The Spectator Australia Podcast host Will Kingston says “legitimate discussions” about the “problems” surrounding the Islamic religion must be had after Pope Francis failed to call out Islamic Jihadis for the murder of 140 Nigerian Christians. Pope Francis has used an end-of-year speech to talk about Nigerian Christians killed at Christmas. However, the 140 Nigerian Christians were murdered by Islamic Jihadis. According to Nigerian human rights watchdog Intersociety, 52,000 Christians have been butchered or hacked to death for being Christians in Nigeria since 2009. “It’s cowardice in two forms: it’s cowardice in response to the threat of physical harm … but it’s also cowardice for being afraid to be called a racist,” Mr Kingston told Sky News host James Macpherson. “We need to separate in Australia and abroad legitimate discussions about culture and religion with racism. “It is not racist to call out many of the problems that surround the Islamic religion and Islamic culture [and] we need to be brave to have those open conversations.”

India has successfully launched its first satellite to study black holes and other celestial objects. This is a bid by the country to deepen its presence in space ahead of an ambitious crewed mission next year. It was launched on Monday and is only the second mission of this nature after NASA launched one in 2021. The Indian space agency says it wants to help improve knowledge of black holes. A black hole is a region in space where matter has collapsed in on itself.

US universities are “overrun” with woke censorship, the Chief Political Reporter of Spiked Online Brendan O’Neill has argued. Mr O’Neill’s comments come as Harvard University’s president Claudine Gay stepped down over plagiarism accusations and criticism over testimony at a congressional hearing. In the hearing, Ms Gay was unable to say unequivocally that calls on campus for the genocide of Jews would violate the school's conduct policy. “Universities in America are overrun with woke censorship,” Mr O’Neill told Sky News Australia Senior Reporter Caroline Marcus while discussing Ms Gay’s comments at the hearing. “If you call a trans woman a man, you’ll be cancelled; if you criticise any matter of the Black Lives Matter ideology, you’ll be cancelled. “Yet if you call for the destruction of every Jewish person on earth, apparently that’s a free speech issue - that’s something you’re allowed to do. “Once again, we see the staggering double standards of the so-called moral left.”

Shadow Home Affairs Minister James Paterson says Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has become “so out of touch” since he was elected and has been “distracted” on cost of living relief for Australians. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese gave his first press conference of the year on Wednesday morning, vowing to make cost of living relief his government’s priority in 2024. “It’s only taken the Prime Minister nearly two years to work out that the number one priority for the Australian people is cost of living,” Mr Paterson told Sky News Senior Reporter Caroline Marcus. “All he’s doing is asking the Department of Treasury and the Department of Finance to come up with some ideas for cost of living. “He doesn’t have any ideas of his own; he’s not ready to introduce any schemes to alleviate the financial pressure that Australians are under – he just thinks they should continue to suffer before he comes up with a plan to deal with it. “This just shows how distracted this government has been, how its priorities are wrong and how the prime minister, in particular, has become just so out of touch since he got elected.”

Deniers and “apologists” have been undeterred by incontrovertible evidence of sexual violence by Hamas on October 7, Sky News Senior Reporter Caroline Marcus says. “About the groundbreaking New York Times investigation that revealed new details about mass rapes and mutilation of women and girls, that took place in Israel during the massacre on October 7,” Ms Marcus said. “The two-month investigation involved speaking to more than 150 people including eye witnesses, first responders and rape counsellors. “I speculated then that the usual deniers and apologists, who parade as activists these days and feminists would not be deterred by yet more incontrovertible evidence of sexual violence. “Annoyingly, that prediction would prove to be true.”

A Jewish community head member calls for Qantas to sack staff involved in a recent flight who wore badges with the Palestinian flag, Sky News Senior Reporter Caroline Marcus says. “Qantas is counselling cabin crew who were onboard a flight from Melbourne, who served passengers while wearing badges of the Palestinian flag,” Ms Marcus said. “One passenger – told me all the staff he saw onboard the QantasLink flight to Hobart on December 20 were wearing the badges. “The young man – who is not Jewish – says he felt intimidated by the stunt, given the extremism and aggressiveness of some pro-Palestinian protesters in recent months. “The incident has led to the head of one Jewish community group calling for all staff involved to be sacked.”

Shadow Treasurer Angus Taylor says Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has been “distracted” as his focus has been away from the cost of living crisis. “He hasn’t been taking this seriously – he's been asleep at the wheel,” he told Sky News Australia. Mr Taylor said taking pressure off inflation is the answer to a cost of living crisis – which Australia is currently facing. “But this is not a prime minister who’s been interested in that or focused on it,” he said. “He’s been distracted. He’s been asleep at the wheel. “This Prime Minister has failed.”

Storm Henk is the latest extreme weather system to hit southern UK. It comes after a new study confirmed 2023 was the United Kingdom’s second-hottest year on record. The first named storm of the year, Henk, brought gusts of up to 100 miles an hour. The storm has destroyed scaffolding, torn down trees and caused train delays. The developing El Nino in the Pacific means that 2024 is expected to be even warmer.

The New South Wales Police Force is saving millions of dollars in wages as officers quit without being replaced. The force's annual report shows staff turnover more than doubled last year as more than 1300 cops quit or retired. There were just under 1,000 new recruits in 2023, saving the police force more than $35 million. With staff shortfalls across many commands, the state government says it's looking to combat the declining numbers of officers. The first initiative, announced in October last year, sees recruits paid $30,000 for their 16 weeks of training at the Goulburn Police Academy. The report also shows community confidence in NSW Police has dropped as crime has increased across the board.

