“Plenty of members of the (Republican) conference are

In a televised address, Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, accused

Israel of carrying out “organised state terrorism and war crimes” in Gaza.
Palestinians “will not hesitate to pursue those who commit such crimes in front
of international courts”, he said.

Israel said an explosion that killed eight members of a Palestinian family on the
first day of fighting last week had been caused by a misfired rocket from Gaza,
not an Israeli airstrike.

Speaking anonymously on Wednesday, a senior military officer said an

investigation had concluded that Israel did not strike the Beit Hanoun area
where the family members were killed. The officer added that one in five rockets
launched by militants landed inside Gaza.

On Tuesday an Israeli airstrike knocked out the only laboratory in Gaza that
processes Covid tests. The Gaza health ministry said it had salvaged Covid
vaccines and relocated test processing to another clinic.

Elsewhere, authorities said at least five other people had died in a lorry crash
while they were trying to evacuate Goma, but the scale of the loss had yet to be
determined in some of the hardest-hit communities.
Residents said there was little warning before the eruption and on Sunday
smoke was still rising from smouldering heaps of lava in the Buhene area near
Goma.

“We have seen the loss of almost an entire neighbourhood,” Innocent Bahala
Shamavu said. “All the houses in Buhene neighbourhood were burned.”

Elsewhere, witnesses said lava had engulfed one highway connecting Goma with
the city of Beni. However, the airport appeared to be spared the same fate as
2002 when lava flowed on to the runways.

Goma is a regional hub for many humanitarian agencies in the region, as well as
the UN peacekeeping mission. Much of surrounding eastern Congo is under
threat from myriad armed groups vying for control of the region’s mineral
resources.

Biden added that he will use his time during the summit to realise “America’s
renewed commitment to our allies and partners”, and “rally the world’s
democracies” against the most significant threats of the world, including the
pandemic and climate change.

The US president is also reportedly expected to speak to Johnson about current

disagreements over the Brexit deal, expressing support for its Northern Ireland
protocol, which has met fierce opposition from unionists and loyalists who say it
separates the region from the rest of the UK.

The Times reported that Biden is expected to tell Johnson that the US sees the
protocol as a crucial part of maintaining long-term peace in Northern Ireland
and, in particular, the Good Friday agreement, for which the US is a guarantor.

The paper cited sources saying that Biden is expected to warn the prime
minister that a potential trade deal between the US and the UK will be damaged
if the situation is not resolved, while also telling leaders in Brussels that he
expects the EU to be more “flexible” and less “bureaucratic”.

Biden, who is of Irish descent, reaffirmed his support for the Good Friday
agreement in March after tensions over the protocol led to violent rioting. The
protocol was initially set up to prevent a hard land border in Ireland by
effectively keeping Northern Ireland inside the single market.
Biden and his wife, Jill, are due to meet the Queen at Windsor Castle on Sunday
13 June, Buckingham Palace announced earlier, to coincide with the end of the
G7 summit
Companies and large organisations will also be banned from running adverts in
solidarity with gay people, if they are deemed to target under-18s. In 2019, a
Coca-Cola ad campaign featuring smiling gay couples and anti-discrimination
slogans prompted some prominent Fidesz members to call for a boycott of the
company’s products.

The law means that TV shows and films featuring gay characters, or even a
rainbow flag, would be permitted only after the watershed, say campaigners
who have studied the legislation.

Amnesty International’s Hungarian chapter, which has spearheaded protests

against the plans, described the passing of the law as a “dark day for LGBTI
rights and for Hungary”.

“Like the infamous Russian ‘propaganda law’, this new legislation will further
stigmatise LGBTI people and their allies,” said Amnesty International’s director
in Hungary, Dávid Vig, commenting on a series of amendments that were added
last week to a law targeting child abuse.

Abstention was again a major factor in the election. Despite appeals by

politicians and the prime minister Jean Castex for voters to turn out, almost
two-thirds of French electors shunned the polling stations in regional elections
on Sunday.

For the first round last Sunday, there was a record 66.74% abstention. This time
just under 66% of voters failed to turn out.
Political analysts said the lack of interest in the regional elections is
because France had become focused on the presidential election next year and
the legislative elections that follow shortly afterwards.

Philippe Ballard, who stood for the RN in the Île-de-France region, insisted the
far-right party was increasing its popularity in the country and this would be
played out in next year’s leadership race.

Stanislas Guerini, MP for Macron’s governing La République En Marche

(LREM), admitted the results were also “a disappointment” for the governing
party that failed to win a single region. “We have work to do,” he said, adding
that he “rejoiced” in the fact the RN had not gained any region.

Xavier Bertrand, a former minister when Nicolas Sarkozy was president, who
was reelected in the Hauts-de-France with 52.8%, saw his hopes of representing
the mainstream right in next year’s presidential boosted.