Top World News
Navy says it is spending 25% more time monitoring Russian vessels around UK waters
Warning of increased activity as patrols spent 21 days in July shadowing Moscow’s ships in Dover Strait and North SeaThe Royal Navy has warned of increasing Russian activity around the UK’s waters after it spent 21 days in July monitoring Moscow’s ships.Naval operations to monitor Russian vessels increased by 25% last month compared with the previous year, with warships making repeated voyages through the strait of Dover and the North Sea. Continue reading...
Centrelink pursuing debts that are more than 40 years old despite agreeing to waive old arrears
Advocates and legal bodies want the debt to be made ‘out of bounds’ given how hard it is to determine its accuracyGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastCentrelink is pursuing $4.93bn in unpaid debts, with the oldest dating back more than 40 years, despite the government agreeing to implement a six-year statute of limitations on debt recovery.A growing list of advocates, including peak legal body Economic Justice Australia, want the debts wiped, while Australia’s leading welfare expert has warned it is impossible to trust whether the huge amount of debt is accurate. Continue reading...
Hospitality recruitment app Supp calls gig-workers contractors. Some users say it leads to casual work without entitlements
Exclusive: Workers’ rights experts raise ‘alarm bells’ over app requiring ABNs for jobs they say lack worker autonomyGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastConcerns have been raised that workers using an increasingly popular Australian hospitality gig-work app may be missing out on entitlements such as superannuation by being hired as “independent contractors”, similar to delivery riders.Launched in Melbourne in 2017, Supp describes itself as a “jobs marketplace”, where hospitality businesses can advertise available shifts to potential workers at an hourly rate, and where workers can secure ad-hoc employment. It was created by Kate and Cameron Reid, the owners of Lune Croissanterie, who maintain a financial stake in the company but are no longer on its board. Continue reading...
Over 1 Lakh Migrants Have Suddenly Fled Or Been Deported From South Africa
South Africa said this week that some 19,000 people had been officially deported since April.
'Especially weird' twist uncovered in White House's leak denial: report
President Donald Trump has been raging against possible leakers over information he gave away months ago.Trump has spent the week vowing to hunt down "treasonous" leakers over a missile shortage he was warned about and that he publicly acknowledged months before he launched his war with Iran, points out a Saturday piece by the legal blog emptywheel."Donald Trump told us on February 23, before he started this war, that he was reading the stories describing that he was warned, including about the missile shortage," emptywheel wrote. "And his response was to say that the decision was his, that if we went in spite of the warnings, the decision was his."The depletion of long-range missiles and interceptors was never a surprise, but despite that, Trump's recriminations have been building as he even turns on people within his own administration.Emptywheel noted a recent report by The Washington Post that revealed Trump laid into Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth during a Camp David meeting because of the shortages, but White House and Pentagon spokespeople have denied the report. Trump took to Truth Social to deny the missile shortage as well, writing, "The U.S. has massive amounts of 'munitions,'" but also went after "the 'leakers' of those treasonous statements" about a shortage. He said they were "being hunted down."According to emptywheel, "the especially weird part" of the White House and Pentagon denials is that they insist Trump isn't angry at Hegseth at all. "Shouldn't the President be angry with a Secretary of Defense who conducted the war in such a dumba— way, losing the war while blowing the missile reserves?" the blog asked.The blog also mentioned reporting that suggests that missile supplies are indeed dangerously low. A CNN report estimated about 80 percent of U.S. THAAD interceptors are gone, and Reuters reported, citing sources, that "virtually all" of the Army's surface-to-surface weapons have been used up.
‘Super El Niño’ could bring wet winter and flooding to western US, climate scientists warn
Weather system tied to warming sea surface expected to intensify in fall and winter, persisting until early spring 2027El Niño, a recurring climate phenomenon marked by above-average sea surface temperatures, when changes in wind patterns allow warmer water to spread across the central and eastern equatorial Pacific, could spell a wet winter for portions of the western and south-eastern US, climate models show. Coastal areas may be at elevated risk of flooding, experts warn.Climate scientists predict this year’s “super” El Niño, a label assigned when sea surface temperatures climb by at least 2C, will be the strongest of the century. The weather system is expected to intensify in the fall and winter, persisting until early spring 2027, according to the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa). Continue reading...
OpenAI to pause some work on AI model Astra due to security concerns
Agent found to be able to find and exploit vulnerabilities without human intervention, and to carry out cyber-attacksOpenAI will pause some work on an artificial intelligence model because of security concerns, the company stated on Friday, following a series of incidents in which AI agents have escaped containment.The company had evaluated the agent, Astra, and found “significant advancements in agentic coding and cybersecurity”, which had moved to a “critical” threshold where it can find and exploit vulnerabilities without human intervention, or devise and execute cyber-attacks when given only a “high level desired goal”. Continue reading...
Eastern China braces for Typhoon Dolphin, shutting schools and tourist activities
Authorities in eastern China are shutting schools and tourist sites as Typhoon Dolphin heads for the coast
Abu Dhabi National Oil Company Tanker Attacked In Hormuz, UAE Blames Iran
The foreign ministry in a statement condemned "the hostile Iranian attack that targeted a tanker belonging to ADNOC with a missile while it was transiting the Strait of Hormuz, without causing casualties".
Defense pact with Saudi Arabia, Pakistan not aimed at Iran, Turkey says
Turkey describes the pact as an important step toward regional stability.
One of UK’s best fossil collections sold overseas in ‘loss to the nation’
Exclusive: Lack of funds left British museums unable pay eight-figure sum for collection, which went to Abu Dhabi institutionOne of the most important collections of UK Jurassic fossils ever compiled has been sold to a museum in Abu Dhabi, the Guardian can reveal, in what British experts have described as a loss for the nation.The collection, which was amassed by a private fossil collector, consisted of 318 specimens, including ichthyosaurs, fish and crustaceans among other creatures, some of which could be new species. Continue reading...
Where in the UK will get the best view of the solar eclipse?
When, where and how to get the optimal view of the first solar eclipse to be visible across the country this centuryFor the first time this century, people across the UK will be able to see an almost total solar eclipse in the evening sky on Wednesday.A solar eclipse occurs when the moon moves between the sun and the Earth, blocking the sun’s light either partly or fully. This year, people in the UK and Ireland will see 90-96% of the sun covered by the moon for the first time since 1999 – and it’s their last chance until 2081. Continue reading...
