Johnny Mercer says he will ado all I cana to change rules after veteran turned away from polling station

The veterans minister has apologised to former military personnel who have been prevented from using their veterans ID in order to vote in the local elections in England on Thursday.

Downing Street said it would alook intoa changing the controversial new rules, which require photo ID in order to vote, to allow veteransa ID cards on to the list of valid identification.

Swinney tells campaign launch event he can bind party together, restore trust and achieve Scottish independence

Kate Forbes has ruled herself out as a candidate in the Scottish National party leadership contest, clearing the way for John Swinney to become the next first minister.

Forbes, a former finance secretary who came to close to winning last yearas contest, confirmed growing suspicions she had reached an agreement with Swinney to back his bid.

Union of Jewish Students deplores atorrent of antisemitic hatreda in British universities since start of Israel-Gaza war

The prime minister has backed a police crackdown on any outbreak of disorder on university campuses, as Jewish students warned that pro-Palestinian encampments are creating a ahostile and toxic atmospherea.

In recent days, new encampments have been set up at the universities of Manchester, Sheffield, Bristol and Newcastle, among others, after violent scenes on US campuses resulted in mass arrests of students and staff.

Insurers report rise in cases of photos being manipulated with ashallowfakea technology

A surge in fraud cases where photos are manipulated to show fake car crash damage is alarming insurers and helping to push car insurance costs up to record levels.

Insurer Allianz said incidents where apps were used to distort real-life images, videos and documents increased by 300% between 2021-22 and 2022-23, and it added that this ahas all the signs of becoming the latest big scam to hit the insurance industrya.

Dozens of demonstrators in Peckham surround coach before it can take people to barge in Dorset

A standoff was under way in London on Thursday after a coach sent to collect asylum seekers and take them to the Bibby Stockholm barge was surrounded by protesters.

Dozens of demonstrators blocked the coach before it was able to pick up passengers, surrounding it on all sides. Hours later, the bus was still at the scene while protestors were also sitting in front of a number of police vans carrying a number of people who were arrested.

Marcus Aurelio Arduini Monzo also accused of two counts of attempted murder and two of grievous bodily harm

A 36-year-old man has appeared in court charged with murder after Daniel Anjorin, 14, was killed in east London.

Marcus Aurelio Arduini Monzo, a dual Spanish-Brazilian national living in Newham, east London, is also accused of two counts of attempted murder, two of grievous bodily harm, aggravated burglary and possession of a bladed article.

Lifesize Victorious Youth is at centre of a years-long dispute, with Italy claiming it was illegally bought by US trust

A European court has ruled that Italy has every right to reclaim a 2,000-year-old Greek statue from the Getty Museum in California.

The lifesize Victorious Youth, also known as the Athlete from Fano or simply the Getty Bronze, has been at the centre of a years-long dispute after Italy alleged that it had been illegally bought by the J.Paul Getty Trust.

Committee say use of WhatsApp should be banned on official devices unless there is transparency

Ministers should have to publicly declare contact from lobbyists on WhatsApp or face a ban on its use on official government devices, a committee of MPs has said.

The public administration committee said current transparency measures did not command public confidence, in the wake of the Greensill scandal over David Cameronas private lobbying of ministers on behalf of his employer.

UN agency says reconstruction will require effort on a scale unseen since second world war

The EU has offered Lebanon a financial package of a!1bn (APS855m / $1.07bn), European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said in Beirut on Thursday.

The funds would be available from this year until 2027, von der Leyen told a joint news conference with Lebanonas prime minister Najib Mikati and Cypriot president Nikos Christodoulides.

This continued EU support will strengthen basic services such as education, social protection and health for the people in Lebanon. It will accompany urgent economic, financial and banking reforms. Furthermore, support will be provided to the Lebanese armed forces and other security forces with equipment and training for border management and to fight against smuggling.

Company says it is aware of issue as users complain alarms are playing too quietly or not going off

Apple is working to fix a problem that has resulted in some users complaining that their iPhone alarms are not going off a or playing too quietly.

The company said it was aware of the issue, which has been picked up by TikTok users, who have complained about incidents where their alarm has failed to sound.

Speaking at launch for West End adaptation, Cleese complains about literal-minded viewers anot playing with a full decka

John Cleese said that he decided to cut the N-word from a scene in his West End Fawlty Towers revival because in contemporary Britain there are too many aliteral minded peoplea who adonat understand ironya.

Cleese was speaking at the media launch for the West End theatrical adaptation of the classic comedy, which follows a repressed hotelier trying to control his chaotic staff. The TV show finished in 1979 after two series that are widely regarded to contain some of the best-ever British sitcom writing.

