AFP deputy commissioner says there is ‘no immediate danger’ to the public on Anzac Day despite yesterday’s anti-terror raids in Sydney. Follow the day’s news live

• Thousands gather for dawn services and marches to mark Anzac Day around Australia
• Seven juveniles with alleged ‘violent extremist ideology’ arrested in Sydney counter-terror raids
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Hundreds gather in Sydney for Anzac Day dawn service

AAP has the details on Sydney’s dawn service where hundreds of people – including veterans – gathered under a full moon and clear skies for a solemn service in the CBD.

You who have loved will remember the glow of their glad young years, as you stand today to salute them in silence, with pride and with tears.

The best thing about the ceremony this morning is to see the number of people that come early in the morning.

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Twenty arrested, including journalist, on campus as protests continue into evening

• Campus protests: full story

Mike Johnson, the Republican House speaker, will visit Columbia University today to speak to Jewish students and hold a press conference “regarding the troubling rise of virulent antisemitism on America’s college campuses”, his office has said.

New York House Republicans have called on Columbia’s president, Minouche Shafik, to resign immediately for failing to end the protests.

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Along with 11 fake electors, seven allies of the ex-president including Mark Meadows and John Eastman were also charged

An Arizona grand jury has charged 18 people involved in the scheme to create a slate of false electors for Donald Trump, including 11 people who served as those fake electors and seven Trump allies who aided the scheme.

Kris Mayes, Arizona’s Democratic attorney general, announced the charges on Wednesday, and said the 11 fake electors had been charged with felonies for fraud, forgery and conspiracy.

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Local and state police clash with demonstrators in Texas state capital while rightwing governor says protesters ‘belong in jail’

At least 20 people were arrested, including a photojournalist, as police and demonstrators violently clashed at the University of Texas at Austin on Wednesday.

Hundreds of students walked out of class to protest against the conflict in Gaza and demand the university divest from companies that manufacture machinery used in Israel’s war efforts, carrying signs and chanting.

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Federal prosecutors looking at relationship with Purdue Pharma and other drug manufacturers, and its role in US opioid crisis

McKinsey is under criminal investigation in the United States over allegations that the consulting firm played a key role in fueling the opioid epidemic, with federal prosecutors homing in on its work advising OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma and other drugmakers, three people familiar with the matter said.

The consulting firm and the US justice department declined to comment.

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The March-quarter figure makes a cut less likely. Still, the Reserve Bank will probably give more weight to how quickly it can get to its target range

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A higher-than-forecast inflation result for the March quarter (and March itself) wasn’t the news Australian borrowers or the Albanese government had been wishing for.

Disappointment, however, needn’t usher in panic spasms either.

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Republican Mike Johnson heckled by protesters on New York visit while pro-Palestinian protests ramp up in California and Texas

• Student Gaza protests – live updates

Tensions over the protests sweeping US college campuses mounted on Wednesday as the House speaker, Mike Johnson, jumped into the fray with a visit to New York’s Columbia University, where he faced jeers from pro-Palestinian protesters and called for the resignation of the university’s president.

Flanked by a number of Republican members of Congress, Johnson denounced the demonstrations as “mob rule” and condemned what he called a “virus of antisemitism” at colleges nationwide.

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Cambridge study finds those from poorest areas have 35% higher risk of second non-breast cancer

Female survivors of breast cancer living in the most deprived areas have a 35% higher risk of developing second, unrelated cancers, compared with those from the most affluent areas, research shows.

Breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in the UK, with about 56,000 people being told they have it each year. Improved diagnosis and treatments mean that five-year survival rates are now 86% in England.

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Celebrating advertisers with scale, influence and integrity, the ceremony recognised brands including Nurofen and Google Pixel

The inaugural Guardian Advertising Awards, launched to celebrate scale, influence and integrity across the publisher’s platforms, have recognised brands including Nurofen, Google Pixel and Charlie Bigham’s.

