These shocks to Australia's food system won't be the last

News of a fragile ceasefire has done little to calm anxieties about the Strait of Hormuz, where Iran has choked shipping and the United States has responded with a targeted maritime blockade. Concerns are growing the strait could begin to function less as an open waterway and more as a "tollway".

Ukraine wants a Zelenskyy-Putin summit to jolt stalled US-led peace efforts

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) – Ukraine is pushing for face-to-face talks between President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin, Kyiv’s top diplomat said, presenting a potential summit as a way of injecting new momentum into U.S.-led efforts to end Russia’s more than four-year invasion of its neighbor.

NDIS slashed and higher health insurance subsidy for over‑65s scrapped

The government will slash spending in real terms on the National Disability Insurance Scheme over four years, as it undertakes a massive "reset" of the program. People with lower support needs will be moved off the scheme and over the next two years the average spending on plans will reduce to about A$26,000.

UK inflation rises as prices at the pump spike after Iran war

LONDON (AP) – Inflation in the U.K. climbed in March after a sharp jump in prices at the petrol pump in the wake of the disruption to energy supplies caused by the Iran war, official figures showed Wednesday.

It's a chilly campaign for Matt Canavan in Farrer

Nationals leader Matt Canavan is giving the concept of the political "ground game" a new twist in the Farrer byelection. Canavan is literally camping out in the southern New South Wales electorate, despite the Nationals seemingly having no chance of victory on May 9.

US stocks rally to records, but Brent oil also tops $100

NEW YORK (AP) - The U.S. stock market set more records but caution still hung over Wall Street. The S&P 500 rallied 1%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.7%, and the Nasdaq composite set its own record after climbing 1.6%. The price for a barrel of Brent crude oil briefly topped $102.

Former minister Ed Husic on why Labor must 'stare down' gas companies over tax

Next month's federal budget is an even tighter balancing act than usual, with Treasurer Jim Chalmers facing global economic uncertainty, a fuel crisis and the need to juggle cost-of-living relief with combating inflation. The government has been weighing up changes to negative gearing, capital gains tax, a gas export tax and other cost-saving reforms.

Top Asia Pacific Breaking News: Latest Updates

HONG KONG (AP) – The Hong Kong government is seeking to confiscate millions of dollars in funds and corporate shares it says are linked to crimes committed by jailed former media tycoon Jimmy Lai, according to a court document seen by The Associated Press on Tuesday.

The end of oil? 53 nations gather to plan a fossil fuel phaseout

US President Donald Trump is a longtime climate denier and oil industry ally, who sums up his own energy policy as "drill, baby, drill". Yet he is doing more than almost anyone to speed up the global shift from fossil fuels to clean energy and electric vehicles (EVs).