There is an "active shooter" at a US army base, with people urged to ‘stay inside’



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A powerful earthquake struck off northern Japan, injuring 23 people and unleashing a tsunami.

The 7.5-magnitude quake struck at about 11.15pm local time, around 80 kilometers off the coast of Aomori prefecture.

Japan’s Fire and Disaster Management Agency said 23 people were injured, including one seriously, with most hurt by falling objects.

Image:
A road is congested with cars heading for higher ground in Tomakomai City December 8, 2025 after a magnitude 7.6 earthquake. Pics: AP

A tsunami of 70cm was measured just south of Aomori, in Kuji port, Iwate prefecture, while levels of up to 50cm struck elsewhere in the region, the Japan Meteorological Agency said.

“I’ve never experienced such a big shaking,” said Nobuo Yamada, who owns a convenience store in Hachinohe, Aomori, in an interview with public broadcaster NHK.

Earlier on, the meteorological agency issued an alert for potential tsunami surges of up to 3m/10ft, with 90,000 residents ordered to evacuate.

Residents were urged by chief cabinet secretary Minoru Kihara to go to higher ground or seek shelter until advisories were lifted.

Image:
People sheltering today in Kamaishi Elementary School in Kamaishi City, Miyagi Prefecture. Pic: AP

He said about 800 homes were without electricity, and that the Shinkansen bullet trains and some local lines were suspended in parts of the region.

Some 480 residents took shelter at the Hachinohe Air Base, defence minister Shinjiro Koizumi said, with 18 defence helicopters mobilised for damage assessments.

While Satoshi Kato, vice principal of a public high school in the same town, encountered traffic jams and car accidents en-route to the school as panicked people tried to flee.

Japan has recent experience of the perils of earthquakes – one in 2011 unleashed a tsunami that killed some 20,000 people and triggered a nuclear meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant.

Image:
The earthquake warning off the coast of Aomori Prefecture, Japan. Pic: AP

Today’s quake caused about 450 litres of water to spill from a spent fuel cooling area at the Rokkasho fuel reprocessing plant in Aomori, the Nuclear Regulation Authority said.

But water levels remained within the normal range and there was no safety concern, the authority added.

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The Japanese government has now lifted all remaining tsunami advisories, but warned people to remain alert for another week in case of aftershocks.

Satoshi Harada, from the meteorological agency’s earthquake and volcano division, cautioned that the 2011 quake could repeat itself.

“You need to prepare, assuming that a disaster like that could happen again,” he said.

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San Francisco, the United States: The sidewalk outside Majed Zeidan’s grocery store in San Francisco’s Mission District has stayed filled with flowers, candles, memorials and pictures since his cat was crushed under a Waymo in late October. A month later, a Waymo reportedly crushed a dog.

Amid the pictures of the cat, a visitor had placed a poster that said, “save the cat, kill the car”. That’s when Zeidan knew Kit Kat, his bodega cat, had become the face of the simmering discontent over San Francisco’s growing number of self-driving cars.

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Two years since it got approved to ply its driverless cars, Waymo, owned by Google parent company Alphabet, has become a part of San Francisco’s landscape.

Residents became increasingly comfortable riding one, costumed Halloween parade goers clambered on its rooftops and danced, and pedestrians occasionally banged its bonnet to get it to give way to them.

In November, Waymo got approvals for its biggest expansions so far – to ply on the Bay Area’s freeways and pick up passengers from San Jose International Airport. Waymo also started, or is about to start, services in Dallas, Houston, Orlando, Miami and Washington, DC, in the last few weeks.

But the expansion comes with heightened safety concerns and new competition. Amazon’s Zoox driverless vehicle has begun running in the Mission, too. And Zeidan says the Kit Kat incident opened pent-up resentment over the melding of the new entrants into the city’s hilly, colourful streets.

Around Kit Kat’s memorials is a poster with a barcode to sign a petition, moved by Jackie Fielder, the area’s representative to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, that autonomous vehicles should have oversight from city authorities and not just state authorities.

“Waymo is operating in something of a laissez-faire environment right now,” says California State Senator Dave Cortese, who chairs the state assembly’s transportation committee and whose district encompasses San Jose and other Silicon Valley cities where Waymo services recently began.

Currently, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) and Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) regulate the testing and approval process for autonomous vehicles.

“My sense is that Waymo’s ability to grow without legislation will not last too long. I just hope it doesn’t take a tragedy for it to happen,” says Cortese, who had also tabled a bill in the California State Assembly to bring autonomous vehicles under the ambit of local authorities, including firefighters and police.

Waymo’s website says its vehicles have been in 91 percent fewer accidents, and 92 percent less accidents involving pedestrian injuries than vehicles driven by people. Waymo did not respond to a request for comment for this story. Kit Kat, Waymo said in a statement at the time of the cat’s death, “darted under our vehicle as it was pulling away. We send our deepest sympathies to the cat’s owner and the community who knew and loved him.”

