WestConnex contractors have demanded another $700 million to finish the second stage of the controversial project, leaked letters show. The NSW opposition released the confidential letters on Thursday to reveal the new M5 could also be one year behind schedule. The letters, seen by The New Daily, reveal CPB Dragados Samsung Joint Venture demanded an extra $625 million in “contractor delay …

Malcolm Turnbull has savaged Labor’s pledge to end live sheep exports, declaring it a reckless and emotional decision with no scientific basis. The prime minister said the policy was a repeat of the Gillard government’s 2011 suspension on live exports which caused diplomatic tensions with Indonesia and economic damage to farmers. “We are not going to be making emotional and …

Victoria’s gambling regulator has been criticised for failing to hand down a harsher punishment to Crown after it was found to have tampered with poker machines to boost profits at its Melbourne casino. Crown was fined $300,000 by the Victorian Commission for Gambling and Liquor Regulation (VCGLR) for disabling certain buttons on 17 of its 2628 poker machines so punters …

Russia ran an information warfare campaign to disrupt the 2016 election, but there is no evidence that President Donald Trump’s campaign colluded with Moscow, Republicans on a congressional panel say in a newly-released report. The findings of majority Republicans on the US House of Representatives Intelligence Committee were immediately challenged by minority Democrats following a year of rancorous disputes on …

Julie Bishop and Malcolm Turnbull praise Donald Trump for Korea talks The Turnbull Government is offering “credit” to US president Donald Trump for his hand in Friday’s historic meeting between the leaders of North and South Korea. North Korea’s Kim Jong-un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in shook hands in a pact for “complete denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula” at …

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull is angry over royal commission revelations and wants bankers and financial advisers to be forced to give plain language advice to their customers and have their conversations recorded. “Banks and financial advisers have a solemn duty to put the interests of their clients and customers first,” Turnbull said in Sydney on Saturday. Over the past two …

Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova affirmed that there are new compelling proofs that the alleged chemical attack in the city of Douma is nothing but a play and a serious media provocation. In a press conference on Thursday, Zakharova said that there is increasing new proofs “floating on the surface gradually” proving that no chemical attack had occurred in …

Miguel Díaz-Canel has been sworn in as Cuba’s new president, replacing Raúl Castro who took over from his ailing brother Fidel in 2006. It is the first time since the revolution in 1959 that a Castro is not at the helm of the government. Mr Díaz-Canel had been serving as first vice-president for the past five years. Even though Mr …

Australia’s largest lender collected fees from customers it knew had died, a major inquiry has heard. Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) told a public hearing that some of its financial planners had billed services to deceased clients. In one case, an adviser collected fees from a former client for more than a decade. Australia is holding a royal commission – …

Perhaps the most surprising news surrounding the US, British and French strike on Syria Saturday morning was the report that the country’s Air Defense Force managed to shoot down just shy of 70% of the Western cruise missiles launched. Sputnik looks at how the Syrians managed to do it. The Western attack, executed this morning at 4:00 am Syrian time …