Texas Democratic candidate condemned for comments about ‘prison for American Zionists’

For some transgender men and women – and the campaigners who support them – the updated guidance confirms their worst fearsStephen Whittle was visiting the Chelsea flower show as a birthday treat with his wife on Thursday afternoon. At around the same time, the updated code of practice from the Equality and Human Rights Commission was published. It confirmed, amongst myriad updates, that single-sex spaces such as toilets and changing rooms must be used on the basis of biological sex, and that transgender people may not access those that accord with their lived gender.Among the floral displays, 70-year-old Whittle did not stray from habit. “Of course I used the male facilities, as I have done for the last 50 years. Can you imagine what the guy on security would have said if I’d gone to the ladies?” Continue reading...

Exclusive: Top official presented idea in Brussels, but sources say EU rebuffed itThe UK government pitched the creation of a single market for goods with the EU as the cornerstone of an ambitious attempt to reintegrate British trade back into Europe, the Guardian can reveal.During recent visits to Brussels, the Cabinet Office’s top official on EU relations, Michael Ellam, presented the idea to deepen the UK’s economic relationship with the bloc. Continue reading...

Judge rules initiative to force binding vote on secession invalid as Alberta premier calls for referendum on matterThe Canadian prime minister, Mark Carney, has said that Alberta is “essential” to the country’s future, hours after the province’s leader moved the oil-rich region closer toward a referendum on independence.Separatists in the western province spent months collecting signatures seeking to trigger a binding October vote on seceding from the nation. Continue reading...

Officials seized guns from Caleb Vazquez’s father last year amid alarm over teen’s views on mass shooters and NazismOne of the two white supremacist shooters who attacked a mosque in California on Monday and killed three people had already been on law enforcement officials’ radar, according to US media reports.Local officials were so alarmed by Caleb Vazquez’s idolization of mass shooters and Nazism that they seized his father’s guns a year before the shooting, the New York Times reports. Similarly, Bloomberg reports that Vazquez had already been flagged by the FBI as a “potential threat” last year. Continue reading...

Backlash grows among European staff against radical cuts to pay off Covid-era debt, with some accusing council of ‘colonial attitude’The historic Palacete building at 31 Paseo del General Martínez Campos in Madrid’s upmarket Chamberí district has been home to the British Council in Spain for about 70 years.About 5,000 students each year pass through its 35 classrooms, learning English, attending exams, and forging cultural ties with the UK. Over the years that is hundreds of thousands of Madrileños (people from Madrid), while it also serves as a centre for the expat community. Continue reading...

Secretary of state suggests July meeting of alliance will be fraught as US demands help in strait of HormuzDonald Trump is disappointed that Nato allies refused to become more actively involved in attacking Iran, the US secretary of state has said, setting up what could become a fraught summit of the alliance in July.Marco Rubio, meeting with foreign ministers of the military alliance, emphasised that he expected the rift would be discussed at the July meeting in Ankara, making the summit “one of the more important” in Nato’s 77-year history. Continue reading...

Laura Clery says she was able to call 911 and have the fridge lifted off her by firefighters after she was pinned under it US comedian Laura Clery has described how she almost died when her 600lb fridge fell on her while she was at home with her two young children and found herself pinned under the massive appliance and struggling to breathe.In an Instagram post on Thursday, Clery said the experience was the “most terrifying night of my life as a single mom”. Continue reading...

In interview with Guardian, former health secretary sets out plans for government, including social care, tax and refugeesWes Streeting has insisted he can win over the Labour left, as he launches a shadow campaign for the party leadership, saying he has “beaten the odds” throughout his life and can do so again.The former health secretary, who called on Keir Starmer to resign as he quit the cabinet last week, warned Labour MPs that drifting on with Starmer in charge risked a Joe Biden situation that would usher in a Reform government. Continue reading...

Situation described as ‘deeply worrisome’ by officials as aid cuts and community distrust impede respondersThe Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo poses a “very high” risk to the country, the World Health Organization said on Friday, revising its threat assessment upwards.The outbreak is spreading rapidly, WHO leaders said, with almost 750 suspected cases and 177 suspected deaths, up from 246 cases and 65 deaths when it was first reported a week earlier. Continue reading...

Videos in this batch show unidentified aerial phenomena but offer few clues to existence of alien lifeSign up for the Breaking News US newsletter email The Pentagon on Friday released a second tranche of videos and documents of unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP) – or UFOs – answering few questions about the existence of alien life but fueling what has quickly become a ratings winner for the White House.The first reveal earlier this month of 162 files of previously secret or rarely seen accounts of UAP sightings received more than a billion hits on the government website set up to house them, according to a press release from the war department, the Trump administration’s preferred term for the Department of Defense. Continue reading...

Everlane CEO confirms sale in letter to employees and says it will stay true to ‘sustainability’ commitmentsEverlane, the retailer that bucked the fast-fashion industry by promising affordable ethically sourced and sustainable clothing, is being acquired by the king of fast-fashion, China’s Shein.A letter to Everlane employees from CEO Alfred Chang confirming the deal was obtained by the Associated Press on Friday. Continue reading...