Oceania : Breaking News

Agapanthus are daggy, environmental pests. Can we stop and think before these unsightly shrubs take over?On my birthday I made time for my one true passion. Hating agapanthus.I was walking my kids to school, taking time from their precious blink-and-you’ll-miss-it childhoods to seethe and take a picture of the revolting, saggy mess of agapanthus on the way. I have urgently supplied this picture to the Guardian and I’m ready and willing to speak out further.Emily Mulligan is a writer from Sydney Continue reading…

Our cartoonist delivers an exclusive look at the remote Australian territory’s bid video and the penguin behind it Continue reading…

As Peter Weir’s Australian classic receives a 4K restoration for cinema, the director and creative team reflect on how it was made – and why it enduresHalf a century after it landed in cinemas, the extent of Picnic at Hanging Rock’s enduring legacy seems both astonishing and improbable.This half-a-million-dollar bush whodunnit, in which a group of schoolgirls and their teacher inexplicably disappear during an outing to Hanging Rock in central Victoria on Valentine’s Day 1900, has managed to make its mark among fashion’s foremost names, infiltrate the world of teen magazines, and run an implausible gamut of cinematic influence. Alexander McQueen riffed on it in 2005; 20 years later, brands like Zimmermann are still turning Picnic into runway fodder in Paris. Sofia Coppola referenced it twice, first for a Marc Jacobs ad, and then again for her gauzy, sexy remake of The Beguiled. Continue reading…

Labor has made great strides towards gender equality among its MPs and senators, but the number of female Coalition members remains stubbornly lowElection 2025 live updates: Australia federal election campaignPolls tracker; election guide; full federal election coverageAnywhere but Canberra; interactive electorates guideGet our afternoon election email, free app or daily news podcastThe 47th parliament was Australia’s most diverse to date. Both houses broke records for gender, ethnic and cultural diversity.Across both houses in the outgoing parliament, the gender split was 55% to 45% in favour of men. Women made up 39% of the House of Representatives and 58% of the Senate. Continue reading…

This blog is now closed, you can read more of our European news coverage hereWe’re getting a bit more details from EU spokesperson, Olof Gill, speaking at the commission’s press briefing right now (which, notably, got delayed by almost half an hour as that von der Leyen statement was being put out).He said:We are not going to offer any greater detail at this point about what we are not saying to the Americans beyond what we have already said.We want to negotiate, we want to talk. Continue reading…

Premieres of new movies by Wes Anderson, Richard Linklater, Ari Aster, Kelly Reichardt, Joachim Trier and Jafar Panahi to screen at film festival – as well debuts by actor-turned-directors Johansson and Harris Dickinson The Cannes film festival looks set to cement its reputation as the world’s ultimate springboard for serious films with an eye on box office success, with new works by auteur heavyweights Wes Anderson, Ari Aster, Kelly Reichardt and Richard Linklater all set to premiere on the Croisette this May.Cannes delegate general Thierry Frémaux and president Iris Knobloch announced this year’s lineup at a press conference in Paris on Thursday morning. Continue reading…

I’ve called the Gaza war a genocide and spoken in favor of sanctions on Israel. I was also in the IDF. I ask the FBI: should you arrest me?To Kash Patel, director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation:Given recent patterns, the FBI might need to take a hard look at my actions over the years. If Mahmoud Khalil, Rumeysa Ozturk, Yunseo Chung, Badar Khan Suri and other recent Ice detainees are considered threats to national security, then so am I. Continue reading…

As a new compilation with unheard material is released, we assess the Cardiff legend’s diamonds and deep cutsShirley Bassey apparently hated this Bond theme, protesting that the lyrics were nonsensical. She never performed it live. It’s certainly not up to previous standards, but the disco version that accompanies the film’s end credits is worth hearing – better than her attempt to rejig This Is My Life for the 70s dancefloor. Continue reading…

The Guardian’s picture editors select photographs from around the world Continue reading…

The bond markets’ ability to intimidate anybody survives intact, but the damage done by policy unpredictability will not be forgottenWall Street opens lower despite hopes that ‘well advanced’ trade talks will yield deals – business liveChina says Trump’s trade war ‘will end in failure’ as Beijing tariffs take effectA week ago we all asked where Donald Trump’s pain threshold lies when stock markets gagged on their first taste of the president’s tariff “medicine”. Now we have an answer: it is when selling spills into the US government bond market and there is intense talk of negative feedback loops and financial Armageddon.“The bond market is very tricky, I was watching it … people were getting a little queasy,” said Trump on Wednesday, understating matters wildly as he explained his tariff “pause”. Continue reading…