Ukraine’s surprise incursion into Russia’s Kursk region has continued into a second day, prompting Vladimir Putin to convene a meeting with his top defence and law enforcement officials.

A report from one Russia military blogger suggested Ukrainian forces had advanced northwards, possibly as far as nine miles (15km) from the border, along a highway north of the border village of Sverdlikovo and near a major natural gas transmission hub, but this could not be verified.

Official and unofficial Russian sources reported that a force of several hundred soldiers had crossed a lightly defended part of the border on Tuesday morning, in what appears to be one of the largest incursions into Russia since the war began in February 2022. Russia’s defence ministry said on Wednesday that the attack was being neutralised.

It had claimed Russian forces had repelled the raid on Tuesday, but acknowledged at lunchtime on Wednesday that fighting was ongoing. It said they had used air and missile strikes and artillery fire against the invaders, inflicting 260 casualties and knocking out 50 armoured vehicles.

In televised remarks at the start of a meeting with members of the Russian government, Putin described the raid as a major provocation. He later met Russia’s top military figures. The chief of general staff, Valery Gerasimov, told Putin that Russian forces were battling Ukrainian forces near the border and would push them back to the border.

The acting governor of Kursk oblast, Alexei Smirnov, said he had reported the operational situation to Putin. Civilians were being evacuated from frontline areas and 300 people were housed in temporary accommodation overnight.

Ukrainian officials have remained quiet as the incursion has developed, anxious perhaps not to appear triumphant or give away too much information about Kyiv’s intentions.

Russia said the attack had begun at about 8am on Tuesday morning, when Ukrainian troops crossed the border between the villages of Nikolayevo-Daryino and Oleshnya, with the apparent intention of heading both north and east.

The attack is most likely to be an attempt by Ukraine, whose defences are stretched on the eastern Donbas front, to divert some Russian forces to defend a part of the frontline that has been largely inactive since early 2022.

Critics in Ukraine, however, argue that such assaults serve no long-term military purpose. Anti-Kremlin Russian groups launched attacks from Ukraine into Belgorod and Kursk regions in March, but were repelled with no strategic gain.

Information is scant, but this time the operation appears to be an attack by Ukraine’s military rather than Russian opposition groups. Russia said it was led by Kyiv’s 22nd mechanised brigade.

Fighting was taking place in and around the town of Sudzha, about 6 miles from the border. A local Russian Telegram channel released a short video showing bombed out rural homes, which it said demonstrated the “situation today”.

The main operational gas pipeline into Europe runs near Sudzha, where a metering station monitors the reduced Russian supplies to countries such as Austria and Hungary. Ukraine has allowed gas to continue flowing through the pipeline as part of a contract that expires at the end of 2024.

Other online speculation suggested that a target of the incursion could be the Kursk nuclear power plant, but the facility is 35 miles from the border and a long way from what a force of several hundred – or thousand – would be capable of.

Russia has been pouring soldiers into Ukraine. Its force in the country is estimated at about 520,000, two to three times the size of the original invasion. Ukraine, meanwhile, is finding it challenging to mobilise fresh recruits and is being pushed back in certain parts of the eastern front, particularly the central Donbas towards Pokrovsk.

Additional reporting by Pjotr Sauer

India’s Olympic contingent are devastated after one of their marquee athletes, the female wrestler Vinesh Phogat, was disqualified hours before her gold medal match for exceeding the 50kg restriction by 100 grams despite even cutting off her hair in an attempt to fight for gold.

The prime minister of India, Narendra Modi, took to social media to express his “despair” over the highly unusual situation involving the athlete nicknamed the Lioness of India.

Phogat had been due to face Sarah Hildebrandt of the United States in Thursday evening’s final. The Indian had been within the designated weight before three fights on Wednesday but had to be tested again on Thursday morning in accordance with competition rules. Phogat had been running and skipping overnight in an attempt to lower her weight, but failed by only 100 grams.

Modi called Phogat a “champion among champions” and “India’s pride” in a social media message to the wrestler. He added: “Today’s setback hurts. I wish words could express the sense of despair that I am experiencing. At the same time, I know that you epitomise resilience. It has always been your nature to take challenges head on. Come back stronger! We are all rooting for you.”

Shooter Abhinav Bindra, who won India’s first individual Olympic gold in 2008, said he was “completely gutted”. “Sometimes you don’t need a gold medal to be a true champion to people,” he added.

