The justice department filed a new indictment against Donald Trump on Tuesday over his efforts to overturn the 2020 election. The maneuver does not substantially change the criminal case against him but protects it in the wake of a July US supreme court decision ruling saying that Trump and other presidents have immunity for official acts, but not unofficial ones.

“Today, a federal grand jury in the District of Columbia returned a superseding indictment, charging the defendant with the same criminal offenses that were charged in the original indictment,” lawyers for Jack Smith, the special counsel handling the case, said in a filing that accompanied what is known as a superseding indictment.

“The superseding indictment, which was presented to a new grand jury that had not previously heard evidence in this case, reflects the Government’s efforts to respect and implement the Supreme Court’s holdings and remand instructions in Trump v United States.”

The document retains the same four criminal charges against Trump that were originally filed last summer. But portions of the new indictment are rewritten to emphasize that Trump was not acting in his official capacity during his efforts to try to overturn the election.

For example, the new document removes mention of Jeffrey Clark, a former justice department official who aided Trump’s attempt to try to overturn the election. Clark was the only government official who was listed as an unnamed co-conspirator in the original indictment.

The supreme court wrote in its July ruling that Trump was “absolutely immune from prosecution” over his discussion with justice department officials, hence Clark’s removal from the new indictment.

The supreme court also suggested that a president could be criminally immune in connection to acts between him and the vice-president. The superseding indictment reframes Trump’s interactions with Mike Pence, emphasizing that he was Trump’s running mate.

At other points in the document, prosecutors emphasize that Trump was acting outside the scope of his official duties.

“The defendant had no official responsibilities related to any state’s certification of the election results,” the document says.

Prosecutors also highlighted that Trump used his Twitter/X account both for official and personal acts. They noted that the rally he attended on the Ellipse, near the White House, on 6 January 2021 was a “campaign speech”.

Even if the case is still unlikely to go to trial before the 2024 election in November, and even if the Trump lawyers file motions seeking to excise more parts of the indictment, the decision to pursue a superseding indictment may have been to avoid more delay.

In response to the new indictment, Trump railed against those responsible on Truth Social, declaring that it should be “dismissed immediately” and that “no Presidential Candidate, or Candidate for any Office, has ever had to put up with all of this Lawfare and Weaponization directly out of the Office of a Political Opponent”.

“The whole case should be thrown out and dismissed on Presidential Immunity grounds, as already ruled unequivocally by the U.S. Supreme Court,” he wrote in one of a series of posts, referencing the July US supreme court decision that said former presidents are entitled to some degree of immunity from criminal prosecution.

He added in another: “What they are doing now is the single greatest sabotage of our Democracy in History.”

Trump has been enormously successful in delaying his criminal cases, which came as part of a broader strategy to push his legal troubles past November, in the hopes that he wins and can appoint a loyalist as the attorney general who would then drop the cases entirely.

In July, the supreme court’s conservative majority ruled that former presidents are immune from criminal prosecution for official actions that extended to the “outer perimeter” of their office, most notably any interactions with the justice department and executive branch officials.

The framework of criminal accountability for presidents, as laid out by the ruling, has three categories: core presidential functions that carry absolute immunity, official acts of the presidency that carry presumptive immunity, and unofficial acts that carry no immunity.

The court also ruled that the special counsel, Jack Smith, could not introduce as evidence at trial any acts deemed to be official, even as contextual information for jurors to show Trump’s intent.

Kamala Harris and Tim Walz will sit for their first interview as the Democratic ticket on Thursday, after weeks of demands from Republicans and members of the media for the nominees to open themselves up to questions.

The interview, which will be conducted by CNN anchor Dana Bash from the battleground state of Georgia, is set for a primetime spot on CNN at 9pm ET.

Despite a whirlwind of media coverage of the Harris campaign and a surge of support in the six weeks since Joe Biden ended his bid for re-election and endorsed her, the vice-president has yet to do a formal interview or hold a press conference.

“There are a lot of questions that have been lingering out there for her to answer as we go into this fall campaign,” David Chalian, CNN’s political director, said after announcing the interview on the network Tuesday. “We have been waiting to see this next important hurdle for Kamala Harris and her campaign to jump,” Chalian added, noting that Harris and Walz successfully rallied the party, raised heaps of money, and pulled off the convention. “All of that is very scripted,” he said. “This is the first time she is going to take questions.”

Harris laid out some broad policy agendas at the Democratic national convention last week, promising a middle class tax cut at home and a muscular foreign policy of standing up to Russia and North Korea. In recent weeks, Harris also shared some of the first glimpses into what her policy priorities might look like, including a proposal for $25,000 down-payment support programs for first-time home buyers and a call for cracking down on price-gouging companies.

But while her campaign is busy spreading enthusiasm for her nomination, some details have been left scant. There still isn’t a dedicated policy page on the official campaign website and Harris has turned down interview requests, opting instead for less-risky campaign appearances and short conversations with pool reporters.

“On the whole, Harris’s top communications aides are deeply skeptical, as Biden’s inner circle was, that doing big interviews with major TV networks or national newspapers offer much real upside when it comes to reaching swing voters,” Politico reported earlier this month, citing two unnamed people close to the campaign. An anonymous source claimed there is little incentive to change course: “She’s getting out exactly the message she wants to get out,” they said.

Now, as time ticks down for Harris and Walz, the governor of Minnesota, to make their final appeal to anyone who might still be undecided, their campaign has embraced a slight shift in strategy.

Harris and her opponent, Donald Trump, are scheduled to debate each other next month, even as a back-and-forth continues between the campaigns over what rules have been agreed.

The dispute has centered on the issue of microphone muting, which Biden’s campaign made a condition of his decision to accept any debates this year. Trump said in a post on Truth Social on Tuesday that the parameters for the 10 September debate would be “the same as the last CNN Debate”, when both candidates’ microphones were muted except when it was their turn to speak.

But Harris’s campaign said on Tuesday that specifics for the debate are still being worked out with the host, ABC News. A Harris spokesperson noted: “Both candidates have publicly made clear their willingness to debate with unmuted mics for the duration of the debate to fully allow for substantive exchanges between the candidates – but it appears Donald Trump is letting his handlers overrule him. Sad!”

Meanwhile, the Democratic ticket will make good on its promise to do an interview.

“Now is the opportunity to hear her ruminate aloud,” Chalian said, “with Dana asking her about her policy positions, her plans for the future, her plans for the country, in an unscripted setting – and, of course, to see the Democratic ticket interacting with each other.”

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this story

Donald Trump has appointed Robert F Kennedy Jr and Tulsi Gabbard, two former Democrats who have endorsed his bid for a second presidency, to the transition team that could shape his future administration.

The pair will serve as honorary co-chairs of a body that will help him choose policies and personnel if he wins November’s presidential election, the New York Times reported.

Kennedy’s appointment came after he suspended his own presidential campaign as an independent candidate last week and threw his weight behind an erstwhile opponent who, just four months ago, branded him a “radical-left lunatic”.

He had already flagged up his new role in an interview with Tucker Carlson, the former Fox News host and prominent Trump supporter, posted on X.

Gabbard, a former member of Congress for Hawaii, unsuccessfully sought the Democratic presidential nomination in 2020 and left the party shortly thereafter.

She has rebranded herself as a pro-Trump celebrity and has been helping the Republican nominee prepare for a 10 September debate with Kamala Harris, his Democratic opponent, which is to be hosted by ABC.

Gabbard and Harris clashed in a televised primary debate in 2019, footage from which was posted on social media on Tuesday.

