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Jul 1, 2026 - World

Figure in John Hutton’s west screen, considered a 20th-century masterpiece, cracked by ladder used in lighting rigDeep cracks have appeared in one of the huge angels etched into John Hutton’s west screen of glass panels at Coventry Cathedral after a major music event.It has prompted concern that the increase in cathedrals hosting outside events, a big source of revenue, risks damaging some of the UK’s most important religious architecture. Continue reading...

Jul 1, 2026 - World

Supporters of the method say it’s foolproof – but forensic experts say it can be ‘excruciating’ amid allegations it’s been intentionally botchedThe tangled path of US capital punishment takes a new turn on Wednesday as Idaho becomes the first state to adopt the firing squad as its primary form of execution, embracing the brutal killing technique even as concerns grow that it can inflict excruciating pain and suffering.The state’s department of corrections (IDOC) says it has met its deadline, set by the legislature, to have its death chamber at a maximum security prison south of Boise retrofitted and open for business by 1 July. It has spent more than $1m in the venture, including $24,000 on a rack of AR-style, .308-caliber, scoped rifles that will be wielded by volunteer marksmen. Continue reading...

Jul 1, 2026 - World

Fans of all stripes pack the bars to sing, cheer and commiserate in city where more than 3m people were born outside USAlmost 200,000 Ecuadorians and Ecuadorian Americans live in New York City, and last week quite a lot of them were in a Brooklyn restaurant called El Encebollado de Victor to watch their football team take on Germany – a traditional World Cup powerhouse.It made for quite a sight: a sea of yellow shirts under the restaurant’s blue roof, which had been adorned with red, blue and yellow balloons for the occasion. Among the most patriotically dressed was Luis Aguilar, 45, who was born in the US to parents who had emigrated from Ecuador. Continue reading...

Jul 1, 2026 - World

Follow today’s news liveGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastAlbanese says charges against EY employees who accessed PM’s bank account details ‘appropriate’It’s not just KPMG in (boiling) hot water right now; EY is also in the spotlight, after two of its graduate employees on secondment at the Commonwealth Bank allegedly used the bank’s systems to access the personal details of Anthony Albanese. The two employees have been sacked.It’s before the courts and I’m not about to go into the detail of that. It’s appropriate that charges have been laid …accessing anyone’s privacy, any Australian’s privacy, is alarming, let alone someone from a contractor who’s not an employee of Commonwealth Bank being able to access that information.We’ve cracked down on that and we’ll continue to examine these issues. Quite clearly, the behaviour of some of these big accounting firms has been completely unacceptable. In some cases, it has involved breaches of the law. And they need to be held to account.Since I’ve come into this role, I’ve really tried to prioritise drawing together a lot of strands of work that were already in play. And especially now that we’ve seen what’s happened with KPMG, we’re now accelerating a lot of the government’s work. Continue reading...

Jul 1, 2026 - World

Consumer advocacy group Choice blind tested 30 olive oils – and found many of the highest ranked came from AustraliaGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastConsumer advocacy group Choice has taste tested 30 supermarket extra-virgin olive oils, and found some Australian-made oils rank higher than those imported from Italy and Spain.“A lot of Australians are after local products, and there are a lot of Australian olive oil makers that have built quite a good reputation,” Pru Engel, Choice audience and engagement editor, said. Continue reading...