Former Russian transport minister found dead hours after being sacked by Putin

Russian former transport minister Roman Starovoit has been found dead hours after he was fired unexpectedly by Vladimir Putin.

“Today, the body of the former Minister of Transport of the Russian Federation, Roman Starovoit, was found with a gunshot wound in his personal car,” Russia‘s investigative committee said in a statement.

The committee implied that Starovoit took his own life news which comes hours after Putin fired Starovoit in an unexpected move as Russia’s transport sector faces challenges. Russia’s aviation sector is short of spare parts and Russian Railways, the country’s largest employer, has grappled with soaring interest costs as high rates – needed to curb higher inflation exacerbated by the war – take their toll.

Putin’s decree gave no reason for the dismissal of Roman Starovoit after barely a year in the job. Starovoit was appointed transport minister in May 2024 after spending almost five years as governor of the Kursk region bordering Ukraine.

He was replaced imminently with his deputy, Andrei Nikitin. A Kremlin spokesperson said: “At present, in the president’s opinion, Andrei Nikitin’s professional qualities and experience will best contribute to ensuring that this agency, which the president described as extremely important, fulfils its tasks and functions.”

Trump reignites feud with Musk saying tech billionaire has gone ‘off the rails’

President Donald Trump has reignited his feud with Elon Musk, his former friend, ally and patron, over his threat to set up a third political party in the United States.

In a lengthy Truth Social tirade on Sunday, Trump said Musk has gone “off the rails” in recent weeks and become a “trainwreck”, again claiming that his opposition to the president’s “Big, Beautiful Bill” – signed into law on Friday – stemmed from its elimination of incentives beneficial to electric vehicle manufacturer’s like Musk’s company Tesla.

“When Elon gave me his total and unquestioned endorsement, I asked him whether or not he knew that I was going to terminate the EV Mandate,” Trump wrote. “He said he had no problems with that – I was very surprised!”

Earlier in the day, the president had branded the world’s richest man “ridiculous” for threatening to found a new party to challenge Republicans and Democrats.

The billionaire has since retaliated by again taunting the president over his friendship with deceased pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

Elsewhere, Trump will host Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House on Monday and has promised further announcements relating to his “reciprocal” tariffs on other countries after his 90-day pause on their implementation was again extended to August 1.

‘Remarkable’ true story of Oasis dog on concert graphics revealed

Liam and Noel Gallagher’s reunion may have been the focus of much hype over the weekend, as the brothers reunited for the first Oasis gig in 16 years, but eagle-eyed fans spotted something altogether more striking in the background of their comeback show.

Held at Cardiff’s Principality Stadium on Friday (4 July) and Saturday (5 July) to over 75,000 fans each night, Oasis’s sold out show opened to rave reviews and was dubbed “the rock reunion to end them all” five-star review by The Independent.

But during a performance of “Roll With It”, a dog was projected onto huge screens in a multi-coloured and kaleidoscopic graphic behind Liam, leaving many flummoxed.

Dog sanctuary founder Niall Harbison has now revealed the dog is, in fact, a pooch named Buttons who was rescued from an animal sanctuary in Thailand by Liam and his partner Debbie.

“Most people were probably looking at @liamgallagher and @oasis last night on stage,” he wrote in a thread on X/Twitter. “Look a little closer and you’ll spot a dog called Buttons. Her’s is a remarkable story.”

He continued: “Buttons was a little puppy who walked into our sanctuary in Thailand in the middle of the jungle just as it was getting built. She had been abandoned. She kept coming back daily for food and hoping for company. Day after day Buttons came back. I eventually took her in and put her up for adoption.”

Harbison, of Happy Doggo, explained that the musician and his partner had been keeping tabs on the process.

“Little did I know but Liam and his partner Debbie had been following,” he explained. “After a long process she was adopted to them in the UK. Buttons has grown into a beloved member of the family and landed on her paws.”

The dog rescuer went on to praise Liam for his support of the charity and his donations over the years, and comedically acknowledged that the Thai ridgeback is not aware of how well known his dad is.

“Liam has been a big support of @wearehappydoggo and donated his globe from the last tour to raise funds,” he continued. “I don’t think buttons realises her dad is a rock star. She just loves her humans. Two years ago she was abandoned as a puppy in Thailand. Buttons set out to make herself a better life by sneaking in to our sanctuary. She certainly did that!!”

He concluded: “So if you are wondering why there is a dog on the @oasis screens now you know. Well done buttons. I think you can say you’ve made it when your dad has you on the big screen.”

Scientists find 3,500-year-old city in Peru rivalling Ancient Egypt

Archaeologists have unearthed a lost city in Peru that thrived 3,500 years ago, likely as a potential contemporary of early human societies such as the ancient Egyptian and Sumerian civilisations of the Middle East.