Vessel which has hosted acts from Pulp to Stormzy to celebrate anniversary with series of shows, exhibition and book

It started life as a cargo ship transporting timber around the Baltic Sea, but for the last four decades it has been moored in the Mud Dock area of Bristolas floating harbour, hosting music acts from Pulp to Stormzy, helping launch the cityas drumanabass and trip-hop scenes and providing a bobbing canvas for the street artist Banksy.

Thekla, one of south-west Englandas most beloved and vibrant venues, is celebrating its 40th anniversary this week with a series of shows, an exhibition and the publication of a book marking the ups and downs (literally a the vessel did once run aground) of the grand old boat.

UKas growth will be least in G7 by 2025, OECD expects, as low business investment and multiple pressures bear down

• UK will be worst performer in G7 next year, OECD forecasts

A lack of skilled workers in the country is pushing up UK wages. The dearth of affordable housing has seen landlords put up rent by an average of 9% in a single year, weighing on inflation. New costs and controls at the border after Brexit are creating headaches for exporting companies.

This cocktail of pressures on the UK economy has prompted analysts from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) to undercut the UKas own national forecasts for growth. By 2025, the Paris-based thinktank says, UK growth will be below that of any advanced economy in the G7.

As John Swinney emerges as candidate for first minister, Guardian readers assess the partiesa records and promises

John Swinney has announced he will run for the SNPas leadership and to become first minister of Scotland after Humza Yousafas resignation earlier this week.

A spokesperson for the former finance secretary Kate Forbes, who was seen as another contender for the leadership, confirmed that she had had an ainformal meetinga with Swinney on Tuesday, increasing speculation he was likely to pitch himself as a unity candidate and offer her a senior role in his administration.

An act of decency is being hailed as the greatest sporting gesture ever. Politicians, business folk, celebrities a please take note

You may not be into snooker, dear reader. You may not be into sport at all. But really, this is not about sport. In losing yesterday to Stuart Bingham in the quarter-final of the World Snooker Championship, Ronnie OaSullivan proved himself a contender for the worldas most sporting sports star. He may have lost, but in doing so he showed there are still standards in public life, and some people do care about doing the right thing. Not something we see often these days.

Hereas what happened. Yesterday afternoon, with Ronnie leading by six frames to five, he potted a black ball. When it was returned to its spot, it should have obstructed his next red ball, making it trickier for him to progress. But there was a tiny divot on the table, and the black ball wobbled ever so slightly from its spot, making access to the red simple. Ronnie wasnat having any of it. He asked the ref time and again to replace the black to make it more difficult for him. But the black wasnat having any of it either, and kept bobbling away.

College fees, free healthcare and transphobia proved to be meaty topics for these aGuardian-reading liberalsa

James, 32, Warwick

Occupation Junior doctor

As teenagers, the New York brothers swiftly rose to become retro pop darlings a until they werenat. Now older, wiser and taking inspiration from the travails of their family, theyare making their best music yet

The Lemon Twigs are deep in one of the great songwriting grooves of the 21st century. Or is it the previous century? Their new album, A Dream is All We Know, is a fabulous pop confection that magically transports the listener to the idyll of Abbey Road studios in 1966, if the Beatles were actually two brothers in their mid-20s from Long Island, New York. However, Brian and Michael DaAddario are reluctant to write off their music as nostalgic escapism.

aYes, we record on analogue tape, and we donat think being on phones all day is a good way to live our lives,a sighs Michael at their Brooklyn studio. aBut itas not like weare rejecting acontemporary lifea. And I donat know what weare really excluding from our lives by not using social media or recording on Pro Tools, anyway. Who wants to stare at a computer when theyare doing something thatas supposed to be fun?a

As Kong continues to terrorise us in Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, we rate some great apes

Despite the English title, thereas only one aapea in this cheesy slice of Mexploitation, once labelled a video nasty. A mad doctor transplants the heart of a gorilla into his dying son; the youth turns into a homicidal simian creep who sexually assaults women. Also features a lady luchador.

