Macron says new EU sanctions on Moscow ‘unprecedented’

Kyiv’s European allies have welcomed the European Union’s 18th sanctions package targeting Moscow’s oil and gas industry over its war in Ukraine.

French President Emmanuel Macron said the package was “unprecedented” in a post on X.

“It is more necessary than ever to recall that the security, freedom, and future of Europe are closely tied to the fate of Ukraine,” Macron added.

When asked about the sanctions, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia has built up a certain immunity to Western sanctions and adapted to them.

Peskov called the sanctions illegal, saying every new restriction created negative consequences for those countries that backed them.

Its latest sanctions package on Russia will lower the G7’s price cap for crude oil to $47.6 per barrel, diplomats told Reuters today.

This comes as Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky are considering a deal that involves Washington buying battlefield-tested Ukrainian drones in exchange for Kyiv purchasing weapons from the US.

The Ukrainian president said his latest talks with Mr Trump focused on a deal that would help each country bolster its aerial technology.

On the battlefront, Russia said its troops have taken control of three villages in three different parts of the frontline running through Ukraine, a claim Kyiv denies.

Former England captain Paul Ince gets 12-month ban after drink-drive crash

Former England captain Paul Ince, 57, has been disqualified from driving for 12 months and ordered to pay £7,085 after pleading guilty to drink-driving.

The 57-year-old appeared at Chester Magistrates’ Court on Friday where he admitted driving his black Range Rover while over the limit on June 28 in Neston, Cheshire.

District Judge Jack McGarva told Ince: “The message has got to be if you’re going to drive you don’t drink at all.”

He was banned from driving for 12 months, fined £5,000 and ordered to pay a £2,000 statutory surcharge and £85 costs.

A police statement after the Ince was arrested said: “At around 5pm on Saturday 28 June, police were called following reports of a collision on Chester High Road, Neston.

“The incident involved a black Range Rover which had collided with the central reservation barrier. Officers attended the scene and arrested a 57-year-old man.

Arriving at court on Friday, he signed an autograph with a fan and posed for a selfie with another.

The former West Ham, Manchester United, Inter Milan and Liverpool midfielder won 53 caps for his country.

After retiring, he moved into management, most recently working for Reading between 2022 and 2023.

Trump’s swollen ankles, bruised hand caused by chronic vein condition, says White House

The White House acknowledged President Donald Trump’s bizarre hand bruising and swollen legs — sharing that the commander in chief received a diagnosis of chronic venous insufficiency.

On Thursday, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt addressed speculation over the 79-year-old’s mysterious hand bruise that was photographed earlier this week, caked in makeup. Around the same time, photos of Trump’s legs as he watched the FIFA Club World Cup appeared swollen and enlarged, also sparking questions over his health.

During a press briefing, Leavitt said that Trump noticed “mild swelling” in his lower legs and received a check-up from the White House medical unit. An examination that included diagnostic vascular studies, bilateral lower extremities and venous doppler ultrasounds revealed a diagnosis of “chronic venous insufficiency.”

The condition occurs when leg veins become damaged and struggle to send blood back up to the heart, causing blood to pool in your legs and swelling. The fairly common condition usually affects people over the age of 50, but the risk grows as one ages, according to the Cleveland Clinic.

There was no evidence of deep vein thrombosis or arterial disease and a blood count test and echocardiogram both yielded normal results, Leavitt added.

The press secretary then addressed the much-speculated bruise on the back of Trump’s hand, telling reporters it was a result of “frequent handshaking.”

Despite images of Trump’s hand very clearly showing what appears to be an incision or scar, possibly from receiving an IV, the letter from Trump’s medical team shared by the White House noted “President Trump remains in excellent health.”

“This is consistent with minor soft tissue irritation from frequent handshaking and the use of aspirin, which is taken as part of a standard cardiovascular prevention regimen. This is a well-known and benign side effect of aspirin therapy, and the President remains in excellent health,” she said.

Zoomed-in shots of Trump’s hand appeared to be flaking with a layer of makeup – a shade that did not match his skin, plastered over the top – took off online earlier this week.

On part of his hand, buried beneath the concealer, there appeared to be an incision or scar of some kind.

