WeekDay AM: 10 Things you need to know this morning
Sultana declares new party, Crete battles major wildfire, and a study on love

 
today's POLITICS story

Sultana says she is starting a party with Corbyn

What happened 
Coventry South MP Zarah Sultana has announced that she is resigning from the Labour Party to co-lead a new political party with Jeremy Corbyn, other independent MPs and activists. Sultana (pictured above, middle) had the Labour whip removed last year and has sat as an independent MP since last July after voting to abolish the two-child benefit cap.

Who said what
"In 2029, the choice will be stark, socialism or barbarism," Sultana wrote in a post on X last night. She claimed that Labour had "completely failed to improve people's lives" and smeared "people of conscience trying to stop a genocide as terrorists".

A new party "raises the prospect of a split on the left that mirrors the divide between Reform UK and the Conservatives on the right", said The Telegraph.

Corbyn, who was expelled from Labour in 2020, is yet to confirm Sultana's announcement, although he did tell ITV that "there will be an alternative view" focused on "poverty, inequality and a foreign policy that's based on peace rather than war".

What next? 
Corbyn was "frustrated by Sultana's unilateral announcement", said The Guardian, and he has not "endorsed any specific leadership roles". There was "an agreement in principle" to form a new party, but the "timing and leadership" had not been settled. Some see her declaration as "premature" and "potentially counterproductive".

 
 
today's EUROPE story

Firefighters battle wildfire on 'tinderbox' island of Crete

What happened
A major wildfire on the island of Crete has forced thousands of people to evacuate their homes and holiday accommodation. Helicopters, drones and more than 230 firefighters have been battling the blaze, which was spread across forested hills by strong wind gusts.

Who said what
The fire started on Wednesday afternoon in the mountains between the villages of Ferma, Achlia and Agia Fotia as an early summer heatwave swept across much of Europe. The "gale-force winds and aridity made for tinderbox conditions", which is "hampering" efforts to "tame the fire", said Reuters.

Local volunteers and workers have "joined the operation using water tankers, bulldozers and earth-moving machinery", said Athens-based daily Kathimerini. But the terrain is "rugged" and the region has been hit by "widespread power and communication outages".

What next?
Last summer – the hottest on record in Greece – 45,000 hectares were destroyed by fires and several tourists died. This time the damage is already "extensive", said the BBC, with "homes, greenhouses, villas, hotels and businesses reportedly destroyed in both coastal and inland areas".

 
 
Today's hISTORY story

DNA of ancient Egyptian reveals secret ties

What happened
Genomic analysis of an ancient Egyptian man has revealed a "surprising ancestry" that suggests fascinating links between two great civilisations, according to CNN.

Scientists who studied the genetic make-up of the man, who lived between 4,500 and 4,800 years ago, found that about 80% of his DNA matched ancient samples found in North Africa. The rest was traced to Mesopotamia, roughly where modern-day Iraq is today.

Who said what
Egypt and Mesopotamia were the centres of "early forms of government, monumental architecture and writing systems", so the man's shared ancestry "raises questions" about "how interconnected" they were, said The Times. This is the "first evidence of genetic mixing" between the two civilisations, said Pontus Skoglund of the Francis Crick Institute, one of the authors of the study published in Nature.

What next?
The findings are "not conclusive", but they are "tantalising", said Skoglund. More samples from across Egypt's early dynastic and pre-dynastic periods would be needed to understand if the man's ancestry was typical.

 
 

It's not all bad

People who regularly express love through words and actions tend to feel more loved themselves, according to a small study published in the journal Plos One. Researchers tracked 52 adults over four months and found that even small acts of kindness, such as using words to show affection or spending time with friends and family, helped people feel more loved, which in turn boosted their mental health.

 
 
under the radar

Bosses are hiring etiquette coaches for Gen Z staff

Researchers have claimed that Gen Zers drink less, don't have much sex but are particularly interested in astrology. Now these teens and 20-somethings face a new accusation – that they don't know how to behave in the workplace.

Bosses in San Francisco are hiring etiquette coaches to teach young workers about everything from eye contact to personal hygiene.

Employers complain that Gen Z workers "want to be promoted after only a few months, treat the office like their bedroom, show up in sweats or skimpy office-siren outfits, FaceTime friends from their desks and ghost their managers", said The San Francisco Standard. In a survey of 1,000 employers last year, one in eight said a Gen Z candidate had brought their mum or dad to a job interview.

One etiquette coach in the Californian city said enquiries had risen by 50% over the past two months. Another has been "flooded" with requests for help, particularly from employers who feel like they're being "challenged by their young colleagues". She said she encouraged bosses to think of such "pushback" as "youthful curiosity" rather than "insubordination".

All this is just a "new thing" for companies to "waste money on", said Gizmodo. It's hard to believe that Gen Z is "any better or any worse than any other generation of American worker".

As for Gen Z workers themselves, they "see things differently" to their bosses, said The San Francisco Standard. From their perspective, millennial and Gen X managers have "no work-life balance" and don't offer it to their staff.

 
 
on this day

4 July 2017

North Korea test-fired its first successful intercontinental ballistic missile into the Sea of Japan. Last October the hermit state launched an intercontinental ballistic missile that flew for 86 minutes – the longest flight recorded yet – before falling into waters off its east coast.

 
 
Today's newspapers

Keir Starmer promised patients "a doctor in your pocket" as he made the NHS app the "centrepiece" of his reform plan, says The Times. "The doctor in your pocket will see you now," says the Daily Mail. Jeremy Corbyn will launch a "hard-left challenge", says The Telegraph. Several papers focus on the death of footballer Diogo Jota. The sport has "lost a champion", says The Sun.

See the newspaper front pages

 
 
tall tale

Five-star stay

An Indian tourist board has been poking fun at a British fighter jet after it was stranded at an airport in the state of Kerala. With the F-35B jet stuck waiting weeks for engineering repairs, Kerala's tourist board posted a satirical cartoon of the aircraft on a runway, with a spoof five-star review: "Kerala is such an amazing place, I don't want to leave. Definitely recommend."

 
 

Morning Report was written and edited by Sarah Collins, Hollie Clemence, Jamie Timson, Chas Newkey-Burden, Genevieve Bates, with illustrations by Marian Femenias-Moratinos.

Image credits, from top: Stefan Rousseau /PA Images / Alamy Stock Photo; Costas Metaxakis / AFP / Getty Images; CM Dixon / Heritage Images / Getty Images; Illustration by Marian Femenias-Moratinos / Getty Images.

Morning Report and Evening Review were named Newsletter of the Year at the Publisher Newsletter Awards 2025