India’s chief medical officer, Dr Dinshaw Pardiwala, explained: “Wrestlers usually participate in a weight category less than their natural weight. It gives them an advantage since they are fighting with[opponents who aren’t as strong]. The process of weight cut involves a calculated restriction of food and water along with sweating from exercises and sauna till the morning weigh-in.

“Vinesh’s nutritionist had calculated this to be 1.5 kg. There sometimes is also a rebound weight gain following competition.

“Vinesh had three bouts, and hence, small amounts of water had to be given to prevent dehydration. Her post-participation weight was found to be increased. The coach initiated the normal process of weight cut that he has always employed with Vinesh and felt confident that it would be achieved.

“However, Vinesh was found to be 100 grams over her 50kg weight category, and hence, she was disqualified. All possible drastic measures, including cutting off her hair, were used. However, she was not below her allowed weight of 50kg.

“As a precautionary measure, Vinesh was administered IV fluids following disqualification to prevent dehydration. We are also getting blood tests performed at the local hospital to ensure that all is well. All of Vinesh’s parameters were normal throughout this process, and she feels perfectly well.”

Phogat had reduced Japanese journalists to tears by defeating the top seed Yui Susaki in the opening round of the competition on Wednesday. She already had a huge reputation in her own country; Phogat slept on the streets of New Delhi in protest at sexual allegations within her sport.

PT Usha, the president of the Indian Olympic Association, said: “I am shocked and disappointed at the disqualification of Vinesh.

“I met Vinesh at the Olympic Village and assured her of complete support of the Indian Olympic Association, government of India and the whole country. We are providing Vinesh all medical and emotional support. The Wrestling Federation of India has filed an appeal to reconsider the decision to disqualify Vinesh and IOA is following that up in the strongest possible manner. We are sure all Indians will stand with Vinesh and the entire Indian contingent.”

George Mills found himself in a heated altercation with France’s Hugo Hay after he was involved in a collision in his 5,000m heat, with the British athlete later reinstated with three other fallers.

Hay remained upright after multiple men, including Mills, tumbled down the home straight on the final lap and the Frenchman was able to qualify for Saturday’s final. But after the men had crossed the finish line, Mills and Hay were seen arguing and making physical contact, Mills pointing furiously at Hay.

Mills claimed Hay was responsible for the incident and officials agreed the Briton had been disadvantaged, advancing him to Saturday’s final following a review by the video referee.

The 25-year-old Mills is the son of former Leeds and England full-back Danny. Mills told the BBC: “I think it’s pretty clear. I got stepped out on as I was about to kick in the home straight and boom, the French lad took me down.”

Asked what he said when he confronted Hay: “I’m probably not allowed to say.”

He added before learning of his reinstatement: “From my perspective that was the perfect qualifier for me, going through first 2k in six minutes. I was like: ‘Nobody in this field can run away from me at this pace’, so I was just sitting, waiting, biding my time, gonna kick off the home straight then bang, hit the deck. What can you do?”

The former Olympic silver medallist Steve Cram, commentating on the race for the BBC, said: “George was in a bad position from a long way out, he should have checked out much earlier.

“George, from what I can see there, did do a big push there in the home straight. There’s lots of experienced men in there and yes, everyone thinks they can kick, but when you get to that situation [very slow pace] the chances of people going down are increased incredibly.”

Dominic Lokinyomo Lobalu (Refugee Olympic Team), Mike Foppen (Netherlands) and Thierry Ndikumwenayo (Spain) are the other fallers who will run again.

Police are staging their biggest mobilisation to counter disorder since the 2011 riots with over 100 gatherings led by the far right expected to take place on Wednesday.

The number was higher than previously thought, with rallies expected to take place across most of the country, police said. 41 of the 43 local police force areas in England and Wales are bracing for potential violence.

A police source said there was a credible threat that many of the gatherings could turn violent. While they accepted that not all planned events would take place, they are braced for the worst evening of trouble since rioting started last week.

The targets are largely connected to asylum and immigration, and a police source said up to 30 counter-protests were so far expected.

The Metropolitan police in London is sending 200 riot officers to provide reinforcements to the Greater Manchester forces. Riot officers from the south-east of England are being ordered to the north-east.

The police source, who was authorised to speak to reporters, said the worst disorder was expected in the north-east and north-west of England.

About 6,000 riot-trained officers will be on duty across the country, some deployed at planned far-right rallies, others ready to provide reinforcements to colleagues.

