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Reserve Bank of Australia raises rates for third consecutive meeting, lifting them to early-2025 levels Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastThe Reserve Bank has delivered a third straight interest rate hike, as it seeks to head off the inflationary threat from higher fuel prices linked to the ongoing US-Israel war on Iran.A week out from what the treasurer, Jim Chalmers, is simultaneously calling his most ambitious and responsible budget yet, the widely anticipated decision to increase the cash rate to 4.35% from 4.1% comes amid growing worries about the economic fallout from the Middle East conflict. Continue reading...

While interest rate rises can’t affect the surging price of oil caused by Middle East turmoil, they are still the Reserve Bank’s best – and only – tool to fight inflationFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastOne economist is calling it the “Hormuz hike”.There’s a nearly 80% chance that the Reserve Bank will deliver a third straight interest rate rise on Tuesday, according to financial markets.Patrick Commins is Guardian Australia’s economics editor Continue reading...

Experts estimate ‘accounting of the harm that was done’ by 200 years of chattel slavery would be US$2tn in damagesBritain stole 25 million years of life and labour through slavery in Barbados, according to new research by a team of international experts.Their report concludes that Barbados’s population of African descent have suffered damages estimated at up to US$2tn (£1.5tn) from 200 years of chattel slavery. Continue reading...

Exclusive: 839,000 homes in urban areas face threat of surface-water flooding, with social housing tenants most vulnerable to costsEight in 10 of the homes that are at high risk of flooding in England are now in towns and cities, according to analysis by the National Housing Federation (NHF), which said social housing tenants are disproportionately vulnerable to the financial cost.Research found that 839,000 homes in urban areas are now classed as being at high risk of surface water flooding, a threefold increase since 2018. Continue reading...

• The Kansas City Chiefs secured All-Pro cornerback Marcus Peters with a three-year contract extension worth $45 million, keeping their secondary anchor through 2029. • Peters recorded 8 interceptions and 22 passes defensed last season, maintaining his elite performance level at age 31. • The move solidifies Kansas City's defense ahead of the 2026 NFL season after their Super Bowl LXII victory last February.

• The New England Patriots selected USC quarterback Caleb Williams with the first overall pick of the 2026 NFL Draft, beginning their franchise rebuild. • Williams threw for 4,200 yards and 38 touchdowns in his final college season while completing 72% of his passes. • Patriots head coach Bill Belichick emphasized Williams' arm strength, decision-making, and leadership qualities in the selection.

Marcos Orellana, a special rapporteur, found lax environmental standards and lack of oversight allowed pollution to accumulateMexico is facing a “toxic crisis” and has become a “garbage sink” for the US, exposing Mexican communities to dangerous pollution, a UN expert has warned.In an interview with the Guardian and Quinto Elemento Lab, an investigative outlet, Marcos Orellana, an environmental specialist, said pollutants ranging from imported waste to dangerous pesticides are affecting people’s right to live healthy lives. Continue reading...

• The Supreme Court heard oral arguments on Wednesday, April 1, 2026, in Trump v. Barbara, a case challenging the constitutionality of birthright citizenship under the 14th Amendment. • President Donald Trump attended the arguments in person, making him the first sitting president to observe Supreme Court oral arguments, according to historians cited by Politico. • The case centers on Trump's executive order on birthright citizenship, with the Court expected to issue a ruling later in the term that could fundamentally alter citizenship eligibility in the United States.

Defence ministry says US failed to request authorisation in time for parliament to give approval as required by international treatyItaly has denied the use of an airbase in Sicily to US military planes carrying weapons for the war in Iran after the US did not follow the required authorisation procedure.A source at the Italian defence ministry confirmed a report in Corriere della Sera that “some US bombers” had been due to land at Sigonella – one of seven US navy bases in Italy – before heading to the Middle East, but that use of the base had been denied because the US sought authorisation to land only while the aircraft were already en route to Sicily. Continue reading...

