1. Thai boys ‘may spend months in cave’
A Thai football team and their coach have been found alive and well deep in a cave system, nine days after they got lost underground. Two British divers located the boys, aged between 11 and 16, and the 25-year-old in charge. However, they may all have to wait months for water levels to recede before they can get out. Food is being sent in and they will be taught to dive.
2. Brexit plan offers ‘best of both worlds’
A new, third-way plan for Britain’s customs relations with the rest of Europe after it leaves the EU will be a “significant step forward” and offer “the best of both worlds”, a Downing Street source has promised. Theresa May’s new plan will be presented to ministers for discussion at her country retreat Chequers on Friday.
3. UK to stop ‘gay conversion’ treatments
The Government is to eliminate “gay conversion” therapies as part of its response to the biggest survey ever conducted into the difficulties faced by LGBT people. Labour said it would have gone further, however, introducing a full legal ban on the “treatments”. The survey found that 68% of same-sex couples fear holding hands in public.
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4. Windrush generation ‘were badly let down’
The Home Office “badly let down” the Windrush generation by wrongly categorising many of them as illegal immigrants and requires “root and branch reform”, a report by the Commons Home Affairs Select Committee has concluded. Committee chair Yvette Cooper said: “Thousands of people have been denied their rights … by the Home Office.”
5. Highest ever temperature in Scotland
The Met Office has confirmed that the highest temperature ever recorded in Scotland was measured in Motherwell last month. The mercury reached 33.2C, beating the previous record of 32.9C set in August 2003 at Greycrook in the Borders region. This June was also the driest ever recorded in England and the warmest in Wales.
6. Most-wanted fraud suspect captured
Britain’s most-wanted fraudster, 45-year-old Mark Acklom, has been arrested in Switzerland after six years on the run. Sporting long hair and a beard, Acklom jump from the balcony of the apartment he shared with his wife and children in Zurich when police entered. He allegedly stole the life savings of 58-year-old Carolyn Woods.
7. BBC goes to court over Doctor Who leak
The BBC has asked a California court to force a website to reveal who leaked footage of the new, unreleased series of Doctor Who, starring Jodie Whittaker as the first female doctor. A 53-second clip with temporary music and no grade appeared on Tapatalk, a mobile community platform, together with two still images. The series will air on TV this autumn.
8. Social media ‘making children more lonely’
Child counselling service Childline has recorded an increase in reports of loneliness among children who call its phone line, with 14% more cases in 2017-18 than the previous year. Some of the children who called told counsellors that social media exacerbated the problem. They said they compared themselves to friends socialising online.
9. BBC’s Eddie Mair ‘offered to take pay cut’
BBC Radio 4 stalwart Eddie Mair has denied claims that his decision to leave news programme PM came after he refused to take a pay cut. Mair said that he had offered “in writing” to take a wage reduction when gendered pay inequality became an issue at the corporation. The 52-year-old insists he simply wants a career change after more than 30 years at the BBC.
10. Briefing: how dangerous are bouncy castles?
The death of a four-year-old girl who was reportedly thrown from a bouncy castle after it exploded has prompted an MP to call for a temporary ban on inflatables in public areas.
The child is believed to have been jumping on the blue inflatable on a beach in Gorleston, Norfolk, when it burst and sent her flying up to “30ft in the air”.
How dangerous are bouncy castles?