Sunday 18 October 2026
238 stories, newest first.
World110
- Shoebridge, Steele-John clash over leave as senator details misconduct allegations
- CBS reporter apologizes after praising heckler of Muslim Senate candidate; heckler identified as former Hawley aide
- Trump unveils DC golf course plan as judge extends tree ban and demands answers
- Albertans vote on independence as deadly fire casts shadow over referendum
- Venezuelan opposition reaffirms Machado as leader, calls for free elections
- Chicago's South Side on the front line as synthetic drugs flood the US
- Trump defends Russia sanctions suspension, says it keeps Moscow at the bargaining table
- Crisis cabinet meets as Macron orders security review after France's worst unrest in years
- Destiny Church leader Brian Tamaki denies inciting racial disharmony, pleads not guilty
- Cindy Crawford and Rande Gerber break silence over son Presley's death
- New Zealand Labour pledges under-16 social media ban within first 100 days
- Ex-forensics officer charged over child abuse material, audit disrupts over 100 court cases
- Stolen goods flood French resale sites after weekend riots
- Youth protests, state of emergency, and right-wing influencers: Al Jazeera report spans India, Pakistan, Brazil
- Meta suspends No Kings Instagram account during voting protests, accuses automated error
- Fatal military base fire in Alberta among Canada's worst peacetime tragedies, PM says
- Greens senator accuses party factions of weaponising rumours, denies taking leave
- Woman arrested over Adelaide hit-run spree
- Two dead after pickup drives through US football match
- Massachusetts GOP lieutenant governor candidate ends campaign after drunk driving arrest
- Navy bosses condemn hidden camera incident
- Spy agencies face AI legal vacuum as oversight review stalls
- Labor unveils $30 road toll cap in Victoria
- Guam begins recovery from Super Typhoon Champi, CNMI declares all clear
- Key economic adviser and MP back GST hike to fund income tax cuts and welfare boost
- Survivors of deadly Hunter Valley bus crash call for change after report finds systemic failures
- UK Home Secretary to hold talks with EU commissioner over law enforcement cooperation
- Crisafulli brushes off calls for special prosecutor alongside CFMEU inquiry
- Sex discrimination laws 'failing mothers', human rights commission finds
- Trump border czar says Ilhan Omar could be denaturalized and deported
- Flydubai captain describes co-pilot's axe attack and saving more than 170 passengers
- Lower Hutt toddler homicide: Three years on, no arrests as police say case is 'going in the right direction'
- West Midlands Police officer sacked over 2,000 improper records searches
- Taiwan drives away 16 Chinese vessels in 'hybrid warfare' operation
- US Air Force tests F-22 pilot commanding autonomous drone in simulated combat
- Tirana protests enter sixth day as Albania's PM Edi Rama refuses to resign
- Macron calls for 'calm and order' as France counts cost of weekend riots
- Trump endorses Netanyahu, warns US will not fight Iran alone if Israel picks 'wrong leader'
- Israel releases most suspects arrested over West Bank settler attacks on US journalist, European diplomats
- New witness accounts detail naked image allegations in Luke Campbell case
- Huckabee condemns settler attack that wounded Washington Post photographer
- Shakespeare confirmed as main author of Edward III, study finds Marlowe collaboration
- France protests: Police tactics under scrutiny as 1,800 arrested, Trump calls for border closure
- Bessent warns Zelenskyy to 'be very careful' over Starlink slowdown claims
- Manchester City owner's £55m housing loan under investigation from Burnham mayoral era
- Gaza food prices surge as Israel keeps commercial crossings closed for fifth day
- European diplomats and US journalist attacked in West Bank as settler violence escalates
- US warns Iran in 'advanced stages' of planning attacks on Americans as Gulf shipping hit
- China proposes export curbs on solar manufacturing technologies, citing national security
- Greens insiders break cover to demand public findings in Steele-John inquiry
- Australia women survive dramatic collapse to beat New Zealand by two wickets in first T20
- EPA drops claim that US phased out toxic PFAS chemicals
- Ed Davey safe as Lib Dem leadership challenge fails to materialise
- Pope Leo XIV thanks well-wishers at first event after cancer surgery
- France orders local curfews as Louvre closes after weekend of unrest
- Gaza mass funeral held for 75 as remains recovered from rubble
- Israeli settlers attack EU diplomats in West Bank as tanker incidents reported off Iran
- European protests spread to Milan and Lisbon as French arrest tally tops 2,400
- Trump waives Graham Act sanctions, accuses Zelensky of blocking peace
- RBA faces dilemma as oil prices keep inflation high
