The Great Western Highway is closed in both directions and is expected to remain a crime scene for some timeTwo people are dead and more than a dozen have been injured in a multi-vehicle crash west of the Blue Mountains in NSW.Emergency services were called to the scene of the five-car crash on the Great Western Highway at Wallerawang, 15km north of Lithgow, just before 1pm. Continue reading...

Property market weak, says Nationwide, which expects prices to remain flat or drop slightly in 2024

Some also noted rise in Islamophobia, as Muslim and Jewish charities condemn hateThe number of antisemitic hate crimes recorded by many of the UK's largest police forces jumped sharply in the weeks after the outbreak of the Gaza-Israel conflict, figures reveal.Islamophobic offences also rose for some forces, although the overall picture was more mixed across the country. Continue reading...

Bank of England forecast to make as many as four interest rate cuts in 2024, which will slash returnsIf Christmas hasn't cleaned you out financially, now could be the last chance to grab one of the UK's highest-paying fixed-rate savings accounts.With the money markets convinced that interest rates are heading on a downward trajectory, the smart savings cash is heading for a fixed-rate bond - while rates above 5% are still available. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Doctors, psychologists and campaigners say the diabetes drugs are not appropriate for everyoneThere may be huge pressure to lose weight in the new year after a season of overindulgence, but experts have warned against purchasing slimming jabs to shed the festive pounds.The diabetes drugs have shot to fame after it was found they can help people lose weight by mimicking hormones that make you feel full after eating. But while they have been hailed as an important tool in tackling obesity, their popularity - fuelled by celebrity endorsements - has also led to concerns. Continue reading...

In today's newsletter: Homelessness as a lifestyle choice, extreme sex ed and Rishi Seven Bins' Sunak - we round up the best of 2023's culture war chaos Sign up here for our daily newsletter, First EditionGood morning. If the season of confected fights over phantom Christmas-haters isn't the right time of year to reflect on the impact of the culture wars, I don't know when is. In 2023, as the Conservative party ran out of ideas, voters and halfway plausible candidates to replace the latest prime minister, they naturally intensified their interest in the next best thing: picking weird symbolic fights about nothing anyone really cares about that might garner a bit of coverage in the Daily Mail.You have probably lost track of these, what with everything else. Today's newsletter therefore brings you a seasonal review of 2023's most risible political pantomimes, and at the end, you can gratefully say that it's behind you. Here are the headlines. Continue reading...

Report set out radical measures' to reduce numbers arriving, including setting up holding camps on Scottish island of MullSending asylum seekers to holding camps on the Scottish island of Mull and removing them to safe havens" in third-party countries such as Turkey, South Africa and Kenya, was among the nuclear options" considered by Tony Blair's government, documents reveal.Twenty years before the Conservative government's Rwanda plan, big bang" solutions were discussed after Blair expressed frustration that ever tougher controls" in northern France had failed, and demanded we must search out even more radical measures" to tackle the growing number of asylum claims, which had reached 8,800 in October 2002. Continue reading...

Government papers released to National Archives show animosity between broadcaster and No 10 in early 2000sThe former No 10 spin doctor Alastair Campbell suggested setting lawyers on the BBC, while Tony Blair was warned to expect a magisterial rebuke" from senior figures at the broadcaster, as the row over its coverage of the war in Iraq intensified in the early 2000s, government papers show.The Cabinet Office files, placed in the National Archives on Friday, illustrate the extent of the animosity between Blair's No 10 and the BBC. Continue reading...

The Politics Weekly America team are taking a break. So this week, we're looking back at one of our favourite episodes of the year.From August: Jonathan Freedland sits down with Rev Al Sharpton to discuss why he believes Martin Luther King Jr's I have a dream' speech has been abused by some on the right, why he is still fighting for police reform, and how James Brown was so influential on his lifeArchive: City News, ABC News, MSNBC, NBC News Continue reading...

Exclusive: Nicole Jacobs says policy flies in the face of ministers' claims to take domestic violence seriouslyAbusive men in England and Wales will walk free from court under a new sentencing policy that flies in the face of ministers' claims to take domestic violence seriously, an independent government watchdog has said.Nicole Jacobs, the domestic abuse commissioner, said ministers had not done enough to protect women from a decision to lift the pressures on overcrowded prisons by scrapping short prison sentences. Continue reading...

