Government loses court battle over Boris Johnson's Covid WhatsApps // The government has lost its legal challenge to prevent the Covid inquiry from seeing Boris Johnson's WhatsApps, diaries and notebooks in full. The Cabinet Office had argued it should not have to hand over irrelevant material, but inquiry chair Baroness Hallett said it should be up to her to decide what is relevant. The government has accepted the ruling. It would work towards handing over the material requested by next week, Downing Street said.
Westminster: House of Commons culture still 'predatory', say staff // A "predatory culture" still exists around the House of Commons, with inappropriate flirting and sexual misconduct still prevalent, staff say. Six members of staff told BBC Newsnight that abuses of power by male MPs and senior staffers remained common, and a new complaints process was too slow. One woman said she was asked to sit on a male MP's knee and she was bombarded with text messages by another person. A House of Commons spokesman said it took complaints "extremely seriously".
Partygate: Police reopen investigation into Tory 'jingle and mingle' event // The Metropolitan Police is reopening an investigation into breaches of Covid regulations at a Christmas gathering at Conservative Party HQ. A video of the event, where aides were invited to "jingle and mingle", was published by the Sunday Mirror. Police say they will not investigate alleged gatherings at the prime minister's country home, Chequers, when Boris Johnson was PM. But they are also now investigating an event in Parliament on 8 December 2020.
Miley Cyrus has the biggest song of 2023... so far // Miley Cyrus's Flowers is the biggest single of the year to date, says the Official Charts Company. The break-up anthem, which spent 10 weeks at number one earlier this year, has achieved 147 million streams and more than 80,000 downloads.
Coco Lee: Disney star and pop singer dies at 48 // Singer Coco Lee, who enjoyed pop stardom in Asia in the 1990s and 2000s, has died at the age of 48. Born in Hong Kong, Lee moved to the US as a child and released albums in Mandarin and English. She also voiced the lead character in the Mandarin version of Disney's hit film Mulan and performed a song from the soundtrack of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon at the 2001 Oscars. Her sisters said she had been in a coma since a suicide attempt at the weekend.
Paris Fashion Week: Haute couture shows go ahead after riots // Celebrities and designers have kicked off Paris's couture fashion week, which is taking place against a backdrop of five days of violence in the city. US rap star Cardi B, singer Camila Cabello and actress Maisie Williams are among those in the French capital. But there is some unease about the displays of materialism for the ultra-wealthy following serious civil unrest.
Wimbledon 2023: Andy Murray leads Stefanos Tsitsipas before play stopped by curfew // Andy Murray dazzled under the Wimbledon lights again as he led Greek fifth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas in a Centre Court thriller stopped by a 23:00 BST curfew. Britain's Murray is ranked 40th but showed his pedigree on the SW19 grass to lead 6-7 (3-7) 7-6 (7-2) 6-4. The second-round match was stopped at 22:39 because of the restrictions put in place by the local council. Murray, who has regularly played late in recent years, and Tsitsipas will resume a captivating contest on Friday.
Austrian Grand Prix 2023: McLaren's Lando Norris safety car appeal rejected // McLaren's request for a right to review Lando Norris' five-second penalty at the Canadian Grand Prix has been rejected. Austrian Grand Prix stewards decided there was "no significant, relevant and new element" that was not available at the time of the original decision. Stewards have to accept that there is a new element that was not previously considered to allow a right of review. It means Norris remains in 13th place, to which he was demoted from ninth.
Sha'Carri Richardson runs fastest 100m time of year to boost World Championship hopes // Sha'Carri Richardson ran the fastest women's 100m time of the year as she laid down a marker in her bid to qualify for the World Championships. The 23-year-old American clocked a time of 10.71 seconds in the heats at the US athletics championships in Oregon. Richardson's time beat the 10.75 ran by Marie-Josee Ta Lou of Ivory Coast at the Oslo Diamond League last month. She also shaved one-tenth of a second off her personal best, set in 2021 at the Miramar Invitational in Florida.The 100m semi-finals and final will be held on Friday with the top three US sprinters qualifying for next month's World Championships in Budapest.
Twitter threatens legal action over Threads app // Twitter is considering legal action against Meta over its fast-growing rival app Threads. Threads, which was launched to millions on Wednesday, is similar to Twitter and has been pitched by Meta bosses as a "friendly" alternative. Twitter's Elon Musk said "competition is fine, cheating is not" - but Meta denied claims in a legal letter that ex-Twitter staff helped create Threads. More than 30 million people have signed up for the new app, according to Meta.
Mothers could have missed out on £1bn in state pension // Mothers may have been underpaid about £1bn in state pension owing to information missing from their national insurance (NI) records. Since 1978, the system has included credits for parents who took time out of employment to bring up children. Until 2010, this was known as home responsibilities protection (HRP), but it may be missing from some NI records. People who may be affected will receive letters from the government as part of a campaign to correct the issue.
Energy firms warned against paying dividends // Energy suppliers have been warned they should retain profits rather than pay out returns to shareholders, to ensure firms can weather future price shocks. Regulator Ofgem said firms "must learn the lessons of the energy crisis", adding "a return to the practices we saw before isn't on the table". Some 30 suppliers have gone bust since energy prices started to rise in 2021.