2 h. ago Aurora australis: southern lights seen across Australia amid severe solar storm

Phenomenon enjoyed from Victoria to New Zealand after a severe solar storm created perfect conditions Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastSkywatchers were treated to a celestial delight on Wednesday evening, with a severe solar storm making it possible to view the southern lights across large parts of Australia and New ZealandAn intense geomagnetic storm, caused by several powerful bursts of energy from the sun, has led the Bureau of Meteorology’s space weather forecasting centre to issue an aurora alert for “mid to southern parts of Australia”. Continue reading...

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13 h. ago Aurora australis: southern lights to be visible across large parts of Australia amid severe solar storm

Lights may be enjoyed from Tasmania and New Zealand, experts say, but also as far north as Sydney and PerthFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastSkywatchers may be treated to a celestial delight on Wednesday evening, with a severe solar storm making it possible to view the southern lights across large parts of Australia – possibly including Sydney and Perth.An intense geomagnetic storm, caused by several powerful bursts of energy from the sun, has led the Bureau of Meteorology’s space weather forecasting centre to issue an aurora alert for “mid to southern parts of Australia”. Continue reading...

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40 h. ago Wiggles admit likely consumer law breach over Emma Bow headbands with button batteries

Children’s music supergroup pledges to discuss safety risks on special episode of Wiggle Talk podcastFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastChildren’s entertainers the Wiggles have admitted to selling headbands to kids without warning about the dangers of button batteries contained within the products.More than 3,100 Emma Bow headbands, which have four flashing lights powered by button batteries, were sold at live concerts, retailers and online between June 2022 and March 2024. Continue reading...

Politics

6 d. ago Spot the difference: parents warned that fake Labubu dolls could contain lead and pose choke risk

Australian consumer watchdog’s safety warning says counterfeit dolls – called Lafufus – can have wrong number of teeth and ears that are too wideFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastDoes your Labubu have exactly nine teeth? Are its ears narrow? Or do its body parts – eyes, feet and hands – detach from its grimacing face?The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has issued a warning to fans of the it-dolls, stating that a burgeoning market of counterfeit Labubus could pose safety risks to young children.Counterfeit items could have small detachable parts like eyes, feet or hands.Lafufu’s could have poor stitching or use cheap fabrics.Authentic Labubus have exactly nine teeth. Fake items could have ears that are too wide.Counterfeits are often sold at much lower prices. Continue reading...

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6 d. ago Spot the difference: parents warned that fake Labubu dolls could contain lead and pose choking risk

Australian consumer watchdog’s safety warning says counterfeit dolls – called Lafufus – can have wrong number of teeth and ears that are too wideFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastDoes your Labubu have exactly nine teeth? Are its ears narrow? Or do its body parts – eyes, feet and hands – detach from its grimacing face?The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has issued a warning to fans of the it-dolls, stating that a burgeoning market of counterfeit Labubus could pose safety risks to young children.Counterfeit items could have small detachable parts like eyes, feet or hands.Lafufu’s could have poor stitching or use cheap fabrics.Authentic Labubus have exactly nine teeth. Fake items could have ears that are too wide.Counterfeits are often sold at much lower prices. Continue reading...

Events

7 d. ago Scientists thought Great Barrier Reef doomed if global temperatures rise 1.5C – but a new study finds hope

University of Queensland modelling says reef will suffer ‘rapid coral decline’ in coming decades but could still recover if targets metSign up for climate and environment editor Adam Morton’s free Clear Air newsletter hereFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesThe Great Barrier Reef will undergo “rapid coral decline” until 2050 but could recover if global heating is kept below 2C, according to the most detailed modelling so far of the future of the world’s biggest coral reef.The finding contradicts a widely held view that the decline of the oceanic gem would become irreversible as global temperatures rise above 1.5C, with one report last month suggesting the world’s tropical corals had already reached a tipping point of long-term decline.Sign up to get climate and environment editor Adam Morton’s Clear Air column as a free newsletter Continue reading...

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8 d. ago Erin Patterson appeals guilty verdicts over deadly mushroom lunch that killed three

Lawyers lodge challenge to conviction of triple murderer who served relatives beef wellingtons laced with death cap mushrooms in regional AustraliaFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastTriple murderer Erin Patterson has filed an appeal against her conviction for killing three relatives with poisoned beef wellingtons, but will not appeal against her sentence.Lawyers for Patterson, 51, signalled they would be appealing last month, but the deadline for her to lodge the challenge to the court of appeal passed late yesterday. Continue reading...

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9 d. ago Australians to get at least three hours a day of free solar power

Labor announces ‘solar sharer’ program for households in NSW, south-east Queensland and South AustraliaFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastAustralian households in three states will be promised access to at least three hours a day of free solar power, regardless of whether they have rooftop panels, the federal government has announced.The “solar sharer” offer will be available to homes with smart meters – which is the majority of homes – in New South Wales, south-east Queensland and South Australia from July next year, with other areas to potentially follow in 2027. Continue reading...

Politics

1 week ago A fatal drop: what do we know about the drugs, 500 times stronger than heroin, taking Australian lives?

Only a few years after first being detected in Australia, nitazenes have been found in everything from vapes to fake heroin – and the death toll is risingFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastIn the middle of winter last year, in a unit in Melbourne’s northern suburbs, Carly Morse, Thomas Vale, Michael Hodgkinson and Abdul El Sayed used a rolled-up bank note to inhale cocaine. About 3am on 24 June 2024, all four likely became unresponsive.El Sayed’s uncle, Cory Lewis, became concerned late the following night when his nephew, who had been living with him, did not return home.Sign up for a weekly email featuring our best reads Continue reading...

