Europeans ‘should learn Russian’ if Ukraine doesn’t get more support, says EU diplomat
The EU’s top diplomat has warned that the UK “should start learning Russian if Kyiv does not receive more support
Echoing comments from Nato chief Mark Rutte, Kaja Kallas said Europe has to do “more for Ukraine, for our own security too”.
Speaking during a debate in the European Parliament, she continued: “To quote my friend Nato secretary general Mark Rutte: if we don’t help Ukraine further, we should all start learning Russian.”
Her comments came after a 24-hour period in which at least six people were killed in Ukraine, authorities said, as Russia launched a fresh wave of drone attacks hours after Kyiv suffered one of the deadliest strikes in months.
Civilians were killed in Chernihiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk, Kherson and Sumy regions, local authorities said. Russia launched 58 drones at Ukraine overnight on Wednesday, 30 of which were shot down, the Ukrainian Air Force said.
The fresh strikes came as Ukraine marked a day of mourning on Wednesday after what Volodymyr Zelensky described as one of the worst attacks on Kyiv since the war began. At least 23 people were killed across Ukraine overnight on Tuesday, including 21 in Kyiv.
Russian forces seize two Ukrainian villages, defence ministry claims
Russian forces took control of two villages in Ukraine, its defence ministry has claimed.
Vladimir Putin’s forces claim to have seized Dovhenke in the eastern Kharkiv region and Novomykolaivka in the northeast Sumy region.
The Independent could not independently verify the battlefield reports.
Macron and Merz call for addded pressure on Russia
As we’ve been reporting, the G7 summit has now wrapped up, coming after early departures from both Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky.
German chancellor Friedrich Merz and French president Emmanuel Macron have now both taken to X with their conclusions.
“I am returning to Germany cautiously optimistic that the US will decide to impose further sanctions against Russia,” Mr Merz said on X. “We must do everything we can to end the war against Ukraine as soon as possible. The ball is in Moscow’s court.”
Mr Macron said: “With President Zelenskyy at the G7. We stand in solidarity with the Ukrainian people after last night’s massive Russian strikes.
“We are determined to increase pressure on Russia to accept the immediate and unconditional ceasefire that Ukraine is ready for.”
Europeans ‘should learn Russian’ if Kyiv doesn’t get more support
EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas has been speaking during a debate in the European parliament.
“We have to do more for Ukraine, for our own security too,” she tells MEPs, according to The Guardian.
“To quote my friend Nato secretary general Mark Rutte: if we don’t help Ukraine further, we should all start learning Russian.
“The stronger Ukraine is on the battlefield today, the stronger they will be around the negotiation table when Russia finally is ready to talk.”
Ms Kallas told the parliament that Europe is leaving in “very dangerous, tough times” and that Russia is “already a direct threat to the European Union”.
Starmer tightens screws on Putin as he announces raft of fresh sanctions against Russia
Sir Keir Starmer has promised to keep “tightening the screws” on Vladimir Putin as he announced a raft of fresh sanctions on dozens of new Russian finance, military and energy targets.
The prime minister is piling fresh pressure on the Russian war machine and seeking to win further backing from G7 leaders at a key summit in Canada.
After repeated refusals from Putin to engage in peace talks, and fresh Russian strikes on Kyiv on Tuesday, the PM said his sanctions will “choke off his ability to continue his barbaric war” in Ukraine.
Political correspondent Archie Mitchell and political editor David Maddox report:
Starmer tightens screws on Putin with raft of fresh sanctions against Russia
Russia fires 58 drones at Ukraine overnight
Russian forces attacked Ukraine with 58 Shahed-type drones and decoy drones overnight on Wednesday, the Ukrainian Air Force has said.
Nine locations were struck by drones while 30 were destroyed by air defenses, it added according to Ukrainska Pravda.
“As of 08:30 on 18 June, air defence forces downed 30 enemy Shahed-type UAVs (and other types of drones) in the east and north of the country,” the Air Force said.
“Twelve were shot down with air defence assets, while 18 disappeared from radar or were suppressed by electronic warfare. Enemy strikes were recorded in nine locations.”
Drones were launched from the cities of Kursk, Primorsko-Akhtarsk, and Cape Chauda in Russian-occupied Crimea.
The Donetsk, Dnipropetrovsk and Zaporizhzhia regions were the main targets of the attacks.
Fresh Russian attacks kill 6 and injured dozens in Ukraine over past day
At least six civilians have been killed and 49 injured over the past day as a wave of Russian attacks continued hours after one of the most deadly strikes in months, Ukrainian authorities said.
Regional governors said civilians were killed in the Chernihiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk, Kherson and Sumy regions following Russian strikes.
The most lethal strike was in the Kherson region, where two people were killed and 34 injured, governor Oleksandr Prokudin said.
The Kharkiv and Zapoizhzhia regions also came under attack by dozens of Russian drones, 12 of which were shot down by Ukrainian defenses.
Overnight on Wednesday, Ukraine suffered one of its most fatal attacks of the war when a residential apartment was destroyed in Kyiv.
By Wednesday morning, as rescuers continued to recover bodies from the rubble, at least 23 people had been confirmed killed.
Three people were injured after Russian drones attacked an ambulance in the city of Kherson, city authorities said.
“Russians attacked an ambulance with a drone in the Korabelnyi district of Kherson at around midnight,” the military administration said.
“A 34-year-old paramedic and a 42-year-old emergency medical technician have been injured. They suffered concussion, blast injuries and closed head injuries.”
Later on the morning another civilian was injured in another district of the city, suffering a “blast injury and shrapnel wounds”.
