The Guardian

Regulator says ex-customers allegedly affected by Centrepay scandal were already ‘likely experiencing economic vulnerability’Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastOrigin Energy will face court for allegedly overcharging thousands of former customers on Centrelink by a combined $2.5m and breaching laws more than 77,000 times.The company allegedly took payments through Centrepay over six years from over 3,400 customers who had closed their accounts and owed no money, including one customer who paid $11,000. Continue reading... Source link : https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/dec/22/origin-energy-centrepay-allegedly-overcharging-former-customers-on-centrelink Author : Luca Ittimani Publish date : 2025-12-22 02:05:00 Copyright

Vilma Palacios, 22, tells local outlet ‘I want my freedom back’ as she may be forced to return to HondurasA recent graduate of the LSU Health New Orleans School of Nursing has been held in an ICE processing center in Basile, Louisiana, for the past six months following her arrest by immigration agents over the summer.Vilma Palacios had just recently accepted a position at Touro Infirmary when ICE agents arrested her and transferred her to the processing center in Basile. Her detention comes amid a broader immigration crackdown under the Trump administration, including cases involving individuals with no criminal records

Follow the latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastAlbanese orders review of AFP and Asio processes in lead-up to Bondi attackWhile he has resisted calls for a federal royal commission, the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has announced a major review into intelligence and law enforcement processes in the lead-up to the Bondi beach attack.We need our police around Bondi and Sydney’s east at the moment. People, again, should feel free to express their opinions – they can do it in an ongoing fashion after that terrorist designation.I would like to see a royal commission. I’d

Photos suggest former Duke of York served as Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell’s pass to British high societyThe former Prince Andrew at Sandringham lying across the laps of five elegantly dressed women as Ghislaine Maxwell looks on; Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein on a shoot near Balmoral; the three of them peering down from the royal box at Ascot.The images are just some of the “Epstein files” released by the US Department of Justice on Friday. Continue reading... Source link : https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/dec/21/latest-epstein-images-shine-a-light-on-access-seemingly-granted-by-andrew Author : Caroline Davies Publish date : 2025-12-21 17:40:00 Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.

Exclusive: Thinktank’s findings undermine successive home secretaries’ statements about misuse of system in England and WalesAsylum seekers are not abusing the modern slavery system in a widespread manner, according to a report from a centre-right thinktank that undermines statements from successive home secretaries.The report from Bright Blue finds limited evidence that asylum seekers are falsely claiming to have been the victims of modern slavery to stay in the country, despite several home secretaries blaming the system for stopping them deporting more people. Continue reading... Source link : https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/dec/21/uk-asylum-seekers-not-widely-abusing-modern-slavery-rules-report-finds Author : Kiran Stacey Policy editor Publish date : 2025-12-21 16:00:00 Copyright

The first ever mass deployment of mother reef bricks aims to rebuild habitats – and could reshape the North SeaAllie Wharf’s career unfolded amid conflict. As a senior foreign producer for Newsnight, she reported on Iraq and Afghanistan. Just two years ago, she was filming mass graves in Ukraine.But burnt out by wars, and after a detour farming ducks in Tanzania, Wharf has now settled on the quiet north Norfolk coast. Here, alongside her life and business partner, Willie Athill, she has embarked on a different kind of mission: the creation of Europe’s largest natural oyster reef. Continue reading... Source

Anna Turley says people will start to ‘see and feel’ change in public services and cost of living from next yearTory deputy chair Matt Vickers was asked by Sky News’ Trevor Phillips about the councils that have said they will request a delay to elections next year (see post at 09.59 for more details).He said:Most Conservative councils have said no … In fact, we voted against the legislation that was being brought forward to move these things.Some of these people are going to see a delay of two years in their elections, like the five-year term, a seven-year term, even

PostNord’s decision to end service on 30 December comes after fear over ‘increasing digitalisation’ of Danish societyThe Danish postal service will deliver its last letter on 30 December, ending a more than 400-year-old tradition.Announcing the decision earlier this year to stop delivering letters, PostNord, formed in 2009 in a merger of the Swedish and Danish postal services, said it would cut 1,500 jobs in Denmark and remove 1,500 red postboxes amid the “increasing digitalisation” of Danish society. Continue reading... Source link : https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/dec/21/denmark-postnord-postal-delivery-letters-society Author : Miranda Bryant Nordic correspondent Publish date : 2025-12-21 07:00:00 Copyright for syndicated content belongs to

