Rescued Scafell Pike hikers urged to pay hotel bill and return head torches 25. January 2026 (10:30) Wasdale mountain rescue team says ‘we struggle to understand when the rescued take advantage of hospitality’A mountain rescue team has appealed for two rescued walkers to pay a hotel bill they owe, return head torches they took and collect a hospital crutch one of them used to climb Scafell Pike in treacherous conditions.“We avoid judging those we rescue,” said Wasdale mountain rescue team in a statement. “But we struggle to understand when the rescued take advantage of hospitality provided by our supporters in the valley.” Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Minneapolis shooting: parents of Alex Pretti say Trump officials are telling ‘sickening lies’ 25. January 2026 (08:54) Family releases statement saying: ‘Alex is clearly not holding a gun when attacked by Trump’s murdering and cowardly ICE thugs’Alex Pretti did not brandish gun, witnesses say in sworn testimonyLarge protests spread across US after Alex Pretti fatally shotAlex Pretti killing by federal agents: what we know so farFurther to the last post, fellow actress Natalie Portman got emotional as she described her feelings over a “horrible day”.“What is happening in our country is just obscene,” she said in Park City, where she was promoting the film The Gallerist.What Trump and [homeland security secretary) Kristi Noem and ICE are doing to our citizens and to undocumented people is outrageous and needs to end.These brave Americans who have stepped out to protest the injustice of these ICE quote/unquote ‘officers,’ and watching them be murdered – it’s unfathomable. We cannot normalize it.We may have a government that is somehow trying to make excuses for it and legitimize it, but we [Americans] don’t. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Fitness fraud: gym goers warned over fake deals on memberships and personal trainers 25. January 2026 (08:00) January is a prime time for people looking to get fit, so fraudsters create fake websites and appsA new year means a new start – it’s time to get fit and there are quite a few deals out there. On Facebook you see a local gym advertising a discount on membership if you sign up within the next few hours. There are limited spaces so you act quickly.It’s only after you pay that you realise the ad was a fraud: you’ve received no membership details and when you contact the gym it has no record of your payment. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Dingoes on Australia’s K’gari island to be euthanised after tragic death of Canadian tourist Piper James 25. January 2026 (07:04) Queensland government says pack linked to 19-year-old’s death pose ‘unacceptable public safety risk’ as Indigenous traditional owners say they were not consultedThe dingo pack linked to the death of Canadian tourist Piper James on Australian island K’gari will be destroyed, the Queensland government has announced.Environment minister Andrew Powell said on Sunday that an entire pack of 10 animals would be euthanised. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Trump’s wrecking ball pushes US allies closer to China 25. January 2026 (07:00) In the search for stability, some western nations are turning to a country that many in Washington see as an existential threatIf geopolitics relies at least in part on bonhomie between global leaders, China made an unexpected play for Ireland’s good graces when the taoiseach visited Beijing this month. Meeting Ireland’s leader, Micheál Martin, in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China’s president, Xi Jinping, said a favourite book of his as a teenager was The Gadfly, by the Irish author Ethel Voynich, a novel set in the revolutionary fervour of Italy in the 1840s.“It was unusual that we ended up discussing The Gadfly and its impact on both of us but there you are,” Martin told reporters in Beijing. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
AI-generated British schoolgirl becomes far-right social media meme 25. January 2026 (07:00) Amelia, created to deter young people from extremism, has been subverted and is breaking out of niche online silosIn certain corners of the internet, on niche news feeds and algorithms, an AI-generated British schoolgirl has emerged as something of a cultural phenomenon.Her name is Amelia, a purple-haired “goth girl” who proudly carries a mini union flag everywhere she goes and appears to have a penchant for racism. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Democratic congressman punched in racist attack at Sundance film festival 25. January 2026 (06:53) Maxwell Alejandro Frost says attacker ‘told me Trump was going to deport me’ as police say suspect arrestedThe Florida congressman Maxwell Alejandro Frost said he was assaulted by a man who said Donald Trump would deport him at a party during the Sundance film festival in Utah.“Last night, I was assaulted by a man at Sundance Festival who told me that Trump was going to deport me before he punched me in the face,” Frost said in a Saturday post on X. “He was heard screaming racist remarks as he drunkenly ran off. The individual was arrested and I am okay.” Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Alex Pretti did not brandish gun, witnesses say in sworn testimony 25. January 2026 (05:04) Pair testify that Pretti did not hold weapon and was trying to help woman federal agents had shoved to the groundTwo witnesses to the killing of Alex Pretti have said in sworn testimony that the 37-year-old intensive care nurse was not brandishing a weapon when he approached federal agents in Minneapolis on Saturday, contradicting a claim made by Trump administration officials as they sought to cast the shooting of a prone man as an act of self-defense.Their accounts came in sworn affidavits that were filed in federal court in Minnesota late Saturday, just hours after Pretti’s killing, as part of a lawsuit brought by the ACLU on behalf of Minneapolis protesters against Kristi Noem and other homeland security officials directing the immigration crackdown in the city. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Unconfirmed sighting of triple murder suspect Julian Ingram reported in NSW central west 25. January 2026 (02:59) Police deploy air support to search properties at Mount Hope, about 70km north of Lake Cargelligo, where shootings took place on ThursdayFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastWarning: This article contains references to Indigenous Australians who have diedPolice say a sighting of Julian Ingram, who is suspected of murdering three people in remote NSW, has been reported about 70km north of where the shootings occurred.The unconfirmed sighting was made early on Sunday morning at Mount Hope in the NSW central west. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Schumer: Democrats will block funding unless $64.4bn for homeland security removed 25. January 2026 (02:53) Announcement comes as anger toward DHS – which oversees ICE – intensifies after Alex Pretti fatally shotIn the wake of another fatal shooting of a US citizen in Minnesota by a federal officer, the Senate Democratic leader, Chuck Schumer, said Saturday evening that his party will block a funding package next week unless $64.4bn for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is removed.The announcement, which dramatically escalates the potential for another government shutdown, comes as anger toward DHS, which oversees Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) intensifies among the party after a group of federal agents violently restrained and then fatally shot Alex Pretti in Minneapolis Saturday morning. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