It wasn’t the first time the mark on Trump’s hand was a cause of concern. In February, it appeared yellow and bruised, and also covered in makeup, during a meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron.

Leavitt provided a similar response to The Independent on Wednesday over concerns about the bruise, saying, “President Trump is a man of the people and he meets more Americans and shakes their hands on a daily basis than any other President in history.

“His commitment is unwavering, and he proves that every single day.”

Why this Lions series needs Australia to win the first Test

One can hardly recall a more muted build-up to a British and Irish Lions series, even the usual pre-Test tedium of a phoney war of words failing to erupt into anything resembling a conflict. About the closest we’ve come to a controversy in these pre-Test weeks has been when Joe Schmidt made a slightly clumsy comment about the origin of the Lions’ selected centres for the defeat to Argentina – a remark immediately rowed back and apologised for by the Australia head coach.

It is not to say that the Lions and Wallabies will be anything other than the fiercest of foes when they take to the turf of Brisbane’s Suncorp Stadium but the flames of rivalry have hardly been flickering in the days before this first Test. Both Lions boss Andy Farrell and counterpart Schmidt were given opportunity to stoke the fires two days out from matchday and each declined, presenting a straight bat. Indeed, Schmidt almost seemed to take on a deferential tone when talking about the tourists. “I’d like to think we can put a game together that at least can keep the British and Irish Lions pretty honest on the day,” the Wallabies boss almost muttered. They call Suncorp Stadium “The Cauldron”, but the pot is yet to bubble, let alone boil.

Even the more outlandish declarations have been founded in something like fact. Henry Pollock, the British and Irish Lions’ youngest cub, is used to causing a stir and looked initially to have done so last weekend when he declared the tourists’ ambition to be remembered as the best Lions team ever by beating the Wallabies 3-0. Now the 20-year-old Pollock, whose first proper Lions memories are somewhat depressingly drawn from the 2017 trip to New Zealand, is perhaps not best placed to assess the current crop’s place in history, and the achievements of unbeaten 1974 tourists in South Africa will surely not be surpassed, but a first Wallabies whitewash since 1904 may be on the cards.

This is, it is worth pointing out, a Lions series with a difference. It is not to overly insult Australia to say that they are comfortably the weakest opposition for the tourists of the professional era. Since South Africa’s returning to the tour itinerary in 1997, the Lions have faced the reigning world champions on five of their seven trips; the sole exceptions are in 2005, where they faced a nascent All Blacks side that would go on to become the most dominant in history, and 2013, when they encountered a Wallabies team that would become World Cup finalists in two years’ time. A team of rich talent risks being overlooked but Australia are ranked sixth in the world, finished bottom in last year’s Rugby Championship and made an embarrassing exit from their last major tournament – to describe them as anything other than underdogs would be incorrect.

That puts the Lions in a different psychological state than is usual on these trips. The idea of these tours is of a band of Britain and Ireland’s best coming together at short notice to battle a Southern Hemisphere beast in their own backyard most often as outsiders. Instead, there will be great expectation from the travelling Sea of Red and those left on far-flung shores that the Lions live up to their own declaration of intent on winning 3-0. Pollock’s public proclamation is one echoed in private by figures close to the camp, even if the level-headed Farrell is ensuring that the primary focus remains on each day as it comes. But there is a quiet, and entirely understandable, belief among the tourists that they can do something special.

There has been a sense that this is a Lions squad of plenty of very good players if not many, as yet, regarded as truly great ones, but these quadrennial affairs are oft times where reputations are forged. For figures like Dan Sheehan and Finn Russell, Lions superstardom may lift them into a more illustrious strata each is already threatening to break into, a leap already made by Maro Itoje on his two previous trips.

It is a shame that Australia are not at full strength. The loss of Noah Lolesio, starting to finally look settled as a Test No 10, is a bitter blow both personally and for the collective; Tom Lynagh, starting for the first time in a Wallabies shirt, must cope with the pressure of proving that he is more than just a fabulous story 36 years on from his father’s star-turn in the first Test of the 1989 series. “He’s got a quiet confidence about him,” Schmidt said, expressing a hope that it would radiate through his team.