About 2,000 reserve riot officers will be placed around the country to provide reinforcements as quickly as possible.

Some accommodations for asylum seekers where there is a credible threat will be guarded. On Sunday in Rotherham there was an attempt to set fire to a hotel housing more than 200 asylum seekers, who were inside at the time, with 700 people outside.

In total 428 arrests have been made so far across 26 force areas, after disorder and riots started last Tuesday, with that number expected to increase. 120 people have been charged, including for online incitement. It is understood detectives are investigating “senior organisers and known influencers”.

The source said: “Whether the criminality is online, whether it is on the streets, we are going after those involved, whether they are throwing bricks, or whether they are sending tweets that are inciting these issues. There is quite a hard line on that.”

“On the higher-influence keyboard warriors, who are inciting serious violence, there will be action taken against them. Arrests might not happen immediately, but those cases are being built, and the intelligence is being built around them.”

The source said: “We are also trawling TikTok and video platforms for evidential purposes as well.”

Police rejected a claim from far-right supporters of two-tier policing: “Crime is crime, regardless of colour or creed. We’re not here to police political views. We are here to keep safe, and arrest criminals, and that is what we’ll do.”

The director of public prosecutions on Tuesday said prosecutors may consider offences under terrorism laws. The police source said it was likely that counter-terrorism police had joined the investigation into some of the most serious violence.

On the question of who and what was driving the violence, the police source said: “It is a really nuanced picture. There is a level of coordination, there is a level of planning. It is not particularly sophisticated.

“There is planning at a local level … But a lot of what we are seeing is just locals reacting to what they are seeing on social media, what they are seeing outside on their streets and just joining in.

“Quite a lot of forces have reported it is not necessarily rightwing or leftwing, sometimes. A lot of it is low-level criminals who they already know about, joining in the trouble, using it as an excuse to commit violence, and looting.”

The Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, who is to lead an interim government in Bangladesh, urged people in the country to “refrain from all kinds of violence” after a mass uprising that has included communal attacks.

Concern is rising in Bangladesh and neighbouring India over continuing violent unrest after the ousting of the former prime minister Sheikh Hasina; in particular, attacks on Hindu homes, shops and temples.

In a statement, Yunus – who has agreed to requests from student leaders, the military and the president to lead an interim government – congratulated the “brave students who took the lead” in the protests and described the resignation of Hasina on Monday as “our second Victory Day”, after Bangladesh’s independence day in 1971.

But he warned: “Let us make the best use of our new victory. Let us not let this slip away because of our mistakes. I fervently appeal to everybody to stay calm. Please refrain from all kinds of violence. I appeal to all students, members of all political parties and non-political people to stay calm. This is our beautiful country with lots of exciting possibilities.”

He added: “Violence is our enemy. Please don’t create more enemies. Be calm and get ready to build the country.”

Yunus, widely seen as a stabilising figure, is in France but plans to travel back to Bangladesh on Thursday.

Violence against Hindus appears to have started just hours after Hasina resigned and fled the capital, Dhaka, on Monday. Images of Hindus being lynched by mobs, temples set on fire and businesses looted have flooded social media in India, although the full scale of the attacks is unclear.

There are more than 13 million Hindus in Bangladesh – almost 8% of the population, which is predominantly Muslim – and many are traditionally supporters of Hasina’s party, the Awami League.

The Awami League, which has close ties with India, is secular. Its rival, the Bangladesh Nationalist party (BNP) and the hardline Islamist Jamaat-e-Islami, backed the protests.

Hasina remains in India where she sought refuge. In the vacuum left by her hasty exit, groups opposed to Hasina’s rule have targeted the Awami League’s followers, which include Hindus and Muslims.

Tarique Rahman, son of BNP leader Khaleda Zia and acting chair of the party, appealed to Bangladeshis to keep everyone safe. “It is our duty to protect all Bangladeshis, irrespective of religion and politics, from discriminatory violence, and not to harass any particular community, create division, or seek vengeance,” he said in a post on X.

In the old quarter of Dhaka, Muslims stood side by side with their Hindu neighbours to protect a Hindu temple from a violent mob. Student leaders have formed volunteer groups to help guard other sites.

But alarm is growing in west Bengal, which is the closest Indian state to Bangladesh and shares a 2,200km (1,360-mile) border. An Indian parliamentarian who belongs to the ruling Bharatiya Janata party said India should prepare to see an influx of Hindu refugees.