Shadow Treasurer Angus Taylor says Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has been “asleep at the wheel” when it comes to the cost of living. “He hasn’t been taking this seriously – he's been asleep at the wheel,” he told Sky News Australia. “He’s been focused on other issues. “He lacks any credibility saying that he’s going to solve this problem now.” Mr Taylor’s remarks come Mr Albanese indicated there will be more cost of living support in the May budget as Australians continue to grapple with soaring interest rates and inflation.

Shadow Treasurer Angus Taylor says in area after area, the Albanese government has “made a bad situation worse”. Mr Taylor’s remarks come after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese indicated there will be more cost of living support in the May budget as Australians continue to grapple with soaring interest rates and inflation. “Australians have been waiting 18 months for the Prime Minister to take this seriously,” Mr Taylor told Sky News Australia. “And now he’s saying he might do something ... it’s not good enough. “What they should be doing – and should have been doing for the last 18 months – is taking pressure off inflation.”

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre has stated that ‘Bidenomics’ needs more time to take effect. Jean-Pierre believes that due to the pandemic, many voters are moving away from the Democratic Party and President Joe Biden. Recent polls have shown support is dropping among young voters, with many opting for former president Donald Trump. The Press Secretary also stated that ‘Bidenomics’ has helped out the Black and Latino communities, yet despite this, they’re also losing voters from those communities as well. The ‘Bidenomics’ term has grown unpopular among Democratic voters, leading some supporters to distance themselves from the party. A Democratic Strategist spoke to NBC News in November about the term and referred to it as a terrible messaging tactic. “Whoever came up with the slogan Bidenomics should be fired. It’s probably the worst messaging you could ever imagine,” he said.

New data shows thousands of Australians have ditched the NBN following recent price hikes approved by the federal government. According to the NBN’s own data, connections to existing properties fell by more than 30,000 in 2023, marking the first time the service has ever lost customers in that category. The NBN’s satellite business also lost 12 per cent of its customer base last year. It comes after retailers were given the green light to increase prices by up to 10 per cent. NBN customers can expect another price increase in July.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says the government is aiming for Australia’s position to be “strengthened” with other countries. Mr Albanese went on to say the government will be focused on building Australia’s relationship with ASEAN and our Pacific neighbours. “But also of course the enhancements that we’re making to improve our trade relationships including the removal of any impediments to trade with China,” he said during a press conference on Wednesday. “We know that those impediments led to some $20 billion reduction in our trade. “We’ve seen that step up and we’ll see further advances in that this year.”

A woman has died in a rip off the New South Wales North Coast. The woman was swimming alongside two children when all three were pulled into the rip. The 50-year-old was swimming in Park Beach near Coffs Harbour with her family on Tuesday night. Only the two children, a little boy and a girl, were able to be rescued. The woman was found unresponsive in the water and unable to be saved.

The McGrath Foundation celebrates its 16th annual Pink Test, a woman has drowned in the NSW north coast, Melissa Hoskins' family speaks out about her death, Donald Trump appeals Maine ballot removal, Harvard President Claudine Gay resigns over criticisms of anti-Semitism, and Mickey Mouse horror films are set to be released following an end to a 95 year long copyright claim. See omnystudio.com/listener (https://omnystudio.com/listener) for privacy information.

Women's World Cup star Jennifer Hermoso has testified the kiss with former Spanish football boss Luis Rubiales was at no point consensual. Mr Rubiales was congratulating his players on a successful Women's World Cup championship in Sydney when he publicly kissed Ms Hermoso in front of 75,000 fans. Ms Hermoso gave her version of the kiss to a Madrid court. Mr Rubiales' conduct was called into question immediately after the incident and, as other misdemeanours resurfaced, was told he should resign as head of women's football in Spain. The investigations against the former Spanish football boss now include sexual assault, which carries a prison sentence if found guilty. Mr Rubiales has denied the allegations.

Japan has dispatched its military to help in the disaster zone, with around 1000 soldiers on the ground. A series of powerful earthquakes hit the west of Japan, killing at least 55 people. Homes and vehicles have been damaged – water, power and mobile phone services are still down in many parts. People remain trapped and hundreds of homes have been destroyed in the country's northwest. Emergency supplies are being provided to residents who have been forced to evacuate.

At least 7,000 people are still without power in South-East Queensland as devastated families begin the cleanup from extreme weather which saw an entire summer's worth of rainfall in some regions since Christmas. An easing in the rainfall should see floodwaters start to steady and recede from Wednesday. 50 Australian Defence Force members have green-lit to assist with the recovery effort and will have their boots on the ground by Thursday. On Tuesday, 88 SES Victoria and 42 SES New South Wales joined 170 members of Queensland's SES in disaster recovery. 700 Energex crew members are working out in the field to restore power by Friday. But residents are skeptical power will be restored before the weekend.

At least 55 people have now been confirmed dead after a 7.6 magnitude earthquake devastated large parts of Japan on New Year's Day. People remain trapped and hundreds of homes have been destroyed in the country's northwest. Around 1,000 members of Japan's defence forces have been mobilised to assist with search and rescue efforts. Emergency supplies are being provided to residents who have been forced to evacuate. Tsunami warnings along the Sea of Japan have been lifted – but warnings of further tremors remain.