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Grattan Institute finds some doctors charge up to triple the fees of their peers – well beyond what can be justified by business running costsGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastMore than 2.2 million Australians paid an “extreme” fee to see a specialist last year, with psychiatrists and paediatricians among the most likely to routinely unreasonably charge their patients, according to new research.Specialists cannot justify exorbitant fees by blaming inadequate government rebates, or the costs of running a business, a report from policy thinktank the Grattan Institute found, as these factors explain only a fraction of the fee increases Australians have faced. Continue reading...

The White House has been without a press secretary since October 16 when Katie Zacharia left the position after less than a week on the job.

Prime Minister Donald Tusk said that the bodies of two women and one man had been found at the shooter's home in Ostrowiec Swietokrzyski, just under 200 kilometres north of Krakow.

MPs, local authorities, lawyers, schools and more are receiving floods of grievances, requests and legal challenges, often complex to read and respond to“It started as a trickle in 2024 and now it’s an onslaught.” Hollie Wickens, a senior caseworker in a Labour MP’s office, is explaining the daily reality of dealing with surging volumes of artificial intelligence-generated correspondence.“Half the emails we receive are some form of AI,” she says, adding that this has made requests and complaints much more complex and time-consuming to read and deal with, despite her decade of experience in the role. “It is definitely more taxing.” Continue reading...

As AI exposes flaws in IT systems and geopolitics plays out on the cyber frontline, some experts say the events of recent weeks could soon be a common occurenceAlex Pearce was doing the morning rounds at his fruit and vegetable wholesale business in London on Monday last week when he noticed something odd.The defrost light on refrigeration unit 2 was on, and the panel reading was 150C. Unit 4 was the same. Continue reading...

A lifestyle podcast or brief TV clip is less taxing than a full press conference – but No 10 insists the PM is not ducking accountability In an interview this week Andy Burnham said he believed the traditional media was less relevant and the world was “not like that any more”. But some people are now asking: does this change in approach mean less scrutiny?The question was in part prompted by Burnham’s decision to travel to the Commonwealth heads of government meeting (Chogm) without the usual accompanying pack of reporters, instead bringing just one TV crew and a news agency journalist. Continue reading...

Authorities in Taiwan have detained the leader of the Taiwan People’s Communist Party

Activists fear Bangkok will give in to pressure from Beijing despite reports of torture and human rights abuses against the mostly muslim ethnic minorityThe deportation of two more Uyghurs to China from Thailand would put their lives in grave danger, activists have said, with one of the men saying he would be “like a slave” if he was sent back.Last year, Thai authorities forcibly deported 40 Uyghur men to China despite pleas from the men themselves and the UN. The US and Canada had reportedly offered to resettle them, but Bangkok appeared to want to avoid upsetting Beijing. The UN has said the returnees’ whereabouts remain unknown. Continue reading...