Australia news live: Jacinta Allan takes aim at Greens after Myer Christmas event cancelled; Pocock says electoral reform bill a ‘stitch-up’

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Victorian premier says she is ‘furious’ Myer has cancelled an event marking the opening of its Christmas windows amid a planned pro-Palestine protest. Follow today’s news live

Watt says issue of reconciliation not closed in Australia despite voice referendum

Wrapping up the interview, Murray Watt was also asked about the haka performed in New Zealand parliament yesterday over a controversial bill that proposes to radically alter the way New Zealand’s treaty between Māori and the crown is interpreted.

I think there are many Australians who care very deeply about the rights of our First Peoples. Of course, Australians had their say on the voice to parliament in the recent referendum but I don’t think that means the issue of reconciliation is closed in Australia. That is something that our government remains committed to working on with our First Peoples and I think a lot of Australians support that as well.

I probably won’t comment on what’s happening in New Zealand because it’s their own affairs, but it shows these issues still really matter to people.

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Atlanta’s Fulton county jail is a ‘death sentence’, say federal investigators

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Report shows conditions of state’s largest local jail, noting prisoners tunnel through walls and violence is unchecked

Conditions in the Fulton county jail in Atlanta “violate the constitutional and statutory rights of people incarcerated”, a long-running federal investigation concluded today.

“Killings, stabbings, and assaults are common in the Jail,” according to a Department of Justice report released today. Contraband is pervasive, lethal violence goes uninvestigated – and is sometimes directly abetted by jail staff – and drug use is common, according to investigators in a 91-page report released today.

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Musk asks ‘high-IQ revolutionaries’ to work for no pay on new Trump project

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World’s richest man solicits applications for ‘tedious work’ in newly formed Department of Government Efficiency

Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy are asking Americans who are “high-IQ small-government revolutionaries” and willing to work over 80 hours a week to join their new Department of Government Efficiency – at zero pay.

In a new X post on Thursday that doubled as a job announcement and another one of Musk’s trolling attempts, the account for the newly formed Doge wrote: “We don’t need more part-time idea generators. We need super high-IQ small-government revolutionaries willing to work 80+ hours per week on unglamorous cost-cutting.”

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Fears mount over Trump’s second term amid flurry of shock selections

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Dismay as president-elect picks Matt Gaetz as attorney general and Tulsi Gabbard and Pete Hegseth for key roles

Fears that Donald Trump’s second presidency will be more extreme than his first have intensified amid a flurry of senior nominations that opponents have criticised as going from bad to worse.

Dismay over some of the president-elect’s early picks escalated to outrage after the far-right Florida congressman Matt Gaetz was unveiled as his selection to be attorney general – a position Trump has previously said he views as the most important in his administration.

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Fans clash at football match between France and Israel

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Skirmish quickly quashed by security guards at stadium as riot police is deployed at ‘high-risk’ game

A skirmish involving Israel fans broke out in the stands of the Stade de France during a tense match between Israel and France’s men’s football teams, but a heavy police presence ensured a repeat of the serious violence in Amsterdam was avoided.

The game had been designated as “high risk” after the hooliganism and antisemitism witnessed in the Netherlands before and after a Europa League match between Ajax and Maccabi Tel Aviv last week.

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Trump announces RFK Jr as his pick to lead US health department

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A scion of Democratic dynasty, RFK Jr is known for embrace of anti-vaccine beliefs and other conspiracy theories

Donald Trump announced on Thursday he will nominate former independent presidential candidate Robert F Kennedy Jr as the US secretary of health and human services (HHS) in his administration.

Kennedy, an anti-vaccine activist, will be a contentious pick to lead the US health department, and the role will need to be confirmed by the Senate.

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NSO – not government clients – operates its spyware, legal documents reveal

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Details of emerge in sworn depositions by employees of Israeli company as part of lawsuit brought by WhatsApp

Legal documents released in ongoing US litigation between NSO Group and WhatsApp have revealed for the first time that the Israeli cyberweapons maker – and not its government customers – is the party that “installs and extracts” information from mobile phones targeted by the company’s hacking software.

The new details were contained in sworn depositions from NSO Group employees, portions of which were published for the first time on Thursday.

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Argentina’s president considers exiting Paris agreement with Trump – The Washington Post

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  1. Argentina’s president considers exiting Paris agreement with Trump  The Washington Post
  2. Argentina withdraws delegates from climate summit as Milei heads for Mar-a-Lago  CNN
  3. Argentina stokes concerns it could quit Paris climate accord  Financial Times
  4. COP29 climate talks urged to find $1 trillion a year for poorer countries  Reuters
  5. Azerbaijan leader accuses France of colonial ‘crimes’ in COP29 speech  Al Jazeera English
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Stop ‘draconian’ mass deportations of Haitians fleeing gangs, activists say

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Tens of thousands deported from Caribbean states, as Dominican Republic pledges to return 10,000 people a week

Activists have called on Caribbean governments to halt the mass deportation of Haitians fleeing escalating gang violence that has claimed thousands of lives and displaced hundreds of thousands of people.

