Legal

Fast food giant cannot not be denied on basis it doesn’t suit ‘vibe’ of location, tribunal findsFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastMcDonald’s is poised to open a 24/7 takeaway outlet on a Melbourne street once dubbed the “world’s coolest” after the fast food giant won its legal challenge against the local council’s attempt to block the new restaurant.Victoria’s civil and administrative tribunal (Vcat) has upheld McDonald’s application for a review of Darebin city council’s decision to reject its application to turn 323 High Street in Northcote into one of its stores. Continue reading...

Justin Sun alleges World Liberty Financial installed tools to prevent sale of his tokens after they became tradeableBillionaire crypto entrepreneur Justin Sun on Tuesday sued World Liberty Financial, the digital currency venture co-founded by Donald Trump and his sons, alleging that World Liberty illegally froze his holdings of tokens issued by the company.Sun, the largest investor in World Liberty, alleged in the lawsuit, filed in a federal court in California, that the company secretly installed tools to prevent the sale of his tokens after they became tradeable in September 2025. The lawsuit also alleges that World Liberty threatened to “burn” – or permanently delete – his holdings, even while they were in Sun’s digital wallet. Continue reading...

Robert Albon cannot be declared four-year-old’s father because he ran illegal sperm donation business, court rulesA prolific unregulated sperm donor described in the high court as a “highly dangerous man” has lost a legal fight to be named as the father of a child conceived using his sperm.Robert Albon, who calls himself Joe Donor, was not entitled to be declared the father of a four-year-old child because he was running an illegal sperm donation business, Britain’s most senior family court judge ruled. Continue reading...

Civil rights group logs 300% yearly rise from before war and says ‘authoritarian repression … went into overdrive’A civil rights group dedicated to the defense of pro-Palestinian speech said that requests for legal assistance linked to Palestine-related activism in the US continues to far surpass pre-2023 levels, having logged 300% more requests for support last year than in any year prior to Israel’s war in Gaza.Palestine Legal logged some 1,131 requests in 2025. That was less than the record 2,184 requests it received in 2024, amid the peak of student protests and encampments, but well above its yearly average prior to the October 7 2023 Hamas attacks and Israel’s response in Gaza. Continue reading...

Reviews website features pages praising unlicensed sites’ supposed qualities as if they were legitimate businessesTrustpilot, the reviews website that offers to “find a company you can trust”, is hosting ratings of illegal casinos, raising concerns in Westminster about the potential risks posed to consumers.Unlicensed casino operators linked to financial harm, addiction and even suicide have flooded the UK market in recent years, often targeting people who are trying to limit their gambling by “self-excluding” from licensed operators. Continue reading...

Vulnerable children placed in caravans, Airbnbs and holiday camps, with children’s commissioner saying practice must stopMinisters must get to grips with the “national scandal” of England’s shadow child social care system, the children’s commissioner has warned, as a shocking new report reveals the number of children in unregulated settings has increased by more than 370% in five years.Some of the most vulnerable children in England are being temporarily placed in unregulated caravans, Airbnbs and holiday camps, which risk the “accumulation of increasing levels of harm for children who have already faced enough distress for several lifetimes”, according to a new report. Continue reading...

Growing numbers in the capital Honiara are playing the street card game Pass for a chance of a big payout, while risking big lossesAs the school day ends in Honiara, *Irene, a 43-year-old teacher in a floral dress with a yellow daisy in her bun, steps on to a minibus.After 10 minutes, Irene gets off the bus, walks down an alley, and enters a damp, smoky shelter. Plastic tables fill the space and playing cards are scattered on the floor. Irene has stopped by a hidden gambling table in a western suburb of Honiara to play Pass, a street card game gaining popularity in the Solomon Islands capital. Continue reading...

Another lawyer says ruling ‘puts brakes on the Minns government’s ability to use executive power to minimise people’s rights to protest’Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastThe Minns government should think twice before imposing an outright ban on the phrase “globalise the intifada” in the wake of a landmark finding that could limit attempts to control speech and protests, a leading constitutional expert has said.New South Wales’ highest court ruled in favour of the Palestine Action Group and Blak Caucas on Thursday, striking down an anti-protest law introduced after the Bondi beach terror attack that gave police the power to restrict marches, including the anti-Herzog rally in February. Continue reading...

