Move comes after mayor Zohran Mamdani spoke on return of the Koh-i-noor diamond after UK royals’ visit to New York

Hundreds of antiquities valued at $14m have been returned to India by New York authorities, including some connected to the alleged art smuggler Subhash Kapoor, in a move that is likely to raise the pressure on others to make similar gestures.

The return of 657 antiquities was announced by the Manhattan district attorney, Alvin Bragg Jr, on Tuesday, and came as New York City’s mayor, Zohran Mamdani, waded into the historically contentious ownership of the 105.6 carat Koh-i-noor diamond.

State’s governor and attorney general move to postpone midterm 2026 primaries just a day after supreme court ruling guts Voting Rights Act

• Louisiana postpones primaries as states rush to redraw districts after supreme court ruling

House speaker Mike Johnson on Thursday urged states to redraw their maps following the Supreme Court’s monumental decision striking down the Voting Rights Act.

Louisiana – where Republicans could reconfigure two district currently represented by Black Democrats – has already indicated it wants to quickly redraw ahead of the midterms.

The landscape elsewhere is a bit more complicated. Alabama is currently under a court-ordered injunction to use its current maps – which has two districts represented by Black Democrats – until 2030. A court put that injunction in place after finding Alabama intentionally discriminated against Black voters. I would expect Alabama to quickly ask the court to release it from that injunction in light of the Callais decision.

Mississippi could also move quickly to get rid of a district represented by Bennie Thompson, a Black Democrat. And Republicans in South Carolina could also quickly move to get rid of the district of Jim Clyburn, one of the most powerful Democrats in the US House.

In Tennessee, Republicans could redraw the map to get rid of a district around Memphis, currently represented by Democrat Steve Cohen. Republicans in Georgia may also try and wipe out several districts held by Democrats.

Lee Zeldin claims before Senate that Trump administration plan will make Environmental Protection Agency ‘more efficient’

Senate Democrats accused the Trump administration of abandoning the Environmental Protection Agency’s mission to protect human health and the environment at a congressional hearing Wednesday, slamming agency leadership over a proposal to cut its budget in half.

Lee Zeldin’s appearance before the Senate environment committee was the EPA administrator’s last of three budget hearings this week where he argued for sharply reduced funding for the agency, which already has seen its staffing reduced to its lowest level in decades under his leadership. During much of the week, the former Republican congressman from New York took an aggressive approach, responding to Democrats in the House and Senate with his own questions and at times accusing them of being unprepared or failing to care about the EPA’s record.

State’s police minister says buyback ‘doesn’t focus on keeping guns out of the hands of terrorists and criminals’, leaving NSW only clear supporter of plan

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Queensland has rejected key recommendations from the Bondi royal commission’s interim report, insisting plans for a national gun buyback will not keep weapons “out of the hands of terrorists and criminals”.

The report, handed down by commissioner Virginia Bell on Thursday, raised doubts about whether efforts to establish a national gun register after the 2022 police killings at Wieambilla in Queensland had been “unduly leisurely”. Bell recommended the federal government and the states speed up a jointly funded weapons buyback scheme.

Hope that sessions of MDMA-assisted therapy could help soldiers fight longer by helping them process trauma

As the war on drugs approaches its end, a new doctrine could soon take hold: psychedelic drugs for active-duty soldiers suffering from PTSD.

In two studies funded by the Department of Defense (DoD), 186 service personnel with PTSD will likely next year undergo multiple sessions of MDMA-assisted therapy.

Shares in Domino’s Pizza, KFC operator Collins Foods and multi-brand food franchise owner Retail Food Group have all suffered double-digit falls

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Once a symbol of cheap eating, fast food is transforming into a luxury many can no longer afford due to resurgent living costs.

This shift is reflected on the ASX, where major pizza, fried chicken and doughnut outlets are seeing significant price drops, raising the question: are consumers so downbeat that they are even giving up on fast food?

Exclusive: Government should back projects that prioritise renewables to protect consumers from ongoing price shocks, they say

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Former oil and gas industry leaders, including senior executives from BP and Shell, are warning the Albanese government that Australians risk ongoing price shocks and higher costs if it prioritises fossil fuel development in response to the global energy crisis.

Sixteen ex-executives and professionals – who had worked for companies including Woodside, Inpex, Exxon Mobil and Esso – have urged the government to reject calls for fast-tracked gas and coal extraction, arguing it would do nothing to improve the nation’s liquid fuel security.

Artist posted social media video showing large sculpture being towed into Waterloo Place in middle of night

A new Banksy statue, featuring a man with his face covered by a flag, was this week erected in the dead of night in central London.

His new work of art was first spotted on Wednesday, and the artist’s signature was scrawled at the base of the statue’s plinth.

UK was close behind, exporting 675,000 tonnes, with much of the waste sent to Turkey, Malaysia and Indonesia

Germany was the world’s largest exporter of plastic waste in 2025 and sent more than 810,000 tonnes abroad, according to analysis of trade data carried out for the Guardian.

The UK followed close behind, according to the analysis by Watershed Investigations and the Basel Action Network. It exported more than 675,000 tonnes, its highest level in eight years and enough to fill about 127,000 shipping containers.

Experts put estimate for economic harm done by 200 years of chattel slavery at $2tn, but stress this is ‘not an invoice’

Britain stole 25 million years of life and labour through slavery in Barbados, according to research by a team of international experts.

Their report concludes that Barbados’s population of African descent have suffered damages estimated at up to $2tn (£1.5tn) from 200 years of chattel slavery.

Mojtaba Khamenei says Tehran will eliminate ‘enemy’s abuses of the waterway’ and guard its nuclear and missile programmes

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Iran’s supreme leader has broken his recent silence with a defiant statement hailing Iran’s control over shipping in the strait of Hormuz and vowing to guard the country’s nuclear and missile programmes.

“Today, two months after the largest military deployment and aggression by the world’s bullies in the region, and the United States’ disgraceful defeat in its plans, a new chapter is unfolding for the Persian Gulf and the strait of Hormuz,” Mojtaba Khamenei said in a statement read by a state television anchor.

Electoral Commission is investigating claims money given to MP came from US businessman now convicted of wire fraud

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Labour has called on Robert Jenrick to give up almost £40,000 donated to his campaign to be Conservative leader in 2024 following allegations that the sum came from an impermissible foreign donor now convicted of fraud.

The party called for Jenrick to make a donation to charity after the Guardian revealed the Electoral Commission has been investigating claims that £37,500 out of £100,000 given to his campaign by a UK company Spott Fitness ultimately came from a company run by a US-based businessman, Gary Klopfenstein.