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Penny Wong says there have been multiple instances where Thorpe made ‘inappropriate and sometimes abusive comments’ towards other senatorsGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastLidia Thorpe has been suspended from the Senate under an archaic and little-used rule of the chamber for making “inappropriate and sometimes abusive comments”, after she appeared to throw paper at Pauline Hanson during a tense...

This blog is now closedLidia Thorpe suspended from Senate after appearing to throw paper at Pauline Hanson during tense debateGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastLabour market steadying as latest monthly CPI result loomsThe consensus for much of the year has been the Reserve Bank’s 13-year high interest rates would squeeze demand in the economy, nudge up unemployment and help...

Bigger-than-forecast figure comes as building society’s profits fall 43% in six months to 30 SeptemberNationwide building society has said it will realise a bigger-than-forecast gain of £2.3bn from its acquisition of the rival Virgin Money, as it also reported a sharp drop in profits.The UK’s biggest building society’s pre-tax profits fell 43% to £568m in the six months to 30 September, down from £989m...

One Nation leader says judge’s decision raised alarm among Australians that their freedom of speech ‘is constantly under threat’Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastThe One Nation leader, Pauline Hanson, is appealing against a court ruling that she engaged in racial discrimination against Mehreen Faruqi when she tweeted the Greens senator should “pack your bags and piss off back to...

Coroner urged not to ‘sugarcoat’ police officer’s actions as inquest nears endFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastZachary Rolfe’s ego “had a lot to do with” the death of Kumanjayi Walker, and the former police officer “lied” about the Warlpiri man attempting to take his gun before the fatal shooting, a court...

First day of snowfall this season is heaviest on record, says weather bureauSouth Korea’s capital has been blanketed by what the weather agency said was the heaviest November snowfall since records began over a century ago. It was the first snowfall of this year’s winter.The Korea Meteorological Administration said 16.5cm (6.5 inches) of snow fell by 7am on Wednesday, compared with Seoul’s previous record...

A growing number feel single parenthood is liberating and only a sense of ‘shame’ around it is holding women backIt was Covid that gave Amy, 45, the final push to have fertility treatment on her own. “I had been thinking about it for a while, and then with Covid, I thought: ‘I’m never gonna meet anybody.’ And I didn’t really want to be that...

In today’s newsletter: Our environment reporter on what went wrong following Storm Bert and whether widespread flooding might make the government to face up to the country’s leaky defences• Sign up here for our daily newsletter, First EditionGood morning.Storm Bert brought heavy rain, gale-force winds and snow across the country last weekend, overwhelming flood defences already described as being in disrepair. Parts of south...

Laila Soueif is to meet the foreign secretary, who in opposition called for the release of Alaa Abd el-FattahThe British-born mother of an Egyptian political prisoner who has been on hunger strike for 58 days is preparing to meet the foreign secretary, David Lammy, to urge him to secure her son’s release.Laila Soueif’s son Alaa Abd el-Fattah, a British and Egyptian dual citizen who...

Reports of cars heading south inside Lebanon despite Israeli army warning displaced residents not to return home immediatelyLive updates: Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire beginsA highly anticipated ceasefire aimed at ending the 14-month-old war between Israel and Hezbollah officially came into effect early on Wednesday morning, hours after Joe Biden hailed the “historic” moment.The ceasefire officially began at 0200 GMT – 4am in Lebanon – after the...

Leading theatre figures warn ‘drastic’ reduction in funding will cause bankruptcy and harm city’s tourism appealPlans to slash Berlin’s culture budget by tens of millions of Euros have led to a huge backlash, with leading venues saying they have been forced to cut performances and others warning they will be pushed into bankruptcy.About 450 institutes that are reliant at least in part on state...

Lawyers for the disgraced movie mogul prepare lawsuit accusing Rikers Island jail of negligence and failing to provide adequate medical treatmentHarvey Weinstein’s lawyers have filed a legal claim against New York City alleging he is receiving substandard medical treatment in unhygienic conditions while in custody at the Rikers Island jail complex.The notice of claim – the first step in filing a lawsuit against the...