Researchers believe behavioral gap, which may hold true across species, is probably product of less fear of harassment in cities Anyone who has lived long enough in a city can tell you – with time, you just stop noticing strange new things. A unicycling bagpiper. A person changing clothes on the subway. Murals that transform streets into tart.Coyotes in cities seem to be bolder as well and less afraid of new experiences. That’s according to a new study that researchers conducted at more than a dozen sites across the US, comparing urban and rural coyotes’ reaction to new stimuli. Continue reading...

The Australian Institute of Architects’ judges sought to highlight a gentler approach to urban transformation,’ chair of the awards steering committee saysGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastSydney’s Campbelltown has paved paradise and put up a parking lot. And the brave jury at the Australian Urban Design awards has declared it heavenly.The winners of the 2026 awards, announced on Tuesday at Parliament House in Canberra, suggest the era of the star architect’s singular, sculptural spectacle is being traded, at least this year, for something more pragmatic: an unassuming revolution where the most significant breakthroughs are found in natural, open-mesh ventilation, a splash of colour and a heart of soothing greenery. Continue reading...

Doubling tariffs on imported steel will raise cost of the metal when Iran war is already inflating steel and concrete pricesOne of HS2’s biggest contractors has warned the government that raising tariffs on foreign steel imports will “exacerbate” cost pressures for the UK construction industry, amid growing concern over the £100bn railway’s rising budget.Ministers said last week they would double the tariffs on imported steel and slash the amount that can be bought from overseas, in an attempt to save Britain’s struggling steelmakers. Continue reading...

Prime minister says no Australian personnel were injured and maintains Australia is not at war with IranFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastAn Iranian projectile hit near Australia’s headquarters at the Al Minhad airbase in the United Arab Emirates, damaging an accommodation block and a medical facility.The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, confirmed that no Australian personnel were injured in the strike at 9.15am AEDT on Wednesday morning. Continue reading...

Michele Bullock says high inflation hurts everyone, but there still seems to be an extraordinary level of complacency about potential fallout from the US-Israel war on IranGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastThe Reserve Bank has made some controversial calls over recent years, but hiking interest rates in the middle of a historic global energy shock is right up there.If this Middle East conflict lasts for months, not weeks, and drags the world and our economy down, then Tuesday’s decision to increase households’ borrowing costs will not age well. Continue reading...

Reserve Bank of Australia’s second consecutive increase lifts cash rate target to where it was in February last yearFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastThe Reserve Bank has increased interest rates amid a global energy shock that threatens to push Australian inflation towards 5%.The hike takes the RBA’s cash rate target from 3.85% to 4.1%, back to where it was in February 2025, wiping out the relief offered by two cuts last year. Continue reading...

Energy minister says it will take ‘some time’ for extra supply to reach regional areas. Follow today’s news liveGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastThe energy minister, Chris Bowen, says it will take “some time” for the petrol and disesel released from Australia’s domestic stockpile to reach areas hit by shortages.On Friday, the Albanese government directed fuel companies to release nearly a fifth of reserve petrol and diesel supplies. Dozens of service stations across the country have run out of petrol as retailers struggle with customers panic-buying in response to skyrocketing prices from the Middle East conflict.There will be some time for it to flow through. There’s a very complicated supply chain.But it is going to have an impact. Some companies have said it will start to have an impact in coming days, to some degree. But there will be some time before it’s all released. Continue reading...

• Arkansas beat No. 15 seed Ole Miss 93-90 in overtime on March 14, 2026, advancing to the SEC Tournament title game for the first time in the John Calipari era. • Ole Miss, the tournament's surprise story, won three straight as a double-digit seed over Texas, Georgia, and Alabama without trailing in regulation during those games; no at-large NCAA bid likely. • Arkansas seeks its first SEC title since 2000; Calipari's last conference tournament championship was 2018 at Kentucky; win bolsters their March Madness seeding.