Category World News

United Kingdom police have arrested dozens of people at a protest in London calling for a ban on the campaign group Palestine Action to be lifted.

The protest at London’s Parliament Square on Saturday was the latest demonstration against the UK’s crackdown on Palestinian rights activism.

“Officers have made 41 arrests for showing support for a proscribed organisation. One person has been arrested for common assault,” London’s Metropolitan Police said in a statement.

The arrests followed last Saturday’s detention of 29 people, including a priest and some health professionals, who had gathered at Parliament Square after a last-ditch legal bid to stop the group from being proscribed under “anti-terrorism” legislation failed.

The ban, which cleared Parliament in early July, was passed after activists broke into a military base last month and sprayed red paint on two planes in protest at the UK’s support for Israel’s war on Gaza, which leading rights groups have described as a genocide.

The move has raised fears about freedom of expression in the country, putting Palestine Action on a par with armed groups like al-Qaeda and ISIL (ISIS) in the UK, making it a criminal offence to support or be part of the protest group, punishable by up to 14 years in prison.

Protesters at this week’s demonstration had gathered near a statue of former South African President Nelson Mandela outside the British Parliament, silently holding up placards saying “I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action.”

The last of the protesters was lifted from the Nelson Mandela statue shortly after 2:30pm local time (13:30 GMT).

Campaign group Defend Our Juries, which had announced it was holding rallies in several UK cities, called the ban “Orwellian” – a reference to the late English writer George Orwell, who wrote about totalitarianism and social injustice.

“Who do the police think they are serving in this?” challenged a spokesperson.

Defend Our Juries posted on X that police had also made arrests at other demonstrations in support of Palestine Action in Manchester, Cardiff and in Northern Ireland. Police have not yet confirmed the alleged arrests.

Launched in July 2020, Palestine Action says it uses “disruptive tactics” to target “corporate enablers” and companies involved in weapons manufacture for Israel, such as Israel-based Elbit Systems and French multinational Thales.

Even before the start of the war on Gaza, rights groups and UN experts have accused Israel of imposing a system of apartheid against Palestinians.

The British government has accused the group of causing millions of pounds of damage through its actions.

Iga Swiatek demolished Amanda Anisimova 6-0, 6-0 in the most one-sided women’s Wimbledon final for 114 years to seal her sixth Grand Slam.

The Polish eighth seed, who has now won all six major finals in which she has competed, was in charge from the first point and wrapped up victory in just 57 minutes on Saturday.

It is the first time a woman has won a final at Wimbledon without dropping a game since 1911.

And Swiatek, 24, is just the second player in the Open era to win a major title without losing a game in the final after Steffi Graf beat Natalia Zvereva at the 1988 French Open.

Swiatek, who reached the final of the grass-court tournament at Bad Homburg two weeks ago, has looked increasingly strong while the top seeds tumbled at the All England Club.

She lost just one set in her run to the final.

But US 13th-seed Anisimova was expected to prove a stern test after ousting world number one Aryna Sabalenka in the semifinals.

Anisimova made a nervous start in hot conditions on Centre Court.

She was broken in the first game, soon slipping 2-0 behind, and the signs looked ominous.

She appeared to have found her feet in her next service game, but the tenacious Swiatek refused to give ground and recovered to move 3-0 ahead when Anisimova double-faulted.

At 4-0 down, Anisimova was facing a first-set wipe-out, but she was powerless to halt the rampant Swiatek, who sealed the first set 6-0 in just 25 minutes.

The American won just six points on her serve in the first set and committed 14 unforced errors.

An increasingly desperate Anisimova could not stem the tide in the second set, double-faulting again in the third game to give her opponent game point and then netting a backhand.

The crowd got behind her, but to no avail as Swiatek kept up her level, serving out to win and celebrating before consoling her devastated opponent.

The distraught Anisimova left the court briefly before returning for the trophy presentation.

Swiatek is Wimbledon’s eighth consecutive first-time women’s champion since Serena Williams won her seventh and final title at the All England Club in 2016.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has warned that any snapback of United Nations sanctions on the country “would signify the end of Europe’s role in the Iranian nuclear dossier“.

