The Guardian

Former 2GB and 2UE radio host has denied 22 indecent assault and sexual touching charges A friend of Alan Jones who has denied witnessing an alleged assault in a Mosman restaurant has agreed in court that he sent the broadcaster a text message saying “if you need me to refute any lies, I of course will”. Under cross-examination by prosecutor Georgina Wright, the witness agreed he was a loyal and …

Draft legislation enforces digital duty of care including limiting children’s exposure to misogynistic and eating disorder content Australia will allow social media account holders to opt out of the powerful algorithms pushing dangerous and divisive content into users’ feeds, part of new laws designed to boost online safety. Users over 16 years of age will be given new tools to turn off algorithm…

US-Israel war on Iran and political instability in Somalia lead to pirates targeting cargo ships off Horn of Africa The scourge of Somali piracy targeting cargo ships and smaller dhows off the Horn of Africa has returned to levels not seen in a decade, driven by a convergence of factors including disruptions to the shipping industry caused by the US-Israeli war against Iran and a resurgence of po…

Nearly half of respondents say spending on personal independence payments should be increased There is little appetite for cuts to disability benefits even among Conservative and Reform voters, and proposals to reduce spending could prove politically risky, according to an authoritative national survey. The British Social Attitudes (BSA) report found that while support for welfare spending as a w…

Mount Isa city council to auction off first of 24 homes after Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Corporation for Welfare Services accrues almost $1m in unpaid debts Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast A rural Queensland council is auctioning off 24 homes to recover unpaid rates, potentially forcing First Nations fa…

Jim Chalmers says One Nation’s superannuation policy is ‘an absolute shambles’ Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Barnaby Joyce, One Nation’s Treasury spokesperson, says his party has not modelled the potential impact on retirement incomes and inflation from his party’s plan to give millions of households early acces…

Foreign minister Shisir Khanal tells the Guardian the world’s biggest economies need to help Nepal, which contributes less than 0.1% of global greenhouse gas emissions Nepal is demanding $20m in climate compensation for the recent devastating floods, as a senior minister called on the world’s most polluting countries to “wake up” and accept shared responsibility for a disaster that led to the dea…

Counter-measures covering several sectors come after Trump announced 50% tariffs on Canadian goods Canada is set to impose retaliatory tariffs on billions of dollars’ worth of American imports early on Tuesday, escalating a trade fight with its largest trading partner as tensions between US president Donald Trump and Canadian prime minister Mark Carney intensify. The tariffs, which take effect at…

Corie Walsh charged with murder after two-year-old Barrett found dead in basement of Illinois family home last week An Illinois woman charged with killing her two-year-old son had been closely following the murder trial of Massachusetts mother Lindsay Clancy and was texting friends about the case just hours before her son was found dead, prosecutors said. Corie Walsh, 40, was charged with three c…

OS index examines which ‘urban heat islands’ suffer the most – and which cope the best with rising temperatures Portsmouth, Leicester, Exeter, Bristol and Nottingham will be among the cities that warm the most by the end of this century as global heating turns British cities into urban heat islands, according to research. Analysis from Ordnance Survey (OS) has created a heat vulnerability index f…

Follow the day’s news live Former prime minister, John Howard , has warned political parties against banning migration from certain countries as the debate over Australia’s immigration settings continues . The 87-year-old was in Canberra last night for an hour-long chat with Australian National University national security professor, Rory Medcalf , ahead of the 25th anniversary of the September 1…

Leon Panetta tells Guardian US is risking ‘forever war’ and says Pentagon ‘turmoil’ sending message of weakness Donald Trump’s war with Iran is likely to drag on for another six months, Leon Panetta, the former US defense secretary, has warned, as the US president struggles to find his way out of the controversial conflict. Panetta declared in an interview that the war with Iran – launched by Tru…

New York City mayor confirms he will attend memorial service but declines to respond to Giuliani’s remarks New York mayor Zohran Mamdani is set to come face-to-face with Rudy Giuliani at the main September 11 memorial service, just days after the former mayor – who led the city at the time of the 2001 terrorist attacks – disparaged his Muslim religion and said he should skip the ceremony. In an i…

Minister condemns groups behind Hampshire disorder and says officers were injured as they repelled ‘aggression’ Batons and synthetic pepper spray were used to repel hundreds of masked, black-clad vigilantes in Portsmouth on Sunday, it has emerged, as the policing minister said officers had been injured as they repelled organised “aggression”. After police contained the weekend’s second disruptive…

Ed Miliband to reassert support for Palestinian rights and a two-state solution in move likely to draw fierce criticism from US and Israel Ed Miliband will announce what he has described as a broad reset of the UK’s relations with Israel on Tuesday, promising the government will take a more active approach in supporting the Palestinian cause. In an intervention that is expected to draw fierce cri…