Forget toys and collectibles, crypto might be a hot ticket item this holiday season. In the U.S. 45% of Gen Z adults aged 18 to 28 said they would be excited to receive cryptocurrency as a holiday gift this year, according to a global survey of 1,000 adults conducted by payment technology company Visa in October. How wise it is to gift crypto is a separate matter, and the expert advice varies. Given how volatile and speculative cryptocurrencies are, they can be risky and are ill-advised if you're looking to gift an asset that will grow in value, says Flavio Landivar, a certified financial planner and senior financial advisor at Evensky and Katz/Foldes Wealth Management in Coral Gables, Florida. Unlike publicly traded stocks or exchange-traded funds that represent ownership of a tangible asset like a business, cryptocurrencies have no "real, underlying intrinsic value," Landivar says.

Korea Zinc will start the project by acquiring two mining complexes and the only US zinc smelter, which is in Tennessee. Korea Zinc, the world’s largest zinc smelter, has announced a $7.4bn smelter project that will be funded largely by the United States government as Washington pushes to cut its reliance on China for a range of critical minerals. Nyrstar said the sale of its US assets to Korea Zinc is expected to close in the first half of 2026. The administration has expanded its critical minerals list by adding copper, metallurgical coal, uranium, phosphate, potash, rhenium, silicon and silver. China dominates the world’s supply of critical minerals, such as antimony and germanium, which are used in telecommunications equipment, semiconductors and military technology.

Baron Capital on Monday launched five actively managed exchange-traded funds, betting that its long-term record – including a large, early investment in SpaceX – will translate to growing demand for active strategies in an ETF format. The new funds – the Baron First Principles ETF (RONB), Baron Global Durable Advantage ETF (BCGD), Baron SMID Cap ETF (BCSM), Baron Financials ETF (BCFN) and Baron Technology ETF (BCTK) – began trading on Monday. Each ETF is designed to mirror investment approaches that Baron Capital has used for decades across its mutual funds and private accounts. Baron Capital founder, CEO and chairman Ron Baron said SpaceX, which is eyeing one of the largest IPOs ever, has exceeded Tesla to become the firm's largest investment at about $10 billion. SpaceX's rapidly expanding Starlink satellite network is a key driver of its long-term investment thesis, Baron said.

Dr Susan Monarez, the former director of the CDC, will lead California’s new public health initiative, the Public Health Network Innovation Exchange (PHNIX). Monarez had clashed with Health and Human Services (HHS) secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr. on vaccine policy. PHNIX was created to modernize the state’s public health infrastructure and serve as a direct response to the Trump administration’s dismantling of public health safeguards and prioritization of vaccine skepticism. “The Public Health Network Innovation Exchange is expected to bring together the best science, the best tools, and the best minds to advance public health,” Newsom said in a statement. Newsom has also further cemented California as a symbol of Trump resistance through participation in the West Coast Health Alliance and the Governors Public Health Alliance.

When Donald Trump posted during his first term on what was then called Twitter, his attacks and rants differed significantly from US federal agency staff’s more cautious and traditional approach on social media. Much of the federal bureaucracy is also now deliberately provocative on social media, using memes and humor and insults. Unlike radio, which just broadcasts messages, users inhabit social media and see content based on data gathered about them, Srinivasan said. Some other places do treat social media differently. Germany also has laws to prevent hate speech on social media.

She says some of the best career advice she's gotten came from ex-boss Maureen Chiquet, the former Chanel CEO, who gave her a three-question framework to figure out if she was ready for a new job or career change. "I often ask people three questions when you're making a career decision," Kramer tells CNBC Make It:What do you want to learn or what do you want to teach? Meanwhile, having worked on the Ralph Lauren fragrance business, she felt she could bring that knowledge to working on Chanel's fragrances including Chanel No. Kramer recommends using this framework when looking for a new job and narrowing what opportunities you want to pursue. She also says it can be used to evaluate the job you're already in when paired with a "traffic light" method.

A Pakistani man living in Australia has spoken of his “deep trauma” and said his life had become a “nightmare” after his photo was widely circulated on social media falsely labelling him as one of the shooters in the Bondi beach terror attack. Police on Monday identified the two alleged shooters as father and son Sajid Akram, 50, and Naveed Akram, 24. None of the Facebook or X posts that wrongly showed Akram’s image were given warning labels or community notes by the platform’s factcheckers to flag it as misinformation. He called on the social media platform to take responsibility for giving a platform to misinformation. Contributing to the pile-on, one user labelled the Bonnyrigg home address of the alleged shooter as a mosque on Google Maps.

