MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Australians for the first time can reveal their sexual orientation and whether they identify as a different gender than the one recorded at birth — contentious debut questions in the latest census that occurs every five years.

The 66-question census, held on Tuesday, Aug. 11, is the first under a center-left Labor Party government since 2011. The current Labor government backflipped to allow the questions after having dropped them temporarily two years ago as “divisive.” Both questions are open to members of households 16 years and older.

The answer options for sexual orientation are straight, gay or lesbian, bisexual, don’t know, prefer not to answer or a term of the respondent’s choice that can be written in a designated blank space.

The options for the gender that the respondent currently identifies with that differs from that registered at birth are man, woman, nonbinary, prefer not to answer or another term that the respondent can provide.

The gender and sexual orientation questions are optional, along with a question on religion that has been included since the first census in 1911.

Labor had promised such questions about sexuality and gender would be included in the next census while campaigning ahead of the 2022 elections that brought the party to power after nine years out of government.

The Australian government determines the topics for each census. The Australian Bureau of Statistics decides the wording of questions.

In 2024, the government decided against deviating from the 2021 census questions in the interests of maintaining social cohesion.

“We do not want to open up divisive debates in the community now,” Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles said in August 2024.

The government soon relented after almost a week of backlash from LGBTQ+ advocates and criticism from some Labor lawmakers.

Two days after Marles spoke, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, a heterosexual who has marched in the annual Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras twice since he took office in 2022, confirmed in a radio interview that a question about sexual orientation would be included in the next census.

ABS Chief Statistician David Gruen said his bureau discovered a “substantial level of interest in asking questions on gender and sexual orientation” during public consultations ahead of the census.

Liz Allen, an Australian National University demographer, said Australia lagged behind some like-minded countries in dealing with gender and sexual orientation in the census. Britain asked similar questions of its population in 2021, New Zealand in 2023 and Canada three months ago.

“We’ve been talking about these questions for some time, but the previous government, it didn’t look like they were going to budge on the evidence and enable it to be in the census. So the ABS (Australian Bureau of Statistics) really didn’t put it to them,” Allen said.

Allen said the questions need to go further into the issues of sexuality and gender by asking respondents if they were intersex — a term for people born with biological sex characteristics such as chromosomes, hormones, or genitals that do not fit typical definitions of male or female.

The last U.S. census in 2020 allowed only two responses to its gender question: male or female. That census, which is held once a decade, did not specifically ask about sexual orientation. But same-sex relationships were for the first time allowed to be listed in the household relationship field.

People were asked to submit their census answers form as soon as they received their instructions in the mail if they knew where they would be on census night.

The ABS expects 85% of responses will be made online, up from almost 80% in 2021, when almost half the population was in pandemic lockdown. The ABS also provides paper census forms on request.

Field staff help homeless people and people living in remote areas participate. Failing to comply with a direction to complete the census can result in a fine of up to 364 Australian dollars ($257) a day.

The ABS said by Monday, more than 3.6 million forms had been submitted. Almost 11 million forms are expected to be completed.

Bryan Weir sadly passed away last week following a hard battle with cancer leaving behind his wife and son.

The family of a much-loved dad who tragically lost his life to brain cancer have pleaded with Hearts fans to hold a minute’s applause at Tynecastle in his honour. Bryan Weir sadly passed away on August 7 following a hard battle with cancer at the age of just 37.

The Jambos-daft Edinburgh native leaves behind son Alfie, three, wife Hannah, brother Mark and parents Kevin and Linda. The season ticket holder, who was described as a “warrior until the end,” travelled all across Europe to support the Gorgie side.

His loved ones have now urged fellow fans attending Thursday’s Europe League home qualifier with Benfica to take part in a minute’s applause on the 37th minute to celebrate his life. Bryan’s brother Mark, a former goalkeeper for Bonnyrigg Rose, is attending the game alongside his dad.

He believes Bryan and his late grandad, Alan Bryce, will be looking down on Tynecastle in a few days’ time. Mark told Edinburgh Live: “It was a tough year for Bryan fighting the brain tumour. Nothing prepares you for such a loss.

