Australia news live: housing market slows but rents surge; Penny Wong hails South Korea energy pact

With PM on shaky ground as May elections approach, we take a look at who could take a run at the Labour leadershipAs the May elections creep closer, the leadership speculation at Westminster grows more intense. Is Keir Starmer safe and, if so, for how long?When will Angela Rayner’s tax affairs be resolved, and will she return to the cabinet? Who has Andy Burnham done a deal with to get back to Westminster, and would MPs support him if he did? Why has Wes Streeting gone so quiet? Continue reading...

Spy tech firm says it’s just ‘a software company’ amid pressure for a ban on new contracts with government agenciesFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastJust weeks after it implied some cultures are inferior to others in a manifesto described by one UK MP as the “ramblings of a supervillain”, the US spy tech company Palantir says it is just “a software company” amid calls for Australian government agencies to ban any new contracts with the controversial company.In Australia, state and federal contracts with Palantir have reached nearly $80m, and federal investment in the company is reportedly more than $160m. Continue reading...

Company reported $111.2bn in revenue in first earnings report after announcement of Cook’s pending departureApple blew past Wall Street expectations in its first earnings report since it announced CEO Tim Cook would be stepping down.Cook reported Apple’s “best March quarter ever” and “double-digit growth across every geographic segment”. He also noted “extraordinary demand for the iPhone17 lineup”. Continue reading...

Advice charity also helping thousands of tenants before Renters’ Rights Act comes into force on FridaySolicitors say they have been inundated with requests to serve last-minute section 21 no-fault eviction notices before they are banned when the Renters’ Rights Act comes into force in England on Friday.The legislation, which has been hailed as the biggest change to renting in a generation, bans no-fault evictions, limits rent increases and abolishes fixed-term tenancies. Continue reading...

President Lula’s veto of the bill was overturned by Brazil’s congress and senate, meaning it now awaits confirmation by supreme court Brazil’s largely conservative congress has approved a bill reducing the prison sentence of the far-right former president Jair Bolsonaro, who was convicted last year of attempting a coup.The bill had initially been passed by congress in December, but president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva vetoed it in January in a symbolic move marking three years since Bolsonaro supporters ransacked the capital, Brasília. Continue reading...

Judith Alexander describes how Kentish Town house owned by the prime minister was targetedThe prime minister’s sister-in-law has said she feared what might have happened had she not woken up after her home was targeted in an arson attack, a court has heard.The incident is one of a series of arson attacks that took place in May last year on property linked to Keir Starmer, which three men with links to Ukraine are accused of targeting. They deny all the charges. Continue reading...

Pop star was arrested in March after she was pulled over for driving erratically on US 101 in CaliforniaSign up for the Breaking News US email to get newsletter alerts in your inboxBritney Spears was charged in California on Thursday with driving under the influence of drugs and alcohol, authorities said.The 44-year-old pop star was charged with a single misdemeanor count of driving under the combined influence of alcohol and at least one drug, the Ventura county district attorney’s office said. Continue reading...

Lawmakers agree 45-day extension but Republican and Democratic critics urge reform of surveillance programThe US Congress has passed a 45-day extension of a law that grants US intelligence agencies warrantless spying powers.Bitter infighting over section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act in the Republican wing of Congress has repeatedly tanked conservative leaders’ plans to renew the controversial surveillance law for multiple years. The deadlock continued on Thursday, as the Republican House speaker Mike Johnson refused to include key reforms pushed by hardliners in his party and progressive Democrats. Continue reading...

Agents would not allow Pavel Talankin to carry statuette for Mr Nobody Against Putin onto flight from New YorkSign up for the Breaking News US email to get newsletter alerts in your inboxThe Oscar statuette belonging to Pavel Talankin, star and co-director of the Academy award-winning documentary Mr Nobody Against Putin, has disappeared after officials at New York’s John F Kennedy airport confiscated it before he boarded a flight, claiming it could be used as a weapon.Talankin, whose documentation of Russia’s propaganda machine in grade schools won international acclaim, told Deadline that he has brought the statuette on several flights without incident. But when he arrived at JFK’s terminal 1 on Wednesday morning, Transportation Security Administration (TSA) agents said he could not take the 8.5lb trophy on board because it posed a security risk. Continue reading...

Dozens of people gathered outside the hospital where the 47-year-old was being treated five days after the five-year-old girl disappeared•Warning: This article contains references to and images of Indigenous Australians who have diedGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastAn angry crowd has clashed with police outside a hospital in Alice Springs where a 47-year-old man arrested by police in connection with the death of five-year-old Kumanjayi Little Baby was being treated.The arrest of Jefferson Lewis was confirmed in a brief statement by Northern Territory police just before 10pm local time on Thursday night. Continue reading...

Mark Rowley defends officers who arrested suspect in Wednesday’s incident and calls on Green party leader to show solidarity The Metropolitan police chief has said that Green party leader Zack Polanski sharing a post about the arrest of the Golders Green terror suspect will have a “chilling effect”.Met officers arrested a 45-year-old man after two Jewish people were stabbed in the suburb of north-west London on Wednesday. Police said the suspect was shot with a stun gun to subdue him. Continue reading...