The Ford Ranger usurps Toyota's HiLux as the most sold car model, while battery EVs accounted for 7.2% of salesNot a single sedan or hatchback ranked in the top 10 most bought cars in Australia in 2023 - a year that set an all-time record for new car sales - as the nation's love affair with fuel-thirsty SUVs and utes reached new heights.The top three most sold cars in Australia last year were utes, with the next seven most popular new cars all SUVs, according to new data from the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI), which said 2023 set an all-time record for new vehicle sales with more than 1.2m vehicles delivered. Continue reading...
Police were concerned for autistic man who went walking near Halls Gap and had not been seen since calling family on WednesdayCrews in Victoria have found a 20-year-old hiker who went missing in the Grampians national park after he called his family from a scenic lookout.Jack went on a hike near Halls Gap in the Grampians/Gariwerd park about 250km west of Melbourne on Wednesday, Victoria police said in a statement on Thursday. Continue reading...
Flight attendants needed permission from cockpit to open emergency exits, broadcaster reportsPilots on a Japan Airlines plane that became engulfed in flames just after all 379 passengers and crew escaped were initially unaware the aircraft was on fire, according to fresh details reported in local media.The airliner collided with a coast guard plane after landing at Tokyo's Haneda Airport on Tuesday evening. All but one of the six people on the smaller aircraft were killed. Continue reading...
The mother and uncle of Ragi A Sckak were taken from Gaza in an operation coordinated by the US, Israel and Egypt, according to a US officialThe mother and uncle of a US service member were rescued from the fighting in Gaza in a secret operation coordinated by the US, Israel, Egypt and others, according to a US official speaking to the Associated Press.It is the only known operation of its kind to extract American citizens and their close family members during the months of devastating ground fighting and Israeli airstrikes in Gaza. Continue reading...
US hedge fund manager Bill Ackman posts 4,000-word screed decrying racism against white people' after Gay's departureChief among the campaigners celebrating the resignation of Claudine Gay as president of Harvard University was a man who arguably did the most to push Gay, Harvard's first Black president, out the door: Bill Ackman, a billionaire hedge-fund manager and Harvard alumnus.Ackman, who accused Gay of antisemitism and plagiarism, was a major player in what increasingly became a rightwing campaign against the Harvard president - who said many of the attacks against her were fueled by racial animus". Continue reading...
Archaeologists surprised to find graves of ordinary locals in place known as final resting place of rich and powerfulIn the heyday of the wonderful church, it was used as the final resting place for the rich and powerful: high-ranking clergy, wealthy landowners, lords who guarded the borderlands.But excavation work carried out at Tintern Abbey has found that after the gothic masterpiece fell into ruin following the dissolution of the monasteries, ordinary local people took advantage of the chance to bury their dead within the sacred - and beautiful - grounds. Continue reading...
by Kiran Stacey Political correspondent on (#6HJT3)
In a speech in the west of England, Labour leader will say he wants British people to believe in politics againA Labour win at this year's election will improve the mood of a downtrodden country", Keir Starmer will say, as he hopes to inject a note of optimism into what is set to be one of the most bitterly fought campaigns in recent history.The Labour leader will set out his pitch to voters at a speech in the west of England on Thursday marking the beginning of what Labour believes will be a five-month lead-up to the election. Continue reading...
FBI said it was working with state, local and federal law enforcement to gather, share and act on informationAt least nine state capitol buildings across the US were under evacuation orders on Wednesday due to bomb threats, according to officials.Government buildings in Connecticut, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Kentucky, Maine, Michigan Mississippi and Montana received bomb threats via email to offices of secretaries of states and legislative officials. Continue reading...
Row breaks out on first day of NHS's longest ever stoppage as requests to return to work rejectedJunior doctors' leaders have said they are prepared to stage yet more strikes after the longest stoppage in NHS history, as health leaders warned that this week's action alone could cripple the health service until spring.On Wednesday night, at the end of the first of six days of strike action, Prof Sir Stephen Powis, NHS England's national medical director, said its impact would be felt for weeks and months" as tens of thousands of appointments and operations were ditched and will have to be rescheduled. Continue reading...
Steven Kabuye was stabbed by unknown assailants on a motorbike after receiving death threatsA prominent Ugandan LGBTQ+ activist is in a critical condition after he was stabbed on his way to work on Wednesday by unknown assailants on a motorbike.Steven Kabuye, 25, suffered knife wounds and was left for dead in the assault on the outskirts of the capital Kampala before being found by local residents, police said. Continue reading...
