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• Australian soldier dies after training accident in north Queensland

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More information on the incident at a Townsville facility involving ADF personnel: the Queensland ambulance service said three people were injured after a single-vehicle crash.

Paramedics assessed one patient with life-threatening injuries.

1,117 rentals (2.3%) were affordable for an ambulance officer

850 rentals (1.7%) were affordable for an aged care worker

754 rentals (1.5%) were affordable for a nurse

575 rentals (1.1%) were affordable for a construction worker

417 rentals (0.8%) were affordable for an early childhood educator

417 rentals (0.8%) were affordable for a hospitality worker.

Investigations into Australia’s past and present have been recognised in the excellence in journalism awards

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Guardian Australia has picked up four nominations in the 70th annual Walkley awards for excellence in journalism.

The Indigenous affairs team was nominated twice – in coverage of Indigenous affairs and digital media: innovation journalism – for The Descendants project.

Singer disputes account in ex-husband’s memoir You Thought You Knew, in which he says she behaved erratically around their sons

Britney Spears has responded to her ex-husband Kevin Federline’s claims in his upcoming memoir about their marriage, calling his depiction of her “extremely hurtful and exhausting”.

In You Thought You Knew, Federline details his two-year marriage with Spears and their divorce in 2007, which was followed by a protracted battle over custody of their two sons, Sean Preston and Jayden James.

Lift in latest data keeps UK on track to be among the fastest-growing major economies this year

The UK economy expanded by 0.1% in August, according to official figures, giving a lift to Rachel Reeves ahead of next month’s crucial budget.

A boost from the manufacturing sector helped the economy improve along with a strong performance by the health sector.

President pushes hyperbolic claims of out-of-control crime as city leaders say no need for ‘Trump’s personal army’

Donald Trump suggested Wednesday that San Francisco could be the next city he targets with federal troops, threatening a deployment that local and state officials have said is unnecessary and unwelcome.

Speaking at the White House to FBI director Kash Patel, the president said: “I’m going to be strongly recommending, at the request of government officials … that you start looking at San Francisco … one of our great cities 10 years ago, 15 years ago, and now it’s a mess … Every American deserves to live in a community where they’re not afraid of being mugged, murdered, robbed, raped, assaulted or shot.”

Thinktank urges chancellor to take ‘bold’ action on benefits and pensions to placate jittery financial markets

• Exclusive: Reeves says higher taxes on wealthy ‘part of budget story’

Britain’s leading tax and spending experts have urged Rachel Reeves to consider announcing billions of pounds in welfare cuts in next month’s budget to help placate jittery financial markets.

After the chancellor gave her strongest hint yet that spending cuts were under consideration, the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) called on Reeves to take “bold” action to plug a potential £22bn shortfall in the government finances.

Tributes flow from across political spectrum for man known for high ideals but also remembered for controversially slashing welfare and health spending

Former New Zealand prime minister Jim Bolger, whose political legacy was defined by his deep commitment to reconciliation with Maori as well as his brutal cuts to welfare and deregulation of the labour market, has died aged 90.

Bolger died peacefully surrounded by his wife, Joan, nine children and 18 grandchildren, his family said in a statement on Wednesday. Bolger suffered kidney failure last year and had been undergoing dialysis.

Exclusive: Articles about Sam and Brittany Groth failed to include key comments, documents filed in defamation and privacy case say

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A News Corp reporter failed to include a Victorian Liberal MP’s statement that allegations about the party’s deputy leader Sam Groth’s relationship with his wife were “nothing more than a political hit job” in a story, lawyers for the couple say.

The Herald and Weekly Times (HWT), reporter Stephen Drill and Herald Sun editor Sam Weir are being sued in the federal court by Brittany Groth – in the first test of new laws for serious invasions of privacy – and by Sam Groth, for defamation over a series of articles published in July.

Treasury secretary Scott Bessent raises possibility of taking more direct stakes in companies to protect national security in wake of Beijing’s curbs on rare earths exports

The Trump administration has criticised China’s increased restrictions on rare earth exports as a threat to global supply chains, and said it would seek to tighten control over strategic sectors by taking more stakes in key companies to counter Beijing.

Treasury secretary Scott Bessent told an event on Wednesday that China’s dramatic new restrictions on rare earth minerals and magnets demonstrated the need for the US to be self-sufficient in critical materials or rely more on trusted allies.

