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7903 articles · page 61 of 165 · The World front page
US inflation rose more than expected to 3.7% in the 12 months to September, the final official reading before next month's midterm elections, driven by soaring petrol costs linked to the US-Israel conflict with Iran. The data increases the likelihood of another Federal Reserve interest rate hike later this month.
· 4 sourcesA 17-year-old died after he was accidentally shot with an air rifle by his friend at a house party an inquest has heard. When he was at a friend’s house in Basingstoke on 8 November last year when Jack Beechy fired the fatal shot by mistaking the trigger for the safety, the inquest heard.
· 2 sourcesGary Waddell, the Australian actor celebrated for his raw, rough-as-guts characters who graced countless film and television productions, has died at the age of 74.
French high school students have led weeks of protests across the country, with more than 160,000 demonstrators on the streets on Tuesday, over chronic teacher shortages, overcrowded classrooms and dilapidated school buildings. The movement has also tapped into a broader existential worry among young people about diminishing job prospects and the loss of the social security their parents enjoyed. The government has responded with riot police, teargas and baton charges, leaving more than 250 pupils injured, along with about 100 school staff and 750 police officers.
A Home Office accommodation provider has launched an investigation after content creators describing themselves as 'English nationalist' filmed themselves entering a house in Leicestershire that houses asylum seekers. The footage, posted on YouTube and X, was removed by YouTube for breaching its standards.
The head of Mercedes-Benz has warned that locking the UK out of the EU's flagship 'Made in Europe' industrial legislation would be a 'deliberate choice' to hurt carmakers across the bloc, as leaders close in on an agreement that could leave British industry on the outside.
The war in Yemen has entered a new phase after Iran-backed Houthi attacks on civilian infrastructure in Saudi Arabia killed at least a dozen people and injured hundreds, leaving no room for the red lines that previously limited escalation. Analysts see two possible scenarios: a major region-wide operation against the Houthis or a protracted war of attrition.
· 2 sourcesThe Social Security Administration announced on Wednesday a 3.6% cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) for 2027, the largest benefit increase since 2023, as new inflation data showed consumer prices rising 3.7% over the past year. The adjustment will lift average monthly retirement benefits by $75, according to the agency.
· 4 sourcesThe first international arrival has touched down at Western Sydney International (Nancy-Bird Walton) Airport, with an Air New Zealand flight from Auckland landing on Monday, a day after the new airport began passenger services.
· 10 sourcesMore than 300,000 public sector workers, including nurses, doctors, teachers and civil servants, are on strike across the Republic of Ireland on 14 October in an ongoing pay dispute with the government. The 24-hour walkout is expected to close schools, cancel hospital appointments and bring picket lines to towns and cities across the country, with a further strike already planned for 21 October.
· 2 sourcesColombia opened its embassy in Jerusalem on Wednesday, joining a small group of nations in the controversial step. The inauguration marks a clear break from the policies of former President Gustavo Petro and has been met with celebration from Israel and swift criticism from Palestinian and regional authorities.
The Israeli army is reportedly preparing to reopen Route 463 to settler traffic, a move that would isolate eight Palestinian villages and two large residential neighbourhoods in the occupied West Bank, threatening the geographic contiguity of the Ramallah area.
Israeli settlers set fire to a mosque, an olive tree and a vehicle in the occupied West Bank village of Mikhmas early Wednesday, as Israeli forces continued raids across the territory, according to Palestinian news agency Wafa. Reports indicate settlers also spray painted racist slogans on the mosque and other buildings.
Japan formally summoned Russian Ambassador Nikolay Nozdrev on Wednesday to protest Moscow's arrest of Hokkaido Shimbun correspondent Imai Yuki on espionage charges, demanding immediate information and access to the detainer. The journalist, arrested by Russia's Federal Security Service in the Sakhalin region and transferred to Moscow, was ordered held until December 12 pending trial. The case adds a new source of friction to ties already strained by Tokyo's sanctions against Russia over Ukraine and the long-running territorial dispute over the Kuril Islands.
· 3 sourcesPresident Donald Trump's administration has asked Kimberly Guilfoyle to resign from her position as US ambassador to Greece amid allegations she sought payment from a Trump donor to cover personal debts and behaved inappropriately while in Athens, White House Press Secretary Katie Zacharia announced.
Michigan Republican Senate nominee Mike Rogers, who spent months defending President Donald Trump's tariffs, has released an ad calling for an end to the trade war with Canada, signaling how deeply the tariff dispute and the conflict with Iran are shaping the state's tight Senate race three weeks before the election.
Guinea-Bissau's health minister has denied that the country approved a controversial US-funded hepatitis B study in newborns, saying the ministry never authorised the trial championed by Robert F Kennedy Jr, the US health secretary.
