Fire-resistant zinc cladding approved by residents of Grenfell Tower was replaced in the refurbishment contract with more flammable aluminium panels to save £293,368, according to documents seen by the Guardian. A list of amendments to the £9.2m contract between Kensington and Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation (KCTMO) and Rydon, the builder for the refurbishment of the 24-storey tower, reveals that the saving was made after tender by fitting “cassette fix aluminium cladding in lieu of zinc cladding”.

Other savings listed include the removal of all external landscaping works, saving £428,000, and changing window surrounds from birchwood to MDF or softwood in a further £117,000 cut. The aluminium cladding that was then fitted during the works, which finished last year, is suspected of having helped spread the fire that claimed at least 80 lives. It contained a flammable polyethylene core.(theguardian)…[+]

The lawyer privately advising Donald Trump on the investigation into Russia’s interference in the 2016 election is head of a law firm that was involved in the sale of a prestigious piece of New York real estate to Jared Kushner, the US president’s son-in-law, in a deal that could fall under the spotlight of the same inquiry. Marc Kasowitz, a member of the New York bar who has represented Trump in his business dealings for 15 years, was brought on board by the president last month to provide personal legal advice relating to the Russian inquiry now being conducted by special counsel Robert Mueller. The appointment has placed Kasowitz at the center of the legal maelstrom over the investigation into potential collusion between Russia and elements of Trump’s presidential campaign.

An investigation by the Guardian has found that Kasowitz’s law firm, Kasowitz Benson Torres, legally represented the owners of the former New York Times building in Times Square, Manhattan, in a 2015 deal in which part of the property was sold to Kushner for $296m.

The Washington Post has reported that a subsequent loan of $285m from Deutsche Bank to Kushner Companies, relating to the purchase of the building, could fall under the remit of the Mueller investigation given Deutsche Bank’s scandal-riven reputation. The involvement of Kasowitz’s firm as a key legal player in the initial sale adds a further possible twist as the special counsel’s inquiry gathers momentum.(theguardian)…[+]

Iraqi forces claim to have recaptured the Great Mosque of al-Nuri in Mosul – where Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi proclaimed himself leader of Islamic State three years ago.

The seizure marks a highly symbolic moment in the war, placing government troops in the heart of the Old City – the last redoubt of Isis in Mosul – and probably within a fortnight of recapturing all of Mosul. Baghdadi declared a caliphate from the mosque three years ago to the day – 29 June 2014 – at the height of the group’s power. Isis last week toppled the Hadba minaret adjoining the mosque, causing extensive damage to the surrounding compound. The fight for the terror group’s last redoubt was grinding and savage, with Iraqi troops reporting house-to-house fighting with a battle-hardened enemy, which refused to surrender.(theguardian)…[+]

Pope Francis is facing the biggest crisis of his papacy after the third highest ranking official in the Vatican, Cardinal George Pell, was accused of sexual abuse charges in his native Australia.

Police in Australia announced on Thursday that charges for multiple sexual offences were served on Pell’s legal representatives in Melbourne and that he had been ordered to appear in court on 18 July. “Cardinal Pell is facing multiple charges … and there are multiple complainants,” Victoria police’s deputy commissioner Shane Patton said. The charges were “historical sexual assault offences”. Pell announced at a press conference that he was innocent of the charges and that he was taking a leave of absence in order to return to Australia and “clear his name” following a recent discussion of the matter with the pope.

The Vatican’s chief spokesman, Greg Burke, released a statement that was supportive of Pell, citing the cardinal’s “honesty” and the church’s respect for the Australian legal system. The statement did not include any reference to the alleged victims in the case and neither Pell nor Burke responded to questions about the alleged victims following a joint appearance to read their statements to the press.(theguardian)…[+]

A police helicopter launched grenades at Venezuela’s supreme court building on Tuesday evening following months of protests against the country’s president, Nicolás Maduro. Maduro said “terrorists” had lobbed two grenades that failed to detonate. Some reports put the number of grenades higher. Local media suggested a former police intelligence officer had carried out the attack. Videos circulated on social media showed a man piloting the helicopter while holding a banner that read “Liberty. Article 350”, in reference to the part of the Venezuelan constitution that allows citizens to declare themselves in civil disobedience in front of “any regime that runs counter to democratic guarantees or undermines human rights”. The incident took place just hours after Maduro warned that he and his supporters would be willing to take up arms if his government was toppled by “undemocratic forces”.(theguardian)…[+]

A million plastic bottles are bought around the world every minute and the number will jump another 20% by 2021, creating an environmental crisis some campaigners predict will be as serious as climate change. New figures obtained by the Guardian reveal the surge in usage of plastic bottles, more than half a trillion of which will be sold annually by the end of the decade. The demand, equivalent to about 20,000 bottles being bought every second, is driven by an apparently insatiable desire for bottled water and the spread of a western, urbanised “on the go” culture to China and the Asia Pacific region.

