Latest news with #TheDailyTelegraph
Sky News AU
12 hours ago
- Business
- Sky News AU
Australia's defence departments slammed as ‘too top heavy'
The Daily Telegraph's James Willis slams the Albanese Labor government's defence department for being too 'top heavy'. 'We need to blame large parts of the defence department who are far too top-heavy,' Mr Willis told Sky News host Sharri Markson. 'Spent a lot of money on bureaucracy and outsourcing.'
Sky News AU
15 hours ago
- Business
- Sky News AU
‘Please and thank you': Australians address AI with good manners
The Daily Telegraph's Tim Blair says Australians are saying 'please' and 'thank you' to artificial intelligence platforms like ChatGPT. 'With artificial intelligence, because it's, you know, it's part of your interwebs, and your computers and your modern society, every bit of input that you use through AI … has an energy cost,' Mr Blair told Sky News host Chris Kenny. 'Tens of millions of dollars apparently for all these various AI companies because people are saying or writing please and thank you AI, and good on you AI.'
Yahoo
a day ago
- General
- Yahoo
The Daily T: Why Labour can't be trusted to defend Britain
The Strategic Defence Review is out. Designed to be a root and branch look at all aspects of Britain's armed forces, and billed by Labour as a 'message to Moscow', the message no doubt reaching the Kremlin is – Keir Starmer doesn't have a clue what he's doing. First of all, the Prime Minister had an 'ambition' of raising defence spending to 3 per cent of GDP in the next parliament. Then Defence Secretary John Healey said last week that it was no longer an 'ambition' but 'a certainty'. Then when he did the broadcast rounds on Sunday he downgraded it back again to an 'ambition', which was echoed by Starmer in his press conference this morning. And with the authors of the review writing in The Daily Telegraph today saying that their recommendations were costed on the certainty of a 3 per cent spending boost, Camilla and Gordon explain why Labour can't be trusted to defend Britain, a point that's been brought into even sharper focus with a record 1200 small boat crossings on Saturday. Elsewhere, Chief Reporter Robert Mendick fills us in on the story of Hamit Coskun; the 50 year old Turkish asylum seeker who's been convicted of a public order offence after setting fire to a copy of the Koran. Watch episodes of the Daily T here. You can also listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
The Chagos Islands: Starmer's 'lousy deal'
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. "Keir Starmer has secured his legacy," said The Daily Telegraph: his "shameful surrender of the Chagos Islands will go down as this nation's foreign policy nadir". Last week, the PM signed a long-dreaded treaty that officially hands control of the Indian Ocean archipelago to Mauritius – effectively ceding a strategically vital territory that sits in an area of interest for China. To add insult to injury, once the treaty is ratified by MPs, we will pay Mauritius £101 million a year for the next 99 years to rent back a key UK-US military base on the largest island, Diego Garcia. "This lousy deal essentially amounts to a massive gift from British taxpayers to the Mauritian government," said Andrew Tettenborn in The Spectator. So why sign it? The answer, I'm afraid, "is legalism": the UN's top court had issued a non-binding ruling calling on the UK to give up control of Chagos – and the PM, ever the lawyer, eagerly bowed to international law. Perhaps he was hoping to set a "shining example" to other countries; instead, they will "regard us with contempt for being a pushover". The deal looks "odd" on the face of it, said James Landale on BBC News. But there were plenty of "practical" reasons to sign the treaty. Multiple UN bodies have ruled that the islands belong to Mauritius; had the UK continued to ignore those rulings, the operation of the base could have become "unworkable". Diego Garcia's satellite communications would have been threatened because the UK relies on a UN agency in Geneva to maintain access to a particular electromagnetic spectrum; aircraft might not be able to fly in or out, for fear of breaching international law. As for national security, said Sean O'Grady in The Independent, without this deal, Mauritius could have lawfully granted China permission to establish a military base on another of the islands, sparking a serious crisis. The deal specifically forbids it. This is all true in theory, said John Rentoul in the same paper. But in reality, Mauritius' claim to the islands was "weak" – Chagos has never been part of its territory – and UN courts have "no powers of enforcement". The base wasn't threatened in any meaningful way. And yet Starmer's government doubled down on a deal that will outrage the British public, given the nation's dire finances. I suspect the biggest driver of this decision was "postcolonial guilt", said Matthew Syed in The Sunday Times – that sense that, as a nation, we must self-flagellate to atone for the sins of the empire. But Starmer's conscience-cleansing comes at "extravagant expense" – and will help "no one but our rivals".
Perth Now
5 days ago
- Perth Now
Mourners farewell plumber killed in mistaken identity attack
Hundreds have gathered at a church in Punchbowl in Sydney's South West to pay their respects to John Versace, a young plumber shot dead on the doorstep of his parents' home in Sydney. The 23-year-old was killed at his family's Condell Park home on May 20, and many questions about his death remain unanswered. As reported by The Daily Telegraph, mourners filled the church on Friday, with many forced to stand in the courtyard while prayer hymns in English and Arabic played over loudspeakers before Mr Versace's hearse arrived. A procession of motorbikes, most riders dressed in white, could be heard from several streets away as they stopped outside the church entrance. In a eulogy, a man remembered Mr Versace as 'affectionate, protective and full of love,' saying he was 'raised with love' and good values. The man described him as 'cheeky,' but deeply devoted to his family. '(He) never walked past his mum without kissing and hugging her,' he said over the loudspeaker. Police say Mr Versace, who worked for his father's plumbing business, had no criminal links and only a minor traffic offence on his record. Moments after the shooting, his parents and older sisters rushed to his side, screaming for help. Mr Versace had just reversed his ute into the driveway of his Dalton Ave home shortly before 10.30pm when a masked gunman approached, carrying a small handgun. Superintendent Rodney Hart described the ambush as a 'brutal and violent execution style murder'. 'At very close proximity to the victim, he (the gunman) opened fire, we believe fired up to 10 bullets at the victim,' he said. 'We believe that the victim suffered at least four gunshot wounds. He slumped to the ground out the front of his home.' Mr Versace died at the scene despite efforts by paramedics to save him.
