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McKenzie was also questioned over his communications with Roberts-Smith’s ex-wife, Emma Roberts, and her friend Danielle ScottElection 2025 live updates: Australia federal election campaignGet our afternoon election email, free app or daily news podcastInvestigative journalist Nick McKenzie has agreed in Ben Roberts-Smith’s bid to reopen his appeal for his defamation case he has used “deceptive methods and subterfuge” to obtain information “on occasion if...

US president claims economic slowdown ‘nothing to do with tariffs’ as his former challenger attacks his record and backers in major speechKamala Harris says ‘courage is contagious’ in major speechTesla has denied a report that its board sought to replace Elon Musk as its chief executive amid a backlash against his rightwing politics and declining car sales.Robyn Denholm, the chair of the board at...

Chief finance officers says it remains ‘vigilant’ as it sets aside more money than expected to cover possible bad debtProfits at Lloyds Banking Group have fallen as the high street bank set aside more money than expected to deal with possible bad debts arising from Donald Trump’s trade war.The group, whose brands include Lloyds Bank, Halifax and Bank of Scotland, reported a 4% increase...

Labour face first electoral test since general election with more than 1,600 council seats up for grabsHere is the latest edition of the Guardian’s Politics Weekly UK podcast. John Harris has been to Doncaster, the only council where elections are taking place currently under Labour control. At least one poll suggests it will lose to Reform UK.It’s a nice day for voting in England....

Ukraine to retain ‘full control over resources and infrastructure’ under agreement, says Denys Shmyhal Full report: US and Ukraine sign minerals deal that solidifies investment in Kyiv’s defense against RussiaUkraine and the US signed a long-awaited minerals deal last night, signaling a major step forward in bilateral relations. But the full text of the agreement, including key details on the contentious small print issues...

British government’s push for tournament to be at Trump-owned venue in Scotland is likely to seek favor with USThe British government’s attempts to curry favor with Donald Trump by nudging golf executives to host one of the world’s most prestigious golf tournaments at a Scottish venue owned by the US president could ultimately lead to a violation of the US constitution, ethics experts have...

Long-awaited costings of more than 200 policies show Coalition would gut long list of environment and clean energy programs if returned to powerElection 2025 live updates: Australia federal election campaignPolls tracker; Election guide; Interactive seat explorerParty policies; Micro parties explained; Full election coverageListen to the latest episode of our new narrative podcast series: GinaGet our afternoon election email, free app or daily news podcastA...

Seven children returning from school injured in suspected deliberate attack in Osaka, according to local mediaA man has been arrested in the Japanese city of Osaka after allegedly driving his car into seven schoolchildren in a suspected deliberate attack, local media said.The children, who were on their way home from school, were injured and taken to hospital but all seven remained conscious, according to...

Exclusive: British Caribbean artist Winston Branch was distraught at loss of paintings – taken because he could not pay rentTwenty paintings by the Caribbean British abstract painter Winston Branch have been recovered after they disappeared without trace nearly five decades ago.“Those works were stolen from his studio because he wasn’t able to pay the rent back in the 1970s,” his agent, Varvara Roza, told...

Move seals a deal to create a fund the Trump administration says will begin to repay roughly $175bn provided to UkraineThe US and Kyiv have signed an agreement to share profits and royalties from the future sale of Ukrainian minerals and rare earths, sealing a deal that Donald Trump has said will provide an economic incentive for the US to continue to invest in...

County councils across England are being elected on 1 May, along with four regional mayors. Find out which areas are voting and search for your ownIn many other years, the first set of local elections with a new government and prime minister in place would be scrutinised keenly as a judgment on the PM’s performance so far. This year the runes will be harder...

Government to press ahead with net zero plans as Keir Starmer rejects Tony Blair’s criticisms of climate policyAlmost all new homes in England will be fitted with solar panels during construction within two years, the government will announce after Keir Starmer rejected Tony Blair’s criticism of net zero policies.Housebuilders will be legally required to install solar panels on the roofs of new properties by...

Wall Street Journal article saying headhunters were contacted branded ‘absolutely false’ by chair Robyn DenholmTesla has denied a report that its board sought to replace Elon Musk as its chief executive amid a backlash against his rightwing politics and declining car sales.Robyn Denholm, the chair of the board at the electric carmaker, said in a statement on Tesla’s social media account on X: “Earlier...

