Follow the day's news liveLabor introducing new laws to crack down on illegal tobaccoLabor will introduce new laws to make it easier to prosecute criminals involved in the illicit tobacco trade, as the government fights an uphill battle against the exploding black market.The new laws think about it as a list of observable indicators, very simple, fact-based things like: is the tobacco appropriately packaged? Is it a menthol cigarette even hiding in plain packaging? Is it being concealed? Does it have paperwork at the border?Or my personal favourite: is the retail price of this packet of cigarettes less than the amount of excise and GST combined? If any of these facts are proven, just one of them, that establishes the reasonable suspicion of the criminal offence of importing, possession, or conveying. It'll give powerful new tools to Border Force but every state and territory police force to go after the crooks.I said, look, my door's open if you want to talk about this. I don't know why he thinks I'm a liar. I don't quite know why he believes I lied about it.I'm disappointed he thinks I'm a coward. I don't know how he came to that opinion but that's up to him. I don't think he's a traitor. I absolutely respect the services given to our nation, like my family, has given to the service of New Zealand and Australia. Democracy's a robust thing. Continue reading...

Critics say threshold pushes higher-paid staff to cut back on work and often mothers to stop working to avoid losing entitlementJohn Healey has been urged to fix the 100,000 childcare cliff edge", that means some higher-paid employees cut back on work to avoid losing their entitlement.Since the latest expansion of taxpayer-funded childcare in 2024, families with young children in which both parents earn less than 100,000 a year can be entitled to 30 hours a week of care - or none at all, if one of them cross that threshold. Continue reading...

School staff tell focus groups they believe school system in England and Wales cannot deal with attendance crisisTeachers have so little belief in the importance of pupils' full school attendance that they would take their own children on term time holidays if they could, staff have told a three-year research programme.Frontline staff do not believe the school system is set up to deal with an ongoing attendance crisis in England and Wales, where nearly one in five children are now missing at least 10% of school, according to a report based on in-depth conversations with teachers. Continue reading...

Some rental platforms encourage hopeful tenants to share excessive' amount of information, Consumer Policy Research Centre review finds

Despite falls in some parts of the market, prices are showing signs of stabilising as investors exit and first-time buyers move in, analysts say

Scotland Yard confirms it is investigating allegations broadcast by Channel 4 after undercover sting

Foreign secretary says Sir Ephraim Mirvis wrong to suggest measures against Israeli settlements will make British Jews less safe

New research shows turbulent flushes create toilet-generated aerosols that can transmit legionella, influenza and norovirus

Bloc losing 13bn in revenue with one in 10 cigarettes illegal, watchdog reports

Mira Lozi says quiet diplomacy has failed to free Rami Naimi who was first seized in Dubai in 2017A British woman has spoken out for the first time about the alleged abduction, torture and coercion of her husband at the hands of Saudi authorities, after nine years of failed" quiet diplomacy.The businessman Rami Naimi was first abducted in Dubai in 2017 on his return from a trip to Australia with his father. After being tortured, he was released the following year. Continue reading...

Victorian One Nation leader says his actions hurt people I loved, and I will live with that forever'

Ed Miliband to reassert support for Palestinian rights and a two-state solution in move fiercely criticised by US and IsraelEd Miliband will announce a broad reset of the UK's relations with Israel on Tuesday, promising the government will take a more active approach in supporting the Palestinian cause.In an intervention which has already drawn fierce criticism from the US and Israel, the foreign secretary will impose a UK ban on the trade in goods and some services from illegal Israeli settlements. Continue reading...

Indigenous Australians forcibly removed under government policies more likely to have severe or profound disability, report finds

Chancellor says he wants to ensure country has buffer' against uncertainty as global bond yields hit 18-year highThe chancellor has indicated that the UK will face a tough budget next month due to Trump's war in the Middle East.In an interview with the Financial Times, John Healey said the conflict in Iran would probably have a strong influence on his first budget on 28 October. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Guardian investigation reveals targeting of World Central Kitchen convoy was result of widely used military tactic Death on the road to Rafah: the night the IDF targeted World Central Kitchen aid workersSeven aid workers killed in an airstrike in Gaza were marked as targets under an Israeli military practice of establishing guilt by association, a Guardian investigation shows.A top Israeli military prosecutor announced last month that he would not pursue criminal proceedings for the April 2024 incident in which drones fired missiles at three clearly marked World Central Kitchen (WCK) cars soon after they had escorted a food aid delivery to Gaza. Three British humanitarian workers along with an Australian, a Palestinian, a Pole and a dual US-Canadian national were killed. Continue reading...