Stormy weather and exceptionally high tides have brought flooding and evacuations - and a surfing bonanzaStormy weather and exceptionally high tides have brought the largest waves in years crashing down on California's shores, with some reaching heights of 30ft (9 metres) or more.The conditions triggered flooding and evacuations, and caused injuries and damage in coastal towns. But they have also created a bonanza for surfers, who have thrown themselves headlong into the powerful swells in recent days. Continue reading...
US points towards Islamic State or Sunni extremists but Iran has accused IsraelIt is still unclear who is responsible for the double bombing of a crowd in the south-eastern Iranian city of Kerman but whoever is behind the outrage is clearly willing to risk igniting a regional war.In Washington, officials have been pointing towards the possible role of Islamic State or some affiliated Sunni extremist group, and away from the partnership of Israel and the secular Iranian rebel group, the Mujahedin-e-Khalq (MeK), who have reportedly been behind previous attacks deep inside Iran. Continue reading...
by Patrick Butler Social policy editor on (#6HJMX)
Children's campaigner lived an extraordinary life encompassing social entrepreneurship, fame, politics, a fall from grace and a dramatic courtroom exonerationFamily and friends are squashed into the late Camila Batmanghelidjh's neat, tiny, kaleidoscopically colourful flat in north-west London. There are tears and hugs. Dates are passed round and cups of tea. One thing is for sure," said Lindita Berila, who has dropped in to pay her respects, everyone knew Camila was special."A few days previously, Batmanghelidjh had been here with colleagues helping to wrap thousands of Christmas presents to be delivered the next day to disadvantaged children. She looked fabulous," said her brother Bobby. There was no indication she was going to leave us." Continue reading...
Renee Poche accuses streamer and production company of emotional distress along with violations of labor and civic codesA new lawsuit alleges drugs, abuse, imprisonment and emotional distress behind the scenes on Love Is Blind, the hit Netflix reality series in which contestants court each other sight unseen.The lawsuit, filed against Netflix and the show's production company Delirium TV by Hollywood power lawyers Bryan Freedman and Mark Geragos in California, seeks to nullify the contract of former contestant Renee Poche and claims intentional infliction of emotional distress, along with numerous violations of the state's labor and civic codes. Continue reading...
Previously only bots and AI had got game to its kill screen' but Willis Gibson managed to get game to freeze with score 999999A 13-year-old in Oklahoma is believed to be the first person ever to beat Tetris since the game's release more than three decades ago.Previously, only bots powered by artificial intelligence had forced the game, first released on the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), to its kill screen", where its signature blocks are falling so fast that the game itself can't continue. In a video documenting his feat and posted on Tuesday, the Oklahoma teenager, known as Blue Scuti online and by his legal name, Willis Gibson, plays for roughly 38 minutes and reaches level 157 before saying, Oh, I missed it," believing that a misplaced block scuttled his attempt. Continue reading...
It looks as if USS simply overpaid and underestimated the effort and catch-up investment requiredWe continue to view Thames Water as a long-term investment," said the Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS), the 75bn pension fund for UK academics, as it wrote down the value of its stake in the Thames' parent by nearly two-thirds, or almost 600m. Top marks for cheerfulness, but it's a line that recalls the old joke about the definition of a long-term investment: a short-term investment gone wrong.USS and Canadian pension fund Omers, the other late arrival on Thames' register in 2017 (they replaced the departing Macquarie and its co-travellers), surely cannot have imagined that the long term would stretch quite so far over the horizon. As USS says, it's taken no dividends so far, and the current business plan imagines no income for shareholders until 2030 at the earliest. That's a near-eternity in investment terms for utility assets, which are supposedly prized for their ability to generate steady cash. Continue reading...
Both sides release more than 200 troops in first exchange since August after UAE-mediated negotiationsUkraine and Russia have announced the largest exchange of prisoners since the start of the war, involving the return of more than 200 soldiers from each side in a deal mediated by the United Arab Emirates.The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said on Wednesday in a message on social media, along with images of some of the freed PoWs: 230 of our people. Today, 213 soldiers and sergeants, 11 officers, and six civilians returned home." Continue reading...