Exclusive: WeChat ad narrow-cast to Chinese-Australian community spruiks Scott Yung’s ‘independent thinking’Election 2025 live updates: Australia federal election campaignPolls tracker; Election guide; Interactive seat explorerParty policies; Micro parties explained; Full election coverageListen to the latest episode of our new narrative podcast series: GinaGet our afternoon election email, free app or daily news podcastThe Liberal candidate for Bennelong, Scott Yung, appears to be distancing himself...

This blog is now closedCoalition costings reveal larger deficit over coming two years with cuts to foreign aid and environment programsPolls tracker; Election guide; Interactive seat explorerParty policies; Micro parties explained; Full election coverageListen to the latest episode of our new narrative podcast series: GinaGet our afternoon election email, free app or daily news podcastDutton’s Wednesday night visit to KooyongLast night, Peter Dutton was...

Many countries impose a form of inheritance tax on deceased estates, but does Albanese’s policy fit the bill?Election 2025 live updates: Australia federal election campaignPolls tracker; Election guide; Interactive seat explorerParty policies; Micro parties explained; Full election coverageListen to the latest episode of our new narrative podcast series: GinaGet our afternoon election email, free app or daily news podcastPeter Dutton has described Labor’s plan...

Only one in two Liberal party voters are in favour of lifting the national ban, according to the National Climate Action SurveyElection 2025 live updates: Australia federal election campaignPolls tracker; Election guide; Interactive seat explorerParty policies; Micro parties explained; Full election coverageListen to the latest episode of our new narrative podcast series: GinaGet our afternoon election email, free app or daily news podcastSupport for...

A warming tundra has seen unexpected shifts, raising the alarm about fragile ecosystems and those who rely on themScientists studying Arctic plants say the ecosystems that host life in some of the most inhospitable reaches of the planet are changing in unexpected ways in an “early warning sign” for a region upended by climate change.In four decades, 54 researchers tracked more than 2,000 plant...

Democratic presidential candidate speaks in San Francisco in first significant appearance since election defeatKamala Harris delivered a searing indictment of Donald Trump’s first 100 days in power, warning in her first major address since leaving office that the nation was witnessing a “wholesale abandonment of America’s highest ideals” by its president.Speaking to an audience of Democrats in San Francisco, the former vice-president struck a...

Politicians say Yoweri Museveni is prosecuting opponents on politically motivated charges before 2026 electionUgandan opposition politicians have accused the president, Yoweri Museveni, of attempting to quash dissent by prosecuting opponents on politically motivated charges in military courts in the run-up to presidential and legislative elections next year.The government is pushing to introduce a law to allow military tribunals to try civilians despite a supreme...

Kyiv-based Centre for Civil Liberties says tortured inmates bypassed amid focus on territory and security guaranteesUkrainian and Russian civil society leaders have called for the unconditional release of thousands of Ukrainian civilians being held in Russian captivity, pushing for world leaders to make it a central part of any peace deal.Oleksandra Matviichuk, head of the Kyiv-based Centre for Civil Liberties, which won the 2022...

Outage occurred between Maibara and Gifu-Hashima stations after the snake appeared to have climbed an electricity poleJapan’s busiest bullet train line was brought to a halt on Wednesday after a metre-long snake wrapped itself around a power line, shorting the electricity supply and stranding hundreds of passengers.Shinkansen trains running between Tokyo and Osaka were brought to a standstill by the snake, with news reports...

Firefighters have rushed to control wildfires that have injured several people and prompted the military to deploy troops to helpThe Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has warned that rapidly spreading wildfires near Jerusalem could reach the city, as he declared the situation a “national emergency”.Thick smoke billowed above highways near Jerusalem on Wednesday as firefighters rushed to control wildfires that have injured several people...

This blog has now closed. Read our latest story hereDonald Trump promptly claimed this morning that the contraction in the US economy had nothing to do with his tariff wars, repeated his habitual claim that this is all somehow his predecessor Joe Biden’s fault, and predicted the economy would boom when tariffs kicked in. He wrote on his Truth Social platform:This is Biden’s Stock...

Former NFL star ‘absolutely devastated’ by death of Jeff Sperbeck, 62, who suffered injury at California golf resortJeff Sperbeck, a business partner and former agent for NFL Hall of Famer John Elway, died Wednesday after suffering an injury last weekend at a southern California golf resort community. He was 62.No cause of death was released, but the Riverside county coroner’s office said Sperbeck was...

