Bald eagle who went viral for incubating rock dies after fierce storms in Missouri

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Murphy, who lived to 33, took in a rock in 2023 and tried to hatch it, captivating hearts and later fostering two eaglets

Missouri lost an ambassador, role model and community pillar in the violent storms that swept the country on 15 March: a 33-year-old bald eagle named Murphy.

Murphy captivated hearts far beyond the midwest and gained national attention in 2023 when he incubated a rock, attempting to hatch it, in a stunt the internet loved. The World Bird Sanctuary in Valley Park, Missouri, where he lived, rewarded his instincts, allowing him to foster an eaglet that he nurtured back to health. Another eaglet was placed into his care, and is expected to be released midway through the summer.

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Trump’s expansionism threatens the rules-based order in place since second world war

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UN charter says members ‘shall refrain from the threat or use of force’ against a country’s territory or independence

The post-second world war taboo on acquiring territory through force or by the threat of force is being unravelled by a generation of political leaders, led by expansionist threats from Donald Trump that are unprecedented for a US president.

Experts are warning that a combination of the Russian aggression against Ukraine and Trump’s comments explicitly pushing for the US to acquire Greenland, Canada, the Panama canal and Gaza is fuelling a permissive environment that threatens long-recognised borders and the international rules-based order that has existed since the end of the war.

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‘I’m not stepping down’: Chuck Schumer defies Democrats’ calls over funding bill

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Party leader faces backlash over his decision to support Republican-led bill to avoid government shutdown

Chuck Schumer defied calls to give up the top Democratic position in the Senate after he voted for Republicans’ funding bill to avoid a government shutdown, saying on Sunday: “I’m not stepping down.”

Schumer has faced a wave of backlash from Democrats over his decision to support the Republican-led bill, with many Democrats alleging that the party leader isn’t doing enough to stand up to Donald Trump’s agenda.

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This launcher is about to displace the V-2 as Germany’s largest rocket – Ars Technica

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  1. This launcher is about to displace the V-2 as Germany’s largest rocket  Ars Technica
  2. Isar Aerospace set to make first orbital launch from continental Europe  NASASpaceflight.com
  3. Isar Aerospace: German company set for first commercial rocket launch from Europe  New Scientist
  4. Europe is finally getting serious about commercial rockets  MIT Technology Review
  5. 1st-ever orbital rocket launch from European soil targeted for March 24  Yahoo
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Hamas rejects bridging proposal, refuses to demilitarize, Witkoff says – The Jerusalem Post

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  1. Hamas rejects bridging proposal, refuses to demilitarize, Witkoff says  The Jerusalem Post
  2. Trump Envoy Witkoff Reveals a Harsh Change on Hostages in Tucker Carlson Interview  Haaretz
  3. Witkoff says Hamas may have tricked him into thinking it was game for deal  The Times of Israel
  4. US negotiators ‘duped’ by Hamas, says Steve Witkoff as he claims Putin doesn’t want to ‘take all of Europe’  New York Post
  5. Hamas 'not As Ideologically Extreme As Portrayed,' Says Trump Envoy  i24NEWS
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Labour mayoral candidate on race to stop Reform – and ‘Doge Lincolnshire’

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Jason Stockwood, ex-chair of Grimsby Town FC, has plan for keeping rival Andrea Jenkyns from implementing US-style cuts

Labour can beat Reform UK by focusing relentlessly on the cost of living, the party’s mayoral candidate for Greater Lincolnshire, who is taking on the Conservative defector Andrea Jenkyns, has said.

Jason Stockwood, the former chair of Grimsby Town football club, is standing for Labour in the most high-profile mayoral race of the local elections.

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Israeli Cabinet Moves to Fire Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara – The New York Times

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  1. Israeli Cabinet Moves to Fire Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara  The New York Times
  2. Knesset committee to select MK for panel that will weigh firing of attorney general  The Times of Israel
  3. A legal showdown looms in Israel as Netanyahu moves to oust top officials  The Associated Press
  4. Defying protests, Israeli cabinet votes no confidence in attorney general  Reuters
  5. Emboldened by escalating fronts, Netanyahu wages a deceptive war on Israel's democracy  Haaretz
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Israel’s strikes on Hamas leaders in recent days haven’t hit key military commanders – The Times of Israel

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  1. Israel’s strikes on Hamas leaders in recent days haven’t hit key military commanders  The Times of Israel
  2. Palestinian deaths in Gaza rise above 50,000 as Israel expands its military campaign  NPR
  3. Lethal Israeli Strikes Halve Hamas’ Top Leadership in Gaza  Bloomberg
  4. Gaza’s Health Ministry says Israel has struck the largest hospital in the territory’s south  The Associated Press
  5. At least 19 killed in Israeli strikes in Gaza, including senior Hamas leader  Fox News
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Keir Starmer says he ‘likes and respects’ Donald Trump

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PM agrees with US president that Europe must bear greater burden for its collective self-defence

Keir Starmer has spoken of how he personally “likes and respects” the US president, Donald Trump, and understands what he is trying to achieve.

The prime minister made the comments in an interview with the New York Times, saying: “President Trump has a point when he says there needs to be a greater burden borne by European countries for the collective self-defence of Europe.”

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Alcohol safety ads to target young Australian travellers amid push for answers over methanol deaths

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Penny Wong says families of Laos poisoning victims Bianca Jones and Holly Bowles ‘foremost in mind’ as Smarttraveller campaign announced

The Australian government will launch a new alcohol safety campaign targeting young travellers as the families of Melbourne teenagers Bianca Jones and Holly Bowles, who died after drinking alcohol tainted with methanol while on holiday in Laos, continue to push for answers.

The friends, both 19, died in November last year while on holiday in Laos, in a suspected mass methanol poisoning that resulted in the deaths of six foreign tourists.

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‘Apoplectic’ environment groups halt Coalition attack ads to take aim at Albanese over species’ ‘death warrant’

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Exclusive: Australia’s top green organisations suspend anti-nuclear power ads to fund campaign against Labor’s move to protect salmon industry

Australia’s leading environment organisations have abruptly suspended advertising campaigns attacking the Coalition’s plan to introduce nuclear power and are instead funding ads accusing Anthony Albanese of signing “the death warrant” of an endangered species.

The shift from criticising the Coalition to Labor on the cusp of an election campaign was agreed by the bosses of green groups – including the Australian Conservation Foundation, Greenpeace, the WWF Australia and the Climate Council – at what campaigners described as an emergency meeting on Saturday.

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What a $5,000 ticket will and won’t get you at one of Canberra’s budget night fundraising soirees

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As you decipher how the budget may alter your life on Tuesday night, your politicians will be raking in the cash by wining and dining donors and lobbyists

As you decipher how the federal budget may alter your life on Tuesday night, your politicians will be raking in the cash by wining and dining donors and lobbyists in Canberra.

This year’s budget night fundraisers – often concealed from the general public – could be something of a final hoorah. New laws capping campaign spending will soon make these budget night soirees less important, at least financially.

Tickets will have to be publicly disclosed as gifts, meaning there will be a record of those who sipped champagne with politicians and filled the party coffers. But these changes won’t apply until 2026. For now, the show goes on.

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