publicly – detailed the severe harassment they faced and the fear they continue to feel when they go out in public.

Freeman and Moss also have a pending defamation case against The Gateway Pundit, a far-right news outlet that played a critical role in spreading false claims and targeting them. The outlet has also declared bankruptcy to delay the case, and Freeman and Moss have asked a judge to dismiss it.

The defamation cases – and related bankruptcy proceedings – are being closely watched because they are a test of whether libel law in the United States can be used as an effective tool to punish and deter those who knowingly spread false information. The bankruptcy cases are largely seen as a tool to avoid paying judgments and full accountability.

A two-storey school in north-central Nigeria collapsed during morning classes on Friday, trapping about 120 students and teachers and setting off a frantic search for those in the rubble. A local television station reported 12 deaths.

Authorities are yet to confirm the number of students and teachers killed in Saints Academy college in Plateau state’s Busa Buji community. But Channels Television said 26 people were being treated along with the deaths, citing a witness account at a nearby hospital.

Nigeria’s National Emergency Management Agency said rescue and health workers as well as security forces have been deployed at the scene. It said that “several students” had been killed.

“Approximately 120 people were trapped, with many evacuated,” Plateau Commissioner for Information Musa Ashoms said in a statement. “To ensure prompt medical attention, the government has instructed hospitals to prioritise treatment without documentation or payment.”

The state government blamed the tragedy on the school’s “weak structure and location near a riverbank.” It urged schools facing similar issues to close down.

Dozens of villagers gathered near the school, some weeping and others offering to help, as excavators combed through the debris. One woman was seen wailing and attempting to go closer to the rubble as others held her back.

Building collapses are becoming common in Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country with more than a dozen such incidents recorded in the last two years. Authorities often blame such disasters on failure to enforce building safety regulations and poor maintenance.

The Capri hotel stands a block away from the grandeur of Berlin’s Museum Island, home to the Pergamon Altar and the bust of Nefertiti. Its rooms are grand and this weekend you can expect to pay £400 to stay one night in a deluxe suite with a view of the city. But right now, hanging from the balcony of a penthouse veranda, is an enormous flag of St George with a legend reading: “Sunderland”, “Southside”, “Megawatt” and “Get the rave on”.

The English are coming to Berlin, with as many as 35,000 expected to be in the Olympiastadion when England play Spain in the men’s European Championship final on Sunday night. They are digging deep to get there too. Flights, if you can get them, are starting at €700 (£588) return (some with an overnight stop in Switzerland). Any kind of budget hotel is probably sold out and as for going to the game, well that’s not coming cheap either.

Ash and Curtis are father and son, and follow Nottingham Forest home and away. They paid £1,300 for their tickets to the final. Each. “We paid £700 each to go to the semi-final and we said that was our limit,” says Dad, Ash. “But then we won and we thought: ‘We have to go.’”

The pair describe England’s late dramatic victory over the Netherlands as the best atmosphere they’ve experienced, and they were among the thousands lingering in the stands after the match celebrating. Now the final and “the opportunity of a lifetime”, in Curtis’s words, to watch England win a trophy on foreign soil. Or in Ash’s words: “Curtis said to me: ‘Dad, please don’t die before the final.’”

For Patrick Nolan, also travelling with his son, James, from London, this tournament has created unique memories. “We’ve had a tournament like we’ve never had,” he said. “We’ve had our luck. It wasn’t a penalty on Wednesday night, but we got it. In the past it’s been the other way around, like Gazza’s studs just missing the ball [against Germany] in 96.”

There is a sense among supporters that momentum is building in a team that struggled at the beginning of the tournament. But there have also been several moments along the way that have made the travel and expense worthwhile. “We were in the upper tier for the Swiss game and we could see [Bukayo] Saka’s smile from there when he scored his penalty,” says Curtis. “And no one will ever forget Jude Bellingham’s goal – it’ll be like the Gazza goal [against Scotland] from 96. We’ve got players who can provide moments of madness.”

One of those players is Ollie Watkins, whose expert finish in the last seconds of the Netherlands game secured the place in the final. Talking about his goal on Friday, Watkins said he had “manifested” the moment in his mind. “Whatever you put into the universe you get back,” he said. “It’s been an unbelievable feeling. I was taken aback by the goal but I wasn’t shocked because I have full belief in myself. I manifested it and I had worked very hard to get to that point.”

