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Jun 26, 2026 - World

The LNP’s unapologetic moves on crime, transgender healthcare and police-led suppression of protests are a throwback to days many thought had come and goneGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastA sign stopped Aunty Sandra King in her tracks. The elder of the Yagara, Quandamooka and Bundjalung people, now in her 70s, spoke at a protest last month against plans to build an Olympic stadium in the heart of Brisbane’s Victoria Park.In the crowd a man held aloft a homemade placard with the words “I Preferred Joh”. Continue reading...

Jun 26, 2026 - World

As temperatures soar across Europe, cities are struggling to adapt, further exacerbating socioeconomic divisions The heatwave afflicting western Europe is the worst ever, with the combination of heat and humidity fuelled by the climate crisis making scores of cities feel unliveable. While for some the adverse impacts amount to disturbed sleep and sticky days in the home office, low-income families are often worse affected by cities’ lack of adequate adaptation measures, with women at the sharp end.“[It] throws a grenade into every vulnerability you already have,” says Asad Rehman, chief executive of Friends of the Earth, pointing out that vulnerable or marginalised groups often bear the brunt of climate crisis-based hardship globally. Continue reading...

Jun 26, 2026 - World

This blog is now closed, you can read more on this story hereChina’s president Xi Jinping said Beijing was ready to provide Venezuela with “disaster relief and reconstruction” assistance.Xi sent a message of condolence to Venezuela’s interim president Delcy Rodríguez today, according to Chinese state news agency Xinhua. Continue reading...

Jun 26, 2026 - World

Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner's secret resort deal on Albania's only island has sparked a mass revolt that now threatens to bring down the country's entire government.Kushner's private equity firm, Affinity Partners, quietly secured rights to build a $1.6 billion luxury resort on Sazan Island — a protected Adriatic nature preserve — and a $4 billion coastal development on a nearby wildlife reserve.The Albanian government granted the project special investor status, bypassed public tenders, and stripped the land of its protected status — all without disclosing the deal to parliament or the public, WIRED reported.Heavy machinery rolled in without permits, private security guards dragged away environmental protesters on video, and what critics describe as an alleged "land grab" went viral overnight, the report said.Hundreds of thousands of Albanians have since flooded the capital, Tirana, under signs reading "Albania is not a Gucci bag on sale," according to WIRED. The movement calls itself the Flamingo Revolution, named after the birds whose protected habitat is under threat of destruction.Now protesters aren't just demanding the resort be stopped, they want Prime Minister Edi Rama's resignation, a caretaker government, and early elections — a full governmental reset that would put every elected official's job on the line.Ivanka Trump told a podcaster she and Kushner stumbled onto Sazan by accident during a 2021 yacht trip. "We were on a friend's boat, and we stopped for a swim. Effectively, that's how we found it," she said, according to PBS NewsHour. Dea Dervishi, an Albanian student, had a pointed response: "She said she discovered the island, but the island belongs to us."A U.S. Senate investigation found Affinity has pocketed roughly $157 million in fees from foreign governments — including $87 million from Saudi Arabia — while generating zero return for investors.Kushner simultaneously serves as the president's Middle East envoy. Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) called it "a glaring and incurable conflict of interest."Albania's special anti-corruption prosecutors have opened a formal probe and frozen developer assets. It's a pattern critics recognize: Kushner ran the same play in Serbia, where four government officials were charged with corruption to enable his resort deal. He withdrew from that project in December 2025.Protesters are organizing a nationwide mobilization on Saturday and are demanding early elections that would put every elected official's job on the line.

Jun 26, 2026 - World

RJ Scaringe says firms focused on selling fossil fuel engines risk being ‘woefully behind’ on technology by end of decadeCarmakers that focus on selling fossil fuel engines are at risk of being “woefully behind” on technology by the end of the decade, according to the boss of Rivian, an Amazon-backed US electric carmaker.RJ Scaringe, Rivian’s founder and chief executive, said the car industry has reached a “fork in the road” in the choice between short-term profits and the heavy investments, particularly in software, that will be required to survive. Continue reading...