Kyiv residents describe Russia’s missile onslaught as ‘horrific’
Russia flattened a section of an apartment block in Kyiv yesterday, marking its deadliest attack on the Ukrainian capital this year, as a huge barrage of hundreds of drones and dozens of missiles killed at least 18 people and wounded 151.
“I have never seen anything like this before. It is simply horrific. When they started pulling people out, and everyone was cut up, elderly people and children… I do not know how long they can continue to torment us ordinary people,” said Viktoriia Vovchenko, 57, who lives nearby.
Ukraine’s State Emergency Services said operations proceeded throughout the day, with three bodies pulled from rubble late in the evening, bringing the casualty toll in Kyiv to 16 dead and 134 injured.
Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko said the dead included a 62-year-old US citizen, who died from shrapnel wounds.
At least two people were killed and 17 injured in the Black Sea port of Odesa.
Trump administration ‘disbands group focused on pressuring Russia’
Trump administration officials have shelved an inter-agency working group created to formulate strategies for pressuring Russia into speeding up peace talks with Ukraine, it has been claimed.
The group was established earlier in the spring but lost steam in May as it became increasingly clear that Donald Trump was not interested in adopting a more confrontational stance toward Moscow, three US officials told Reuters.
“It lost steam toward the end because the president wasn’t there. Instead of doing more, maybe he wanted to do less,” one official was quoted as saying.
The final blow came roughly three weeks ago, when most members of the White House National Security Council, who were coordinating the group – including the entire team dealing directly with the Ukraine war – were dismissed as part of a broad purge, they alleged.
North Korea’s Kim met Putin’s top security official Shoigu
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un met Russia’s top presidential security adviser Sergei Shoigu in Pyongyang yesterday as the two discussed a “special military operation” in the Kursk region bordering Ukraine, state media KCNA reported today.
Mr Kim and Mr Shoigu, secretary of Russia’s Security Council, discussed cooperation plans for Moscow’s rebuilding of the Kursk region, the report said, confirming earlier reports of the meeting by Russian media.
North Korea will send 5,000 military construction workers and 1,000 sappers to the region to help rebuild it after the Ukrainian incursion that North Korean troops helped Moscow repel this year, Mr Shoigu was cited as saying by the Russian state news agency TASS today.
His visit to Pyongyang and meeting with Mr Kim came nearly two weeks after his last meeting with the leader of the reclusive state on 4 June.
Plans to commemorate the “heroic feats” of North Korean soldiers in the operations in the Kursk region, a part of Russia which Ukrainian forces infiltrated last year, were also discussed during the meeting, KCNA said.
How the biggest online troll was unmasked as a man posing as a woman
It was a moment cemented in pop culture legend when, in October 2019, Coleen Rooney uttered the immortal line, “It’s… Rebekah Vardy’s account”. The seismic tweet, heard around the world, was the culmination of Rooney’s internet sleuthing to deduce who had been trying to destroy her reputation, with the finger pointed firmly at her fellow footballer’s wife. It wasn’t, however, the only sleuthing scandal to cause a stir that year. A few weeks later, in November 2019, a group of mumfluencers, aka mummy bloggers, exposed a shocking story that laid bare a very toxic underbelly of influencer culture.
Blogger and midwife Clemmie Hooper, known on social media as “Mother of Daughters”, who at the time had 670,000 followers on Instagram, was revealed to have been using the message board forum Tattle Life to anonymously pull apart other online influencers – even her own husband Simon, aka Father of Daughters, whom she referred to as a “class-A twat”.
Using the pseudonym “Alice in Wanderlust”, she anonymously accused fellow content creator Candice Brathwaite, with whom she had recently recorded a podcast, of being “aggressive” and of using her “race as a weapon”. After being exposed, Hooper deleted her Instagram account and never returned.
That was the first time most of us had heard of Tattle Life, a site that existed simply to give internet trolls a platform to slag off, gossip about and even issue death threats to (mostly female) influencers and celebrities. It now attracts an astonishing 12 million visitors a month, and has caused untold misery to those who find themselves subject to its attacks, which often extend to victims’ families and friends, too.
But four years ago, two of its victims said enough is enough, and started their hunt to unmask the founder of Tattle Life.
Last week, Irish couple Neil and Donna Sands won £300,000 in libel damages after taking Tattle Life to court – a decision that led to a two-year legal battle that has cost them hundreds of thousands of pounds. The couple sued the site for defamation and harassment, claiming they were relentlessly targeted with nasty, abusive comments on vicious threads that filled 45 pages on the site.
They told the court of the barrage of false, damaging claims and personal attacks they had been subjected to, which included harassment and doxxing (exposing their home address). One troll even wrote that they were “watching you in real life”, implying that they were stalking the couple.
Donna described waking “every morning” and wondering, “What have they said in the last seven hours?” Her body would physically shake on seeing updates, and she struggled with confidence.
But now, after two years of lengthy and expensive battles, Neil and Donna have walked away with £150,000 each, plus legal costs, in a case they said was about standing up to online “hate speech”.
Until this moment, nobody had had any information on who ran the site, apart from a name, Helen McDougal, which was known to be a pseudonym. While no one had ever met her, she was often referred to on Tattle only as “Helen”, with users often claiming she had multiple accounts; she would shadow-ban her critics and dole out uneven moderation.
However, what people didn’t realise was that Helen was in fact a 41-year-old man, Sebastian Bond, who was exposed by a judge at Belfast’s High Court after reporting restrictions were lifted.
And Helen McDougal wasn’t his only pseudonym: he also used Bastian Durward, under which he operated a vegan cooking brand called Nest and Glow, which runs an Instagram account with around 135,000 followers (though it’s been inactive since 2020).
