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Afghanistan

Russia to help Taliban fight Islamic State

Russia will help the Taliban authorities in Afghanistan fight against the Afghan branch of Islamic State, Moscow’s special representative for the country has been quoted as saying. Zamir Kabulov, a former Russian ambassador to Afghanistan, referred to Islamic State Khorasan (ISIS-K) as the “common enemy” of Moscow and Kabul.

Reuters

Germany

Spy agency labels AfD ‘extremist’

Germany’s domestic intelligence agency has classified Alternative for Germany (AfD) as an extremist entity that threatens democracy, a move enabling it to better monitor the party that came second in February’s federal election. The BfV agency’s finding, based on a 1,100-page expert report, allows the authorities to increase surveillance of the far-right party, including by recruiting confidential informants and intercepting communications.

Reuters

Court

Appeal lost on tougher police powers for street protests

Britain’s attempt to give police wider powers to impose conditions on street protests has been rejected by London’s Court of Appeal, a decision the civil rights group Liberty described as “a huge victory for democracy”. Liberty successfully challenged changes to public order laws made by the previous Conservative government, with the High Court ruling last year that the government had exceeded its powers by lowering the threshold for police to impose conditions.

Reuters

Middle East

Israeli military working to intercept missile from Yemen

Israel’s military says it has identified the launch of a missile from Yemen toward Israeli territory, and aerial defence systems were operating to intercept the threat. Alarms were activated in several areas, the military added. The military said earlier on Friday it had intercepted another missile launched from Yemen.

Reuters

Election

Reform wins underscore big surge

Nigel Farage’s Reform UK has won a fifth parliamentary seat, its first post as mayor and many positions on local councils in early election results, underscoring the threat it poses to Britain’s main two political parties. The populist Reform, led by Brexit campaigner Nigel Farage, hopes a strong performance in English local elections to be announced through the day will mark the start of the breakdown of Britain’s century-old two-party political system, dominated by the governing Labour Party and opposition Conservatives.

Reuters

Middle East

Labor’s Gaza stance fracturing Jewish, Muslim votes

Handing out pamphlets to pedestrians in Brisbane, mother of two and Jewish activist, Hava Mendelle, has a clear message – ‘get Labor out’. Mendelle previously backed Australia’s ruling Labor Party for its climate policies but has since felt let down by the government’s handling of the rise in antisemitism following the beginning of the Israel-Gaza war in late 2023.

Reuters

Syria

Israeli strikes near palace ‘clear message’ to Sharaa

Israel has bombed an area near the presidential palace in Damascus, sending a ‘clear message’ of hostility toward the Islamist-led Syrian authorities and a preparedness to ramp up military action in the name of Syria’s Druze minority. Israel has escalated military operations in Syria since rebels ousted Bashar al-Assad in December, with bombings across the country and ground forces entering its southwest, while calling for Syria to remain decentralised and isolated.

Reuters

Maritime

5 hours ago

World’s largest electric ship launched

Powered by more than 250 tonnes of batteries and with the ability to carry 2100 passengers, Hull 096 has been hailed as one of Australia’s greatest exports. The 130m-long vessel, officially launched in Hobart by shipbuilder Incat on Friday, is the world’s largest battery-electric ship. It was commissioned by South American ferry operator Buquebus and will take people, as well as 225 vehicles, between Argentina and Uruguay.

Reuters

5 hours ago

Government

6 hours ago

Trump makes first judicial nomination since return

President Donald Trump has announced his first judicial nomination since returning to the White House as he moved to appoint a lawyer serving under Tennessee’s Republican attorney general to a seat on a federal appeals court. Trump said in a social media post that he is nominating Whitney Hermandorfer, who has clerked for three members of the US Supreme Court’s conservative majority, to fill a vacancy on the Cincinnati-based 6th US Circuit Court of Appeals.

Reuters

6 hours ago

Election

Humble corflutes spark waves in the electorate

Political candidate corflutes have been facing the frontline of dirty campaigning ahead of the federal election. Corflute disputes have sparked controversies during the campaign, with signs taken down and stolen by opposing candidates and parties. The relatively innocuous plastic posters have also been defaced and vandalised across multiple electorates.

