Gaza aid ship on fire after reported drone attack
An aid ship heading to Gaza has sent out a distress signal after crew members say it was hit in a drone attack.
Nick McKenzie denies seeing privileged communication between Ben Roberts-Smith and his lawyers
Investigative journalist says ‘legal strategy’ he referred to in secret recording was reference to war veteran allegedly telling his ex-wife to lie to court
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Investigative journalist Nick McKenzie has denied in a Sydney court that he saw privileged communications between Ben Roberts-Smith and his lawyers during the proceedings of the war veteran’s failed defamation case against him and Nine.
The court also heard a “secret” recording where McKenzie allegedly told a witness in the defamation proceedings that Roberts-Smith’s ex-wife, Emma Roberts, and her friend Danielle Scott were “actively briefing us on his legal strategy in respect of you”.
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Continue reading...Trump signs executive order to cut funding for public broadcasters
President says neither NPR nor PBS ‘presents a fair, accurate, or unbiased portrayal of current events’
Donald Trump has signed an executive order seeking to cut public funding for NPR and PBS, accusing the news outlets of being biased.
NPR and PBS are only partly funded by the US taxpayer and rely heavily on private donations.
Continue reading...Why is Trump ending the ‘de minimis’ tariff loophole on low-value imports?
Goods worth less than $800 will be subject to 120% levy meaning prices on Chinese exports will probably increase
At one minute past midnight on Friday, eastern time, a US tariff exemption that has fuelled the rise of companies such as Shein and Temu, and stocked the wardrobes of millions of Americans with cheap fast fashion and other household goods, closed. As part of Donald Trump’s flurry of tariffs on China, the US is closing a loophole that allowed low-value goods to be shipped into the US without paying any import fees. The “de minimis” loophole, known by the Latin phrase for “of little importance”, was “a big scam going on against our country”, the US president said on Wednesday. “We put an end to it.”
Continue reading...NatWest profits soar by 36% as full privatisation looms
Government stake reduced to under 2% as bank’s profit of £1.8bn beats analyst forecasts by £200m
NatWest has reported a 36% increase in profits in the first three months of this year as the government reduced its stake in the bank to less than 2%, paving a return to fully private ownership after 17 years.
The bank reported operating profit before tax of £1.8bn, up from £1.3bn in the same period last year, beating analyst consensus forecasts by £200m.
Continue reading...HMS Researcher Denies Lying To Border Patrol Officials – The Harvard Crimson
- HMS Researcher Denies Lying To Border Patrol Officials The Harvard Crimson
- Harvard researcher detained in February for failing to declare frog embryo samples says she didn’t lie to government Yahoo
- Harvard researcher held in Louisiana awaits judge’s decision on deportation to Russia CNN
- Harvard Scientist Detained By ICE Just Wants To Go Back To Cancer Research HuffPost
- Russian-born Harvard scientist seeks to clarify details that led to ICE detention WGBH
Is Nigel Farage’s quest to rid Reform of ‘amateurism’ paying off?
Runcorn win was much bigger than polls implied, suggesting overall effectiveness of ground campaign
For the last few months, Nigel Farage has been promising to professionalise his Reform UK party, saying its general election result of five seats had been hampered by the party’s “amateurism”.
Friday’s narrow victory in the Runcorn and Helsby byelection suggests his strategy is starting to bear fruit. Not only did the party win a seat in which it came a distant third less than a year ago, but it did so with a much bigger swing than implied by the national polls – demonstrating the effectiveness of the party’s ground campaign.
Continue reading...Reform wins Runcorn byelection by just six votes in blow to Labour
Result will heighten government’s fears it could lose scores of MPs to Nigel Farage’s party at next general election
- Results come in from across England – follow live
- Starmer told to ‘start listening’ after Reform election gains
- Analysis: Is Farage’s quest to rid Reform of ‘amateurism’ paying off?
Nigel Farage’s Reform UK has dramatically won the Runcorn and Helsby byelection by just six votes in a blow to Keir Starmer’s premiership.
The hard-right party narrowly overturned Labour’s 14,700-vote majority in the first full-scale electoral test of Starmer’s government and set a new record for the smallest majority at a parliamentary by-election since the end of the second world war.
Continue reading...Ten dead, dozens injured in Philippines bus crash
Four children are among the dead after a bus driver fell asleep at the wheel, according to police.