“If this situation doesn’t come under control, mentally be prepared to give refuge to 10 million Hindu refugees. If the situation is not controlled there, Jamaat and radicals will take control,” Suvendu Adhikari told reporters.

India’s minister for external affairs, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, told MPs yesterday he was “deeply concerned” over the safety of the Hindu minority.

Some rightwing Hindu religious leaders in India have already become vocal, calling for the country to act.

The self-appointed spiritual leader Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev said anti-Hindu violence in Bangladesh was not merely an internal matter and that India should “stand up and act” to protect Hindus.

In a post on X, Vasudev said, “It is our responsibility to protect these people – who actually belong to this civilization – from these shocking atrocities.”

The former diplomat Neelam Deo told the Guardian that any possible influx of Hindus into India depended on how widespread the violence became and how close the affected areas were to the border with India.

She said that, if news reports were true that violence had broken out in 27 of Bangladesh’s 64 districts, the violence was already widespread.

“The army will have to take action and show that attackers will not get any impunity. But it’s also important for people in Bangladesh to stop demonising the Awami League. If that continues, then both its Muslim leaders are vulnerable and so, of course, are its Hindu supporters,” Deo said.

Local media in India has reported that the country had brought 190 non-essential staff at its high commission in Dhaka home on a special flight. Indian diplomats and other staff, though, remain in the country, in Dhaka and in Indian consulates in four other cities.

India is watching the upheaval in Bangladesh, with which it has had very close relations under Hasina, very carefully. The two countries have maintained close security, trade, investments and defence cooperation.

New Delhi fears that an unstable neighbour, in which the Jamaat-e-Islami might have a greater role, will allow rivals China and Pakistan more influence in its affairs.

Growing Russian influence in eastern Europe is driving a worsening HIV epidemic, health leaders have warned.

In eastern Europe and central Asia, new diagnoses of HIV have risen 20% since 2010, while Aids-related deaths have gone up 34% – the fastest rates of growth globally.

Most new infections in the region are among “key populations”, including people who inject drugs, sex workers and gay men, and their sexual partners.

Efforts to improve treatment and prevent infections are being hampered by Russian-linked propaganda against targets including opioid replacement therapy services, which reduce the risk of HIV infection among people using drugs, and the LGBTQ+ community.

Meanwhile, “foreign agent” laws in a number of countries, following a pattern established in Russia, require charities and organisations receiving overseas funding to register and impose onerous reporting requirements. This has forced some charities to withdraw, a media briefing at the 25th international Aids conference was told.

Michel Kazatchkine, special adviser to WHO Europe, said Russian influence in neighbouring countries was “clear and growing”, including funding for security services and interior ministries. “It’s further funding propaganda, and it’s conducting a rapid Russification of occupied territories,” he said.

Laws and policies in many of the region’s countries were significant obstacles to people accessing healthcare, he added, with sex work, the possession and use of drugs, and same-sex relationships frequently criminalised.

Giving an example of harmful Russian propaganda, Kazatchkine said a fragile opioid agonist therapy programme in Kazakhstan was now almost closed. He had been part of a delegation that met the country’s president to advocate for the project.

“The president told us that he hears from some that it is effective, that it is safe, that it is linked to the western world and he hears from others – without really specifying who those are – it is ineffective, that it is keeping a population on narcotics, and that it is against the traditional and national values and to be combated, so he clearly said that there are these two forces opposing.”

Natalia Nikitenko, a former member of parliament in Kyrgyzstan and a member of the Eastern and Central European and Central Asian Commission on Drug Policy, said many central Asian countries had large migrant workforces in Russia. Those who are HIV positive or use drugs are afraid to take therapies with them because of the risk of deportation, she said.

In Ukraine, after disruption caused by the Russian invasion, the national HIV care programme has resumed services and numbers on therapy have started to increase again.

However, Andriy Klepikov, the executive director of the Ukrainian charity Alliance for Public Health, said it had been forced to take a wider humanitarian approach than before the war. He said: “If someone asks for food, I cannot say, ‘Sorry, I have only condoms for you.’”

Hamas has named Yahya Sinwar as the new head of its political bureau, elevating the hardline militant to the group’s top post after the assassination in Tehran of its previous political leader.

Sinwar’s appointment was announced in a brief statement by Hamas on Tuesday that was aired on pro-Hamas Iranian state media channels.

