Greens and Plaid Cymru pledge to push Labour on climate, housing and poverty

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Election campaigns kick off with policies on single market, climate crisis, NHS and clean seas

Plaid Cymru and the Green party have launched their election campaigns, focusing on issues ranging from offshore windfarms’ profits to initiatives for improving water and air quality.

The parties, which hope to win about four seats each, vowed to keep a Labour government in check and to push the party’s leader, Keir Starmer, to be bolder in areas such as health, housing and the environment.

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Fewer pupils in England studying drama and media at GCSE and A-level

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Figures show statistics, computing, physics and maths have risen in popularity and languages bouncing back

Fewer pupils in England are studying drama, media and performing arts at GCSE and A-level, while the popularity of statistics, computing, physics and maths has gone up.

Provisional figures for exam entries in England this summer, published by the exams regulator Ofqual on Thursday, also reveal a growing enthusiasm for modern foreign languages, which had been in long-term decline.

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Meet the Chinese army’s latest weapon: the gun-toting dog

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China shows off mechanical canine with an automatic rifle on its back at joint military drills with Cambodia

The Chinese army has debuted its latest weapon: a gun-toting robotic dog.

The mechanical canine, which has an automatic rifle on its back, was front and centre of recent joint military drills with Cambodia, according to footage from the state broadcaster CCTV.

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‘Operation Endgame’ Hits Malware Delivery Platforms – Krebs on Security – Krebs on Security

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  1. 'Operation Endgame' Hits Malware Delivery Platforms – Krebs on Security  Krebs on Security
  2. Massive police sweep across Europe takes down ransomware networks and arrests 4 suspects  ABC News
  3. Largest ever operation against botnets hits dropper malware ecosystem | Europol  Europol
  4. Europol hits malware network in major cybercrime operation  DW (English)
  5. Europol Shuts Down 100+ Servers Linked to IcedID, TrickBot, and Other Malware  The Hacker News
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Aid Workers Describe Inferno, Bodies ‘Burned Beyond Recognition’ In Rafah – Rolling Stone

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  1. Aid Workers Describe Inferno, Bodies 'Burned Beyond Recognition' In Rafah  Rolling Stone
  2. Israel could have used smaller weapons against Hamas to avoid deaths in Gaza tent fire, experts say  The Associated Press
  3. Israeli airstrike on Rafah kills 12 Palestinians, Gaza medics say  Reuters
  4. Politics | Jun 1st 2024 Edition  The Economist
  5. Opinion | Israel's latest civilian massacre demands action - The Washington Post  The Washington Post
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Black Americans disproportionately encounter lies online, survey finds

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Most Americans concerned about online misinformation as election nears, according to poll by watchdog group Free Press

As US presidential elections approach, the vast majority of Americans are concerned about online misinformation and fear they do not have enough accurate information on candidates, especially local ones, a new poll has shown.

While people across the political and racial spectrum reported being “very concerned” about the deliberate spread of online misinformation, the study found Black Americans are disproportionately encountering misinformation when seeking accurate news.

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Mike Johnson plans Republican mega-bill ready to push through if Trump wins

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House speaker plans far-reaching bill including tax cuts and border security to make Trump ‘the most consequential president’

Mike Johnson, the speaker of the US House of Representatives, is planning a sweeping ideological legislative drive that aims to make Donald Trump “the most consequential president of the modern era” if the Republicans win power in November.

A far-reaching bill containing a range of policy priorities at once – including tax cuts worth trillions, border security and rolling back Obamacare – is being prepared to avoid the mistakes the GOP believed happened early in Trump’s first term, when Johnson says the party wasted time because its victory over Hillary Clinton took it by surprise.

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Russia-Ukraine war: Moscow troop build-up near Kharkiv ‘still not enough for large-scale offensive’ – as it happened

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Ukraine’s top commander says enemy sending reinforcements to area but lacks numbers for a major push

Russia’s foreign ministry said on Thursday it was finalising a proposal for “retaliatory measures” against the EU over the bloc’s ban on the broadcast of four Russian media outlets on its territory.

The EU said earlier this month it was suspending the distribution of the Voice of Europe, the RIA Novosti news agency and the Izvestia and Rossiyskaya Gazeta newspapers.

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Origin Energy offered to sell Eraring power station to NSW government for $544m

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Exclusive: Documents reveal offer was made three years before Origin and government reached deal to keep Australia’s biggest coal-fired power station open

Origin Energy offered to sell its Eraring power station to the New South Wales government for more than half a billion dollars before announcing it would close the plant in August 2025, a document now made public reveals.

The energy company, which last week announced a pact with the government to keep the nation’s biggest coal-fired power station open for at least another two years, had offered to sell back the privatised facility for $544m during negotiations in 2021.

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Google and Apple keeping Reddit and X in app stores despite pornography due to revenue, eSafety boss says

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Commissioner says companies have ‘huge disincentive’ to abide by their own policies on adult content amid discussions of age assurance technology

Australia’s online safety regulator has accused Apple and Google of financial motives in deciding not to remove Reddit and Elon Musk’s X from their app stores for hosting pornography in violation of their own policies.

Research cited in the eSafety commissioner’s online roadmap for age verification technology for adult sites last year reported that 41% of teens aged between 16 and 18 reported seeing pornography on X – more than the 37% who viewed pornography on dedicated adult sites.

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Hit the road: will 24 new multimillion-dollar electric buses be left sitting in a Brisbane shed?

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Brisbane city council ordered 60 of the electric vehicles, but a cut back in scheduled services means just over half may be needed

Two dozen state-of-the art, multimillion-dollar electric buses could be left sitting idle in a shed when the Brisbane Metro service starts operations this year, because it will operate less frequently than initially planned.

The system was originally designed to operate every three minutes, but it’s now planned to run every five minutes, which would require fewer vehicles.

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Coalition’s ex-detainee curfew amendments made regime unlawful, high court toldin high court

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Exclusive: Lawyers for YBFZ argue default ankle bracelets and curfews are punitive and breach the separation of executive and judiciary

Coalition amendments beefing up the Albanese government’s regime of electronic monitoring and curfews for people released from immigration detention have been cited in the high court as a key reason to strike the laws down.

Lawyers for YBFZ, a stateless man from Eritrea challenging the laws, have argued the curfews are unconstitutional, in part, because the default is that they are imposed on all non-citizens unless the minister is satisfied the condition is not necessary to protect the community.

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French PM says voters for far right may end up like Britons ‘who cry over Brexit’

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Gabriel Attal cautions against backing Marine Le Pen’s National Rally, which leads solidly in polls for European elections

The French prime minister, Gabriel Attal, has said voters choosing the far right in the European elections next week risk becoming like British people who regret backing Brexit.

“Don’t be like the British who cried after Brexit,” he told RTL radio on Thursday. “A large majority of British people regret Brexit and sometimes regret not turning out to vote, or voting for something that was negative for their country.

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Israel Seizes Entire Gaza-Egypt Border, Continues Deadly Invasion of Rafah – Democracy Now!

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  1. Israel Seizes Entire Gaza-Egypt Border, Continues Deadly Invasion of Rafah  Democracy Now!
  2. May 30, 2024 Israel-Hamas war  CNN
  3. Israel's Claim of Control Over Border Zone Risks Raising Tensions With Egypt  The New York Times
  4. Egypt tight-lipped over Israeli takeover of Gaza buffer zone  The Guardian
  5. Rafah battles intensify as Israel takes over Gaza-Egypt border strip  Al Jazeera English
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