SA Liberals dump candidate who said homosexuality ‘opens up demonic realms’ after initially standing by him 12. March 2026 (08:23) Party leader Ashton Hurn confirms Carston Woodhouse will not run for Liberals in SA’s state election, but says ‘people are entitled to have their views’Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastA Liberal candidate in South Australia’s upcoming state election has been dumped after his “shocking and extreme” views on abortion, same-sex marriage, gender transitioning and feminism were aired by his Labor rival.The leader of the SA Liberals, Ashton Hurn, on Wednesday stood by Carston Woodhouse, who had been running for the seat of Wright in Adelaide’s north, after his appearances on the evangelical Christian podcast ElijahFire surfaced. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
John Lewis pays first annual staff bonus in four years as profits rise 12. March 2026 (08:19) Payment of 2% at employee-owned partnership follows sales increase to £13.4bnThe owner of John Lewis and Waitrose has paid an annual bonus to workers for the first time in four years after underlying profits rose by 6%.The retail group’s 69,000 employees – which it calls partners – will receive a bonus of 2% of salary after it recorded an increase in sales and profits. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Robodebt was the great test of Australia’s accountability mechanisms – and they failed 12. March 2026 (08:11) The final report into the Centrelink debt recovery process that wreaked havoc on the vulnerable is not the full-stop many wanted. It has not restored the trust that was so fundamentally brokenFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastThe whistleblower’s message landed just before Christmas.It was 2016, now a distant memory. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
‘Beggars belief’: calls for federal intervention after extension to ‘carbon bomb’ open-cut coalmine approved by Queensland government 12. March 2026 (08:01) Hail Creek is responsible for about 20% of Australia’s coalmine methane, while only producing 1% of the country’s coalFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastEnvironmental groups have called on the federal government to intervene after Australia’s most methane-polluting open-cut coalmine was approved for extension.A proposed expansion of the Hail Creek coalmine in central Queensland, described by conservationists as a “carbon bomb”, was backed by the state’s government on Wednesday. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Palantir’s NHS England contract ‘opens door to government abuse of power’, health bosses told 12. March 2026 (08:00) Health justice charity Medact says data-sharing potential could be used for UK version of US immigration raidsPalantir’s NHS contract opens the door to the Big Brother-style data-sharing that Reform UK would use for a version of US immigration raids, health bosses have been told.Palantir Technologies – the data analytics company founded by Peter Thiel and Alex Karp – won a £330m NHS England contract to deliver the Federated Data Platform in 2023. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
‘I have never seen anything like it’: MP warns of rise in extreme views on race and identity 12. March 2026 (08:00) Health minister Zubir Ahmed says new definition of anti-Muslim hostility could be a turning point as he tells of Islamophobic abuseZubir Ahmed, a health minister, tries not to read the comments under his social media feeds, but sometimes curiosity gets the better of him.After performing a transplant on Christmas Day, the vascular surgeon scanned a post about the operation. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Woman and child found dead in Queensland home after father hit by car nearby 12. March 2026 (07:55) Police discovered the bodies of the mother and daughter after reports of an injured man, covered in blood, in Logan, in Brisbane’s southFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastA mother and her baby daughter have been found dead in their Queensland home, while a man covered in blood was hit by a car close to the grisly crime scene.The tragedy was discovered after reports of the injured man being struck by a vehicle near a supermarket in Queensland’s south-east. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Gordon Brown calls for international criminal court for crimes against children 12. March 2026 (07:00) Former PM says schools ‘deserve same moral status as hospitals’ after 168 schoolgirls killed in US-Israel war on IranGordon Brown: ‘Children killed, a school turned into a graveyard: even in wartime, we can’t accept this’A school turned into a graveyardMinab school bombing: a visual guideGordon Brown has called for the creation of an international criminal court for crimes against children, saying “no child should ever become collateral damage in a conflict”.Writing for the Guardian, the former prime minister drew on the tomahawk missile strike on the Shajareh Tayyebeh school at the start of the Iran conflict, which killed 168 schoolgirls, to argue that “schools deserve the same moral status as hospitals – protected places – and the same protection under international law”. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Families given a week to decide whether to leave UK voluntarily plead for more time 12. March 2026 (07:00) Home Office targets 150 families whose asylum claims were refused and offers them up to £40,000 to leave or face forcible removalFamilies who received notices asking them to agree to return to their home countries are begging the Home Office to give them more time to make a decision that will significantly affect their children’s futures.The Home Office has targeted 150 families whose asylum claims were refused and given them just seven days to make the decision, which would uproot their children from schools and adopted communities. Those who refuse to leave voluntarily may be forcibly removed in handcuffs, including children. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
‘Invasive’ AI-led mass surveillance in Africa violating freedoms, warn experts 12. March 2026 (07:00) Countries across the continent have spent more than $2bn on Chinese tracking technology that is not ‘necessary or proportionate’, new report findsThe rapid expansion of AI-powered mass-surveillance systems across Africa is violating citizens’ right to privacy and having a chilling effect on society, according to experts on human rights and emerging technologies.At least $2bn (£1.5bn) has been spent by 11 African governments on Chinese-built surveillance technology that recognises faces and monitors movements, according to a new report by the Institute of Development Studies, which warns that national security is being used to justify implementing these systems with little regulation. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
