CANBERRA: Former National Party deputy prime minister, Barnaby Joyce, has refused to comment on reports he plans to leave the party he once led and join One Nation.

Before evading questions at a news conference he called, Mr Joyce (main picture) announced to reporters that he had officially changed his name by deed poll from Barnaby Thomas Gerard Joyce to Paul Ian Hans Sun Joyce.

“Nobody should read anything into that,” he said in an uncharacteristically wavering voice.

The news conference ended soon after it started when reporters became frustrated at the usually loquacious Mr Joyce’s insistence on answering all of their questions with “Please explain” while himself refusing to explain an apparent personal image makeover.

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SYDNEY: The Australian newspaper says it will not comment on the reasons it initially agreed to the anti-democratic, authoritarian, far-right wing conditions the Trump administration is seeking to impose on news outlets covering US defence issues at the Pentagon in Washington DC.

While dozens of US-based and foreign news organisations and individual journalists immediately refused to sign up to the heavy-handed conditions when they were announced by US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, The Australian found no problem signing them but later reversed its position when its decision was exposed.

“Our decision not to explain how this reversal came about is perfectly in line with our longstanding Your Right to No campaign,” The Australian‘s editor-in-chief Michelle Gunn said.

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LONDON: Prince Andrew remains trapped in Buckingham Palace at a rear staff entrance after relinquishing all of his remaining royal titles and honours.

A Palace spokesperson confirmed that Prince Andrew had been stuck for several hours in the foyer of the staff quarters at the back of the royal residence in central London after his meeting with his brother King Charles III at which he quit all royal posts. (below)

“There is a simple explanation,” the spokesperson said. “Prince Andrew is now essentially a commoner so he now needs to undertake for himself some of the arduous tasks members of the Royal Family rely on servants and others to do – like opening doors.”

Asked why the Prince was naked, the spokesperson said there was a simple explanation for that too.

“The King summoned him to the Palace and mentioned stripping him of his titles, but Andrew seems to have fixated on the word ‘stripping’ which he is always keen to do.

“I take this opportunity to caution anyone who tries to read anything into the Prince’s decision to quit his titles and honours other than the fact that he is guilty as hell of the things people have been saying he did,” the spokesperson said.

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