Bond had also set up multiple companies, including Yuzu Zest Ltd in the UK and Kumquat Tree Ltd in Hong Kong, through which he’s believed to have managed Tattle Life and channelled advertising revenue. The court froze more than £1m in assets tied to these companies alongside the £300k damages award. Reports have suggested that Bond, who has been dubbed “King of the Trolls”, has now fled to Asia; he is thought to be in Hong Kong. He has not commented on the legal drama.
That a man was behind a platform that encouraged (and profited from) such blatant hatred towards women and their children made it all the more outrageous, with one mumfluencer, who asked not to be named, saying, “The misogyny that Tattle has unleashed on innocent women is shocking. Women have had their addresses leaked, their homes visited and their children threatened. It’s one thing not to like an online influencer, but it’s another to wish illness or even death on them. This has to mark a turning point; it’s simply gone too far.”
Outside the court last week, Neil Sands said the case had been undertaken on behalf of others who have suffered serious personal and professional harm through anonymous online attacks – and there are certainly a lot of them.
Tattle Life has 374,000 current members, and the site has played host to more than 22 million messages on threads relating to specific – mostly female and mostly British – influencers and celebrities. It’s so full of overwhelmingly nasty content that it has been referred to as “the most hate-filled corner of the web”.
A 2023 report by Collabstr found that 79 per cent of influencers are female, and so the abuse and trolling of influencers is a problem that predominantly affects women. The thread titles are aimed at their subjects’ parenting choices, looks, and marriages, such as “We don’t care that you’re pregnant, hun” and “Ratty fringe, gifted cringe”.
Beauty writer Sali Hughes, who has been the subject of malicious threads for years, described the site as a place where users “screengrabbed every post, every article, scuttling back to their sewer to mock and belittle me”.
In 2020, Hughes took part in a Radio 4 documentary during which she highlighted how the site’s content veered into harassment, sparking a petition demanding its closure.
But why would anyone take the time to create a false identity to attack people they didn’t know in the first place? One Tattle reader, who stressed that she didn’t actively post herself, and asked to remain anonymous, explained that it felt “cathartic” to read negative takes on influencers who publicly receive such “outpourings of adoration”.
“These people are told every day how wonderful they are, how great they look, how perfect their homes are, and are earning 10 times what we do and getting endless freebies,” she said. “Influencers can be out of touch and really annoying. Why shouldn’t people share how that makes them feel?”
The argument that influencers, like celebrities, put their lives out there for consumption, meaning they are fair game, is a well-trodden one. But what happens when it crosses the line, pushing couples like Neil and Donna Sands to breaking point? What about when their children are discussed; when posters report seeing their subject in a doctor’s office and start to speculate about their health, or a countdown is set to when their marriage might end? All these things have been experienced by victims of the site.
Several creators, including Irish-born Eimear Varian Barry, have shared devastating Tattle experiences. Barry revealed that one thread had even contained the Rightmove link when her house was for sale, and that users had threatened to “pay her a visit”.
Another found that a thread had identified her children’s school. Influencer Vickaboox, real name Victoria Wright, was horrified to read malicious posts about her mother’s cancer, with one claiming that her boyfriend had left her as a result of it.
Abuse isn’t just happening on anonymous platforms, but in plain sight in the comment sections on social media. Last week in Australia, 27-year-old content creator Indy Clinton, who shares her life as a mum of three with more than 2 million followers on TikTok, revealed that she had taken action against anonymous online trolls by hiring a private investigator to unmask those who had been posting hateful comments about her.
She, too, wants the trolls to be held accountable, and has said she is planning to take legal action.
Psychologist Tara Quinn-Cirillo says that the very fact that sites like Tattle allow users to be anonymous makes them feel removed from the “subject” they are talking about, which leads to more intense and abusive commentary.
She explains: “If we feel disconnected, we can forget that there is a person with thoughts and feelings behind the public image. It is also easy for people to then follow suit and collectively snowball on comments and abuse.”
Of course, some may think that influencers can just ignore the trolls, or not read what is being written about them. But it’s not always so easy. Sometimes others will email or screenshot what is being said and send it to someone out of “concern”. If someone is making specific threats, others may assume that a person would want to know if they could potentially be in danger.
Stefan Michalak and his wife Hannah, who have two children, have been sharing their family life via their Instagram accounts and their YouTube channel for more than 10 years. They have had thousands of Tattle posts devoted to them.
“The handful of times I’ve looked [at Tattle] over the years, it felt like wading into something dangerously radioactive. It sticks with you,” says Stefan. He adds, “It would be great to see these people come out of the shadows and put their faces and names to their opinions, but I’m sure that won’t happen.”
Last week’s ruling has, however, changed things for Tattle Life and its users. Comments and threads are said to be in the process of being locked or deleted, and panicked users are deleting their accounts in fear that their own identities could be exposed and their employers notified.
Tackling online hate is a mammoth task, but with their court case, Neil and Donna Sands have taken some big steps towards it. As one influencer said yesterday, “It shouldn’t take the threat of being exposed to stop people being hateful to strangers on the internet. But if it stops even a few of them, fighting back will become worth it.”
Who has hardest start? Every Premier League club’s first five fixtures
The Premier League fixtures have been released for the new 2025/26 season and already fans will be debating who has been given a helping hand by the fixture computer and who has been given the short straw.
Yes, they all play each other twice, but when you want your club to get off to a flying start, a friendly looking fixture list certainly helps.
Arsenal can certainly lay claim to the most difficult start, with away trips to Manchester United and Liverpool in their first five fixtures, amid home ties against newly promoted Leeds, last season’s relevation Nottingham Forest and Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City.
But perhaps Man United’s is even tougher, with top-four finishers Arsenal, City and Chelsea all in their first five games, alongside an away trip to Fulham and a home game against newcomers Burnley.
