Marco Rubio pulls plug on traditional photo op at meeting of foreign ministers after about one-third of countries threaten boycott

The traditional “family photo” to open the G20 foreign ministers’ meeting has been abruptly cancelled in the US after a host of nations – including Australia and the UK – refused to appear beside the Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov.

The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, pulled the plug after several European officials, the UK and Australia made it known they would boycott or walk out of the snapshot that often kicks off such international gatherings.

Marco Rubio pulls plug on traditional photo op at meeting of foreign ministers after about one-third of countries threaten boycott

The traditional “family photo” to open the G20 foreign ministers’ meeting has been abruptly cancelled in the US after a host of nations – including Australia and the UK – refused to appear beside the Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov.

The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, pulled the plug after several European officials, the UK and Australia made it known they would boycott or walk out of the snapshot that often kicks off such international gatherings.

Rex Patrick’s latest transparency fight is over what he calls ‘most open secret in the history of Australian spying’ – maybe even the world

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A campaign to uncover any documents relating to whether Australian spies bugged Timor-Leste to gain the upper hand in sensitive oil and gas negotiations will be a little less secret after a critical win by the former senator Rex Patrick.

The politician turned transparency advocate is trying to finally lift the lid on the top-secret mission in 2004 that became a public scandal years later after an ex-spy and a former attorney general attempted to mount a case in The Hague.

Scraping copyrighted material from internet could ‘potentially’ amount to acquisition of property by government, Anne Twomey says

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Altering copyright law to allow AI companies to scrape music, books and journalism could trigger a constitutional breach, Coalition senators and the recording industry have warned, as they raise new fears it could open Australia to massive legal action and compensation claims from rights holders worldwide.

The attorney general’s department admitted it was “extremely alive” to the issue, and Australia’s leading constitutional expert, Anne Twomey, agreed there was “potentially” a concern – depending how legislation was drafted – that granting AI companies permission to scrape copyrighted material from the internet could amount to an acquisition of property by the government.

NSW police say charges include child rape and relate to 23 alleged victims aged between one and five at a Sydney childcare centre

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One of Australia’s most notorious paedophiles is facing hundreds more child abuse charges, including for the alleged rape of children as young as one.

Days after being extradited from Queensland to New South Wales, Ashley Paul Griffith was hit with 202 charges dating from between 2014 and 2017, with police labelling the allegations “deeply disturbing”.

Patterson watched on, clad in prison-issued blue, as Victoria’s highest court rejected her appeal against her murder convictions

• Erin Patterson to die in prison after losing bid to overturn mushroom murder convictions

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Erin Patterson raised her chin and stared out on the brilliant blue promise of a mid-spring morning.

To the east, Victoria’s grandest court room was filled with people she had brought together, yet she was there only on a screen.

The invasive species has increased in spread and numbers and is costing farmers millions of dollars

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An unpublished government report on feral deer shows Australia is failing in its efforts to stop the spread of what one advocate warns could become “Australia’s next feral pig”.

The five years from 2020-2025 over which the national feral deer action plan was assessed covers a period in which the famously elusive species has increasingly encroached upon major cities, leading to more frequent encounters – including a memorable occasion in which two men in various degrees of undress were fined after becoming lost in the bush when they were spooked by deer while nude sunbathing.

Former Bachelor star and wellness influencer stands accused of choking and assaulting wife at Noosa in Queensland

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Former Bachelor star Sam Wood will remain in custody while he awaits trial on domestic violence charges, after he was refused bail for a second time.

Wood, 46, from Melbourne, has been held in custody since his arrest on 4 October at Noosa.

On Friday supreme court justice Patrick McCafferty said Wood posed “an unacceptable risk” of further offending, meaning he will remain in the high-security Wolston correctional centre until his trial, which the court heard might not take place until 2028.

NSW police say charges include child rape and relate to 23 alleged victims aged between one and five at a Sydney childcare centre

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One of Australia’s most notorious paedophiles is facing hundreds more child abuse charges, including for the alleged rape of children as young as one.

Days after being extradited from Queensland to New South Wales, Ashley Paul Griffith was hit with 202 charges dating from between 2014 and 2017, with police labelling the allegations “deeply disturbing”.

Jillian Segal says perception of link between coverage of conflicts and hostility towards Jewish Australians ‘is itself a matter of public importance’

• George Newhouse: We must protect Jewish Australians without casting suspicion on legitimate concern for Palestinians

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The federal government’s antisemitism envoy has proposed an “external independent ombudsman” to monitor ABC and SBS coverage of the war in Gaza, and a requirement that all visa applicants be screened for “the risk of holding antisemitic views”.

