The deposed Venezuelan president and his wife appeared in a Manhattan courtroom as rival protests took place outsideThe deposed Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro had a smile on his face as he walked into a Manhattan court with shackles around his ankles and affably shook hands with attorneys at the defense table.But though he appeared at ease on Thursday, Maduro, who was captured in Caracas by US special forces on 3 January, faces a “narco-terrorism” indictment that could land him in federal prison for life. Continue reading...
Cyclone has re-intensified to category-four storm off the coast near Exmouth. Follow today’s news live Get 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 Stephanie Convery will take you through the day.Isolated Western Australian coastal towns were in the firing line as Tropical Cyclone Narelle continued to build in strength overnight as it rolled parallel to the coast before expected landfall later today. Continue reading...
• A measles outbreak in Washtenaw County, southeast Michigan, now includes 7 cases under investigation involving unvaccinated children and adults, with potential exposure at Trinity Health Ann Arbor Hospital's ER on March 21.
• The latest case concerns a young child treated in Ypsilanti, raising concerns that ER visitors may have been exposed to the highly contagious virus.
• All confirmed and suspected cases are among unvaccinated individuals, highlighting ongoing vaccination gaps amid the outbreak's growth reported on March 25.
Deposed Venezuelan president and his wife, who both pleaded not guilty, were captured by US military in JanuaryThe deposed Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro is again scheduled to appear in a Manhattan federal court on Thursday for his “narco-terrorism” case after his capture by US military forces earlier this year.US special forces captured Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, on 3 January in a controversial pre-dawn raid during an assault on Caracas that reportedly killed 100 people. Continue reading...
PM tells Jo Boydell of concerns about her lack of availability to discuss how staff gave man access to victim’s room• UK politics live – latest updatesKeir Starmer has written to the chief executive of Travelodge to press the hotel chain to “seriously engage” with MPs raising concerns about its protocols after a woman was sexually assaulted by a man who was given her room number and a key card by staff.MPs who had sought an urgent meeting with Jo Boydell said the case of Kyran Smith, 29, who was jailed for seven and a half years last month, raised “deeply concerning” questions. He attacked the woman after a party in December 2022. Continue reading...
Courts in Australia may be willing to hold social media companies accountable for real-world harm, lawyers sayFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastAustralian law firms are investigating the scope for future legal cases after a landmark US court ruling that found Meta and YouTube liable for deliberately designing addictive products.A jury in Los Angeles ruled against the two tech giants on Wednesday, finding both to be negligent and having failed to provide adequate warnings about the potential dangers of their products. Continue reading...
• Dr. Casey Means' nomination for U.S. surgeon general is stalled after senators from both parties questioned her vaccine views and limited medical experience during a confirmation hearing last month.
• The 38-year-old Stanford-educated physician, who left her surgical residency, faces scrutiny for her alignment with Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s vaccine rollback efforts.
• Despite White House and activist support, Means needs full Republican backing on the Senate HELP Committee, but two GOP senators remain opposed amid legal setbacks for Kennedy's agenda.
• Anduril demonstrated its AI-powered Lattice OS at the Hill and Valley Forum on March 24, 2026, for asset tracking and kill chain analysis.
• The system supports autonomous defense in multi-domain environments, aiding U.S. military re-industrialization.
• Used in drones and submarines, it addresses AI sorting challenges in high-stakes operations.
Dayton Webber’s former playing partner says: ‘Dayton has a great family, and I care about that family. Yet obviously, there is somebody [who] died’The former doubles partner of a professional, championship-winning cornhole player who had his four limbs amputated in his infancy and is now accused of a deadly shooting says he was shocked to learn about the case, calling it an instance of at least two families being torn apart in one fell swoop.“I’ve been mad, sad – it sucks,” Mike Hoffman said of his past cornhole teammate Dayton Webber during a telephone interview on Tuesday. Continue reading...
New Mexico hails ‘historic’ win after jury finds firm misled consumers over safety and enabled harm against usersA New Mexico jury on Tuesday ordered Meta to pay $375m in civil penalties after it found the company misled consumers about the safety of its platforms and enabled harm, including child sexual exploitation, against its users.This is the first bench trial to find Meta liable for acts committed on its platform. Continue reading...
Gavin Burrows said claimants in case against Daily Mail publisher ‘very misled’ over his workA private investigator whose disputed confessions of illegal activity form a key part of the case brought by Prince Harry and others against the Daily Mail’s publisher has said the admissions were “a thing of fiction”.Giving highly anticipated evidence at the high court, Gavin Burrows said the claimants in the case, as well as their lawyers, had been “very misled” over his work, adding that the supposed admissions in his name were “a pack of lies”. Continue reading...