“It’s been a really sad, difficult time. The match will be overwhelming. A minute’s applause would mean so much.

“It will be emotional. Bryan and our grandad – who took us to our first Hearts game – will be watching over us. The response from all over the world – including from Hearts players – has been incredible.

“We just want to get this out there as much as we can, so Hearts supporters can pay tribute to one of their own. It will be a really fitting tribute to Bryan on Thursday, and hopefully they get a result for him as well.”

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Bryan fought cancer for just over a year but had been fit and healthy until his diagnosis, running after his son, going to matches every week and even attending away games to Rotterdam, Estonia and Florence. The former Corstorphine Primary and Craigmount High School pupil was a well known face around the amateur football scene, giving up his time to play, train and organise for multiple clubs.

His son Alfie is understood to be attending his first game at Tynecastle on Sunday when Hearts face Inverness in the Scottish League Cup. Bryan was also well known as the co-founder of the ‘Packers of Scotland’ Facebook page, where he passionately connected with fellow Cheese Heads.

His fellow co-founder described Bryan as “an absolute gem”. He said: “Bryan would do anything for anyone.

“He was a kind, loving and funny and adored his family. He put his heart and soul into the page and made it much more active and relevant than it ever was before.

“We had so much fun doing it. Bryan passed away after a long fight against brain cancer.

“He was an absolute warrior until the end… The strength you’ve all shown in the past 16 months has been nothing short of miraculous.

“I was lucky enough to call Bryan a friend and I’m all the better for having had him in my life.”

A fundraiser to help support Bryan and his family as well as to raise awareness of those suffering from brain cancer has so far raised £17,000. You can donate here.

Nigel Farage has said they are ‘directly linked’

Police are investigating whether the man charged with the murder of Ann Widdecombe could be linked to an alleged firebomb attack at Nigel Farage’s home.

Joshua Kerry, 28, has been charged with the murder of former Tory minister and Reform UK spokeswoman Ms Widdecombe at her home in Devon on July 8.

First reported by The Times, it has emerged that counter-terrorism police are now also investigating Kerry in relation to an incident at Mr Farage’s south London home last year.

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The Reform UK leader told the Telegraph in April that a lit incendiary device was shoved through his letterbox in early 2025 in an “outright arson attempt” when he was not in.

The Metropolitan Police and Counter Terrorism Policing (CTP) London said they investigated an “attempted burglary” but no arrests were made and the case was closed pending any new lines of inquiry.

After counter-terrorism police reopened the inquiry into the incident on Friday (August 7), CTP London has identified a line of inquiry “which may have been relevant” but was “not identified and pursued by them at the time”.

The police watchdog, the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), is investigating the “conduct” of a CTP London staff member after an allegation that the employee “failed to identify and pursue a line of inquiry”.

At a press conference earlier on Monday, Mr Farage said: “Clearly counter-terrorism made some mistakes, which is why they referred themselves to the Independent Office of Police (Conduct) (IOPC).

“I understand this is a completely unprecedented move, and yes, this is directly linked to the murder of Ann Widdecombe, and I’m afraid I just can’t tell you any more than that at this stage.

Jackie, the California bald eagle who became an internet sensation, died from illness on Monday, weeks after being injured in an attack by two other eagles, officials announced.

For more than a decade, nature lovers watched via an online video feed as Jackie and her partner Shadow tended to their nest each year atop trees near Big Bear Lake in the San Bernardino Mountains east of Los Angeles.

The nonprofit Friends of Big Bear Valley installed the nest camera in 2015 and documented the successes and failures of each breeding season. In 2024, Jackie diligently sat on her eggs for more than two and a half days straight after a winter storm blanketed the nest with snow.

The Los Angeles County Department of Parks and Recreation’s San Dimas Raptor Rescue team found Jackie on July 17 following reports that the bird had been involved in a fight with two other eagles and was found to be ill.

