Inflation leaps to 4% stoking fears of fifth interest rate hike before Christmas 30. September 2026 (06:40) Jim Chalmers says ‘higher global oil prices flowing through to oil prices in Australia’ are to blame for inflation rising from 3.5%Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastInflation has jumped to 4% in the year to August, from 3.5%, as Jim Chalmers was again forced to defend Labor’s economic management amid fears the Reserve Bank will need to hike interest rates again before Christmas.The increasingly embattled treasurer was accused of “gaslighting” Australians by insisting that government spending was not responsible for high inflation, blaming instead higher fuel costs associated with the ongoing US-Israel war on Iran. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Beau Lamarre-Condon trial: crime scene photos paint harrowing picture of alleged murder victims’ final moments 30. September 2026 (06:16) Former police officer has pleaded not guilty to murdering Jesse Baird and Luke Davies in early 2024Warning: graphic contentFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastWarning: graphic contentA hole in a door and a bullet bent out of shape: crime scene photos shown to a jury paint a harrowing picture of Jesse Baird and Luke Davies’ final moments. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Missile alerts cost Ukraine $45m for every hour they halt businesses 30. September 2026 (06:00) Figure cited by minister highlights trade-offs Kyiv faces as it tries to keep normal life moving amid Russian strikesMissile alerts are costing Ukraine an estimated $45m (£34m) for every hour they bring business to a halt, according to the country’s economy minister, as Kyiv searches for ways to keep the economy running under an intensifying Russian bombardment.Russia has increasingly targeted the infrastructure underpinning Ukraine’s economy, striking industrial sites, warehouses, logistics hubs and datacentres in what Oleksandr Kravchenko, the minister for economy and the environment, described as an effort to “destroy pretty much the entire economy”. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Tern turnaround: colonies in England show signs of recovery after decline 30. September 2026 (06:00) National Trust says latest figures encouraging – with numbers of birds on the rise – but work still to be doneEngland’s most important tern colonies are showing signs of recovery after being hit by years of bird flu, flooding and increasingly unpredictable weather, new figures from the National Trust reveal.The trust reported record numbers of little terns at Long Nanny in Northumberland, one of the UK’s most important breeding sites for what is the country’s second-rarest breeding seabird. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Can a mushroom make music? Devon exhibition explores ‘cultural world’ of fungi 30. September 2026 (06:00) Exeter museum to host DJ’s ‘collaboration’ with woodland fungi and artist’s map of her own body’s mycobiomeFor one of the installations, a musician spent hours in woodland “collaborating” with fungi to create a soundscape inspired by the electricity they emit.Another is a kinetic sculpture of an extinct fungus that honours Beatrix Potter not for her tales of mischievous rabbits but for her lesser-known skills as a mycologist – a fungi expert. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Concern over Sydney airport as near misses and runway incursions at 20% above national average 30. September 2026 (05:39) Australian Transport Safety Bureau investigating staffing gaps as key factor in four incidents in July and AugustFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastModelling by Sydney airport’s air traffic control operators predicted elevated fatigue risks for staff at the time of a series of major safety incidents, with a review identifying runway incursions and near misses at 20% above national averages.Staffing gaps at Sydney airport are being investigated as a key factor in four incidents in July and August this year, according to the investigating authority, the Australian Transport Safety Bureau [ATSB]. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
ABC finance journalist Alan Kohler to retire after three decades as Jim Chalmers says he will be ‘really missed’ 30. September 2026 (05:28) The 74-year-old says he is leaving to spend more time with his family, including his six grandchildrenFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesSign up for Guardian Australia’s free weekly media newsletter hereFinancial journalist Alan Kohler, a familiar face on the ABC’s 7pm news bulletin, will retire in December after three decades as the public broadcaster’s highly respected financial guru.Now 74, Kohler has been presenting finance, complete with idiosyncratic graphs, on the ABC for almost a quarter of a century, signing off each evening since 2002 with the catchphrase: “And that’s finance”.Sign up to get Guardian Australia’s weekly media diary as a free newsletter Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Judge ends federal oversight of Oakland police department after 23 years 30. September 2026 (04:02) Group of officers known as ‘riders’ in 2000s prompted longest arrangement of its kind in US historyAfter 23 years, a district judge has released the Oakland police department (OPD) from federal oversight, marking the end of the longest arrangement of this kind in US history.In the early 2000s, a group of police officers known as the “riders” were exposed for offenses like planting evidence, falsifying reports and using excessive force against primarily young Black men. These actions led victims to file more than 100 civil lawsuits against the department. In 2003, as a part of the settlement of these cases, OPD was put on a federal court-ordered reform program. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
An EV sold every 100 seconds: Australian demand for electric cars more than doubles 30. September 2026 (04:02) A record 157,957 new EVs were sold nationally between January and June, according to the Electric Vehicle CouncilFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastAustralians are buying electric vehicles at record levels, with sales more than doubling year on year and occurring at a rate equivalent to one EV sold every 100 seconds.A record 157,957 EV sales occurred between January and June – an 117% increase on the same period last year, according to a new report released by the Electric Vehicle Council. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
US Senate blocks resolution demanding accountability over Israeli violence in West Bank 30. September 2026 (02:16) Nine American citizens have been killed by Israeli settlers or security forces in occupied West Bank since 2022The US Senate on Tuesday evening rejected along mostly party lines a Democratic resolution that would have forced the state department to report to Congress on violence in the occupied West Bank, including the killings of nine American citizens by Israeli settlers or security forces over the last few years.The resolution, led by the Maryland Democrat Chris Van Hollen, would have given the state department 30 days to report to Congress on those deaths and on wider human rights conditions in the territory, including Israel’s detention of Palestinian children. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
