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Transport authorities warn festivalgoers to avoid opening night on Friday. Follow Australia news and NSW floods live updates today.

Rail services not running on sections of Airport and South line as well as Central Coast line with some ferry services cancelled amid wet weather

Sales volumes up 1.2% in April, well ahead of forecasts, as people flock to food and drink outletsSunny spring weather sent shoppers flocking to supermarkets and specialists such as butchers, bakers and alcohol outlets last month, fuelling the strongest quarterly increase in retail sales in Great Britain in almost four years.Retail sales volumes rose by 1.2% in April, well ahead of City economists' forecasts of an increase of between 0.2% and 0.4%, marking the fourth straight month of sales growth. Continue reading...

Deal with US private equity firm will end two years of uncertainty over future of titlesA consortium led by the US private equity company RedBird Capital has agreed to buy the Telegraph for 500m, bringing an end to two years of uncertainty over the future ownership of the titles.The company's founder, Gerry Cardinale, has signed a deal in principle that will result in the Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph coming under the ownership of a consortium that includes British investors. Continue reading...

Regulator Ofgem cuts price cap on gas and electricity charges after slump in gas market prices across EuropeEnergy costs will fall for millions of British households this summer after the industry watchdog cut the price cap for a typical annual dual-fuel bill by 7% to 1,720.The energy regulator for Great Britain, Ofgem, said the cap on gas and electricity charges would fall from July by the equivalent of 129 a year for the average home after a sharp slump in Europe's gas market prices. Continue reading...

Robert Morgan is expected to be replaced by the First Nations playwright and creative director Wesley Enoch

Findings surprise Australian researchers, though compatriots score higher on creativity than sheer volumeAustralians' proud reputation as a pack of cunning linguists has taken a hit from a study finding they come only third in the swearing stakes online.The research found Australians were more restrained - online, at least - than potty-mouthed Poms and vulgar Americans. Continue reading...

JU:MP programme included co-design of play spaces, exercise in faith settings and interventions in schoolsA project in the UK which included young people designing their own play spaces has led to what researchers say is the highest increase in children's physical activity ever recorded by an intervention of its kind.The JU:MP programme (Join Us: Move Play) in Bradford, West Yorkshire, recruited children and young people to design play spaces on neglected land near their homes, choosing plants, balance beams, and nature play features, such as stone stacks and earth mounds which encourage imaginative games while keeping maintenance costs down. Continue reading...

Senior Liberals uncomfortable' with precedent set in negotiations, as Turnbull accuses Nationals of holding a gun to the Liberal party's head'

Motoring organisations warn of heavy traffic, and delays and cancellations will hit two rail routes out of LondonThe bank holiday getaway is likely to be a tricky one, with transport analysts predicting congested roads and the year's busiest day so far for departing airports, while long-distance rail passengers dodge the start of more engineering work.Motoring organisations forecast traffic to be at its worst on Friday, with many drivers surveyed apparently taking an extra day off before the long weekend and half-term break for most schools in England and Wales. Continue reading...

EU defence commissioner says he expects a lot of loan requests from member states under 150bn programmeA 150bn (126bn) loans programme to rearm Europe that was finalised this week could be a very important breakthrough" in the EU's military support for Ukraine, the bloc's defence commissioner has said.Andrius Kubilius, a former prime minister of Lithuania who is the EU's first defence commissioner, said he expected a lot of member states to request EU-backed loans under the 150bn Security Action for Europe (SAFE) scheme, which was approved on Wednesday. Continue reading...

Northern Irish group say charge is political policing' to stop them speaking out about genocide in Gaza'The Northern Irish rap trio Kneecap have claimed a campaign is being mounted to prevent their performance at Glastonbury this summer, at a surprise gig staged a day after one of its members was charged with a terror offence.The group told the crowd at the 100 Club in central London on Thursday night that they were being used as a scapegoat" because they spoke about the genocide [in Gaza]" at Coachella in April. Continue reading...

Research also shows deprived areas have up to 25 times as many bookmakers and pawnbrokers as affluent high streetsThe number of vape shops on high streets across England has increased by almost 1,200% over the past decade, while deprived areas have up to 25 times as many bookmakers and pawnbrokers as affluent ones, according to research.In 2014, only 33.8% of 317 local authorities in England had a vape shop, rising to 97.2% in 2024. Similarly, in 2014 less than 1% of local authorities in England had 10 or more vape shops, rising to 28% in 2024. Continue reading...

