An anguished Harry Kane called ­England’s Euro 2024 final defeat by Spain “as painful as it can be”, describing their sense of hurt after losing to Mikel Oyarzabal’s late ­winner in Berlin.

Spain were worthy winners but that was little consolation to the ­England captain, who again looked below par and was replaced by Ollie Watkins just after the hour. The ­country’s wait for a first men’s tournament win since 1966 continues after a night when Gareth Southgate again refused to offer indications about his future.

“Losing in a final is as tough as it gets,” said Kane, who had to watch from the side as Cole Palmer’s brilliant finish gave England genuine hope until the 86th-minute sting. “We’ve done really well to get back into the game and then we couldn’t quite use that momentum to push on. We couldn’t quite keep the ball and we got punished for it towards the end. It’s as painful as it can be in a football match.

“It’s been a difficult ride. We’ve done extremely well to get here. We wanted to do it so badly for ourselves and also for the fans and everyone who’s believed in us the whole way.”

It is well documented that England’s players are desperate for ­Southgate, who is considering whether to extend his eight-year ­tenure, to lead them towards the 2026 World Cup. “We love the manager but that’s his decision and this is not the time to talk about that now,” Kane told the BBC. “That’s down to him, he’ll go away and think about it. Right now we are just hurting.”

Southgate was noncommittal upon being asked whether a ­second European Championship final defeat in three years would give him extra motivation to stay on. “I totally understand the question,” he said. “But I need to have those conver­sations with important people behind the scenes and am not going to discuss that publicly first. Without doubt England have got some fabulous young players and many of this squad are going to be around in two, four, six years’ time.”

Accepting that England “fell short”, Southgate emphasised they should hold their heads high after a sometimes tumultuous run to the competition’s bitter end. “I’m very proud of the group of players, they couldn’t have given me or the country any more,” he said.

“The team have done the country proud, they have reached the first final away from England. A second final in two tournaments is ­incredible, really. They have played 14 matches in the last two European Championships and lost in the last minutes of the 14th game. It’s an incredible run but at the moment none of that matters.”

Questioned directly about Kane, who has noticeably laboured despite the bittersweet honour of jointly taking the Golden Boot with three goals, Southgate admitted England’s record goalscorer was some way below his best. “Physically it has been tough for him,” he said. “He came into the ­tournament short on games and has not quite reached the level we all would have hoped.

“He has led the team really well. We have lost a lot of leadership with the injuries to [Jordan] Henderson and [Harry] Maguire so a lot has fallen on his shoulders.”

England had been required to deal with a number of physical issues beyond Kane’s struggles, including the strain of extra-time stints against Slovakia and Switzerland. ­Southgate suggested they had ultimately counted the cost of those exertions.

“So many of our players came into the camp having missed the end of the season,” he said. “We managed to get Luke [Shaw] through the 90 ­minutes when he hasn’t played for four months. Kobbie [Mainoo] has done incredibly well. Jude [­Bellingham] we were about to take off because he was cramping.

“That physical toll is exacerbated when you don’t have the ball. There was a lot stacked against us in terms of having a day less [to prepare] and the extra‑time periods we have had.”

Ultimately, Southgate conceded the superior team had prevailed. “To lose a final is incredibly tough,” he said. “Congratulations to Spain. They were the best team in the tournament and they were the best team tonight.”

The FA’s chief executive, Mark Bullingham, echoed Southgate’s sentiments. “We came to Germany to win the tournament and we didn’t want it to end this way,” he said. “We are all hurting tonight, but we should be incredible proud.”

Top Chinese officials will gather in Beijing on Monday, with all eyes on how they might kickstart lacklustre growth at a key political meeting that has historically seen officials unveil big-picture economic policy changes.

The world’s second-largest economy is grappling with a real estate debt crisis, weakening consumption, an ageing population and geopolitical tensions.

China’s president, Xi Jinping, will oversee the ruling Communist party’s secretive third plenum, which usually takes place every five years in October, though Beijing has offered few hints about what might be on the table.

State media in June said the delayed four-day gathering would “primarily examine issues related to further comprehensively deepening reform and advancing Chinese modernisation”, and Xi has said the party is planning “major” reforms.

Analysts are hoping those pledges will result in badly needed support for the economy.

“The upcoming plenum can’t come soon enough,” Sarah Tan and Harry Murphy Cruise wrote for Moody’s Analytics last week.

Beijing should take decisive action to reform the property sector, loosen restrictions on internal migration, boost high-skilled jobs for graduates and modify the tax system to ease local government debt, they said.

But they added that leaders would “probably not” make sweeping reforms, instead choosing “a modest policy tweak that expands hi-tech manufacturing and a sprinkling of supports to housing”.

The People’s Daily, the Communist party’s official newspaper, appeared to confirm those lower expectations when it warned last week that “reform is not about changing direction and transformation is not about changing colour”.