Sinwar, the Hamas military leader who is seen as the mastermind behind the 7 October attack against Israel, is believed to be hiding in the series of tunnels underneath Gaza. He is the group’s chief decision-maker in Gaza, and is believed to hold control over the estimated 120 Israeli hostages who are still in Hamas’s custody.

Sinwar succeeds Ismail Haniyeh, the former Hamas political chief who was killed in a bombing attack last week that Hamas and Iranian officials blamed on Israel. The assassination came during the inauguration of Iran’s new president and has further stirred fears of a larger regional war involving Iran, which backs Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza. Iran has promised to retaliate against Israel for the attack on its soil.

Haniyeh was another key figure in the talks between Israel and Hamas over a ceasefire, and was seen as an intermediary between Israel and Sinwar. Haniyeh had little direct control over Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip and was seen as a relative moderate, directing Hamas’s delegations in talks mediated by Egypt, Qatar and the US aimed at a ceasefire and hostage and prisoner release deal.

Sinwar is a founding member of Hamas and is seen as the group’s most powerful figure. A former head of the group’s intelligence service, Sinwar spent 23 years in Israeli prisons as he served four life sentences for attempted murder and sabotage. A former interrogator called him “1,000% committed and 1,000% violent, a very, very hard man”.

Sinwar was released as part of a swap in which Israel traded 1,000 prisoners in 2011 in exchange for Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier who had been captured five years earlier by Hamas. Sinwar quickly returned to militancy and said he had concluded that capturing Israeli soldiers was the key to freeing prisoners from Israel.

The move will further consolidate the group under Sinwar, whose elevation to the head of Hamas’s political wing will raise further doubts about the potential for any ceasefire deal to be struck in the conflict. Sinwar is believed to have launched the 7 October attack from Gaza without informing the political leadership, which was headquartered under Haniyeh in Qatar.

“In electing Sinwar to head Hamas, the organisation lays to rest any differences between external and internal leaders and whatever illusions of moderation existed to reveal its true face,” wrote Aaron David Miller, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment.

Israel claims it killed Hamas’s military commander, Mohammed Deif, in a strike in July, among a number of assassinations of key members of Hamas’s leadership. Another top political leader, Saleh al-Arouri, was killed in January.

The policy of killing top Hamas leaders, including those from the more moderate political wing, has led to rising tensions between the US president, Joe Biden, and the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. Biden last week told Netanyahu during a phone call that the Israeli PM was intentionally sabotaging efforts to conclude a ceasefire, according to the New York Times and other US media. Netanyahu argued that the assassination in Teheran would temporarily delay negotiations, but would ultimately lead to a ceasefire more quickly by putting pressure on Hamas.

In reaction to Sinwar’s appointment, Israeli military spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari told Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya televsion: “There is only one place for Yahya Sinwar, and it is beside Mohammed Deif and the rest of the October 7th terrorists. That is the only place we’re preparing and intending for him.”

Speaking to Al Jazeera television after the announcement, Hamas’s spokesperson Osama Hamdan said Sinwar would continue the ceasefire negotiations.

“The problem in negotiations is not the change in Hamas,” he said, blaming Israel and its ally the US for the failure to seal a deal.

Hamas has named Yahya Sinwar as the new head of its political bureau, elevating the hardline militant to the group’s top post after the assassination in Tehran of its previous political leader.

Sinwar’s appointment was announced in a brief statement by Hamas on Tuesday that was aired on pro-Hamas Iranian state media channels.

Sinwar, the Hamas military leader who is seen as the mastermind behind the 7 October attack against Israel, is believed to be hiding in the series of tunnels underneath Gaza. He is the group’s chief decision-maker in Gaza, and is believed to hold control over the estimated 120 Israeli hostages who are still in Hamas’s custody.

Sinwar succeeds Ismail Haniyeh, the former Hamas political chief who was killed in a bombing attack last week that Hamas and Iranian officials blamed on Israel. The assassination came during the inauguration of Iran’s new president and has further stirred fears of a larger regional war involving Iran, which backs Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza. Iran has promised to retaliate against Israel for the attack on its soil.

Haniyeh was another key figure in the talks between Israel and Hamas over a ceasefire, and was seen as an intermediary between Israel and Sinwar. Haniyeh had little direct control over Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip and was seen as a relative moderate, directing Hamas’s delegations in talks mediated by Egypt, Qatar and the US aimed at a ceasefire and hostage and prisoner release deal.

