The Guardian

Watchdog says force being applied ‘inconsistently, disproportionately, and without adequate justification’ Home Office contractors are over-using restraint in immigration detention centres and failing to tackle the toxic culture behind bars, according to the findings of a new watchdog report described as “deeply concerning”. By Force of Habit: How the Use of Force in Immigration Detention Has Los…

District judge in California says detainees who were already living in the US are legally entitled to a bond hearing A federal judge has ruled that Donald Trump’s administration cannot impose mandatory detention on thousands of migrants held by US immigration authorities without first giving them an opportunity to seek release on bond. US district judge Sunshine Sykes in Riverside, California, ce…

Senator uses parliament to accuse Albanese government of knowing David Adeang was ‘seriously corrupt’ yet still signing $2.5bn deportation deal Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Nauru’s President David Adeang, a predecessor and other individuals have been accused in the Senate of corruptly siphoning off millions of …

Fair Work Commission application comes amid scrutiny of ATO’s use of for-profit call centres Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast A worker at one of the Australian Taxation Office’s outsourced call centres is pursuing a “same job, same pay” order that threatens to unravel the agency’s extensive use of third-party contr…

Exclusive: Officials frame strikes as self-defense against violence, without naming aggressor, while Trump claims they’re to stop US overdose deaths The Trump administration is framing its boat strikes against drug cartels in the Caribbean in part as a collective self-defense effort on behalf of US allies in the region, according to three people directly familiar with the administration’s interna…

Another boy, 15, charged on Monday after 17-year-old boy died from wounds to thigh in Rouse Hill Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast A second teenage boy has been charged with murder over the alleged stabbing of an older boy behind a school. The victim, a boy aged 17, died from stab wounds to his thigh after a confron…

Fuel from the pipeline, operated by BP, was first spotted in a ditch near an Everett, Washington, blueberry farm Investigators have identified the source of a leak in the Olympic pipeline two weeks after fuel was first spotted in a ditch near an Everett, Washington, blueberry farm. Oil and gas company BP, the operator of the pipeline, shared in a statement that it had determined the leak occurred…

Hakyung Lee was found guilty of murdering her children and concealing their remains in a storage locker A mother who murdered her two children and hid their bodies in suitcases stored inside a rented locker has been sentenced to life imprisonment in New Zealand. Hakyung Lee, a New Zealand citizen originally from South Korea, was found guilty earlier this year of killing her children in a crime th…

Steve Witkoff told Yuri Ushakov in October phone call that peace would require Russia gaining control of Donetsk Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff told a senior Kremlin official last month that achieving peace in Ukraine would require Russia gaining control of Donetsk and potentially a separate territorial exchange, according to a recording of their conversation obtained by Bloomberg. In…

The president of Nigeria, Bola Tinubu, said all 24 of the girls kidnapped last week had been rescued All 24 schoolgirls held by assailants after a mass abduction last week from a school in north-western Nigeria have been rescued, the country’s president announced on Tuesday. A total of 25 girls were abducted on 17 November from the Government Girls Comprehensive secondary school in Kebbi state’s …

Catastrophic conditions in lower central west plains district and total fire bans for millions across state, with elevated fire danger in southern Queensland Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Forecasts of soaring temperatures and damaging wind gusts have prompted authorities in New South Wales to raise bushfire aler…

Exclusive: Dulwich college contemporaries ‘rubbish’ Reform UK leader’s suggestion alleged racist taunts not intended to hurt Don’t believe Nigel Farage’s denials. He targeted me for being Jewish – and it hurt | Peter Ettedgui Three more school contemporaries who claim to have witnessed Nigel Farage’s alleged teenage racism have rejected the Reform UK leader’s suggestion that it was “banter”, desc…

Lawmakers who urged military personnel to refuse illegal orders say federal agents want to question them A group of Democrats accused by Donald Trump of “seditious behavior” have said that the US president is using the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) against them as a “tool to intimidate and harass members of Congress”. The four politicians, along with two others, had made a video encouragi…

Fire brigade warns public to keep ‘safe distance’ as 25 fire engines battle two-storey structure in Southall Fireworks may be stored inside a west London warehouse which was engulfed in flames on Tuesday, emergency services warned. About 150 firefighters and 25 fire engines were battling the fire in a two-storey structure consisting of a warehouse and retail space on Bridge Road in Southall, the …

Chancellor’s fiscal statement billed as decisive moment for fate of Starmer government as she tries to fill £20bn spending gap Rachel Reeves will promise to tackle Britain’s cost of living crisis and deliver fiscal stability in Wednesday’s budget, which is billed as a decisive moment for the fate of Keir Starmer’s beleaguered government. The chancellor will say she will do what is needed to shore…