The Grand Prix award was given to Nurofen for its See My Pain campaign, which was praised by judges for its real-world impact in tackling awareness of the gender pain gap and the brand’s “commitment to addressing complex health challenges”. The campaign also won in the “everyday brands” category.

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Home secretary visits Lampedusa in Italy as National Audit Office says scheme could surpass GBP580m by 2030

Several flights a month will deport asylum seekers to Rwanda “indefinitely”, the home secretary has said, as he argued that the GBP1.8m a person cost of the scheme was justified.

James Cleverly, in his first interview since the government’s plan was approved by parliament on Monday, said he had booked a succession of initial flights and was preparing to order the detention of people seeking refuge in the UK so they could be sent to east Africa.

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Teaching unions share family’s disappointment after government says system has ‘significant benefits’

Ofsted’s controversial single-word judgments are here to stay, the government has ruled, in a blow to campaigners who hoped they would be scrapped after the suicide of the primary school headteacher Ruth Perry.

Perry’s sister, Prof Julia Waters, reacted with fury to the government’s statement, published on Thursday in response to an inquiry into Ofsted by MPs on the Commons education committee, describing it as “woefully inadequate”.

In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In the US, you can call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on 988, chat on 988lifeline.org, or text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis counsellor. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org

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The 81-year-old conductor makes a rare UK visit with his West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, while Yo-Yo Ma, Doctor Who, Florence Welch, Sam Smith and Rule, Britannia! all feature

The BBC today announces details of this summer’s Proms festival of 90 concerts over eight weeks. Daniel Barenboim will be making a rare visit, conducting the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra that he and the Palestinian-American academic Edward Said founded 25 years ago. The 81-year-old conductor has almost completely stepped back from performing because of a neurological condition and has not conducted in the UK since 2019.

Sir Simon Rattle, who at last year’s Proms gave his final UK performance as the London Symphony Orchestra’s music director, will be returning to the Albert Hall with his new orchestra, the Bavarian Radio Symphony. Rattle’s orchestral home before the LSO, the Berlin Philharmonic, will give two concerts with its principal conductor Kirill Petrenko, the group’s only appearance in the UK this year. Also set to be a hot ticket is the 28-year-old Finnish conductor Klaus Makela, who comes with the Orchestra de Paris to perform Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique.

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A bill passed by Congress and signed by Biden requires owner ByteDance to sell or face a US ban – it’s its biggest threat yet

• Senate passes bill banning TikTok if parent company does not sell it

The House of Representatives passed a bill that would require TikTok owner ByteDance to sell the social media platform or face a total ban in the United States. The Senate passed it less than a week later. Joe Biden signed it a day after the Senate voted yes.

TikTok is facing its biggest existential threat yet in the US. The app was banned in Montana last year, but courts found that prohibition unconstitutional, and it never went into effect.

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Push to integrate AI into Meta products boosts financial results, but share prices tumble with weak sales forecast

Meta’s drive to integrate artificial intelligence into its products yielded strong financial results for the second quarter in a row. The company plans to spend even more on AI in the coming months, though, and its share price slumped more than 15% as the company reported earnings Wednesday. A weak sales forecast and higher spending guidance rattled investors.

Mark Zuckerberg said his main focus for the rest of 2024 and likely 2025 will be “getting millions or billions of people to use Meta AI” rather than generating revenue from it. He cautioned that Meta products such Instagram Reels have in the past not immediately generated revenue as they scaled before they became profitable pieces of Meta’s ad business.

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Temperatures could hit -3C in northern England and Scotland, but Met Office says conditions are ‘nothing exceptional’

Freezing overnight temperatures will hit parts of the UK on Wednesday and Thursday, with experts warning some areas could see snow.

The cold Arctic air is expected to cause frosts across parts of northern England and Scotland, with temperatures going as low as -3C.

