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Commonwealth Bank finds over-70s cohort spent 7.7% more from July to September than the same time last year

Survey also reveals concern about Trump's effect on economy and climate change - although 48% think hotter summers caused by normal fluctuations'

Exclusive: Group of more than 90 including writers Tim Winton and Charlotte Wood have paid for every federal senator and MP to receive curated package

Almost half of Australians think immigration is too high while financial pressures are stubbornly common', annual Mapping Social Cohesion survey finds

Donna Nelson arrested with 2kg of stimulants but daughters say she is innocent

Retailer's share price has crashed amid post-Covid high street recovery and competition from Shein and others

Jerome Beasley and Luke Robinson each accused of four counts of sexual assault on woman while off dutyTwo Metropolitan police officers have been charged with sexually assaulting a woman while off duty.Jerome Beasley, 41, and Luke Robinson, 39, who work in the central west command unit, are to appear at Westminster magistrates court on Wednesday. Continue reading...

Price cap for Great Britain forecast to rise to 1,736 a year for average dual-fuel bill, according to Cornwall Insights

The Matildas captain announced the news in an Instagram post, revealing the baby is due next yearMatildas captain, Sam Kerr, and her partner have announced they are having a baby due next year.Kerr made the announcement on Instagram with her American partner and fellow footballer, Kristie Mewis. Continue reading...

Items up for auction from Eric Morecambe's family home show Ernie Wise had doubts about pair's futureThey became arguably the greatest comedy duo Britain has ever produced but if Eric Morecambe had listened to a young and despondent Ernie Wise they would have split up before ever getting properly started.A poignant 1950 letter from Wise to Morecambe is part of a remarkable treasure trove of memorabilia to be auctioned in the new year. Continue reading...

Senator rips up paper copy of motion against her and says she was denied my right' to be present during vote

Campaigners want anti-racist content to be embedded in curriculum and for Black history to be compulsory subjectSchools and colleges are failing in their legal duty to prevent and address racism, say campaigners who are calling for the national curriculum in England to include an explicit anti-racism focus with Black history as a compulsory subject.A coalition of organisations representing young people's voices has written to the prime minister, warning that racism is holding all young people back" and calling for urgent action to address the impacts of this growing crisis". Continue reading...

Practice banned in both countries but widespread among those displaced by Sudan's civil war, say aid workersWomen's rights campaigners have spoken of their concern over the spread of female genital mutilation among Sudanese refugees in camps across the border in Chad.Both countries have outlawed the practice but it continues in secret. The UN children's agency, Unicef, says that about 87% of Sudanese women aged 14-49 have been cut - one of the highest rates in the world. In Chad, the figure is 34.1%, though rates are higher in the south and east, which is where the camps for Sudanese people have been set up. Continue reading...

Education minister Jason Clare says never in my life' did he expect to see opposition and Greens take same stand on immigration

Former Sydney radio host - who has previously denied all allegations against him - charged over incidents that allegedly occurred between 2001 and 2019

Authorities refuse to rule out taking marks off students found to have used hidden text in exam guides in their answers

Vehicles damaged on Sydney Harbour Bridge by steel plate dislodged in downpour while heavy rains prompt emergency calls around the state

Royal College of Emergency Medicine warns of unacceptable risk' posed by lack of funding to NHSEmergency doctors have sounded the alarm over an approaching winter crisis that they say is already putting patients in overstretched A&E departments at risk.

Figures from audit of England, Wales and Northern Ireland show some basic care now worse than decade agoMinisters are being urged to improve declining care for stroke patients to lower the risk of death and disability as new figures show rising cases, especially among people in their 50s.Thousands of stroke patients are missing out on appropriate treatment and rehabilitation, the standards of which have worsened over the past decade, the Stroke Association has said as it publishes the latest figures from the Sentinel Stroke National Audit Programme (SSNAP), the nation's biggest stroke data audit covering England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Continue reading...

Region's mayor to launch measures to cut unemployment, reduce cost of travel and help children in hardshipA 55m package of measures to tackle the staggering" levels of child poverty in north-east England is to be unveiled at a summit on Monday.The announcement includes an extension of a scheme that allows young people under 21 to travel on public transport for 1 and a 50m investment programme aimed at helping people to find and stay in work. Continue reading...

This blog is now closed. Read today's full report hereA Lebanese soldier has been killed, with three wounded after Israel attacked an army post in a Lebanese town.The Lebanese Army posted on X that one of those injured was in a critical condition after the attack on Sunday. Continue reading...

Challenging finances and polarised political landscape blamed for closure after nearly decade of activismMembers of the Women's Equality party (WE) have voted to dissolve the organisation after nearly a decade of activism, with its leaders blaming challenging finances and a more polarised political landscape.The move, backed by the WE's leader, Mandu Reid, and the party co-founders Catherine Mayer and Sandi Toksvig, was supported by 78% of members at the special conference, narrowly above the three-quarters majority needed for it to pass. Continue reading...

