Cathy Freeman leads Australia Day honours alongside enforcer of world-first social media ban 25. January 2026 (12:00) High-profile Australians celebrated alongside more than 600 civilians who have changed lives and the countryAstronaut Katherine Bennell-Pegg named Australian of the Year for 2026Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastAustralia’s beloved Olympic sprinter Cathy Freeman has been recognised in this year’s Australia Day Honours list alongside a driving force of one of the Games’ youngest sports, skateboarding, a world-leading quantum scientist, a children’s book illustrator, rock royalty and the enforcer of Australia’s world-first social media ban.Freeman was appointed a Companion of the Order of Australia, the country’s highest civilian honour. Her sensational athletic achievements were applauded by the honours committee, which also acknowledged her social impact across the community, her work on the reconciliation movement in the spirit of unity and inclusion, and as a role model to young people. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Minnesota workers pressure employers to take action against ICE operations 25. January 2026 (12:00) Target, Delta and Hilton targeted with actions leading up to economic blackout of no work, shopping or schoolSome of the US’s biggest companies are coming under increasing pressure to speak out about the Trump administration’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)’s operations in Minnesota.Workers throughout Minnesota have been pressuring their employers to act following the death of Renee Good, an unarmed woman killed by a federal immigration officer in Minneapolis earlier this month. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
City minister accused of ignoring £2bn car finance tax loophole 25. January 2026 (12:00) Critics say banks will be able to avoid tax on compensation payouts to victims of £11bn loans scandalThe City minister, Lucy Rigby, has been accused of snubbing taxpayers after she appeared to brush off concerns about a £2bn tax loophole benefiting big banks caught up in the car loans scandal.Rigby was urged to intervene by a member of the parliamentary Treasury committee after it emerged that lenders including Barclays, Lloyds and Santander could sidestep rules designed to ensure banks pay tax on compensation linked to corporate misconduct. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Labour must avoid ‘psychodrama’, says Mahmood, as NEC meets to decide if Burnham can stand 25. January 2026 (11:52) Home secretary is chair of party’s NEC, which will decide if Greater Manchester mayor can seek return to parliamentLabour must do all it can to avoid a “psychodrama” over Andy Burnham’s possible return to parliament, Shabana Mahmood, the home secretary, has said.Mahmood is chair of Labour’s national executive committee (NEC), which was due to meet later on Sunday to decide whether Burnham should be allowed to seek selection for the Gorton and Denton byelection, which would involve him giving up his Greater Manchester mayoralty. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
‘This is what fascism looks like’: terror in Minneapolis reminiscent of civil war 25. January 2026 (11:00) Alex Pretti’s death could be a moment of reckoning for Democrats to call time on Trump waging war on his peopleWearing helmets, gas masks and camouflage fatigues, the federal agents took aim and prepared to open fire. “It’s like Call of Duty,” one could be heard saying via a TV mic, referring to a first-person shooter military video game. “So cool, huh?”This was the scene on the streets of Minneapolis on Saturday after armed agents, wearing masks and tactical vests, wrestled 37-year-old Alex Pretti to the ground and shot him dead. The killing took place just over a mile from where Renee Good was fatally shot on 7 January, a scene that itself was less than a mile from where police murdered George Floyd in May 2020. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
How botched Tory insulation scheme looms over Labour’s warm homes plan 25. January 2026 (11:00) Eco programme turned into a national scandal – but experts worry £15bn plan will prioritise green energy over insulatingNo homeowner wants to be faced with a hefty bill for household repairs – and when those charges are the result of botched insulation under a UK government-run scheme, individual misfortune turns to national scandal.That has been the experience of tens of thousands of households after what MPs have condemned as the “catastrophic failure” of the energy company obligation (Eco) insulation programme run by the last Conservative government, the results of which have only recently been uncovered. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Rescued Scafell Pike hikers urged to pay hotel bill and return head torches 25. January 2026 (10:30) Wasdale mountain rescue team says ‘we struggle to understand when the rescued take advantage of hospitality’A mountain rescue team has appealed for two rescued walkers to pay a hotel bill they owe, return head torches they took and collect a hospital crutch one of them used to climb Scafell Pike in treacherous conditions.“We avoid judging those we rescue,” said Wasdale mountain rescue team in a statement. “But we struggle to understand when the rescued take advantage of hospitality provided by our supporters in the valley.” Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Minneapolis shooting: parents of Alex Pretti say Trump officials are telling ‘sickening lies’ 25. January 2026 (08:54) Family releases statement saying: ‘Alex is clearly not holding a gun when attacked by Trump’s murdering and cowardly ICE thugs’Alex Pretti did not brandish gun, witnesses say in sworn testimonyLarge protests spread across US after Alex Pretti fatally shotAlex Pretti killing by federal agents: what we know so farFurther to the last post, fellow actress Natalie Portman got emotional as she described her feelings over a “horrible day”.“What is happening in our country is just obscene,” she said in Park City, where she was promoting the film The Gallerist.What Trump and [homeland security secretary) Kristi Noem and ICE are doing to our citizens and to undocumented people is outrageous and needs to end.These brave Americans who have stepped out to protest the injustice of these ICE quote/unquote ‘officers,’ and watching them be murdered – it’s unfathomable. We cannot normalize it.We may have a government that is somehow trying to make excuses for it and legitimize it, but we [Americans] don’t. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Fitness fraud: gym goers warned over fake deals on memberships and personal trainers 25. January 2026 (08:00) January is a prime time for people looking to get fit, so fraudsters create fake websites and appsA new year means a new start – it’s time to get fit and there are quite a few deals out there. On Facebook you see a local gym advertising a discount on membership if you sign up within the next few hours. There are limited spaces so you act quickly.It’s only after you pay that you realise the ad was a fraud: you’ve received no membership details and when you contact the gym it has no record of your payment. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Dingoes on Australia’s K’gari island to be euthanised after tragic death of Canadian tourist Piper James 25. January 2026 (07:04) Queensland government says pack linked to 19-year-old’s death pose ‘unacceptable public safety risk’ as Indigenous traditional owners say they were not consultedThe dingo pack linked to the death of Canadian tourist Piper James on Australian island K’gari will be destroyed, the Queensland government has announced.Environment minister Andrew Powell said on Sunday that an entire pack of 10 animals would be euthanised. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
