Keir Starmer heads to Gulf after US and Iran agree two-week ceasefire

Stars including Sabrina Carpenter, Karol G, David Byrne and Addison Rae also head to the desert for the first of two sold-out weekends of live musicJustin Bieber is set for a major live performance comeback at this year’s sold-out Coachella with rainy weather set to be a possible spoiler.The Canadian singer will face his biggest live stage since he abandoned his 2022 tour over health concerns. Bieber was experiencing “full paralysis” on one side of his face after being diagnosed with Ramsay Hunt syndrome. “I wish this wasn’t the case but obviously my body is telling me I gotta slow down,” he said at the time. Continue reading...

Residents of Fleetwood say continuous foul smell from Transwaste site is making life hell and making them sickIn the week that many families took to the coast for the fresh sea air or the tang of fish and chips, visitors to one Lancashire resort inhaled a rather more unpleasant aroma.“Welcome to Fleetwood,” read the local newspaper headline. “The town that smells of bin juice.” Continue reading...

Opposition candidate Péter Magyar warns supporters against complacency as some voters undecided ahead of Sundayin BudapestWe talked to a few Budapest residents this morning in the city centre at Jászai Mari Square. Continue reading...

Australia and Singapore will ‘make maximum efforts to meet each other’s energy security needs’ in refined fuels and LNG, according to new agreementGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastAustralia’s largest petrol source has pledged not to cut supplies, with Singapore’s prime minister telling Anthony Albanese that fuel will keep flowing despite the international crisis.Albanese’s whistle-stop visit with his Singaporean counterpart, Lawrence Wong, culminated in a new agreement that the two countries would keep sending one another fuel and liquefied natural gas, amid the “acute energy crisis” caused by the war in the Middle East. Australia and Singapore will also add a legally binding addendum to their free trade agreement on essential supplies like energy. Continue reading...

Reports say Fed chair Jerome Powell among attenders at meeting in Washington The US Treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, summoned major American bank chiefs to a meeting in Washington this week amid concerns over the cyber risks posed by Anthropic’s latest AI model, according to reports.Bosses including the Federal Reserve chair, Jerome Powell, were said to have gathered at the Treasury headquarters for the meeting after the release of the Claude Mythos AI model that Anthropic says poses unprecedented cybersecurity risks. Continue reading...

PM appears to draw comparison between Russian and US leaders and calls for plan to restore shipping through strait of HormuzKeir Starmer has said he is “fed up” with the effect that Donald Trump’s actions in the Middle East are having on the British public, while appearing to draw a comparison between the US president to Vladimir Putin.Speaking to ITV’s Robert Peston on Thursday, the prime minister said: “I’m fed up with the fact that families across the country see their bills go up and down on energy, businesses’ bills go up and down on energy because of the actions of Putin or Trump across the world.” Continue reading...

Prime minister explicitly blames US president for British consumers’ higher bills as he concludes tour of Gulf statesGood morning. Keir Starmer is wrapping up his three-day tour of Gulf states today, and we are starting some conclusions. What we have not got is any sort of plan for a resolution of the Iran war; Starmer is not one of the main protagonists in this conflict, what he has said publicly about his talks with Gulf leaders has consisted largely of platitudes, we still have no idea about when, if or how the strait of Hormuz will fully open, and the outcome will be determined by Iran and a rash and unpredictable US president.But Starmer has been giving some thought to how the UK should respond to the era of global uncertainty we now find ourselves in and he has set out some of his thinking in an article for the Guardian. The full piece is here. Continue reading...

Text on plaque in Hall of Valour updated to include references to war crime – murder charges and the ongoing legal processThe Australian War Memorial has updated the display dedicated to Ben Roberts-Smith after the former Special Air Service (SAS) corporal was officially charged with five counts of the war crime of murder.The changes, implemented on Friday, mean nearly half of the descriptive plaque in the museum’s Hall of Valour is now dedicated to events occurring after his military service, beginning with the initial reports of misconduct in 2016. Continue reading...

The four astronauts are set to touch down on Earth and conclude the 10-day mission after completing moon flybyThe number of human beings who have travelled to the moon and returned safely to Earth will grow to 28 on Friday night when Nasa’s Orion capsule containing four Artemis II astronauts will glide gently to a Pacific Ocean splashdown beneath three giant parachutes.The scheduled 5.07pm PT landing (1.07am BST Saturday) off the coast of San Diego will mark the end of a 10-day lunar odyssey that made the three Americans and one Canadian the first people to travel beyond lower Earth orbit since the final mission of the Apollo program in December 1972. Continue reading...

Whatever outcome of ceasefire talks, the region will have to live with a continuing threat from the regime in TehranMiddle East crisis – live updatesGulf nations will seek to add security partners as they rebuild battered economies after the US and Israel’s war on Iran and deal with an emboldened Tehran.The Gulf will have to live with a continuing threat from the regime in Tehran and its remaining missile arsenal. American bases on their soil turned them into targets for Iran, as it retaliated against a joint attack by the US and Israel. Continue reading...

Experts warn lapse could sharply reduce reports of abuse, echoing a 58% drop during a similar legal gap in 2021Sign up for the Breaking News US email to get newsletter alerts in your inboxThe European parliament has blocked the extension of a law that permits big tech firms to scan for child sexual exploitation on their platforms, creating a legal gap that child safety experts say will lead to crimes going undetected.The law, which was a carve-out of the EU Privacy Act, was put in place in 2021 as a temporary measure allowing companies to use automated detection technologies to scan messages for harms, including child sexual abuse material (CSAM), grooming and sextortion. However, it expired on 3 April, and the EU parliament decided not to vote to extend it, amid privacy concerns from some lawmakers. Continue reading...

Texas city believes loose rules and low taxes will make the US’s biggest banks come running – can it pull it off?As the warm sun rises over the Dallas skyline, SUVs and pickup trucks whiz past an unassuming construction site that is helping cement the city’s Texas-sized financial ambitions.Nestled between towers claimed by Bank of America and JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs has cordoned off 800,000 sq ft for a new Dallas campus able to host more than 5,000 staff. But the $700m (£530m) project is more than a regional expansion plan by one of America’s largest banks. It is another win for the lobbyists behind Dallas’s “Y’all Street” – the Texan city’s aggressive push to steal New York’s financial crown. Continue reading...