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Berlin restores ties with UN agency after review says Israel has provided no evidence of terrorist links

• Middle East crisis – live updates

Germany has said it will restore cooperation and funding to Unrwa operations in the Gaza Strip after an independent review said Israel had not provided evidence to back up claims that hundreds of employees of the UN agency for Palestinians were members of terrorist organisations.

Berlin’s foreign and development ministries said in a joint statement on Wednesday that following Monday’s publication of the review, conducted by the former French foreign minister Catherine Colonna, the German government would soon resume cooperation with the UN’s Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian refugees (Unrwa).

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The group’s facility near Manchester, where four women died, ‘should be prosecuted’, says Richard Caseby

The father of a 23-year-old man who died after neglect at a Priory hospital is calling for a criminal investigation into a second Priory facility where four young women died.

Richard Caseby said the Priory should be investigated and prosecuted after three patients died within two months of each other in 2022 at the Priory’s Cheadle Royal hospital, near Manchester, while a fourth patient died last year.

In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In the US, you can call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on 988, chat on 988lifeline.org, or text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis counselor. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org

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In criminal investigation, New Orleans judge demands paper trail from archbishop Gregory Aymond all the way to the Vatican

The criminal investigation into child sexual abuse in New Orleans’ Roman Catholic archdiocese has entered a major new phase, after a judge ordered the church to turn over records to Louisiana state police showing how it responded to abuse allegations over the last several decades.

The order signed on Monday seeks files that would identify every priest and deacon accused of abusing children while working in the US’s second-oldest archdiocese; when those complaints were first made; and whether the church turned those cases over to police, according to multiple sources with direct knowledge of the matter.

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Pedro Sanchez has halted public duties, hitting out at media and opponents after court launched an inquiry into reports of alleged corruption by Begona Gomez

Spain’s socialist prime minister has cancelled his public duties for the rest of the week and said he is considering resigning after a court launched an investigation into his wife for alleged influence-peddling and corruption.

Pedro Sanchez, who has led Spain since 2018, said the “seriousness of the attacks” he and his wife, Begona Gomez, were experiencing had led him to re-evaluate his position, adding that he would reveal his decision on Monday.

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Ryanair urges European Commission to protect overflights and keep EU skies open

Ryanair has demanded that the EU reform its skies after the airline was forced to cancel more than 300 flights across Europe scheduled for Thursday because of a strike by French air traffic controllers.

The cancellations come in spite of the withdrawal of strike action by one of the biggest unions, the SNCTA, which came too late to avoid disruption after France’s civil aviation authority asked airlines to cut flights.

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Suspects being questioned by National Crime Agency in Kent on suspicion of immigration offences

Three men have been arrested in connection with a Channel boat crossing that led to the deaths of five people, including a young girl.

The three have been arrested on suspicion of facilitating illegal immigration and entering the UK illegally. The suspects – two Sudanese men aged 22 and 19 and a 22-year-old from South Sudan – are being questioned by the National Crime Agency (NCA) in Kent, the agency said.

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Slovakian MEP pulls dove from bag and frees it as ‘symbol of peace’, prompting criticism from colleagues

A Slovakian MEP has raised eyebrows by producing a live bird from a bag and releasing it into the European parliament in what he said was a gesture of world peace.

To the bafflement and surprise of the MEPs present in Strasbourg on Wednesday, Miroslav Radacovsky, the leader of the rightwing Slovak Patriot party, reached into his bag and released a dove into the chamber.

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Two reservists brigades mobilised for Gaza missions while rows of tents put up in Khan Younis

Israel appears to be readying to send troops into Gaza’s southernmost city of Rafah, the only corner of the strip that has not seen fierce ground fighting and where more than half of the Palestinian territory’s population of 2.3 million has sought shelter.

The Israeli military said on Wednesday that two reservist brigades had been mobilised for missions in Gaza, while video that circulated online appeared to show rows of square white tents going up in Khan Younis, 3 miles (5km) north of Rafah, which was decimated in a months-long Israeli air and ground campaign. A spokesperson for prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government said Israel was “moving ahead” with a ground operation, but gave no timeline.

