Israeli forces say the Hamas military chief, Mohammed Deif, the mastermind of the 7 October attack, was the target of a strike in Khan Younis, southern Gaza, which according to the territory’s emergency services has killed 71 people and injured hundreds more.

Deif, 58, who has been on Israel’s most-wanted list since 1995 and escaped multiple Israeli assassination attempts, is believed to be the chief architect of the attack that killed 1,200 people in southern Israel and triggered the Israel-Hamas war.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said Rafa Salama, another top Hamas official, was also targeted in the strike. The IDF did not have details on whether the two were killed.

Gaza’s health ministry said on Saturday that Israel’s strike on a camp for displaced people in Khan Younis killed at least 71 Palestinians and injured 289 others.Residents said they witnessed at least five “big warplanes bombing in the middle of Al Mawasi area, west of Khan Younis”.

Most of the injured were sent to Nasser hospital. However, according to officials and medics, the facility is “no longer able to function” as doctors are “overwhelmed with large numbers of casualties”.

Hamas says that Israeli claims of targeting leaders of the Palestinian militant group are “false” and are aimed at “justifying” the attack.

The Israeli military said its strike on Deif was in a “fenced Hamas area” and that most people there were militants.

Earlier, a senior Hamas official called the Israeli allegations “nonsense”. “All the martyrs are civilians and what happened was a grave escalation of the war of genocide, backed by the American support and world silence,” Sami Abu Zuhri told Reuters, adding that the strike showed Israel was not interested in reaching a ceasefire deal. He did not confirm whether Deif had been present.

Deif, known as “guest,” has frequently changed locations to elude Israeli detection. Engaged with Hamas from a young age, the former science student orchestrated a series of suicide bombings targeting Israeli civilians in the 1990s and then again a decade later.

Speculations suggest that Deif may have been disabled in one of the numerous Israeli attempts on his life, with his spouse and young children having died in a 2014 airstrike.

Referred to by Israeli authorities as “a dead man walking”, Deif’s actual name is Mohammed Diab Ibrahim al-Masri.

The Saudi channel Al-Hadath reported that Salama, the commander of Hamas’s Khan Younis Brigade, was killed in the strike and that Deif was seriously wounded.

More details soon …

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

A court in Pakistan has acquitted the former prime minister Imran Khan and his wife on charges of unlawful marriage, just a day after his party won the majority of reserved seats in the supreme court.

Syed Zulfi Bukhari, an adviser to Imran Khan on international affairs and media, said: “The court has not only thrown out the case but the judge has ordered for the immediate release of Imran Khan and his wife.”

Bukhari said there is not a single pending case against Khan to keep him in prison. Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party asked for the immediate release of Khan and his wife, Bushra Bibi.

Khan and Bibi were sentenced to seven years days before the general elections in February by a local court in Pakistan, which found them guilty of breaking Islamic law and failing to observe the required interval between Bibi’s divorce and their marriage.

Khan was sentenced in four big cases including the unlawful marriage and another involving allegations of leaking state secrets and has been imprisoned since last August. He has been acquitted in all cases or granted bail.

Khan’s supporters and close aides were celebrating the acquittal of the unlawful marriage allegations, known as the Iddat case, hoping it would pave the way for his release. But minutes after Khan’s acquittal order, local media reported that an anti-terrorism court in Pakistan had issued written orders for the arrest and questioning of Khan in cases related to 9 May violence during his arrest last year.

Soon after his arrest, violence erupted across Pakistan when Khan’s supporters attacked military installations and buildings in protest. Khan has been accused of being the mastermind of the unrest.

Bukhari said: “Now all of sudden we are just hearing that Khan has to be questioned in cases related to 9 May violence and also his wife in a corruption case. It is a mockery of justice but we know these fake cases won’t stand in the court of law.

“The courts are releasing Imran Khan but the administration and military establishment are putting fake cases one after another to put him in prison. Why were these cases not brought before?”

Khan had accused Pakistan’s powerful military and its chief of harbouring a personal grudge against him and ordering his arrest. For decades, Pakistan has been ruled by military dictators, and the powerful military still plays a huge role in politics.

Fawad Chaudhry, the former information minister and a former close aide of Khan, said he is behind bars because of politics not criminal activity.

