🌍 Latest World News Today — AI Summarized

Democrat Tammy Duckworth writes letter to TSA calling on agency to reinstate the shoes-off airport security policyNine months after US airports allowed passengers to pass through scanners without taking off their shoes, rescinding the stringent policy after almost two decades, a top senator claimed the “reckless” move could put passengers in danger.The policy amounts to a “potentially catastrophic security deficiency”, according to Tammy Duckworth, Democrat for Illinois, and ranking member of the Senate commerce, science and transportation (CST) aviation subcommittee. Continue reading...

Veteran justice, 76, was treated for dehydration in March; a retirement would give Trump new chance to shape courtUS supreme court justice Samuel Alito was reportedly taken to a hospital after becoming sick at a Federalist Society dinner in Philadelphia in March, further fueling speculation that Donald Trump could have more chances to shape the land’s highest court through new appointments.A CNN report said Alito was checked by medical staff and given fluids due to dehydration. He later returned to his home in Virginia that same night with his security detail. In the weeks since, Alito has resumed his duties, including participating in oral arguments. Continue reading...

Dayton Webber is accused of shooting Bradrick Michael Wells twice in the head during an argumentA quadruple amputee professional cornhole player acted in self-defense when he shot and killed a passenger in his Tesla during a heated argument, his attorney has said.Dayton Webber, 27, appeared in Charles county district court via videoconference for a bail review Wednesday, where judge Patrick Devine noted that he left Maryland after the 22 March shooting of 27-year-old Bradrick Michael Wells. Devine ordered Webber to remain jailed without bail. Continue reading...

One of three victims is apparently trap pioneer Mane himself, who flew to Dallas for contract talks with ShiestySign up for the Breaking News US email to get newsletter alerts in your inboxFederal prosecutors on Thursday accused rapper Pooh Shiesty and eight others of robbing three men at gunpoint and kidnapping them in January in Texas after a contract dispute involving rap star Gucci Mane’s record label.The US attorney’s office in Dallas declined to name the victims and an FBI affidavit attached to a criminal complaint only refers to them by their initials. One victim, RD, is described as the owner of 1017 Records – the label belonging to Gucci Mane, whose legal name is Radric Delantic Davis. Continue reading...

Aria Fani of University of Washington’s Middle East Center is latest critic of Israel to lose position at US universitySign up for the Breaking News US email to get newsletter alerts in your inboxA University of Washington professor was removed as head of the school’s Middle East Center after reportedly using newsletters from the center to criticize the US and Israel’s war on Iran and describe Zionism as “cancerous”.His case is one of at least three incidents in the past month in which higher education faculty members have faced suspension or dismissal after voicing opposition to US-Israeli actions in the Middle East. Continue reading...

Best known for voice-acting in Bob’s Burgers, Mirman was injured after his vehicle struck a toll plaza and ignitedSign up for the Breaking News US email to get newsletter alerts in your inboxBob’s Burgers voice actor Eugene Mirman says he is “extraordinarily thankful to the heroic people” that pulled him out from the wreckage of his fiery car crash on Tuesday at a New Hampshire toll plaza – an accident that reportedly left him with serious injuries.The 51-year-old comedian expressed his gratitude in an Instagram post late on Friday morning, which also described his being emotionally buoyed up by “the well wishes, love and kind messages from friends and strangers” in the wake of the wreck. Continue reading...

US president makes baseless claims about fraud in blue states and says JD Vance will lead clampdown as ‘fraud czar’Donald Trump announced a fresh crackdown on “fraud” in Democratic states and tapped JD Vance to lead the charge. Officials swiftly announced a string of arrests in California.In a Truth Social post on Friday, the US president announced that his vice-president is now “in charge of ‘fraud’ in the United States”, claiming the problem is “massive and pervasive” and that Vance’s new role as “fraud czar” will be “a major factor in how great the future of our country will be”. Continue reading...

PM gets widespread backing after president’s mocking impersonation takes US-UK relationship to new lowKeir Starmer has been warned his relationship with Donald Trump may be beyond repair after the US president derided the prime minister for consulting his team about military decisions, in a mocking impersonation.In a new low for UK-US relations, Trump appeared to imitate Starmer in a weak voice during an Easter lunch speech at the White House, and said the UK was “not our best” as an ally. Continue reading...