A protest barring MPs from pubs is exposing deeper tensions between politicians and the communities they representLabour MPs heading back to their constituencies this weekend will do so with a sense of relief that another turbulent term in British politics is over. But those hoping to pitch up at their local pub for a restorative pint with colleagues and constituents may find festive cheer is in short supply. In fact, some may not be allowed through the door.For the past few weeks, pubs across the country have been putting up signs declaring “No Labour MPs” in protest at changes to

Perth and Brisbane to swelter through hottest conditions of Australia’s capital cities on ThursdayFollow the latest live news updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastWildly different weather is on the way across Australia for Christmas Day, as a clearer picture emerges of the forecast for celebrations on Thursday.The Bureau of Meteorology has tipped Perth, at 41C, and Brisbane, 35C, to swelter through the hottest conditions of Australia’s capital cities. Continue reading... Source link : https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/dec/21/bom-christmas-weather-forecast-perth-brisbane-melbourne-sydney-adelaide-hobart-darwin-canberra Author : Australian Associated Press Publish date : 2025-12-21 02:44:00 Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.

Clubs including Bolton Wanderers and Bradford City hope to entice fans of top teams looking for festive football fixThe presents are open, the turkey’s devoured and the family bickering has momentarily paused. For hundreds of thousands of football fans that can mean only one thing: it’s time for the match.But not this Boxing Day. With just one Premier League game being played instead of the usual festive footballing feast, fans are looking elsewhere for blessed respite, with teams lower down the football pyramid hoping to entice those who are desperate to get out of the house. Continue reading... Source link

PM reconvenes national security cabinet as NSW parliament to sit this week to consider new legislation in response to shooting. Follow updates liveNSW will move to ban phrase ‘globalise the intifada’ in crackdown on ‘hateful’ rhetoric. Here’s what we know so farGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastAussie honours Bondi victims in Scottish league gameA rising Australian player in Scotland has paid tribute to victims of the Bondi tragedy on an afternoon when Socceroo Martin Boyle shone again.Unfortunately, Zac knew a number of people involved in the tragedy in Bondi Beach. His family stay quite close

Michaela Benthaus from Germany soared 65 miles above the Earth’s surface in 10-minute Blue Origin flightA paraplegic engineer from Germany blasted off on a dream-come-true rocket ride with five other passengers on Saturday, leaving her wheelchair behind to float in space while beholding Earth from on high.Severely injured in a mountain bike accident seven years ago, Michaela Benthaus became the first wheelchair user in space, launching from west Texas with Jeff Bezos’s company Blue Origin. She was accompanied by a retired SpaceX executive also born in Germany, Hans Koenigsmann, who helped organize and, along with Blue Origin, sponsored her trip.

Public exhibition, featuring billboard-sized portraits projected onto buildings, calls attention to Trump administration’s attacks on civil libertiesEach evening, drivers on the busy 101 freeway in downtown Los Angeles pass billboard-size portraits of Angelenos that flash across the side of a building with a simple message next to their faces: Am I Next?Three Los Angeles institutions have teamed up to launch a response to federal immigration raids in the nation’s second-largest city, projecting illuminated images of everyday LA residents in support of the thousands of community members who have been detained this year. Continue reading... Source link : https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/dec/20/los-angeles-public-art-trump-ice-raids Author :

People are supporting economic boycotts to show discontent with businesses capitulating to Trump’s agendaIt’s the busiest shopping season of the year – and a time when many are trying to figure out where to ethically spend their money.Over the first year of Trump’s second term, companies and institutions have fallen in line with the administration’s anti-DEI and anti-immigration policies. As a result, people are supporting economic boycotts to show their discontent with the businesses capitulating to the president. Continue reading... Source link : https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/dec/20/shoppers-boycott-holiday-season-trump-economy Author : Rachel Leingang Publish date : 2025-12-20 15:00:00 Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the

Democratic senator Ro Khanna says: ‘the most important documents are missing’Analysis: Trickle release signals move to bury Trump tiesPhotos from the first batch of Epstein filesThe justice department’s partial release of the Epstein files on Friday signaled how the agency is using a variety of tactics to try to bury and obfuscate Donald Trump’s connection to Jeffrey Epstein, writes Sam Levine.The release underscores how the Trump administration is trying to balance both the demand to release the files – something encouraged in large part by the Maga base – while also obfuscating with a slow trickle of document dumps to

The justice department is using a variety of tactics to try to obfuscate the US president’s connection to the sex offenderThe justice department’s partial release of the Epstein files on Friday signaled how the agency is using a variety of tactics to try to bury and obfuscate Donald Trump’s connection to Jeffrey Epstein.As the department raced towards a legally mandated Friday deadline to release its files, little emerged about what it planned to release. There never really seemed to be a doubt that the department would release the files late on Friday afternoon, deploying the well-worn Washington trick of burying

Exclusive: Ministers also expected to announce trail-hunting ban in sweeping changes to animal welfare lawShooting hares in England will be banned for most of the year as part of sweeping changes to animal welfare law.At the moment, it is legal to shoot the animals during their breeding season, with pregnant hares left to bleed out, and leverets – their young – often orphaned as a result. Continue reading... Source link : https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/dec/20/shooting-hares-england-ban-trail-hunting-animal-welfare-law Author : Helena Horton Environment reporter Publish date : 2025-12-20 07:00:00 Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.