Venezuela’s government has lashed out at the European Council over its decision to renew sanctions against the South American country until 2027, calling the measures “a complete failure”. The sanctions, first introduced in 2017, include an embargo on arms shipments to Venezuela, as well as travel bans and asset freezes on individuals linked to state repression. On Monday morning, the European Council announced its plans to renew sanctions on Venezuela until January 10, 2027, citing “persistent actions undermining democracy and the rule of law” and human rights violations under the administration of President Nicolas Maduro. ‘Futile’ sanctionsAccording to the European Union, 69 people were subject to asset freezes and travel bans under the sanctions as of January this year. AdvertisementBut the Venezuelan government rejected the sanctions as “futile”, describing them as part of “an erratic foreign policy lacking autonomy” and slamming “the European Union’s growing irrelevance as an international actor”.

Almost half of all people using employment services received threats to suspend their payments in the last quarter, new data has revealed. In an October 2025 Senate estimates hearing, Senator Jess Walsh said the government knew Centrelink payment suspensions were causing harm, but defended leaving them on despite questions over whether they were used lawfully. Of the 618,000 payment suspension notices issued, 347,000 were issued by employment service providers and resulted in at least a temporary pause of payment. That amounts to nearly half of all employment services participants receiving a threat of payment suspension in a single quarter, analysis by the Australian Council of Social Services (Acoss) showed. “Where incorrectly or inappropriately applied non-compliance action is identified, including payment suspensions, the department overturns these decisions and gives feedback to providers about why those decisions were reversed.”

Little Foot, one of the world’s most complete hominin fossils, may be a new species of human ancestor, according to research that raises questions about our evolutionary past. Publicly unveiled in 2017, Little Foot is the most complete Australopithecus skeleton ever found. Prof Ronald Clarke, a paleoanthropologist at the University of the Witwatersrand, who led the team that excavated the skeleton, attributed Little Foot to the species Australopithecus prometheus. View image in fullscreen Students visit Sterkfontein where Little Foot was discovered. The fossil skeleton has been dated as 3.67m years old, but other scientists have suggested Little Foot cannot be older than 2.8m years.

Some parents treated Budge Studios’ 2023 mobile game Bluey: Let’s Play! Later that same year, Artax Games’ Bluey: The Videogame was widely criticised on release for its barely two-hour run time, technical problems and $60 price tag. When Brumm suggested Deo should pitch BBC Studios, other Bluey games were already under way. “They take a lot of pride in being the first Australian team to work on a Bluey game,” he says. It is another win for the Australian games industry after Adelaide-made Hollow Knight: Silksong’s immense popularity crashed global storefronts in September.

Leaders around the world expressed their horror at Sunday’s terrorist attack on Bondi beach, in which at least 16 people died, mixed in some cases with harsh words for the Australian government for alleged shortcomings in tackling antisemitism over the past two years. Our prayers are with the victims of this horrific attack, the Jewish community, and the people of Australia.”The UK prime minister, Keir Starmer, said the news was “deeply distressing”. “The United Kingdom sends our thoughts and condolences to everyone affected by the appalling ‍attack in Bondi beach.”King Charles said he and Camilla were “appalled and saddened by the most dreadful antisemitic terrorist attack”. “My thoughts, and the thoughts of all New Zealanders, are with those affected,” he said. “My heart is with the Jewish community worldwide on this first day of Hanukkah, a festival celebrating the miracle of peace and light vanquishing darkness.”

The ultra-conservative former congressman José Antonio Kast has been elected as Chile’s next president. With more than 99% of polling stations counted, Kast took 58.17% of the vote, against 41.83% for the leftist Jeannette Jara, a former labour minister under the current president, Gabriel Boric. This was Kast’s third attempt at the presidency: in 2021, he was defeated by Boric in the runoff. Despite his sweeping victory, Kast will not command an absolute majority in Congress, neither in the lower house nor in the Senate, even when counting all rightwing parties together. The ultra-conservative has pledged to cut public spending by $6bn within 18 months, but has not explained how he intends to do so.

