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The Chinese tagline on the movie poster says it all: "I will wait for you, no matter how long it takes." It tells the true story of Hachiko, the faithful dog that continued to wait for its master at a train station in Japan long after his death. The cream white Akita Inu, born 100 years ago, has been memorialised in everything from books to movies to the cult science fiction sitcom Futurama. And the Chinese iteration - the third after a Japanese version in 1987, and the Richard Gere-starrer in 2009 - is a hit at the box office. There have been tales of other devoted hounds such as Greyfriars Bobby, but none with the global impact of Hachiko. A bronze statue of him has stood outside Shibuya Station in Tokyo, where he waited in vain for a decade, since 1948. The statue was first erected in 1934 before being recycled for the war effort during World War Two. Japanese schoolchildren are taught the story of Chuken Hachiko - or loyal dog Hachiko - as an example of devotion and fidelity.

Water cremation is set to be available in the UK for the first time. The flameless process sees hot water and lye used to dissolve the body’s fat and tissues over the course of about four hours, leaving behind only the bones. This is essentially a sped-up version of what happens naturally when a body is buried underground, as the body’s cells are slowly broken down. Crematorium staff instead powder the deceased’s bones into a fine white ‘ash’, which the bereaved can scatter or place into an urn. STORY METRO

SYDNEY (AP) — Australia is now the first country to allow psychiatrists to prescribe certain psychedelic substances to patients with depression or post-traumatic stress disorder. Beginning Saturday, Australian physicians can prescribe doses of MDMA, also known as ecstasy, for PTSD. Psilocybin, the psychoactive ingredient in psychedelic mushrooms, can be given to people who have hard-to-treat depression. The country put the two drugs on the list of approved medicines by the Therapeutic Goods Administration. Scientists in Australia were surprised by the move, which was announced in February but took effect July 1. One scientist said it puts Australia “at the forefront of research in this field.” Chris Langmead, deputy director of the Neuromedicines Discovery Centre at the Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, said there have been very few advancements on treatment of persistent mental health issues in the last 50 years. The growing cultural acceptance has led two U.S. states to approve measures for their use: Oregon was the first to legalize the adult use of psilocybin, and Colorado’s voters decriminalized psilocybin in 2022. Days ago, President Joe Biden’s youngest brother said in a radio interview that the president has been “very open-minded” in conversations the two have had about the benefits of psychedelics as a form of medical treatment. FULL STORY

The Philippine Tourism Authority said it had launched an investigation after images from other countries appeared in a video promoting the resort. The archipelago's national tourism department removed the promotional video shortly after it was uploaded to Facebook after a Filipino blogger pointed out its inappropriateness. The travel video is part of the Department of Tourism's $900,000 (£7.08,298) "Love the Philippines" campaign launched on June 27. “As one of the many other forthcoming components of the launch of the enhanced tourism campaign, the DOT’s contracted agency, DDB Philippines, prepared and published an audiovisual presentation which has recently been the subject of scrutiny on the alleged use of non-original shots in certain parts of the AVP,” the DOT said in a statement. In a statement, advertising agency DDB "deeply apologized" to the Ministry of Tourism and admitted it was a "regrettable oversight" on their part. "While the use of archival footage in emotional videos is an industry standard, the use of foreign archival footage is an unfortunate oversight by our agency," DDB Philippines said, adding that the agency should have followed proper review and approval procedures "The use of foreign footage in an advertising campaign in the Philippines is highly inappropriate and contrary to the goals of the Department of Transportation," the statement said. The ad agency explained that no public funds were used for the video as it was an initiative of the DDB. The tourism ministry said it was investigating the "alleged use of unoriginal footage", adding that the agency had vouched for the originality of the video. FULL STORY

President Biden is facing backlash from conservatives following a report that his aides have been told to say publicly that he only has six grandchildren, omitting Hunter Biden’s 4-year-old estranged daughter. The president’s son, Hunter Biden, settled his child support case in Arkansas last week, ending a years-long paternity dispute over his 4-year-old daughter, whom both the president and the first lady refuse to acknowledge as their seventh grandchild. Announced in a court filing on Thursday, Hunter agreed to give his daughter some of his paintings, and the mother of the child, Lunden Alexis Roberts, agreed to withdraw her counterclaim to change their child's last name to "Biden." The New York Times released a damning report Saturday saying the family dispute is rooted in "money, corrosive politics and what it means to have the Biden birthright." FULL STORY

