Former Iranian president has a populist, headline-grabbing communication style but is an avowed anti-Zionist. How could Israel see him as a man to do business with?
For all their outward differences, there always seemed to be things that linked Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Donald Trump.
A visit to the then Iranian president’s rather humble Tehran neighbourhood nearly 20 years ago highlighted cost of living problems that prefigured those facing Trump now.
Continue reading...Case hailed as human rights victory as Tromsø court says Tommy Olsen’s actions are lawful and protected under international treaties
The decision of a Norwegian appeals court to dismiss the extradition of an activist accused of facilitating the illegal entry of people into Greece has been hailed as a rare victory for human rights.
In a judgment described as unprecedented by lawyers representing Tommy Olsen, the Norwegian founder of the NGO the Aegean Boat Report, the court unanimously rejected the request saying his actions were not only lawful but protected under international treaties to which both countries adhered.
Continue reading...UK calls incident ‘unacceptable’ after Su-27 jet comes within six metres of unarmed RAF plane over Black Sea
A Russian jet flew within six metres of an RAF spy plane flying at 500mph over the Black Sea, one of two mid-air incidents last month described as “dangerous and unacceptable” by the defence secretary, John Healey.
An Su-27 jet conducted six passes in front of an unarmed RAF Rivet Joint flying close to its nose in mid April, risking a collision that could have caused a diplomatic crisis between the two countries.
Continue reading...Soft power institution faces funding crisis linked to Covid-era government loan due to be repaid by September
Staff at the British Council in Italy will go on strike over deep cuts that would slash about 80% of its workforce due to a funding crisis facing the organisation.
Out of 130 of its teaching staff across Rome, Milan and Naples, 108 are being targeted as teaching activities in Italy face the axe. The move would end 80 years of British Council English language teaching in Italy as part of the organisation’s global mission to promote British culture and education across the world, sources said.
Continue reading...Airstrike at the start of the war was aimed at freeing populist ex-president from house arrest, US newspaper claims
Fresh questions have been raised over the US and Israeli effort to depose the Iranian regime after it was claimed that Israel wanted to put the populist Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in power.
Ahmadinejad’s turbulent presidency, from 2005 to 2013, was marked by incendiary attacks on Israel but he recast himself as a critic of the regime and champion of the poor after falling out with the supreme leader Ali Khamenei.
Continue reading...A decade after the referendum, EU leaders would welcome closer ties – once the UK has understood the ‘European deal’
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Brexit’s back. Well, sort of. If it ever really went away. At any rate, an awful lot of ink has been spilled – in Britain, at least – over last weekend’s remarks by a would-be PM that Brexit was “a catastrophic mistake” and the UK’s future lay “back in the EU”.
That reflects, first, just how deep the wounds of Brexit still run. A decade after the referendum unleashed an identity politics so powerful it still dominates UK debate, Britain’s voters remain divided into the two warring tribes of remain versus leave.
Continue reading...Vilnius residents urged to take shelter during alert, after Nato and EU warn that Russia is diverting Ukraine’s drones
Lithuania’s president and prime minister were rushed to underground bunkers and residents of the capital, Vilnius, urged to take shelter during a warning issued after a drone violated the country’s airspace.
Air and train traffic in and around the city was suspended after the mobile phone “take shelter” alert, the first issued in an EU and Nato country since the start of Russia’s 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Continue reading...Dr Peter Stafford’s wife and four children are also being monitored for symptoms amid Ebola outbreak in Congo
An American doctor who contracted Ebola in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has been flown to Germany for treatment, along with his wife and four children, as the World Health Organization warned of the “scale and speed” of the outbreak.
Authorities have reported at least 134 suspected deaths and more than 500 cases of the hemorrhagic Bundibugyo virus, which has no approved treatments or vaccines. The outbreak, which has spread into urban areas, has been declared a public health emergency requiring international response.
Continue reading...Massie says opponents ‘decided to buy the seat’ as victory for Ed Gallrein shows strength of president’s grip on party
Donald Trump displayed his supremacy over the Republican party on Tuesday when voters in northern Kentucky rejected the maverick congressman Thomas Massie in favour of the US president’s hand-picked challenger.
Ed Gallrein, a retired Navy Seal and farmer who was recruited into the race by Trump, defeated the seven-term incumbent in a primary election in Kentucky’s fourth congressional district in what the president’s allies framed as a test of whether dissent could still exist inside today’s Republican party.
Continue reading...President claims planned Tehran attack postponed to allow talks to continue – but no indication peace plan is imminent
As he seeks an exit from the Iran war, Donald Trump is increasingly outsourcing his policymaking to US allies in the Middle East, while the White House appears unable to find a simple way to end the fighting and reopen global shipping lanes held by Tehran.
In Trump’s telling, the “dealmaker-in-chief” has maintained a consistent policy toward Iran aimed at preventing Tehran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, leveling threats and incentives to reach a new deal that would also open the strait of Hormuz.
