All The International Politics!

A 25 June screenshot shared on the message board Resetera by user Neha showed a failed attempt to search for LGBTQ+-tagged titles on Steam’s Chinese interface; they were met with a warning stating that the content “violates local laws and regulations” and cannot be displayed. Another user on X posted a similar screenshot showing the same message on Steam.

Penalties for those found to be carrying out conversion therapy include up to five years in prison and unlimited fines, in the UK Government’s draft bill to ban the practice. The new trans-inclusive bill would criminalise “abusive acts” aimed at changing someone’s sexual orientation or transgender identity. The Cabinet Office said the legislation will ensure LGBTQ+ people are “protected from physical and psychological abuse to change who they are”.

The district has claimed that schools have been targeted for having 61 boys on the roster for girls’ sports teams. However, all of the names provided by the Department of Education are mascots, trainers or managers, leading the district to call the claims “simply not true”. Jeffco Public Schools issued a public letter that details an investigation by the Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights (OCR) since it was launched in June 2025. The OCR is responsible for deploying Trump’s Title IX, which includes the lawful restriction of transgender athletes’ participation in school sports.

Harvey Weinstein won't face a fourth trial on a New York rape charge. Prosecutors dropped the #MeToo-era case on Thursday after his accuser said she could not bear to testify again. The movie mogul still stands convicted of another sexual felony in New York and others in California, and he remains behind bars. But the New York rape charge had remained unresolved after an overturned conviction followed by two hung juries.

Apple hiked iPad and MacBook prices on Thursday, saying it could no longer shield customers from soaring memory and storage chip costs driven by the AI industry's data centre buildout. “The consumer electronics industry is facing an unprecedented challenge,” Apple said in a statement to CBC News. “We have never seen a ​component price increase this much, this quickly.” The company has shielded customers from increases thus far, it said. "But we have now reached a point where we need to begin raising prices on a number of products, including today's increases for ​iPad and Mac."

Rescuers are desperately searching through piles of rubble in Venezuela after the country was rocked by two powerful earthquakes on Wednesday, leaving scores of people dead and widespread destruction in a country already beset by economic and political turmoil. At least 589 people have died, 2,980 more have been injured and many remain missing in the largest earthquake event to hit the country in more than a century. The true extent of the toll is still feared to be much higher as crews dig through rubble and survivors are left on the street with nowhere to go.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faced anti-government chants on Thursday, with attendees calling for his resignation during a speech at a military graduation ceremony in southern Israel, Anadolu reports. According to the daily Yedioth Ahronoth, the chants erupted during Netanyahu’s address at a graduation ceremony for combat officers at the Bahad 1 military base, home to the Israeli army’s officers training school.

The United States Supreme Court has ruled that government officials can turn away asylum seekers at the southern border with Mexico if they have not yet set foot on US soil. The ruling on Thursday clears the way for the administration of President Donald Trump to revive a controversial policy known as “metering”, in which immigration agents physically block those seeking asylum from crossing the border.

Norway's Ministry of Foreign Affairs has proposed a bill to ban trade with Israeli settlements in occupied Palestine, declaring them an impediment to peace. The Norwegian government said on Friday that it had submitted a bill with legally binding stipulations for consultation. The proposal recommends prohibiting Norwegian citizens and companies from profiting from or supporting Israel’s illegal settlement enterprise.

US Vice President JD Vance said on Sunday that President Donald Trump had asked him to turn over "a new leaf" in American ties with the Iranian people. But at the same time as the talks were occurring, Trump threatened to continue bombing Iran if it did not contain Hezbollah. Vance arrived at the Burgenstock mountain resort in Switzerland on Sunday morning to join Trump's special envoy, Steve Witkoff, and son-in-law, Jared Kushner, for technical talks with Iranian officials following last week's signing of a memorandum of understanding between Washington and Tehran.

Iran announced that it had once again closed the Strait of Hormuz over Israeli attacks on southern Lebanon, according to a military command statement carried by state media. “It is hereby announced that the Strait of Hormuz will be closed to vessel traffic,” the Khatam-al Anbiya Central Headquarters said in remarks carried by Iran’s Mehr state news agency. “It is noted that this first step is a response to the enemy's breach of promise, and if the aggression continues, further steps will be planned and taken to force the enemy to comply with its obligations."

A foreign influence campaign in French local elections by an Israeli firm earlier this year presents an unprecedented attack on France's democracy, victims of the operation and people familiar with it told Middle East Eye. Earlier this month, Reuters revealed that the French authorities were examining whether an alleged smear campaign against three mayoral candidates from the left-wing, pro-Palestinian party La France Insoumise (France Unbowed - LFI) ahead of March's municipal elections was carried out by an obscure Israeli firm ​called BlackCore.

Russia fired hundreds of drones and dozens of missiles at Ukraine’s biggest cities in an overnight barrage that killed at least 11 people and set fire to a world-renowned religious landmark, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and other officials said Monday. The attacks on the capital of Kyiv, and the second-largest city of Kharkiv, came after Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke separately by phone with U.S. President Donald Trump on Sunday. The exchange suggests Washington hasn’t given up on its diplomatic efforts to stop the fighting that followed Moscow’s all-out invasion of its neighbour in February 2022.

A group of Texas protesters convicted of terrorism charges received unusually harsh sentences of at least 50 years in prison on Tuesday in a closely watched case that was widely seen as a test case of the Trump administration’s efforts to crack down on dissent.

At least 29 people have been killed in a new wave of Israeli attacks on Lebanon across southern Lebanon and the eastern Beqaa Valley, just a day after a ceasefire was announced. Lebanon’s civil defence agency said a series of Israeli attacks on the Nabatieh district in the country’s south on Saturday killed 16 people and wounded 12 others. The agency said its personnel had been working since dawn to respond to the ongoing attacks.

Keir Starmer has resigned as the prime minister of Great Britain less than two years after winning a landslide general election. On Monday morning Starmer gave an address outside Number 10 Downing Street after days of speculation over his next move. "I will resign as leader of the Labour Party," he said. He said he has asked the National Executive Committee of the Labour Party to set out a timetable with leadership nominations opening on 9 July, and completed by the summer recess. In the case of a contest, the announcement means a new leader is set to be in place before parliament returns in September.