Cuba says CIA chief visited Havana as energy crisis worsens
The reported visit came after the US renewed an offer of aid to ease the effects of its oil blockade.
Five Italians die during cave dive in Maldives
Italy says the incident happened at a depth of 50m. Maldivian rescuers have so far found one body.
Australia news live: Delta Goodrem hits the stage in Eurovision semi; Angus Taylor accused of ‘dog whistle’ budget reply
Australian pop star performs song Eclipse in second semi-final before Sunday’s final. Follow today’s news live
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Advocates for migrants last night accused Angus Taylor of using his budget reply speech to “chase votes with dog whistles, fear and division”.
Taylor claimed that migrants were coming to Australia and claiming benefits before they were becoming citizens, a situation which he said Australians did not accept.
The Coalition’s dangerous decision to return to its harmful, failed refugee policies of the past shows what a mess they are in. They have no new policy ideas. Temporary protection visas have harmed countless people and kept many families apart for over a decade. So many are still trying to recover.
Taylor’s comments tonight are inflammatory and desperate. The fact that he feels the need to dog-whistle about mass deportations of so-called ‘overstayers’, many of whom are actually trapped in a massively blown-out court and tribunal system created through years of Coalition underfunding, shows they are far more interested in stoking fear than delivering serious policy solutions.
The language in tonight’s address misleads the nation by claiming that migrants are arriving and immediately accessing welfare payments, which is a blatant lie. In reality most of the restrictions he’s talking about already exist and there are lengthy wait periods for welfare payments.
The Coalition knows all this and is deliberately misleading Australians about how the welfare system already operates in order to whip up fear and division.
If I may answer - it will be below 200,000. There’s no doubt about that.
And then the right mix will depend on the circumstances of the time. What is clear, what is clear, is that the number of students in this country has been at record levels.
Continue reading...Hundreds of illegal motorbikes bulldozed in New York City crime crackdown
A moped had been used in the deadly stray-bullet shooting of a 7-month-old in Brooklyn last month, officials said.
Three more people sick in California amid ‘unprecedented outbreak’ due to toxic mushrooms
Since November, state has seen 47 cases of people accidentally ingesting poisonous wild mushrooms
Health authorities in California’s Napa county reported that three people had been hospitalized after consuming poisonous wild mushrooms as the state continues to grapple with an “unprecedented outbreak” of toxic mushroom illnesses.
Since November 2025, California has seen 47 cases of people accidentally foraging and eating poisonous wild mushrooms, including death caps, which can resemble edible species, and western destroying angel mushrooms. Four people have died and several have required liver transplants.
Continue reading...‘God gave us this city’: Israeli nationalists join Jerusalem Day protest to mark city’s capture
State-sponsored march through Muslim quarter of Old City saw protesters waving flags and chanting ‘Death to Arabs’ on anniversary of city’s annexation
Israeli nationalist demonstrators chanted “Death to the Arabs”, “May your villages burn” and “Gaza is a graveyard” in a state-sponsored march through Jerusalem to mark the anniversary of the city’s capture and annexation.
The annual assertion of Jewish control over Palestinian East Jerusalem has grown more extreme in recent years, and Thursday’s event culminated with the national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, unfurling an Israeli flag in front of the al-Aqsa mosque, the holiest Islamic site in the city.
Continue reading...Judge orders Trump administration to return Colombian woman deported to DRC back to the US
Judge called Adriana Maria Quiroz Zapata’s deportation to the Democratic Republic of Congo ‘likely illegal’
A federal judge has ordered the Trump administration to bring a Colombian woman back to the US from the Democratic Republic of Congo, after she was deported to the African country that had refused to accept her.
The deportation of Adriana María Quiroz Zapata “was likely illegal”, the US district judge Richard Leon ruled on Wednesday.
Continue reading...‘Pretty miraculous’ – 11 rescued after pilot ditches plane in Atlantic
The survivors spent about five hours on a life raft before being rescued by the US Air Force off Florida's coast.
Florida crew recounts ‘miraculous’ Atlantic plane rescue with fuel low
All 11 onboard survived after the plane made an emergency landing near the Bahamas
A military rescue crew in Florida has spoken of the “pretty miraculous” survival of all 11 people it saved from a plane crash in the Atlantic Ocean, and its own scramble to safety with five minutes of fuel left.
Members of the 920th rescue wing, based at Patrick Space Force base, not far from Cape Canaveral, raced on Tuesday to reach the passengers and crew in choppy seas. They had emerged from a small Beechcraft twin-propeller aircraft that ditched into the water about 80 miles east of Melbourne on Florida’s east coast.
