Senate backs Donald Trump in Venezuela resolution as Vance casts tie-breaking vote – live
Senate Republicans defeat war powers resolution that would have prevented president from taking further military action in Venezuela without notifying CongressUS Senate kills resolution that would have limited Trump action in VenezuelaDonald Trump repeated his threat to withhold federal funding to sanctuary cities on Truth Social today.“ALL THEY DO IS BREED CRIME AND VIOLENCE! If States want them, they will have to pay for them!,” the president wrote in a post. Continue reading...
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Australia news live: Jewish peak body urges Ley to rethink hate laws stance, saying failure to pass them would be a ‘retrograde step’
Follow updates liveStunned Albanese says Coalition ‘playing politics’ as Ley calls hate speech reforms ‘pretty unsalvageable’Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastIranian Australians left distraught with no confirmation their family is safeAlmost a week into Iran’s communication blackout, Iranian Australian activist Mohammad Hashemi received a call from his home country.When I heard the stories, what happened to people, I was crying about the situation and what’s going on in our country.We continue to advise do not travel to Iran. If you choose to remain in Iran, you’re responsible for your own safety. Be prepared to shelter in place for an extended period. Make sure you have supplies of water, food and medication. Continue reading...
Iran closes airspace to all flights as foreign minister denies it plans to execute protesters – live
US president says ‘important sources’ also told him executions not going ahead as Iran extends order closing its airspace to commercial flightsUS and UK military to withdraw some personnel from Middle East amid Iranian threatsAnalysis: why western diplomats are wary of predicting end days for Iran’s regimeMassacres and executions: what are we hearing from inside Iran? – podcastFor the first time in days, Iranians were able to make calls abroad from their mobiles on Tuesday, according to reporting by Associated Press. Texting services have not been restored, however, and nor has the internet.Although Iranians were able to call abroad, they could not receive calls from outside the country, several people in the capital told Associated Press. The internet remained blocked, they said, though it is possible to access some government-approved websites. Cloudfare - an internet infrastructure provider, and one of several companies and monitors tracking the status of internet traffic in Iran – said traffic volumes have remained “at a fraction of a percent of previous levels”. Its latest update as of 01:00 UTC (which is about three hours and 30 minutes ago), shows a continued widespread blackout. Iran has been under an internet shutdown since Thursday night. Brief windows of connectivity were observed on Friday, but these did not last, according to Cloudfare.Netblocks, an independent global internet monitor, also notes that while some phone calls from Iran are connecting, there is “no secure way to communicate” and the general public remain cut off from the outside world. Continue reading...
Zelensky declares state of emergency in Ukraine's energy sector
Thousands of Ukrainians are without power in temperatures well below freezing, due to ongoing Russian airstrikes.
Canada’s Mark Carney seeks reset on pivotal trip to China
Canadian leader's visit comes after nearly a decade of strained ties between Ottawa and Beijing.
Adelaide festival apologises to Randa Abdel-Fattah and invites her to participate in 2027 writers’ week
Apology comes as former Adelaide festival board member accuses Louise Adler of hypocrisy after she resigned citing free speech concernsFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastThe new Adelaide Festival board has issued a public apology to Palestinian-Australian academic Randa Abdel-Fattah, and has promised she will be invited to Adelaide Writers’ Week in 2027.Abdel-Fattah immediately accepted the apology, posting on Instagram that it was a vindication “of our collective solidarity and mobilisation against anti-Palestinian racism, bullying and censorship”. Continue reading...
British Columbia Ends Program That Aimed to Curb Arrests of Drug Users
The three-year pilot program did not deliver the results hoped for, the health minister said. It had allowed drug users to avoid criminal charges for possessing small amounts of illegal substances.
Musk’s X to block Grok AI tool from creating sexualized images of real people
Amid global backlash, billionaire had only hours earlier said he was not aware of any ‘naked underage images’Elon Musk’s xAI has announced it will block the ability of its Grok AI tool to alter images of real people to put them in “revealing clothing such as bikinis”, amid a global backlash over the tool being used to generate explicit imagery.The move came just hours after the billionaire said he was was not aware of any “naked underage images” made by Grok. Continue reading...
US Senate defeats war powers resolution designed to rein in Trump
Only three Republicans joined with Democrats to vote in favour of the resolution, resulting in a tie broken by JD Vance.
Stunned Albanese says Coalition ‘playing politics’ as Ley calls hate speech reforms ‘pretty unsalvageable’
Opposition leader says government took ‘a month to deliver this bad bill’ as Labor criticises Liberal ‘hypocrisy’ on proposed hate lawsFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastThe opposition leader, Sussan Ley, has said the Albanese government’s proposed hate speech and anti-vilification legislation appears “pretty unsalvageable” and rejected suggestions of hypocrisy by the Coalition after weeks of calls for new laws to tackle antisemitism.After demanding parliament be immediately recalled in the wake of the Bondi beach terror attacks on 14 December, Ley on Thursday morning flagged the Coalition would oppose new laws introduced to parliament next week, including provisions for a new national gun buyback scheme. Continue reading...