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Surging consumption comes despite very sleepy period' for electricity use, energy expert says

Bulk carrier hit by Russian mine in Black Sea; Zelenskiy thanks US for latest weapons package amid uncertainty over future aid Continue reading...

Then PM was advised to encourage' British Museum to agree long-term loan in return for Greek supportTony Blair considered a long-term loan" of the Parthenon marbles to Greece in the hope of support for a London 2012 Olympic Games bid, newly released documents reveal.Twenty years before Rishi Sunak cancelled a meeting with the Greek prime minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, over the ownership question of the sculptures, Greece was lobbying Blair, the then prime minister, for a long-term loan, bypassing the issue of ownership. Continue reading...

Antonia Hay has had multiple surgeries following infection her father believes came from food stall in BuckinghamshireA 17-year-old student has been in intensive care for two weeks after she caught a strain of E coli.Antonia Hay, who has had to undergo multiple surgeries, is believed to have caught the bacterial infection from food at a Christmas market in November. Continue reading...

Artyom Kamardin, 33, got seven years after attending anti-Ukraine war protest and Yegor Shtovba, 23, was given five and a halfA Moscow court on Thursday sentenced two men to years in prison for taking part in the recital of verses against the Ukraine campaign during an anti-mobilisation protest last year.Artyom Kamardin, 33, received a seven-year sentence for reciting a poem, and Yegor Shtovba, 23, was sentenced to five and a half years for attending the protest. The two were seen behind a glass partition in a heavily guarded courtroom. Continue reading...

James Bond star in hot water for stepping out of bounds at hot springs area in US national park - and must appear in courtPierce Brosnan, whose fictitious movie character James Bond has been in hot water plenty of times, is now facing heat in real life, charged with stepping out of bounds in a thermal area during a recent visit to Yellowstone national park.Brosnan walked in an off-limits area at Mammoth Terraces, in the northern part of Yellowstone near the Wyoming-Montana border, on 1 November, according to two federal citations issued this week. Continue reading...

South Yorkshire police say 46-year-old father-of-two died after coming to aid of a stranger during disturbanceA father-of-two who died after a car was driven into a crowd of people during a disturbance in Sheffield was a Good Samaritan" who was trying to help a stranger, police said.South Yorkshire police named the 46-year-old man who died in the incident in College Close, in the Burngreave area of the city, as Christian Marriott. Continue reading...

Time marker' legislation means Indigenous peoples can only lay claim to lands they occupied in 1988, invalidating scores of claimsA controversial law curtailing Indigenous rights in Brazil has come into force, marking a victory for the powerful agribusiness caucus in congress.The new legislation upholds the so-called time marker" theory (marco temporal), which establishes that Indigenous peoples can only lay claim to land they physically occupied as of October 1988, when the current constitution was promulgated. Continue reading...

Exclusive: lack of resources to treat people whose ill health is often worsened by poverty is taking a heavy toll on medics' wellbeingTwo in three UK doctors are suffering moral distress" caused by the enfeebled state of the NHS and the damage the cost of living crisis is inflicting on patients' health, research has found.Large numbers are ending up psychologically damaged by feeling they cannot give patients the best possible care because of problems they cannot overcome, such as long waits for treatment or lack of drugs or the fact that poverty or bad housing is making them ill.72% of doctors said being unhappy at work had affected their mental health;85% had ended up with fatigue, 77% with worry and 61% feeling sadness;61% felt angry or resentful because of their moral distress. Continue reading...

Nicolas Maduro orders defensive' manoeuvres as British Navy deploys vessel in territorial disputeVenezuela's president Nicolas Maduro has ordered more than 5,600 military personnel to participate in defensive" exercises, after the UK deployed a warship to waters off the coast of Guyana in a show of support for the former British colony.Maduro said he was launching an action of a defensive nature in response to the provocation and threat of the UK against peace and the sovereignty of our country". Continue reading...

4x4 got into deep water in River Esk in North York Moors as severe floods and high winds hit parts of the UKThree men have died after their 4x4 became submerged in the River Esk in the North York Moors amid ferocious weather and severe flooding across parts of the UK on Thursday.Emergency services, including air support, were called shortly before noon to reports of the men becoming trapped in deep water. Police said the vehicle was recovered at about 3pm. Continue reading...

