Top World News
US To Slap Big Surcharge On Foreign Visitors To National Parks
Foreign tourists visiting US national parks including the Grand Canyon and Yellowstone will now pay a hefty surcharge, the Trump administration announced Tuesday.
Inflation up to 3.8% as price pressures rise and hopes for Reserve Bank interest rate cuts fall
Treasurer Jim Chalmers says government deciding on energy rebate extension in ‘next few weeks’ as cost of living continues to biteFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastInflation has climbed to 3.8% in the year to October, from 3.6% the month before, as Jim Chalmers flagged he could announce further energy bill subsidies for households in the upcoming midyear budget.Electricity prices were 37% higher in the year to October, which the Australian Bureau of Statistics said mostly reflected the end of state government power bill rebates. Continue reading...
Public sector told to find significant savings but Jim Chalmers denies ‘big job cuts’
Coalition accuses government of breaking its promise not to cut the public sector as treasurer confirms reductionsFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastLabor could cut some public service budgets by as much as 5% as it looks for major savings in next year’s federal budget, but Jim Chalmers denied it would mean “big jobs cuts” for the sector.The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, and the finance and public service minister, Katy Gallagher, have confirmed reports in the Australian Financial Review this week that cabinet ministers and department and agency bosses have been asked to find significant budget savings. Continue reading...
Who Is Kirill Dmitriev, Russian Envoy Who Helped Craft New Ukraine Peace Plan
Kirill Dmitriev is not a professional diplomat. But the head of Russia's sovereign wealth has emerged as a key player in drafting a new proposal to end Moscow's war in Ukraine.
Pakistan Denies Strike On Afghanistan After Taliban Vows Retaliation
Afghanistan's Taliban government vowed on Tuesday to "respond appropriately" to deadly overnight air strikes it blamed on Pakistan, a claim Islamabad denied, as tensions spiked a day after a suicide bombing in a Pakistani city.
Zelesnky Says Ukraine Ready To Move Ahead With Trump's Peace Plan
President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Tuesday that Kyiv was ready to move forward with a US-backed peace deal and that he was prepared to discuss its sensitive points with US President Donald Trump in talks he said should include European allies.
Excessive restraint in immigration detention centres ‘deeply concerning’, report finds
Watchdog says force being applied ‘inconsistently, disproportionately, and without adequate justification’Home Office contractors are over-using restraint in immigration detention centres and failing to tackle the toxic culture behind bars, according to the findings of a new watchdog report described as “deeply concerning”.By Force of Habit: How the Use of Force in Immigration Detention Has Lost Sight of Necessity and Dignity was published by the Independent Monitoring Boards (IMB), which examines conditions in prisons and immigration detention centres. The findings revealed force being applied inconsistently, disproportionately, and without adequate justification, which it said undermined the dignity and welfare of highly vulnerable individuals. Continue reading...
Judge orders Trump administration to provide bond hearings to detained migrants
District judge in California says detainees who were already living in the US are legally entitled to a bond hearing A federal judge has ruled that Donald Trump’s administration cannot impose mandatory detention on thousands of migrants held by US immigration authorities without first giving them an opportunity to seek release on bond.US district judge Sunshine Sykes in Riverside, California, certified a nationwide class of individuals who were already living in the United States when they were detained and are legally entitled to a hearing to determine whether they can be released on bond while their deportation cases proceed. Continue reading...
US justice department memo about boat strikes diverges from Trump narrative
Exclusive: Officials frame strikes as self-defense against violence, without naming aggressor, while Trump claims they’re to stop US overdose deathsThe Trump administration is framing its boat strikes against drug cartels in the Caribbean in part as a collective self-defense effort on behalf of US allies in the region, according to three people directly familiar with the administration’s internal legal argument.The legal analysis rests on a premise – for which there is no immediate public evidence – that the cartels are waging armed violence against the security forces of allies like Mexico, and that the violence is financed by cocaine shipments. Continue reading...
Nauru president accused in parliament of corruptly siphoning off millions of Australian funding
Senator uses parliament to accuse Albanese government of knowing David Adeang was ‘seriously corrupt’ yet still signing $2.5bn deportation dealFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastNauru’s President David Adeang, a predecessor and other individuals have been accused in the Senate of corruptly siphoning off millions of dollars of Australian taxpayer money intended for the island’s arcane offshore processing regime.A previously unreleased report by Australia’s financial intelligence agency, Austrac, suspected Adeang of “corruption and money laundering” after detecting a “rapid movement of large volume and value of funds”, the Senate has been told. Continue reading...
Pete Hegseth orders US navy to investigate Mark Kelly’s comments
Defense secretary escalates attacks by Trump administration on Arizona senator by ordering review The US defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, escalated attacks by Trump administration chiefs on Arizona senator Mark Kelly on Tuesday by ordering the secretary of the US navy to investigate “potentially unlawful comments” made by Kelly in a social media video with other lawmakers.Hegseth’s order came in the form of a memorandum to John Phelan asking the Navy secretary to review Kelly and a group of fellow Democrats’ comments in the video last week that sought to remind serving soldiers and intelligence officers that they have the right to refuse unlawful orders. Continue reading...
Attacks Prove Failure Of Military Regime: Taliban On Pak Strikes On Civilians
A fragile diplomatic truce between Pakistan and Afghanistan collapsed dramatically this week after Pakistani forces carried out overnight airstrikes inside Afghan territory, hitting civilian areas in Paktika, Khost, and Kunar provinces.
