Shares in Roche have dropped more than five per cent as ‌the Swiss drug maker failed to show its promising ‌drug candidate giredestrant against a common form of breast ‌cancer can help newly diagnosed patients.

A phase III trial ‌did not ‌provide ⁠reliable evidence that the drug’s use in ​combination with Pfizer’s Ibrance as a first treatment slows disease progression when compared with a standard hormonal therapy plus Ibrance, Roche said in a statement on Monday.

That marked ⁠a reversal of ‌fortunes ​for the oral compound.

The Roche pill in 2025 cut the ‌risk of tumour recurrence in breast cancer patients who ​had received the established initial treatment in a late-stage trial, boosting Roche’s shares.

The giredestrant ​pill ​belongs to a ​drug class known as oral selective ‌oestrogen receptor degraders (SERD) to fight tumours that grow in response to oestrogen, accounting for up to 80 per cent of all breast cancer cases.

The market ​opportunity has also attracted AstraZeneca, which is ​developing rival ⁠compound camizestrant.

Iran has named Mojtaba ‌Khamenei to succeed his father Ali Khamenei as supreme leader, signalling hardliners remain firmly in charge as the week-old US-Israeli war with Iran sends oil prices ‌surging.

Iranian institutions and politicians, from the foreign ministry to lawmakers, issued statements expressing their allegiance to the country’s new supreme leader as the war entered its 10th ‌day and fresh missile and drone strikes reverberated across the Middle East.

“We will obey the commander-in-chief until the last drop of our blood,” a statement from the defence council said.

Senior cleric Ayatollah Sadeq Amoli-Larijani said Mojtaba Khamenei’s appointment was “a balm for the spiritual suffering of our people and an ‌emphasis on the need to continue the luminous path of the late Imam (Khamenei senior)”.

Mojtaba’s father, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, was killed in one of the first strikes launched against Iran more than a week ago.

The show of solidarity for Mojtaba comes after US President Donald Trump earlier rejected him as a candidate to be Iran’s new supreme leader, and Israel saying it would target whoever leads Iran.

Mojtaba, ⁠a cleric with influence inside Iran’s security forces and vast business networks under his father, had been viewed as a frontrunner in the lead-up to Sunday’s ​vote by the Assembly of Experts, a body of 88 clerics tasked with choosing Ali Khamenei’s successor.

Trump said on Sunday Washington should have a say in the selection.

“If he doesn’t get approval from us, he’s not going to last long,” he told US ABC News, adding ⁠that ending the war would be a “mutual” decision with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

In an interview with the Times of Israel after the ⁠new supreme leader was named, Trump declined to respond, saying only “we’ll see what happens”.

The Israeli military said on Monday it had begun a wave of attacks in central Iran and had struck infrastructure belonging to Hezbollah militants in Beirut.

Iran and its proxies appeared to have launched attacks across the region too, with rocket and drone strikes targeting a US diplomatic facility near Baghdad’s international airport that were intercepted by C-RAM defence system, police sources said.

A drone strike targeted a US military base near Erbil airport in Iraqi Kurdistan, security sources said, while Saudi authorities reported intercepting a drone near its Jawf region.

Thick smoke was seen rising from the direction of the BAPCO oil refinery in Bahrain, according to a Reuters witness, after the government said ‌an Iranian drone strike hit ‌the area, causing injuries and damage.

The US military reported a seventh American had died from wounds ​sustained during Iran’s ‌initial counter-attack a week ago, a day after Trump presided over the return to the US of the remains of the six others killed. 

The Israeli military said on Sunday two of its soldiers were killed in southern ​Lebanon, marking the first fatalities among its troops since Israel-Hezbollah hostilities resumed last week as Israel intensified air strikes on Lebanon.

At least four people were killed when an Israeli strike hit an apartment in the Ramada hotel building in central Beirut early on Sunday.

The US-Israeli attacks have killed at ​least 1332 ​Iranian civilians and wounded thousands, according to Iran’s UN ambassador.

US crude futures rose more ​than 20 per cent in early trade on Monday, hitting their highest since July 2022, as major Middle Eastern oil producers cut ‌supply because they cannot safely send shipments through the Strait of Hormuz to refiners worldwide. 

The war has forced production stoppages by oil and gas exporters from Qatar to Iraq, with Kuwait announcing cuts at the weekend and analysts predicting the UAE and Saudi Arabia will soon cut output as they run out of oil storage.

The federal climate minister has hit back at speculation there will be budget cuts to clean energy policies, comparing it to stripping funds from health or education.

