Top World News
With climate trigger axed Labor wants to rush new environmental laws through after ‘positive’ talks with Coalition
Proposed timeframe leaves 12 days to scrutinise most significant changes to national environmental protection regime since 1999Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastThe environment minister wants to pass a major re-write of federal nature laws this year, encouraging miners to lobby the Coalition to work with Labor to help rush it through parliament in the final three sitting weeks.Murray Watt relayed the message in private talks with mining industry leaders in Perth this week after giving a speech promising faster project approvals under a planned overhaul of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act (EPBC Act). Continue reading...
‘We want our stories to be told’: NSW Labor pledges $3.2m to support writing and literature amid AI onslaught
Stories Matter strategy responds to urgent pressures such as declining reading rates and growing impact of digital media on publishing, minister saysGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastIt is a sector that delivers $1.3bn annually to the New South Wales economy and supports up to 22,000 jobs, yet the average writer earns just $18,200 a year from their creative practice.To counter this stark disparity, the NSW government is launching the state’s first ever writing and literature strategy, and has committed $3.2m to support and grow the sector. Continue reading...
Controversial FoI changes sparked after eSafety staff worried deluge of requests might ‘jam something’
Attorney general says online regulator received nearly 600 freedom of information requests in a short period of time from an ‘automated generator’ and ‘this is why the system is broken’Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastThe eSafety commissioner’s freedom of information staff worried one email every five minutes might “jam something”, according to documents which reveal the under-siege feeling that sparked controversial new proposals to clamp down on FoI in Australia.The Labor government’s unpopular bill to impose charges for FoI requests and dramatically curtail what information could be released seems set to fail after Liberal leader Sussan Ley said the opposition would vote against it – although attorney general Michelle Rowland said she remained “absolutely committed” to the proposal. Continue reading...
Major airlift evacuations in Alaska after remnants of typhoon decimate villages
Weekend storm devastated two villages and displaced more than 1,500 people in the south-western part of the stateAuthorities in Alaska are evacuating hundreds from villages on the state’s south-west coast that were inundated by the remnants of a typhoon last weekend, in one of the “most significant” airlifts in the state’s history.Over the weekend, the remnants of Typhoon Halong hit remote communities in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, in the south-western part of the state, decimating two small villages and displacing more than 1,500 people. Continue reading...
Artists outside London ‘underrepresented on Mercury prize shortlist’
Since 2010, only three winners have not been from London. Previous winners say broader representation is neededFormer Mercury prize nominees have said acts outside London are underrepresented in the awards, with 130 more nominees coming from the capital than the next most-shortlisted region over the prize’s 34-year history.The awards ceremony will take place in Newcastle on Thursday night, the first time it has been held outside London. Continue reading...
Barrister found to have used AI to prepare for hearing after citing ‘fictitious’ cases
Judge rules Chowdhury Rahman used ChatGPT-like software and then tried to hide it, wasting immigration tribunal’s timeAn immigration barrister was found by a judge to be using AI to do his work for a tribunal hearing after citing cases that were “entirely fictitious” or “wholly irrelevant”.Chowdhury Rahman was discovered using ChatGPT-like software to prepare his legal research, a tribunal heard. Rahman was found not only to have used AI to prepare his work, but “failed thereafter to undertake any proper checks on the accuracy”. Continue reading...
Trump plans to switch anti-terror funds from Democratic to Republican states
Overhaul of $1bn post-9/11 program would shift funds to states that voted for Trump in 2024 electionThe Trump administration plans to shift terrorism prevention funding from Democratic-led states toward those led by Republicans, government records show, as it overhauls a $1bn program created after the 9/11 attacks.Twelve Democratic-led states are suing to block the cuts, alleging that the Trump administration is trying to punish them for not cooperating with federal immigration agents. Continue reading...
Last surviving member of first team to conquer Everest dies aged 92
Kanchha Sherpa part of expedition that put Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary atop world’s highest peak in 1953Kanchha Sherpa, the last surviving member of the mountaineering expedition team that first conquered Mount Everest, has died at the age of 92, according to the Nepal Mountaineering Association.Kanchha died early on Thursday at his home in Kapan, Kathmandu district, said Phur Gelje Sherpa, the association’s president. Continue reading...
UK border chief ‘frustrated’ at French failure to curb small boat crossings
Martin Hewitt tells MPs ‘political instability’ is factor in failure to roll out more interventionist tacticsUK politics live – latest updatesThe UK’s border chief has expressed frustration that the French authorities have not been able to roll out tactics to puncture and disable boats carrying asylum seekers in shallow waters.Martin Hewitt, the border security commander at the Home Office, told MPs that rapid changes in government in France had been a “political backdrop” to introducing a tactic seen as crucial to countering “taxi boats” being used to smuggle people to the UK. Continue reading...
French PM survives no-confidence vote – as it happened
Sébastien Lecornu and his government secure narrow backing from lawmakers after pension concessions. This live blog is closedThe vote on the first no-confidence motion put forward by the left’s La France Insoumise is now under way.It will take around 30 minutes. Even if Sébastien Lecornu survives the vote, there are difficult times ahead as parliament will begin to debate the 2026 budget. Continue reading...
French prime minister survives two no-confidence votes
Closeness of first vote highlights difficulties Sébastien Lecornu faces as budget debate loomsThe French prime minister has survived two votes of no confidence that had sought to threaten to topple his fragile, minority government days after it was appointed.Sébastien Lecornu, a key ally of the centrist president, Emmanuel Macron, told parliament on Thursday that lawmakers must choose to take part in “parliamentary debate” on next year’s budget or sink the government and create “political chaos”. Continue reading...
Mexico president dismisses US claim of cartel bounties on immigration officials
Sheinbaum says she has ‘no information’ about Trump administration claim as experts also deeply skepticalMexico’s president, Claudia Sheinbaum, has said her government has “no information” regarding claims by the Trump administration that Mexican cartels are offering bounties for US immigration officials.“We are requesting information but there is none,” Sheinbaum said during her morning press conference on Wednesday. “We learned of this, just like you, via [the Department of Homeland Security’s] publication.” Continue reading...