Case focuses on RNC’s challenge to a Mississippi law that allows ballots to count if they are arrive after election dayUS politics live – latest updatesThe US supreme court is hearing arguments Monday about whether mail-in ballots can be counted if they arrive after election day, which would affect laws in more than a dozen states during a midterm election year.The justice are considering Watson v Republican National Committee, a challenge over a Mississippi state law that was brought in 2024 by the Republican party. Mississippi allows mailed ballots to be counted if they arrive within five business days of election day, so long as they were postmarked by election day. Fourteen states, Washington DC and three US territories have similar laws that allow for late-arriving ballots to be counted. Continue reading...
UKHSA says on Monday morning there has been no change since 20 cases were confirmed on SundayThere have been no new cases of meningitis linked to an outbreak in Kent reported, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has said.As of 12.30pm on Sunday, 20 cases had been confirmed, with a further nine under investigation. This was no change on the previous day, the UKHSA said in a statement on Monday morning. Continue reading...
Three cases previously confirmed reclassified by UK Health Security Agency after further testingThe number of confirmed meningitis cases linked to the Kent outbreak has fallen from 23 to 20.The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said on Sunday that three cases previously thought confirmed had been downgraded after further testing. Continue reading...
Owner of labrador says bottle find may be connected to poisoning that led to one of England’s last hangingsA man in Devon believes his beloved dog has dug up a key piece of evidence in his back garden connected to a notorious Victorian murder case.Paul Phillips, 49, told reporters that his labrador, Stanley, recovered a blue glass bottle with the words “Not to be taken” written on the side from their home in Clyst Honiton. Continue reading...
Hundreds of students at University of Kent take up offer of meningitis B vaccination amid ‘very unusual outbreak’ The number of cases of meningitis linked to an outbreak in Kent has risen to 27, up from 20, the UK Health Security Agency has said.Prof Robin May, the chief scientific officer at the UKHSA, said it was a “very unusual outbreak”. Continue reading...
In today’s newsletter: After a spate of infections linked to a nightclub in Kent, some parents and experts are questioning the UK’s vaccination regime It is every parent’s worst nightmare. University students enjoying themselves at a nightclub, only to fall ill a few days later with a potentially deadly illness. So far, two young people have died and more are seriously unwell in hospital after a meningitis outbreak in Kent, which appears to have started at Club Chemistry in Canterbury in early March. Health authorities have launched a major response: 30,000 people have been given antibiotics and up to 5,000 University of Kent students will receive a meningitis B vaccine, the strain that is believed to be behind the outbreak.The health secretary, Wes Streeting, has urged calm, explaining that the risk of transmission is low, urging students to keep going to school and insisting that people do not need to seek private vaccinations. But that has not stopped a rush for jabs, causing a national shortage. The high street pharmacies Boots and Superdrug say they have seen a major spike in bookings, with some locations running out of stock.Middle East | Israel struck Iran’s giant South Pars gasfield on Wednesday, marking a major escalation of the war, hours after Israeli forces killed the regime’s intelligence minister and launched some of the most intense airstrikes in Beirut for decades.Reform UK | Nigel Farage called for the release of Sean “Diddy” Combs and commended the efforts to free a former Honduran president jailed in the US for drug trafficking. The remarks were made on the personalised video platform Cameo.Assisted dying | Senior ministers believe Keir Starmer will not intervene to give the assisted dying bill further time in parliament as he is wary of opening up new divisions among Labour MPs.Media | The former Google executive Matt Brittin is expected to be named as the BBC’s next director general within days, with the corporation’s board meeting this week for a final discussion about the appointment.Green party | A government led by the Green party would not set targets for GDP growth but would instead focus on people’s mental health, social cohesion and community welfare, Zack Polanski has said in a major speech to set out his plans for the economy. Continue reading...
Figure up from 15, says UK Health Security Agency, as thousands of students to be offered vaccines in coming daysThe number of cases of meningitis being investigated by the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) in Kent has risen to 20, up from 15 previously, the body said on Wednesday.Thousands of students in Kent are to be offered vaccines in the coming days as health chiefs deal with an “unprecedented” and “explosive” outbreak of meningitis. Continue reading...
• The NYC Health Department issued an advisory confirming the first severe mpox clade I case in a city resident, marking the initial detection of this more virulent strain in New York.
• Mpox clade I is one of two main genetic groups of the virus, known for causing more severe illness compared to clade II.
• This development raises concerns for public health monitoring and response in urban areas amid ongoing global mpox transmission risks.
Parties pledge to improve communication in England and Wales following fallout since Lancashire disappearancePolice and the media have backed a “reset” in relations between officers and journalists, after a prolonged period of distrust since the handling of the Nicola Bulley case in 2023.Bulley’s disappearance in Lancashire led to significant fallout between the police and the press, with media outlets saying a lack of access and information allowed incorrect assertions and conspiracy theories about the case to gain ground. Continue reading...