Picking Jay Bhattacharya to lead NIH signals return to controversial and scientifically questionable health policiesJay Bhattacharya, an unofficial Covid adviser in Trump’s first administration, has been selected as the director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), one of the leading biomedical research institutions in the world.The choice of Bhattacharya, a Stanford economist whose proposal for widespread Covid-19 infection was backed by the White...

Swapo party could lose its majority for the first time since independence in 1990, if youth voter turnout is highNamibians are going to the polls with the longtime ruling party’s parliamentary majority under threat if dissatisfied young people turn out in big numbers amid a wave of anti-incumbent sentiment globally.The Swapo party could also be forced to contest a second round in the presidential...

Revelation emerges at hearing for Anthony Odiong, 55, charged with several counts and held in Texas on $5.5m bailA Roman Catholic priest with links to Texas and Louisiana who is facing criminal charges for allegedly abusing his position of authority within the church to pursue sex with vulnerable women fathered at least two children with victims of his behavior, authorities have alleged.The stunning information...

Attorney Jamieson Greer to play key role in trade team and investor Jim O’Neill picked to be RFK Jr’s health deputyDonald Trump announced his selections for a series of positions in his administration Tuesday evening. The posts include the president-elect’s picks for deputy secretary of health and human services, US trade representative and head of the national economic council, among others.Jamieson Greer, an attorney...

US authorities allege Californian man Raj Matharu tried to conceal more than 1kg of drugs soaked into items of clothingAn alleged would-be drug smuggler soaked a cow onesie in methamphetamine, part of a whole suitcase full of clothes he tried to sneak aboard a plane, US justice officials have said.Raj Matharu allegedly checked in two bags at Los Angeles international airport on a flight...

This live coverage has ended. you can find our US politics stories here. Donald Trump has used the fentanyl crisis gripping the US to support his ambition to impose trade tariffs on China. It gives the incoming US president an opportunity to both appear to be addressing the narcotics emergency, while also reinforcing one of his key aims in terms of US trade.China is...

Research reflects rising optimism about country’s green transition as it takes leading position on climate actionNearly half of experts surveyed by a climate thinktank believe China’s carbon dioxide emissions have already peaked, or will do so in 2025, reflecting increasing optimism about the country’s green transition at a time when it is being called on to take a leading position on global climate action.According...

Senior Brazil military figures backed plot to seize power after Bolsonaro’s election defeat, federal documents allegeBrazil came within a whisker of a far-right military coup and the assassination of a supreme court judge just days before President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva took power in January 2023, a federal police report has claimed.The report about the alleged plot to help the rightwing populist Jair...

Firefighter was lowered into shaft and dog, who was ‘a good sport’, was ‘secured and raised out’, authorities saidFirefighters fetched a dog from an abandoned mine shaft in northern California after it fell 50ft.Firefighters were called around 3.40am last Thursday to a mine located in El Dorado county, roughly 68 miles east of Sacramento. Continue reading...

Deal to end 13 months of fighting between neighbouring countries could be announced on Tuesday eveningMiddle East crisis – latest updatesA ceasefire to pause the fighting between Israel and the Lebanese militia Hezbollah is expected to be announced as early as Tuesday evening by the US president, Joe Biden, and his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, and come into effect sometime on Wednesday.The Biden administration,...

Manager and seven staff at Nana backpackers hostel detained after death of six touristsPolice in Laos have detained the manager of a backpacker hostel in Vang Vieng as well as seven of its staff after the deaths of six tourists in a suspected mass methanol poisoning.Two Danish citizens, an American, a Briton and two Australians died after becoming ill after a night out in...

Moscow bans Labour figures including Angela Rayner, Yvette Cooper and Rachel Reeves under new sanctionsRussia has banned cabinet ministers including Angela Rayner, Yvette Cooper and Rachel Reeves from entering the country under new sanctions announced by Moscow’s foreign affairs ministry.More than a dozen other senior Labour politicians are among the 30 British citizens on the Russian “stop list” after tensions between London and Moscow...