Czech police say student who killed 14 people left letter in which he appeared to confess to murders days before mass shootingThe gunman who killed 14 people at a university in Prague appears to have also confessed to killing a two-month-old baby and her father days before the mass shooting, police in the Czech Republic have said.Last week the 24-year-old student, named by local media as David Kozak, opened fire inside Charles University in the heart of historic Prague, killing 14 people and injuring more than 20. Continue reading...

About 39kg of the drug was found by a fisherman on Tuesday, before a similar amount was discovered in Newcastle

Party says American-style sweetshops - some under investigation for tax evasion - are ripping off publicA Labour government will launch a crackdown on dodgy" candy stores if it wins the next election, as part of plans to revitalise Britain's high streets.There are more than 20 of the US-themed sweet stores on Oxford Street, London, alone. Many of them appeared during lockdown as high-street stalwarts closed down and landlords faced the prospect of long-term empty shops. Continue reading...

Worries mount for desperate civilians as Israel expands its operations in the southern half of territory

In a nod to his green campaigning, the living tree can be replanted after broadcast and has sustainable decorationsKing Charles's Christmas message this year is to be delivered from a Buckingham Palace room decorated with a replantable Christmas tree.An image of the monarch released by the palace shows him standing in front of the living tree, which is kept in a pot and can be used again next year. Continue reading...

The airport hopes for a bumper 2024 - but are its new owners happy about the fading prospects for a third runway?Are the good times coming back for Heathrow? The next 12 months may define a fresh era: new ownership, a new chief executive and a line apparently drawn under the Covid-induced slump. Now, the London airport believes, 2024 will bring record passenger numbers.Aviation does have a track record in proving the forecasters wrong. Exactly 10 years ago, Heathrow's bosses and shareholders would surely have looked forward to a visit from the ghost of Christmas yet to come. The government-appointed Airports Commission's interim report had just landed, declaring that London needed a new runway and - save a delay for political expediency - all but coming out for Heathrow. Continue reading...

Political leaders also thank emergency services workers in annual Christmas messagesAnthony Albanese has used his annual Christmas message to pay tribute to flood-affected residents in northern Queensland while expressing gratitude to medical and hospitality workers.The prime minister issued a short video message to the nation on Christmas Eve, wishing Australians well over the holiday period and paying particular tribute to defence force personnel. Continue reading...

Tenants are often thrown out and their possessions stolen in the most brutal of robberies'Landlords are illegally evicting tenants in greater numbers and with almost no fear of repercussions, as figures show that less than 1% of those evictions leads to a conviction.Research by the housing charity Safer Renting found that 8,748 cases involving the practice were logged in 2022, a record high and 12% more than the 7,778 cases recorded the year before. Continue reading...

It doesn't have to be this way': Britain's transport networks again grind to a halt during festive periodThere was a familiar sense of misery for many travellers in the week before Christmas as hundreds of trains were cancelled, motorways were closed and ferry passengers queued for miles waiting to board their ships.But it doesn't have to be this way, transport campaigners say, as politicians and transport bosses have the power to ease some of the problems facing travellers. Continue reading...

Red-Tabara group claims responsibility for assault in Vugizo that killed 12 children, three women and five menAn attack by rebels in western Burundi has killed 20 people, all but one of them civilians, the central African country's government has said.The attack was claimed by the Red-Tabara rebel group, which in its own statement said it had killed 10 members of the security forces. The attack occurred on Friday evening in the town of Vugizo, near the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) where the rebels have a base. Continue reading...

Senior Conservative and Labour figures said they would back changes to legislation on the issue in England and WalesTwo former health secretaries on Saturday night became the latest senior figures to join the growing demands for a new attempt to legalise assisted dying, as a prominent Tory said he is willing to champion the legislation in parliament.With both former Conservative minister Stephen Dorrell and Labour's Alan Milburn stating they back changing the law in England and Wales, the Observer understands that a Labour government would make time and expert advice available for an assisted dying bill should MPs back it in a free House of Commons vote. Continue reading...

Maalim Ayman was wanted over attack on airbase in Kenya in 2020 in which three Americans diedSomali troops and US forces have killed a senior commander of the al-Shabaab militant group who had a $10m bounty on his head over an attack that left three Americans dead.Maalim Ayman, a senior leader of al-Shabaab, was confirmed to have been killed in a joint operation by the Somali national army with assistance from US forces on December 17th," Kenya's information minister, Daud Aweis, said on X on Thursday. Continue reading...