Sinwar is a founding member of Hamas and is seen as the group’s most powerful figure. A former head of the group’s intelligence service, Sinwar spent 23 years in Israeli prisons as he served four life sentences for attempted murder and sabotage. A former interrogator called him “1,000% committed and 1,000% violent, a very, very hard man”.

Sinwar was released as part of a swap in which Israel traded 1,000 prisoners in 2011 in exchange for Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier who had been captured five years earlier by Hamas. Sinwar quickly returned to militancy and said he had concluded that capturing Israeli soldiers was the key to freeing prisoners from Israel.

The move will further consolidate the group under Sinwar, whose elevation to the head of Hamas’s political wing will raise further doubts about the potential for any ceasefire deal to be struck in the conflict. Sinwar is believed to have launched the 7 October attack from Gaza without informing the political leadership, which was headquartered under Haniyeh in Qatar.

“In electing Sinwar to head Hamas, the organisation lays to rest any differences between external and internal leaders and whatever illusions of moderation existed to reveal its true face,” wrote Aaron David Miller, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment.

Israel claims it killed Hamas’s military commander, Mohammed Deif, in a strike in July, among a number of assassinations of key members of Hamas’s leadership. Another top political leader, Saleh al-Arouri, was killed in January.

The policy of killing top Hamas leaders, including those from the more moderate political wing, has led to rising tensions between the US president, Joe Biden, and the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. Biden last week told Netanyahu during a phone call that the Israeli PM was intentionally sabotaging efforts to conclude a ceasefire, according to the New York Times and other US media. Netanyahu argued that the assassination in Teheran would temporarily delay negotiations, but would ultimately lead to a ceasefire more quickly by putting pressure on Hamas.

In reaction to Sinwar’s appointment, Israeli military spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari told Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya televsion: “There is only one place for Yahya Sinwar, and it is beside Mohammed Deif and the rest of the October 7th terrorists. That is the only place we’re preparing and intending for him.”

Speaking to Al Jazeera television after the announcement, Hamas’s spokesperson Osama Hamdan said Sinwar would continue the ceasefire negotiations.

“The problem in negotiations is not the change in Hamas,” he said, blaming Israel and its ally the US for the failure to seal a deal.

Thailand’s constitutional court has ordered the dissolution of the country’s most popular party, and banned its leaders from politics for 10 years, over its election promise to reform the country’s strict lese-majesty law.

Move Forward, a youthful pro-reform party, won the most votes in the 2023 election after pledging major changes to the country’s political system, including a promise to amend a law that punishes criticism of the monarchy with up to 15 years in prison for a single charge. However, the party and its leader were blocked from taking power by military royalist opponents, and have since faced legal cases.

The constitutional court decided unanimously on Wednesday to dissolve the party, and ban its executive committee from politics for 10 years, including its former leader Pita Limjaroenrat. The case followed a decision by the same court in January, which ruled that its pledge to reform lese-majesty law was unlawful and that it must cease such efforts.

Speaking at the party’s headquarters after the verdict, Pita said their movement would continue, and that a new party and leadership would be formed.

“I understand that you might feel disappointment, angry, resentful, or you might have tears. I won’t blame you. Today, for one day, let us be sad and angry as much as needed,” he told supporters.

“Tomorrow we will draw a line in front of us, and we will walk across it. We will take the resentment, anger, the energy that exists now, we will not let it consume us. We will push it and let it explode in every voting booth.”

Outside the party’s headquarters, supporters cheered MPs and chanted: “Move Forward, march on,” a slogan the party has used in the run-up to the verdict. MPs wore black for the occasion.

Details of the party’s successor, which Move Forward MPs can join, will be announced on Friday.

Thailand’s courts have frequently dissolved political parties and banned politicians, while the country has experienced two coups since 2006, part of an ongoing power struggle between popular parties and the conservative establishment.

Move Forward’s predecessor, Future Forward, was disbanded by a court ruling in 2020 for violating election funding rules, in a case its supporters said was politically motivated. The judgment triggered mass youth-led protests, which called for changes to make the country more democratic, and broke a longstanding taboo by calling for reform of the royal family. At least 272 people have since been charged with lese-majesty. In May, the political activist Netiporn Sanae-sangkhom, 28, who was charged under the law, died in pre-trial detention after spending 65 days on hunger strike calling for an end to the imprisonment of political dissidents.