Watkins praised the travelling England fans. “Their support is everything. They do have an impact on the players,” he said, his remarks echoing those made by Gareth Southgate, who has endured intense criticism during this tournament but always spoken positively of the support his team have received.

Southgate’s attentions are now on Spain, who he says have been “the best team” in the tournament. “They have won a few trophies,” he said. “They are a bloody good side. Let’s pitch it right. We have got to be perfect to win this game and we will have to find everything that we have got from within us.”

English police have commended the behaviour of England’s fans, with the national lead for football policing, chief constable Mark Roberts, saying there had been 66 arrests. “We estimate there have been about 200,000 visitor trips to Germany so far in the tournament, and the vast majority of the travelling England fans have been extremely well behaved,” he said.

“We are all now very much looking forward to the final and hopefully seeing England lift the trophy on Sunday evening. If you are in Germany have a good time, but please remember to drink responsibly, respect the local culture and don’t put yourself in danger.”

The Capri hotel stands a block away from the grandeur of Berlin’s Museum Island, home to the Pergamon Altar and the bust of Nefertiti. Its rooms are grand and this weekend you can expect to pay £400 to stay one night in a deluxe suite with a view of the city. But right now, hanging from the balcony of a penthouse veranda, is an enormous flag of St George with a legend reading: “Sunderland”, “Southside”, “Megawatt” and “Get the rave on”.

The English are coming to Berlin, with as many as 35,000 expected to be in the Olympiastadion when England play Spain in the men’s European Championship final on Sunday night. They are digging deep to get there too. Flights, if you can get them, are starting at €700 (£588) return (some with an overnight stop in Switzerland). Any kind of budget hotel is probably sold out and as for going to the game, well that’s not coming cheap either.

Ash and Curtis are father and son, and follow Nottingham Forest home and away. They paid £1,300 for their tickets to the final. Each. “We paid £700 each to go to the semi-final and we said that was our limit,” says Dad, Ash. “But then we won and we thought: ‘We have to go.’”

The pair describe England’s late dramatic victory over the Netherlands as the best atmosphere they’ve experienced, and they were among the thousands lingering in the stands after the match celebrating. Now the final and “the opportunity of a lifetime”, in Curtis’s words, to watch England win a trophy on foreign soil. Or in Ash’s words: “Curtis said to me: ‘Dad, please don’t die before the final.’”

For Patrick Nolan, also travelling with his son, James, from London, this tournament has created unique memories. “We’ve had a tournament like we’ve never had,” he said. “We’ve had our luck. It wasn’t a penalty on Wednesday night, but we got it. In the past it’s been the other way around, like Gazza’s studs just missing the ball [against Germany] in 96.”

There is a sense among supporters that momentum is building in a team that struggled at the beginning of the tournament. But there have also been several moments along the way that have made the travel and expense worthwhile. “We were in the upper tier for the Swiss game and we could see [Bukayo] Saka’s smile from there when he scored his penalty,” says Curtis. “And no one will ever forget Jude Bellingham’s goal – it’ll be like the Gazza goal [against Scotland] from 96. We’ve got players who can provide moments of madness.”

One of those players is Ollie Watkins, whose expert finish in the last seconds of the Netherlands game secured the place in the final. Talking about his goal on Friday, Watkins said he had “manifested” the moment in his mind. “Whatever you put into the universe you get back,” he said. “It’s been an unbelievable feeling. I was taken aback by the goal but I wasn’t shocked because I have full belief in myself. I manifested it and I had worked very hard to get to that point.”

Watkins praised the travelling England fans. “Their support is everything. They do have an impact on the players,” he said, his remarks echoing those made by Gareth Southgate, who has endured intense criticism during this tournament but always spoken positively of the support his team have received.

Southgate’s attentions are now on Spain, who he says have been “the best team” in the tournament. “They have won a few trophies,” he said. “They are a bloody good side. Let’s pitch it right. We have got to be perfect to win this game and we will have to find everything that we have got from within us.”

English police have commended the behaviour of England’s fans, with the national lead for football policing, chief constable Mark Roberts, saying there had been 66 arrests. “We estimate there have been about 200,000 visitor trips to Germany so far in the tournament, and the vast majority of the travelling England fans have been extremely well behaved,” he said.

