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Follow the day’s news liveGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastSome federal politics for you coming up: we’re expecting to hear federal treasurer Jim Chalmers speaking on ABC’s Insiders shortly – we’ll bring you that when it happens.The prime minister Anthony Albanese is in Melbourne today and doing a press conference at about the same time as his treasurer is speaking on the telly. We’ll let you know what comes out of that presser, too.I do think we’re going to fall agonisingly short, guys. I think we’re going to fall agonisingly short, but boy, oh boy, what an incredible campaign from an incredible, incredible candidate.Labor is likely to retain Stafford. There has been a 4.1 per cent swing against Labor with additional postal votes still to be counted. But for the LNP to win from here, those postal votes would need to break very strongly in its favour. That is very unlikely to happen.I am so thrilled to tell you that Luke Richmond is the new member for Stafford. Continue reading...

Voters in northern Brisbane electorate go to polls after sudden death of former independent MP Jimmy SullivanGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastA byelection in the Brisbane seat of Stafford is expected to swing towards the sitting LNP Queensland government in a result experts say would likely be fatal to former premier Steven Miles’ leadership of the Labor party.Voters in the northern Brisbane electorate of Stafford have gone to the polls after the sudden death of former independent MP Jimmy Sullivan in April. Continue reading...

• Anders Antonsen and the mixed doubles team of Mathias Christiansen and Alexandra Bøje advanced to the semifinals of the Toyota Thailand Open 2026, according to Badminton Europe. • The federation said only two Danish semifinalists remained at the tournament, highlighting Denmark’s strong run in Bangkok across both singles and doubles draws. • The result is significant because Super 500 events are a key part of the BWF calendar and often shape world ranking points and seeding before bigger summer tournaments.

• Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty advanced to the semifinals of the BWF Thailand Open 2026 after beating Takumi Nomora and Yuichi Shimogami, while PV Sindhu and Lakshya Sen were eliminated in the quarterfinal round. • ESPN’s Indian sports roundup said Sindhu lost to Akane Yamaguchi and Lakshya fell to Kunlavut Viditsarn, extending a mixed day for India’s top badminton names on May 15. • The result matters because Satwik-Chirag remain India’s strongest title hope at a Super 500 event, while Sindhu and Lakshya’s exits underline the depth of competition in the women’s and men’s singles fields.

Lead singer Stuart Murdoch’s self-deprecating It Only Takes One Lion is inspired by team’s current song, Yes Sir, I Can BoogieThe lyrics came to Stuart Murdoch in the hazy aftermath of Scotland’s dramatic qualification for the World Cup.The Belle and Sebastian frontman had watched his side’s playoff victory over Denmark through his fingers before deciding to write his own anthem to a team he has followed for more than 50 years. “Most people recognised instantly the next day that they’d witnessed the most important Scottish game ever,” says Murdoch. “That was our magic moment.” Continue reading...

The Manchester City striker will feature in Viqueens, an animated film by director Harald Zwart, who described him as ‘powerful, fearless and uniquely Norwegian’Manchester City striker Erling Haaland is to make his feature acting debut, in an animated film as the voice of a Viking – called Haaland.According to the Hollywood Reporter, the Norwegian international is to play “an animated version of himself” in Viqueens, directed and co-written by Harald Zwart, the Dutch-Norwegian director of The Karate Kid and Agent Cody Banks. Continue reading...

• Breanna Stewart scored 22 points and the New York Liberty beat the Portland Fire 100-82 on Thursday night in Portland, avenging a 98-96 loss two days earlier. • Alex Fowler provided a key bench boost for New York, helping the Liberty pull away after the expansion Fire had earned their first win on Tuesday on Sarah Ashlee Barker’s buzzer-beating putback. • The result matters because it shows the Liberty responding quickly after an early setback, while Portland’s 1-2 start underscores the volatility of an expansion team’s opening stretch.

• Cybersecurity challenges in 2026 have fundamentally shifted from isolated breaches to a continuous arms race where organizations must keep pace with threats that are faster and more sophisticated than ever. • Recent developments include Microsoft Teams Canvas innovations, CISA guidance updates, Anthropic's Mythos AI project for cyber vulnerability testing, and emerging security partnerships addressing enterprise needs. • Organizations face mounting pressure to adopt advanced threat detection, AI-powered defense mechanisms, and rapid response capabilities to counter AI-enabled cyberattacks and novel vulnerability exploitation methods.