Long-awaited verdicts in Hong Kong pro-democracy media tycoon Jimmy Lai’s national security trial will be delivered on Monday, one of the city’s most closely watched rulings since its return to Chinese rule in 1997. He became a prime target after Beijing imposed the sweeping national security law on Hong Kong in 2020, a year after huge and sometimes violent pro-democracy protests in the finance hub. A Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson said on Friday that Beijing “firmly supports” Hong Kong in “safeguarding national security in accordance with the law and punishing criminal acts that endanger national security”. The Hong Kong government said on Friday that Lai had received “adequate and comprehensive” medical services and that “no complaints” had been raised. Lai countered that he had never tried to influence other countries’ foreign policies on Hong Kong and China through his overseas contacts.

It’s safe to say it’s been a very bad year for the former Prince Andrew. Already stripped of his title and privileges, he is rounding off the year by becoming the punchline of the year’s most popular Christmas cracker joke. The annual competition is commissioned by the comedy channel U&Gold (formerly Comedy Gold) and decided by the British public. This year’s winner was written by Ben Smith from Chelmsford, who pithily summed up Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s fall from royal status: “Why is Prince Andrew not writing any Christmas books? Why is Prince Andrew not writing any Christmas books?

Cryptocurrencies will be regulated in a similar way to other financial products under legislation coming into force in 2027. The Treasury is drawing up rules that will require crypto companies to meet a set of standards overseen by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). Ministers have sought to overhaul the crypto market, which has ballooned in popularity as a way of investing money and making payments. Qian pleaded guilty at Southwark crown court on Monday to acquiring and possessing cryptocurrency that was criminal property. Ministers are also drawing up plans to ban political donations made with cryptocurrency, amid concerns that it is difficult to determine their origin and ownership.

First-time buyers are taking out larger mortgages than ever before as rising wages and looser affordability tests allow them to buy properties that were previously beyond their budget. The average first-time buyer borrowed £210,800 in the year to September, a record high, according to analysis by Savills, the property agent. First-time buyers accounted for 20% of all spending in the UK housing market in the 12-month period, which is the highest level since at least 2007, it added. In total, Savills said mortgage lenders loaned a record £82.8bn to 390,000 first-time buyers in the period, a 30% increase on the previous year. The larger mortgages come as some first-time buyers skip the traditional first rung of the property ladder and buy a house rather than a flat.

Please turn on JavaScript to use this featurePlease turn on JavaScript to use this feature14m ago 01.45 CET Helen DavidsonAs has become usual with these national security cases, there is a large police presence outside the West Kowloon district court. It’s about two hours from the verdict hearing beginning, and there are officers in plain clothes and uniform everywhere, as well as a massive press pack. The day Lai gave testimony, and big days for other cases like that of the Hong Kong 47, have drawn hundreds of people wanting to attend. View image in fullscreen Police stand guard outside the West Kowloon courts on Monday ahead of the Jimmy Lai verdict. One man, Simon, said he wanted to “give some support to Jimmy Lai and his wife”.

The alleged gunmen behind the Bondi beach attack were a father-son duo who are suspected to have used legally obtained firearms to commit the massacre, according to police. His 50-year-old father, who the Sydney Morning Herald first reported to be Sajid Akram, was shot dead by police. The son was known to New South Wales police and other agencies, while his father had a firearms licence with six weapons registered to him, authorities confirmed on Monday. View image in fullscreen Mourners place flowers at a makeshift memorial at Bondi Beach. While police did not confirm the duo’s names to Guardian Australia, they have released details of their ages, the suburb in which they lived and information about the older man’s firearms licence.

Prosecutors in Hong Kong charged Lai, a prominent critic of Beijing and local authorities, last year under the national security law imposed by Beijing, saying he had colluded with foreigners by calling for sanctions against China. Photographer: Chan Long Hei/Bloomberg via Getty ImagesHong Kong pro-democracy activist and media baron Jimmy Lai on Monday was found guilty of sedition and collusion with foreign countries by a Hong Kong court. The 78-year-old was charged under Hong Kong's controversial national security law, enacted by Beijing in 2020 after pro-democracy protests swept the region in 2019. Lai acquired British citizenship before Hong Kong was handed back to China in 1997. Roche added, "That, I think, would help to give the overriding impression and therefore conviction to people in the money business that Hong Kong had returned to its normal, business driven, dynamic self."