Chris Bowen dismissed reports of cuts to new clean energy funding in the federal budget in May.

“You might as well say there’s going to be no big new funding for hospitals or schools,” he said the sidelines of the Sydney Climate Action Week on Monday.

Electric car tax breaks are also rumoured to be on the chopping block.

The fringe benefit waiver for EV leases was undergoing a long-scheduled review, he said, while labelling most of the budget speculation “wrong”.

Queried on possible savings from the home battery scheme, which has recently had a budget top-up and tweaks to stop households buying oversized systems, he defended the subsidy as “extraordinarily popular”.

Australia’s potential as a climate technology hub was also canvassed at the event by California Energy Commission chair David Hochschild.

Spruiking an Australian pilot of a Californian scheme credited with attracting nearly $500 million in investment into the US state, Mr Hochschild said AusTestBed should help more Australian ideas reach commercial reality.

The trial, which would ideally attract federal support to expand, would remove the cost of testing promising technology in laboratory equipment, providing startups with hard data to take to investors.

“You might have an entrepreneur with a great idea, but they don’t have the resources, Mr Hochschild told AAP.

“You end up leaving a lot of good ideas on the sideline.”

Mr Hochschild said his country’s clean energy and climate agenda had taken a hit but not stalled under the Trump administration.

He likened the Donald Trump-led Republican government to a “political COVID-19” pandemic.

“It has hit us all really hard,” he said.

“But also we are going to make it through this, as we made it through COVID.”

Reality was also catching up with the administration as it grappled with the massive energy needs of a fast-growing data centre sector.

Solar and batteries were much faster to build than fossil-fuel plants, Mr Hochschild said.

“You want to build a new natural gas power plant United States? That’s seven years.”

Laws forcing pornography websites to introduce age verification measures are damaging for healthy conversations between parents and teens, an expert says.

A second phase of the eSafety Commission’s Online Safety Codes, which came into effect on Monday, mandates strict age verification on content identified as unsuitable for Australian users aged under 18.

The rollout of the laws prompted Aylo – a Canadian company operating free explicit video websites including Pornhub, RedTube and YouPorn – to restrict access for Australian users.

But the laws were unlikely to stop teenagers from seeking out sexual material online, healthy sexual development and media expert Alan McKee said.

He called the codes damaging, as they created a further barrier for children to speak to trusted adults about content that was now restricted.

“We’re never going to stop adolescents searching for information about sex, no matter how hard we make it,” Professor McKee told AAP.

“What you can do is make sure that they have the intelligence and critical thinking to engage properly with it.

“In saying that, you don’t want pornography to be where young people learn about sex. It’s designed as entertainment.

“Learning how to have sex from pornography is like learning how to drive by watching Fast and the Furious.”

He said the most common way children were exposed to unwanted sexual material was among peers, often linked to bullying. 

“It’s not through social media, it’s not through searching online – it’s peer-group material being shared to try and upset people,” Prof McKee said. 

“It’s someone sharing shocking, extreme images. It’s bullying.”

Restricted content under the codes also includes media containing high-impact violence, self-harm material and dangerous content such as suicide and disordered eating.

The codes require websites hosting pornography and age-restricted material to verify ages of users through measures such as facial-age estimation, digital wallets and photo ID.

eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant said pornography sites using a button to ask users whether they were over 18 would no longer suffice.

“There needs to be more rigour behind that,” she said.

“We’re letting companies decide how they age verify, as long as it’s robust and fair that doesn’t force people into using digital or government ID and is privacy preserving.”

Prof McKee said the restrictions could drive more traffic to illegal porn sites like in the UK, or increase the use of VPNs to circumvent the age verification process.

“I don’t think you can tick that off and call that a simple ‘mission accomplished’ that’s making things better,” he said of the codes.

The UK introduced age verification restrictions to pornography websites in 2025. 

Virtual private networks have surged up the app charts in Australia after pornography sites began blocking users days out from the launch of the restrictions.

VPN apps allow a user’s location to appear as being in another country.

VPN Super Unlimited Proxy climbed from 40th place in the free iPhone apps on March 2, to 7th place on Sunday, according to data from Sensor Tower.

The laws will also cover AI companions or chatbots, requiring AI companies to block inciting suicide or self-harm content to children.

Non-compliance carries penalties of up to $49.5 million per breach.

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Advocates are imploring Australian officials to meet with the Iranian women’s soccer team to secure their safety, after the squad were seen making what appears to be an “SOS” hand signal on the Gold Coast.

