UK prosecutors to appeal decision to dismiss Kneecap rapper ‘terror’ charge
Liam O'Hanna said after case thrown out last month that charges aimed at silencing dissent over Gaza war.
What we know about the hostages still in Gaza
Two years after the 7 October attacks, dozens of hostages remain in Hamas captivity. BBC Verify has been examining what we know about them.
Hamas Demands Full Israeli Withdrawal From Gaza at Same Time as Release of Last Hostage – Haaretz
Two Austrian women switched at birth meet 35 years later
Doris Grünwald and Jessica Baumgartner, born in Graz in 1990, were accidentally given to the parents of the other family.
Pope Leo XIV to visit Turkey and Lebanon on first foreign trip, says he’ll bring message of peace – AP News
- Pope Leo XIV to visit Turkey and Lebanon on first foreign trip, says he'll bring message of peace AP News
- Pope Leo will travel to Turkey and Lebanon in first international trip CNN
- Pope Leo to visit Turkey and Lebanon on first overseas trip The Guardian
- Pope Leo to visit Turkey, Lebanon in November in first trip abroad Reuters
- Pope Leo plans symbolic debut foreign trips to Turkiye and Lebanon Al Jazeera
Two years later, some Israelis who fled Hamas attack have yet to go home – The Washington Post
- Two years later, some Israelis who fled Hamas attack have yet to go home The Washington Post
- A place of ghosts and memories: kibbutz residents ponder return after 7 October The Guardian
- Israeli kibbutzim ravaged by October 7 attacks rebuild while honoring the past Le Monde.fr
- Kibbutz Be'eri rebuilds two years after Hamas massacre The Jerusalem Post
- ‘The wheat will grow again’: Kibbutz Be’eri marks two years since Hamas onslaught The Times of Israel
Time may be running out for Master of clocks Macron: What next for France?
After eight years in office, Emmanuel Macron's position as president is coming under increasing pressure as France's political crisis escalates.
Time may be running out for master of clocks Macron: What next for France? – BBC
- Time may be running out for master of clocks Macron: What next for France? BBC
- France's crisis takes an unexpected turn as Macron's allies defy him CNBC
- With Sébastien Lecornu’s Resignation, France Faces Increasing Turmoil The New York Times
- France's caretaker PM Lecornu: Hopeful on budget, chance of snap election less likely Reuters
- Liberté, égalité, désordre: chaos in France The Economist
Robert Jenrick accused of fuelling ‘toxic nationalism’ with Birmingham claims
Shadow justice secretary stands by comments made in March amid criticism including from a Tory colleague
Robert Jenrick has been accused of fuelling a “fire of toxic nationalism” after he doubled down on his complaint about “not seeing another white face” in part of Birmingham.
The shadow justice secretary was criticised by politicians across the parties, local leaders and the bishop of Birmingham after the Guardian published his remarks from March.
Continue reading...‘Not words that I would have used’: Stride distances himself from Jenrick’s ‘no white faces’ comments – UK politics live
Shadow chancellor distances himself from words after Robert Jenrick accused of racism in comments he made about Handsworth
Asked about the Jenrick story, Badenoch again suggests Guardian reporting is reliable.
Q: Jenrick was making a distinction between white faces and brown faces.
Continue reading...US delegation led by Steve Witkoff due to arrive in Egypt for Gaza talks
White House says it is important ‘that we get this done quickly’ as indirect talks restart in Sharm el-Sheikh
A US delegation led by envoy Steve Witkoff is expected to join talks in Egypt on Wednesday to reinforce President Donald Trump’s involvement in the newly restarted negotiations between Hamas and Israel aimed at ending the war in Gaza.
The indirect talks at Sharm el-Sheikh, the Egyptian resort city on the Red Sea, entered their second day on the second anniversary of the Hamas surprise attack into Israel that triggered the bloody conflict.
Continue reading...Israel marks two years since 7 October Hamas attack as Gaza ceasefire talks continue – as it happened
Israelis gather to commemorate the second anniversary of the Hamas-led attack in which 1,200 people were killed. This live blog is closed
Deborah Cole is Berlin correspondent for the Guardian
Germany marked the two-year anniversary of the 7 October attacks with sombre commemorations across the country and official flags pulled to half mast.