“We are all now very much looking forward to the final and hopefully seeing England lift the trophy on Sunday evening. If you are in Germany have a good time, but please remember to drink responsibly, respect the local culture and don’t put yourself in danger.”

Meta has removed previous restrictions on the Facebook and Instagram accounts of Donald Trump as the 2024 election nears, the company announced on Friday.

Trump was allowed to return to the social networks in 2023 with “guardrails” in place, after being banned over his online behavior during the 6 January insurrection. Those guardrails have now been removed.

“In assessing our responsibility to allow political expression, we believe that the American people should be able to hear from the nominees for president on the same basis,” Meta said in a blogpost, citing the Republican national convention, slated for next week, which will formalize Trump as the party’s candidate.

As a result, Meta said, Trump’s accounts will no longer be subject to heightened suspension penalties, which Meta said were created in response to “extreme and extraordinary circumstances” and “have not had to be deployed”.

“All US presidential candidates remain subject to the same community standards as all Facebook and Instagram users, including those policies designed to prevent hate speech and incitement to violence,” the company’s blogpost reads.

Since his return to Meta’s social networks, Trump has primarily shared campaign information, attacks on Democratic candidate Biden, and memes on his accounts.

Critics of Trump and online safety advocates have expressed concern that Trump’s return could lead to a rise of misinformation and incitement of violence, as was seen during the Capitol riot that prompted his initial ban.

The Biden campaign condemned Meta’s decision in a statement on Friday, saying it is a “greedy, reckless decision” that constitutes “ a direct attack on our safety and our democracy”.

“Restoring his access is like handing your car keys to someone you know will drive your car into a crowd and off a cliff,” said campaign spokesperson Charles Kretchmer Lutvak. “It is holding a megaphone for a bonafide racist who will shout his hate and white supremacy from the rooftops and try to take it mainstream.”

In addition to Meta platforms, other major social media firms banned Trump due to his online activity surrounding the 6 January attack, including Twitter (now X), Snapchat and YouTube.

The former president was allowed back on X last year by the decision of Elon Musk, who bought the company in 2022, though the former president has not yet tweeted.

Trump returned to YouTube in March 2023. He remains banned from Snapchat.

Trump founded his own social network, Truth Social, in early 2022.

Emergency workers claim to have recovered the bodies of approximately 60 Palestinians from two districts of Gaza City after Israeli forces pulled back from days of battles with Hamas militants in the territory’s biggest urban area.

The civil defence agency in Hamas-run Gaza on Friday said the bodies were found in the Tal al-Hawa and Al-Sinaa districts after the week-long offensive.

“There are still missing people under the rubble of destroyed homes, which is difficult for our crews to reach,” the agency’s spokesperson Mahmud Bassal said. “There are reports that many people are missing since the first day of the incursion.”

“There are many calls for help but we just cannot reach them. We just do not have enough crews,” Bassal added. He said the Sabha medical centre, near the Gaza City district of Shujaiya, which provides care for 60,000 residents, had been destroyed in the new fighting. This was not immediately confirmed by Israel.

The Israeli military and Shin Bet intelligence agency announced on Friday that they killed Ayman Shweidah, the deputy commander of Hamas’s Shujaiya battalion. The joint statement said he was involved in planning the 7 October attacks and took part in the fighting that followed.

On Wednesday the Israeli army had dropped leaflets warning “everyone in Gaza City” – the focus of a heavy Israeli assault this week – that it would “remain a dangerous combat zone”. The leaflets urged residents to flee and set out designated escape routes from the area where the UN humanitarian office said up to 350,000 people had been sheltering.

Many civilians told the Guardian they had concluded there was no refuge in war-stricken Gaza and said they lacked confidence in the safe corridors set by Israel. Residents said they also feared that if they left they would not be able to take belongings or return.

The offensive came as Arab mediators, backed by the US, are trying to reach a ceasefire deal that would free Israelis held hostage by Hamas in return for many Palestinians jailed by Israel.

Hamas said the heavy Israeli assault on Gaza City this week could wreck efforts to finally end the war just as negotiations have entered the home stretch. In a statement, the Palestinian Islamist militant group said mediators had yet to provide it with updates on the state of the talks since it made concessions last week in response to a US-backed Israeli peace offer.

“The occupation continues its policy of stalling to buy time to foil this round of negotiations, as it has done in previous rounds,” the statement said.

