US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Fund a “fig leaf for genocide”
Chris Gunness on Israel’s Gaza aid plan via its backed foundation – and why critics say it’s a form of weaponised relief
Trump’s tariffs ruled illegal: Will this end US trade war?
A US federal court has blocked some of Donald Trump's tariffs after lawsuit argued president exceeded his authority.
What happens now after Trump suffers major blow to economic policy?
The Trump administration said it would appeal against the ruling shortly after it was announced.
Joel Le Scouarnec: Prolific French paedophile’s sentence leaves victims appalled – BBC
- Joel Le Scouarnec: Prolific French paedophile's sentence leaves victims appalled BBC
- Joël Le Scouarnec, French Doctor Who Molested Hundreds of Children, Is Sentenced The New York Times
- French court sentences pedophile surgeon to 20 years in jail for abusing hundreds of patients CNN
- French surgeon gets 20 years for child abuse DW
- Victims of Le Scouarnec slam lack of action in France’s landmark child sex abuse case France 24
Paedophile surgeon’s sentence leaves victims appalled
Prolific abuser Joel Le Scouarnec's 20-year sentence raises questions about whether French law is too lenient.
Turkey to fine airline passengers who stand up before plane stops
Those who unbuckle before the "fasten seatbelt" sign is turned off face a fine, aviation authority says.
UK must consider food and climate part of national security, say top ex-military figures
Former army and navy leaders urge government to think beyond military capability in advance of key defence review
Former military leaders are urging the UK government to widen its definition of national security to include climate, food and energy measures in advance of a planned multibillion-pound boost in defence spending.
Earlier this year Keir Starmer announced the biggest increase in defence spending in the UK since the end of the cold war, with the budget rising to 2.5% of GDP by 2027 – three years earlier than planned – and an ambition to reach 3%.
Continue reading...Keir Starmer says Nigel Farage is ‘Liz Truss all over again’ – UK politics live
Prime minister says ‘you cannot trust Farage with your future and your jobs’ as he gives speech in north-west England
When “something sounds too good to be true, it’s because it is too good to be true”, water minister Emma Hardy has said, reports the PA news agency.
Asked about the “threat” which Reform UK poses to Labour, Hardy told GB News:
I think it’s really important that any political party is held to account for the promises that they’ve made and we know – gosh, don’t we just know – what happened when [former prime minister] Liz Truss made her £45bn of unfunded tax cuts: the economy tanked, mortgages went up, rents went up, bills went up.
When something sounds too good to be true, it’s because it is too good to be true. If [Farage] wants to be taken seriously as a political party, then he needs to come up with some serious policies and he needs to be held to account.
Now, had I come on your programme and said, ‘do you know what? I’m just announcing £80bn of tax promises’, the first thing you’d have said to me is ‘I don’t believe you’.
The government must urgently summon the US ambassador to clarify what this court ruling means for Starmer’s recent deal with Donald Trump.
The levels of chaos from Trump’s economic policy is putting Liz Truss to shame.
Continue reading...Russia proposes peace talks with Ukraine next week after Trump threats – Axios
- Russia proposes peace talks with Ukraine next week after Trump threats Axios
- Ukraine and Russia set to meet for new round of talks in Istanbul The Washington Post
- Russia says no Ukraine response on proposal for more Istanbul talks Al Jazeera
- Ukraine war briefing: Kremlin holds back peace memorandum that it promised Trump The Guardian
- Kremlin Urges Ukraine to Confirm Istanbul Peace Talks Date The Moscow Times
Pro-Palestine group targets Jewish-owned business in London
Palestine Action says it carried out early hours attack in which windows were smashed and claims company has links to Israeli arms firm
A Jewish-owned business in north London has been daubed in red paint and its shop window smashed by pro-Palestinian campaigners in an incident police are treating as racially aggravated.
Three men were caught on CCTV in the early hours of Thursday attacking an investment group in Stamford Hill, an area with a large community of orthodox Jews.
Continue reading...Drought declared in north-west England amid declining reservoir levels
Hosepipe ban could follow, says Environment Agency, after England had driest February-April period on record
A drought has been declared in north-west England as reservoir levels dwindle.
Hosepipe bans could follow, the Environment Agency said, though this is a matter for water companies, which have been directed to follow their drought plans.
