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The handling and disposal of lithium batteries used in electric scooters and bikes, which can cause fires, will be regulated in a nation-first initiative. The New South Wales government has introduced a bill, the Product Lifecycle Responsibility Act, to parliament. When passed, NSW will become the first state to implement such laws. The act will … Read more
A Peruvian farmer’s home is in “concrete danger” from climate change a court has heard, in the resumption of a decade-long legal battle to get German coal giant RWE to contribute to flood defences in the Andes. Lawyers for Saúl Luciano Lliuya, who say his home is threatened by rapidly melting glaciers, told the Upper … Read more
Rachel Reeves will announce the biggest spending cuts since austerity at next week’s spring statement after ruling out tax rises as a way to close her budget deficit. The chancellor will tell MPs next Wednesday that she intends to cut Whitehall budgets by billions of pounds more than previously expected in a move which could … Read more
A jury in North Dakota has decided that the environmental group Greenpeace must pay hundreds of millions of dollars to the pipeline company Energy Transfer and is liable over defamation and other claims over protests in the state nearly a decade ago. Energy Transfer Partners, a Dallas-based oil and gas company worth almost $70bn, had … Read more
A man escaped from a prison van on a motorway on the way to court on Wednesday, police said. Jamie Cooper, 33, absconded from the vehicle, which was carrying prisoners to Lancaster magistrates court, on the M55 near junction two by Catforth, Preston, Lancashire police said. Police received a report of the escape at about … Read more
A British couple in their 70s imprisoned by the Taliban are due in court in Kabul on Thursday but have not been informed of the charges, their family has said. Peter Reynolds, 79, and his wife, Barbie, 75, who run a training business in Afghanistan, were detained last month when they travelled to their home … Read more
Key events Show key events only Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature Welcome Good morning and welcome to our live news blog. I’m Martin Farrer with some of the top overnight stories before Emily Wind takes the news baton. In our top story this morning, the former foreign affairs minister Bob Carr tells … Read more
Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy had a “very good telephone call” on Wednesday, according to Trump, in the first conversation between the US president and his Ukrainian counterpart since their disastrous showdown in the White House three weeks ago. Zelenskyy described the call as “positive, very substantive and frank”, and said he had signed up … Read more
The Department of Justice removed 11 guidelines for US businesses on compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), including some that deal with Covid-19 and masking and accessibility. The ADA was signed into law in 1990 and is the key civil rights law that protects Americans with disabilities from discrimination. Updates have already been … Read more
The former chair of the Criminal Bar Association (CBA) has been disbarred over sexual misconduct towards a young aspiring lawyer. Navjot “Jo” Sidhu KC faced disciplinary allegations over inviting a woman in her 20s – referred to in tribunal proceedings as Person 2 – to stay overnight in his hotel bed during a mini-pupillage or … Read more