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The Queensland police commissioner sought to access the confidential domestic and family violence records of a female officer – who was allegedly the victim of “significant” acts of violence by her husband – in order to investigate her. The state’s chief magistrate denied police access to those documents this week, ruling that victims of violence … Read more

Good morning. According to Donald Trump, it’s “liberation day”: the advent of a new trade order in which Americans reap the benefit of massive tariffs on imports, and the rest of the world picks up the tab. Unsurprisingly, the United States’ trading partners tend to take a very different view. And they are doing everything … Read more

The agency that would become MI5, originally known as the Secret Service Bureau, employed just 17 staff in 1914; by the end of the first world war, the number working for Britain’s domestic counter-intelligence agency had swelled to 850, including a number of female administrators. While valuable for managing the card index records, noted Edith … Read more

The US has accused China of putting the region’s security at risk after it launched a second day of military drills targeting Taiwan with a rehearsal blockade and attack. China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) began the joint drills without notice on Tuesday morning, sending 76 aircraft and more than 20 Navy and Coast Guard ships, … Read more

Donald Trump will announce his latest round of tariffs at the White House on Wednesday afternoon, threatening to unleash a global trade war on what he has dubbed “liberation day”. Trump has rattled global stock markets, alarmed corporate executives and economists, and triggered heated rows with the US’s largest trading partners by announcing and delaying … Read more

Last summer was the fifth worst in nearly half a century for butterflies in Britain, according to the biggest scientific survey of insect populations in the world. For the first time since scientific recording began in 1976, more than half of Britain’s 59 native species are in long-term decline. Nine species suffered their worst year … Read more

Val Kilmer, the actor best known for his roles in Top Gun, Batman Forever and The Doors, has died at the age of 65. His daughter Mercedes told the New York Times that the cause of death was pneumonia. Kilmer was diagnosed with throat cancer in 2014 and later recovered, after treatment with chemotherapy and … Read more

Key events Show key events only Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature The move in Gaza comes after the US said it was adding an extra aircraft carrier to its Middle East deployment. The Carl Vinson will join the Harry S. Truman in the Middle East “to continue promoting regional stability, deter aggression, … Read more

An 11-year-old girl was restrained, injected with anti-psychotic drugs and placed on a mental health ward after New Zealand police mistook her for a missing woman, a report found on Wednesday. Health officials and police have scrambled to explain the mix-up, which has appalled political leaders and stoked outrage across the country. The girl – … Read more

Republicans on Tuesday won special elections for two US House of Representatives seats in Florida vacated by Donald Trump’s cabinet nominees, dashing Democratic hopes for an upset victory in the first federal special elections held since the president began his second term. But Democratic candidates Josh Weil and Gay Valimont are on track to lose … Read more