Blame

• India has increased diplomatic pressure on Washington to ensure the safety of Indian citizens at sea following attacks on ships. • The move comes as tensions escalate between the US and Iran, with Donald Trump blaming Iran for the maritime attacks. • This development highlights India's urgent need to protect its crew members and commercial interests amidst the widening US-Iran conflict.

US president says crew members are ‘safe and uninjured’ after attack near strait of Hormuz early on TuesdayMiddle East crisis – live updatesDonald Trump has blamed Iran for downing a US army helicopter near the strait of Hormuz, warning that the US would be forced to respond to the attack.The US army Apache helicopter gunship crashed off the coast of Oman early on Tuesday, according to US Central Command. The two crew members were later rescued in an unprecedented operation using an unmanned drone boat, the military said. Continue reading...

• Apple and the European Union are at odds over the delayed rollout of Siri AI to European users, with each side blaming the other for the holdup. • The dispute has led to a stalemate, with no clear resolution in sight for the launch of the AI app in the EU. • Apple's senior vice president of software engineering, Craig Federighi, has been involved in discussions, but details of the negotiations have not been disclosed.

• Apple and the European Union are engaged in a dispute over the delayed rollout of new Siri AI features for users within the EU. • The conflict involves mutual blame between the tech giant and EU regulators regarding the obstacles preventing the software's release. • This standoff highlights ongoing tensions between Apple and the EU over regulatory compliance and the deployment of advanced AI services in the region.

• Apple has announced a redesigned, AI-enabled assistant branded as "Siri AI" during its developer conference in Cupertino, California. • The company is withholding the rollout of these new AI features for devices within the European Union, citing concerns over EU regulatory rules. • European Commission spokesperson Thomas Regnier responded by stating that the decision to exclude the bloc is "Apple’s and Apple’s only."

• Apple has announced that its new Siri AI features will be withheld from iPhones and iPads within the European Union. • The company claims that EU regulators are preventing the launch of the artificial intelligence software due to regulatory hurdles. • This decision highlights the ongoing tension between Big Tech and the EU over compliance with digital competition and data privacy laws.

Instead of relying on tax-enhanced speculation, investors must now look at established properties based on actual profitability – leaving space for first home buyers Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastFor decades, Australia’s property market has been defined by relentless price rises, reinforcing the old adage that real estate investment is “as safe as houses”.There’s now a wrinkle in that wisdom. Continue reading...

• Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul head coach Sarunas Jasikevicius criticized the current state of modern basketball and the instability of coaching roles. • Speaking ahead of the 2026 EuroLeague Final Four, Jasikevicius highlighted the immense pressure and the frequency of coaching changes on the sidelines. • He attributed this "coaching chaos" to societal trends, suggesting that a lack of patience and a demand for immediate results drive the trend of firing coaches.

Officials from Baltic states say Moscow behind latest such incident but also tell Kyiv to be more careful with its routingEurope live – latest updatesA Romanian F-16 Nato jet shot down a drone over Estonia on Tuesday in what appears to be the latest case of Russian electronic jamming diverting long-range Ukrainian drones into the alliance’s territory.A local resident told the Estonian public broadcaster, ERR, that he had seen two fighter jets – part of a Nato force policing the skies over the Baltic states – flying in the area before a loud bang that brought the drone down. He said the drone had crashed about 30 metres from the nearest residential building. Continue reading...

Abu Dhabi denounces ‘dangerous escalation’ as Iran war ceasefire grows more precariousThe United Arab Emirates has blamed a fire near its nuclear power plant on a drone launched by Iran or one of its proxies in what the UAE called a “dangerous escalation”.The fire was just outside the Barakah nuclear plant and caused no injuries or radiation alerts, but it came at an extremely tense moment in the sixth week of a ceasefire in the Iran war, with peace talks stalled and Donald Trump voicing impatience at the deadlock. Continue reading...

David Farley says net overseas migration of 306,000 ‘probably not’ too much despite party policy to cap migrants at 130,000 per yearFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastBarnaby Joyce has blamed “the pressure of a campaign” for One Nation’s Farrer candidate contradicting party policy on immigration and appearing to endorse Labor’s current intake.The One Nation MP also claimed voters won’t worry about Gina Rinehart’s million-dollar donation of a private plane to Pauline Hanson’s party, claiming journalists were more interested than ordinary people in the lucrative gift from Rinehart’s company. Continue reading...

Republicans blame Biden administration block on JetBlue deal; Democrats point to fuel price surge amid Iran warSign up for the Breaking News US newsletter email US airlines and government officials battled on Saturday to deal with stranded passengers and stricken employees after discount carrier Spirit Airlines abruptly ceased operations – and a political and business blame game got under way over the collapse of the low-cost carrier.“If you have a flight scheduled with Spirit Airlines, don’t show up at the airport; there will be no one here to assist you,” the US secretary of transportation, Sean Duffy, warned at a press conference after laying out measures for customers booked with the Florida-based company to obtain refunds or find discounted flights on other airlines. Continue reading...

Trade union criticises airline’s plan to halve passenger numbers to the city as ‘purely profit-oriented’ Ryanair is to shut its Berlin operating base and cut its winter schedule to the German capital in half, blaming its decision on soaring aviation taxes in the country.The Irish budget carrier said its relocation of seven aircraft to other centres would reduce its Berlin passenger numbers from 4.5 million to 2.2 million a year, with flights in and out of the city served from October by planes based at other airports. Continue reading...

