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7821 articles · page 45 of 163 · The World front page
Prime Minister Andy Burnham has promised 'big changes' to the welfare system, saying Britain faces a choice between investing in young people and paying for failure through the benefits system, on the day a landmark report declared children's services in parts of England to be in a 'state of emergency'.
· 6 sourcesDeputy chief justice and former Labor attorney-general Robert McClelland has been appointed head of the National Anti-Corruption Commission, Attorney-General Michelle Rowland announced on Monday, after a turbulent first four years for the federal integrity body. McClelland will start in January with the task of restoring public confidence in the watchdog, which lost its inaugural commissioner early amid questions over conflicts of interest.
· 4 sourcesThe Age has published a first-hand test of Victoria's black-market tobacco trade, ordering a carton of illicit cigarettes through a nondescript e-commerce site and collecting them at an inner-city package locker just over a week later. The purchase highlights how sellers are shifting to social media advertising and home delivery as authorities shut down illegal tobacco shops across the state.
· 3 sourcesA 13-year-old boy has been charged over an alleged drive-by shooting at a home in Perth's east, with police reporting multiple shots were fired at the house in the early hours of Saturday. Three people were inside the home at the time, but no injuries were reported.
Ukrainian scientist Leonid Pshenichnov, arrested by Russia in Crimea in 2025 on treason charges for his Antarctic conservation work, remains in detention more than a year later, Ukraine’s ambassador to Australia said on Monday. Speaking at the annual meeting of the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources in Hobart, Vasyl Myroshnychenko raised serious concerns for the 71-year-old’s health and called for his immediate release.
· 2 sourcesBrazilians headed to the polls on Sunday in a tense presidential runoff between incumbent left-wing President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and right-wing Senator Flavio Bolsonaro. The candidates wrapped up a bitter campaign with massive final rallies on Saturday and a final televised debate on Friday night. Polls show the race remains exceptionally tight, with Bolsonaro holding a narrow lead that has largely evaporated within the margin of error.
· 12 sourcesA growing number of luxury hotels, farm shops, and beauty spots across Europe, the US, and Japan are banning photography and photoshoots, driven by concerns that influencer activity is disrupting the experience for other guests and eroding privacy. The five-star Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc in Antibes now requires permission for any photoshoot, while smaller venues like the Hollies farm shop in Cheshire restrict filming during peak hours. The trend reflects a broader shift away from documenting every moment and toward protecting the character of hospitality spaces.
A Kenyan court is set to deliver a judgment in the mass murder case against doomsday preacher Paul Mackenzie and 29 followers, who are accused of murdering 191 children by starvation in the Shakahola forest. Mackenzie's cult allegedly forced children to starve to death as part of a doomsday doctrine that deemed education and modern medicine as evil. All defendants have pleaded not guilty, insisting that nobody was forced to die.
President Trump said Monday he would hold a trilateral summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping next month, but cast it as a forum for denuclearization rather than ending the war in Ukraine. The comments follow a Wall Street Journal report that Putin proposed such a meeting during a phone call with Trump on Oct. 9, and come as Washington's recent concessions to Moscow deepen alarm in Kyiv and among European allies.
· 6 sourcesA man has been discovered dead in bushland in Brisbane's northern suburbs, with a post-mortem examination now underway to investigate the circumstances.
· 7 sourcesVillagers on Lou Island in Papua New Guinea are appealing for urgent international assistance as wildfires have burned through at least one-third of the island, destroying forests, gardens, and traditional lands in what locals describe as an unprecedented disaster.
· 2 sourcesGungahlin public school teachers stopped work for an hour on Monday morning as part of ongoing industrial action that will reach other regions of the ACT later this week, with the Australian Education Union and the ACT government still at odds after 15 months of bargaining.
The New South Wales government will legislate to approve an expansion of the Mount Pleasant coal mine in the Hunter Valley, overriding a High Court ruling that found the original approval invalid for failing to consider emissions from exported coal. Premier Chris Minns announced the intervention on Monday, saying the move was necessary to prevent about 400 job losses before Christmas.
· 9 sourcesRobert McClelland, a former Labor attorney general and federal court judge, has been named the new boss of the National Anti-Corruption Commission. Attorney General Michelle Rowland announced the appointment on Monday, along with Christopher Savundra as the commission's new deputy commissioner, following the May resignation of inaugural boss Paul Brereton.
· 2 sourcesNew video footage played in a Sydney court shows police grabbing protesters by the head and neck and forcibly breaking up a group of Muslim worshippers at the February protest against Israeli President Isaac Herzog's visit, in scenes a defence lawyer says amount to unlawful arrests and excessive force. A judge has also ruled the defence can pursue communications between senior police and state government ministers, describing the material as having a "legitimate forensic purpose".
· 7 sourcesMatthew Renshaw's transformation from a defensive opener into Australia's three-format weapon was driven by a winter fitness push, technical changes and a new perspective as a father, according to the coach who guided the comeback.