Reuters

South Korea

New leader pledges stability

South Korea’s third acting president in five months Lee Ju-ho says he will ensure stable government ahead of a June 3 presidential election, following the quick-fire resignations of the prime minister and finance minister. Hours earlier, Education Minister Lee took over as acting leader, thrusting him into the job of shepherding Asia’s fourth-largest economy through the political turmoil triggered by a martial law attempt last year by ousted President Yoon Suk Yeol and the impact of sweeping US tariffs.

Reuters

Security

11 hours ago

New CIA videos aim to lure Chinese officials

The CIA has rolled out two Chinese-language videos aimed at enticing officials in China to leak secrets to the US, the latest public effort by the intelligence agency to ramp up human intelligence gathering on Washington’s strategic rival. The move comes after the CIA in October launched a drive to recruit new informants in China, Iran and North Korea by posting instructions online on how to securely contact the agency, following what it said was successful efforts to enlist Russians. The CIA is confident that the videos are penetrating China’s “Great Firewall” internet restrictions and reaching the intended audience.

Reuters

11 hours ago

Government

Waltz out in major security switch-up

US President Donald Trump has ousted his national security adviser Mike Waltz, naming Secretary of State Marco Rubio as his interim replacement in the first major shakeup of Trump’s inner circle since he took office in January. Trump, in a social media post, said he would nominate Waltz to be the next US ambassador to the United Nations, adding that “he has worked hard to put our nation’s interests first”. Earlier in the day, multiple sources said Trump had decided to force Waltz out of his White House position.

Reuters

Ukraine

Minerals deal strengthens Trump

Kyiv and Washington have hailed a deal giving the United States preferential access to new Ukrainian minerals as a milestone, which a top US official says will allow US President Donald Trump to negotiate with Russia on a stronger basis. The Kremlin was silent on the agreement, but former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev said it meant Trump had “broken the Kyiv regime” because Ukraine would have to pay for US military aid with mineral resources.

Reuters

Court

15 hours ago

Use of wartime law for deportations ruled unlawful

A US judge has blocked President Donald Trump’s administration from using an 18th-century wartime law to deport some Venezuelan migrants, in the most sweeping ruling thus far against a key part of the Republican president’s aggressive immigration crackdown. In a 36-page opinion, US District Judge Fernando Rodriguez in Brownsville, Texas, ruled that the Trump administration exceeded the scope of the Alien Enemies Act by using it to speed up the deportations of alleged members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua. The government labels the gang a terrorist organisation. Trump’s mid-March proclamation invoking the 1798 law to justify rapid deportations faces multiple court challenges.

Reuters

15 hours ago

AUKUS

UK briefs allies on security project

Britain’s special representative for the AUKUS defence project, Sir Stephen Lovegrove, has been briefing US officials in Washington this week about a review of the project he presented to the British government this year, a British official said...

Reuters

Middle East

Iran says US talks in Rome off

A fourth round of talks between the United States and Iran, which had been due to take place in Rome on Saturday, has been postponed and a new date will be set “depending on the US approach”, a senior Iranian official told Reuters. “US sanctions on...

Reuters

Technology

Start-up reimagines rocket fuel

The future of spacecraft propulsion is expected to be electric and fuelled by metal, according to Magdrive, a UK startup developing a lightweight thruster poised to transform satellite maneuvrability. Magdrive’s Rogue thruster is a pulsed plasm...

Reuters

South Korea

Court ruling, resignations rock presidential race

South Korea’s top court cast doubt on frontrunner Lee Jae-myung’s eligibility to run for the presidency, while the resignations of the prime minister and finance minister shook the interim government in place since December’s martial law. Education Minister Lee Ju-ho took over as acting president, the third since the martial law decree, barely a month before a snap election. The vote was called after the Constitutional Court removed former president Yoon Suk Yeol from office over his brief martial law attempt. The election race was rocked by a Supreme Court ruling that could threaten the candidacy of former opposition party leader Lee Jae-myung, who has dominated all opinion polls.

Reuters