Senate Republicans expected to ditch $1bn funding plan for Trump’s ballroom 21. May 2026 (17:27) Top Republicans fear diverting taxpayer dollars toward the White House ballroom will alienate voters before midtermsSenate Republican leaders are expected to ditch a $1bn proposal for security measures tied to Donald Trump’s White House ballroom following a backlash from members of their own party.Under pressure from Trump, top Republican lawmakers tried to latch the proposal on to a roughly $70bn bill to restore funding to US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the border patrol. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Tennessee set to execute first person forced to represent himself at trial in more than a century 21. May 2026 (17:16) Tony Carruthers’s lawyers say no evidence tied him to 1994 crimes he was convicted of and is mentally incompetentSign up for the Breaking News US newsletter emailTennessee is scheduled on Thursday to execute a prison inmate whose lawyers claim there was no physical evidence tying him to the crimes he was convicted of and is mentally incompetent. Additionally, the inmate’s lawyers believe that the state may be using expired lethal injection drugs to carry out the sentence.Tony Carruthers, 57, was sentenced to death after being found guilty of the 1994 kidnappings and murders of Marcellos Anderson; his mother, Delois Anderson; and Frederick Tucker, in Memphis. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Macron under pressure over reparatory justice for France’s role in slave trade 21. May 2026 (17:05) Demands grow for launch of formal discussion process on how country should address legacies of enslavementEmmanuel Macron is under pressure to open discussions on reparatory justice for France’s role in hundreds of years of enslavement of African people as he makes a key speech on the legacy of slavery.On Thursday the French president will celebrate the 25th anniversary of France becoming the first country in the world to recognise the slave trade and slavery as crimes against humanity in a 2001 law brought by Christiane Taubira, a former MP from French Guiana. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
New Orleans prosecutors file formal battery charges against Shia LaBeouf 21. May 2026 (17:03) Prosecutors opt not to pursue hate-crime charges over February incident despite anti-gay slurs captured on videoNew Orleans state prosecutors on Thursday filed formal misdemeanor battery charges against Shia LaBeouf, four months after police officers there arrested him on allegations that he struck three men at a bar.That move from the office of local district attorney Jason Williams means prosecutors opted to not pursue hate-crime charges against LaBeouf, the star of the Transformers film franchise, despite claims evidently supported by video that LaBeouf aimed anti-gay slurs at the alleged victims. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
WiseTech begins redundancies – but omits ‘AI’ from emails to Chinese employees, workers say 21. May 2026 (17:00) ASX-listed company announced in February it would lay off almost 30% of its 7,000-strong workforce across 40 countriesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastWiseTech has begun informing staff that they will lose their jobs as part of redundancies the company has said is due to artificial intelligence advancements – although an email to staff in China omitted the word “AI” after a court case against another company in the country.Staff at WiseTech have been waiting almost three months to be told if they are among the 2,000 people the logistics software company is to cut due to advances in AI. The Australian Stock Exchange-listed company announced in late February it would lay off almost 30% of its 7,000-strong workforce across 40 countries. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
One Nation’s rapid national expansion in disarray as ‘significant risks’ force dissolution of new branches 21. May 2026 (17:00) Exclusive: Documents seen by Guardian Australia also show new branches and members will be subject to strict gag ordersGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastOne Nation’s rapid expansion of local branches across the country is in disarray, with the party being forced to dissolve and re-establish its new network less than eight months after the ambitious roll out began.Documents seen by Guardian Australia show the party’s new general manager, Kelvin Morton, issued a directive to the party’s branches in April ordering committee members to properly reconstitute their branches after an internal review uncovered “significant risks”. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
MPs urged to ignore fearmongering and pass Labor’s ‘long overdue’ negative gearing and CGT changes 21. May 2026 (17:00) Exclusive: Any attempt to use the budget measures as an excuse to raise rent is opportunistic profiteering, housing advocates sayGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastAustralia’s peak community and housing groups have urged federal parliament to quickly pass Labor’s changes to negative gearing and capital gains tax, saying the reforms would improve fairness for renters and young homebuyers.The government may introduce its negative gearing and CGT changes into parliament as soon as the coming sitting fortnight, with hopes of passing the legislation soon after with the support of the Greens. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Hungary to limit prime ministers to maximum eight-year terms 21. May 2026 (16:53) Péter Magyar’s draft amendment would prevent Viktor Orbán from returning to the roleEurope live – latest updatesHungary’s new government, led by Péter Magyar, has put forward a constitutional amendment that would limit prime ministers to a maximum of eight years in office, in effect barring Viktor Orbán from returning to the role.The draft amendment was submitted on Wednesday, just over a week after the new government took office. It marked Magyar and his Tisza party’s first step in dismantling a constitution that was unilaterally rewritten and amended more than a dozen times as Orbán and his Fidesz party worked to turn Hungary into what they called a “petri dish for illiberalism”. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Trump’s EPA to roll back refrigerant rule for grocery stores in push it claims will lower prices 21. May 2026 (16:34) EPA is loosening Biden-era rule that requires US businesses to reduce greenhouse gases used in cooling equipmentThe Trump administration is set to loosen a federal rule that requires grocery stores and air-conditioning companies to reduce greenhouse gases used in cooling equipment, in what officials say is a push to lower grocery costs.The head of the Environmental Protection Agency, Lee Zeldin, said the Biden-era rule imposes costly restrictions that limit the type of refrigerants US businesses and families can use. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Queen’s ‘keenness’ for Andrew to be trade envoy was a grave mistake 21. May 2026 (16:22) The monarch may have thought the role would keep her ‘favourite’ second son out of trouble. How wrong she wasNo evidence of formal security vetting when Andrew became UK trade envoy, minister saysThat Queen Elizabeth II was “very keen” for Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor to take on a “prominent role in the promotion of national interests” as a trade envoy in 2001 demonstrates the fierce support the late monarch always gave her second son.Knowing he was “the spare”, and undoubtedly acutely aware of the pitfalls of that position – her sister, Princess Margaret, had struggled to find her own role – a mother’s instinct would be to protect, so far as she could. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
