Two babies were reportedly among the injured after a missile strike in Ukraine's Kharkiv region.

Joey Barton was stripped of the QPR captaincy on this day in 2012. The midfielder was sent off during Manchester City’s dramatic final-day 3-2 win over QPR in May – which saw them win the title with Sergio Aguero’s last-gasp goal. He was sent off by referee Mike Dean after elbowing Carlos Tevez and, as he left the pitch, Barton kicked Sergio Aguero before aiming a headbutt at Vincent Kompany. He was fined six weeks’ wages, on top of a £75,000 fine from the Football Association and was given a 12-match ban from the FA. Barton said: “My behaviour was wrong and I accept the punishment that has been imposed upon me as a result. I apologise to the manager, my team-mates and of course the QPR fans for my actions. I also apologise to the Manchester City players, staff and supporters.” The current Bristol Rovers manager was loaned out to Marseille the following season but stayed at Loftus Road until 2015, making 99 appearances, before joining Burnley. He also played for Rangers and returned to Burnley to finish his playing career in 2017. In 2018, he was named Fleetwood manager before becoming Rovers boss in 2021. Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live

By Steven Scheer and Karin Strohecker JERUSALEM/LONDON Israel's war with Palestinian militant group Hamas has upended expectations of

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An ad launched by Progress Action Fund launched, showing an elderly Republican congressman interrupting a couple in the bedroom, has now been banned on X, formerly known as Twitter. According to the Progress Action Fund, which aims to defeat Republicans in red states, the platform “has censored” its account as well as the ad, called “Keep Republicans Out Of Your Bedroom.” In addition, the platform has “placed a ‘Search Ban’ and a ‘Search Suggestion Ban’ on the account.” As of Wednesday afternoon, the account did not show up on the social media platform, yet the ad could still be seen on X through retweets from other accounts. The Progress Action Fund said it contacted the platform’s legal department and “appealed the decision, which was denied.” Joe Jacobson, Founder and Executive Director of Progress Action Fund, took a stab at X’s owner: “Elon Musk loves free speech, but only when it’s convenient for him and his far-right political agenda.” “Political speech is protected under law and Musk’s competitors clearly agree that our ad should not be censored,” he continued. “When releasing ads in the future, we’ll be taking them to other platforms, which many others are already doing given Elon Musk’s frantic and poor leadership at Twitter.” The Independent has reached out to X for comment. The ad features a scene in which a woman asks a man if he has a condom. He reaches for the condom in a bedside table drawer, and another suit-covered arm appears, reaching for it as well. “Sorry, you can’t use those,” says an older man, clad in a black suit and red tie, while standing beside the bed. When the woman asks who he is, he replies: “I’m your Republican congressman. Now that we’re in charge, we’re banning birth control.” The ad urges voters to “vote no” on 8 August, in reference to State Issue 1, which would require proposed amendments to Ohio’s constitution “receive the approval of at least 60 per cent of eligible voters voting on the proposed amendment,” rather than a simple majority. Since acquiring Twitter, Mr Musk, a self declared “free speech absolutist”, has touted free speech as a pillar of the platform. As part of this shift during the takeover, he reinstated Donald Trump’s account after a two-year ban, which was “due to the risk of further incitement of violence” after the January 6 Capitol riot. He also reinstated at least 11 accounts belonging to prominent far-right and anti-trans influencers. On 23 November, the platform announced it “is no longer enforcing the Covid-19 misleading information policy.” As recently as April, the platform claimed to strive to “promote and protect the public conversation. We believe Twitter users have the right to express their opinions and ideas without fear of censorship.” In May, he wrote: “I am adamant about defending free speech, even if it means losing money.” Read More Democratic PAC unveils ‘steamy and horrifying’ ad with GOP lawmaker interrupting couple in bedroom Elon Musk slammed for pushing anti-vax conspiracy in response to LeBron James’ son Bronny suffering cardiac arrest Elon Musk takes control of @X account from user who had held it for 16 years Elon Musk’s Twitter bans ad showing Republican interrupting couple in bedroom 'X' logo installed atop Twitter building, spurring San Francisco to investigate permit violation EXCLUSIVE: The O.C.’s Ben McKenzie on going down the crypto rabbit hole

