11 July 2023; MEMO: A new bill introduced by the UK government, which is designed to shield Israel from boycotts, will have damaging consequences for the UK if the legislation went ahead in its current form, Number 10 was warned in a special legal advice.

Britain will not only find itself in breach of its international commitments, the advice warned, efforts to grant Israel special protection will also give Russia "ammunition" to accuse the UK of hypocrisy.

BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union’s parliament on Wednesday backed a major plan to protect nature and fight climate change in a cliffhanger vote that had the 27-nation bloc’s global green credentials at stake.

After weeks of intense lobbying against the plan, the legislature still supported the general outlines of a European Commission bill in a razor-thin 324-312 vote with 12 abstentions.

WASHINGTON (AP) — After two years of painfully high prices, inflation in the United States has reached its lowest point in more than two years — 3% in June compared with 12 months earlier — a sign that the Federal Reserve’s interest rate hikes have steadily slowed price increases across the economy.

VILNIUS, Lithuania (AP) — NATO leaders gathered Wednesday to launch a highly symbolic new forum for ties with Ukraine, after committing to provide the country with more military assistance for fighting Russia but only vague assurances of future membership.

U.S. President Joe Biden and his NATO counterparts sat down with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the new NATO-Ukraine Council, a permanent body where the 31 allies and Ukraine can hold consultations and call for meetings in emergency situations.

11 July 2023; MEMO: Israeli police arrested dozens of protesters on Tuesday, amid demonstrations against the passing of a bill that would curb the powers of the Supreme Court, Anadolu Agency reports.

In a statement, police said 16 were arrested in Tel Aviv, 15 in areas in central Israel, 8 in Jerusalem and three near the coastal city of Netanya.

The Israeli opposition staged a series of protests across Israel on Tuesday against a Knesset vote on a bill to limit the Court's powers.

BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union on Wednesday slapped a $475 million fine on U.S. biotech giant Illumina for buying cancer-screening company Grail without regulators’ approval, the latest setback for the deal.

Illumina announced an $7.1 billion acquisition of Grail in 2020, but the European Commission, the EU’s executive arm and top antitrust enforcer, said the company broke EU merger rules by completing the deal without its consent. The 27-nation bloc announced last year that it was blocking the acquisition, saying it would hurt competitors.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran summoned Russia’s ambassador on Wednesday after Moscow released a joint statement with Arab countries earlier this week challenging Iran’s claim to disputed islands in the Persian Gulf.

It marked a rare spat between Iran and Russia, which have deepened ties since Moscow invaded Ukraine, with Iran supplying killer drones that have been used to devastating effect there. Iran and Russia are also strong backers of President Bashar Assad in Syria’s civil war.

LONDON (AP) — Concerns are growing that Russia will not extend a United Nations-brokered deal that allows grain to flow from Ukraine to parts of the world struggling with hunger, with ships no longer heading to the war-torn country’s Black Sea ports and food exports dwindling.

Turkey and the U.N. negotiated the breakthrough accord last summer to ease a global food crisis, along with a separate agreement with Russia to facilitate shipments of its food and fertilizer. Moscow insists it’s still facing hurdles, though data shows it has been exporting record amounts of wheat.

LONDON, July 12 (Reuters) - Chinese state-linked hackers have secretly accessed email accounts at around 25 organisations including government agencies in a sweeping cyberespionage campaign, Microsoft said on Wednesday.

In an interview with ABC television, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said the United States had detected a breach of federal government accounts "fairly rapidly" and had managed to prevent further breaches.

MEXICO CITY, July 12 (Xinhua) -- Three police officers were killed and 10 others wounded on Tuesday in an explosives attack in Mexico's western state of Jalisco, said local authorities.

According to local reports, the explosion occurred near a vehicle in which the officers were traveling.

The attack is "an unprecedented act and shows what these organized crime groups are capable of," Jalisco Governor Enrique Alfaro tweeted.

11 July 2023; MEMO: Israel has turned Palestine into an "open-air prison" where Palestinians, including tens of thousands of children, are "constantly confined, surveilled and disciplined," according to Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian Territories.

MOSCOW, July 12 (Reuters) - Russia is decaying in a potent brew of absurdity and repression that is comparable to the Leonid Brezhnev-era of the Soviet Union, Oleg Orlov, one of the Russia's most respected human rights campaigners, told Reuters.

Orlov, 70, is on trial in Russia for articles he published last year which cast Russia as a "fascist" state seeking revenge for the perceived humiliations of the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union. He faces up to three years in prison.