Outgoing health secretary declares Labour’s ‘plan for the NHS is working’ as hospitals hit key targetHospitals in England have hit a key target for improving the time it takes patients to get treatment, which prompted Wes Streeting to declare that Labour’s “plan for the NHS is working” before departing as health secretary.Streeting had told the NHS to ensure that hospitals treated at least 65% of patients within 18 weeks by the end of March. New figures NHS England published today showed that hospitals did so, treating 65.3% on the NHS waiting list within that timeframe in March. Continue reading...

US plaintiffs say waterfront site was improperly transferred for Trump’s personal gainA group of Miami residents has filed a lawsuit against Donald Trump and the state of Florida over a land giveaway for his proposed presidential library.Almost three acres of prime waterfront land that once belonged to Miami Dade College (MDC) was illegally gifted to the US president by Florida’s Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, the lawsuit states. Continue reading...

• PV Sindhu, Lakshya Sen, and doubles pair Satwik-Chirag progressed to the quarterfinals of the Thailand Open Super 500 badminton tournament on May 14, continuing India's strong showing at the event. • The Indian contingent's advancement marks a significant presence in the later rounds of the Super 500-level competition, with multiple medal prospects in contention. • Thailand Open serves as a key tournament on the BWF World Tour calendar, offering valuable ranking points ahead of major international competitions.

• Malvika Bansod advanced past her Thailand Open second-round match despite facing a stern challenge, demonstrating resilience in her campaign at the Super 500 tournament. • Anmol Kharb fell in the opening rounds, unable to replicate his BWF World Rankings position in on-court performance. • Though separated by just two spots in the BWF rankings, Bansod and Kharb showed contrasting results, highlighting the unpredictability of tournament badminton.

Member of army squad sent with medics to assist suspected hantavirus patient recounts descent to remote islandThe hardest part of the parachute jump, according to Capt George Lacey, is falling backwards through the air. It is Saturday and Lacey, and his squad of six plus two medics, have just leapt out of an RAF transport, 2,500 metres over the south Atlantic.“The parachute can only go forward so quickly,” he says, meaning that it has to be pulled at precisely the right moment. “So you have to turn into the wind and basically fly backwards, which is a very weird sensation, as you can imagine.” Continue reading...

Woodland Trust also finds significant north-south divide in tree cover, leaving many people at risk of poor health Nigel Farage’s constituency of Clacton-on-Sea is a “tree desert”, leaving people more exposed to air pollution, poorer health, lower life expectancy and the impact of rising temperatures, according to a new report.The Essex town is rated the worst-performing for equal access to trees in England, with the highest proportion of urban residents – 98.2% – living in neighbourhoods with critically low access to trees. Continue reading...

Health minister Mark Butler says six passengers who have tested negative for hantavirus will land in Western Australia on FridayFour Australian citizens who were aboard the MV Hondius, the cruise ship at the centre of the hantavirus outbreak, will soon be home after the government secured a suitable aircraft and crew for the journey.The health minister, Mark Butler, said the citizens, along with a permanent resident and a New Zealand citizen, were due to take off from the Netherlands on Thursday evening local time and would land in Perth on Friday afternoon. Continue reading...

All Her Lives is only the fifth short story collection to win the prestigious NZ$65,000 prize in 58 yearsFirst-time fiction writer Ingrid Horrocks has won New Zealand’s richest literary prize for her debut short story collection, All Her Lives.The Wellington-based poet, essayist and memoirist won the prestigious NZ$65,000 (A$53,000, £28,500) Jann Medlicott Acorn prize for fiction at the 2026 Ockham New Zealand book awards on Wednesday night. The book follows nine women across nine different life stages and generations, as they navigate politics, gender and motherhood. Continue reading...

Homebuyers more cautious due to possible mortgage rate rises and higher inflation as sellers sit on propertiesFears of higher mortgage rates and rising inflation as a result of the Middle East conflict are leading to a subdued and downbeat housing market, according to estate agents.Demand from potential homebuyers across England and Wales has shown a “noticeable softening” recently, according to a monthly survey of estate agents by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS). Continue reading...

After drawing delighted crowds since first sighted in Orkney the young male has swum 400 miles across the North SeaA peripatetic walrus who became a local celebrity as he toured the north-east coast of Scotland has now been spotted in Norway, bringing to an end his Celtic sojourn.The young male was christened Magnus after he after first hauled his estimated 2.5-metre frame out of the sea on to Stronsay pier in Orkney on 16 April. Continue reading...

