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Financial markets don’t expect a cut until April but a fall in the Australian dollar on Monday suggests confidence one is on the cards Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastA shopping surge on Christmas and Boxing Day could help determine the timing of interest rate relief as the Reserve Bank of Australia watches for a recovery in weak economic...

Exhibition in Bristol, the city of her birth, celebrates Paule Vézelay whose ascent was stymied by sexism and warBritain’s “first” abstract artist, whose legacy has mostly been obscured because of a combination of sexism and the second world war, is to have her first major exhibition in more than 40 years.Paule Vézelay, born in Bristol in 1892, moved to Paris where she moved in...

In today’s newsletter: With rumours of the political party courting a game-changing investment, people are asking not only what they might do with the money, but what the tech titan might get in returnGood morning. I don’t know how long Elon Musk spent mulling over his rumoured suggestion that he might give $100m to Reform, but since it amounts to about 0.02% of his...

Peter Malinauskas calls situation ‘tricky’ but says state government will continue to monitor Sanjeev Gupta’s GFG Alliance and act where it canGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastThe South Australian premier says it would be a “national disaster” if Whyalla steelworks closed to leave Australia’s construction industry dependent on imports.“It simply cannot be allowed to happen,” Peter Malinauskas told reporters...

Most of Australia’s capital cities expected to see clear skies ahead of extreme fire danger on 26thGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastMost of Australia will wake up to a bright, sunny Christmas Day, but Victoria and South Australia are headed for extremely dangerous fire weather on Boxing Day.Melbourne has clear and sunny skies forecast for Wednesday, reaching 30C. But...

Resolution Foundation says higher prices and cold weather will hit poorer households hardestMillions of vulnerable UK households on prepayment meters could see their energy bills consume almost a third of their incomes this winter.As temperatures drop across the country, the Resolution Foundation said a combination of higher gas and electricity prices and the typical seasonal increase in energy usage over the colder months would...

Former members also say complaints were mishandled and are seeking apology from Methodist churchThe Methodist church in Birmingham has been accused of “silencing and cutting off” members of an LGBTQ+ congregation after the arrest of a member on suspicion of sexual assault. A man was arrested in November after a number of former members of the congregation at Inclusive Gathering Birmingham (IGB) alleged they...

Conditions to intensify in Victoria and South Australia, with temperatures forecast to climb towards 40C and strong wind gusts up to 100km/hGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastA statewide total fire ban in Victoria has been declared for 26 December as authorities prepare for hot, gusty, extreme conditions on Boxing Day.The declaration comes as a fire rips through the Grampians,...

Activists alarmed at emirati companies’ poor record on labour rights and fear projects may fail to address environmental concernsThe United Arab Emirates has become the largest backer of new business projects in Africa, raising hopes of a rush of much-needed money for green energy, but also concerns that the investments could compromise the rights of workers and environmental protections.Between 2019 and 2023, Emirati companies...

House report finds he made payments totalling tens of thousands of dollars to women for sex and drugs on at least 20 occasionsA House ethics committee report on Matt Gaetz, the former Florida Republican congressman, found “substantial evidence” that he paid for sex with a minor, among other serious violations of state law and congressional rules.The investigation concludes that Gaetz, Trump’s first pick for...

The new leader was chosen by secret ballot two weeks after the previous premier resigned abruptly amid a power struggle with the Pacific nation’s royal familyTonga’s government elected a new leader on Tuesday, two weeks after the previous premier resigned abruptly after a power struggle with the Pacific nation’s royal family.Veteran politician ’Aisake Valu Eke was voted prime minister by secret ballot in parliament,...

Frank-Walter Steinmeier seeks to convey message of healing four days after the brutal attack in Magdeburg killed five people and injured more than 200A deadly car-ramming attack on a Christmas market in Germany has cast a “dark shadow” over this year’s celebrations, the nation’s president said on Tuesday, as he urged people not to be driven apart by extremists.In his traditional Christmas address German...