This blog has now closed. You can find all our coverage of Ukraine hereIn Spain, harrowing stories have continued to emerge after much of the Iberian Peninsula was plunged into an hours-long blackout earlier this week.Jonathan Bernal, a window washer in Madrid, has detailed how he and a co-worker were cleaning the outside windows of a skyscraper when the power went out. For four...

Administration in touch with Nayib Bukele over detention of wrongly deported man, according to two peopleThe Trump administration has been in touch directly with the Salvadorian president Nayib Bukele in recent days about the detention of Kilmar Ábrego García, the man wrongly deported to a notorious prison in El Salvador, according to two people familiar with the matter.The nature of the discussion and its...

Likelihood of potentially devastating quake above 8.0 magnitude in next 50 years is 15%, study statesA massive earthquake in the Pacific north-west could rapidly transform areas of the coast from northern California to Washington, causing swaths of land to quickly sink, “dramatically” raising sea level and increasing the flood risk to communities.That’s according to a new study, published in the Proceedings of the National...

Cyril Ramaphosa sets up inquiry as victims’ families allege interference from ‘highest levels of government’South Africa’s president, Cyril Ramaphosa, is setting up an inquiry into whether past ANC governments interfered with the investigation and prosecution of apartheid-era crimes, amid criticism from the families of victims.A group of 25 relatives and survivors of apartheid-era deaths and violence sued the government in January, claiming that interference...

Spain’s environment minister Sara Aagesen promises ‘complete audit’ into causes of power outageEurope live – latest updatesSpain’s environment minister has warned against attempts to blame Monday’s unprecedented blackout across the Iberian peninsula on the increasing use of renewable energy, defending the reliability of the national grid and promising a “complete audit” to establish the causes of the outage.Speaking on Wednesday afternoon as a specially...

Joakim Medin given suspended sentence over photos on his articles, but remains in jail awaiting trial on terror chargeA Turkish court has handed a Swedish journalist an 11-month suspended sentence for insulting the president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, but he remains behind bars awaiting trial on a second more serious charge.Joakim Medin, who works for the Swedish newspaper Dagens ETC, was detained at Istanbul airport...

US homeland security secretary said Maryland man mistakenly deported to El Salvador ‘not under our control’Kristi Noem, the US homeland security secretary, said that if Kilmar Ábrego García was sent back to the US, the Donald Trump administration “would immediately deport him again”.Noem repeated White House assertions about Ábrego García, a Salvadorian man who the Trump administration has admitted was mistakenly deported from Maryland...

Two permanent members of UN security council could make move at conference in June on two-state solutionThe UK is in discussion with France and Saudi Arabia over the recognition of a Palestinian state at a June conference convened by the two countries on keeping alive the political path to a two-state solution in the Middle East, the UK foreign secretary has said.David Lammy’s comments...

CBF reportedly considering red jersey ahead of World Cup but rightwingers consider the colour anti-patriotic“Our flag will never be red!” rightwing Brazilians took to chanting during the heyday of the left-bashing former president Jair Bolsonaro.But their football shirts soon might be, amid incendiary reports that the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) is considering introducing a crimson jersey for the national team ahead of the 2026...

Men at Bluebonnet fear deportation to El Salvador under wartime law despite maintaining they do not have gang tiesDetainees at the Bluebonnet immigrant detention center in the small city of Anson, Texas, sent the outside world a message this week: SOS.With a Reuters drone flying nearby, 31 men formed the letters in the dirt yard of the facility on Monday. Continue reading...

Mohsen Langarneshin is accused of being ‘senior spy’ for Mossad, but human rights groups say he was innocentIran has executed a 36-year-old man it accused of helping the Mossad, Israel’s foreign intelligence agency, kill a senior officer in the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps in Tehran in 2022. Iranian state media said Mohsen Langarneshin was hanged, the usual method of execution in Iran, at Ghezel...

At least 16 civilians and security officials killed in Druze-majority areas around capital on WednesdayMiddle East crisis – live updatesAt least 16 civilians and security officials have been killed in clashes in a town near Damascus, Syria’s interior ministry reported, the second consecutive day of fighting in Druze-majority areas around Syria’s capital.Reports on Wednesday said fighting had started overnight in the town of Ashrafiah...

