The U.S. Justice Department has announced a sweeping antitrust lawsuit against Apple, accusing the tech giant of engineering an illegal monopoly in smartphones that boxes out competitors and stifles innovation.

Washington

The U.S. Justice Department has filed an antitrust lawsuit against Apple, alleging that the company has illegally monopolized the smartphone market. The suit accuses Apple of engaging in practices that inhibit competition and hinder innovation in the tech industry. By orchestrating an environment that purportedly limits the viability of rival companies, the lawsuit claims that Apple has established and maintained an unlawful stronghold over the smartphone sector.



U.S. Justice Department sues Apple in antitrust suit

Today, Apple's share of the U.S. performance smartphone market exceeds 70 percent, and its share of the entire U.S. smartphone market exceeds 65 percent. Apple charges as much as nearly $1,600 for an iPhone. General Merrick Garland saying Apple reached those lofty heights by acting as a monopoly. Specifically, prosecutors say, Apple uses anti-competitive conduct for third-party app developers with rules that benefit Apple. For example, Apple, according to the suit, makes messaging with non-Apple phones and products worse, making its users think iPhones are better. And the company makes it more difficult for users and developers to move beyond its products and services. Federal officials say that equals a tax of 30 percent commission on the price on any app from the iStore or in-app purchases. Merrick Garland says Apple consolidates its power by making it harder for its competitors, not by making its own products better. Apple carries out its exclusionary anti-competitive conduct in two principal ways. First, Apple imposes contractual restrictions and fees that limit the features and functionality that developers can offer iPhone users. Second, Apple selectively restricts access to the points of connection between third-party apps and the iPhone's operating system. Really, it's just about changing the rules that Apple imposes on app developers, setting them free to write apps that compete with some of Apple's core functions. In an e-mail response, Apple executives say, if this suit is successful, it will, quote, hinder our ability to create the kind of technology people expect from Apple, where hardware and software and services intersect. Additionally, the statement says this sets a dangerous precedent, empowering government to take a heavy hand in designing people's technology.

The Russian and Turkish flags were lowered to mark the closure of a center set up to monitor a ceasefire in Nagorno-Karabakh, as Russian peacekeepers ended a multi-year deployment in the strategic South Caucasus region.

Baku

Nagorno-Karabakh ceasefire center closes as Russia withdraws

Britain's King Charles will return to public duties next week for the first time since being diagnosed with cancer as he makes good progress following treatment and a period of recuperation, Buckingham Palace said.

London

King Charles to resume public duties after cancer diagnosis

Students blocked access to Paris' prestigious Sciences Po university over the war in Gaza on Friday (April 26), demanding the institution condemn Israel's actions, in a protest that echoed similar demonstrations on U.S. campuses.

Paris

Israel-Gaza War

Pro-Palestinian protesters still occupying Sciences Po campus

The number of people killed in floods in Kenya due to heavier than usual rainfall since the start of the monsoon in March has risen to 70, a government spokesperson said Friday. Kenya and other countries in East Africa, a region highly vulnerable to climate change, have been pounded by heavier than usual rainfall in recent weeks, compounded by the El Nino weather pattern.

Nairobi

Climate Crisis

Kenya flood death toll since March climbs to 70

An Australian journalist has been named as a key figure in Donald Trump's criminal trial. Dylan Howard, the former editor of the National Enquirer in the U.S. accused of buying and burying negative stories as part of a deal to help him become President.

New York

U.S. Presidential Election

The Australian journalist caught up in Trump trial

A surging domestic economy and rising inflation will see the Reserve Bank change its mind and increase interest rates as many as three times this year, analysts have warned.

Council of the City of Sydney

Reserve Bank set to raise interest rates, expert predicts

The Prime Minister has labelled the security guard murdered during the Bondi stabbing attack a 'national hero' during his funeral today. Mourners gathering at the Baitul Huda Mosque in Marsden Park, Sydney to honour Faraz Tahir.

Marsden Park

Mourners farewell Bondi security guard Faraz Tahir

After a crucial hearing, U.S. Supreme Court justices are weighing arguments for and against Donald Trump's claims of presidential immunity from 2020 election interference charges, but a ruling will take time.

U.S. Supreme Court weighs arguments on Trump immunity case

Disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein’s 2020 rape conviction has been overturned after New York’s highest court ruled the trial judge improperly allowed women to testify about allegations against him that were not part of the case.

Harvey Weinstein’s 2020 rape conviction overturned

Palestinians have begun evacuating Rafah as Israel steps up airstrikes. Israel plans to go forward with a ground operation in the southern Gaza city despite warnings from allies that it could cause mass casualties.

Jerusalem

Israel steps up airstrikes on Rafah ahead of ground operation

After weeks of delays, Haiti is due to swear in a presidential transition council. Gang violence has devastated the economy and social services are on the brink of collapse. Gang leaders say talks over Haiti's political future must include them.

