Australia politics live: national cabinet to meet over fuel crisis; Iran stress hits Anthony Albanese in the polls

• Huge crowds rallied across the U.S. on Saturday for 'No Kings Day' protests against President Donald Trump, expressing fury over his policies amid international tensions. • Demonstrations also spread abroad, including massive marches in France and crowds at NIH headquarters protesting cuts to medical research. • The protests highlight domestic opposition to Trump's leadership, potentially influencing U.S. politics as global conflicts intensify.

• An expeditionary force of American Marines arrived in the Middle East on Saturday as Yemen's Houthis launched an unsuccessful ballistic missile attack on Israel, escalating the US-Iran conflict. • Strikes on Friday and Saturday continued despite President Trump's claims of 'very strong talks' with Iran on a diplomatic solution, with no signs of de-escalation. • The involvement of Iran-allied Houthis raises fears of broader regional war and further economic disruption, particularly to global shipping routes.

PM will also cite Iran war as reason to stick with Labour, as party adopts new slogan: ‘Pride in Britain’ Keir Starmer will say that a vote for Reform UK will put at risk progress Labour is making on the cost of living, arguing that Britain’s values are being tested in a volatile world.Launching the party’s local elections campaign with a new slogan: “Pride in Britain”, Starmer will urge voters to stay the course with Labour. A dire set of results are predicted for the party in Wales, Scotland and English councils, especially in the north-east of England and London. Continue reading...

Marsupial escaped from enclosure at Wisconsin’s Sunshine Farm on Wednesday after he was spooked by stray dogsHow does a kangaroo escape a petting zoo?It’s not the opening line to a dad joke. If you’re Chesney the kangaroo, you scale an 8ft (2.5-meter) fence and go on the lam for three days, giving your keeper sleepless nights and sending residents of a small Wisconsin town on a search that would end happily on Saturday. Continue reading...

State and federal leaders due to discuss assistance for business sectors but petrol rationing not expected to find backingFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastFarmers say the federal government must help them with tax breaks and underwriting fertiliser purchases to survive the fuel crisis, with Monday’s national cabinet expected to discuss more assistance to businesses amid ballooning petrol prices.Federal and state governments have remained tight-lipped about what would be on the meeting’s agenda but state premiers have urged the Albanese government to take a stronger national coordination role in the crisis. Continue reading...

Senator’s comments come amid growing divisions within the party, which he says has ‘too small of a coalition’Cory Booker, the Democratic senator from New Jersey, renewed his calls for new leadership of the Democratic party, saying the party has “failed this moment”.“As a whole, our party has failed this moment,” Booker said on Sunday. “I’ve called for a generational renewal, because this left-right divide is killing our country and our adversaries know it.” He also said that “purity tests” within the party have led to more division in the US. Continue reading...

Health secretary still confident of success but critics say scrapping of NHS England has been ‘a total car crash’NHS to miss targets for cutting A&E wait times and performance in EnglandIn the Great Hall at the University of East London last Wednesday, the perennially upbeat Wes Streeting was exuding even greater positivity than usual. After years of neglect under the Conservatives, he said, the NHS was starting to revive thanks to Labour’s medicine.In a bravura performance in front of an audience of health service bosses, policy experts and student nurses in their blue and green uniforms, Streeting reeled off a long list of improvements in his 20-month tenure as health secretary. Continue reading...

Fresh Houthi attacks on Red Sea shipping would be devastating – but the Iranian proxy has reasons to be cautiousThe true significance of the long-awaited entry of Yemen’s Houthis into the Iran war depends on whether the Tehran-backed proxy group is intending to send a few missiles and drones from a distance towards Israel or will instead capitalise on its proximity to the narrow Bab al-Mandab strait to effectively close off the Red Sea to shipping, just as Iran has effectively shut the strait of Hormuz.The combined effect of both waterways being shut to commercial traffic from countries that neither the Iranians nor Houthis favour would be devastating. Napoleon Bonaparte’s remark that “the policy of a state lies in its geography” has never seemed more apt. Continue reading...

Officers fired pepper balls and teargas into group of about 150 on Saturday night, arresting those who did not disperseThird No Kings protest draws 8 million worldwide to push back on Trump administrationPolice arrested dozens of protesters and shot teargas into a crowd on Saturday night at a No Kings protest in Los Angeles.The conflict is the latest of many that have taken place outside the Metropolitan detention center, which has become a focal point of protests since the Trump administration launched an immigration offense on Los Angeles last year. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Health secretary’s pledges in doubt as analysis shows health service will not deliver key improvementsThe NHS is set to miss key targets to shorten waiting times for help at A&E, cancer care and planned hospital treatment, leaving millions of patients facing persistently long delays.The health service in England will not deliver a series of milestone improvements in its performance that ministers demanded it achieve by the time the fiscal year ends on Tuesday, a Guardian analysis of the NHS’s most recent data has found. Continue reading...

Conflict shows signs of entering new, more dangerous phase as additional 3,500 US troops arrive in the Middle EastUS lawmakers responded to reports that the Pentagon is preparing for weeks of ground operations in Iran, as thousands of US troops assemble in the Middle East and the conflict showed signs of entering a new, more dangerous phase.Officials told the Washington Post that a ground operation in Iran could be limited to raids by Special Operations forces and infantry troops, but it was unclear whether Donald Trump would approve any of the Pentagon’s plans. Continue reading...