Right

• Descendants of civil rights activists, including Cassie Schwerner of the Morningside Center for Teaching Social Responsibility, are warning that the U.S. is regressing in its commitment to voting rights. • The concern centers on the erosion of protections for voters, specifically citing a 2013 Supreme Court decision that removed the requirement for certain jurisdictions to seek Department of Justice approval before changing voting laws. • This shift is viewed as a betrayal of the sacrifices made by those who died fighting for the landmark Voting Rights Act as the nation nears its 250th anniversary.

• Survivors of activists who died fighting for voting rights are warning that the U.S. is regressing as the nation nears its 250th anniversary. • The concerns center on the erosion of the Voting Rights Act, a landmark law enacted six decades ago to protect minority voters. • A critical turning point was the 2013 Supreme Court decision that removed the requirement for jurisdictions with discriminatory histories to seek Department of Justice approval before changing voting rules.

• Canada has officially gained the right to compete in the Eurovision Song Contest after the public broadcaster CBC/Radio-Canada secured full membership in the European Broadcasting Union (EBU). • This move allows Canada to participate in the prestigious competition, which previously served as a launchpad for global superstars like Celine Dion. • The membership is intended to strengthen international cultural ties and provide a global platform for Canadian musical talent.

• The United States is reflecting on the evolution of voting rights as the nation approaches its 250th anniversary. • Current political debates center on the implementation of voter identification and proof-of-citizenship requirements to prevent election fraud. • Former President Donald Trump has urged Congress to establish these specific requirements on a nationwide scale to protect election integrity.

Court files show how men connected through TikTok and encrypted apps planned attack on White House UFC fightWhen Tycen Proper, 19, finished high school, his family gave him at least $3,000 of “graduation money”, according to court documents. Despite the generosity, he seemed content to just live at his parents’ home, in a tiny Ohio town near Amish country, and spend more and more time on the internet.But Proper did have ambition of a kind, an affidavit says. He quit his job to focus on a special project that he was planning with friends from the internet. His mother saw him studying maps of Washington DC. He also put his graduation money into investments that made his father uneasy: a rifle, a shotgun, body armor, ammunition. Continue reading...

• France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, and Belgium have reached a political agreement to reform EU air passenger rights. • The landmark reform introduces free cabin bags for travelers and establishes stronger protections and easier processes for obtaining flight compensation. • This agreement matters as it aims to standardize passenger treatment across Europe and reduce the financial burden of basic luggage on travelers.

• Swiss startup Sun-Ways successfully installed solar panels along a 100-metre stretch of railway in Buttes, Neuchâtel canton, last April. • Founded by Joseph Scuderi, the project utilized previously wasted space between tracks to generate 18.2 megawatt-hours (MWh) of electricity. • The initiative demonstrates a viable way to integrate renewable energy infrastructure into existing transport networks despite significant regulatory and technical obstacles.

Experts say decision presents problem for business owners – and indicates direction court’s conservatives are headingExperts say a supreme court ruling that struck down a Hawaii law banning people from carrying guns on private property without permission could present problems for business owners – and is a bellwether of what steps the majority-conservative court may take toward undoing policies they see as placing an undue burden on legal gun owners.The US supreme court handed down the ruling in Wolford v Lopez on Thursday in a 6-3 decision. Second-amendment law centers and advocates praised the ruling as another win and important step toward challenging other restrictions that are out of line with gun laws that existed at the nation’s founding. Gun control and gun violence groups, meanwhile, lambasted the decision as a dangerous one that prioritizes the rights of gun owners over public safety. Continue reading...

• NASA's Perseverance rover has detected a record-breaking concentration of macromolecular carbon at the Bright Angel rock formation on Mars. • These carbon molecules are significant because they are key building blocks for life and can persist in rocks for billions of years. • The discovery provides critical evidence in the ongoing search for ancient microbial life by identifying organic materials in a geologically diverse area.

• The Alternative for Germany (AfD) is currently leading polls in Saxony-Anhalt, signaling a potential shift toward far-right power in the region. • The party is described as a hybrid of Giorgia Meloni’s moderate ultra-right approach and a more extreme far-right wing, with the latter currently gaining more influence. • This rise is occurring alongside a broader trend where even mainstream Christian-Democrat and Social-Democrat politicians in eastern Germany are seeking warmer relations with Moscow.

