Celebrities Come Out In Force For Remain Vote

Hundreds of celebrities have become the latest group to put their names to a letter urging voters to back remaining in the EU.

Film directors, actors, comedians and artists - and even the Poet Laureate - are named in a letter to The Guardian backing the Remain campaign.

The movie directors named include Danny Boyle, Mike Leigh and Richard Curtis, along with writers including spy author John le Carre.

Film actors include Benedict Cumberbatch, Bill Nighy, Dame Kristin Scott Thomas, Helena Bonham Carter, Jude Law, Juliet Stevenson and Keira Knightley.

Three knights of the screen - Sir Derek Jacobi, Sir John Hurt and Sir Patrick Stewart - are named, along with comedians Eddie Izzard, Jo Brand and Steve Coogan, and the Poet Laureate, Carol Ann Duffy.

Botham, Caine and Campbell back Brexit

The artists declare: "From the smallest gallery to the biggest blockbuster, many of us have worked on projects that would never have happened without vital EU funding or by collaborating across borders.

"Britain is not just stronger in Europe, it is more imaginative and more creative, and our global creative success would be severely weakened by walking away.

:: Senior US Diplomat Enters EU Referendum Row

"Leaving Europe would be a leap into the unknown for millions of people across the UK who work in the creative industries, and for the millions more at home and abroad who benefit from the growth and vibrancy of Britain's cultural sector.

"From the Bard to Bowie, British creativity inspires and influences the rest of the world. We believe that being part of the EU bolsters Britain's leading role on the world stage.

"Let's not become an outsider shouting from the wings."

The pro-EU letter, which risks being dismissed by Leave campaigners as 'Luvvies for Brussels' and a stitch-up by 10 Downing Street, follows a number of celebrity endorsements for Brexit.

England cricket legend Sir Ian Botham hit Brussels for six last month by branding the European Union a "racket" and urging Britons to "reclaim our basic sovereignty".

Veteran movie star Sir Michael Caine was praised by UKIP leader Nigel Farage earlier this year when he hit out at Brussels' "faceless civil servants".

:: Shadow Minister Calls Voter 'Horrible Racist'

Duncan Bannatyne, of TV's Dragons Den and I'm A Celebrity, has used his Twitter account to make a series of anti-Brussels statements.

In 2014 the businessman told his followers: "We must leave the EU ... MUST. There are many, many reasons but when I consider them all I know we are better off out of it."

Former footballer Sol Campbell, who played for England, Spurs and Arsenal, has said he backs Brexit because freedom of movement rules mean young British players are "crowded out".

He said: "If we want to see more English stars like Harry Kane rise through the ranks we should take back control - and Vote Leave."

And Downtown Abbey creator and Tory peer Julian Fellowes has called for Britain to cut ties with the "anti-democratic" EU.

EgyptAir Plane: Multi-National Search Intensifies

The search for a missing passenger jet is intensifying, with Egyptian president Abdel Fattah al Sisi ordering officials to take all necessary measures to find the plane.

EgyptAir flight MS804 departed Paris at 10.09pm BST on Wednesday but the plane lost contact with radar at 1.30am BST, just over three hours into its four-hour journey towards Cairo.

There were 56 passengers and 10 crew on board: 30 Egyptians, 15 French, two Iraqis, a Belgian, a Kuwaiti, a Saudi, a Sudanese, a Chadian, an Algerian, a Portuguese and a Canadian. Among them were two babies and a child.

Briton Richard Osman, 40, was also on the 13-year-old plane.

Greek and French boats and planes have joined teams from the Egyptian armed forces in the search for the jet.

The UK has sent RFA Lyme Bay, which had been near Crete, and a C130 Hercules from RAF Akrotiri.

Greece also has a submarine on standby, while the US has offered its support.

The Thai cleaning lady facing prison for 'I see'

Patnaree Chankij's home on the outskirts of Bangkok is a cramped, three-room house in which the 40-year-old widow lives with two of her children, and where she often does other people's laundry to make ends meet. At other times she works as a casual cleaner in apartments and offices.

As in other houses in Thailand, there are portraits of King Bhumibol Adulyadej on the walls. Patnaree considers herself a loyal citizen, and says she has never said anything negative about the royal family.

But earlier this month she was detained by the police and charged with lese majeste, insulting the monarchy, one of the most serious charges in the Thai criminal code. It carries a penalty of three to 15 years on each count and its use has escalated after the military coup two years ago.