In an updated plan released on Friday, Jillian Segal said Australia’s two public broadcasters should be subjected to greater oversight.

Research finds 55% of lawyers are using AI in legal practices, up from 37% last year, though efficiency gains aren’t as high as expected

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More than half of Victoria’s lawyers have reported using AI in their work, according to a new study, but just over a quarter say they have reduced fees as a result of efficiency gains.

They also say clients seeking advice from chatbots have added to their workload, forcing them to correct errors made by AI.

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• Erin Patterson loses appeal as harsher sentence imposed

Patterson showed no emotion on the video feed as McLeish outlined why her appeal had failed, and how the director of public prosecutions had succeeded in seeking a longer sentence.

Patterson’s actions mean it is ‘inappropriate’ to fix non-parole period, justice says

The applicant’s murderous intent dated back to the invitations to lunch, it persisted through the lunch that the poison was administered …

We have concluded that the case involved such calculated criminality that it is inappropriate to fix a non-parole period.

Sax Institute is recruiting for 18 and Up, an intergenerational study of wellbeing and ageing that follows its landmark 45 and Up study

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Researchers hope to better understand the drivers of major health challenges facing younger people, such as mental illness and rising cancer rates, through the recruitment of 100,000 people for Australia’s largest intergenerational study of wellbeing and ageing.

The independent and not-for-profit research institute the Sax Institute on Thursday launched the 18 and Up study, which will follow the health of those aged 18 to 45 throughout their lives.

Victorian court of appeal rules Patterson should be jailed for life with no parole over deadly beef wellington lunch that killed three people

• Erin Patterson mushroom murders appeal – live updates

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Erin Patterson has lost her bid to overturn her convictions and been resentenced to life behind bars with no chance of release, as Victoria’s highest court handed down its decision on two appeals regarding her triple murder case.

The court of appeal ruled on the two appeals on Friday, after justices Lesley Taylor, Stephen McLeish and Peter Kidd heard arguments from her legal team and prosecutors in August.

A once-confidential letter says child sexual abuser might implicate senior church officials if allowed near ‘the legal arena’ upon his release from jail

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Lawyers from a leading law firm for the Marist Brothers have been subpoenaed to explain a once-confidential document showing they advised the Catholic order to keep a serial offender out of “the legal arena”, suggesting he was too honest and might implicate senior church officials.

The offender was “regrettably up front” about his interactions with senior leadership, and could not be trusted to heed “suggestions” about “not dumping on others excessively”, the document says.

‘Miracle’ cache of letters written by French scientist who died in ill-fated La Pérouse mission give personal account of 1785 voyage

As he prepared to climb the scaffolding to be publicly executed by guillotine on 21 January 1793, Louis XVI is reported to have asked: “Is there news of Monsieur de la Pérouse?”

He was referring to Jean-François de Galaup, the count of Pérouse, a naval officer and navigator whom the French king had dispatched in 1785 on a round-the-world scientific mission to rival discoveries made by the English explorer Captain James Cook.

Pauline Hanson says Anthony Albanese made ‘unsolicited’ offer of adviser with $200,000 salary to one of her MPs

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The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, offered the One Nation MP David Farley an additional staff member in what the party has called an “unsolicited” move, made in an attempt to win over the new politician using taxpayer funds.

In a statement posted on social media, Pauline Hanson claimed the move, which would cost taxpayers as much as $200,000 in additional salary, was an attempt to “exert undue political influence” over politicians.

Prime minister vows not to slash health and education funding amid political problem over handling of economy

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Anthony Albanese has ruled out major cuts to health, education and essential services in December’s mid-year budget update, but conceded savings are required as Labor struggles to curb accelerating inflation.

Amid growing pressure from within Labor’s own ranks, as well as from the opposition and business, Albanese said the Coalition was hypocritical in not supporting existing savings proposals, including the government’s plan to reduce the private health insurance rebate for people over 65.

Richard Norton, 75, went into cardiac arrest in March 2025 after injecting prescribed but unapproved CJC1295 and ipamorelin

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The death of an Australian actor after injecting unapproved peptides could result in tougher restrictions on the substances.

Richard Norton, 75, an experienced film industry fight choreographer, stuntman and martial artist, went into cardiac arrest in March 2025 after injecting a prescribed but unapproved peptide.

Vana-Reese Schuster-Togiatau was injured during the shooting outside Fitzy’s Loganholme pub on Saturday

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Potential gang involvement in the fatal drive-by shooting of a 19-year-old woman is being investigated by Queensland police.

Vana-Reese Schuster-Togiatau, from Jimboomba, was hit in the head and neck when masked gunmen opened fire into a crowd outside Fitzy’s Loganholme, a pub in Logan, south of Brisbane, on Saturday night.