- Hong Kong bookseller Lam Wing-kee, seized by Chinese authorities in 2015, dies in Taiwan at 70 AP News
- Ex-HK bookseller Lam Wing-kee, detained by China in 2015, dies in Taiwan at 70 NPR
- Taiwan’s leader pays tribute to Hong Kong bookseller Lam Wing-kee after his death South China Morning Post
- Hong Kong dissident Lam Wing-kee dies at 70 in Taipei Focus Taiwan
- Taiwan Obit Hong Kong Bookseller Bluefield Daily Telegraph
Oman walks a diplomatic tightrope over Strait of Hormuz fees, creating a ‘blind spot’ for markets – CNBC
- Oman walks a diplomatic tightrope over Strait of Hormuz fees, creating a ‘blind spot’ for markets CNBC
- Iran and Oman propose fee plan for Strait of Hormuz, sources say NBC News
- Iran warns oil tankers to use approved routes in Strait of Hormuz or face a ‘forceful response’ AP News
- Iran war updates: Tehran rejects third-party intervention for Hormuz Al Jazeera
- U.S. Dangles Rewards for Opening the Strait of Hormuz. Iran Isn’t Budging. WSJ
At least 40 killed in passenger bus crash in southwest Pakistan
Bus lost control and fell into the rocky ravine near border of Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, officials say.
US heatwave threatens 250th anniversary events and World Cup
Weekend’s high temperatures and humidity ‘virtually impossible’ without climate crisis, researchers say
The scorching heat blanketing much of the US this week would have been “virtually impossible” if not for the climate crisis, researchers have found, warning that the high temperatures could threaten Independence Day celebrations and World Cup matches this weekend.
“The climate the country has today is fundamentally different to the one it had when the founding fathers signed the Declaration of Independence,” said Theodore Keeping, extreme weather and wildfire researcher at Imperial College London, in a press release.
Continue reading...Bomb blast at Damascus cafe kills nine, Syrian state media say
There was no immediate claim for the bombing at a cafe close to the Palace of Justice, a major government building.
Bomb blast at Damascus cafe kills nine, Syrian state media say – BBC
- Bomb blast at Damascus cafe kills nine, Syrian state media say BBC
- Mourners in Damascus bury cafe blast victims as officials promise justice AP News
- Syria explosion updates: Bomb blast kills 5 people in Damascus Al Jazeera
- Blast at Damascus cafe kills nine, wounds 20, Syrian interior ministry says Reuters
- Türkiye condemns attack in Syria's capital as death toll hits 9 | Daily Sabah Daily Sabah
Australian officials ask fans to respect the privacy of Neil, a trouble-making seal – NPR
- Australian officials ask fans to respect the privacy of Neil, a trouble-making seal NPR
- A 1,000kg mammal is wreaking havoc in Tasmania – and Neil the seal is loved for it The Guardian
- Is Neil the seal lonely and poorly brought up or just a hooligan? SMH.com.au
- Viral 2,205-pound Neil the elephant seal returns to cause chaos USA Today
- Neil the seal's antics make him popular, but there's a big risk ABC News & Headlines – Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Venezuela quake survivor pulled out alive after eight days
Hernán Gil was trapped under a collapsed multi-storey car park.
Details of MCG assault against Lidia Thorpe revealed after court lifts suppression order
Ebony Bell convicted and handed community work order following assault on senator and second ‘gratuitous act of violence’ while on bail
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A woman has been handed a community work order for punching Lidia Thorpe outside the MCG over claims the independent senator disrespected her mother.
Ebony Bell was initially told to undertake an anger management course after her 2024 attack on Thorpe, but committed a second “gratuitous act of violence” while on bail, the Melbourne magistrates court was told in June.
Continue reading...Police uncover international networks of men using online chat groups to drug and rape women – CNN
- Police uncover international networks of men using online chat groups to drug and rape women CNN
- ‘Truly international’ network of drug-facilitated rape uncovered by UK crime agency The Guardian
- 'Truly international network' of men drugging and raping women uncovered, NCA says BBC
- 156 individuals identified in first-of-its-kind drug-facilitated sexual assaults operation Europol
- Police identify 156 in drug-facilitated sexual assault cases DW.com
Friday briefing: The US at 250: who gets to tell the story?
In today’s newsletter: As official celebrations spotlight a narrow cast of white heroes, communities across the US are reclaiming the histories that Freedom 250 leaves out
Good morning, and a very happy 250th birthday to the United States of America. If you prefer to celebrate with cage fighting on the White House lawn, an IndyCar rally through the streets of Washington DC, or simply by watching the president do his lonely bop to YMCA at a sparsely attended state fair, so much the better.
It takes a special kind of someone to make the semiquincentennial birthday of a nation of 349 million people, from a whole variety of backgrounds, all about himself. But he wouldn’t be the only one centred on a very particular (white, male, Christian-centric) view of how the nation came to be.