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Unfinished Portrait of Fraulein Lieser resurfaced in private collection but questions remain about its journey and its subject

A painting by the Austrian artist Gustav Klimt that was considered lost for 100 years has sold for €30m (GBP26m) at an auction in Vienna.

Entitled Portrait of Fraulein Lieser, the unfinished picture was painted in the spring of 1917, when Klimt was one of the most celebrated portraitists in Europe, and a year before his death.

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Government U-turn as PM Mia Mottley acknowledges anger from reparations movement over plan to buy Barbados land from Dorset MP Richard Drax

The prime minister of Barbados, Mia Mottley, has halted plans for a multi-million-pound payout to the British Conservative MP Richard Drax for the purchase of 53 acres of the Drax Hall plantation, which he owns.

As revealed in the Observer last Sunday, the payout plan had angered those involved in the Caribbean reparations movement, who said Drax, the MP for South Dorset, should hand over all or part of the 617-acre plantation to the people of Barbados.

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President says legislation is ‘going to make the world safer’ after months of congressional gridlock threatened support for Kyiv

Joe Biden has signed into law a bill that rushes $95bn in foreign aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, a bipartisan legislative victory he hailed as a “good day for world peace” after months of congressional gridlock threatened Washington’s support for Kyiv in its fight to repel Russia’s invasion.

The Senate overwhelmingly passed the measure in a 79 -18 vote late on Tuesday night, after the package won similarly lopsided approval in the Republican controlled House, despite months of resistance from an isolationist bloc of hardline conservatives opposed to helping Ukraine.

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Commissioner Reece Kershaw asked at National Press Club about the leaking of personal text messages from the phone of Brittany Higgins

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The Australian federal police are conducting an internal review to determine whether any officers leaked material or otherwise breached professional standards in handling evidence obtained for the criminal investigation and rape trial of the former ministerial adviser Bruce Lehrmann.

The AFP commissioner, Reece Kershaw, told the National Press Club on Wednesday that an examination of those processes was under way.

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Exclusive: Human rights commission finds ‘potentially unlawful conduct or inappropriate behaviour’ towards women is rife in Australian Border Force

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Bullying and harassment “are normalised” in some sections of the Australian Border Force according to a damning report suggesting cultural issues are not confined to its marine unit.

The Australian Human Rights Commission’s Respect@Work report for the ABF concluded that “gender inequality persists in the ABF, creating unsafe work environments for some women”.

Comments from a team leader about wanting to “get rid of all his part-time workers” who were all women;

misogynistic and belittling comments by a male supervisor to a female officer to the effect that she belonged in the kitchen;

a female officer constantly told to smile while working on sensitive issues;

co-workers withholding information from a pregnant officer on the basis that she was not going to be around;

leaders commenting that some women are not suitable for certain roles because of their childcare responsibilities.

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Albanese government will ‘back local journalism’ in dispute over proposed news media bargaining code, says Stephen Jones

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The assistant treasurer, Stephen Jones, has argued it would be “anti-democratic” for Facebook to again remove news content from Australian feeds, in the dispute over the government’s news media bargaining code, as he flagged a commitment for mainstream media outlets to be paid fairly by the social media companies.

Jones said the Albanese government would “back local journalism”, stressing his belief that Australians should be able to access news content on social media – and that outlets should be compensated.

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Critics of Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa say behind remarks is lack of national recognition that slavery should be discussed in schools

Portugal needs to “pay the costs” of slavery and other colonial-era crimes, the country’s president has said, in a rare instance of a European leader seemingly backing the need for reparations.

Portugal has long grappled with calls by campaigners to address its legacy as the European country with the longest historical involvement in the slave trade. During the span of four centuries, nearly 6 million Africans were kidnapped and forcibly transported across the Atlantic by Portuguese vessels.

