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Virgo’s death was announced on Wednesday by the World Snooker Tour and tributes poured in for one of the sport’s greats. Former world champion John Parrott worked alongside Virgo in the BBC commentary box and said he “transcended the sport” and “loved a joke”. He told BBC Sport: “John was a tremendous competitor and a very good break-builder, brilliant among the pink and black. Sir Stephen Fry became a good friend of John Virgo (John Walton/PA)“Then he transcended the sport and went into the commentary box. Virgo retired in 1994 and was later inducted into the World Snooker Tour hall of fame for his success on the baize and his work as a broadcaster.

Israeli forces have bulldozed part of a Gaza cemetery containing the war graves of dozens of British, Australian and other allied soldiers killed in the first and second world wars, satellite imagery and witness testimony reveal. Satellite imagery of the Gaza war cemetery in al-Tuffah, a district of Gaza City, shows extensive earthworks in the southernmost corner of the graveyard. The first bulldozing occurred outside the cemetery walls, extending approximately 12 metres around all sides of the cemetery. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC), which is responsible for the upkeep of the Gaza cemetery and many like it around the world, last commented on the state of the graveyard on 11 December. Four sections of the dead from the first world war have also been flattened.

Ukrainian and Russian negotiators held the first round of US-led peace talks in Abu Dhabi as Washington seeks a pathway to end the nearly four-year war in Ukraine. The Kremlin has said repeatedly any settlement must include Ukraine ceding the entire eastern Donbas region, including areas still under Ukrainian control. The second round of talks was initially supposed to start on Sunday in Abu Dhabi, but was postponed until Wednesday because of rising tensions in the region over Iran. The US special envoy, Steve Witkoff, and Jared Kushner, Donald Trump’s son-in-law, have travelled to Abu Dhabi for the negotiations. Ukraine and several European governments have accused Beijing of providing weapons to Russia, allegations China denies.

We are raiding the Guardian long read archives to bring you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors. This week, from 2018: snowflake students have become the target of a new rightwing crusade. But exaggerated claims of censorship reveal a deeper anxiety at the core of modern conservatismBy William Davies. Read by Lucy Scott

Donald Trump suggested on a conservative podcast released on Monday that Republican state officials “take over” and “nationalize” elections in 15 states to protect the party from being voted out of office. Trump framed the issue as a means to prevent undocumented immigrants from voting. Claims that noncitizens are voting in numbers that can affect an election are a lie. But it raises concerns about potential efforts by the president to rig the November midterm elections. Chuck Schumer, the US Senate minority leader, also weighed in on X, writing that “Democrats will fight and block Trump’s calls to nationalize elections”.

As much as half of some British beaches’ coarse sediments may consist of human-made materials such as brick, concrete, glass and industrial waste, a study has suggested. Climate breakdown, which has caused more frequent and destructive coastal storms, has led to an increase in these substances on beaches. On Granton beach near Edinburgh, researchers from the University of Glasgow found evidence that up to half of the coarse sediments within the tidal zone were human-made materials. The Thames estuary’s sediments are also thought to be made up of a significant amount of human-made materials. Across the surveyed beaches, an average of 22% of coarse sediments were found to be what the team called “anthropogenic geomaterial”.

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Tents in al-Mawasi, an encampment of displaced people in Khan Younis, were shredded by the blasts. The strikes targeted Gaza City and Khan Younis. The Israeli military said it had fired on Gaza after a gunman shot at Israeli soldiers and seriously wounded a reservist. While strikes ripped through Gaza, health officials reported that Israel had also stopped medical patients crossing the Rafah border crossing to Egypt. Sixteen patients from Gaza and 40 of their escorts crossed into Egypt on Tuesday, medics in Gaza said.

Prominent gun rights organizations, including Gun Owners of America (GOA) and the National Rifle Association (NRA), called for an independent investigation into the shooting and defended Pretti’s right to carry a gun. The Minnesota Gun Owners Caucus and Second Amendment Foundation both released statements mentioning Castile by name and describing his death as “troubling” and “a tragedy”. There was a core moral issue,” said Bryan Strawser, the chair of the Minnesota Gun Owners Caucus. The world watched this man being killed – not by a gun – but being killed while we all watched,” she said. Hatchett said she hoped both legislation and training could stop interactions between gun owners like Castile and Pretti and law enforcement officers from leading to death and injury.

And, I don’t think the Trump administration realized just how much the people of Minnesota would not stand for it. Good saying: “I’m not mad at you, bro.” Cecilia’s parents both being taken, after nearly three decades in Minnesota, on their way to work as cleaners. On the day Good was killed, I stood on a snowbank outside the police tape line, watching as loads of federal agents poured onto the scene. When police finally got federal agents to leave, those agents were met with people screaming at them, calling them murderers. They were liberal with the “less-lethal” weapons in a way I had never seen before, but have seen many days since.

Senior Ukrainian and Russian officials are due to meet in Abu Dhabi for a second round of talks brokered by the Trump administration. The two-day talks are expected to mirror last month’s format, with negotiators from Washington, Kyiv and Moscow in attendance. The Kremlin has repeatedly stated that any peace deal must have Ukraine cede the entire eastern Donbas region, including areas still under Ukrainian control. The Kremlin, however, has said the Russian leader would only agree to talks if Zelenskyy travelled to Moscow. However, the few independent polls that still exist suggest that the share of Russians who favour peace talks has risen to 61%.

Repression of free speech is a symptom of tyranny, but all governments regulate it to some degree. That disruption to the democratic operating system isn’t addressed by arguments about free speech. Free speech is the lens that tech companies apply because it gives a democratic inflection to their commercial interests as oligopolists in an under-regulated digital realm. Such imperial coercion is, of course, expressed by Washington as part of a global crusade in defence of free speech. Those are not questions of free speech but sovereignty, which is something Conservatives used to care about.

'Perhaps she should avoid restaurants with kids' menus': Mother at centre of ‘screaming child’ row hits back at Jan LeemingMother at centre of ‘screaming child’ row hits back at Jan Leeming

Trump framed the issue as a means to prevent undocumented immigrants from voting. Trump again scolded a female reporter, this time CNN’s Kaitlan Collins, who was questioning him about the Epstein files. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a smile on your face,” Trump said, adding that CNN should be “ashamed of you”. Illustration: Guardian Design/Getty ImagesThe Trump administration has launched a cartoon lump of coal, named “Coalie”, in its efforts to resurrect coal mining. Sign upSign up for the US morning briefingFirst Thing is delivered to thousands of inboxes every weekday.