Ting Lu, chief China economist at Nomura, said the meeting was “intended to generate and discuss big, long-term ideas and structural reforms instead of making short-term policy adjustments”.

The third plenum has previously been an occasion for the party’s top leadership to unveil major economic policy shifts.

In 1978, then-leader Deng Xiaoping used the meeting to announce market reforms that would put China on the path to rapid economic growth by opening it to the world.

More recently, after the closed-door meeting in 2013, the leadership pledged to give the free market a “decisive” role in resource allocation, as well as other sweeping changes to economic and social policy.

This year’s conclave will begin the same day China is due to release its growth figures for the second quarter, although authorities have in the recent past delayed the publication of GDP results if they coincide with big events – as they did during the Communist party’s 20th national congress in mid-October 2022.

Experts polled by AFP expect China’s economy to have grown, on average, 5.3% year-on-year between April and June.

Beijing has said it is aiming for 5% growth this year – enviable for many western countries but a far cry from the double-digit expansion that for years drove the Chinese economy.

Authorities have been clear they want to reorient the economy away from state-funded investment and instead base growth around hi-tech innovation and domestic consumption.

But economic uncertainty is fuelling a vicious cycle that has kept consumption stubbornly low.

Among the most urgent issues facing the economy is the beleaguered property sector, which long served as a key engine for growth but is now mired in debt, with several top firms facing liquidation.

Authorities have moved in recent months to ease pressure on developers and restore confidence, including by encouraging local governments to buy up unsold homes.

Analysts say much more is required for a full rebound, as the country’s economy has yet to bounce back more than 18 months after damaging Covid-19 restrictions ended.

In the short amount of time he has spent at the top of his sport, Carlos Alcaraz has already enjoyed a career with few comparisons. He has won big titles at a faster rate than all but a couple of 21-year-olds in history and he has barely scratched at the surface of his talents. With every new triumph, he is closer to becoming the dominant force in his sport.

That moment may have just arrived. A year after wresting the Wimbledon title from Novak ­Djokovic’s grasp in five breathless sets, Alcaraz produced an incredible performance under pressure to dismantle the seven-time champion Djokovic 6-2, 6-2, 7-6 (4) and triumph at Wimbledon for a second year in a row. Alcaraz is now four-time grand slam title winner and he joins Roger Federer as the only men to win their first four grand slam finals.

With this victory, Alcaraz becomes just the sixth player have won the men’s titles at Roland ­Garros and Wimbledon in the same year, known colloquially as the “Channel Slam”. This is also Alcaraz’s first grand slam title defence and it marks the first time he has won multiple slam titles in the same calendar year.

“It’s a huge honour for me to be part of those players who have achieved Roland Garros and Wimbledon in the same year,” Alcaraz said of matching Rod Laver, Björn Borg, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer and Djokovic. “Really glad to be in the same table as Novak to do it. Huge champions; I don’t consider myself a champion yet, not as them, but I try to keep going, to keep ­building my path, my journey.”

After tearing his meniscus during the French Open and quickly undergoing surgery, Djokovic’s run to the final was a significant achievement in itself. But the 37-year-old had also reached the final without ­facing a top‑10 opponent – the ninth seed Alex de Minaur withdrew before their quarter-final – meaning he had not been tested by one of the elite.

More importantly, nothing in Djokovic’s path to the final prepared him for the extravagant ball‑striking, variety and suffocating intensity with which Alcaraz plays.

From the start, Djokovic was terrified of trading with Alcaraz from the baseline. He tried to shorten points by approaching the net as early as possible but Alcaraz picked him off whenever he tried to approach. By the time the Spaniard led 6-2, 2-0, Djokovic had won just four points of his 14 net approaches.

As Alcaraz established a formidable lead, he struck the ball with increasing freedom, launching himself into nuclear forehands, closing down the net and keeping Djokovic ­guessing with a steady helping of drop shots. Time after time, Alcaraz forced his opponent to scramble in his forehand corner, making Djokovic defend on his vulnerable right knee in a way that none of his pre­vious opponents had done.

It was not until Djokovic trailed by two sets that he finally began to serve well and string holds together. Still, the momentum shifted only as Alcaraz reached 5-4, 40-0 on his serve. The three championship points were quickly erased, with help from a spectator who screamed just before Alcaraz overhit a forehand drive volley on the third. Two forehand errors later, they were tied at 5-5.

“It was 40-0 but I was seeing so far away,” Alcaraz said. “Novak is an unbelievable fighter. I knew that he was going to have his chances again so I had to stay there.”

To his immense credit, Alcaraz did not move. He held serve, forced a tie-break and resumed control of the match. At 5-4, two service points from victory, Alcaraz had the ­audacity to attempt an inch-perfect drop‑shot winner to reach championship point again. This time, he held his nerve to close out a brilliant win.