Move Forward had appealed to young people who took part in such protests; however, it also managed to attract support from a much wider cross-section of voters who wanted political change after almost a decade of being ruled by the former coup leader Prayuth Chan-ocha.

There are no indications that the decision will immediately lead to large-scale protests. However, analysts say that even if the party is dissolved, this will not undo public sentiment, especially among younger generations, who have demanded changes to Thailand’s political system.

“Maybe [young people] will not immediately jump out to take action or to demonstrate against the ruling, but still in the long term – they are not going to change their minds,” said Panuwat Panduprasert, political science professor at Chiang Mai University.

Chaithawat Tulathon, the party’s outgoing leader, said the verdict would have implications for more than just the Move Forward party and its members. It set a dangerous precedent for interpreting the law and the constitution, he said.

“The impact of today’s verdict risks, in the long – term, making our constitutional monarchy system mutate into another system,” he said.

Amnesty International and the Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (Forum-Asia) both condemned the decision. Deprose Muchena, a senior director at Amnesty International, said the Thai authorities should stop weaponising laws, adding that lawmakers were “simply performing their duty of proposing laws”.

Asked about whether the successor party’s approach would differ, Sirikanya Tansakun, who has been tipped as a future leader, said its ideology would remain the same, though its strategy was dynamic and adaptable. On the issue of lese-majesty reform, she said all members “believe there’s an issue with this law”, but added “the methodology will need to be discussed in more details once we move to the new home”.

Books by Margaret Atwood, Judy Blume, Rupi Kaur and Sarah J Maas are among 13 titles that the state of Utah has ordered to be removed from all public school classrooms and libraries.

This marks the first time a state has outlawed a list of books statewide, according to PEN America’s Jonathan Friedman, who oversees the organisation’s free expression programs.

The books on the list were prohibited under a new law requiring all of Utah’s public school districts to remove books if they are banned in either three districts, or two school districts and five charter schools. Utah has 41 public school districts in total.

The 13 books could be banned under House bill 29, which became effective from 1 July, because they were considered to contain “pornographic or indecent” material. The list “will likely be updated as more books begin to meet the law’s criteria”, according to PEN America.

Twelve of the 13 titles were written by women. Six books by Maas, a fantasy author, appear on the list, along with Oryx and Crake by Atwood, Milk and Honey by Kaur and Forever by Blume. Two books by Ellen Hopkins appear, as well as Elana K Arnold’s What Girls Are Made Of and Craig Thompson’s Blankets.

Implementation guidelines say that banned materials must be “legally disposed of” and “may not be sold or distributed”. PEN America Freedom to Read programme director Kasey Meehan said that such “vague” guidelines will “undoubtedly result in dumpsters full of books that could otherwise be enjoyed by readers” and that while they stop short of “calling for book burning, the effect is the same: a signal that some books are too dangerous”.

Let Utah Read, a coalition of organisations, librarians, teachers and parents among others, has started a petition to “fix the ‘sensitive materials’ law”.

“It is a dark day for the freedom to read in Utah,” said Meehan. The list of banned books “will impose a dystopian censorship regime across public schools and, in many cases, will directly contravene local preferences. Allowing just a handful of districts to make decisions for the whole state is anti-democratic.”

When a deadly wildfire tore through Lahaina on Maui last August, the wall of flames scorched the 151-year-old banyan tree along the historic town’s Front Street. But the sprawling tree survived the blaze, and thanks to the efforts of arborists and dedicated volunteers, parts of it are growing back – and even thriving.

For generations, the banyan tree served as a gathering place along Lahaina’s waterfront. By many accounts, it was the heart of the oceanside community – towering more than 60ft (18m) high and anchored by multiple trunks that span nearly an acre.

The enormous tree has leafy branches that unfurl majestically and offer shade from the sun. Aerial roots dangle from its boughs and eventually latch onto the soil to become new trunks. Branches splay out widely, becoming roosting places for choirs of birds.

The tree is widely beloved and fondly remembered by millions of tourists who have visited Maui over the years. But for many others it is a symbol of colonial rule that has dispossessed Native Hawaiians of their land and suppressed their language and culture.

Because while the banyan tree is the oldest living one on Maui, it is not a species indigenous to the Hawaiian Islands. India shipped the tree as a gift to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the arrival of the first Protestant missionaries to live in Lahaina. It was planted in 1873, a quarter century before the Hawaiian Islands became a US territory and seven decades after King Kamehameha declared Lahaina the capital of his kingdom.