Jackie had been receiving medical treatment for three weeks at the Ojai Raptor Center, where she was treated for a variety of ailments including anemia. Despite undergoing a blood transfusion and oxygen therapy, her condition worsened and the center announced the animal’s death Monday.

“We know this news will be deeply felt by the many thousands of people around the world who have followed her journey, hoped alongside us, prayed for her, and supported the people caring for her,” the center’s statement said. “Our team is heartbroken. It has been an extraordinary privilege to care for her.”

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife is caring for the remains.

Among those who enjoyed monitoring Jackie’s nests from afar was biologist Kelly Sorenson, executive director of the Ventana Wildlife Society in central California. While his group was not involved with the Big Bear eagles, he sees their breeding as emblematic of the comeback the species has made in the state over the past decades.

American bald eagles teetered on the brink of extinction until the pesticide DDT was banned in the 1970s and other protections were established, leading the species to rebound and be removed from the federal endangered list.

“You want to see a success story like that,” Sorenson said Monday. “Having access to a live cam to see the nesting first hand is very powerful. It brings people in on an emotional level.”

The Associated Press contributed to this article.

“I could look down the road and see all the bright lights glittering and trying to encourage people to come in and spend their money. There was, however, one particular high street where I could not find a gambling shop. I walked up and down it on both sides. It is one of the wealthiest high streets in London, in Hampstead.”

He died from his injuries the day after the crash

A family has paid tribute to a “helpful, caring and loving young man” who died after a crash near Wisbech. Grant Pattenden, 29, of Castle Close, Weeting, Brandon, was riding east along the B1166 on Tuesday, August 4, when he left the road and crashed into a ditch.

Emergency services attended and Mr Pattenden was taken to Addenbrooke’s Hospital. He died from his injuries the following day.

His family have now paid tribute to Mr Pattenden. The family said: “Anyone who knew Grant knew a wonderful, polite, helpful, caring and loving young man who never knew his true worth. A bit of an adrenaline junkie, he loved to take on new experiences and wasn’t afraid to take a risk, but he was never irresponsible.

“He was meticulous in everything he did and was very conscientious and loyal. He was a deeply loved son, brother, uncle, boyfriend and friend who will be so very sadly missed. Taken away too soon.

“You will be forever in our hearts, always and forever!”

By RAKIB EHSAN FOR THE DAILY MAIL

Published: 23:00 BST, 10 August 2026 | Updated: 01:24 BST, 11 August 2026

We’ve become used to referring to the endless flow of illegal migrants arriving on our shores as the ‘small boats’ crisis.

But the truth is that, these days, they are anything but. One mega craft that made landfall in the early hours of yesterday was carrying no fewer than 230 people, the largest number to make the journey in a single vessel.

That’s the equivalent of more than 20 football teams. If they all lived in one place, we’d be forced to describe it as a village rather than a hamlet.

Andy Burnham may claim that Labour’s ‘plan’ to stop the boats is ‘working’, but if there was ever a symbol of the Government’s abject failure to get a grip on the migrant issue, this was it.

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Our new Prime Minister feels most content in the comfort zone of his ‘bring back hope’ campaign – propagating feel-good policies to address the cost of living, the health and social care crisis and devolution.

But the reality is that the small-boats crisis has been hugely disruptive of local civic life the length and breadth of the country.

The recent disturbances in the Norfolk town of Thetford are only the latest example of what happens when you put large numbers of usually single, young males from countries such as Afghanistan, Eritrea and Sudan, into areas which are ethnically, religiously and culturally homogenous.

Over the past few decades, East Anglian market towns such as Thetford have become popular with former Cockneys, who felt they had been pushed out of the East End. Now they find themselves in a situation in which their local services – from GPs’ surgeries and dentists to schools and hospitals – are increasingly over-stretched.

