China censors public mourning as it holds former premier's funeral

We begin tonight with a developing story out of China, where authorities held a state funeral today for former Premier Li Keqiang, who died in October of last year.

Li served as premier from twenty thirteen to twenty twenty-three, overseeing China's economic expansion during what many consider the country's most prosperous decade under single-party governance in the modern Pacific century.

Li served until twenty twenty-three. China has had single-party governance since nineteen forty-nine.

Chinese officials are restricting public expressions of mourning, concerned that nostalgia for Li's tenure could lead to criticism of current leadership under President Xi Jinping. Social media posts commemorating Li have been removed, and gatherings have been dispersed.

Moving west to the United Kingdom, where a fifty-five-year-old man has been charged with manslaughter in connection with a dog attack that left one person dead in Wakefield over the weekend.

Lee Ellis was charged Monday. The victim, who was bitten Saturday, died days later from injuries sustained in the attack. Authorities have not identified the breed of dog involved.

The investigation is ongoing, and we will continue to follow developments as they emerge from Yorkshire authorities.

Also from overseas tonight, doctors in Sri Lanka say they have removed what may be the largest bladder stone ever recorded from a patient during surgery last week.

The stone weighed three point one kilograms, which is approximately six point eight pounds, roughly the weight of a full-term infant, which gives you some perspective on the scale of abdominal surgery in tropical climates where mineral deposits can accumulate more rapidly.

The patient, a sixty-two-year-old man, is recovering. The medical team believes the stone took years to form and had gone undiagnosed despite causing significant discomfort. Doctors are submitting their findings to international medical journals for verification.

And completing our Pacific sweep, concerns continue to mount over deployment conditions aboard the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, which has been at sea since December eleventh.

The Lincoln has been deployed continuously for more than four months. Reports describe overcrowding, maintenance delays, and fatigue among the crew of more than five thousand personnel stationed in the western Pacific theater.

The Navy has not commented publicly on scheduling changes, but defense analysts say extended carrier deployments have become more common as the United States maintains presence in multiple regions simultaneously, which is the new reality of Pacific naval operations.

And from the Philippines, one student is dead and another has taken his own life following a shooting at a Catholic school in Manila earlier today.

Authorities say the alleged shooter, also a student at the school, died by suicide shortly after the attack. The names of both students have not been released, and officials are investigating motive.

The school has been closed pending the investigation. Counselors are being made available to students and staff.

We begin tonight with a recruitment crisis hitting small businesses across the United Kingdom. Job vacancies have fallen to a five-year low as smaller firms scale back hiring.

The Office for National Statistics reports that labor and operating costs are the primary obstacles. Retail, hospitality, and construction sectors are most affected.

Closer to home, seven thousand four hundred properties in Kent have had water service restored after a supply failure that affected thousands.

Four hundred homes in Benenden, Cranbrook, and Rolvenden remain without service, according to South East Water, which says crews are working through the night.

A Palestinian-American family remains inside their West Bank home for more than a week after Israeli settlers surrounded the property and the Israeli military declared the area a closed military zone.

The family says they have food and water for several more days.

In sports, Newcastle United has completed a thirty-million-pound transfer for Benfica defender Amar Dedic, who has signed a five-year contract.

The twenty-three-year-old right-back is expected to feature in Newcastle's next fixture.

Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard appears fit and refreshed ahead of the new season after what manager Mikel Arteta describes as a frustrating campaign.

Odegaard led Arsenal to the title despite injury setbacks. Arteta says the captain is in the best shape of his career.

A capuchin monkey in Japan has become an international phenomenon after footage of his search for a mate went viral this week.

Punch the Monkey, as he's known online, has been documented attempting to impress female capuchins at a Japanese sanctuary with displays of acrobatics and fruit sharing.

A golden retriever in Wisconsin has learned to operate an automatic door using a wall-mounted button, and has since taught the skill to three other dogs at the daycare facility.

Murphy, a four-year-old golden, figured out the mechanism in under two minutes, then demonstrated it repeatedly until the other dogs understood. Staff say he now waits by the door to help newcomers.

And on the coast of Maine, a harbour seal pup that washed ashore underweight in May has been cleared for release after three months of rehabilitation.

The pup, named Clover, arrived weighing thirty-one pounds. She now weighs seventy-four pounds and will be released at high tide this Saturday.

The English Premier League opens its season this weekend. BBC Sport has identified thirteen young players expected to break out this year, including seventeen-year-old Ethan Nwaneri at Arsenal and sixteen-year-old Kendry Paez at Chelsea.

Nwaneri made his first-team debut under Mikel Arteta two seasons ago at fifteen years old. Paez arrives from Ecuadorian club Independiente del Valle on a transfer worth eleven million pounds and is expected to feature immediately in Chelsea's midfield rotation.

Moving on. In tennis, Venus and Serena Williams played their first doubles match together in four years tonight at the U.S. Open. They lost in straight sets to the Czech pairing of Linda Noskova and Katerina Siniakova, six-two, six-four.

The Williams sisters have won fourteen Grand Slam doubles titles together. Tonight was their first appearance as a team since Wimbledon in twenty twenty-two. They were seeded twelfth in the draw and lost in the first round.

In the N-F-L, the Los Angeles Rams have been ranked fifth overall in ESPN's Future Power Rankings for the upcoming season. That is up three spots from last year's eighth-place finish and marks the Rams' highest ranking since the system was introduced in twenty eighteen.

The rankings evaluate roster talent, front-office performance, and financial flexibility. The Rams are now projected as a top-five franchise for sustained success through twenty twenty-nine, with particular strength in scouting and player development under general manager Les Snead.

And in basketball, the Buss family has announced its intention to sell the Los Angeles Lakers. Jeanie Buss, who has served as the team's controlling owner and governor since twenty thirteen, will step down as part of the sale. No timeline has been announced, and the family has not identified potential buyers.

The Buss family purchased the Lakers in nineteen seventy-nine for sixty-seven and a half million dollars. The franchise is now valued at seven point one billion, representing a return of ten thousand five hundred percent over forty-seven years.

And in motor racing, Max Verstappen continues to lead the Formula One championship with eighty points over second-place Lando Norris. There are ten races remaining in the season. Verstappen has won nine of the fourteen races so far and needs only three more victories to clinch his fifth consecutive drivers' title.

Red Bull Racing has won the constructors' championship in each of the past four seasons. They currently lead McLaren by sixty-two points.