More than 60 people have been charged since then. Most of the cases are now heard in military courts, which restrict the rights of defence. Often they are heard in secret, with journalists finding out about them weeks later, if at all.

Sentences are harsh. Last year a mother of two was given a sentence of 56 years for comments she made on Facebook - later halved after she pleaded guilty.

So what did Patnaree do to get charged? According to her lawyer, the only evidence the police have produced is an exchange on Facebook between her and a political activist, in which she responded to comments the police say are defamatory with the Thai word "ja", which translates as "I see", or "ok".

The police say she should have condemned the comments.

Patnaree does not believe she has been charged over anything she said or wrote. She believes it is because of her son, Sirawith (which translates as New) Seritiwat.

He is a political science student at Thammasat University, but over the past two years he has also emerged as the best-known face of student dissent against military rule.

Right after the coup, as part of two groups called Resistant Citizens and Thai Student Centre for Democracy, he joined protests against the new government, using symbols like the three-fingered salute from the film series Hunger Games and reading George Orwell's classic novel 1984 in public.

Last year they held a mock election outside a central Bangkok arts centre. Then they organised a protest train ride to a controversial royal-themed park, which had been built by the army, allegedly through some corrupt contracts.

The groups now call themselves the New Democracy Movement.

Although their demonstrations have been small, these activists are the only group openly challenging the military in Thailand. The so-called "red shirt" mass movement, which backed the government ousted by the coup, has largely been silent.

The army has responded by detaining the students and putting them through what it calls "attitude adjustment", where they are pressured to change their views.

More recently, the army has hardened its stance, filing criminal charges against some of the activists. Sirawith has been detained several times and charged twice, although he has not yet been tried.

Now the military government is preparing to introduce a new constitution which will enshrine military dominance of politics for many more years. It would allow elections to take place as early as next year, but the charter weakens the power of elected governments and gives more power to a military-appointed senate, and to the conservative higher courts.

The junta has promised a referendum on the constitution on 7 August, but with supporters of the ousted government likely to be hostile to a charter which would in all likelihood block their party from returning to power, the military has banned all campaigning against it. 

Those who try to sway public opinion are threatened with 10-year prison sentences.

At the same time, thousands of government officials are being trained to go out and inform the public about the constitution, and to persuade them to vote.

In that way the military hopes to win the August vote. Losing it would be a serious blow to the credibility of a government which has always insisted that most Thai people support its plans to restructure the country. It is not a result the military will leave to chance.

Activists like Sirawith Seritiwat are a threat to that strategy, and in the weeks leading up to the referendum the soldiers are sure to redouble their efforts to stifle dissenting voices.

New Cigarette Packaging Rules Come Into Force

Cigarettes in the UK are being sold in standardised green packaging with explicit images from today, under new rules designed to cut the number of smokers.

It comes after the world's four largest tobacco firms lost a legal challenge against the Government's new plain packaging rules at the High Court on Thursday.

Under the directive, pictures showing the harmful effects of smoking must cover 65% of the front and back of every packet of cigarettes, with extra warnings on the top of the pack.

Packs containing 10 cigarettes will be prohibited under the ruling because the boxes are viewed too small to contain suitable health warnings.

The changes include a ban on menthol cigarettes from 2020 and promotional statements such as "this product is free of additives" or "is less harmful than other brands".

Companies have a year to sell old stock and fully implement the changes under the directive.

An estimated 700,000 premature deaths are caused each year and it is hoped the new rules will reduce the number of smokers across the EU by 2.4 million.

British Lung Foundation chief executive Dr Penny Woods welcomed the measures.

"For too long glitzy, cleverly designed packaging has lured young people into smoking, a habit that takes the lives of half of all long-term smokers," she said.

Second Kidnapped Chibok Girl Found In Nigeria

A second missing Chibok girl has been found in Nigeria, two years after she and 275 others were taken from their secondary school.

Army spokesman Colonel Sani Usman "has confirmed the rescue of another Chibok girl this evening".

Serah Luka was reportedly rescued at about 5pm local time during a military operation against IS-affiliated fighters Boko Haram.

She was taken to hospital after her rescue.

Serah is the daughter of a pastor, Usman said, and had only started at the boarding school in Chibok a little more than two months before the Boko Haram raid.

The news comes just two days after another of the abducted students was found.