Gabbard, a former member of the national guard who served in the Middle East, criticised the Democratic party in the debate, saying it was “not the party that is of, by and for the people and continues to be influenced by the foreign policy establishment in Washington represented by [Hillary] Clinton … and other greedy corporate interests”. She also attacked Harris’s record as a prosecutor.

Harris responded by describing Gabbard as “someone who during the Obama administration spent four years full-time on Fox News criticising President Obama”. She also accused Gabbard of “buddying up” to Steve Bannon, a key Trump supporter and adviser, to get a meeting with Trump after he won the 2016 presidential election.

It is unclear what role Kennedy or Gabbard will play on the transition team, which also features two of Trump’s sons, Donald Jr and Eric, and his vice-presidential running mate, JD Vance.

On Tuesday, the Wisconsin elections commission voted to keep Kennedy on the presidential ballot, despite requesting to be removed from the ballot in all swing states when he endorsed Donald Trump last week.

US media reported that Kennedy would also remain on the ballot in another key swing state: Michigan. The presence of independent and third-party candidates on the ballots could be a key factor in states where four of the last six presidential elections have been decided by between 5,700 votes and about 23,000 votes.

Kennedy, who has traded in debunked conspiracy theories about children’s vaccines and the causes of the Covid epidemic, has been touted as a potential member of a second Trump administration, and has said he would expect any role would involve healthcare and food and drug policy.

Trump has supported some of Kennedy’s vaccine scepticism, but played down suggestions that he could appoint him as secretary of health and human services. That post would see him surmounting the potentially problematic hurdle of Senate confirmation.

Marc Short, a former chief of staff to Mike Pence, who served as Trump’s vice-president, told the New York Times that the appointment of Kennedy and Gabbard was a setback to conservatives.

“From the convention platform to the transition team, free-market, limited-government and social conservatives have been kicked to the curb,” he said. “Doubling down on big-government populists will not energise turnout among traditional conservatives.”

Donald Trump announced on Tuesday that he is selling a new collection of digital trading cards, and that supporters who buy 15 or more cards will receive a physical card adorned with a piece of the suit he wore for the presidential debate against Joe Biden in June.

The announcement was made on Tuesday in a video posted on Truth Social.

The cards, named the America First collection, features 50 new images of Trump, including him dancing, holding bitcoins and more.

The digital cards cost $99 each, he said, and supporters who purchase 15 or more (at a cost of $1,485 or more) will receive the physical card.

“People are calling it the knock-out suit,” Trump said in the video, adding: “I don’t know about that but that’s what they’re calling it.”

He continued: “We’ll cut up the knock-out suit, and you’re going to get a piece of it and we’ll be randomly autographing five of them, a true collector’s item, this is something to give your family, your kids, your grandchildren.”

Supporters who buy 75 digital cards, at a cost $7,425, will get to attend a gala dinner with the former president at Trump National Golf Club in Jupiter, Florida, Trump said.

“You know they call me the crypto-president,” Trump said. “I don’t know if that’s true or not but a lot of people are saying that, so don’t miss out, go to collecttrumpcards.com … and collect your piece of American history.”

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the former president has released and sold digital trading cards in the past.

In 2022, Trump introduced his first collection of digital trading cards, which included a picture of himself in a superhero costume. The cards sold out in less than a day, netting $4.5m (£3.39m) in sales.

This is also not the first time Trump has sold parts of one of his suits. Last year, Trump began selling small cuts of the suit he wore when he was arrested and had his mugshot taken in an Atlanta jail. To receive a piece of that suit, supporters had to buy 47 digital trading cards, adding up to $4,653.

The former Apprentice host also monetized the mugshot taken in the Atlanta jail last August, and sold it on coffee mugs, T-shirts and more items.

Scorching temperatures across Europe have killed tens of thousands of people in recent years. But as fatalities rise, researchers are finding that one group is disproportionately bearing the brunt of extreme heat: those living in poverty.

“It’s common sense,” said Julio Díaz Jiménez, an investigative professor at Madrid’s Carlos III health institute. “A heatwave is not the same when you’re in a shared room with three other people and no air conditioning, as when you’re in a villa with access to a pool and air conditioning.”

Díaz Jiménez is among a group of researchers who explored how extreme heat had affected 17 districts in Madrid. Their paper, published in 2020, found that heatwaves had an impact on mortality in just three districts – those where household incomes were below average.

They followed up with a similar analysis looking at communities across Spain. “And we saw the same thing,” he said. “When it comes to heat and vulnerability, the key factor is income level.”

People with lower incomes often struggle to access quality housing, with many living in overcrowded, poorly ventilated homes that offer little respite from the heat. Some struggle to access adequate healthcare, leaving them more likely to suffer from conditions that could be exacerbated by extreme heat, while others work in sectors such as agriculture and construction where they are regularly exposed to high temperatures.

Even when air conditioning is available, people with lower incomes are less likely to be able to afford to use them. Earlier this year Save the Children warned that one in three children in Spain were unable to keep cool at home. It said this could have a “hugely detrimental” influence on the mental and physical health of more than 2 million children.

The link between heat stress and poverty has long been a talking point across the Atlantic, heightened by findings such as a 2019 joint investigation by National Public Radio and the University of Maryland that documented how low-income neighbourhoods across the US were more likely to be hotter than their wealthier counterparts.

But across Europe – a continent that is warming at a much faster rate than other parts of the world – the conversation has been slow to take off, said Yamina Saheb, a lead author of the IPCC report on climate change mitigation.

She pointed to research published this month that found that hot weather inflamed by carbon pollution killed nearly 50,000 people across Europe last year. “We need to sound the alarm that this is extremely urgent,” said Saheb, who is also a lecturer at Sciences Po in Paris. “We need to decide that this is the last time that we will have people dying because of the heat in European countries.”

Recent years have seen heatwaves across the continent become hotter, longer and more frequent, with 2023 ranking as the hottest year on record. Scientists expect that 2024 will soon take its place.

“Global warming is killing people,” Saheb said. “And the question for me is how many people will it take for our policymakers, advocates and experts to realise that summertime energy poverty is a major issue?”

For years Saheb has pushed policymakers to recognise access to cooling as a right, a move that would contrast with its current status as a consumer good. “Because when you’re a consumer, it’s related to your income,” she said. “And this is what increases inequalities.”

Lower incomes also often mean people have less say over the areas in which they live, leaving them more likely to live in asphalt-dominated areas with fewer trees and green spaces, said Alby Duarte Rocha, a researcher at the Technical University of Berlin.

Duarte Rocha was recently part of a team of researchers who looked at 14 major urban areas across Europe. What they found was a constant association, one that held from Berlin to Budapest, where lower-income residents had more difficulty accessing green spaces capable of naturally cooling the heat of the city. Those with higher incomes, in contrast, had above-average access to these spaces.

Part of this could be explained by “green gentrification”, said Duarte Rocha, where areas with more vegetation are in higher demand than those that are densely populated and sprawling with concrete. The result, however, is that those with lower incomes are often pushed out of the coolest areas of the city.

He called for policymakers and politicians to see cooling as a service to be provided, akin to public transit or street cleaning, with measures ranging from planting trees to installing green building facades rolled out with emphasis on areas that are lacking in these spaces.

It would be a small step towards correcting “the epitome of environmental injustice”, he said. “We need to ask ourselves why the groups of people who are least responsible for climate change are often those most affected by its impacts.”

A member of Israel’s Bedouin minority who was kidnapped by Hamas on 7 October last year has been reunited with his family amid conflicting accounts about his rescue from Gaza.

The Israeli military said on Tuesday that it had rescued Qaid Farhan Alkadi, 52, who was abducted in the Hamas attack while he had been working as a security guard at a packing factory on a kibbutz.

The Israel Defense Forces said that Alkadi was rescued from a tunnel “in a complex operation in the southern Gaza Strip”, without providing further details.