Fulham themselves have a challenging opening five, with testing trips to Brighton, Chelsea and Brentford alongside the visits of Man United and Leeds.
Meanwhile Chelsea look to have landed a soft opening, playing Crystal Palace, Fulham and Man United at home, with trips to West Ham and Brentford away.
Sunderland’s opening isn’t bad either, with home games against West Ham, Brentford and Villa, mixed in with away trips to Burnley and Palace.
And Aston Villa might hope for a fast start hosting Newcastle, Palace and Everton with away trips to Brentford and Sunderland.
Here is every Premier League club’s first five games of the 2025/26 season:
Bournemouth
- Matchday 1: Liverpool (A)
- Matchday 2: Wolverhampton (H)
- Matchday 3: Tottenham Hotspur (H)
- Matchday 4: Brighton (A)
- Matchday 5: Newcastle United (H)
Arsenal
- Matchday 1: Manchester United (A)
- Matchday 2: Leeds United (H)
- Matchday 3: Liverpool (A)
- Matchday 4: Nottingham Forest (H)
- Matchday 5: Manchester City (H)
Aston Villa
- Matchday 1: Newcastle United (H)
- Matchday 2: Brentford (A)
- Matchday 3: Crystal Palace (H)
- Matchday 4: Everton (H)
- Matchday 5: Sunderland (A)
Brighton
- Matchday 1: Fulham (H)
- Matchday 2: Everton (A)
- Matchday 3: Manchester City (H)
- Matchday 4: A.F.C. Bournemouth (A)
- Matchday 5: Tottenham Hotspur (H)
Brentford
- Matchday 1: Nottingham Forest (A)
- Matchday 2: Aston Villa (H)
- Matchday 3: Sunderland (H)
- Matchday 4: Chelsea (A)
- Matchday 5: Fulham (H)
Burnley
- Matchday 1: Tottenham Hotspur (A)
- Matchday 2: Sunderland (H)
- Matchday 3: Manchester United (A)
- Matchday 4: Liverpool (H)
- Matchday 5: Nottingham Forest (H)
Chelsea
- Matchday 1: Crystal Palace (H)
- Matchday 2: West Ham United (A)
- Matchday 3: Fulham (H)
- Matchday 4: Brentford (A)
- Matchday 5: Manchester United (H)
Crystal Palace
- Matchday 1: Chelsea (A)
- Matchday 2: Nottingham Forest (H)
- Matchday 3: Aston Villa (A)
- Matchday 4: Sunderland (H)
- Matchday 5: West Ham United (A)
Everton
- Matchday 1: Leeds United (A)
- Matchday 2: Brighton (H)
- Matchday 3: Wolverhampton (A)
- Matchday 4: Aston Villa (A)
- Matchday 5: Liverpool (H)
Fulham
- Matchday 1: Brighton (A)
- Matchday 2: Manchester United (H)
- Matchday 3: Chelsea (A)
- Matchday 4: Leeds United (H)
- Matchday 5: Brentford (A)
Leeds United
- Matchday 1: Everton (H)
- Matchday 2: Arsenal (A)
- Matchday 3: Newcastle United (H)
- Matchday 4: Fulham (A)
- Matchday 5: Wolverhampton (H)
Liverpool
- Matchday 1: A.F.C. Bournemouth (H)
- Matchday 2: Newcastle United (A)
- Matchday 3: Arsenal (H)
- Matchday 4: Burnley (A)
- Matchday 5: Everton (H)
Manchester City
- Matchday 1: Wolverhampton (A)
- Matchday 2: Tottenham Hotspur (H)
- Matchday 3: Brighton (A)
- Matchday 4: Manchester United (H)
- Matchday 5: Arsenal (A)
Manchester United
- Matchday 1: Arsenal (H)
- Matchday 2: Fulham (A)
- Matchday 3: Burnley (H)
- Matchday 4: Manchester City (A)
- Matchday 5: Chelsea (H)
Newcastle United
- Matchday 1: Aston Villa (A)
- Matchday 2: Liverpool (H)
- Matchday 3: Leeds United (A)
- Matchday 4: Wolverhampton (H)
- Matchday 5: A.F.C. Bournemouth (A)
Nottingham Forest
- Matchday 1: Brentford (H)
- Matchday 2: Crystal Palace (A)
- Matchday 3: West Ham United (H)
- Matchday 4: Arsenal (A)
- Matchday 5: A.F.C. Bournemouth (A)
Sunderland
- Matchday 1: West Ham United (H)
- Matchday 2: Burnley (A)
- Matchday 3: Brentford (H)
- Matchday 4: Crystal Palace (A)
- Matchday 5: Aston Villa (H)
Tottenham Hotspur
- Matchday 1: Burnley (H)
- Matchday 2: Manchester City (A)
- Matchday 3: A.F.C. Bournemouth (H)
- Matchday 4: West Ham United (A)
- Matchday 5: Brighton (A)
West Ham United
- Matchday 1: Sunderland (A)
- Matchday 2: Chelsea (H)
- Matchday 3: Nottingham Forest (A)
- Matchday 4: Tottenham Hotspur (H)
- Matchday 5: Crystal Palace (H)
Wolverhampton Wanderers
- Matchday 1: Manchester City (H)
- Matchday 2: A.F.C. Bournemouth (A)
- Matchday 3: Everton (H)
- Matchday 4: Newcastle United (A)
- Matchday 5: Leeds United (A)
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The new abortion law reforms are welcome – but don’t go far enough
Yesterday’s vote to decriminalise abortion in England and Wales was historic. For the first time, Parliament made it clear: no woman should face prison for ending a pregnancy.
Vulnerable women who seek to end a late-term pregnancy deserve compassion and support, not prosecution. This is a moment to call for lasting, meaningful reform because the fight for reproductive freedom is far from over.
