In this bulletin;
- The PM orders urgent review of intelligence and law enforcement agencies after Bondi terror attack;
- At least 13 people have died after a train derailment in southern Mexico;
- And in cricket, MCG admits pitch error after Test ends in two days.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is ordering an urgent review of Australia’s intelligence and law enforcement agencies following the Bondi terror attack.
The independent inquiry will aim to identify any gaps in agency performance or information sharing, with the review due before April 2026.
Mr Albanese says the government must ensure national security powers remain adequate to prevent future attacks.
“Mr Richardson will assess whether Commonwealth agencies performed to maximum effectiveness and what they knew about the alleged offenders before the attack."
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Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum says at least 13 people have died in a train derailment in southern Mexico.
President Sheinbaum says 98 others were also injured, five of them seriously, in the accident which halted traffic along a rail line connecting the Pacific Ocean with the Gulf of Mexico.
The Interoceanic Train, reportedly carrying 241 passengers and nine crew members, derailed as it passed a curve near the town of Nizanda.
One passenger, Rosa Ramirez, says the accident happened so quickly.
"We didn't even know what happened, we were suddenly under the train."
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The Australian National Imams Council have released a statement expressing concern over an alarming rise in Islamophobia following the Bondi terror attack.
The statement by the council says in the past week, Muslim Australians have experienced a marked escalation in hostility, with an almost 200 per cent increase in reported anti-Muslim hate incidents according to their Action Against Islamophobia [[A-A-I]] initiative.
There have been incidents such as hateful graffiti being sprayed on the Islamic College of Melbourne, dismembered pigs thrown onto graves at a Muslim cemetery in south-west Sydney, and Muslim women being spat at, abused and threatened in Perth.
The council are calling for a rejection of all forms of racism and describe the blaming of Muslim communities as "unacceptable and dangerous".
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French film icon and animal rights activist Brigitte Bardot has died at the age of 91.
Bardot died on Sunday 28 December]] at her home in southern France, according to Bruno Jacquelin of the Brigitte Bardot Foundation.
No cause of death was given, and no funeral arrangements have been announced.
She had been hospitalised last month.
Bardot rose to global fame as a teenager in the 1956 film And God Created Woman, directed by her then husband Roger Vadim, becoming one of the defining screen sirens of the 20th century.
In later life, she withdrew from acting to focus on animal rights activism, while also courting controversy for her far-right views.
French President Emmanuel Macron posted this tribute on social media.
“Her films, her voice, her dazzling fame, her initials, her sorrows, her generous passion for animals, her face that became Marianne—Brigitte Bardot embodied a life of freedom. A French existence, a universal radiance. She touched us. We mourn a legend of the century.”
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MCG staff admit they made an error in preparing a pitch that favoured the bowlers too heavily in the rapid-fire Boxing Day Test, but the stadium's chief executive is standing by the decision.
Cricket Australia is bracing for a heavy financial loss after England won the Boxing Day Test inside two days, only a month after the Ashes opener in Perth also ended with three days to spare.
It is the first time the same series has had multiple two-day Tests in 129 years.
Millions of dollars in refunds will be handed to patrons who had purchased tickets for day three, which had been sold out and could have attracted a third successive crowd of more than 90,000.
MCG curator Matt Page left 10 mm of grass on the pitch, up from 7 mm last year when Australia famously beat India late on day five.