“[The] arrest of Imran Khan is [a] continuation of [a] political vendetta against Pakistan’s most popular political leader,” Chaudhry said. “The authorities are too scared of freeing Imran Khan hence [a] series of fake criminal cases are put together to keep him in jail.”

Zahid Hussain, a political analyst and author, said Khan’s acquittal in the Iddat case was very much expected as it was frivolous and had no legal standing.

Hussain said: “It was also expected that the military establishment does not want Khan to be out of prison and he will be arrested in another concocted case. But it will not be easy for the military to keep Khan in the prison for quite long now as the judiciary is asserting itself, we have seen yesterday in the major reserved seats case, and the pressure from the military and government is not working.”

In the five months between the end of the Australian Open and the start of Wimbledon, Barbora Krejcikova won just two singles matches. She had fallen into a brutal cycle of illnesses, injuries and pitiful form, and at times it seemed like there was no way out. She arrived at Wimbledon with expectations low, still just trying to find her feet again.

But things can change so quickly in tennis; just a few key wins can build enough confidence for a player’s game to suddenly flow as if nothing had ever been wrong. That process has played out in full for Krejcikova over the past fortnight and by the time she arrived in her first Wimbledon final, she was ready.

After initially looking like a one-sided rout, Saturday’s final between two Wimbledon underdogs developed into a tense, brilliant tussle with so much heart before Krejcikova, the 31st seed, steadied herself and held off a spirited comeback from the seventh seed Jasmine Paolini to close out a 6-2, 2-6, 6-4 win and clinch the Wimbledon singles title for the first time in her career.

Three years after her shock run to the Roland Garros title in 2021, Krejcikova has now won her second grand slam singles title. Having already built one of the great doubles résumés of this generation, few active tennis players, male or female, can match her overall grand slam trophy cabinet: Krejcikova is now a 12-time grand slam champion and a three-time Wimbledon champion.

Krejcikova’s path to the final had been underscored by the way she neutralised three of the most destructive ball strikers in succession – Danielle Collins, Jelena Ostapenko and Elena Rybakina. This time, as the taller, stronger player with a better serve and heavier shots, Krejcikova knew she had to dictate the match.

The only other meeting between the two had come in the first round of the 2018 Australian Open qualifying tournament, which was won comfortably by Krejcikova before she also lost before making the main draw. It is a reflection of their late-blooming careers that this occasion marked the first time that a grand slam qualifying match had been replicated in a major final.

Facing such a different playing style could have rattled her, but Krejcikova completely overwhelmed Paolini. She flitted out of the blocks determined to take the first strike immediately as she dismantled the Italian’s serve in the opening game and dominated with her forehand.

With the set already slipping away from her, Paolini tried everything to halt Krejcikova’s momentum. She mixed in drop shots, sharp forehand angles and tried hard to take the initiative earlier in the point. Each time she was under pressure, Krejcikova demonstrated her awesome hand skills, resetting countless exchanges with skidding defensive slices before working her way back on top.

After taking a bathroom break between sets, Paolini began the second set determined to put Krejcikova under pressure as the Centre Court crowd forcefully cheered her on throughout. She injected more pace into both of her groundstrokes, she found greater depth and she began to completely attack her forehand. The momentum shifted immediately and as Paolini raced to a 3-0 lead, pounding forehands and refusing to let up, nervous errors began to flow from Krejcikova’s racket.

At the beginning of the final set, Paolini refused to relinquish her momentum. She opened the third set by utterly eviscerating a forehand before rolling through her opening service game and she maintained pressure on her opponent by continually targeting her shaky backhand. While Krejcikova’s groundstrokes were still tentative, she served extremely well early on and built up her confidence by breezing through her service games.

With both players simultaneously performing at a high level, Krejcikova had regained enough confidence to make her move at 3-3 on Paolini’s vulnerable serve. She finally took back the initiative in the neutral rallies, dominating with her forehand again as she snatched the break. The brilliant battle would end in one final titanic game as Krejcikova wrestled with her nerves and Paolini fought until the death. After nearly two hours, Krejcikova closed the door on a spectacular triumph.

This is, of course, a poignant full-circle moment for Krejcikova. She was still hundreds of ranking spots from even competing at Wimbledon in 2014 when she knocked on the door of Jana Novotna, the 1998 Wimbledon singles champion, in search of guidance from the local legend.

