5+ hour, 2+ min ago (990+ words) Ultimatums sent to publications appear to intensify as Nigel Farage's party rises in polls "It was Trumpian," said Mark Mansfield, editor and CEO of Nation.Cymru, a small English-language Welsh news service. "It has perhaps given us a flavour of how a Reform UK government would behave towards the media." Mansfield is referring to what he described as an attempt by a figure at Nigel Farage's Reform UK party to "bully" his publication, but he believes a wider lesson might be learned. On 12 November, Nation.Cymru published an article when Reform's only Welsh parliament member, Laura Anne Jones, was banned from the Senedd chamber for 14 days after using a racial slur to describe Chinese people. The news website named Ed Sumner, now head of communications at Reform, as being one of the recipients of the offensive WhatsApp messages while working…...

16+ hour, 2+ min ago (131+ words) New figures released over the weekend show the cost of the Bureau of Meteorology's website redesign has ballooned to $96.5m.Technology reporter Josh Taylor tells Nour Haydar how this happened, how it compares with other website redesigns and why the environment minister is asking for an explanationRead more:BoM asked to explain "what happened here' after cost of website redesign revealed to be $96.5m Continue reading... New figures released over the weekend show the cost of the Bureau of Meteorology's website redesign has ballooned to $96.5m. Technology reporter Josh Taylor tells Nour Haydar how this happened, how it compares with other website redesigns and why the environment minister is asking for an explanation BoM asked to explain "what happened here' after cost of website redesign revealed to be $96.5m...

15+ hour, 3+ min ago (738+ words) Morning everyone. Ed Husic, sacked from Labor's ministerial team, continues to make the most of his freedom to speak his mind with a stinging attack on "profiteering" by gas companies and a plea for Australia to set its own prices for "our gas". Elsewhere, Australian households are being squeezed by higher interest rates, Ukraine has won significant amendments to the Russia-US peace plan, and a court in Italy has ruled that three children being raised off-grid by their Australian mother should be taken into care. Plus: can intercity bus travel become cool again? Mortgage squeeze | The average Australian household is spending nearly twice as much of their income on servicing their mortgage than they did five years ago, according to a new report. The average increase is 45%, and in Sydney it takes 68% of income to keep up with a mortgage....

10+ hour, 15+ min ago (1257+ words) Chair Samir Shah is a picture of misery before MPs while Robbie Gibb proves the master of deflection This was the BBC in its happiest of happy places. Sure the Beeb likes to do the news, but there is nothing it likes more than reporting on itself. The holy grail of its output. There are whole departments within the Beeb dedicated to making TV and radio programmes about other BBC TV and radio programmes.There can be no other organisation that subjects itself to quite so much self-analysis. Only a psychotherapist would be able to fully determine whether it is solipsism or self-hatred. Maybe both. So much so that it goes out of its way to recruit people whose sole job is to criticise it. Some who are even ideologically opposed to it. Would not be that bothered if it…...

6+ hour, 1+ min ago (431+ words) DWP to reassess hundreds of thousands of cases in carer's allowance scandal "It's like the Post Office scandal': victims of carer's allowance crisis speak out Ministers have announced a major review of the penalties imposed on hundreds of thousands of unpaid carers after a damning independent investigation of the carer's allowance scandal. The inquiry by Liz Sayce was launched after the Guardian revealed how a catalogue of failures at the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) had left scores of vulnerable families with huge debts and hundreds with criminal convictions for fraud. Those who care for loved ones for at least 35 hours a week are entitled to "83.30 a week in carer's allowance, as long as their weekly earnings do not exceed "196. But if they exceed this limit, even by as little as 1p, they must repay that entire week's carer's allowance....

4+ hour, 43+ min ago (706+ words) Search powers, usually reserved for protests, will be in effect in the CBD and beyond in a move criticised by human rights groups Victoria police will have the power to conduct warrant-less pat-downs, search cars and move people on in Melbourne's CBD for six months, in a move human rights and legal groups have described as a "vast overreach. Police on Tuesday declared the CBD, Docklands, Southbank, the sporting and entertainment precinct and parts of East Melbourne and South Melbourne as a "designated area from Sunday, until 29 May 2026. This means police and protective service officers (PSOs) have the ability to randomly stop and search anyone without a warrant or reasonable grounds. The searches, which are allowed under the Control of Weapons Act, can be conducted using an electronic wand or a pat-down, and people may be asked to take off…...

19+ hour, 54+ min ago (806+ words) Embassy's employment of Gila Ben-Yakov Phillips is potentially violation of UK sanctions law, say experts The British embassy in Tel Aviv may have broken both UK sanctions law and UK government security policies by employing an Israeli citizen who owns a home in an illegal settlement in occupied Palestine, legal experts have said. The embassy's deputy head of corporate services and HR, Gila Ben-Yakov Phillips, moved to Kerem Reim in 2022. She listed a house she bought there as her home address on financial documents at the time. She later shared posts about the community on social media, including advertising youth programmes and subsidised housing for childcare workers. The settlement, north of Ramallah, was built by Amana, a construction company hit with sanctions last year for supporting, promoting and inciting violence against Palestinians. "Amana has overseen the establishment of illegal outposts…...

14+ hour, 45+ min ago (637+ words) Michael Prescott, author of leaked memo, chair Samir Shah and board members Robbie Gibb and Caroline Thomson to appear at select committee Shumeet Banerji resigned from the board on Friday after saying he was cut out of the discussions that led to the shock resignation of director general Tim Davie. The tech industry executive was out of the country on the crucial days before the departure of Davie and the head of BBC News, Deborah Turness. The pair quit after tense board discussions over how to respond to allegations of liberal bias made by Michael Prescott, a former independent external adviser to the BBC's editorial guidelines and standards committee (EGSC). Prescott left that role in the summer. Banerji cited what he called "governance issues" at the top of the corporation. In a letter, he said he had not been consulted…...

1+ hour, 19+ min ago (493+ words) Consumer Affairs Victoria ordered to pay costs after firm successfully argues it is not technically engaged in debt collection owed to another person Criminal charges against one of Australia's biggest debt collection firms have been dismissed after the company successfully argued it was not technically engaged in debt collection. In a committal hearing at the Melbourne magistrates court on Tuesday, magistrate Michelle Hodgson dismissed the charges against Panthera Finance and ordered that Consumer Affairs Victoria pay costs. Parramatta-based Francom Group bought Panthera Finance in December 2024 after it was placed in administration by its financial backers Brookfield. Francom was not accused of any wrongdoing. Consumer Affairs Victoria had launched criminal proceedings against Panthera after a 2020 federal court ruling found that Panthera had unduly harassed three consumers for debts and was fined $500,000. The regulator argued that the court's finding made Panthera Finance…...

3+ hour, 2+ min ago (324+ words) Nathan Gill was an MEP for the Brexit party and Ukip, and later became Reform UK's leader in Wales. Now he has been jailed for 10 years for taking bribes to make pro-Russia statements. Luke Harding reportsNathan Gill was a Mormon bishop who went on to represent Wales in the European parliament " first for Ukip, Nigel Farage's original party, then for the Brexit party. Most recently he led Reform UK in Wales. He wasn't the most flashy orator " some would say his delivery was wooden " but the content of his speeches could be surprising, including criticising the Ukrainian government, for, among other things, closing down TV channels. Now those speeches have landed Gill a 10-and-a-half-year jail sentence.Luke Harding is a senior foreign correspondent at the Guardian and former Russia correspondent. He tells Helen Pidd how the case against Gill unfolded…...