MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) – A spearfisher was killed on Saturday in Australia’s third fatal shark attack in four weeks, police said. The 35-year-old man was spearfishing with family off Michaelmas Island near the port city of Albany in Western Australia state when he was attacked before noon, a police statement said.

Victoria has recently been labelled Australia's "car theft capital".vAccording to the Insurance Council of Australia, more than A$243 million was paid out in Victoria last year in 12,500 claims involving stolen vehicles and thefts from motor vehicles. Between 2024 and 2025, the state recorded a 25% increase in motor vehicle theft claims.

Recent news articles have floated the idea some retirees might try to sidestep the government's new minimum capital gains tax (CGT) by qualifying for as little as A$1 of the age pension. That's because under the government's proposed tax reforms, people on certain income support payments, including the age pension, would be exempt from the new 30% minimum tax on capital gains.

MADRID (AP) – Pope Leo XIV met Monday with six survivors of clergy sexual abuse in Madrid and vowed to consider their suggestions for how the Catholic Church can improve its response to the crisis, the Vatican said. The meeting, which followed in the tradition of popes meeting with abuse survivors during their foreign trips, lasted about an hour.

More than half of Australia's universities dropped in global rankings this week. Individual results always bounce around. But this drop, via the Centre for World University Rankings, suggests the decline of Australia's standing in many global rankings systems is more than a blip.

Australia is world-leading in taking active measures to keep people safe online - home to the world's first dedicated online safety regulator, the eSafety Commissioner, and the first country to introduce enforceable industry codes requiring platforms to tackle harmful content at scale.

Following the recent announcement that Australia would acquire three submarines already in US service rather than two used submarines and one new one, AUKUS has again dominated headlines. AUKUS is a defence capability agreement between the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia. Since it was announced in 2021, it's rarely been out of the news.

The United States is threatening to impose trade tariffs of up to 12.5% on 60 countries, including Australia, over their inaction on forced and slave labour worldwide.  On Wednesday, US trade representative Jamieson Greer said: The failure of our most important trading partners to address the importation of goods made with forced labor is unacceptable.