California island fire linked to sailor’s distress flare scorches 10,000 acres

Ministry of Defence names soldier who fell from her horse as Lance Bombardier Ciara Sullivan, 24, part of the King’s Troop, Royal Horse ArtilleryA soldier who died after falling from her horse at the Royal Windsor Horse Show was named as Lance Bombardier Ciara Sullivan, 24 – an “exceptional jockey” with an “infectious energy”, her commanding officer said.Sullivan, part of the King’s Troop, Royal Horse Artillery, fell at around 7pm on Friday after exiting the arena. Continue reading...

Former House speaker, who had not yet weighed in, declared Connie Chan ‘best prepared’ to represent cityNancy Pelosi on Monday endorsed Connie Chan, a San Francisco supervisor, in the race to succeed her as the city’s representative in Congress, calling her the candidate who “stands above the rest”.Pelosi, the first woman to serve as speaker of the House, will retire at the end of her term and had not yet weighed in on the contested primary for the San Francisco district she has held for nearly 40 years. But as early mail-in ballots trickle in ahead of the 2 June primary, Pelosi declared Chan the “leader best prepared to carry forward the fight for San Francisco in the Congress”. Continue reading...

‘We cannot continue to blame migrants for the problems of our economy,’ backbencher Andrew McLachlan says A Liberal senator has broken ranks to criticise Angus Taylor’s plan to bar non-citizens from accessing welfare, warning it will create “two types of members of the community” and is “not the Australian way”.The outspoken backbencher Andrew McLachlan said migrants should not be blamed for economic problems including the housing crisis, and warned his party’s immigration rhetoric was alienating diaspora communities. Continue reading...

President’s remarks about Taiwan arms deals being a ‘negotiating chip’ with Beijing have been seized on by Chinese state mediaIt has been an unsettling few days for Taiwan’s government. When Donald Trump met Xi Jinping in Beijing on Thursday, many feared the unpredictable US leader could upend Washington’s longstanding support for Taipei.But beyond a starkly worded statement from Xi stressing China’s claims over Taiwan, which it claims as part of its territory despite never having ruled it, initial signs appeared good for Taipei. Continue reading...

Fuhrman, who found bloody glove at Simpson’s home, charged with perjury after audio revealed use of racial slursFormer Los Angeles police detective Mark Fuhrman, who was convicted of lying during testimony at the OJ Simpson murder trial, has died.Fuhrman was one of the first two police detectives sent to investigate the 1994 killings of Simpson’s ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend, Ronald Goldman, in Los Angeles. He reported finding a bloody glove at Simpson’s home but his credibility came under attack during the trial as the defense raised the prospect of racial bias. Continue reading...

Figures disclosed by nursing union show big rise on reported incidents which may only be ‘tip of the iceberg’Racist abuse of NHS nurses has jumped by 86% in the last few years, which their union’s boss has blamed on the normalisation of extreme views in politics and the media.One nurse was called a monkey by a colleague, a patient threw a hot drink at a nurse and followed up with racial abuse, and in several cases others were called the N-word, the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) disclosed. Continue reading...

UK foreign secretary says urgent pressure needed to get strait of Hormuz reopened and fertiliser and fuel movingGlobal fertiliser supplies must be freed up within weeks to avoid disaster, with harvests suffering and food prices rising, the UK’s foreign secretary, Yvette Cooper, has said.The war in Iran has frozen shipments of fertiliser through the strait of Hormuz, creating a supply crunch that has already damaged farming in the UK, Europe and the US and is having its worst impacts in the developing world, where farmers cannot afford the higher prices now being charged. Continue reading...

Tracker of attitudes towards artificial intelligence also finds almost half of the public would prefer to avoid itOne in three university students think AI will wipe out jobs so rapidly it will trigger civil unrest, according to a survey by King’s College London (KCL).Students are among the heaviest users of AI, the poll found, with 77% using it at least a few times a month – compared with 46% of workers – and 27% using it daily or almost daily. Continue reading...

Trump claims number of medications available via the discount program will increase nearly sevenfoldDonald Trump has announced a major expansion of his prescription drug website, TrumpRx, claiming the number of medications available via the discount program will increase nearly sevenfold.Experts raised questions earlier this year about the limited number of drugs listed on the site, suggesting they would appeal to a relatively small group of patients. Continue reading...

Flood warning in place on Gold Coast. Follow today’s news liveGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastRestricting welfare to citizens not ‘punishing’ but ‘incentivising’, shadow minister saysThe shadow immigration minister, Jonno Duniam, has said Angus Taylor’s budget reply proposal to limit welfare payments only to Australian citizens was not a punishment for permanent residents but to “incentivise that pathway to Australian citizenship”But they’ll still have to wait under the visa system a number of years, in almost all cases, to receive the kinds of welfare benefits that you are talking about.And, in many cases now, under Labor’s current approach, there are wait times between 4 and 10 years for various supports that people may want to take advantage of.We want to ensure that we have houses for them to live in.And can I say – we want to preserve for those who eventually become Australian citizens, which I hope is all of them that want to come here, the services that we provide in this country. Continue reading...

Estimates suggest £1bn a year is laundered through high street businesses, with some connected to tax evasion, drugs and counterfeit goods“Dodgy” retail outlets such as vape stores, barbers, mini-marts and sweet shops suspected of being used to launder £1bn of criminal money will be targeted by a new specialist unit, the government has said.A £20m National Crime Agency cell will run and coordinate investigations and raids into businesses suspected of acting as fronts for gangsters, the Home Office said. The NCA and police forces in Greater Manchester, the West ­Midlands, Kent and Essex will recruit 75 officers to boost the effort. Continue reading...