THE British woman facing 60 years in jail in America for allegedly trafficking £15m of cocaine in her holiday suitcases protested her innocence today as she appeared in court. Kim Hall, 28, is accused of possessing 43kg of the Class A drug as she made her way home from a week-long break in Mexico. A judge told her that the investigation was ongoing as he adjourned the case.

Pauline Hanson has hit back at a male critic who told her to ‘toughen up’ – as she surpasses $500,000 in donations for a legal appeal over her ‘p*** off back to Pakistan’ comment. Earlier this month the One Nation leader lost a defamation case brought by Greens Senator Mehreen Faruqi. A judge found she had racially vilified Ms Faruqi when she told her to ‘p*** off back to Pakistan’ in a tweet.

President-elect Donald Trump named controversial Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz as his nominee for Attorney General in a move that is bound to outrage Democrats and even shock many Republicans in Washington. Gaetz is a MAGA firebrand who has taken aim at both GOP House members and Democrats alike as he has remained a close ally of Trump. While Trump appears to be valuing staunch loyalty as a prerequisite for his choices to key posts over standard qualifications, the choice of Gaetz as the top law enforcement official in the land left many scratching their heads – if not scraping their jaws off the floor.

A MUM who allegedly stabbed her three children to death before fleeing in the French Alps has been found dead in Switzerland. French cops launched a massive manhunt after Deborah Pel, 45, fled the small town of Taninges leaving a note behind. The bodies of the two boys aged two and 11, and a 13-year-old girl were found at the family home near the Swiss border on Tuesday.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was asked Tuesday if President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris’ post-election lunch at the White House was ‘awkward.’ Harris returned to the White House complex Tuesday for the first time since her bruising election loss a week ago to former President Donald Trump. Aides stood on the Eisenhower Executive Office Building’s steps to catch a glimpse of the now former Democratic nominee, who told them to keep the faith before she walked over for her lunch with Biden.

Rachel Reeves will today unveil a major pensions shake-up designed to unlock up to £80 billion of investment in British infrastructure and business. In her Mansion House speech tonight, the Chancellor will confirm she is pressing ahead with plans to merge pension schemes to create new ‘megafunds’ capable of investing in major infrastructure projects and emerging industries. Ms Reeves will argue that the move could unlock a wave of private sector investment that will boost her anaemic growth forecasts and ultimately provide better returns for pensioners.

Energy Secretary Ed Miliband has spoke of his hope to establish ‘common ground’ with Donald Trump on the climate issue. The US president-elect has repeatedly referred to climate change as a ‘hoax’ and has also vowed to pull the US out of the Paris Agreement, which commits it to cutting greenhouse emissions as part of the effort to curb global warming. Speaking about the move towards clean energy, Mr Miliband said: ‘What I think is so striking about what’s happening – whether you talk to businesses or talk to other countries – people are getting on with the transition.

A health warning will be printed on every cigarette sold in Australia under strict new laws aimed at stamping out smoking. Under the tobacco regulations, warning messages including ‘poison in every puff’, ‘damages your lungs’, ’causes 16 cancers’, ‘shortens your life’ and ‘toxic addiction’ must be printed on every cigarette by April 2025. ‘We will be one of the first countries in the world to include this new public health measure, again seeking to educate but also dissuade smokers from using this deadly product,’ said health minister Mark Butler when he announced the legislation last year.

Until the day he died in 1995, if you asked my father who he voted for in any presidential election he said ‘Roosevelt.’ It was gospel in our house that Democrats were the party of the people and Republicans were the economic royalists. That was then, and this is now. The majority of Americans don’t necessarily see it that way anymore.