Top World News

Oct 7, 2026 - World

The number of pharmacies stocking the MS-2 Step medication increased from 2,228 to 4,107 after rules relaxed in 2023Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastThe number of Australian pharmacies stocking an abortion pill increased by almost 50% when prescribing restrictions were relaxed, with researchers saying the findings suggest deregulation of abortion promotes safer and faster healthcare.A study published in the medical journal JAMA Network Open on Thursday examined the impact of changes by the Therapeutic Goods Administration in 2023 which meant the medication, MS-2 Step, could be prescribed by any GP. Continue reading...

Oct 7, 2026 - World

Researchers found the shift from open woodland to dense forest after 1788 led to more intense fires, consistent with loss of cultural burning practicesSign up for climate and environment editor Adam Morton’s free Clear Air newsletter hereThe drastic land use changes wreaked by colonisation created a “catastrophic wildfire loop” that rendered south-east Australia more susceptible to climate-fuelled bushfires, experts say.A team of researchers, working with the Gunaikurnai Land and Waters Aboriginal Corporation, an organisation that represents traditional owners, reconstructed 1,000 years of vegetation and fire history at Purghagoolah, a lake surrounded by forest in Croajingolong national park in Gippsland, Victoria. Continue reading...

Oct 7, 2026 - World

New ‘support and training centre’ prompts concern in region but China says it is ‘not directed at any third party’ Satellite images show attack jets stationed at a new Chinese military facility in Laos, which opened last week and gives Beijing’s air force its first foothold in mainland south-east Asia.Images provided by the commercial satellite provider Vantor show eight light attack aircraft positioned at Ban Keun airport alongside what appear to be more than a dozen military vehicles lined up in rows. Continue reading...

Oct 7, 2026 - World

Brazilian President Lula da Silva and Sen. Flávio Bolsonaro are both focused on persuading the undecided voters ahead of the Oct. 25 presidential election

Oct 7, 2026 - World

It isn’t hard to see a contradiction between the PM’s message in Fiji and his opposition to legal action to stop a NSW coalmineGet our new political email, free app or daily news podcastThere are unlikely to be many bigger moments in Australian community action on the climate crisis this year than a judgment by the high court on Wednesday.In what may prove a historic victory, the court sided with a handful of community members in the Hunter Valley to overturn a state regulator’s approval of a coalmine expansion that allowed it to operate until 2048. This doesn’t happen every day, and the judgment could have ramifications for other coal developments in New South Wales.Sign up for Guardian Australia’s Politics, really newsletter here Continue reading...