Iran’s state media criticised the team for refusing to sing the Iranian national anthem before their first match of the Asian Cup in Australia, calling them “wartime traitors” who must be dealt with severely.

Community groups have written to Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke, pleading with him to intervene on behalf the women.

The team is staying at the Royal Pines resort on the Gold Coast and is due to leave Australia later this week after completing their Asian Cup matches.

Rana Dadpour, the founder of women’s rights group AUSIRAN, said government officials should organise private meetings with the team members before they leave the country, warning they could face execution if they return home.

“We need to talk with these girls away from the handlers and the regime-affiliated people who are following them right now in Australia,” she told AAP.

“If they want to stay, I think we need to provide them with every support that we can.”

While government officials have been reluctant to discuss the team’s plight, fearing the publicity could put the women and their families at further risk, Ms Dadpour said global pressure was often effective on the Iranian regime.

“We’ve had many cases of execution orders that have been previously delayed or stopped only because of the international pressure and media attention,” she said.

Leaving their final match of the competition on Sunday night, at least one of the women appeared to make the international signal for help through the window of the team bus – raising an open palm, crossing the thumb over it and folding the four fingers over the top.

Protesters surrounded the bus and the women appeared to film the crowd through the window.

Reza Pahlavi, the son of Iran’s former Shah and a leader of the nation’s resistance movement, said the decision not to sing the anthem was a brave act of disobedience, but meant the team would face “dire consequences” if they were to return to their home country.

“I call on the Australian government to ensure their safety and give them any and all needed support,” he said.

Opposition frontbencher Julian Leeser has urged Australia to grant the women asylum if they want it.

“The Australian government should not turn a blind eye to the danger these women face,” he said in a statement.

The government is highly sensitive to speculation about the women’s potential movements, fearing it could further imperil them should they return home, or put their families at risk.

Attorney-General Michelle Rowland said she recognised the women’s bravery but wouldn’t be drawn on whether Australia had approached them to offer asylum.

A change.org petition calling for Australia to intervene in the women’s plight had garnered nearly 60,000 signatures as of Monday morning.

Former One Direction singer Harry Styles’ One Night Only show at Co-Op Live has been launched on Netflix as Harry Styles: One Night In Manchester.

The performance, in front of 20,500 fans, was filmed live in Manchester on Friday, and saw the 32-year-old perform his fourth studio album – Kiss All The Time, Disco, Occasionally – in full on the day of its release, before finishing with an encore of older tracks including some of his biggest hits.

“This is not the tour show, we don’t ever play it like this again,” Styles said in a trailer for the concert.

Styles has played One Night Only shows to celebrate the release of each of his previous albums, and the show comes ahead of his Together, Together tour, which will include 12 nights at Wembley Stadium, potentially breaking the record for most show by any artist in a year at the national stadium in London.

The global tour, beginning in May, will also see Styles perform in Amsterdam, New York, Sao Paulo, Mexico City, Melbourne and Sydney.

“I’ve kind of rediscovered what a privilege it is to be in people’s lives through music over the last couple of years,” Styles told fans during the Manchester show.

“You’ve changed my life. Thank you so, so much.

“Thank you for the warmth and generosity you’ve always given towards me over the last one, two, five, 10, 15 years of my life.”

The concert was the first of its kind for the singer since the death of former bandmate Liam Payne, who fell from a hotel balcony in Argentina in October 2024.

Styles praised his fans for creating communities with hope in a world “that feels so chaotic it is so easy to become hopeless”.

“The world could do with a little extra peace right now so please do all you can,” he said.

Fans’ phones were put into bags preventing them from filming and they were handed disposable cameras as they arrived at the arena, which Styles invested in ahead of its opening in 2024.

The pop star, who grew up in nearby Cheshire, also gave 100 tickets to students from Holmes Chapel Comprehensive School, where he was a pupil when he applied for The X Factor in 2010.

Others were able to earn their tickets by volunteering at community projects in Manchester.

Styles was accompanied by a band and gospel choir as he broke into dance moves during the song, which he had performed in the same venue at last week’s Brit Awards.

The show’s encore saw the star perform Golden, which he played on the guitar, and Watermelon Sugar saw an ecstatic crowd dancing and singing along before the night’s biggest crowd pleaser, number one single As It Was.

The show’s release comes after Styles made a cameo appearance on Saturday Night Live, sitting in the front row as actor and guest host Ryan Gosling delivered his opening monologue at the start of the US sketch show on Saturday.