Luxury brand continues its strategy of engaging with diversity and real life a but the prices are less inclusive

Grey hoodies layered under the pastel tweed suits, a catwalk on top of an apartment building with concrete benches instead of gilt chairs, looking out over the rooftops of Marseille, Franceas less manicured second city. Chanel has a in fashion speak a a New Look. In the parlance of 2024, it is in its gritty era.

aIf Marseille is unexpected, thatas good. We donat want to be stuck. We need to take risks if we want to show that Chanel is for everyone,a said Bruno Pavlovsky, Chanelas president of fashion, before the brandas first ever show in the city. aIf we were just for the happy few in the Rue Cambon [in Paris], then that would be the beginning of the end.a

The author of Motherless Brooklyn recalls his deepening relationship with the late author - from a chance book signing to becoming a confidant during tough times

aC/ Paul Auster, American author of The New York Trilogy, dies aged 77
aC/ Brooklynas bard: Paul Austeras tricksy fiction captivated a generation

I remember the first time I approached Paul Auster. This would have been in 1987. I was an aspiring writer working at a bookstore in Berkeley and Paul appeared at another bookstore nearby, to read from In the Country of Last Things. It seems likely to me now that this was the first time a amajora publisher had sent him on a US book tour. The New York Trilogy was published in hardcover by a small publisher called Sun & Moon Press; up to that point head been a poet and translator. Paul signed a book for me. I never told him about this.

I remember that, when Music of Chance was published a few years later, I had the feeling Iad read something by a writer exercising an absolute freedom to do whatever interested him, and that at that moment he was the US novelist I most wished to be.

Gosling does the dirty work in this entertaining action film, which has moments of tenderness with Blunt among the crashes, leaps and fireballs

You might need to get your indulgent smile firmly in place for this colossal action comedy a not unlike the adorable smirks on the faces of its male and female leads, Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt, who play the daredevil movie stuntman and the stern director with whom he is in love. Itas a goofy summer crowd-pleaser (and you can never have too many of those) that is very far from the edgier and more satirical mien of Richard Rushas 1980 movie The Stunt Man, in which a Vietnam draft evader hides out on a movie location, doing dangerous stunts in return for anonymity. Actually, this one is loosely inspired by a 1980s TV show, also called The Fall Guy, about a stuntman with a parallel career as a bounty hunter a starring Lee Majors, a legend who puts in a tongue-in-cheek cameo here along with his co-star, Heather Thomas.

Gosling plays seasoned stunt maestro Colt Seavers, utterly unafraid of any physical challenges, self-effacingly doubling for insufferably conceited star Tom Ryder (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), who outrageously claims to do all his own stunts. Colt is having a passionate affair with beautiful, talented camera operator Jody Moreno (Blunt), but when he is involved in a catastrophic and career-ending failed stunt, he is overwhelmed with macho shame, thinking the accident was his fault because his infatuation with Jody made him take his eye off the ball.

Microsoft; PS5 (version tested), Xbox, PC; Rare
Youare pirates on the ocean wave, fighting sea monsters and digging up buried treasure, but youare also larking about playing musical instruments

When Sea of Thieves originally set sail on Xbox in 2018, it promised a journey filled with shared adventure, but set off a little short on supplies. Though early sailors found a vast multiplayer ocean to explore, it was tough to get a reliable crew together and when you did, the quests were limited in scope and the islands offered little in the way of emergent entertainment. You came, you dug up what you were told to by one of the gameas quest givers, and you returned to an outpost to cash in your treasure, perhaps occasionally battling another crew of players en route.

Over the past five years, however, developer Rare has added layer upon layer of extra content, from pets to fireworks to longer themed quests entitled Tall Tales, which are effectively games in their own right and include tie-ins with both The Secret of Monkey Island and Pirates of the Caribbean. Now various tasks and adventures can be discovered wherever you go, in shipwrecks, caves and other scenic features, so itas possible to sail around in your boat, spotting interesting stuff and getting lost in side quests, like a pirate-themed version of Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.

Useful idiots keep parroting provably false Israeli talking points. Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me a|

aThe Italians having a proverb,a wrote the 17th century British courtier Anthony Weldon, aaHe that deceives me once, its his fault; but if twice, its my fault.aa

Today, we commonly summarize that old Italian proverb as: aFool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me.a

Timeline on repeat:

aC/ Israel commits massacre

Mehdi Hasan is the editor-in-chief of Zeteo and a Guardian US columnist

Despite the huffing of ideologues, the world has moved on. Voters and businesses are calling for more effective protections

As the sewage-filled waters start to close over the heads of Torydom, their Tufton Street thinktankers carry on like the orchestra on the Titanic. In three grand Westminster houses dwell the TaxPayersa Alliance, the Institute of Economic Affairs, the anti-migration Migration Watch UK, the climate crisis-denying Global Warming Policy Foundation, the anti-EU European Foundation, the Margaret Thatcher-founded Centre for Policy Studies (CPS) and others, all very opaque about their sources of funding. Now they sink together, still playing the old songs painfully out of tune with the country of which they seem to know nothing.

