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EPA is loosening Biden-era rule that requires US businesses to reduce greenhouse gases used in cooling equipmentThe Trump administration is set to loosen a federal rule that requires grocery stores and air-conditioning companies to reduce greenhouse gases used in cooling equipment, in what officials say is a push to lower grocery costs.The head of the Environmental Protection Agency, Lee Zeldin, said the Biden-era rule imposes costly restrictions that limit the type of refrigerants US businesses and families can use. Continue reading...

Greens MLC Abigail Boyd – who chaired inquiry – says system ‘failing too many children, families and educators’Systemic weaknesses in New South Wales’ childcare sector have allowed predators to work in the industry and abuse children, a scathing inquiry has found.In its final report, published on Wednesday, a NSW upper house inquiry into the Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) sector found “the proliferation of for-profit services and a lax regulatory approach” had led to “predators” being allowed to work in childcare and abuse children. Continue reading...

Move brings an end to a 60 day visa-free stay that was agreed with 93 countries, including the UK, US and much of EuropeThailand is drastically cutting the length of visa-free stays for tourists from more than 90 countries in an effort to curb crime involving foreign nationals, officials said on Tuesday.Tourism is vital to the south-east Asian nation’s economy, but foreign arrivals are yet to return to their pre-Covid levels. Continue reading...

Bookies’ favourite to replace Keir Starmer tones down stance on government borrowing to assuage City investorsUK politics live – latest updatesAndy Burnham has always faced a narrow path to replace Keir Starmer as prime minister: a tricky byelection, a leadership contest that is yet to be declared, and a far from constructive bond market backdrop.In making his pitch, assuaging City investors in particular has led the Greater Manchester mayor to dance on a pin. Continue reading...

Defense says police who arrested Mangione over murder of United Healthcare CEO didn’t apprise him of his rightsSign up for the Breaking News US newsletter emailThe judge overseeing Luigi Mangione’s Manhattan state court trial ruled Monday that some evidence gathered during his arrest would be barred from court.“The evidence found during the search of the backpack at the McDonald’s must be suppressed, including the magazine, cellphone, passport, wallet and computer chip,” Judge Gregory Carro said in his 18 May decision. Continue reading...

Singer says she has faced ‘years of public shaming’, as court rules tax agency made mistake over her 2011 statusA court in Madrid has ordered Spain’s tax authority to pay Shakira back more than €55m (£48m) after ruling that it had wrongly imposed huge fines on the Colombian singer and philanthropist because it had made mistakes over her tax status.In a statement released on Monday, the Audiencia Nacional said it had accepted an appeal from Shakira against the fine she was handed five years ago after the Agencia Tributaria claimed she had not paid the necessary tax in Spain in 2011. At that time, the singer was in a relationship with the FC Barcelona player Gerard Piqué. Continue reading...

Move follows upsetting viral video of ray being manhandled into unmarked boat in Florida waters last yearWildlife officials in Florida will continue to allow threatened giant manta rays to be taken from the ocean, but have tightened their policies after a viral video showed a captured ray in severe distress, and a bipartisan group of politicians called for an end to the controversial practice.Members of the Florida fish and wildlife conservation commission (FWC) voted on Wednesday to adopt an amended final rule reserving the right to say when and where rays can be captured for “responsible exhibition” in the US. Continue reading...

Federal court affirms an August 2024 finding that Tickle was discriminated against on the basis of her gender identity and awards her $20,000Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastThe federal court has upheld a landmark decision that found a women-only social media app and its founder unlawfully discriminated against Roxanne Tickle after the transgender woman was denied access to the platform.In their judgment on Friday, 15 May, justices Melissa Perry, Wendy Abraham and Geoffrey Kennett affirmed an August 2024 finding that Tickle was discriminated against on the basis of her gender identity, and also sided with Tickle’s cross-appeal, claiming she experienced two instances of direct discrimination by the Giggle for Girls app and its founder Sall Grover. Continue reading...

Burnham’s backers understood to be lobbying Labour’s NEC who warn against Wes Streeting ‘coronation’UK politics live – latest updatesThe rules governing Labour party leadership contests should “not be tweaked” to allow Andy Burnham to run, a member of the party’s National Executive Committee has said.With the health secretary preparing to launch a leadership challenge against Keir Starmer on Thursday, if he can secure the support of enough MPs to trigger a contest, allies of Burnham have warned against a “coronation” for Wes Streeting as the next prime minister. Continue reading...