The White House national security spokesperson, John Kirby, said the US was “cautiously optimistic” about talks taking place in Egypt and Qatar.

“There are still gaps remaining between the two sides,” Kirby told CNN. “We believe those gaps can be narrowed, and that’s what US Middle East envoy Brett McGurk and CIA director Bill Burns are trying to do right now.’’

Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, who faces opposition from within his coalition government to any deal that would halt the war without Hamas being vanquished, has said a deal must allow Israel to resume fighting until it meets all its objectives.

Reuters and Agence France-Presse contributed to this report

Prosecutors in Argentina have charged two French rugby players with aggravated rape, in the grisly case of a woman who said she was repeatedly assaulted by the athletes after they took her back to their hotel room and prevented her from leaving.

The prosecutor’s office in the western city of Mendoza – where the alleged assault took place last Sunday following the French team’s test match against the Argentinian Pumas – ordered the two players, Oscar Jegou and Hugo Auradou, to remain in detention until trial.

After being arrested in Buenos Aires, Jegou, 21, and Auradou, 20, were transferred 1,000km (620 miles) to Mendoza on Thursday for their first court appearance. They chose not to testify in Friday’s hearing.

The French Rugby Federation had previously said that the players admitted to having consensual sex with the alleged victim and denied any acts of violence.

The prosecutors said the court would soon decide whether to grant the defendants’ request for house arrest.

The account of the assault – provided by Natacha Romano, the lawyer of the victim – has drawn outrage in France and caused a stir in Argentina, where recent scandals involving professional athletes have prompted questions within the greater sports community about misogyny and sexual violence.

The woman says that after meeting the players at a nightclub, she was taken to their hotel room and subjected to violent, non-consensual sexual acts and prevented from leaving. After escaping the hotel room, Romano said the victim filed a police complaint and underwent physical examinations.

The charges of aggravated sexual assault in Argentina carry the maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. The mandatory minimum is eight years.

Authorities said that they would move the defendants to another jail later on Friday.

• Information and support for anyone affected by rape or sexual abuse issues is available from the following organisations. In the US, Rainn offers support on 800-656-4673. In the UK, Rape Crisis offers support on 0808 500 2222. In Australia, support is available at 1800Respect (1800 737 732). Other international helplines can be found at ibiblio.org/rcip/internl.html

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is requiring an investigation into the in-flight failure of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket as it was launching a batch of Starlink internet satellites.

The second-stage engine failure occurred on Thursday evening during a routine launch of the satellites from Vandenberg space force base in Santa Barbara county, California.

Approximately an hour after the rocket took off, the rocket’s second stage, which was carrying 20 Starlink internet satellites, failed to reignite and instead deployed the satellites in a dangerously low orbit where they run the risk of burning up in the Earth’s atmosphere, Reuters reported.

In a statement on X, SpaceX posted: “During tonight’s Falcon 9 launch of Starlink, the second stage engine did not complete its second burn. As a result, the Starlink satellites were deployed into a lower than intended orbit.

“SpaceX has made contact with 5 of the satellites so far and is attempting to have them raise orbit using their ion thrusters,” the company added. The SpaceX founder, Elon Musk, who also owns X, formerly Twitter, followed up with a highly technical explanation about ion thrusters, a form of electric propulsion used in spacecraft.

“We’re updating satellite software to run the ion thrusters at their equivalent of warp 9. Unlike a Star Trek episode, this will probably not work, but it’s worth a shot,” he said.

In a separate post on X, Musk said: “Upper stage restart to raise perigee resulted in an engine RUD for reasons currently unknown,” referring to a rapid unscheduled disassembly – a euphemistic industry acronym for explosion, adding: “Team is reviewing data tonight to understand root cause.”

Thursday’s failure occurred on the rocket’s 354th mission and marks the first Falcon 9 failure since 2015, when the rocket exploded on a launch site in Florida.

The FAA released a statement, saying: “The FAA is aware an anomaly occurred during the SpaceX Starlink Group 9-3 mission that launched from Vandenberg space force base in California on July 11 … The incident involved the failure of the upper stage rocket while it was in space. No public injuries or public property damage have been reported. The FAA is requiring an investigation.

“The FAA will be involved in every step of the investigation process and must approve SpaceX’s final report, including any corrective actions.”