Under laws dating back to 1861, abortion has been treated not as healthcare, but as a crime. The law that still governed abortion – the Offences Against the Person Act 1861 – predates the lightbulb. It was written at a time when women couldn’t vote, own property, or sit in Parliament, and yet anyone found guilty of an offence under the Act could face life imprisonment.
Even the 1967 Abortion Act didn’t change the threat of criminalisation but simply carved out narrow exceptions, for example, if it is necessary to prevent grave permanent injury to the physical or mental health of the pregnant woman. Even now, a woman must get the approval of two doctors to access an abortion. No other medical procedure has been subject to statute or carries the threat of criminal prosecution. That’s state control.
In recent years, women have been investigated, prosecuted, and even jailed, sometimes for having late-term miscarriages. I represented a woman accused of murder in the most tragic of circumstances; fortunately, she was eventually cleared. These cases are traumatising and unjust. The criminalisation of abortion doesn’t protect women, it punishes them. In my view, the experts, healthcare providers, must regulate abortion just like any other medical procedure.
Yesterday’s vote says: enough. But words must now become action. Every ongoing prosecution must be dropped. Every woman convicted under these laws must be pardoned. Their criminal records must be expunged. They should never have been criminalised in the first place.
There’s also no excuse for leaving the 1861 and 1967 Acts on the statute books. They must be repealed. They don’t belong in a modern legal system. They belong in a museum, consigned to history books.
Some argue that criminal law is needed to stop abusive men from coercing women into abortions. That insidious form of reproductive control must be tackled. But we already have laws on coercive control, and if required, new legislation could be introduced to address a lacuna in the law. Using Victorian abortion laws to address modern-day abuse does not work. The law has no democratic authority when women were regarded as second-class citizens.
We must go further. Abortion must be enshrined in law as a human right. One in three women will have an abortion in her lifetime. Yet access remains patchy and precarious. Women still travel hundreds of miles for care. Clinics face harassment. Buffer zones are under threat. Doctors fear prosecution. This is not how a fair, compassionate country treats healthcare.
What we need now is a comprehensive abortion law fit for the 21st century, one that fully decriminalises abortion; puts decision-making in the hands of women and healthcare professionals, not politicians; safeguards access to telemedicine; and invests in local, timely, and free services for all who need them
Healthcare decisions should be made in consultation rooms, not courtrooms. Abortion is not a crime. It’s healthcare.
Yesterday’s vote was urgent and overdue. But if we stop here, we leave millions of women at risk. Now is the time for full reform, not half measures. The question is not whether this goes too far; it’s whether we’re brave enough to go far enough.
This piece was co-authored with Dr Jonathan Lord, medical director at MSI Reproductive Choices
Investigators find emergency power likely came on before Air India crash
Investigators probing the deadly crash of Air India flight 171 in which more than 270 people were killed have found that the aircraft’s emergency power system was likely active just before impact.
The Wall Street Journal reported that this possibly suggested an engine or hydraulic failure during takeoff, a rare and serious event in commercial aviation.
However, the investigators were yet to determine whether engine, hydraulic, or other system failures activated the emergency power, according to the outlet, which cited people familiar with the probe.
Air India has cancelled 66 Dreamliner flights since the 12 June crash in Ahmedabad, Indian aviation regulator DGCA said on Tuesday.
The airline has also delayed multiple flights serviced by Boeing 787-8. It has attributed the interruptions to grounded aircraft, technical issues, restricted airspace, and heightened safety protocols.
The DGCA, meanwhile, has found no major flaws in Air India’s Dreamliners, but flagged maintenance delays and coordination issues.
Families in india“>India with concerns can call Air India on 1800 5691 444. Those outside India can call the British Foreign Office on 020 7008 5000.
Boeing 787’s emergency-power system likely active before Air India crash – report
Investigators looking into the deadly crash of Air India Flight 171, which claimed over 270 lives, have found that the aircraft’s emergency power system was likely activated shortly before impact.
According to The Wall Street Journal, this could point to a possible engine or hydraulic failure during takeoff, an extremely rare but serious issue in commercial aviation.
However, investigators have not yet confirmed what triggered the emergency system, the report said, citing sources familiar with the inquiry.
Crashed aircraft completed two flights before taking off for London Gatwick, regulator says
India’s aviation ministry confirmed that the Air India Boeing 787-8 that crashed on 12 June had completed two earlier flights, Paris to Delhi and Delhi to Ahmedabad, without issues before crashing shortly after takeoff en route to London, killing 241 of 242 on board and dozens on the ground.
The Indian aviation regulator said on Tuesday that Air India’s Dreamliner have no major safety flaws but flagged maintenance and coordination issues.
Aviation regulator said on Tuesday that since last week’s devastating crash, 66 Air India Dreamliner flights have been cancelled, including several international flights as well.
GoFundMe set up for two girls who lost their father in the crash
More than £600,000 has been raised for two young girls, aged eight and four, who were orphaned after their father, Arjun Patolia, died in the 12 June Air India crash.
Just 18 days earlier, their mother Bharti Patolia had passed away from cancer.
Patolia was returning from India after fulfilling her final wish: to scatter her ashes in a sacred river, when he died in the crash that killed 241 people.
A GoFundMe campaign was launched to support the two girls. It said: “Arjun left to bid farewell to his wife, never returned to the children they both raised. Now, these two beautiful young girls have been left without parents — their world turned upside down in just over two weeks.”
