Australia news live: flash flooding hits Queensland roads; $57bn of Victoria infrastructure threatened by climate hazards

Figures disclosed by nursing union show big rise on reported incidents which may only be ‘tip of the iceberg’Racist abuse of NHS nurses has jumped by 86% in the last few years, which their union’s boss has blamed on the normalisation of extreme views in politics and the media.One nurse was called a monkey by a colleague, a patient threw a hot drink at a nurse and followed up with racial abuse, and in several cases others were called the N-word, the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) disclosed. Continue reading...

Tracker of attitudes towards artificial intelligence also finds almost half of the public would prefer to avoid itOne in three university students think AI will wipe out jobs so rapidly it will trigger civil unrest, according to a survey by King’s College London (KCL).Students are among the heaviest users of AI, the poll found, with 77% using it at least a few times a month – compared with 46% of workers – and 27% using it daily or almost daily. Continue reading...

UK foreign secretary says urgent pressure needed to get strait of Hormuz reopened and fertiliser and fuel movingGlobal fertiliser supplies must be freed up within weeks to avoid disaster, with harvests suffering and food prices rising, the UK’s foreign secretary, Yvette Cooper, has said.The war in Iran has frozen shipments of fertiliser through the strait of Hormuz, creating a supply crunch that has already damaged farming in the UK, Europe and the US and is having its worst impacts in the developing world, where farmers cannot afford the higher prices now being charged. Continue reading...

Trump claims number of medications available via the discount program will increase nearly sevenfoldDonald Trump has announced a major expansion of his prescription drug website, TrumpRx, claiming the number of medications available via the discount program will increase nearly sevenfold.Experts raised questions earlier this year about the limited number of drugs listed on the site, suggesting they would appeal to a relatively small group of patients. Continue reading...

Estimates suggest £1bn a year is laundered through high street businesses, with some connected to tax evasion, drugs and counterfeit goods“Dodgy” retail outlets such as vape stores, barbers, mini-marts and sweet shops suspected of being used to launder £1bn of criminal money will be targeted by a new specialist unit, the government has said.A £20m National Crime Agency cell will run and coordinate investigations and raids into businesses suspected of acting as fronts for gangsters, the Home Office said. The NCA and police forces in Greater Manchester, the West ­Midlands, Kent and Essex will recruit 75 officers to boost the effort. Continue reading...

Fire reported in Simi Valley, north-west of Los Angeles, on Monday as footage shows at least one home burningA fast-growing brush fire ignited on Monday morning in southern California, prompting evacuation orders and damaging at least one home.The fire was reported just after 10am in Simi Valley, a city in Ventura county about 30 miles north-west of Los Angeles. Continue reading...

Trump administration unveiled sweeping restrictions on press access at the Department of Defense last SeptemberSign up for the Breaking News US newsletter emailThe New York Times has filed a second lawsuit against the Pentagon, arguing that its recent policy requiring journalists to have official escorts when on Pentagon grounds is unconstitutional.The Trump administration unveiled sweeping restrictions on press access at the US Department of Defense, which it calls the Department of War, last September. Continue reading...

EPA outlines effort to kill Biden-era rules as critics condemn RFK Jr and Lee Zeldin’s ‘hocus pocus’The Trump administration has announced a plan to kill Biden-era drinking water limits on four Pfas “forever chemicals”, and to delay the implementation of standards for two other compounds.The Environmental Protection Agency is proposing two separate rules to delay and rescind the limits. The rules must go through an approval process that can take several years, and almost certainly will be challenged in court. Continue reading...

Victim in his 20s was beaten up in north London street having stepped outside to use his phoneA Jewish man is being treated in hospital for injuries to his face and body after being attacked by a number of men in north London.Police were called in the early hours of Monday morning following reports that a Jewish man had been assaulted by a number of men outside a property on the Grove in Golders Green. Continue reading...

NSW police called to home in Campbelltown where they arrested a man, aged 47A man has been charged with murder after the bodies of a woman and two children were found inside a Sydney home.Officers attended the home in Campbelltown, in the city’s south-west, on Monday night “following a call from the home to triple zero” at about 7.50pm, New South Wales police said. Continue reading...

People are believed to have been shot, said an officer, and Todd Gloria, the mayor, urged people to avoid the areaSan Diego police are responding to a shooting at the Islamic Center of San Diego, authorities said.Anthony Carrasco, an officer, said they believe people have been shot. Aerial television footage shows a heavy police presence outside the mosque. Continue reading...