Passengers hold on as driverless Metro train speeds through Sydney tunnel with an open door

Rail union wants network temporarily shut down and an investigation into ‘one of the worst safety incidents we’ve seen’

Passengers held on to handrails after a door stayed open on a driverless Metro racing underneath Sydney, with a transport union later calling for the system to be shut down until safety measures were put in place.

A “door fault” was identified on a train travelling between Chatswood and Crows Nest stations at about 8.01am on Wednesday, the Metro Trains Sydney chief executive, Daniel Williams, said in a statement.

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Wednesday briefing: What the latest wave of tariffs mean for the US, UK, Europe – and you

In today’s newsletter: The administration’s sweeping tariffs have left markets bracing for volatility – but what impact will they have on an unsteady global economy?

Good morning. According to Donald Trump, it’s “liberation day”: the advent of a new trade order in which Americans reap the benefit of massive tariffs on imports, and the rest of the world picks up the tab.

Unsurprisingly, the United States’ trading partners tend to take a very different view. And they are doing everything they can to avoid being passive targets for the White House’s carnivorous vision of American exceptionalism.

Israel-Gaza war | Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz announced a major expansion of the military operation in Gaza on Wednesday, saying large areas of the enclave would be seized and added to the security zones of Israel. Follow the latest here.

Israel-Gaza war | Some of the bodies of 15 Palestinian paramedics and rescue workers, killed by Israeli forces and buried in a mass grave in Gaza, were found with their hands or legs tied and had gunshot wounds to the head and chest, according to two eyewitnesses. The accounts add to evidence pointing to a potentially serious war crime on 23 March.

UK news | More than 20 women have contacted police to say they fear they may have been attacked by the serial rapist Zhenhao Zou, with detectives fearing there may be even more victims to come. Zou, 28, was convicted last month of raping three women in London and seven in China between 2019 and 2024.

US politics | Cory Booker, the Democratic US senator from New Jersey, has broken the record for longest speech ever by a lone senator by spending 25 hours and five minutes inveighing against Donald Trump in the chamber. Booker’s speech was intended to highlight the “grave and urgent” danger that Trump poses to democracy.

Cinema | Val Kilmer, the actor best known for his roles in Top Gun, Batman Forever and The Doors, has died at the age of 65. His daughter Mercedes told the New York Times that the cause of death was pneumonia.

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Israel-Gaza war: Israeli defence minister announces expansion of military operations in Gaza – latest updates

Defence minister Israel Katz says large areas of the territory would be seized and added to the security zones of Israel. Follow the latest developments

Israel’s announcement that the army will seize “large areas” of the Palestinian territory comes after a warning last week that the military would soon “operate with full force” in additional parts of Hamas-run Gaza.

Israel restarted intense bombing of Gaza on 18 March and then launched a new ground offensive, ending a nearly two-month ceasefire in the war with Hamas.

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Stranger than fiction MI5 tales revealed in first National Archives collaboration

From Guy Burgess’s briefcase to microdots secreted in talc, an exhibition reveals remarkable items from the agency’s archives – and the extraordinary stories behind them

The agency that would become MI5, originally known as the Secret Service Bureau, employed just 17 staff in 1914; by the end of the first world war, the number working for Britain’s domestic counter-intelligence agency had swelled to 850, including a number of female administrators.

While valuable for managing the card index records, noted Edith Lomax, the controller of women staff in 1918, only women under the age of 30 should be recruited “on account of the very considerable strain that was thrown on [their] brains”.

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Doctors in NSW public hospitals threaten three-day strike over pay dispute, defying ban

State government warns industrial action could halt elective surgeries, as doctors seek pay rise of up to 30%

Thousands of doctors in public hospitals across New South Wales are threatening to strike for the first time in decades as they seek a pay rise of up to 30%, as the state government warns the action could halt elective surgeries.

Doctors have threatened a three-day walkout from public hospitals from Tuesday. It marks the latest medical industrial dispute to potentially escalate into diminished patient care, after Guardian Australia on Wednesday revealed that the mass resignation of public psychiatrists over pay and conditions has led to the closure of the HIV psychiatry clinic at Sydney’s Royal Prince Alfred’s hospital.