- 'They shoot from the hip': Purton defends Everest ride on beaten favourite Ka Ying Rising
- Gaza Family Reunion documentary captures ceasefire journey
- Saints closing in on Jake Stringer: delisted goalkicker set for medical on Monday
- Sudan's chronically ill forced to choose between medicine and food amid civil war
- New details in Sydney shopping centre stabbing; Manchester boy stabbed in separate incident
- Police union tells Sue Neill-Fraser campaign to 'put this matter to bed'
- Police officer shot in foot in Nottingham; suspects at large as firearm recovered
- Taylor Swift praised, Kim Kardashian criticised in Academy Museum Gala fashion review
- Boland's double strike lifts Australia as rain stalls Gqeberha Test
- Tina Arena documentary premieres, laid bare with 'grace, fire and wit'
- Caulfield Cup report finds mid-race interference caused Ohope Wins death, clears three jockeys
- Kyiv launches 1,000-drone assault on St Petersburg, hitting oil and tech hubs
- UK police rule out probe into national security adviser's wife over Palestine Action post
- Daniel Dubois stops Fabio Wardley in second round to retain WBO heavyweight title
- Rubio's Mumbai visit stirs political controversy in India
- Two arrested after Greenpeace activists occupy Woodside gas platform off WA coast
- Guatemalan anti-corruption lawyer and former prosecutor shot dead at sports centre
- Fire at Canadian military base moved a kilometre in '30 to 60 seconds', official says
- Three years since Rugby Australia sacked Dave Rennie, Wallabies show little improvement
- Trump ousted press secretary Katie Zacharia after five days, columnist reports
- Mountaineers warned after avalanche death on Mount Dixon
- EU condemns settler attacks on diplomats in West Bank as olive harvest violence spikes
- Youth violence forces lockdown and early closure of historic Perth agricultural show
- Tunisia’s unemployed graduates march on capital as economic crisis deepens
- Norwegian teenager jailed for 20 years over Iran-linked assassination plot in UK
- Hospitals overwhelmed after deadly fire at Canadian military base, doctor says
- Falklands face 'economic war' as Argentina criminalises oil industry
- Indigenous woman shackled to hospital bed while in labour in Queensland
- Teacher tackled teenage shooter before armed father killed suspect, police say
- Four dead in Alberta military base fire as hospitals overwhelmed
- Sydney Marathon guarantees entry for loyal runners who have completed 10 races
- Immigration debate ignores reality of migrant labour in hospitals, opinion piece argues
- Bruised Wallabies head to spring tour with belief after Bledisloe drubbing, says McReight
- Man who burned ex-partner's home, killing her cats, avoids jail with corrections order
- Search continues for 11 missing after boat sinks off Mexico's Baja California coast
- Nearly 200 charities join cross-party revolt over $2m cut to crisis directory Ask Izzy
- New Yalu River bridge opens as China cements hold on North Korean trade
- Iran says seven oil tankers damaged overnight in Strait of Hormuz as attacks surge
- Timor-Leste president says Greater Sunrise gas project agreements imminent despite scepticism
- Sam Pang reflects on Gold Logie win as third season of variety show approaches
- Selma Blair's representatives say actor had medical emergency, did not intend harm during flight incident
- NYPD seeks suspect in fatal subway station shooting in Manhattan
- Ten arrested after West Bank attack on US journalist as Washington demands prosecutions
- Saudi-led coalition intercepts Houthi drones as Egypt signals readiness to assist
- Ebike rider, 13, charged with sexual touching on Sydney's northern beaches trails
- Wichita police identify driver in soccer field crash as 34-year-old Kansas woman; motive still unknown
- UK Health Secretary announces 140 million pound winter boost for NHS urgent care
- Australian bowling attack stands among Test cricket's greatest, says Greg Chappell
- Doctor called out of retirement as New Zealand health crisis deepens, nurses union warns
- Yunnan village where French missionaries planted China's first coffee trees
Science41
- Immune warning signs in blood could spot inflammatory bowel disease a decade early
- Dietitian's guide to higher-protein, lower-calorie fast food choices
- Conservationists urge Tasmania's orchid photographers to tread lightly on threatened species
- NSW emergency departments overwhelmed by surge in unapproved peptide use
- Norfolk Island hairy snail begins breeding in captivity after rescue mission
- Earhart search on Nikumaroro concludes with 'new discoveries' but no 'smoking gun'
- Air pollution linked to glaucoma and cataract risk, review of 41 studies suggests
- Heat-storing salogels offer a potential path to efficient buildings
- Astronomers detect supermassive black hole binary on a 100-year collision course
