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Qantas now says first Project Sunrise flight due to take off in November 2027. Follow today’s news liveGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastGood morning and welcome to our live news blog. I’m Martin Farrer with the top overnight stories and then it will be Nick Visser with the main action.The first bill to re-criminalise abortion in the nation’s history passed South Australia’s upper house last night – but failed in the lower house despite the support of the premier and opposition leader. More details soon. Continue reading...

Artan deemed a threat to national security by US officials‘I promise you that I will attend the next one’The World Cup referee from Somalia who was denied entry to the US arrived on Wednesday in Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu, where he was received by a crowd of supporters and officials.Omar Artan was due to be the first referee from Somalia to officiate at a World Cup after making Fifa’s final list for the tournament. He is one of Africa’s top referees and was named the continent’s best male referee in 2025. Continue reading...

• Apple announced at WWDC on June 8, 2026, that its major Siri AI overhaul will be blocked from EU iPhones and iPads at the launch of iOS 27 and iPadOS 27 this autumn. • The decision follows a regulatory deadlock with the European Commission, which rejected all of Apple's Digital Markets Act (DMA) compliance proposals, including the Trusted System Agent privacy framework. • This restriction affects approximately 450 million users, denying them the most significant update to the virtual assistant in its 15-year history.

US spy-tech company to challenge London mayor’s intervention after he raised concerns over breach of procurement rulesPalantir intends to sue the London mayor, Sadiq Khan, after he blocked a contract between the US spy-tech firm and the Metropolitan police.The Met had planned to use Palantir’s software to automate intelligence analysis in criminal investigations, until Khan intervened in late May, sparking a row between the UK’s largest police force and the mayor’s office. Continue reading...

Split decision deals blow to Trump administration’s anti-diversity agenda, calling the ban ‘arbitrary, and based on animus’Transgender troops can remain in the US military, but the armed services can continue to block their enlistment, an appeals court ruled Monday in a split decision with potentially significant consequences for the Trump administration’s anti-diversity agenda.The divided, majority opinion by a three-judge panel of the US court of appeals for Washington DC is expected to be challenged by the government. And the case is ultimately likely to reach the US supreme court. Continue reading...

London mayor accused of ‘putting politics above public safety’ for rejecting deal to use AI in intelligence analysisPalantir has accused Sadiq Khan of “putting politics above public safety” after the London mayor blocked its £50m contract with the Metropolitan police in a move that has also led to tensions inside Labour over its involvement with the US tech company.Louis Mosley, who heads Palantir in the UK and Europe, accused Khan of politicising procurement after he rejected a two-year deal for Scotland Yard to use AI to process intelligence in criminal investigations, as first revealed by the Guardian. Mosley said: “What Londoners value is not being mugged, not being raped by a serving police officer.” Continue reading...

Serious side effects from vaccines were rare, scientists found in studies funded by US taxpayer moneyThe US Food and Drug Administration has blocked the publication of several studies that found Covid-19 and shingles vaccines to be safe, according to a spokesperson from the Department of Health and Human Services.Agency scientists conducted the studies by analyzing millions of patient records and found that serious side effects from the vaccines were rare, the spokesperson confirmed. The studies – funded by taxpayer money and costing several million dollars – included research examining the safety of Covid-19 vaccines in 2023 and 2024. Continue reading...