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US says China military drills targeting Taiwan put region’s security ‘at risk’

China’s military says drills will continue in the Taiwan Strait on Wednesday and will use live fire

The US has accused China of putting the region’s security at risk after it launched a second day of military drills targeting Taiwan with a rehearsal blockade and attack.

China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) began the joint drills without notice on Tuesday morning, sending 76 aircraft and more than 20 Navy and Coast Guard ships, including the Shandong carrier group, to positions around Taiwan’s main island.

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Queensland’s recovery to ‘take months and years’ after floods sweep across vast interior

Bureau of Meteorology predicts flooding could continue for weeks as stock losses already estimated at over 150,000

Queensland’s premier has declared “day one” of a recovery that will take years as the state prepares to wake to clear skies that should reveal the vast scale of its outback floods.

But despite forecasts the rain will pass for soaked central and south-west Queensland by Thursday, towns and homesteads could be cut off or at risk of flooding for weeks to come, according to the Bureau of Meteorology’s senior meteorologist, Dean Narramore.

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Last summer was second worst for common UK butterflies since 1976

More than half of Britain’s 59 native species are in long-term decline, UK Butterfly Monitoring Scheme finds

Last summer was the fifth worst in nearly half a century for butterflies in Britain, according to the biggest scientific survey of insect populations in the world.

For the first time since scientific recording began in 1976, more than half of Britain’s 59 native species are in long-term decline.

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Trump set to announce new round of tariffs on his so-called ‘liberation day’

President’s plans have rattled global stock markets and triggered heated rows with US’s largest trading partners

Donald Trump will announce his latest round of tariffs at the White House on Wednesday afternoon, threatening to unleash a global trade war on what he has dubbed “liberation day”.

Trump has rattled global stock markets, alarmed corporate executives and economists, and triggered heated rows with the US’s largest trading partners by announcing and delaying plans to impose tariffs on foreign imports several times since taking office.

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Disabled MPs speak of difficulties they face working in UK parliament

Committee hears about ‘insane’ lack of provisions and arcane, time-consuming procedures

MPs with disabilities have spoken about the challenges they face working in parliament, criticising the “insane” lack of provisions and arcane, time-consuming procedures.

Lucy Powell, the Commons leader, who also chairs its modernisation committee, said she would be “very in favour of” bringing in call lists for when MPs will speak, one of the adjustments called for by MPs in the committee. Such lists are used for ministerial questions but not for debates, beyond a period during Covid.

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Royal Ballet to perform Justin Peck’s Everywhere We Go, with music by Sufjan Stevens

Director Kevin O’Hare announces staging of NYCB choreographer Peck’s 2014 piece, as well as new works by Akram Khan and Cathy Marston

A ballet by one of New York’s hottest choreographers, set to the music of Sufjan Stevens, and Akram Khan’s first work for the Royal Opera House stage are two highlights of the Royal Ballet’s 2025-26 season, announced on Wednesday. They will be seen alongside the first commission for a UK company from choreographic duo Paul Lightfoot and Sol León, premieres from Wayne McGregor and Cathy Marston and a new ballet based on Christopher Isherwood’s A Single Man, with live music by John Grant.

“It’s about working with new voices, looking for what we haven’t experienced and what’s important to see,” said artistic director Kevin O’Hare about what will be his 14th season in charge of the company.

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Thousands of Ford Kuga hybrid drivers ‘left in limbo’ after fire risk warnings

Carmaker reportedly has yet to announce plan for repairs after telling motorists not to charge their cars

Thousands of drivers have reportedly been left in limbo after warnings that their car could catch fire due to a battery defect.

Ford issued an urgent recall of its Kuga plug-in hybrid car in early March, warning drivers not to charge the battery because of a risk it might short-circuit while on the road. The problem could cause a loss of power or a fire, according to the recall notice. Four weeks later, the manufacturer has yet to announce a timescale for repairs and owners report that it is failing to respond to their requests for an update.