Despite holding two grand slam titles, Alcaraz will not rise above his current ranking of No 3, behind Djokovic and Jannik Sinner. While the Spaniard has regularly shown his brilliance over the past two years, the next step in his career has been to learn how to do so week after week while also remaining healthy.

Over the past two months, Alcaraz has navigated the forearm injury that badly hurt his Roland Garros preparation, the difficult surface transition from clay to grass and the growing physical and mental fatigue that comes with going deep in ­tournaments. Still, he found a way to end both tournaments triumphantly. In the coming years, he will only grow more accustomed to winning under all circumstances.

Considering he does not expe­rience the sensation very often, ­Djokovic is a great loser. After both players were presented their trophies by the Princess of Wales, in her second public appearance since ­announcing her cancer diagnosis, Djokovic delivered his consolation speech with typical grace.

“Credit to Carlos for really playing some amazing tennis, very complete tennis from the back of the court, serve,” he said. “He had it all today. I tried to push him, save the three match points and extend the match a little bit but it wasn’t meant to be. He was an absolutely deserved winner today so congratulations to him.”

As he celebrated another tremen­dous achievement, the victory allowed Alcaraz to shift his attention towards Berlin for Spain’s Euro 2024 final against England, which presented the opportunity for Sunday to mark a majestic moment in Spanish sport: “I’ve already done my job,” he said. “So let’s see in the football.”

The Princess of Wales has made her second public appearance since announcing her cancer diagnosis, attending an occasionally rowdy Wimbledon men’s final where she was welcomed with a standing ovation.

Catherine, who is the patron of the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, presented the men’s singles trophy to Carlos Alcaraz, who beat Novak Djokovic in straight sets. The princess attended Sunday’s final with her daughter, Princess Charlotte, and her sister, Pippa Matthews.

Before handing Alcaraz the trophy, Catherine spoke to ballboys and ballgirls who lined up around her, and shook Djokovic’s hand.

When she first appeared at Centre Court, which has a seat capacity of nearly 15,000, the princess was greeted with cheers and applause. She was joined in the royal box by a host of A-list celebrities including Tom Cruise, Benedict Cumberbatch, Julia Roberts, Zendaya and the former world No 1 Andre Agassi.

The venue’s genteel atmosphere was broken a few times by loud supporters of both players. On at least one occasion, officials warned spectators to keep quiet and not call out their names.

Towards the end of the match, Djokovic was the target of some boos in the audience and there were more jeers after Alcaraz was asked about the Euros by Annabel Croft, who interviewed him on Centre Court shortly after his win. England is due to play Spain in the football tournament’s final on Sunday evening.

“Now, dare I bring up the football? Where are you going to be watching it?” Croft asked.

“With my team, for sure. I watch it for sure. I’ve already done my job … Now let’s see the football. It’s going to be a really difficult match,” Alcaraz responded, to the seeming approval of the crowd.

Alcaraz told the spectators at Centre Court that winning the trophy, his second consecutive victory at Wimbledon, was a “dream”.

“I did an interview when I was 11 and I said my dream is to win Wimbledon,” he said.

Meeting Alcaraz after the match, the princess said: “This is Charlotte, she was cheering you on. We had everything crossed. We’ve watched you a lot, so it’s nice to finally meet you. You’re playing so well, so well done, enjoy the win.”

Catherine arrived at the tournament in SW19 less than an hour before the final was due to begin on Sunday afternoon. She did not attend the women’s singles final on Saturday, and the Wimbledon chair, Debbie Jevans, presented the trophy to Barbora Krejčíková on her behalf.

Before the men’s final, Catherine and her daughter met Emma Raducanu, Sonay Kartal, Lily Miyazaki, Lucy Shuker and Flora Johnson as they arrived on the players’ lawn before entering Centre Court.

Raducanu said it was “amazing” to have the support of the princess and “see her here looking so healthy and happy”. Catherine told Raducanu, who was knocked out in the fourth round of this year’s championships: “It was so hard to see you go out.”

Elsewhere in the tournament, the British player Alfie Hewitt beat Martín de la Puente in the men’s wheelchair singles final and, partnered with fellow Briton Gordon Reid, also won in the wheelchair doubles.

The princess has been undergoing chemotherapy and made her first public appearance since announcing her cancer diagnosis in March at the trooping the colour ceremony in London last month.

Prince William was due to be in Berlin later on Sunday, as president of the Football Association, to attend England’s Euro 2024 final against Spain. Some spectators at Wimbledon could be seen wearing white England football shirts at the championships on Sunday morning.

Shannen Doherty, star of Beverly Hills 90210 and Heathers, has died at the age of 53.

A statement from her publicist Leslie Sloane, cited by People magazine, said: “It is with a heavy heart that I confirm the passing of actress Shannen Doherty. On Saturday, July 13, she lost her battle with cancer after many years of fighting the disease.”