‘Why me?’ Six extraordinary stories of sole plane crash survivors after British man walks away from India Air disaster
After Viswashkumar Ramesh somehow survived the Air India plane crash that killed everyone else on board, Alex Ross takes a look at other lone survivors and how it changed their lives forever:
The startling stories of six plane crash sole survivors after India Air tragedy
India orders nationwide airport emergency drills after devastating Air India crash
In a 13 June memo titled “Updating Airport Emergency Plan” and reviewed by Reuters, India’s aviation authorities instructed all government-managed airports to conduct a full-scale emergency training exercise on 30 June.
These drills, which simulate crisis scenarios such as crashes or large-scale evacuations, are a standard component of airport preparedness and safety protocols.
The directive came in the wake of the deadly Air India crash on 12 June in Ahmedabad, which claimed 241 lives onboard and killed several more on the ground.
Why did the Air India flight crash? Here’s how experts will investigate the 30-second disaster
Boy who recorded viral Ahmedabad crash video ‘still not feeling like himself’
Aryan Asari, a 17-year-old airplane enthusiast, was filming from his father’s terrace in Ahmedabad when he witnessed and recorded the horrific Air India Dreamliner crash that killed 241 onboard and nearly 30 on the ground.
A lifelong fan of planes, Aryan was excited to see aircraft up close during his first visit to the city. But the trauma of watching the plane spiral and explode has left him deeply shaken.
“I saw the plane. It was going down and down. Then it wobbled and crashed right before my eyes,” he told the BBC.
His video became crucial to investigators and went viral.“My son is so scared that he has stopped using his phone,” his father, Maganbhai Asari, told the outlet.
Aryan is now trying to recover from the emotional impact, but his father fears he may never look at planes the same way again.
“This was Aryan’s first time in Ahmedabad. Actually, it was the first time in his life that he left the village,” Mr Asari said.
Retired army soldier Mr Asari now lives alone in a modest rooftop room near Ahmedabad airport, while his wife and two children remain in their ancestral village on the Gujarat-Rajasthan border.
“Whenever I’d call, Aryan would ask if I could spot aeroplanes from our terrace and I would tell him you could see hundreds of them streaking the sky.”
The family had been swamped with interview requests after the viral video, and Aryan had a traumatic experience dealing with all that.
“My son was so disturbed by then that we decided to send him back to the village.”
Aryan has now resumed school but is “still not feeling like himself. His mother tells me that every time his phone rings, he gets scared”, Mr Asari said.
“I know he will be fine with time. But I don’t think my son will try looking for airplanes in the sky again.”
British man’s family in distress over lack of support from UK and India governments
The family of 25-year-old Faizan Rafik, a British man feared to be on the Air India flight that crashed in Ahmedabad last week, is still awaiting official confirmation of his fate.
Despite providing DNA days ago, they’ve received no updates, leaving them in distress and without guidance, the BBC reported.
Rafik was returning to the UK after visiting his wife in Gujarat. His cousin has called for more support from UK authorities and expressed frustration at the lack of communication from both Indian and British officials.
Sameer Rafik, his cousin told the outlet that his family had been left “completely stuck” and that they “don’t know what to do”.
The crash killed 241 of 242 on board, including 53 Britons.
Mr Rafik said: “There’s no update on him, we don’t know if he’s dead or alive.”
“We are still hoping to hear some good news from India but unfortunately we aren’t getting any update from anywhere.“Faizan’s dad was asked to give DNA – it’s been more than four days now. We were supposed to have heard from the hospital by Monday but we haven’t heard anything.
“We need to get some update about my brother. Was he there in the flight crash? If he wasn’t on the flight where is he? If he is on the flight then what’s the condition of the body?”
He added: “We haven’t had anything from the UK or India – it feels like he was the one paying tax to this country and the government doesn’t bother about the person who has died.
“It feels very awful. He’s nothing to the government – just a piece of paper, feels like tearing it up and throwing it in the bin.
“We don’t know what to do because we’re completely blank. We need some kind of support from someone, we need a guide about what to do but we don’t have that at the moment.”
What do investigators mean when they say that ’emergency power was likely active’ before the crash?
On airplanes, there is a backup system called emergency power that turns on only if something goes seriously wrong.
In the case of Air India Boeing Dreamliner crash in Ahmedabad last week, people familiar with the probe told the Wall Street Journal that the emergency system was activated before the crash which meant that it is likely that both engines failed or that the plane lost some important systems that would have helped in giving it thrust.
Having the emergency power active means that something may have gone very wrong right after the takeoff.
It doesn’t, however, prove exactly what caused the crash, but it’s a big clue for the investigators.
Investigators recover cockpit voice recorder from crashed Air India flight
Investigators have recovered the cockpit voice recorder (CVR) from the Air India flight that crashed shortly after takeoff outside Ahmedabad airport last week.
All but one passenger died after the London-bound Boeing 787 aircraft crashed into the campus of a medical college in Ahmedabad city on Thursday afternoon. Only one passenger among the 242 aboard survived.
At least 29 others on the ground, including five medical students inside the hostel, were also killed.
The CVR, which captures audio from the cockpit, including pilot conversations along with the flight data recorder, will be key to determine the possible cause of one of the worst aviation disasters in decades. The flight data recorder was recovered from the crash site over the weekend.
Read more here from Alisha Rahaman Sarkar:
Investigators recover cockpit voice recorder from crashed Air India flight
What’s the secret to a truly stress-free holiday?
High-end cruising has entered a new era. Today’s luxury travellers aren’t looking for big flashy experiences. They want slow-paced, intimate travel and authentic cultural immersion. More than anything else, they’re looking for ease: that feeling of being genuinely cared for, safe in the knowledge that they’re experiencing the best of the best.