The ancient city, named Peñico, emerged independently of these other early civilisations, and likely thrived as a trading hub, connecting coastal South America to the mountainous Andes regions through dense forests.

“This urban centre was developed following the cultural tradition of Caral,” said archaeologist Ruth Shady, director of the Caral Archaeological Zone.

Researchers uncovered a circular structure on a hillside in Peru’s northern Barranca province, including the remains of stone and mud buildings constructed at about 600m (1,970ft) above sea level around 1,800 and 1,500 BC.

Scientists suspect the ancient city’s inhabitants were connected to the Caral civilisation, the oldest in the Americas, which developed 5,000 years ago.

Drone footage revealed the presence of new human-made structures running parallel to previously uncovered buildings of the Caral–Supe pre-Columbian society.

The height at which the structures were found suggests the ancient city’s settlers strategically chose the location likely to enhance the monumentality of their buildings, protect themselves from floods and landslides, or to promote interaction and exchange.

“Peñico adds to the archaeological sites that can be visited under our management: the Sacred City of Caral, the fishing town of Áspero and the agricultural fishing city of Vichama. The public will also be able to get to know this city of integration,” Dr Shady said.

The city’s discovery is key to further understanding South American history, according to archaeologists, who suspect it emerged after the Caral civilisation was devastated by climate change.

Peñico also likely acted as a node in the exchange network, linked to the extraction and circulation of Iron mineral hematite used to make a red pigment with a high symbolic importance within Andean cosmology.

“They were situated in a strategic location for trade, for exchange with societies from the coast, the highlands and the jungle,” Dr Shady told Reuters.

So far, 18 constructions have been unearthed in the ancient city site, including larger and minor public buildings, and residential complexes, Peru’s Ministry of Culture said in a statement.

One structure labelled “B2” stands out for its sculptural reliefs, integrated into two other large public Buildings of the urban centre.

The building was found to have remarkable designs of conch shell musical horns called pututus, and other instruments represented on the walls of a quadrangular room.

Pututus were used in early Andean societies to transmit sound over long distances, such as to make announcements for meetings and important events, and were considered a symbol of social importance.

They were considered an important ritual offering to deities, in gratitude for the benefits required and received.

Researchers also found other significant artefacts in the building, including sculptures made of uncooked clay representing human-like and animal-like figures as well as ceremonial objects.

They also unearthed necklaces with beads of various materials like rhodochrosite, chrysola, animal bone and clay at the building site.

The presence of such artefacts indicates the building was likely one of the most important in the urban history of Peñico.

Labour’s pension plans remind me of communist China, says Lloyds chief

The chief executive of Lloyds Banking Group has warned the government against plans to force pension funds to invest in British assets, likening such a move to the type of policy used in communist China.

Charlie Nunn also cautioned that the plans could be “in conflict” with their primary goal of seeking the best returns for pensioners.

Labour’s wide-ranging pension reform includes the creation of megafunds – eventually each investing more than £25bn – with one key idea being that lower fees could mean more money for those who have pensions within them.

But alongside that, forthcoming legislation change is expected to include a superpower to allow what the Treasury says is “to set binding asset allocation targets”, which could see the government essentially force pension funds to invest set minimum amounts in UK assets.

But Mr Nunn has cautioned that governments setting those allocation targets could mean funds are prevented from complying with their legal duty to provide the best possible returns – and also compared the use of force to a form of State-imposed control in China.

“Mandating allocations of pension funds is a form of capital control. I have spent 10 years of my working life in China and many jurisdictions where there are capital controls,” Mr Nunn told the FT.

“That is a different model and that is a difficult slope for an economy that believes it is an open economy.”

The Lloyds Banking Group, as well as owning Lloyds, Halifax and Bank of Scotland, owns the Scottish Widows retirement and pension fund. Lloyds also already has £35bn allocated to investing in British assets, noted Mr Nunn.

There has been an ongoing debate over whether UK businesses are undervalued versus overseas equivalents due to a liquidity shortfall and a lower risk tolerance, along with how best to narrow that gap and encourage more firms to grow within Britain.

Against fears of enforced investment, the chief executive of the British Business Bank, Louis Taylor, has told pensions funds not to overlook a “goldmine of opportunity” among private UK firms.

“If everybody appreciated properly the opportunities there are in the UK, nobody would need mandating,” he told the Times.

Businesses being able to access more investment would create a “virtuous circle”, he added, because more firms would in turn come to the UK to seek investment, bringing with them more innovation, more jobs and more contribution to economic growth.