Steve Larson, a former executive director of the CPUC, says Waymo’s stellar safety record and successful rollout is at least partly because regulators “gave Waymo good advice and [the two organisations] took their time in getting things right”.

Karl Brauer, an automation writer and analyst with iSeeCars.com, says he was “sceptical” that before the end of the decade, self-driving cars would be as widespread as they are now. Better sensors and an improved ability to process information from videos have led to the success of Waymo, in particular, Brauer says.

But Waymo’s biggest expansion so far will be tested as more autonomous vehicles hit the road and Waymo itself drives further afield into uncharted territory.

Waymo is allowed to ply on the Bay Area’s freeways and pick up passengers from San Jose International Airport [File: Godofredo A Vasquez/AP Photo]

‘No driver to scream at’

Zeidan had kept Kit Kat in his grocery store, Randa’s Market, for six years. “He recognised regular customers and followed them around,” Zeidan recalled. “They rubbed his tummy.” From his bed, Kit Kat kept an eye on the store’s entryway on busy 16th Street, with its independent movie theatre, bars and restaurants. He became known as “mayor of 16th Street”.

“I would rub his butt and his tail would go up,” recalled one regular customer, at Randa’s to buy beer on credit. “He would affectionately paw at us.”

On October 27, Zeidan got a call a little before midnight from a bartender at a neighbourhood bar saying Kit Kat had been in an accident. A Waymo had stopped outside his closed store and Kit Kat had crouched under it. A lady nearby spotted Kit Kat and called her to come out, but she didn’t. She tapped the car so it would not move.

“There was no driver to scream at,” Zeidan says. Soon, the car moved, crushing the cat underneath. On Thursday, Zeidan released security footage confirming how Kit Kat had died.

Scott Moura, professor and director of the Energy, Controls, & Applications Lab at the University of California, Berkeley, says the Kit Kat accident represents a challenge for autonomous vehicle software development.

“Perception, prediction and planning are the key aspects of this software, and the bodega cat incident is indicative of perception since the car could not make out the cat was there,” Moura says.

“The hardest part, though, might be predicting what to do when it does know.”

This may have been the case with the dog, since it was said to be unleashed and may have run onto the street, according to media reports, which said the dog had died.

Waymo said in a public statement, “Unfortunately, a Waymo vehicle made contact with a small, unleashed dog in the roadway. We are dedicated to learning from this situation and how we show up for our community as we continue improving road safety in the cities we serve.”

‘Driving is social’

Moura expects perception and prediction issues to come up more as more autonomous vehicles come onto city streets and freeways and more cities with different weather.

Brauer of iSeeCars.com says that while Waymo has been in San Francisco and expanded mostly to warmer cities such as Dallas and Miami, being in cities with snow could clog its sensors and make perception hard. “Weather will be a big factor for Waymo sensors and its expansion plans,” he says.

The death of Kit Kat has revealed the pent-up anger against self-driving cars and how they are changing San Francisco’s streets [Saumya Roy/Al Jazeera]

As for prediction, “driving is social”, Moura says, noting, “we want cars to anticipate and act accordingly”.

He has looked at what kinds of signals autonomous vehicles can give people, leading to better coordination between the two. This could include LED lights or voice announcements that the car is turning or dropping off passengers – signals that Moura found to be valuable.

This could lead self-driving cars to look and feel quite different from conventional cars. Some such unique features have been included in the Amazon-backed Zoox vehicle that is also running in a few San Francisco areas, including the Mission, since November. There is a waitlist of customers to try it. Zoox, which does not resemble a traditional car, does not have a steering wheel and can seamlessly move forward and backward.

Waymo is also adding custom-made vehicles from Zeekr, a Chinese carmaker, and Hyundai, along with its more than 1,500-car-strong fleet from Jaguar.

Cuts to public transport

But the entry of Zoox, along with the expansion of Waymo, has also raised concerns about the nature of San Francisco streets and the city itself.

“All the issues we’ve had will now be exacerbated,” says Claire Amable, director of advocacy at the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition, which pushes for the city to encourage sustainable transport.

In 2023, she wrote to the CPUC after an incident when she was leading a children’s cycling trip and a Waymo came up close to the children at the back of the group. The organisers had to bang on the roof of the car to stop it before it hit the children.

Even as self-driving cars become more common, public transport is underfunded and needs to be prioritised, Amable told Al Jazeera.

In August, for instance, city authorities allowed autonomous cars and ride-hailing services on Market Street, the city’s commercial hub, after three years of it being car free. At the same time, bus services have been reduced on the street due to budget cuts.

A  spokesperson for the city’s transit authority declined a request to comment for this story.

