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Teenager pleads not guilty after being accused of planning attacks on Liberal party and Labour Day marchGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastA Brisbane private schoolboy allegedly plotted terrorist attacks against the Liberal party and Brisbane’s Labour Day march in 2024 after being influenced by the Unabomber.The teenager, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was 16 in 2024 when he was arrested by counter-terrorism police. Continue reading...

• The 2026 World Cup is gaining significant momentum and dominating global headlines following an unusual and underwhelming buildup. • Key sporting concerns include the health and fitness of Brazil's star player Neymar, while European teams have expressed worries regarding the intense North American summer heat. • The tournament is also facing geopolitical tensions, specifically highlighted by the political drama between co-host United States and Iran.

Brendan Banfield convicted of killing Christine Banfield and man lured to couple’s Virginia home as fall guyA Virginia man who was having an affair with the family’s Brazilian au pair was sentenced on Friday to life in prison without parole for the murder of his wife and a man who was lured to the couple’s home as a fall guy.Brendan Banfield, a former Internal Revenue Service (IRS) law enforcement officer, claimed he shot Joseph Ryan after he came across Ryan attacking his wife on the morning of 24 February 2023. But prosecutors said Brendan Banfield and au pair Juliana Peres Magalhães set Ryan up in a scheme to kill Christine Banfield, a pediatric intensive care nurse. Continue reading...

Andrés Manuel López Obrador says Washington is using investigations into governors and propaganda to boost rivalsMexico’s former president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, has accused US officials of trying to weaken the governing party to strengthen the opposition, amid rising tensions between the two countries over Washington’s investigations into several Mexican governors.“Some US officials are plotting to weaken Morena and strengthen the rightwing opposition in Mexico with the aim of restoring a subservient, corrupt, mafia-like, and cruel government,” López Obrador wrote in a lengthy letter posted on X on Wednesday. Continue reading...

• The European Commission unveiled a "tech sovereignty" plan on Wednesday designed to reduce Europe's heavy reliance on foreign technology providers. • Rather than attempting to shut out American competitors, the strategy focuses on boosting domestic European champions to strengthen the region's digital infrastructure. • This move matters as the EU seeks to secure the critical technologies that underpin the modern economy and decrease vulnerability to external digital supremacy.

• The European Commission is developing a "tech sovereignty plan" designed to strengthen domestic digital champions and reduce reliance on American technology. • A central component of this strategy is the Cloud and AI Development Act, which empowers the Commission to vet whether countries are trustworthy enough to handle sensitive public sector data. • This initiative marks a strategic shift toward fostering internal EU capabilities rather than simply implementing restrictive measures against US competitors.

• A 21-year-old Austrian man has been found guilty of planning a terrorist attack at Taylor Swift's scheduled concerts in Vienna. • The defendant was convicted of plotting the assault and other terrorism-related offenses, following an investigation into his intentions to target the event. • This case highlights the ongoing security threats facing high-profile global events and the vigilance of intelligence services in preventing mass-casualty attacks.

Aiden Daniel Cuevas allegedly told undercover officer reporter ‘needed to be taken off the board’An Alabama neo-Nazi accused of trying to start a paramilitary unit to take out “high value targets” aimed to kill a journalist who once reported on him, according to law enforcement testimony obtained by the Guardian.Aiden Daniel Cuevas allegedly used “coded talk” to tell an undercover officer in November 2024 that the journalist was a “pawn” that “needed to be taken off the board”. Continue reading...

• Gas turbine manufacturers are aggressively positioning themselves to power Europe's rapidly growing AI data center infrastructure using fossil fuels. • At the Datacloud Energy Europe conference in Brussels, industry leaders discussed strategies to integrate gas-powered energy to meet the massive electricity demands of AI. • Research from Global Energy Monitor highlights that companies like Mitsubishi Power Aero are already major turbine providers for the AI boom in the U.S., signaling a potential shift toward gas in Europe.

Tensions are running high in Westminster as Keir Starmer tells his cabinet he is not going anywhere. But with several ministers quitting the government and more than 80 MPs calling for him to go, how much longer has the prime minister got?Lucy Hough speaks to political editor Pippa Crerar Continue reading...

Tom Watson, who had role in attempted coup against Tony Blair in 2006, said move would go down extremely badly with votersLabour MPs have been urged to stop plotting to remove Keir Starmer by Tom Watson, who as a junior minister spearheaded the last attempted coup against a Labour prime minister, faced by Tony Blair in 2006.Watson’s warning came as Steve Reed, the housing and communities secretary, and a key Starmer loyalist, said Labour would risk “annihilation” if it decided to try to change leaders. Continue reading...

Database could be used to regulate opponents, from ‘shutting off bank accounts’ to healthcare, official warnsDonald Trump is attempting to select his own citizenry and control who can vote by gathering the personal details of all Americans, Arizona’s top election official has warned.Adrian Fontes, Arizona’s Democratic secretary of state, fears that the Trump administration’s active efforts to forcibly extract voter files from 30 states including Fontes’s own are part of a bigger plan to gather vital information on all US citizens into a centralised database. “Trump is trying to amass a master list that will allow him to declare someone an enemy of the state,” he said. Continue reading...

A man accused of pledging allegiance to the Islamic State group and plotting to attack one of superstar singer Taylor Swift's concerts in Vienna nearly two years ago pleaded guilty as his trial began on Tuesday, Austria media reported.