Continue reading...Ken Jacobs, mainstay of New York’s underground film culture, dies aged 92
Experimental film-maker’s works included Little Stabs at Happiness, Blonde Cobra, and Tom, Tom, the Piper’s Son
Renowned experimental film-maker Ken Jacobs, whose works such as Little Stabs at Happiness, Blonde Cobra and Tom, Tom, the Piper’s Son made him a key member of the underground film circuit of the 1960s, has died aged 92. His son Azazel Jacobs, also a film-maker, told the New York Times that he died of kidney failure in hospital on Sunday.
Described by the New York Times as “the éminence grise of the American avant garde”, Jacobs and his wife Flo, with whom he collaborated on much of his work, straddled the worlds of experimental art and American new wave film-making, along with the likes of Jack Smith, Andy Warhol and Jonas Mekas. He was a founding member of New York’s Film-Makers’ Co-Operative and the first director of the Millennium Film Workshop in 1966, both of which offered a space for film-makers working outside the mainstream and which are still operating today.
Continue reading...German mayor critically injured in stabbing attack, police say
Chancellor Friedrich Merz says "we fear for the life" of Iris Stalzer, a newly-elected mayor in the western town of Herdecke.
German mayor-elect gravely wounded in stabbing attack – Al Jazeera
- German mayor-elect gravely wounded in stabbing attack Al Jazeera
- German mayor reportedly stabbed as Merz condemns ‘heinous’ attack CNN
- Newly elected German mayor fights for life after stabbing attack Fox News
- Germany: Police see no political motive in mayor's stabbing DW
- German mayor critically injured in stabbing attack, police say BBC
Macron under pressure to call snap parliamentary elections or resign
French president’s former allies join opponents in demanding he act to end a spiralling political crisis
France’s president, Emmanuel Macron, is under intense pressure to call snap parliamentary elections or resign as former allies join his opponents in demanding he act to end a spiralling political crisis in the EU’s second biggest economy.
Macron’s first prime minister on Tuesday urged the president to step down amid mounting frustration even within the president’s own camp over one of the worst spells of political chaos in France since the foundation of its Fifth Republic in 1958.
Continue reading...Federal agents taunted Chicago woman to ‘do something’ before shooting her, attorney claims
Officers say woman was in chase ending in ramming border patrol vehicle during Trump’s immigration crackdown
The attorney for a woman who was shot by federal agents in Chicago over the weekend after she allegedly rammed a Customs and Border Protection (CBP) vehicle has claimed that body-camera footage captures one of the officers saying: “Do something, bitch,” before opening fire, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.
The shooting occurred on Saturday morning in Chicago’s Brighton Park neighborhood, as immigration agents, at the behest of the second Trump administration, have been scouring Illinois’s largest city for people to deport.
Continue reading...CPS to appeal against dismissal of terrorism charge against Kneecap’s Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh
The rapper was accused of displaying a flag in support of Hezbollah but case was thrown out by magistrate
Prosecutors will appeal against a court’s decision to throw out a terrorism charge against the Kneecap rapper Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh.
The 27-year-old was accused of displaying a flag in support of the proscribed terrorist organisation Hezbollah at a gig in November last year until a technical error in the way he was charged led to the chief magistrate ruling he could not try the case.
Continue reading...Pam Bondi and Senate Democrats spar amid Trump’s troop deployments
US attorney general blames shutdown on Democrats as judiciary panel questions her on Epstein and deployments
Democratic senators sparred with attorney general Pam Bondi over her handling of the Epstein files and Donald Trump’s nationwide deployments of national guard at a bitterly partisan Senate hearing on Tuesday.
Bondi’s appearance before the Senate judiciary committee was her first since being confirmed in February, and comes as the president steps up his crackdown on political opponents and Democratic-run cities nationwide.
Continue reading...Human error caused crash that killed record-breaking skydiver Felix Baumgartner
Austrian was killed in paragliding accident in July
56-year-old broke sound barrier during 2012 jump
The paragliding crash that killed extreme athlete Felix Baumgartner in July was caused by human error, an investigating prosecutor said on Tuesday.
Baumgartner, the first skydiver to fall faster than the speed of sound, died in July along Italy’s Adriatic coast. He was 56. Witnesses said the flight appeared normal until Baumgartner’s paraglider started spinning to the ground, crashing near a hotel swimming pool.
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