OpenAI boss says world ‘right to be afraid’ but should trust AI firms
Sam Altman and other tech CEOs say there are incentives to limit advancements in AI, as fears grow over the threats it poses to humanity.
Journalist and pilot among three killed after news helicopter crashes in LA
The NBCLA news helicopter was flying near the scene of a fatal bus crash.
At least 20 killed after war-damaged Gaza building collapses
Dozens of people are missing beneath the rubble of the building in Gaza City, where 10 families had reportedly been living.
All support acts on Ed Sheeran’s US tour quit after Macklemore dropped
The star said he was not responsible for Macklemore being dropped from the line-up after he made pro-Palestinian statements on stage.
EU chief opens door for Canada to become ‘associate member’
Canada is seeking closer ties with EU after a breakdown in relations with the US and its president Donald Trump.
Tall athletes can’t stretch their legs in container beds at Asian Games, official says
South Korea's delegation slams the wooden containers housing its athletes at the Asian Games in Nagoya city.
Saudi Arabia says it shot down Houthi drone south of Mecca
The Houthis deny targeting the Islamic holy city after the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen accuses them of a "disgraceful act".
‘We are prey’: discovery of seven women’s bodies fuels anger over femicide in South Africa
String of female murder victims found near Johannesburg’s international airport, including five in the past week
The discovery of the bodies of seven women around Johannesburg’s international airport, including five in the past week, has prompted an outpouring of fear, grief and anger over a lack of progress in tackling femicide.
When Elizabeth “Tsontso” Moselakgomo did not return after going for a run on 9 September, her eight-year-old daughter alerted relatives, who contacted police. The 38-year-old’s body was found on Saturday and identified by relatives on Monday. The news of her disappearance had gone viral.
Continue reading...‘Anywhere, anytime’: Victoria police and PSOs to get random stop and search powers after Labor backflip
Premier Ben Carroll adopts Coalition’s stance on Jack’s Law, which gives police and PSOs power to randomly search people for knives with metal detectors
Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast
The Victorian premier has made another policy backflip, announcing a re-elected Labor government would give police and protective services officers the power to stop and search people for knives using handheld metal detectors – despite experts warning of a lack of evidence that the measure reduces violent crime.
Ben Carroll on Wednesday announced he would match a commitment made by the Coalition opposition last year to introduce Queensland’s Jack’s Law, named after 17-year-old Jack Beasley, who was fatally stabbed in Surfers Paradise in 2019.
Continue reading...US limits visas for South African officials over alleged anti-white discrimination
Secretary of State Marco Rubio says South Africa has not addressed US concerns over racial inequality.
Al-Qaida and IS-linked violence in Africa’s Sahel belt set to hit record levels this year
Twenty-five years after 9/11, figures compiled by conflict monitor underline how Sahel region has become centre of Islamist terror
Islamist extremist violence in Africa’s Sahel region is set to reach historic highs after a series of sweeping offensives by groups linked to al-Qaida and Islamic State, according to new figures compiled by the conflict monitor Acled.
As the US marks the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks launched by al-Qaida against targets in Washington and New York, the statistics underline the continued expansion of the veteran organisation in parts of Africa – in stark contrast with its relative weakness elsewhere.
Continue reading...Runaway horse captured by police on motorbikes
The unharmed horse escaped from its owner before the start of a parade in New Mexico
Sydney man who allegedly called 13-year-old Muslim girl a ‘terrorist’ berates judge after bail refused
Omar Yassine was arrested and charged with stalking and intimidation after allegedly hurling insults at year 8 student wearing a hijab
Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast
A middle-aged man accused of a “disgusting” Islamophobic attack on a 13-year-old girl has berated a judge after he was denied bail
Omar Yassine made an eventful court appearance on Wednesday after being held by police overnight for allegedly verbally abusing the Muslim schoolgirl on a Sydney bus.
