EU may as well be ‘province of China’ due to reliance on imports, says industrialist

Stefan Scherer, boss of AMG Lithium, says Europe must become more self-sufficient in critical raw materials and new technologies

The EU may as well “apply to be a province of China” such is its inability to wean itself off that country’s supply of critical raw materials used in everything from electric vehicles to smartphones and wind turbines, a leading German industrialist has said.

As chief executive of AMG Lithium, the EU’s first factory to make the lithium hydroxide used in many car batteries, Stefan Scherer sits at the centre of what has been dubbed a new gold rush.

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US halts weapons shipments to Ukraine over fears its stockpiles are too low

Some shipments have been stopped ‘to put America’s interests first’, White House says

The Pentagon has halted shipments of US Patriot air defence systems and other precision weapons to Ukraine after concern that US stockpiles were running too low, prompting alarm in Kyiv.

A decision was quietly taken last month by the Pentagon’s policy chief, Elbridge Colby. Kyiv said halting weapons shipments would only encourage Russian aggression, but the White House said it had been done “to put America’s interests first following a DoD [Department of Defense] review”.

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Children crossing Channel from France exposed to teargas, report says

NGO says rise in interventions has only increased danger as new data shows at least 15 children died in transit last year

Children and babies coming to the UK on small boats from northern France have been teargassed and subjected to tactics such as the discharge of rubber bullets and the slashing of dinghies with knives, according to a report.

The publication on Tuesday of We Want to Be Safe, by the French non-governmental organisation Project Play, came as the latest figures on daily crossings released by the UK government reached an all-time high of 19,982 for the first six months of the year, a 40% increase compared with the same period last year.

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EU may allow carbon credits from developing countries to count towards climate goals

Exclusive: Green groups furious at plans to let member states buy controversial carbon offsets from abroad

EU member states may be allowed to count controversial carbon credits from developing countries towards their climate targets, the European climate commissioner has said as states meet for a crucial decision on the issue.

The EU will discuss on Wednesday its target for slashing carbon dioxide by 2040, with an expected cut of 90% compared with 1990 levels, in line with the bloc’s overarching target of reaching net zero by mid-century.

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Clashes and arrests in Turkey over magazine cartoon allegedly depicting prophet Muhammad

Turkey police face demonstrators after prosecutor orders arrests at LeMan magazine, whose editor-in-chief denies allegation and says image has been deliberately misinterpreted

Clashes erupted in Istanbul with police firing rubber bullets and teargas to disperse a mob on Monday after allegations that a satirical magazine had published a cartoon of the prophet Muhammad.

The clashes occurred after Istanbul’s chief prosecutor ordered the arrest of the editors at LeMan magazine on grounds it had published a cartoon that “publicly insulted religious values”.

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Norway lottery operator apologises to 47,000 players over prize mixup

Norsk Tipping informed thousands of people they won big sums of money after mistake in currency conversions

Norwegian lottery bosses have sent a text message apologising to tens of thousands of disappointed players who were accidentally told they had won large sums of money.

Norsk Tipping, the state-owned gambling operator, had admitted “several thousand” people were mistakenly told on Friday they had won life-changing sums of money after an error in converting from euros to Norwegian kroner. It was not until Monday, three days later, that a text message was sent to 47,000 people apologising for the error.

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Greek PM vows to investigate €290m ‘fake’ farmer fraud scandal

Kyriakos Mitsotakis sets up taskforce over alleged scamming of EU agricultural funds after resignation of five senior officials

The Greek prime minister has vowed to get to the bottom of how a scheme of fraudulent EU subsidy claims could have operated undetected in the country for years, as he admitted that the scandal had revealed “the state’s inadequacy” in dealing with corruption.

Faced with revelations that “fake” farmers had been scamming designated agricultural funds to the tune of a reputed €290m (£249m), Kyriakos Mitsotakis said on Monday a special taskforce would be set up to “immediately and exhaustively” investigate the illegal payments.