GP services will end at the Collingwood, Fitzroy, and Kensington sites in December

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Thousands of Victorians with complex health needs who are also facing homelessness, trauma and family violence will be forced to find a new GP after the sudden announcement that services at three cohealth clinics will close.

Cohealth provides a range of integrated health and social support services across Melbourne, often at no cost.

Party has promised to stand back as weakened prime minister prepares for crucial no-confidence vote

The French Socialist party says it will fight to introduce a flagship wealth tax to raise revenue by targeting France’s richest people, as the divided parliament prepares to begin debating next year’s budget.

Boris Vallaud, the head of the Socialist party grouping in parliament, said on Wednesday that taxing very high-wealth individuals in France was “one of our principal battles and we’re going to put all our energy into it”.

Since Alina Sarnatska’s first play premiered a year ago, she has documented wartime Ukraine with unflinching frankness

Eighteen months ago, Alina Sarnatska was serving as a combat medic on Ukraine’s frontline – including in the hellish battle for Bakhmut – and had barely been to the theatre.

Six months later, she was preparing to watch the premiere of her first play in Kyiv. Now Sarnatska, 38, has several dramas under her belt and is emerging as one of Ukraine’s most powerful voices in the theatre.

Esther Njoki says family has seen ‘big change’ under Labour, after long fight for justice over aunt’s 2012 death in Kenya

The niece of Agnes Wanjiru, who was killed in Kenya, said she hopes the former British soldier charged with her aunt’s murder will be extradited while the Labour government is still in power.

On her first trip outside Kenya, Esther Njoki travelled to London, where she was invited to parliament to meet the defence secretary, John Healey, whom she urged not to delay the potentially years-long extradition process.

Analysis of 800,000 European cars found real-world pollution from plug-in hybrids nearly five times greater than lab tests

Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) pump out nearly five times more planet-heating pollution than official figures show, a report has found.

The cars, which can run on electric batteries as well as combustion engines, have been promoted by European carmakers as a way to cover long distances in a single drive – unlike fully electric cars – while still reducing emissions.

An additional 60 South Koreans remain detained by Cambodian authorities after a crackdown on scam operations

South Korea has issued its most serious travel warning for parts of Cambodia, issuing a “code black” ban that orders citizens to leave areas in which the government has identified surging employment scams and detention cases targeting its nationals.

The travel prohibition covers the border towns of Poipet and Bavet, along with the Bokor Mountain region in Kampot province, 140km south-west of Phnom Penh, where a 22-year-old Korean student was allegedly tortured to death in August.

There’s no question Victoria has a crime problem, but the federal Coalition parachuting in with talking points and a scare campaign is not the answer

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On Wednesday morning, Sussan Ley flew into Melbourne on a mission: to sound the alarm on the city’s “out of control” crime crisis, flanked by two fellow non-Victorian members of her shadow cabinet – Queensland’s Andrew Wallace and New South Wales’ Julian Leeser.

In an op-ed for the Herald Sun, the federal opposition leader painted a grim picture of Melbourne, comparing it to the 1920s – a time, she wrote, the city was “overrun by crime and political violence”.

Sara: “So apart from calling it out, do you have a policy on youth crime right now?”

Wallace: “We’re not the government in Victoria. The government of Victoria has the predominant responsibility of passing criminal laws”

Sara: “Just to be clear, apart from calling out this issue, this is a state issue and you don’t have a policy on youth crime?.”

Wallace: “We are developing our policies at a federal level.”

Move marks escalation in Maduro pressure campaign as president says US mulling strikes on Venezuelan territory

Donald Trump said on Wednesday he had authorized the CIA to carry out covert operations in Venezuela, marking a sharp escalation in his administration’s pressure campaign against Nicolás Maduro’s government.

Trump further suggested he was considering strikes on Venezuelan territory, a dramatic step that would go beyond a series of recent lethal attacks on boats in the Caribbean, which Democrats and United Nations experts have forcefully condemned as unlawful.

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The far-right US congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene is further distancing herself from her fellow Republicans and accusing men in her party of being “weak”.

In an interview with the Washington Post, Greene expressed her frustrations with Republicans, signaling her further deviation from the political strategies of her party, as the government shutdown beginning 1 October was slated to enter its third week.

Vice-president downplays messages such as ‘I love Hitler’ in chat by 24 to 35-year-olds to ‘stupid jokes’

JD Vance sought to downplay the revelation that leaders of a group called the Young Republicans exchanged hundreds of racist, sexist text messages – including one in which rape was called “epic”, and another in which someone wrote “I love Hitler” – as youthful indiscretions.