Republican presidential candidate Chris Christie said former President Trump will show up to the GOP primary debates because of his ego. The New York Times’s Maureen Dowd interviewed Christie, former governor of New Jersey, for an opinion piece published Saturday. When asked whether he believed Trump would attend the GOP debates after previously saying he may not, Christie affirmed that the former president most likely will. “I think that he’ll show up at the debates because his ego won’t permit him not to,” Christie said. “He can’t have a big TV show that he’s not on.” “He’s on Truth Social going bonkers, and no one’s paying attention? He won’t deal well with that,” the former governor added. Christie has repeatedly reiterated that he has the skills to beat Trump at a debate because he helped him prep for his debates in 2016 and 2020. He has also called on the former president to commit to attending the debate, saying on Friday that he will “shame” Trump into showing up to the debates. FULL STORY

US President Joe Biden will meet King Charles in a visit to the UK later this month, Buckingham Palace has announced.In a statement, the palace confirmed the US president will meet the monarch at Windsor Castle on 10 July. Mr Biden will also meet with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak during his five-day overseas trip, starting with a stop in the UK on 9 July to the UK, before going to Lithuania and Finland. A visit had long been anticipated and comes after Mr Sunak visited Washington last month for talks with the US president. Mr Biden attended the funeral of the King's mother, Queen Elizabeth II, last September and joined him and other leaders for an evening reception before the ceremony. The White House said: "President Biden will first travel to London, United Kingdom for engagements with King Charles III and Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to further strengthen the close relationship between our nations." FULL STORY

A week on from the dramatic mutiny by Wagner forces, residents in Rostov-on-Don - the city the mercenary troops seized - have been reflecting on the events that rocked Russia. In just 24 hours, leader of the Wagner group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, staged an insurrection, sending troops into the city of a million people and further on towards Moscow. Due to the current laws against criticising the so-called "special military operation" in Russia, the BBC has chosen to protect the identities of the citizens who spoke to us. One Rostov-on-Don local - who the BBC is calling Vadim - described the moment he spotted Wagner forces in the city. "I had to leave my home that day just to pop out and get something from the shop. About ten or eleven, I saw these armed people that had closed off the road. They were checking cars, asking people for documents but passers-by were simply allowed to carry on walking," he told the BBC World Service's Weekend programme. FULL STORY

Two people have been killed and another 28 injured in a shooting in the US city of Baltimore, Maryland, police say. A spokesman said that three people remained in a critical condition. The incident happened just after midnight (05:00 GMT) in the Brooklyn Homes area, where people had gathered for an event called Brooklyn Day. There are no details about suspects. More than a dozen of the victims were aged under 18, the city's acting commissioner reported. Officials have said that more than one assailant opened fire at the celebration. The motive behind the shooting is still unclear and police have appealed for people to come forward with any information about the incident. "This was a reckless, cowardly act that happened here," Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott told a news conference. "We will not to stop until we find you and we will find you. Until then I hope that with every single breath that you take that you think about the lives that you took and you think about the lives that you impacted here tonight," Mr Scott said. FULL STORY

The picture of three Jewish girls fleeing Nazi Germany became an iconic image appearing in museums, exhibitions and publications. It was taken at London's Liverpool Street station, but for more than 80 years the girls' identities were a mystery. Until now. Inge doesn't remember the picture being taken and for decades did not even know of its existence. The five-year-old had fled her home in Breslau, Germany, now Wroclaw in Poland, with her 10-year-old sister Ruth. Their mother and younger sister had stayed behind and were murdered at Auschwitz. It was not until she was a pensioner that Inge even realised she and Ruth, who died in 2015, had been forever immortalised as an icon of the Holocaust and Kindertransport, the mass evacuation of Jewish children from Nazi Germany in 1939. Listen to the full story here

