UN rights chief Volker ‌Turk has warned that artificial intelligence could pose a threat to humanity, and pledged to press AI firms to reduce risks that his office said included disruptions ‌to services, communications and democratic systems.

He called for “cast-iron guarantees” to secure AI in a speech ahead of the start of his second term in office as the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Turk also demanded ‌accountability over deaths in US immigration custody and condemned Russia’s reported use of autonomous drones.

The wide-ranging address was his first to the 47-member council since he won the four-year term in July in the face of opposition from Moscow and Washington.

“I share the concerns of industry insiders that advanced AI could pose an existential risk to humanity,” Turk said in Geneva.

“I am calling here, today, for an all-out effort to put cast-iron guarantees in place around the safety ‌and security of AI, before ‌it is too late.”

Turk ⁠did not elaborate on the nature of the risks but a spokeswoman for his office said failures ​involving powerful AI systems could disrupt critical infrastructure and democratic institutions.

She referred to the “dangerous agent-training behaviours” in July’s so-called Hugging Face incident – in which a swarm of OpenAI agents hacked an open-source platform – saying it suggested frontier AI capabilities are advancing faster than the safeguards.

Turk warned that just a handful of men held “almost unlimited power over AI” without naming any. Top AI companies include Meta, Anthropic, OpenAI and Google.

“At a minimum, we need countries hosting AI, and those involved in its supply chains, to come together around ⁠agreed red lines,” he said.

The council is meeting until October 7 to discuss the war in ‌Iran, Sudan’s civil ​conflict and a string of other crises. 

The US administration disengaged from the council last year, accusing it of anti-Israeli bias.

Turk called for accountability for around ​23 deaths he ‌said had taken place in US immigration custody so far this year and added he was concerned about plans to equip agents with electric-shock gloves.

The ​Department of Homeland Security has previously said it was committed to ensuring a “safe, secure and humane” environment in detention. Its inspector general is examining deaths in custody since October 2021.

Turk condemned Russia for ​its ​intensified attacks on Ukraine, and Iran for its rising number of executions.

He ​also voiced “horror” at reports Russia had used fully autonomous drones in Ukraine, ‌allegedly killing three people in August.

“I join calls for the urgent prohibition of weapons that can take lives without human involvement,” he said, referring to talks in Geneva. 

With more than 60 wars around the world involving at least one state – the highest number since World War II – Turk set out ideas for ways to promote peace, pledging greater scrutiny of the businesses and economic interests that ​are fuelling conflicts.

“We will not shy away from exposing the shadow players and calling for accountability,” he said.

British luxury carmaker Jaguar ‌Land Rover says it will cut around ‌4000 jobs globally over the next two years ‌as part of a broader plan to reduce costs and improve competitiveness.

The manufacturer, which has major sites in central England, said it was targeting STG1.7 ‌billion ⁠($A3.2 billion) of savings, lowering its break-even point towards ​300,000 vehicles. JLR employs about 30,000 in the UK out of a global workforce of about 40,000.

Owned by India’s Tata Motors, the company confirmed the cuts ⁠as finance minister ‌John ​Healey delivered a speech in nearby Coventry focused on ​boosting UK economic ‌growth.

The company said it was launching five ​new products over the next 12 months and the changes would support investment of STG15 billion to STG18 ​billion ​over the ​next five years in electrification, digital ‌technologies, advanced manufacturing and enhanced customer experiences.

UK Business Minister Jonathan Reynolds said on Sunday he would meet Chief Executive PB Balaji this week to discuss ​the planned job cuts following media reports of ​the plans.

The billionaire Stokes family has retaken control of the company that owns Australia’s most-viewed television network.

Ryan Stokes has been appointed chairman of Southern Cross Media, the company that owns Seven Network, The West Australian newspaper and the Triple M radio network.

He’ll be the fourth chair of the company since its transformative merger with Seven West Media in January.

That deal was engineered by Mr Stokes’ billionaire father, Kerry Stokes, 85, who briefly served as the company’s chairman before stepping down in February.

In August, Southern Cross posted a full-year net loss of $13.1 million, a big swing from the $9.2 million profit it made in 2024/25.

Mr Stokes succeeds Teresa Dyson, who will remain on the board.

“Ryan brings executive and media experience and a strong record of delivery, and the independent directors back his appointment,” lead independent director Cathy O’Connor said in a statement.

Mr Stokes praised Southern Cross’s “outstanding brands, audiences and reach”, saying it has many opportunities ahead and the board would give executive Rohan Lund the strongest possible support to execute that potential.

