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British man charged with financing ‘Russian separatists’

A Russian-British dual national has appeared in a London court charged with sending cryptocurrency for separatist militias fighting alongside the Russian army in eastern Ukraine to buy weapons and military equipment. Mikhail Vlasov is charged with eight counts of breaching British sanctions imposed on the so-called Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics, which prosecutors described as “self-proclaimed, pro-Russian separatist states” in Ukraine.

Reuters

Migration

Trump to attend ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ opening

US President Donald Trump is set to attend the opening of a remote migrant detention center in the Florida Everglades dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz” as he pressures lawmakers to deliver a sweeping spending bill aimed at ramping up deportations. The facility sits some 37 miles (60 km) from Miami in a vast subtropical wetland teeming with alligators, crocodiles and pythons, fearsome symbolism the White House has leveraged to show its determination to purge migrants it says were wrongly allowed to stay in the country under former President Joe Biden’s administration.

Reuters

Middle East

Gaza push rages on as ceasefire talks loom in US

Israeli planes and tanks have struck heavily in north and south Gaza, destroying clusters of homes, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s confidant arrived in Washington to discuss a possible ceasefire. Thousands of residents again took flight as Israel issued new orders to evacuate, while its tanks pushed into eastern areas in Gaza City in the north and into Khan Younis and Rafah in the south, residents said.

Reuters

Odd Spot

18 hours ago

Iconic Jaffas being discontinued

Iconic kiwi sweet treat Jaffas is being discontinued indefinitely and will no longer be available on any New Zealand shelves. Jaffas’ parent company RJ’s Confectionery said in a statement the decision to stop manufacturing the lolly was “due to declining sales”.

Reuters

18 hours ago

Government

20 hours ago

Senate in megabill ‘vote-o-rama’

US Senate Republicans are still trying to pass President Donald Trump’s sweeping tax-cut and spending bill, despite divisions within the party about its expected $3.3 trillion hit to the nation’s debt pile. Senators were voting early into the...

Reuters

20 hours ago

Iran

21 hours ago

Iran hackers have more Trump emails

Iran-linked hackers have threatened to disclose more emails stolen from US President Donald Trump’s inner circle, after distributing a prior batch to the media ahead of the 2024 US election. In online chats with Reuters, the hackers, who go by the pseudonym Robert, said they had roughly 100 gigabytes of emails from the accounts of White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, Trump lawyer Lindsey Halligan, Trump adviser Roger Stone and others.

Reuters

21 hours ago

Israel

‘Mideast would collapse without Israel’

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has claimed the Middle East would collapse without Israel in an address to members of the Israeli army leadership. “In Iran, a threat has emerged that is no less powerful – and perhaps even greater – than the pan-Arab threat at its peak, which threatened us and still does,“ he told them. ”They have essentially built three paths to destruction: First – the choke ring: a plan to destroy Israel through the axis. Second – a plan to destroy Israel through missile threats.Third – a plan to destroy Israel through a nuclear threat. This is the ‘raison d’être’ of the regime.

Reuters

Israel

Britain’s jet-part exports lawful

Britain’s decision to allow the export of F-35 fighter jet components to Israel, despite accepting they could be used in breach of international humanitarian law in Gaza, was lawful, London’s High Court has ruled. Al-Haq, a group based in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, had taken legal action against Britain’s Department for Business and Trade over its decision to exempt F-35 parts when it suspended some arms export licences last year.

Reuters

Trade

Macron likens tariffs to blackmail

French President Emmanuel Macron says tariffs levied by powerful countries are often a form of “blackmail” rather than instruments to rebalance trade. His comments during a speech at the International Conference on Financing for Development in Seville, Spain, came with the European Union negotiating a trade deal with the United States ahead of a July 9 deadline, though he did not specifically refer to the United States or US President Donald Trump.

Reuters

Israel

Trump to host Netanyahu again

US President Donald Trump plans to host Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House on July 7, a US official says, as the US president pressed for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, and the return of remaining hostages. Ron Dermer, a top adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, is in Washington this week to meet with officials at the White House, Trump’s spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt told reporters. An Israeli official in Washington also confirmed the meeting next Monday. The two leaders are expected to discuss Iran, Gaza, Syria and other regional challenges, the official added.

Reuters

Migration

One dead, more missing after shipwreck off Italian island

One woman has died, two people are feared missing and 87 have been rescued following a migrant shipwreck off the Italian island of Lampedusa, a UN migration agency official says. Lampedusa lies between Tunisia, Malta and the larger Italian island of Sicily and is the first port of call for many migrants seeking to reach the EU from North Africa, in what has become one of the world’s deadliest sea crossings.

Reuters

Odd Spot

Donkeys: A farmer’s loyal sidekick

The small town of Moniquira, in central Colombia, has celebrated its 19th Regional Donkey Contest over the weekend. What started out 23 years ago as a fun way to honour local farmers — and the donkeys who’ve long been their loyal sidekicks — has grown into a beloved tradition in the Boyaca province.

Reuters

Iran

Iran warned on ‘threats’ against head of IAEA

Britain, France and Germany have condemned what they describe as threats against the head of the UN nuclear watchdog, after a hardline Iranian newspaper said IAEA boss Rafael Grossi should be tried and executed as an Israeli agent. “France, Germany and the United Kingdom condemn threats against the Director General of the IAEA Rafael Grossi and reiterate our full support to the Agency and the DG in carrying out their mandate,“ said a joint statement issued by the foreign affairs ministries of those three countries.

Reuters

North Korea

Kim honours soldiers who died fighting for Russia

North Korea’s state media has shown leader Kim Jong Un draping coffins with the national flag in what appears to be the repatriation of soldiers killed fighting for Russia against Ukraine, as the countries marked a landmark military treaty. In a series of photographs displayed in the backdrop of a gala performance by North Korean and visiting Russian artists in Pyongyang, Kim is seen by rows of a half a dozen coffins, covering them with flags and pausing briefly with both hands resting on them.

Reuters

Conflict

Russia claims Ukrainian village as peace talks continue

Russian forces have taken control of the first village in the east-central Ukrainian region of Dnipropetrovsk, Russian state media and war bloggers say, after Russia took 950 square kms of territory in two months. There was no immediate confirmation from Ukrainian sources or from the Russian Defence Ministry.

Reuters

Odd Spot

Polish tram drivers show their skills

Warsaw has hosted Poland’s National Tram Driver Championships, with as 12 teams from across the country showcasing their skills in a series of creative challenges. The event featured 10 different competitions that tested drivers’ precision and control of the massive vehicles.

Reuters

Technology

Trump ‘has a buyer for TikTok’

US President Donald Trump said in a Fox News interview broadcast that he had found a buyer for the TikTok short-video app, which he described as a group of “very wealthy people” whose identities he will reveal in about two weeks. Trump made the...

Reuters