Australian scientist who made global name during Covid wins top prime minister’s prize 03. November 2025 (15:00) Prof Lidia Morawska says recognition of her research comes at a fraught time – an ‘age of anti-science’Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastWhen the World Health Organization announced – incorrectly, as became apparent later – in March 2020 that the Covid-19 virus was not airborne, Prof Lidia Morawska knew she had to do something.A renowned expert in air quality and health, Morawska, of the Queensland University of Technology, began contacting international colleagues. She eventually gathered 239 scientists globally to highlight the risk of airborne transmission of Sars-CoV-2. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Nearly 90% of jobseekers unable to get long-term work despite millions spent on private job agencies 03. November 2025 (15:00) Employment department’s annual report shows just 11.7% of jobseekers ended up with jobs lasting at least 26 weeks last yearGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastAustralia’s private employment services are failing to get jobseekers into long-term work, despite costing taxpayers millions of dollars each year, department documents show.Just 11.7% of jobseekers in Australia found long-term employment through a job provider in the latest financial year, according to the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations’ annual report. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Top FDA official quits amid inquiry into ‘serious concerns’ over his conduct 03. November 2025 (14:33) Lawsuit claims George Tidmarsh, head of FDA drug center, waged personal vendetta against pharmaceutical executiveThe head of the US Food and Drug Administration’s drug center abruptly resigned on Sunday after federal officials began reviewing “serious concerns about his personal conduct”, according to a government spokesperson.Dr George Tidmarsh, who was named to the FDA post in July, was placed on leave on Friday after officials in the Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) office of general counsel were notified of the issues, the HHS press secretary, Emily Hilliard, said in an email. Tidmarsh then resigned on Sunday morning. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Farage accused of betraying pensioners but praised for ‘fiscal discipline’ after triple lock hint – politics live 03. November 2025 (14:11) Reform leader refuses to commit to keeping mechanism that guarantees how pensions are increasedFarage is speaking now. He says another “depressing budget hoves into view”. It will be a budget that “doesn’t have the guts to cut public spending”.He says Britain has been living under an illusion.I think for some years we’ve actually been living under an illusion. We’ve not been prepared to face up to just how much of an economic mess we genuinely in.As we slipped down the global league tables, we kid ourselves that it’s OK, we’ve got GDP growth. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
First Thing: Top 10 US billionaires’ wealth grew by $698bn in past year 03. November 2025 (14:08) Oxfam says Trump policies risk driving inequality to new heights while noting Democrats have also exacerbated wealth gap. Plus, why Salman Rushdie’s therapist has called him a ‘badass’Good morning.The collective wealth of the top 10 US billionaires has soared by $698bn in the past year, according to a report from Oxfam America on the growing wealth divide.How have Trump’s policies affected the figures? Donald Trump’s “one big, beautiful bill”, passed by Congress in May, has been one of the “single largest transfers of wealth upwards in decades”, according to the report, by cutting tax for the wealthy and corporations.How does it work? The system, which launched more than a year ago, rewards soldiers who achieve strikes with points that can be exchanged to buy more weapons in an “Amazon-for-war” online store called Brave1 filled with more than 100 different drones, autonomous vehicles and other drone war material. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Frankie the flamingo missing after escaping from wildlife sanctuary in Cornwall 03. November 2025 (13:35) Four-month-old bird managed to fly away from Paradise Park on Sunday despite having feathers clippedFrankie the flamingo may have been tickled pink when she escaped her wildlife sanctuary in Cornwall but her keepers are worried by her disappearance.The four-month-old female flamingo managed to take flight on Sunday, despite having her feathers clipped, from the walled garden at Paradise Park near Hayle. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Jaguar Land Rover restart helps UK factories return to growth 03. November 2025 (12:46) S&P Global purchasing managers’ index rises to one-year high amid pick-up in consumer spendingBusiness live – latest updatesUK factories staged a recovery in October after the reopening of Jaguar Land Rover operations and a pick-up in consumer spending, according to a closely watched survey of the manufacturing sector.The S&P Global purchasing managers’ index (PMI) rose to a one-year high as business optimism improved and factory output expanded. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Australians to get at least three hours a day of free solar power - even if they don’t have solar panels 03. November 2025 (12:30) Labor announces ‘solar sharer’ program for households in NSW, south-east Queensland and South AustraliaGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastAustralian households in three states will be promised access to at least three hours a day of free solar power, regardless of whether they have rooftop panels, the federal government has announced.The “solar sharer” offer will be available to homes with smart meters – which is the majority of homes – in New South Wales, south-east Queensland and South Australia from July next year, with other areas to potentially follow in 2027. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
At least 36,000 Sudanese have fled since fall of El Fasher to RSF, says UN agency 03. November 2025 (12:16) International Organization for Migration says refugees are heading to Tawila, which is already sheltering 652,000 displaced peopleMore than 36,000 people have fled Sudan’s Kordofan region east of Darfur since Saturday, the UN’s migration agency has said, a week after the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces took control of the city of El Fasher.The strategic central area between the country’s Darfur provinces and the Khartoum-Riverine region that includes the capital to the east, has in recent weeks become the latest battleground in the two-year civil war between the Sudanese armed forces (SAF) and the paramilitary group. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Disabled NT man died naked in cell wearing spit hood and cuffs, inquest told 03. November 2025 (11:46) Wayne Hunt was kept in detention after a seizure instead of being taken to hospital, coroner hearsGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastAn inmate who suffered a seizure was put in handcuffs and a spit hood by prison guards who left him naked in an “at-risk cell” before he died two days later.At an inquest into his death in Darwin on Monday, Northern Territory corrections and health departments apologised to the family of Wayne Hunt for the way he was treated and told the coroner, Elisabeth Armitage, that procedural changes would be made. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