The i newspaper led with the “The hero of Bondi beach”. “Hero of the Bondi beach massacre,” the paper headlined, and included Donald Trump’s comments that al-Ahmed was a “very brave person”. “The hero of Bondi beach” led the Daily Express’s coverage, with images of al-Ahmed wrestling the gun from the alleged shooter’s grip. The Sun ran a large headline “Bondi fiends dad & son” under a smaller headline ‘Hero tackled gunman firing at Jewish event’. View image in fullscreen The Sydney Daily Telegraph front page on Monday.

Jessica Rozen ran, searching desperately for her three-year-old son as the shots rang out at Bondi beach on Sunday. Her husband was running with their toddler when she noticed a little girl screaming. 0:47 Alleged gunman tackled during Bondi beach shooting – videoThe prime minister earlier said first responders “rushing towards danger” had shown “the best of the Australian character”. On Monday, Yossi Friedman, a local rabbi, visited Bondi beach to pray and mourn with other members of the Jewish community. Wearing a kippa and tefillin, Friedman stood by the police cordon near the Bondi beach park where gunmen opened fire.

Rob Reiner, the director of beloved films including When Harry Met Sally, Misery, Stand By Me, The Princess Bride and This is Spinal Tap, has died aged 78 in an apparent homicide, along with his 68-year-old wife Michele Singer Reiner. The son of renowned comic actor Carl Reiner and singer Estelle Rebost, Reiner was born in the Bronx, New York, in 1947. “Spinal Tap was satire, and I love satire, but that was something my father had done. Later films Reiner directed included The American President (1995), The Bucket List (2007) and his final film, the 2025 sequel Spinal Tap II: The End Continues. Rob Reiner was also the adoptive father of actor Tracy Reiner, the daughter of his first wife, the actor and director Penny Marshall who died in 2018.

The High Court of Hong Kong has convicted pro-democracy activist and newspaper founder Jimmy Lai on three charges related to accusations that he undermined China’s national security, as part of a widely scrutinised trial. The charges he faced came under the 2020 Hong Kong National Security Law, a far-reaching piece of legislation enacted in the midst of the pro-democracy protests of 2019 and 2020. His publication, the Apple Daily, published its first edition in 1995, and it became known as Hong Kong’s largest pro-democracy newspaper. In August 2020, less than two months after the national security law came into effect, Lai was arrested for the first time, then released. Lai’s defence team and family have repeatedly petitioned Hong Kong’s High Court for leniency, citing Lai’s age and health conditions, including diabetes and high blood pressure.

Trade unions at the crisis-hit Louvre museum in Paris will begin a strike on Monday to demand urgent renovations and staffing increases, and to protest against a rise in ticket prices for most non-EU visitors, including British and American tourists. Four men have been arrested and placed under formal investigation, but the jewels have not been found. “We see this as an unacceptable discrimination,” said Christian Galani, a CGT union official representing Louvre workers. Philippe Jost, who headed the rebuild of Paris’s fire-damaged Notre-Dame cathedral, is to undertake a study next month into a “deep reorganisation” of the Louvre. The Louvre director, Laurence des Cars, as well as unions, had warned repeatedly before the break-in about conditions inside the museum and the cost of maintaining the vast former royal palace.

But after relinquishing his dictatorship for a gilded exile in Moscow, Assad is reportedly giving his medical training another go. “He’s studying Russian and brushing up on his ophthalmology again,” said a friend of the Assad family who has kept in touch with them. A year after his regime was toppled in Syria, the Assad family are living an isolated, quiet life of luxury in Moscow and the UAE. Two of Zein’s classmates who attended the ceremony confirmed that parts of the Assad family were present, but said they kept a low profile. Leaked flight records seen by the Guardian from 2017-23 suggest the UAE had long become a favourite destination for the Assad family even when they were in power.

In a blog, Healthwatch England said: “People across England tell us they are unable to sign up with an NHS dentist for routine care. People told the watchdog about long and exhausting attempts to secure an urgent NHS dentist appointment. Elsewhere, the watchdog found when patients managed to get urgent dental treatment, the relief was only temporary. “Practices offering urgent dental appointments are often located far from people’s homes. A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “This government inherited a NHS dental system decayed after years of neglect.

blinking-dot Live updates Live updates,Bondi Beach shooting live: Australia to discuss gun laws after 15 killedAustralia’s PM said gun laws would be discussed by the national cabinet today after deadly shooting in Sydney.

