14+ 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…...

20+ min ago (510+ words) Defensive end died this month at age of 24 Player's car reached speeds of more than 145 mph Body and dash cam footage from law enforcement officials have charted the events leading up to the death of Dallas Cowboys player Marshawn Kneeland earlier this month. The 24-year-old was found dead in the early morning hours of 6 November hours after being pursued by officers who had attempted a traffic stop in suburban Dallas. Police say Kneeland took his own life. A trooper with the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) began chasing Kneeland's car at 10.33pm that evening, according to an offense report. The trooper said Kneeland's vehicle reached speeds higher than 145 mph but other troopers in body camera footage released by DPS said they believed the chase reached speeds of up to 160 mph. The trooper lost Kneeland's car but it was later found…...

23+ min ago (278+ words) Shields told SMH staff in an email that working in the role had been the honour of his life The editor of the Sydney Morning Herald, Bevan Shields, has resigned after four years and will be replaced in the role at Nine's Sydney masthead by Jordan Baker, the chief reporter. Shields told staff in an email the job had been the "honour of my life" and he would return as a senior writer after a break. "The time has come for me to focus on my health and wellbeing, and to think about the next chapter in my career," Shields said. "I would like to thank you all for the privilege of being your editor." In the internal announcement, Luke McIlveen, the executive editor of Nine's metro mastheads, credited Shields with achievements including the establishment of a Parramatta bureau and…...

39+ min ago (313+ words) Carolina Panthers 9-20 San Francisco 49ers Niners overcome three Brock Purdy interceptions Christian McCaffrey gained 142 yards from scrimmage and scored a touchdown in his first game against Carolina since he was traded away three years ago, leading the San Francisco 49ers to a 20-9 victory over the Panthers on Monday night. McCaffrey's big night helped the 49ers (8-4) overcome three interceptions in the first half by Brock Purdy to remain in playoff position headed into the stretch run of the season. Bryce Young and the Panthers (6-6) struggled to take advantage of their opportunities a week after the quarterback threw for a franchise-record 448 yards in a win at Atlanta. Young threw for just 169 yards with one touchdown and one interception as Carolina missed a chance to move into sole possession of first place in the NFC South. The 49ers were conservative in the second half after Purdy's rough…...

40+ min ago (575+ words) Term was up against a shortlist including Ozempic face, blind box, ate (and left no crumbs) and Roman Empire AI slop is here, it's ubiquitous, it's being used by US president Donald Trump and now, it's the word of the year. The Macquarie Dictionary dubbed the term the epitome of 2025 linguistics, with a committee of word experts saying the outcome embodies the word of the year's general theme of reflecting "a major aspect of society or societal change throughout the year. "We understand now in 2025 what we mean by slop " AI generated slop, which lacks meaningful content or use, the committee said in a statement announcing its decision. "While in recent years we've learnt to become search engineers to find meaningful information, we now need to become prompt engineers in order to wade through the AI slop. Slop in this…...

57+ min ago (606+ words) While we don't necessarily need another film version of Bram Stoker's story, Besson's has ambition and panache, and Caleb Landry Jones and Christoph Waltz are perfectly castPerhaps there is no great enthusiasm out there for a new version of Dracula from Luc Besson, the French maestro of glossiness and bloat. And yet it has to be said: his lavishly upholstered vampire romance has ambition and panache " and in all its Hammer-y cheesiness, I'm not sure I wouldn't prefer to it to Robert Eggers's recent, solemnly classy version of Nosferatu. There are some very bizarre touches, including one shot that appears to show a land border between France and Romania.Christoph Waltz plays a witty yet careworn vampire-hunting priest " I can't believe he hasn't played this role before " who finds himself in Paris in 1889 for the French Revolution centenary celebrations. So…...

1+ hour, 1+ min ago (440+ words) Victim, 17, died from stab wounds to his thigh after being attacked in Rouse Hill on Monday evening, NSW police say A 15-year-old boy accused of stabbing a teenager to death near a Sydney high school will spend Christmas behind bars. The victim, a boy aged 17, died from stab wounds to his thigh after a confrontation at a park in Sydney's north-west at about 4.20pm on Monday. About three hours later, the younger boy arrived at a police station with a parent and was subsequently charged with murder. The teen, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, faced a children's court on Tuesday morning. He sat quietly in the courtroom, wearing a black hoodie and sporting a mullet haircut with shaved sides. Police asked the court for an order to take forensic evidence from the teenager, including a DNA swab. A court…...

1+ hour, 10+ min ago (757+ words) Labor is continuing talks with both sides and could be prepared to give more ground The fate of Labor's nature laws hangs in the balance after new concessions to the Coalition and the Greens failed to immediately persuade either party to support them. But Labor is continuing talks with both sides and could be prepared to give more ground, as it desperately tries to land a deal to overhaul the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act before parliament rises for the year on Thursday night. The intensifying negotiations came as the government's own advisory body on threatened species " the threatened species scientific committee (TSSC) " warned the legislation had not got the balance right to meet the goal of no new extinctions. In a submission to a Senate inquiry examining the bills, the committee warned the bills appeared to increase…...

1+ hour, 10+ min ago (811+ words) Labor is continuing talks with both sides and could be prepared to give more ground The fate of Labor's nature laws hangs in the balance after new concessions to the Coalition and the Greens failed to immediately persuade either party to support them. But Labor is continuing talks with both sides and could be prepared to give more ground, as it desperately tries to land a deal to overhaul the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act before parliament rises for the year on Thursday night. The intensifying negotiations came as the government's own advisory body on threatened species " the threatened species scientific committee (TSSC) " warned the legislation had not got the balance right to meet the goal of no new extinctions. In a submission to a Senate inquiry examining the bills, the committee warned the bills appeared to increase…...

1+ hour, 17+ min ago (805+ words) Winds the biggest contributor to power outages as city saw more than 880,000 lightning strikes and 12cm diameter hail More than 87,000 Queensland households remain without power a mammoth storm brought 110km/h winds and 12cm hail, with authorities warning a full restoration of the electricity network could take another 24 hours. A dozen public schools were closed on Tuesday as field crews sought to restore hundreds of powerlines downed in Monday's storms. An Energy Queensland spokesperson said that field crews were working around the clock and had restored the network from a peak of 162,000 power outages and 900 downed powerlines over night. He said more than 300 crews were at work on Tuesday in "horrible, steamy" conditions " while keeping an eye on looming storms. "We are setting expectations that this has been a very large event, very violent storms, caused a lot of damage to the network,…...