The actor had been first diagnosed with breast cancer in 2015 and underwent a mastectomy. In 2020, she said that her diagnosis was then terminal, calling it “a bitter pill to swallow” in a Good Morning America interview.

In June 2023, Doherty shared an Instagram post that revealed news that cancer had spread to her brain alongside a video of her receiving treatment. “My fear is obvious,” she wrote.

Doherty started working at a young age with small-screen roles in Father Murphy and Little House on the Prairie and big-screen roles in The Secret of NIMH and Girls Just Want to Have Fun all before the age of 15.

In 1988, Doherty starred in the dark comedy Heathers alongside Winona Ryder. While it wasn’t a financial success at the time, it since became a cult favourite, widely seen as one of the best high school films ever. She later made a cameo appearance in the pilot of a TV adaptation.

Two years later, Doherty found success as Brenda Walsh in hit teen drama Beverly Hills 90210, which averaged over 21 million viewers by its fourth season. “We get accosted in malls,” said Doherty of the show’s success in 1992. “Basically, it takes over your life.”

Doherty left before season five but later returned for the 2008 reboot and 2019’s meta BH90210, where she played herself.

She also found major success in witchcraft drama Charmed, which she starred in for three seasons. She also directed a number of episodes. Her film roles included Mallrats and Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back for the film-maker Kevin Smith.

When Doherty shared her latest update in June 2023, Smith wrote: “You have been such a fearless fighter your whole life, so it’s understandable to be a little scared from time to time. But when those moments pass, let that indomitable Doherty spirit take over anew. I love you so much, my Mallrat.”

Doherty was often positioned as a troublemaker in the press, with People magazine once referring to her the “iconic Hollywood bad girl of the 90s”. Addressing her reputation in 1992, Doherty pushed back on being difficult.

“If you consider ‘difficult’ being a strong woman who sticks up for herself, yeah, I admit to it,” she says. “I’m open to different ideas, but if you get on my bad side and don’t listen to me and you don’t treat me with as much respect as you treat a man, you’ve got a problem.”

In 2010, Doherty addressed it again: “I have a rep. Did I earn it? Yeah, I did. But, after a while you sort of try to shed that rep because you’re kind of a different person. You’ve evolved and all of the bad things you’ve done in your life have brought you to a much better place.”

At least 31 Palestinians have been killed and more than 50 wounded in fresh Israeli bombings across the Gaza Strip, rescuers and health officials have said, as conflicting reports emerged over whether Hamas was withdrawing from ceasefire talks after the targeting of the group’s top military commander.

Four attacks in various parts of Gaza City in the early hours of Sunday morning occurred less than 24 hours after Israeli forces said Mohammed Deif, who is believed to be the mastermind behind the 7 October attack on southern Israel, was the target of a strike in the city of Khan Younis in southern Gaza that, according to the territory’s emergency services, killed more than 90 people and injured 300 others.

Another 14 people were killed in a strike on Sunday morning near a UN-run school being used as a shelter for displaced people in Nuseirat, central Gaza, journalists at the scene said. Israel said Hamas militants were present in the area.

Sunday’s bombings add to what was already one of the deadliest weeks of Israeli aerial attacks on Gaza since the war broke out nine months ago.

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 in which 1,200 people were killed and 250 kidnapped, sparking the Israel-Gaza war. More than 38,400 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s retaliatory operation in Gaza, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-administered territory, and the population of 2.3 million people is in the grips of a devastating humanitarian crisis.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said Rafa Salama, the head of Hamas’s Khan Younis brigade, was also targeted and successfully “neutralised” in the same strike. The Saudi-owned newspaper Asharq al-Aswat reported on Sunday that Hamas sources had confirmed Salama’s death.

Speaking on Saturday night, the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said: “There is still no conclusive certainty that the two [Deif and Salama] have been foiled, but I want to assure you that one way or another we will reach the top of Hamas.”

Hamas’s deputy leader, Khalil al-Hayya, told Al Jazeera TV that the group’s top military commander had not been killed and, addressing Netanyahu, said: “Deif is listening to you right now and mocking your lies.”

Another Hamas official told Agence France-Presse Deif was “fine” and working despite the Israeli attack, without providing evidence.

Deif, which means “the guest” in Arabic, is the nickname for the 58-year-old commander, whose real name is Mohammed al-Masri. He has spent years frequently changing 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.

On 7 October, Hamas issued a rare voice recording of Deif announcing operation “Al-Aqsa Flood”.

Killing Deif would provide a much-needed morale boost for Israel, which in almost 10 months of fighting has so far failed to take out any of Hamas’s top leadership despite remarks from Netanyahu that the men were “marked for death”.

Gaza’s health ministry said the strike targeting Deif and Salama hit a camp for displaced people in the Khan Younis area, killing at least 92 Palestinians and injuring more than 300 others. Residents said they witnessed at least five “big warplanes bombing in the middle of al-Mawasi, west of Khan Younis”.