Vance, speaking on a new episode of the Charlie Kirk Show, the podcast run by colleagues of the late conservative activist, suggested that the participants in the leaked chats were much younger than they in fact are. Some of the participants are barely younger than the 41-year-old vice-president.

Israel’s defence minister has said the country could resume fighting if Hamas does not honour the terms of the ceasefire deal

• Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouti assaulted by Israeli prison guards, son says

Hamas has announced that the remains of all the deceased Israeli hostages that it can reach have been handed back and it would need specialist recovery equipment to retrieve the rest from Gaza’s ruins, amid threats from Israel to resume fighting if the terms of ceasefire are not honoured.

Two further bodies were handed over late on Wednesday, after Hamas had already returned the remains of seven of 28 known deceased hostages – along with an eighth body which Israel said was not that of a former hostage.

NTSB report finds OceanGate company did not adequately test submersible before 2023 voyage to wreck of Titanic

The deadly implosion of a submersible traveling to the wreck of the Titanic was the result of faulty engineering, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) announced on Wednesday.

The NTSB’s final report on the voyage that killed five people in June 2023 said that OceanGate, the private company that owned the Titan, did not adequately test its experimental submersible before the trip. The Washington state-based firm, which suspended operations after the catastrophic implosion, was unaware of the submersible’s true durability, the report said.

British team sent to develop new ways of working with Frontex, the EU’s border agency

British border security officers have been deployed to the Balkans for the first time in an effort to disrupt the networks smuggling migrants into the UK.

Officers have been sent to develop new ways of working with Frontex, the EU’s border agency, to track down and arrest people-smugglers operating along key routes into western Europe.

Survey by Internet Matters finds children being left worried and upset by content showing shootings, stabbings and war

More than half of children who get news from social media are left worried and upset after seeing content that involves war, violence and death, according to new research that found social media companies are “pushing” distressing news to children who are not seeking it.

Videos of the murder of Charlie Kirk, the Liverpool parade car-ramming attack, scenes from wars, shootings, stabbings and car crashes have recently been pushed into children’s feeds, research by Internet Matters, an online safety organisation, has found. As a result, 39% of those who saw distressing content described themselves as very or extremely upset and worried by it.

University joins MIT in refusing invitation, saying that compact would ‘restrict academic freedom’

Brown University has become the second higher-education institution to turn down an invitation from Donald Trump to sign onto his administration’s 10-page college compact that would overhaul university policies in return for preferential access to federal funding.

The “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education” is a proposed agreement that would impose restrictions on diversity, equity and inclusion programs and limits on international student enrollment.

This live blog is now closed. For the latest on Gaza, read more coverage here.

The Israeli military said on Wednesday that one of the bodies handed over by Hamas the previous day as part of the ceasefire deal is not that of one of the hostages who was held in Gaza.

Four bodies were handed over by Hamas on Tuesday to ease pressure on the fragile ceasefire, after the first four on Monday – when the last 20 living hostages were released.

The military said that “following the completion of examinations at the National Institute of Forensic Medicine, the fourth body handed over to Israel by Hamas does not match any of the hostages”.

In the north of the territory, as Israeli forces withdrew from Gaza City, the Hamas government’s black-masked armed police resumed street patrols, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP).

Our message is clear: There will be no place for outlaws or those who threaten the security of citizens.

Army assumed power after parliament voted to impeach Andry Rajoelina following widespread protests

Madagascar’s new military ruler will be sworn in as the country’s president on Friday, the military said on Wednesday, as the African Union suspended the island nation after a coup that ousted President Andry Rajoelina.

The Indian Ocean nation has been plunged into its worst political upheaval in years after the elite Capsat army unit assumed power on Tuesday, moments after parliament voted to impeach Rajoelina, who appeared to have fled the country as street protests escalated.

Destruction or ongoing control by Israeli forces means roads to areas worst hit by hunger are virtually impassable

Even if the Rafah crossing from Egypt to Gaza opens on Thursday, NGOs face big challenges distributing supplies to Gaza City and its surroundings in the north, the areas worst hit by hunger, experts say.

Key roads are virtually impassable due to the massive destruction across the devastated territory – or are still controlled by Israeli forces. Any truck that breaks down is likely to be instantly looted.

