Australia news live: Labor’s hate speech laws pass the Senate; experts warn research gap on NDIS tool could lead to ‘tragedies’ 20. January 2026 (20:48) Attorney general says Labor does not plan to again try to pass laws targeting racial vilification. Follow updates liveGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastThe head of Australia’s peak body of psychologists and disability experts have warned the NDIS’s new assessment tool hasn’t been tested on a variety of disability types – including diverse autistic needs – which may lead to “tragedies” occurring, if more research is not conducted.The NDIA called the tool the “gold standard of available, validated needs assessment tools. It has been developed over more than 20 years in the Australian context and tested through multiple research studies across a range of disability groups”.What will probably happen is that there will just be terrible outcomes for six months or a year and complaints … and people talking to the government and the ombudsman and whatever else and maybe a couple of tragedies and then something will get fixed. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
UK to hand Chagos Islands to Mauritius despite Trump’s taunts, No 10 says 20. January 2026 (20:42) PM’s spokesperson insists the government’s position is unchanged and that the US still supports the dealThe UK will press ahead with plans to hand the Chagos Islands back to Mauritius despite Donald Trump calling it an “act of great stupidity” and suggesting it was among the reasons he wants to take over Greenland.The US president said ceding sovereignty of the British Indian Ocean Territory, which includes the Diego Garcia military base, was a sign of “total weakness” by the UK. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Concerned European football chiefs discuss response to Trump over Greenland 20. January 2026 (20:34) Annex attempt could bring about Uefa-led boycott Implications for World Cup alarming heads of FAsEuropean football’s leaders are increasingly concerned about Donald Trump’s wish to annex Greenland and have held initial discussions about how the sport could respond.The Guardian understands the implications for this summer’s World Cup were among the topics raised among about 20 football association heads in Budapest on Monday. Talks about the Greenland crisis were held informally on the sidelines of an event organised to celebrate the Hungarian football federation’s 150th anniversary, in the knowledge that a unified European response may be required should Trump seek to escalate the situation. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Starmer could face rebellion by north-west Labour MPs over local funding 20. January 2026 (20:33) Exclusive: Northern towns are unfairly penalised by new three-year council settlements, say members with Liverpool seatsKeir Starmer is facing another potentially damaging rebellion, as Labour MPs from north-west towns urge the government to give their local councils more money over the next three years.Labour MPs from the Liverpool city region have written to the local government secretary, Steve Reed, urging him to change the recent three-year local funding settlement, which they say unfairly penalises northern towns. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Majority of US supreme court seems skeptical of Hawaii’s strict gun law 20. January 2026 (20:17) Court considering legality of state law banning guns on private property open to the public unless owner allows itThe conservative majority on the US supreme court appeared skeptical of a Hawaii law that bans people from bringing firearms on private property open to the public without permission from the property owner.The case, Wolford v Lopez, was brought by three Maui residents with concealed-carry permits and a local gun group who have support from Donald Trump’s administration.Reuters contributed to this report Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Biodiversity collapse threatens UK security, intelligence chiefs warn 20. January 2026 (20:03) Ecosystem destruction will increase food shortages, disorder and mass migration, with effects already being feltThe global attack on nature is threatening the UK’s national security, government intelligence chiefs have warned, as the increasingly likely collapse of vitally important natural systems would bring mass migration, food shortages and price rises, and global disorder.Food supplies are particularly at risk since “without significant increases” the UK would be unable to compete with other nations for scarce resources, a report to ministers says. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Nervous rex: the Davos elite brace for Trump and his dinosaur diplomacy 20. January 2026 (19:52) Leaders of EU, France and Canada stake out positions on Greenland ahead of US president’s speech to World Economic Forum“There’s no diplomacy with Donald Trump: he’s a T rex. You mate with him or he devours you.” Debate at the World Economic Forum annual meetings high in the Swiss Alps is usually scrupulously polite, but as this year’s gathering got under way in Davos on Tuesday, California’s Democratic governor, Gavin Newsom, had this blunt advice for handling the week’s star speaker.The US president was yet to arrive but throughout the blond wood congress centre the hottest topic among the global elite of business and politics – on and off conference stages – was Trump’s intemperate attack on European allies, threatening punitive tariffs if they fail to let him annex Greenland. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Trump airing Macron’s private message was designed to hurt and intimidate 20. January 2026 (19:52) The US president uses mass communication to destabilise his rivals, but the risk is that frank exchange may dry upThe words “private and confidential” have never meant a great deal to Donald Trump. In his discussions with other world leaders, he has never operated much of a filter, happy to provide not just the facts of a conversation but also its content and tone, with descriptions all the way from beautiful to nasty.But it is a new development (barring bits of mildly solicitous correspondence from Volodymyr Zelenskyy last year) for him to simply copy and paste the entirety of private messages on to social media, as he did in the case of Emmanuel Macron’s proposal to set up a G7 meeting in Paris to discuss Greenland, Ukraine and Syria. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Six-year-old girl is only member of family to survive Spanish rail disaster 20. January 2026 (19:46) Child was on way home from a musical with parents, brother and cousin when trains collided, killing 42 peopleA six-year-old girl who had travelled to Madrid to see a musical was the only member of her family to survive Sunday’s rail disaster in southern Spain, which killed 42 people, among them her parents, her brother and her cousin.The girl, who has not been named, was found walking along the tracks after two trains collided near the town of Adamuz in the Córdoba province of Andalucía. She had emerged from the accident with only a minor head wound. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Trump’s board of peace is an imperial court completely unlike what was proposed 20. January 2026 (19:20) The US president’s global club was endorsed by the security council on a false prospectus and seems aimed at displacing the United NationsLike many punters who have tried to do business with Donald Trump in the past, the UN has found itself a victim of a classic bait-and-switch, thinking it was buying one thing, but getting quite another.When they voted to endorse the board of peace in November, other members of the UN security council hoped they were binding Trump into a Gaza peace process, but it now appears they were hoodwinked into backing a Trump-dominated pay-to-play club: a global version of his Mar-a-Lago court aimed at supplanting the UN itself. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
