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Jul 4, 2025 - World

Man allegedly fired shots during hours-long standoff at rural houseFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastAn armed man has been shot dead by police after a seven-hour siege prompted by earlier gunfire.Police were called to Menzies Drive in Daisy Hill, near the Victorian town of Maryborough, about 3pm on Thursday after reports of a gun being fired in an incident where no one was injured.Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email Continue reading...

Jul 4, 2025 - World

Ward Sakeik, 22, who came to US aged eight, tells of ‘joy and a little shock’ after more than four months in detentionWard Sakeik, a stateless Palestinian woman who was detained in February on the way back from her honeymoon, was released from immigration detention after more than four months of confinement.“I was overfilled with joy and a little shock,” she said at a press conference on Thursday. “I mean, it was my first time seeing a tree in five months.” Continue reading...

Jul 4, 2025 - World

Madre fire, one of at least a dozen in the state, has burned more than 50,000 acres in San Luis Obispo countyA fast-growing wildfire in central California has become the largest in the state this year, surpassing the size of January’s wildfires that devastated parts of Los Angeles, as the flames spread in hot, windy conditions.The Madre fire had exploded to more than 50,000 acres by Thursday morning, after breaking out in San Luis Obispo county on Wednesday afternoon and tearing through grasslands as dry. Extreme heat has raised the fire risk for large portions of the state before the Fourth of July holiday. Continue reading...

Jul 4, 2025 - World

Letter from workers, which EPA claims is ‘unlawful’, says agency is no longer living up to its missionThe Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday put on administrative leave 139 employees who signed a “declaration of dissent” about its policies, accusing them of “unlawfully undermining” the Trump administration’s agenda.In a letter made public Monday, the employees wrote that the agency is no longer living up to its mission to protect human health and the environment. The letter represented rare public criticism from agency employees who knew they could face blowback for speaking out against a weakening of funding and federal support for climate, environmental and health science. Continue reading...

Jul 3, 2025 - World

Every president since George Washington has celebrated the Fourth of July, but one refused to do so.