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Apr 30, 2026 - World

State’s police minister says buyback ‘doesn’t focus on keeping guns out of the hands of terrorists and criminals’, leaving NSW only clear supporter of planGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastQueensland has rejected key recommendations from the Bondi royal commission’s interim report, insisting plans for a national gun buyback will not keep weapons “out of the hands of terrorists and criminals”.The report, handed down by commissioner Virginia Bell on Thursday, raised doubts about whether efforts to establish a national gun register after the 2022 police killings at Wieambilla in Queensland had been “unduly leisurely”. Bell recommended the federal government and the states speed up a jointly funded weapons buyback scheme. Continue reading...

Apr 30, 2026 - World

Exclusive: Government should back projects that prioritise renewables to protect consumers from ongoing price shocks, they sayGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastFormer oil and gas industry leaders, including senior executives from BP and Shell, are warning the Albanese government that Australians risk ongoing price shocks and higher costs if it prioritises fossil fuel development in response to the global energy crisis.Sixteen ex-executives and professionals – who had worked for companies including Woodside, Inpex, Exxon Mobil and Esso – have urged the government to reject calls for fast-tracked gas and coal extraction, arguing it would do nothing to improve the nation’s liquid fuel security. Continue reading...

Apr 30, 2026 - World

Shares in Domino’s Pizza, KFC operator Collins Foods and multi-brand food franchise owner Retail Food Group have all suffered double-digit fallsGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastOnce a symbol of cheap eating, fast food is transforming into a luxury many can no longer afford due to resurgent living costs.This shift is reflected on the ASX, where major pizza, fried chicken and doughnut outlets are seeing significant price drops, raising the question: are consumers so downbeat that they are even giving up on fast food? Continue reading...

Apr 30, 2026 - World

Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman has delivered a devastating assessment of Donald Trump's Iran war: the president is steering the United States toward humiliating defeat, and the only way out requires acknowledging a loss his fragile ego will never permit.According to Krugman, there is no viable path to reopening the Strait of Hormuz without accepting terms dictated by Iran — a reality that will leave the U.S. economy held hostage to Trump's reckless military adventurism."Realistically, the only way to reopen the Strait of Hormuz is for both sides to stand down — for Iran to lift its de facto embargo on shipping through the Strait, while the U.S. lifts its blockade on Iranian shipping," Krugman wrote."Such a mutual stand-down wouldn't require negotiating a formal deal, nor would it require that either regime trust the other. All it needs is for both sides to stop doing what they are doing."Instead of accepting this straightforward resolution, Krugman identified three obstacles blocking peace: "Trump's ego, his ignorance, and the Iranians' unfortunately justified belief that any agreement they reach with America would be effectively worthless."The economist described how Trump's psychological inability to accept defeat is driving policy. "Trump's ego is so fragile that he can never admit losing. He cannot bear to face up to the reality that he, more or less single-handedly, led America to the greatest strategic defeat in its history. So he desperately wants to extract concessions from Iran that would lend him a fig leaf and allow him to claim victory," he explained.According to Krugman, Trump's inner circle is amplifying the delusion and "those delusions are reinforced by the people that Trump has surrounded himself with – people who tell him how well the war is going in order to flatter his ego. Consequently, Trump is clearly the worst informed president in modern history about the actual state of America at war."Iran understands America's weakness. Iranian leaders recognize that the Hormuz standoff is inflicting damage on both the U.S. and global economies. The country's leaders also know Trump faces what appears to be a major electoral defeat in November, driven by American anger over the war, its economic devastation and the president's relentless lying.The outcome is predetermined — unless Trump crosses into war crimes territory, Krugman added."How will this end? Unless Trump is willing to commit massive war crimes — and the U.S. military goes along — it will end with the non-deal that was already on the table weeks ago: America ends its blockade while Iran opens the Strait. Iran will emerge poorer but strategically stronger," he wrote. "And America will have suffered its worst strategic defeat in history as a result of a completely gratuitous misadventure to please Trump's ego."Krugman's concluding question cuts to the heart of the crisis. "The question now is: how much destruction will the world, and America, have to bear before Trump is willing to accept reality?"

Apr 30, 2026 - World

Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, declined to definitively say that a gunman at the White House Correspondents' Dinner shot a Secret Service agent.During a Thursday interview on Fox News, anchor Dana Perino revealed that the network's sources were told that the gunman, Cole Allen, shot an agent when he discharged his shotgun at the Washington D.C. Hilton on Saturday."Do you know if Cole Allen fired it or if it discharged accidentally?" Pirro asked."I don't think there's any question but that Cole Allen was intending to fire that Mossberg," Pirro replied. "And what we do know is that he fired off that 12-gauge shotgun one time. The cartridge was still in the weapon. He fired that gun in the direction of the Secret Service officer."The U.S. attorney noted that one of the Secret Service officers fired his weapon five times."We know it based on the fact that we found five areas consistent with being hit by a 9mm," she said. "So the Secret Service agent did not shoot himself. And you've got Cole Allen going there, shooting off one round. And I don't think there's any question of what happened here.""We're waiting for the official ballistics test, but at the same time, we filed papers in court this morning for the detention hearing today, indicating that this defendant was calculated, he was premeditated, he had every intention of killing the president and anyone who got in his way."