Cyclone Alfred live updates: Queensland and NSW battle heavy winds and rain as storm slows approach | Tropical Cyclone Alfred

Key events Show key events only Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature Here’s the latest map of the storm’s forecast track, from the Bom: TROPICAL CYCLONE FORECAST TRACK MAP for Tropical Cyclone Alfred Issued at 4:51 am AEST Thursday 6 March 2025. Photograph: Australian Bureau of Meteorology Share Ben Smee Weather bureau says … Read more

European markets soar as Germany moves to lift ‘debt brake’ and raise defence spending | Germany

European financial markets have rallied sharply and German borrowing costs have soared after the country’s prospective leaders announced a historic deal to loosen its “debt brake” rule to boost spending on defence. The yield – in effect the interest rate – on 30-year German government bonds rose by about 25 basis points to 3.08% in … Read more

Syria vows to destroy chemical weapons stockpile left by Assad regime | Syria

Syria’s foreign minister has vowed to swiftly rid the country of the chemical weapons remaining after the downfall of Bashar al-Assad’s government, and he appealed to the international community for help. Asaad Hassan al-Shibani spoke during closed-door meetings at the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) in The Hague, where he became the … Read more

Greenland politicians condemn ‘disrespectful’ Trump takeover claim | Greenland

Donald Trump’s claim in his address to Congress that the US will acquire Greenland “one way or the other” was widely condemned in Nuuk as “disrespectful” and was said to present an “unacceptable view of humanity”. In his speech on Tuesday night, the US president was met with laughs, including from the vice-president, JD Vance, … Read more

Refugees in Kenya’s Kakuma camp clash with police after food supplies cut | Global development

Thousands of refugees clashed with police in a Kenyan refugee camp this week after receiving news that their food allocations would be cut because of funding problems. The UN’s refugee agency, UNHCR, confirmed that four refugees and a local government official had been injured when police intervened to stop the protesters at the Kakuma refugee … Read more

Supreme court rejects Trump request to continue freezing $2bn in foreign aid | Trump administration

A divided US supreme court has rejected the Trump administration’s request to continue freezing nearly $2bn in foreign aid, marking a setback for the White House and the tech billionaire Elon Musk, who has been tasked with slashing the size of the US government and its spending. In a 5-4 decision released on Wednesday, Chief … Read more

Barclays chair told FCA Staley ‘had no particular relationship’ with Epstein, court hears | Banking

The Barclays chair Nigel Higgins’s assurances that Jes Staley had “no particular relationship” with Jeffrey Epstein, days after the child sex offender’s death in 2019, convinced the City regulator that there was no reason to investigate the bank’s chief executive, a court has heard. Jonathan Davidson, a former director of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), … Read more