Warner Bros Discovery says Paramount has raised the price of its takeover offer to $US31 ($A44) per share, potentially setting the stage for a fresh bidding war with Netflix over the future of the Hollywood giant.

The company previously offered $US30 ($A43) per share when it first went directly to Warner stakeholders with its all-cash, hostile bid in December – just days after Warner struck a deal to sell its studio and streaming business to Netflix for $US27.75 ($A39.40) per share.

Beyond upping its proposed purchase price, Warner said on Tuesday afternoon, local time, that Paramount had increased its regulatory termination fee to $US7 billion ($A9.9 billion).

Paramount also agreed to move up a previously promised “ticking fee” payable to shareholders if its deal doesn’t go through now by the end of September – amounting to 25 cents per share, or a total of $US650 million ($A923 million).

After briefly reopening talks with Paramount, Warner earlier confirmed it had received a revised offer and was reviewing it.

When announcing the increased price, Warner said Paramount’s revised proposal “could reasonably be expected to lead to” a superior offer as defined under its current agreement with Netflix – but the company’s board has still not actually determined whether Paramount’s offer is better than Netflix’s.

A Netflix spokesperson declined to comment.

A Warner Bros Discovery buyout would reshape Hollywood and the wider media landscape – bringing HBO Max, cult-favourite titles like Harry Potter and, depending on who wins the Netflix v Paramount tug-of-war, potentially even CNN under a new roof.

Paramount wants to acquire Warner Bros in its entirety – including networks like CNN and Discovery.

But Netflix only wants to buy Warner’s studio and streaming business. Warner’s board has repeatedly backed this deal, and on Tuesday maintained that its agreement with Netflix still stands.

If Warner’s board later deems Paramount’s offer to be superior, however, Netflix would then have four days to match or revise its proposal. It could also choose to walk away.

Paramount, Warner and Netflix have spent the last couple of months in a heated back-and-forth over who has a stronger deal.

But many lawmakers and entertainment trade groups have sounded the alarm along the way, warning that either buyout of all or parts of Warner’s business would only further consolidate power in an industry already run by just a few major players.

Critics say that could result in job losses, less diversity in filmmaking and potentially more headaches for consumers who are facing rising costs of streaming subscriptions as is.

Combined, that raises tremendous antitrust concerns – and a Warner sale could come down to who gets the regulatory greenlight.

The US Department of Justice has already initiated reviews, and other nations are expected to do so.

Australia fourth-largest iron ore producer has lifted its earnings on record shipments as it continues to switch to ‘green’ energy, and is predicting more of the same as its fiscal year plays out.

Fortescue posted a 23 per cent increase in bottom-line net profit to $US1.9 billion ($A2.7 billion), on revenue of $US8.4 billion ($A11.9 billion).

The group, chaired by billionaire and green energy fan Andrew ‘Twiggy’ Forrest, delivered record shipments of 100.2 million tonnes in the half year ended December.

“It’s been a standout first half of the financial year,” Metals and Operations CEO Dino Otranto said.

“We have the lowest operating cost in the industry, and decarbonisation is pushing that even lower.”

Fortescue is eliminating the use of diesel fuel across its Western Australia-based Pilbara fields.

“The more diesel we eliminate, the less exposure we have to price volatility, and the stronger and more predictable our margins become,” Mr Otranto said.

Fortescue has installed thousands of solar panels at its flagship Cloudbreak iron ore mine and construction is underway on its first wind farm.

“We’ve delivered two large battery energy-storage systems at our sites and we’re working with leading global manufacturers to roll out electric-mining equipment, battery systems and large-scale renewable infrastructure,” Mr Otranto said.

“A few years ago, this would have seemed ambitious.

“Today it’s part of how we operate and it’s lowering our cost base as we build it.”

Fortescue’s underlying first half earnings – before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation – rose by 23 per cent to $US4.5 billion ($A6.4 billion).

Fortescue expects to ship 195-205 million tonnes of iron ore in 2025/26.

It declared a first-half dividend of 62 cents per share, up 24 per cent from 50 cents in the prior corresponding period.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has returned to his official residence after being evacuated due to a bomb scare, the latest in a series of security threats against politicians.

The incident sparked a significant operation by federal police, who moved the prime minister from The Lodge in Canberra to a secure location about 6pm AEDT on Tuesday.

An Australian Federal Police spokesperson said a thorough search of the property was undertaken and nothing suspicious was found. 

“There is no current threat to the community or public safety,” they said.

Opposition Leader Angus Taylor said in a post on X he was grateful Mr Albanese was safe and condemned threats against politicians as “abhorrent”.