Later reports in some Israeli media, however, suggested that Alkadi may have initially escaped from the tunnel where he was being held and made his own way to where Israeli forces were operating in Gaza. Hamas claimed it had “released” him.

The operation was hailed by Israeli leaders, desperate for good news almost a year into a grinding campaign that has seen pressure mounting on the government to do more to bring over 100 hostages back home.

Alkadi is only the eighth hostage the Israeli military claims to have rescued during months of operations in Gaza, including during two operations that killed scores of Palestinians. Hamas has said several hostages have been killed in Israeli airstrikes and failed rescue attempts, while Israeli troops mistakenly killed three Israelis who escaped captivity in December.

Israel’s Channel 12 showed Alkadi’s family sprinting through the hospital where he was brought after they received the news. Alkadi’s brother Hatem said they had seen him disembark from a helicopter and walk to the ambulance that took him to a nearby hospital for medical checks. Israeli media ran a photo of Alkadi appearing gaunt, but smiling with his family.

“I can’t explain the feeling. It’s like being born again,” said Hatem. “We say thank you to everyone.”

“We didn’t believe it at first. But when the army told us it was true, we were very excited and very happy,” Hatem added. “We’ve been waiting for this moment for a long time. We hope that all hostages will get this moment, that they will all experience the same excitement and joy.”

The Israeli defence minister, Yoav Gallant, said the rescue operation was part of the army’s “daring and courageous activities conducted deep inside the Gaza Strip”, adding that Israel was “committed to taking advantage of every opportunity to return the hostages”.

However, according to Israeli media accounts Alkadi had managed to escape the tunnel in which he was being held before being rescued by IDF forces. An Israeli military spokesperson did not confirm or deny the possibility that Alkadi had initially escaped. According to one report Alkadi was found alone inside a tunnel by IDF troops and it was unclear whether he had escaped or whether his captors had fled.

Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, later spoke by phone with Alkadi, telling him that “the whole nation of Israel is excited by his rescue”.

Hamas-led militants abducted about 250 people in the 7 October attack, in which about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were killed.

Israel believes there are still 108 hostages inside Gaza and that more than 40 of them are dead. Most of the rest were freed during a week-long ceasefire in November in exchange for the release of Palestinians imprisoned by Israel.

Agencies contributed to this report

The Greek-flagged crude oil tanker Sounion, which was attacked by Yemen’s Houthis last week, is still on fire in the Red Sea and now appears to be leaking oil, the Pentagon has said.

The tanker was targeted last week by multiple projectiles off Yemen’s port city of Hodeidah. The Houthis, who control Yemen’s most populous regions, said they were behind the attack.

The Sounion is carrying 150,000 tonnes of crude oil and if a spill occurs, has the potential to be among the largest from a ship in recorded history.

Pentagon spokesperson Air Force Maj Gen Patrick Ryder said on Tuesday that a third party had tried to send two tugs to help salvage the Sounion, but the Houthis threatened to attack them.

“These are simply reckless acts of terrorism which continue to destabilise global and regional commerce, put the lives of innocent civilian mariners at risk and imperil the vibrant maritime ecosystem in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, the Houthis’ own back yard,” Ryder said.

He added that the US military was working with other partners in the region to determine how to help the vessel and mitigate potential environmental impact.

The Iran-aligned group has sunk two ships and killed at least three crew members in their 10-month campaign, which has upended global ocean shipping by forcing vessel owners to avoid the Suez Canal shortcut.

The Houthis said they attacked the tanker in part because Delta Tankers violated its ban on “entry to the ports of occupied Palestine”, Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree said in a televised speech.

The Sounion was the third vessel operated by Athens-based Delta Tankers to be targeted in the Red Sea this month.

The Iran-aligned group has been targeting ships in solidarity with Palestinians in the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.

The largest recorded ship-source spill was in 1979, when about 287,000 metric tonnes of oil escaped from the Atlantic Empress after it collided with another crude carrier in the Caribbean Sea off the coast of Tobago during a storm, according to International Tanker Owners Pollution Federation.

The UN has said its ability to function in Gaza is being crippled by a flurry of Israeli evacuation orders, forcing Palestinians into ever smaller and more remote areas, days before a critical effort to contain a polio outbreak.

Aid workers warn that without a humanitarian pause, a vaccination drive due to begin this weekend could fail to reach enough children to stop the spread of the virus, which was detected there this month for the first time in 25 years. A baby has already been partly paralysed by the disease, and health experts have warned it could spread rapidly given the terrible sanitation and overcrowding in camps for Gaza’s exhausted, displaced population.

“One thing for sure is that it’s almost impossible to lead a polio vaccination campaign at scale in an active combat zone,” said Jonathan Crickx, a spokesperson in the region for the UN child welfare agency, Unicef.

Talks are under way between aid agencies and the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) about the planned vaccination campaign. The IDF cooperated in the delivery of more than 25,000 vials of vaccine and refrigeration equipment through the Kerem Shalom crossing into Gaza on Sunday, but their commanders have yet to agree to a pause in the bombing to allow the immunisation effort to go ahead safely and effectively.

Israeli forces have significantly stepped up their clearance of neighbourhoods, including camps for the displaced, in what they said ​​was the pursuit of “terror operatives”.

According to the UN, the Israeli military issued a record 16 evacuation orders in August, forcing 12% of the territory’s population to move within a few days. The overwhelming majority of those affected have already had to flee multiple times since the start of the war nearly 11 months ago.

The impact of the orders on aid workers such as drivers meant that the UN had to halt movements around the strip on Monday, though staff already in position with supplies were able to continue their work.

“These evacuation orders … make our work nearly impossible,” said UN spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric. He added that the residual work still under way was “half a drop in a barrel” compared with the needs of the 2.2 million Palestinians besieged in Gaza.

Juliette Touma, the head spokesperson for Unrwa, the biggest humanitarian agency operating in Gaza, said: “Our ability to undertake and implement humanitarian work is shrinking by the hour. Every time there are evacuation orders, we are affected, because our local staff are constantly on the move and they are the backbone of the humanitarian operation.”

The latest evacuation orders have targeted Deir al-Balah, a town in central Gaza that became a humanitarian hub after cities to the south such as Rafah and Khan Younis were targeted by IDF offensives. The latest edict on Sunday affected four UN warehouses in the town and 15 premises used by aid agencies.

The orders are increasingly concentrating huge numbers of displaced Palestinians within a 41 sq km area of the Gazan coast at al-Mawasi, near Khan Younis.

According to a report on Monday by the UN humanitarian agency, OCHA: “The severe overcrowding, with a density of 30,000 to 34,000 individuals per square kilometre, has exacerbated the dire shortage of essential resources such as water, sanitation and hygiene supplies, health services, protection and shelter.”

The refrigerated warehouse where the vials of polio vaccine are being stored is in Deir al-Balah, in a district not directly affected by the evacuation orders. However, the orders impede the ability of aid workers to move around and find the Gaza’s scattered children, including more than 50,000 babies estimated to have been born since the start of the war who are very unlikely to have received any vaccinations at all.

For the immunisation drive to be effective in containing the polio outbreak, the first of two rounds of vaccine must reach 90% of those babies and the rest of the 640,000 children in Gaza under the age of 10. This will need to be achieved quickly to break the transmission of the virus before it spreads or mutates.

“It’s absolutely critical that this vaccination campaign is executed in a few days – between five to seven days is what we are asking for,” Crickx said.

So it is definitely not a maybe. Oasis are reuniting for a UK and Ireland tour that could be one of the most lucrative ever, with tickets being hyped as the “hottest of the decade”.