· 3 sourcesThe Federal Court has overturned an Aboriginal protection order covering part of the billion-dollar McPhillamys goldmine project near Blayney in New South Wales, ruling the decision-making process behind it was 'fundamentally flawed.' Justice James Stellios found that when Wiradjuri elders revealed the blue-banded bee Dreaming story in December 2023, officials should have treated it as a new application rather than extra detail, meaning the public never had an adequate chance to respond to the specific claim for protection.
· 2 sourcesPauline Hanson has dismissed Jacqui Lambie's anger over a One Nation cartoon mocking the Tasmanian senator's vaginal prolapse, telling her to "get over it" and "have a bit of a laugh", as cross-party condemnation of the attack continued to mount. Lambie accused One Nation of adding hatred and spite to public life, while Liberal MP Garth Hamilton called the cartoon 'nasty, crass and vulgar' and demanded an apology.
· 6 sourcesTwo Russian men secretly working for Ukraine's military intelligence agency have given rare first-hand accounts of sabotage operations against military assets inside Russia, in a new BBC World Service documentary. Ukraine's GUR confirmed both men work for the agency, while acknowledging it cannot know the full picture of their activities.
· 2 sourcesAn Austrian Airlines flight from Tel Aviv to Vienna made an emergency landing in Sofia, Bulgaria, on Sunday after a bomb threat was reported, prompting an escort by a Bulgarian MiG-29 fighter jet. All 51 passengers and six crew members disembarked safely, and authorities have launched an investigation.
· 3 sourcesUkrainian drones struck two oil facilities in St Petersburg in an overnight attack that killed at least one person and injured five, as Kyiv resumed strikes on Russian energy infrastructure despite a US-brokered ceasefire push.
Four Canadian Armed Forces members have been killed and at least 39 others were injured, 19 critically, in a large fire that swept through Canadian Forces Base Wainwright in Alberta on Saturday. Prime Minister Mark Carney described the incident as 'one of the worst tragedies for the forces on Canadian soil in peacetime.'
Seven members of Cornell University's Chi Phi fraternity have been accused of drugging and sexually assaulting a fellow student, prompting a civil lawsuit and two separate investigations. The student, identified only as Jane Doe, has sued the university, the fraternity and others over the alleged attack, which took place about two years ago. The men deny the allegations.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said decisions about Ukraine’s access to Starlink satellite internet services rest with SpaceX and CEO Elon Musk, not the White House, pushing back against claims that Washington was involved in restricting Kyiv’s use of the system.
· 3 sourcesBen Simmons' long-awaited return to the NBA has been derailed before it could begin, with the Australian star reportedly tearing his Achilles tendon in training just days before the Sacramento Kings' season opener. The injury is expected to rule the 30-year-old out for the entire campaign.
· 3 sourcesReports across several Australian news outlets on 18 October 2026 indicate that hundreds of workers in Whyalla, South Australia, have been offered a lifeline, though details of the offer have not yet been disclosed.
· 4 sourcesTwo Greenpeace activists have been charged with interfering with offshore petroleum installations after a weekend protest on Woodside's Scarborough gas platform off Western Australia, and are due to face Karratha Magistrates Court today. The offence carries a maximum penalty of 10 years' imprisonment.
· 8 sourcesThe House of Commons has approved the Northern Ireland Troubles Bill at its third reading by 330 votes to 178, a government majority of 152, sending the draft legislation to the House of Lords for further scrutiny. The bill, which replaces the previous Conservative government's 2023 Legacy Act, is designed to address the unresolved legacy of the conflict that killed more than 3,500 people.
· 3 sourcesGreens leader David Shoebridge and senator Jordon Steele-John are openly at odds this week after the senator released a lengthy statement denying allegations of misconduct towards women and disputing his leader's account that he agreed to take leave. While Mr Shoebridge's office maintains leave was agreed and is appropriate, Senator Steele-John insists he never consented to stepping back and accuses party factions of weaponising unsubstantiated rumours for preselection battles.
· 13 sourcesCBS News chief legal correspondent Jan Crawford has apologized and deleted a social media post in which she praised a man who interrupted a Democratic Michigan Senate candidate's town hall with questions about the Muslim Brotherhood, as the man was identified as a former aide to Senator Josh Hawley. The incident has intensified scrutiny of CBS's editorial direction under editor-in-chief Bari Weiss and highlighted the role of the Muslim Brotherhood issue in a closely watched midterm contest.
· 5 sourcesPresident Donald Trump has unveiled detailed plans to turn Washington's historic East Potomac Golf Links into a single 18-hole championship course, announcing a November 15 start date that clashes with a federal judge's orders halting work at the site. Judge Ana Reyes responded by extending a ban on further tree removal to October 26 and demanding the government state whether its legal position, that the project was only at a preliminary stage, still stands.
· 5 sourcesAlbertans go to the polls on Monday to decide whether to begin the process of leaving Canada, a referendum polls suggest will be comfortably defeated and that has been overshadowed by a deadly fire at a military base in the province. A blaze tore through CFB Wainwright on Saturday afternoon, with Canada's armed forces announcing "profound sadness" at multiple deaths and injuries. Premier Danielle Smith, who called the vote under pressure from her own party, has already said she voted against independence.