Mawasi, on the Mediterranean shoreline, is an Israeli-designated “evacuation zone” that Israel has described as safe for hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians. Israel’s military has not confirmed the exact location of the strike. The area has been hit before.

Hamas said Israel’s claim it had targeted leaders of the Palestinian militant group were “false” and aimed at “justifying” the attack. A senior Hamas official told AFP on Sunday that the Palestinian militant group had withdrawn from talks on a ceasefire and hostage release deal in the Gaza war because of what it called Israeli “massacres” and its attitude in negotiations.

Two Egyptian security sources told Reuters on Saturday that the latest round of Gaza ceasefire talks had been halted after three days of intense negotiations failed to produce a viable outcome, blaming Israel for lacking a “genuine intent to reach agreement”.

However, other statements from Hamas officials on Sunday denied the group had withdrawn from the talks. A spokesperson, Jihad Taha, said: “There is no doubt that the horrific massacres will impact any efforts in the negotiations.” But he added: “Efforts and endeavours of the mediators remain ongoing.”

A few hours before, Hamas’s Qatar-based political leader, Ismail Haniyeh, accused Netanyahu of seeking to block a deal to end the war with “heinous massacres”. He said in a statement that Hamas had shown “a positive and responsible response” to new proposals for a ceasefire and prisoner and hostage exchange, but “the Israeli position taken by Netanyahu was to place obstacles that prevent reaching an agreement”.

Thousands of Israelis have taken to the streets over the weekend in what have become weekly protests across the country, accusing Netanyahu of sabotaging the negotiations for political gain. Among the demonstrators were the families of hostages, who made a symbolic march from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Relatives of those still held captive in Gaza by Hamas fear the recent escalation of bombings in the Palestinian territory may hinder the safe return home of their loved ones. At least 40 hostages are believed to have died since they were seized last October, Israel says.

“In light of recent events in the Gaza Strip, the families of the hostages remind prime minister Netanyahu that there can be no victory until all 120 hostages are returned home,” read a statement from the Hostage and Missing Families Forum. “The proposed deal is in its final stages. We have been waiting for them for 282 days. Time is of the essence; there’s not a moment more to lose.”

At least 31 Palestinians have been killed and more than 50 wounded in fresh Israeli bombings across the Gaza Strip, rescuers and health officials have said, as conflicting reports emerged over whether Hamas was withdrawing from ceasefire talks after the targeting of the group’s top military commander.

Four attacks in various parts of Gaza City in the early hours of Sunday morning occurred less than 24 hours after Israeli forces said Mohammed Deif, who is believed to be the mastermind behind the 7 October attack on southern Israel, was the target of a strike in the city of Khan Younis in southern Gaza that, according to the territory’s emergency services, killed more than 90 people and injured 300 others.

Another 14 people were killed in a strike on Sunday morning near a UN-run school being used as a shelter for displaced people in Nuseirat, central Gaza, journalists at the scene said. Israel said Hamas militants were present in the area.

Sunday’s bombings add to what was already one of the deadliest weeks of Israeli aerial attacks on Gaza since the war broke out nine months ago.

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 in which 1,200 people were killed and 250 kidnapped, sparking the Israel-Gaza war. More than 38,400 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s retaliatory operation in Gaza, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-administered territory, and the population of 2.3 million people is in the grips of a devastating humanitarian crisis.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said Rafa Salama, the head of Hamas’s Khan Younis brigade, was also targeted and successfully “neutralised” in the same strike. The Saudi-owned newspaper Asharq al-Aswat reported on Sunday that Hamas sources had confirmed Salama’s death.

Speaking on Saturday night, the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said: “There is still no conclusive certainty that the two [Deif and Salama] have been foiled, but I want to assure you that one way or another we will reach the top of Hamas.”

Hamas’s deputy leader, Khalil al-Hayya, told Al Jazeera TV that the group’s top military commander had not been killed and, addressing Netanyahu, said: “Deif is listening to you right now and mocking your lies.”

Another Hamas official told Agence France-Presse Deif was “fine” and working despite the Israeli attack, without providing evidence.

Deif, which means “the guest” in Arabic, is the nickname for the 58-year-old commander, whose real name is Mohammed al-Masri. He has spent years frequently changing 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.

On 7 October, Hamas issued a rare voice recording of Deif announcing operation “Al-Aqsa Flood”.

Killing Deif would provide a much-needed morale boost for Israel, which in almost 10 months of fighting has so far failed to take out any of Hamas’s top leadership despite remarks from Netanyahu that the men were “marked for death”.

Gaza’s health ministry said the strike targeting Deif and Salama hit a camp for displaced people in the Khan Younis area, killing at least 92 Palestinians and injuring more than 300 others. Residents said they witnessed at least five “big warplanes bombing in the middle of al-Mawasi, west of Khan Younis”.