Anthony Albanese said he would ‘support whatever action the NSW government takes’Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastAnthony Albanese has backed a royal commission into last weekend’s terror attack at Bondi beach, after the NSW premier called for a full “comprehensive look” at the deadly shooting.Speaking to reporters on Saturday the premier, Chris Minns said the state needed a royal commission to investigate the mass shooting that killed 15 people. Continue reading... Source link : https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/dec/20/nsw-premier-announces-new-laws-banning-hate-speech-and-symbols-in-wake-of-bondi-beach-terror-attack Author : Adeshola Ore Publish date : 2025-12-20 03:03:00 Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.

After speculation actor was actually underground MC, pair join on remix to EsDeeKid’s 4 RawsIt’s been arguably the most popular musical meme of the year: is masked Liverpudlian rapper EsDeeKid actually Hollywood actor Timothée Chalamet in disguise? Now the speculation has been put to bed, with Chalamet jumping on an unexpected remix of EsDeeKid’s track 4 Raws.Chalamet posted a clip of a video for the track to his social media, rapping alongside EsDeeKid in a series of scenes, from a cramped kitchen to a housing estate. Continue reading... Source link : https://www.theguardian.com/film/2025/dec/19/timothee-chalamet-rap-esdeekid Author : Ben Beaumont-Thomas Publish date : 2025-12-20

Lawyers for victims say they have been ‘repeatedly denied justice’ while deputy attorney general says more files will be releasedUS politics live – latest updatesRepresentatives for victims of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein condemned the US Department of Justice on Friday for only partially releasing investigative documents while at least one survivor said she felt “redeemed” by the documents.The documents were released under the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which mandated the disclosures by 19 December. The law allows for records to be withheld if they threaten current investigations, disrupt national security or identify Epstein’s victims. Continue reading... Source link :

It is unclear if the heavily redacted Epstein documents released by Trump’s justice department are the entirety of the government’s trove on the late sex offenderFull report: US justice department releases long-awaited cache of Jeffrey Epstein filesThere are a vast number of photos of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell and others on trips in locations including Bali, Indonesia; Morocco and St Tropez, France.As our reporters and editors comb through the files, many of the images are heavily redacted, in line with a requirement under the the Epstein Files Transparency Act to redact information that identified potential victims of Epstein or

Anthony Gilheaney, 31, targeted people with his Mercedes, killing Aiden Chapman, 25, and seriously injuring four othersA man who turned his car into a weapon as he launched a series of hate-filled homophobic and racist attacks on Christmas Day last year in central London has been convicted of murder.Anthony Gilheaney, 31, was drunk when he mounted the pavement with his Mercedes and repeatedly targeted people to run over. Continue reading... Source link : https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/dec/19/man-who-mowed-down-london-pedestrians-on-christmas-day-convicted-murder Author : Vikram Dodd Police and crime correspondent Publish date : 2025-12-19 18:47:00 Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.

Todd Blanche suggests some documents may be held back temporarily, citing need to protect victimsFBI director Kash Patel has said “no one is above the law” after a Wisconsin judge was found guilty on Thursday of helping a migrant evade a planned immigration arrest outside her courtroom.Patel is the latest member of President Donald Trump’s administration to celebrate what it sees as a victory in its effort to deter interference with its hardline immigration tactics. Continue reading... Source link : https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2025/dec/19/donald-trump-jeffrey-epstein-venezuela-immigration-north-carolina-rally-us-politics-live-news-updates Author : Lucy Campbell (now); Robert Tait and Charlie Moloney Publish date : 2025-12-19 16:20:00 Copyright for syndicated content

Mixed picture for the big day with some capitals tipped for a hot, dry celebration while others will be cool or rainyGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastSome parts of Australia are in for sunshine and heat this Christmas Day, while others are forecast to have cloudy skies, cool temperatures and some rain as Santa comes to town.The Bureau of Meteorology has released its official weather forecast for the holiday, with less than seven days left to wrap presents and make plans. Continue reading... Source link : https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/dec/19/bom-christmas-day-weather-forecast-australia-extreme-heatwave Author : Nick Visser Publish date : 2025-12-19