Iceland’s foreign minister fears ‘Brexit moment’ in country’s EU accession referendum

• The United States has paused its participation in the Permanent Joint Board on Defense, the long-running U.S.-Canada military consultation forum, according to a CSIS analysis published this week. • CSIS says the pause comes about six weeks before the mandatory USMCA joint review, which makes the timing politically sensitive for both countries.

• A Horn Institute publication says the U.S.-Israel war on Iran has widened into a broader conflict with effects that are now reaching Africa. • The analysis describes mounting diplomatic and security dilemmas for African states as regional shockwaves spread beyond the Middle East.

Dekiln to scale up its low-carbon technology with Johnson Tiles, in boost for struggling British ceramics industryA Manchester-based startup that makes ceramic-like tiles from waste without needing an energy-hungry kiln has teamed up with one of the UK’s biggest tile suppliers to launch a pilot project to scale up the technology.Dekiln, run by the biomaterials engineer Aled Roberts, is joining forces with Johnson Tiles to set up a trial manufacturing site in Stoke-on-Trent, the historic home of British ceramics. Continue reading...

Barnardo’s says survey shows online abuse and harassment becoming ‘part of background noise of growing up’Nearly one in five girls in the UK receive persistent, unwanted images online, according to a poll by the charity Barnardo’s, which warned that online misogyny was becoming an everyday part of childhood.Its survey of 4,000 young people found that a quarter of girls had been called degrading names online, while one in seven 13- to 15-year-olds had been asked to send a nude photo. Continue reading...

In today’s newsletter: As heatwaves intensify, ​B​ritain must confront the limits of a society built for cool​er weather, forcing policymakers, communities and households to rethink how ​w​e live, work and stay coolThe UK swelters once again. On Tuesday, temperatures surged to 35C, condemning millions of people to another sticky night in homes ill-prepared for such warm conditions.The heat is record-breaking: we are still in spring, yet temperatures are close to extremes we once never expected even in high summer. Yorkshire experienced its first ever “tropical night” in spring on Monday, when the evening temperature failed to fall below 20C. Health alerts remain in effect across large parts of the country due to the increased likelihood of deaths, particularly among vulnerable and elderly people. Yet, experts warn, this may just be the road to a new normal.UK politics | Tony Blair has accused Keir Starmer, Andy Burnham and Wes Streeting of putting Labour’s future at risk by abandoning the centre ground, warning that the party’s “almost infinite capacity for self-delusion” means it is likely to lose the next election.UK news | One out of every five people arrested after their participation in the 2024 summer riots has since been reported to the police for domestic abuse, the Guardian can disclose.Middle East | The continuing US-Israel war on Iran has compounded other global disasters to drive record numbers of people into hunger at a time when funding to combat famine has fallen dramatically, the head of the UN World Food Programme has said.UK news | The court of appeal will review the non-custodial sentences given to three teenage boys for the rape of two girls, Keir Starmer has announced.US politics | Alabama cannot use a new Republican-friendly map in this year’s midterm elections because it intentionally discriminates against Black voters, a panel of three federal judges have ruled. Continue reading...

Managing director Hugh Marks says Stevens made ‘incredible commitment’ to broadcaster over 19 years Justin Stevens has resigned as ABC director of news after four years in the role, citing personal and professional reasons.‌ABC managing director Hugh Marks said Stevens had made an “incredible commitment” to the ABC over 19 years, including ensuring ABC News is the number one digital news provider. Continue reading...

Officers were ‘placed at significant risk, being in a gunfight armed with 9mm Glocks against long-arms’, NSW police deputy commissioner saysPolice were outgunned at the Bondi massacre on 14 December, armed with 9mm Glock pistols in a gun battle against rifles, the royal commission on antisemitism and social cohesion has heard.New South Wales police deputy commissioner David Hudson gave evidence to the commission that police officers put themselves in danger to shoot and neutralise the attackers. Continue reading...

The Park Slope Food Coop boycott vote follows tensions and rifts among members and larger communityMembers of a storied food co-operative in Brooklyn have voted to boycott about a dozen products from Israel and Israeli settlements in occupied Palestine – capping years of contentious debate over a conflict half a world away that has threatened to rip apart a landmark institution for liberal New Yorkers.The Park Slope Food Coop vote, which took place Tuesday night during a three-hour virtual meeting attended by about 7,000 of the co-operative’s 17,000 members, follows months of dueling campaigning that one local rabbi opposed to the boycott described as a “proxy war”. The boycott is supposed to impact some brands of tahini, peppers and persimmons as well as other products. Sixty-seven percent of participants voted in favor of the boycott. Continue reading...

Christian Menefee wins 18th district race after Republican gerrymandering carved up Green’s reliably Democratic seatChristian Menefee, a freshman Democratic US representative, beat veteran congressman Al Green on Tuesday in a fierce runoff that was the product of Republican gerrymandering.Last year, the Republican-dominated Texas legislature unveiled a congressional map designed to flip seats in the GOP’s favor. Donald Trump had urged the state’s lawmakers to safeguard the party’s congressional majority. Continue reading...

Nearly 200 people killed in Trump administration’s deadly campaign as strikes draw widespread condemnationThe US military launched another strike Tuesday on a vessel suspected of transporting drugs in the eastern Pacific Ocean, killing one man and leaving two survivors.Video posted on social media by US Southern Command shows a boat speeding through water before exploding into flames. Southern Command said it “immediately notified the US Coast Guard to activate the Search and Rescue system for the survivors”. Continue reading...

Exclusive: former PM says the changes to tax rates are ‘so marginal that no entrepreneurial initiative is likely to be thwarted’Paul Keating has urged Labor to stick to its guns on controversial changes to capital gains tax, warning exempting commercial assets from the changes would further “distort” the economy.Small business and the start-up sector are fighting the Albanese government over its plans to shift the 50% capital gains tax discount to an inflation-based model, part of a suite of tax reforms announced in this month’s federal budget. Continue reading...