That meeting would spawn a friendship of a lifetime, as Novotna quickly decided to travel and work with her, coaching her until shortly before she died in November 2017. Twenty-six years after Novotna finally won Wimbledon in her third final, Krejcikova became the newest Czech player to have her name inscribed on the Venus Rosewater Dish.

The Princess of Wales will award the Wimbledon men’s trophy to the winner of the final on Sunday, in a rare public appearance since her cancer diagnosis.

It will be the second time she has appeared in public after undergoing abdominal surgery in January, which led to the discovery of the cancer and the beginning of chemotherapy treatment in late February. Last month, she attended the trooping the colour ceremony for King Charles’s official birthday before which she released a statement saying she was “making good progress” but was “not out of the woods yet”.

Catherine has been a patron of the All-England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club since 2016, and it is customary for her to present the trophy to the winners of the men’s and women’s final. Last year, she presented the men’s trophy to Carlos Alcaraz after his victory against Novak Djokovic. The two will play each other again in this year’s final.

Catherine will not attend the women’s final on Saturday. Instead, the Wimbledon chair, Debbie Jevans, will present the women’s trophy on her behalf to either Jasmine Paolini or Barbora Krejcikova.

In March, Catherine released a video in which she announced her cancer diagnosis, after months of speculation prompted by her admission to the London Clinic on 16 January for abdominal surgery.

The speculation was partly fuelled by an image released to the press by Catherine on Mother’s Day, which was recalled by some of the world’s biggest picture agencies over claims that it was doctored. The princess later apologised for the “confusion” and admitted to editing the photograph.

In the video released in March, she said: “In January, I underwent major abdominal surgery in London and at the time, it was thought that my condition was non-cancerous. The surgery was successful. However, tests after the operation found cancer had been present. My medical team therefore advised that I should undergo a course of preventative chemotherapy and I am now in the early stages of that treatment.”

Catherine said her focus was on reassuring her children. “As I have said to them, I am well and getting stronger every day by focusing on the things that will help me heal, in my mind, body and spirits. Having William by my side is a great source of comfort and reassurance too. As is the love, support and kindness that has been shown by so many of you. It means so much to us both.”

It has produced one of the most consistent sets of negative results in the history of science. For more than 60 years, researchers have tried to find a single convincing piece of evidence to support the idea that we share the universe with other intelligent beings. Despite these decades of effort, they have failed to make contact of any kind.

But the hunt for alien civilisations may be entering a new era, researchers believe. Scientists with Breakthrough Listen, the world’s largest scientific research programme dedicated to finding alien civilisations, say a host of technological developments are about to transform the search for intelligent life in the cosmos.

These innovations will be outlined at the group’s annual conference, which is to be held in the UK for the first time, in Oxford, this week. Several hundred scientists, from astronomers to zoologists, are expected to attend.

Astronomer Steve Croft, a project scientist with Breakthrough Listen, said: “There are amazing technologies that are under development, such as the construction of huge new telescopes in Chile, Africa and Australia, as well as developments in AI. They are going to transform how we look for alien civilisations.”

Among these new instruments are the Square Kilometre Array, made up of hundreds of radio telescopes now being built in South Africa and Australia, and the Vera Rubin Observatory that is being constructed in Chile. The former will become the world’s most powerful radio astronomy facility while the latter, the world’s largest camera, will be able to image the entire visible sky every three or four nights, and is expected to help discover millions of new galaxies and stars.

Both facilities are set to start observations in the next few years and both will provide data for Breakthrough Listen. Using AI to analyse these vast streams of information for subtle patterns that would reveal evidence of intelligent life will give added power to the search for alien civilisations, added Croft.

“Until now, we have been restricted to looking for signals deliberately sent out by aliens to advertise their existence. The new techniques are going to be so sensitive that, for the first time, we will be able to detect unintentional transmissions as opposed to deliberate ones and will be able to spot alien airport radar, or powerful TV transmitters – things like that.”

The importance of being able to detect civilisations from the signatures of their everyday activities is supported by astrophysicist Prof Adam Frank of the University of Rochester in New York. “By searching for signatures of an alien society’s day-to-day activities – a technosignature – we are building entirely new toolkits to find intelligent, civilisation-building life,” he writes in his new book, The Little Book of Aliens.

