‘Nobody’s in charge’: is power sharing still working in Northern Ireland?

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...

How much fuel does Australia have left today, and when could we run out? Track how much petrol and diesel prices have risen near you in Sydney, Melbourne and across the country.Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastHundreds of service stations across Australia have run empty, fuel prices are elevated and oil shipments have been cancelled.Australia is battling a fuel crisis as Iran’s closure of the strait of Hormuz continues to bite. The federal government has released fuel reserves, cut fuel excise taxes and rolled out a national fuel security plan. Continue reading...

Charity advises replacing seed and nut feeders, where birds gather, with small amounts of mealworms, fat balls or suetGarden birds should not be fed seeds and nuts over the summer months, the RSPB has said, in an attempt to reduce the spread of avian diseases.Bird lovers are being urged to take down their bird feeders between May and October to help birds such as the greenfinch, whose numbers have plummeted after the spread of trichomonosis, a parasitic disease transmitted more easily when birds cluster around feeders in the warmer months. Continue reading...

President’s post on Truth Social is in keeping with a pattern of using shocking video to sow fear about immigration and justify mass deportationBesieged by questions about his war on Iran and his wife’s statement on Jeffrey Epstein, Donald Trump tried to shift the national conversation back to his immigration crackdown by posting a graphic, distressing video of a woman in Florida being killed last week by a man he described as an illegal immigrant from Haiti.The video, taken by a surveillance camera outside a Fort Myers gas station, showed a man identified by authorities as a Haitian immigrant using a hammer to bludgeon to death the woman, who was reportedly a clerk at the gas station. Continue reading...

Thinktank says algorithms are fuelling isolation and division after analysing posts shown to social media usersReform UK voters are the least likely to see posts from friends and family on social media and most likely to see content from brands and news organisations, a study has found.The Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) thinktank said algorithms were fuelling isolation and division after its research analysing users’ feeds on Instagram, Facebook, X, Bluesky and TikTok found that only 13% of Reform UK voters saw content from someone they knew, compared with 23% of Green party voters. Continue reading...

This week, despite securing a temporary ceasefire with Iran, there were calls from both the left and the right to invoke the 25th amendment of the US constitution to remove Donald Trump from office.Jonathan Freedland speaks to the Guardian’s Washington bureau chief, David Smith, about the various ways Congress could remove Trump from the White HouseArchive: ABC News, Fox News, Tucker Carlson, France 24 Continue reading...

Former Viktor Orbán loyalist and his Tisza party have enjoyed meteoric rise as opposition movement growsAs a child growing up in Budapest, Péter Magyar had a poster of Viktor Orbán – at the time a leading figure in the country’s pro-democracy movement – hanging above his bed. Orbán was one of several political figures that adorned his bedroom, Magyar told a podcast last year, hinting at his excitement over the changes sweeping the country after the collapse of communism.Now Magyar, 45, is the driving force behind what could be another momentous political change in Hungary: the ousting of Orbán, whose 16 years in power has transformed the country into a “petri dish for illiberalism”. Continue reading...

Woman, 27, found dead near Tennant Creek on Sunday with ‘visible facial injuries’, police sayA man is accused of murdering his partner after allegedly telling police she was injured in a car crash with a kangaroo on an outback highway.The 33-year-old was charged days after his 27-year-old partner was found dead with “visible facial injuries” in a Jeep Cherokee near the Northern Territory’s Tennant Creek. Continue reading...

In Pakistan’s capital, the army has been deployed, a public holiday has been declared and the streets are eerily emptyMiddle East crisis – live updatesThe streets of Islamabad were on strict lockdown as Pakistan’s capital prepared to play host to historic negotiations between Iran and the US that have dangled the promise of an end to war that has devastated the Middle East.Even as the US-Iran ceasefire looked increasingly precarious, amid Israel’s continued bombardment of Lebanon and disputes over the terms of the talks, Pakistani officials insisted that the make-or-break peace negotiations would be going ahead over the weekend as planned. Continue reading...

Call comes on same day former prime minister Tony Abbott said Australia should send troops to fight alongside US forces in the Middle EastFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastThe Greens want the federal government to put direct pressure on Israel to stop its deadly strikes on Lebanon, including cancelling weapons contracts to protest against the “disastrous, illegal, immoral war”.Prime minister, Anthony Albanese, and the foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, have insisted southern Lebanon should be included in the fledgling ceasefire agreement negotiated between the US and Iran in recent days. Continue reading...