Amazon’s Zoox self-driving vehicle is posing some competition to Waymo [File: John Locher/AP Photo

Amable and others have pushed for a phased rollout of self-driving cars. But easy availability of Robotaxis may in fact hurt an already underfunded public transit system as well as sustainable transportation such as cycling.

Joel Smith had always cycled to work at a well-known city grocery store. But when he sent his bike for repairs last month, Smith downloaded the Waymo app and took his first ride. “It was such a comfortable ride and the best thing is I could play whatever music I want, at the volume I want.” He plans to mix Waymo rides with biking now that his bike is back.

Brauer says the rapid development of artificial intelligence to quickly process not just language but video in real time has led to the faster-than-expected success of self-driving cars. It meant Waymo could see incoming traffic or people very well and drive accordingly without mishaps. Cruise autonomous vehicles from General Motors – cars that launched along with Waymo – had been in an accident with a pedestrian in 2023 , and have since discontinued service. But Waymo’s safety record allowed it to expand, and it has done so in a measured way.

“They may be safer, but that doesn’t mean the government should not do its job,” says Senator Cortese, who is considering bringing back a version of a previous bill asking for more local regulation for Robotaxis. “Regulation helps companies to develop products safely and reduce liability.”

Brauer believes that constant improvement in the ability to see and process input from the road means that by 2028-2030, “we will be surprised to see the number of non-human cars across the US”, and “this will be the inflexion point where this became possible”.

Meanwhile, Zeidan has made baseball caps and T-shirts that say #Remembering Kit Kat to sell at his store. He believes the merchandise memorialises Kit Kat but also brings together the city’s bubbling opposition to the rapid growth of self-driving cars.

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The government of Benin confirmed on Monday that there had been “casualties on both sides” after an attempted coup was put down with the help of foreign military intervention at the weekend — but the leader of the putsch reportedly remains on the run.

“The small group of soldiers who organized the mutiny planned to remove the president of the republic from office, to subjugate the Republic’s institutions and to challenge the established order,” said the government’s secretary general, Edouard Ouin-Ouro.

“They initially attempted to neutralize or kidnap certain generals and senior army officers,” he continued, naming army chief-of-staff General Abou Issa and National Guard chief-of-staff Faizou Gomina as those abducted from the Togbin military base.

Both men were eventually released in Tchaourou, a central city located more than 350 kilometers (215 miles) from Cotonou, the government said, while the army “surrounded the Togbin base” and launched “targeted, surgical airstrikes… without exposing surrounding neighborhoods” to danger.

Benin’s armed forces foil coup attempt

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Benin coup leader Tigri still at large

As of Monday, at least 14 people had been arrested in connection with the attempted uprising, according to the government.

But the whereabouts of would-be coup leader, Lieutenant Colonel Pascal Tigri, a former artillery officer and member of President Talon’s protection detail, remained unknown, as did the fate of a number of hostages.

Talon described the coup late Sunday as a “senseless adventure,” and vowed to punish mutineers and ensure the safety of hostages. He didn’t disclose their identities, and it wasn’t clear how many were held, but some are believed to be senior military officers.

Early on Sunday morning, “violent clashes” had broken out between army mutineers and the Republican Guard around the residence of President Patrice Talon in Cotonou, the economic capital of Benin.

The rebels reportedly got close enough for Talon to witness the fighting at first hand, according to an official cabinet account which said that the fatalities included the wife of the president’s military chief-of-staff, General Bertin Bada, who was himself fatally wounded in a separate, earlier assault.

Meanwhile, army rebels calling themselves the Military Committee for Refoundation (Comité militaire pour la refondation), or CMR, led by Lieutenant Colonel Tigri stormed the national television station and appeared in a broadcast announcing the removal of President Talon, the dissolution of the government and the suspension of state institutions.

The rebels reportedly got close enough for President Talon to witness the fighting at first handImage: AP Photo/picture alliance

Why did Nigeria and ECOWAS intervene?

But the coup was put down by Beninese troops with the help of air and ground forces from neighboring Nigeria, deployed as part of an Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) operation which also included forces from Ghana, Ivory Coast and Sierra Leone.

Nigeria and the ECOWAS regional bloc hadn’t intervened in a member state since 2017, when it sent troops to Gambia to force then President Yahya Jammeh to vacate power following his election loss.

Recent West African coups in Mali, Burkina Faso, Chad, Guinea and Gabon didn’t lead to interventions, prompting analysts to criticize ECOWAS for a lack of consistency.

“The coup in Benin is one too many,” Oluwole Ojewale, a senior security researcher at Dakar-based Institute for Security Studies, told the Associated Press (AP). “Nigeria cannot afford to be encircled by hostile governments.”

Edited by: Dmytro Hubenko

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One of the police officers who arrested Luigi Mangione last year has described the moment she discovered a loaded gun magazine wrapped in wet underwear in his backpack.