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Government to resume cooperation with UN agency for Palestinians in Gaza after report finds Israel had yet to back up accusations on employees having terror ties

An Israeli government minister has said if he were American he would rather vote for the Republicans than Joe Biden in the forthcoming US presidential election.

Speaking to Israel’s public broadcaster Kan, Amichai Chikli, who is the diaspora affairs minister and a member of Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party, said Biden is “subject to very heavy pressure that influences him, and causes real damage to relations” between the US and Israel.

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The $95bn package allots funds to Israel, Taiwan and Ukraine, which desperately needs munitions for its war with Russia

Joe Biden praised congressional leaders and lawmakers for what he called an effort “to answer history’s call at this critical inflection point” after the US Senate voted resoundingly in a bipartisan majority on Tuesday to approve $95bn in aid for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan.

The Senate passed the bill in a sweeping 79 to 18 vote, after similarly lopsided approval in the House last weekend. The president, who had pushed Congress for months to deliver the foreign aid measure, said he would sign it into law on Wednesday and immediately begin the process of sending badly needed weapons to Ukraine as early as this week.

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Video evidence shows multiple arrests after regime launched new draconian campaign against women and girls

Harrowing first-hand accounts of women being dragged from the streets of Iran and detained by security services have emerged as human rights groups say country’s hijab rules have been brutally enforced since the country’s drone strikes on Israel on 13 April.

A new campaign, called Noor (“light” in Persian), was announced the same day the Iranian regime launched drone attacks against Israel, to crack down on “violations” of the country’s draconian hijab rules, which dictate that all women must cover their heads in public.

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President, scheduled to speak at the historically Black campus before the start of the Israel-Gaza war, will give speech on 19 May

• Student campus protests – live updates

Joe Biden will be the commencement speaker at Morehouse College in Georgia, giving the Democrat a key spotlight at one of the nation’s pre-eminent historically Black campuses but potentially exposing him to uncomfortable protests as he seeks re-election against Donald Trump.

The White House confirmed on Tuesday that Biden would speak on 19 May at the alma mater of the civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr, and then address the graduating class at the United States Military Academy at West Point on 25 May.

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A 39-year-old man has been charged with intentionally and recklessly causing injury over the death of a 49-year-old woman

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A man has been charged by police investigating the death of a woman whose body was discovered in Victoria’s north.

A 39-year-old man from Cobram was charged on Wednesday evening with intentionally causing injury, recklessly causing injury, common law assault, aggravated assault of a female and unlawful assault.

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Rights chief also warns Britain will be ‘judged harshly by history for its failure to help prevent civilian slaughter in Gaza’

The UK has been accused by Amnesty International of “deliberately destabilising” human rights on the global stage for its own political ends.

In its annual global report, released today, the organisation said Britain was weakening human rights protections nationally and globally, amid a near-breakdown of international law.

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The African country accounted for two-thirds of the additional 13.5m people needing urgent help as displacement drove food insecurity globally

Sudan had the world’s largest number of people facing extreme food shortages in 2023 as conflict and displacement drove food insecurity globally, according to the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).

The war between rival generals meant Sudan accounted for two-thirds of the additional 13.5 million people needing urgent help last year, while conflict also plunged Gaza into the world’s most severe food crisis with its entire population facing high levels of food insecurity.

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US secretary of state to hold talks with Chinese counterpart and most likely with President Xi Jinping

Antony Blinken has landed in China amid a worsening rift between the world’s two most powerful countries that threatens to overshadow otherwise improving relations.

The US secretary of state arrives with a warning that the US and its European allies are no longer prepared to tolerate China’s sale of weapon components and dual-use products to Russia, which are helping Vladimir Putin rebuild and modernise his arms factories, enabling him to intensify his onslaught on Ukraine.