Landmark finding against supermarket giant after competition watchdog argued discounts did not represent genuine savingsColes misled Australian shoppers with fake discounts on everyday grocery products, the federal court has ruled in a landmark decision for the supermarket industry.Justice Michael O’Bryan handed down his judgment on Thursday, delivering a significant blow to Australia’s second largest supermarket chain, which had argued the discounts represented genuine savings during a period of high inflation. Continue reading...

Brand owner Mondelēz was accused of reducing weight of Alpine Milk bar from 100g to 90g without significantly altering the packagingMany chocolate lovers consider shrinkflation a serious crime – and they have been vindicated after a German court ruled that the makers of Milka cheated consumers by cutting the bar’s size, while keeping the wrapper the same.The three-week case in a regional court was brought by Hamburg’s consumer protection office. It accused the chocolate brand’s US owner Mondelēz of deceiving shoppers by cutting the weight of Milka’s classic Alpine Milk bar from 100g to 90g without significantly altering the distinctive purple packaging. Continue reading...

Exclusive: In letter seen by the Guardian, 30 members of Congress warn US president’s Cuba military operation would worsen ‘mass suffering’US politics live – latest updatesMore than 30 members of Congress have urged Donald Trump’s top officials to end the use of the Guantánamo Bay naval base for immigrant detention and rule out any plans for military action on Cuba.In the letter to the secretaries of defense, state and homeland security on Wednesday morning, reviewed by the Guardian, Democratic lawmakers led by Delia Ramirez, a representative from Illinois, linked a rise in migration from the island nation to the heightening US aggression on Cuba. Continue reading...

Queenslander under pressure after YouTube interview where he said he was ‘not ruling it out’ but ‘I don’t have the facts yet’Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastOne Nation senator Malcolm Roberts has caused further confusion in comments about the Bondi beach antisemitic terror attack, clarifying that he thought it was an “absurd proposition” to call the shooting a “false flag” but standing by his claim that he didn’t have “data” to rule it out.Roberts, Pauline Hanson’s fellow senator from Queensland, was interviewed on a YouTube channel, with the clip posted earlier this month. At one point in the 23-minute clip, social media creator Lisa Jane Spencer asked “do you think that Bondi was a false flag?” Continue reading...

Michael Mott, 41, jumped the fence at Denver international airport and had reached the runway when he was struckThe man who was fatally struck on Friday by a departing Frontier Airlines flight on the runway of Denver international airport died by suicide, the city’s medical examiner said Tuesday at a news conference.On Friday evening, the man, identified as 41-year-old Michael Mott, jumped an 8-ft fence with barbed wire onto the runway, according to Phillip Washington, the airport’s chief executive. Roughly 2 mins lapsed between Mott’s breach of the runway and when he was hit by the Frontier aircraft. Continue reading...

Ethylene oxide (EtO) is about 60 times more carcinogenic than believed in 2006, research findsA new Trump administration plan to rescind 2024 regulations for toxic ethylene oxide (EtO) pollution more broadly aims to limit the Environmental Protection Agency’s authority to strengthen public health protections around hazardous emissions and could result in more of the toxin being released into the air.Recent research has found EtO is about 60 times more carcinogenic than thought when the last regulations were developed in 2006. In 2024, the Biden EPA passed a rule that strengthened the regulations to reflect the updated science, and required the nation’s EtO emitters to collectively cut their emissions by about 90%. Continue reading...

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...

Labor’s anticipated reforms are not a panacea, but they could nudge Australia toward a more equitable trajectoryGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastThe Albanese government is preparing to unveil a budget that will recast housing as shelter – rather than a financial tool – in changes that have already sparked heated warnings that rents will rocket and housing supply will be curtailed.Those warnings are best ignored. Continue reading...

Previously prohibited use of websites such as Omoggle that connect a streamer to a stranger’s video feed now allowed Last week, at 4am, 19-year-old Sammy Amz was scrolling through X when something caught his eye: a popular Twitch streamer was competing in a 1v1 “mog-off” with a stranger, and losing.The next day he opened the Omoggle gaming website and began to play. Quickly he matched with another user – green dots appeared on their faces onscreen, as the website began to compare their measurements: canthal tilt, palpebral fissure ratio, nose-to-face width ratio and so on. Continue reading...