The local share market has plunged and oil prices have surged as the US-Israeli war on Iran intensifies.

In early trading on Monday, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was down 3.2 per cent to 8,566.3, its lowest level since mid-December after nearly $100 billion in value was erased from the bourse’s market capitalisation.

The losses put the index on track for its worst day since April 2025, when the ASX200 plunged 4.2 per cent amid Donald Trump’s intensifying trade war.

Brent crude spiked to $US107 a barrel, the commodity’s highest price since August 2022.

It had been changing hands at just over $60 at the start of 2026.

The strategic implications of the spiralling war in Iran were multi-faceted but the economic ones could be reduced to oil markets and supply shocks, Capital.com analyst Kyle Rodda said. 

“Increasingly, energy supply is being threatened, mostly due to disrupted trade flow through the Strait of Hormuz, but now increasingly because of attacks on energy infrastructure as a tactic of war,” he said.

Every sector of the ASX was in the red except for energy, which was up 1.6 per cent.

The materials sector, which includes mining, was the biggest loser, dropping 4.7 per cent.

BHP was down 5.4 per cent, Rio Tinto retreated 4.2 per cent and Fortescue lost 3.4 per cent.

Gold wasn’t proving to be much of a safe haven, with the yellow metal changing hands for $US5,082 an ounce, down $75 from Friday. 

Goldminers Evolution and Northern Star were down 5.0 per cent and 4.3 per cent respectively.

Copper miners Sandfire and Capstone were the biggest losers in the ASX200 in morning trade, both with losses of slightly over nine per cent.

All of the big four banks were deep in the red, with CBA falling 3.8 per cent, NAB and Westpac losing 3.4 per cent and ANZ subtracting 3.1 per cent.

Just seven companies – all in the energy sector – out of the 200 in the ASX’s main benchmark were in the green at about 11am.

Woodside was up 2.0 per cent, Santos had climbed 2.1 per cent and Whitehaven Coal lifted 3.1 per cent.

Karoon Energy was the biggest gainer, climbing 9.1 per cent.

The losses put the ASX200 down 1.8 per cent since the start of the year.

Oil prices have eclipsed $US100 per barrel for the first time in more than three and a half years as the Iran war hinders production and shipping in the Middle East.

The price for a barrel of Brent crude, the international standard, was at $US101.19 ($A144.78) shortly after trading resumed on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange on Monday, up 9.2 per cent from its settlement price of $US92.69 ($A132.62) on Friday.

West Texas Intermediate, the light, sweet crude oil produced in the United States, was selling for about $US107.06 ($A153.18) a barrel.

That’s 16.2 per cent higher than its Friday settlement price of $US90.90 ($A130.06).

Both could rise or fall as market trading continues.

The increases followed US crude prices jumping by 36 per cent and Brent crude prices rising 28 per cent last week.

Oil prices have surged as the war, now in its second week, ensnared countries and places that are critical to the production and movement of oil and gas from the Persian Gulf.

Roughly 15 million barrels of crude oil – about 20 per cent of the world’s oil – typically are shipped every day through the Strait of Hormuz, according to independent research firm Rystad Energy.

The threat of Iranian missile and drone attacks has all but stopped tankers from travelling through the strait, which is bordered in the north by Iran, carry oil and gas from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iraq, Qatar, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Iran.

Iraq, Kuwait and the UAE have cut their oil production as storage tanks fill due to the reduced ability to export crude. Iran, Israel and the United States also have attacked oil and gas facilities since the war started, exacerbating supply concerns.

The last time US crude futures traded above $US100 ($A143) per barrel was June 30, 2022, when the price reached $US105.76 ($A151.32). For Brent, it was July 29, 2022, when the price hit $US104 ($A149) per barrel.

The global surge in oil prices since Israel and the US attacked Iran on March 1 has rattled financial markets, sparking worries that higher energy costs will fuel inflation and lead to less spending by US consumers, the main engine of the economy.

In the US, a gallon of regular gasoline rose to $US3.45 ($A4.94) on Sunday, about 47 cents more than a week earlier, according to AAA motor club. Diesel was selling for about $US4.60 ($A6.58) a gallon, a weekly increase of about 83 cents.

The price of natural gas has also climbed, though not as much as oil. It rose about 11 per cent last week and ended Friday at $US3.19 ($A4.56) per 1,000 cubic feet.

If oil prices stay above $US100 ($A143) per barrel, some analysts and investors say it could be too much for the global economy to withstand.