Atlanta's Bradley Carlisle first played Kris Kringle for kids with Down's syndrome and has now completed elite Santa AcademyAfter recently gaining recognition as the first professional Santa Claus with Down's syndrome in the US, Bradley Carlisle has already gotten a lot more than the traditional serving of milk and cookies that is usually left out for Father Christmas each year.That is because the 37-year-old community theater actor from suburban Atlanta landed an honorary induction into the International Santa Claus Hall of Fame upon completing one of the largest Christmas performer schools in the US in late August - a distinction meant to recognize the important representation his emergence on the holiday scene has brought, according to his supporters. Continue reading...

The hip boost' aims to create hourglass silhouette, much like Kim Kardashian's shapewear brand's padded shortsFor decades shapewear has been used to compress and cinch. But now there is a sub-genre emerging. Rather than shrinking a silhouette, it aims to add inches.This week M&S launched a bodysuit that features exaggerated padding at the hip allowing the wearer to create an hourglass shape, or at least the illusion of one. Continue reading...

Lorena Isceri was thrown off a motorway bridge, allegedly by ex-boyfriend Federico VellaA 45-year-old woman abducted and thrown off a motorway bridge near Florence has become the seventh alleged femicide in Italy since mid-August.Lorena Isceri was abducted on Thursday afternoon, allegedly by her ex-boyfriend, Federico Vella, in the Rifredi area of Florence, before being forced into the boot of his car and driven towards a bridge on the A1 motorway.In the UK, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123 and the domestic abuse helpline is 0808 2000 247. In the US, the suicide prevention lifeline is 988 and the domestic violence hotline is 1-800-799-SAFE (7233). In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is on 13 11 14 and the national family violence counselling service is on 1800 737 732. Other international helplines can be found via www.befrienders.org Continue reading...

Abelardo De La Espriella posts video of himself with rows of body bags as performative populism continues to sweep AmericasColombia's hardline president, Abelardo De La Espriella, has provoked outrage after posting a video on social media in which he strides through rows of white body bags that he says contained the corpses of 23 neutralised" guerrillas.De La Espriella took power last month vowing all-out war" against illegal armed groups and he published the footage on Thursday in an apparent attempt to show he was fulfilling that pledge. Continue reading...

Bank of England governor says central bankers must explain decisions or risk being seen as unrepresentative elite'The governor of the Bank of England has said the rise of populist politicians presents a serious challenge to independent central banks.As Nigel Farage's Reform UK gathered for its annual conference in Birmingham, Andrew Bailey said central bankers must be prepared to explain their decisions to the public or risk being attacked as an unrepresentative elite". Continue reading...

Investigation broadcast by Channel 4 News shows man posing as impermissible donor' paying for polling that helped Reform

Wildfire victims rebuilt their homes in Lahaina only to find USPS had eliminated' their addresses - while houses that didn't burn receive mail as normalTwo months after a devastating wildfire whipped through Lahaina in August 2023, Pam Reader was allowed back to see what was left of her home. With a heavy heart, she returned to the Hawaiian oceanside town now filled with endless blocks of burned houses. As she rounded her corner, she saw the only thing remaining was her bright turquoise mailbox.It was an old crappy mailbox," Reader said. It was metal, though, which is why I think it survived." Continue reading...

Deadlocked jurors to return on Friday to see if they can reach a decision after dramatic day of deliberationsThe deadlocked jury in the Lindsay Clancy trial went home without a verdict Thursday in a dramatic sixth day of deliberations.Her defense lawyer told the judge that the panel's foreperson said in a note that a single juror would not follow the court's instructions about reasonable doubt and was holding up a verdict. Continue reading...

