Wilderness Society says changes undermined intent of national standards intended to reverse decline of plants, animals and ecosystemsGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastGreen groups have accused the Albanese government of watering down a proposal to protect threatened species and ecosystems.National environmental standards were the key plank of reforms to Australia’s nature laws, passed by the parliament in November. Continue reading...
Walkouts, marches and other gatherings planned for ‘May Day Strong’ demonstrations across the countryThousands are set to join an economic blackout for International Workers’ Day on Friday, as part of 3,500 “May Day Strong” events across the country. Organizers are calling for “no school, no work, no shopping” with walkouts, marches, block parties and other gatherings planned into the evening.May Day has long been an annual day of protest for the labor movement, and this year, many active movements are converging to fight for “a nation that puts workers over billionaires”. Demanding no ICE, no war, and taxing the rich, the May Day Strong coalition includes labor unions, immigrants rights groups, political organizations such as the Democratic Socialists of America, and the organizers behind the No Kings protests. Friday’s economic disruption builds on a similar coordinated effort out of Minnesota in January, when tens of thousands of Twin Cities residents took off from school and work to flood the streets in protest of federal immigration agents storming the city. Continue reading...
Pete Hegseth argued that a ceasefire agreement with Iran more than three weeks ago ‘means the 60 day clock pauses, or stops’Sign up for the Breaking News US email to get newsletter alerts in your inboxHello and welcome to our live coverage of the day.Today marks 60 days since the Trump administration notified Congress that it was carrying out strikes on Iran – meaning that under the War Powers Act of 1973, today is the deadline for Donald Trump to either end the Iran war or seek congressional authorization to extend it.Jeanine Pirro, the top federal prosecutor in Washington DC, released edited security-camera video of the incident at the White House correspondents’ dinner amid questions about whether or not the suspected gunman, Cole Allen, fired his weapon before being subdued. While the video shows four muzzles flashes from the agent’s gun as he fired at Allen, it was not immediately clear that it does show Allen discharging his weapon after he pointed it at the agent.Sean Curran, the director of the US Secret Service, told Fox News that Allen was stopped not by secret service gunfire, but by a box used to transport a metal detector, which he tripped over.Congress has passed a 45-day extension of section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, a law that grants US intelligence agencies warrantless spying powers.Trump has threatened to withdraw troops from Spain and Italy, two countries that countries have been vocally critical of his war in the Middle East. This comes after Trump suggested reviewing US military presence in Germany after the country’s chancellor said America was being “humiliated” by Iran. Continue reading...
• The U.S. House of Representatives passed a Homeland Security appropriations bill on Thursday, clearing the way to end a two‑month agency shutdown that had idled parts of federal immigration, border, and cybersecurity operations.
• President Donald Trump signed the measure shortly after, restoring full funding for the Department of Homeland Security and averting potential disruptions to airport security, deportation operations, and border enforcement through the fiscal year.
• The shutdown clash pitted Trump allies against centrist Republicans and Democrats over border enforcement levels, but the final bill preserved core Trump‑era border initiatives while softening some hard‑line spending demands.
• The Justice Department announced an expanded criminal investigation into fundraising and expenditure patterns of Donald Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign and related political action committees, focusing on compliance with federal campaign finance and foreign‑donor laws.
• Investigators are examining at least a dozen large donations that may have been routed through shell corporate accounts or foreign‑linked entities, according to law‑enforcement officials briefed on the probe.
• White House spokespeople framed the action as part of “routine post‑election review,” while Trump allies accuse the department of partisan bias and warn that any charges could ignite a political firestorm ahead of the 2026 midterms.
There were 66 deaths in custody and police operations in 2025 – 18 more than the previous yearWarning: This article contains references to Indigenous Australians who have diedThere were a record number of New South Wales deaths in custody and police operations last year, with almost a quarter of prisoner deaths recorded as self-harm, a coroners court report states.Of those who killed themselves, most were by hanging, despite millions being invested to remove ligature points. Continue reading...
Speculative reports say Amazon is considering relaunching the reality show once hosted by the US president, with his eldest son floated as a possible hostGet our weekend culture and lifestyle emailAmid speculative reports that Donald Trump Jr is being considered by Amazon to lead a reboot of The Apprentice, he’s already received a slightly muted endorsement from the reality show’s former host: his father.The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday that Amazon was considering rebooting The Apprentice, which was hosted by the now US president Donald Trump between 2004 and 2015, for its streaming service Prime Video.Sign up for the fun stuff with our rundown of must-reads, pop culture and tips for the weekend, every Saturday morning Continue reading...
President Lula’s veto of the bill was overturned by Brazil’s congress and senate, meaning it now awaits confirmation by supreme court Brazil’s largely conservative congress has approved a bill reducing the prison sentence of the far-right former president Jair Bolsonaro, who was convicted last year of attempting a coup.The bill had initially been passed by congress in December, but president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva vetoed it in January in a symbolic move marking three years since Bolsonaro supporters ransacked the capital, Brasília. Continue reading...