- Female mouse skin stem cells work in synchrony, revealing why wounds heal faster
- Third form of magnetism discovered, three physicists win 2026 Europhysics Prize
- Physicists describe exotic new quantum state: fractional Fermi sea
- Black Death land abandonment caused 40% drop in plant biodiversity, study finds
- Sugar in red meat linked to 63% higher type 2 diabetes risk in large French study
- Mount Sinai Study Identifies Three Brain Pathways Crucial for Deep Brain Stimulation in Depression
- Chip-based microcomb shows path to portable atomic clocks, GPS-free navigation
- NHS England trans ward guidance risks adverse impacts, internal assessment finds
- Brown fat linked to better health; blood pressure drug shows promise in activating it
- Kerosene leak contaminates River Taff, residents told to seal homes
- Health secretary demands sackings and suspensions over NHS data breaches
- Girl, 5, stroke-free for four months after $1 million neuro-microscope surgery
- Sharpest image yet of 850-year-old 'guest star' supernova reveals filaments made of tiny knots
- High school students urged to get measles shots to protect exam season
- Homemade synthetics transform US drug crisis as fentanyl-tranq mix evades overdose reversal
- Earth's core is leaking primordial hydrogen, creating water in the mantle, study suggests
- Astronomers Find Universal Rule Governing Black Hole Jets
- Cancer-fueling protein turned into weapon against tumors, study finds
- White dwarf stars can be purple, pink and even green, surprising new study finds
- Canterbury Hospital apologises after unread emails delay urgent surgeries
- Arizona joins Nevada in legal challenge against Colorado River water cuts
- Handwritten climate records from Congo Basin reveal scale of warming in Central Africa
- USC scientists find way to create renewable supply of cancer-fighting immune cells
- Physicists observe 'Bethe strings' in ultracold atoms, confirming 1931 prediction
- 13,800-year-old Alaskan encampment yields oldest dwelling in the Western Hemisphere
- Experimental Injection Kills Fat Cells, Early Trials Suggest
- Webb telescope discovers surprisingly organized weather on brown dwarf 20 light-years away
- JWST Reveals Alien Planet's Atmosphere Has a Warped, Asymmetrical Shape
- NASA's Roman Space Telescope Exceeds Image Quality Expectations by Nearly 30%
- Stanford researchers develop label-free microscope with unprecedented resolution for living cells
- Experimental drug reverses severe fatty liver disease by repairing gut barrier, animal study finds
- Study suggests brain forms from two separate cell populations, not one
Tech22
- Savannah officer fired after sharing Flock surveillance login with ICE agent husband
- Musk vows to hand AI shares directly to public as Anthropic fund pledge divides tech
- Anthropic gives outside AI watchdog 'employee-like' access to its systems
- White House crypto adviser Patrick Witt departs, leaving digital asset council without named successor
- Police AI misuse: Investigators uploaded 350,000 lines of audio to unsecured platform, documents show
- Modder brings full Nvidia DLSS 5 suite to three generations of AMD Radeon GPUs
- Google drops Pytype for Meta's Pyrefly, citing 10x faster Python type checking
- Tom's Hardware reviews Asus ROG Strix XG27AQGNV gaming monitor with G-Sync Pulsar
- Crypto hacks cost $1.18 billion in Q3 as audits face scrutiny, Hacken report says
- Stablecoin payments rise 45% to $482 billion, Allium says
- Hackers exploit critical SiteGuard WAF flaw to gain root, SYSTEM access
- Anthropic proposes AI safety bill with strict thresholds: 50 deaths or $1 billion in damages before government can act
- Cities look to curb robotaxis, turning on the permissive laws that launched the industry
- Swedish researchers use Wi-Fi and AI to detect concealed handguns
- Joint operation targets West African crypto scams, over $11 million flagged
- Always-on AI gadgets test legal limits on privacy and consent
- Cysic bridge attacker blacklisted after minting 10M CYS; no user assets stolen
- Drones as first responders: welcome to the future of policing, but privacy fears take flight
- Austrian MEP speaks out over nude deepfakes as report finds dozens of female EU lawmakers targeted
- MIT researchers build multimodal AI model to design crystal materials
- Circle defends USDC economics as stablecoin rivals court partners
- BYD unveils Atto 8 e-SUV with ultra-fast charging: 10% to 97% in nine minutes
Business20
- Oil holds near $109 as Ukraine strikes Russian energy sites, tankers targeted in Gulf
- AI stocks stage recovery on Wall Street but ASX set to fall, European markets slide
- Suncorp borrowers face higher minimum mortgage repayments as loans shift to ANZ
- First Qantas A321 freighters land at Western Sydney International as passenger flights loom