Injuries to Rob Valetini and Will Skelton are significant blows for the opening encounter, with an assumption that the hosts’ game would be predicated on power further proved mislaid by the absence of Angus Bell from the starting side. A fast and loose game may suit a team brimming with athleticism that will clearly compete hard on the floor.

Tactically, a duel between Schmidt and Farrell should fascinate. It was Schmidt who extended an opportunity to the Englishman to rebuild his reputation after a tough end to his stint as an assistant with his native nation, the New Zealander recognising the value that an outstanding coaching talent could provide Ireland. The pair formed an effective combination, with the apprentice emerging as a natural successor to the master – and Farrell has built impressively on the foundations laid by Schmidt. A hallmark of each man’s sides is tactical ingenuity, and both have insisted that they have been holding plenty back. As Farrell explained: “You just know they are going to be thoroughly prepared and you know he’ll give them an inner confidence that they’ll be up for a series win as well.”

A first Test win may be a must for Australia for several reasons. Rugby union can struggle here to create cultural cut-through – in a Brisbane barbershop on Wednesday, the sound of the shaver was drowned out by talk of the NRL, AFL and Mitchell Starc’s brilliant burst against the West Indies rather than the looming start of this series. Australia loves a winner, mind – and an unexpected Wallabies success this Saturday would perhaps be exactly what this trip needs.

Brain surgeon loses £14m holiday crash claim after post-accident text

An “adrenaline junkie” brain surgeon who sued McLaren for £14m after a snowmobile crash has had his case thrown out after post-accident texts emerged of him telling company staff “No worries … sh*t happens …[do] I owe you guys a snowmobile”.

High-flying neurosurgeon Andrew Cannestra suffered multiple injuries when the skidoo he was riding careered off a forest track in Lapland during a £23,000 luxury break booked through the Pure McLaren Arctic Experience for him and his then partner, Kaitlin Mealor.

The 54-year-old medic, who specialises in spinal surgery, struck a tree after negotiating a forest turn and was out cold for 30 minutes following the impact in February 2020.

He went on to sue McLaren Automotive Events Ltd, claiming the impact of the crash on his future earnings alone exceeds £14m.

But lawyers for McLaren Automotive denied blame, insisting that on-the-spot guides did their utmost to ensure a safe skidoo trip, carefully briefing Mr Cannestra and his partner before they set off.

Dismissing the claim, Mr Justice Richie said that Mr Cannestra – who was dubbed an “adrenaline junkie” by his then partner – had “wanted more speed” and had caused the crash himself when he “accidentally hit the gas instead of the brakes”.

The briefing he and his partner received before riding had been adequate, the judge said, adding: “They were both on a McLaren ice driving holiday. Adrenaline cannot have been irrelevant to the experience of driving on ice in a superpowered car. There is nothing wrong in that. Life is for living and excitement and risk are part of that.

“He wanted more speed. He should have understood that being guided at higher speed would be more challenging and risky.”

Neil Block KC – for Mr Cannestra – had told London’s High Court that both riders were “absolute novices” and argued their guides should have done more to explain the detailed layout of their route through the forest.

The surgeon crashed after a pause in the journey during which his guide had changed the drive mode so that the doctor’s snowmobile could hit higher speeds.

The impact resulted in a brain haemorrhage and severe leg injuries, causing lasting problems with “word-finding, comprehension, memory and fatigue” and worsening his previous hand tremor.

Mr Cannestra, who was earning around £1.8m per year, has had to give up brain surgery, although his lawyers say he “continues to work to a limited extent.”

Mr Cannestra’s KC claimed the lead guide “rode at an excessive speed for a novice rider to follow safely”.

But Matthew Chapman KC – for McLaren Automotive – argued that Mr Cannestra had appeared a competent rider and fully in control of his snowmobile, adding that he had seemed “eager” for his vehicle to be switched to a faster travel mode.

In his ruling, the judge pointed out that the surgeon had sent a post-accident text to McLaren staff, saying: “No worries … sh*t happens … I asked … if I owe you guys a snowmobile, or any other costs. Please let me know. It was my error and my responsibility.”

In another, he wrote: “Thank you both so much for your help yesterday and thru my little self destructive snowmobile behaviour. Please let me know anything I am responsible for…. transport…. a snowmobile….. etc. we had a great time and all is good!”