When my friends were facing cancer, a community of people stepped up

When I was younger, I used to worry incessantly about my parents getting cancer. I’d lay awake at night, ruminating on what would happen to my brother and I if they did. Who would support us? Thankfully, both are still cancer-free, well into their seventies.

However, now that I’m a parent myself, I worry about my children. Many people believe that cancer only really happens to people in old age, but that’s just not true. One beloved friend’s daughter died of leukaemia in 2020, aged just five; an unthinkable horror that changed the lives of everyone who knew her and her family.

And with Macmillan Cancer Support reporting that almost 3.5 million people in the UK are living with cancer, I also worry about my friends – parents themselves, their lives touched by cancer. One friend sat me down in our favourite local café, our toddlers playing at our feet, to break the news that she was about to undergo a double mastectomy. We cried together.

Another friend, Sarah, a single parent to two teenage girls, was diagnosed with breast cancer the day before we heard that King Charles had cancer, and a month before the Princess of Wales, Kate Middleton, announced her own diagnosis in March last year. It seemed like cancer was everywhere.

As a result, Sarah put 2024 on hold – she missed her daughter’s last sports day and last concert at primary school and had to find a whole new way of co-ordinating family life.

“I’m lucky in some ways that my children are teenagers, so they are able to look after themselves to some degree – but I’m also a single parent, so there are some things that they can’t do, or struggle with, due to their age,” she tells me.

“I have even set up multiple alarms on our Alexa reminding them to put their packed lunches in their bags or leave for school, just in case I can’t get up.”

Sarah says she thought she knew quite a lot about cancer prior to her diagnosis, but now admits she “really didn’t”. She explains: “There are so many terms and procedures to understand – stages and grades, not to mention over 100 different chemotherapy drugs.”

Sarah tells me about the exhausting cumulative effect of chemotherapy, which she endured every three weeks during her cancer treatment: “After the very first lot, I slept for a few hours and felt much better pretty quickly. For my last rounds, I slept for 48 hours solid and even days later, I needed to have a nap in the middle of the day and was in bed by 8pm.”

Sarah’s now finished chemotherapy and, a year on from her diagnosis, is turning 50. She’s throwing a huge party to celebrate not only the birthday milestone, but getting over this “annus horriblis” – a year she couldn’t have gotten through without the people around her.

“People can do so much for us when we are unwell – and I am forever grateful,” she says. “I’ve been really overwhelmed by the support that my friends have given me; from ferrying around my children to and from after-school events and sleepovers when things get bad, to my 75-year-old neighbour mowing the lawn. One friend popped round with a huge pot of pasta sauce and I even had a gift box from a recruiter at work.”

What talking to my strong, resilient friends about their cancer journeys has made me realise most, is the power of community: for when we receive the worst news imaginable, what we need is people around us to see us through. A community of other women: friends, school mums, neighbours.

They had people willing to make them food, pick up their children, go shopping for them or to just sit with them and listen. They had support when they decided to raise money for cancer support charities, when they did fundraisers such as hosting a Macmillan Coffee Morning.

It takes a village to raise a child – and that village will be with you every step of the way when you need them most.

Find out how you can help raise vital funds by hosting a Macmillan Coffee Morning. Sign up now on the Macmillan website

Macmillan Cancer Support, registered charity in England and Wales (261017), Scotland (SC039907) and the Isle of Man (604). Also operating in Northern Ireland.

Ryanair passengers injured after jumping from plane during fire scare

At least 18 Ryanair passengers were injured after they jumped from the aircraft wing in a panic during a fire alert on the runway in Mallorca.

The flight was about to depart to Manchester on Saturday night from Palma airport when the crew sounded the alarm of a fire onboard the aircraft.

A video shows passengers leaping from the aircraft wing onto the runway, with some falling on their fronts from a height onto the tarmac.

Six people were taken to hospital by ambulances that arrived on the scene.

A confused airport worker can be overheard telling a colleague over a walkie-talkie: “Do you know the plane has emergency exits?” as the passengers were filmed fleeing the aircraft and jumping from the wing.

“Plane about to leave from apron 10 or eight, and now the people are jumping from the wing onto the ground,” he added, The Telegraph reported.

“Something’s happening, something’s happening, they’re evacuating the plane. Now the firefighters are coming.”

The emergency was brought under control, with most passengers able to leave the plane in an orderly fashion.

One passenger onboard the flight, 56-year-old Denise Kelly, told the MailOnline that a member of the cabin crew ran along the aisle and told them to evacuate.

She said it felt like a “life or death situation” and only jumped from the wing because she feared for her life, adding that the cabin crew told them to leave behind their belongings in case the “plane exploded”.

Ms Kelly hit the tarmac and said she suffered a broken right heel, fractured left wrist and smashed elbow, saying she has been left “completely traumatised” by the incident.

