business

Donald Trump on Tuesday signed an executive order that seeks to shift responsibility for disaster preparations to state and local governments, deepening the president’s drive to overhaul the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema). The order, first previewed by the White House on 10 March, calls for a review of all infrastructure, continuity and preparedness and … Read more

Donald Trump began his conversation with Vladimir Putin with a simple demand: a 30-day ceasefire on land, sea and air which Ukraine has already signed up to, as an initial measure on which to build towards a peace. Instead, what the US president got from Putin were questions, half-offers and limited concessions – and, above … Read more

Every three months, Suzanne Grobke makes an eight-hour round-trip to access the ADHD medicine her 12-year-old daughter depends on. “My daughter was diagnosed with ADHD when she was three and we see a paediatrician in Sydney because it was up to a two-year wait to see someone regionally,” she said. “She has displayed suicidal thoughts … Read more

The Trump administration on Tuesday released thousands of pages of files concerning the assassination of John F Kennedy, the 35th president who was shot dead in Dallas, Texas, in November 1963. “So people have been waiting decades for this,” Donald Trump told reporters on Monday while visiting the Kennedy Center, “and I’ve instructed my people … Read more

The Australian bestselling children’s author Aaron Blabey has signed an eight-figure deal with the UK, US and Australian arms of Macmillan. The publisher announced the deal on Wednesday, contracting the actor turned writer to produce seven new titles across two new series for the tween reading market. Blabey, whose books have sold about 55m copies, … Read more

Former Queensland judge Walter Sofronoff engaged in “serious corrupt conduct”, the ACT Integrity Commission has found, after reviewing his inquiry into the prosecution of Bruce Lehrmann. The commission released a report on Wednesday into Sofronoff’s conduct as a Board of Inquiry into the prosecution. It found that “Sofronoff’s conduct fell within several elements of the … Read more

Louisiana has carried out its first execution using nitrogen gas, an experimental method for judicial killings that has only been used by one other death-penalty state. Jessie Hoffman Jr, 46, was executed at the Louisiana state penitentiary at Angola shortly after 7pm local time on Tuesday evening. He had been convicted of the 1996 rape … Read more

Urgent action is needed to harness the UK’s potential for tidal range energy in the Severn estuary but smaller lagoon models should be pursued over a larger dam-like barrage, a panel of experts has said. The Severn Estuary Commission said that harnessing the energy of the tides in the estuary could deliver predictable, renewable electricity … Read more

The Canadian prime minister, Mark Carney, has announced a C$6bn deal (A$6.6bn) with Australia to develop an Arctic radar system, warning that Canada must take more responsibility for its defence as US priorities shift. Carney made the announcement Tuesday in Iqaluit, capital of the Nunavut territory in the Canadian Arctic, on the final leg of … Read more

MPs in Hungary have voted to ban Pride events and allow authorities to use facial recognition software to identify attenders and potentially fine them, in what Amnesty International has described as a “full-frontal attack” on LGBTQ+ people. The legislation – the latest by the prime minister, Viktor Orbán, and his rightwing populist party to target … Read more