In his evidence, Mr Cannestra had insisted his post accident messages did not amount to an admission of fault, also taking issue with any image of him being a thrill-seeker.

And although conceding he is a passionate classic car fan – having owned up to 33 at various times in the past – he explained that he never raced his vehicles, restricting himself to “collecting and restoring them”.

But dismissing his claim, the judge said: “Whilst the claimant was in Lapland on an expensive four-day driving experience for McLaren road cars on ice, he chose to drive a snowmobile as part of the ancillary fun activities provided by McLaren.

“He was following a guide round a snowy track through trees, but he lost control, drove off the track and hit a tree. He was injured. At first, he thought it was all his own fault, apologised and offered to pay for the smashed up snow mobile.

“A few months later, he instructed solicitors and by the end of July 2020 a pre-action protocol letter was written by his solicitors, to McLaren’s solicitors, asserting negligence/breach of contract by the guide and claiming damages for personal injuries.

“After the accident, the claimant told the guide his glove had become stuck to the throttle. The claimant had sent a message offering to pay for the snowmobile because it was, using his words, ‘my error and my responsibility’ and caused by ‘my little self destructive snowmobile behaviour.’

“Negligence was denied. The cause of the crash was pleaded as the claimant accidentally accelerating whilst negotiating [a turn] instead of braking.

“I did not find Kaitlin Mealor’s evidence to be of much assistance. She appeared to me to be playing a wing person role to support her ex-partner.

“I was not persuaded by her denial of the conversation…after the accident about the claimant being an adrenaline junkie who was always getting into accidents.

“This conversation may be put into context. The claimant had bought two McLaren road cars, which are up the top of the list of the most powerful vehicles on roads worldwide.

“They were both on a McLaren ice driving holiday. Adrenaline cannot have been irrelevant to the experience of driving on ice in a superpowered car. There is nothing wrong in that. Life is for living and excitement and risk are part of that.

“He wanted more speed. He should have understood that being guided at higher speed would be more challenging and risky. I consider that he did understand this. He also understood that they would go through trees.

“I consider that about five minutes was an appropriate length for a briefing for just two customers. I find that the briefing complied with local Finnish standards.

“At the ambulance in the car park, he told [the guide] that he accidentally pressed the throttle in the middle of turn two and blamed his glove.

“At hospital, he told a medic he accidentally hit the gas instead of the brakes. He considered that he himself was the cause of the accident. He did not blame [the guide] for rushing him or disappearing.

“He reached turn two and turned through 25 degrees, then squeezed or pushed the throttle by mistake with his right hand and shot straight forwards into a tree. In whatever mode, that accidental throttle use would have caused him to go straight off the track.”

He said the guide was not dealing with a “17-year-old new car driver ” who had just passed their driving test, adding: “He was guiding a mature, supercar and jet-ski aficionado, who had ridden confidently and wanted more speed. The claimant was prepared to leave his partner behind to increase his own enjoyment.

“The claim will be dismissed and judgment will be entered for the defendant,” the judge concluded.

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.

Ministers must accept reality: Brexit is a disaster for UK travellers

Great barrier grief: that is what the UK government promises to end, at least for British travellers to Germany.

“Millions of UK travellers to Germany will be able to use e-gates in the future thanks to a new agreement made between prime minister Keir Starmer and German chancellor Friedrich Merz today,” the Cabinet Office says.

“Germany will roll out the first phase of e-gates access for UK travellers by the end of August, starting with frequent travellers such as Brits with family in Germany or who travel regularly for business.”

To be more precise: by late August, the UK will join Germany’s EasyPass. That’s the branding for the e-gates, which compare the biometric data in the traveller’s passport with their face. Already citizens of China, Korea and the US can sign up for this. You must register for it, which means you go through passport control as normal at one of the bigger airports, then visit the police station for an interview.

Once enrolled, on the next visit you can use the e-gates. But be warned: unlike the passengers from your flight who have EU passports, you will not be free to go. “Proceed to the border control desk directly behind the e-gates,” say the German authorities. “You will be briefly questioned again there and receive your entry or exit stamp.”