Continue reading...Closing arguments begin in high-stakes Musk v OpenAI courtroom showdown
Jury set to deliberate and return a verdict on whether they believe AI firm and Altman are liable in case
Closing arguments began on Thursday in Elon Musk’s lawsuit against Sam Altman and OpenAI, bringing the weeks-long courtroom battle between the two tech moguls nearer to a decision. A nine-person jury is set to deliberate and return a verdict on whether they believe the AI firm and Altman are liable in the case.
The trial, which began last month in an Oakland, California, federal courthouse, has gripped Silicon Valley and featured some of the tech industry’s biggest names as witnesses. Attorneys for both sides have presented testimony and documents that have exposed Musk and Altman’s private dealings, as well as provided a window into the contentious history of OpenAI.
Continue reading...Watchdog groups urge Senate to investigate Samuel Alito over oil stock conflicts
Groups say supreme court justice, who owns oil stocks, may be violating ethics codes by participating in certain cases
The supreme court justice Samuel Alito, who owns stock in oil companies, may be violating court ethics codes by participating in certain cases that could benefit big oil, government watchdog groups say.
In a Thursday letter, a coalition of watchdog organizations called on the Senate judiciary committee to investigate Alito, the sole supreme court justice with holdings in energy companies.
Continue reading...Judge bans reporting on trial of six men accused of sexually assaulting teenage girls in Bristol
Details of case in which group deny abusing girls for several years restricted amid dispute with media over transparency
Six men have gone on trial at Bristol crown court accused of grooming and sexually assaulting vulnerable teenage girls in the city.
They were allegedly part of a large group of men who abused girls over several years. All six men deny the charges against them, which involved “multiple complainants”.
Continue reading...War criminal Ratko Mladić’s jail release request denied
A UN judge admits the 84-year-old is "in the final stages of his life", but says prison conditions in The Hague ensure his maximum comfort.
Giant new dinosaur identified from fossils in Thailand
The nagatitan is the largest dinosaur found in South-East Asia and weighs as much as nine elephants.
Live Updates: Seized ship taken toward Iran as Trump and China’s Xi agree Strait of Hormuz “must remain open” – CBS News
- Live Updates: Seized ship taken toward Iran as Trump and China's Xi agree Strait of Hormuz "must remain open" CBS News
- 'Floating armoury' ship reportedly seized by Iran BBC
- Tensions flare near Strait of Hormuz as a ship is seized and another is sunk Anchorage Daily News
- Ship seized near Strait of Hormuz by ‘unauthorized personnel,’ brought toward Iran Fox News
- US Efforts to End Iran War Stumble as Ship Seized Near UAE Bloomberg.com
UK health secretary resigns, setting up a potential Labour leadership challenge to Keir Starmer – AP News
- UK health secretary resigns, setting up a potential Labour leadership challenge to Keir Starmer AP News
- Opinion | In Some Other Universe, This Might Be Funny The New York Times
- What would potential Labour leadership candidates do differently to Starmer? The Guardian
- Leading challenger to UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer quits government CNN
- Why hasn't Wes Streeting launched a leadership bid? Sky News
Warning of record global temperatures
Warning of record global temperatures as chance of very strong El Niño grows
Latvia’s PM resigns in fallout over stray Ukrainian drones – dw.com
- Latvia's PM resigns in fallout over stray Ukrainian drones dw.com
- Latvian PM Evika Silina resigns over response to drone incursions BBC
- Latvian government collapses amid dispute over breaches by Ukrainian drones The Washington Post
- Latvia prime minister resigns days after ‘stray’ drone incursion – as it happened The Guardian
- Latvian government collapses over Russia-bound Ukrainian drones Financial Times
Canadian officer accused of spying for China acquitted of charges
William Majcher was accused of helping Chinese police coerce a Vancouver-area real estate investor, accused of fraud, to return to China
A retired police officer Canada accused of being an agent for China has been acquitted of national security charges after prosecutors failed to prove he acted illegally.
William Majcher, who served in the RCMP’s financial crime unit, was charged in 2023 over allegations he had breached Canada’s Security of Information Act by helping Chinese police coerce a Vancouver-area real estate investor, accused of fraud, to return to China.
Continue reading...Prominent Australian academic denies links to powerful Iranian politician
Prof Abbas Rajabifard of the University of Melbourne says he was listed as a co-author of research with Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Iran’s chief negotiator in recent peace talks, without his knowledge
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A University of Melbourne academic has denied collaborating on research with the speaker of Iran’s parliament – who has been leading Tehran’s peace negotiations with the US – saying he was named as an author on a journal article without his knowledge.
On Monday Guardian Australia revealed that Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Iran’s top negotiator, had built extensive ties to Australia over the past decade, including links to a University of Melbourne engineering research centre.
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