South Carolina Republicans defy Trump again to reject rapid redistricting drive

Australia’s foreign affairs minister Penny Wong met with US secretary of state Marco Rubio in New Delhi meeting. Follow today’s news liveGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastReacting to the Quad meeting, Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said that cooperation “should not be directed against any third party”, AFP reports.“We also do not support exclusive cliques or bloc confrontations,” she told reporters. Continue reading...

Three lunar landings are planned for this year in preparation for the construction of a $20bn moon baseSign up for the Breaking News US newsletter emailNasa announced on Tuesday ambitious plans for three uncrewed lunar missions this year to kickstart construction of a $20bn moon base, and said it had chosen Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin, ahead of Elon Musk’s SpaceX, to conduct the first.The revelation by Nasa’s administrator, Jared Isaacman, at a press conference in Washington DC marked the first detailed public explanation of how and when the moon base will be built. Continue reading...

Channel quietly debuts over weekend with Only in Monroe video days after Thursday’s final Late Show episode Stephen Colbert hasn’t even been off the air for a week, but is already causing some hubbub with the launch of a new YouTube channel that has garnered more than 120,000 subscribers.The popular late-night host, who aired his final episode of The Late Show last Thursday, quietly debuted the channel over the weekend with a single video titled: “Only In Monroe --- May 22, 2026.” Continue reading...

Analysis of party’s proposed cuts also suggests it would get rid of two-thirds of psychologists who support prison staffA Reform UK plan to cut the size of the civil service would involve sacking more planning officers than exist and getting rid of at least two-thirds of the psychologists who support prison officers’ welfare, it has emerged.The policy paper, led by the Reform MP Danny Kruger and published in December, promises to save more than £5bn a year by cutting civil service roles, with the full-time-equivalent (FTE) headcount falling by 13%. Continue reading...

Police officer in charge says budget could reach £19.3m and nearly 100 more investigators are neededThe police criminal inquiry into the Post Office Horizon IT scandal faces a five-year delay unless it is handed millions in extra funding and nearly 100 more staff, according to the chief officer in charge.The Metropolitan police commander Stephen Clayman said he needed to nearly double the number of investigators to 210 to meet a deadline of late next year or early 2028 for submitting files to prosecutors. Continue reading...

Three people have been arrested on suspicion of murder after shooting outside One Four One in the city centreA woman shot dead outside a bar in Sheffield was an innocent bystander, police say.Officers were called to the scene outside the One Four One bar on West Street in in the city centre at 2.45am on Monday after reports of a shooting. Continue reading...

Officials say a hazardous materials incident injured several people but there is no immediately threat to the publicSign up for the Breaking News US newsletter emailAuthorities in Washington state are responding to an “implosion” at a packaging plant early on Tuesday morning that left multiple people with chemical burns.The Longview fire department said in a statement there was a hazardous materials incident at Nippon Dynawave Packaging that occurred when a vat of “chemical treatment” imploded. According to the state, the plant has a kraft pulp and paper mill and liquid packaging facility, and employs roughly 1,000 employees. Continue reading...

Robert Kenyon has been linked to vaccine scepticism and advised a person with the virus to ‘stop having boosters’The Reform UK candidate in this month’s Makerfield byelection appeared to doubt the seriousness of Covid and the efficacy of vaccines for the virus, in another tranche of messages unearthed from now-deleted social media posts.Previously seen messages from Robert Kenyon showed him interacting with far-right figures, and expressing strong support for Donald Trump. Continue reading...

Campaigners reject claims that tougher rules will deter hiring – and lock young people out of jobsMinisters should press ahead with a ban on zero-hours contracts, campaigners say, despite claims by business leaders that it would deter hiring and lock out more young people from the labour market.Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) and the union umbrella organisation the TUC were among eight signatories to a letter to the department of business and trade, calling on the government to “ignore the noise” from businesses, which want zero-hours contracts to remain. Continue reading...

Historical events like Spanish Inquisition show the ‘velocity’ at which rumours move to conviction, says Celebrity Traitors contestantHistory might explain why Faithfuls find it so difficult to root out Traitors in the hit BBC show, suggests one member of the Celebrity Traitors cohort, who were record-breakingly bad at the game.The roundtable – where contestants discuss who should be cast out – was somewhat “frightening” because of the “velocity in which something goes from a suspicion to belief, to faith, to condemnation”, said the broadcaster and historian David Olusoga. Continue reading...

US health secretary gets nip from one of two serpents he grabbed at home of fellow Trump official Dr OzHealth secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr on Tuesday added to his lengthening catalog of bizarre wild animal encounters by posting to social media a video of himself in Florida wrestling with two snakes.Kennedy, who has previously admitted dumping the carcass of a bear cub in New York’s Central Park, and is also alleged to have cut the penis of a road-kill raccoon, is seen grabbing the pair of serpents with his bare hands. Continue reading...