Clayton and Carrie Law withdrew $4,000 in cash and placed it on their counter when seven-year-old Cecil decided to eat itA Pennsylvania dog shocked his owners and veterinarian after eating $4,000 in cash.Cecil, a seven-year old goldendoodle from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, is usually well behaved, according to his owners, Clayton and Carrie Law. Continue reading...
by Sally Weale Education correspondent on (#6HJET)
Some UK applicants had to quit Turing scheme as places were not confirmed or they failed to receive fundsStudents taking part in the government's post-Brexit replacement for the EU's Erasmus+ student exchange scheme were forced to drop out because places were confirmed too late, while others failed to receive any funding until after their return, according to research.The first official analysis of the Turing scheme, which launched in 2021 after being announced by the then prime minister Boris Johnson, found that four out of five universities (79%) had difficulties with the application process which was overly complex, repetitive and tedious". Continue reading...
Nigel Farage does not appear at Reform UK press conference as Richard Tice says a good poker player does not show his hand early'Vaughan Gething, economy minister in the Welsh Labour government and favourite in the contest to succeed Mark Drakeford as first minister, has criticised the council tax system as broadly regressive".He made the comment in an interview with the Financial Times in which he defended the Welsh government's plan to reform how the tax operates in the UK. It is consulting on three options, one of which would just involve a property revaluation, but two of which would involve getting the owners of valuable homes to pay more, and cheaper homes to pay less, possibly with the creation of new bands.The council tax consultation is not about trying to raise the average council tax or hit people in the middle or lower scale, it's about how can you rebalance how that works.You could have people at the top end paying more and people at the bottom paying less.In the future local authorities would decide what to do, it wouldn't be a Wales-wide measure, the tourism levy would be a choice for different authorities to make.If I am elected Welsh Labour leader and First Minister in 2024, here are 5 things I will do in my first week as FM:
Jungle between Colombia and Panama marks the start of the dangerous trek north from South America to the United StatesA record 520,000 people crossed the treacherous jungle between Colombia and Panama known as the Darien Gap in 2023, more than double the number reported the year before, according to new figures from the government of Panama.The people who made the journey that marks the start of the dangerous trek north from South America to the United States last year were mostly from Venezuela, Ecuador, Haiti and China, according to the numbers from Panama's migration agency. Continue reading...
Compensation from QBE is said to be key step towards many more businesses getting paymentsOne of the world's largest insurance companies has been forced to pay thousands of pounds in interest to small businesses who suffered delayed payouts on Covid insurance claims.The QBE Group's initial payout just before Christmas of over 386,000 to 86 companies raises the potential for a total outlay by insurers of up to 1.6bn in interest to customers, it is claimed. Continue reading...
by Libby Brooks Scotland correspondent on (#6HJBV)
Murals, colourful chairs and fairy lights help create a mood that is more soft play than pre-theatre at Royal Hospital for ChildrenWhen I was last here, there was nothing much to cheer you up," says 10-year-old Joseph Hay, perusing the intricate mural that now dominates one wall of the operating theatres unit at the Royal Hospital for Children in Glasgow. Joseph, who has undergone numerous procedures here after being diagnosed with bone marrow failure, remembers most of all the apprehension of the general anaesthetic. You're just waiting for the moment. This wasn't a place you'd really want to be at all."But now, the largest paediatric theatre unit in Scotland doesn't even feel like a hospital", as Joseph joins other former patients and their families to inspect the million-pound transformation they have helped to bring about in a unique collaboration between children and creatives, the first of its kind in the country. Continue reading...
by Geneva Abdul (now) and Lili Bayer (earlier) on (#6HJ5G)
Radosaw Sikorski says allies must deliver long-range missiles to Ukraine following barrage of strikes by RussiaThe Russian military has said it shot down 12 Ukrainian missiles over the southern Belgorod region bordering Ukraine, as Kyiv's forces seek to embarrass President Vladimir Putin and puncture his argument that life in Russia is going on as normal despite the 22-month war.The Belgorod governor, Vyacheslav Gladkov, said the situation in the regional capital, also called Belgorod, remained tense. The city came under two rounds of shelling on Wednesday morning, Gladkov wrote on Telegram. Continue reading...
Officials confirm two explosions at ceremony marking fourth anniversary of killing of Qassem SuleimaniTwo explosions have killed at least 73 people and injured scores more at a memorial ceremony in Iran marking the fourth anniversary of the US killing of Qassem Suleimani, the head of Iran's Quds Force and one of the most powerful men in the Middle East.A senior official called the blasts a terroristic" attack, without elaborating on who could be behind them. Continue reading...
Ever more of the continent's 400 million voters feel the bloc is important enough to warrant casting their ballotThey are elections whose purpose many do not see, for an institution whose role few fully understand; an international ballot still viewed primarily in national terms, by voters who see it chiefly as a low-risk way to vent national frustrations.They're not really about the EU and they don't really matter" was long the popular take on elections to the European parliament, whose latest edition, from 6 to 9 June, will once more fill the 705 seats of the only directly elected EU body. Continue reading...
