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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday picked his military secretary, a general with no background in intelligence, as the next head of the country's foreign intelligence agency Mossad.

Ruling will impact elections as soon as the March primariesUS supreme court approves redrawn Texas congressional mapsAmong the beneficiaries of Donald Trump’s pardons and commutations, there is a group that legal experts and political scientists see as some of the clearest evidence of how such actions undermine the rule of law: those who were released from prison and again arrested for different alleged crimes.During his first term, Trump issued 237 acts of clemency – including to someone who was a predatory lender and drug smuggler and to another who ran a Ponzi scheme. Since taking office again, Trump has issued more than 1,600, most for people involved in the January 6 attack on Congress. Continue reading...

Bushfires in Tasmania with firefighting efforts focused on Dolphin Sands area and Glenlusk, near Hobart. Follow today’s news liveGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastThe Victorian government’s controversial “adult time for violent crime” bill has passed parliament without amendment.The bill, which will move serious crimes committed by children as young as 14 from the children’s court to adult courts, passed at about 6pm on Thursday with the support of the Coalition.I’m pleased these laws can now be put in place as soon as possible to protect Victorians. There are no easy solutions to youth crime, and the best approach is always to stop crime before it starts. But we absolutely need serious consequences for violent youth crime to protect the community now. Continue reading...

Owner of Sports Direct chain says consumer confidence ‘very subdued’ with sales at sports division down 5.8%The owner of Sports Direct and Flannels has said sales have fallen at its UK retail businesses amid heavy discounting by rivals and “very subdued” consumer confidence.Frasers, which is controlled by the former Newcastle United owner Mike Ashley, said sales at its UK sports division were down 5.8% in the six months to 26 October to £1.3bn despite growth at the main Sports Direct chain because of “planned decline” at its Game outlets and the Studio Retail online arm. Continue reading...

Major win for Trump as justices reject lower-court ruling that found maps had been racially gerrymanderedTexas can use a redrawn congressional map that adds as many as five Republican-friendly seats, the supreme court has ruled, giving Donald Trump and the GOP a major win in their push to add Republican congressional seats ahead of next year’s midterm elections.The supreme court’s decision came after a 2-1 ruling from a three-judge panel striking down Texas’s new map in November. The majority found the state had likely sorted voters based on their race – an unlawful practice called racial gerrymandering – when they adopted the new maps. The majority ordered the state to use the maps it had adopted after the 2020 census for next year’s election. Continue reading...

Ireland, Spain, Slovenia and the Netherlands pull out after decision not to hold vote on Israel’s participationIreland, Spain, Slovenia and the Netherlands will boycott next year’s Eurovision after Israel was given the all-clear to compete in the 2026 song contest despite calls by several participating broadcasters for its exclusion over the war in Gaza.No vote on Israel’s participation was held on Thursday at the general assembly of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), the body that organises the competition. Continue reading...

Meta Platforms Inc.'s Mark Zuckerberg is expected to meaningfully cut resources for building the so-called metaverse, an effort that he once framed as the future of the company and the reason for changing its name from Facebook Inc.

Communities remain terrified as Trump administration’s crackdown on another Democratic-led city enters day twoDozens of people have been detained across the New Orleans area as the Trump administration’s latest sweeping federal immigration crackdown in a Democratic-led city entered its second day.The city’s immigrant communities remain terrified and traumatized, advocates said, with many in hiding as people have been arrested in public spaces including parking lots outside Home Depots and Lowe’s hardware stores, at bus stops, shopping malls and in residential areas around the city. Continue reading...