- Explosion forces crew to abandon Hong Kong-flagged container ship in the Red Sea The Associated Press
- Crew of Hong Kong flagged ship rescued after explosion sparks fire off Yemeni coast The Jerusalem Post
- Containership Ablaze and Drifting in Red Sea After Crew Abandons Ship The Maritime Executive
- News Crew abandons Chinese feeder vessel on fire in the Red Sea theloadstar.com
- Explosion Forces Crew to Abandon Ship With 'Dangerous' Cargo Newsweek
Trump signs order to defund gender transitions for LGBTQ youth
LGBTG rights group GLADD says Trump's rhetoric is 'appallingly inaccurate, incoherent, and extreme.'
Australia’s underlying inflation rate falls to 3.2% to bolster case for RBA rate cut next month
Consumer price index dropped to 2.4% in December quarter, according to ABS figures released on Wednesday
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Australia’s underlying inflation rate has fallen to a three-year low of 3.2%, bolstering the case for a rate cut next month that would provide a dopamine hit to the government ahead of a cost-of-living election.
The Reserve Bank of Australia’s preferred inflation gauge, which strips out volatile price swings, fell to an annual 3.2% for the December quarter, down from 3.5%.
Continue reading...As a Rising Political Star, Gabbard Paid to Mask Her Sect’s Ties to Alleged Scheme – The Wall Street Journal
As a Rising Political Star, Gabbard Paid to Mask Her Sect’s Ties to Alleged Scheme The Wall Street Journal
Trump offers US federal workers buyouts to resign
Government employees’ union says offer pressures career workers to quit and will cause chaos in federal programs
The Trump administration has offered federal workers buyouts worth more than seven months’ salary if they would leave their jobs by 6 February as the White House attempts to slash the civil service in an unprecedented overhaul of US government.
The office of personnel management, the government’s human resources agency, sent a memo to the federal workforce on Tuesday evening with four directives that it says Trump is mandating, including a full-time return to the office for most employees. It also said that the federal workforce would be subjected to “enhanced standards of suitability and conduct” and warned that most agencies would be downsized.
Continue reading...Queensland social media influencer accused of torturing one-year-old for money and fame granted bail
Magistrate allows release of 34-year-old charged with 11 offences related to treatment of her baby daughter
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A social media influencer who allegedly gave her baby multiple drugs to film her in “immense distress” in a plan to gain fame and money online has been granted bail by a Queensland magistrate.
On Wednesday morning, magistrate Stephen Courtney accepted the arguments of lawyer Mathew Cuskelly that any risk his 34-year-old client, who cannot be named for legal reasons, posed to her now 18-month-old daughter could be ameliorated by strict conditions.
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Continue reading...Ukraine war briefing: Putin refuses direct talks with Zelenskyy – The Guardian
- Ukraine war briefing: Putin refuses direct talks with Zelenskyy The Guardian
- Ukraine-Russia war latest: Putin rejects talks with Zelensky as North Korean cannon deployed The Independent
- Putin says Russia is 'open' to peace talks, shifting blame to Ukraine Euronews
- Ukraine war latest: Putin claims Zelensky doesn't have a right to sign any potential peace deal Kyiv Independent
- Ukraine War Would End In 'Two Months Or Less' Without Western Interference, Says Putin News18
US judge temporarily blocks Trump’s freeze on federal grants and loans
The order is in response to a lawsuit that says the freezing of billions of dollars in already approved funding violates the law.
US judge temporarily blocks Trump’s freeze on federal grants and loans
The order is in response to a lawsuit that says the freezing of billions of dollars in already approved funding violates the law.
New Details Reveal the Extent of the Damage Caused to russia’s Drone Storage in Oryol Region – Defense Express
- New Details Reveal the Extent of the Damage Caused to russia’s Drone Storage in Oryol Region Defense Express
- Ukrainian drones and missiles target Putin’s war machine inside Russia Atlantic Council
- Ukraine claims strike on Russian oil refinery in huge drone attack BBC.com
- Russia's Ryazan oil refinery suspends operations after drone strike, Reuters reports Kyiv Independent
- Russia claims nuclear plant targeted during massive Ukrainian drone attack Al Jazeera English
Who is celebrating the Chinese Lunar New Year of the Snake and how?
Several countries mark their new year based on the Chinese lunisolar calendar involving movement of the Sun and Moon.
India hopes Mahakumbh will bring in investors, but economists are sceptical – Al Jazeera English
India hopes Mahakumbh will bring in investors, but economists are sceptical
Uttar Pradesh state has pumped in millions for the 45-day festival, which is largest gathering of Hindus every 12 years.
Origin Energy fined $1.6m after sharing private details of family violence victims
Company apologises over disclosure of information and collection of debts from vulnerable people
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Human error has been blamed after a major energy retailer shared family violence victims’ private details without their consent and for chasing other survivors for unpaid power bills.
Origin Energy has coughed up $1.6m after it was served penalty notices by Victoria’s Essential Services Commission for breaching rules designed to protect the vulnerable cohort.
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Continue reading...California officials deny Trump’s claim that US military ‘turned on the water’ in state
State water officials say military ‘did not enter California’ and ‘federal government restarted federal water pumps’
California water officials said this week there’s no truth to Donald Trump’s assertion that the US military has entered California and “turned on the water”.
Trump’s comments, made on Monday on his social media platform Truth Social, are the latest in a series of remarks he’s made and actions he’s taken related to the state’s water policy following devastating wildfires that ripped through the Los Angeles area this month. He’s often offering an incomplete or incorrect assessment of the state’s water policies or tying together unrelated issues.
Continue reading...How Trump tariffs could upend car markets in Europe, the US and China
Levies threaten exporters to US market, while scrapping of subsidies will hit EV sales – and Tesla could gain
The internal combustion engine appears to hold a special place in Donald Trump’s psyche. During his inauguration speech last week, he made a “sacred pledge” to raise US car production to “a rate that nobody could have dreamt possible just a few years ago”.
Car making and the oil industry – not AI, computer chips, or even cryptocurrencies – were the only two industries the new US president highlighted as he promised to make America a “manufacturing nation once again”.
Continue reading...Special counsel prosecutors were fired on instructions of White House
Press secretary Karoline Leavitt says late-night dismissals came after White House’s personnel office issued memo
The justice department fired more than a dozen federal prosecutors involved in the two criminal prosecutions against Donald Trump after receiving instructions to do so from the White House, indicating the late-night purge was a political directive that deputized the justice department.
The termination of the career prosecutors were ostensibly at the direction of the acting attorney general, James McHenry, according to the notices sent to anyone remaining on the trial team of 18 who had worked for former special counsel Jack Smith.
Continue reading...US Senate blocks bill sanctioning ICC over Israeli arrest warrants
UN experts have warned that US sanctions over Benjamin Netanyahu's arrest warrant would erode international order.
Fighting between DRC army and M23 rebels rages in eastern city of Goma
At least 100 people killed and 1,000 wounded in three days of heavy fighting in North Kivu
Dead bodies lay on the streets and explosions and gunfire echoed across the largest city in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) on Tuesday, as fighting continued to rage between the army and Rwanda-backed M23 rebels.
Residents reported continuing gun and mortar fire in Goma, the capital of North Kivu province and a regional humanitarian hub for displaced people, after M23 fighters entered the city on Sunday.
Continue reading...Caroline Kennedy sends letter to US senators calling RFK Jr a ‘predator’
The former ambassador denounces Trump's cabinet nominee as preying 'on the desperation of parents of sick children'.