All sorts of technosignatures have been suggested as indicators of the presence of alien civilisations, from artificial lighting to atmospheric pollution. Some scientists have even suggested that alien civilisations could be spotted from the solar panels they have built. Solar panels absorb visible light but strongly reflect ultraviolet and infrared radiation, which could be detected using a powerful telescope.

However, this would only be possible to spot if vast tracts of a planet’s surface had been covered in solar farms and hundreds of hours of observing time were committed to such a search, says astrobiologist Lewis Dartnell, writing in the latest edition of the BBC’s Sky at Night magazine.

Other alien efforts to trap solar radiation could be even more elaborate and conspicuous, however. The US physicist Freeman Dyson once proposed that some civilisations might be advanced enough to build vast arrays of solar panels encircling their home stars. These great orbiting edifices – known as Dyson spheres – would be detectable from Earth, and several candidates have been proposed, including Boyajian’s star, in the constellation Cygnus, whose output of light is sporadic and unpredictable. Some suggested this could be being caused by a Dyson sphere, though recent observations have ruled out the possibility.

The hunt for alien civilisations has been a cornerstone of cinematic sci-fi spectaculars from E.T. to Contact, Arrival and District 9. However, extraterrestrial life forms have remained the stuff of fiction, despite efforts which began in earnest in 1960 when astronomer Frank Drake used a 26-metre radio telescope to search for possible signals from the stars Tau Ceti and Epsilon Eridani. None were detected – a state of affairs that has continued despite vast increases in the power and sophistication of modern telescopes.

Whether this stream of negative results continues remains to be seen. Croft remains optimistic that we will soon succeed in making contact. “We know that the conditions for life are everywhere, we know that the ingredients for life are everywhere.

“I think it would be deeply weird if it turned out we were the only inhabited planet in the galaxy or in the universe. But you know, it’s possible.”

It has produced one of the most consistent sets of negative results in the history of science. For more than 60 years, researchers have tried to find a single convincing piece of evidence to support the idea that we share the universe with other intelligent beings. Despite these decades of effort, they have failed to make contact of any kind.

But the hunt for alien civilisations may be entering a new era, researchers believe. Scientists with Breakthrough Listen, the world’s largest scientific research programme dedicated to finding alien civilisations, say a host of technological developments are about to transform the search for intelligent life in the cosmos.

These innovations will be outlined at the group’s annual conference, which is to be held in the UK for the first time, in Oxford, this week. Several hundred scientists, from astronomers to zoologists, are expected to attend.

Astronomer Steve Croft, a project scientist with Breakthrough Listen, said: “There are amazing technologies that are under development, such as the construction of huge new telescopes in Chile, Africa and Australia, as well as developments in AI. They are going to transform how we look for alien civilisations.”

Among these new instruments are the Square Kilometre Array, made up of hundreds of radio telescopes now being built in South Africa and Australia, and the Vera Rubin Observatory that is being constructed in Chile. The former will become the world’s most powerful radio astronomy facility while the latter, the world’s largest camera, will be able to image the entire visible sky every three or four nights, and is expected to help discover millions of new galaxies and stars.

Both facilities are set to start observations in the next few years and both will provide data for Breakthrough Listen. Using AI to analyse these vast streams of information for subtle patterns that would reveal evidence of intelligent life will give added power to the search for alien civilisations, added Croft.

“Until now, we have been restricted to looking for signals deliberately sent out by aliens to advertise their existence. The new techniques are going to be so sensitive that, for the first time, we will be able to detect unintentional transmissions as opposed to deliberate ones and will be able to spot alien airport radar, or powerful TV transmitters – things like that.”

The importance of being able to detect civilisations from the signatures of their everyday activities is supported by astrophysicist Prof Adam Frank of the University of Rochester in New York. “By searching for signatures of an alien society’s day-to-day activities – a technosignature – we are building entirely new toolkits to find intelligent, civilisation-building life,” he writes in his new book, The Little Book of Aliens.

All sorts of technosignatures have been suggested as indicators of the presence of alien civilisations, from artificial lighting to atmospheric pollution. Some scientists have even suggested that alien civilisations could be spotted from the solar panels they have built. Solar panels absorb visible light but strongly reflect ultraviolet and infrared radiation, which could be detected using a powerful telescope.