But one question people are asking is why? The most obvious motivation is money.

Despite both Gallagher brothers establishing successful solo careers since their split in 2009, nothing they have done comes close to the kinds of figures potentially on offer from the 14-date reunion shows that include a four-show run at Wembley stadium.

Birmingham City University estimate that the initial 14 dates could bring in £400m in ticket sales and other add ons, with Liam and Noel both in line to each earn £50m.

Dr Matt Grimes, course director of the music business BA at Birmingham City University, said the brothers could double their net worth in a few weeks. “They’re considering going into Europe as well, so they stand to make even more,” he said.

While ticket prices haven’t been revealed yet ahead of them going on sale this Friday, it’s likely they will have increased ten-fold from 1995, when tickets cost £14 on their UK tour.

Despite breaking up 15 years ago, Oasis as an entity hasn’t ever really gone away. The Gallagher brothers’ private lives have kept them in the tabloid press, while anniversary releases ensured their music continued to have a second life on streaming services.

The 2016 documentary Supersonic reignited interest in the group from older fans who lived through the original Oasis era and younger audiences who were introduced to the Gallagher’s Mancunian insouciance, humour and self mythologising.

Eamonn Forde, the business writer and author, says Oasis have occupied a unique place within British culture.

“They were ever present in the culture,” says Forde. “You can almost compare them to Abba or the Beatles, there’s always something happening to remind and draw in new listeners.”

“They’ve never monetised that nostalgia on this scale,” he added. “They’ll probably make more money from these gigs than they did in the entire 90s.”

Oasis are following in the footsteps of several of their Brit Pop peers by reuniting, but it doesn’t always work out. Pulp have had several get togethers over the years, while Blur reformed in 2009 and 2015 before their summer shows in 2023.

Blur’s comeback shows at Wembley last year were a success, selling out in minutes and impressing critics. But the reunion was fraught as tensions within the band rose as shown in the behind the scenes documentary To the End.

A cautionary tale comes in the form of the Stone Roses, another Mancunian band that paved the way for Oasis’s brand of lad-friendly indie. When they came back together in 2013, lifelong fan and film-maker Shane Meadows was on hand to capture the reunion, which soured shortly after it began and resulted with members walking out mid tour.

Despite the fallout, Meadows’ documentary captures – perhaps better than any other film about music fandom – why bands such as the Stone Roses appeal to so many people. “You can’t write it down, can you?” says one fan Meadows speaks with. “There’s a reason I’ve never worn a tie, there’s a reason I still listen to that [debut] album once a week. It still makes me tingle.”

Oasis have an even bigger emotional pull and cultural significance: their single Wonderwall has been streamed more than a billion times, while in the wake of the Manchester Arena bombing, mourning crowds broke out into a rendition of Don’t Look Back in Anger.

But like the Stone Roses the personal dynamics in the group are unpredictable. The Gallagher brothers didn’t speak to each other for years after their split in 2009, and have traded barbs in the press ever since: bookmakers are offering 4/1 on Oasis splitting up before the end of tour.

Forde believes that well-known friction may have led to water-tight contracts with clauses that would make it financially ruinous for either of the brothers to walk away or incredibly high insurance premiums for all parties involved in case of a split. But ways can be found to mitigate tensions when so much money is at stake.

“You hear about all these acts that hated each other whether it was The Eagles or Simon and Garfunkel, and they just didn’t see each other until they got on stage,” Forde said.

Another question lingering over the announcement is what the line up will be. Original guitarist, Paul ‘Bonehead’ Arthurs, has been touring with Liam Gallagher this summer, while Noel’s group – the High Flying Birds – includes former Oasis member Gem Archer who also played with Liam’s Beady Eye.

Whoever takes the stage will be part of one of the most anticipated – and potentially combustible – comebacks ever.

So it is definitely not a maybe. Oasis are reuniting for a UK and Ireland tour that could be one of the most lucrative ever, with tickets being hyped as the “hottest of the decade”.

But one question people are asking is why? The most obvious motivation is money.

Despite both Gallagher brothers establishing successful solo careers since their split in 2009, nothing they have done comes close to the kinds of figures potentially on offer from the 14-date reunion shows that include a four-show run at Wembley stadium.

Birmingham City University estimate that the initial 14 dates could bring in £400m in ticket sales and other add ons, with Liam and Noel both in line to each earn £50m.

Dr Matt Grimes, course director of the music business BA at Birmingham City University, said the brothers could double their net worth in a few weeks. “They’re considering going into Europe as well, so they stand to make even more,” he said.

While ticket prices haven’t been revealed yet ahead of them going on sale this Friday, it’s likely they will have increased ten-fold from 1995, when tickets cost £14 on their UK tour.

Despite breaking up 15 years ago, Oasis as an entity hasn’t ever really gone away. The Gallagher brothers’ private lives have kept them in the tabloid press, while anniversary releases ensured their music continued to have a second life on streaming services.

The 2016 documentary Supersonic reignited interest in the group from older fans who lived through the original Oasis era and younger audiences who were introduced to the Gallagher’s Mancunian insouciance, humour and self mythologising.

Eamonn Forde, the business writer and author, says Oasis have occupied a unique place within British culture.

“They were ever present in the culture,” says Forde. “You can almost compare them to Abba or the Beatles, there’s always something happening to remind and draw in new listeners.”

“They’ve never monetised that nostalgia on this scale,” he added. “They’ll probably make more money from these gigs than they did in the entire 90s.”

Oasis are following in the footsteps of several of their Brit Pop peers by reuniting, but it doesn’t always work out. Pulp have had several get togethers over the years, while Blur reformed in 2009 and 2015 before their summer shows in 2023.

Blur’s comeback shows at Wembley last year were a success, selling out in minutes and impressing critics. But the reunion was fraught as tensions within the band rose as shown in the behind the scenes documentary To the End.

A cautionary tale comes in the form of the Stone Roses, another Mancunian band that paved the way for Oasis’s brand of lad-friendly indie. When they came back together in 2013, lifelong fan and film-maker Shane Meadows was on hand to capture the reunion, which soured shortly after it began and resulted with members walking out mid tour.

Despite the fallout, Meadows’ documentary captures – perhaps better than any other film about music fandom – why bands such as the Stone Roses appeal to so many people. “You can’t write it down, can you?” says one fan Meadows speaks with. “There’s a reason I’ve never worn a tie, there’s a reason I still listen to that [debut] album once a week. It still makes me tingle.”

Oasis have an even bigger emotional pull and cultural significance: their single Wonderwall has been streamed more than a billion times, while in the wake of the Manchester Arena bombing, mourning crowds broke out into a rendition of Don’t Look Back in Anger.

But like the Stone Roses the personal dynamics in the group are unpredictable. The Gallagher brothers didn’t speak to each other for years after their split in 2009, and have traded barbs in the press ever since: bookmakers are offering 4/1 on Oasis splitting up before the end of tour.

Forde believes that well-known friction may have led to water-tight contracts with clauses that would make it financially ruinous for either of the brothers to walk away or incredibly high insurance premiums for all parties involved in case of a split. But ways can be found to mitigate tensions when so much money is at stake.

“You hear about all these acts that hated each other whether it was The Eagles or Simon and Garfunkel, and they just didn’t see each other until they got on stage,” Forde said.

Another question lingering over the announcement is what the line up will be. Original guitarist, Paul ‘Bonehead’ Arthurs, has been touring with Liam Gallagher this summer, while Noel’s group – the High Flying Birds – includes former Oasis member Gem Archer who also played with Liam’s Beady Eye.

Whoever takes the stage will be part of one of the most anticipated – and potentially combustible – comebacks ever.