Dfat confirms consular assistance for 38-year-old as PM warns Australians against ‘travelling to areas of conflict’Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastThe federal government has been urged to evacuate an Australian citizen who was seriously injured after stepping on a landmine while fighting for Ukraine on the country’s far eastern front.Friends of the 38-year-old foreign fighter, who is being treated...

Defence minister Israel Katz threatens Houthi rebels in Yemen, saying the military will ‘decapitate their leadership – just as we did with Haniyeh’Israel’s defence minister has confirmed that the IDF assassinated former Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran earlier this year, and warned that the military would also “decapitate” the leadership of Yemen’s Houthi rebels.“We will strike hard at the Houthis ... and...

Suspect identified as Sebastian Zapeta charged with murder and arson after watching victim set ablaze die, police saidA man who allegedly set a woman on fire inside a New York subway train and then watched her die is facing charges of murder and arson, police said Monday.The suspect, identified by police as Sebastian Zapeta, was taken into custody hours after the woman died on...

Three people fell into water but survived with ‘minor injuries’ as swell expected to bring waves as high as 26ftThree people fell into the water, but survived with only “minor injuries”, when a 150ft portion of the Santa Cruz wharf in Santa Cruz, California, collapsed on Monday and floated away, according to local officials and the National Weather Service (NWS).The collapse comes as the...

Centrist François Bayrou had promised a ‘national interest government’ across the middle political ground but ended up leaning to the conservative rightThe French prime minister has announced his new government – the country’s fourth since the beginning of the year – in the hope his administration can see off another vote of no confidence from a bitterly divided parliament.There is a mix of old...

Actor filed sexual harassment complaint against director amid allegation he launched smear campaign against herBlake Lively is picking up broad support in her battle against her It Ends With Us co-star and director Justin Baldoni, days after the US actor filed a sexual harassment and retaliation complaint against him on Friday in what was rapidly becoming the most dynamic #MeToo event of the dying...

Judge said state’s ban ‘clearly contrary’ to recently passed constitutional amendment but left other laws in placeMore than two months after Missouri residents voted to add abortion rights into their state constitution and overturn the state’s ban on the procedure, abortions have not yet resumed in Missouri – and it’s not clear when they will, according to a key Planned Parenthood official in the...

President Nayib Bukele pushed for the legislation that will grant government sole authority over mining activitiesEl Salvador’s legislature has overturned a seven-year-old ban on metals mining, a move that the country’s authoritarian president, Nayib Bukele, had pushed for to boost economic growth, but that environmental groups had opposed.El Salvador became the first country in the world to ban all forms of metals mining in...

Eruption was confined to volcano’s summit caldera, with torrents of red-hot lava and cloud-line plumes of gas visibleRed torrents of lava and billows of volcanic gas began erupting from Kilauea on Hawaii’s Big Island – one of the world’s most active volcanoes.The eruption was confined to the volcano’s summit caldera, in a remote, closed area of Hawaii Volcanoes national park, the Hawaii Volcano Observatory...

Opposition claimed ruling Frelimo party rigged 9 October vote, leading to months of civil unrestMozambique’s top court has confirmed the ruling party’s victory in October’s presidential elections, potentially triggering more protests after more than two months of unrest over allegations that the results were rigged.Daniel Chapo, of the ruling Frelimo party, won the 9 October presidential election with 65.2% of the vote, Lúcia Ribeiro,...

Riyadh warned Germany many times about danger posed by Taleb Jawad al-Abdulmohsen, source saysA source close to the Saudi government has told Agence France-Presse that Saudi authorities previously requested the extradition of the main suspect in Friday’s Christmas market attack in Germany, as multiple agencies admitted they had received warnings about him.Echoing reporting from over the weekend, the source said Saudi Arabia warned Germany...

Hasina fled to India after student-led protests that ended her 15 years in powerBangladesh has submitted a formal request to India to extradite its former prime minister Sheikh Hasina, who fled to New Delhi in August amid student-led protests that ended her 15 years in power, according to the country’s foreign affairs adviser.Ties between the south Asian neighbours, who have strong trade and cultural...