Good morning.
Seven years after the Brexit referendum, the proportion of Britons who want to rejoin the EU has climbed to its highest level since 2016, according to a survey.
Britons and Europeans also think the UK’s return to the EU is becoming more likely, while British respondents are more optimistic about the bloc’s future – to the extent of trusting the European Commission more than their own government.
Data from YouGov’s latest Brexit tracker survey found that, excluding those who said they would not vote or did not know, 58.2% of people in Britain would vote to rejoin.
The percentage is only fractionally down on the 60% recorded in February this year – the highest figure since comparable records began in February 2012 – and has risen more or less consistently since a post-referendum low of 47% in early 2021.
What else did the survey find? Europeans are a lot less likely to think other countries would follow Britain’s example, the survey found. Asked whether they would vote to remain in the EU or leave in a Brexit-style referendum, 62% of respondents in France and 63% in Italy, which are traditionally among the least enthusiastic EU member states, said they would vote to stay.
Why is the EU flag in the news? Ministers in the UK have been accused of criminalising the flying of the European Union flag on government buildings in England after London’s City Hall was told it could be prosecuted for displaying it on the anniversary of the Brexit referendum.
‘True explorers’: tributes paid to men killed in ‘catastrophic implosion’ of Titan sub
Tributes have been paid to the five people who are now believed to have been instantly killed in a “catastrophic implosion” of the Titan submersible during its dive to the Titanic.
On Thursday, after days of aerial and underwater searches, a robotic diving vehicle deployed from a Canadian ship discovered a debris field from the submersible Titan on the seabed 1,600ft (488 metres) from the bow of the Titanic.
Five major fragments of the 22ft Titan were located in the debris field left from its disintegration, including the vessel’s tail cone and two sections of the pressure hull, officials said. “The debris field here is consistent with a catastrophic implosion of the vehicle,” said R Adm John Mauger of the US Coast Guard.
The Titan, operated by the US-based company OceanGate Expeditions, had been missing since it lost contact with its surface support ship on Sunday morning about an hour and 45 minutes into what should have been a two-hour dive to the world’s most famous shipwreck.
What has the White House said? The White House said the loved ones of the five men had endured a “harrowing ordeal” over the past week. “Our hearts go out to the families and loved ones of those who lost their lives on the Titan,” it said in a statement. “They have been through a harrowing ordeal over the past few days, and we are keeping them in our thoughts and prayers.”
Was the sound of the implosion heard? The US navy has said it detected an “anomaly” that was probably the Titan’s fatal implosion, soon after the submersible went missing, while the film director, James Cameron, claims his sources in the deep-sea exploration industry also detected a “loud bang”.
US honeybees suffer second deadliest season on record
The US’s honeybee hives staggered through their second highest death rate on record, with beekeepers losing nearly half of their managed colonies, an annual bee survey found.
But by using costly and herculean measures to create new colonies, beekeepers are somehow keeping afloat. Thursday’s University of Maryland and Auburn University survey found that even though 48% of colonies were lost in the year that ended 1 April, the number of US honeybee colonies “remained relatively stable”.
Honeybees are crucial to the food supply, pollinating more than 100 of the crops we eat, including nuts, vegetables, berries, citruses and melons. Scientists said a combination of parasites, pesticides, starvation and effects of the climate crisis keep causing large die-offs.
Last year’s 48% annual loss is up from the previous year’s loss of 39% and the 12-year average of 39.6%, but it’s not as high as 2020-21’s 50.8% mortality rate, according to the survey, which was funded and administered by the nonprofit research group Bee Informed Partnership. Beekeepers told the surveying scientists that a 21% loss over the winter is acceptable and more than three-fifths of beekeepers surveyed said their losses were greater than that.
Why are bees so important? The demand for pollination from commercial bee colonies is growing even as beekeepers have to work harder to make up for losses. The US Department of Agriculture says 35% of the human diet comes from insect-pollinated plants and the honeybee is responsible for 80% of that pollination.
In other news …
A painting has been saved for the UK in recognition of its “outstanding significance” for the study of race and gender in 17th-century Britain, it will be announced today. The “highly unusual” portrait of two women – one black and one white – depicted as companions and equals with similar dress, hair and jewellery, dates to about 1650.
