Top World News

Dec 4, 2025 - World

NYT accuses Pentagon of infringing on the constitutional rights of its journalistsThe New York Times filed a lawsuit against the Pentagon on Thursday, accusing the defense department of infringing on the constitutional rights of its journalists with its new reporting restrictions.The restrictions, which went into effect in October, require reporters to sign a pledge that they will not obtain unauthorized material and restricts access to certain areas unless accompanied by an official – a stark departure from previous guidelines. In a summary of the filing, the New York Times called this policy “exactly the type of speech- and press-restrictive scheme that the Supreme Court and D.C. Circuit have recognized violates the First Amendment.”The Trump administration’s immigration crackdown continues as federal agents descended upon New Orleans on Wednesday, sending fear through the region’s Latino community and prompting businesses to close. Gregory Bovino, the border patrol chief who has become the face of the Trump administration’s mass deportation efforts, was spotted leading a group of masked agents through the historic French quarter as one woman heckled the agents.The operation in New Orleans came as Donald Trump continued his xenophobic attacks on Somali immigrants, telling reporters on Wednesday that “those Somalians should be out of here. They’ve destroyed our country” and that congresswoman Ilhan Omar should be “thrown the hell out”.In more immigration news, an Amnesty International report published Thursday found that detainees at the Florida immigration detention facility, “Alligator Alcatraz,” face “harrowing human right violations.”The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is also in the process of creating a new internal database of non-US citizens who are “employed or affiliated” with the government department, a sensitive memo leaked to the Guardian has revealed.Trump also announced on Wednesday that he is repealing the Biden-era federal fuel economy standards. Continue reading...

Dec 4, 2025 - World

Vinay Prasad memo said at least 10 children had died from Covid vaccination – but offered scant evidence for claimAmerica’s top vaccines official promised, in a long and argumentative memo to staff on Friday, to revamp vaccine regulation after claiming that at least 10 children died from Covid vaccination – but he offered no evidence for that allegation and scant details on the new approach.The top-down changes, without input from outside advisers or publication of data, worries experts who fear vaccines such as the flu shot may quickly disappear and that public trust will take a major hit. Continue reading...

Dec 4, 2025 - World

Experts say any change to the hepatitis B schedule could have significant and far-reaching consequencesRobert F Kennedy Jr’s vaccine advisory committee convenes on Thursday to consider a reversal of a decades-long program of childhood immunizations, including a recommendation to delay hepatitis B shots for newborn babies.For decades, federal health recommendations have suggested that all newborns be vaccinated against the virus that can lead to serious liver disease. Kennedy, the US health secretary and a prominent anti-vaccine activist, has long pushed for delaying the shot. Continue reading...

Dec 4, 2025 - World

Global Witness says plan to upgrade railway line from DRC to Angola puts up to 1,200 buildings at risk of demolitionUp to 6,500 people are at risk of being displaced in the Democratic Republic of the Congo by a multi-billion-dollar infrastructure project funded by the EU and the US, amid a global race to secure supplies of copper, cobalt and other “critical minerals”, according to a report by campaign group Global Witness.The project, labelled the Lobito Corridor, aims to upgrade the colonial-era Benguela railway from the DRC to Lobito on Angola’s coast and improve port infrastructure, as well as building a railway line to Zambia and supporting agriculture and solar power installations along the route. Angola has said it needs $4.5bn (£3.4bn) for its stretch of the line. Continue reading...

Dec 4, 2025 - World

Administrative review tribunal no longer authorised to alter a person’s plan or reinstate funding, agency confirmsGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastParticipants in the national disability insurance scheme will in most cases no longer be able to appeal against their total amount of funding support to any external review body, executives have confirmed.The minister for disability and the NDIS, Jenny McAllister, and National Disability Insurance Agency bosses were peppered with questions at Senate estimates on Thursday about changes to the way NDIS support plans will be generated under a new planning model coming into effect from mid-2026. Continue reading...