The RBA likely believes it won’t need to hike rates again – but the worst thing it could do is say that out loud

• Heightened insecurity caused by the shifting defense capabilities and regional ambitions of Israel, Iran, and Saudi Arabia has led to the formation of a new Islamic defense alliance. • This strategic pact involves Pakistan and Turkey, emerging as a response to regional instability and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's efforts to weaken Iran.

• Israeli PM Netanyahu has rejected a 15-point Gaza peace plan proposed by Donald Trump, while the NYT reports allegations of torture and abuse against Global Sumud Flotilla activists in Israeli detention. • In the Middle East, Iran is nearing a pact with Oman to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, but tensions remain high as Iran-backed Houthi rebels attacked a Saudi Aramco refinery.

• Morocco and the United Arab Emirates are evolving their long-standing bilateral relations into a strategic geoeconomic alliance focused on trade, investment, and connectivity. • The partnership has strengthened significantly since the Arab Revolts of the early 2010s as both nations converged on their assessments of regional threats and international developments.

Critics argue US high court justice should recuse himself from upcoming fossil fuel firms’ climate accountability caseSupreme court justice Samuel Alito gained up to $2.9m from his fossil fuel interests between 2005 and 2024, a new review of financial disclosures shows.The analysis from the non-profit advocacy group and judicial watchdog Court Accountability, shared exclusively with the Guardian, found that even at the lowest range of estimates, Alito gained almost $400,000 from his oil and gas interests since being tapped for the high court by George W Bush in 2005. Continue reading...

Robert Gilman had been deteriorating rapidly in prison and was said to be in a catatonic stateRussia has freed a former US marine who had been in jail since 2022, after Vladimir Putin granted the ailing American a pardon on humanitarian grounds.Robert Gilman, 32, an English teacher who briefly served in the US Marines, was travelling by train when he was arrested in the southern Russian city of Voronezh in January 2022 for allegedly kicking a police officer while drunk, according to Russian state media. He was later sentenced to four and a half years in prison, though his family has consistently denied the allegations against him. Continue reading...

Key tourist route closed and residents rallying round as battle against wildfire expected to go on for several daysThe battle to contain a large wildfire spreading across the New Forest will go on for several days, experts have said, as wind changes and a desiccated landscape fuel the flames.Smoke billowed above the deserted A31 road, the main tourist route into the New Forest national park where tens of thousands of families are on holiday, late on Tuesday while a helicopter flew above the blaze. Firefighters at the scene said they were trying to contain several hotspots across the more than 247 acres of dried heathland as winds swirled over the area. Continue reading...

Jacob ‘Jake’ Whisenant died in Sequoia and Kings Canyon wilderness in ‘climbing-related incident’, authorities sayA 30-year-old California climber known for breaking speed records died after falling in the Sierra Nevada wilderness last week, according to authorities.Jacob “Jake” Whisenant, from Mammoth Lakes, California, died in the Sequoia and Kings Canyon wilderness on 3 August, according to the Tulare County sheriff’s office coroner unit and the National Park Service (NPS). Continue reading...

Revocations targeted foreign nationals who allegedly broke terms of their visas, says Department of StateThe US Department of State has canceled more than 175,000 visas since Donald Trump returned to office, quadrupling the pace of revocations under Joe Biden’s final year in the White House, according to a new tally released by the department this week.The announcement said the revocations targeted foreign nationals who allegedly broke the terms of their visas, committed crimes, called for violence against Americans, defrauded US citizens, abused the immigration system or endangered national security. Many followed run-ins with law enforcement, the department said, with assault, drunk driving, theft and drug offenses the leading causes, alongside reckless driving, sexual assault, child abuse and fraud. Continue reading...

Prof Wyn Evans, who raised concerns over treatment of female staff at Institute of Astronomy, was subject to ‘baseless’ investigation, judge rulesA University of Cambridge whistleblower who alleged bullying of female staff inside the university’s Institute of Astronomy has won a tribunal against his employer.Prof Wyn Evans told a tribunal hearing in June that the Institute suffered from “a bad history of misogyny”. He claimed that one woman in the department had been “hounded out of a job”, another was “left a frightened woman”, and a third had faced “aggressive professors” at the institute. Continue reading...

Angus Taylor and Matt Canavan will support Pauline Hanson’s migration bill despite vowing to fight her rightwing partyGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastThe Coalition will back a plan by Pauline Hanson to prevent Australian citizens with links to overseas terrorist groups from returning home, significantly elevating One Nation’s policy prescriptions on matters of national security.Despite pledging to fight Hanson’s insurgent rightwing movement amid collapsing support for their own parties, the opposition leader, Angus Taylor, and Nationals leader, Matt Canavan, both signalled support for One Nation’s bill to bar the return of foreign fighters ahead of its introduction to the Senate on Wednesday. Continue reading...

Lawsuit challenges Trump’s executive order targeting the ICC for its investigation of Israeli crimes in PalestineFour prominent US human rights organizations have accused the Trump administration of using its “crippling” sanctions regime against the international criminal court (ICC) to undermine global efforts to prosecute war crimes and crimes against humanity.In a lawsuit filed in federal court on Tuesday, the groups – the American Friends Service Committee, the Center for Constitutional Rights, Human Rights Watch and the Open Society Institute – argued that the administration’s targeting of the ICC, as well as of groups and individuals affiliated with it or assisting its work, amounts to a “blatantly illegal attack on international justice”, the groups said. Continue reading...