The Guardian

Pirates appear to be taking advantage of international naval strength being diverted elsewhere in region Three vessels have been hijacked off the coast of Somalia in the past week, raising fears of a resurgence in piracy around the Horn of Africa – and adding to the woes of the global shipping industry. The merchant vessel Sward was taken over on 26 April, a day after a dhow was seized. These fol…

Ceasefire frays further as Israel also carries out airstrikes and issues new displacement orders for south Lebanon Hezbollah launched several drones at Israeli soldiers in south Lebanon on Tuesday, while Israel issued new displacement orders for south Lebanon and carried out airstrikes, as the fraying ceasefire failed to stop fighting between the two sides. Hezbollah claimed Tuesday’s attack inju…

Trial is culmination of a years-long feud between Musk and Altman that has become increasingly vicious The trial pitting Elon Musk against Sam Altman and OpenAI began in earnest on Tuesday with opening arguments, as lawyers for the two tech moguls seek to convince a California jury of their client’s version of the AI company’s history. The trial is set to feature testimony from both billionaires,…

Mandelson’s replacement made comments in February, with diplomat also saying Israel has special relationship with US The UK’s new ambassador to the US has described Keir Starmer as having been “on the ropes” over the Peter Mandelson scandal and said it is Israel rather than Britain that has a “special relationship” with the White House. Christian Turner, who took office in February to replace Man…

TPOR poll of 1,018 likely voters puts Talarico ahead of John Cornyn by three percentage points and Ken Paxton by five US politics live – latest updates Democrats’ hopes of winning control of the US Senate in November’s midterm elections have been boosted by a poll showing James Talarico, the party’s candidate in Texas , leading in a head-to-head matchup against two potential Republican opponents.…

Shareholder agm briefly adjourned after protesters wearing T-shirts labelled ‘No more big oil’ burst into song The chair of NatWest was forced to defend the bank against accusations of “climate backtracking” at a chaotic annual shareholder meeting, which was temporarily suspended owing to singing protesters. Not long after the meeting began in Edinburgh, it was adjourned for about half an hour af…

Refusal or silence would increase denial risk under new US guidance requiring applicants to confirm no fear of return Applicants seeking a temporary visa to the United States must now tell a consular officer that they have not experienced harm and do not fear returning to their home country, according to new guidance issued from the state department. If they answer yes or decline to respond to ei…

Residents must sign in and out at a security gate, and vehicles and bags are routinely searched Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Hundreds of evacuees from remote Indigenous communities in the Northern Territory have been housed behind temporary fences and denied visitors after being forced to evacuate their homes in the most vicious wet season on record. In March, the …

One Nation outperforms the Coalition for the first time, while the rightwing populist party’s leader has a positive rating among all age groups Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast A majority of surveyed Australians approve of Pauline Hanson’s leadership of One Nation, giving her a higher job approval rating than Anthony Albanese and Angus Taylor, as the Guardian Essential…

Exclusive: State government commits to strengthening laws as Higgins labels Albanese government’s response to women’s safety issues ‘disheartening’ Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast The Victorian government will strengthen laws regarding the use of victim-survivors’ confidential communications after a push by advocates including Brittany Higgins, who described her exper…

Billionaire Alexei Mordashov’s vessel, Nord, reportedly able to cross blockaded strait with US and Iranian approval A superyacht owned by the Russian billionaire Alexei Mordashov was able to transit the blockaded strait of Hormuz after undergoing maintenance in Dubai because neither Iran nor the US objected, a source close to Mordashov said on Tuesday. It has been unclear how the multi-deck pleas…

Tech giant accused of ‘cynical attempt to bust the union’ in decision to shutter location in Towson, Maryland Workers at the first Apple store to unionize in the US are pushing back against the company’s decision to shut down the store by June, alleging the company’s decision is rooted in “a cynical attempt to bust the union”. On Monday, the union filed an unfair labor practice charge against App…

Transition and legal handover of hospital from private operator Healthscope to NSW Health occurs at 7am on Wednesday Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Sydney’s Northern Beaches hospital is officially entering the public system, ending a troubled eight-year public-private partnership, although uncertainty about the f…

Sakharov prize winner was given eight-year sentence after process widely condemned as politically motivated The Polish-Belarusian journalist Andrzej Poczobut, the 2025 Sakharov prize winner, has been freed after five years in a Belarusian penal colony as part of a US-brokered multi-country swap deal. His release has been confirmed by Poland’s prime minister, Donald Tusk, who posted a picture of h…

Though solar was initially blamed for loss of power, renewables have helped insulate Spain from gas price rises caused by war in Middle East One year ago today, all of Spain, and much of Portugal, suffered through a blackout of unprecedented scale and duration. In mere seconds, a cascading sequence of events burst through the grid and created Europe’s first “system black” event in recent memory. …