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Politics
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Trump hijacks America at 250 celebrations – podcast
This weekend marks 250 years since the signing of the declaration of independence, but Donald Trump is making the celebration all about himself. As the anniversary approaches, Jonathan Freedland talks to the Atlantic’s Yoni Appelbaum about why so many Americans are feeling less patriotic these days Archive: AP, Reuters Continue reading...
Dolphins increasingly rely on trawlers for food in overfished Adriatic, say scientists
In one area 76% of fishing boats were followed, with baby dolphins learning the technique from their parents Bottlenose dolphins in the Adriatic are increasingly following trawlers to scavenge for food, with baby dolphins learning the technique from their parents, a study has found. “These days the easiest way to find [bottlenose dolphins] is to look for trawlers,” said Giovanni Bearzi, a co-author of the study and the president of Dolphin Biology and Conservation in Italy. “Many of them are followed by the dolphins that go to forage and scavenge in their wake. Continue reading...
Portrait of Angela Merkel unveiled at museum in Berlin
Painting by Jérémie Queyras shows former German chancellor in trademark jacket – at a time of nostalgia for her rule Over months they met secretly in a studio in the government quarter of central Berlin – a young artist and his subject, the former German chancellor Angela Merkel. For hours at a time, while Jérémie Queyras painted her portrait, they bonded, Merkel has said, chatting “about all and sundry”. Sometimes they were silent, or they listened to classical music, taking it in turns to let each other choose the pieces. The result of what Merkel, 71, called their “little adventure” was unveiled to an invited audience of family, friends and a handful of art critics this week in the neo-baroque Bode-Museum in Berlin. Continue reading...
Christian Brothers kept nine child abusers in religious order due to Gospel imperative to help ‘the needy’, court documents reveal
Exclusive: Documents also show the Catholic order sought financial support from the Holy See months before it declared it lacked money to pay survivors Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast The Christian Brothers has deliberately kept nine convicted child abusers, one who is currently behind bars, as members of its religious order because it says it has a “Gospel imperative” to “care for all Brothers” and “the needy”. Court documents also reveal the head of Christian Brothers Oceania met with representatives of the Holy See in an attempt to obtain support six months before it declared it was going broke and could not afford to meet abuse claims from survivors, but received no financial assistance. Continue reading...
Tributes for Melbourne boy allegedly left to die from stab wounds, as teen charged with murder
Darweish Mohamed, 15, died after being found with alleged stab wounds outside a Craigieburn hospital on Wednesday night Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Loved ones of a 15-year-old boy who was allegedly stabbed and left to die outside a hospital have asked the community to keep him in its prayers. Mickleham teenager Darweish Mohamed was found with critical wounds outside the Craigieburn community hospital at about 7.50pm on Wednesday. Continue reading...
Former AFL player Nicky Winmar found guilty of assaulting woman in northern Victoria
Judge finds woman was truthful after the former St Kilda star accused her of lying about attack Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Former AFL player Nicky Winmar has been found guilty of dragging a woman by the hair and hitting her head against a door. Winmar, 60, argued the woman lied about the attack but Bendigo magistrate Trieu Huynh on Friday found she was being truthful and convicted him of three charges. Continue reading...
China says man who flew plane into Beijing skyscraper had mental health problems
Official statement offers the most detailed official account yet of the highly unusual and fatal incident in Beijing Chinese authorities said the man who flew a small plane into Beijing’s tallest skyscraper last week was a 66-year-old who had mental health problems. The statement published on Thursday offered the most detailed official account yet of the highly unusual incident that occurred in Beijing’s central business district on the evening of 26 June. Continue reading...
NSW records first suspected case of deadly H5 bird flu as virus reaches Australia’s east coast
Migratory giant petrel discovered near Hawks Nest north of Newcastle infected with H5. Testing under way to determine if it’s highly pathogenic H5N1 strain Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast New South Wales has its first suspected case of the deadly H5 bird flu in a giant petrel that was found near Hawks Nest, north of Newcastle, on the state’s coast. If CSIRO testing confirms it is the highly pathogenic H5N1 strain, it would mark the first detection of the deadly disease on the Australian east coast. Continue reading...
