Failure to win seat on UN security council sparks German soul-searching

• Israel's military operations, which began with the destruction of Gaza, have expanded into Lebanon, Iran, and the Gulf region. • The escalation is being sustained through significant financial support and arms shipments provided by the United States.

• The "Geneva fiasco" highlights the risks of replacing professional diplomats with business dealmakers who misinterpret diplomatic compromise as weakness. • This shift in approach transformed a negotiable crisis into an active conflict with Iran, undermining traditional diplomatic strategies.

• Global stability is facing a systemic threat as economic warfare, resource shortages, and geopolitical tensions create a dangerous chain reaction of overlapping failures. • These intersecting crises are driving increased migration pressures and widespread social unrest, which further destabilize societies and intensify international conflict.

• Former President Donald Trump admitted to calling Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu "crazy," reflecting a shift in his previous strong support for the leader. • Trump claimed that Israel's current actions and policies are complicating potential peace negotiations and diplomatic efforts involving Iran.

‘Retail theft ring’ stole goods from logistics sites in Pennsylvania, Virginia and New Jersey and sold them in New York, officials sayEight people were indicted this week in New York in connection with what prosecutors describe as a “wide-ranging retail theft ring” that stole nearly $5m worth of goods – from steaks to cheeses to copper wiring and cigarettes.The Manhattan district attorney’s office announced charges against the eight individuals on Wednesday, accusing them of “conspiring to impersonate shipping carriers in a wide-ranging retail theft ring throughout the north-east”. Continue reading...

Prosecutors say they intend to try all five killings together next year after brief arraignment in PortlandSign up for the Breaking News US newsletter emailAn accused serial killer in Oregon was arraigned on Wednesday for the murder of a fifth woman.A lawyer for Jesse Calhoun, who was already facing charges in the deaths of four women whose bodies were discovered in 2022 and 2023, entered a not guilty plea for the second-degree murder of Ashley Real, a 22-year-old who previously alleged he had choked her. Continue reading...

Founder of Greensill Capital says there was no finding he acted dishonestly after his company collapsed owing £1.6bnThe disgraced former financier Lex Greensill has been banned from running a UK company for nine years after he was judged to be unfit because of the 2021 collapse of his £1.6bn supply chain invoicing firm.The government’s Insolvency Service said on Thursday that Greensill had signed a disqualification undertaking, bringing the case to an end before a trial was due to begin on 8 June. Continue reading...

USDA confirms first case of New World screwworm in cattle in six decades, posing threat to livestock industryA flesh-eating parasite rarely seen in the US in six decades has been found in a calf in Texas, agriculture officials said, in an alarming development for the country’s cattle industry.The New World screwworm fly (NWS) was confirmed in the animal in the south of the state, about 50 miles from the Mexico border, Brooke Rollins, the agriculture secretary, said late on Wednesday. Continue reading...

Four-part TV documentary examines the aftermath of Operation Peyzac, where officers posed as music industry figures to gather intelligence on crimeIt was the undercover police operation that led to 37 people being jailed for more than 400 years in total after officers set up a fake recording studio and record shop on a north London housing estate.Now, a four-part television documentary has brought Operation Peyzac back under the spotlight, prompting renewed scrutiny of the tactics used by undercover officers and calls for the operation to be examined by the UK’s ongoing spycops inquiry. Continue reading...

Lebanese government agrees ceasefire but Israeli drone strikes continue. Plus the story of the man who launched Cuba’s first independent magazineGood morning.Israel and Lebanon have agreed to implement a ceasefire to end hostilities, the Trump administration has announced – but it comes with caveats. Not only is the deal contingent on a complete cessation of fire from the Iran-aligned Hezbollah armed group, and on the evacuation of all its fighters from the area south of the Litani River – but Hezbollah have not been part of the talks.Where has Israel been targeting? William Christou in Beirut reports that three hospitals in southern Lebanon have been attacked by Israel in under a week, wounding more than 150 people and killing nine. Analysts and human rights experts have said the attacks on healthcare facilities were aimed at degrading the conditions for life in south Lebanon.What did Israel say about it? The military said it had struck “Hezbollah infrastructure in the area of Tyre” and acknowledged a hospital was “affected incidentally”. It accused Hezbollah of “taking over” one of the hospitals it struck.Is that number significant? Yes, the 90-day threshold is important because the 1973 War Powers Resolution lays down that a president must seek congressional approval to continue waging war after hostilities have continued that length of time. Trump’s White House has rejected that argument, citing a temporary ceasefire that has been in place since 8 April – although it has been broken several times by the US, Israel and Iran. Continue reading...

Veteran broadcaster makes ‘one of hardest decisions of my entire life’ weeks after revealing spread of cancer to spineThe veteran broadcaster Bob Harris has announced he is stepping down from BBC Radio 2 after 30 years so he can focus on “getting well again”, six weeks after revealing his prostate cancer had spread into his upper spine.The 80-year-old host of The Country Show and Sounds of the 70s, known as “Whispering” Bob Harris, said his health problems were forcing him to step down and that it had been “one of the hardest decisions of my entire life”. Continue reading...