Dog rescued on NSW south coast after being swept off rocks and swimming 800 metres to island

• Tehran has suspended negotiations with the United States, citing recent Israeli military actions in Lebanon as the primary reason for the breakdown. • The escalation threatens to reignite direct military exchanges and risks destabilizing the Strait of Hormuz, a critical global shipping lane.

• China is promoting its Global Security Initiative (GSI) to reduce international confrontation and foster security cooperation through dialogue and diplomacy. • The GSI has been implemented via mediation efforts, peace talks, counterterrorism cooperation, and support for UN-centered multilateralism.

• China's defense minister, Dong Jun, was absent from this year's Shangri-La Dialogue, yet the nation remained the central focus of the security discussions. • The event highlighted ongoing regional tensions, with participants addressing China's influence and strategic posture in the Indo-Pacific.

• French philosopher, sociologist, and former Resistance fighter Edgar Morin has passed away at the age of 105, having lived from 1921 to 2026. • A pioneer of "complex thought," Morin's intellectual work reshaped modern approaches to education, knowledge, and human understanding across global platforms.

• Iranian state media announced that talks with the U.S. have halted and warned that "other fronts" are opening, including potential attacks on key waterways. • This escalation follows statements from Donald Trump suggesting the Iranian regime "really wants to make a deal" to resolve ongoing tensions.

Labor’s Luba Grigorovitch says she regrets six of the character references and vows never to write anotherFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastNewly promoted Victorian government minister Luba Grigorovitch says she will never write another character reference after revealing she regrets six she has penned, including one for a taxi driver convicted of assaulting female passengers.Grigorovitch issued a statement on Monday night confirming that, since she became the member for Koroit in late 2022, she had provided “around 33” character references, including six “to individuals that I now know I shouldn’t have”. Continue reading...

Kyiv, Dnipro and Kharkiv hit, with apartment buildings among the targets according to officials, after president said intelligence predicted ‘massive strike’ Russian air raids on major Ukrainian centres including Kyiv, Dnipro and Kharkiv killed at least five people and wounded dozens by early morning on Tuesday, authorities said.Four people were killed and 16 injured in a Russian attack on Dnipro, in Ukraine’s east, said the regional governor, Oleksandr Hanzha. All those injured were taken to hospital, he said, posting pictures of heavily damaged residential buildings, burnt-out vehicles and a destroyed children’s playground. Continue reading...

Lively’s legal team are suing her It Ends with Us co-star for legal fees and damages, reigniting a years-long court battleAttorneys for US actor Blake Likely were back in front of a New York judge on Monday to demand legal fees and damages from It Ends with Us co-star Justin Baldoni, after a settlement was reached last month in their years-long legal battle.The 38-year-old actor’s legal team argued that the defamation lawsuit brought against her by Baldoni and his production company, Wayfarer Studios, was a retaliatory move prohibited by California law. Continue reading...

Unions had demanded a 6% pay increase for those on minimum wage after war in the Middle East pushed inflation higherFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastNearly 3 million workers will receive a 4.75% pay rise, while about 100,000 of the country’s lowest paid will receive a higher 6% increase, after the Fair Work Commission handed down its annual minimum wage decision.Announcing the 4.75% decision on Tuesday morning applicable to the roughly 2.8 million workers on award wages, the Fair Work Commission’s president, Justice Adam Hatcher, announced that the lowest ongoing wage rate for employees would climb from nearly $24.95 an hour, to $26.44 – a lift of just under 6%. Continue reading...

Revocation of access newest attempt by Trump’s defense department to restrict reporting on military affairsJournalists may no longer enter the Pentagon’s press office, which has been designated as a classified space amid growing moves to restrict press access to the defense department.“This is the most transparent war department in history. No amount of spin from the Fake News media will change that,” Jose Valdez, the acting defense department press secretary, said in a social media post. “The Pentagon Press Office has been redesignated as a Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility due to speechwriters from the Office of the Secretary of War sharing the facility.” Continue reading...

Party could struggle to push ratings as strategy increasingly focuses on views held by minority of voters, research findsReform UK is becoming increasingly reliant on socially conservative views for political support, and therefore could struggle to push its poll ratings much higher, a large-scale research project led by the leading psephologist John Curtice has found.A study of Nigel Farage’s party carried out as part of the British Social Attitudes report found that while Reform supporters were disproportionately more likely to be unhappy with politicians and public services, recent recruits had seemingly more robust attitudes in areas such as diversity and welfare. Continue reading...