The Guardian

Mixed picture for the big day with some capitals tipped for a hot, dry celebration while others will be cool or rainy Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Some parts of Australia are in for sunshine and heat this Christmas, while others are forecast to have cloudy skies, cool temperatures and some rain as Santa comes t…

Heavily armed officers in camouflage gear intercepted two cars with images showing suspects cable-tied on the side of the road Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Seven men detained in Sydney’s south-west in connection with possible planned violence allegedly adhered to a similar ideology to the Bondi gunmen and may have been trying to visit Bondi, New South Wales police …

Drone footage shows huge circle of swimmers and surfers in the ocean in latest outpouring of grief Victims of Bondi beach shooting Ten minutes of terror: how the Bondi mass shooting unfolded in real time – video Follow the latest live updates Hundreds of surfers and beach goers have returned to Bondi’s waters to pay tribute to those killed in Sunday’s mass shooting. Australia’s most famous beach …

Joe Kennedy III, JFK’s grandson, said he doubted the Trump-Kennedy Center name change was legal The board of the Kennedy Center in Washington DC is moving ahead with a proposal to rename the arts and culture-focused institution, named after President John F Kennedy, in honor of Donald Trump, according to an announcement from the White House on Thursday. If the White House move succeeds it would b…

President claims bonus the result of tariff revenue but stipend had already been approved in tax-and-spend bill When Donald Trump promised a one-time $1,776 payment for 1.45 million US military workers to mark the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence during a primetime TV address on Wednesday, he pointed to his favorite source of federal funding. “Because of tariffs”, the US presi…

Videos show people in Minnesota and Illinois throwing snowballs at federal agents trying to arrest residents ICE, meet snow. As federal agents aggressively raid and detain immigrants in cities across the US, people working to prevent these arrests are using the abundant snow on the ground to fight back. In videos of confrontations in Minnesota and Illinois, people have thrown snowballs at federal…

Essex force says report is outside time limit for prosecution, while Electoral Commission says it has not found any undeclared spending Nigel Farage has avoided investigation over claims his general election campaign breached electoral law last year – in part because too much time has passed since the alleged offences. The Reform UK leader was told on Thursday that Essex police could not open an …

Commons leader denies allegation and says government ‘not trying to break bodies’ after doctor said prisoners were dying The government is “not trying to break the bodies” of Palestine Action protesters on hunger strike, a minister has said, after a doctor said eight of the activists were dying. The prisoners on hunger strike are facing charges related to alleged break-ins or criminal damage on b…

Daniel Mookhey’s comment comes as governments consider new laws cracking down on hate speech. Follow today’s news live. Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast NSW treasurer Daniel Mookhey says the Palestinian resistance phrase “globalise the intifada” should be considered hate speech as governments consider tougher laws on what can be said in public. Mookhey was responding t…

Intelligence service says attacks were work of groups connected to Russian state in ‘clear evidence’ of hybrid war The Danish government has accused Russia of being behind two “destructive and disruptive” cyber-attacks in what it describes as “very clear evidence” of a hybrid war. The Danish Defence Intelligence Service (DDIS) announced on Thursday that Moscow was behind a cyber-attack on a Danis…

Napier barracks in Folkestone faced multiple problems, from far-right protests to damning ruling over safeguarding issues The UK’s first and most longstanding military barracks used to accommodate asylum seekers is closing its doors on Thursday after almost six years. The closure of the controversial Napier barracks in Folkestone comes at a time when the government has pledged to expand its use o…

Images, undated and uncaptioned, include Nabokov lines written on woman’s body and show Bill Gates and Noam Chomsky US politics – live updates What we know so far about the Epstein files Democrats on the House oversight committee have released a new batch of photos from the estate of the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein , as the deadline for the justice department to release its files relat…

Change will loosen limits on research and certain regulations but stop short of making marijuana legal Donald Trump on Thursday signed an executive order to move cannabis out of the most restrictive drug category, a change that would loosen limits on research and certain regulations but stop short of making marijuana legal nationwide. “I’m pleased to announce that I will be signing an Executive O…

Impossible to judge safety or effectiveness as adult clinics not systematically recording outcomes, Dr David Levy finds Doctors treating vulnerable patients with gender dysphoria have no way of assessing whether the NHS treatment provided has worked because outcomes are not systematically recorded, a damning official inquiry into the clinics has found. Waiting times for a first appointment at NHS…

Exclusive: Book to detail life from child poverty and teenage pregnancy to unions and Labour deputy leadership before fall from grace UK politics live – latest updates Angela Rayner is writing a memoir about her rise to become deputy prime minister and her subsequent fall from grace, the Guardian can confirm, in a move that will be seen as an attempt to set the narrative ahead of any leadership c…