More than 100 passengers on US cruise ship sick from suspected norovirus
Princess Cruises vessel is docked in San Francisco for disinfecting in third outbreak for company this year More than 100 passengers and about 23 crew members on a Princess Cruises ship fell sick from suspected norovirus, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), marking the third outbreak to hit one of the company’s watercrafts this year. The Ruby Princess vessel set sail on 12 June from San Francisco, bound for Alaska and Canada, with a scheduled return on 2 July. More than two weeks into the journey, CDC officials received a report of an outbreak, which is defined by a threshold of 3% or more of passengers. Aboard the ship were 3,032 passengers and 1,144 crew members, per the CDC . Continue reading...
‘Give him any award, and he’ll come running’: Narendra Modi racks up honours on overseas trips
Indian prime minister has a habit of collecting awards on his travels, some as their first and only recipient As Narendra Modi touched down in Seychelles over the weekend, the archipelago nation in the Indian Ocean swiftly bestowed one of its “highest” honours upon the Indian prime minister. Modi beamed as he accepted the Guardian of the Blue Horizon award from Patrick Herminie, the Seychelles president, complete with a trophy and certificate. Continue reading...
Nationals’ Cavalli suspended seven games after ‘Sit down, boy’ comment sparks brawl
Red Sox’s Contreras also given seven-game ban Pitcher apologized for remark, racial overtones Bench-clearing fracas resulted in four ejections Major League Baseball suspended Washington Nationals starting pitcher Cade Cavalli and Boston Red Sox first baseman Willson Contreras seven games each on Thursday for their roles in a benches-clearing incident on Tuesday in Boston. MLB also suspended Nationals right-hander Miles Mikolas for five games and Red Sox outfielder Nate Eaton for three for their actions during the incident at Fenway Park. The four players each were fined an undisclosed amount as part of the discipline. Continue reading...
FBI orders 260 staffers to Georgia to assist with 2020 election investigation
Memo calls for ‘surge’ of analysts after agents in January seized hundreds of boxes containing Fulton county ballots The FBI has asked its field offices across the country to dedicate more than 200 staffers to its investigation of the 2020 election in Georgia’s Fulton county. A memo obtained Thursday by the Associated Press calls for the FBI to “surge” 260 investigative analysts and staff operations specialists to the effort, which it described as a “priority investigation.” Continue reading...
Trump administration can remove history and climate info from US parks, court says
In latest legal twist, appeals panel rules US does not have to reinstate signage on climate, immigration and slavery The Trump administration does not have to reinstate materials related to climate change, immigration and slavery that it has removed from national parks, a US appeals court ruled on Thursday. It’s the latest twist in a legal battle over how history is remembered at American public monuments. Continue reading...
Moira Deeming launches lawsuit against Victorian Liberal president as party meets to decide her future
Scandal has engulfed the state party as Deeming resists calls to apologise to fellow MP Matthew Guy over an assault allegation A Liberal MP has launched an 11th-hour court challenge against her own party before a meeting to decide her fate after she made an assault allegation against a former leader. Moira Deeming has lodged a legal action against Victorian Liberal party state president, Brian Loughnane, which is listed to be heard in the Victorian supreme court on Friday morning. Continue reading...
Trump posts AI video of him as doctor treating critics’ ‘derangement syndrome’
President, in latest AI-generated social media post, targets prominent celebrities who have spoken out against him Donald Trump on Thursday posted an AI-generated social media video portraying himself as a doctor who claims to have cured some of his most prominent celebrity critics – including Rosie O’Donnell – of the fictional condition “Trump derangement syndrome”. Outside the AI fantasy, O’Donnell said her assessment of the president remained unchanged. In a statement, she offered her own diagnosis: “He’s quite ill-and getting worse daily. The 25th amendment exists for exactly this reason. Remove. Impeach. Convict.” Continue reading...
‘Vanishingly rare’ copy of US Declaration of Independence found by volunteer in UK archives
One of 11 surviving copies of ‘Exeter printing’ and only one known outside US was taken from American privateer ship For Michael Scurr, a volunteer at the National Archives in Kew, west London, it was “just a boring old Thursday morning” when he sat down in late May to catalogue a collection of documents from the British national collection that had never previously been recorded in detail. As he opened a volume of 18th-century Royal Navy correspondence, however, Scurr unfolded a document whose opening words he recognised. “In Congress, July 4, 1776. A declaration by the representatives of the United States of America …” Continue reading...
Pro-Palestine protesters who blocked Golden Gate Bridge convicted of misdemeanor charges
San Francisco jury fails to reach verdict on more serious felony conspiracy charge over April 2024 demonstration Sign up for the Breaking News US newsletter email Seven protesters who blocked traffic on the Golden Gate Bridge during a 2024 anti-war demonstration have been found guilty of misdemeanor charges in a case that became yet another flashpoint over how governments and major institutions respond to pro-Palestinian protests in the Trump era. The jury, which deliberated for a total of seven days, was deadlocked on the most serious charge: felony conspiracy. If convicted of that charge, the defendants would have faced a potential sentence of 15 years in prison. Continue reading...
