Author: Andrew Rogers

An 18-year-old Brisbane teenager has faced court on Brisbane terrorism charges after police allegedly discovered extremist material, chemical substances, and data linked to violent activity during a major raid this week. The teenager, identified as Max Belter, appeared before Brisbane magistrates court on Thursday. He was arrested after a joint counter-terrorism taskforce carried out a search of his family home in The Gap, a suburb in Brisbane’s north. Investigators told the court that during Tuesday’s raid, officers seized electronic devices, chemicals, and documents that they allege point to a concerning level of extremist activity. Authorities claim Belter had videos and…

Larry Ellison overtook Elon Musk as the world’s richest person after Oracle shares surged more than 40% in early trading.Ellison’s 41% stake is now valued at $393bn, narrowly ahead of Musk’s $384bn fortune, Bloomberg reported.The jump marked Oracle’s biggest single-day increase and the largest wealth gain ever on Bloomberg’s index.The pair lead comfortably ahead of Mark Zuckerberg and Jeff Bezos in the global billionaire rankings.Ellison, 81, also holds stakes in Tesla, owns a Hawaiian island, a sailing team, and a tennis tournament.He invested $1bn in Musk’s Twitter purchase and previously sat on Tesla’s board.Musk has often described Ellison as a…

Apple will debut its slimmest iPhone on Tuesday at its Cupertino headquarters during its annual “awe-dropping” showcase.The iPhone 17 lineup will include standard, Pro, and Pro Max models, plus the new iPhone Air, the lightest flagship yet.Apple will also reveal the Apple Watch series 11 and new AirPods, possibly featuring live translation to rival Google.The company will announce launch dates for iOS 26 and macOS Tahoe during the highly anticipated event. Tariffs and AI Shape Apple’s Future Trump’s proposed tariffs threaten Apple’s supply chain, but Tim Cook has shifted production to India to reduce risks.Apple may face higher costs, but…

CEO Oliver Blume said the 27.5% tariffs on European cars and parts, imposed in April, have hit the group’s balance sheet by “several billion euros” this year. While the US has agreed to cut the rate to 15%, Blume warned it would still “be a burden” on Europe’s largest carmaker, which owns Audi, Seat and Porsche. VW is pushing for a separate deal by pledging “massive” US investment, potentially including local Audi production and exports from American plants. Blume said he hopes for a resolution “in the next weeks.” Porsche has been particularly hard hit, with cars for the US…

This Sunday, September 7, Europe will witness a striking natural spectacle: a total lunar eclipse, popularly known as the blood moon. For 82 minutes, the Earth will cast its shadow fully over the moon, leaving it glowing a deep red as only refracted sunlight passes through the atmosphere. It will be the longest eclipse since 2022. Throughout history, such events have carried powerful symbolic meaning. In ancient Babylon, China, and Central America, the blood moon was feared as a warning of war, death, or divine punishment. In parts of Africa, however, it was embraced as a symbol of renewal. Among…

Max Verstappen stormed to pole position for the Italian Grand Prix with a record-breaking lap, edging out McLaren’s Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri in a fiercely contested qualifying session at Monza. The Red Bull driver set a blistering 1:18.792, the fastest lap in Formula 1 history, averaging more than 164mph. It marked a dramatic turnaround after last year’s struggles at the same circuit, where Verstappen had called his car “undriveable.” Ferrari, racing at home, showed renewed pace, with Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc finishing fourth and fifth. Hamilton, competing in his first Monza weekend as a Ferrari driver, described the…

A new ultrasound “helmet” could transform the treatment of Parkinson’s disease and other neurological conditions by offering a non-invasive alternative to deep brain stimulation (DBS). The device, developed over a decade by teams at Oxford University and UCL, can target brain regions 1,000 times smaller than standard ultrasound and 30 times smaller than previous deep-brain devices. Unlike DBS, which requires electrodes to be surgically implanted, the helmet delivers precise mechanical pulses to specific brain areas while patients lie in an MRI scanner. In early tests with seven volunteers, researchers successfully targeted a grain-of-rice-sized region in the lateral geniculate nucleus, showing…

Labour’s pledge to halt badger culling by 2029 can succeed, but only if the government adopts a Covid-style focus on testing and vaccination, according to a new report. The review, led by Sir Charles Godfray, warned that current investment in controlling bovine tuberculosis (bTB) is too low, giving ministers only a “small chance” of meeting the target to eradicate the disease in England by 2038. bTB costs taxpayers and the cattle industry around £150m a year, and more than 210,000 badgers have been killed since the cull began in 2013. Godfray said evidence showed badgers do transmit bTB to cattle,…

The Lancashire Wildlife Trust (LWT) has launched a campaign to reintroduce the large heath butterfly, bog bush cricket and white-faced darter dragonfly, once common across Lancashire and Greater Manchester’s peat bogs. Around 96% of the region’s lowland peatlands have been lost to human activity, but the LWT has been restoring habitats by rebuilding water systems and replanting specialist vegetation. The charity is now appealing for £20,000 to complete the work. “These insects play vital roles in the peatland ecosystem,” the LWT said, highlighting pollination, decomposition and natural pest control. Senior nature recovery officer Dr Matt McMullen added: “These species would…

New Zealand’s fight to protect its most vulnerable bird species has entered a critical stage as scientists prepare for the potential arrival of highly pathogenic avian influenza (H5N1), a virus that has devastated bird populations worldwide. Among the species at greatest risk is the kākāpō, a critically endangered, nocturnal, flightless parrot sometimes dubbed the world’s fattest bird. With fewer than 250 individuals left, the species could be pushed to extinction if the virus reaches New Zealand’s shores. So far, Oceania has remained free from H5N1, but conservationists fear this could change as spring migration season brings thousands of seabirds from…