More than 480bn plastic drinking bottles were sold in 2016 across the world, up from about 300bn a decade ago. If placed end to end, they would extend more than halfway to the sun. By 2021 this will increase to 583.3bn, according to the most up-to-date estimates from Euromonitor International’s global packaging trends report. Most plastic bottles used for soft drinks and water are made from polyethylene terephthalate (Pet), which is highly recyclable. But as their use soars across the globe, efforts to collect and recycle the bottles to keep them from polluting the oceans, are failing to keep up.(guardian)…[+]

A doctor in Thailand whose parents died from liver cancer after eating a much-loved raw fish dish is travelling the country’s rural north-east to warn people off the recipe.

Koi pla, a cheap plate of raw fish ground with spices and lime, is eaten by millions of Thais, especially in one of the nation’s poorest provinces, Isaan. But the meal often contains parasites that cause a type of liver cancer believed to be killing up to 20,000 Thais per year. Isaan has the highest reported instance of cholangiocarcinoma, or bile duct cancer, in the world. The aggressive cancer is often caused by a parasitic flatworm – or liver fluke – native to fresh water fish in the Mekong region. “It’s a very big health burden around here,” Narong Khuntikeo, who went on to become a liver surgeon after he lost his parents, told Agence France-Presse. “But nobody knows about this because they die quietly, like leaves falling from a tree.” Without surgery, the disease has one of the lowest survival rates of all cancers, according to cholangiocarcinoma charities. Narong has brought together scientists, doctors and anthropologists in his fight against the “silent killer”.(theguardian)…[+]

More than 15,000 Americans were losing their jobs each day in June 2009, as the US struggled to climb out of a painful recession following its worst financial crisis in decades. But Jay Sekulow, who is now an attorney to Donald Trump, had a private jet to finance. His law firm was expecting a $3m payday. And six-figure contracts for members of his family needed to be taken care of. Documents obtained by the Guardian show Sekulow that month approved plans to push poor and jobless people to donate money to his Christian nonprofit, which since 2000 has steered more than $60m to Sekulow, his family and their businesses.

Telemarketers for the nonprofit, Christian Advocates Serving Evangelism (Case), were instructed in contracts signed by Sekulow to urge people who pleaded poverty or said they were out of work to dig deep for a “sacrificial gift”. “I can certainly understand how that would make it difficult for you to share a gift like that right now,” they told retirees who said they were on fixed incomes and had “no extra money” – before asking if they could spare “even $20 within the next three weeks”.(theguardian)…[+]

Angela Merkel has signalled a change in her party’s opposition to gay marriage after stating MPs should be allowed a free vote in the German parliament.

Speaking at an event organised by the magazine Brigitte, the German chancellor said she felt aggrieved that debate was mainly carried out along party lines and that she hoped it would be “headed towards a conscience vote”. It is widely believed the Bundestag would legalise gay marriage in a free vote on the issue.

Germany is one of a few western countries where same-sex marriage is still not legal. Civil partnerships have been allowed since 2001, but Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union has resisted calls to open up marriage to same-sex couples. The centre-right CDU, which has been governing as senior partner in a coalition with the centre-left SPD since 2013, has said it prefers to amend legislation so couples in a civil partnership have the same tax status and adoption rights as married couples.(theguardian)…[+]

The White House has declared that it believes Bashar al-Assad’s regime is preparing to carry out another chemical weapons attack, and warned that the Syrian leader and his military would “pay a heavy price” if it went ahead.  The unusual public warning on Monday night appeared to be intended to deter the regime from repeating its use of chemical weapons against rebel-held cities and towns.

It may also have been aimed at the regime’s backers in Moscow and Tehran, who have resolutely backed Assad and denied the regime’s responsibility for chemical weapons use. The US ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley, tweeted: “Any further attacks done to the people of Syria will be blamed on Assad, but also on Russia and Iran who support him killing his own people.”

The Kremlin described the warning as an unacceptable threat and said Russia had no information about a new chemical attack. The US defence secretary, James Mattis, did not address the nature of the intelligence or White House warning as he flew to Europe for a Nato meeting, but said the US was not going to get drawn into the Syrian civil war. “We just refuse to get drawn into a fight there in the Syria civil war, we try to end that one through diplomatic engagement,” he told reporters. “If somebody comes after us, bombs us or takes a heading on us or fires on us, then under legitimate self-defence we’ll do whatever we have to do to stop it.”(Theguardian)…[+]