That means excellent quality food and drink, of course – it’s got to be restaurant standard and cater to all tastes – but also onboard enrichment experiences of the highest calibre. The great beauty of cruising has always been that not a second is wasted. Savvy travellers get to explore a rich and rewarding variety of exotic, off-the-beaten track locations, but instead of spending half their holiday stuck in motorway traffic, they’re honing their swing in the golf net, or sipping on a cocktail on the upper deck as they travel from destination to destination.
When they’re onshore they want genuinely immersive experiences that get them under the hood of a destination: think cellar tours of local vineyards or speedboat cruises to hidden beaches. Done right, a high-end all-inclusive cruise is the ideal form of slow travel, offering a perfect balance of adventure and indulgence, proper pampering and a thrilling sense of discovery.
The world’s most luxurious fleet
First among equals when it comes to the new era of luxury cruising is Regent Seven Seas Cruises, which offers more than 170 different itineraries visiting over 550 ports of call worldwide. Each of the six ships in their fleet is opulently appointed with beautifully designed communal areas and a huge array of amenities, but none of them has a capacity of more than 746 guests, ensuring space and freedom for all aboard.
The all-suite accommodation means that the private spaces are similarly roomy, each having a private balcony and marble bathroom. And service is always impeccable with a crew-to-guest ratio that’s nearly one-to-one, meaning that the team can always go that mile extra for all travellers.
Across the ships, the food is uniformly excellent. As well as Regent’s signature Compass Rose restaurant, with its daily changing menu of bistro classics like lobster bisque and New Zealand lamb chops, the different ships also feature a range of speciality dining venues. These include Prime 7, a New York-style steakhouse, Pacific Rim with its pan-Asian menu (be sure to try the miso black cod), and fine-dining destination, Chartreuse, where the chefs turn out sophisticated plates of upscale French cooking like Beef Tenderloin Rossini and Seared Foie Gras.
With a number of long cruises on their roster, Regent has made sure that each of its ships is akin to an ultra-luxury, boutique floating hotel with an incredible variety of things to do during the day and top-level entertainment at night. There are courts for paddle tennis and bocce, and the onboard spa offers a range of exclusive bespoke treatments. The ships host talks by experts in their field and cooking lessons are also available on some of the ships at the culinary arts kitchens where visiting chefs guide guests in how to make wow-factor dishes that relate to the ports of call. In the evening, the Constellation Theatre hosts lavishly staged productions from a team of Broadway choreographers and artists.
Destinations that match the onboard luxury
Of course, none of this onboard luxury would mean much if the destinations weren’t up to scratch, but Regent’s superbly curated itineraries are up there with the very best. Its week-long trips include culture-packed European tours like Glories of Iberia which sails from Barcelona to Lisbon, and thrilling frontier explorations such as the Great Alaskan Adventure from Whittier to Vancouver.
Longer trips include four-week Legendary Journeys from Athens to Montreal, and fully immersive explorations of the Arctic. Long or short, these itineraries are all underpinned by a commitment to taking guests right to the heart of a destination with the kind of bespoke onshore activities and expert-led insights that mean on a Regent Seven Seas Cruises voyage, adventure is guaranteed.
Visit Regent Seven Seas Cruises now to uncover the true meaning of luxury and start booking your ultimate stress-free getaway
Should we be worried about flying? Simon Calder answers your questions
Welcome to an exclusive Ask Me Anything session with me, Simon Calder, travel correspondent at The Independent.
Keep scrolling for more. If you want to jump straight to the Q&A, click here.
The heartbreaking crash of Air India flight AI171 from Ahmedabad to London Gatwick has shocked many and raised serious questions about aviation safety.
This tragedy follows a series of fatal accidents involving passenger jets in Kazakhstan, South Korea and the United States over the past six months. Understandably, many prospective travellers are asking: is flying becoming more dangerous?
Yet while these incidents are deeply troubling, it’s important to remember that this is still the safest era in the history of aviation. In 2023, no scheduled passenger jets were involved in fatal accidents. And since the 1980s, there hasn’t been a single fatal crash involving a UK passenger jet.
The risks that once haunted aviation have, for the most part, been engineered out – but recent events, from mid-air structural failures to fatal runway collisions, show that no system is immune to failure.
So what lessons are being learned from the latest disasters? What role does aircraft design – especially at Boeing – play in these incidents? And how can passengers assess risk and stay informed without succumbing to fear?
I’ll be answering all your questions about air safety, recent crashes, aviation regulation and what it all means for travellers in 2025 and beyond.
If you have a question, submit it now or join me live for our “Ask Me Anything” Q&A on Wednesday, 18 June at 1pm BST.
Register to submit your question in the comments box under this article. If you’re not already a member, click “sign up” in the comments section to leave your question.
For a full guide on how to comment click here.
Inflation higher than expected at 3.4% – what that means for tomorrow’s interest rate decision
The FTSE 100 faces a stern test of its new high levels this week, with Israel–Iran tensions still running high and Tehran facing warnings from President Trump. Positive news for businesses came, however, from the G7 summit where the UK and US finally signed off on their trade agreement.
Domestically, inflation data came in higher than expected meaning no month-to-month drop in the rate after revised figures from the ONS, with all signals pointing to the Bank of England holding interest rates when they announce the latest MPC decision on Thursday.
For investors, a cautious tone has been seen this week and most futures are showing major markets opening flat as a result. AO World and Oxford Metrics are among the firms reporting today, while oil firms hope to continue the gains made this week.
The Independent brings you the latest business news and stock market updates from Wednesday.
US stocks flat in pre-trading
US stocks are poised to open mostly flat this afternoon, with futures showing both the Dow and the S&P 500 barely changing from last night’s close.
The Nasdaq is set for a 0.12 per cent rise, but even that minimal gain could yet change.
The Fed will give its interest rates decision later today in the US.
FTSE 100 lower after inflation data
The FTSE 100 is down 0.14 per cent as we head into the afternoon, with the FTSE 250 at -0.28 per cent.
