German swimming lake criticised for ban on non-German speakers

Policy at Heidesee lake in Halle introduced after cases in which visitors ignored rules and lifeguards’ instructions

An open air swimming lake in the eastern German city of Halle which has refused entry to bathers who don’t speak German has been told it must lift the ban or face possible legal action.

The Heidesee lake, a lake in a flooded former open-cast mine, recently introduced a check at the entrance to filter out visitors whose German was deemed not good enough to follow safety instructions.

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Bahraini award to UK envoy shows ‘our diplomats are up for grabs’, says peer

Rights activists call UK ambassador ‘morally compromised’ for accepting honour from Bahraini king in apparent breach of Foreign Office rules

The British ambassador to Bahrain has been accused of breaching government rules over accepting an award by the Gulf state’s king, a move critics suggest signals diplomats and civil servants are “up for grabs”.

This week, the ambassador, Alastair Long, received the Order of Bahrain from King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa, in recognition of his diplomatic tenure, which human rights activists and politicians say is in “direct breach” of the Foreign Office’s rules on accepting foreign awards.

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France confirms first Ebola case in doctor who had worked in DRC

French health ministry says patient’s contacts are being traced and that risk to European public is very low

The first case of Ebola has been confirmed in France, the country’s health ministry has said, in a doctor who had returned from a humanitarian mission to an area affected by the outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The patient was transferred to a specialist facility and was in a stable condition, the ministry said in a statement. “All precautionary measures, including the patient’s isolation, were taken upon his arrival in the country, with transfer to the hospital under secure conditions to prevent any risk of contamination.”

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Israeli former leaders and security chiefs threaten legal action over ‘Jewish terrorism’

Leaked letter to PM and military demands action to stop violence against Palestinians in occupied West Bank

Dozens of Israelis from the country’s security, political and cultural elite have threatened legal action against their government over support for Jewish terrorism and an “ideology of ethnic cleansing” in the occupied West Bank, according to a leaked letter.

Two former prime ministers, former heads of all the Israeli security services, former judges, a Nobel laureate and the country’s most revered living novelist were among the signatories to a “final warning” over violence against Palestinians.

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Nearly a quarter of voters in Europe now back far-right parties

Analysis by more than 150 political scientists finds proportion who back such parties has increased nearly fivefold since 1995

Almost one in four voters in Europe now cast their ballot for far-right parties, research shows, a proportion that has grown nearly fivefold since the mid-1990s and climbed particularly steeply over the past three years.

Analysis by more than 150 political scientists in 31 countries found the proportion of Europeans voting for a far-right party in their country’s most recent national elections had risen to more than 23%, from about 10% a decade ago and roughly 5% in 1995.

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Mamdani-backed candidates sweep Democratic primaries in New York City

JFK’s grandson Jack Schlossberg fails to advance in election to replace Jerry Nadler in Manhattan district

Zohran Mamdani’s growing influence over the Democratic party was on show in New York City on Tuesday as three congressional candidates endorsed by New York’s democratic socialist mayor won closely watched primaries, while voters in Maryland, Utah and South Carolina cast ballots in primaries and runoffs.

Brad Lander, the former New York City comptroller who also ran for mayor last year before endorsing Mamdani, won his race comfortably, defeating the Democratic representative Dan Goldman.

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Europe’s heatwave drives electricity prices to new highs as demand soars

Great Britain has paid at least six times the normal price for imported power as millions turn on air conditioning and windfarm output sags

The heatwave has prompted a sharp rise in electricity prices across European markets as millions turn to air conditioners and electric fans to battle record high temperatures, which have also caused a string of power plant outages across the continent.

Great Britain imported electricity from Europe at more than six times the normal price on Tuesday as the high-pressure heat dome has slowed wind speeds, hitting renewable energy generation, and led to outages at multiple gas plants across the country.