Defendant, 21, in court with second man over alleged scheme to kill music fans outside Vienna stadiumThe trial against a man accused of plotting to attack one of Taylor Swift’s concerts in Vienna nearly two years ago began in Austria on Tuesday.The plot was thwarted, but Austrian authorities still canceled Swift’s three performances in August 2024. The singer’s fans were devastated, but rallied to turn Vienna into a citywide trading post for friendship bracelets and singalongs. Continue reading...

Nine people have been arrested in relation to the same conspiracy, following a series of attacks on Jewish targets across LondonTwo further arrests have been made in relation to an alleged conspiracy of an arson attack on a site connected to the Jewish community, the Metropolitan police have said.The latest arrests, made by counter-terrorism police investigating the alleged arson conspiracy, were of a 19-year-old man and a 26-year-old man. They were detained in Watford on Tuesday and remain in custody. Continue reading...

Revealed: JDL 613 Brotherhood has platformed a convicted terrorist and its video recordings display an obsessive antipathy to New York’s mayor, Zohran MamdaniSign up for the Breaking News US email to get newsletter alerts in your inboxA man who has been charged with plotting to firebomb a pro-Palestine activist’s home is tied to a group whose leaders support violence against Palestinians and have platformed a convicted terrorist who fundraises for a violent settler movement in the occupied West Bank.Video recordings by the group, called JDL 613 Brotherhood, also reveal its leaders possess an obsessive antipathy to New York’s mayor, Zohran Mamdani. They feature the organization’s founder, Yisrael Yaacob Ben Avraham, describing Mamdani as a “Muslim terrorist”, a “cancer”, and his election a “harbinger” of “a creeping Islamic takeover of America”. Continue reading...

Jayson Joseph Michaels allegedly planned attack on police headquarters, Parliament House and mosquesFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastA man accused of plotting a mass casualty terror attack targeting public buildings and places of worship believed his assault would be worse than the Bondi beach mass shootings, a court has heard.Jayson Joseph Michaels detailed his alleged plan for a violent assault on Western Australia police headquarters, WA Parliament House and mosques in a diary, the Perth magistrates court was told during a failed bid for bail on Wednesday. Continue reading...

Tehran says it will confront any land attack, as Trump says regime’s export hub on Kharg Island could be taken ‘very easily’. Plus, how Americans can rebuild its once robust peace movementGood morning.Iran has warned the US that it is prepared to confront any ground assault, accusing Washington of secretly planning a land attack while publicly seeking talks, as the war that has killed thousands of people and caused the biggest ever disruption to global energy supplies entered its second month.What has Donald Trump said? In an interview published last night, the US president did little to assuage those concerns, telling the Financial Times that his “preference would be to take the oil” in Iran, and saying of Iran’s crucial export hub on Kharg Island: “We could take it very easily.”This is a developing story. Follow the liveblog here.Why is this important to Cuba? The thousands of barrels of crude would provide significant relief to Cuba, which, according to the president, Miguel Díaz-Canel, has not received any oil imports for three months, leading to strict rationing of gasoline and exacerbating an energy crisis that has resulted in multiple power outages across the country. Continue reading...

Tehran says it will confront any land attack, as Houthi missiles fired at Israel signal further escalation in regionMiddle East crisis – live updatesIran has warned the US that it is prepared to confront any ground assault, accusing Washington of secretly planning a land attack while publicly seeking talks, as the war that has killed thousands of people and caused the biggest-ever disruption to global energy supplies entered its second month.As efforts to find a negotiated conclusion to hostilities inched forward with a meeting of regional powers in Pakistan, there were signs of further escalation over the weekend as Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis entered the conflict for the first time, and the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said his country was widening its invasion of southern Lebanon. Continue reading...

Nerdeen Kiswani, founder of Within Our Lifetime group, says FBI told her plot against her life was ‘about to’ take placeSign up for the Breaking News US email to get newsletter alerts in your inboxFederal US law enforcement has foiled a plot to assassinate New York-based Palestinian American activist Nerdeen Kiswani.Kiswani wrote in post on X that late on Thursday, the FBI joint terrorism task force informed her that a plot against her life was “about to” take place, and that agents had conducted an operation in Hoboken, New Jersey in connection to the plot. Continue reading...

Australian counterterrorism experts observe December shooting came amid years of messaging from terror group urging followers to act ‘on their own initiative’Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastThe Bondi beach terror attack occurred amid an international spike of anti-western plots in December last year that appeared to be “inspired or instigated” by Islamic State, a new report has found, with many of them targeting holiday events such as Christmas markets.In research published by the West Point Combating Terrorism Center in its publication Sentinel on Thursday, Australian counterterrorism experts Andrew Zammit and Levi West examined Islamic State’s strategic shifts and jihadi tactics in Australia prior to the alleged antisemitic terrorist attack. Continue reading...

Prosecutors say they paid ‘slammers’ to intentionally crash into tractor-trailers and file fraudulent lawsuitsSign up for the Breaking News US email to get newsletter alerts in your inboxA federal jury in New Orleans has found two personal injury attorneys guilty of involving themselves in a scheme to stage collisions with 18-wheelers and then collect settlement payouts.The lawyers, Jason Giles and former Hollywood stuntwoman Vanessa Motta, were found guilty on Friday of fraud, obstruction of justice and witness tampering, local news outlets WVUE and WWL Louisiana – a Guardian reporting partner – reported. Their law firms were convicted of related charges. Continue reading...