The Chinese government has reportedly reprimanded the US ambassador to China over comments made by Joe Biden in which he referred to Xi Jinping as a “dictator”. Nicholas Burns received the diplomatic note hours after Biden made comments about Xi at a fundraiser in California.
The weapons supervisor charged with involuntary manslaughter over the shooting death of a cinematographer on the set of the Alec Baldwin film Rust has been charged with evidence tampering for allegedly passing drugs to someone else on the day of the shooting.
Paul McCartney has clarified how artificial intelligence has been used to create a new Beatles song, saying that “nothing has been artificially or synthetically created”. Last week, McCartney announced that he had employed AI technology on an unreleased Beatles demo from the 70s.
Stat of the day: 1,572 US politicians have helped ban abortion since Roe fell. They’re mostly men
It’s been one year since the US supreme court ended the constitutional right to abortion. The procedure is now prohibited in 14 states and restricted in six more, leaving large swaths of the midwest and south without access to basic reproductive care. To mark the first anniversary of the Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision, the case that overturned Roe v Wade, the Guardian has created a visual directory of state legislators who embraced the opportunity to restrict abortion access. These are the faces of lawmakers and governors whose votes helped pass bans on abortion at conception or after six weeks, before most women know they are pregnant.
Don’t miss this: Heartache, horror, hope – my year reporting on abortion while pregnant
In her final piece before going on maternity leave, Poppy Noor writes about witnessing the decimation of women’s rights while on the road as a reproductive rights reporter.
“I’ve driven across America’s varied terrain as a reporter throughout this tidal wave of new laws, bearing witness to a monumental assault on women’s rights. I have faced, head on, the fury that comes from anti-abortion extremists for daring to write about abortions. And I have seen the dogged organization and jubilance of those who have protected abortion rights in their states after months of pounding on doors, rain or shine … Covering this beat, especially while pregnant, has changed my depth of vision. To see this assault up close and personal is to see it for what it is: not a journey to protect life; but to stifle, suppress and suffocate freedom.”
… Or this: ‘You can’t pour from an empty cup’ – US violence prevention workers tell of burnout
For the past 24 years, Jose Gomez has been on call at any hour. Gomez works as a community violence interrupter in Stockton, California, focused on extracting high-risk young people from the cycles of violence in their own neighborhoods. Sometimes he’s in the aftermath of a shooting to guide survivors and their families away from retaliation. Sometimes he mediates conflicts before they turn violent. The work of violence prevention specialists has long gone under the radar. In recent years, however, there’s been more recognition of their work, with the White House praising this model for violence reduction and a growing number of cities investing in it. But as the profile of community violence interrupters grows, these workers say they have to navigate secondhand trauma, unpredictable hours and the ebb and flow of grant funding that their jobs rely on – and burnout.
Climate check: Beijing records hottest June day since weather records began as heatwave hits China
Beijing logged its hottest June day since records began yesterday, the national weather service said, as swathes of northern China sweltered in 40C heat. On Friday the capital upgraded its warning for hot weather to red, saying most parts of the city could roast in temperatures of up to 40C (104F). China has a four-tier weather warning system, with red the most severe, followed by orange, yellow and blue. Scientists say rising global temperatures – caused largely by burning fossil fuels – are aggravating extreme weather worldwide, and many countries in Asia have experienced deadly heatwaves and record temperatures in recent weeks.
Weather tracker: China issues heatstroke alert amid historic heatwave
Last Thing: Guest spends 603 nights at five-star Indian hotel ‘without paying’
Indian police are investigating a suspected fraudster who spent nearly two years in a five-star hotel without paying, local media have said. Ankush Dutta booked a room at Roseate House hotel in Delhi on 30 May 2019 and was supposed to check out the next day. But he extended his stay for 603 nights until 22 January 2021, leaving behind unpaid bills of $70,000. “Accounts were falsified to conceal the actual outstanding dues,” the police complaint read, quoted by the Indian Express newspaper. Hotel managers also filed a police complaint against several employees for conspiracy, forgery and cheating, with officials saying they suspected staff members had been bribed to manipulate in-house software systems.
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