A landmark legal ruling that set out the duty of care New South Wales police owe people attending protests has been overturned on appeal, stripping an Invasion Day marcher of an $800,000 compensation claim and forcing her to repay $103,00 in legal costs. The NSW court of appeal handed down the decision shortly before Christmas,…

Almost £100m has been spent over the past decade on repairs for eight of the largest publicly owned ferries in Scotland. The figure has been described as “eye-watering” by Sue Webber, transport spokesperson for the Scottish Conservatives, who obtained details of the repair bill from ferry operator CalMac. The disclosure will add to the controversy…

Winds from the Southern Ocean will bring relief on Monday to parts of south-eastern Australia sweltering through a three-day heatwave. A heatwave warning for South Australia, New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania was issued by the Bureau of Meteorology for the weekend as temperatures were expected to spike in some parts to 40C. Temperatures in…

Fire crews remain at the scene of a blaze that destroyed a Melbourne mattress store, with investigations likely to continue well into Sunday night after the fire was deemed a suspected arson attack. Emergency crews responded to several calls about a two-storey building on fire at Nunawading in the city’s east about 2.20am on Sunday.…

Thousands of rival South Korean protesters have rallied in the capital a day after a failed attempt to arrest the country’s suspended president, Yoon Suk Yeol, for imposing a short-lived martial law decree that led to his impeachment. The country has been plunged into political chaos since last month, with Yoon defiantly holed up in…

A Japanese woman who was the world’s oldest living person has died at the age of 116. Tomiko Itooka, who was awarded the Guinness World Record status last year, died on 29 December at a care home in Ashiya, Hyogo prefecture in central Japan. Itooka, who had previously spoken of her love of bananas and…

At least eight people have died and 15 are injured after a fire broke out at a food market in northern China, according to state media. The fire at the Liguang market in the city of Zhangjiakou broke out at midday on Saturday and had been mostly extinguished two hours later, the Xinhua news agency…

Syria’s main airport in Damascus is to resume international flights after commercial trips were halted following the overthrow of President Bashar al-Assad. “We announce we will start receiving international flights to and from Damascus international airport from [Tuesday],” the state news agency Sana reported, quoting Ashhad al-Salibi, the head of the General Authority of Civil…