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Bags went missing in Dubai floods, with embassy staff only able to retrieve one instrument and a handful of dress uniforms for defence force musicians

Australia’s and New Zealand’s defence forces are once again coming together at Gallipoli – this time to ensure New Zealand’s military band can play on.

The band’s luggage was among thousands of bags lost during last week’s Dubai floods, with embassy staff only able to retrieve one instrument and a handful of dress uniforms ahead of the 25 April dawn service in Turkey.

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Petition filed on behalf of woman known as as Fausia, who underwent a forced pregnancy after being raped

Honduras is being taken to a global human rights body for the first time over its total abortion ban, which campaigners say violates women’s fundamental rights and the country’s international commitments.

The Center for Reproductive Rights and the Honduras-based Centro de Derechos de la Mujer (Center for Women’s Rights, CDM) filed a petition with the UN human rights committee this month on behalf of a woman known as Fausia, who underwent a forced pregnancy after being raped and denied an abortion under Honduras’ draconian laws.

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Children among those killed in second fatal incident in two weeks close to the Horn of Africa, says UN agency

At least 21 people have died after a boat capsized off the coast of Djibouti, the UN’s migration agency has said.

It was the second fatal maritime accident in two weeks off the Horn of Africa nation, which lies on the perilous so-called eastern migration route from Africa to the Middle East.

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Man worked as assistant to Maximilian Krah, top candidate in European parliament elections, say prosecutors

A close adviser to a leading member of Germany’s far-right populist Alternative fur Deutschland party (AfD) has been arrested on suspicion on spying for China in the latest high-profile espionage case to have come to light.

The man, identified by prosecutors as Jian G, was accused of “an especially severe instance” of espionage, prosecutors said, following his arrest in the early hours of Tuesday morning. It comes after the arrests of three German citizens accused of industrial spying for China in return for payment.

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Commissioner expresses grave concern after Rishi Sunak’s asylum policy passes parliamentary stages

The Council of Europe’s human rights watchdog has condemned Rishi Sunak’s Rwanda scheme, saying it raises “major issues about the human rights of asylum seekers and the rule of law”.

The body’s human rights commissioner, Michael O’Flaherty, said the bill, expected to be signed into law on Tuesday after passing its parliamentary stages on Monday night, was a grave concern and should not be used to remove asylum seekers or infringe on judges’ independence.

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Despite eventual visa backflip by authorities, ABC’s south-Asia correspondent Avani Dias left after being made to ‘feel so uncomfortable’

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The south-Asia correspondent for Australia’s national broadcaster, Avani Dias, has been forced out of India after her reporting fell foul of the Indian government, in a sign of the increasing pressure on journalists in the country under Narendra Modi.

Dias, who has been based in Delhi for the ABC since January 2022, said she felt the government had made it “too difficult” for her to continue to do her job, claiming it blocked her from accessing events, issued takedown notices to YouTube for her news stories, and then refused her a standard visa renewal.

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Videos on social media show helicopters flying in formation when one clipped another and both crashed

Two Malaysian navy helicopters have collided in mid-air during a rehearsal for a parade, killing all 10 crew members on board, the navy has said.

The incident occurred at the Lumut naval base in the western state of Perak at 9.32am on Tuesday (0132 GMT), the navy said in a statement.

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Celebrity fashion designer, who recruited couriers to transport bags from her native Colombia to US on commercial flights, receives 18-month sentence

A leading fashion designer whose accessories were used by celebrities from Britney Spears to the cast of the Sex and the City TV series has been sentenced to 18 months in prison after pleading guilty in Miami federal court on charges of smuggling crocodile handbags from her native Colombia.

Nancy Gonzalez was arrested in 2022 in Cali, Colombia, and later extradited to the US for running a sprawling multiyear conspiracy that involved recruiting couriers to transport her handbags on commercial flights to high-end showrooms and New York fashion events – all in violation of US wildlife laws.