• Advantech, a global leader in IoT intelligent systems and embedded platforms, is demonstrating next-generation edge AI platforms powered by NVIDIA Jetson Thor and NVIDIA IGX Thor at GTC 2026 (March 16-19 in San Jose, California).
• The company is highlighting real-world applications of physical AI across robotics, medical systems, smart logistics, and intelligent retail environments, including the USM-500 medical-grade platform optimized for AI-assisted surgery and intraoperative imaging.
• Advantech's showcase reflects the industry's shift from cloud-based model training toward physical AI applications and edge deployment, enabling faster commercialization of AI technologies across industrial and healthcare sectors.
Carie Hallford, 48, whose husband Jon received 40-year term, pleaded guilty to defrauding grieving familiesSign up for the Breaking News US email to get newsletter alerts in your inboxA former Colorado funeral home owner who helped her ex-husband hide nearly 200 decomposing bodies in a building was sentenced Monday to 18 years on a federal fraud charge, nearly the maximum allowed under the law.Carie Hallford, 48, faced up to 20 years in prison for taking over $130,000 from families for funeral services, including cremations, and often giving them urns full of concrete mix instead. In two cases, investigators found the wrong body was buried. In August, she pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and admitted that she and her ex-husband Jon Hallford cheated customers and also defrauded the federal government out of nearly $900,000 in pandemic small business aid. Continue reading...
Immersive exhibition will form the centrepiece of the celebration of the artist’s 90th birthday next yearTate Modern’s Turbine Hall will be transformed into an immersive opera house as it plays host to an exhibition featuring the sets David Hockney designed for productions of works by Mozart, Wagner and Stravinsky dating back to the 1970s.The art form might be considered passé by Timothée Chalamet, but Tate is to use the sets as the centrepiece of its celebration of Hockney’s 90th birthday in 2027. Continue reading...
• Cosmo Technologies is presenting its technical session 'Engineering Medical Grade Platforms for Real Time AI' at the NVIDIA GTC 2026 conference in San Jose, California, running from March 16 to 19.
• The session, scheduled for Thursday, March 19 from 10:00 to 10:50 CET, explores engineering challenges for building AI platforms that operate in real time during medical procedures to assist physicians.
• This highlights Cosmo's commitment to advancing AI in healthcare, positioning it at the intersection of medical technology and AI amid growing demand for clinical-grade systems.
• As of March 6, 2026, the United States has confirmed 1,300 measles infections this year across 30 states, putting the country on track to surpass 2025's record 35-year high numbers.
• Measles has continuously circulated in the U.S. for over a year following an outbreak in Texas (January-August 2025), with ongoing outbreaks on the Utah-Arizona border and in South Carolina that drastically increased in January 2026.
• The Pan American Health Organization postponed its decision from April to November 2026 on whether the U.S. should lose its measles elimination status achieved in 2000, but current trends suggest it likely will due to vaccination rates falling below the critical 95% threshold.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported 1,362 confirmed measles cases nationwide in 2026, with 94% linked to ongoing outbreaks. South Carolina's outbreak, which began in October 2025, has decelerated to approximately 10 cases per week after peaking at 200 weekly cases in mid-January, bringing the state total to 996 cases as of March 13. Utah's outbreak, originating in June 2025, has accelerated to 405 cases as of March 10, representing a 47-case increase in one week. Both states currently host the largest active measles outbreaks in the United States.
The measles outbreak in Colorado tied to two Broomfield schools has grown to 10 cases, including two new confirmed infections and one suspected as of March 12. Public health teams are tracing exposures and urging quarantines. This cluster underscores vulnerabilities in school vaccination coverage amid rising national measles alerts. Officials plan expanded testing and contact tracing to halt further spread.
In one Washington county, measles cases escalated from three to 12, prompting rapid exposure tracking, resident testing, and quarantine enforcement as of March 11. Local health workers are persuading contacts to isolate amid community resistance. The response highlights challenges in curbing outbreaks through compliance, critical for protecting vulnerable populations. Future actions focus on vaccination drives and surveillance to prevent wider transmission.
The measles outbreak linked to two schools in Broomfield, Colorado, has reached up to 10 cases, including two new confirmed infections and one suspected case reported on March 12. Public health officials are investigating exposures and urging vaccinations in the affected communities. This cluster highlights ongoing risks in under-vaccinated school groups amid national resurgence. Contact tracing and quarantine measures are ongoing to contain spread.
Wyoming health officials report 26 confirmed pertussis cases in 2026 so far, with two-thirds in Fremont County, following 148 cases last year—the highest in over 70 years. Underreporting is likely due to unrecognized symptoms. Rising rates signal need for boosted vaccination amid waning immunity. Officials urge testing and reporting to curb community transmission.