Jennifer Aniston, Matt LeBlanc, Courteney Cox, David Schwimmer, and Lisa Kudrow are set to release a joint statement following the death of their “brother” Matthew Perry, sources have revealed. The Friends protagonists are said to be “reeling” after news broke early on Sunday that Perry had died, aged 54, in a suspected drowing at his LA home. “The cast is reeling from the loss of their brother, because that’s what Matty was — their brother,” an industry source told Page Six. “It’s just devastating.” They added: “The entire cast are close, they will be devastated, because they were together through the best of times and worst of times. “And when Matty was sick, they protected him, they looked him after him fiercely.” The iconic sit-com, which ran for 10 seasons, propelled the six main cast members to international stardom, but the success was bitter-sweet for Perry. The American-Canadian actor, whose portrayal of the lovably sarcastic Chandler Bing transformed him into a comedy icon, battled addiction to alcohol and prescription drugs for decades, including during his time on the career-defining show. In his 2022 memoir, ‘Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing’, Perry opened up about his internal conflicts while filming Friends, writing: “I loved my co-actors. I loved the scripts. I loved everything about the show but I was struggling with my addictions which only added to my sense of shame. “I felt like I was gonna die if the live audience didn’t laugh, and that’s not healthy for sure. But I could sometimes say a line and the audience wouldn’t laugh and I would sweat and sometimes go into convulsions. “If I didn’t get the laugh I was supposed to get I would freak out. I felt that every single night. This pressure left me in a bad place. I also knew of the six people making that show, only one of them was sick.” He also recounted how Aniston once confronted him on set. “I know you’re drinking – we can smell it,” he recalled her telling him, admitting that the plural “we” hit him “like a sledgehammer.” Elsewhere, Kudrow wrote the foreword to the autobiography, describing Perry as “whip-smart, charming, sweet, sensitive, very reasonable, and rational.” She added: “That guy, with everything he was battling, was still there.” The 54-year-old was clearly beloved by members of the wider cast, with Maggie Wheeler and Morgan Fairchild among the first celebrity voices to share their devastation at his passing. Wheeler, who played Perry’s on-off girlfriend Janice Hosenstein during the early series of the TV show and often appeared to perform her catchphrase “Oh! My! God!”, paid tribute to Perry on Instagram. Meanwhile, Fairchild, who played Perry’s on-screen mother and erotic novel writer Nora Bing, said on Twitter/X: Hank Azaria appeared in several episodes of the sitcom, playing Phoebe Buffay’s love interest David, and said that Perry was like a “brother” to him. In a video posted to his Instagram, he said: “Matthew was the first friend I made in Los Angeles when I moved there. I was 21 he was 16. “We did a pilot together … we became really good friends and we were really more like brothers for a long time. “We drank a lot together, we laughed a lot together. We were there for each other in the early days of our career and he was to me, as funny as he was on Friends and he was and other things too, in person he was just the funniest man ever. “And every night, he was like a genius, he would start to weave comedy threads together, just hanging out – little joke here, joke there, joke here, joke there – and then by the end of the night he would weave them all together in this crescendo of hilarity.” In a joint statement, Friends co-creators Marta Kauffman and David Crane, along with executive producer Kevin Bright, described their own heartbreak. “We are shocked and deeply, deeply saddened by our beloved friend Matthew’s passing,” they said. “We will always cherish the joy, the light, the blinding intelligence he brought to every moment – not just to his work, but in life as well. “He was always the funniest person in the room. More than that, he was the sweetest, with a giving and selfless heart.” They added: “This truly is The One Where Our Hearts Are Broken.” Meanwhile, Perry’s family released their own statement to US publication People, saying: “We are heartbroken by the tragic loss of our beloved son and brother. “Matthew brought so much joy to the world, both as an actor and a friend.” They added: “You all meant so much to him and we appreciate the tremendous outpouring of love." Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings

Quebec’s government has chosen former pension fund head Michael Sabia as the next chief executive officer of Hydro-Quebec,

TL;DR: The iRobot Roomba j6+ robot vacuum is on sale for $399.99 this Prime Day,

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The second person to receive a transplanted heart from a pig has reached the one-month mark and a hospital video shows he's working hard to recover