Hungary’s crackdown on LGBTQ+ content violates human rights, says EU’s top court

ECJ advocate general condemns ‘stigmatising’ law that bars such content from schools and primetime TV

A Hungarian law banning content about LGBTQ+ people from schools and primetime TV has been found to violate basic human rights and freedom of expression by a senior legal scholar at the European court of justice.

The non-binding opinion from the court’s advocate general, Tamara Ćapeta, issued on Thursday, represents a comprehensive demolition of the arguments made by the Hungarian government defending its so-called childprotection law, passed in 2021.

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Thursday briefing: How Geert Wilders’ exit from Dutch coalition might set up his own comeback

In today’s newsletter: The Dutch government collapsed after Wilders pulled out of the coalition – leaving renewed political uncertainty as parties scramble to redefine their positions

Good morning. The Dutch government dramatically collapsed on Tuesday after far-right politician Geert Wilders pulled out of the coalition, citing his frustration over immigration and asylum policy.

Shortly afterwards the prime minister, Dick Schoof, handed in his resignation to King Willem-Alexander. Fresh elections are expected in October. Until then ministers will remain in place in a caretaker capacity.

US news | Donald Trump has signed a sweeping order banning travel from 12 countries and restricting travel from seven others, reviving and expanding the travel bans from his first term. Security concerns and visa overstays, the US president said, justified the move.

Fuel poverty | Bereaved families of tens of thousands of dead pensioners could be pursued by tax officials to recoup winter fuel payments under a new system being explored by the Treasury, the Guardian has learned.

Israel-Gaza war | The Palestinian Red Crescent Society has detailed the harrowing account of one of its paramedics, Asaad al-Nasasra, 47, who told the organisation he heard Israeli troops shoot first responders. The attack on a convoy of emergency vehicles killed 15 others.

UK economy | Keir Starmer has said he hopes a trade deal struck last month with the US can come into effect “in just a couple of weeks”, as the White House has signalled that the UK will be spared the 50% steel and aluminium tariffs that came into force on Wednesday.

Global health | A cure for HIV may be closer after researchers discovered a new way to force the virus out of hiding in human cells. This “overwhelming” breakthrough could help overcome one of the biggest obstacles to a cure: the virus’s ability to lie dormant in certain white blood cells.

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Shein accused of ‘shaming’ customers into buying more than they can afford

Consumer watchdogs accuse Chinese fashion firm of ‘dark’ practices in formal complaint to European Commission

Consumer watchdogs from 21 countries have filed a formal complaint to EU authorities about alleged “dark” practices by the Chinese fast fashion firm Shein including the “shaming” of customers into buying more than they can afford.

The European Consumer Organisation (BEUC) has submitted a 29-page dossier to the European Commission citing multiple examples of “dark patterns”, or deceptive techniques designed to encourage purchases.

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Kremlin and Trump aides raise nuclear war fears after Ukraine drone strike

Vladimir Putin has warned Russia will respond to Kyiv’s attacks on nuclear-capable aircraft at airfields

As Vladimir Putin pledges to retaliate against Ukraine for last weekend’s unprecedented drone attack, Kremlin advisers and figures around Donald Trump have told the US president that the risk of a nuclear confrontation is growing, in an attempt to pressure him to further reduce US support for Ukraine.

Kirill Dmitriev, the head of Russia’s sovereign wealth fund and an important intermediary between the Kremlin and Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff, called the Ukrainian drone strike an attack on “Russian nuclear assets”, and echoed remarks from Maga-friendly figures warning of the potential for a third world war.

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Hungary postpones vote on law to curb foreign-funded organisations

Orbán’s ruling party delays vote on legislation allowing government to ban organisations with foreign funding

Hungary’s ruling party has postponed a planned vote on draft legislation aimed at organisations that receive foreign funding, following weeks of protests and warnings that the law would “starve and strangle” civil society and independent media.

Viktor Orbán’s rightwing populist party, Fidesz, put forward legislation last month that would allow the government to monitor, penalise and potentially ban organisations that receive any sort of foreign funding, including donations or EU grants.

