In this issue

June 01, 2023

Johnson urges No 10 to give Covid inquiry his messages

Rishi Sunak under pressure to sanction release of documents

5 mins

What's at stake in the battle over the Covid WhatsApps?

Now Boris Johnson has handed his messages to the Cabinet Office, the ball is in Rishi Sunak's court, says Sean O'Grady

4 mins

Home Office sends Afghans in hotels notices of eviction

Letters say they will become 'trespassers' if they do not leave

2 mins

UN report reveals catalogue of failings in asylum system

A devastating catalogue of failings in the “flawed and inefficient” asylum system run by the Home Office has been uncovered in a damning UN report.

5 mins

Labour risks losing Tory votes by being pro-Brexit

Conservatives could instead swing to LibDems, finds poll

4 mins

Illegal migration a threat to Europe's security, says PM

Rishi Sunak will warn European leaders today that the continent is facing “unprecedented threats at our borders” as he calls for greater cooperation on illegal migration. Security must be Europe’s top priority, he will argue, as he unveils a new partnership with Bulgaria to crack down on criminal gangs.

1 min

Al Pacino, 83, 'expecting child' with girlfriend, 29

Al Pacino is reportedly expecting his fourth child with girlfriend Noor Alfallah. The 83-year-old Scarface star and Alfallah, 29, were publicly seen together, having dinner in April last year.

1 min

ITV orders a legal review into Schofield's departure

ITV has ordered an external legal review into Phillip Schofield’s acrimonious departure from This Morning, saying: “We feel badly let down.”

3 mins

Boy and girl die after beach 'incident' in Bournemouth

A 17-year-old-boy and a girl aged 12 died yesterday following an incident off Bournemouth beach, Dorset Police said. A man in his 40s was arrested on suspicion of manslaughter.

1 min

Ex-boyfriend jailed after trying to decapitate student

A man who stabbed a student to death and attempted to decapitate her after she ended their relationship has been jailed for life.

3 mins

Ukraine must be given path to join Nato, says Macron

French president says the invasion has 'jolted' alliance awake

3 mins

Erdogan shows the world can't write off strongmen

The rate of inflation in Turkey is 44 per cent and the number of those employed is the lowest among the OECD’s 38 countries at 53 per cent.

4 mins

Dozens of children die of hunger in Sudan orphanage

At least 60 infants, toddlers and older children perished over the past six weeks while trapped in harrowing conditions in an orphanage in Sudan’s capital as fighting raged outside. Most died from lack of food and from fever. Twenty-six died in two days over the weekend.

4 mins

North Korean spy satellite crashes into sea after launch

Attempt sparks evacuation alarms in South Korea and Japan

2 mins

Moving mountains? Not quite... but there's talk of shifting Everest base camp

Every year, hundreds of climbers visit Mount Everest’s base camp hoping to make it to the summit, helped along by sherpa guides who know the mountain intimately.

4 mins

Forget Boris... this Covid inquiry is missing the point

Should the Covid inquiry get to see Boris Johnson’s personal WhatsApps? Who gets to decide? Is Rishi Sunak happy to pretend that all this is about Boris Johnson’s WhatsApps when it’s really about his own? Are they really going to go to court over it?

3 mins

Sunak is more popular than his party but he will still lose

The hopes of Conservatives who believe Rishi Sunak can defy political gravity and retain power at next year’s general election rest heavily on his personal appeal. Not only that, but they’re banking on a presidential Tory campaign against a weaker opponent in Keir Starmer.

3 mins

Musk's appearance in China is diplomatically significant

It says much about the status of Elon Musk that his private jet is constantly tracked – and when it left Alaska, heading for China with him on board, there was a veritable frenzy of speculation about his intentions.

3 mins

It's time Starmer explained why we won't rejoin the EU

The Labour leader was shockingly blunt in an article written for a Eurosceptic newspaper yesterday: “Britain’s future is outside the EU.” He hadn’t said it quite so categorically before. Previously, he had tended to say there was “no case” for rejoining the EU, which always allowed the possibility that there might be a case for it at a later date.

3 mins

The real reason for the scary warning about AI technology

They are 22 words that could terrify those who read them, as brutal in their simplicity as they are general in their meaning: \"Mitigating the risk of extinction from AI should be a global priority alongside other societal-scale risks such as pandemics and nuclear war.\"

3 mins

The biggest problem in AI? Chatbots make things up

Despite the incredible leaps in capabilities that chatbots have made, they still have a fatal flaw, writes Gerrit de Vynck

7 mins

DIGITAL DIVIDE

If TikTok is too young, Facebook is too geriatric and Twitter is a cesspit, where are digital natives - who basically invented social media - expected to scroll now, asks Harriet Gibsone

5 mins

'She was just a girl': how a very unlikely 'traitor' paid for exposing a Russian plot

Tina Satter tells Adam White about her new film, starring Sydney Sweeney as the US whistleblower Reality Winner

4 mins

House sales plunge as rising interest rates scares buyers

Home sales plunged by a quarter in April compared with the same month a year earlier, according to HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) figures.

3 mins

Read all stories from The Independent

The Independent Newspaper Description:

The Independent has been at the frontline of journalism since 1986, with its mission to challenge and debate always ahead of its time. The Independent is free-thinking and free of bias in an increasingly fragmented world where communities locally, regionally and across continents are disenfranchised with traditional establishments. They want real facts and frank opinions delivered first-hand from a news source that is ready to stand for something, not everything.