Most of the world's internet traffic still travels through subsea cables crisscrossing ocean floors, but these fiber-optic links, along with oil and gas pipelines and submarine power cables, now face growing sabotage risks as gray-zone warfare and open conflicts become widespread, according to a new book by Atlantic Council senior fellow Elisabeth Braw.
The Saudi-led coalition said it intercepted and destroyed a Houthi ballistic missile heading for Riyadh on Wednesday, as the Saudi Energy Ministry confirmed a Houthi attack damaged an administrative building of state oil company Aramco in Dhahran, deepening a conflict that has shattered a UN-brokered ceasefire.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, the Republican candidate for the US Senate, has launched investigations into pediatricians and the American Academy of Pediatrics over alleged financial incentives for administering vaccines, aligning himself with the Make America Healthy Again (Maha) movement and echoing vaccine skepticism from Donald Trump and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. At least one Texas pediatrician has reported being under investigation.
France's foreign minister has accused Elon Musk of using his social media platform X to orchestrate 'massive online harassment campaigns' against European leaders, warning that foreign efforts are seeking to destabilise the country before next year's presidential election. Speaking at an OECD conference on Tuesday, Jean-Noël Barrot said the forces trying to undermine democracy now dominate the information landscape, employing tactics designed to polarise public debate.
The Indian Ocean island of Mauritius has imposed an overnight curfew to quell the worst riots in decades, after protests over water shortages and the high cost of living turned violent and a woman was shot and wounded by police.
· 2 sourcesIran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has threatened to sink American warships in the Strait of Hormuz, as Houthi militants backed by Tehran step up attacks on Saudi Arabian targets, including an overnight strike on a Saudi Aramco administrative building in Dhahran.
Iran has expanded its military surveillance of the Strait of Hormuz, deploying new naval units east of the waterway and warning ships to coordinate with its armed forces, as tanker attacks reach their worst levels since the US and Israel's war on Iran began. Oil transit through the strait is falling again after a brief recovery, and an Iranian official has said Tehran's new tactics partly aim to influence November's US midterm elections.
A missile launched by Yemen's Houthi movement struck a building owned by Saudi state oil company Aramco in the eastern city of Dhahran overnight, after the Saudi-led coalition bombed a fuel depot near the capital, Sanaa. The Saudi energy ministry said the attack caused a limited fire, while falling debris from intercepted missiles and drones injured four people in Riyadh.
· 3 sourcesThe consumer price index rose at an annual rate of 3.7% in September, up from 3.4% in August, driven by a surge in gasoline prices as the US-Israel war with Iran continues to disrupt energy markets. The data, released Wednesday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, marks the final inflation snapshot before November's midterm elections and adds pressure on the Federal Reserve to consider further interest rate increases.
· 5 sourcesA weather system carrying the remnants of Hurricane Isaias is forecast to bring gales, heavy rain and a surge of warm air to the UK this week, with the Met Office issuing a yellow wind warning for parts of the Highlands and the Western Isles.
· 2 sourcesScottish swimmer Archie Goodburn is to meet Prime Minister Andy Burnham at Downing Street after making a tearful appeal on BBC Breakfast for more investment in brain cancer research. Goodburn, 25, who was diagnosed with three inoperable brain tumours two years ago, described the meeting as a "unique opportunity for change".
More than 600 people attended the Melbourne launch of former federal treasurer Josh Frydenberg's memoir on Wednesday evening, with the event fuelling speculation among Liberal party figures that the book is a precursor to a political comeback.
· 3 sourcesThe UK health secretary, Yvette Cooper, has issued a "profound apology" to parents whose stillborn babies were buried in mass graves, a practice that left families unaware of where their children's remains lay. Speaking in the House of Commons during a baby loss awareness debate, Cooper said the historic practices caused "unthinkable pain" and that what happened to those parents "should never have happened".
· 2 sourcesThe rape and sexual assault trial of Russell Brand opened at Southwark Crown Court on Wednesday, with prosecutors describing the 51-year-old entertainer as a "ruthless, calculated and manipulative sexual predator" who used his rising fame to assault six women between 1999 and 2009. Brand has pleaded not guilty to three counts of rape, three counts of sexual assault and one count of indecent assault.
· 9 sourcesAn Israeli air strike on an apartment block in Gaza City killed a 33-year-old Palestinian woman and wounded two other people early on Wednesday, hospital officials said, as violence continues despite a ceasefire declared last October.
An audit by Victoria's Auditor-General Andrew Greaves has identified a $1.5 billion investment need to maintain and replace the state's aging fire truck fleet over the next decade, with only $390.4 million in allocated funding leaving a shortfall of more than $1 billion. The report, released Wednesday, found nearly 60 per cent of fire trucks operated by the Country Fire Authority and Fire Rescue Victoria were more than 15 years old, exceeding internal replacement recommendations.