Mawasi, on the Mediterranean shoreline, is an Israeli-designated “evacuation zone” that Israel has described as safe for hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians. Israel’s military has not confirmed the exact location of the strike. The area has been hit before.

Hamas said Israel’s claim it had targeted leaders of the Palestinian militant group were “false” and aimed at “justifying” the attack. A senior Hamas official told AFP on Sunday that the Palestinian militant group had withdrawn from talks on a ceasefire and hostage release deal in the Gaza war because of what it called Israeli “massacres” and its attitude in negotiations.

Two Egyptian security sources told Reuters on Saturday that the latest round of Gaza ceasefire talks had been halted after three days of intense negotiations failed to produce a viable outcome, blaming Israel for lacking a “genuine intent to reach agreement”.

However, other statements from Hamas officials on Sunday denied the group had withdrawn from the talks. A spokesperson, Jihad Taha, said: “There is no doubt that the horrific massacres will impact any efforts in the negotiations.” But he added: “Efforts and endeavours of the mediators remain ongoing.”

A few hours before, Hamas’s Qatar-based political leader, Ismail Haniyeh, accused Netanyahu of seeking to block a deal to end the war with “heinous massacres”. He said in a statement that Hamas had shown “a positive and responsible response” to new proposals for a ceasefire and prisoner and hostage exchange, but “the Israeli position taken by Netanyahu was to place obstacles that prevent reaching an agreement”.

Thousands of Israelis have taken to the streets over the weekend in what have become weekly protests across the country, accusing Netanyahu of sabotaging the negotiations for political gain. Among the demonstrators were the families of hostages, who made a symbolic march from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Relatives of those still held captive in Gaza by Hamas fear the recent escalation of bombings in the Palestinian territory may hinder the safe return home of their loved ones. At least 40 hostages are believed to have died since they were seized last October, Israel says.

“In light of recent events in the Gaza Strip, the families of the hostages remind prime minister Netanyahu that there can be no victory until all 120 hostages are returned home,” read a statement from the Hostage and Missing Families Forum. “The proposed deal is in its final stages. We have been waiting for them for 282 days. Time is of the essence; there’s not a moment more to lose.”

Four people died in a shooting with multiple victims at a Birmingham nightclub late Saturday, while an earlier shooting outside a home in the city killed three people including a young child, police in Alabama said.

Officers responded shortly after 11pm to a report of multiple people shot outside a nightclub on the 3400 Block of 27th Street North, Birmingham police department officer Truman Fitzgerald said in a video posted on social media.

Birmingham fire and rescue personnel pronounced one man dead on a sidewalk near the nightclub. Two women were pronounced dead inside the club, Fitzgerald said.

A second man was pronounced dead at University of Alabama at Birmingham hospital, where at least nine additional victims were being treated for gunshot wounds, he said.

Victims were transported by emergency medical personnel or traveled to the hospital on their own, Fitzgerald said.

Investigators believe at least one suspect fired shots into the nightclub from the street, Fitzgerald said. Federal law enforcement authorities are assisting Birmingham police with the investigation.

Separately, police responded around 5.20pm to a report of a vehicle accident in the 1700 block of Indian Summer Drive in Birmingham. Police found a car that appeared to have been shot into located in the front yard of a home, Fitzgerald said.

Inside the vehicle were a man, woman and a small boy believed to be as young as five years old who had suffered gunshot wounds. Birmingham fire and rescue pronounced all three dead at the scene, he said.

Investigators believe they were victims of a “targeted shooting” before the suspect fled in a vehicle, Fitzgerald said.

Police asked area residents to provide footage from home surveillance cameras to assist the investigation.

A city in northern Germany has become the first to issue an all-out ban on the use of a hand gesture used to encourage silence in the classroom because of its close resemblance to a far-right Turkish gesture.

The “silent fox” gesture – where the hand is posed to resemble an animal with upright ears (the little and forefinger) and a closed mouth (the middle fingers pressed against the thumb) – has long been seen as a useful teaching tool by educators in Germany and elsewhere. It signals to children that they should stop talking and listen to their teacher.

But authorities in the port city of Bremen say the symbol is “in danger of being mistaken” for the right-wing extremist “wolf salute”, from which it is indistinguishable.

The salute was recently the focus of a diplomatic and sporting row, when the Turkish national football player Merih Demiral used it to celebrate scoring a goal in Turkey’s round of 16 match against Austria at the Euros earlier this month.

While the symbol not banned in Germany as it is in neighbouring Austria and France, its use was condemned by interior minister Nancy Faeser, who said “to use the football championships as a platform for racism” was “completely unacceptable.”

After the summoning of Turkey’s ambassador to Berlin and Germany’s ambassador to Ankara, the European football governing body Uefa issued Demiral with a two-match ban.