Australia’s Albanese says gun rules will be reviewed as Israel’s Netanyahu weighs in on deadly attack at Hanukkah event. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has pledged a review of his country’s gun laws and added support for Jewish Australians, as his government faces scrutiny following a deadly shooting at Sydney’s Bondi Beach. The right-wing Israeli leader blamed Albanese’s centre-left government for failing to protect Australia’s Jewish community. When asked on Monday morning about Netanyahu’s remarks, Albanese said his focus was on bringing people together. “We’re extending the funding for the National Council for Jewish Community Security and its state-based community security groups, to provide overall security cover to the Jewish community,” Albanese said.

Bouquets of cut flowers will be swapped for tabletop vegetable plants next year, the Royal Horticultural Society has said, as the UK charity announces its top plant trend predictions for 2026. Rose growers have been crossbreeding their flowers with central Asian varieties that are adapted to arid conditions. Photograph: Bruce Chambers/Zuma/Rex/Shutterstock“These are offered as seeds for people to raise on their own, plug plants are available by mail order and small potted plants are offered by garden centres. Drought-tolerant rose varieties are coming to market as green-fingered Britons adapt to climate breakdown. Photograph: Kristina Blokhin/AlamyAnother increasingly popular climate hack is the use of “in-and-out plants”, the RHS says.

Hollywood is in shock after the sudden death of director and actor Rob Reiner, who has been found dead in an apparent homicide at his Los Angeles home with his wife, Michele Singer Reiner. Please give us time to grieve.”View image in fullscreen Christopher Guest, left, and Rob Reiner in a scene from Spinal Tap II: The End Continues, which was Reiner’s final film. Rob Reiner and his wife Michelle were two of the most kind and caring souls you could ever imagine. RIP, Rob Reiner.”Former US president Barack Obama wrote on X that he and his wife Michelle were “heartbroken by the tragic passing of Rob Reiner and his beloved wife, Michele”. “Rob Reiner’s contributions reverberate throughout American culture and society, and he has improved countless lives through his creative work and advocacy fighting for social and economic justice,” Bass said in a statement.

Photograph: Supplied by familyThe 10-year-old girl killed in the attack has been identified as Matilda. “My beloved niece Matilda was killed during a terrorist attack in Bondi beach. Photograph: Jewish Care annual reportAlexander Kleytman was also among those killed, his wife, Larisa Kleytman, told reporters outside St Vincent’s hospital. Alex’s memories are particularly harrowing; the dreadful conditions in Siberia where he, along with his mother and younger brother, struggled for survival,” the Australian Jewish health provider’s 2022-23 annual report reads. Arsen OstrovskyOne of the injured to be identified is the head of the Sydney office of a public affairs organisation for the Australian Jewish community.

Hundreds of suspected rapists in England and Wales are spending years released under investigation, under a system that the government has been urged to scrap as it “doesn’t serve anyone’s interests apart from the police”. Introduced under the Policing & Crime Act 2017, released under investigation (RUI) allows police an alternative to bail, without the set timeframes or conditions attached to police bail. Campaigners have echoed this call, and urged the government to act on Leveson’s recommendation to scrap the system. Leveson suggested suspects should instead be placed on conditional or unconditional bail, as was the case prior to 2017. “Our Rape Crisis centres work closely with thousands of survivors of rape and sexual abuse who experience the devastating consequences of prolonged police investigations,” Maxime Rowson, the the head of policy and public affairs at Rape Crisis England and Wales.

My 84-year-old parents, who have significant disabilities, had their TalkTalk landline cut off without notice in August. Because of a “technical error”, the landline service was only terminated in August, 12 months late. Back I went to TalkTalk, which discovered that it had, for reasons unknown, requested a disconnection of the newly restored line. This time TalkTalk blamed the mistake on its previous errors, the sum total of which had got everyone confused and your parents cut off again. “We understand how crucial a landline service can be, and we’re disappointed that our usual processes weren’t followed,” a spokesperson said.

Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes tore the ACL in his left knee during Sunday’s loss against the Los Angeles Chargers, the team announced on Sunday night. “An MRI has confirmed that Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes sustained a torn ACL in his left knee in today’s game. His left knee appeared to be hyperextended as he went to the ground. “I hope Patrick (Mahomes) is OK. He is one of the greatest competitors of all time in the history of the game,” Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh said.

NewsFeed Hong Kong’s top court convicts Jimmy Lai on conspiracy chargesHong Kong’s highest court has found former media mogul Jimmy Lai guilty of sedition and conspiring to collude with foreign powers. The 78-year-old is known as the territory’s most outspoken critic of Beijing and could face life in prison.

James steered the Los Angeles Lakers to a narrow victory over the Phoenix Suns after blowing a 20-point lead. LeBron James gave Los Angeles the lead on two free throws with three seconds left, then blocked Grayson Allen’s potential game-winning three-pointer at the other end, and the Lakers survived a wild finish to defeat the hosts Phoenix Suns 116-114 on Sunday night. The Suns regained the lead at 114-113 when Dillon Brooks buried the third of his fourth-quarter three-pointers with 12.2 seconds left. James missed the subsequent free throw, but then pulled up from beyond the arc with three seconds left and drew a three-shot foul on Devin Booker. Jaxson Hayes added 12 points for Los Angeles, which avenged an earlier 125-108 home loss to the Suns.

Los Angeles mayor pays tribute to Reiner’s ‘creative work and advocacy fighting for social and economic justice’. Director-actor Rob Reiner and his wife have been found dead at their home in Los Angeles, according to United States media reports. The LA Police Department said in a statement on Sunday that they were investigating the deaths of two people in an apparent homicide. Media reports later identified the deceased as Reiner, the director of Hollywood hits including When Harry Met Sally and This Is Spinal Tap, and his wife. Reiner was previously married to the late actor-director Penny Marshall from 1971 to 1981.

“Ahmed al-Ahmed … took the gun off that perpetrator at great risk to himself and suffered serious injury as a result of that, and is currently going through operations today in hospital,” Albanese said. Jozay, a cousin of Al-Ahmed, said he was recovering from his first surgery and had two more to come. “When he saw people dying and their families being shot, he couldn’t bear to see people dying,” he said. After spending an hour with him on Monday morning, he said his cousin told him “God gave me courage” and that he didn’t regret his actions. Al-Ahmed’s parents, Mohamed Fateh al-Ahmed and Malakeh Hasan al-Ahmed, told ABC news their son was shot four to five times in his shoulder during the altercation.

“We expect housing market activity to strengthen a little further as affordability improves gradually via income growth outpacing house price growth and a further modest decline in interest rates,” he said. Average UK house prices stood at an average of £272,998 in November, Nationwide found. Separate estimates from the property portal Rightmove have also suggested that house prices will rise by 2% in 2026. Matt Smith, a mortgage expert at Rightmove, said home-movers will start 2026 looking at cheaper average mortgage rates compared with this year. They also usually consider whether someone could afford repayments if interest rates rise, in checks known as “stress tests”.

Cliff Richard has revealed he has been treated for prostate cancer for the past year. The 85-year-old singer said his cancer had “gone at the moment” and backed calls for a national screening test for men. In an interview with Good Morning Britain, he said: “I don’t know whether it’s going to come back. “The good fortune was that it was not very old; and the other thing is that it has not metastasised. Nothing had moved into bones or anything like that.”Richard, whose hits over the decades include The Young Ones, We Don’t Talk Anymore and Summer Holiday, described the lack of a national screening programme as “absolutely ridiculous”.

NewsFeed PM Albanese calls Bondi shooting ‘an outrage’, vows to review gun lawsAustralian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has called the shooting that killed at least 15 people at a Jewish celebration an ‘act of evil’, and said the government is considering tougher gun laws.

Extreme heat and bushfires have ravaged the parched landscape of Western Australia. The conditions follow bushfires in New South Wales this month, which resulted in the destruction of homes and loss of life. In Brazil, São Paulo was plunged into darkness last week after strong winds damaged the city’s power grid, with falling trees bringing down power lines. Alongside the snowfall, strong northerly winds swept across the archipelago, with gusts exceeding 50mph recorded on several islands including Lanzarote and Gran Canaria. The effect of Storm Emilia is expected to ease this week with more seasonal weather taking hold.

