Author: James Martin
Minister announces $14.4m for emergency food relief Josh Butler Social services minister Amanda Rishworth has announced $14.4m for emergency food relief programs nationwide. In recognition of Australians going through “hard times”, with spiralling numbers of people reaching out to food banks in this cost of living and housing crisis, the government says it is “strengthening the support available for Australians experiencing financial crisis”. Rishworth’s announcement includes funding to be shared between 192 Commonwealth-funded emergency relief providers and all three Commonwealth-funded Food Relief providers. The minister said there had been “increased demand for their services”, and that the services also…
It was mid-afternoon on Pakistan’s election day, sources say, when military intelligence began to realise that things on the ground were not going as planned. Mobile services, including the internet, had been suspended across the country on the pretext of security issues. Those aware of the decision-making said the real reason was to keep voter turnout low, making the results much easier for Pakistan’s powerful military to “manage” and, most importantly, keep supporters of the former prime minister Imran Khan away from the ballot box. The strategy failed. With Khan behind bars, having received three separate jail sentences of more…
home game The Paris Saint-Germain manager, Luis Enrique, was reluctant to talk about Kylian Mbappé before Wednesday’s Champions League match with Real Sociedad. Mbappé has been nursing a sore left ankle and was an unused substitute in Saturday’s league game against Lille. Asked on Tuesday if Mbappé was ready to start in the first leg of their last-16 contest, Luis Enrique replied with a terse “yes”. “He could have played four days ago if it was a final,” the coach said. “But since it wasn’t, it wasn’t worth taking the risk.” The 25-year-old’s contract runs out at the end of…
A television presenter with Poland’s state broadcaster has apologised for the years of “shameful words” directed at LGBTQ+ people, in a moment hailed by a prominent rights campaigner as the closing of a chapter in Polish society. Bart Staszewski, an activist and film-maker, said the apology made to him live on air on Sunday showed the transformation of a broadcaster that served as a mouthpiece for the Law and Justice (PiS) party during its time in power. “For eight years they showed LGBT activists – but also the LGBT community – as a threat to the Polish nation … feeding…
As the Rockettes high-kicked their way to a record box office for the annual “Christmas Spectacular” at New York’s Radio City Music Hall, they were doing more than just entertaining. They were also showing the limits of the Federal Reserve’s power over the economy. If the Fed’s interest rate increases had worked after the pandemic the way they had in the past, Americans would have responded by cutting their spending. Instead, the economy has powered ahead almost unscathed. Demand was so high for Rockettes tickets that the dance troupe added eight extra shows to its schedule, extending the Christmas specials…
On today’s pod: there was no sprinkling of FA Cup magic for the lower-league teams as the WSL sides prevailed in the fifth round. Manchester City made a bad week for Arsenal worse – they’re into the quarter-finals after a controversial game at Meadow Park. Meanwhile, Leicester and Everton are at sixes and sevens … but in a good way! We’ll be back next week to round up what should be a mighty weekend of WSL action, including Chelsea v Manchester City, Arsenal v Manchester United, and Leicester v Bristol City. …
Global defence spending increased by 9% to a record $2.2tn during 2023 driven by heightened geopolitical tensions caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, according to an annual assessment by a military thinktank. The International Institute of Strategic Studies added that it expected budgets to increase further in 2024 as the war continued into a third year and international uncertainty spread across the Middle East in the wake of the Israel-Gaza war. Bastian Giegerich, the thinktank’s director general, described the near-double-digit uplift as reflecting “a deteriorating security landscape”. Russian and Ukrainian military spending soared, as well as western aid to Kyiv.…
Starmer: ‘tough’ but ‘necessary’ decision to withdraw support from Rochdale byelection candidate Keir Starmer has said he took “tough” and “decisive” action to withdraw support for Labour’s Rochdale by-election candidate. Speaking while campaigning in Wellingborough, where there is a byelection on Thursday, Starmer said: Certain information came to light over the weekend in relation to the candidate. There was a fulsome apology. Further information came to light yesterday calling for decisive action, so I took decisive action. It is a huge thing to withdraw support for a Labour candidate during the course of a by-election. It’s a tough decision,…
Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s 25% purchase of Manchester United has been ratified by the Premier League and, though the Football Association is yet to complete its part of the process, this is considered a formality. Any new owner or director of a Premier League club has to pass the governing body’s owners’ and directors’ test. Ratcliffe, it is understood, has done so. Of the test the Premier League states: “The owners’ and directors’ test outlines requirements that would prohibit an individual from becoming an owner or director of a club. These include criminal convictions for a wide range of offences, a…
Price increases cooled further in January, offering the latest sign that inflation has eased significantly since its pandemic-era surge but still hovers above what policymakers consider normal. Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics on Tuesday morning showed prices rose 3.1 percent in January, compared with the year before. That’s a slower increase than the 3.4 percent annual rate notched in December. They also rose 0.3 percent compared with the previous month, a tad more than they had in December. The report told a broadly familiar story. As has been the case for months, housing costs continue to make up…