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1 week ago Message in a bottle from first world war soldier found on remote Australian beach

Light-hearted note, penned on 15 August 1916, was found on Wharton beach, after severe winter storms washed away sand dunesFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastMore than a century after an Australian soldier wrote a letter to his mother as he sailed to war and his death, it has been discovered in a bottle washed up on a remote beach.Private Malcolm Alexander Neville’s light-hearted note, penned on 15 August 1916, was found on Wharton beach, near Esperance, about 750km south-east of Perth. Continue reading...

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1 week ago England vs Australia LIVE: Autumn Nations Series match stream, latest team news, lineups, TV, prediction

Steve Borthwick’s side chasing eighth successive win against the Wallabies at Twickenham

Culture

1 week ago Grieving daughter of cruise ship passenger left behind on remote Australian island says ‘there was a failure of care’

Suzanne Rees, 80, was found dead on Lizard Island a day after her cruise ship the Coral Adventurer left without herFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastThe family of an 80-year-old who was left behind by her cruise ship and died on a remote Queensland island has alleged there was a “failure of care and common sense”.Suzanne Rees was on the second day of a luxury 60-day circumnavigation of Australia when she disembarked the Coral Adventurer at Lizard Island on the Great Barrier Reef on Saturday morning. She and other passengers had intended to hike the island’s Cook’s Look mountain. Continue reading...

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1 week ago Australian man living in Washington DC pleads guilty to selling trade secrets to Russian broker

US department of justice says Peter Williams, 39, stole material over three-year period working for US defence contractorFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastAn Australian man pleaded guilty in US court on Wednesday to stealing trade secrets from his employer and selling them to a Russian cyber-tools broker.The US Department of Justice said on Wednesday that Peter Williams, 39, an Australian living in Washington DC, pleaded guilty to two counts of theft of the trade secrets. The agency said Williams stole the material over a three-year period while working for a US defence contractor, including information on national security-focused software. Continue reading...

Politics

2 w. ago Shark feeding frenzy spotted near shore at popular Australian surf beach

‘Wonderful’ for people to see the predators so close and feasting on bait fish at the Gold Coast’s Rainbow Bay, near Snapper Rocks, expert saysFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastA shiver of sharks has been spotted feeding close to shore near a popular surfing spot on the Gold Coast on Australia’s east coast.The large group of predators surprised spectators on the southern end of Rainbow Bay on Tuesday, near the renowned Snapper Rocks surf break. Continue reading...

Politics

2 w. ago Shark feeding frenzy off popular Australian surf beach captured in chilling footage

‘Wonderful’ for people to see the predators so close and feasting on bait fish at the Gold Coast’s Rainbow Bay, near Snapper Rocks, expert saysFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastA shiver of sharks has been spotted feeding close to shore near a popular surfing spot on the Gold Coast on Australia’s east coast.The large group of predators surprised spectators on the southern end of Rainbow Bay on Tuesday, near the renowned Snapper Rocks surf break. Continue reading...

Culture

2 w. ago Juvenile humpback whale dies off NSW coast while entangled in shark net

It is the first whale to have died out of 15 entangled in shark nets on Australia’s east coast so far this yearFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastA juvenile humpback whale has been found dead after becoming entangled in a shark net off the New South Wales coast.The 8-metre whale, estimated to be two years old, was found wrapped in netting north of Wollongong on Tuesday, in waters between Coledale and Wombarra. Continue reading...

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2 w. ago Humpback whale calf dies off NSW coast while entangled in shark net

It is the first whale to have died out of 15 entangled in shark nets on Australia’s east coast so far this yearFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastA humpback whale calf has been found dead after becoming entangled in a shark net off the New South Wales coast.The 8-metre juvenile whale was found wrapped in netting north of Wollongong on Tuesday, in waters between Coledale and Wombarra. Continue reading...

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2 w. ago Woman charged after allegedly sabotaging gas supply at two Sydney hospitals

NSW police allege water and gas mains were cut at first hospital in Sutherland before gas main switched off at nearby facilityFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastA woman has been charged after gas supplies were allegedly sabotaged at two Sydney hospitals, putting patients into potentially “catastrophic” situations.New South Wales police alleged that the woman, 42, cut Kareena private hospital’s non-medical gas supply and water mains at 12.20am on Tuesday. Continue reading...

Politics

2 w. ago Woman arrested after gas supplies allegedly sabotaged at two Sydney hospitals

NSW police allege water and gas mains were cut at first hospital in Sutherland before gas main switched off at nearby facilityFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastA woman has been arrested after gas supplies were allegedly sabotaged at two Sydney hospitals.Sutherland hospital in southern Sydney lost medical gases on Tuesday morning, requiring them to switch to portable oxygen and air as part of their contingency plans, the New South Wales health minister, Ryan Park, said in a statement. Continue reading...

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2 w. ago At least 174 racehorses died from racing or training injuries in past 12 months in Australia, report finds

That’s the highest number recorded by the Coalition for the Protection of Racehorses since they began tracking deaths 10 years agoFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastAt least 174 thoroughbred racehorses died at the track or as a result of injuries sustained while racing or training in the past 12 months – the highest number recorded by animal rights activists since they began tracking 10 years ago.The report from the Coalition for the Protection of Racehorses (CPR) was released on Tuesday, one week ahead of Australia’s most important horse race, the Melbourne Cup. Continue reading...

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