State leaders agreed to strengthen gun laws across the country after Anthony Albanese convened a urgent meeting of national cabinet on Monday afternoon following the worst terrorist attack in Australian history. “The Howard government’s gun laws have made an enormous difference in Australia and a proud moment of reform, quite rightly, achieved across the Parliament with bipartisan support. If we need to toughen these up, if there’s anything we can do, I’m certainly up for it,” the prime minister said ahead of the meeting. Under new gun laws to be developed by police ministers and attorneys general across the country, only Australian citizens would be able to hold a gun licence. The prime minister, the opposition leader, Sussan Ley, and the governor general, Sam Mostyn, were among the dignitaries to visit Bondi on Monday, laying flowers at a makeshift memorial as thousands gathered to mourn the victims.

Yoon Suk Yeol, South Korea's president, arrives for a hearing at the Constitutional Court of Korea in Seoul, South Korea, on Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025. To justify a case for martial law, former President Yoon Suk Yeol tried to provoke neighboring North Korea into taking military action, South Korean prosecutors alleged Monday, according to domestic media. Lee had also vowed "strict accountability" for the perpetrators behind the failed martial law attempt, with investigations and trials still underway. South Korean prosecutors have also reportedly sought a 15-year prison term for former Prime Minister Han Duck-soo. Imposing martial law led to impeachment motions against Yoon, which resulted in him being impeached on Dec. 14 last year and removal from office on April 4.

Thousands of Australians’ abandoned belongings were strewn across Bondi beach as the sun rose on Monday, left behind just 10 hours earlier in the rush to escape the slaughter. Others laid flowers and lit candles at the edges of Bondi’s pavilion, which was still cordoned off by police tape. View image in fullscreen Rabbi Chaim Levitansky (R) with Alex Ryvchin, co-chief of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, outside the Bondi pavilion. Tributes of flowers and candles sprang up by the lifeguards’ outpost and in front of Bondi Beach public school, which was closed for the day, as were five Sydney Jewish schools. View image in fullscreen ‘You can’t stay indoors with your head under the cover’: Josh, a Bondi local, returned to the beach 12 hours after running from the shooting.

Israel and Hamas have traded accusations that the other is delaying the second phase of the US-brokered peace plan in Gaza. He accused Israel of violating the ceasefire and jeopardising the United States-brokered peace plan. He called on mediators – US President Donald Trump in particular – “to work on obliging Israel to respect the ceasefire and commit to it”. AdvertisementPrime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday struck a defiant tone over the killing of Saad, accusing Hamas of violating the principles of the Trump peace plan. We decide what needs to be done to ensure the security of Israel and the security of Israeli soldiers.”

In PicturesSpurring conflict: Venezuela and the US thirst for foreign oilUS seizure of Venezuelan oil tanker has only added to accusations that Americans have long used their military to protect their oil interests abroad.

Ukraine has said it's willing to give up its aspirations to join NATO in return for security guarantees, as part of a peace deal to end the almost four-year war with Russia. Zelenskyy said on Sunday that the offer to drop NATO membership in return for security guarantees was a compromise, amid resistance among some of its Western allies to its NATO bid. "From the very beginning, Ukraine's conditions – or perhaps more accurately, our ambition – was NATO membership. Some partners from the United States and Europe did not support this direction," he said in answer to questions from reporters in a WhatsApp chat on Sunday. Despite Ukraine publicly abandoning its NATO bid, the chance of it joining the alliance was vanishingly thin.

Please turn on JavaScript to use this featurePlease turn on JavaScript to use this featureRishi Sunak to face questions on economic impact of the Covid pandemicThe pandemic caused a severe recession, with a huge drop in GDP during the first national lockdown in 2020. As part of the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, known as furlough, the government subsidised the wages of employees hit by the pandemic as sectors – such as hospitality, nightclubs and the travel industry – closed down to prevent the virus from spreading. This massive level of state intervention covered about 11.7 million jobs between March 2020 and September 2021, at a cost of roughly £70bn. The Covid inquiry has previously heard that furlough is estimated to have directly preserved four million jobs across the UK workforce. The Treasury has estimated that total spending by the government across all its support measures amounted to £373bn.