Attack came without warning on day dozens killed in airstrikes in Gaza and Israel struck other targets in LebanonHezbollah's chief spokesman has been killed by an Israeli airstrike on Beirut, as Israel intensifies its air offensive in Lebanon despite ongoing indirect negotiations for a ceasefire.Mohammed Afif, who has been the public face of Hezbollah for months, was killed in a strike on offices of the Ba'ath party in Ras al-Nabaa, central Beirut. The attack in the busy residential area came without warning, and appeared to damage to neighbouring buildings. Continue reading...

UK prime minister to meet world leaders at summit in Brazil that Vladimir Putin has declined to attendUkraine will be top of the agenda" this week at a meeting of leaders from the world's most powerful economies, Keir Starmer has pledged, though he said he had no plans" to follow the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, and speak directly to Vladimir Putin.Starmer will meet world leaders on Monday at the G20 summit in Brazil, which the Russian president has declined to attend, sending his foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, in his place. Continue reading...

Police notified after former trustees and current chief executive of Actors' Benevolent Fund were sent notesA bitter feud that tore apart an illustrious actors' charity has been reignited by the emergence of poison pen letters threatening former trustees.The annual meeting of the Actors' Benevolent Fund (ABF) takes place on Tuesday after at least three years of turmoil with little prospect that it will pass off uneventfully. Continue reading...

Ed Davey says Jane Dodds should reflect on her position after failing to take action over allegations of abuse by late bishop of ChesterEd Davey has said the leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats should reflect on her position because of her failure to take action over an abuse case when she was a manager in the Church of England.Jane Dodds, who was briefly the MP for Brecon and Radnorshire and is now the only Lib Dem member of the Senedd, was criticised in a C of E report about abuse carried out by the late bishop of Chester Hubert Victor Whitsey. Continue reading...

Shabna Begum says racist riots will return if Islamophobia continues to be an acceptable currency' in politicsIslamophobia has become brutally divisive" in the UK and failure to challenge its root causes will lead to more racist riots, the head of the UK's leading race equality thinktank has said.Shabna Begum, who became the chief executive of the Runnymede Trust earlier this year, said the country was entering a new phase in how it talks about Muslims. Continue reading...

Claims management company expects claims over collapsed Neil Woodford fund to exceed 200mMore than 5,000 people who invested in Neil Woodford's collapsed equity fund are suing Hargreaves Lansdown, claiming that the investment platform was still promoting the fund even when it was aware of its problems.The number of people suing Hargreaves Lansdown, the UK's largest investment site, has almost doubled in the past two years, according to the claims management firm RGL Management. Two years ago the number of people taking part stood at 2,750. Continue reading...

Pro-business party internally referred to its plans as D-day'Germany's pro-business Free Democrats, who collapsed Olaf Scholz's governing coalition earlier this month in a dispute over the budget, reportedly plotted their exit weeks before the final split, referring to their plans internally as D-day".Newspapers Die Zeit and Suddeutsche Zeitung reported that the FDP had intended from at least September to force a situation that would provoke the German chancellor into pulling the plug on his tripartite coalition. Continue reading...

Minor party's offer, which includes ban on native-forest logging, represents its second concession on stalled legislation in less than a week

Treasury confirms cheques will stay in circulation until 2029 but then cease to be accepted as legal tender

Art historian says miniature is of Henry VIII's daughter - not his sixth wife Katherine ParrIt's Mary Tudor - by a nose. Not in a horse race, but from a comparison of portraits of Mary, Henry VIII's elder daughter who became the first crowned queen of England, and Katherine Parr, his sixth wife.For decades, experts, including the noted historian and museum director Sir Roy Strong, have thought that a near 500-year-old miniature was of Parr. Now several leading Tudor authorities are convinced it is Mary, often dubbed Bloody Mary" because as an ardent Catholic queen she ordered the killing of many Protestants. Continue reading...

Activists and the NFU insist Labour tax reforms aimed at the wealthy will also hurt smaller, poorer producersA wave of wellies is preparing to pound the streets of Westminster on Tuesday, as groups of farmers bring their anger over the government's budget changes to inheritance tax to the capital.For decades, agricultural properties have been passed down tax-free to heirs, but that will change from April 2026, when farms and other business property are brought under the remit of inheritance tax. Continue reading...