Five- and 10-year fixed-rate remortgages announced as lenders big and small reduce ratesHSBC has become the latest big UK lender to announce across-the-board mortgage interest rate cuts, with leading names announcing reductions of up to one percentage point.The bank's new deals announced on Wednesday include a headline-grabbing five-year fixed remortgage deal of 3.94% for those borrowing up to 60% of the property value. Continue reading...
Zomato rider resorts to horsepower in Hyderabad after truckers' strike causes fuel shortage and traffic jamsAn Indian food delivery driver frustrated by long queues for petrol has resorted to horsepower to make his deliveries.A video clip shows the man trotting through the busy streets of Hyderabad in southern India on a bay horse with the distinctive red bag of the food delivery app Zomato (the Indian equivalent of Deliveroo) dangling behind his back. Continue reading...
There was outrage when the vice-president was mocked last month by an opposition MP, but social commentators say India is increasingly a country that cannot take a jokeIt is rare for India's politicians to laugh at themselves, but a row over an act of mimicry has exposed the extent of the lack of humour and intolerance of satire in the country's political and public life.Over the past two weeks, politicians have traded insults over an impersonation of India's vice-president, Jagdeep Dhankhar, by the opposition MP Kalyan Banerjee. Continue reading...
More than 600 flood warnings and alerts in England and Wales, with train cancellations and road closuresA man was killed after a tree fell on his car in Gloucestershire as Storm Henk brought winds of more than 90mph, causing havoc in parts of southern Britain.The man, who was in his 50s and from the Bath area, was fatally injured in the accident on Tetbury Road, between Tetbury and Cirencester, at about 3.15pm on Tuesday. Continue reading...
Alfredo Aliaga Burdio says achievement shows it's never too late as he only started living healthily in his mid-70sA 92-year-old who recently became the oldest person to cross the Grand Canyon rim-to-rim on foot says he is proof that it is never too late to try something - because he waited until his mid-70s to start leading what he considers a healthy life.I began living a healthy lifestyle really at age 76," Alfredo Aliaga Burdio - a Spanish-born resident of Berlin - told the Guinness World Records site in an interview. Continue reading...
Impresario says ghost would pile up theatre scripts in obscure room but finally left after priest's visitAs poltergeists generally go, it seems the award-winning composer Andrew Lloyd Webber may have got off lightly.The musical theatre impresario, whose West End hits include Phantom of the Opera, has claimed he once shared his home with a poltergeist in Eaton Square. Continue reading...
Francoise Bornet's embrace with then boyfriend in 1950 became one of the most famous images of the cityIt was one of the most famous kisses of the 20th century - a postwar clinch that became a 1980s poster phenomenon, bringing fame and court battles.Francoise Bornet, the young lover immortalised in the French photographer Robert Doisneau's The Kiss by the Hotel de Ville, has died aged 93. Continue reading...
by Kiran Stacey Political correspondent on (#6HJ6K)
Chief strategist uses examples from around world to urge against complacency, warning polls do not predict the future'Labour's poll lead could collapse in the weeks before the general election, the party's chief campaign strategist has told shadow ministers, as he warned them not to be complacent going into the election year.Morgan McSweeney, Labour's director of campaigns, recently gave a presentation to the shadow cabinet in which he showed MPs what happened in the months before eight different elections from around the world. In each case, the clear favourite lost after their poll lead disappeared in the weeks leading up to the vote. Continue reading...
Pair taken by ambulance to Katoomba hospital after emergency at Echo Point amid storm chaosTwo people have been taken to hospital after being struck by lightning while visiting a popular scenic site in the New South Wales Blue Mountains.Other visitors were forced to seek shelter from a major storm while rescue crews searched several walking tracks in the area looking for stranded bushwalkers. Continue reading...
Consumers buy more items - including plenty of parsnips and sprouts - to beat last year's spend by 7%UK shoppers spent 13.7bn on groceries in the run-up to Christmas - 7% more than a year before - as they sought out bargains and switched to discounters to try to offset price inflation.The number of items bought rose by 2% in December as prices climbed by 6.7%, according to analysts at Kantar. Prices for sweets, eggs and frozen potato products rose fastest but prices fell for dairy items, including butter, milk and cream. Continue reading...