“Pleased to hear that the prime minister is safe and well after being evacuated from his residence in Canberra,” he said.

“Threats against any parliamentarian are utterly abhorrent, especially in a country built on expressing our differences through debate.”

The AFP stood up a national security investigations team in October 2025 to target people “causing high levels of harm to Australia’s social cohesion, including the targeting of federal parliamentarians”.

AFP Commissioner Krissy Barrett revealed 21 people had been charged nationwide since she established the team.

“The majority of these charges relate to threats towards parliamentarians, high office holders and the Jewish community,” she told a parliamentary hearing in February.

It comes as a 67-year-old Sydney man was arrested on Tuesday after allegedly sending multiple offensive emails to a federal parliamentarian. 

Police seized a mobile phone and a USB after executing a search warrant in Wollstonecraft, in the city’s inner-north.

The man was charged with using a carriage service to menace, harass or cause offence, an offence that carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison.

Meanwhile, last week, a 51-year-old man was charged over making online threats towards politicians.

The man will face court in April after federal police investigated social media posts that “contained threatening remarks towards two federal parliamentarians”.

The prime minister has been the target of threats before, with a man convicted earlier this month of using social media to menace, harass and offend.

A death threat and a graphic slur were directed at Mr Albanese and his wife, the court heard. 

The AFP has reported an increasing number of threats made towards MPs in recent years, including harassment, and offensive and threatening communications.

Australia must urgently ramp up its spending on AI and research and development to avoid a generation of young people being “sacrificed for the profits of big tech”.

In an address to the National Press Club in Canberra on Wednesday, UNSW Professor Toby Walsh will say Australia is failing to adequately regulate AI, fearing the same mistakes made in relation to introducing guardrails for social media will be repeated.

“Social media should have been a wake up call about the harms of unregulated AI,” he will say.

“We’re about to supercharge the sort of harms we saw with social media with an even more powerful and persuasive technology.”

Prof Walsh believes there are fresh harms emerging in AI that weren’t thought of when existing Australian laws were drawn up.

He will talk about the “anger, outrage, and despair” he feels at the political conversation about AI being dominated by big tech companies. 

“There are huge financial incentives for the tech industry to move fast and break things, to break things like the mental health of our youth,” he says.

“What I fear most is that I’ll be back here in three or four years time saying: “We tried to warn you. But another generation of young Australians has now been sacrificed for the profits of big tech.”

Pointing to Australia’s historic low on spending for research and development, Prof Walsh will urge the nation to boost investment to bring it into line with other advanced economies such as South Korea or Sweden.

“Our future isn’t in shipping red dirt and coal to China,” he will say.

“It will be in bits and bytes, increasingly AI generated bits and bytes.”

Also unleashing on Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, Prof Walsh says it is outrageous the tech giant is allowed to trade in Australia, paying minimal tax. 

“My view is that if they choose not to contribute back to the economy generating their wealth, they probably shouldn’t be allowed to extract from it,” he will say.

Inflation levels are tipped to ease slightly, but it’s unlikely that will make the Reserve Bank take interest rate hikes off the cards.

The first inflation figures for 2026 will be released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics on Wednesday, with economists predicting a small downturn for January.

Headline inflation, which sits at 3.8 per cent, is tipped to trend down to 3.6 per cent.

However, the trimmed mean, which removes volatile price swings, is expected to remain steady at 3.3 per cent.

The trimmed mean is the preferred measure of the inflation by the Reserve Bank, which aims for a target of between two and three per cent.

A small downturn was likely due to January traditionally being a slower month for inflation growth, Westpac senior economist Justin Smirk said.

However, there would be some pressure points.

“We expect food to remain inflationary, with a solid contribution from the seasonal rise in fresh fruit and vegetables and non-alcoholic beverages,” he said.

“Health is also boosting our estimate with a 3.2 per cent increase in hospital and medical services.”

The biggest contributor to inflation for the month will likely be energy, with electricity rebates from governments coming to an end in December.

Month-on-month electricity prices are tipped to have risen as much as five per cent in January after cost-of-living measures wound up.

A fall in the cost of fuel and holiday travel is also expected to alleviate some inflationary pressures.

The stubborn rates of inflation have caused the Reserve Bank’s board to consider further interest rate rises.

The bank lifted the cash rate to 3.85 per cent in February, with further rises expected later in 2026.

The rise of inflation has also led to a decline in real wages for the first time in more than two years.