Amend the Constitution! Touch the third rail! Think big and make things better! This is the big ideas period of American politics – a time that occurs roughly every four years in the lead-up to a presidential election – when candidates push expansive proposals, usually short on specifics. While the big ideas generally have little chance of becoming law, they speak to what the people who want to be president think will move primary voters. With President Joe Biden currently a lock for the Democratic nomination, most of the intellectual action this year is among Republicans. Below are some of the big ideas of the moment, which are usually unique to one or two candidates as opposed to positions that are standard for the party. I view these as distinct from the daily political issues – things like abortion rights, foreign policy, border security and gender rights, where there is a sliding scale of positions. A ‘mental competency’ test for candidates over 75 Read More

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House Republicans are grappling over whether to move forward with impeaching President Biden and a host of his top officials, putting a spotlight on how the conference has turned to impeachment as a tool to target administration officials. Republicans disagree over how hard to push for impeachment because some are worried the efforts could backfire after the party heavily criticized Democrats for their House impeachments of former President Trump. Here’s a look at who House Republicans are targeting for impeachment, and why they are doing so. FULL STORY

Former President Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) are engaged in an escalating back-and-forth over their respective immigration plans, competing over who presents the more hawkish vision on the border. On Tuesday, DeSantis rolled out his immigration proposal, titled “Mission Stop the Invasion No Excuses,” a clear jab at Trump’s handling of the issue during his administration. DeSantis’s plan calls for an end to birthright citizenship, and he has endorsed the use of “deadly force” against migrants suspected of drug trafficking. The plan has drawn Trump’s ire, with the former president accusing DeSantis of ripping off his policy. “Well, his plan is my plan,” Trump told Semafor on Tuesday. “I mean, he’s basically copied everything I said — catch and release, finish the wall.” STORY

A controversial policy change that bars teachers from using a student's preferred pronouns without parental permission will soon go into effect in New Brunswick despite pushback. It has caused political turmoil in the Canadian province. In May, under Premier Blaine Higgs, New Brunswick announced that a policy to create a safe space for students who identify as LGBT in schools will be amended, with the changes coming into effect on 1 July. The amendments to the Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity policy - also known as Policy 713 - removed explicit mention of allowing students to participate in extracurricular activities, including sports teams, that reflect their gender identity. More controversially, the changes - as explained by the province's education minister Bill Hogan - also forbid teachers from using the chosen preferred names and pronouns of a student under the age of 16 without the consent of their parents. FULL STORY

Ukraine's counter-offensive against Russia will be difficult and "very bloody", the US' highest-ranking military officer has said. Gen Mark Milley said he was unsurprised that progress had been slower than predicted - but added that Ukraine was "advancing steadily". "It goes a little slow, but that is part of the nature of war," he said. It comes as Volodymyr Zelensky accused "some" Western partners of delaying promised training for Ukrainian pilots. Several Western countries have pledged to train Kyiv's pilots on US-made F-16 fighter jets, but the Ukrainian president said some allies had been "dragging their feet" on the promise. President Zelensky has previously acknowledged that the Ukrainian offensive was making slow progress. Gen Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told an audience at the National Press Club in Washington on Friday that the counter-offensive was "advancing steadily, deliberately working its way through very difficult minefields... 500m a day, 1,000m a day, 2,000m a day, that kind of thing". FULL STORY

Police and rioters have clashed in the French city of Marseille as the country battles with a fifth night of unrest after the death of a teenager shot by police at point-blank range. Videos show police using tear gas, as officials say at least 56 arrests have been made in the southern city. But a heavy police presence in central Paris seems to have deterred protests. Large crowds turned out for the funeral of Nahel M, 17, who was killed as he drove away from a traffic stop. Many French cities have descended into chaos since Tuesday after the killing happened in the Paris suburb of Nanterre. Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin tweeted that there had been 427 arrests overnight and praised law enforcement for their "resolute action" which had led to a "calmer night". Around 45,000 police were deployed across the country for a second night on Saturday. More than 1,300 arrests were made on Friday night and more than 900 on Thursday. FULL STORY

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