At a pretrial hearing at the New York State Supreme Court on Monday, Pennsylvania police officer Christy Wasser testified that she pushed for Mangione’s bag to be searched on the spot because she was worried he may have a bomb on him.

The loaded magazine, she said, was what convinced she and her fellow officers that Mangione was indeed the person who had killed UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in Manhattan five days earlier.

“It’s f***ing him, 100 percent,” one officer could be heard saying on a bodycam video.

Officers said they would later find a 9mm handgun, a silencer, a passport, and handwritten notes including maps and details of transport routes, which prosecutors describe as a list of “possible escape routes.”

But Mangione’s defense lawyers contend that the bag search was illegal because the officers did not yet have a warrant, and want the gun and notebook excluded as evidence — which would be a major blow for the prosecution.

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Luigi Mangione makes a fist as he appears in Manhattan Criminal Court on Monday (Sarah Yenesel/Pool Photo via AP)

They also want to suppress some of Mangione’s statements to police, such as his allegedly giving a false name, because officers started asking questions before telling him he had a right to remain silent.

Mangione has pleaded not guilty to two separate state and federal murder charges. An earlier court date was delayed due to illness, but he seemed in good health on Monday’s hearing, which applies only to the state charges.

At one point, he looked directly at a photojournalist’s camera and made a fist with his right hand.

Wasser — a 19-year veteran of the Altona Police Department in Pennsylvania — described in court how officers debated whether they would need a warrant to continue their search of Mangione’s backpack.

The search happened in a Pennsylvania McDonald’s on December 9, 2024, about 230 miles west of where Thompson was killed. A patron at the restaurant had phoned 911 and described seeing someone who resembled the suspect inside.

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Prosecutors have leaned heavily on the contents of Mangione’s notebook (Sarah Yenesel/Pool Photo via AP)

Officers said they initially arrested Mangione for showing them a fake ID, and asked him if there was anything in the bag they should be concerned about. Mangione, now informed of his rights, invoked the Fifth Amendment to remain silent.

That response, Wasser told the court, “heightened” her fear that there was something dangerous in the bag. One police corporal, Garrett Trent, suggested taking it back to the station to “check for bombs”.

But Wasser wanted to check for bombs on the spot because she had once had a colleague who unknowingly brought a bomb back to the station.

Bodycam footage then showed her extracting from the bag a hoagie, a loaf of bread, a knife, and a cell phone, a wallet, and a passport wrapped in a Faraday bag — designed to block cell reception, GPS, and other electronic signals.

Then she said they found the gun magazine wrapped in a wet pair of grey underwear, reportedly smiling at the discovery. Satisfied that there was no bomb, she repacked the bag.

Corporal Trent then said that they would need a warrant to continue the search. But Stephen Fox, a K-9 officer, said: “We don’t need one, it’s a search incident to an arrest.” Others agreed.

Mangione’s lawyers have argued that the supposed fear of a bomb was merely a ploy by officers, “designed to cover up an illegal warrantless search of the backpack.”

Either way, Mangione’s backpack was brought back to the station for a more thorough search, whereupon Wasser said she quickly discovered the gun and the silencer.

Wasser made a surprised noise and then exclaimed: “Wooh, hoo hoo hoo!” A senior colleague said: “It’s him.” “Oh my God,” Wasser responded.

In court, Wasser testified that she also she found a hand-drawn map featuring Pittsburgh, St. Louis, Cleveland, and Columbus, Ohio, plus the note “check Pittsburgh red eye.” Prosecutors called this a list of “possible escape routes”.

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NEED TO KNOW

• Prosecutors unveiled a “to-do” list allegedly compiled by Luigi Mangione after the shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson
• The disclosure came amid testimony by the police officer who searched his backpack
• The defense aggressively cross-examined the officer, noting that a firearm was recovered after 11 minutes of missing bodycam footage

Luigi Mangione was carrying an apparent to-do list while he was on the run from authorities — detailing how he planned to escape from justice after allegedly shooting UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson to death.

The list included what appeared to be a hand-drawn map of Pittsburgh — to which he had a bus ticket under a fake name — as well as a reminder to check for “red eyes” out of the Steel City and towards either Columbus or Cincinnati in Ohio. It also included a note to break “CAM continuity,” likely to prevent law enforcement from being able to follow his movements.

Mangione, 27, was in court Monday, Dec. 8, for the fourth day of evidence suppression hearings ahead of his trial in connection with the death of Thompson, who was fatally shot on a Midtown Manhattan street last year. He has pleaded not guilty to murder charges at the state and federal level.

The disclosure about the note came during testimony from Altoona Police Officer Christy Wasser, who conducted the initial search of Mangione’s large black backpack.