• Péter Magyar's Respect and Freedom Party (Tisza) won a two-thirds supermajority with 141 of 199 seats last month, ending Viktor Orbán's 16-year Fidesz rule. • Reforms focus on restoring judicial independence, media freedom, eliminating political influence in state institutions and companies. • The government plans to join the European Public Prosecutor's Office to tackle EU budget fraud, corruption, and fund misuse, amid increased scrutiny of Orbán-era exposures.

• The Nigerian Senate on May 8, 2026, reversed controversial amendments to its Standing Orders concerning the election of presiding officers due to concerns over constitutional inconsistencies. • It passed for second reading a bill sponsored by Senator Simon Bako Lalong to amend the Electoral Act 2026, assigning Federal High Court original jurisdiction over pre-election disputes for National Assembly, governorship, and state assembly elections, with appeals to the Court of Appeal. • The Senate approved the N2.285 trillion 2026 Federal Capital Territory budget, allocating N1.741 trillion for capital projects to boost infrastructure in Abuja and satellite communities.

US judge says halt of $100m in funds allotted by Congress for scholars, writers and research illegal and discriminatoryA federal judge ruled on Thursday that the terminations of hundreds of humanities grants last year by the Trump administration’s so-called “department of government efficiency” (Doge) were unconstitutional and involved “blatant” discrimination. In April last year, Donald Trump’s administration terminated more than 1,400 grants, representing more than $100m in congressionally appropriated funds awarded to scholars, writers, research institutions and other humanities organizations.The terminations were part of a cost-cutting drive that billionaire Elon Musk was leading at Doge. Continue reading...

• A U.S. trade court declared President Trump's proposed 10% tariffs on global imports unlawful, marking a significant legal setback for his trade agenda. • The ruling, issued within the past 2 hours, stems from challenges by importers arguing the tariffs exceed presidential authority under existing trade laws. • This decision matters as it disrupts Trump's strategy to pressure trading partners like China and the EU amid escalating tensions over the Strait of Hormuz.

Trump also issues new deadline for EU to implement trade deal terms before raising tariffs to ‘much higher levels’The US trade court on Thursday ruled against Donald Trump’s latest 10% global tariffs, finding across-the-board tariffs were not justified under a 1970s trade law.The US Court of International Trade ruled in favor of small businesses that challenged the tariffs, which took effect on 24 February. The ruling was 2-1, with one judge saying it was premature to grant victory to the small business plaintiffs. Continue reading...

• A federal judge ruled that the Trump administration can keep 2020 election ballots seized from a Georgia election center in Fulton County. • The decision overturns a prior injunction and allows continued access to the records amid ongoing reviews. • This bolsters efforts to scrutinize past election processes as Republicans eye 2026 midterms.

• Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) defeated the CPM-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) in Kerala assembly elections, unseating the Communist government that had ruled since 2016. • LDF, in power continuously since 2016, lost key seats amid anti-incumbency, marking India's first Communist-free state landscape since 1977. • The shift eliminates the last Communist-led state government in India, reshaping southern politics and boosting opposition momentum post other regional upsets.

Sarah Schloegl stranded in Alicante after 11-month-old was found to have invalid documentation under new rulesA British woman from Aberdeen and her 11-month-old baby have been stranded abroad because of new rules regarding dual nationals introduced by Labour.Sarah Schloegl was refused board on a Ryanair flight from Alicante last week after she went to Spain for a short break with her Austrian husband, Philipp, their three-year-old daughter and 11-month-old baby. Continue reading...

Shabana Mahmood has announced plan to cut leave to remain to 30 months, to concern of UN’s refugee agencyTwo Sudanese asylum seekers are challenging a key element of Labour’s plans to strip refugees of basic rights, rejecting the home secretary’s accusation that they are “asylum shoppers”.Shabana Mahmood has announced plans to halve refugees’ leave to remain in the UK from five years to 30 months, while refugees will have to wait 20 years before being eligible for permanent stay in the UK. Previously, people could apply for permanent settlement after five years. Continue reading...

• The Bharatiya Janata Party secured a landslide victory in West Bengal's 2026 assembly elections, leading in 200 of 293 seats, marking the party's first-ever government formation in the state and ending the All India Trinamool Congress's 15-year reign. • BJP's success represents a dramatic rise from zero seats in 2011 to a dominant position in 2026, with over 235,000 Central Armed Police personnel deployed to ensure intimidation-free voting across the state. • Prime Minister Narendra Modi hailed the victory as historic, stating it will be remembered forever and signaling the BJP's continued electoral momentum ahead of remaining state elections.