Committee says Karen Kneller's position no longer tenable in damning report on miscarriage of justice watchdogThe miscarriage of justice watchdog for England, Wales and Northern Ireland has continually failed to learn from its mistakes and its chief executive should follow the organisation's chair out the door, MPs have said.In a damning report on the leadership of the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC), the House of Commons justice committee said Karen Kneller had provided it with unpersuasive evidence and her position was no longer tenable. Continue reading...

Popular stop on M5 tops Which? survey with Tebay second, while Bridgwater is judged the worst with one-star ratingThere are less than 80 miles between them, but the gulf in quality is massive, according to a Which? survey that ranked Gloucester services top of the stops, and Bridgwater bottom.For many people motorway service stations are a place to take a break, grab a snack and use the toilet, but the rankings from the consumer recommendation group, which surveyed users of nearly 100 service stations across Great Britain, highlight the best and worst. Continue reading...

Microsoft president declares victory' in Call of Duty maker deal as FTC chair says case doesn't fit with Trump's agendaThe US Federal Trade Commission dropped a case that sought to block Microsoft's $69bn purchase of the Call of Duty maker Activision Blizzard, saying on Thursday that pursuing the case against the long-closed deal was not in the public interest.Andrew Ferguson, the FTC chair, is seeking to use the agency's resources for cases that fit with Donald Trump's agenda, such as an investigation related to whether advertisers colluded to spend less on X. Continue reading...

This live blog is now closed. For the latest on the Israel-Gaza war, read our full report:

Scott Mescudi said his Porsche was set on fire with a molotov cocktail on day nine of Combs's trial in New YorkScott Mescudi, known as the rapper Kid Cudi, testified on Thursday in the federal racketeering conspiracy and sex-trafficking trial of music mogul Sean Diddy" Combs, alleging that Combs broke into his home in 2011 after discovering that he was dating Combs's on-again, off-again girlfriend, the singer Casandra Cassie" Ventura, and told the court how a molotov cocktail was thrown at his car a few weeks later.Combs, 55, faces charges of sex trafficking, racketeering conspiracy and transportation to engage in prostitution. He was arrested in September, and has pleaded not guilty to all charges. Continue reading...

Whoever leaked deputy PM's memo to the Telegraph, some believe it will have helped her leadership chancesWhat is Angela Rayner up to? To every Labour MP reading the leaked memo in the Daily Telegraph setting out the deputy prime minister's alternative tax-raising measures, it felt like firing the starting gun on a race to succeed Keir Starmer as leader.It has infuriated Starmer loyalists because of long memories of the breakdown in relations after Labour lost the Hartlepool byelection just a year into Starmer's leadership, when he considered quitting and allies of Rayner encouraged her to stand against him. Starmer then attempted to demote her, leading to a fierce standoff and Rayner emerging with a clutch of new job titles. Continue reading...

Pop star recognised for sharp yet candid songcraft on Brat, but loses best album category to Berwyn at awards honouring songwriting excellenceCharli xcx continues her victory lap after the success of her zeitgeist-grabbing 2024 album Brat, winning songwriter of the year at the Ivor Novello awards, which honour the best in British and Irish songwriting and screen composition.Brat marked a career high for the British pop artist, topping the UK charts and reaching No 3 in the US, and earning huge praise for Charli's sardonic yet soul-baring lyrics. She won five Brit awards earlier this year, the second-highest number of wins in one night in the awards' history, as well as three Grammys. Continue reading...

Other NHS staff decry their award, with teachers angered that part of their pay rise will come from school budget

Speaking at book festival in east Sussex, former supreme court president says reaction to judgment very binary'The supreme court's ruling that the legal definition of a woman is based on biological sex has been misinterpreted", Lady Hale has said.Speaking at the Charleston literary festival in east Sussex, the first female president of the supreme court said the last thing she wants now that she has retired is to undermine the court and its authority by being critical of its decisions". Continue reading...