• Matt Derella has taken over as the executive leading Microsoft's advertising business, a division valued at approximately $20 billion. • Derella aims to leverage a monthly user base of over one billion people across platforms including Xbox, Bing, MSN, and Activision. • The strategy focuses on combining LinkedIn's identity data with Bing's search intent to help clients better target and reach customers.

• A study by the PopuList Project reveals that over 23% of Europeans voted for far-right parties in their most recent national elections, nearly doubling support over the last decade. • These populist parties are currently integrated into ruling coalitions in Italy, Finland, Czechia, and Croatia, while providing support to Sweden's right-wing minority government. • The trend highlights a significant ideological shift across Europe, with far-right parties leading polls in major nations including Germany, France, the UK, Belgium, and Austria.

• The US Supreme Court has limited the scope of foreign human rights claims, narrowing the ability to file overseas abuse lawsuits against corporations in US courts. • The ruling stems from a case involving Cisco, which faced allegations of providing technology to the Chinese government to monitor and suppress Falun Gong followers. • This decision provides corporations with greater protection from litigation regarding actions associated with foreign governments or violations occurring outside US boundaries.

• In the case of United States v. Carter, a court ruled that a defendant's race can be considered when determining if a police encounter qualifies as a "seizure" under the Fourth Amendment. • This decision shifts the legal standard from a single "reasonable person" to a calibrated perspective based on the individual's identity and geography. • Critics argue this approach moves away from objective judicial interpretation and toward "engineering outcomes" based on demographic factors.

Fund manager Geoff Wilson says he did not watch full video and deleted it after ‘inappropriate associations were identified’Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastThe fund manager Geoff Wilson, a prominent public critic of the government’s tax changes, has deleted an inflammatory AI-generated video he reposted from a rightwing nationalist account portraying Anthony Albanese and Jim Chalmers taking money from white Australians and giving it to recently arrived migrants wearing Islamic face coverings.Wilson said he had not watched the full video before sharing it or examined other accounts, some of whose content he reposted on Wednesday morning – which included content relating to the QAnon conspiracy theory – and deleted his posts after being contacted by Guardian Australia. Continue reading...

Analysis by more than 150 political scientists finds proportion who back such parties has increased nearly fivefold since 1995Almost one in four voters in Europe now cast their ballot for far-right parties, research shows, a proportion that has grown nearly fivefold since the mid-1990s and climbed particularly steeply over the past three years.Analysis by more than 150 political scientists in 31 countries found the proportion of Europeans voting for a far-right party in their country’s most recent national elections had risen to more than 23%, from about 10% a decade ago and roughly 5% in 1995. Continue reading...

• A new data investigation claims The New York Times contributed to the political controversy surrounding transgender rights by framing the issue as a debate rather than a lived reality. • The analysis suggests that the publication's editorial approach shifted the narrative, potentially fueling polarization over trans identities and rights. • In response, a representative stated that the volume of coverage is simply a reflection of real-world developments, including medical studies and proposed legislation.

• The European Copyright Society published a paper affirming that performer equitable remuneration (ER) for streaming is a "lawful mechanism" under EU copyright law. • This position follows Belgium's recent introduction of an ER right and a corresponding legal challenge attempting to block its implementation. • The society's findings reject arguments against the right, asserting that performers are legally entitled to fair compensation from streaming services.

• The U.S. Department of Labor has intensified its crackdown on unemployment insurance fraud, while the Senate prepares to restructure the composition of the National Labor Relations Board. • The Justice Department and the Teamsters are revisiting a 1989 agreement originally designed to eliminate organized crime influence within the union. • These developments reflect a broader strategy by the Trump administration to foster closer ties with organized labor, specifically the Teamsters, following the 2024 election.

Kemi Badenoch, who joined US anti-abortion activists and European far-right parties at ARC, described energy secretary as a ‘villain’Britain’s net zero policies and energy secretary Ed Miliband have come under fire at a conference of conservatives, rightwing populists and wealthy US backers linked to Donald Trump.The energy policies pursued by the British government were described as a “tragic mistake” by Trump’s energy secretary, one of a number of officials from the US administration who are attending the event. Continue reading...