Port-au-Prince

Haiti interim transition council to be sworn in

Israeli forces are carrying out "offensive action" across southern Lebanon, Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said without specifying whether ground troops had crossed the border. He also claimed that "half of Hezbollah's commanders in southern Lebanon have been eliminated" in months of violence.

Beirut

Israel says forces carrying out 'offensive action' in south Lebanon

In a deal facilitated by Qatar, Russia and Ukraine will exchange nearly 50 displaced children due to Moscow's invasion, announced Maria Lvova-Belova, the Kremlin's children's rights commissioner, in Doha.

Doha

Ukraine Invasion

Russia and Ukraine to exchange dozens of displaced children

Rudy Giuliani, a former lawyer for Donald Trump, is among 18 people charged in Arizona with illegally seeking to claim the state's 2020 electoral votes for the then-U.S. president.

Phoenix

Giuliani indicted in election vote-rigging case

Dozens of whales have died after 160 became beached during a mass stranding event in WA's south-west. Community members turned out this morning to the mouth of Toby Inlet at Geographe Bay near Dunsborough, where dozens of pilot whales were stuck in shallow water.

Geographe

Mass whale stranding in southwest WA

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has completed a two-day trek of the Kokoda Track in Papua New Guinea, alongside PNG Prime Minister James Marape in commemoration of ANZAC Day

Kokoda

Australian Prime Minister's Kokoda pilgrimage

Five teenagers have appeared in court, after being arrested in connection with the stabbing of the Bishop in the Wakely church stabbing. Counter-terrorism police are continuing searches in south-west Sydney and Goulburn.

Wakeley

Teenagers face court over terrorism offences

U.S. President Joe Biden is expected to sign a law that sets a January 2025 deadline for Chinese parent company ByteDance to sell its U.S. operation. Lawmakers behind the ban have warned of national security risks from the popular social video app.

Biden to sign law that could ban TikTok in U.S.

Morning rush hour in central London turned chaotic Wednesday as five escaped military horses galloped at full speed through busy city streets, injuring at least four people. All five horses were rounded up and given veterinary care.

Runaway horses cause peak-hour chaos in London

The United Nations is calling for an inquiry after bodies were found beneath Gaza's Nasser Hospital, in the city of Khan Younis. The hospital was recently abandoned by Israeli troops who said they’d finished searching it for Hamas fighters.

Sderot

U.N. calls for inquiry after unmarked graves found in Gaza

People living in Athens have seen the sky turn orange. It was caused by clouds of dust from the Sahara desert, which blew in from Northern Africa blanketing much of Greece.

Athens

'Apocalyptic' orange haze descends on Athens

Thousands have lined the streets of Sydney's CBD to honour veterans and those who made the ultimate sacrifice for the annual Anzac Day march.

Thousands of veterans take part in ANZAC Day marches

President Joe Biden has signed a bill into law that provides billions of dollars of new U.S. aid to Ukraine for its war with Russia. The legislation also includes $26 billion for Israel, as well as $1 billion in humanitarian assistance to Gaza. Biden also signed a separate bill tied to the aid package that bans TikTok in the U.S. if its owner fails to divest the video app.

Biden signs Ukraine, Israel aid, TikTok ban package

A North Korean delegation led by a cabinet minister for international trade is visiting Iran, according to state media. The rare public visit signals increased cooperation between the two countries, which are believed to have secret military ties.

Pyongyang

North Korea delegation visits Iran in rare public trip

The German government plans to resume cooperation with the United Nations agency for Palestinians (UNRWA) in Gaza. The announcement comes after a new report concluded that Israel had not provided enough evidence to back up its claims that hundreds of UNRWA staff are military operatives in so-called terrorist groups in Gaza.

Berlin

Germany to resume funding UNRWA Palestinian agency

The United States Justice Department has agreed to pay almost $139 million to victims of sex abuser Larry Nassar, for its bungled investigation into the former USA Gymnastics team doctor. For nearly two decades, Nassar subjected hundreds of people to abuse under the guise of performing medical treatment.

Justice Dept. to pay $139 million to USA Gymnastics abuse victims

The United Nations called for “a clear, transparent and credible investigation” of mass graves uncovered at two major hospitals in war-torn Gaza that were raided by Israeli troops. Credible investigators must have access to the sites, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters.

U.N. calls for investigation into Gaza mass graves

A bishop whose stabbing was live streamed while delivering a church service wants his video to remain online, supporting X founder Elon Musk's stance. The technology company is currently in a legal fight with Australia’s e-Safety commissioner over the graphic video.

Stabbed Sydney bishop supports Musk stance

Seven juveniles have been arrested and a further five are being interviewed by police, after a series of raids by counterterrorism police in the south-west Sydney suburb of Greenacre. The arrests follow the stabbing a bishop.

Teenagers arrested in ongoing Sydney anti-terror raids

The US Senate has passed a 95 Billion dollar aid package providing aid to Ukraine and Israel, humanitarian relief for Gaza, as well as 8 Billion dollars for security in Taiwan. Part of that package is a provision that could lead to a nationwide ban on TikTok.