Just as we demanded when leaving the European Union.

Boris Johnson’s fearless negotiators insisted that we must become “third-country nationals” not required to obtain a visa.

Brussels capitulated to our wish to spend hours waiting in queues; to discover that rules on passports validity meant that thousands would be turned away from planes; and to have our documents minutely examined to ensure we have not spent more than 90 days in the past 180 days within the Schengen area.

Our illustrious status is shared with citizens of many other countries, from East Timor to El Salvador. But unlike them, the British traditionally make tens of millions of journeys to the EU each year.

We would love to make more of those trips by rail, but the tangle of red tape we negotiated for means there isn’t enough space for processing passengers at London St Pancras International, the Eurostar hub. Yet the transport secretary, Heidi Alexander, has promised that “a direct connection linking London and Berlin” could be in place “in just a matter of years”.

In theory, trains from the UK to Germany could be running by 2030. But London to Berlin, a journey of at least nine hours? Allow me to present an equally plausible transport goal for the next five years: “Personal jetpacks for all.”

Other government claims are more plausible, if a little desperate: “Estonia has confirmed they will open up [e-gate] access at Tallinn airport in 2026.” But ministers surely know they are clutching at bureaucratic straws.

One day, a courageous political heavyweight will yell from the rooftops something that the most ardent Leave voter must accept: “Brexit has proved deeply damaging for British travellers to Europe, and we need to fix it.”

Tourists, students and business travellers have all suffered from the route of self-harm that we took after the democratic vote to leave the European Union.

Your ease of access to continental Europe this summer depends on your ancestry. UK citizens wise enough to have close relatives in Ireland, north or south, can obtain an EU passport and regain the travel freedom we chose to surrender. But it’s nothing more than a lottery in which the right DNA, and/or birthplace, can win you the right to roam across Europe.

For everyone else, we need to negotiate a special status that reflects our passion for Europe – and the UK’s value as one of the biggest exporters of tourists in the world.

Mapped: The UK regions where smoking is most common

The number of cigarettes smoked in Britain every year has been revealed in a shocking new study from Cancer Research UK and University College London (UCL).

Smokers are getting through an estimated 28.6 billion cigarettes each year on average, equating to 78 million every day.

The study draws on data from the Smoking Toolkit Study between 2022 and 2024. It estimates that adults who smoke consume an average of 10.4 cigarettes daily, with 5.5 per cent of smokers exceeding 20 cigarettes a day

The figures are also broken down by region, showing which areas in the UK have the highest proportion of smokers, and which region has the highest average number of cigarettes smoked.

The data shows that it is the South West that has the highest proportion of smokers at 15 per cent of the adult population. Meanwhile, Scotland and Yorkshire are joint-lowest at 13.3 per cent. Amongst all adults, the average is 13.9 per cent.

However, smokers in southern regions smoke proportionally less cigarettes a year than those in the north and Scotland. Smokers in the North East average 598 cigarettes a year – the highest of any region – while London is the lowest at 423.

The analysis finds that this points to significant inequalities in cigarette consumption, with individuals from more deprived backgrounds smoking an average of 11 cigarettes daily, compared to 9.4 per day among those in wealthier areas.

In light of the figures, charities are calling on the government to speed up its upcoming Tobacco and Vapes Bill which is currently passing through Parliament. The legislation aims to create a ‘smoke-free generation’ by preventing the sale of tobacco products to anyone born on or after January 1, 2009, effectively raising the legal smoking age each year.

Cancer Research UK’s executive director of policy, Dr Ian Walker, said: “While great strides have been made to bring down smoking rates, we can’t afford to be complacent. Every week, around 550 million cigarettes are still smoked in Britain – that’s enough to fill an Olympic sized swimming pool. It’s vital that everyone, wherever they live, can access the support they need to quit smoking for good.

“The Tobacco and Vapes Bill is a historic opportunity to help stub out the harms of smoking, but it’s frustrating that the legislation isn’t progressing through Parliament as quickly as it should be.

“Tobacco is a toxic product that should have no place in our future, and I urge all parliamentarians to back a smoke-free UK and prioritise this Bill when it returns to the House of Lords. This world-leading legislation has strong political and public support that can’t be ignored.”