Prime minister intervenes amid anger at news Tony Burke was planning to cut intake of 20,000 arrivals by a third
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Anthony Albanese has guaranteed Australia’s annual refugee intake will not be cut next financial year, shutting down plans for the arrivals quota to drop by one-third to Coalition-era levels.
Labor MPs and refugee advocates reacted angrily to news on Thursday morning that the home affairs minister, Tony Burke, was planning to cut intake of 20,000 arrivals to 13,750 in 2027-28.
Continue reading...Giant burrowing cockroaches with added cameras and medical injectors are being tested as potential ‘first responders’ in earthquakes
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For people trapped under rubble in an earthquake or similar disaster, the arrival of a fleet of cockroaches could one day be the difference between life and death.
Biorobotics engineers have been working on the design of six-legged cyborg insects with cameras and miniature medical injectors for search and rescue missions.
Continue reading...Airline declines to predict impact of new carry-on luggage charge on Jetstar revenue or ticket sales, saying it is offering customers ‘choice’
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Qantas could increase ticket prices and plans to expand add-on fees at its low-budget carrier Jetstar, after the company said fuel costs contributed to its lowest pre-tax profits in four years.
After delivering the airline’s annual results on Thursday, the Qantas chief executive, Vanessa Hudson, said the company could push for more revenue because passenger demand remained strong despite cost-of-living pressures.
Continue reading...Actor says she had the ‘weirdest six months of my life’, after being diagnosed days after her Dawson’s Creek co-star James Van Der Beek died of cancer
Busy Philipps has revealed she had a brain tumour removed, which was diagnosed shortly after her Dawson’s Creek co-star James Van Der Beek died from bowel cancer.
The 47-year-old, born Elizabeth Philipps, starred in the hit US teen drama as Audrey Liddell opposite Van Der Beek, who died in February aged 48 after being diagnosed with bowel cancer.
Continue reading...Authorities say water rising at lake at site of disaster and it could burst
Eyewitness accounts have been emerging from the Tibetan side of the border, with a woman saying she was travelling from Gyirong town towards Nepal on Wednesday morning when her group encountered the flood about 4km from Gyirong port.
“Trees and electricity poles had already been knocked down, and the flood water was bearing down on us. We didn’t dare turn around, so we could only reverse,” the woman, surnamed Fang, told Xiaoxiang Morning News.
I was really scared. My whole body was trembling.
Continue reading...This live blog has now closed – but our coverage continues at a new blog here
Eyewitness accounts have been emerging from the Tibetan side of the border, with a woman saying she was travelling from Gyirong town towards Nepal on Wednesday morning when her group encountered the flood about 4km from Gyirong port.
“Trees and electricity poles had already been knocked down, and the flood water was bearing down on us. We didn’t dare turn around, so we could only reverse,” the woman, surnamed Fang, told Xiaoxiang Morning News.
I was really scared. My whole body was trembling.
Continue reading...Both children were born on same day in November 2025 in situation so rare it had not been contemplated by state surrogacy laws
A Queensland woman gave birth to twin children with separate sets of biological parents last year, in what is believed to be an Australian first situation so rare it had not been contemplated by state surrogacy laws.
The woman, anonymised in a court judgment, conceived an unplanned natural pregnancy about the same time as she received an IVF embryo transfer under a surrogacy arrangement with another couple.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Arturo Béjar, an ex-Facebook employee and whistleblower, said outcome ‘is not an all clear to say the product is safe’
The star witness in the US government’s landmark trial against Meta believes that a multibillion-dollar settlement reached on Wednesday does not go far enough to stop the social media giant’s harms to young users.
“The limitations that are in the agreement are the equivalent of saying: ‘Well you can smoke as many cigarettes as you can in two hours a day,’” said whistleblower and ex-Facebook employee Arturo Béjar. “It doesn’t make the cigarettes any safer.”
Continue reading...A man suspected of chasing people in Philadelphia while wearing a creepy Halloween mask has been arrested in Las Vegas.
Both children were born on same day in November 2025 in situation so rare it had not been contemplated by state surrogacy laws
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A Queensland woman gave birth to twin children with separate sets of biological parents last year, in what is believed to be an Australian first situation so rare it had not been contemplated by state surrogacy laws.
The woman, anonymised in a court judgment, conceived an unplanned natural pregnancy about the same time as she received an IVF embryo transfer under a surrogacy arrangement with another couple.
Continue reading...