Top World News

Nov 25, 2025 - World

Treasurer says the direction for government departments to find savings of 5% is ‘all about reprioritising’. Follow latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastThe treasurer, Jim Chalmers, who’s doing the media rounds this morning, is next to defend the “savings” the departments have to come up with.On the Today show, he is asked: is the government being hypocritical here, considering the criticism they hurled at the Coalition for their proposed public servant cuts during the election?What the Coalition was proposing was to cut tens of thousands of jobs. What we are proposing or what we’re asking departments to suggest is ways to reprioritise their lower priority spending so that we can invest it in higher priority areas.There’s absolutely areas in the public service where we do need to think about making sure that we’re spending taxpayers money wisely.[There’s a] trillion dollars worth of debt, $50,000 in interest repayments every single minute of every single day because they refuse to make the tough decisions and now you’ve got Christmas job cuts on the table that they’re saying won’t be cuts. Continue reading...

Nov 25, 2025 - World

Steve Witkoff told Yuri Ushakov in October phone call that peace would require Russia gaining control of Donetsk Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff told a senior Kremlin official last month that achieving peace in Ukraine would require Russia gaining control of Donetsk and potentially a separate territorial exchange, according to a recording of their conversation obtained by Bloomberg.In the 14 October phone call with Yuri Ushakov, the top foreign policy aide to Russian president Vladimir Putin, Witkoff said he believed the land concessions were necessary all while advising Ushakov to congratulate Trump and frame discussions more optimistically. Continue reading...

Nov 25, 2025 - World

Ralph Abraham appointed deputy director as RFK Jr continues to reshape US federal health leadershipRalph Abraham, a top Louisiana health official who stopped promoting mass vaccination policies and once described Covid-19 vaccines as “dangerous”, has been appointed deputy director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), it was revealed on Tuesday.The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has not formally announced Abraham’s appointment, but the center’s internal database now lists Abraham as the federal agency’s principal deputy director, effective this week. Abraham’s appointment was confirmed to the Washington Post by an HHS spokesperson. Continue reading...

Nov 25, 2025 - World

Exclusive: Dulwich college contemporaries ‘rubbish’ Reform UK leader’s suggestion alleged racist taunts not intended to hurtDon’t believe Nigel Farage’s denials. He targeted me for being Jewish – and it hurt | Peter EttedguiThree more school contemporaries who claim to have witnessed Nigel Farage’s alleged teenage racism have rejected the Reform UK leader’s suggestion that it was “banter”, describing it as targeted, persistent and nasty.One former pupil, Stefan Benarroch, claimed that people emerging from a Jewish assembly at Dulwich college had been in the sights of Farage and others for taunts while a second, Cyrus Oshidar, described as “rubbish” the claim that the Reform leader did not act with intent to hurt. Continue reading...

Nov 25, 2025 - World

Lawmakers who urged military personnel to refuse illegal orders say federal agents want to question themA group of Democrats accused by Donald Trump of “seditious behavior” have said that the US president is using the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) against them as a “tool to intimidate and harass members of Congress”.The four politicians, along with two others, had made a video encouraging US military service members to resist unlawful orders – a message that angered Trump, who posted on social media that the group were “traitors” and thus could be jailed or even face the death penalty. Continue reading...