GDP reading ties in with some surveys suggesting UK plc has kept up momentum despite rising fuel costs

The UK economy unexpectedly grew during the first full month of the Iran war, according to official figures, suggesting the Middle East conflict has not yet affected growth as much as feared.

Figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed growth of 0.3% in gross domestic product (GDP) in March, from a revised 0.4% rise in February and 0% growth in January. The ONS had originally estimated that the economy grew 0.5% in February and 0.1% in January.

Reputation of Australia’s big supermarkets takes another hit as federal court finds Coles misled shoppers by promoting fake discounts

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Coles’s “Down Down” promotion is one of Australia’s best known campaigns. But the supermarket has been caught red-handed after a federal court judge found Coles misled shoppers by promoting fake discounts.

Through its proceedings, Australia’s competition regulator has given consumers an intriguing look-behind-the-curtain moment, exposing how a major supermarket sways shoppers to buy its products.

Reform UK leader records video with Essex pastor to support his battle against council banning order

Nigel Farage has been criticised for giving his full support to a Christian church leader who preached that homosexuality was an “abomination” and would lead to eternity in hell.

The Reform UK leader recorded a video with Stephen Clayden after Colchester council applied for a banning order to limit his street preaching.

Member of army squad sent with medics to assist suspected hantavirus patient recounts descent to remote island

The hardest part of the parachute jump, according to Capt George Lacey, is falling backwards through the air. It is Saturday and Lacey, and his squad of six plus two medics, have just leapt out of an RAF transport, 2,500 metres over the south Atlantic.

“The parachute can only go forward so quickly,” he says, meaning that it has to be pulled at precisely the right moment. “So you have to turn into the wind and basically fly backwards, which is a very weird sensation, as you can imagine.”

As Keir Starmer’s leadership totters, investors warn a Labour leadership contest ignoring public finances and market realpolitik could be disastrous

A rise in borrowing costs and warnings to avoid a “Liz Truss moment”. As Keir Starmer faces a potential leadership challenge, the spectre of the bond market looms large.

Amid febrile conditions in Westminster, the prospect of Britain switching prime ministers for a sixth time in seven years has fuelled a sharp sell-off in the market for UK government debt.

Senator Ronald dela Rosa is wanted by the ICC for his alleged role in country’s deadly anti-drug crackdown that saw thousands killed

Philippine authorities are seeking to confirm reports that a lawmaker wanted by the international criminal court (ICC) secretly left the Senate premises where he had spent days evading arrest, an official said.

Presidential communications undersecretary Clare Castro told a press conference that authorities were trying to confirm the whereabouts of senator Ronald dela Rosa, after reports suggested he had slipped out of the heavily guarded building undetected before dawn.

Woodland Trust also finds significant north-south divide in tree cover, leaving many people at risk of poor health

Nigel Farage’s constituency of Clacton-on-Sea is a “tree desert”, leaving people more exposed to air pollution, poorer health, lower life expectancy and the impact of rising temperatures, according to a new report.

The Essex town is rated the worst-performing for equal access to trees in England, with the highest proportion of urban residents – 98.2% – living in neighbourhoods with critically low access to trees.

Yindjibarndi Ngurra Aboriginal Corporation label federal court ruling against mining giant’s Solomon Hub iron ore operation ‘unsatisfactory’

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Yindjibarndi traditional owners are considering an appeal against the federal court’s record $150m compensation payout, saying it is “unsatisfactory” and will not cover the cultural and financial losses suffered since Fortescue began mining their land.

On Tuesday, mining company Fortescue was ordered by the federal court to pay compensation to Yindjibarndi traditional owners for cultural losses caused by its multibillion‑dollar Solomon Hub iron ore mine, plus $100,000 for economic losses – the largest compensation payout in native title history.

Health minister Mark Butler says six passengers who have tested negative for hantavirus will land in Western Australia on Friday

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Four Australian citizens who were aboard the MV Hondius, the cruise ship at the centre of the hantavirus outbreak, will soon be home after the government secured a suitable aircraft and crew for the journey.

The health minister, Mark Butler, said the citizens, along with a permanent resident and a New Zealand citizen, were due to take off from the Netherlands on Thursday and land in Perth on Friday afternoon local time.

Millions of documents chronicling generations of trauma saved from Gaza and East Jerusalem in 10-month Unrwa operation

East Jerusalem to Amman should have been an easy trip: a short drive down to the Dead Sea, across the border checkpoint and swiftly on to the Jordanian capital.

But in the early summer of 2024, the distance appeared an almost insurmountable obstacle to humanitarian workers from Unrwa (the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees), as they sought to safeguard huge quantities of archival documents vitally important to decades of recent Palestinian history.

Ahmed al-Doush’s health said to be in sharp decline since his arrest in 2024 in relation to social media posts

The wife of a British national who has been imprisoned in Saudi Arabia since 2024 for social media posts, has pleaded for his release as his wellbeing declines.

In November, the UN working group on arbitrary detention found Ahmed al-Doush was being detained arbitrarily under international law and recommended his immediate release, as well as the payment of compensation. The findings followed its eight-month inquiry

Addition of Tasmanian crossbencher means Labor has gained a seat in the Senate – but still doesn’t have a majority

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Former Jacqui Lambie ally Tammy Tyrrell has joined the ALP, becoming the latest party-hopping senator to be lured by Anthony Albanese’s government.

Tyrrell, the Tasmanian senator who had a falling-out with Lambie in 2024, has sat as an independent for more than two years.