Shares in Southern Cross Media were unchanged at 58.5 cents in early afternoon trading, on very low volume.

Mr Stokes also serves as managing director and chief executive of SGH, the industrial conglomerate formerly known as Seven Group Holdings.

SGH owns Caterpillar dealer WesTrac, equipment hire company Coates and construction material supplier Boral.

Southern Cross Media’s other assets include the Hit Network, the LiSTNR podcast platform, The Nightly news website and The Sunday Times newspaper.

Australia’s share market is taking a tentative step forward to start the week, as crude prices and interest rate worries continue to temper risk appetite.

The S&P/ASX200 rose three points by midday, up 0.03 per cent, to 9,008.9, as the broader All Ordinaries inched 4.1 points higher, or 0.04 per cent, to 9,200.1.

The hesitant advance followed a soft Wall Street finish on Friday, after strong US jobs figures ratcheted rate hike expectations, with inflation data due later in the week.

Local energy stocks were the only clear winners on Monday morning, the segment up 1.1 per cent as Brent crude prices ramped up to $96.60 a barrel.

“The US and Iran exchanged fire over the weekend, with both targeting tankers as the battle for control over the Strait of Hormuz continues,” Capital.com senior market analyst Kyle Rodda said.

“The dynamic is likely to keep a hefty risk premium in oil prices, which could weigh on risk appetite in a market that’s likely to be slightly more illiquid than normal.”

Gold stocks were under pressure as the pivot in US interest rate expectations weighed on the precious metal, which is trading at $US4,111 ($5,704) an ounce.

Mega miners BHP, Rio Tinto and Fortescue acted as a ballast for the broader sector, each up more than 0.6 per cent as iron ore futures topped $US100 a tonne for the first time since early July.

Financials traded just below flat as investment managers, insurers and Macquarie dipped, while the big four were mixed but ultimately unconvincing in any direction.

Australia’s technology sector underperformed the market, tumbling 2.2 per cent in a broad-based sell-off.

Consumer-facing stocks edged lower, with staples and cyclicals shedding 0.3 per cent and 0.2 per cent respectively.

In company news, naval shipbuilder Austal confirmed it had been in takeover talks with US investment group Wildcat Infrastructure, but had not received a proposal.

Meanwhile, Worley has won contracts to provide engineering, procurement and construction management services at BHP’s Olympic Dam and Carrapateena copper projects in SA.

Southern Cross Media has appointed Ryan Stokes as its executive chair, seven months after his father Kerry Stokes stepped down from the company.

Kogan’ founder and chief executive Ruslan Kogan is putting his remuneration package where his mouth is, and stands to make $50 million or nothing over the next five years.

Over the period, Mr Kogan will make $50 million if Kogan’s share price holds above $7.44 (up from their current $3.34 price), or donate a minimum wage salary to charity.

Beauty product retailer Adore has made Kylie Archer its permanent chief financial officer, after taking over from Marcus Crow on an interim basis in July.

The Australian dollar is buying 72.03 US cents, down slightly from 72.04 US cents on Friday at 5pm.

Hundreds of staff at a major property developer have been stood down and construction has halted on a number of projects as the embattled firm clings to life.

About 213 of Bathla’s 350 staff were officially stood down at a meeting in Sydney on Monday morning.

But administrators said they had secured short-term funding to keep some of the firm’s projects going.

Insolvency advisor Teneo announced it had secured the funding through five lenders linked to the projects, but the amounts and participants were kept confidential.

Administrator Stephen Longley said the funding would enable Bathla Group to maintain limited operations for a further two weeks while longer-term solutions were explored.

“Our immediate priority has been to secure sufficient short-term funding to maintain a minimum viable operating structure,” he said.

“The arrangements agreed allow us to provide the central support required for construction to continue on projects associated with the lenders participating in the funding package.

“Significant work remains to secure the funding required to progress and ultimately complete all projects currently under construction. We will continue to work closely with lenders and other key stakeholders to pursue those arrangements.”

Figures presented to creditors put Bathla’s total debt at $3.4 billion, including $3.08 billion to secured lenders, $130 million to unsecured lenders, $145 million to the tax office and $4 million to employees.

Bathla is one of Sydney’s largest residential developers and has 45 projects under construction.

The home developer entered voluntary administration in late August after the NSW government declined to bail it out.

According to the company’s website, the group has 20,000 apartments and 7000 dwellings in its delivery pipeline, comprising a significant share of the NSW government’s target of 75,400 new homes a year for five years until 2029. 

