Signs

Surprise rise in jobless rate will give Reserve Bank more reason to delay another interest rate hike at June meetingFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastAustralia’s unemployment rate has jumped to 4.5% in April to reach the highest in about four-and-half-years, amid fears rising interest rates and the global oil crisis will smash economic growth.The number of employed people unexpectedly fell by 18,600 in the month – the first decline this year – dragging the jobless rate up from 4.3%, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics. Continue reading...

Ron Shinnick did not mention the firing of the Cohutta police force, which was later rehired, in resignation letterThe mayor of a small town in the US state of Georgia has resigned shortly after firing his community’s entire police department, a step that the local governing council ultimately reversed – but that he nonetheless took amid a political spat pitting him and his wife against members of the force.In a 15 May resignation letter that the Guardian reviewed, Ron Shinnick avoided mentioning his attempted termination of the Cohutta police department, word of which gained international media attention. The letter instead said Shinnick had opted to vacate the mayoral post he had held since 2014 due to “health concerns” faced by family members outside Cohutta. Continue reading...

Never documented archaeologically before, evidence points to First Nations people caring for and nursing the animalGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastThe discovery of a millennium-old dingo burial site in western New South Wales, including evidence of a “feeding” ritual never before documented archaeologically, has shed new light on the longstanding relationship between the canines and First Nations people.The dingo was buried along the Baaka, or Darling River, in Kinchega national park near the Menindee Lakes. Continue reading...

• China’s economy slowed in April, with industrial output, retail sales and fixed-asset investment all missing expectations as global energy-market volatility added pressure. • Retail sales rose just 0.2% year on year, down from 1.7% in March, while industrial output increased 4.1%, below the 5.63% forecast cited by economists. • National Bureau of Statistics spokesperson Fu Linghui said the economy had “generally speaking” maintained steady growth, but warned the external environment remained “complex and volatile.”

Mike Banks, who led Trump’s border crackdown, resigned weeks after reports of prostitution allegationsSign up for the Breaking News US newsletter emailMike Banks, the border patrol chief who oversaw the most aggressive militarization of the US southern border in recent history, has resigned with immediate effect.“It’s just time,” Banks told Fox News in an interview. “I feel like I got the ship back on course from the least secure, most disastrous, most chaotic border to the most secure border this country has ever seen.” Continue reading...

Evika Siliņa stands down after coalition collapses following sacking of defence ministerEurope live – latest updatesLatvia’s centre-right prime minister has resigned over her government’s handling of Ukrainian drones that strayed into Latvian territory from Russia, bringing down her coalition government months before elections, due in October.Evika Siliņa announced her resignation on Thursday, a day after the Progressives party, her left-leaning coalition partner, withdrew its support over her decision to fire the defence minister, Andris Sprūds, a Progressives member. Continue reading...

Eileen Wang, 58, mayor of Arcadia, agreed to plead guilty over the felony count brought by the justice departmentEileen Wang, the mayor of a southern California city, resigned suddenly on Monday after the US Department of Justice (DoJ) announced she had been charged with acting as an illegal foreign agent of China.Wang, 58, agreed to plead guilty to the felony count and could face a sentence of 10 years in prison. Continue reading...