Top World News

Jan 29, 2026 - World

Exclusive: Acoss report shows property investors received $12.3bn in tax concessions in 2025, while the share of social housing dropped to a record lowFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastAustralia spends billions of dollars more on tax breaks for property investors than on social housing, homelessness and rent assistance combined, according to research by the Australian Council of Social Service (Acoss).The analysis comes as new data from the Productivity Commission reveals the share of homes dedicated to social housing has dropped to a record low 3.6%, from 5.7% in the 1990s. Continue reading...

Jan 29, 2026 - World

Albanese government awarded contracts to MTC despite allegations of ‘gross negligence’ in the US involvement with ICEFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastThe Australian government’s main immigration detention contractor is playing a key role in Donald Trump’s hardline immigration crackdown and has attracted a string of complaints over its treatment of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detainees.In recent years, the Albanese government has awarded lucrative immigration detention contracts to the local subsidiary of Management and Training Corporation, a major US private prison company, to operate offshore processing facilities on Nauru and Australia’s onshore detention network. Continue reading...

Jan 29, 2026 - World

Workers and union say outsourcing will mean loss of knowledge and experience needed to help ‘very vulnerable people’ waiting for government paymentsFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastA group of call centre staff kept on short-term contracts at the government department responsible for workplace standards will be replaced by a third-party contractor, with their union warning “vulnerable people” contacting the government could be affected.Due to laws to improve job security, 13 workers at the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations (DEWR) are unable to renew their contracts after reaching the maximum period they can remain in short-term positions, their union says. Continue reading...

Jan 29, 2026 - World

The Trump administration spent almost half a billion dollars to send military personnel to U.S. cities to smother crime and protect federal buildings, according to a new report from the Congressional Budget Office.

Jan 29, 2026 - World

A top US military official has warned Donald Trump may prolong the end of the war in Ukraine. Colonel Jonathan Sweet explained how the president could bring the conflict between Russian and Ukraine to an end, but that it would rely on military intervention and the help of NATO. He wrote in The Hill, "Trump has the cards to end the war, but those cards need to be played against Russia and not Ukraine. "He must coerce Russia to stop attacking, give up their territorial aspirations for the Donbas, and accept a European military peace-keeping force in Ukraine."That will likely require military force. It begins with a NATO-enforced no-fly zone over western Ukraine, sufficiently arming Kyiv to defeat Russian forces in Ukraine, and destroying Moscow’s ability to fund and sustain the war. "Anything less equals a Team Trump forever war in Europe." Sweet had previously referred to this prolonged decision-making as a "forever war" which Trump may have orchestrated. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner were present for talks between the two nations, which Col. Sweet says did little to ease the tensions. He wrote, "The talks commenced and concluded in Abu Dhabi the next day. The outcome? Russia refused to back off their maximalist demands and continued to demand Ukraine unilaterally withdraw from the Donbas."The U.S. is now 0 for 7 in its negotiations with Russia to end the war — chiefly because Ukraine stubbornly refuses to commit national suicide."Kyiv will not give Moscow in negotiations what the Russians cannot take on the battlefield. Nor should they be persuaded or coerced into doing so."EU diplomats believe the relationship with Trump has broken down and that their dreams of working with him and the administration in the future are dead. One EU diplomat said, "Our American Dream is dead. Donald Trump murdered it." Another senior envoy from a country described as a "key American ally" by Politico suggested the "trust is lost" with the U.S.They added, "We are experiencing a great rupture of the world order."