Wasser testified on direct examination Monday that she started searching Mangione’s bag in the McDonald’s in which he was located out of fear it may contain a bomb, despite the fact a search warrant hadn’t been obtained. Altoona police and Manhattan prosecutors contend the warrantless search of the backpack was allowed because it was “incident” to his arrest.

Bodycam footage showed that Wasser discovered a fully loaded magazine wrapped in a pair of underwear in the backpack, at which point another officer can be heard saying, “it’s f—ing him, 100%.” A red notebook prosecutors say contained Mangione’s “manifesto” against the health insurance industry was also found.

Later, at the police station, she found a loaded handgun and a suppressor.

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Mangione’s defense contends that the backpack was illegally searched without a warrant, and aggressively sought to discredit Wasser, whose testimony is some of the most crucial of the marathon hearings for the prosecution.

Karen Friedman Agnifilo, the lead defense attorney, portrayed Wasser as conducting the search under the pretense Mangione was suspected of shooting Thompson, even though at that point, he was technically only facing forgery charges for giving a fake name and ID to police.

Altoona police officers were filmed on bodycam disagreeing on whether a warrant was necessary to search the bag, while Agnifilo pounced on one officer saying they could leave the bag for the FBI to “do their thing” with it — suggesting they expected the evidence would be taken by the feds.

Agnifilo also wasn’t buying that Wasser thought there was a bomb in the backpack, as cops made no efforts to clear the restaurant or call the bomb squad.

But the tensest exchange came over 11 minutes of missing bodycam footage, specifically of the transport of the evidence from McDonald’s to the police station, when Wasser allegedly turned her camera off. At some point during the transport, Wasser and an officer named Fox traded custody of a bag of evidence separate from the backpack, but the exchange wasn’t captured on camera.

When the bodycam is turned back on, Wasser — still wearing the gloves she wore to search the bag — is arriving at the police station. Once she enters the building, it shows her set the backpack down on a table and, after starting to open the main pouch she had previously searched, quickly open up the front compartment where she finds the gun.

“You and Officer Fox were … slicing things open [at McDonald’s], but somehow didn’t see the gun right on top,” an incredulous Agnifilo said as she suggested Wasser had actually found the gun while pulled over with Fox — which Wasser denied.

Earlier on Monday, an assistant district attorney from Blair County, Pa., testified about the procedures for obtaining a warrant hours after the search. Previous testimony has come from the other officers who arrested Mangione, as well as prison guards who chatted with him while he was in solitary confinement.

Prosecutors have also played bodycam footage from various other officers, as well as the 911 call from the McDonald’s and uncensored video of the Dec. 4, 2024 shooting.

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Train services running through Leeds station have been cancelled, delayed or revised after a serious incident



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NewsFeed

The Palestinian Civil Defence exhumed the bodies of more than 150 people who were quickly buried in the courtyards of al-Shifa Hospital during Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza. Some of the victims remain unidentified. Civil defense teams are moving them to cemeteries to give them a proper final resting place.

Published On 8 Dec 20258 Dec 2025

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Domestic air fares surge amid Qantas, Virgin dominance

Luca Ittimani

Domestic air fares rose faster than inflation in October as Qantas and Virgin reaped the rewards of a busy sport finals season, the consumer watchdog has found.

School holidays around the country coincided with crowds of fans flying interstate for Brisbane’s AFL and NRL grand final triumphs over Victorian teams in Melbourne and Sydney.

Late September and October saw 5.5 million domestic passengers as a result, according to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s latest airline report.

Qantas and Virgin reaped the rewards of a busy sport finals season. Photograph: David Gray/AFP/Getty Images

Qantas and Virgin added 45 extra flights to meet the demand but services were more full than normal, with 84.4% of seats taken compared with an average of 81.6% over the last year.

That saw air fares hit the highest level in three years, accounting for inflation, the ACCC said. Prices and revenues have risen since 2022 despite jet fuel prices, a major component of airline costs, falling.

If another airline could match the two majors, prices might fall, but there is little competition and therefore less incentive for Qantas or Virgin to reduce ticket prices, the report read.

Virgin accounted for one-third of all domestic flights in October and Qantas, including Jetstar, accounted for nearly two-thirds, with other companies battling for the remaining 2% of passengers.

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Updated at 22.06 CET

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Hogan added that saying he was “gutted” would not be not overstating his feelings on Joyce, adding to RN:

I’ve always quite liked Barnaby. I’ve felt our relationship has always been okay. But yeah, look, I’m really, you know, to say gutted is probably not overstating it.

There’s a thing, you know, to go to the crossbench, there’s a thing to leave the party, but then to actually join now another party, and he will be campaigning for us not to win seats, or us to not get senate spots, I think is a real blow.

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Kevin Hogan says no one ‘gobsmacked’ by Barnaby Joyce’s decision to join One Nation

Kevin Hogan, the deputy leader of the Nationals, compared Barnaby Joyce to Mark Latham after the former said yesterday he would join One Nation.

