Hundreds of schools in England and Wales to close in heatwave

• UN Assistant Secretary-General Mohamed Khaled Khiari warned the Security Council on Monday that recent deadly drone and missile attacks in Ukraine signal a "dangerous cycle of escalation" in the ongoing war. • Edem Wosornu, crisis response director at OCHA, emphasized that the decisions made by the Council are critical and will directly determine whether lives are saved or lost.

• JD Vance stated that recent discussions with Iranian officials in Switzerland have established a "good foundation" for a potential deal to end the ongoing war. • The talks represent a diplomatic effort to stabilize regional tensions through direct engagement between the U.S. and Iran.

• Vice President JD Vance announced on Monday that high-level talks in Switzerland between the U.S. and Iran have established a "good foundation" for a deal to end the war. • As a key outcome of the marathon negotiations, Tehran has agreed to allow United Nations nuclear inspectors to return to the country.

• U.S. officials, including JD Vance, met with representatives from Iran, Pakistan, and Qatar at a Swiss resort for a first round of talks to end the current conflict. • Iran reaffirmed its commitment to not procure or develop nuclear weapons, a primary catalyst for the attacks initiated by Donald Trump.

• Qatar has established itself as a premier global mediator, leveraging diplomacy rather than military power to facilitate peace agreements across various conflict zones. • The nation has successfully brokered deals in multiple countries, including Libya, Syria, Somalia, Chad, Djibouti, and Eritrea, while managing critical prisoner exchanges and humanitarian evacuations.

• Iranian Speaker Mohammad Ghalibaf announced that the United States will release $12 billion in frozen Iranian funds. • Donald Trump claimed the released funds would be used to purchase U.S. produce, a statement that Tehran immediately rejected.

The late night host slammed the US peace deal with Iran, discussed JD Vance’s snub by leaders and the ‘Mountain Dew green’ reflecting poolOn Monday night, Jon Stewart addressed Donald Trump turning DC’s reflecting pool “Mountain Dew green”, his blundered Iran peace deal and wasting US taxpayer money. Continue reading...

The three who were convicted were agents of Augusto Pinochet’s feared secret police which hunted down opponents at home and abroadFifty years after Gen Augusto Pinochet’s secret police detonated a car bomb in the heart of Washington DC, killing Orlando Letelier, a former Chilean minister and ambassador to the US, and his American colleague Ronni Karpen Moffitt, a Santiago court has convicted three former agents of Moffitt’s murder.Judge Paola Plaza, a special minister for human rights in Chile, sentenced Pedro Espinoza, José Zara, and Raúl Iturriaga to 15 years in prison for their roles in the killing of Moffitt, 25. Continue reading...

In a 6-3 opinion, the court says Louisiana prisoner cannot sue guards after he grew his hair for more than 20 yearsThe US supreme court refused on Tuesday to let a Rastafarian man sue ⁠state prison officials in Louisiana ⁠after guards held him ​down and shaved him bald in violation of his religious beliefs, in a landmark case.The case was brought under a federal law designed to protect incarcerated people from religious discrimination. Continue reading...

Recommendations from commission propose gradual rise in retirement age to about 70 by the early 2090sEurope live – latest updatesGermany will gradually raise its retirement age to about 70 by the early 2090s under recommendations backed by the chancellor, Friedrich Merz, as a means of future-proofing the pension system for an ageing population.Presenting its findings on Tuesday, an expert commission set up to explore reforms to the pension system said retirement age should be linked to rising life expectancy and early retirement should be scrapped. Continue reading...

Federal government identifies more than 150 native and unique bird species and 10 mammal species at ‘very high risk’Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastMore than 150 of Australia’s native and unique bird species have been assessed as being at “very high risk” of extinction or major decline if they catch the deadly H5N1 bird flu strain, with Western Australia’s celebrated black swans among the most susceptible.The federal government analysis of Australia’s 800 different birds and 350 mammals reflects the high level of concern among experts about the arrival of the H5N1 strain, which has killed millions of birds and mammals around the world. Continue reading...

The victory may have dinged Labor’s chances of easily passing its significant cost-cutting reforms to the NDIS through the Senate in AugustGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastThe government scored a crucial win on Tuesday, securing support for its tax changes through the Senate. But that victory may have dinged Labor’s chances of easily passing its other major budget measure – significant cost-cutting reforms to the NDIS – through the Senate in August.Labor’s deal with the Greens sees an inquiry into the NDIS extended for two months, with plans for new public hearings and more time for a committee process, after even the health minister, Mark Butler, admitted he had heard “confronting” evidence from the disability community fearful of losing access to key supports. Eight additional weeks of a public inquiry, spearheaded by an activist party hellbent on trying to kill this bill, is not nothing. Continue reading...