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Opposition says prime minister targeting Muslim minority with ‘hate speech’ and violating election rules

India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, has been accused of hate speech during a campaign rally where he called Muslims “infiltrators” who had “many children” and claimed they would take people’s hard-earned money.

The opposition accused Modi of “blatantly targeting” India’s 200 million Muslim minority with comments made while addressing voters at a speech in Rajasthan on Sunday.

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Historic hearing will receive submissions from people whose human rights have been affected by climate change

Julian Medina comes from a long line of fishers in the north of Colombia’s Gulf of Morrosquillo who use small-scale and often traditional methods to catch species such as mackerel, tuna and cojinua.

Medina went into business as a young man but was drawn back to his roots, and ended up leading a fishing organisation. For years he has campaigned against the encroachment of fossil fuel companies, pollution and overfishing, which are destroying the gulf’s delicate ecosystem and people’s livelihoods.

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Anticyclonic conditions have allowed temperatures to reach 35-45C across much of the country

Mexico has been undergoing its first heatwave of the season. The heatwave started on Sunday 14 April, when Mexico City recorded a new date record with a high of 32.9C, surpassing the previous record of 32C from 1998.

Anticyclonic conditions over the region have been responsible for this heatwave by inhibiting cloud formation, allowing temperatures to rise significantly. These conditions persisted through much of last week, allowing temperatures to reach 35-45C across much of the country.

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For the first time, government military spending increased in all five geographical regions, Sipri thinktank finds

Global military expenditure has reached a record high of $2440bn (GBP1970bn) after the largest annual rise in government spending on arms in over a decade, according to a report.

The 6.8% increase between 2022 and 2023 was the steepest since 2009, pushing spending to the highest recorded by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (Sipri) in its 60-year history.

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Thousands of civilians flee as resistance fighters fight to flush out soldiers holed up at eastern bridge border crossing

Fighting raged at Myanmar’s eastern border with Thailand on Saturday, both governments said, forcing 3,000 civilians to flee as rebels fought to flush out Myanmar junta troops holed up for days at a bridge border crossing.

Resistance fighters and ethnic minority rebels seized the key trading town of Myawaddy on the Myanmar side of the frontier on 11 April, a blow to a well-equipped military struggling to govern and facing a test of battlefield credibility.

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Experts say Indian PM is hoping to be ‘bigger than Gandhi’ as he aims to win a third term in office

As the distant rumble of a helicopter drew closer, cheers erupted from the gathered crowds in anticipation. By the time India’s prime minister finally stepped on to the stage, bowing deeply while immaculately dressed in a white kurta and peach waistcoat and with a neatly trimmed beard, the chants had reached a deafening pitch: “Modi, Modi, Modi.”

These scenes, at a campaign rally on the outskirts of the Uttar Pradesh city of Meerut, have been replicated across the country in recent weeks as Modi and his Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) seek to win a third term in India’s election, which begins on 19 April and goes on for six weeks.

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First phase in world’s largest democratic exercise begins, with 969 million people eligible to vote over six-week period

Voting has begun in India’s mammoth general election, as Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata party hopes to increase its parliamentary majority amid allegations that the country’s democracy has been undermined since it came to power 10 years ago.

India’s elections are the largest democratic exercise in the world, with more than 969 million voters, amounting to more than 10% of the world’s population. The voting began at 8am on Friday, when polling opened at 102 constituencies across the country, and will continue over the next six weeks, in seven phases, until 1 June. All the results will be counted and declared on 4 June.

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Scientists estimate Vasuki indicus was up to 15 metres long, weighed a tonne and would have constricted its prey

Fossil vertebrae unearthed in a mine in western India are the remains of one of the largest snakes that ever lived, a monster estimated at up to 15 metres in length – longer than a T rex.

Scientists have recovered 27 vertebrae from the snake, including a few still in the same position as they would have been when the reptile was alive. They said the snake, which they named Vasuki indicus, would have looked like a large python and would not have been venomous.

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