Rock’s biggest will-they-won’t-they finally has an answer: Oasis have announced that they will reunite for a 14-date tour of the UK and Ireland in 2025.

They will not, however, be headlining Glastonbury festival as was rumoured over the weekend, nor playing 10 dates at Wembley and the Etihad Stadium respectively.

Instead, the concerts will take place in July and August, at stadiums in Cardiff, London, Manchester, Edinburgh and Dublin. Tickets go on sale at 9am on 31 August, with prices to be revealed on the day.

A press release billed the dates as the “domestic leg” of the tour and said that “plans are under way” for it to go beyond Europe later in 2025.

Of the famously feuding brothers’ decision to reunite, the release stated: “There has been no great revelatory moment that has ignited the reunion – just the gradual realisation that the time is right.”

In a joint statement, the band said: “The guns have fallen silent. The stars have aligned. The great wait is over. Come see. It will not be televised.”

The dates for the 2025 UK and Ireland tour are: 4, 5 July, Principality Stadium, Cardiff; 11, 12, 19 and 20 July, Heaton Park, Manchester; 25, 26 July, 2, 3 August, Wembley Stadium, London; 8, 9 August, Murrayfield Stadium, Edinburgh; and 16, 17 August, Croke Park, Dublin.

The concerts will come 16 years after the band split acrimoniously when Noel Gallagher quit before a show at a French festival, and 30 years since the release of their second album, 1995’s (What’s the Story) Morning Glory? Unlike Liam Gallagher’s continuing 30th anniversary tour of the band’s 1994 debut Definitely Maybe, the setlist for the 2025 reunion shows will not be explicitly geared around that album.

The Oasis lineup has not been confirmed; the band also have no plans to re-enter the recording studio to make new music.

The Gallagher brothers had been teasing the news on social media in recent days, sharing a clip of the date “27.08.24” in the same font as the Oasis logo on their respective social media accounts, as well as the official Oasis accounts.

The clip was also shown at the end of Liam’s headline set at Reading festival last weekend, where he dedicated their 1994 B-side Half the World Away to Noel, and 1994’s Cigarettes & Alcohol to people who say they hate Oasis. It was also shown after Blossoms played Wythenshawe Park in Manchester this weekend.

Liam is currently touring Definitely Maybe with the guitarist Paul “Bonehead” Arthurs; earlier this year, he and the Stone Roses guitarist John Squire also toured their collaborative album, practically named Liam Gallagher John Squire. Noel also recently concluded a run of festival dates with his band High Flying Birds.

The band are yet to go into greater depth about how they buried the hatchet in the years since Noel walked out at Rock en Seine in 2009. Since then the brothers have publicly sniped at each other and denied that a reunion would ever happen. In recent years, however, relations appeared to have softened: in 2017, Liam tweeted Christmas wishes at his brother and said he was “looking forward to seeing you tomorrow”.

This week, in a video to mark the 30th anniversary of Definitely Maybe, Noel praised Liam’s singing abilities. “When I would sing a song, it would sound good. When he sung it, it sounded great … I can’t sing Cigarettes & Alcohol, Rock’n’Roll Star and all that. I don’t have the same attitude as him. My voice is half a Guinness on a Tuesday – it’s all right. Liam’s is 10 shots of tequila on a Friday.”

Despite Oasis’s inactivity, the band’s legend has not waned: they have 21.6 million monthly listeners on Spotify and command a huge gen Z audience. Earlier this year, Dua Lipa used the band’s immediately identifiable font in the marketing for her supposedly Britpop-inspired album Radical Optimism.

Some have speculated that one motivation for a lucrative reunion might be Noel’s recent divorce from his second wife, Sara MacDonald, in a settlement reported to cost around £20m.

Ukraine has captured 594 Russian soldiers during its three-week military operation in the Kursk region and has seized 100 settlements inside Russia, Kyiv’s commander-in-chief said on Tuesday.

Gen Oleksandr Syrskyi said Moscow had redeployed 30,000 troops to the border region and they were trying to counterattack and to encircle Ukrainian forces but these attempts were being repelled.

Speaking at a conference in Kyiv, Syrskyi acknowledged that one of the objectives of the Kursk incursion was to divert Russian combat units away from the east of Ukraine.

In recent months Russian forces have been advancing. They are now about 7 miles (11km) from Pokrovsk, a key Ukrainian army and transport hub, and are pressing on the town of Kurakhove.

Some troops had been shifted from the occupied south of the country, Syrskyi said. “The enemy is trying to withdraw units from other directions. But it is increasing its efforts in the Pokrovsk sectors.”

He said Russia was trying to disrupt supply lines. “The situation on the Pokrovsk front is fairly difficult … the enemy is using its advantage in personnel, weapons and military equipment. It is actively using artillery and aviation,” he admitted.

At a press conference on Tuesday, Volodymyr Zelenskiy said decisions were being made to strengthen Ukraine’s forward positions in the Donetsk region. He described the Kursk incursion as “defensive”. It was being done to prevent Russia from seizing more Ukrainian land and there were no plans to annex Russian territory, he said.

The president’s comments came as Russia launched further deadly strikes on Ukraine with missiles and drones, a day after it carried out a “massive” attack on Ukraine’s power grid.

A strike on a hotel in the central city of Kryvyi Rih on Tuesday morning killed two people, the latest in a series of attacks on hotels across the central and eastern parts of Ukraine, while a further three people were killed in drone attacks on the city of Zaporizhzhia.

The Ukrainian air force said Russia had launched 10 ballistic missiles and 81 drones during the assault, and Ukrainian air defence had shot down five of the missiles and 60 of the drones.

Authorities in Kyiv said everything that had targeted the city had been shot down. Explosions were audible as the city’s air defences repelled the attack.

Serhiy Lisak, a regional official, said one of those injured in the Kryvyi Rih hotel strike, a 43-year-old woman, was in a critical condition in hospital. Another two people were missing and could still be under the rubble, he said in a post on Telegram.

Monday’s Russian attack on Ukraine largely targeted the energy grid and killed at least seven people.

The attack triggered blackouts and water shortages, including in Kyiv where shops and businesses had to switch to generators on Monday afternoon and evening to maintain power. The state-owned energy body, Ukrenergo, said it was introducing emergency power cuts to help stabilise its systems.

Russia’s renewed attack on the energy grid, after a number of strikes in the spring damaged critical infrastructure, will be worrying for Ukraine as winter approaches.

The attack drew widespread condemnation from Kyiv’s foreign partners. The US president, Joe Biden, called it “outrageous”, while Germany’s foreign ministry said: “Once again, Putin’s Russia is saturating Ukraine’s lifelines with missiles.”

The Russian defence ministry confirmed it was targeting energy facilities on Monday, claiming in a statement that the energy grid was being used to aid Ukraine’s “military-production complex”.

Poland, a Nato member, claimed its airspace was violated during the barrage, probably by a drone. “We are probably dealing with the entry of an object on Polish territory. The object was confirmed by at least three radiolocation stations,” said Gen Maciej Klisz, the operational commander of the armed forces.

After Monday’s attacks, Zelenskiy issued a familiar call for allies to do more to protect Ukraine, suggesting that European air forces could help Kyiv down drones and missiles in the future. “In our various regions of Ukraine, we could do much more to protect lives if the aviation of our European neighbours worked together with our F-16s and together with our air defence,” he said in a video address.

A Reuters journalist remained in critical condition in hospital after being injured in a strike on Saturday, the news agency said on Monday evening. Ivan Lyubysh-Kirdey was part of a six-person Reuters team staying at a hotel in Kramatorsk close to the frontline in eastern Ukraine when it was hit by a missile. Ryan Evans, a British security adviser working for the agency, was killed in the attack.