Shayndi Raice to lead CBS’s foreign coverage after Weiss ousts bureau chief over reported tensionsSign up for the Breaking News US email to get newsletter alerts in your inboxBari Weiss, the CBS News boss, has ousted a veteran bureau chief following tensions over coverage of the Middle East and brought in a new foreign editor who, according to sources, is more aligned with Weiss’s pro-Israel agenda.Paramount, which owns CBS, announced on Wednesday that it had hired Shayndi Raice, a Wall Street Journal editor who most recently served as the paper’s deputy bureau chief for the Middle East and north Africa, based in Israel. Raice will move to London, where she’ll oversee the network’s international coverage in a newly created position, the company said. In a social media post, Weiss called Raice “a scoophound reporter, a brilliant editor, and a clear-eyed leader”. Continue reading...
Lee Zeldin claims before Senate that Trump administration plan will make Environmental Protection Agency ‘more efficient’Senate Democrats accused the Trump administration of abandoning the Environmental Protection Agency’s mission to protect human health and the environment at a congressional hearing Wednesday, slamming agency leadership over a proposal to cut its budget in half.Lee Zeldin’s appearance before the Senate environment committee was the EPA administrator’s last of three budget hearings this week where he argued for sharply reduced funding for the agency, which already has seen its staffing reduced to its lowest level in decades under his leadership. During much of the week, the former Republican congressman from New York took an aggressive approach, responding to Democrats in the House and Senate with his own questions and at times accusing them of being unprepared or failing to care about the EPA’s record. Continue reading...
Exclusive: Government should back projects that prioritise renewables to protect consumers from ongoing price shocks, they sayGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastFormer oil and gas industry leaders, including senior executives from BP and Shell, are warning the Albanese government that Australians risk ongoing price shocks and higher costs if it prioritises fossil fuel development in response to the global energy crisis.Sixteen ex-executives and professionals – who had worked for companies including Woodside, Inpex, Exxon Mobil and Esso – have urged the government to reject calls for fast-tracked gas and coal extraction, arguing it would do nothing to improve the nation’s liquid fuel security. Continue reading...
Cryptocurrency ATMs also face ban, after public inquiry found Canada lacked anti-money-laundering strategyCanada is to establish a new and powerful law enforcement agency to investigate financial crime, in stark contrast to the US, where weakened federal investigators have struggled to pursue fraudsters and the White House has pardoned convicted money launderers.A bill to create the Financial Crimes Agency (FCA) completed its first reading in parliament this week. The legislation was introduced by the governing Liberals and with their parliamentary majority, the party is likely to move the it through both levels of government quickly. Continue reading...
Jitu Munda says he was repeatedly refused access to money left in her account in case highlighting ‘lack of humanity’ in Indian bureaucracyThe sight of a man bringing the remains of his dead sister to a bank in India after officials had refused to let him withdraw money without proof of her death has caused shock in India.Jitu Munda, 52, from the Indian state of Odisha, was captured on video carrying the remains of his recently deceased sister through the streets of Keonjhar and placing them outside the local bank. Continue reading...
Media tycoon honoured in absentia as critics decry his 20-year sentence under national security lawThe jailed media entrepreneur Jimmy Lai has been awarded Deutsche Welle’s freedom of speech award for his contribution to Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement.The German public broadcaster said on Thursday that Lai would be presented in absentia with the 12th iteration of the award on 23 June at the DW Global Media Forum in Bonn. Continue reading...
Treasurer tells Commonwealth Bank podcast that he aims to ‘recognise the decisions that people have taken in the past’Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastExisting property investors look set to avoid paying more tax under Labor’s mooted changes to CGT in next month’s budget, after Jim Chalmers said he wanted to “make sure that we recognise the decisions that people have taken in the past” and flagged any reforms would not generate “a huge amount of revenue”.The treasurer is widely expected to modify the flat 50% tax discount on profits from the sale of assets held for more than one year, potentially returning to the pre-1999 model where capital gains are adjusted for inflation. Continue reading...
Human rights commissioner says alleged jailing highlights the ‘growing risks of transnational repression’ in AustraliaGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastAustralia’s human rights commissioner has said the Chinese student who was allegedly jailed for six years by Chinese authorities for joining protests in Sydney underscores the “very real and growing risks of transnational repression affecting people in Australia – including international students”.Commissioner Lorraine Finlay told Guardian Australia that while she couldn’t comment on the circumstances of individual cases, “no one should fear punishment abroad for exercising their lawful rights to free expression and peaceful protest here”. Continue reading...