Exclusive: Contributors to Gaza: Medics Under Fire may withdraw consent due to BBC's delays to broadcast itDoctors and whistleblowers who featured in a much-delayed Gaza documentary that the corporation was accused of censoring by Susan Sarandon, Gary Lineker and other cultural figures, are threatening to withdraw their consent due to the continued refusal to broadcast the film.This month it emerged that the BBC had shelved broadcasting Gaza: Medics Under Fire, which was ready to air in February, until it finishes investigating a separate, unrelated film called Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone, which was pulled from iPlayer after it emerged its young narrator was the son of a Hamas official. Continue reading...

Leading figures say compulsory program is ethically unsound' and would be challenged in courts

Shadow defence secretary attacks PM's assertion that opponents of the deal were on the side of Russia and ChinaThe Conservatives are taking the credit for the near-50% fall in net migration. They say it is the changes to visa rules that they introduced that brought the numbers down.This is from Chris Philp, the shadow home secretary.Net migration has halved - dropped by 430,000 - in 2024 compared to 2023This is thanks to measures put in place by the last Conservative GovernmentThis drop is because of the visa rule changes that I put in place.Labour will try to claim credit for these figures but they criticised me at the time, and have failed to fully implement the changes. Continue reading...

Office for National Statistics estimate shows fall from 860,000 in 2023 to 431,000 last year

Steepest drop in nearly eight months as club misses out on lucrative place in next season's Champions LeagueManchester United shares have slumped after the football club was defeated in the final of Europe's second-tier tournament, which will ultimately lead to 100m in lost revenues.United lost 1-0 to Tottenham Hotspur in the Uefa Europa League final in Bilbao on Wednesday night, dealing a further blow to its billionaire owners, the Glazer family and Sir Jim Ratcliffe. It means the club has failed to qualify for next season's lucrative Uefa Champions League, Europe's top-tier football competition. Continue reading...

Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim were shot dead outside the Capital Jewish Museum on Wednesday nightThe two victims of the shooting outside the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington DC on Wednesday night have been identified as Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim, two employees of the Israeli embassy.The country's ambassador to the US, Yechiel Leiter, told reporters the two were in a relationship and Lischinsky had purchased a ring this week with the intention of proposing to his girlfriend next week in Jerusalem". Continue reading...

Celia Ramos was one of thousands of women subjected to government's brutal policy in the 1990s. A ruling by the inter-American court of human rights could open way for reparationsThe case of a forced sterilisation carried out in Peru in the 1990s will be heard by an international court on Thursday, 28 years after the procedure - one of many thousands - resulted in a woman's death.Celia Ramos was 34 when she died in 1997, 19 days after surgery for a tubal ligation caused respiratory failure. The mother of three was harassed" into accepting the procedure, which was part of a nationwide family planning programme. Continue reading...

Friedrich Merz visits Lithuania to mark the official formation of Germany's first permanent overseas military unit since the second world warPortugal wants European energy regulators' agency ACER to lead an independent investigation into the causes of the huge power outage that brought most of Spain and Portugal to a standstill last month, its acting energy minister told Reuters.Maria da Graca Carvalho said prime minister Luis Montenegro wants an independent investigation led by the European Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators to complement the technical report being prepared by the European network of transmission system operators ENTSO-E. Continue reading...

Northern Irish trio say charge against Liam Og O hAnnaidh is intended to stifle criticism of Israel's war in GazaThe Northern Irish rap trio Kneecap have described a terror offence charge against one of their members as political policing" that is intended to stifle criticism of Israel's war in Gaza.14,000 babies are about to die of starvation in Gaza, with food sent by the world sitting on the other side of a wall, and once again the British establishment is focused on us," the group said in a statement on X on Thursday. This is a carnival of distraction. We are not the story, genocide is." Continue reading...

Environment groups say nature and biodiversity has also been short-changed by the Victorian budget

Reconciliation would be a win for Sussan Ley but, according to one senior Liberal MP, jeopardises David Littleproud's leadership of National party

Exhibition will showcase her entire career, from French surrealism to fashion and war photographyThe UK's largest retrospective of the American photographer and photojournalist Lee Miller, who produced some of the most renowned images of the modern era, will take place at Tate Britain this autumn.The exhibition will showcase the entirety of Miller's career, from her participation in French surrealism to her fashion and war photography. Continue reading...

