European wine, chocolate and cars to become cheaper in Australia amid landmark trade deal with EU

Peter Achterstraat says protections are essential as apartments increasingly become ‘the only place people can afford to buy’Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastThe New South Wales productivity commissioner wants exorbitant commissions for strata managers banned “sooner rather than later”, with apartments expected to make up half of all Sydney homes by 2041.The NSW government is yet to commit to implementing the recommendations contained in Peter Achterstraat’s report. He has advised outlawing commissions on insurance premiums and other services. Continue reading...

Triple J will air without presenters while ABC News Breakfast is not expected to air as staff walk off the job to protest pay and conditionsFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesSign up for Guardian Australia’s free weekly media newsletter hereThe ABC’s flagship news programs including 7.30 and AM will be replaced by the BBC World Service when ABC journalists walk off the job for 24 hours for the first time in 20 years on Wednesday.Staff are protesting what they say is a low pay offer from ABC managing director Hugh Marks, as well as work conditions and the broadcaster’s refusal to rule out replacing journalists with AI bots. Continue reading...

Shipments to Russian smelters from Aughinish Alumina have increased sharply since the invasion of UkraineA leading Irish metals refinery is part of an international aluminium supply chain that appears to conclude with shipments to arms producers feeding the Kremlin’s war machine in Ukraine, leaked records and public data suggests.Trading records show that shipments to Russian smelters from Aughinish Alumina, which is located on the Shannon estuary in the west of Ireland and has been owned by the Russian aluminium group Rusal since 2006, have increased sharply since the invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Continue reading...

Opening in May, Camden museum has 100,000-item archive telling story of British youth subcultures, from mods and rockers, to ravers and emoIn the basement of a new-build housing block in Camden, the ventilation system is working flat out. The fans whir like a chainsaw orchestra bouncing around the concrete room as they attempt to deal with a slight damp problem. “This is what it’d sound like if there was a fire!” shouts Jon Swinstead, the driving force behind the Museum of Youth Culture, as he tries to make himself heard above the din.It’s hard to imagine but in a few weeks this empty, slightly soggy space will be transformed into an institution dedicated to all things teenage – a project Swinstead has been working on in one way or another for almost 30 years. Continue reading...

Polling for anti-immigration DPP is relatively low, but many feel its ideas have been co-opted by Mette Frederiksen’s Social DemocratsMayasa Mandia, a recent graduate living in the small Danish town of Kokkedal, will be voting for the left in Tuesday’s general election – but it won’t be for Mette Frederiksen’s Social Democrats.The 23-year-old, a practising Muslim, says that under Frederiksen’s government far-right commentary has become normalised in the Danish mainstream. She has seen this, she says, at her own university, where there were discussions about banning prayers. Continue reading...

PM Sanae Takaichi says about 80m barrels of stockpiled oil to be provided to refiners – equivalent to 45 days of domestic demand • Middle East crisis – live updatesJapan will begin the biggest-ever release of oil from its strategic reserves this week, the prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, has said, as the country braces for possible shortages caused by the US-Israel war on Iran.The government last week approved the release of 15 days’ worth of private-sector reserves, amid concern that the conflict in the Middle East will continue to hinder the flow of tanker traffic along the strait of Hormuz. Continue reading...

Speaking after signing trade agreement in Canberra, the European Commission president warns ‘situation is critical’ for global energy supplyGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastThe US and Iran must come to the negotiating table to immediately end the de facto closure of the strait of Hormuz and stop hostilities in the Middle East, the head of the European Commission says.Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission president, said Iran’s efforts to block the strategic waterway via attacks on unarmed commercial vessels and critical infrastructure “must be condemned”. Continue reading...

Vehicle numbers on key Sydney and Melbourne roads have held steady, as calls grow for free or cheaper public transport to encourage people to drive lessFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastAustralians appear to have kept driving despite soaring petrol prices, as calls grow for free or discounted public transport to help people save fuel and get off the road.Traffic and public transport usage are holding steady, with experts warning the country needs to change travel methods or start working from home if fuel costs keep rising.Do you know more? Email [email protected] Continue reading...

Iranian parliament speaker says ‘no negotiations’ held with US, as Trump postpones energy strikes for five days; European Commission chief says war must come to negotiated endTrump claims ‘productive’ talks with Iran but Tehran denies contactIsrael launches new strikes on Tehran as Trump pauses Iran energy attacksWelcome to our ongoing coverage of the US-Israeli war on Iran and its wider repercussions in the Middle East and globally.Donald Trump has claimed the US and Iran have held talks in which the two sides had “major points of agreement”, and speculated that a deal could soon be done to end the war, a claim contradicted by Tehran.Trump said the threatened US strikes on Iranian power plants had been postponed after “very good and productive” discussions with Iran about a “complete and total resolution of our hostilities” in the Middle East. After hitting a four-year high, the price of oil fell dramatically following Trump’s comments, while stocks in Asia rallied.Benjamin Netanyahu, meanwhile, said he had spoken with Trump, who saw a chance of an agreement with Iran, but added that Israel would continue its strikes against Iran and Lebanon. Trump believed there was a possibility of “leveraging the mighty achievements obtained by the Israeli and the US military, in order to realise the goals of the war in a deal – a deal that will preserve our vital interests”, the Israeli prime minister claimed in a video statement released by his office.Israel said it had launched “wide-scale” strikes on Iran on Monday morning, while Tehran continued to fire missiles at the UAE and Saudi Arabia. The Israeli military also claimed to have hit struck the main security headquarters of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as part of a “wave of strikes that was completed a short while ago in the heart of Tehran”.An Israeli strike also hit Beirut’s southern suburbs on Monday, Agence France-Presse quoted state media as saying, hours after the Israeli army issued an order for residents of the area to evacuate. An AFPTV live broadcast showed a cloud of smoke over the densely populated southern suburbs, which are considered a Hezbollah stronghold and have not been hit since Friday night. Continue reading...

Policy begins on 1 April and is aimed to ease financial pressure as the price of fuel surges due to conflict in the Middle EastNearly 150,000 New Zealand families will soon receive a weekly cash payment to help them afford petrol, the government has announced, in what is believed to be the world’s first fuel relief package that directly pays citizens since the Iran war began.On Tuesday, prime minister Christopher Luxon and finance minister Nicola Willis announced roughly 143,000 families with children will get an extra NZ$50 ($29.20; £21.80) a week through a boost to the in-work tax credit – a payment to families with dependent children where at least one parent is in paid employment and neither parent receives benefits. Another 14,000 families on slightly higher incomes will also be eligible for payments, but will receive less than $50 per week. Continue reading...

Ukraine president vows to respond to move that would draw Belarus more directly into the war; EU anger at Hungary over Russia information sharing. What we know on day 1,490 Continue reading...