Vote comes on same day the US supreme court rolls back a key provision of the Voting Rights ActThe Florida legislature approved a new congressional map intended to maximize Republicans’ advantage in the state as part of the national redistricting battle that Donald Trump launched before this year’s midterms.The vote came just two days after the governor, Ron DeSantis, unveiled his proposal and the same day the US supreme court rolled back a key provision of the Voting Rights Act. The decision could make it harder for Democrats to challenge Republican efforts to redraw congressional districts in ways that limit the influence of voters of color. Continue reading...
• Gas prices have surged above $4 per gallon and flights skyrocketed as the Strait of Hormuz blockade impacts energy markets amid the US-Israel war with Iran, eroding Trump's key political advantage.
• More than three-quarters of registered voters—including over half of Republicans and 82% of independents—now blame Trump for the cost-of-living crisis affecting fuel, groceries, housing, and healthcare.
• Trump's second-term approval ratings have fallen far faster than previous presidents after a government shutdown, tariffs, and the joint US-Israel attack on Iran, with Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell warning the war is fueling inflation.
New court document made public in case of singer charged with murder and sexual abuse of Celeste Rivas HernandezProsecutors described in a new court document how D4vd, who has been charged with the murder and sexual abuse of 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez, allegedly fatally stabbed her to prevent the teen from speaking out about the abuse.The singer, whose legal name is David Anthony Burke, killed Celeste to protect his music career, prosecutors said in a brief. He met Celeste when she was 11 and began a “sexual relationship” with her when she was 13 and he was 18, according to the document. Continue reading...
• Florida Governor Ron DeSantis unveiled new congressional district maps that could eliminate additional Democratic seats in the House.
• The redistricting proposal targets areas with Democratic incumbents, intensifying battles ahead of the 2026 midterms.
• Republicans see this as key to maintaining House majority, while Democrats warn of voter suppression tactics.
• Virginia voters narrowly approved a Democratic-backed congressional redistricting plan that endangers several Republican incumbents.
• The measure redraws lines to favor Democrats in key districts, shifting the balance for 2026 midterm races.
• This coastal redistricting battle highlights national tensions over fair maps and partisan advantage.
• The Pentagon launched GenAI.mil in December 2025 as part of Project Maven, providing secure generative AI access to approximately 3 million Department of Defense staff members.
• The platform embeds multiple leading AI models including Anthropic's Claude, Google's Gemini, xAI's Grok, and OpenAI's ChatGPT, enabling widespread AI adoption across military operations.
• The initiative reflects the U.S. military's strategic priority to integrate advanced AI capabilities into defense operations and demonstrates significant government investment in dual-use AI technology.
Attorneys, citing new evidence including selfies, filed a motion to detain Cole Tomas Allen until his trial Sign up for the Breaking News US email to get newsletter alerts in your inboxFederal prosecutors provided in a filing Wednesday the most detailed account to date of Cole Tomas Allen’s alleged weeks-long plan to kill Donald Trump and several members of his cabinet who had joined more than 2,500 members of the Washington press corps for their annual White House correspondents’ dinner.The motion, aimed at keeping Allen detained and filed by the US attorney for DC, Jeanine Pirro, includes two selfies of the alleged shooter standing in front of a mirror in his hotel room in a black suit, a slight smirk crossing his face. He is kitted out with two firearms and multiple knives tucked into his belt. Prosecutors allege they are the same weapons that were confiscated from Allen after the attack. Continue reading...
Three defendants deny plotting arson attack on two homes and a car connected to prime minister in London last yearA series of arson attacks on property linked to Keir Starmer was masterminded by a Russian-speaking contact using the pseudonym “El Money”, a court has heard.Roman Lavrynovych, 22, and Petro Pochynok, 35, both from Ukraine, and Stanislav Carpiuc, 27, a Romanian national, sat with their heads bent towards interpreters as Duncan Atkinson KC, prosecuting, opened the trial over the arson attacks in May last year. Continue reading...
Four years after president’s pledge, his would-be successors are divided on how to tackle rising guerrilla attacksThe landmark 2016 peace deal between the Colombian government and the largest insurgent army in Latin America succeeded in some ways: the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc) agreed to lay down their weapons, and the violence that had racked the country was substantially reduced.But the deal alone could not end the decades-long armed conflict for good. Subsequent administrations slow-walked the implementation of the settlement, which was rejected by Farc dissidents and other rebel factions. Continue reading...
Government request follows contingency to stop planes being grounded if Iran war supply shocks continueBusiness live – latest updatesBritish refineries have been asked to maximise jet fuel supply as part of government contingency planning, amid growing fears the Iran war will force planes to be grounded.Energy minister Michael Shanks said the government is closely monitoring UK jet fuel stocks and working with airlines, airports, fuel suppliers and other governments, as carriers face rocketing fuel costs as a result of the conflict. Continue reading...