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The recent disturbances in Thetford, Norfolk, shows what happens when you put swathes of young males from countries such as Afghanistan and Sudan, into culturally homogenous areas

Residents now they find themselves in a situation in which their local services – from GPs’ surgeries and dentists to schools and hospitals – are increasingly over-stretched

And the demographic profile of the new arrivals – plus cultural attitudes towards women and gay people that can create tensions – all too often means law and order becomes an issue. None of this is conducive to a peaceful community life, something that is an important ingredient of a healthy standard of living.

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If Andy Burnham, a politician who constantly trumpets his aim of bringing growth to ‘every postcode’, truly understood this, he would do his utmost to get to grips with the ongoing small-boats emergency.

As previous work by the Policy Exchange think-tank has shown, illegal migrants are often housed in the country’s poorer areas.

Shifting illegal migrants from hotels to other forms of accommodation, such as former military bases and HMOs (Houses in Multiple Occupation), is akin to rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic.

The answer is to deter economic migrants from making the journey to Britain in the first place.

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Some claim that it’s possible to deter migrants without leaving the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) by cutting migrant benefits, deporting foreign criminals and forcing illegals to live in reception centres. Australia is a poster boy for this sort of hardheaded approach. Under its Operation Sovereign Borders policy launched in 2013, migrant boats were intercepted and either returned to where they had travelled from or their occupants taken to detention centres on islands such as Papua New Guinea off Australia’s northern coast or the Pacific island of Nauru.

Within a year, illegal immigration by boat had fallen to zero.

But the lesson of recent years is that attempts to introduce such measures in the UK are invariably thwarted by our brigades of human rights lawyers, who launch actions citing the rights granted to migrants by the European Convention on Human Rights.

The only effective answer is for us to leave the ECHR, end our self-defeating policy of offering legal aid to migrants and return them to their country of origin. As Australia has shown, the effect of such an approach can be almost immediate.

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The sad thing is that I don’t for one second think that Mr Burnham has the mettle to go down such a path.

Dr Rakib Ehsan is a researcher in immigration and asylum.

MAGA firebrand Rep. Lauren Boebert’s eldest son, Tyler, has been arrested on child exploitation charges.

The Colorado Republican’s 21-year-old son has faced public scrutiny for several years amid multiple run-ins with the law, including past allegations of child abuse relating to his young son.

On Sunday, the Garfield County Sheriff’s Office arrested Tyler, from New Castle, for sexual exploitation of a child and other charges. The sheriff’s office didn’t specify what the charges were related to in a Monday Facebook post, but said he made a $10,000 bond the day of his arrest.

“I love my son. We take these allegations very seriously and pray for everyone affected during this challenging time,” Boebert told The Independent in reaction to the new charges.

Tyler is the oldest of four sons that the Republican shares with ex-husband Jayson Boebert.

The new charges were first reported by the political watchdog group American Muckrakers.

Tyler was charged with sexual exploitation of a child, induce/entice; sexual exploitation of a child, possession with intent; sexual exploitation of a child, video and two counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor, multiple outlets reported, citing court records filed Thursday.

The alleged offenses began in January 2024, when Tyler was 18. His next court appearance is scheduled for August 19.

Tyler has already been accused of child abuse twice, once in July 2025 and again this past February.

On July 11, 2025, Tyler was cited by the Windsor Police Department on a misdemeanor charge of child abuse, Westword, a Denver-based independent news site, reported at the time.

Boebert told Westword that the citation stems from “a miscommunication on monitoring my young grandson that recently led to him getting out of our house.”

Tyler, whose son was born in June 2023, has been “doing a great job getting his life on track as a father and citizen over the past year,” the congresswoman said in her 2025 statement.

“As the citation states, there was absolutely no injury or physical abuse involved,” Boebert said, adding that Child Protective Services met with her family “to ensure we are continuing to provide a safe environment for my boys and my grandson.”

“I am confident this is a one-time incident that we have addressed as a family,” she added.

On February 15 this year, Tyler was cited on a misdemeanor charge of child abuse without injury again, 9News reported, citing Windsor Police.

Boebert told the local outlet at the time that Tyler was watching his son at her home while she was at an event in her district and the toddler got out of the house.