I went to watch them on Wednesday in one of their lavish salons, as the CPS launched a report calling yet again for more state-shrinking deregulation. I waited until the very end, but no, there was not one line, not one mention in their report of the great regulatory failures of our time. Not a word about Ofwat letting water companies pour sewage into rivers and seas. Nothing about all the other failed regulators a rail, mail, buses, energy, environment, broadcasting and the rest.

As the fortunes of the super-rich soar, a proposed annual levy of 2% could offer a corrective a and they will fight it tooth and nail

The idea is simple. There are about 3,000 billionaires in the world and in recent years they have been getting richer and richer. Demands on hard-up governments from ageing populations and the drive to achieve net zero are growing all the time. Rather than expect voters already struggling to make ends meet to pay more, how about a wealth tax on Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk and their like?

This is an idea that has obvious attractions. As Joe Biden has pointed out, US billionaires make their money in ways that are often taxed at lower rates than the ordinary wage income of American workers. Overwhelmingly, their wealth comes from the rising value of their assets, and they use tax loopholes and legal accounting moves to minimise the tax they pay. Wealthy Americans pay an average tax rate on their incomes of just 8%. Biden thinks they should be paying a minimum of 25%.

Larry Elliott is the Guardianas economics editor

Appliance manufacturers think theyave made the world a better place by automating their online help service. They couldnat be more wrong

From where Iam sitting at this moment I can order some groceries to be brought to my door in a matter of hours. I can get anything from a cup of coffee to a three-course meal delivered within minutes. In terms of personal services that I could summon at a momentas notice a well, put it like this, I wish I hadnat checked. I can buy almost anything I want from anywhere in the world for delivery at a set time. Big things and small. Big white things, for example, such as dishwashers, washing machines and tumble dryers. A couple of clicks and theyall be on their way, not a problem. Easy. But should my brand new dishwasher, washing machine or tumble dryer require a repair of some sort, thatas a different story. At this point, time seems to slow down like the drum at the end of a spin cycle.

If I may write the most boring sentence Iave ever written, my new condenser tumble dryer worked fine but didnat seem to be collecting any water. An unnerving, unsettling state of affairs, Iam sure youall agree. I went to the manufactureras website and gave the chatbot short shrift by demanding contact with a human, who then materialised. This human, if it was a human, proved to be of limited use. During the early exchanges in this live chat tennis I felt as if I got across the nature of my problem quite clearly. Not so. At the conclusion of the opening rally, the human put me completely off my stroke by asking me what kind of machine I was talking about. I checked. Iad told them that. A dryer. Then the human asked me what it said in the manual about my problem. So I gave up on this human and asked for another, more competent human. And at this point, of course, if you set aside the infernal modern madness of chatbotsa livechats and whatnot, we essentially return to the last century.

Donald Trump opened the floodgates and bigoted attacks from the right became a new normal. Itas been a sorry spectacle

Mayoral elections can seem set apart from the main drag of politics. People vote for individuals and their records, itas not outlandish to stand as an independent, and even candidates within a party can float above it. It would be unusual, for example, to think aI canat stand Rishi Sunaka (wait! Thatas not the unusual bit) atherefore I wonat vote for Andy Streeta. But even though they stand alone, paradoxically, you can see a huge amount about the bigger picture, globally as well as nationally, from these purportedly local ballots.

Sadiq Khan has pretty unusual international name recognition for a city mayor, and the reason a no offence to him, his Hopper bus fares are good too a is that he has been the focus of racist and Islamophobic outbursts ever since Donald Trump called him a astone cold losera when the then-US president visited London in 2019.

Zoe Williams is a Guardian columnist

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Some say the public bragging of the formerly obscure governor of South Dakota ends her chances. But with Trump, who can say?

There is a familiar moment in Republican electoral politics when an obscure politician thrust into the limelight during election season comes under intense public scrutiny and is found to be not quite as first impressions suggested. This was Sarah Palin in 2008, or Ben Carson in 2016, and the inflection point is the moment at which the supposedly promising new face shades into what Mitch McConnell once delicately referred to as the Republicansa acandidate quality problema. Or, as most of us know it colloquially, the moment we realise: oh, this person is unhinged.

So it was last week for Kristi Noem, the formerly obscure governor of South Dakota, propelled into the big time as a possible running mate for Donald Trump, and who at first glance appeared appalling in all the ordinary ways. The 52-year-old, who was elected to the governorship in 2018, echoes the Republican partyas hardline positions on abortion, immigration and offshore drilling in ways indistinguishable from the rest of the VP field. She is telegenic, charismatic, reliably rightwing, and, according to her forthcoming memoir No Going Back: The Truth on Whatas Wrong With Politics and How We Move America Forward, also killed her 14-month-old puppy, Cricket.

Emma Brockes is a Guardian columnist