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| | Al-Qaeda leader killed in US drone strike | |  | | | | | | | | | Ayman al-Zawahiri had "carved a trail of murder and violence against American citizens", according to Joe Biden. But the US president says the 71-year-old - who had taken over leadership of al-Qaeda leader after the death of Osama bin Laden, in 2011 - has been killed in a drone strike in Afghanistan. Officials say Zawahiri was on the balcony of a safe house when the CIA fired two missiles at him. Other family members were present but unharmed by the "precision strike" - months in the planning - they say.
Together with Bin Laden, Zawahiri had plotted the 9/11 terror attacks which brought down the World Trade Center, in New York, in 2001. His killing will bring closure to victims' families, says Mr Biden. Zawahiri was said to have masterminded other acts of violence, including the October 2000 suicide bombing of the USS Cole naval destroyer. A spokesman for Afghanistan's ruling Taliban described the US operation to kill Zawahiri as a clear violation of international principles. Washington insists it had a legal basis. Under a 2020 peace deal with the US, the Taliban agreed not to allow extremist groups to operate in areas under their control. You can read more about Zawahiri in our profile. But he had become a "remote and marginal figure", as groups such as Islamic State grew in influence, according to our security correspondent Gordon Corera. | | | | | |
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| | BA suspends short-haul ticket sales from Heathrow | | | | | | | | | British Airways is halting sales on short-haul flights from London Heathrow - affecting domestic and European destinations - until next Monday. It's in response to the airport capping daily passenger numbers at 100,000 amid difficulty coping with traveller numbers and baggage-handling issues. While thousands of people have had travel disrupted in recent weeks, existing bookings should be unaffected, says our transport correspondent Katy Austin. BA's move is designed to leave leeway in the system for where rebooking is needed, she adds. It had already removed nearly 30,000 flights from its April-to-October schedule, in response to staffing problems. Having cut jobs during Covid lockdowns, airports and airlines have struggled to recruit as demand returned. | | | | | |
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| | Man's £11m bid to find lost bitcoin | | | | | | | | | Many of us have done it... accidentally thrown out something valuable during a clear-out. But James Howells' mishap cost him more than binning a fiver when turning out pockets. When the IT engineer got rid of a hard drive, in 2013, it contained 8,000 bitcoins, mined in the early stages of the cryptocurrency's development. Now, with that holding worth an estimated £150m, the 37-year-old is set on digging up an entire landfill site to get it back. He's even signed away some of the coins to fund the operation. "We've brought on an AI specialist," he says. "Their technology can easily be retrained to search for a hard drive." There's just one problem. The local council won't let him. Here's the full story. | | | | | |
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| | | | | | | | | | | Almost a year after the chaos of the US withdrawal from Afghanistan, this was a moment of high symbolism for Joe Biden. A man who, as vice-president in 2011, appeared in that famous Situation Room photograph during the operation to kill Osama Bin Laden, now announcing, as president, the execution by drone strike of the current al-Qaeda leader.
But beyond the question of what this might mean, if anything, for his weak approval ratings, there's a bigger strategic one. More than two decades after the attacks of 9/11... a Taliban government is in power again - and the US, despite the withdrawal of ground troops, continues to take lethal military action under broad executive authority. The "war on terror" grinds on. | | | | | | | | | |
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| | | | | | | The papers continue to enjoy the success of England's women in the Euro 2022 football tournament, using photographs of the squad celebrating in London's Trafalgar Square on front pages. "Dancing queens," is the Metro's headline, as it highlights the moves of Rachel Daly, Millie Bright, Beth Mead and Chloe Kelly. "Everyone is buzzing" is the Guardian's headline, quoting matchwinner Chloe Kelly, as it describes the victory as having echoed around the nation. Other papers look at the campaign of Conservative leadership candidate, Liz Truss, with the Daily Telegraph noting she has won the backing of one-time rival Penny Mordaunt. The Daily Mail says Ms Truss will "call a halt on taxes aimed at deterring families from buying junk food". | | | | | |
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| | | | | Energy Bills forecast to hit £3,615 a year | | | | | | | Body-image Make warnings on retouched photos the law, MPs say | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
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| | If you watch one thing today | | | | | | | | | | |
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| | If you listen to one thing today | | | | | | | | | | |
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| | If you read one thing today | | | | | | | | | | |
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| | Need something different? | | | | | | | | | One's inspired by a city's docklands, another symbolises the "new light" of municipal regeneration and one even claims to embody "the attitude of Scouse solidarity". What are these meaningful artefacts? They're... football kits. Ahead of the new season, our sport team have put together a gallery of the latest jerseys and want your help sorting stirring sentiment from marketing guff to pick the best. Meanwhile, on the subject of sporting sideshows, have you seen the dancing sand rakers at the Commonwealth Games beach volleyball? Watch how they amused the crowds, in Birmingham. | | | | | |
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| | | | | 1990 More than 100,000 Iraqi soldiers invade the neighbouring Gulf state of Kuwait. | | | | | | |
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| | | Let us know what you think of this newsletter by emailing bbcnewsdaily@bbc.co.uk. If you’d like to recommend it to a friend, forward this email. New subscribers can sign up here. | | | | | |
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