Channel Nine TV presenter also calls former UK prime minister Keir Starmer a ‘wanker’ in teaser for interview with RobinsonFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastChannel Nine TV presenter Karl Stefanovic has posted a video of himself embracing UK far-right activist Tommy Robinson, who is set to appear on his podcast.It comes after the Gold Logie winner told another UK activist, Ant Middleton, a former soldier who has spoken at Robinson’s “unite the kingdom” rallies, he would “make a great prime minister”, in an interview on his podcast, the Karl Stefanovic Show, on Monday. Continue reading...

Trump-admiring Abelardo de la Espriella has vowed to ‘disembowel’ the left and kill criminals like ‘rats and cockroaches’When more than 20 women accused a Colombian evangelical pastor in 2012 of sexually abusing them, the defendant’s lawyer sought to discredit the allegations by telling the court that they were “trepadoras” – a pejorative term meaning social climbers.He ultimately secured his client’s acquittal – although the case remains under review by the supreme court – but footage of the remark resurfaced during Colombia’s presidential campaign, sparking outrage among many progressive voters. Continue reading...

José Luis Ábalos found to have taken bribes on Covid-era public contracts in damaging blow to Pedro SánchezSpain’s supreme court has jailed the former transport minister José Luis Ábalos for 24 years for taking bribes on public contracts for sanitary equipment such as ‌face masks during the Covid pandemic.Ábalos’s aide, Koldo García, was jailed for 19 years in a trial that is one of several scandals to have enveloped the government of Pedro Sánchez over recent months. Continue reading...

Prime minister was forced to row back on some policies despite strong support among voters for climate actionKeir Starmer has faced a problem no Labour government has needed to deal with before. His energy and climate policies – core to solving the cost of living crisis – have come under attack from opposition parties, which have made dismantling the agenda one of their top priorities, second only to immigration, in their pitch to voters.This is new in British politics, where a cross-party consensus on the climate and environment has held at least since the days of Margaret Thatcher. She warned the UN of the climate crisis in 1988; David Cameron in 2006 urged voters to “vote blue, go green”; Theresa May enshrined in law the requirement to reach net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050; Boris Johnson championed the Cop26 UN climate summit in Glasgow in 2021; even Rishi Sunak only tried a partial rollback of green policies as a last desperate throw before calling an election. Continue reading...

The Windrush Prize will award £10,000 to the writer of the winning play, which will receive a run at the Arcola theatre next yearThe first prize dedicated to discovering and developing British Caribbean playwrights has been launched using compensation awarded to a Windrush victim who died before receiving it.The Windrush Prize for British Caribbean Playwrights, believed to be the first major prize of its kind in 30 years, has been established by Shereener Browne, the founder and artistic director of Orísun Productions and a former barrister, in memory of her late father, Myron Brown. Continue reading...

Leftwing opponent alleges vote count irregularities after Trump-endorsed lawyer secures narrow majorityThe Trump-admiring far-right millionaire lawyer and self-styled “outsider” Abelardo de la Espriella has won Colombia’s presidential runoff, defeating the leftwing senator Iván Cepeda.With 99.65% of ballots counted in the preliminary vote tally, de la Espriella had secured 12.91m votes, or 49.65%, just 248,310 more than Cepeda, who received 12.67m votes, or 48.7%. A further 1.6% of ballots were cast blank. Continue reading...

Defendants worry that changes could remove chance of acquittal based on jurors’ consciences in defiance of the lawClimate activists fear that delays to their cases may mean they lose the right to a trial before jurors, who are typically more likely to acquit them than a judge.Scores of defendants facing trials for protests as long ago as 2021 have had proceedings repeatedly postponed and worry that by the time their cases are heard, government changes limiting the right to jury trial may be in force. Continue reading...

Colombians will choose on Sunday between two men whose lives have been very differently shaped by the militias, and whose visions for the country are poles apartWhoever wins Sunday’s presidential runoff vote in Colombia, the country’s next leader will have a personal history intertwined with one of the criminal forces at the heart of a decades-long armed conflict that claimed nearly half a million lives.The lives of Iván Cepeda and Abelardo de la Espriella have, in very different ways, been shaped by their relationship with Colombia’s paramilitaries – private armies originally established by rightwing landowners, drug traffickers, businessmen, mining magnates and politicians to fight leftwing guerrilla groups. Continue reading...