Continue reading...Trump violating right to life with anti-environment orders, youth lawsuit says
Twenty-two plaintiffs between ages seven and 25 allege government is engaging in unlawful executive overreach
Twenty two young Americans have filed a new lawsuit against the Trump administration over its anti-environment executive orders. By intentionally boosting oil and gas production and stymying carbon-free energy, federal officials are violating their constitutional rights to life and liberty, alleges the lawsuit, filed on Thursday.
The federal government is engaging in unlawful executive overreach by breaching congressional mandates to protect ecosystems and public health, argue the plaintiffs, who are between the ages of seven and 25 and hail from the heavily climate-impacted states of Montana, Hawaii, Oregon, California and Florida. They also say officials’ emissions-increasing and science-suppressing orders have violated the state-created danger doctrine, a legal principle meant to prevent government actors from inflicting injury upon their citizens.
Continue reading...Asda unlikely to see growth before year end at earliest, says supermarket boss
Sales at UK’s third largest supermarket fell 3.1% in four months to April, as rival Aldi announces big expansion
Asda is unlikely to see growth before the end of this year at the earliest, the supermarket’s chair, Allan Leighton, has said, as sales continue to fall despite price cuts and more stock on its shelves.
Meanwhile, Aldi, which is closing the market share gap with Asda, put further pressure on its rival by announcing significant expansion plans across the UK.
Continue reading...British woman in France wins back pre-Brexit right to vote in EU elections
Court decision in favour of Alice Bouilliez reignites push for bilateral treaty on electoral enfranchisement
A French court has ordered electoral officials to restore a British woman’s pre-Brexit right to vote in European elections, triggering calls for a renewed push for a bilateral treaty on electoral enfranchisement in each other’s countries.
Alice Bouilliez, a former British civil servant who has lived in France for 38 years, said she was “extremely surprised” but delighted that the court in Auch in south-west France had ordered that the authorities put her name back on the electoral register for the EU elections.
Continue reading...Video footage shows paraglider’s perilous accidental 8000m-high flight
Peng Yujiang, 55, was testing new equipment when a rare "cloud suck" pulled him higher into a cloud formation.
South African woman gets life sentence for selling daughter – DW
- South African woman gets life sentence for selling daughter DW
- Joshlin Smith's mother, Kelly, jailed for kidnapping and selling her in South Africa BBC
- She Sold Her Daughter, 6, for Her 'Eyes and Skin' — Now the Girl Is Still Missing as Mom Learns Her Fate Yahoo
- A South African woman is sentenced to life in prison for selling her young daughter ABC News
- Mom who sold daughter, 6, so her eyes and skin could be cut out and used for ‘medicine’ gets life in prison New York Post
Haribo recalls bags of sweets in Netherlands after cannabis found
The confectionary company says it is working with the police after several people report feeling ill.
First Thing: Federal court blocks Trump from imposing ‘illegal’ sweeping tariffs
The ruling says Trump exceeded authority in imposing sweeping tariffs. Plus, Elon Musk confirms government exit
Good morning.
A federal trade court has ruled Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs regime illegal, a dramatic twist that could block the president’s controversial global trade policy.
What was the ruling? Tariffs typically need to be approved by Congress but Trump has so far bypassed that requirement by claiming that the country’s trade deficits amounted to a national emergency. The court’s ruling said Trump’s tariff orders “exceed any authority granted to the president … to regulate importation by means of tariffs”.
How are markets reacting? Global markets cheered the ruling, with the US dollar rallying along with indexes in France, Germany, Japan, and futures for the US S&P 500, Dow Jones and Nasdaq indexes rising.
What’s next? The Trump administration has already filed to appeal. White House officials attacked the court, calling it “unelected”.
Continue reading...Four Palestinians die in storming of Gaza UN food warehouse; IDF was not in area – The Times of Israel
- Four Palestinians die in storming of Gaza UN food warehouse; IDF was not in area The Times of Israel
- Live: Israel shoots, wounds 20 Gaza aid seekers, kills 28 across Strip Al Jazeera
- A Palestinian describes 15 minutes of terror trying to get food in the new Gaza distribution system The Washington Post
- Hamas faces 'legitimacy crisis' as desperate Gazans flock to US-backed aid centers Fox News
- Jeremy Scahill: Shadowy Israeli-U.S. Aid Plan Is Weapon in “Netanyahu’s War of Annihilation” in Gaza Democracy Now!