The Ukrainian incursion into Russian territory in the Kursk region has boosted Ukrainian morale after months of grinding stalemate or incremental losses. There were unconfirmed reports on Tuesday, from Russian Telegram channels, that there were further attempts at Ukrainian incursions into Russia at other points along the border, in Belgorod region, on Tuesday morning. It was not possible to immediately verify the reports.

The governor of the Belgorod region, Vyacheslav Gladkov, wrote on Telegram that the situation at the border was “difficult but under control”, noting “information that the enemy is trying to break through the border of the Belgorod region”. He said the Russian military was carrying out “planned work” and that people should trust only official sources, without elaborating on the reports.

Pacific island leaders have agreed to back a sweeping regional policing plan after Australia overcame last-minute concerns that the proposal was part of a geopolitical play to exclude China.

The Australian prime minister, Anthony Albanese, discussed the issue with his counterparts at the Pacific Islands Forum (Pif) in Tonga on Wednesday amid increasing contest for influence between the US and China.

He later welcomed the agreement from Pif leaders to support the Pacific Policing Initiative, which will see up to four police training centres of excellence established in the Pacific.

The proposal also includes the formation of multi-country police units. Albanese said this would provide “a ready pool of trained Pacific police to deploy in response to Pacific country requirements, such as for major event management or additional capacity in times of crisis”.

The Australian government will also set up a police development and coordination hub in Brisbane, giving Pacific police officers access to Australian federal police facilities for training and to prepare for deployments.

Australia has offered about $400m in funding over five years to help deliver the scheme, including infrastructure costs to build policing centres of excellence in the region.

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Albanese said it was “a Pacific-led initiative” that reflected the desire of Pacific neighbours to “stand with each other and help each other in times of need”.

Without directly mentioning China, Albanese said it was a case of the Pacific working together to make the security of the entire region “much stronger”. It would allow the Pacific to look after its own security “ourselves”.

But hours before the deal was announced, the prime minister of Vanuatu, Charlot Salwai, and the regional sub-grouping to which Vanuatu belongs went public with its concerns the plan may be intended to serve western strategic interests.

Salwai described the Pacific policing initiative as “important” but indicated the region should ensure the plan was “framed to fit our purposes and not developed to suit the geostrategic interests and geostrategic denial security postures of our big partners”.

This “denial” language is a clear reference to excluding China. Australia has repeatedly registered its concerns about China’s attempts to reach security and policing agreements with Pacific island countries, including the 2022 deal with Solomon Islands.

Salwai is the chair of the Melanesian spearhead group (MSG), a regional subgrouping that includes Vanuatu, Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea and Fiji.

He raised the concerns in an opening statement to an MSG caucus meeting in Tonga. His language was then echoed by the MSG director general, Leonard Louma.

Louma said the Pacific policing initiative was “worthy” but cautioned that it “must be genuinely framed to fit our purposes and not conveniently developed as part of the geostrategic denial security doctrine of our big partners”.

While he described conversations held so far as “encouraging”, he added that many aspects were still “cryptic”.

The minister for the Pacific, Pat Conroy, who is also attending the talks, said earlier that Australia was “here to listen and act on the priorities of the Pacific”.

Pacific countries had previously expressed a view that any gaps in security in the region should be filled from within the Pacific, he said.

Asked directly whether Australia had “steamrolled” some Pacific states in its push for the policing initiative, Conroy said: “I can say to you that no minister or leader of a Pacific government has said that to me.”

Conroy said he “would reject any accusation, any claim that this is something that Australia is driving”.

“This is something that’s been developed by the Pacific, this is Pacific-led, and that’s incredibly strong.”

Conroy said the proposal was aligned with Fiji’s “oceans of peace” concept and also “builds on the very generous offer from the Papua New Guinea government at the Pif last year to be a regional training hub for Pacific police forces”.

Pif is a regional grouping that brings together Australia, New Zealand and 16 other countries and territories in the Pacific.

China and the US are not members but are “dialogue partners” and routinely send high-powered delegations to attend a portion of the summit meetings.

Keir Starmer has promised to “turn a corner on Brexit” and rebuild productive relationships with EU member states in advance of a flying visit to Berlin for talks with the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, expected to focus on defence and trade.

The prime minister said the trip was part of wider efforts to restore the “broken relationships” with European neighbours left by the last government.

It was, he added, a “once-in-a-generation opportunity to reset our relationship” with Europe.

Starmer, who will head on to Paris on Wednesday to see Emmanuel Macron and attend the opening of the Paris Paralympics, will also meet German business leaders and the German president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in a stopover lasting less than 18 hours.

His attempt to renegotiate Britain’s European relationships is part of a broader strategy of taking controversial decisions early on in his term as prime minister and reap the rewards for them closer to the next election.

Earlier on Tuesday he gave a hint of tax rises to come in October’s budget, warning it would be a “painful” fiscal statement. Last week the Guardian revealed that the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, was considering increasing capital gains tax and inheritance tax to help close the £22bn shortfall Labour says it inherited.

The government is also under pressure for its decision to cut winter fuel payments to 10 million pensioners, and for giving a string of high-ranking civil service jobs to Labour supporters and donors.

Starmer said on Tuesday it was all part of a move to fix the British state after what he called “14 years of rot”.

The talks with Scholz are also due to focus on migration and asylum seekers, including discussions on intelligence over unofficial border crossings.

Much of the focus will be on defence and security, with the UK and Germany to begin negotiations on a bilateral treaty modelled on a 2010 deal with France signed by David Cameron, which set out a 50-year plan for defence cooperation.

No 10 said a British team was scheduled to spend six months on the treaty, with both countries wanting to sign it in early 2025.

On the issue of strengthening mutual plans to counter a more aggressive and expansionist Russia, defence cooperation is one of the EU’s key priorities before Starmer’s government seeks to negotiate any revised post-Brexit agreement with Brussels.

Germany and France are the bloc’s main players in defence, with Macron in particular keen to focus defence procurement within Europe.

In comments released by No 10 before Starmer left for Berlin on Tuesday, the prime minister said his government had “a once-in-a-generation opportunity to reset our relationship with Europe and strive for genuine, ambitious partnerships that deliver for the British people”.

He said: “We must turn a corner on Brexit and fix the broken relationships left behind by the previous government. That work started at the European Political Community meeting last month, and I am determined to continue it, which is why I am visiting Germany and France this week.

“Strengthening our relationship with these countries is crucial, not only in tackling the global problem of illegal migration, but also in boosting economic growth across the continent and crucially in the UK – one of the key missions of my government.”

Starmer saw Scholz and Macron at the European Political Community gathering at Blenheim Palace, as well as at the Nato summit in Washington. No 10 said this week’s meeting would be the PM’s fifth with the German chancellor since Labour won the UK election, and his fourth with the French president.

Sources in Germany said the agreement with the UK could also partly mimic a longstanding deal Berlin has with France, which covers a series of bilateral issues, but avoids EU-centred subjects such as trade.

The Franco-German cooperation treaty singed in Aachen in 2019 also includes joint cultural and digital programmes and an expansion of an existing youth mobility programme to include young people with special needs. Last week, Downing Street explicitly ruled out joining any youth mobility schemes as part of a revised agreement with the EU.

Sourcing defence contracts in the UK may also be an option – last year the German ministry of defence signed a contract with a Dutch shipyard as one of the main contractors for naval vessels.

Sources in Germany said Scholz had already made his desire to strengthen relations with the UK known and he would want to “build on this quickly” particularly with anything that could help inter-country trade, damaged by Brexit.

One German source said Scholz, who faces a potentially perilous federal election next year, would be keen to exchange tips with a leftwing leader who just won a landslide victory. “They are two socialists; they are also two technocrats; they will want to learn from each other,” the source said.

