• Australia news live: Medicare launches federal court action to stop investigation into alleged privacy breach; Victoria and Tasmania fires

    Bushfires prompt evacuation warnings in Tasmania as house destroyed in Gippsland and fire bans declared in four states. Follow today’s news liveGet our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcastMan allegedly set on fire at Deniliquin Ute Muster festivalPolice are appealing for information after a man was allegedly set on fire at a New South Wales festival over the weekend. Continue reading

  • Laphonza Butler to fill Dianne Feinstein’s vacant Senate seat, Newsom office says

    Butler, a Democratic strategist and adviser to Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign, will become the only Black woman serving in the US SenateCalifornia governor Gavin Newsom will name Laphonza Butler, a Democratic strategist and adviser to Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign, to fill the vacant US Senate seat previously held by Dianne Feinstein, a spokesperson in his office has said.In choosing Butler, Newsom fulfils his pledge to appoint a Black woman if Feinstein’s seat should become open....

  • Mexico church roof collapses during mass, killing at least nine killed and injuring 50

    A ‘structural failure’ during Sunday service trapped dozens in Santa Cruz church in Gulf coast city of Ciudad MaderoThe roof of a church has collapsed in northern Mexico during a Sunday mass, killing at least nine people and injuring about 50, authorities said as searchers probed the wreckage late into the night looking for survivors and other victims.Approximately 30 parishioners were believed to have been trapped in the rubble when the roof caved in, officials said. Searchers crawled under the...

  • ‘I want to unleash rage’: Iranian exile Shirin Neshat on her film about veils, prison and rape

    The artist is returning to the inflammatory approach that caused a storm in the 1990s – with a harrowing film about a woman the Iranian authorities try to crush (warning: images contain nudity) ‘Every Iranian woman is a threat,” says Shirin Neshat, “just by being a woman.” The artist is wearing a black T-shirt emblazoned with the words “Woman, Life, Freedom” – the slogan of the protest movement that erupted a year ago in Iran, following the death in custody of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who...

  • NHS England leaders believe 2m operations and appointments lost to strikes

    Leaders say hidden total may be double official tally, as junior doctors, consultants and radiographers prepare more strikesAs many as 2m outpatient appointments and operations have been cancelled as a result of NHS strikes – double the official total – hospital bosses believe.The NHS Confederation said the true number of care sessions hospitals are not able to provide due to staff walkouts is far higher than the NHS’s 1m figure because so many hospitals now do not book any patients in on strike...

  • Paris-Berlin relations slump is holding up key EU decisions, says German MEP

    Exclusive: Defence and trade affected by poor post-Merkel rapport, says chair of foreign affairs committeePoor relations between France and Germany are slowing down key decisions in the EU including deals on defence in Ukraine and trade, an influential German MEP has claimed.David McAllister, chair of the European parliament’s foreign affairs committee and a key figure in the opposition Christian Democrats party, says he is concerned that the lack of contact between the chancellor, Olaf Scholz,...

  • Empire of dust: what the tiniest specks reveal about the world – podcast

    Nobody normally gives a second thought to dust, but it is inescapable. And if we pay close attention, we can see the biggest things – time, death and life itself – within these tiny floating particles Continue reading

  • UK families ‘eating less healthily’ due to cost of living crisis

    BBC Good Food Nation survey finds 19% of Britons eating more processed foods because they are cheaperFamilies are eating less healthily and turning to ready meals and processed foods due to the cost of living crisis, a study has found.More than two-thirds of people (69%) said they considered themselves to be healthy eaters but 28% said they were eating less nutritious food because it is too expensive, according to the BBC Good Food Nation survey. Continue reading

  • Katie Price on survival, surgery and severe PTSD: ‘I’m good with anaesthetic – I like being put to sleep’

    Bankrupt, three times divorced and fresh from a spell at the Priory, the model and campaigner has come out fighting. She reveals how she is returning from rock bottom‘I’m just getting a bit of toast. Would you like some?” Katie Price asks.Yes please, I say. Continue reading

  • Rescuers continue search for bodies at Spanish nightclubs after deadly blaze

    Up to 18 people were reported missing after the blaze in Murcia, with 13

  • Betting agency’s $40m payout for Penrith premiership believed to be largest in Australian history

    News Corp-backed Betr attracted controversy last year when it offered 100-1 odds on the 2023 grand final winners in the NRL, AFL and other sportsFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcastThe News Corp-backed betting agency Betr is in the process of paying out $40m in bets after Penrith’s grand final win on Sunday, which the company believes is an Australian record.Betr attracted significant controversy earlier...

  • International students in crisis not seeking mental health support, Victorian inquest finds

    Coroner examining five suicide deaths says tertiary sector faces difficult challenge in encouraging students to get helpFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcastInternational students in crisis are not accessing mental health support services they need, a Victorian coronial inquest into suicide deaths has found.The inquest examined the deaths of five international students who took their own lives in 2020. The...