However, this would only be possible to spot if vast tracts of a planet’s surface had been covered in solar farms and hundreds of hours of observing time were committed to such a search, says astrobiologist Lewis Dartnell, writing in the latest edition of the BBC’s Sky at Night magazine.

Other alien efforts to trap solar radiation could be even more elaborate and conspicuous, however. The US physicist Freeman Dyson once proposed that some civilisations might be advanced enough to build vast arrays of solar panels encircling their home stars. These great orbiting edifices – known as Dyson spheres – would be detectable from Earth, and several candidates have been proposed, including Boyajian’s star, in the constellation Cygnus, whose output of light is sporadic and unpredictable. Some suggested this could be being caused by a Dyson sphere, though recent observations have ruled out the possibility.

The hunt for alien civilisations has been a cornerstone of cinematic sci-fi spectaculars from E.T. to Contact, Arrival and District 9. However, extraterrestrial life forms have remained the stuff of fiction, despite efforts which began in earnest in 1960 when astronomer Frank Drake used a 26-metre radio telescope to search for possible signals from the stars Tau Ceti and Epsilon Eridani. None were detected – a state of affairs that has continued despite vast increases in the power and sophistication of modern telescopes.

Whether this stream of negative results continues remains to be seen. Croft remains optimistic that we will soon succeed in making contact. “We know that the conditions for life are everywhere, we know that the ingredients for life are everywhere.

“I think it would be deeply weird if it turned out we were the only inhabited planet in the galaxy or in the universe. But you know, it’s possible.”

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.

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.

The legendarily frank sex therapist and cultural icon Dr Ruth Westheimer, known simply as Dr Ruth, has died at the age of 96, according to her publicist.

Westheimer died on Friday at her home in New York City, surrounded by her family.

Westheimer never advocated risky sexual behavior. Instead, she encouraged an open dialogue on previously closeted issues that affected her audience of millions. Her one recurring theme was there was nothing to be ashamed of.

“I still hold old-fashioned values and I’m a bit of a square,” she told students at Michigan City high school in 2002. “Sex is a private art and a private matter. But still, it is a subject we must talk about.”

Westheimer’s giggly, German-accented voice, coupled with her 4ft 7in frame, made her an unlikely looking – and sounding – outlet for “sexual literacy”. The contradiction was one of the keys to her success.

But it was her extensive knowledge and training, coupled with her humorous, accepting manner, that catapulted her local radio program, Sexually Speaking, into the national spotlight in the early 1980s. She had a nonjudgmental approach to what two consenting adults did in the privacy of their home.

When Dayle Dixon and Mark Lee bought an attractive new house on the outskirts of Ivybridge in Devon in 2018, they believed it would be their forever home. But less than six years later it has been valued at just £1, and the couple are desperate to move out.

Dixon, 53, and Lee, 59, had not owned a property before, and bought their home, in an estate called Lucerne Fields, using, in part, almost £55,000 borrowed through the government’s help-to-buy scheme.

The three-bedroom home looks pretty on the outside, with its cream-coloured exterior and long windows. There is a garage and space for two cars in the driveway.

But the property, which they bought from the Barratt Developments subsidiary David Wilson Homes for £274,995, was valued last year by independent chartered surveyors at  £1 after a catalogue of major defects emerged. The surveyors said that without the problems, it would have been worth £330,000.

After the then Conservative MP for South West Devon, Gary Streeter, visited the estate in 2018, he praised the development, writing on his website: “The quality of the new homes was evident, and the care taken to ensure the development fits into the surrounding locale was clear.”

Dixon and Lee say their experience of their home has been very different, however.

“We have had literally hundreds of problems with the house,” Dixon says. “And repairs that have been carried out have not been done correctly.”

Dixon and Lee’s problems with their “dream” home began even before they moved in. They visited the property as soon as they got the keys, two days before their moving date, and noticed a hairline crack in one of the floors. Barratt agreed to put a screed layer on top before they moved in but Dixon says this made no difference. The next problem that came to light, soon after they moved in, was a broken soil pipe.

Over time more problems emerged. The couple have an extensive paper trail of their complaints, including reports assessing the problem and emails from them to people at Barratt outlining failures to resolve the issues.