CEO admits talks with Chery as other European carmakers discuss plans with Chinese firms to share factory spaceNissan’s chief executive has confirmed he would consider building cars for other manufacturers at the UK’s largest car factory in Sunderland, amid talks with China’s Chery.Ivan Espinosa said Nissan was “looking at options” for Sunderland and its 6,000 workers as the struggling Japanese carmaker on Wednesday reported steep losses for the year to March. Continue reading...

Demarcation of 410,000 hectares of territory is intended to protect the Amazonian community from farming, illegal mining and loggingMore than 25 years after the existence of one of the Amazon’s most vulnerable nomadic hunter-gatherer communities was confirmed, the Brazilian government has begun demarcating the Pardo River Kawahiva Indigenous territory, giving greater protection to the uncontacted people.The demarcation of the 410,000-hectare (1m-acre) territorylocated between the states of Mato Grosso and Amazonas in north-west Brazil, was confirmed by the National Indigenous Peoples’ Foundation (Funai) last week. But the process remains fraught, with legal challenges from groups linked to the country’s agribusiness sector, and the forthcoming presidential election in October. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Where parties fielded multiple candidates in last week’s vote, those at top of list were more likely to be pickedFancy your chances in politics? Then perhaps you should change your name to Aaron Aaronson or Aaliyah Aardvark, figures from last week’s local elections in England suggest.A Guardian analysis of election results compiled by the website Democracy Club points to a striking alphabet effect. In wards where a party fielded three candidates, those listed nearer the top of the ballot paper – with a surname nearer the start of the alphabet – finished ahead of their party colleagues in 2,200 cases, or 65% of the time. Continue reading...

Coroner will examine 95-year-old’s death and look at dementia training for aged care staff, police and ambulance officersGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastThree years after police fatally Tasered an aged care resident, an inquest could save lives by improving training for first responders dealing with aggressive dementia patients.Then-senior constable Kristian James Samuel White fired his Taser at 95-year-old Clare Nowland after being called to Yallambee Lodge nursing home in Cooma in southern New South Wales on 17 May 2023. Continue reading...

Tuesday’s question time seemed more suited to prime time; full of sordid allegations, only the cast seems far less likableFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastQuestion time in the Queensland parliament is not a ratings juggernaut.Nielsen doesn’t publish ratings data about the live stream from Brisbane’s George Street, but one imagines the numbers of voters tuning in to watch our state politicians flagellate on a weekday morning are relatively low: a handful of politics nerds and the odd journo who prefers to work from home. Continue reading...

Hundreds of four-year-olds among ‘extremely overweight’ patients at 39 specialist centres since 2021More than 6,000 children living with obesity, including hundreds as young as four, have required treatment at specialist NHS weight-loss clinics, new figures reveal.NHS England data, published for the first time, underlines the scale of the growing childhood obesity crisis. Continue reading...

• North Korea crushed Thailand 6-0 in the quarterfinals on May 11 at Taihu Football Sports Center in Suzhou, China, maintaining a perfect record of 4 matches, 27 goals scored, and 0 conceded. • Defending champions North Korea now face China in the semifinals on May 14, with the winner advancing to the final on May 17 at Suzhou Sports Center Stadium. • Their dominant run, dubbed 'scary' by observers, positions them as favorites for a World Cup spot and showcases their youth team's offensive prowess.

Move comes as administration seeks to boost drilling, logging, mining and grazing on taxpayer-owned landThe interior department is canceling a rule that put conservation on equal footing with development, as Donald Trump’s administration eases restrictions on industries and seeks to boost drilling, logging, mining and grazing on taxpayer-owned land.The 2024 rule adopted under former president Joe Biden was meant to refocus the interior department’s Bureau of Land Management, which oversees about 10% of land in the US. It allowed public property to be leased for restoration in the same way that oil companies lease land for drilling. Continue reading...

Month was one of driest on record with rainfall 23% less than average, according to Met Office figuresOne of the driest Aprils on record for central and southern England has left river levels below normal, raising fears of drought in some areas over the summer.The latest UK hydrological survey – which tracks river and groundwater levels – suggests central and southern England and eastern Scotland will experience notably low river flows over the next three months, raising concerns about water shortages if dry weather persists. Continue reading...