The only other person I can think of that has left who has been a previous leader of a political party and joined One Nation is Mark Latham. And Barnaby Joyce joins those ranks as having been a previous leader of a party and joining One Nation. But I’ll leave others to make their judgment about that.

Hogan said Joyce’s move was “obviously very disappointing for us and very hurtful in some ways”, telling RN Breakfast this morning:

Barnaby has said this: he doesn’t want to be on the backbench. He doesn’t like where he sits. So I don’t think there was much that could have been done to stop that.

David [Littleproud] was always saying publicly and privately to Barnaby that the door was open for him to return. And obviously, he’s very disappointed that he left. So, look, I think it was always going to be a tough call. And I think no one is, you know, gobsmacked that he’s made the decision yesterday.

Kevin Hogan, left, and Nationals leader David Littleproud. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAPShare

Updated at 22.20 CET

No tsunami threat to Australia after large earthquake near Japan

The Bureau of Meteorology said earlier there is no threat to Australia after a powerful, 7.6 magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of Japan overnight.

The temblor prompted evacuation orders and tsunami warnings in Japan, which were later downgraded to advisories.

The BoM said all of the Australian mainland, islands or territories would be unaffected by the quake.

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Domestic air fares surge amid Qantas, Virgin dominance

Luca Ittimani

Domestic air fares rose faster than inflation in October as Qantas and Virgin reaped the rewards of a busy sport finals season, the consumer watchdog has found.

School holidays around the country coincided with crowds of fans flying interstate for Brisbane’s AFL and NRL grand final triumphs over Victorian teams in Melbourne and Sydney.

Late September and October saw 5.5 million domestic passengers as a result, according to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s latest airline report.

Qantas and Virgin reaped the rewards of a busy sport finals season. Photograph: David Gray/AFP/Getty Images

Qantas and Virgin added 45 extra flights to meet the demand but services were more full than normal, with 84.4% of seats taken compared with an average of 81.6% over the last year.

That saw air fares hit the highest level in three years, accounting for inflation, the ACCC said. Prices and revenues have risen since 2022 despite jet fuel prices, a major component of airline costs, falling.

If another airline could match the two majors, prices might fall, but there is little competition and therefore less incentive for Qantas or Virgin to reduce ticket prices, the report read.

Virgin accounted for one-third of all domestic flights in October and Qantas, including Jetstar, accounted for nearly two-thirds, with other companies battling for the remaining 2% of passengers.

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Updated at 22.06 CET

Patrick Commins

RBA to announce final cash rate decision of the year today

The Reserve Bank is expected to keep the cash rate at 3.6% today, and the focus will be on any clues for whether the monetary policy board thinks it might have to hike the rate in 2026.

Data over recent weeks has shown an unexpectedly sharp rebound in inflation, while national accounts and household spending figures have pointed to an accelerating economy.

Financial markets are now putting a roughly 50% chance on a hike by May, and have fully priced in a move higher by August, according to ANZ.

Economists have also largely abandoned forecasts for rate cuts in 2026, with a handful predicting a hike next year.

The decision is at 2:30pm, and the RBA governor, Michele Bullock, will give her final press conference of the year an hour later.

The Reserve Bank building. Photograph: EyeOfPaul/Getty ImagesShare

Updated at 21.59 CET

Good morning everyone, Nick Visser here to take the reins. Let’s get to it.

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Barnaby Joyce says One Nation’s growing popularity part of global rightwing swing

Nino Bucci

Nationals defector Barnaby Joyce says he believes One Nation’s increasing popularity is part of the global movement that explains the rise of Maga in the US and the recent success of other far-right figures, but joked he is much better looking than Nigel Farage.

But Joyce did not answer questions on the ABC’s 7.30 program on Monday night about whether he supported Pauline Hanson’s “long-running vilification of ethnic groups”.

Joyce first said he disagreed that Hanson did vilify ethnic groups, and then when asked about her comment that “we are in danger of being swamped by Muslims, who bear a culture and ideology that is incompatible with our own”, tried to divert the answer to one about the “extremities” of sharia law.

Asked “do you see any comparison with the rise in popularity of One Nation and the rise with the Reform Party in the UK under Nigel Farage?”, Joyce responded:

Yes, I do. And not only that, I think Australia’s late to the party, whether it’s Farage in the UK, whether it’s Le Pen in France, whether it’s Merlino in Italy, whether it’s within the Maga movement within the Republican Party of the United States, it’s a phenomen[on] across the world. Because Australia has compulsory voting, it’s stickier here, but now it’s happening.

Joyce also agreed with statements Hanson made earlier on Monday, that he would have no portfolio within the party, nor had they reached any agreement about a possible future handover in leadership.

