Middle East crisis live: US and Iran trade threats but Trump insists Tehran wants deal

Chancellor’s planning shake-up would ‘reduce exposure from judicial review on all but human rights grounds’Rachel Reeves is ​preparing to announce a planning shake-up ‌that would fast-track clean energy ​and infrastructure projects by curbing judicial reviews, the ​Treasury said.The chancellor will propose that parliament should be able to designate and approve the most important clean energy projects as of “critical national importance”, as part of a wider package seeking to blunt the impact of the Iran crisis. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Australia faces a ‘pronounced political fault line’, Giridharan Sivaraman tells Brisbane seminar on human rights Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastOne Nation and the federal opposition are “dehumanising” and “scapegoating” immigrants while drawing on a “deep vein of racism”, Australia’s federal race discrimination commissioner says.Giridharan Sivaraman made the comments as part of a panel discussion at a Brisbane seminar on human rights, hosted by the state’s human rights commission. Continue reading...

MEPs had twice frozen ratification process in protest at Trump’s threat of higher tariffs and Greenland threatsThe EU has finally agreed to implement its trade deal with the US after five hours of talks between members of the European parliament and member states in the hope of averting more tariffs threatened by Donald Trump.It means the agreement struck last July at the US president’s Scottish golf course can now enter into force, removing import duties on most US goods entering the EU. Continue reading...

Incident comes just a day after Nato had to shoot down a suspected stray Ukrainian drone over EstoniaThe drone alert in Lithuania has just been lifted, with the country’s defence minister quoted by Reuters as saying that the drone flew by Lentvaris near the capital, Vilnius, before diverting in a different direction.We will no doubt get more details on this soon. Continue reading...

The former health secretary will give resignation speech after prime minister’s questions Good morning. PMQs is back, and there are at least two obvious issues for Kemi Badenoch to raise when she faces Keir Starmer.What Tories calls Starmer’s “Soviet-style” plan to curb supermarket pricesThis is more nuts than a squirrel convention!I warned Rachel Reeves prices would go up if she raised taxes and drowned employers in red tape. She didn’t listen and now she’s proposing Soviet style measures!After 18 months of “standing up to Putin” the Labour govt quietly issued a licence allowing imports of Russian oil refined in third countries.Yesterday Labour MPs voted AGAINST UK oil and gas licences.We are talking about our allies in Ukraine who have been fighting a war bravely against Russia for years and years with our support.They have looked to Britain as one of their most important allies, and they don’t understand, given that we promised that we would stop this loophole in October, and we still haven’t done it. In fact, it seems to have got worse. People feel very let down.There was a G7 announcement on the 19 May which said that they, the G7, had an unwavering commitment to put pressure on Russia including sanctions on the energy sector and actions against entities in third countries that materially support Russia’s war effort but we’re still saying that we’re going to take sanctioned oil but so long as it goes to Turkey first and then it’s refined, we will use it. Continue reading...

Decision to allow import of jet fuel and diesel refined in third countries is criticised by Tories as ‘insane’The UK government has relaxed strict sanctions on Russian crude oil, allowing for the import of jet fuel and diesel refined in third countries amid surging costs.A trade licence that came into effect on Wednesday permits the imports indefinitely and will be reviewed periodically. It comes at a time of growing concerns over the supply of certain fuels due to the de facto blockade of the strait of Hormuz since the start of the US-Israeli war with Iran. Continue reading...

Report finds culture of ‘resistance and delay’ in the Australian parliament with more than 60% of requests having longer response times than mandated 30-day deadlineFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastA scathing audit report has found nearly 80% of freedom of information requests to Anthony Albanese’s department, Treasury and the infrastructure department were rejected, creating a culture of “resistance and delay” in the Australian parliament.The review of FoI administration found there was no consistent, transparent or accountable decision-making around requests and the pro-disclosure objectives of the law were being flouted. Continue reading...

Greens MLC Abigail Boyd – who chaired inquiry – says system ‘failing too many children, families and educators’Systemic weaknesses in New South Wales’ childcare sector have allowed predators to work in the industry and abuse children, a scathing inquiry has found.In its final report, published on Wednesday, a NSW upper house inquiry into the Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) sector found “the proliferation of for-profit services and a lax regulatory approach” had led to “predators” being allowed to work in childcare and abuse children. Continue reading...

Campaigners warn against blanket restrictions and say focus should be on blocking teenagers from platforms with ‘risky’ featuresOnline safety campaigners have urged Keir Starmer to block under-16s from accessing social media apps that do not meet strict safety standards, instead of implementing a broader Australia-style ban.The NSPCC, Molly Rose Foundation and Smartphone Free Childhood said tech platforms should not be allowed to offer “risky” features to teenagers such as infinite scrolling, disappearing messages and push notifications. Continue reading...

Centre for London report finds levy on property wealth would free up homes, fund social housing and help renters save for depositsStamp duty should be scrapped and replaced with a new property wealth tax to fix London’s housing crisis, a leading thinktank has proposed.A report on the capital’s property market suggests an annual tax to replace the levy paid when buying a property and council tax would encourage downsizing and raise funds for social housing. It would also help renters to save a house deposit. Continue reading...

Nurses’ union criticises ‘catastrophic system-wide failure’ in NHS as more under-18s getting stuck in emergency wardsChildren and young people in England having a mental health crisis are spending up to three days in an A&E unit before they get a bed in a specialist unit, NHS figures reveal.One children’s nurse who works in an emergency department said such long waits for under-18s who were in acute distress were “frankly barbaric” but “becoming far more normal”. Continue reading...