Family fears for 66-year-old’s life after assault while he was being transferred between prisons

Palestine’s most popular leader, Marwan Barghouti, was beaten unconscious by Israeli prison guards and his family fears for his life, his son has said, citing evidence given by former Palestinian detainees released this week as part of the ceasefire deal.

Arab Barghouti said his 66-year-old father was assaulted by eight guards on 14 September as he was being transferred between Ganot and Megiddo prisons.

German authorities issue 204 charges against 21-year-old suspect, alleged to be part of wider network of abusers

A man accused of luring children worldwide into a sadistic online abuse network has been charged by German prosecutors with hundreds of crimes, including murder, for the livestreamed death of a 13-year-old American.

Using the pseudonym “White Tiger”, the 21-year-old man from Hamburg is alleged to have victimised more than 30 children with online sexual abuse, manipulation and exploitation as a part of a virtual network of abusers known as “764”.

Aid agencies and UN officials call for more entry points to allow ‘thousands of trucks’ to enter devastated territory

Aid agencies and the United Nations are calling for Israel to open more crossings into Gaza to allow “thousands of trucks” to enter the devastated territory every day.

Preparations are being made to allow convoys through the southern Rafah crossing with Egypt on Thursday, the first such access through the critical entry point since May last year.

Jean Laprade ordered to pay $3,500 in legal saga of ‘hijacked planes’, Interpol red alerts and ‘inappropriate use’ of AI

A Quebec man has been ordered to pay C$5,000 (US$3,562) for submitting artificial intelligence hallucinations as part of his legal defense, a move the judge warned was “highly reprehensible” and threatened to undermine integrity in the legal system.

Justice Luc Morin of Quebec superior court levied the fine on Jean Laprade in a decision released on 1 October, capping a legal saga the judge said “contains several elements worthy of a successful movie script”, including a “hijacked plane passing through several complacent airports”, Interpol red alerts and the “inappropriate use of artificial intelligence” by Laprade.

Mark Carney says automaker’s move to inject $13bn into US is ‘direct consequence’ of Donald Trump’s tariffs

Canadian jobs are being “sacrificed on the Trump altar”, union leaders have warned, after the automaker Stellantis announced plans to transfer production of one Jeep model to the United States.

Stellantis announced what it described as its largest US investment push in its 100-year history, saying the $13bn cash injection would create 5,000 jobs across the midwestern United States.

Two sides declare ceasefire after Islamabad carries out retaliatory strikes on Kabul and Kandahar province

Dozens of soldiers and civilians have been killed after fresh clashes broke out along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border and Islamabad carried out retaliatory airstrikes on the Afghan capital, Kabul, and Kandahar province.

The two sides declared a ceasefire by Wednesday night after the latest outbreak of violence, which came after the deadliest cross-border clashes in years over the weekend.

Odinga, who ran five times for presidency and had profound influence on Kenyan politics, has died in India

The veteran Kenyan opposition leader Raila Odinga, who ran five times for the presidency and had a profound influence on the country’s politics, has died aged 80 in India.

Odinga was in the southern city of Kochi for treatment. The Press Trust of India news agency reported that he had a cardiac arrest during a morning walk.

Fast-fashion retailer records 20% growth in sales and fees to $37bn but big hit is expected from US changes to import tax rules

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Shein has reported a 20% rise in global revenues to $37bn (£27.7bn) but profits have fallen as the fast-fashion retailer faced increased costs, even before it felt the impact of recent changes to US tax laws.

The Singaporean parent company of the rapidly growing retailer said pre-tax profits had fallen by 13% to $1.3bn last year from $1.5bn in 2023 after an increase in selling and marketing costs, according to new accounts.

Habit of rising early for live streams growing rapidly, suggesting Brazil is testing ground for religious influencers

Psychologist Cláudia Rodrigues de Oliveira Barbosa, 54, needs to be at work by 7.40am, but she wakes up at 3.40am – not because she has a lengthy commute, but to watch a “dawn prayer” livestream on YouTube.

She is one of the millions of Brazilians who tune in to the 4am sermons of Catholic friar Gilson da Silva Pupo Azevedo, 38, known as Frei Gilson, who has recently averaged an impressive 2m daily views for each video.

The city – the Sudanese army’s last stronghold in the west of the country – has withstood more than 500 days of attacks by paramilitary RSF

The besieged Sudanese city of El Fasher has been declared “uninhabitable” with new data indicating most homes are destroyed and critical levels of malnourishment among people trapped there.