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Russia has taken first village in Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk, state media claims

If confirmed, advance of Russian forces into region could be psychological blow for Kyiv

Russian forces have captured a village in the Ukrainian region of Dnipropetrovsk for the first time in their three-year offensive, Russian state media and pro-war bloggers have claimed, marking a potential psychological blow to Ukraine.

There was no immediate confirmation from Ukrainian officials or from the Russian defence ministry.

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Monday briefing: How Budapest Pride became a huge show of anti-Orbán defiance

In today’s newsletter: Hungary has relentlessly cracked down on LGBTQ+ rights – but banning Pride proved a step too far, as European politicians joined its biggest ever crowd

Good morning. In 1997, Budapest became the first capital in central and eastern Europe to hold a Pride parade. Three decades later, the march is firmly established as Hungary’s biggest LGBTQ+ event, and, in the words of one opposition MP, “a vital expression of joy, resistance and visibility”.

On Saturday, Budapest Pride took on the illiberal ambitions of Viktor Orbán and, rainbow flags flying high under a cloudless blue sky, as many as 200,000 marchers from 30 countries – the biggest turnout ever – were there to say it won. At least, for the time being.

Welfare |Vicky Foxcroft, the Labour whip who resigned in protest against disability benefit cuts, has said Keir Starmer’s concessions do not yet go far enough to win her over, as No 10 launched a fresh attempt to stem the revolt against its welfare bill.

NHS | Britain’s health service is estimated to be spending £50m a year on the effects of poverty and deprivation. One senior NHS figure said there were “medieval” levels of illnesses among poorer communities

Glastonbury | The organisers of Glastonbury have said they are “appalled” by comments made by Bob Vylan after the punk duo appeared to incite violence, something the festival said went against its ethos of “hope, unity, peace and love”.

Environment | Wildlife activists who exposed horrific conditions at Scottish salmon farms were subjected to surveillance by private spies-for-hire, including being followed and photographed, the Guardian can reveal.

Weather | Today’s temperature in the UK is expected to rise to 34C, just short of the record for the hottest ever June day, 35.6C, recorded in Southampton in 1976.

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Pioneering project releases more lost Irish records spanning 700 years

Newly restored material from vast archive destroyed in civil war takes in Anglo-Norman conquest and 1798 rebellion

Seven centuries of lost historical records covering espionage, political corruption and the lives of ordinary people in Ireland have been recovered and are being released.

A pioneering project to fill gaps in Irish history is making 175,000 more records and millions more words of searchable content freely available to researchers and members of the public.

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Turkish police arrest more than 50 people before banned Istanbul Pride parade

City’s bar association says people ‘deprived of their liberty through arbitrary, unjust, and illegal detention’

Police arrested more than 50 people in Istanbul on Sunday ahead of a banned LGBTQ+ Pride march, the city’s bar association said.

“Before today’s Istanbul Pride march, four of our colleagues, including members of our Human Rights Centre, along with more than 50 people, were deprived of their liberty through arbitrary, unjust, and illegal detention,” the Istanbul Bar’s Human Rights Centre posted on X.

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France implements smoking ban at beaches and parks in step towards ‘tobacco-free generation’

Under new rules anyone who lights up on a beach or in a public park from Sunday will be breaking the law

Anyone who lights up on a beach or in a public park in France will be breaking the law from Sunday under new rules aimed at protecting children from the dangers of passive smoking.

Bus shelters and areas in the immediate vicinity of libraries, swimming pools and schools will also be affected by the ban, which is coming into force one day after its publication in the official government gazette on Saturday.

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China ‘planned car collision’ during Taiwan vice-president’s visit to Prague

Czech intelligence revealed Chinese diplomats allegedly planned staged incident during Hsiao Bi-khim’s 2024 visit

Taiwan’s vice-president has said she will not be intimidated after reports by Czech intelligence that Chinese officials planned to stage a car collision when she was in Prague last year.