LGBTQ+ charities warn of ‘genuine crisis’ for trans people after UK ruling
Charities say the judgment creates ‘a legal framework that simply cannot uphold the dignity’ of trans people
Fourteen national LGBTQ+ charities have written to Keir Starmer seeking an urgent meeting to discuss what they describe as “a genuine crisis for the rights, dignity and inclusion of trans people in the UK” after the supreme court’s ruling on biological sex.
The UK supreme court ruled last month that the terms “woman” and “sex” in the Equality Act 2010 referred only to “a biological woman” and to “biological sex”, with subsequent advice from the equality watchdog amounting to a blanket ban on trans people using toilets and other services of the gender they identify as.
Continue reading...Palestine the world’s most dangerous place for journalists, RSF says
US President Donald Trump overseeing 'troubling deterioration' in press freedom in US, Reporters Without Borders says.
Israel strikes near Syria’s presidential palace, issues warning over Druze
Israel has ramped up attacks on Syria following a week of sectarian violence against the Druze community.
Hundreds of cars get flat tyres after truck spills scrap metal
A truck spilled hundreds of kilograms of metal shards on the M1 state highway in New South Wales, damaging 300 cars.
Hundreds of cars get flat tyres after truck spills scrap metal
A truck spilled hundreds of kilograms of metal shards on the M1 state highway in New South Wales, damaging 300 cars.
RSF World Press Freedom Index 2025: economic fragility a leading threat to press freedom – Reporters sans frontières
- RSF World Press Freedom Index 2025: economic fragility a leading threat to press freedom Reporters sans frontières
- U.S. press freedom falls to historical low Axios
- Global Press Freedom at 'all-time low' in 2025, RSF says dw.com
- World press freedom plummets with ‘alarming deterioration’ in US under Trump, says RSF France 24
- World Press Freedom Day 3 May: defending media freedom to safeguard democracy European Parliament
What will Modi bring to Amaravati this time?.. – Greatandhra.com
- What will Modi bring to Amaravati this time?.. Greatandhra.com
- A 6-Year Hiatus, Then A Chandrababu Naidu Return To Relaunch Amravati NDTV
- Dream becoming reality: PM Modi calls Amaravati foundation of Andhra's aspirations India Today
- PM Modi in Andhra Pradesh LIVE: PM Modi lays foundation, inaugurates projects worth ₹58,000 crore in Amaravati The Hindu
- PM Modi relaunches Amaravati projects: What it means for Andhra’s capital revival and real estate market Hindustan Times
How the ‘Shetland Bus’ helped Norway resist Nazi Germany
The innocent-looking fishing boats delivered valuable cargo and special agents to coves and fishing ports.
‘World’s largest’ electric ship measuring 130 metres launched by Tasmanian boatbuilder
Manufacturer Incat built Hull 096 to run between Buenos Aires and Uruguay, dubbing it the ‘most complex’ project it has ever undertaken
An Australian boatbuilder has launched what it describes as the world’s largest battery-power ship, describing it as a “a giant leap forward in sustainable shipping” and the “most important” project it has ever done.
Incat, a manufacturer based in Tasmania, constructed the ship – called Hull 096 – after being contracted by the South American ferry operator Buquebus to build a vessel to run between the Argentinian capital, Buenos Aires, and Uruguay.
Continue reading...‘A win-win for farmers’: how flooding fields in north-west England could boost crops
A ‘wetter farming’ project explores rehydrating peatland to help grow crops in boggier conditions while cutting CO2 emissions
“I really don’t like the word ‘paludiculture’ – most people have no idea what it means,” Sarah Johnson says. “I prefer the term ‘wetter farming’.”
The word might be baffling, but the concept is simple: paludiculture is the use of wet peatlands for agriculture, a practice that goes back centuries in the UK, including growing reeds for thatching roofs.
Continue reading...‘Blackouts can happen anywhere’: how power systems worldwide can collapse
After Europe’s biggest blackout in over 20 years, experts warn that while such incidents are rare, no grid is infallible
Europe’s biggest blackout in over 20 years on the Iberian peninsula unleashed hours of chaos for people in Spain, Portugal and parts of France earlier this week. But in the aftermath it has raised a common question for governments across the continent: could the same happen here?
Europe’s political leaders and energy system operators have given assurances that such blackouts are extraordinarily rare, and that European power grids are some of the most stable in the world.
Continue reading...