Measure would tighten eligibility for health and food programs for the poor and could add $3.8tn to US debtThe Republican-controlled US House of Representatives narrowly passed a sweeping tax and spending bill that would enact much of President Donald Trump's policy agenda on Thursday and saddle the country with trillions of dollars in debt.The bill would fulfill many of Trump's populist campaign pledges, delivering new tax breaks on tips and car loans and boosting spending on the military and border enforcement. It will add about $3.8tn to the federal government's $36.2tn in debt over the next decade, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO). Continue reading...

Global oil prices tumble after reports that Opec+ may increase output despite weaker demand for fossil fuelsGlobal oil prices have tumbled by more than $1 a barrel in a sign that pressure on hard-pressed households at the petrol pumps could ease further.The price of Brent crude fell to $63.86 a barrel on Thursday after reports that the Opec oil cartel and its allies may increase their production for July despite weaker global demand for fossil fuels. Continue reading...

Facility said to be no longer needed after recent trade deal with EU that eases need for checksThe UK government is reportedly considering selling a post-Brexit border check facility in Kent that could fall out of use as a result of this week's trade pact with the EU.The site, based in Sevington, Ashford, was erected in 2021 with capacity for 1,300 lorries that were expected to face extra checks on plants and animal goods, including dairy and meat, entering and leaving Britain after Brexit. Continue reading...

George Simion, a pro-Trump ultranationalist, had alleged foreign interference in rerun vote won by Nicuor Dan

Liberals will attend a virtual party room meeting this afternoon after Ley and Littleproud attempt to broker agreement two days after dramatic split. Follow today's news live

The Liberals and Nationals are likely to get back together - not because the bickering exes are a perfect match, but because there's too much to lose in the divorce

Joel Cauchi suffered deterioration in performance IQ' and some cognitive functions leading up to attack, expert tells Sydney coroner's court

Government had been due to give green light to deal handing sovereignty of islands to MauritiusA high court judge has blocked the UK government from concluding its deal to hand over the Chagos Islands with an injunction granted in the early hours of Thursday.The agreement to hand sovereignty over the Chagos islands to Mauritius was due to be given the green light by ministers on Thursday. Continue reading...

Kisunla is first new treatment registered by TGA in 25 years but could cost patients more than $80,000 and less than one in five will be eligible

April figure more than expected and comes despite chancellor's increase in employment taxesThe UK government borrowed more than expected in April, underscoring the challenge for Rachel Reeves to fix public services and grow the economy while meeting her fiscal rules.With the chancellor under pressure on Labour's tax plans, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said public sector net borrowing rose to 20.2bn in April, 1bn more than the same month a year earlier and the fourth-highest April borrowing figure on records dating back to 1993. City economists had forecast borrowing of 17.9bn. Continue reading...

Nationals leader suggests dispute could be settled before parliament resumes in late July

Charities say more should be done to support girls who experience prolonged bleeding and severe menstrual painHeavy, prolonged periods and severe menstrual pain are linked with lower school attendance and poorer GCSE scores, according to new research.The England-based study found that more than a third of girls (36%) who participated experienced heavy or prolonged menstrual bleeding, which was associated with missing an additional 1.7 days of school every year. Continue reading...

South Korea said the destroyer was lying sideways in the water after ceremony to launch the new 5,000-tonne shipA ceremony to welcome a new addition to North Korea's naval fleet has ended in embarrassment following a major accident during the ship's launch that the country's dictator, Kim Jong-un, described as a criminal act".Kim was present when the 5,000-tonne destroyer appeared to go off balance during its launch in the eastern port city of Chongjin on Wednesday. The tipping caused damage to sections of the hull, the state-run KCNA news agency said on Thursday. Continue reading...

This blog has now closed. You can read more of our US politics coverage hereA federal judge has rejected a bid by the US treasury department to cancel a union contract covering tens of thousands of IRS staff, Reuters reports, in an early blow to Donald Trump's efforts to eliminate collective bargaining rights for many federal workers.US district judge Danny Reeves in Lexington, Kentucky, said in a written opinion late on Tuesday that the department lacked legal standing to bring a lawsuit against the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU). Continue reading...

They're being executed,' US president tells Cyril Ramaphosa in chaotic meeting in Oval Office

Pheobe was last seen near Bundaberg airport and police have since declared crime scenes at Gin Gin