Biggest air strike in months also hits residential areas and raises fears for Ukraine energy infrastructure ahead of winter

Union leader says anger is unprecedented, but does not condone any plan to stop food reaching supermarketsThe president of the National Farmers' Union (NFU) has said that farmers in England and Wales feel betrayed" by changes to inheritance tax rules, while saying his organisation does not condone mooted plans to stop food reaching supermarket shelves.Tom Bradshaw, the NFU president, said anger among farmers about the changes announced in last month's budget over inheritance tax and farms was unprecedented, and that he understood why many members wanted to take action. Continue reading...

Margaret Hodge and Andrew Mitchell criticise dither and delay' that they say protects corruption and conflict

The tradition of chomping through a kilo of sweets once a week is under threat as demand soars for sugary sweetsSwedes love sweets. So when an American TikToker sparked a craze for Swedish candy this year, there was pride that an important part of national culture was being recognised around the world. The Danes may have Ozempic but the Swedes have lordagsgodis - Saturday sweets - where families chew through more than 1kg of sticky treats in an evening.That pride has given way to some irritation. Supplies of some Swedish sweets ran dry in the autumn due to the high demand in the US, South Korea and in Scandinavia. And there was another factor, an equally important Swedish tradition: the six-week summer holiday. Continue reading...

Malina Nowicka, a cancer survivor with chronic back pain and fainting condition, says she is taking action for all people with disabilities'A cancer survivor with chronic health problems is suing one of the UK's most prestigious museums for discrimination for allegedly denying her a suitable chair to sit on when she is at work.Malina Nowicka, 34, works as a security guard at the Science Museum in South Kensington, London, and has assisted thousands of visitors in the five years she has worked there. Continue reading...

Lot includes very unusual' correspondence between celebrated general and American singer Josephine BakerA stash of never-before seen correspondence and artefacts belonging to the former French president Charles de Gaulle, including coded letters he wrote to his mother while he was a German prisoner in the first world war and messages from the American singer Josephine Baker, is to go on sale following its unexpected discovery earlier this year.The correspondence is part of a treasure trove" of documents and personal belongings belonging to de Gaulle, found in a safe in a bank vault, that will be auctioned in Paris next month. Continue reading...

Unusually mild spell to end with subzero temperatures likely overnight in much of northern England and ScotlandIt could be time to get out the woolly jumpers, the UK Met Office has warned, as an Arctic blast brings the threat of plummeting temperatures, sleet, snow and ice.The unusually mild and dry weather conditions of November so far are set to be replaced by more typical patterns. A yellow weather warning for northern Scotland kicks in at 4pm on Sunday, extending to southern Scotland and northern England on Monday evening into Tuesday. Continue reading...

Allegations that tutors in the fast-growing sector are letting bullying between students go uncheckedWhen Sally Mumford enrolled in a training course to become a psychotherapist in 2020, she was excited to start a new career.She hoped to help people understand how their feelings and behaviour were shaped by their pasts. But she quickly realised that the course might not be what she had expected. I arrived like a lamb to the slaughter," she said. There was a real nastiness that percolated down from the top." Continue reading...

ALP denies reforms rushed into parliament are designed to target Simon Holmes a Court and Clive Palmer

Firefighters battle two out-of-control blazes as other communities brace for winds, storms and possible flash flooding

Milorad Zaric, 47, appears at Melbourne magistrates court on Sunday while withdrawing from drugs and alcohol, hearing is told

PM seeks to reassure Australians about the fate of their businesses under US Trump administration

Northamptonshire police say they believe 24-year-old Harshita Brella was attacked by someone she knewPolice have named the woman found dead in a car boot in east London and said they believe she was attacked by someone she knew.A murder investigation was launched by Northamptonshire police after the body of 24-year-old Harshita Brella was found inside the boot of a vehicle on Bristane Road, Ilford, in the early hours of Thursday morning. Continue reading...

Amount paid at auction is highest ever for memorabilia related to ship that sank on its maiden voyage in 1912A gold pocket watch presented to the captain of a steamship which rescued more than 700 passengers from the Titanic has sold for a record-breaking 1.56m.The sum - the highest amount ever paid for Titanic memorabilia - was paid by a private collector in the US, said auctioneers Henry Aldridge & Son of Devizes, Wiltshire. Continue reading...

In closed hearing, lawyer Alison Battisson says Australia has a terrifying' record of detaining people unlawfully for indefinite periods

Exclusive: Failure to rescue' charge withdrawn years after coroner found woman died of untreated head injury

Rising number of vulnerable youngsters are being forced into unsuitable accommodation including Airbnbs, bedsits and caravansA shocking increase in the number of vulnerable children deprived of their liberty by the state is leaving more youngsters in illegal accommodation, at eye-watering costs to the taxpayer, a government-backed assessment has warned.The children include a young woman who was physically sat on for an entire day by staff trying to restrain her and a severely disabled child whose feeding tubes had been nibbled by rats. Others have been found in bedsits guarded by security guards, or in Airbnbs and caravans. Continue reading...