Legislation will expunge convictions and end prosecution of women who terminate their pregnanciesLegislation to pardon women who have been convicted of illegal abortions has passed its final parliamentary hurdle, paving the way for a landmark change in the law.The amendment to the crime and policing bill, which will also expunge the police records of those arrested and investigated over illegal abortions, was considered in the House of Lords during a phase of parliamentary ping-pong, where a bill passes back and forth between the Lords and Commons. Continue reading...

Pedro Piscal pisco is latest Chilean brand to resemble a Hollywood name – and others have fought off the lawsuitsThe actor Pedro Pascal is waging a legal battle against a Chilean pisco merchant who has chosen a cheeky name for his brand of the country’s national spirit: Pedro Piscal.David Herrera registered the brand name with a Chilean commercial regulator in 2023 and began selling his pisco in off-licences and restaurants. Continue reading...

Three human rights groups are seeking to subpoena permit documents from Richard MarlesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastA trio of Palestinian human rights groups have launched a legal bid to force Australia’s defence minister, Richard Marles, to shed light on whether the government has approved Israel-bound export permits, which could violate international law.The groups – the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, Al-Haq and Al Mezan Center for Human Rights – will attempt to subpoena arms export documents after filing an affidavit in the federal court last week. Continue reading...

Geoffrey Robertson says proposals to reduce backlog are betrayal of party’s values and a ‘cure worse than the disease’The founder of Keir Starmer’s barristers’ chambers has condemned the planned restriction of jury trials in England and Wales as “a betrayal of the values for which Labour purports to stand”.Geoffrey Robertson KC, founding head of Doughty Street Chambers, where the attorney general, Richard Hermer KC, and the justice secretary, David Lammy, also had their professional homes, has written a more than 9,000-word polemic to coincide with the committee stage of the courts and tribunals bill. Continue reading...

• Anthropic launched specialized tools for legal, financial, and HR tasks, disrupting traditional software markets as reported on April 12, 2026. • The expansions impact partner companies in the US, challenging established tech giants. • This move broadens Anthropic's influence from core AI to enterprise applications nationwide.

Tania Warner and her seven-year-old daughter were detained in Texas facilities deemed ‘unsafe and degrading’When Tania Warner and her seven-year-old daughter, Ayla, were released after nearly three weeks of detention by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the Canadian mother’s joy at regaining her freedom was tempered by the knowledge of the many families who remained incarcerated.“They were wonderful people. I just loved them and I cried so hard when I left, I just wanted to take them all with me,” she said. Continue reading...

The restructuring will close all regional offices, which manages 193m acres of land, roughly the size of TexasSign up for the Breaking News US email to get newsletter alerts in your inboxUS public lands will “pay the price” of a drive by Donald Trump’s officials to restructure the agency that oversees them, union leaders have warned, accusing the administration of forcing workers to decide whether to relocate or resign.All regional offices of the US Forest Service, which manages 78m hectares (193m acres) of land – roughly the size of Texas – are set to close as part of an overhaul launched by the Trump administration. The service has already shed hundreds of staff members since Trump returned to power last year. Continue reading...

Call comes on same day former prime minister Tony Abbott said Australia should send troops to fight alongside US forces in the Middle EastFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastThe Greens want the federal government to put direct pressure on Israel to stop its deadly strikes on Lebanon, including cancelling weapons contracts to protest against the “disastrous, illegal, immoral war”.Prime minister, Anthony Albanese, and the foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, have insisted southern Lebanon should be included in the fledgling ceasefire agreement negotiated between the US and Iran in recent days. Continue reading...

The high court has dismissed his bid to clear his name of findings that, on the balance of probabilities, he raped Brittany Higgins in Parliament House in 2019Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastBruce Lehrmann has lost his last legal avenue to challenge his failed defamation case against Network 10 and Lisa Wilkinson after Australia’s top court dismissed his case.The high court dismissed his attempt to challenge the outcome in a short judgment published to its website on Thursday. Continue reading...

Tribunal dismisses claim that the Welsh government’s financial package breached competition rulesCardiff airport has won a legal challenge brought by its rival in Bristol over the fairness of a £205m Welsh government subsidy package.A judgment by the competition appeal tribunal on Tuesday unanimously dismissed Bristol airport’s case against the Welsh government, which the south-west England hub had argued distorted the market and breached the Subsidy Control Act. Continue reading...