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Canadian police warn of possible copycat attacks after deadly shootout in Montreal

Assailant behind shooting that left three people dead wrote ‘incel’-like manifesto that was posted by a far-right outlet

Police in Canada are warning of possible copycat attacks after three people died in a shootout in Montreal and the assailant’s lengthy manifesto, which called for “a new bloodletting”, was posted online by a far-right outlet.

The document contains many of the hallmark grievances of the “involuntary celibacy” – or “incel” – movement in addition racist and misogynistic conspiracy theories.

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Former Pinochet agents convicted over 1976 Washington DC carbomb murder

Attack targeted former Chile ambassador Orlando Letelier and his US colleague Ronni Karpen Moffitt

Fifty years after Gen Augusto Pinochet’s secret police detonated a car bomb in the heart of Washington DC, killing Orlando Letelier, a former Chilean minister and ambassador to the US, and his American colleague Ronni Karpen Moffitt, a Santiago court has convicted three former agents of Moffitt’s murder.

Judge Paola Plaza, a special minister for human rights in Chile, sentenced Pedro Espinoza, José Zara, and Raúl Iturriaga to 15 years in prison for their roles in the killing of Moffitt, 25.

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UK prioritised ties with UAE over averting mass atrocities in Sudan, MPs to be told

Foreign Office failed to act on warnings of genocide due to ‘pressure’ from emirates, Yale human rights investigator will tell a parliamentary select committee

The British government had received intelligence that Ethiopia appeared to be supporting a genocidal militia in Sudan’s civil war as far back as 2024 but did not go public with the news for fear of upsetting the United Arab Emirates (UAE), a parliamentary committee will hear.

In May 2024, officials from the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) told Nathaniel Raymond, an American human rights investigator at Yale University, that “significant private pressure” from the UAE meant the UK would not publicly divulge information linking Ethiopia and the emirates to their support for the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.

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Middle East crisis live: Trump claims Iran has agreed to nuclear inspections ‘long into future’, accusing Tehran of ‘false statements’

US president says Tehran has committed to ‘nuclear honesty’, while Iran’s foreign ministry says there are no plans for IAEA to inspect sites bombed by US and Israel last year

Oman and Iran said in a statement that the two countries will ⁠form ⁠a ​team to reach an ⁠agreement on “administration of navigation ⁠in ​the Strait ‌of Hormuz” ‌and associated ‌costs and services, Reuters reports.

The two states will hold ⁠talks with ​coastal countries ​and other ​concerned parties, ​the ‌statement ​said.

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Kenyan minister orders halt to construction of US Ebola facility

Decision comes after Aden Duale was held in contempt for ignoring previous high court ruling to stop work

Kenya’s health minister told a court he had ordered preparations for a US-run Ebola quarantine facility to stop, after being held in contempt for ignoring a previous order to end work.

Many Kenyans strongly oppose the facility, with deadly protests erupting since the complex was announced in May for US citizens evacuated from the Democratic Republic of Congo, which is grappling with a widespread Ebola outbreak.

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Majority of datacenters are vulnerable to climate threats like floods and fires, study finds

Study warns AI datacenters are vulnerable to the climate hazards that their global greenhouse gas emissions bolster

Amid rising concern that the artificial intelligence boom is fueling the climate crisis, a new report has found that nearly 80% of datacenters are also exposed to extreme climate hazards, including flooding, extreme winds and wildfires.

Those impacts are leaving the infrastructure vulnerable to disrupted operations, increased time offline and inflated insurance and repair costs, the research from climate risk analytics firm First Street shows.

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First Thing: Judge thwarts Trump administration attempt to overthrow LA ‘sanctuary city’ policy

Central California US district court rejected claim policy was ‘unconstitutional’. Plus House of the Dragon star Olivia Cooke on being sworn at by people wanting selfies

Good morning. A California court has dismissed a lawsuit filed ⁠by Donald Trump’s administration against Los Angeles over a city ordinance making it a “sanctuary city” and limiting ⁠its cooperation with federal ⁠immigration ​authorities.

Fernando Olguin, a judge in the central California US district court, rejected the administration’s argument that the city’s policy was unconstitutional. ⁠He gave the administration permission to file an amended complaint. The White House did not ⁠immediately respond to the Guardian’s request for comment.

