Nationals leader hints there might still be a possibility of joint tickets in 2028 if state officials from the two parties can come to agreement. Follow today’s news live
People trapped by flooding as river rise breaks record
Intense falls and major flooding have hit Australia’s most populous state as a slow-moving system dumps rain, causing a major river to rise to the highest level in almost 100 years.
Continue reading...Two days of heavy rainfall still on way as SES carries out 130 rescues amid floods in Taree and nearby areas
Residents of the mid-north coast of New South Wales have described anxious waits for rescue in the dark as unprecedented flooding inundates homes and businesses across the region.
The State Emergency Service has performed 130 rescues in the past 24 hours, the bulk of those occurring in Taree, Wingham and Glenthorne.
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Continue reading...Good character references from friends and families of accused rapists had previously been a consideration in a judge’s sentencing decision
The consideration of good character references for accused rapists will be restricted under major Queensland court reforms but some advocates say it does not go far enough.
The changes introduced to Queensland parliament this week are among the recommendations made by a Queensland Sentencing Advisory Council report into rape and sexual assault.
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Continue reading...Outlet calls story, created by freelancer working with one of the newpaper’s content partner, a ‘learning moment’
Illinois’ prominent Chicago Sun-Times newspaper has confirmed that a summer reading list, which included several recommendations for books that don’t exist, was created using artificial intelligence by a freelancer who worked with one of their content partners.
Social media posts began to circulate on Tuesday criticizing the paper for allegedly using the AI software ChatGPT to generate an article with book recommendations for the upcoming summer season called “Summer reading list for 2025”. As such chatbots are known to make up information, a phenomenon often referred to as “AI hallucination”, the article contains several fake titles attached to real authors.
Continue reading...In an interview with the Guardian, Winston Peters says the world faces the ‘most uncertain time’ in 80 years ahead of talks with Australia's foreign minister
The Pacific must be protected from becoming a military zone amid China’s growing push for influence in the region, New Zealand’s top diplomat Winston Peters has warned ahead of a meeting with his Australian counterpart Penny Wong.
Peters, who is New Zealand’s deputy prime minister and foreign affairs minister, told the Guardian that his country has a good relationship with China.
Continue reading...Proportion of cases lasting more than a year up 17-fold in seven years, National Audit Office says
The proportion of children in England and Wales subject to care proceedings who are having to wait more than a year to have their case resolved has increased more than 17-fold in the last seven years, a watchdog has found.
The average duration of proceedings brought by local authorities to protect a child from harm (known as public law cases) was 36 weeks last year, according to the National Audit Office (NAO). In 2014 the government set a time limit of 26 weeks but it has never been met.
Continue reading...Uinversity students’ mental health and wellbeing must be ‘prioritised alongside their studies’, argue campaigners
A review of student suicides in England dodged “the real issues” with universities, the parents of a student who killed herself before a class presentation have said.
The national review of higher education student suicide deaths, commissioned by the Department for Education, heard that families suffered “distressing experiences” at the hands of university administrators, and concluded that universities owed a “duty of candour” to relatives, including greater transparency and involvement.
In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In the US, you can call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on 988, chat on 988lifeline.org, or text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis counsellor. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org
Continue reading...New testing method means treatments could start sooner, possibly before patient leaves the operating table
A new method for diagnosing brain tumours could cut the time patients wait for treatments by weeks to hours and raise the possibility of novel types of therapy, researchers have said.
According to the Brain Tumour Charity, about 740,000 people around the world are diagnosed with a brain tumour each year, around half of which are non-cancerous. Once a brain tumour is found, a sample is taken during surgery and cells are immediately studied under a microscope by pathologists, who can often identify the type of tumour. However, genetic testing helps to make or confirm the diagnosis.
Continue reading...Climate Change Committee says original goal of a 75% emissions cut by 2030 will now be delayed by up to six years
The UK’s climate watchdog has warned that Scotland needs to take “immediate action at pace and scale” to cut its emissions after ministers axed a series of policy pledges.
The Climate Change Committee (CCC), an official advisory body, said ministers in Edinburgh needed to take urgent action to curb emissions from buildings and transport to cut Scotland’s overall emissions to nearly zero by 2045.
Abandoned a target to cut car miles by 20% by 2030.
Dropped a pledge to rapidly decarbonise homes by mandating low-carbon heating systems.
Cut funding for tree planting.
Missed targets to restore degraded peatland.
Ignored calls for a plan to cut meat and dairy consumption, and failed to use their powers to tax air travel more heavily.
Continue reading...Gen Michael Guetlein of Space Force will be in charge of defense system that could cost $540bn over 20 years
Donald Trump announced on Tuesday that his administration will move forward with developing the so-called “Golden Dome” missile defense system that he envisions will protect the United States from possible foreign strikes using ground and space-based weapons.
Flanked by the US defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, in the Oval Office, Trump also said that he wanted the project to be operational before he left office. He added that Republicans had agreed to allocate $25bn in initial funding and Canada had expressed an interest in taking part.
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