He also largely backed what Kevin Hogan, the deputy Nationals leader, said about his reasons for leaving the party: that he did not want to sit on the backbench. Joyce said:

Well, Kevin is right to a degree. I believe that you’ve got to be as effective as you can possibly be, and I don’t believe …sitting in the corner of the Coalition for one and a half years, not getting a question … I’m 58 years old, not 85 years old, and I’m looking forward to giving greater service to our nation. And if I can get myself into a place that’s more efficacious, I’ll do precisely that.

Barnaby Joyce: ‘I’m 58 years old, not 85 years old.’ Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAPShare

Updated at 21.10 CET

Josh Butler

Albanese tells school students social media ban will ‘ensure Australian children have a childhood’

Anthony Albanese admits the under-16s ban on social media – coming into effect tomorrow – “will require some adjustment”, but told school students in a video address he believes it’s the right thing to do.

The restrictions – which will require TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook and others to remove children from their services – begin on 10 December. Albanese has written to all state and territory premiers and chief ministers today, thanking them for their support for the change.

“While this profound change will require some adjustment in the short term, this is the cultural change Australia needs to deliver greater peace of mind for parents and ensure Australian children have a childhood,” the PM wrote in his letters to those leaders.

The PM’s office has also shared a video which Albanese made for young people, and which will be played to students in schools nationwide this week. In the clip, Albanese again concedes the impact the change might have on some children, saying: “If you have questions, by all means, reach out. Talk to your parents, your teachers, and your friends. And if you feel like you need more support, Headspace and Kids Helpline is there to assist.”

Explaining why the government is making the change, Albanese said: “You’ll know better than anyone what it’s like growing up with algorithms, endless feeds and the pressure that can come with that. That’s why we’ve taken this step to support you.”

He recommended under-16s “make the most of the school holidays coming up rather than spending it scrolling on your phone”, urging them to “start a new sport, learn a new instrument, or read that book that has been sitting there on your shelf for some time. And importantly, spend quality time with your friends and your family. Face to face.”

Prime minister Anthony Albanese has made a video for school students. Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAPShare

Updated at 21.05 CET

Josh Butler

Reddit reportedly considering legal challenge to social media ban

Reddit says it has “deep concerns” about the under-16s social media ban coming into effect tomorrow, but has agreed to comply with the legislation.

However media reports suggest the platform is considering a legal challenge.

In a statement this morning, Reddit claimed Australia’s law was “legally erroneous”, and went past its original intent.

Reddit said it would begin suspending accounts of users confirmed to be under 16, and require new users to be at least 16 to create accounts. Its statement notes, like YouTube, “Reddit will continue to be accessible to browse without an account”. The platform said it would use an “age prediction model” to estimate users’ ages, which it described as “privacy-preserving”, which includes verifying birthdates through a third-party identity verification provider.

“This is often achieved by sending a photo of a government ID or taking a selfie. Reddit will not have access to this photographic information,” the platform said.

Reddit’s statement said it was “concerned about the potential implications” of minimum age laws.

“We believe strongly in the open internet and the continued accessibility of quality knowledge, information, resources, and community building for everyone, including young people …. By limiting account eligibility and putting identity tests on internet usage, this law undermines everyone’s right to both free expression and privacy, as well as account-specific protections,” the statement said.

“We also believe the law’s application to Reddit (a pseudonymous, text-based forum overwhelmingly used by adults) is arbitrary, legally erroneous, and goes far beyond the original intent of the Australian Parliament, especially when other obvious platforms are exempt.”

The Australian Financial Review reports that Reddit has enlisted top legal representation and is considering a court challenge which may go to the constitution’s implied right of freedom of political communication. A Reddit spokesperson would not comment on the reporting or confirm whether a challenge was in the works, saying only: “The only decision we’ve made is to comply with the law”.

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Updated at 20.55 CET

‘Full steam ahead’ for Aukus deal as Wong and Marles meet Rubio and Hegseth in Washington

The Aukus submarine deal is going “full steam ahead”, Australia and the US have confirmed after a high-level meeting in Washington.

Associated Press reports US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, and defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, met their Australian counterparts on Monday local time for annual talks expected to focus on Indo-Pacific security and countering China’s increasing assertiveness in the region, including in the South China Sea and directed at Taiwan.

Rubio, Hegseth, Australian foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, and defence minister Richard Marles gathered at the State Department but in remarks before the meeting none mentioned China by name.

“This is a very strong partnership, it’s a strong alliance, and what we want to do is continue to build on it. We think we have a lot of momentum behind this alliance,” Rubio said, hailing cooperation between Washington and Canberra on critical minerals, defence production and troop deployments.

The US president, Donald Trump, and Australian PM, Anthony Albanese, signed a critical minerals deal at the White House in October after China imposed tougher rules on exporting its own critical minerals.