Temu and Shein among fast-fashion sites affected by drop in first three months of this year but sales in rise to EUExports to the US from Chinese online shops such as Temu and Shein have plunged in the face of Donald Trump’s trade war, as shipping from China to the EU has increased.Official Chinese data showed its total e-commerce shipping to the US dropped...

The former prime minister called on the government to change course on climate changeDale Vince, the founder of the renewable energy company Ecotricity and Labour party donor, has accused Tony Blair of talking “nonsense” on net zero policy. In a statement he said:This from Tony Blair is net zero nonsense. He talks of growing fossil demand from China, when in fact it has peaked....

US official tells international court of justice about ‘serious concerns’ over agency’s impartialityThere is now a live feed from the international court of justice (ICJ) in The Hague, where the US is giving evidence (see 8.52am). You may need to refresh the blog to see it.An Iranian man convicted of espionage and intelligence cooperation with Israel was executed on Wednesday, Iranian state media reported....

Corroboree frog belongs to 100m-year-old family of amphibians but is now found only in the puddles and peat bogs of Kosciuszko national parkScientists have sequenced the genome of the critically endangered southern corroboree frog – one of Australia’s most threatened amphibians – in hope that the information could be used to aid its recovery.The striking alpine frog, which has distinctive yellow and black markings,...

Exclusive: British team exposed live cells to toxic proteins to gather rare insight into how dementia developsScientists have used living human brain tissue to mimic the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease, the most common form of dementia, in a breakthrough that will accelerate the hunt for a cure.In a world first, a British team successfully exposed healthy brain tissue from living NHS patients to...

Russia is holding an estimated 16,000 civilians in arbitrary detention at 180 separate facilities. Taganrog was the most notorious.Some weeks after being detained as she attempted to leave a Russian-occupied part of Ukraine in January 2023, Yelyzaveta Shylyk was given a polygraph test. As her interrogators attached the lie detector’s wires to her, they calmly issued a threat about what would happen if she...

Findings of survey on happiness, health, finances, meaning in life and relationships raise concerns for young peopleBritain ranks among the poorest countries for “human flourishing”, according to a major study that raises questions about the nation’s wellbeing and younger people in particular.The survey, which spanned 22 countries on six continents, rated the UK 20th based on a combined score that considered a range of...

As work begins on the facility, doctors say it will be ‘a waste of money’ if the government does not address staff shortagesGet our afternoon election email, free app or daily news podcastConstruction of a new mental health facility set to become the largest in New South Wales began on Wednesday in western Sydney, but psychiatrists say it will be an “empty shell” until...

Three people were killed in shooting in university city of Uppsala north of StockholmSwedish police say they have apprehended a suspect after a shooting in which three people were killed in the city of Uppsala on Tuesday.The person was suspected of murder and was one of several people being interrogated as part of the investigation, police told reporters. Continue reading...

Business owners will be able to apply for up to £20,000 for measures such as covered seating and mudproof car parksThe landscapes are as spectacular as the welcome is warm in the Welsh valleys, mountain villages and harbour towns, but the weather can, to put it mildly, be unreliable.In an attempt to counter a trend of visitors staying away due to the threat of...

Fellow carmakers Stellantis and Mercedes withdraw financial guidance for year over impact of trade warThe British sportscar maker Aston Martin is limiting exports to the US in the face of Donald Trump’s tariffs, while its counterparts Stellantis and Mercedes withdrew their financial guidance for the year, blaming the uncertainty around changing US policy on import levies.Aston Martin, known for producing the cars driven by...

This blog is now closedAlbanese and Dutton face questions on possible power-sharing deals and tussle over Indigenous recognitionPolls tracker; Election guide; Interactive seat explorerParty policies; Micro parties explained; Full election coverageGet our afternoon election email, free app or daily news podcastDutton quips on campaign bus mishap – and his skincare regimeDutton yesterday cut short a press conference when asked about his previous comments critical...

PM says he won’t sign written deals with crossbenchers if Labor falls short of majority at Saturday electionPolls tracker; Election guide; Interactive seat explorerParty policies; Micro parties explained; Full election coverageListen to the latest episode of our new narrative podcast series: GinaGet our afternoon election email, free app or daily news podcastAnthony Albanese won’t sign written deals with any crossbenchers if he falls short...