Exclusive: New environment secretary insists nothing is off the table' in dealing with ailing Thames WaterBritain's insolvency laws cannot deal with the aggressive behaviour shown by the companies that control Thames Water, the environment secretary has said, as she confirmed ministers were prepared to take it into public ownership.Angela Eagle told the Guardian she was determined to reform the water industry after being told by Andy Burnham to make it her top priority. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Angela Eagle urges people to be a bit more resilient' as she tells UK citizens to plan for national emergenciesBritish people have been urged to have enough food and water on hand to survive a few days without power or water, as the UN said the El Nino climate phenomenon was supersizing before our eyes", exacerbating extreme weather events worldwide.Forecasters say they are braced for the biggest El Nino in 1,000 years, bringing wildfires and floods to parts of the world, and the threat of a wet, stormy winter for the UK.

Maria Corina Machado says interim government does not have democratic mandate to negotiate natural resourcesThe Venezuelan opposition leader, Maria Corina Machado, has questioned Donald Trump's oil deal with Venezuela's interim government, declaring that the country's natural resources do not belong to an illegitimate regime".In her first public comments since Trump announced what he called the biggest oil deal in world history" with Venezuela last Friday, Machado walked a diplomatic tightrope between challenging the controversial agreement and trying not to rile the White House. Continue reading...

Labour chair says uch cuts could mean vital public services like hospitals, schools and law enforcement are put at risk'The Electoral Commission has released political donation figures for the second quarter of 2026. They show that Reform UK continues to rake in far more than other parties. Nigel Farage''s party had declared donations worth 5.3m. Labour got 3.6m, and the Conservatives 2.8m.Most of Reform UK's money came from Ben Delo, who gave 4m. As Rowena Mason reported earlier this year, Delo is a British billionaire convicted in the US for failing to implement adequate anti-money-laundering controls in his cryptocurrency business. Continue reading...

Fragmented infrastructure and reliance on US continue to hinder defence readiness', says European court of auditors

Government lawyers tell coroner disclosing intelligence would pose serious risk to national securityMinisters are seeking to block intelligence material from being heard at an inquest into the death of two men killed in the 2025 Manchester synagogue attack.Lawyers for Shabana Mahmood, the home secretary, told a coroner on Thursday that disclosing the MI5 files would pose a serious risk to national security. Continue reading...

The city of Senatobia made national news earlier this year after a white officer shot and killed Kohen Wiley, a one-year-old Black baby, while responding to a shoplifting callLate Tuesday, the city of Senatobia, Mississippi fired its police chief, Harold Vanderford, after it was reported that Vanderford regularly used racist slurs against Black people in his text messages. The town, which is about 40% Black, made national news earlier this year after a white officer fatally shot and killed Kohen Wiley, a one-year-old Black baby, while responding to a shoplifting call at Walmart. Officers fired into a vehicle, shooting the driver and killing the toddler, who was being held in his mother's arms.Though Vanderford submitted a resignation letter earlier on 1 September, the city's board of aldermen unanimously voted to reject it and to terminate the officer instead. Vanderford's firing came just under a week after the city wrote in a statement that, despite the messages, he would continue to serve the City with the confidence that was placed in him at the time that he was appointed as Chief". Continue reading...

British tourists reportedly discovered Luger pistol that is latest in long line of potential leads in mystery of al-Hilli deathsExperts are examining a gun found by tourists to determine whether it might have been used to kill a British family in the French Alps 14 years ago.In what remains an unsolved murder case, Saad al-Hilli, 50, his wife, Ikbal, 47, and her mother, Suhaila al-Allaf, 74, were shot dead on a road near Annecy, a remote Alpine village in eastern France in September 2012. Continue reading...

Monarch tells Emmanuel Macron at the British Museum in London that the two nations will share a future woven together' by history and shared valuesThe loan of the Bayeux tapestry was the best possible symbol" of the entente amicale" between France and the UK, King Charles said, as he visited the famous embroidered masterpiece at the British Museum in London.Though the tapestry recounts a conflict, here it is today, nearly 1,000 years later, as a precious symbol of trust, at a time when trust seems sadly to be in short supply between nations," he said. Continue reading...