The AFL integrity unit has opened an investigation into the hospitalisation of Carlton players Lachie Cowan and Will Hayward after a weekend house party, a significant escalation in the controversy engulfing the club. Reports suggest Cowan is likely to be charged with bringing the game into disrepute and face a two-match ban, while Hayward is expected to avoid suspension.
· 5 sourcesNigel Farage has said charities and volunteers who help asylum seekers reach the UK should face potential criminal prosecution, describing humanitarian groups as "deluded, hard-left socialist Marxists" who have "aided and abetted criminality in absolutely every way." The Reform UK leader made the comments in an interview with Benny Johnson, a rightwing US podcaster.
· 2 sourcesA radio malfunction on a Corendon Airlines flight from Greece to Germany triggered a false hijack alert on Tuesday, prompting authorities to scramble fighter jets and briefly close Nuremberg airport. The incident, which disrupted six flights and diverted two others, came amid heightened aviation security concerns following a recent terror-related incident on a Dubai flight.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Wednesday that international partners provided no advance warning ahead of Russian ballistic missile strikes on civilian infrastructure in Kyiv, killing two people and leaving hundreds of thousands without power.
Russia launched overnight missile and drone strikes on Ukraine, hitting a key energy facility and a residential building on the outskirts of Kyiv, killing at least three people and injuring 21, Ukraine's state emergencies service DSNS said. At least 600,000 people across the country are without electricity after strikes also hit critical infrastructure in the north-eastern city of Kharkiv.
The AFL trade period concluded with Hawthorn and the Western Bulldogs gaining the most ground, according to a column by Jake Niall. In a period described as a rare outbreak of honest and rational negotiation, Zach Merrett completed his long-awaited move to Hawthorn, and Ben King also joined after the Suns chose not to match a seven-year, $9 million offer. Side deals and draft capital moves reshaped the next season's landscape, with Hawthorn positioned as a leading contender for 2027.
· 3 sourcesThe Rugby League World Cup got underway at Allianz Stadium on Thursday night with a frenetic first half between hosts Australia and New Zealand, the teams heading to the break level at 10-10. Debutant winger Jack Bostock and Tom Trbojevic each scored from long-range intercepts for the Kangaroos, turning what looked like certain Kiwi tries into points at the other end. Kotoni Staggs was sent to the sin-bin for a professional foul late in the half, leaving Australia to start the second period a man short.
· 8 sourcesFormer and current members of the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church, formerly the Exclusive Brethren, have described it as a controlling sect rather than a religion, detailing how dissenting members are excommunicated, shunned by family and monitored by church authorities.
· 3 sourcesPolice have confirmed a body has been found in the search for three men who were aboard a fishing boat that went missing off the Western Isles. A large scale search is ongoing for the two remaining men.
· 3 sourcesA Brisbane widower told a stunned courtroom on Wednesday that he hopes the teenager who killed his wife in a high-speed crash will one day find someone who loves him as much as he was loved. Jean-Paul Franzidis was speaking at the sentencing of the now-18-year-old driver for the manslaughter of Rosemary Franzidis, 69, who died on November 7, 2024 when a stolen car driven at more than 130km/h struck her vehicle as she returned home from morning Mass in Brisbane's north.
· 6 sourcesAnti-government protests in Albania have continued to grip Tirana, with thousands of demonstrators confronting riot police in the capital as calls for Prime Minister Edi Rama to step down grow louder. The clash follows an outbreak of violence that saw students set fire to the education ministry and two banks, drawing a heavy police response and concern from the European Union.
· 4 sourcesThomas Murfett, 63, has described how he circled Muchea airfield looking for a safe landing spot on Saturday morning after sensing something wrong with his home-built RV-6A, before the aircraft stalled and crash-landed in a paddock near the Brand Highway.
· 3 sourcesThe UK government is pressing ahead with artificial intelligence ambitions despite failing to replace aging IT systems that expose departments to cyberattacks and fraud, according to a damning report from Parliament's spending watchdog. Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, chair of the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee, warned that Whitehall lacks the digital skills and urgency needed to tackle the challenge.
Two leaders of India's "cockroach" youth movement will serve five days in jail after being detained during a protest in New Delhi, police said. Ashutosh Ranka and Saurav Das were among a dozen people detained after climbing barricades to enter Jantar Mantar, a historic site police say is no longer an official protest venue.
New rules in Azerbaijan’s public schools banning clothing that violates secularism have led to teachers and students being denied entry, sparking protests and detentions. English teacher Gulshan Aliyeva, a 23-year veteran, was turned away from her school in Baku this week for wearing a headscarf; her daughter was also prevented from attending. At least 37 people have been detained for disrupting public order, according to the Ministry of Internal Affairs.