· 2 sourcesOn Sunday, an alliance of Venezuelan opposition parties reaffirmed exiled Nobel laureate Maria Corina Machado as its leader and renewed calls for free elections, issuing a 14-point proposal for democratic transition that includes her safe return from exile.
· 6 sourcesA new wave of synthetic drugs, including the animal tranquilliser tranq, is sweeping across the United States, intensifying fears of a worsening drug crisis despite a recent decline in overdose deaths, according to a BBC report from Chicago's South Side.
· 2 sourcesUS President Donald Trump has defended his suspension of Russian sanctions as a deliberate tactic to keep Moscow at the negotiating table, and again accused Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky of not wanting the war to end, deepening a public rift between Washington and Kyiv.
· 5 sourcesPrime Minister Sébastien Lecornu is chairing a crisis cabinet meeting on Monday after a weekend of violent protests and looting across France, as President Emmanuel Macron ordered a review of possible intelligence and policing failures. The unrest, which saw nearly 2,400 arrests and about 1,000 police injured, has cast a shadow over the government's upcoming budget vote and intensified political tensions ahead of next year's presidential election.
· 7 sourcesDestiny Church leader Brian Tamaki has pleaded not guilty in Manukau District Court to three charges of inciting racial disharmony, laid under the Human Rights Act. He will reappear in January next year.
· 3 sourcesSupermodel Cindy Crawford and businessman Rande Gerber have publicly addressed the death of their son Presley Gerber for the first time, posting a tribute on Crawford’s Instagram account, with Presley’s sister Kaia Gerber also signing off and posting her own separate message. Presley, a model and mental health advocate, died at a rehabilitation facility on September 20 at 27 years old. The death is being investigated as a suspected overdose; no official cause of death not yet revealed. The family said they are “beyond heartbroken” and grateful for “outpouring of love.” Kaia Gerber posted her own tribute with video and picture. Presley had been open about mental health struggles and substance abuse, and was charged with drink-driving in 2019. His sister described his battle with addiction in a Vogue interview.
· 6 sourcesNew Zealand's opposition Labour Party has pledged to implement a social media ban for under-16s within its first 100 days in government, alongside a new 'Digital Duty of Care' law and an independent online regulator with powers to fine tech companies that breach safety rules.
A former Victoria Police digital forensics officer who worked on child abuse investigations has been charged with 23 offences, including possessing child abuse material and misconduct in public office. The allegations triggered a sweeping audit that delayed over a hundred court cases and caused significant distress for victims.
· 4 sourcesResale websites including Vinted and eBay have removed suspicious listings after apparently stolen goods from weekend looting in France appeared on their platforms, with products including perfumes, designer handbags and Pokémon cards being offered at a fraction of retail prices.
· 4 sourcesA report from Al Jazeera's The Listening Post program has highlighted significant political developments across three countries. In India, youth-led protests have returned to Delhi after the Electoral Commission removed 130 million names from voter rolls, accompanied by a crackdown on journalists. Pakistan has declared a state of emergency in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, imposing a media blackout and internet shutdown after protests demanding the release of jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan. In Brazil, more than three years after Jair Bolsonaro's fall, a new generation of evangelical political influencers is mobilising followers through religious media.
Meta temporarily suspended the Instagram account of the No Kings movement on Saturday as the group organized nationwide pro-democracy protests aimed at boosting early voter turnout. The company apologized, attributing the shutdown to an automated system triggered by high-frequency posting, but the coalition and elected officials questioned the explanation, reigniting censorship concerns.
A major fire at Canadian Forces Base Wainwright in Alberta has killed at least four people and injured dozens more, with Prime Minister Mark Carney describing the incident as one of the worst peacetime tragedies to strike Canadian forces on domestic soil.
· 5 sourcesGreens senator Jordon Steele-John has accused factions within the party of weaponising rumours about him for political reasons, as he denied taking leave from the party despite leader David Shoebridge claiming Steele-John would not be in parliament while an investigation is ongoing.
· 5 sourcesMultiple Australian news outlets, including the Sydney Morning Herald, WA Today, Brisbane Times, and The Age, reported on October 18, 2026, that a woman has been arrested in connection with a hit-run spree in Adelaide. No further details have been released by these outlets.
· 4 sourcesTwo people have died after a utility vehicle drove into a football match in the United States, according to reports from Australian news outlets. The incident was reported on October 18, 2026, but no details about the location, timing, or circumstances have been released.
· 4 sourcesMassachusetts Republican lieutenant governor candidate Shawn Oliver has suspended his campaign, a day after he was arrested on suspicion of drunk driving following a late-night crash in New Bedford. His running mate, GOP gubernatorial candidate Mike Minogue, said he asked Oliver to immediately suspend the campaign and would formally ask for his resignation if elected.
· 2 sources