Defence minister says he believes US backing could tip regional balance in favour of forced resettlementIsrael's defence minister has said his country is seeking Donald Trump's support to approve plans to expel Palestinians from the Gaza Strip in what has widely been condemned as a potential war crime.Israel Katz said there was no real solution for Gaza in the end without this

Sally Dowling tells budget estimates that Michael Daley called to tell her he was appointing a senior counsel and raised quite a number of names'

Critically endangered New Zealand bird enjoys record breeding season triggered by mass fruiting of native tree, pushing its numbers to 325The population of the world's heaviest parrot, the kkp, has surpassed 300 birds for the first time in 75 years, after a record breeding season triggered by the mass fruiting of a native New Zealand tree.Ninety chicks were officially added to the population of the critically endangered birds on 1 September, pushing the total to 325 - a record high since recovery efforts began. Continue reading...

North Carolina DA says girl, 17, who disseminated attackers' manifesto charged with murder by aiding and abettingA 17-year-old North Carolina girl who recorded a livestream of a shooting that killed three people at a San Diego mosque and disseminated the attackers' white-supremacist writings has been charged with murder by aiding and abetting, a district attorney said on Monday.Forsyth county district attorney Jim O'Neill said at a news conference in Winston-Salem that the girl, whose name was not mentioned during the news conference, was arrested last week. On Monday, just before she was due to begin the school year, a grand jury indicted her on three counts of murder and one count of conspiracy. Continue reading...

Follow the day's news live

Police urge mother to attend hospital after baby's body discovered in Harrow Road in Auburn

Justice Natalie Adams says she is troubled by expert evidence about rape allegations in slain woman's police statement

Secretive state begins repairs on ageing facilities after being revealed as worst country for leaks of potent greenhouse gasTurkmenistan has started plugging the mega-leaks of methane that spew from its ageing oil and gas facilities, the latest UN data shows, in a move hailed as a breakthrough.Methane, also called natural or fossil gas, is a potent greenhouse gas. It traps 80 times more heat than carbon dioxide and causes 25% of global heating today. Stopping leaks can be quick and cheap and, because methane breaks down in the atmosphere far quicker than CO2, this has a rapid impact, with some experts calling it the climate emergency brake". Continue reading...

As families await news after the catastrophe, community members appeal for compassion in the face of hateful rhetoric

The long-running drama reaches Hitler's rise to power in its final season as its creators reflect on the unsettling parallels between Weimar Germany and the present dayIt's the global hit TV series that pulled audiences straight into the chaotic hedonism of 1920s Germany, dramatising the brilliance and brittleness of a newly built democratic system with unprecedented ambition.But in the 13 years that the German makers of Babylon Berlin have worked on the show, modern democracies from the US to Hungary to South Korea have come under pressure in ways the creators say they could never have imagined when they started. Continue reading...

Perrottet disagrees when counsel assisting Peggy Dwyer SC claims brother of former NSW premier is not truthful and constructing evidence'

An estimated 237 people have been rescued but 18 are missing after accident off the coast of northern Cyprus

One Nation candidate Luke Herdegen secures 57% of the vote after preferences as Barnaby Joyce says politics has changed'

This blog is now closed.

Son of former ABC chair will contest seat of Cessnock in March state election and says my wife's Japanese' so he doesn't believe party is racist

New rules are aimed at protecting people in debt in England and Wales and stopping homeowners being ripped offA clampdown on rogue bailiffs" has been launched by Andy Burnham amid concerns that vulnerable people are being overcharged and face aggressive behaviour.In the latest in a series of everyday fixes" to ease the cost of living and make Britain fairer", the prime minister said he was strengthening the rules that apply to bailiffs in England and Wales to better protect people in debt. Continue reading...

Prime minister intervenes amid anger at news Tony Burke was planning to cut intake of 20,000 arrivals by a third

Lawyers claim Eman el-Shazly, from Birmingham, was detained in effort to silence her sister, a critic of Sisi regimeThe UK Foreign Office has been asked to intervene to secure the release of a British-Egyptian woman who it is claimed has been arrested in Cairo because of her sister's political activism.Eman el-Shazly, a 45-year-old based in Birmingham, was arrested on 16 August while visiting Egypt. Her lawyers say she has been detained in an attempt to silence her sister Mona, a relentless and harsh critic of the Egyptian government on her UK-based YouTube channel. Continue reading...