Drought and wildfires intensify across continent, while tropical storms bring heavy rain and disruption to east Asia High pressure has dominated central and eastern Europe in early August, breaking temperature records across the region. Austria recorded a high of 41.2C (106.2F), while Slovakia reached 42.2C. Hungary hit a peak of 41.8C, surpassing a record set in 1905, while overnight temperatures remained above 28C in some areas, marking it as a tropical night. The extreme temperatures have been driven by a heat dome beneath the high-pressure system, which traps warm air close to the surface. Continue reading...
Follow today’s news live Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Police say the remains found in a suitcase near Goulburn are not human. Supt Linda Bradbury with NSW police said: Some good news here that we don’t have a suspicious death of a human on our hands. … We are still undertaking more forensic work to identify what they are. But we can identify that they’re not human. But we’ve confirmed by other means that they are not. The undersupply of housing combined with population growth is expected to partially offset the impact of higher interest rates and recent federal government policy changes on the housing market. Continue reading...
Transport minister says improved staff rostering will be in place from next month after ‘unacceptable’ delays and incident involving Qatar Airways and Jetstar planes Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast The transport minister, Catherine King, has said improved staff rostering will be in place at Sydney airport from next month after “unacceptable” delays and a near-miss collision that resulted in two workers being stood down. King called in the Airservices Australia chief executive officer, Rob Sharp, for a meeting in Canberra on Monday, the day after a Jetstar plane narrowly avoided hitting a Qatar Airways plane that was pulled across the runway in front of it. Continue reading...
Prime minister and opposition leader meet in Canberra to advance agreement on gambling advertising Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Anthony Albanese has bowed to pressure and will limit gambling inducements as part of a deal between Labor and Angus Taylor, even as some Liberals warn it might not do enough to help vulnerable people. The prime minister and the opposition leader met in Canberra on Monday to negotiate the deal, a week after sensational revelations about illegal drugs, sex workers and alcohol being provided to high-spending gamblers. Continue reading...
A device currently being used to help octogenarians do self-administered eye exams could be part of future space missions to monitor astronauts’ ocular health.
If opposition wins November’s state election, leader Jess Wilson vows households will not pay more under the change Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast The Victorian Liberals have vowed to restore weekly rubbish collections if they win November’s state election, with leader Jess Wilson describing the current fortnightly system in her local area as “disgusting”. Thirty-three Victorian councils have switched general rubbish collections from weekly to fortnightly, with a similar shift occurring in other states. Continue reading...
In today’s newsletter: Jerusalem’s most volatile site has again become a flashpoint, with Arab states and former Israeli officials sounding the alarm over Benjamin Netanyahu’s complicity Good morning. In late July, Itamar Ben-Gvir, West Bank settler and far-right extremist minister of security in Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, joined a group of more than 2,000 Jewish extremists to storm al-Aqsa mosque compound, Jerusalem’s most sensitive holy site. The far-right group has been doing this for years. Ben-Gvir has made series of visits to the site over the last three years, eroding norms and inflaming tensions. Jordanian officials have recently warned that it could be at risk of an “imminent” Israeli takeover. With national elections scheduled in October, and many eyes still firmly on Gaza (this weekend, Netanyahu rejected a US-backed 15 point plan for peace), the Israeli government appears to be racing to expand Israeli settlements and accelerate ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem before its mandate expires. UK politics | Sadiq Khan has called on the government to commit to revamped climate action and to reduce the UK’s reliance on oil and gas, as the UK endures a summer of drought, wildfires and heatwaves. US politics | The US Senate voted to confirm Todd Blanche as attorney general in a win for Donald Trump, who will now have his one-time personal attorney sitting atop the nation’s law enforcement apparatus. US-Israel war on Iran | Iran has issued tough new demands for reopening the strait of Hormuz, as a deal to open the strategic waterway remained out of reach on Saturday. Russia-Ukraine | Up to 50,000 North Korean soldiers will be deployed in Russia, Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said . On Saturday, Turkey called for a “moratorium” on attacks by Russia and Ukraine in the Black Sea after a series of strikes on civilian ships there World news | The alleged leader of the Kinahan organised crime group was extradited from Dubai on Sunday and met by a huge security operation in Dublin, marking the end of a global game of cat and mouse with European, US and Gulf authorities. Wednesday | A partial solar eclipse will be visible across the whole of the UK, with the south-west of England getting the best of British views. Parts of Greenland, Iceland and Spain will experience a total eclipse. Thursday | Clacton-on-sea residents will vote in the byelection Nigel Farage triggered last month, with the Reform leader taking on 33 mostly novelty candidates. Results are expected early Friday. Thursday | The Office for National Statistics will publish UK GDP figures for the second quarter of 2026. Continue reading...