“A kind woman quickly and safely secured him, and authorities were called as a precaution,” Boebert said, adding that there’s “no excuse” for the incident and that she’s “very frustrated” it happened.

President Donald Trump appeared to zone out during an Oval Office announcement on vaccines, prompting a fresh round of mockery online.

On Monday, Trump signed an executive order that calls for reducing the number of vaccines recommended for children and splitting the MMR shot — which protects against measles, mumps and rubella — into three individual vaccines.

The order is the latest step in the administration’s campaign to remake the childhood vaccination schedule, led by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has long questioned vaccine safety.

During the ceremony, the 80-year-old president appeared to repeatedly close his eyes while seated behind the Resolute Desk — including as Kennedy and National Institutes of Health Director Jay Bhattacharya spoke beside him.

Videos of the moments quickly circulated on social media.

“I love how he pops out of it for a few seconds then closes his eyes again and he’s right back in dream land. This is getting ridiculous,” wrote one X user. Another chimed in: “Why doesn’t the assembled media speak out about this…they all see it.”

“What a loser,” a third user wrote. “After years of listening to those ‘sleepy joe’ comments…” The remark referred to Trump’s longtime nickname for former President Joe Biden, whom he repeatedly accused of being mentally and physically unfit for office.

Some commenters, however, were more supportive of the president. “In Trump’s defense, good Lord, the speaker is boring,” one wrote.

The White House defended Trump, saying: “President Trump’s sharpness, unmatched energy, and historic accessibility stand in stark contrast to what we saw during the last administration when Democrats and the legacy media intentionally covered up Joe Biden’s serious mental and physical decline from the American people. President Trump is the sharpest and most accessible President in American history who is working nonstop to solve problems and deliver on his promises.”

Trump, the oldest person ever inaugurated as president, has faced persistent scrutiny over his health since returning to the White House, including over moments during official events in which he has appeared to close his eyes for extended periods. One such moment came during Lindsey Graham’s funeral last month.

“The president has severe daytime somnolence,” CNN medical analyst Dr. Jonathan Reiner said in May. “He falls asleep very often. He’s fallen asleep in the Oval Office on multiple occasions with people talking to him, in the cabinet room,” he said. “And chronic insomnia is a severe illness. It can result in an increase in risk of dementia, a decrease in cognitive effects in older people.”

Trump, for his part, has repeatedly insisted that he is in excellent health. After a physical at Walter Reed in May, the president wrote on Truth Social that “everything” had “checked out PERFECTLY.”

In a YouGov survey conducted last year, 78 percent of respondents said they believed Trump had not been transparent about his physical health.

The Independent has contacted the White House for comment.

Nearly 50 indecent images of children were found on his phone

A paedophile who sent “sexual messages” to someone he thought was a teenage girl has been sent to prison. Michael Richardson, 49, starting messaging an undercover officer, believing he was communicating with a 12-year-old girl, on January 28.

He messaged the undercover officer on Kik, a social networking app. He sent sexual messages requesting that the girl he thought he was messaging touch herself inappropriately, as well as asking her to send a photo of herself so he could “make a video”, according to Cambridgeshire Police.

Richardson was arrested at his home in Money Bank, Wisbech, on March 28. Officers seized his phone, which was found to contain 48 indecent images of children.

On Monday, August 3, Richardson, was jailed, having pleaded guilty to three counts of making indecent images of children, attempting to cause/incite a girl under 13 to engage in sexual activity (penetration), attempted sexual communication with a child, and attempting to cause a child under 13 to watch/look at an image of sexual activity at Cambridge Crown Court.

Richardson was also handed an indefinite sexual harm prevention order and placed on the Sex Offenders Register indefinitely.

Detective Sergeant Julia Boon said: “Richardson is clearly a danger to children, so I’m pleased he’s been brought to justice and given a sentence that reflects the severity of his offences. We will continue to do everything we can to arrest those who abuse or intend to abuse vulnerable people and put them before the courts.”