US vice-president Kamala Harris announces $1.5bn in Ukraine aid

Money will go towards repairing country’s energy infrastructure as well as providing humanitarian assistance

US vice-president, Kamala Harris, has pledged more than $1.5bn in aid for Ukraine’s energy sector and its humanitarian situation amid its ongoing war with Russia.

Harris made the announcement at a peace summit in Lucerne, Switzerland, where she met Ukraine president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy. She is expected to address the summit later.

Continue reading...

Biden wishes Trump a happy 78th birthday as campaign goes into offense over age

Dogged by age issue, president, 81, is now highlighting Trump’s many peculiarities, from hair style to Bible sales

Taking a line out of Donald Trump’s playbook, Joe Biden offered his rival a tongue-in-cheek birthday greeting on X on Friday, saying: “Happy 78th birthday, Donald. Take it from one old guy to another: Age is just a number.”

The president then coupled his thoughts with a caustic video sarcastically touting “78 of Trump’s historic … ‘accomplishments’” before a Biden re-election campaign spokesperson added: “On behalf of America, our early gift for your 79th: making sure you are never president again.”

Continue reading...

Sweden says Russian warplane violated its airspace – Euronews

  1. Sweden says Russian warplane violated its airspace  Euronews
  2. Finland suspects four Russian military planes violated its airspace  Reuters
  3. Ukraine-Russia war live: Sweden scrambles fighter jets to intercept Russian bomber over Nato border  The Telegraph
  4. Russian Fighter Jet Breached Swedish Airspace on Friday  Bloomberg
  5. Sweden Says Russian Bomber Violated Its Airspace  The Moscow Times
Posted in Uncategorized

Russia-Ukraine war: ‘history being made’, says Zelenskiy, as world leaders plot path to peace – as it happened

This lvie blog is now closed, you can read more of our Ukraine war coverage here

Three people were killed and five others injured by Russian shelling in Ulakly village in the eastern Ukrainian region of Donetsk, local governor Vadym Filashkin wrote on Telegram on Saturday.

He said the village was hit by cluster munitions, adding that administrative buildings, a private house, a shop and eight cars were damaged.

Continue reading...

‘Rushed’ deadline for UK digital visas puts millions at risk of losing legal rights

FOI reveals non EU migrants could be caught in ‘Windrush style scandal' at end of 2024 as Home Office struggles to contact them

More than 4 million non-EU migrants living in Britain will need to switch to digital “eVisas” by the end of this year or risk being unable to prove their legal rights, according to figures seen by the Observer.

Biometric Residence Permits (BRPs) – given to all foreign nationals with permission to live in the UK for at least six months – demonstrate proof of an individual’s right to study, access public services and claim benefits. But they are being replaced under the Home Office’s digitisation programme.

Continue reading...

Newly discovered polar shipwreck may contain intriguing artifacts – CNN

  1. Newly discovered polar shipwreck may contain intriguing artifacts  CNN
  2. Explorer Ernest Shackleton's 'last ship' Quest discovered  BBC.com
  3. Wreckage of Shackleton's Last Ship Is Found Off Coast of Canada  The New York Times
  4. Wreck of ship on which famed explorer Ernest Shackleton died found on ocean floor off Canada  CBS News
  5. Ernest Shackleton's Last Ship, Quest, Discovered Off the Coast of Canada  Smithsonian Magazine
Posted in Uncategorized

Nigel Farage trying to destroy Tory party, says David Cameron – as it happened

This live blog is now closed, you can read more of our UK election coverage here

David Cameron has said that being prime minister was a “good apprenticeship” for serving as foreign secretary, in an interview with the Times.

Speaking about his decision to take the role, Cameron said he had told his family he was “going to really go for this job and give it everything I had”. In just over six months, Cameron said he had visited 35 countries as foreign secretary.

I really like having the focus. That juggling act, as prime minister, is incredibly difficult. You have to do so many different things and different topics. I loved the challenge of it, but it does mean you’re always frustrated.”

When I look at Starmer I think he’s sitting there with his fingers crossed to please, please, please let them pass judgment on Lettucegate, three prime ministers and all the rest of it.

I think we can win this election. Even when I was ahead in the polls in 2010, or somewhere behind in the polls in 2015, I used to say ‘can win’ rather than ‘will’ because it’s up to the public, it’s up to the country.”

Continue reading...

Israel-Hamas war: Palestinians ring in Eid al-Adha with reminders of war toll – The Associated Press

  1. Israel-Hamas war: Palestinians ring in Eid al-Adha with reminders of war toll  The Associated Press
  2. Israel’s war on Gaza live: Palestinians cling to Eid despite destruction  Al Jazeera English
  3. Eid ul Adha 2024: Date, history, significance and celebration of Bakrid or Bakreid  Hindustan Times
  4. When is Eid al-Adha, and what is the celebration about?  SBS News
  5. Famine at a feast time  The Electronic Intifada
Posted in Uncategorized

‘It’s the perfect place’: London Underground hosts tests for ‘quantum compass’ that could replace GPS

Subatomic instrument will be able to accurately pinpoint locations under ground and under water, where satellite signals are often blocked

Dr Joseph Cotter takes some unusual pieces of luggage on his trips on the London underground. They include a stainless steel vacuum chamber, a few billion atoms of rubidium and an array of lasers that are used to cool his equipment to a temperature just above absolute zero.

While not the average kit you would expect to find being dragged into carriages on the District Line, this is the gear that Cotter – who works at Imperial College London’s Centre for Cold Matter – uses on his underground travels.

Continue reading...