Festival will be free of fossil fuel sponsorship for the first time in decades after the departure of Chevron as a sponsor last yearFossil fuel company Woodside has now severed all ties with the arts company behind one of the largest fringe festivals in the world, after sustained complaints and protests over several years from performers, producers and audiences.A Woodside spokesperson confirmed on Wednesday a philanthropic agreement with Artrage, one of Western Australia's largest arts companies which produces the annual Fringe World festival, had been discontinued. Continue reading...
In today's newsletter: Health bosses raise alarm as junior doctors begin the longest strike in NHS history. But how will the action actually impact patients? Sign up here for our daily newsletter, First EditionGood morning. It is never a good time to be seriously ill, but this week is worse than most. The NHS is in the grip of its customary winter crisis, which typically peaks in early January. More than 125,000 posts are vacant, and about 6.5m people are on waiting lists for routine appointments, more than a million of them for more than one procedure.Today, junior doctors in England go out on strike again, for six days. (A pay deal has already been reached in Scotland, while doctors in Wales are due to strike later this month and those in Northern Ireland are currently being balloted.) Almost a year after the first strike over pay and conditions, the dispute still appears a distance from being resolved.Israel-Gaza war | One of Hamas's most senior officials, Saleh al-Arouri, was killed in an Israeli drone strike in Beirut that threatened a significant and dangerous escalation of Israel's war against Hamas and its related conflict with the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah. Read Jason Burke's analysis.Japan | A passenger jet that collided with a coast guard plane in a catastrophic accident at Tokyo's Haneda Airport had been given permission to land, Japan Airlines executives have said. Five crew members on the coast guard plane were killed while all 379 passengers evacuated from the burning Japan Airlines jet.UK news | Camila Batmanghelidjh, who created the Kids Company children's charity and became one of the UK's best known and most powerful campaigners for disadvantaged youngs people, has died aged 61.Climate Crisis | The UK had its second hottest year on record in 2023, according to provisional data from the Met Office, as the climate crisis continued to deliver elevated temperatures. Such a warm year would have occurred only once in 500 years without human-caused global heating, the scientists said.US news | The president of Harvard University has resigned amid pressure over her response to questions about antisemitism at US colleges and allegations that she has plagiarized some of her academic work. Claudine Gay's six-month tenure is the shortest in the university's history.Six days of strike action following bank holidays at a time of enormous pressure, there are real issues around patient safety"NHS Confederation chief executive, Matthew Taylor, 23 DecemberJunior doctors' pay has been cut by more than a quarter since 2008"BMA website Continue reading...
Two men, who have been denied bail, claim three boys were trespassing in Mareeba when they allegedly assaulted and handcuffed themA pair of alleged vigilantes have been charged with assaulting and handcuffing three boys they believed to be trespassing in an industrial area in Mareeba, near Cairns.A 36-year-old man and a 27-year-old man, both from Biboohra, have been denied police bail over the incident, involving three boys aged 12 to 14 on 23 December. Continue reading...
NSW Health issues warning after multiple people who visited CBD were hospitalised for pneumonia caused by legionella bacteriaSydneysiders have been urged to stay alert for symptoms of legionnaires' disease after seven people were hospitalised after contracting the respiratory illness over Christmas and the new year.New South Wales Health issued an alert on Wednesday afternoon, warning those who had been in the Sydney CBD area in the past 10 days to monitor for symptoms, which can include fever, chills, cough and shortness of breath. The disease can lead to severe chest infections. Continue reading...
Police have charged an alleged gunman arrested in Fairfield Heights with the shooting of a convicted drug kingpin at a busy Sydney shopping precinct in JuneAn alleged gunman has been charged with murder over the daylight shooting of convicted drug lord Alen Moradian in Sydney.Police have charged three additional men over the shooting in a Bondi Junction car park in 2023. Continue reading...
Supreme court grants woman's urgent application, but a new order will be required to use sperm for fertilisationA 62-year-old woman has been given permission by the Western Australian supreme court to remove sperm from her dead husband for possible use in posthumous fertilisation.The woman made an urgent court application after the death of her 61-year-old husband late last year. Continue reading...
by Kiran Stacey Political correspondent on (#6HHTS)
Exclusive: Party considering new offence of fraud against the public purse that would see jail terms of more than 10 yearsPeople who defraud the government will face going to jail for more than a decade under plans being considered by Keir Starmer as part of a wider cleanup of British politics.The Labour leader will pledge to restore standards in public life with a total crackdown on cronyism" in a speech on Thursday marking the beginning of the election year. Continue reading...
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