Firefighters struggle to contain deadly Greek wildfire
Over 100 firefighters are working to extinguish a fire near Thessaloniki which has claimed a life.
What are US and Japanese soldiers doing in the middle of the Australian bush?
The BBC's Katy Watson explains why troops are training in remote Australia - a country not at war, thousands of kilometres from today's major conflicts.
What to know about the looming deadline on North American free trade
The US, Canada and Mexico were to reach an agreement on whether to extend their free trade pact by 1 July. All signs point to them blowing past that deadline.
Roof collapse kills 14 children at Pakistan tuition centre
Two people are taken into custody after the incident in the Kahna suburb of Lahore.
US Supreme Court upholds bans on transgender women in female school and college sports
Trump called it a "big win" but a major LGBT campaign group described the ruling as "heartbreaking".
Missing US congressman explains mysterious four-month absence
New Jersey Republican Tom Kean Jr, told fellow lawmakers that depression was the reason he had been away since March.
Almost 60,000 far-right extremists in Germany, intelligence agency says
More than a quarter of those identified are believed to be violent, Germany's domestic intelligence agency says.
US envoys in Doha to meet mediators but not Iranians, Qatar says
Qatar's foreign ministry spokesman says no high-level meetings or direct talks between the US and Iran are scheduled.
Supreme Court’s birthright ruling is major blow to Trump
The BBC’s Gary O’Donoghue explains what the court's landmark ruling means for the US president.
Senegalese MPs move to clip presidential powers as tensions mount
The proposed changes agreed by a majority of MPs sparked protests outside parliament.
Manhunt after bomb injures Ukrainian oligarch in Monaco
The blast was caused by an explosive device which appeared to contain bolts and pellets, the head of Monaco's government said.
Canadians share hopes and wishes for America’s 250th birthday
We asked Canadians across the country what they would say and give to their southern neighbour.
Starmer unveils extra £15bn for UK defence, with some road and energy projects scrapped to fund rise – politics live
Starmer says defence spending cannot be ‘bottomless pit’ and MoD has to ‘spend better’
Keir Starmer is speaking now.
They are at Malloy Aeronautics, a firm that designs heavy-lift drones, and Starmer says this morning they showed him one of the heaviest drones he had ever seen.
Last year, I made the decision in the national interest to reprioritise aid spending towards defence and achieve the biggest uplift in defence spending since the end of the cold war.
That was the right choice because the world has changed. National security is economic security.
Continue reading...Telegraph’s £575m takeover by German group completed
Acquisition by Axel Springer ends three years of uncertainty over ownership of 171-year-old titles
The European media group Axel Springer has completed its £575m takeover of the Telegraph, ending three tumultuous years of uncertainty over the future ownership of the 171-year-old titles.
The Germany-headquartered company, which gazumped the owner of the Daily Mail by tabling a blockbuster offer at the 11th hour, said it had now received all regulatory approvals in the UK, Ireland and Austria to take full control of Telegraph Media Group (TMG).
Continue reading...Flooding hits Ghana’s capital killing 13 people – with another storm forecast
People have been urged to relocate to high ground or stay indoors as more rain is expected to come.
Founder of Asian super-app Gojek sentenced to years in jail for corruption
The case against Gojek founder Nadiem Makarim relates to a laptop deal made during his term as Indonesia's education minister.
First Thing: Supreme court hands Trump power to fire agency chiefs but rules against him on mail-in ballots
Decision overturns decades of precedent curbing executive power. Plus how one man survived eight days lost in the Pacific
Good morning. Yesterday the US supreme court handed Donald Trump – and all future presidents – the power to fire leaders of independent agencies or commissions, overturning 90 years of court precedent curbing executive power.
While Trump celebrated the ruling on Truth Social as a “big win”, labor advocates, unions, and consumer advocacy groups criticized the decision on the case, Trump v Slaughter, and warned of the long-term impact on democracy in the US. Rebecca Slaughter, the federal trade commissioner fired last March, said she was “profoundly disappointed about today’s decision”. Our columnist, Moira Donegan, says the court’s verdict has again undermined the power of Congress.
What have lawyers said about the verdict? Stephen Vladeck, a Georgetown law professor, wrote: “There’s no sugar-coating [it]. It’s an enormously important ruling. It’s a huge win for Trump/the executive. And it’s going to have massive ramifications for the functioning of the government long after Trump is gone.”
What other decisions did the court make? The supreme court sided against national Republicans and Trump’s administration to allow mail-in ballots that arrive after election day to be counted, upholding the law in more than a dozen states. It also ruled that law enforcement’s use of sprawling warrants that sweep up smartphone location data requires privacy protections under the fourth amendment, in a boost to critics who view their use as an unconstitutional dragnet.
How did Trump and Carroll react? The US president wrote on Truth Social: “Surprisingly, the supreme court declined to ‘review’ a Fake Case brought against me”. Roberta Kaplan, Carroll’s attorney, also issued a statement in response to the decision, saying: “Today’s supreme court decision affirms once and for all the jury’s unanimous verdict that President Donald J Trump sexually assaulted and defamed E Jean Carroll.”
Continue reading...China is a clear winner from Trump’s war in Middle East, report concludes
Beijing, whose stockpiles and renewables industry allowed it to withstand energy shock, is now gaining from global solar and EV push
China has emerged as the sole winner in Asia from the strait of Hormuz crisis, according to a report published on Tuesday.
The report by the Asia Group thinktank concluded that China had weathered the storm of the global commodities crisis resulting from the closure of the Middle Eastern waterway, and also stood to gain from the economic and geopolitical trends sparked by the wider conflict.
Continue reading...Did US drug agents allow lethal fentanyl to hit New Mexico’s streets?
Explosive AP story based on whistleblower testimony suggests agents ‘sat back and watched’ in hopes of securing larger drug-trafficking bust
Did the Drug Enforcement Agency break the law and gamble with public safety when it permitted large quantities of fentanyl pills to be trafficked in New Mexico in the hopes of getting a larger drug-trafficking bust?
That is the question at the heart of an explosive story published in the Associated Press, based on information provided by a former DEA agent turned whistleblower; the whistleblower filed a complaint in 2023 that claimed agents had allowed hundreds of thousands of fentanyl pills into Albuquerque – a city still reeling from the opioid crisis while many others across the country are seeing overdose rates decline.
Continue reading...Police units deployed across South Africa before anti-immigration marches
Government fears repeat of anti-migrant violence in 2008 that led to looting and resulted in deaths of 62 people
South African authorities have deployed police units to towns and cities around the country before planned demonstrations against undocumented foreign nationals.
Security personnel were seen patrolling the central business district in Johannesburg, the economic capital, where many shopkeepers decided not to open on Tuesday. Trucks and other assets belonging to the South African National Defence Force were also present, according to local media reports.
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