The stark assessment comes as the city endures constant artillery and drone attacks, shoehorning its 250,000 starving people into a shrinking urban enclave.

Legislative change comes five years after treaty suspended in response to city’s crackdown on pro-democracy activists

Exiled Hong Kong dissidents say they fear UK government plans to restart some extraditions with the city could put them in greater danger, saying Hong Kong authorities will use any pretext to pursue them.

An amendment to UK extradition laws was passed on Tuesday more than five years after Britain and several other countries suspended extradition treaties with Hong Kong in response to the government crackdown on the pro-democracy movement, and its imposition of a Beijing-designed national security law.

US president says ‘we will not be generous’ if leader fails to win key midterms after promising $20bn to prop up struggling economy

Donald Trump has warned he could cut financial aid to Argentina if his ally Javier Milei loses crucial legislative elections later this month.

“If he loses, we are not going to be generous with Argentina,” the US president said as Milei visited the White House to seek the Republican’s political and economic support. “I’m with this man because his philosophy is correct. And he may win and he may not win – I think he’s going to win. And if he wins we are staying with him, and if he doesn’t win we are gone.”

Announcement comes after country’s parliament impeaches president after weeks of anti-government protests

An elite military unit said it had taken power in Madagascar on Tuesday, after the country’s parliament impeached president Andry Rajoelina after weeks of anti-government protests.

Rajoelina, who said on Monday in a Facebook Live video that he had gone into hiding after attempts to kill him, had refused demands to step down, but the demonstrators won the backing of the influential Capsat unit at the weekend.

Issa Tchiroma Bakary calls on 92-year-old president to accept end of reign, although results have yet to be released

The Cameroonian opposition leader Issa Tchiroma Bakary has declared himself the winner of the 12 October presidential election and called on the incumbent, Paul Biya, to accept the end of his 43-year rule.

“Our victory is clear, it must be respected,” Tchiroma said in a video statement on Facebook with the national flag in the background, before directly addressing 92-year-old Biya: “We call on the regime in power to show greatness and to honour the truth of the ballot box with a long-awaited gesture: that phone call of congratulations, which will demonstrate the political maturity of our nation and the future strength of our democracy.”

Keir Starmer is considering Aadhaar as model for UK, but detractors warn of ‘digital coercion’ and security breaches

It is often difficult for people in India to remember life before Aadhaar. The digital biometric ID, allegedly available for every Indian citizen, was only introduced 15 years ago but its presence in daily life is ubiquitous.

Indians now need an Aadhaar number to buy a house, get a job, open a bank account, pay their tax, receive benefits, buy a car, get a sim card, book priority train tickets and admit children into school. Babies can be given Aadhaar numbers almost immediately after they are born. While it is not mandatory, not having Aadhaar de facto means the state does not recognise you exist, digital rights activists say.

Provision of internet access to scam centres being investigated as Starlink swiftly becomes Myanmar’s biggest internet service provider

A powerful bipartisan committee in the US Congress says it has begun an investigation into the involvement of Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite business in providing internet access to Myanmar scam centres, blamed for swindling billions from victims across the world.

The move comes as it was revealed that large numbers of Starlink dishes began appearing on scam-centre roofs in Myanmar around the time of a crackdown in February that was supposed to eradicate the centres, according to a investigation by Agence France-Presse

Escalation comes after Pakistani airstrike in Kabul, with Taliban launching reprisals against military posts

Intense clashes erupted along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border on Saturday night, after an attack by the Afghan Taliban on Pakistani military posts led to a heavy exchange of fire and reportedly left dozens of soldiers dead.

According to officials, Afghan troops opened fire on Pakistani army posts along the north-western border with Pakistan on Saturday night and seized several of the posts. The attacks came after the Taliban regime in Afghanistan accused Pakistan of carrying out airstrikes on Afghan territory, including in the capital, Kabul, earlier this week.

Promised crackdown on corruption is not happening fast enough for many who saw government toppled within a day of protests

Prakash Bohora was one of the first of Nepal’s gen Z protesters to feel the sting of a police bullet. Like thousands of other young people, he had taken to the streets of the capital last month to protest against corruption and a draconian ban on social media.

He had no idea that day in Kathmandu would escalate into what is now described as Nepal’s gen Z revolution, which saw the toppling of the government within a day, the dissolution of parliament and appointment of a new interim prime minister, the anti-corruption hardliner Sushila Karki, by the end of the week.