What did the city say about the victory? The Los Angeles ‌city attorney, Hydee ‌Feldstein Soto, said: “This order reinforces the well-established principle that local governments have the authority to decide how to use their personnel and resources. The goal of this ordinance … is to encourage victims of and witnesses to crime to feel safe coming forward to seek help from LAPD regardless of their immigration status. It does not obstruct or impede lawful federal immigration enforcement operations.”

Why did both sides want the act to pass? The legislation comes as Democrats and Republicans prepare for November’s midterm elections, in which concerns about affordability are expected to loom large in the minds of voters. A shortfall in construction of new homes is seen as a key driver of housing costs, which have crept higher in recent years.

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New Yorkers vote as Democrats weigh competing visions in era of Trump

Democratic primary elections to test strength of party’s left flank as old guard faces string of challenges

New Yorkers were voting on Tuesday in a slate of Democratic primaries poised to reveal the strength of the party’s left flank and shape the battle for control of the US House of Representatives in November.

Voters in Maryland and Utah will also nominate congressional candidates on Tuesday, while South Carolina holds a series of runoff elections for candidates who did not receive a majority of the vote earlier this month.

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EU faces fierce criticism over plans to host Taliban in Brussels

Rights campaigners and MEPs say meeting would normalise regime that erases women from public life

Rights campaigners and MEPs have warned that a meeting between EU officials and a Taliban delegation in Brussels risks normalising a regime that has banned girls from school beyond the sixth grade and sought to erase women from public life, while its ranks include two leaders accused of crimes against humanity.

A spokesperson for the Afghan foreign ministry confirmed that a delegation representing the ⁠Taliban had travelled to Brussels after the Belgian foreign ministry issued five single-day visas.

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Lost memoir of Hiroshima survivor found after decades in US archive

Written in 1947, Kiyoshi Tanimoto’s account of the horrors of the atomic bomb attack will be published in August and is being made into a film

The memoir of a man who survived the horrors of Hiroshima is to be published for the first time this summer after its discovery in a US archive.

The 230-page memoir was written almost 80 years ago by Kiyoshi Tanimoto, who witnessed the city’s destruction after the atomic bomb was dropped in 1945. He will now be portrayed in a feature film by Takehiro Hira, whose acclaimed roles include the detective in the Netflix Japanese-British drama Giri/Haji. Pre-production begins in November, ahead of the shoot in February 2027.

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Canadian healthcare staff decry ‘cruel hoax’ after scam email promises paid day off

Unions condemn ‘insensitive’ internal cybersecurity test sent to healthcare workers in Newfoundland and Labrador

For years, healthcare staff in the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador have felt overworked and underappreciated. Turnover, burnout and thinning resources were pushing workers in the sector to a breaking point.

So when the email titled “June Holiday” arrived in thousands of inboxes, they felt a moment of overdue joy.

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Spanish PM’s former right-hand man jailed for 24 years for corruption

José Luis Ábalos found to have taken bribes on Covid-era public contracts in damaging blow to Pedro Sánchez

Spain’s supreme court has jailed the former transport minister José Luis Ábalos for 24 years for taking bribes on public contracts for sanitary equipment such as ‌face masks during the Covid pandemic.

Ábalos’s aide, Koldo García, was jailed for 19 years in a trial that is one of several scandals to have enveloped the government of Pedro Sánchez over recent months.

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Two children found dead in car in France as heatwave hits Europe

Number of countries issue alerts with sustained and rising temperatures expected to present danger to health

Two children aged four and two have been found dead in their family’s car in south-eastern France, the local prosecutor said, as a large swathe of western Europe suffers a ferocious heatwave forecast to shatter absolute temperature records.

“The causes of death are yet to be determined, but the heat is the leading line of inquiry,” said Hélène Mourges, the prosecutor in the town of Carpentras, where the temperature was expected to exceed 39C (102.2F) on Monday afternoon.

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