Tories will allow bars on trans women, says Kemi Badenoch

Posted on by

Conservatives would change law so trans people could be excluded from single-sex spaces, if party wins election

Kemi Badenoch has said the Conservatives will change the Equality Act to rewrite the definition of sex and allow organisations to bar transgender women from single-sex spaces, including hospital wards and sports events.

The party will make clear that the protected characteristic of sex means biological sex, enabling those who wish to bar male-bodied people from organisations or activities to do so.

Continue reading...

Keir Starmer to declare Labour as ‘party of national security’

Posted on by

Leader says he is committed to triple lock for UK’s nuclear deterrent and will raise defence spending to 2.5% of GDP

Keir Starmer will declare Labour is the “party of national security” as he seeks to switch the focus of the general election campaign to issues of defence.

The Labour leader will reaffirm his commitment to a “triple lock” for the UK’s nuclear deterrent, and his aim to raise defence spending to 2.5% of gross domestic product “as soon as resources allow”.

Continue reading...

Israelis attack Palestinian athletes at East Jerusalem stadium – UPI News

Posted on by
  1. Israelis attack Palestinian athletes at East Jerusalem stadium  UPI News
  2. Zionist settlers set fire to farming lands in Duma, south Nablus  وكالة سبأ
  3. Israel settlers destroy wheat fields in historic Palestine village of Sebastia  Middle East Monitor
  4. Israeli Forces Burn Palestinian Orchards near Hebron  International Middle East Media Center
  5. Israeli Colonizers Attack Palestinian Cars Near Nablus  International Middle East Media Center
Posted in Uncategorized

South Africa’s Ramaphosa calls for unity after his ANC loses majority – Al Jazeera English

Posted on by
  1. South Africa’s Ramaphosa calls for unity after his ANC loses majority  Al Jazeera English
  2. Nelson Mandela’s party has been dealt a seismic election blow. Where does it leave South Africa?  CNN
  3. South Africa election: Democracy ANC fought for has now been used to end its 30-year grip on power  Sky News
  4. Why South African Voters Turned Against the A.N.C.  The New York Times
  5. South Africa's president urges unity as ANC support plunges  Reuters
Posted in Uncategorized

Ukraine war: Can using Western weapons on Russia change the war? – BBC.com

Posted on by
  1. Ukraine war: Can using Western weapons on Russia change the war?  BBC.com
  2. On Friday, Ukraine Got Permission To Launch American Rockets At Targets Inside Russia. Hours Later, HIMARS Opened Fire.  Forbes
  3. Biden team hails 'lightning speed' call on strikes in Russia. Meanwhile, Kharkiv burned.  The Washington Post
  4. The US allows Ukraine to use its weapons to strike inside Russia, but it is unlikely to be a game-changer  CNN
  5. Ukraine can now use Western arms to strike inside Russia  Al Jazeera English
Posted in Uncategorized

College students leave behind hoard of trash at California’s Shasta Lake

Posted on by

Despite being asked to clean up after themselves, about 3,000 students celebrating Memorial Day weekend left piles of debris

College students celebrating Memorial Day weekend by California’s Shasta Lake left behind hoard of trash, according to US Forest Service officials.

Last weekend, approximately 3,000 students from the University of California, Davis and the University of Oregon partied at Shasta Lake, a 30,000-acre reservoir in the golden state, and left piles of debris cluttered around the lake.

Continue reading...

More than 100 artists tell Starmer to halt arms sales to Israel if he becomes PM

Posted on by

Letter signatories from Steve Coogan to Paloma Faith urge Keir Starmer to ‘take stand’ for human rights and international law

Actors including Steve Coogan, Miriam Margolyes and Juliet Stevenson have joined forces with musicians, writers and directors in calling on Keir Starmer to halt arm sales to Israel if elected prime minister.

The singer Paloma Faith, the film-maker Mike Leigh and the author Michael Rosen are among the more than 100 celebrities who have signed a joint letter, coordinated by Artists for Palestine UK, that urges the Labour leader to “take a stand against the ongoing atrocities committed by Israel” in Gaza.

Continue reading...

