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Three paramedics at health centre among dead, while Israel also says it killed Hamas military chief in GazaIsrael carried out airstrikes in southern Lebanon, killing at least six people, including three paramedics working at a health centre, just hours after its envoys had agreed with the Lebanese government to extend a ceasefire.Israel also said it had killed the Hamas military chief, Izz al-Din al-Haddad, in a targeted strike in Gaza on Friday. Continue reading...

Thai authorities say 32 others injured near Makkasan station after freight train strikes bus and fire breaks out At least eight people were killed and 32 others were injured in Thailand after a freight train struck a bus at a rail crossing in Bangkok, rescue officials and a deputy transport minister said.Firefighters and rescue crews were dispatched as flames engulfed the bus and nearby vehicles close to the airport rail link’s Makkasan station, officials said, adding that the collision also involved cars and motorcycles. Continue reading...

Rent donations on GoFundMe up 60% since 2022, with 100,000 donors helping people keep a roof over their headsA record number of people in the UK are turning to crowdfunding to cover rent and household bills, with GoFundMe reporting more rent-related fundraisers were created in April than in any month on record.The platform said donations towards rent support had risen by 60% since 2022, with more than 100,000 people a month contributing to help others meet their housing costs. Continue reading...

US president calls Abu-Bilal al-Minuki ‘most active terrorist in the world’ and says he was eliminated in ‘very complex mission’Donald Trump has said US and Nigerian forces killed the “second in command” global leader of the Islamic State.“Tonight, at my direction, brave American forces and the Armed Forces of Nigeria flawlessly executed a meticulously planned and very complex mission to eliminate the most active terrorist in the world from the battlefield,” the US president said on his Truth Social platform Friday. Continue reading...

Autumn conference in Liverpool targeted for victorious homecoming but Reform UK to fight hard in byelection Andy Burnham will push to become prime minister in time to address Labour’s autumn party conference in Liverpool, his supporters have said.The Greater Manchester mayor cleared his first hurdle to becoming the candidate in the Makerfield byelection on Friday as Labour’s ruling body gave him permission to stand for the seat. Continue reading...

Prosecutors have described fatal shooting outside of DC’s Capital Jewish Museum last year as calculated and plannedThe US justice department will seek the death penalty for the man accused of fatally shooting two staff members of the Israeli embassy in Washington outside a Jewish museum, prosecutors said in a court filing on Friday.Elias Rodriguez faces federal hate crime and murder charges in the killings of Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim as they left an event at the museum last May. Rodriguez shouted “free Palestine” during the shooting and later told police, “I did it for Palestine, I did it for Gaza,” according to his indictment. Continue reading...

Union leaders say veto from Democrat Abigail Spanberger is an about-face from promises she made on campaign trailVirginia’s Democratic governor Abigail Spanberger vetoed a bill Thursday that would have restored collective bargaining rights for 50,000 public sector workers in the state. Union leaders say the veto is a “betrayal” and “slap in the face” after the governor campaigned last year on promises to restore collective bargaining rights.Though majorities in both chambers of Virginia’s general assembly passed legislation that would restore bargaining rights to most public sector workers, Spanberger introduced an amended version of the bill last month that was eventually rejected by the assembly. Continue reading...

With the primary election less than three weeks away, the gubernatorial and mayoral races have taken a fiery turnSparring on the debate stage, well-timed statements addressing the slightest misstep by an opponent and countless social media jabs: election season is heating up in California’s major primaries.With the primary election less than three weeks away, the gubernatorial and mayoral races have taken a fiery turn as candidates undergo last-ditch efforts to convince voters of their governance chops. Continue reading...

Representative Samantha Sencer-Mura leads action after Republican speaker rescinds promise to bring bill to vote Democratic state representatives in Minnesota staged an overnight sit-in in their house chamber on Thursday after the Republican speaker failed to put a gun violence prevention bill up for a vote.Samantha Sencer-Mura, a Democratic representative from Minneapolis, first announced the plan on Wednesday from the floor of the state’s house of representatives, giving speaker Lisa Demuth, a candidate for governor, 24 hours to give the bill a vote before the sit-in would start. Continue reading...