UK news | Women from Black and Asian backgrounds are less likely than their white counterparts to receive an epidural while giving birth, research has revealed.
Ukraine | Ukraine and Russia have promised fresh assaults after Moscow launched a huge barrage on Kyiv, killing at least 27 people, tearing open apartment buildings and sending tens of thousands of people to shelters.
UK news | Criminal investigators in the UK say they have uncovered a “truly international network” of organised drug-facilitated sexual assault in which victims are sedated before being raped and sexually assaulted.
UK politics | Keir Starmer has formally apologised for the British state’s role in past forced adoptions after decades of campaigning by mothers and children affected.
World news | A rescue team pulled a 43-year-old security guard alive from a collapsed basement, ending an operation that became a symbol of hope after the devastation of twin earthquakes that struck Venezuela.
Continue reading...Ali Khamenei’s six-day funeral expected to draw millions in Iran
Country’s leadership vows to never surrender as memorial on grand scale aims to relay message of resistance to world
In the small hours of Friday the police roadblocks, stalls, posters and army vans were starting to appear across Tehran, as millions of Iranians prepared to attend the long-delayed six-day funeral ceremony for Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader for 36 turbulent years.
Khamenei was killed aged 86 in the opening salvo of the US-Israeli attack on the country in February, and the final farewell ceremony is intended to be an epic display of personal mourning, national power, resilience and social cohesion. By Thursday, knots of mourners carrying flags and blankets were already gathering along roads festooned with banners showing the red fist, the symbol of the funeral, alongside the slogan: “We must rise.” Many were heading to special hostels being set up across Tehran for the pilgrims. In Revolution Square a giant statue of a clenched fist was being installed.
Continue reading...Are Europe’s extreme summers the new normal? What the science says
WHO warns Europe must 'plan for heat like winter flu' as experts reveal how permanent this summer's extreme heat is.
Jacinta Allan admits criminals infiltrated Big Build but rejects calls for royal commission
Premier apologised over organised crime in some of Victoria’s largest construction projects, in op-ed that claimed a royal commission would not solve the issue
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Jacinta Allan has admitted that criminals have infiltrated some of Victoria’s largest construction projects – but has again rejected growing calls for a royal commission into alleged corruption involving unions and labour hire companies.
In an opinion piece published in the Age on Thursday night, the premier wrote that “we now know that criminals operated on some of Victoria’s construction sites” during projects dubbed by the Labor government as the Big Build.
Continue reading...Moira Deeming wins temporary reprieve as Victorian Liberal party postpones decision on her future
State opposition tells court it will not take any steps to disendorse MP while legal proceedings under way
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A Victorian Liberal MP who sued her party to stave off a meeting that will determine her political future has been handed a temporary lifeline.
Moira Deeming launched an eleventh-hour supreme court challenge against the Victorian Liberal party president, Brian Loughnane, and the party on Friday morning, seeking a temporary injunction to stop the meeting.
Continue reading...‘Ridiculous’ for US to maintain current Nato support, Trump warns ahead of alliance summit
President says Washington’s relationship with Nato is ‘not reciprocal’ and ‘they were not there for us’ in Iran war
Donald Trump has said it is “ridiculous” for the US to continue its “one sided” relationship with Nato, less than a week before a summit of the military alliance in Ankara.
Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform that “They were not there for us!!!” and Washington’s relationship with Nato “is not reciprocal”.
Continue reading...Delcy Rodriguez responds to public anger at government response
Delcy Rodriguez says 80% of the buildings that collapsed in earthquakes were privately developed.
Spyware used against MEP investigating Pegasus abuses, report finds
Researchers say Stelios Kouloglou’s device was compromised after he joined European parliamentary committee
NSO Group’s hacking software was repeatedly used against a member of the European parliament while he was conducting an investigation of spyware abuses in Europe, according to a new report.
Researchers at the Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto said they could not attribute the attacks against Stelios Kouloglou to any particular government operator of Pegasus spyware. But their investigation found the attack against the Greek now-former MEP bore the hallmarks of a previous hacking campaign against exiled Russian and Belarusian journalists in Europe.
Continue reading...‘Bigger than football’: Norway fans’ Viking row makes waves at World Cup
From Times Square to the Norwegian parliament and even in fighter jet cockpits, the choreographed row is everywhere
The fans have done it, in their thousands, in the stadiums. The players have done it on the pitch. Pretty much anyone who was there did it in New York’s Times Square. Norwegian MPs did it in parliament.
Prince Sverre Magnus, third in line to the Norwegian throne, rowed in an Oslo subway carriage. Care home residents in their 90s rowed in rural Norway and Norwegian Royal Air Force pilots rowed in their F-35 fighter jets.
Continue reading...Switzerland beat Algeria 2-0 to reach World Cup Round of 16 in style
Switzerland remain unbeaten at the 2026 World Cup and will face either Colombia or Ghana in the next game.