Chuck Schumer postpones book tour stops amid shutdown vote backlash | Chuck Schumer

The Senate minority leader, Chuck Schumer, has postponed several stops on a tour to promote his new book, citing security concerns, as the New York Democrat faces intensifying backlash over his vote to support a Republican-drafted spending bill and avert a government shutdown. Schumer was scheduled to participate in events in Baltimore, Washington DC, New … Read more

Conor McGregor anti-immigration rant in White House condemned by Irish PM | Conor McGregor

Ireland’s prime minister has denounced anti-immigration comments made by Conor McGregor as the MMA fighter visited the White House before a Saint Patrick’s Day meeting with Donald Trump. McGregor said “Ireland is on the cusp of losing its Irishness” and that an “illegal immigration racket” was “running ravage on the country”. Last week, Donald Trump … Read more

Australia news live: OECD economists slash growth estimates for Australian economy and warn trade wars may push prices up | Australia news

Key events Show key events only Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature Patrick Commins The Paris-based OECD – a 38-member grouping of rich countries, including Australia – on Monday evening issued a more downbeat assessment of the global economy, laying the blame on Trump’s tariffs. The OECD’s economists slashed their estimates for Australian … Read more

‘It’s a history lesson’: fossil fish up to 16m years old found perfectly preserved in central NSW | Fossils

Fossil fish so exquisitely preserved that scientists have been able to reconstruct their final days from up to 16m years ago have been discovered in central New South Wales. Several fossils of small freshwater fish, embedded in an iron-rich mineral called goethite at the McGraths Flat fossil site, have retained microscopic structural features including their … Read more

Farage reprises his favourite moans at his latest not-so-special announcement | John Crace

It’s getting to be quite a habit. Reform send out an invitation to attend a press conference with the promise of a “special announcement”. The media attend with high expectations only to be rewarded with a crushing sense of anticlimax. One special announcement turned out to be a 30-minute whinge from Nigel Farage about some … Read more

Red Cross had to take £220,000 from disaster fund to clothe asylum seekers in UK | UK news

The British Red Cross had to use hundreds of thousands of pounds from its funds earmarked for disasters to provide basic clothing for asylum seekers in the UK in what it described as an unprecedented intervention. The charity is the largest UK provider of services to refugees, asylum seekers and other vulnerable migrants. It said … Read more