Top World News
‘Secret’ recording will be heard in court as Ben Roberts-Smith fights to overturn defamation loss
Phone call contains admission of a ‘serious nature’ by investigative journalist Nick McKenzie, according to decorated war veteran’s legal teamElection 2025 live updates: Australia federal election campaignGet our afternoon election email, free app or daily news podcastA “recording made in secret” has been ruled admissible in Ben Roberts-Smith’s bid to reopen his appeal for his unsuccessful defamation case against Nine newspapers – despite Nine’s lawyers arguing the audio should be treated with “great caution”.The recording is a key piece of evidence, according to the decorated war veteran’s legal team, who claimed the 85-second audio clip contained an admission by investigative journalist Nick McKenzie of a “serious nature”. Continue reading...
Iran Says 4th Round Of Indirect Talks With US Set For Rome
Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi has said that the fourth round of the Omani-mediated indirect nuclear talks between Iran and the US will be held in Rome on Saturday, media reported.
Trump Says Canada's Carney Wants To Make A Deal, Will Visit US Soon
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney is looking to make a trade deal and will visit the White House within the next week.
Matt Wrack plans to stay in post as teaching union’s general secretary
Wrack, whose appointment as NASUWT chief faced legal challenge, condemns ‘ludicrous’ efforts to undermine himThe head of a teaching union has said he plans to stay in post despite a “ludicrous” and “coordinated” attempt by political enemies to undermine his position.Matt Wrack, whose appointment as general secretary of the NASUWT led to a week of legal challenges and the reopening of nominations for the post, said he would stand in a new election as the nominee of the union’s executive.Dismissed claims he does not have enough experience to lead a teaching union, saying “neither do many secretaries of state or senior civil servants”.Reassured members that he would not merge the union with the National Education Union and denied claims that he was friends with the NEU’s general secretary.Said he had never downplayed antisemitism, as claimed by reports, saying: “I’m not a Zionist but I believe in a two-state solution.” Continue reading...
Author Barbara Pym may have worked for MI5, research suggests
New work says novelist, who was a censor during second world war, may been employed to look for coded messagesIt is an irony that she herself would have revelled in: Barbara Pym, the author who punctured the social strictures of 20th-century Britain, worked as a censor during the second world war.But research suggests that rather than just poring over the private letters that must have helped hone her talent, she may have also been working for MI5. Continue reading...
US and Ukraine sign minerals deal that solidifies investment in Kyiv’s defense against Russia
Move seals a deal to create a fund the Trump administration says will begin to repay roughly $175bn provided to UkraineThe US and Kyiv have signed an agreement to share profits and royalties from the future sale of Ukrainian minerals and rare earths, sealing a deal that Donald Trump has said will provide an economic incentive for the US to continue to invest in Ukraine’s defense and its reconstruction after he brokers a peace deal with Russia.The minerals deal, which has been the subject of tense negotiations for months and nearly fell through hours before it was signed, will establish a US-Ukraine Reconstruction Investment Fund that the Trump administration has said will begin to repay an estimated $175bn in aid provided to Ukraine since the beginning of the war. Continue reading...
Snake on a train line: Japan’s busiest bullet train route brought to a halt
Outage occurred between Maibara and Gifu-Hashima stations after the snake appeared to have climbed an electricity poleJapan’s busiest bullet train line was brought to a halt on Wednesday after a metre-long snake wrapped itself around a power line, shorting the electricity supply and stranding hundreds of passengers.Shinkansen trains running between Tokyo and Osaka were brought to a standstill by the snake, with news reports showing footage of people inside trains waiting for services to resume. Power did not appear to have been cut inside trains, with lights and air conditioning still functioning, according to passengers. Continue reading...
Israel facing ‘national emergency’ as it battles worst fires in a decade, says Netanyahu
Firefighters have rushed to control wildfires that have injured several people and prompted the military to deploy troops to helpThe Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has warned that rapidly spreading wildfires near Jerusalem could reach the city, as he declared the situation a “national emergency”.Thick smoke billowed above highways near Jerusalem on Wednesday as firefighters rushed to control wildfires that have injured several people and prompted the military to deploy troops to help. Continue reading...
Trump blames Biden after US economy shrinks, as Senate effort to block tariffs falls short – as it happened
This blog has now closed. Read our latest story hereDonald Trump promptly claimed this morning that the contraction in the US economy had nothing to do with his tariff wars, repeated his habitual claim that this is all somehow his predecessor Joe Biden’s fault, and predicted the economy would boom when tariffs kicked in. He wrote on his Truth Social platform:This is Biden’s Stock Market, not Trump’s. I didn’t take over until January 20th. Tariffs will soon start kicking in, and companies are starting to move into the USA in record numbers. Our Country will boom, but we have to get rid of the Biden “Overhang.” This will take a while, has NOTHING TO DO WITH TARIFFS, only that he left us with bad numbers, but when the boom begins, it will be like no other. BE PATIENT!!! Continue reading...
John Elway’s longtime business partner dies after golf cart incident
Former NFL star ‘absolutely devastated’ by death of Jeff Sperbeck, 62, who suffered injury at California golf resortJeff Sperbeck, a business partner and former agent for NFL Hall of Famer John Elway, died Wednesday after suffering an injury last weekend at a southern California golf resort community. He was 62.No cause of death was released, but the Riverside county coroner’s office said Sperbeck was injured on Saturday and the address listed for the incident belongs to the Madison Club in La Quinta. Continue reading...
North Korea and Russia begin building their first road link
North Korea and Russia have begun building their first road link, the two countries announced, hailing the construction of a bridge over a border river as a major development that will further expand their booming ties
Ukraine PM says US investment agreement ‘good, equal and beneficial’ – as it happened
This blog has now closed. You can find all our coverage of Ukraine hereIn Spain, harrowing stories have continued to emerge after much of the Iberian Peninsula was plunged into an hours-long blackout earlier this week.Jonathan Bernal, a window washer in Madrid, has detailed how he and a co-worker were cleaning the outside windows of a skyscraper when the power went out. For four hours they ended up stranded on hanging scaffolding, some 240 metres above the city. Continue reading...