Over the weekend, Israel’s military struck oil depots in Tehran and four oil storage tankers and a petroleum transfer terminal.

Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, the speaker of Iran’s parliament, said the war’s impact on the oil industry would spiral, warning it soon could become harder to produce and sell oil.

Iran exports roughly 1.6 million barrels of oil a day, mostly to China, which may need to look elsewhere for supply if Iran’s exports are disrupted, another factor that could increase energy prices.

Safeguarding against missile and drone attacks and relieving pressure on the Strait of Hormuz could be tasks for Australian forces if they are deployed to the Middle East.

Foreign Minister Penny Wong has confirmed the government has received requests for aid from allies under attack during Iranian strikes.

While the minister says Australia will not be part of any ground-troop deployment, other military requests are being considered.

“You would anticipate, as a consequence, that we have been asked for assistance, and we will work through that carefully,” Senator Wong said on Sunday.

“If a decision is made, I’m sure that we will be transparent with the Australian people.”

Iran has launched strikes against neighbouring countries such as the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Bahrain following US and Israel-led attacks, which killed the country’s leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Jennifer Parker, an expert associate at the Australian National University’s national security college, said Australian forces would likely be sought to relieve pressure on the militaries of allied regimes.

“I would suspect that we will try and assist with the issues of missile and drone detection, and potentially missile and drone interception,” she told AAP.

“We could consider deploying fighter jets to the region to help defend the Gulf countries against these attacks. That would probably be the most effective deployment for Australia.

“That comes with some complications in terms of stressing that they’re being used for defensive, rather than offensive, roles.”

Australian forces could also be used to provide support in getting oil through the Strait of Hormuz, through which one-fifth of world supplies travel.

Iran has been blocking access to the strait following the attacks, leading to petrol and diesel price spikes.

If Australian defence personnel were sent to the region, it was unlikely to put them at greater risk of attack, Ms Parker said.

“Australia is considered as allied with the US anyway, and so therefore, because of that relationship, Iran would consider Australians as targets in the same way that they have in some of the Gulf countries,” she said.

Events in the Middle East will cast a shadow over Australia’s economy with the widening conflict potentially impacting inflation.

While this week will feature a lull in the volume of major data released, developments in the Middle East will be watched keenly by the Reserve Bank for any sign of impact on domestic markets.

The central bank’s governor, Michele Bullock, warned on Tuesday it would be too early to tell what the effect would be, with supply shocks adding to inflation pressures.

“The potential implications for inflation expectations are something we are very alert to,” she said.

“But at the same time, a prolonged impact on energy markets could have adverse effects on global economic activity and result in downward pressure on inflation.”

Petrol prices jumped in Australian capitals following US-Israeli strikes in the Middle East, with Iran threatening to attack vessels in the Strait of Hormuz, of which one fifth of the world’s oil supply passes through.

While inflation has remained steady at 3.8 per cent, underlying inflation, which is the preferred measure of the Reserve Bank, rose in January to 3.4 per cent, still well above the bank’s target of two to three per cent.

The situation prompted Ms Bullock to say the next interest rate decision on March 17 will be “live”, raising the prospect of back-to-back hikes in the cash rate.

Off the back of household spending figures rising slightly in January, the coming week will deliver fresh figures on consumer sentiment.

Westpac’s consumer confidence survey for March will be released on Tuesday, with economists tipping a fall of 1.1 per cent for the month.

The survey will cover the first full month since the Reserve Bank lifted the cash rate to 3.85 per cent at its February meeting.

February’s data displayed signs consumers were easing back spending in preparations for rate hikes.

NAB’s business confidence report will also be issued on Tuesday.

The previous release, in February, showed business confidence on the rise but conditions falling, driven by declines in profitability.

Meanwhile, Wall Street investors are jittery over labour market setbacks and a 12 per cent spike in prices at fuel the bowser.

All three main indexes closed down on Friday, with a disappointing payrolls report intensifying worries over economic cooling and the Middle ‌East situation pushing up energy costs.

The ‌Dow Jones Industrial Average ‌fell 0.95 per cent to 47,501.55 ⁠points, the S&P 500 lost 1.33 per cent to ​6,740.00 and the Nasdaq Composite slipped 1.59 per cent to 22,387.68.

Australian share futures plunged 135 points, or 1.52 per cent, to 15,737.

The S&P/ASX200 fell 89.3 points on Friday, down one per cent, to 8,851, as the broader All Ordinaries lost 79.8 points, or 0.87 per cent, to 9,085.1.

It was the top-200’s worst weekly performance since early April 2025.