As part of the trade-based elements of the trip, Starmer will meet Christian Bruch, the chief executive of Siemens Energy, and Armin Theodor Papperger, chief executive of Rheinmetall, Germany’s largest defence company.

While brief, Starmer’s schedule in Germany will be packed, including a military guard and, after the talks with Scholz, a joint press conference with the chancellor.

After leaving for Paris on Wednesday, the PM was due to attend the opening ceremony of the Paralympics, and attend a reception alongside Macron and others at the Élysée Palace. In France he was also scheduled to meet French business leaders.

Keir Starmer has promised to “turn a corner on Brexit” and rebuild productive relationships with EU member states in advance of a flying visit to Berlin for talks with the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, expected to focus on defence and trade.

The prime minister said the trip was part of wider efforts to restore the “broken relationships” with European neighbours left by the last government.

It was, he added, a “once-in-a-generation opportunity to reset our relationship” with Europe.

Starmer, who will head on to Paris on Wednesday to see Emmanuel Macron and attend the opening of the Paris Paralympics, will also meet German business leaders and the German president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in a stopover lasting less than 18 hours.

His attempt to renegotiate Britain’s European relationships is part of a broader strategy of taking controversial decisions early on in his term as prime minister and reap the rewards for them closer to the next election.

Earlier on Tuesday he gave a hint of tax rises to come in October’s budget, warning it would be a “painful” fiscal statement. Last week the Guardian revealed that the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, was considering increasing capital gains tax and inheritance tax to help close the £22bn shortfall Labour says it inherited.

The government is also under pressure for its decision to cut winter fuel payments to 10 million pensioners, and for giving a string of high-ranking civil service jobs to Labour supporters and donors.

Starmer said on Tuesday it was all part of a move to fix the British state after what he called “14 years of rot”.

The talks with Scholz are also due to focus on migration and asylum seekers, including discussions on intelligence over unofficial border crossings.

Much of the focus will be on defence and security, with the UK and Germany to begin negotiations on a bilateral treaty modelled on a 2010 deal with France signed by David Cameron, which set out a 50-year plan for defence cooperation.

No 10 said a British team was scheduled to spend six months on the treaty, with both countries wanting to sign it in early 2025.

On the issue of strengthening mutual plans to counter a more aggressive and expansionist Russia, defence cooperation is one of the EU’s key priorities before Starmer’s government seeks to negotiate any revised post-Brexit agreement with Brussels.

Germany and France are the bloc’s main players in defence, with Macron in particular keen to focus defence procurement within Europe.

In comments released by No 10 before Starmer left for Berlin on Tuesday, the prime minister said his government had “a once-in-a-generation opportunity to reset our relationship with Europe and strive for genuine, ambitious partnerships that deliver for the British people”.

He said: “We must turn a corner on Brexit and fix the broken relationships left behind by the previous government. That work started at the European Political Community meeting last month, and I am determined to continue it, which is why I am visiting Germany and France this week.

“Strengthening our relationship with these countries is crucial, not only in tackling the global problem of illegal migration, but also in boosting economic growth across the continent and crucially in the UK – one of the key missions of my government.”

Starmer saw Scholz and Macron at the European Political Community gathering at Blenheim Palace, as well as at the Nato summit in Washington. No 10 said this week’s meeting would be the PM’s fifth with the German chancellor since Labour won the UK election, and his fourth with the French president.

Sources in Germany said the agreement with the UK could also partly mimic a longstanding deal Berlin has with France, which covers a series of bilateral issues, but avoids EU-centred subjects such as trade.

The Franco-German cooperation treaty singed in Aachen in 2019 also includes joint cultural and digital programmes and an expansion of an existing youth mobility programme to include young people with special needs. Last week, Downing Street explicitly ruled out joining any youth mobility schemes as part of a revised agreement with the EU.

Sourcing defence contracts in the UK may also be an option – last year the German ministry of defence signed a contract with a Dutch shipyard as one of the main contractors for naval vessels.

Sources in Germany said Scholz had already made his desire to strengthen relations with the UK known and he would want to “build on this quickly” particularly with anything that could help inter-country trade, damaged by Brexit.

One German source said Scholz, who faces a potentially perilous federal election next year, would be keen to exchange tips with a leftwing leader who just won a landslide victory. “They are two socialists; they are also two technocrats; they will want to learn from each other,” the source said.

As part of the trade-based elements of the trip, Starmer will meet Christian Bruch, the chief executive of Siemens Energy, and Armin Theodor Papperger, chief executive of Rheinmetall, Germany’s largest defence company.

While brief, Starmer’s schedule in Germany will be packed, including a military guard and, after the talks with Scholz, a joint press conference with the chancellor.

After leaving for Paris on Wednesday, the PM was due to attend the opening ceremony of the Paralympics, and attend a reception alongside Macron and others at the Élysée Palace. In France he was also scheduled to meet French business leaders.

His independent White House campaign has fizzled, but the flow of bizarre stories of Robert F Kennedy Jr’s unorthodox handling of the carcasses of wild mammals has experienced no similar suspension.

An environmental group is calling for a federal investigation into the former presidential candidate for an episode in which he allegedly severed the head of a washed-up whale with a chainsaw – and drove home with it strapped to his car’s roof.

The episode has parallels with another extraordinary tale reported earlier in August in which Kennedy confessed to dumping a dead bear cub in New York’s Central Park and attempted to make it look like the animal was killed by a bicyclist.

The latest grisly revelation, about the whale head, is not particularly new – it stems from a 2012 interview Kennedy’s daughter Kick gave to Town & Country magazine, in which she talks about a visit to other family members of the political dynasty in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts, more than two decades prior.

But the story’s re-emergence, following the bear tale and other off-the-wall declarations – including claims that part of RFK Jr’s brain was eaten by worms and that he had an apparent fondness for barbecued dog – has angered activists at the Center for Biological Diversity Action Fund. The group previously denounced Kennedy’s candidacy and endorsed Democratic nominee Kamala Harris for president.

In a letter to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa) this week, Brett Hartl, the organization’s government affairs director and chief political strategist, demanded an inquiry.

“Mr Kennedy’s apparent transport of the marine mammal skull from Massachusetts to New York, and therefore across state lines, also represented a felony violation of the Lacey Act, one of the earliest wildlife conservation laws enacted by [the] United States in 1900,” he wrote, adding that it was also illegal to possess part of any animal protected by the endangered species act.

“Normally, an unverified anecdote would not provide sufficient evidence as the basis for conducting an investigation. The [bear] story made it seem like this was normal behavior for him, so he may also possess additional illegally collected wildlife parts.”

The former Kennedy campaign’s press office did not respond to a request for comment. And Noaa has yet to publicly acknowledge receipt of Hartl’s letter.

The somewhat unpleasant recounting by Kick Kennedy – granddaughter of Robert F Kennedy, the assassinated former US attorney general and Kennedy Jr’s father – remains the only documented account of the whale incident.

Describing her father’s fascination with animal skulls and skeletons as “eccentric environmentalism”, she tells how the whale washed up on a beach near Hyannis Port and he sped to the scene.

“[He] ran down to the beach with a chainsaw, cut off the whale’s head and then bungee-corded it to the roof of the family minivan for the five-hour haul back to Mount Kisco, New York,” she said.

“Every time we accelerated on the highway, whale juice would pour into the windows of the car, and it was the rankest thing on the planet. We all had plastic bags over our heads with mouth holes cut out, and people on the highway were giving us the finger, but that was just normal day to day stuff for us.”