Since they moved in Dixon has had time signed off work suffering from stress and anxiety, which she blames on the problems.

“I have developed PTSD, suffer from nightmares and sweats and can’t function properly. A lot of the time I feel physically sick,” she says. “We are living in a house that is a complete mess.”

The chartered surveyors who last year valued the couple’s house at £1 listed numerous defects in their valuation report, including inadequate damp proofing, water ingress, inadequate floor screed (used to create an even floor surface), inadequate window design, and damaged and corroding structural floor beams.

The report stated: “The ground floor will have to be stripped back to shell stage, sections of structural walls and floors will have to be removed, and it is likely that further defects which will require repair will be identified as works progress.”

It added: “Numerous significant defects have been identified. There has been limited positive engagement from the developer in resolving these issues … There is consequently an ongoing and costly dispute arising between the parties which only appears to be escalating.”

Reports commissioned by Barratt have taken a more upbeat view of the problems than those commissioned by the couple, although one structural assessment commissioned by the developer conceded that there was damage to one of the floor beams and that cracks needed to be monitored. Another Barratt-commissioned report recommended remedial action for cracks across the floor.

The couple are taking the firm to the small claims court over damage to items when repairers were in their home. Barratt declined to answer Guardian Money’s questions about the house, citing this legal action as the reason.

Dixon says that the couple have given up on their hope that the problems can be fixed and they can belatedly start to enjoy their home.

“We’ve had enough of having our lives wasted and being treated like idiots,” she says.

“I want Barratt to buy our house back at the market value it would have if it was in a good state of repair – about £350,000.”

Others on the estate have also reported problems but no one else was willing to talk to the Guardian. One family said they were unable to speak to the media because they are involved in legal action against the company and do not want to jeopardise compensation settlements they are in the course of negotiating.

Elsewhere, Roberto and his husband bought what they thought was going to be a wonderful home in Wiltshire from Barratt last October.

They paid £400,000 for the three-bedroom detached house but say that a litany of problems soon emerged, including lack of insulation and a garage built 30cm lower than it was supposed to be, along with problems with a fence, brickwork, paving slabs and the door of their shower.

“It’s an absolute shambles,” Roberto says. “When we first purchased the house, we thought it was perfect, but we have had so many problems. The house is cold and we can feel the wind coming inside because of the lack of insulation. When they fix one thing they damage something else. I’m so depressed about the whole thing. Barratt has offered us financial compensation but some of the walls need to be stripped out completely and redone.”

The housebuilder has accepted that a range of identified defects need to be repaired, including the insulation problem, the replacement of external vents and checks to ensure ducting is adequately sealed. It has also agreed to remove and replace some of the skirting boards and some of the plasterboard and work to raise the height of the garage and the driveway. However, the couple are still living with problems.

“All of this is not fair,” Roberto says. “We want to make the house beautiful but there doesn’t seem to be any point. We paid to get a good home but it seems that we actually paid to get pain from Barratt.”

Barratt said it had carried out some work to the house but declined to give an on-the-record statement on the case.

Instead, a spokesperson said: “As a five-star housebuilder we are proud of the high quality of our homes and well over 90% of our customers would recommend us to their friends and family. We build thousands of homes every year and on occasion where things go wrong we work hard to put them right as quickly as possible.”

Dixon hopes that if Barratt buys back their home from them, they can buy another property.

Otherwise, she says, “We won’t be able to afford to rent … In the worst-case scenario, we’ll have to move in with my elderly parents.”

How warranties work

One of the big advantages of buying a newly built home is that it comes with a 10-year warranty – essentially an insurance policy.

If you discover problems with your new-build home, you have various rights and options when it comes to trying to get these sorted out.

The 10-year warranty

This is taken out by the builder or developer and is supposed to protect the homebuyer.

It is usually split into two periods: a builder warranty for the first two years, then insurance cover for the next eight years.

The consumer body Which? says that while the first bit covers structural problems and minor defects found within the first two years, which the builder is obliged to resolve, the second part of the warranty “only covers structural issues … It doesn’t cover cosmetic issues or minor defects”.

The HomeOwners Alliance agrees, saying the structural issues include foundations, the external render, roofs, ceilings, chimneys and load-bearing parts of the floors.

So buyers really only have two years to identify, report and resolve non-structural flaws that may take several months to come to light.