Expensive gas, unreliable coal plants and a retailer “loyalty tax” are the primary drivers of Australia’s soaring power bills, a climate think tank report says.

While the Climate Council analysis largely blames fossil fuels for wholesale spikes, it also exposes systemic retailer misconduct.

Fourteen energy companies breached consumer laws in the past 12 months alone, costing Australians nearly $55 million through overcharging and misleading conduct.

The report told a “pretty troubling story”, co-author Joel Gilmore said.

Beyond legal breaches, millions of customers are being penalised for staying with the same provider, with the “loyalty tax” costing the average household hundreds of dollars extra per year.

“We really should be putting our retailers on notice that we all expect better,” Dr Gilmore told AAP

Australian households and businesses have been paying more for electricity over the past five years, at the same time as energy users have been promised lower bills from renewables replacing coal. 

Understanding this contradiction was the goal of the report, Dr Gilmore said.

The CSIRO maintains renewables and storage are the cheapest substitutes for coal stations, which are old and would need replacing at great expense anyway.

Yet as the transition has been unfolding, gas plants – used during times of peak demand, such as in the evening – have become expensive to run. 

Gas sets the price for other generation types up to 90 per cent of the time, despite only contributing five per cent of total power.

Gas prices surged after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022 and despite having an abundance of the resource, Australians are paying the elevated global price because the bulk is shipped overseas.

Multinational gas companies had made close to $100 billion in extra revenue since Ukraine was invaded, energy expert Greg Bourne said.

“Gas is the stealthy price setter, tethering our household budgets to volatile and high-cost global markets,” he said.

Australia’s ageing fleet of coal-fired power stations are also drivers of higher prices as they are prone to breaking down, leaving the grid reliant on gas.

Other drivers of high power prices include a period of overbuilding poles and wires influenced by a state government outage fears. 

Renewables are also helping to meet Australia’s climate commitments,  Energy Minister Chris Bowen confirmed on Wednesday, with record-high solar and wind contributing to the 1.9 per cent emissions reduction over the year to September 2025

Britain’s data privacy watchdog has slapped online forum Reddit with a massive fine for failures involving children’s personal information. 

The Information Commissioner’s Office said it issued the penalty worth 14.5 million pounds ($A27.8 million) because the failures resulted in the platform using children’s data “unlawfully.” 

“Children under 13 had their personal information collected and used in ways they could not understand, consent to or control. That left them potentially exposed to content they should not have seen,” said Information Commissioner John Edwards. 

“This is unacceptable and has resulted in today’s fine.” 

The UK privacy regulator has been escalating scrutiny of online platforms over child safety. Earlier this month it hit MediaLab, owner of image-sharing site Imgur, with a 247,590 pound ($A474,150) fine over similar failures and it has also been investigating TikTok since last year. 

The watchdog took issue with Reddit’s age verification measures. It said that even though the platform doesn’t allow children under 13 to use its service, it didn’t have any way to check the ages of its users before July 2025. 

Edwards said online platforms that are likely to be accessed by children are responsible for protecting them by making sure they’re not exposed to any risks “through the way their data is used”. 

They can do this with “effective age assurance measures,” he said. 

Reddit rolled out age verification measures in July 2025 in order for users to access mature content, including asking them to declare their age when setting up an account. 

But the watchdog said “self-declaration” is easy to bypass and that it told Reddit it would continue to monitor the platform’s handling of children’s data. 

Reddit said it would appeal the decision.

“Reddit doesn’t require users to share information about their identities, regardless of age, because we are deeply committed to their privacy and safety,” the company said in a statement. 

“The ICO’s insistence that we collect more private information on every UK user is counterintuitive and at odds with our strong belief in our users’ online privacy and safety.” 

The United States has imposed a new tariff of 10 per cent on ‌all goods not covered by exemptions, the rate first announced by President Donald Trump rather than the 15 per cent he promised later. 

Reacting to the US Supreme Court ruling on Friday that threw out tariffs it deemed were illegally ‌justified on grounds of an emergency, Trump initially announced a new temporary global tariff of 10 per cent. 

He said on Saturday he would increase it to 15 per cent.

But in a notice described as intended to “provide guidance regarding the February 20, 2026 Presidential Proclamation”, the US Customs and Border Protection said that, aside from products covered by exemptions, imports would “be subject to an additional ad valorem rate of 10 per cent”.

The move ‌added to confusion ‌surrounding US trade policy, with ⁠no explanation offered in the notice for why the lower rate had been used. ​

The Financial Times quoted a White House official as saying the increase up to 15 per cent would come later. 

Reuters could not immediately confirm this.