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Val Kilmer, star of Top Gun and The Doors, dies aged 65

Known for his roles in Batman Forever, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, and Tombstone, the prolific actor’s cause of death was pneumonia

Val Kilmer, the actor best known for his roles in Top Gun, Batman Forever and The Doors, has died at the age of 65.

His daughter Mercedes told the New York Times that the cause of death was pneumonia. Kilmer was diagnosed with throat cancer in 2014 and later recovered, after treatment with chemotherapy and trachea surgery that had reduced hisability to speak and breathe.

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Outrage in New Zealand after 11-year-old girl sent to psychiatric ward and drugged in identity mix-up

Report finds police mistook girl for missing woman in blunder that has appalled political leaders

An 11-year-old girl was restrained, injected with anti-psychotic drugs and placed on a mental health ward after New Zealand police mistook her for a missing woman, a report found on Wednesday.

Health officials and police have scrambled to explain the mix-up, which has appalled political leaders and stoked outrage across the country.

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US bombing of Yemen compounding dire humanitarian situation – rights groups

Anti-Houthi air campaign, details of which were revealed in Signal scandal, has brought further destruction to country

A ramped-up US bombing campaign on Yemen has killed civilians and brought further destruction and uncertainty to the poorest country in the Middle East, compounding an already dire situation after Donald Trump cut aid, according to local people, humanitarian workers and rights groups.

“Now the rampant bombing has started, you never know which way things will go,” said Siddiq Khan, who works as a country director in Yemen for the aid charity Islamic Relief.

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Neil Young says he may be barred from returning to US over Donald Trump criticism

The US-Canadian dual citizen speculates he may be ‘barred or put in jail to sleep on a cement floor’ after his European tour, after years of speaking against Trump

Neil Young has shared his concerns of being barred from the US after his European tour later this year, thanks to his outspoken critiques of Donald Trump.

On Tuesday, on his website Neil Young Archives, the 79-year-old musician – who has dual Canadian-American citizenship – wrote of his fears after the recent spate of people being detained and deported upon entering the US. These incidents have been credited to vague or unspecified visa issues, but have frequently affected individuals who have criticised the Trump administration either publicly or in messages on their phone read by immigration officers.

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Ex-Costa Rica president says US visa revoked after criticism of Trump

Óscar Arias, 84, who won Nobel peace prize in 1987, said US president was behaving like ‘a Roman emperor’

Former Costa Rican president and Nobel winner Óscar Arias said on Tuesday that the US had revoked his visa to enter the country, weeks after he criticized Donald Trump on social media saying he was behaving like “a Roman emperor”.

Arias, 84, was president between 1986 and 1990 and again between 2006 and 2010. A self-declared pacifist, he won the 1987 Nobel peace prize for his role in brokering peace during the Central American conflicts of the 1980s.

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Hegseth indicates US backing for Taiwan – but it is transactional Trump who has the final word

Defence secretary’s trip to Asia shows the Trump administration is engaged with the region, but analysts warn Taipei to tread carefully

On Tuesday China’s military launched joint drills around Taiwan, sending ships, planes and some bizarre propaganda videos across the strait to both warn and punish Taiwan’s government over what Beijing calls “separatist activity”.

The purported provocation was recent assertiveness by Taiwan’s president, Lai Ching-te, who in March designated China a “foreign hostile force” and announced 17 measures to counter its espionage and influence operations.

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Cory Booker breaks record for longest Senate speech with Trump condemnation

In speech that began Monday night, Democratic senator warns of ‘grave and urgent’ danger of Trump administration

Cory Booker, the Democratic US senator from New Jersey, has broken the record for longest speech ever by a lone senator – beating the record first established by Strom Thurmond, who filibustered for 24 hours and 18 minutes in opposition to the Civil Rights Act of 1957.

Booker’s speech eventually ran to 25 hours and five minutes. Having begun at 7pm on Monday night, was not a filibuster but instead an effort to warn of what he called the “grave and urgent” danger that Donald Trump’s presidential administration poses to democracy and the American people.

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