Just a few short weeks ago, Nigel Farage’s Reform party was riding high. It was consistently polling above Kemi Badenoch’s Conservative party and in some surveys had even edged ahead of the Labour government. Donors who had previously handed over large amounts to the Tories were switching sides, while Farage was relishing having the ear … Read more
When he rose to his feet at prime minister’s questions on Wednesday, Keir Starmer delivered a stirring tribute to six British soldiers who lost their lives in Afghanistan 13 years ago. He read out their names very deliberately, one by one. The House was silent. The prime minister then added a tribute to a 22-year-old … Read more
Local officials from Russia’s ruling party have caused controversy by presenting mothers of soldiers killed in Ukraine with gifts of meat grinders, an appliance widely used to describe Russia’s brutal tactics on the frontline. The United Russia party in the northern Murmansk region posted photos on social media showing officials smiling as they visited bereaved … Read more
Twelve soldiers remain in hospital – two in a serious condition – after two army trucks carrying troops rolled on a country road near Lismore on Saturday evening as ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred lashed the northern New South Wales coast and southern Queensland. Thirty-two defence personnel were involved in the crash – members of the 2nd … Read more
South Korea’s impeached conservative president, Yoon Suk Yeol, has been released from prison, a day after a Seoul court cancelled his arrest to allow him to stand trial for insurrection without being detained. After walking out of a detention centre near Seoul on Saturday, Yoon waved, clenched his fists and bowed deeply to his supporters … Read more
The Northern Territory’s police commissioner has been given his marching orders after a jobs-for-mates scandal uncovered by a corruption watchdog. Michael Murphy outed himself as the subject of an Independent Commissioner Against Corruption investigation that found improper and unsatisfactory conduct against an unnamed public official who had mismanaged a conflict of interest in the recruitment … Read more
More than 1,000 people, including 745 civilians, were killed in the two days of clashes between Syrian security forces and fighters loyal to the former Assad regime and ensuing revenge killings, a war monitor has said, one of the highest death tolls in Syria since 2011. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based monitor, … Read more
Swathes of south-east Queensland and northern New South Wales were on alert for flash flooding and damaging winds as more than 330,000 buildings were without power on Sunday morning due to ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred. After the downgraded cyclone made landfall just north of Brisbane overnight as a tropical low, the Bureau of Meteorology was still … Read more
The country’s pre-eminent federal fire training academy canceled classes, effective immediately, on Saturday amid the ongoing flurry of funding freezes and staffing cuts by Donald Trump’s administration. The Federal Emergency Management Agency announced that National Fire Academy (NFA) courses had been canceled amid a “process of evaluating agency programs and spending to ensure alignment with … Read more
Quick-moving brush fires burned through a large swath of land on New York’s Long Island on Saturday, fanned by high winds that spewed thick grey smoke into the sky and prompted the evacuation of a military base and the closure of a major highway. Kathy Hochul, the state governor, declared a state of emergency and … Read more