Hsiao Bi-khim visited the Czech Republic in March 2024, in the first overseas visit by her and Taiwan’s president, Lai Ching-te, after winning the election in January. It was reported at the time that a Chinese diplomat had run a red light while following her car – under police escort – from the airport.

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Crowds gather for Budapest Pride march despite Orbán’s threat of ‘legal consequences’ – as it happened

Organisers of Budapest Pride said the government was attempting to restrict peaceful protests by targeting them

Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez are preparing for the last party of their three-day wedding festivities in Venice as demonstrators mobilise for a final protest against the couple’s opulent nuptials in the Italian lagoon city.

The Amazon founder, 61, and the former TV journalist, 55, exchanged vows in front of around 200 celebrity guests in a black-tie ceremony on the nearby island of San Giorgio Maggiore on Friday evening.

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Transgender campaigners call for European rights body to report on UK

Alliance of groups wants Council of Europe to investigate implementation of supreme court ruling on biological sex

A collection of groups campaigning on transgender issues have urged Europe’s main human rights body to investigate the UK over the implementation of the supreme court’s ruling on gender.

In a joint letter to the Council of Europe, the organisations said the situation in which transgender people were likely to be barred from using toilets of their acquired sex or joining single-sex organisations placed them in an “intermediate zone” of gender, saying this was a violation of the European convention on human rights (ECHR).

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Budapest Pride expected to be a rallying cry against Orbán’s rollback of rights

Record numbers expected at march despite Hungary’s leader saying those attending will face ‘legal consequences’

Record numbers of people are expected to take part in Budapest Pride on Saturday, with Hungarians joining forces with campaigners and politicians from across Europe in a march that has become a potent symbol of pushback against the Hungarian government’s steady rollback of rights.

“This weekend, all eyes are on Budapest,” Hadja Lahbib, the European commissioner for equality, told reporters in the Hungarian capital on Friday. “This is bigger than one Pride celebration, one Pride march. It is about the right to be who you are, to love who you want, whether it is in Budapest, in Brussels or anywhere else.”

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Jeff in Venice: seven takeaways from the Bezos-Sánchez wedding

What we learned from the billionaire’s three-day, celebrity-studded nuptials which created a stir in Venice

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and journalist Lauren Sánchez held their wedding ceremony in Venice’s Grand canal on Friday, the centrepiece of a three-day gala that drew dozens of stars but also protests by local activists. Here are seven takeaways.

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‘Orchestrated grovel’: critics react to Europe’s attempts to tame Donald Trump

Nato chief Mark Rutte derided for calling US president ‘daddy’ and showering him with praise over Iran

History may record this week as the one in which Donald Trump came to Europe to discuss defence spending.

Diplomats may remember it as the week in which the art of obsequiousness reached new highs and the sycophants plunged new lows.

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Son of Norway’s crown princess charged with rape, sexual assault and bodily harm

Police in Oslo announce charges against Marius Borg Høiby after months-long investigation involving ‘double-digit’ number of alleged victims

Oslo police on Friday announced charges against Marius Borg Høiby, the eldest son of Norway’s crown princess, on counts including rape, sexual assault and bodily harm after a months-long investigation of a case that involved a “double-digit” number of alleged victims.

Høiby, the son of Crown Princess Mette-Marit and stepson of the heir to the throne, Crown Prince Haakon, has been under scrutiny since he was repeatedly arrested in 2024 amid allegations of rape and on preliminary charges of bodily harm and criminal damage.

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EU retaliation against Trump drug tariffs would be bad idea, says industry

European pharmaceutical body says it would be ‘negative for both sides’ if Brussels hits back on threatened US levies

The European pharmaceutical industry has urged Brussels not to retaliate if Donald Trump brings in threatened tariffs on imported drugs, amid fears he could impose the levies as early as next week.

The US president said last week that the sector-specific tariffs were coming “very soon”. There is concern in Brussels that he could impose them imminently to give himself further leverage ahead of his self-imposed 9 July deadline for trade deals with the EU and about 60 countries.

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