Grandson of Reese’s cups inventor claims Hershey faked a pledge to switch back to original chocolate recipesThe grandson of HB Reese, the inventor of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, has accused the chocolate giant Hershey of faking a pledge to investors to switch back the recipes of its popular products – including KitKat – to the original milk and dark chocolate ones.A confectionary-focused dust-up between Brad Reese and the $42bn Pennsylvania-based company began in February when Reese, 70, accused the company of “quietly replacing” the ingredients – or “architecture” – in his grandfather’s invention with cheaper “compound coatings” and “peanut-butter-style crèmes”. Continue reading...

Academics and youth workers say cuts to services, not social media, help explain recent unrest in south LondonIt started with a flyer sent around on Snapchat. Teenagers were invited to gather at a south London basketball court to celebrate the start of the Easter holidays. They were told to bring their own weed and laughing gas because it was going to be a late one.What followed in the hours after was chaos. Hundreds of young people came to the “link-up” last Saturday, and then gathered on Clapham High Street. Continue reading...

Democrats rebuke White House’s ‘bleak and unacceptable’ view of priorities after 10% cuts proposed to other programsUS politics live – latest updatesSign up for the Breaking News US newsletter emailDefense spending would surge to its highest level in decades under a budget proposal put forward by the Trump administration on Friday, while other government programs would face cuts totaling 10%.The document prepared by the White House office of management and budget (OMB) is a starting point for negotiations that will probably occupy Congress’s appropriators in the coming months, and are unlikely to be enacted in full. Continue reading...

Effort to curb grade inflation, by limiting top marks to 20% of students in a course, is opposed by most studentsSign up for the Breaking News US email to get newsletter alerts in your inboxHarvard’s faculty is set to vote next week on a faculty committee proposal to cap the number of A grades per course in an effort to curb grade inflation.The proposal, which was first reported earlier this year by the Harvard Crimson, Harvard’s student newspaper, would cap A grades to 20% of students in a course, with an allowance for four additional As. It also would introduce a new internal “average percentile rank” system, which would rely on raw scores rather than grade point average (GPA) to determine honors and awards. Continue reading...

Downing of fighter plane – the first shot down over Iran since start of war – prompts frantic US rescue effort A US F-15E fighter has been shot down over Iran, prompting a frantic US search and rescue effort for its two-strong crew, in the first such incident since the start of the war.Images of a tail fin and other debris were released by Iranian state media early on Friday accompanied by an initial claim that an advanced US F-35 and been hit by a new air defence system over central Iran and the pilot probably killed. Continue reading...

Petrol has risen 19% and diesel 35%, and in England the north has had the sharpest increasesFuel prices have risen faster in Northern Ireland than in any other UK region since the beginning of the Iran war.Analysis of official data shows that petrol has jumped by 19% in Northern Ireland since the end of February, and diesel is now 35% more expensive. The rises are among the largest in Europe. Continue reading...

The telco’s sweeping price changes and the closure of its cheaper ‘starter’ plan risk putting off many of its loyal customersTelstra has long traded on its claim to have better – and far more expansive – mobile coverage than its rivals to justify a steep pricing premium that has accelerated in recent years.But the telco’s latest changes, which include steep price hikes and the closure of its cheaper “starter” plan to new users, combined with a dramatic rejection of its coverage claims by the industry regulator, risk putting off many of its traditional customers, according to consumer advocates. Continue reading...

Proposal, a win for RFK Jr’s Maha movement, is a ‘first step’ toward tackling plastic pollution, advocates sayThe Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed on Thursday to include microplastics and pharmaceuticals on a list of contaminants in drinking water for the first time, a step that could lead to new limits on those substances for water utilities.Lee Zeldin, the EPA administrator, said they are responding to Americans who have worried about plastics and pharmaceuticals in their drinking water. The gesture also aims to hand a win to health secretary Robert FKennedy Jr’s Maha movement, which for months has pressured Zeldin to further crack down on environmental contaminants. Continue reading...

Capsule’s engine fires up for six minutes, putting crew on track to reach farthest distance travelled by humans in spaceThe four astronauts on the Artemis II mission are approaching 100,000 miles from Earth as they head towards the moon, putting them on track to reach the farthest distance humans have ever travelled into space.The crew have left Earth’s orbit and fired their engines on Thursday for a “translunar injection”, sending the Orion capsule on its trajectory towards the moon. Continue reading...

NASUWT says full entitlement should be increased from four weeks to 26 and paternity pay also improvedFull maternity pay for teachers across the UK should be increased to 26 weeks to help stem the exodus of women in their 30s from classrooms, a union leader has said.Matt Wrack, general secretary of the NASUWT teachers’ union, said it was a “national scandal” that so many teachers who quit said inadequate maternity support was one of the reasons. Continue reading...