Plan is aimed at spreading cost of hosting asylum seekers across bloc and limiting number of arrivals

This online tool will help you discover what is contributing to your household's cost of living increasesInflation has been soaring in the UK, with people being hit by higher prices for everyday essentials, but cost of living pressures are finally starting to ease.The latest inflation rate for the 12 months to November 2023 means that goods and services cost 3.9% more than they did a year ago - in most cases, surpassing any pay rises workers can expect to receive. Continue reading...

Boy, 14, went missing near Blowholes Road in Cape Bridgewater, about 350km from Melbourne on Tuesday

Federal court fines company $15m and orders it to pay up to $15m in compensation for making false or misleading claims to about 70,000 customers

Transport for the North says service is deteriorating fast, with fewer than half of trains running on time

Foreign secretary is told failure to call for immediate ceasefire is also strategically ill-advised', as UN vote approaches

Company says songs have been assessed as worth more by independent valuer than recent transactions in the sectorThe woes of Hipgnosis Songs Fund, which owns the streaming rights to artists ranging from Beyonce to Neil Young, have deepened, as it delayed the publication of its half-year results at the last minute.Hipgnosis said it was postponing its results because the company valuation by its independent valuer was materially higher" than the valuation implied by proposed and recent transactions in the sector, in particular its recent sale of song rights at a steep discount. Continue reading...

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The 29-year-old co-worker was refused bail after a woman was found dead with stab wounds on Monday

Freedom of information documents sought by former senator Rex Patrick outline key risks' attorney general was advised of in Bernard Collaery case

Deaths of Hani Jnena, 32, wife and daughters aged 2 and 4 led NGO to call for Biden to demand Israeli accountabilityA contractor for the US Agency for International Development (USAid) in Gaza was killed with his wife and two daughters aged four and two in an Israeli airstrike in November, his employer said on Saturday.We are deeply saddened to confirm the tragic loss of our colleague, Hani Jnena (33), along with his family in Gaza, including his wife, Abeer (32), and their two young daughters, Mariam and Zayna, aged 4 and 2," the non-profit organization Global Communities, which partners with governments and private-sector entities for humanitarian work, said in a statement. Continue reading...

Postmortem of body found during search in Norfolk finds no sign that other parties were involvedA postmortem examination of a body found in the search for missing woman Gaynor Lord has found no indications of any third-party involvement", Norfolk police said.The force said formal identification would take place on Sunday.

Former president criticises party he led, citing death of democratically elected structures'The former South African president Jacob Zuma, who was forced out of office over corruption allegations, has said he will not vote for the ruling African National Congress party (ANC) in the 2024 national elections.Zuma, 81, criticised the president and ANC leader, Cyril Ramaphosa. The ANC, which led the decades-old struggle against apartheid, is fast losing support. Zuma said he would vote for a small radical leftwing party and would refuse to campaign for the ANC. Continue reading...

Right to Life UK boosted its spend on the social media platform tenfold in three yearsA leading UK anti-abortion charity with ties to MPs and peers has increased its Facebook advertising spend more than tenfold in three years, spending nearly 190,000 on advertising campaigns.In a joint investigation, the Observer and the Citizens analysed the spend and content of hundreds of Facebook ads paid for by Right to Life UK between June 2020 and November 2023. The findings reveal the charity - which provides the secretariat for the Pro-Life All Party Parliamentary Group - spent an average of 117,000 in 2023, an increase from an average 11,400 in 2020, 16,900 in 2021 and 43,600 in 2022. Continue reading...

Unnamed person had handed classified information to a Mossad officer', official Irna news agency reportsAn agent of the Mossad, Israel's intelligence service, has been executed in Iran, the official Irna news agency reported.This person communicated with foreign services, specifically [the] Mossad, collecting classified information, and with participation with associates, provided documents to foreign services, including the Mossad," it said. Continue reading...

US singer of Christmas (Baby Please Come Home), recorded in 1963, says she rates U2's 1987 version as finest of many coversDarlene Love's classic tune Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) has spurred numerous covers over the years, but to the singer herself, only one stands above the rest, she recently revealed.Speaking on the podcast Behind the Table, Love, 82, said U2's rendition of her hit Christmas song is the best cover. Continue reading...