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US military claims it targeted sites responsible for attacks on its forces and ‘unprovoked’ hostilities by TehranIran has accused the US of violating the ceasefire by targeting two ships at the strait of Hormuz and attacking civilian areas, as the US insists it struck in retaliation.The US military said it targeted sites that it said were responsible for attacking US forces in what it called “unprovoked” hostilities by Tehran. Continue reading...

The honour recognises Albanese’s work ‘documenting and denouncing violations of international law in Gaza’The Spanish government awarded the UN legal expert Francesca Albanese one of its highest civilian honours in recognition of what it termed her “extensive work in documenting and denouncing violations of international law in Gaza”.Albanese, an Italian human rights lawyer who serves as UN special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967, has been vocal in her criticisms of Israel’s military operations in Gaza, which she has described as genocide. Continue reading...

Revelation comes after report commissioned by department released in response to charity’s FoI requestThe Ministry of Defence has no system for examining whether UK military action has killed or injured civilians in war, a study commissioned by the department has revealed.The MoD also “does not maintain a central register of civilian harm incidents or allegations” and, despite mass casualties caused by other countries, has concluded there is no need to do so because its existing mitigation is considered effective. Continue reading...

• The Supreme Court has struck down key provisions of the Voting Rights Act, eliminating federal oversight requirements that previously protected minority voting rights. • Republican-controlled states are moving swiftly to redraw congressional maps in response, with Tennessee Governor Bill Lee, Alabama Governor Kay Ivey, and Mississippi legislators calling special sessions to adjust districts in their favor. • President Trump personally urged Tennessee Governor Bill Lee to redraw the state's map to give Republicans one additional seat, while Alabama seeks to eliminate one of the state's two Democratic-held districts.

Programme of events announced on anniversary of Bristol bus boycott aimed at inspiring societal manifesto for cityBristol has long been a city of activists prepared to work for change, from followers of John Wesley in the 18th century to the 21st-century citizens who toppled the statue of slave trader Edward Colston.On Wednesday, a new campaign was launched – on the anniversary of the start of the groundbreaking 1963 Bristol bus boycott – aimed at making the city the UK’s capital of civil rights. Continue reading...

Starmer’s former chief of staff says he does not recognise media’s portrayal of him before evidence hearing with MPs• UK politics live – latest updatesMorgan McSweeney has denied claims he bullied civil servants into appointing Peter Mandelson as UK ambassador to the UK, before an evidence hearing with MPs next week.Keir Starmer’s former chief of staff resigned in February over his role in the hiring of Mandelson, but the move failed to end the crisis over the peer’s appointment. On Thursday, McSweeney told a security forum in Kyiv that he did not recognise his “character” portrayed in the media. Continue reading...

Philip Rycroft says promises on issues from economics to immigration have not lived up to expectationsBritain should start talking about rejoining the EU, according to a former senior civil servant who ran the Brexit department.Philip Rycroft, who was permanent secretary of the Department for Exiting the EU, said the “argument was there to be won” about going back into Europe, adding that a “clear-headed appraisal of what is in the country’s best interests” was needed. However, he said rejoining the bloc could be a “long and windy” road. Continue reading...