“We have to have critical mineral supplies and supply chains that are reliable, and that are diverse, and not overly invested in one place where they can be used as leverage against us or our partners of the world,” Rubio said on Monday.

Wong said the alliance “has always been to ensure it delivers concrete benefits for our security and prosperity and for that of the United States. And Aukus is central to that: a win for Australia, a win for the US and a win for the United Kingdom,” Wong said. “We are full steam ahead.”

Hegseth echoed her comments, saying that “as we move full steam ahead on Aukus, we applaud Australia’s upcoming delivery of an additional $1bn to help expand US submarine production capacity. We’re strengthening Aukus so that it works for America, for Australia and for the UK.”

Marles said they were “living in a much more contested world, where it really matters to be doubling down with friends and allies and, obviously, America is front and centre and foremost for Australia in that respect”.

(L-R) Richard Marles, Penny Wong, Marco Rubio and Pete Hegseth meet for bilateral talks at the State Department in Washington DC on Monday. Photograph: Anadolu/Getty ImagesShare

Welcome

Good morning and welcome to our live news blog. I’m Martin Farrer with the top overnight stories and then it’ll be Nick Visser to pick up the slack.

There has been a high-powered meeting in Washington overnight, as the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, and defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, met Australia’s Penny Wong and Richard Marles. As you’d expect, they had warm words for the alliance between the two countries. They also confirmed it was “full steam ahead” on the Aukus deal to build nuclear-powered submarines for Australia, with Australia due to give the US $1bn to kickstart production. More from the meeting in a minute.

Domestic air fares rose faster than inflation in October as Qantas and Virgin reaped the rewards of a busy sport finals season, the consumer watchdog has found. More on that shortly.

A leading economist has warned interest rates are unlikely to be cut for much of 2026 as the Reserve Bank meets for its final monthly meeting of the year. More details soon …

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Updated at 22.02 CET

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The United States Supreme Court on Monday appeared poised to hand President Donald Trump a significant boost in executive power after conservative justices signaled that they would uphold the dismissal of a member of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).

President Trump fired Democratic FTC member Rebecca Slaughter in March, four years before the end of her term and in contradiction of a 90-year-old legal precedent which affords tenure protection to the heads of independent agencies.

A lower court had initially ruled that Trump had exceeded his presidential authority by dismissing Slaughter but, during a two-hour appeal hearing, the Justice Department argued that tenure protections unlawfully encroached on presidential power.

And the argument appeared on Monday to have earned sympathy from conservative justices, who have a 6-3 Supreme Court majority and who have called for the precedent in question – known as “Humphrey’s Executor v. United States” – to be overturned.

Conservatives arugue precedent is out of date

“Humphrey’s Executor must be overruled,” said US Solicitor General D. John Sauer, arguing for the Trump administration, arguing that the 1935 precedent has “not withstood the test of time.”

Conservative Chief Justice John G. Roberts appeared to concur, suggesting that the ruling, which rebuffed an attempt by President Franklin Roosevelt to fire an FTC member over policy differences, was a relic of the past which had applied to an FTC which was far less powerful in the 1930s than it is today.

“Humphrey’s Executor is just a dried husk of whatever people used to think it was,” Roberts said. “It was addressing an agency that had very little, if any, executive power and that may be why they were able to attract such a broad support on the court at the time.”

Solicitor Sauer said the existence of the precedent “continues to tempt Congress to erect, at the heart of our government, a headless fourth branch insulated from political accountability and democratic control.”

Liberals warn of boost in presidential power

Liberal justices, however, warned that overturning the precedent and upholding Slaughter’s dismissal would signal a massive increase in presidential power for Trump.

“The result of what you want is that the president is going to have massive, unchecked, uncontrolled power – not only to do traditional execution, but to make law through legislative and adjudicative frameworks,” argued Justice Elena Kagan, adding:

“What you are left with is a president … with control over everything, including over much of the lawmaking that happens in this country.”

Her liberal colleague Justice Sonia Sotomayor said that independent agencies such as the FTC have existed throughout US history, and for good reason.

“Neither the King, nor Parliament nor prime ministers in England at the time of the founding [of the United States] ever had an unqualified removal power,” Sotomayor argued, adding:

“You’re asking us to destroy the structure of government and to take away from Congress its ability to protect its idea that a government is better structured with some agencies that are independent.”

‘Real-world realities’

Given Trump’s recent testing of the constitutional limits of presidential powers in areas including immigration, tariffs and domestic military deployments, Kagan called on the court not to ignore “the real-world realities” of what its decisions can do.

“We are asking the court to adhere to all of its precedents and to give effect to the collective wisdom and experience of all three branches of government,” added Amit Agarwa, a lawyer representing Slaughter.

By contrast, he continued, the administration is “asking you to abandon precedent after precedent, after precedent.”

Edited by: Jenipher Camino Gonzalez

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