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France plans to begin intercepting small boats at sea, says UK Home Office

Officials have agreed to begin offshore interceptions, it is claimed, in change of policy that NGOs say will risk lives

The French government plans to begin intercepting small boats carrying asylum seekers even if they are already at sea, a Home Office source has said.

In a move that NGOs claim will endanger lives, it was claimed that French officials agreed this week to draw up plans to begin intervening in waters close to beaches and inland canals.

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Woman who found Irish sanctuary after years on US death row dies in house fire

Sonia ‘Sunny’ Jacobs spent 17 years in prison for murder she said she did not commit, a story told in books, play and film

After enduring hellish years on America’s death row for a crime she said she did not commit, Sonia “Sunny” Jacobs found an idyll, and healing, in rural Ireland. But in a final, cruel twist, her sanctuary claimed her life.

Jacobs, 78, and her carer, Kevin Kelly, were found dead on Tuesday after a fire at her cottage near the village of Casla, in County Galway.

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Pornhub owner to suspend site in France in protest at new verification law

Parent company Aylo criticizes requirement that adult website visitors must confirm age with credit card or ID document

French visitors to the adult sites Pornhub, Youporn and RedTube will on Wednesday be greeted with a message denouncing the country’s age verification requirements, the company said on Tuesday.

Parent company Aylo, in reaction to a French law requiring adult sites to take extra steps to verify that their users are 18 or older, will stop operating in France, a spokesperson said.

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Austrian newspaper cuts ties with writer over Clint Eastwood ‘exclusive’

Kurier editor says Q&A that was picked up by other outlets contained old quotes from round-table events

One of Austria’s leading newspapers has severed ties with a Hollywood reporter after admitting she repackaged old comments by Clint Eastwood and presented them as a supposedly exclusive interview.

In an apparent journalistic coup, the Vienna-based daily Kurier published a Q&A with Eastwood last Friday and it was picked up around the world over the weekend due to the Oscar-winning actor’s outspoken criticism of Hollywood’s “era of remakes and franchises”.

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Major evacuation in Cologne after second world war bombs discovered

About 20,000 people relocated while allied munitions dropped on German city in 1940s are made safe

The biggest evacuation in Cologne since the second world war is under way after the discovery of three unexploded bombs dropped by allied forces 80 years ago.

About 20,000 people are having to leave their homes and businesses, while hotels, a care home for elderly people and a hospital are being evacuated. Three bridges over the Rhine have been closed and rail traffic has been halted or diverted.

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Rome’s taxi drivers outraged at claim they drive like F1’s Max Verstappen

  • Mercedes chief Wolff made comparison after Spanish GP

  • ‘It would be better if Wolff focused on his own team’

Rome taxi drivers are in uproar at the suggestion they drive as badly as mad Max Verstappen, with some challenging Formula One drivers to navigate the traffic and potholes of the Italian capital as skilfully as they do.

Verstappen, a four-time F1 champion, was issued with a penalty on Sunday after crashing into George Russell’s Mercedes in the Spanish Grand Prix.

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‘Five years from now, these readers will be soldiers’: The Russian literature encouraging teens to enlist

Master-race stories of heroic characters battling against zombie Nazis and western spies to recover imperial grandeur are a bleak new spin on an old propaganda tradition

‘Z literature”, a subgenre of Russian fantasy fiction characterised by nationalistic, pro-war storylines, has been on the rise since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine began three years ago and may be pushing young readers towards enlisting in combat.

Z literature – named after the “Z” symbol of support for the invasion – often features popadantsy, or “accidental travel” narratives, involving a protagonist being transported to pivotal moments in Russia’s past and using modern knowledge to intervene and alter history in Russia’s favour.

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Dutch government collapses as far-right leader pulls party out of coalition

Coalition leaders call decision by Geert Wilders to withdraw from alliance over immigration policy ‘irresponsible’

The Dutch government has collapsed after the far-right leader Geert Wilders pulled his party out of the ruling coalition in a row over immigration and asylum policy.

