Top World News

May 7, 2026 - World

Albanese government announces east coast gas reservation policy, which will require producers to set aside 20% of export volumesFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastGas companies will be forced to set aside 20% of exports for domestic use under a reservation scheme designed to shore up supplies and bring down prices for households and businesses on the east coast.The federal government announced the design of the reservation scheme on Thursday as part of a wider overhaul of the mechanisms regulating the gas sector. Continue reading...

May 7, 2026 - World

Exclusive: Regime, which executed 243 people last year for drug offences, accused of investing in entertainment to whitewash its human rights recordThe acclaimed Australian film-maker Phillip Noyce is being paid by the Saudi regime to make a feature film portraying the repressive state’s narcotics officers as heroes.The Watchful Eyes, based on a real Saudi ministry of interior narcotics case, is billed as a dramatic depiction of the “heroism of security men in combating drugs”. Continue reading...

May 7, 2026 - World

This live blog is now closed.Howard Lutnick answers questions from US House over Jeffrey Epstein tiesSign up for the Breaking News US emailIt’s worth noting, ahead of Howard Lutnick’s closed-door testimony before House oversight committee members today, that the commerce secretary has refused to answer questions about his ties to Jeffrey Epstein from lawmakers during congressional hearings on Capitol Hill over the last month.In April, Represenative Madeleine Dean, a Democrat from Pennsylvania, asked whether the president expressed “concerns” about the commerce secretary’s relationship with Epstein. Lutnick refused to comment. Continue reading...

May 7, 2026 - World

Ex-TV star launches viral video a day before debate with mayor Karen Bass and city council member Nithya RamanLos Angeles mayoral candidate Spencer Pratt reposted a scathing AI-generated ad on X on Tuesday, which cast the city as a bleak hellscape under its current leadership.In the viral video, created by film-maker Charlie Curran, flames engulf the Hollywood sign; a socialist militia patrols the streets; and California’s political brass, including governor Gavin Newsom, mayor Karen Bass and former vice-president Kamala Harris, are depicted as royal bourgeois who care little for their subjects’ plights. Continue reading...

May 7, 2026 - World

Argentina, where the MV Hondius cruise departed, consistently ranked by WHO as having highest incidence of hantavirus in regionOfficials and experts in Argentina are scrambling to determine if their country is the source of a deadly hantavirus outbreak that has gripped an Atlantic cruise ship, amid reports that a number of passengers have already returned to their home countries.Argentina, where the cruise to Antarctica departed, is consistently ranked by the World Health Organization (WHO) as having the highest incidence of the rare, rodent-borne disease in Latin America. Investigators there are working to contact trace the source of contamination. Continue reading...