The 2023 fire that erupted on 8 August and killed more than a hundred people was devastating for the tree as well. The flames charred the tree and blackened many of its leaves. But it wasn’t the flames so much as the intense heat that was generated that dried out much of the tree, according to Duane Sparkman, chair of the Maui county arborist committee. As a result of this loss of moisture, about half of the tree’s branches died, he said.

“Once that section of the tree desiccated, there was no coming back,” he said.

But other parts of the tree are now growing back healthy.

Those working to restore the tree removed the dead branches so that the tree’s energy would go toward the branches that were alive, Sparkman said.

To monitor that energy, 14 sensors were screwed into the tree to track the flows of cambium, or sap, through its branches.

“It’s basically a heart monitor,” Sparkman said. “As we’ve been treating the tree, the heartbeat’s getting stronger and stronger and stronger.”

Sparkman said there are also plans to install vertical tubes to help the tree’s aerial roots, which appear to be vertical branches that grow down toward the ground. The tubes will contain compost so as to provide the branches with key nutrients when they take root in the soil.

A planned irrigation system will also feed small drops of water into the tubes. The goal, Sparkman said, is to help those aerial roots “bulk up and become the next stabilizer root”. The system will also irrigate the surrounding land and the tree’s canopy.

“You see a lot of long, long branches with hundreds of leaves back on the tree,” Sparkman said, adding that some branches are even producing fruit. “It’s pretty amazing to see that much of the tree come back.”

Sparkman estimates that Lahaina lost some 25,000 trees in the fire.

These included the fruit trees that people grew in their yards as well as trees that are significant in Hawaiian culture, such as the ulu, or breadfruit, tree; the fire charred all but two of the dozen or so that remained.

Since the blaze, a band of arborists, farmers and landscapers – including Sparkman – has set about trying to save the ulu and other culturally important trees. Before colonialism, commercial agriculture and tourism, thousands of breadfruit trees dotted Lahaina.

To help restore Lahaina’s trees, Sparkman founded a nonprofit called Treecovery. The group has potted some 3,500 trees, he said, growing them in “micro-nurseries” across the island, including at some hotels, until people can move back into their homes.

“We have grow hubs all over the island of Maui to grow these trees out for as long as they need. So when the people are ready, we can have them come pick these trees up and they can plant them in their yards,” he said. “It’s important that we do this for the families.”

It is a small downside of hot, dry weather: static hair that sticks up in a Worzel Gummidge-style halo.

Now a viral TikTok video has suggested a simple solution for static frizz that does not require sprays or straighteners. Simply smoothing hair down with a piece of aluminium foil appears to magically produce a sleek silhouette.

Scientists say the trick works by discharging static that builds up on hair after it is brushed. In warm weather, the humidity in the air is often lower, meaning there is less water in the air to conduct the electric charges away from hair. Fine hair, which lifts up more easily, is particularly susceptible to the problem.

“The frizz is caused by static charge,” said Prof Richard Syms, of Imperial College London. Different hairs will both be either positively or negatively charged, meaning the individual hairs repel each other.

Aluminium is one the best metallic electrical conductors, meaning that when it touches the hair it carries excess charges away.

“Wiping one material with another can transfer charge between them through a process called the triboelectric effect,” said Syms. “In this case, the charges initially transfer to the tinfoil. The tinfoil is a conductor, and allows the charges to be conducted away.”

From the foil, the charge will transfer on to your hand and down to the floor – unless you are wearing insulating shoes, so the trick probably works better without wearing rubber-soled boots.

The basic concept of static electricity is that when two objects are rubbed together, electrical charges are transferred from one to the other leaving one object positively charged and the other negatively charged.

But while rubbing balloons on heads is a staple of the school science fair, the physics of static electricity is surprisingly complicated. It is not easy to predict, for instance, which of a pair of materials will become negatively charged (gaining extra electrons) and which will become positively charged (losing electrons).

Laurence Marks, emeritus professor of materials science and engineering at Northwestern University in the US, and author of a landmark paper on the theory of static electricity, said: “The sources I see on the web indicate that hair is often positive. However, none of them actually seem to have measured it, so it could be an urban myth.”

Using a metal hairbrush might help reduce static in the first place. And if you have no tinfoil to hand, another option is just waiting for the effects of static to naturally disperse over a short period of time. “If you want to see what can really happen with static electricity, type ‘van de Graaff generator hair’ into Google and look at the images,” said Syms.