Steven Stewart and Mark Shephard tell high court LGBT Financial Recognition Scheme is ‘structurally unfair’Two veterans who were forced to resign for being gay due to a ban on LGBT personnel in the armed forces have launched legal action against the Ministry of Defence (MoD) over a scheme set up to compensate them.Steven Stewart and Mark Shephard, who were both “effectively forced to resign” from the military due to their sexuality, and faced “enduring psychological and relational harm”, are taking legal action against the department over the rules of the LGBT Financial Recognition Scheme, with their lawyers telling the high court that it is “structurally unfair”. Continue reading...

Former diplomats say ministers must threaten action against any companies bidding to build E1 settlement of 3,400 houses in West BankBritain must lead efforts to stop Israel’s annexation of the West Bank – full text of letterA group of leading former UK ambassadors and high commissioners has called on the UK government to threaten action against any companies bidding to build an illegal Israeli settlement “designed to divide the West Bank in two and destroy Palestine’s viability”.In a letter published in the Guardian, the 32 former diplomats said tenders for the planned E1 settlement, which would involve the construction of 3,400 houses on “Palestinian soil” as part of Israel’s “systemic West Bank annexation”, were due to be issued on 1 June. Continue reading...

Department says it’s received 834 requests for a review of tool’s assessments since it launched in NovemberGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastThere appears to be no legal barrier for a human to override a controversial algorithm that determines financial support for elderly Australians, a Senate inquiry has heard, despite government assessors being banned from doing so.The Integrated Assessment Tool (IAT), introduced in November as part of aged care Support at Home reforms, is used to assess eligibility and assign funding levels for aged care services. Continue reading...

Policy is still divisive two years in, with SPD hailing it while CDU minister claims it is risk to young people’s healthGermany is divided over how the legalisation of cannabis two years ago is going, with critics and proponents at odds over its impact on consumption, youth welfare and organised crime.On 1 April 2024 the previous centre-left-led government made Germany the first big EU country to legally allow personal recreational use of cannabis for over-18s. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Greens MLC Sue Higginson tells parliament that Corrective Services knew things ‘which made it very clear they had monitored our conversation’Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastA New South Wales parliamentarian has alleged prison officers unlawfully listened to her calls with inmates and then threatened those who had sought her help.The Greens’ justice spokesperson, Sue Higginson, alleged that her phone calls were “routinely” monitored despite it being against the law for corrective services officers to listen to calls between parliamentarians and prisoners. Continue reading...

Former co-host of Kyle Sandilands filed proceedings in the federal court against Kiis licence holderFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastJackie Henderson has filed a legal action in the federal court claiming compensation of “at least $82,250,000” for the wrongful termination of her 10-year contract to present the Kyle and Jackie O Show on radio station Kiis.The Fair Work claim says that the termination of Henderson’s contract earlier this month constituted adverse action, ARN Media said in a statement to the ASX on Tuesday. Continue reading...

Agency uses devices, which are uncomfortable and interfere with employment, to push people to self-deport, advocates saySign up for the Breaking News US email to get newsletter alerts in your inboxFor five years, an asylum-seeking woman attended routine check-ins with immigration authorities without issue. At her most recent appointment in October, she was unexpectedly ordered to strap on an ankle monitor, according to her attorney, Deepa Bijpuria.Bijpuria, a supervising attorney in the immigration unit of Legal Aid DC, described the client as a single mom who fled her home country because of severe domestic violence, escaping while pregnant with her young daughter. Continue reading...

Noelia Castillo, 25, has struggled with psychiatric illness since she was young and tried to kill herself in October 2022A Spanish woman who spent months fighting her father for the right to euthanasia after being sexually assaulted and becoming paraplegic is expected to end to her life on Thursday.Noelia Castillo, 25, has struggled with psychiatric illness since she was a teenager and tried to kill herself in October 2022 after being sexually assaulted. The attempt left her in constant pain and using a wheelchair. Eighteen months later, she used Spain’s euthanasia law – which was introduced in 2021 – to secure permission to end her life.In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email [email protected] or [email protected]. In the US, you can call or text the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988 or chat at 988lifeline.org. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org Continue reading...

Watchdog issues formal guidance to trustees at top AI research institute after staff expressed concernsThe board of the UK’s leading AI research institute has been reminded of its legal duties in areas such as financial oversight and managing organisational change by the charity watchdog after a whistleblower complaint.The Charity Commission has issued formal regulatory advice and guidance to trustees at the Alan Turing Institute (ATI) – the organisation’s board – after it was contacted by a group of staff with a list of concerns. Continue reading...