‘Culture of misogyny’: teacher surrounded by hundreds of students and pelted with food at elite Brisbane boys’ school, court told 28. April 2026 (11:27) Teacher at Marist College Ashgrove claims she suffered ‘serious psychiatric injury’ after the schoolyard incidentGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastA teacher at one of Brisbane’s top private boys’ schools has claimed she was subject to a “culture of misogyny” after being surrounded by hundreds of Catholic school students and pelted with food in an incident that left her with a “serious psychiatric injury”.A barrister acting for Victoria Sparrow, a teacher at Marist College Ashgrove, told the Brisbane supreme court that the school allowed a culture of misogyny to “develop and exist”. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Austrian man goes on trial for 2024 Taylor Swift concert terror plot 28. April 2026 (10:50) Defendant, 21, in court with second man over alleged scheme to kill music fans outside Vienna stadiumThe trial against a man accused of plotting to attack one of Taylor Swift’s concerts in Vienna nearly two years ago began in Austria on Tuesday.The plot was thwarted, but Austrian authorities still canceled Swift’s three performances in August 2024. The singer’s fans were devastated, but rallied to turn Vienna into a citywide trading post for friendship bracelets and singalongs. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Mexican special forces arrest top commander of powerful cartel 28. April 2026 (10:35) Audias Flores, known as ‘El Jardinero’, of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, captured in western state of NayaritMexican special forces have arrested one of the top commanders of the powerful Jalisco New Generation Cartel in the western state of Nayarit.Audias Flores, known as “El Jardinero”, is a regional commander in control of swathes of CJNG territory along Mexico’s Pacific coast. He was considered a potential successor to Nemesio Oseguera, alias “El Mencho”, who ran the cartel and was killed in a security operation in February. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Adelaide writers’ week sacrificed to save city’s prestigious arts festival, documents show 28. April 2026 (10:28) Briefings obtained by freedom of information warned a ‘cascade of withdrawals’ could lead to collapse of 2026 South Australian festivalGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastAdelaide writers’ week was sacrificed to save the 2026 Adelaide festival, an event that ploughs more than $60m into South Australia’s economy each year, documents show.After the 8 January announcement by the Adelaide festival board that controversial Palestinian Australian academic Randa Abdel-Fattah had been dumped from the AWW program, it wasn’t just fellow Australian and international guest writers and academics who began pulling out in droves. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Ministers open-minded on shape of UK social media limits, Phillipson says 28. April 2026 (10:19) Education secretary says children will face restrictions and government will consider range of views on their formUK politics live – latest updatesChildren in the UK will face restrictions on their use of social media but the government remains open-minded about what form the limits will take, Bridget Phillipson, the education secretary, has said.Phillipson told broadcasters on Tuesday she had concerns about the content that under-16s were exposed to online and the length of time they spent staring at screens. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Author of novel depicting toddler role-play spared jail after being convicted of writing child abuse material 28. April 2026 (10:18) Lauren Ashley Mastrosa given 18-month community corrections order after book was read by handful of advance readersThe author behind an offensive novel depicting toddler role-play has been convicted but spared jail for penning child abuse material.Lauren Ashley Mastrosa, a 34-year-old former marketing executive for a Christian charity, wrote Daddy’s Little Toy under the pen name Tori Woods and published it through an online pre-release in March 2025. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
‘Protected for another century’: experts lift 15-tonne foremast from HMS Victory 28. April 2026 (10:04) In latest stage of £42m restoration project, 30-strong team remove mast from Nelson’s Battle of Trafalgar flagshipThere is only one correct way to extricate a 15-tonne wrought iron mast from one of the world’s most famous and beloved warships – very slowly, and with extreme care.Which is precisely how a 30-strong team led by shipwrights and riggers set about their task on Monday night into Tuesday morning when they lifted the foremast from HMS Victory as part of a £42m conservation project. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
BP profits more than double as oil and gas prices soar in Iran war 28. April 2026 (08:58) Energy company hails ‘exceptional’ contribution of oil trading operations as profits hit $3.2bn in the first quarterBusiness live – latest updatesBP’s quarterly profits have more than doubled after a jump in oil and gas prices linked to the conflict in the Middle East.The energy company said on Tuesday that underlying profits for the first quarter were $3.2bn (£2.4bn), up by more than 130% from $1.38bn in the equivalent period a year ago and outstripping City forecasts of $2.67bn. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
After blows to his anti-protest laws, Minns considers retreat from ‘globalise the intifada’ ban 28. April 2026 (08:19) The NSW premier, who was unequivocal in the wake of the Bondi terror attack, has now linked the fate of his state’s laws with those of the Queensland legal challengeFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastThe New South Wales premier, Chris Minns, has said he will only ban the slogan “globalise the intifada” if a potential constitutional challenge to a similar ban in Queensland is unsuccessful, the strongest indication yet that the state government may not seek to proscribe the contested phrase at all.Minns was unequivocal about his intention to ban what he described as “hateful, violent rhetoric” following the Bondi terror attack in December, but sent the issue to a parliamentary inquiry, which he said would enable legislation to be introduced when parliament returned in February. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Taking power in Mali might be a stretch but insurgents can force hand of weakened regime 28. April 2026 (08:00) Coordinated attack by JNIM and the Tuareg minority inflicted significant casualties on government forces and Russian auxiliariesWhen al-Qaida-affiliated Islamic militants launched a series of attacks on military bases and raids into major towns in Mali and neighbouring Burkina Faso last summer, observers suggested they had been inspired by their counterparts in Syria, who had overthrown the regime of Bashar al-Assad and taken power six months or so earlier.Despite the tactical successes that earned them the fearful title of the “Ghost Army”, seizing swathes of territory and denying cities and the military of fuel and other essentials, the chances of Jama’at Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Muslimin (JNIM) definitively defeating Mali’s military regime and the thousand or so Russian mercenaries hired to defend it looked poor. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