It is thought the vast majority of new homes are covered by the Buildmark policy from the National House Building Council, although there are several other warranty providers, including Buildsafe, Checkmate and LABC Warranty.

The consumer codes and complaints bodies

Hopefully the developer or builder will come round promptly to fix any problems. If you need to escalate a complaint, you will first need to go through the developer’s formal complaints process, Which? says.

If you are still getting the runaround, you have options. For example, the NHBC says it provides an independent resolution service should a builder not meet their obligations under Buildmark.

The next thing to do is to check if your builder or developer is signed up to a code of conduct. Almost all warranty providers require developers to sign up to a consumer code, which is there to protect consumers during the sales process and offers a dispute resolution service if things go wrong during the first two years, says the HomeOwners Alliance.

The two main ones are the New Homes Quality Code, run by the New Homes Quality Board (NHQB), and the Consumer Code for Home Builders (there is also the Consumer Code for New Homes). Your developer should let you know which one applies to you.

If a builder allegedly doesn’t meet the requirements of the NHQB code, consumers can go to the New Homes Ombudsman Service, which will investigate and provide compensation if necessary.

Meanwhile, if you think your developer has breached the Consumer Code for Home Builders, you can access its independent dispute resolution scheme, which may order the company to pay compensation or carry out remedial work.

Every day for the last two weeks, Johannes-Harm Hovinga has sat at a raised table in Museum Arnhem, using a two-hole page puncher to systematically perforate the 7,705-page sixth assessment report produced by the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

He has printed it out on coloured paper and the result is a vibrant heap piling up at the artist’s feet.

Hovinga remains completely silent during each performance in the Netherlands-based museum. He drinks water, but doesn’t eat, with bathroom breaks his only intermission.

“We are at a crucial turning point in history,” says Hovinga, “where the consequences of climate change are becoming increasingly evident. Rising temperatures, extreme weather events, biodiversity loss and microplastics are just some examples of what our planet faces.”

The artist calls his living piece The Elephant in the Room. It is an artistic protest, meant to illustrate the lack of urgency by policymakers and global leaders. Hovinga believes in the power of creative expression to help raise awareness and persuade people to take a stand.

“The changing political landscape in Europe makes the work more relevant than ever. As humans, we are exhausting the Earth. Our current system of consumption is not sustainable. We need change, especially in our western world.

“For me, art and activism are symbiotic. The performance challenges each of us to confront our role in the climate crisis and encourages a renewed commitment to meaningful change.”

Hovinga’s artistic protest will last 20 days in total. By the end of it, he will have punched holes for 120 hours, at a physical and mental cost. “It’s getting harder to sit in silence concentrating on the same repetitive motion. I didn’t expect it to be so intense. After two days, my back, neck, elbows and wrists all started to hurt. I’ve been taking painkillers daily since the second week.”

Even so, he remains committed, accepting that change often comes with discomfort and sacrifice. For Hovinga, the most rewarding part is seeing the public reaction.

“Visitors have left me notes thanking me,” he says. “One day, two students from the art school next door waited until the museum closed so they could speak with me. I didn’t expect the reaction to be so positive. People see the layers of pain and are touched by it.”

However, Hovinga has had the odd negative response: “I’ve been called a WEF [World Economic Forum] puppet. Online, someone threatened to come and disrupt the performance. But that’s also fine because it still makes people reflect.”

Saskia Bak, the director at Museum Arnhem, says: “It’s crucial to showcase different perspectives on current topics, so we team up with artists not typically seen in museums. We highlight issues that are relevant in society, such as climate change. Johannes-Harm Hovinga’s performance fits perfectly.”

Of the audience reception, she says: “It’s been overwhelmingly positive. Some viewers get quite emotional during the performance, while others have applauded Hovinga for tearing up the nonsense that is the IPCC report.”

The hole-punching part of Hovinga’s art will wrap up on 14 July, after which the confetti installation will remain dispersed for two weeks. “After that, I will come back and clean in silence,” says Hovinga.

Having already staged a pilot version of Elephant in the Room for 11 days in 2022, during which he invited viewers to join him in the hole punching, the artist next plans to recreate the act during Cop29 in November.

In the long run, he hopes to take the performance across Europe, presenting his live art in museums and public spaces.