Europe is emulating those losses, with the German DAX at -0.52 per cent in another day of losses.
UK shares were up earlier in the day but have fallen since, with Howden Joinery Group the biggest faller of the day at 3 per cent in the red.
No change expected in Bank of England rates path
Barclays analysts have taken a look through inflation figures and concluded the Bank of England are likely to stick with the plan: one rate cut a quarter.
“High inflation levels, combined with strong food inflation, will keep the MPC cautious around the outlook for inflation over the coming months. This will only be exacerbated by recent moves in commodity prices, an assessment of which will need to be weighed against the signal from the backwards-looking data. Taken together, we continue to expect the MPC to be on a quarterly rate cutting path from here until it reaches 3.5% in February next year.”
The wide expectation is for a hold tomorrow at 4.25 per cent.
Business news latest: Amazon, Airbus, Nintendo
A quick wrap of some headline company news from this morning and overnight:
Amazon have told staff that some roles will be replaced by AI across the coming years. A memo from the CEO said numbers were uncertain but he expected to reduce the total workforce, which is around 1.5m.
Airbus have given guidance aiming to pay out increased dividends and said they remain on a path to profitable growth.
Nintendo shares rallied overnight once more after selling more than 3.5m units of the Switch 2 since its launch less than a week ago.
UK inflation: Chocolate rising at the fastest pace on record
We’ve seen how grocery prices as a whole are contributing to inflation staying higher, but one item in particular is rising at the fastest rate since records started: chocolate.
Cocoa harvests were hit by bad weather and some firms may be passing on increased labour costs through increased prices too.
It all means chocolate prices rose 17.7 per cent in May year on year, the fastest pace since ONS started gathering that data almost a decade ago.
This is the reason why inflation figures are being reported differently today
Official data suggests the UK’s rate of inflation eased from 3.5% in April to 3.4% in May – but in reality the figure was unchanged, standing at 3.4% in both months.
The discrepancy is to do with an error made in the initial calculation of April’s inflation rate.
Here are the details:
This is the reason inflation figures are being reported differently today
Inflation reaction: Grocery prices the key factor
Matthew Allen, economics and macroeconomic expert at University of Salford, has pointed to grocery prices being a sticking point – as well as “forces well beyond the supermarket aisle” as geopolitics impact at every turn.
“Today’s figures show UK consumer price inflation stuck at 3.4% for a second month, even after the Office for National Statistics revised April’s print to correct a tax-data error. The main driver is food: grocery prices are still climbing at almost twice the overall rate, offsetting cheaper air fares and package holidays that have nudged transport costs lower,” he said.
“Inflation’s descent is being slowed by forces that reach well beyond the supermarket aisle. Across the Atlantic, Donald Trump’s renewed push for “reciprocal” import tariffs is already feeding through to higher input costs for British manufacturers. Closer to home, April’s increase in employer National Insurance contributions and the rise in the National Living Wage have squeezed company margins, prompting many firms to pass at least part of that burden on to consumers.
“Looking ahead, geopolitical risk looms large. Any escalation in the Middle East that disrupts energy supplies could push headline inflation back up next month, making the path to the Bank of England’s 2% target even trickier.
“Against this backdrop, last month’s precautionary cut leaves Bank Rate at 4.25%. With price pressures proving stickier than hoped, the Monetary Policy Committee is likely to sit tight at its June meeting. Holding rates now would give policymakers more time to assess whether underlying inflation, especially in services, is finally on a sustainable downward track.”
Will interest rates be cut tomorrow? Key factors and 2025 predictions
The Bank of England’s (BoE) next meeting to determine interest rates is on Thursday 19 June, and all eyes will be on the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) and whether its members opt to continue lowering rates.
The base rate – currently at 4.25 per cent following cuts in February and May – impacts consumers and taxpayers through everything from their mortgages to savings, so what do experts foresee both next week and beyond?
Will interest rates be cut tomorrow? Key factors and 2025 predictions
AO World delivers record profits as sales jump higher
Online electricals retailer AO World has notched up record annual profits as it cheered the success of its membership scheme and surging sales.
The group reported a better-than-expected 32% rise in underlying pre-tax profits to £45 million for the year to March 31.
Including its recently acquired Music Magpie business, underlying profits rose 27% to £44 million.
Shares are down 0.8 per cent in early trading.
AO World delivers record profits as sales jump higher
Inflation reaction vs interest rates choices
More reaction to inflation figures rolling in.
AJ Bell’s Danni Hewson, head of financial analysis, says the Bank of England might feel an interest rate cut is a must sooner rather than later to boost the economy, but that remains a risk given inflation is still significantly above target.
“Market expectation of a rate cut by the MPC when it meets tomorrow has actually climbed slightly to 12% and looking at today’s figures there could be a degree of wiggle room,” Ms Hewson noted.
“Both core inflation and service sector inflation have fallen in the past month, and rate setters may want to get ahead of potential volatility in order to stimulate a flatlining economy which looks perilously close to toppling towards stagflation. But with such uncertainty and volatility, staying put might seem like the only smart move.”
Naomi Smith, chief executive of campaign group Best for Britain, has called for the government to ease trade barriers to the EU to help drive the economy.
“Trump’s tariffs, conflict in the Middle East and disrupted supply chains are all helping to keep inflation stubbornly above the Bank of England’s target of 2 per cent so it is imperative that the government uses every available lever to ease the cost of living for Brits.
“That means delivering on the promises from last month’s summit with the EU and going further to removing artificial trade barriers with our largest market for all sectors of the economy, cutting costs and beginning to bring prices down on everything from food to fuel, from cement to chemicals, and from metals to machinery.”