USMNT win smashes record for most-watched soccer broadcast with 33 million viewers
Fox averages 24.429 million; 9.1 million on Telemundo Outpaces averages of NBA Finals, Sunday Night Football Monday’s last-16 matchup sure to challenge record again The US men’s national team’s dramatic win over Bosnia and Herzegovina in the World Cup on Wednesday drew a record television audience, according to preliminary reports released by Fox Sports and Telemundo. The game had an average of 24.429 million viewers on Fox, making it the most-watched English-language soccer broadcast in US history, the broadcaster said. The Fox telecast peaked at 31.883 million. Telemundo, which holds the Spanish language rights to World Cup broadcasts in the US, reported 9.1 million viewers over the total game window. Continue reading...
Tucker Carlson floats idea of new political party in the US in interview
Former Fox News host further said he doesn’t ‘want to be a candidate’ for president and aired frustration with Trump Tucker Carlson , the rightwing broadcaster, wants to help build a new political party in the United States, he said in an interview – though he gave scant detail about the party, and did not indicate whether he was referring to a concrete project or merely musing. In the same interview, Carlson dismissed the idea of running for office as part of that new party. “I don’t want to be a candidate,” he said. Continue reading...
Louisiana: Republican attorney general indicted on criminal charges
Liz Murrill accused of trying to intimidate officials who opposed GOP-enacted law to overhaul local courts Louisiana’s Republican attorney general was indicted Thursday on criminal charges by a grand jury in New Orleans, accused of trying to intimidate local officials who fought a law enacted by GOP legislators to overhaul the local courts. Attorney general Liz Murrill told eight New Orleans officials, including Helena Moreno, the mayor, and Jason Williams, the district attorney, that they could face removal from their jobs because of their opposition to the law. Continue reading...
California man pleads guilty to faking Nancy Guthrie ransom note
Derrick Callella admitted he called and sent texts to Guthrie’s family, demanding a bitcoin transaction A California man is facing up to two years in prison or a $250,000 fine after pleading guilty to sending Nancy Guthrie’s family a phoney ransom note, federal authorities announced on Thursday. Nancy Guthrie, the 84-year-old mother of Today Show host Savannah Guthrie, was last seen on 31 January at her residence outside Tucson, Arizona. Inside the home, authorities observed her cellphone, medication and other basic essentials. Law enforcement also found drops of her blood near the porch. Continue reading...
Australia news live: Deeming lodges legal suit against Victorian Liberal president; blizzard brings snow to NSW and Victorian alps
Case due to be heard in supreme court this morning. Follow the day’s latest updates Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Good morning, and happy Friday. Nick Visser here to wrap up the week after a busy stretch in parliament. Here’s what’s on deck: Liberal MP Moira Deeming has lodged legal action against the party’s Victorian president, Brian Loughnane , which is set to be heard in the state’s supreme court this morning. Deeming had filed a police complaint against a colleague, Matthew Guy , alleging he put her in a headlock. Victoria Police investigated the incident and found “there was no offence detected”, dismissing it last week. Guy has demanded a public apology from Deeming – who said earlier this week she misunderstood the “technical meaning of the term ‘headlock’”, but would not apologise. Continue reading...
Portugal v Croatia: World Cup 2026 last 32 – live
⚽️ Kick-off time: 7pm EDT/12am BST/9am AEST ⚽️ Player guide | Bracketology | The full draw | Email Beau Beau will be here shortly. In the meantime, here’s more on today’s matchup: Can you remember what you were doing on 1 March 2006? Perhaps you were at Anfield, watching England beat Uruguay 2-1. You might have seen Switzerland put three goals past Scotland at Hampden Park. Continue reading...
Burnham promises to ease cost of living pressures if he becomes prime minister
Makerfield MP said he would consider reducing business rates as part of a package that could also include freeze on private rents Andy Burnham promised to ease the cost of living if he becomes prime minister in his first interview since returning to parliament. The Makerfield MP told LBC that if he became prime minister later this month, as expected, he would look at reducing business rates for some high street businesses, bringing down water and energy costs by de-privatising companies and making bus travel free for 16- to 18-year-olds. Continue reading...