Liberal National party leader David Crisafulli has said he will repeal Queensland’s developer donation ban and change the state’s “corrupt” full preferential voting system if elected premier this month, as he faced off with Steven Miles in the second leaders debate. In response to a reporter’s question about whether the conservative party would repeal the…

UK Inflation has fallen below 2% for the first time in three and a half years, piling further pressure on the Bank of England to cut interest rates at its meeting next month. The consumer prices index dropped sharply to 1.7% last month, down from 2.2% in August. The plunge – fuelled by lower air…

Wild weather is on the way for almost half the country as severe thunderstorms are forecast to cause property damage and possible flash flooding. The Bureau of Meteorology’s Miriam Bradbury said “damaging winds, large hail and heavy rainfall” were expected to strike large parts of Australia – particularly the west and south-east. “The severe thunderstorm…

Singapore’s air force mobilised two fighter jets late on Tuesday in response to a bomb threat on an Air India Express flight bound for the city-state, its defence minister said. Two Singapore air force F-15SG jets scrambled and escorted Air India flight AXB684 away from populated areas after the airline received an email that there…

Elon Musk gave around $75m to his pro-Donald Trump spending group in the span of three months, federal disclosures show, underscoring how the billionaire has become crucial to the Republican candidate’s efforts to win the US presidential election. America PAC, which is focused on turning out voters in the closely contested states battleground states that…

The Victorian government will seek to counter the influence of “Andrew Tate-types” on children as it rolls out new respectful relationship strategies to schools. The education minister, Ben Carroll, on Wednesday said the government’s respectful relationships teaching program would be updated, as part of a push to get it into more Catholic and independent schools.…

Delta Airlines has postponed all flights between New York’s John F Kennedy airport and Tel Aviv until at least 31 March because of the conflict in the Middle East, the company said in a statement on Tuesday. “Delta is continuously monitoring the evolving security environment and assessing our operations based on security guidance and intelligence…

Egypt’s vast and much-delayed antiquities museum will partly open its main galleries on Wednesday, including 12 halls that exhibit aspects of ancient Egypt. The Grand Egyptian Museum, a mega-project near the famed Giza pyramids that has cost considerably more than $1bn (£765m) so far, will open its halls to 4,000 visitors as a trial run…

A Russian man survived more than two months drifting in icy seas on an inflatable boat in an ordeal that claimed the lives of his brother and teenage nephew, officials and reports said. Mikhail Pichugin may have survived because of his 100kg (220lb) build, according to his wife. Media reports said he weighed just 50kg…

An Air India plane bound for Chicago has made an abrupt landing in the Arctic city of Iqaluit, after a false bomb threat. The emergency stop before sunrise on Tuesday, came less than a day after Canada and India expelled senior diplomats in a widening feud between the two countries. The flight’s 211 crew and…