Concerns raised that cases were caused by a new strain of the virus as African health officials race to coordinate and contain the infectionAn outbreak of Ebola has killed 65 people in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, according to African health officials.There have been 246 suspected cases of the deadly haemorrhagic fever reported so far in Ituri province, which shares borders with Uganda and South Sudan. Continue reading...

Statement follows speculation party would not field candidate in Makerfield or barely fight seat UK politics live – latest updatesThe Greens are going to campaign for the upcoming Makerfield byelection, complicating Andy Burnham’s potential route back to parliament against what is expected to be a strong Reform UK challenge.A statement from the Greens said candidate selection was in process, and that the party had learned from its win in another Greater Manchester seat in February, when they overcame a 13,000 Labour majority in Gorton and Denton. Continue reading...

All victims of US strikes in eastern Pacific and the Caribbean identified so far came from extremely poor communitiesSign up for the Breaking News US newsletter emailA five-month investigation has named 13 previously unidentified victims of US attacks on boats allegedly carrying narcotics in a campaign that has killed nearly 200 people in the Caribbean and the eastern Pacific.It is unclear if the US has ever identified any of its 194 victims before attacking them, and the names of just three had previously emerged, after their families launched legal cases against the White House. Continue reading...

The death toll included three children, Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy saidAt least 24 people, including three children, were reported killed in yesterday’s Russian attacks on Kyiv, Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.The death toll update came after a night of search and rescue operations.“A Russia like this can never be normalised – a Russia that deliberately destroys lives and hopes to remain unpunished. Pressure is needed. It is Ukraine that is defending Europe and the world so that such strikes, in which children are killed, do not spread further.” Continue reading...

• The Senate advanced legislation that would withhold congressional pay during federal government shutdowns, linking lawmaker compensation to budget negotiations outcomes. • The proposal represents a procedural step toward holding elected officials financially accountable for shutdown-related disruptions to federal operations and public services. • The measure reflects growing frustration with recurring budget impasses and their impact on government functionality and federal employee livelihoods.

• The House of Representatives is scheduled to vote on legislation providing military and humanitarian assistance to Ukraine as the Russia-Ukraine conflict continues with ongoing Russian drone and ballistic missile strikes. • Russia conducted fresh attacks on Kyiv, injuring at least 4 people, underscoring the urgency of US support discussions in Congress. • The vote represents a critical moment for US commitment to Ukrainian defense as negotiations continue regarding the scope and nature of American assistance.

• Chinese robotics startup Linkerbot has completed a Series B+ funding round, achieving a $3 billion valuation, according to a Reuters report covering the company's expansion in industrial robotics. • The funding round reflects strong investor appetite for advanced robotics solutions in Asia, where manufacturing automation and industrial AI applications are driving significant venture capital deployment. • Linkerbot's valuation milestone positions the startup among China's leading robotics firms, competing in the growing market for intelligent automation systems across manufacturing, logistics, and service sectors.

A 2023 supreme court decision banned the use of affirmative action in college admissionsThe justice department on Thursday accused Yale University of illegally considering race in admissions to its medical school – the second institution to face discrimination allegations by the federal agency this month.In a letter to a lawyer for Yale, Harmeet Dhillon, assistant attorney general for civil rights, said a justice department investigation found that Black and Hispanic students have a much higher chance of admission to the medical school than white or Asian students, despite having lower grade-point averages and lower test scores. Continue reading...

Louisiana had sued the FDA in a bid to curtail the regulatory agency’s rules on prescribing mifepristone remotelySign up for the Breaking News US newsletter emailThe US supreme court upheld nationwide access to mail-order mifepristone, an abortion medication, in a shadow-docket decision on Thursday.Louisiana sued the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in October in a bid to curtail the regulatory agency’s rules on prescribing mifepristone remotely, arguing that it interfered with the state’s ban on abortion. Continue reading...