Hartl, on X, called RFK Jr an “environmental criminal”. In his group’s denouncement of his candidacy, it said “his conspiracy theories go against the science-based foundation of all environmental protections”, and that he was no different from Donald Trump in terms of policy priorities “driven by what will benefit Big Oil and the greedy corporations that fund them”.

Kennedy announced he was suspending his presidential campaign last Friday and immediately endorsed Trump.

Uruguay footballer Juan Izquierdo, who collapsed on the pitch after suffering an irregular heartbeat last week, has died, his Club Nacional de Football team has announced.

The 27-year-old had been undergoing medical treatment since he collapsed during the second leg of a Copa Libertadores round of 16 tie against Sao Paulo at Brazil’s Morumbi stadium on 22 August.

“It is with the deepest sorrow and shock in our hearts that the Club Nacional announces the death of our beloved player Juan Izquierdo,” Nacional wrote on X. “We express our most sincere condolences to his family, friends, colleagues and loved ones. All of Nacional is in mourning for his irreparable loss.”

Alejandro Dominguez, the president of South American football’s governing body, also extended his condolences to Izquierdo’s family and friends. “South American football is in mourning,” he added.

Sao Paulo said they were deeply saddened by the news, calling it a “sad day for football”.

Izquierdo was taken to Hospital Albert Einstein after he collapsed last Thursday. The hospital said in a statement late Tuesday that Izquierdo had “cardiorespiratory arrest associated with his cardiac arrhythmia.”

Doctors at the hospital had said in a statement on Monday that Izquierdo was experiencing increased intracranial pressure. He had been on a ventilator since Sunday and under neurological critical care since Monday.

Uruguay’s first- and second-division football leagues were postponed on the weekend due to concerns over Izquierdo’s health. Sao Paulo players wore a shirt in support of the Uruguayan footballer before the team’s 2-1 Brazilian league win against Vitoria on Sunday.

Izquierdo had replaced Sebastián Coates for the Uruguayan club at half-time of the match against Sao Paulo but the defender fell to the ground unconscious in the 84th minute without coming into contact with another player.

Players from both sides immediately called for medical assistance. Still unconscious, Izquierdo was taken off the pitch in an ambulance to the applause of the fans, before being treated at the intensive care unit of Hospital Albert Einstein.

Izquierdo’s professional career began in 2018 at local club Cerro. He joined Peñarol the following year, but didn’t get much playing time. The defender then moved to Montevideo Wanderers.

Izquierdo was signed by Nacional in 2022, played one match and then was transferred to the local Liverpool club. The defender was one of Liverpool’s best players in the campaign that led the team to a Uruguayan league title in 2023, the club’s first in more than a century.

Izquierdo returned to Nacional this year and was vying for a position in the starting lineup with veteran Coates, who played for Uruguay’s national team. He played 23 matches this year and scored one goal.

Plant-based alternatives to meat are better for the planet and mostly healthier than products such as burgers and sausages made from animals, new research has found.

Environmentally the production of meat substitutes involves far fewer greenhouse gas emissions and much less water than that of meat dishes, according to the Food Foundation. Fake meat products also perform well nutritionally in comparison with the real thing. They contain fewer calories, less saturated fat and more fibre, the charity’s study found.

The research compared the environmental impact, nutritional profile and price of 68 plant-based products with that of 36 meat products, including dishes such as – real and fake – bacon, chicken nuggets and meatballs.

However, some of the three main types of “alternative proteins” emerged as being in some ways worse in nutritional terms than meat products, the Food Foundation said.

“A lot of the more recently developed processed meat alternative products are more likely to contain higher levels of salt than other alternative proteins, and only a third are fortified with iron and vitamin B12, as would be found in meat,” the research found.

For example, the Richmond brand’s meat-free sausages were found to contain worryingly large amounts of salt, said Rebecca Tobi, the charity’s senior business and investor engagement manager. But manufacturers could reformulate their products to make them more nutritious, she added.

In addition, “plant-based meat alternatives are on average lower in protein relative to meat”, the researchers found. However, that finding was not a concern because the difference was small, and the UK population already eats more than enough protein to sustain health, said Tobi, a co-author of the research.

The research comes as the market for non-meat foods continues to expand – in tandem with the popularity of vegetarian and vegan diets – despite the collapse in recent years of a number of plant-based brands and a dip in sales last year. Analysts such as Bloomberg expect the market globally to keep growing significantly until 2030. And an analysis last year by the Green Alliance forecast that the sector could be worth £6.8bn a year and create 25,000 jobs in the UK alone by 2035.

The Food Foundation analysed traditional alternative proteins, such as tofu, seitan and tempeh; processed “new generation” products, such as those made by Quorn and Linda McCartney Foods; and less-processed alternative proteins, notably beans and grains.

As consumers know, meat-free products are often dearer than buying the real thing. “Consumers pay a premium for more processed plant-based alternatives like tofu, Future Farm and THIS brand compared [with] meat, despite their environmental benefits,” the research found. For example, “new generation” foods are 73% dearer a 100g than meat, while traditional products are 38% more expensive.

Beans and grains emerged as the healthiest, most eco-friendly and also cheapest of the four types of products analysed. They are “a natural source of protein, deliver the best bang for buck on health and environment, with lower amounts of saturated fat, calories and salt and the highest amount of fibre of all products”, the charity said. “They are also the most affordable category.”

Policymakers who want to encourage the uptake of Covid vaccines should focus on communicating the risks of not having such jabs, research suggests.

Researchers in China say they have found the approach, known as a loss frame strategy, is more persuasive in boosting people’s willingness to get vaccinated than focusing on the benefits either to the individual themselves or to others.

That, the team say, could be because focusing on gains tends to be beneficial when people think a certain behaviour is safe.

“Vaccines may be considered risky, given their potential side-effects, despite their preventive characteristics,” they write. “Therefore, the loss frame strategy has advantages over gain frames in promoting vaccination.”

Writing in the Journal of Public Health, the researchers report how they randomly split 1,085 participants into four groups of similar size. Participants were all 18 or over, and had not yet received all of their Covid jabs.

All participants were given information about the prevalence and mortality rate of Covid. However, while one group was given no further information, the others were given extra messaging, either explaining the individual benefits of vaccination, the benefits to others, or the risks from not getting vaccinated.

The participants were asked to rate, on a five-point scale, whether they thought vaccination was effective in preventing people from contracting Covid, and their willingness to be vaccinated, also on a five-point scale.

The results revealed that, overall, a greater perception of vaccination effectiveness was associated with a greater willingness to get vaccinated. The team also found groups that had received additional messaging were more willing to be vaccinated than the group that had not.

However, the greatest willingness was seen among the participants who were told about the possible harms of not having a Covid jab, such as being more likely to develop severe Covid symptoms. Indeed, compared with the group given no extra messaging, participants in this group were 2.79 times more willing to get vaccinated.

A further analysis suggested the three types of additional messaging could boost the positive association between perceived vaccine effectiveness and willingness to be vaccinated.

Dr Simon Williams, a behavioural scientist and public health researcher at Swansea University, said the results chimed with other studies showing that the perceived effectiveness of a vaccine affected how willing people were to take it. He said that was very relevant for Covid vaccines, given many countries were facing challenges in communicating that boosters were still effective, and important for certain groups.

But, he said, while the new work suggested framing vaccine messages in terms of what you stood to lose by not getting vaccinated was more effective than framing them in terms of possible gains, it was not clear if the same results would be found in other countries. Some research had come to different conclusions.

“A number of studies have found that loss messages tend to work better for disease ‘detection’ messages, like ‘get screened’ to catch disease early,” he said. “Whereas ‘gain’ messages work better for prevention behaviours, like ‘get vaccinated’ or ‘eat healthy’ to avoid disease.”