Continue reading...Anthropic lands deal in $31bn datacentre in western Queensland, David Crisafulli says
Premier describes deal as ‘major win’ that will deliver more jobs for the state and put more energy into its grid
Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast
Anthropic, the AI company behind the large language model Claude, has done a deal to lease the site of its first Australian datacentre in western Queensland.
The $31.9bn datacentre will be the largest of its kind in Australia, according to planning documents.
Continue reading...People protecting nature and land set up self-defence units amid threat of murder
Defenders of forests and rivers killed at rate of one every three days in 2025, with 85% of deaths in Latin America
Nature and land defenders were murdered at the rate of one every three days last year, prompting many communities to set up self-defence units, according to the latest annual death toll by the independent watchdog Global Witness.
Organised crime groups or professional killers were implicated in more than a third of the 124 killings of defenders in 2025 as narco-trafficking activities overlapped with intrusions into indigenous territories and environmental crime, such as illegal logging and wildcat gold mining.
Continue reading...NBC helicopter crash in LA kills at least three people with others injured
Accident occurred as news crews in Los Angeles were covering a bus crash that had killed at least two people hours earlier
A news helicopter crash in a Los Angeles neighborhood has killed at least three people, after it came to the ground and burst into flames near the site of a bus crash that occurred hours earlier.
The helicopter crashed near a one-storey commercial building in the neighborhood of Chatsworth in the San Fernando Valley, as news crews were covering the bus crash that left at least two people dead and six others injured, according the Los Angeles Fire Department.
Continue reading...UK mathematician debunks myth around Parthenon’s optical illusions
Study challenges belief that temple’s curves were designed to correct optical illusions that would have ruined its clean lines
A mathematician has uncovered what may be one of the longest-running myths in history after studying optical illusions and the Parthenon, the famed Greek temple that overlooks Athens.
Scholars have marvelled at the building on the Acropolis hill for more than 2,000 years and heaped praise on its architects for their clever use of geometry. Its subtle curves are said to correct optical illusions that would have otherwise ruined the Parthenon’s clean lines.
Continue reading...Airlines should pay for CO2 removal if Heathrow expands, say climate advisers
Climate Change Committee says government cannot expand airport without requiring aviation industry to clean up its emissions
Heathrow airport should be allowed to expand only if airlines pay for the removal of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, the government’s climate advisers have said.
Building a third runway and new terminals, as some in government want to do, would breach the UK’s carbon budgets and make reaching net zero by 2050 impossible, on current policies, according to the Climate Change Committee.
Continue reading...Students in Gaza ‘devastated’ after plan for them to study in Belgium fails
Belgian government unable to agree on evacuation of 13 students to take up scholarships at universities
Students who are unable to leave Gaza and take up scholarships at Belgian universities have said they are devastated after Belgium’s government hit deadlock on a plan enabling them to leave the war-torn territory.
Ahmed Abujami, a 28-year-old doctor in Gaza, said he was “deeply disappointed” after Belgium’s five-party coalition government last Friday failed to agree on an evacuation plan for 13 students and researchers in the territory. Abujami has a scholarship to do a one-year master’s degree in public health at the Institute of Tropical Medicine in Antwerp. He hopes to gain skills and experience to rebuild Gaza’s shattered health system.
Continue reading...Saudi Arabia warns of ‘red line’ after Houthi drone intercepted close to holy city of Mecca
The Iran-aligned militant group rejected the suggestion it had targeted Mecca, while the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation condemned the attack
Saudi Arabia’s air defences intercepted and destroyed a Houthi drone south of Mecca on Tuesday before it entered prohibited airspace over the holy city, according to a spokesperson for the Saudi-led military coalition which is fighting the Iran-aligned group in Yemen.
The security of Islam’s two holiest sites and of pilgrims was a “red line”, coalition spokesperson Turki al-Malki said early on Wednesday, adding that the coalition would take necessary deterrent measures against the Houthis.
Continue reading...