Protests over his ban led to calls among Turkish fans for the symbol to be used even more widely as an expression of their anger at what the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, called an “unfair and biased” reaction. “Does anybody ask why the German national jersey has an eagle, or the French jersey a rooster?” he asked reporters ahead of Turkey’s quarter-final encounter with the Netherlands in Berlin.

Erdoğan said the ban was politically motivated, and that Demiral had merely used the gesture to show his excitement.

Germany is home to an estimated 3 million ethnic Turks, who make up the country’s largest single ethnic minority and form the largest Turkish diaspora globally.

Patricia Brandt, a spokesperson for Bremen’s education authority, said the topic of the silent fox gesture and whether to ban it had long been under discussion but the city felt it now had no choice. “The political meaning of the hand gesture is absolutely incompatible with the values of the city of Bremen,” she said.

But she added that increasingly teachers had anyway considered the gesture to be “pedagogically outdated”, and its “regulatory style” to be too dogmatic and condescending.

The wolf salute is the symbol and identifying logo of the Grey Wolves, which is classified as a rightwing extremist group and has an estimated 20,000 members in Germany and many more outside the country. Grey Wolves is described by extremism experts as hardline nationalist and Islamist, with hatred shown to Kurds, Jews, Christians, Armenians, Greeks, the EU and the US. The group, which has a long history of terrorism dating back to the 1970s, has been blamed for bomb attacks in Paris and Bangkok, and the attempt on the life of Pope John Paul II in 1981.

The silent fox symbol is used not just in Germany but by teachers around the world, and is known variously as the whispering fox, the listening fox, and as the quiet coyote in the US.

The Bremen ban follows a wider debate in Germany. The president of the German Teachers’ Association, Stefan Düll, called last week for teachers to show greater sensitivity in its use at primary schools and kindergartens. He said there were other ways of encouraging children to be quiet.

Some schools have reportedly started using gongs and other sign language or picture symbols instead.

Toxic PFAS “forever chemicals” used in lithium ion batteries essential to the clean energy transition present a dangerous source of chemical pollution that new research finds threatens the environment and human health as the nascent industry scales up.

The multipronged, peer-reviewed study zeroed in on a little-researched and unregulated subclass of PFAS called bis-FASI that are used in lithium ion batteries.

Researchers found alarming levels of the chemicals in the environment near manufacturing plants, noted their presence in remote areas around the world, found they appear to be toxic to living organisms, and discovered that waste from batteries disposed of in landfills was a major pollution source.

The nation faces “two critical challenges – to minimize aquatic pollution and increase our use of clean and sustainable energy, and both are worthy causes”, said Jennifer Guelfo, a Texas Tech University researcher and study co-author.

“But there’s a bit of tug-of-war between the two, and this study highlights that we have an opportunity now as we scale up this energy infrastructure to do a better job of incorporating environmental risk assessments,” she added.

PFAS are a class of about 16,000 human-made compounds most often used to make products resistant to water, stains and heat. They are called “forever chemicals” because they do not naturally break down and have been found to accumulate in humans. The chemicals are linked to cancer, birth defects, liver disease, thyroid disease, plummeting sperm counts and a range of other serious health problems.

Public health advocates are increasingly sounding the alarm over the need to find alternatives to the toxic chemicals for clean energy technology, such as batteries and wind turbines, as the transition progresses.

The paper notes that few end-of-life standards for PFAS battery waste exist, and the vast majority ends up in municipal dumps where it can leach into waterways, accumulate locally or be transported long distances.

It looked at the presence of the chemicals in historical leachate samples and found none in those from prior to the mid-1990s, when the chemical class was commercialized.

The study noted previous research that bis-FASI can be reused, though as little as 5% of lithium batteries are recycled. That could yield a projected 8m tons of battery waste by 2040 if battery recycling is not dramatically scaled up with demand.

“This says that we should be taking a closer look at this class of PFAS,” Guelfo said.

Since very little toxicological data on bis-FASI exists, the study also checked for effects on invertebrates and zebrafish. It found effects at low exposure levels, which suggests toxicity in line with other PFAS compounds known to be dangerous.

Researchers also sampled water, soil and air around a 3M plant in Minnesota and other large facilities known to make the chemicals. The soil and water levels were concerning, Guelfo said, and detection of the chemicals in snow suggests the chemicals easily move through the atmosphere.

That may help explain why the chemicals have been found in Chinese seawater and other remote areas not close to production plants.

While the most commonly used PFAS definitions globally include bis-FASI, one division of the EPA does not consider it to belong to the chemical class, so it was not included on a list of compounds to be monitored in US water. The EPA has drawn criticism for using a narrow definition of PFAS that public health advocates say has excluded some chemicals at the industry’s behest.

However, the new research, taken with previous evidence, shows bis-FASI are persistent, mobile and toxic like most other PFAS, noted Lee Ferguson, a Duke University researcher and co-author.