Lori Chavez-DeRemer resigned amid allegations of an affair and steering grants to politically connected figuresThe secretary of the Department of Labor, Lori Chavez-DeRemer, resigned this week after several controversies surrounding her brief tenure at the helm of the agency. But labor officials say even though her troubled reign is over, the US labor authority remains in a state of “constant turbulence”.Chavez-DeRemer was under investigation over claims she had an affair with a subordinate and allegedly misused travel funds, and that her aides allegedly steered grants to politically connected figures. Her husband was banned from the agency’s headquarters over allegations of sexual assault by at least two staffers. Continue reading...

Lai Ching-te abandons visit after Seychelles, Mauritius and Madagascar revoke overflight permission Taiwan’s president, Lai Ching-te, has cancelled his trip to Eswatini, the democratic island’s only diplomatic ally in Africa, after his government said several countries had revoked overflight permits because of “intense pressure” from China.Lai was to leave on Wednesday for the 40th anniversary of King Mswati III’s accession. Continue reading...

Cuts by Snapchat’s parent company come in response to a declining stock price and pressure from an activist investorSnapchat’s parent company plans to lay off 16% of its employees, around 1,000 people, citing “rapid advancements in artificial intelligence”, the social media company told staff on Wednesday in an internal memo. The staff reduction is part of a wave of tech industry layoffs in the past year, with many firms blaming AI for the cuts.Snap Inc’s layoffs follow demands last month from Irenic Capital Management, an activist investor whose portfolio manager wrote a letter to Snap Inc CEO, Evan Spiegel, calling on him to reduce costs and headcount while criticizing the company’s current strategy. In Spiegel’s memo to staff, he claimed that the layoffs would move Snap towards profitability and suggested that artificial intelligence could fill the lack of human labor. Continue reading...

The MoD shows little sign of learning from its mistakes – no wonder the Treasury is reluctant to agree to its demandsGeorge Robertson, Tony Blair’s first defence secretary, a former Nato secretary general and an author last year of the latest in a series of evasive strategic defence reviews, accused Keir Starmer on Tuesday of a “corrosive complacency towards defence”. He said the prime minister was not willing to make the “necessary investment”.Lord Robertson could have directed his fire elsewhere. He must know that no government department has been so complacent in the face of years of devastating evidence of waste, profligate contracts, and policy decisions that have avoided confronting new but increasingly clear security threats to Britain and other western countries. Continue reading...

Experts say natural kratom may offer benefits and blame synthetic derivatives for surge in poisonings noted by CDCA recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report shows that kratom poisonings have soared in the US, but experts say this is probably due to synthetic derivatives like 7-OH, and that blanket kratom bans could harm people using natural kratom to aid pain management or addiction recovery.Walter Prozialeck, a pharmacology professor at Midwestern University, said he was unsurprised by the report, which found that kratom-related poisonings went up by about 1,200% over the last decade, with a marked surge in 2025. Continue reading...

Official report says system ‘completely failed’ because some form of violence by Axel Rudakubana had been ‘unambiguously signposted over many years’Southport attack inquiry report – latest updatesAxel Rudakubana was able to carry out the Southport atrocity because of “catastrophic” failures by multiple agencies and the “irresponsible and harmful” role of his parents, a damning inquiry has found.Sir Adrian Fulford condemned the “inappropriate merry-go-round” of state bodies passing the buck and their “frankly depressing” refusal to accept responsibility, saying: “This culture has to end.” Continue reading...

Chris Kempczinski’s taste test was mocked online, to which he said his mother had taught him: ‘Don’t talk with your mouth full’The chief executive officer of McDonald’s recently blamed etiquette guidance from his mother for a February on-camera taste test that made him a target for ridicule – and summarily recorded another video of him eating one of the fast-food giant’s offerings in a manner potential consumers found awkward.Chris Kempczinski suggested to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) earlier in April that he was simply heeding maternal advice to never talk with his mouth full when he took the humorously small bite at the center of a viral video which depicted him discussing and sampling the new Big Arch burger from McDonald’s. Continue reading...

Leon Panetta calls president ‘naive’ over strait of Hormuz closure and says ‘the chickens are coming home to roost’Donald Trump is stuck between “a rock and a hard place” after three weeks of war in Iran and “sending a message of weakness” to the world, Leon Panetta, a former US defence secretary and Central Intelligence Agency director, has told the Guardian.Panetta, who served in the Bill Clinton and Barack Obama administrations, recalled that national security officials were always keenly aware of Iran’s ability to create an energy crisis by blocking the strait of Hormuz. That very scenario is now unfolding, leaving Trump with no exit strategy beyond wishful thinking. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Early US assessment suggesting missile was Iranian was almost immediately dismissed, sources sayDonald Trump’s attempt to blame Iran for the deadly strike on an elementary school stemmed from an early US intelligence assessment that initially suggested the missile was Iranian but was almost immediately dismissed, according to two people familiar with the matter.The CIA initially told the president that they did not believe the missile that struck the school was a munition used by the US because the fins appeared to be positioned too low for it to be a Tomahawk cruise missile. Continue reading...

Afghanistan’s health ministry puts preliminary death toll at 200 as Islamabad denies targeting facility for drug addictsHeavy casualties were feared in Kabul after a hospital that treats drug users was hit by airstrikes, which Afghanistan blamed on Pakistan’s military.Pakistan dismissed the accusation, saying the strikes on Monday – which were also launched against eastern Afghanistan – did not hit any civilian sites. Continue reading...

Two mass strandings involving hundreds of dolphins in Argentina probably happened because the pods were being hunted by orcas, highlighting the role of predators in these mysterious events