Australia news live: Peter Hollingworth dies aged 91; one dead and four injured in Sydney shooting

Hollingworth, appointed governor general by John Howard in 2001, resigned over his handling of child sexual abuse in the Anglican churchFormer governor general Peter Hollingworth, who resigned over his handling of child sexual abuse in the Anglican church, has died.Hollingworth, who devoted much of his life to fighting poverty, served as the Anglican archbishop of Brisbane for 11 years from 1990, the first Australian-born person to hold the position. Continue reading...

The firearms the shooters, aged 17 and 18, used in the fatal rampage were registered to one of their parentsThe two teenage gunmen responsible for a mass shooting at the Islamic Center of San Diego, California, rushed toward the mosque “fully armored” with handguns and rifles, authorities said.A security guard shot and struck one of the shooters, according to members of the mosque – but the gunman continued charging. The guard also alerted administrators of the school at the Islamic Center, telling them to go into lockdown, before he was shot and killed. “If it was not for him … The carnage would be much worse,” said imam Taha Hassane. “He sacrificed his life.” Continue reading...

US vice-president appeared to align with attendees of Tommy Robinson’s ‘unite the kingdom’ rally in LondonUS vice-president, JD Vance, has urged anti-immigration activists in the UK to “keep on going” after tens of thousands gathered for a rally in London.Vance appeared to align himself with those who attended a march on Saturday where the far-right activist Tommy Robinson told supporters to prepare for the “battle of Britain”. Continue reading...

Hundreds of firefighters continue to battle the wind-driven fire in the Simi Valley area as at least one home is destroyedMore than 17,000 people were under evacuation orders in southern California on Tuesday as a wildfire threatened suburban homes.The wind-driven Sandy fire was reported Monday in the hills above Simi Valley, about 30 miles (48km) north-west of Los Angeles. Continue reading...

Family seeks answers after incident at uncovered maintenance hole near Cartier building late at nightSign up for the Breaking News US newsletter emailThe family of a New York woman is struggling for answers after the 56-year-old fell to her death upon stepping out of her car and slipping down an open maintenance hole on Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue.The woman in question died on Monday night and was identified by family members as Donike Gocaj, from Briarcliff Manor, a commuter belt area north of New York City. Continue reading...

Outcome of contest for seat just outside Wigan could change the course of British politics for years to come Andy Burnham will face Reform UK’s Robert Kenyon in next month’s crucial Makerfield byelection in a clash that could change the course of British politics for years to come.Reform are billing Kenyon, a plumber and army reservist who contested the seat just outside Wigan in the 2024 general election, as a local champion taking on a professional politician who is using the seat for his own advantage. Continue reading...

Addendum quietly slipped into widely criticized agreement creating a $1.7bn fund to compensate president’s alliesThe justice department quietly added a provision barring the IRS from auditing Donald Trump’s tax returns on Tuesday, amending a widely criticized agreement that creates a secretive and loosely controlled $1.776bn fund to compensate allies of the president.The addendum, signed by Todd Blanche, the acting attorney general, says the government is “forever barred” and “precluded” from examining the tax returns of Trump, his family, company and “related companies”. The agreement applies to anything filed before the agreement was reached. It was posted on the justice department website on Tuesday morning, a day after the department announced creation of the fund. Continue reading...

The online publication Puck previously reported Weiss could be moved to a new role with less oversight of the networkSign up for the Breaking News US newsletter emailCBS News parent company Paramount is standing by CBS News’ editor in chief, Bari Weiss, amid a torrent of controversies and lagging ratings on some programs.The network released a statement supporting her after a report that senior leadership at the company has discussed changing Weiss’s role to lessen her oversight of CBS News – and, potentially, CNN, if the company’s acquisition of Warner Bros Discovery receives government approval. Continue reading...

Outgoing Republican says backing Trump’s conviction ‘may have cost me my seat, but who cares?’Returning to the US Capitol after a stinging primary re-election loss, Bill Cassidy, a Republican senator of Louisiana, said Monday evening that he has no regrets about his “momentous” vote to convict Donald Trump on 2021 impeachment charges during his first presidency.“I voted to uphold the constitution. It may have cost me my seat, but who cares?” Cassidy told reporters in the Capitol. “I had the privilege of voting to uphold the constitution – isn’t that a great thing?” Continue reading...

US secretary of state says WHO was ‘a little late’ in identifying deadly Ebola outbreak in the DRC and UgandaUS secretary of state Marco Rubio said on Tuesday that the World Health Organization (WHO) was “a little late” in identifying the deadly Ebola outbreak in the the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda.On Tuesday, Rubio told reporters: “The lead is obviously going to be CDC (the Centers for Disease Control) and the World Health Organization, which was a little late to identify this thing unfortunately.” Continue reading...

As campaigners take to the streets for what could be the most significant byelection for decades, the Reform leader’s absence remains a mysteryIt’s been six days since Nigel Farage cancelled a scheduled appearance at a Reform UK rally in Sunderland, a key election target in Labour’s heartlands.The reasons given – chaos in government and what appeared to be an impending Labour leadership race – seemed logical. After all, as a quotation sometimes attributed to Napoleon Bonaparte goes: never interfere with an enemy while he’s in the process of destroying himself. Continue reading...