If state’s house passes bill, redrawn map could could give state Republicans a 5-1 congressional majoritySign up for the Breaking News US newsletter emailOn Thursday, the Louisiana state senate voted 27-10 to pass a new congressional map that would eliminate one of the state’s two majority-Black House districts. The resulting map could give Louisiana Republicans a 5-1 congressional majority.The supreme court’s recent decision in Louisiana v Callais, a case that centered on the state’s congressional maps, severely weakened the Voting Rights Act (VRA). The fallout from the decision was swift, with several other southern states calling special sessions to pass redistricting maps that would limit Black voting power. Continue reading...

• Global venture capital investment hit a record $300 billion in Q1 2026 across approximately 6,000 startups, representing a 150% increase quarter-over-quarter and year-over-year. • AI funding dominated with $242 billion, or 80% of total venture funding, up from 55% in Q1 2025, with capital concentrating in frontier model builders, enterprise software, robotics, semiconductors, and life sciences. • Isomorphic Labs, a DeepMind spinout, raised a $2.1 billion Series B funding round backed by Thrive Capital, Google Ventures, and Alphabet, targeting AI-driven drug discovery applications.

Gautam Adani, richest man in Asia, was accused of conspiring to pay $250m in bribes to Indian government officialsThe US Department of Justice is dropping its fraud charges against the Indian billionaire Gautam Adani, the richest man in Asia, after he hired a new legal team led by Donald Trump’s personal lawyer, according to new reports.In an undisclosed April meeting at the justice department, Trump’s personal lawyer, Robert J Giuffra Jr, said that Adani would invest $10bn in the US economy and create 15,000 jobs if prosecutors dropped the charges against him, according to the New York Times and Bloomberg. Continue reading...

Celeste Calocane gives evidence for first time at inquiry into Valdo Calocane’s 2023 attacksThe mother of the man who killed three people in an attack in Nottingham in 2023 has told an inquiry that the mental health “system is broken” and until there is a crisis “no one listens to you”.Valdo Calocane, who has paranoid schizophrenia, was sentenced to a suspended hospital order in January 2024 after killing students Barnaby Webber and Grace O’Malley-Kumar, both 19, and Ian Coates, a 65-year-old caretaker, on 13 June 2023, and attempting to kill three others. Continue reading...

Cases follow a recent outbreak in Kent that killed two and left more than a dozen others in hospital in MarchOne person has died and two more are being treated after an outbreak of meningitis in Berkshire, health officials have said.It follows a major outbreak in Kent, linked to a Canterbury nightclub, that killed two people and left more than a dozen others needing hospital treatment in March. On Thursday, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) confirmed new cases had been found in Reading, and that a student had died. Continue reading...

A return to Westminster for Andy Burnham is far from guaranteed, while Starmer could fight a leadership challenge and winWhile Keir Starmer’s authority as prime minister feels terminally undermined after calls from MPs and departing ministers to step down, he remains inside No 10 – for now. So how, and when, might he be removed? Here are some possible scenarios. Continue reading...

Media law experts cast doubt on viability of a defamation lawsuit promised by Netanyahu over Nicholas Kristof essayIsrael’s prime minister, Benjamin Nethanyahu, and foreign minister, Gideon Sa’ar, have threatened to sue the New York Times for defamation over the publication of an essay by Nicholas Kristof detailing allegations that Palestinian women, men and children have been raped and sexually abused in Israeli military detention.“Following the publication by Nicholas Kristof in The New York Times of one of the most hideous and distorted lies ever published against the State of Israel in the modern press, which also received the backing of the newspaper, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar have instructed the initiation of a defamation lawsuit against The New York Times,” Israel’s ministry of foreign affairs wrote in a social media post on Thursday. Continue reading...