The prime minister, Dick Schoof, on Tuesday handed in his resignation and that of his 11-month-old cabinet to King Willem-Alexander. Remaining ministers will stay on in a caretaker capacity until new elections, most likely in October.

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Dutch museum to display 200-year-old condom probably made from sheep’s appendix

Rijksmuseum exhibition includes contraceptive featuring erotic etching of a nun and three clergymen

A 200-year-old illustrated condom will go on display with Dutch golden age masters in Amsterdam this week, after the 19th-century “luxury souvenir” became the first-ever contraceptive sheath to be added to the Rijksmuseum’s art collection.

The condom, which was probably made of a sheep’s appendix circa 1830, is thought to have come from an upmarket brothel in France, most likely in Paris. It features an erotic etching depicting a partially undressed nun pointing at the erect genitals of three clergymen, as well as the phrase Voila, mon choix (“There, that’s my choice”).

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Clint Eastwood calls viral interview a fabrication: ‘Completely phony’

The actor and director claims that an Austrian newspaper invented a recent interview with him

Clint Eastwood has released a statement to claim a recent interview with him is a fabrication.

Quotes from an alleged interview with the Oscar-winning actor and director had gone viral over the weekend and were picked up by a number of sites. Yet Eastwood has now said that he never spoke to anyone from German-language Austrian newspaper Kurier.

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Andrew Tate allegedly secured Vanuatu ‘golden passport’ in month of Romania arrest

Influencer accused of rape and human trafficking alleged to have gained citizenship via £96,000 investment scheme

Andrew Tate allegedly secured a “golden passport” from the Pacific island nation of Vanuatu the month he was arrested in Romania on charges including rape and human trafficking, it has been reported.

The 38-year-old influencer allegedly received the passport through a citizenship-by-investment programme that allows foreign nationals to buy citizenship for $130,000 (£96,000), according to the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) and Intelligence Online.

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Trump still ‘open’ to meeting Putin and Zelenskyy; Russia rejects unconditional ceasefire – as it happened

This live blog is now closed. For the latest on the Russia-Ukraine war, read our full report:

Ruth Michaelson is reporting from Istanbul and will be providing updates on the talks. Here is some colour from outside Istanbul’s Ciragan Palace:

A fleet of black sedans arrived outside the Çırağan Palace in Istanbul, signalling the arrival of some of the negotiations teams.

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Populist Nawrocki’s triumph threatens Poland’s place at Europe’s top table

Victory of radical-right candidate could seriously destabilise the coalition government of pro-EU prime minister Donald Tusk

The victory margin of the nationalist Karol Nawrocki in Poland’s presidential elections may have been wafer-thin, but it marks a huge upheaval in the country’s political landscape whose impact will be felt not just in Warsaw but across the EU.

Backed by the previous ruling conservative Law & Justice (PiS) party and, openly, by Donald Trump’s Maga movement, Nawrocki, a radical-right historian, defeated his liberal rival, the capital’s mayor, Rafał Trzaskowski, by 50.89% to 49.11%.

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Two people die and hundreds arrested in France after PSG Champions League victory

Vehicles torched in French capital and football supporters clash with police following match in Munich

Two people have died and hundreds have been arrested amid violence on the streets of France, which have marred Paris Saint-Germain’s Champions League final victory and provoked political recriminations.

Cars were torched as flares and fireworks were set off while supporters clashed with police in the French capital on Saturday night after the match in Munich.

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Greta Thunberg joins aid ship sailing to Gaza aimed at breaking Israel’s blockade

Game of Thrones actor Liam Cunningham also on Freedom Flotilla voyage to deliver aid to devastated territory

The climate campaigner Greta Thunberg and 11 other activists have set sail for Gaza on a ship aimed at “breaking Israel’s siege” of the devastated territory, organisers have said.

The sailing boat Madleen – operated by the activist group Freedom Flotilla Coalition – departed from the port of Catania in Sicily, southern Italy, on Sunday.

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