Continue reading...Renewed threat comes after US president said he was ‘an hour away’ from ordering a strike before pulling back
Donald Trump has again threatened Iran, saying the US may launch new attacks if Tehran continues to refuse the significant concessions he wants before a deal can be struck to end the Middle East war.
The US president said he had called off a fresh wave of strikes, which would have broken the ceasefire in place since early last month. “I was an hour away from making the decision to go today,” Trump said on Tuesday.
Continue reading...Officials from Baltic states say Moscow behind latest such incident but also tell Kyiv to be more careful with its routing
A Romanian F-16 Nato jet shot down a drone over Estonia on Tuesday in what appears to be the latest case of Russian electronic jamming diverting long-range Ukrainian drones into the alliance’s territory.
A local resident told the Estonian public broadcaster, ERR, that he had seen two fighter jets – part of a Nato force policing the skies over the Baltic states – flying in the area before a loud bang that brought the drone down. He said the drone had crashed about 30 metres from the nearest residential building.
Continue reading...Attack marks first time military action has forced a fully operating nuclear power plant to rely on backup generators
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A drone strike that cut off external power to a nuclear reactor in the United Arab Emirates this week has revived concerns over the safety of nuclear plants during wartime.
Reactor no 3 at the Barakah nuclear plant lost vital off-site power for about 24 hours after the attack on Sunday, forcing it to rely on emergency diesel generators.
Continue reading...The US president said he called off a planned attack on Iran on Tuesday so that peace talks could continue
Iran’s army has warned it would “open new fronts” against the US if it resumes attacks on the country amid reports that Donald Trump is weighing up restarting military operations in Iran amid an impasse in negotiations.
“If the enemy is foolish enough to fall into the Zionist trap again and launches new aggression against our beloved Iran, we will open new fronts against it, with new equipment and new methods,” army spokesperson Mohammad Akraminia said, according to Iran’s ISNA news agency.
Continue reading...Jonathan Andic released on €1m bail after being questioned in connection with death of Isak Andic in 2024
The son of Isak Andic, the founder of the fashion chain Mango, has been released on bail of €1m (£866,000) after being arrested and questioned in connection with his father’s death in Catalonia almost 18 months ago.
Andic died in December 2024 after apparently falling 100 metres down a ravine while hiking in Montserrat, near Barcelona, with his son, Jonathan. His death aged 71 prompted tributes to him from politicians, journalists and the fashion world.
Continue reading...Ben Crump says $4.85m police settlement over fatal traffic stop helps to show how ‘truth must always come to light’
“No amount of money can erase” the pain that motorist Ronald Greene’s death at the hands of Louisiana police inflicted on his loved ones, but a $4.85m settlement which the state has agreed to pay his family helps illustrate how “the truth must always come to light”, their attorney has said.
Ben Crump recently expressed those sentiments in a statement that served as one of his and his clients’ first public reactions to news first reported by the Guardian that mediation talks on 12 May had yielded a settlement between Louisiana authorities and Greene’s family.
Continue reading...Zainab Sheriff unjustly sentenced to four years in prison for incitement and threatening language, say activists
Lawyers, politicians and activists have called for the release of one of Sierra Leone’s best-known celebrities, who they said was unjustly imprisoned as part of a government crackdown on free speech and political dissent.
Zainab Sheriff, a singer and reality-TV show contestant who became a political opposition figure, was sentenced in April to four years and two months’ imprisonment for incitement and using threatening language.
Continue reading...Prosecution is seen as landmark step towards justice over abuses of refugees trying to reach Europe from Africa
A former militia commander accused of overseeing murder, rape, enslavement and torture in Libyan detention centres has appeared at the international criminal court for a hearing that campaigners say is a landmark step towards “justice, truth, reparation and deterrence” of abuses of refugees trying to reach Europe from Africa.
The prosecution of Khaled Mohamed Ali El Hishri on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity is the first to reach a courtroom resulting from the ICC’s investigation into crimes in Libya after the fall of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.
Continue reading...Commemoration of atrocity at Nova music festival confronts those who deny its gravity, says Elkana Bohbot
Two police vans waited expectantly near the front entrance. Officers patrolled the pavements while suited security men with ear pieces stood stern-faced, casting suspicious looks at those approaching. The location in east London had not been disclosed until that morning but no chances were being taken.
It was not for a visiting dignitary or even an embassy of a country in conflict that all this was deemed necessary but the Nova exhibition, a commemoration of the 378 people massacred at a music festival on 7 October along with the 44 taken as hostages and the 19 of those who died in Hamas captivity.
Continue reading...Port has upgraded offshore wind facilities and is to expand quays, ferry terminals and cruise ship services
The operator of Belfast harbour plans to spend £1.3bn over the next 25 years to take advantage of strong economic growth in Northern Ireland, in what would be one of the largest non-governmental investments in the region’s history.
The Belfast Harbour Commissioners said the money would be spent on upgrading the port, with the possibility of residential property developments that could add another £750m in investment on top.
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