“Remember that Trump is delivering the State of the Union address tonight, so it’s possible we might get a better sense of the next steps on tariffs,” Deutsche Bank analysts said in a note.

The new ​tariffs took effect at midnight on Tuesday, while collection of the tariffs annulled by the Supreme Court was halted. 

They had ranged from 10 per cent ​to as much ‌as 50 per cent.

It remains unclear whether and how companies will be refunded for tariff payments made under the regime annulled by the ​Supreme Court.

The Section 122 law allows the president to impose the new duties for up to 150 days to address “large and serious” balance-of-payments deficits and “fundamental international payments problems”.

Trump’s tariff order argued that a serious balance-of-payments deficit existed in the form of ​a $US1.2 trillion ($A1.7 trillion) ​annual US goods trade deficit, a current account deficit ​of 4 per cent of GDP and a reversal of the US ‌primary income surplus.

Trump on Monday warned countries against backing away from any previously negotiated trade deals with the US, warning he would hit them with much higher duties under different laws. 

Japan said it had asked the United States to ensure its treatment under a new tariff regime would be as favourable as in an existing agreement. 

The European Union, Britain and ​Taiwan indicated a preference to stick to their deals, too.

China, meanwhile, urged Washington to abandon its “unilateral tariffs”, indicating it was ​willing to hold another round of trade ⁠talks with the world’s largest economy, the country’s commerce ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has been evacuated from The Lodge as police responded to an alleged security incident. 

The Australian Federal Police responded to his official residence in Canberra about 6pm AEDT on Tuesday.

“A thorough search of a protection establishment was undertaken and nothing suspicious was located,” a spokesperson said in a statement.

“There is no current threat to the community or public safety.”

It comes amid increasing threats made against politicians, including the prime minister.

Australia has its best chance at finally getting high-speed rail, as the federal government splurges almost $700 million to make the project shovel-ready within a few years.

A two-year development phase started on Tuesday, ensuring work on the long-awaited transport project can begin.

The development phase will be responsible for the approvals process of the route, awarding contracts and finalising the design.

It’s estimated a high-speed rail line would mean travel time of only one hour between Sydney and Newcastle and 30 minutes from Sydney to the Central Coast.

The federal government will pump an extra $229 million into the plan, bringing the Commonwealth’s spend to almost $660 million.

The total cost of the project, including an airport extension, has been estimated at more than $90 billion – making it one of Australia’s most expensive infrastructure projects.

Transport Minister Catherine King said should the development phase be successful, a decision on the project would be made by 2028, with construction to start the following year.

“This is getting it ready for a final investment decision. If you think of the way the private sector works, they do a huge amount of work before they actually are ready,” she told reporters in Newcastle.

“We want to make it happen. We really want to see it come to Australia finally. We can’t be the only populated country in the world without high-speed rail.”

The business case projects a boost of $250 billion to the economy over the next 50 years, with the first stage set to produce about 99,000 jobs.

Stations would be set up in Sydney, the Central Coast, Lake Macquarie and Newcastle.

Further stages include expanding the high-speed rail to Parramatta in Sydney’s west, before heading to the city’s second airport.

Plans are being developed for potential expansion to Melbourne and Brisbane.

Australia had the best chance since high-speed rail was first placed on the agenda in the 1980s to stand the project up, City Futures Research Centre director Christopher Pettit said.

“It’s more of an imperative as a solution to the housing crisis with Melbourne and Sydney bursting at the seams,” he said.

“It offers growth corridors to help alleviate that.”

The smaller leg between Sydney and Newcastle was the start of an exciting project which would help activate regional areas while building Australia’s “backbone”, Professor Pettit said.

“For many Australians there’s a lot of appeal to high-speed rail with comfortable carriages you can work in … it can be more productive and quicker than driving,” he said.

High-speed rail has long been touted as a transport option in Australia, but successive governments over multiple decades have failed to make the thought bubble leave the station.

There has been several proposals for a high-speed route linking Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane.

Monash Institute of Railway Technology director Ravi Ravitharan said he was confident it would get off the ground because of the significant investment and planning.

“You have to start somewhere and high-speed rail is a must for us as a country to move forward with the interest of connecting major cities and improving access to education and health,” he said.

The project was key to Australia achieving its climate targets as rail produced a significantly lower level of emissions compared with planes, Professor Ravitharan said.

It would transform Australia’s east coast, Australian Railway Association chief executive Caroline Wilkie said.

“High-speed rail has been a dream for decades but, today, we are a step closer to making it a reality,” Ms Wilkie said.