Activists named her as Amina Ali Darsha Nkeki and quoted her as saying that most of the girls were still in the Sambisa forest, Boko Haram's biggest stronghold.

But the 19-year-old, traumatised and carrying a baby, was quoted as saying that six of her classmates were already dead.

The girls went missing in 2014 during a raid by Boko Haram fighters

She and her mother met Nigerian president Muhammadu Buhari at his official residence in Abuja on Thursday, where he said the government was "doing all it can to rescue the remaining Chibok girls".

"Amina's rescue gives us new hope and offers a unique opportunity for vital information," he said in a statement.

There was international outrage when 276 girls - mostly aged between 16 and 18 - were abducted from their school during a Boko Haram raid on Chibok in April 2014.

Fifty-seven of them managed to escape the same day.

High-profile figures, including America's first lady Michelle Obama, joined a campaign with the hashtag: #BringBackOurGirls.

Hope was briefly raised in April 2015 when the Nigerian military announced it had rescued 200 girls and 93 women from the Sambisa Forest.

It later emerged that the Chibok girls were not among them.

Boko Haram militants have killed an estimated 15,000 people and kidnapped hundreds of men, women and children during a six-year campaign to establish an Islamic caliphate in northeastern Nigeria.

Wreckage From Missing EgyptAir Flight Found

EgyptAir has confirmed that wreckage found during the search for Flight MS804 is from the missing plane.

The airline released a statement saying it has received an official letter from the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirming the wreckage was discovered near Karpathos Island.

The statement adds: "EgyptAir sincerely conveys its deepest sorrow to the families and friends of the passengers onboard Flight MS804.

"Family members of passengers and crew have been already informed and we extend our deepest sympathies to those affected.

"Meanwhile, the Egyptian investigation team, in cooperation with the GReek counterpart are still searching for other remains of the missing plane."

The find comes after a Greek frigate discovered pieces of plastic and two life jackets in the Mediterranean.

Egyptian Civil Aviation Minister Sherif Fathy said the plane, which was en route from Paris to Cairo, was more likely to have been brought down by a "terror attack" than a technical fault.

The aircraft disappeared with 56 passengers and 10 crew on board - including one British national.

French President Francois Hollande said "unfortunately the information we have ... confirms to us the plane came down and is lost".

Greek defence minister Panos Kammenos said the aircraft was in Egyptian airspace and flying at 37,000ft when it made "sudden swerves" and plunged to 15,000ft.

He said it swerved "90 degrees left and then 360 degrees to the right" before vanishing.

Authorities are examining CCTV footage at Charles de Gaulle Airport - and investigating an account from the captain of a merchant ship who reported seeing a "flame in the sky" some 130 nautical miles south of Karpathos.

Mr Fathy said there were no known security issues with the passengers who boarded the jet, but further checks were being made.

Headstones Smashed In Jewish Cemetery

Police are treating the destruction of headstones in a Jewish cemetery in Greater Manchester as a hate crime.

Officers found 14 headstones knocked over and smashed at the Blackley Jewish Cemetery on Rochdale Road in Charlestown on Wednesday afternoon.

They are now appealing for witnesses or for anyone who has any information to get in contact.

Chief Superintendent Wasim Chaudhry from GMP's North Manchester Division said: "This is a sickening act of criminal damage which we are taking very seriously.

"I believe this was a deliberate and targeted attack and there is no place for such abhorrent behaviour in our communities.

"All decent members of the public recognise that a cemetery is supposed to be a resting place for people who have passed away; a place of sanctity and dignity where families can come and pay their respects.

"So to have those graves desecrated in such a disgusting and disrespectful way will no doubt cause immeasurable anguish to the families and loved ones affected.

"I cannot begin to get into the mind of someone who would commit such an atrocity.

will cause a lot of anxiety and distress in the local community and we as police officers and my colleagues at Manchester City Council share that distress.

"We will do everything we can to find out who is responsible and bring the full force of the law down on them.

"This has been recorded as a hate crime because of the clear racial motivation and, should we find those who committed this cowardly act, which will allow the courts to impose even harsher punishments."

Chief Supt Chaudhry said extra patrols were being put into the area to act as a deterrent and reassure the community.

The same cemetery was previously targeted by vandals in 2014, when more than 40 gravestones were vandalised and sprayed with offensive graffiti.

:: Anyone with information should call police on 0161 856 3521, 101 or Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111