- AI giants drive 57% of S&P 500 gains as market concentration draws warnings
- ETF boom reshapes Australian sharemarket, raising bubble fears
- Australia's gas export crackdown risks backlash from Asian energy giants
- Character.AI files for bankruptcy, Disney to hire majority of staff in stalking horse deal
- India food regulator says Nestle, Unilever health claims misleading
- Microsoft pulls out of Essex AI datacentre project, casting doubt on UK's sovereign AI ambitions
- Weekend flush wipes $52M from chip-stock bets on crypto exchanges as Wall Street sits idle
- Forrest urges faster green energy approvals as Global Citizen summit opens in Perth
- Condé Nast UK profits slump 36% as sale speculation dismissed
- AWS to Sever European Sovereign Cloud from Global Backbone for Sovereignty Test
- Insulating homes and heat pumps would boost UK economy more than new North Sea oil, study finds
- Bronte home sells for $12.12m at auction, beating reserve by $870,000
- Tasmanian whisky distillers navigate global downturn, call for excise overhaul
- Gold Fields woos Northern Star investors in roadshow as $38b takeover battle escalates
- Ben Roberts-Smith announces new brand in Instagram video
- Government knew of ATO credit card ban in July, assistant treasurer admits
Australia15
- Signalling fault at Eagle Junction delays Brisbane rail commuters up to 40 minutes
- Police unable to rule out dogs' involvement in Brisbane park death
- Banyo resident leaves before 450-home development; Queensland's one million target questioned
- Inala's champion: A new resident confronts old stereotypes
- Authorities unable to decipher gestures exchanged on court video links, report says
- Man charged after armed standoff and lockdown in Dulwich Hill
- Sydney Festival 2027: car saunas, Dance Reflections and Hannah Gadsby headline the program
- Yarra Trams disputes whistleblower allegations over advance procurement payments
- Economists cast doubt on Victorian Liberal plan to cut taxes and return budget to surplus
- More than 10,000 apartments delayed across Queensland
- LNP reveals preferred design for Bribie Island bridge duplication
- Labor and Coalition trade cost-of-living pledges in Victoria election campaign
- Treaty cannot be unmade by repeal alone, warns Indigenous leader as Victorian election nears
- Teenager critical, second man stable after suspected Dallas shooting
- Man dies in alleged stabbing at St Albans home, second man arrested
AI research30
- Continual learning in deepfake detectors widens demographic unfairness over time
- Fallback rules cause typed decision models to err even when the category is known.
- LLMs capture only a fraction of human diversity in code generation tasks
- ChatGPT's health answers are high-risk for one in five real users
- Fast AI agents read states correctly yet still choose wrong actions
- Editable policy tree guardrail classifies agent actions in 58 milliseconds
- Typed decision models show bias but offer cheaper, consistent judgment
- Lightweight decision model catches nearly all malicious agent skills
- BrowseSafe++ benchmark evaluates prompt injection detection across real web contexts
- Neither decision models nor new LLMs beat statistical baselines as synthetic survey respondents
- Scanning reasoning streams helps code models repair flaws before delivery
- Faster Jev decisions do not consistently improve agent task efficiency
- Lightweight decision model reduces token use in multi-agent systems by up to 54.6%
- Executability-oriented benchmark exposes LLM service-call grounding failures
- LLM defenses against prompt injection are channel-conditioned and require deployment-aware training
- Benchmark exposes computer agents’ failures when resolving conflicting information
- Medical decision models stay consistent but struggle to abstain reliably
- Hosted decision model Jev violates independence of irrelevant alternatives
- Passing self-generated tests do not ensure semantic correctness in DataFrame code generation
- LLMs can be repurposed as fast single-pass decision models with explicit probabilities
- Open agent stack improves computer tasks beyond GUI-only control
- Direct decision head makes bounded audio judgments about 20 times faster
- Jev Resists Rule-Based Attacks but Falters on Phishing Judgments
- Accessibility-based masking shields computer agents from indirect prompt injections
- Looped decision models spend extra computation on harder questions
- Fast decision models excel locally but falter in extended systems
- Decision-only judge matches reasoning judge at fraction of cost using confidence-based escalation
- Hostile context can redirect decisions in Jev-powered applications
- General-purpose LLMs already work as Jev-style decision models out of the box
- Open language models match or beat a proprietary decision model without specialized training