Final results in seismic South Africa election confirm ANC has lost majority

Posted on by

ANC says demands that President Cyril Ramaphosa must step down is ‘no-go area’ as rival Jacob Zuma stokes fears of violence

Final results from Wednesday’s seismic South Africa elections have confirmed that the African National Congress (ANC) party has lost its majority for the first time in 30 years of full democracy, firing the starting gun on unprecedented coalition talks.

The ANC, which led the fight to free South Africa from apartheid, won just 159 seats in the 400-member national assembly on a vote share of just over 40%. High unemployment, power cuts, violent crime and crumbling infrastructure have contributed to a haemorrhaging of support for the former liberation movement.

Continue reading...

Italian village with 46 residents has 30 local election candidates

Posted on by

Two-thirds of Ingria near Turin are competing for positions including a mother and son in rival camps

The last time Igor De Santis ran for mayor in Ingria, a tiny village surrounded by forests and mountains near Turin, he won an easy landslide victory. But he faces a tough challenge in his bid for a fourth mandate, after his mother joined a rival camp.

Ingria, one of the smallest villages in Italy, is home to 46 inhabitants. A further 26 people, registered to vote from abroad, make up the electorate.

Continue reading...

Couple finds safe stuffed with $100,000 cash while magnet fishing in New York

Posted on by

James Kane and Barbie Agostini pull up safe in Queens park with bundles of $100 bills inside and are told by police they can keep it

A New York City couple who were “magnet fishing” in a lake caught more than they had bargained for when they pulled out a safe that had $100,000 cash inside.

James Kane and Barbie Agostini tossed a line with a strong magnet attached to the end into a lake in Flushing Meadows Corona Park in Queens on 31 May, Friday afternoon.

Continue reading...

Gallant vows war won’t end until Hamas is destroyed; IDF advances further in Rafah – The Times of Israel

Posted on by
  1. Gallant vows war won’t end until Hamas is destroyed; IDF advances further in Rafah  The Times of Israel
  2. Opinion | Yoav Gallant Has Shown Defiance. Will He Again?  The New York Times
  3. Israel seeks a 'governing alternative' to Hamas in Gaza. It's been tried and failed before  The Associated Press
  4. Israel assessing alternatives to Hamas rule in Gaza, defence minister says  Reuters
  5. 'We will not accept the rule of Hamas in Gaza at any stage': Israel  Al Jazeera English
Posted in Uncategorized

Revealed: Russian legal foundation linked to Kremlin activities in Europe

Posted on by

Exclusive: Leaked internal documents show Pravfond has spent millions of euros to finance propaganda and legal campaigns

Leaked internal documents have exposed the activities of a Russian state-backed legal defence foundation that European intelligence agencies and analysts say is in fact a Kremlin influence operation active in 48 countries across Europe and around the world.

Internal documents from the Fund for Support and Protection of the Rights of Compatriots Living Abroad (Pravfond) indicate that the foundation finances propaganda websites targeted at Europeans, helped pay for the legal defence of the convicted arms trafficker Viktor Bout and the assassin Vadim Krasikov, and has employed a number of former intelligence officers as the directors of its operations in European countries.

Continue reading...

California firefighters battle wind-driven wildfire near San Francisco

Posted on by

Two fire workers injured after Corral Fire, which began Saturday afternoon, spread overnight east of San Francisco

California firefighters aided by aircraft battled a wind-driven wildfire that began Saturday and continued burning early Sunday morning in an area straddling the San Francisco Bay Area and central California, authorities said.

The Corral Fire began Saturday afternoon near the city of Tracy, 60 miles (96km ) east of San Francisco, and the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in the city of Livermore, according to the California department of forestry and fire protection, or Cal Fire.

Continue reading...

China’s Chang’e-6 probe lands on far side of the moon

Posted on by

Spacecraft to collect samples from rarely explored area after landing heralded as ‘enormous technical achievement’

China has landed its uncrewed Chang’e-6 lunar probe on the far side of the moon, marking an important step in the country’s 53-day mission to retrieve rock and soil samples from the “dark” lunar hemisphere, in what would be a world first.

The landing elevates China’s space power status in a global rush to the moon, where countries including the US are hoping to exploit lunar minerals to sustain long-term astronaut missions and moon bases within the next decade.

Continue reading...