A clause in the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) between Iran and world powers, which United States President Donald Trump torpedoed in 2018 during his first term, allows for UN sanctions to be reimposed if Tehran breaches the deal.

Araghchi also said on Saturday that Tehran was reviewing the details of a possible resumption of nuclear talks with the US. “We are examining its timing, its location, its form, its ingredients, the assurances it requires” from Iran for possible negotiations.”

Separately, Araghchi said any talks with major powers would focus only on Iran’s nuclear activities, not its military capability.

“If negotiations are held … the subject of the negotiations will be only nuclear and creating confidence in Iran’s nuclear programme in return for the lifting of sanctions,” Araghchi told diplomats in Tehran.

“No other issues will be subject to negotiation.”

Last month, Israel unleashed large-scale strikes on Tehran’s nuclear sites, its military leaders, nuclear scientists and residential areas, killing hundreds.

Israel claimed its assault on June 13 was undertaken to “roll back the Iranian threat to Israel’s very survival”, according to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

But Iran said the war was an unprovoked aggression in violation of the UN Charter.

In the frenetic days that followed, Iran retaliated, and the two countries exchanged daily barrages of missiles.

The US later intervened on Israel’s behalf, deploying so-called “bunker buster” bombs and missiles to target the heavily fortified Fordow facility, as well as Natanz and Isfahan.

The final act in the 12-day conflict came when Iran responded by targeting a key US base in Qatar, with Trump announcing a ceasefire in the hours that followed.

After the conflict, Iran announced that it was suspending cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog, the  IAEA, amid a deep distrust for the organisation.

Araghchi said on Saturday that cooperation with the nuclear agency “will take on a new form” after President Masoud Pezeshkian last week signed a law suspending Iran’s collaboration with the IAEA.

“Our cooperation with the agency has not stopped, but will take on a new form,” said Araghchi.

The new law outlines that any future inspection of Iran’s nuclear sites by the IAEA needs approval by the Supreme National Council.

On Thursday, Pezeshkian warned that the IAEA had to drop its “double standards” if it wanted to restore cooperation with Tehran.

United States President Donald Trump has imposed a 30-percent tariff on imports from Mexico and the European Union starting on August 1, weeks after negotiations with the major trading partners failed to reach a more comprehensive trade deal.

Trump, who announced the new tariffs on two of the US’s biggest trade partners in separate letters posted to his Truth Social platform on Saturday, said they were due to what he said were Mexico’s role in undocumented migration and illicit drugs flowing into the US and a trade imbalance with the EU, respectively.

Earlier this week, Trump issued new tariff announcements for more than 20 countries, including Japan, South Korea, Canada and Brazil, as well as a 50-percent tariff on copper.

The duties are higher than the 25-percent levy Trump imposed on Mexican goods earlier this year – although products entering the US under the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement are exempted.

The EU tariff is also markedly steeper than the 20-percent tax Trump unveiled in April.

In response, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the EU is prepared to take the necessary steps to safeguard its interests, “including the adoption of proportionate countermeasures if required.”

Von der Leyen said in a statement that the bloc remained ready “to continue working towards an agreement by August 1”.

Three other EU officials told the Reuters news agency that Trump’s threat of an EU tariff is a negotiating tactic.

The EU, alongside dozens of other economies, had been set to see its US tariff level increase from a baseline of 10 percent on Wednesday, but Trump pushed back the deadline to August 1 just days before the elevated rates were due to take effect.

The 27-country bloc is under conflicting pressures as powerhouse Germany urged a quick deal to safeguard its industry, while other EU members, such as France, have said EU negotiators should not cave into a one-sided deal that only benefits the US.

Canada earlier received a similar letter setting out 35-percent tariffs on its goods, while Trump has threatened to impose a 50-percent tariff on goods made in Brazil, in retaliation for the “witch-hunt” trial against his far-right ally former President Jair Bolsonaro, who is facing prosecution over his alleged role in a plot to overturn the country’s 2022 election.

Trump’s cascade of tariff orders since returning to the White House in January has begun generating tens of billions of dollars a month in new revenue for the US government. US customs duties revenue shot past $100bn in the federal fiscal year to June, according to US Treasury data on Friday.