Ryanair later said the fire alert had been a false alarm. The airline said in a statement to The Independent: “This flight from Palma to Manchester discontinued take-off due to a false fire warning light indication.

“Passengers were disembarked using the inflatable slides and returned to the terminal. While disembarking, a small number of passengers encountered very minor injuries (ankle sprains, etc) and crew requested immediate medical assistance.

“To minimise disruption to passengers, we quickly arranged a replacement aircraft to operate this flight, which departed Palma at 7.05am this morning.

“We sincerely apologise to affected passengers for any inconvenience caused.”

A spokesperson for Mallorca’s emergency services said Saturday morning: “We received an alert about a fire on a plane on the ground at Palma airport at 12.36am today.

“Four ambulances were sent to the scene. Eighteen people were injured and received medical assistance of whom six were taken to hospital,” they added, describing the injuries as “minor”.

For more travel news and advice, listen to Simon Calder’s podcast

The bottom line? Britain can’t afford to impose a wealth tax

Sir Keir, what have you done? Having climbed down over welfare reform, the prime minister now faces a left wing with the bit between their teeth. They are in the ascendant all right, and don’t they know it.

The latest to step up to the plate is Lord Kinnock. The former Labour leader says there are “pathways” to raising taxes that, I think, people are willing to explore and actually would commend themselves to the great majority of the general public.

“They include, for instance, asset taxes in a period in which for the last 20-odd years in the United Kingdom, like quite a lot of other Western economies, earned incomes have stagnated in real terms while asset values have zoomed. They’ve just gone through the roof and they’ve been barely touched.

“Now, you wouldn’t have to touch assets of under £6 million or £7 million, so people’s houses would be secure, obviously. But even by going for an imposition of 2 per cent on asset values above £10 million, say, which is a very big fortune, the Government would be in a position to collect £10 billion or £11 billion a year.”

Kinnock once told the party conference: “I am telling you, no matter how entertaining, how fulfilling to short-term egos: you can’t play politics with people’s jobs and with people’s services or with their homes.” Presumably he did not mean rich people who create those jobs.

Because, make no mistake, he is playing politics with them, with their assets, with their success – and with the people who rely on the wealthy for their incomes, with an Exchequer that also depends on their taxes and their continued faith in Britain.

Unfortunately, due to his status, Kinnock has a following. At least five trade unions have come forward to declare they will lean on Sir Keir Starmer to do what he suggests. Among them is Unison, once the employer of Angela Rayner, who was its most senior elected official in northwest England prior to becoming an MP. Christina McAnea, the Unison general secretary, said: “A wealth tax would be a much fairer way of raising revenue to invest in public services and grow the economy.”

Listening to and reading their outpourings you do have to wonder what planet they live on, which bit of a globally connected world in which countries (including those Western countries Kinnock refers to, which have seen asset values soar and incomes stagnate) fall over themselves to attract foreign investors – which bit of that they do they not understand. Those nations know their money generates prosperity and jobs. Which is another way of saying economic growth.

The evidence of rich folks voting with their feet and departing these shores is mounting by the day. Mostly they are non-doms, already a Labour target, but by no means all. One London restaurateur is nursing a 30 per cent drop in takings since Rachel Reeves delivered her first Budget. He says that is not the result of smaller plates and weight-conscious diners eating less thanks to Ozempic, but them having gone, leaving empty tables in their wake.

Reeves’s was the Budget that scrapped non-doms’ favourable tax breaks, VAT on private schools, air transport duty on private jets, inheritance tax for the most valuable farms and, of course, an increase in employers’ National Insurance contributions.

There is a pattern here, to which Kinnock and his acolytes would now like to add a charge on assets over £10m. It might collect £10bn or so as he claims, but for how long? And what signal does it send to those who have earned their money and paid their dues – only for them to be taxed again?

Kinnock fails to make the connection between the rich and philanthropy, those charities that help the poor and disadvantaged, organisations that research cures for cancer and other conditions, and the arts and sport – all would suffer drops in their donations.

It’s also a London tax, which also adds to its appeal. Nothing beats clobbering the swanky capital inhabitants in their £10m-plus mansions – conveniently ignoring the fact that, without many of them, the UK economy would be under water, that London is the country’s investment hub.

Fortunately, there are those in Labour who see sense. Liz Lloyd, a senior No 10 policy adviser, has reportedly questioned whether existing wealth taxes were harming her boss’s mission of growing the economy. Hopefully, Starmer and Reeves will agree with her and not Kinnock and his ilk. For if they wish to give the lie of going “faster and further” in kick-starting the economy, Kinnock’s wealth tax would the best way of achieving it.

The battle lines are being drawn. Starmer must resist. Britain’s economic future depends on it.