“That classification combined with the huge ramp-up in clean energy storage that we’re seeing should at least ring some alarm bells,” he said.

Scientists have made a crucial DNA discovery that could help cure one of the deadliest cancers.

A team of researchers from the UK and US have found that pancreatic cancer is able to shut down molecules in one of the body’s most important genes, helping the disease to grow and spread rapidly.

Pancreatic cancer is the 12th most common cancer worldwide, with more than half a million people diagnosed every year. It has the worst survival rates of all the most common forms of the disease.

The deadly nature of pancreatic cancer has stumped experts for years but the breakthrough offers hope in the hunt for a treatment that could wipe out the disease.

Dr Maria Hatziapostolou, of Nottingham Trent University’s John van Geest Cancer Research Centre, said: “This work, which has provided new understanding and knowledge of how the cancer behaves, will hopefully help pave the way for potential new treatments in the future.”

She added: “Pancreatic cancer has the lowest survival of all the 20 common cancers. The survival of patients beyond five years has improved very little for some time and so it’s extremely important that we find new ways to better understand this disease, how it spreads and why it is so aggressive.”

Pancreatic cancer is often diagnosed at an advanced stage when treatment options become limited, with more than half of patients dying within three months of diagnosis. High-profile figures to die of the disease include Alan Rickman, John Hurt, Steve Jobs and Patrick Swayze.

For the study, published in the journal Gastro Hep Advances, the researchers analysed healthy as well as pancreatic cancer tissue samples. They found pancreatic cancers triggered a process known as DNA methylation, causing molecules in the normally beneficial HNF4A gene to switch off, allowing tumours to grow extremely quickly.

The HNF4A gene is crucial to human health because it helps many of the body’s organs to function properly. But the researchers discovered pancreatic cancer can covertly disable the gene’s benefits.

Hatziapostolou said: “Loss of HNF4A drives pancreatic cancer development and aggressiveness and we now know correlates with poor patient survival.”

Scientists from the University of Nottingham, Stanford University and the University of California and Cedars-Sinai medical centre, Los Angeles, were also involved in the project.

Dr Chris Macdonald, the head of research at Pancreatic Cancer UK, which funded the study, said: “We desperately need kinder and more effective treatment options for pancreatic cancer. The majority of pancreatic cancers are diagnosed at a late stage, with 80% not being detected until after the disease has spread and is no longer operable.

“This is reflected in its poor survival rate – over half of people with the disease die within three months of diagnosis. Improving our fundamental understanding of what makes pancreatic cancer grow and spread so rapidly is vital if we are to make much-needed breakthroughs.

“This project gives us new information on how pancreatic cancer is able to suppress certain molecules to help it spread aggressively around the body which, in turn, could lead to the development of more effective treatment options in the future.”

King Charles and Queen Camilla have locked in plans to visit Australia and Samoa in October but have called off a proposed trip to New Zealand on health advice as the king recovers from a cancer diagnosis.

The Australian government said on Monday that the king and queen would travel to the Australian Capital Territory and New South Wales during the visit, with further details to be confirmed later.

The announcement coincided with the release of official Australian portraits of the king and queen.

All Australians are eligible to request a printed portrait of the monarch courtesy of their federal MP or senator, as part of the little-known nationhood material program, but the federal government had been waiting for Buckingham Palace to send an official portrait.

“In the official portraits, The King wears The Sovereign’s Badge of the Order of Australia, while The Queen wears the Wattle Brooch which was gifted to Her late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II during her visit to Australia in 1954,” the Australian government said in a statement.

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Buckingham Palace said Charles and Camilla would attend the commonwealth heads of government meeting (Chogm) in Samoa, which is scheduled for 21-25 October.

They will visit Australia but not New Zealand as Charles, 75, continues his recovery from cancer after he was diagnosed earlier this year. The king returned to public duties in late April.

“The king’s doctors have advised that such an extended programme should be avoided at this time, to prioritise his majesty’s continued recovery,” a spokesperson for Buckingham Palace said.

The Australian prime minister said he would be “honoured to welcome the king and queen on their first royal visit to Australia later this year”.

“They are always welcome visitors,” Anthony Albanese said on Monday.

“The king has a deep regard for our great nation, and has always spoken warmly of the time he has spent here and the astounding beauty of our extraordinary continent.”

Australia’s governor general, Sam Mostyn, said she looked forward to “showcasing the very best of our modern and diverse nation” during the royal visit.

“I was fortunate to spend time with his majesty in May,” she said.

“His majesty the king has a well-known deep affection for and connection to the people of Australia and he was very much looking forward to his first visit to Australia since becoming king.”

It will be the first visit to Australia by a reigning monarch since 2011, when Queen Elizabeth II and her husband, Prince Philip, made a 10-day tour of the country.

Additional reporting by Reuters