Prisoner swap: Iran releases EU diplomat, Sweden frees Hamid Nouri – The Associated Press

  1. Prisoner swap: Iran releases EU diplomat, Sweden frees Hamid Nouri  The Associated Press
  2. Iranian convicted of war crimes freed in Sweden prisoner swap  BBC.com
  3. Sweden and Iran exchange prisoners in breakthrough deal, officials say  CNN
  4. Iran and Sweden agree to a prisoner swap including Hamid Nouri  The Washington Post
  5. Swedish EU diplomat Johan Floderus freed from Iranian jail in prisoner swap  The Guardian
Posted in Uncategorized

Anthony Fauci says he turned down $7m jobs because ‘I cared’ about US

Former infectious disease head says big pharma tried to poach him while he was nation’s Covid chief

Before Anthony Fauci retired from his lengthy run as the US government’s top infectious disease doctor, major pharmaceutical companies tried to lure him away from his post by offering him seven-figure jobs – but he turned them down because he “cared about … the health of the country” too much, he says in a new interview.

Fauci’s comments on his loyalty to the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (Niad) – which he directed for 38 years before retiring in December 2022 – come only a couple of weeks after he testified to Congress about receiving “credible death threats” from far-right extremists over his efforts to slow the spread of Covid-19 at the beginning of the pandemic.

Continue reading...

Swedish EU diplomat Johan Floderus freed from Iranian jail in prisoner swap

Iranian-Swedish citizen Saeed Azizi also exchanged for Hamid Noury, who was serving life in Sweden for role in death of political prisoners

Johan Floderus, the Swedish EU diplomat held in captivity for two years in Iran, has been freed and is on his way home, the Swedish prime minister announced.

Ulf Kristersson said on Saturday that the Iranian lifer Hamid Noury was being exchanged for Johan Floderus and the Iranian-Swedish citizen Saeed Azizi.

Continue reading...

‘This could end up ugly’: after Macron’s gamble, will the far right seize power in France?

Marine Le Pen’s party is breaking record high scores across vast areas of the country, polls show, with an increase in its influence inevitable

It is 8pm on Sunday 7 July. Polling stations have just closed after the second round of snap French parliamentary elections – the country’s most momentous ballot in living memory – and the first estimations flash up on the nation’s TV screens.

President Emmanuel Macron has lost his gamble. The National Rally (RN) of Marine Le Pen has more than trebled its tally of deputies in the assemblée nationale to just over 290: an absolute majority. France’s next government will be far right.

Continue reading...

Russia, China absent as world leaders meet for Ukraine peace conference – Al Jazeera English

  1. Russia, China absent as world leaders meet for Ukraine peace conference  Al Jazeera English
  2. Ukraine updates: World leaders attend Swiss peace summit – DW – 06/15/2024  DW (English)
  3. Ukraine Hosts Peace Talks in Switzerland, Though Russia Isn't Invited  The New York Times
  4. 'Ultimatums don't work with Ukraine' — Zelenskyy's chief of staff responds to Putin's peace proposal  POLITICO Europe
  5. International Summit Debates Ukrainian Peace Deal In Russia's Absence  Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty
Posted in Uncategorized

‘He thought it was fun’: how Rubens painted over an old master to give it life

Hi-tech imaging reveals the artist tinkered with Herri met de Bles’s painting to improve the composition of figures

One benefit of being among history’s greatest artists is that if you don’t much like a painting done by someone else, you can just improve it. The Flemish master Sir Peter Paul Rubens certainly knew how to paint people; Rubenesque is still used to describe a curvaceous, ample body. So when he noticed the inferior quality of the religious figures depicted on an otherwise accomplished landscape hanging on his wall, it turns out he simply picked up his paint palette.

A newly rediscovered Herri met de Bles painting, titled The Holy Family with the Infant Saint John the Baptist in an Extensive Landscape with Travellers, set a puzzle for art historians because the style of the landscape background did not match the group of people. Hi-tech imaging of the canvas carried out by a London auction house has since “completed the jigsaw”, revealing the way Rubens had tinkered with a painting now thought to have belonged to his own collection.

Continue reading...

Ukraine-US 10-year security deal: 5 key takeaways – Kyiv Independent

  1. Ukraine-US 10-year security deal: 5 key takeaways  Kyiv Independent
  2. Biden and Zelenskyy sign bilateral security agreement as they push Europe to continue fight against Russia  NBC News
  3. Ukraine war may erupt again as G7 backs Zelensky with hardware  Hindustan Times
  4. The West and Russia's Frozen Assets - WSJ  The Wall Street Journal
  5. Italy: G7 deal backs $50B loan to Ukraine using frozen Russian assets  The Associated Press
Posted in Uncategorized

French protesters are standing up to the far right ahead of the country’s snap elections – The Associated Press

  1. French protesters are standing up to the far right ahead of the country's snap elections  The Associated Press
  2. Thousands to march across France against far right  Reuters
  3. Hundreds of thousands in France protest far right ahead of snap elections  Al Jazeera English
  4. Don't Tell the French — But They're Americans Now  POLITICO
  5. French Election: Macron Gives Europe Brexit Nightmares Again  Bloomberg
Posted in Uncategorized

Did Canadian lawmakers wittingly conspire with foreign powers? – The Washington Post

  1. Did Canadian lawmakers wittingly conspire with foreign powers?  The Washington Post
  2. Canada's Parliament rocked by allegations of treason  POLITICO
  3. NDP leader says Han Dong shouldn't be allowed back into Liberal caucus  CBC.ca
  4. A serious country would not settle for this  Toronto Star
  5. Poilievre would accept CSIS briefing if spy agency has any concerns about his caucus or party  The Globe and Mail
Posted in Uncategorized