Australian industry reliant on gas for ‘foreseeable future’, resources minister tells press club 14. October 2026 (07:52) Madeleine King says national gas reservation scheme, expected to come into effect from 2028, will reduce power pricesFollow our Australian politics live blog for latest updatesGet our new political email, free app or daily news podcastThe resources minister, Madeleine King, says Australian industry will be reliant on gas for the “foreseeable future”, and that the national gas reservation scheme will push down power prices.But the Western Australian MP did not put a price tag on the cost of gas under the proposal– as the former opposition leader, Peter Dutton, once did – nor predict when households and businesses would start to see that financial relief. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Leaders of India’s Cockroach party jailed for violating ban on protest site 14. October 2026 (07:29) Ashutosh Ranka and Saurav Das will spend spend five days in prison for entering Delhi’s Jantar Mantar – a historic protest site that has been closed by authoritiesTwo leaders of India’s youth-led Cockroach movement have been sent to jail for five days for violating a ban on protests at a site in central Delhi.A court ordered that Ashutosh Ranka and Saurav Das, leaders of the Cockroach Janata party (CJP) movement, spend five days in Delhi’s Tihar prison for jumping over police barricades, holding up slogans and waving the Indian flag at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Barriers facing black and south Asian music events ‘cost London up to £141m a year’ 14. October 2026 (07:00) Exclusive: Investigation finds racial inequality in live music industry rife and many genres labelled ‘high risk’ despite lack of evidence Black and south Asian music events in London face disproportionate cancellations, restrictions and licensing barriers compared with white events, according to a two-year investigation into racial inequality in the capital’s live music industry.The Race Equality in Music Event Licensing (REMEL) report, led by Black Lives in Music, estimates that cancellations, displacement and events prevented from taking place cost London £127m to £141m annually, with projected losses exceeding £650m over five years. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Judge extends White House access to banned media outlets CNN, MS Now and Politico 14. October 2026 (06:34) District court judge Timothy Kelly was ruling after the Trump administration blocked access to the three outlets in SeptemberA federal judge ordered the White House on Tuesday to continue allowing journalists from CNN, MS Now and Politico to access the building as the media coalition’s lawsuit against the Trump administration plays out.Timothy Kelly, a district court judge, had on 24 September granted a 14-day reprieve for the news organizations, which six days earlier had been banned by the president in an extraordinary move from entering the White House grounds “as a result of their constant ‘reporting’ FAKE NEWS”. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
$20m public liability insurance to rally in a park: how council red tape hinders the right to protest 14. October 2026 (06:22) Public gatherings stymied by bureaucracy, Australian Democracy Network and Deakin University researchers findGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastCouncil red tape is stymieing the right to protest, a report has said, after a regional New South Wales council told a protest organiser they needed a $20m public liability insurance policy to hold a rally in a park.A report released on Wednesday, co-authored by Australian Democracy Network (ADN) and Deakin University’s Centre for Law as Protection, raised concerns about incidents in which councils have required protest organisers to obtain insurance when rallies are held on council land.
It also expressed concern about the power some regional and urban councils have to issue financial penalties if public gatherings are held without a council permit. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Iranian woman handed death sentence for ‘blasphemy’ in social media post 14. October 2026 (06:00) Rights groups warn of Tehran regime’s increasing use of executions to suppress dissent, with at least 600 this yearHuman rights groups have raised the alarm over the growing number of death sentences and executions in Iran, after reports that a 23-year-old woman, Najmeh Amini, has been sentenced to death for blasphemy over a social-media post.Amini, an accounting student, is being held in Vakilabad prison in the north-east city of Mashhad. She has been sentenced to more than 12 years in prison and death in separate cases heard by a revolutionary and a criminal court. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Ukraine is littered with landmines on a scale last seen in Vietnam. How can they be removed? 14. October 2026 (06:00) Faced with deadlier threats, demining groups are coming up with new ways of working using drones and AICrouched over on her hands and knees in a field of weeds, Olena Kabanova is digging into the ground. With a shovel and a steady hand, the 58-year-old digs out a neat square around the spot where a mine detector has sensed a suspicious object.Four years ago, this field in eastern Ukraine was occupied by Russian soldiers. Now back under Ukrainian control, it is littered with landmines. Civilians such as Kabanova are trying to make the land usable again. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