In the past month, tens of thousands of people have been deported to Haiti, including 61,000 from the neighbouring Dominican Republic, whose president recently pledged to deport 10,000 migrants a week.

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Gary Oldman to read CBeebies bedtime story for Children in Need

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Actor ‘honoured’ to recite story and hopes it ‘brings warmth and encouragement’ to children and families

The British actor and Hollywood star Gary Oldman has said he is “very honoured” to read a special CBeebies bedtime story for Children in Need.

The 66-year-old Oscar and three-time Bafta winner will recite the story during Friday night’s 2024 edition of the charity fundraising show. The story of “warmth and encouragement and hope” has been written specifically for Children in Need by Claire Taylor and is based on a true story, with illustrations from Tim Budgen.

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Investment firm London Capital & Finance was Ponzi scheme, court rules

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Judge Robert Miles says former chief Michael Thomson and four others knowingly participated in fraud

Investment firm London Capital & Finance (LCF), whose failure in 2019 triggered one of Britain’s biggest retail investment scandals, operated as a Ponzi scheme, a London judge ruled on Thursday.

The high court said former chief executive Michael Thomson and four others had knowingly participated in the fraud, misled investors and misappropriated assets in a ruling welcomed by LCF’s joint administrators, which brought the case.

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Girl who died after leaving police vehicle on M5 named as Tamzin Hall

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Police say family of 17-year-old have asked for privacy after she was fatally struck by car on motorway in Somerset

A teenage girl who fled a stationary police vehicle on the M5 and was fatally struck by a car has been named as Tamzin Hall.

The 17-year-old from Wellington, Somerset, died after being struck by a vehicle travelling southbound on the motorway between Bridgwater and Taunton shortly after 11pm on Monday.

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China opens huge port in Peru to extend its reach in Latin America – The Washington Post

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  1. China opens huge port in Peru to extend its reach in Latin America  The Washington Post
  2. China's Xi arrives in Lima for APEC, to open Pacific megaport  Reuters
  3. China’s president will unveil a megaport in Peru, but locals say they’re being left out  The Associated Press
  4. South America’s ‘made in China’ megaport prepares to transform trade  Financial Times
  5. US downplays impact as China, Peru set to update trade pact, open mega port  VOA Asia
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Elizabeth Warren denounces Biden administration over Gaza humanitarian situation

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Massachusetts senator now joins Bernie Sanders in endorsing joint resolution of disapproval against Joe Biden

Elizabeth Warren, a leading progressive voice in the US Senate, has denounced the Biden administration’s failure to punish Israel over the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza and endorsed a joint resolution of disapproval in Congress.

The amount of aid reaching the territory has dropped to the lowest level in 11 months, official Israeli figures show. The White House last month gave Israel an ultimatum of 30 days to improve conditions or risk losing military support. As the deadline expired on Tuesday, international aid groups said Israel had fallen far short.

But the US state department announced it would not take any punitive action, insisting that Israel was making limited progress and was not blocking aid and therefore not violating US law. Warren condemned the Biden administration’s decision to continue supplying arms to its ally.

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Fifteen killed in Israeli strikes on Damascus, Syrian state media say – CNN

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  1. Fifteen killed in Israeli strikes on Damascus, Syrian state media say  CNN
  2. Israel Bombs Targets in Syria, and Keeps Up Strikes in Lebanon  The New York Times
  3. Middle East crisis live: Israeli strike kills six in southern Lebanon, health ministry says  The Guardian
  4. 2 Israeli airstrikes hit Syria’s capital and a suburb, killing 15 people, Syrian state media says  The Associated Press
  5. Hagari: IDF will not permit weapons trafficking to Hezbollah from Syria  The Jerusalem Post
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UK charity declares ‘refugee homelessness emergency’ as numbers hit record high

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Naccom report says gaps in state support have led to more than 1,940 refugees having no accommodation

Homelessness among refugees has doubled in the last year to reach record levels as charities hand out tents and sleeping bags to those forced to live on the streets for the first time, according to research.

The No Accommodation Network (Naccom), an umbrella organisation for 140 frontline organisations working with asylum seekers, refugees and other migrants across the UK, has collated the data and shared it with the Guardian.

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