TRANSCRIPT:
- Thousands line up for community Christmas lunches around the country;
- A car burned in a suspected antisemitic arson attack in Melbourne;
- 129 boats preparing for this year's Sydney to Hobart yacht race.
Thousands have packed into a Sydney church for Australia's biggest Christmas lunch.
The Bill Crews Foundation Christmas lunch began in 1989 with the Reverend sharing sandwiches with rough sleepers, and has now become a major community operation involving hundreds of volunteers, traffic controllers, kitchen staff and supporters to offer not just food but companionship.
There's also been a record number of people at the Salvation Army Christmas lunch in Melbourne.
Major General Brendan Nottle says 700 people showed up.
"I think it's a really clear indication that cost of living pressures are biting really hard. But they are biting people right across the community as well."
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The Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and New South Wales Premier Chris Minns are among the senior leaders to make an appearance at the Bill Crews lunch in Sydney.
The Reverend Crews says that most of the people who come to the Ashfield site have dislocated families and lives - and the presence of senior politicians is meaningful.
University of Sydney associate professor Dr Michelle Lim - who is also the CEO of the group Ending Loneliness Together - says there's a loneliness crisis in Australia that can be exacerbated over the Christmas period.
"So many Australians also do not have close family and friends around to share this festive season with. And in particular, many people as well who might say that they're single or perhaps that they're living away from their community - or they have family that lives overseas - often talk about how Christmas or holiday periods can be particularly isolating for them."
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A Melbourne rabbi and his young family have been forced to flee their home after an early morning arson attack.
Their silver sedan that had a Happy Hanukah sign on its roof was set alight in St Kilda East.
It had been parked in the driveway of the rabbi's home.
Chief of the Anti-Defamation Commission Doctor Dvir Abramovich says this latest attack shows antisemitism is out of control.
"This, of course, comes after the massacre in Bondi of 15 people and unless every single government, state and federal, takes this existential threat to Jews seriously, what we saw in Bondi was just a rehearsal. We may see it in Melbourne. Here we go, another day, another antisemitic attack."
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The European Union, France and Germany have condemned visa bans imposed on five Europeans by the United States.
The banned group includes French former EU commissioner Thierry Breton.
Breton was the former top tech regulator at the European Commission, and often clashed with tycoons including Elon Musk over their obligations to follow EU rules.
Officials in Brussels say the EU could "respond swiftly and decisively" against what they have described as unjustified measures.
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A lawyer representing Jeffrey Epstein victims says Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor needs to talk to US authorities, following the latest release of Epstein files that contained several references to him.
Lawyer Gloria Allred says Andrew's silence has been deafening.
"Why would he be unwilling to help them to achieve their goal of truth and transparency? The silence from Andrew is deafening and I really feel it's inexcusable for a former member of royalty.'
The Department of Justice says it has found more than a million more documents potentially tied to the convicted sex offender - which has delayed a full release for weeks while officials redact details to protect victims.
President Donald Trump's administration began releasing files related to criminal investigations of Epstein, the late American financier who was friends with Trump in the 1990s, to comply with a law passed by Congress in November.
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Former Labor senator for South Australia Nick Bolkus has died at the age of 75.
First elected in 1980, he was one of the longest-serving senators and served as a minister in the Hawke and Keating governments.
He served as minister for immigration and ethnic affairs and is being remembered for his contribution to multiculturalism.
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To sport,
LawConnect will be chasing a third consecutive line honours title when the Sydney to Hobart yacht race launches from tomorrow morning.
Sailors are preparing for rough conditions on the first night with strong southerly winds and large swells forecast.
There'll be 129 boats lining up for this year's event, with six 100 foot supermaxis in the fleet, along with 16 international entrants.
Among them will be Ron Epstein from San Franscisco, who was forced to pull out of last year's event when a boom broke before he could reach the finish line.
"And after going home and thinking about it - much to my wife's dismay - I decided to do this again... While it may be something that a lot of sailors here in Sydney and Australia in general, and New Zealand, get to do on a regular basis, in America this is considered one of the very heights of sailing accomplishment, is to finish the Sydney to Hobart race. And we think we have a shot to do well. So this could be quite an exciting lifetime opportunity for an American sailor."