Homebuyers who bought off-the-plan have been left in the dark, uncertain when, or if, their properties will be completed, while contractors have been left scrambling to recoup debts.

Founded in NSW in 1997, Bathla is among a long list of Australian home developers which have recently entered voluntary administration or liquidation.

An erupting volcano in Indonesia has prompted the cancellation of all flights at Jakarta’s Soekarno-Hatta International Airport and disrupted other domestic airports as ash drifts across western parts of the country.

The volcanic island of Anak Krakatau, in Indonesia’s Sunda Strait between the main Java and Sumatra islands, had showed signs of activity since Friday before erupting for 30 seconds early on Sunday and for 16 seconds about three hours later, Indonesia’s Geological Agency said. 

Closed-circuit camera footage showed lava flares from the volcano.

No casualties were reported and no evacuation order was issued. 

The nearest settlement is more than 16km away, but authorities warned residents and visitors to stay at least three kilometres from the active crater.

Volcanic ash spread across parts of Jakarta and Lampung province on Sumatra’s southern tip, Indonesia’s Center for Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation said.

AirNav Indonesia closed airspace around Soekarno-Hatta and Halim Perdanakusuma airports in Jakarta, as well as six other airports, including Radin Inten II Airport in Lampung, because of volcanic ash.

By Sunday evening, the closure of eight airports had affected 170,000 passengers from 1558 cancelled flights, including 963 flights in Jakarta’s Soekarno-Hatta airport alone. 

Indonesia’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation said it was closely monitoring the eruption’s impact on air travel and co-ordinating with airlines, airport operators, air navigation services and the meteorology agency.

“Safety remains our top priority in every operational decision,” Lukman F Laisa, Ministry of Transportation director general of civil aviation, said in a statement. 

He warned flight schedules could face cascading disruptions affecting aircraft rotations, fleet availability and terminal capacity as airlines work to restore operations.

The eruption also disrupted services at Bali’s Gusti Ngurah Rai International Airport and at Medan.

Indonesia’s volcanology agency and the Darwin Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre identified two ash clouds using satellite imagery. 

One plume rose to 6100 metres and drifted northeast over Jakarta, Banten, West Java and nearby waters. 

A second cloud reached 15,200 metres and spread over parts of Banten, Lampung and Bengkulu provinces, the southern Sunda Strait and sections of the Indian Ocean west of Sumatra.

Lana Saria, head of Indonesia’s Geological Agency, said activity at Anak Krakatau has intensified since July, with Sunday’s eruption the strongest during that period.

The repeated eruptions indicate a continued supply of magma and volcanic gases beneath the volcano, she said, though officials can’t predict whether a larger eruption will occur.

“We continue to evaluate the volcano’s development based on all monitoring data, not solely on the number of eruptions or the height of the ash column,” Saria said in a video briefing.

The main hazards include volcanic ash, high concentrations of gas and the ejection of hot rocks and other material around the crater area.

An Amazon cargo plane has barrelled off a runway at Miami International Airport, killing at least five people as it struck vehicles and burst into flames.

Prime Air ‌Flight 7598 from San Juan, Puerto Rico overran the airport’s diagonal runway at about 2pm on Sunday (4am Monday AEST) and was disabled at the airport’s northwest end, officials said.

Five people were killed, three critically injured and two others hospitalised with less severe injuries, Miami-Dade County officials told a news conference.

Miami officials said it was too soon to determine whether the people who died were on board the plane or in the vehicles the plane hit.

The crash, which sent thick black smoke billowing into the sky, trapped the pilot and co-pilot in the cockpit and some occupants in cars, said Miami-Dade Rescue Fire Chief Ray Jadallah.

The agency said another person was trapped under a vehicle.

It also halted flights at the busy travel hub for much of the afternoon. Fire crews were still dealing with a fuel leak on the plane several hours after the crash, Jadallah said.

All runways ‌and taxiways ⁠at the Miami airport were closed as of 3pm EDT. Travelers should “expect significant delays and potential cancellations”, US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said in a post on x.

The plane came to rest beside a roadway near two semi-trucks, images from the scene showed.

The aircraft appeared to be resting on its belly and was largely intact despite the fire.

The flight had been operated by 21 Air, a cargo carrier based in North Carolina.

The 32-year-old Boeing 767 was originally built to carry passengers and flew for several airlines for more than two decades before being converted to a cargo plane in 2015, according to flight-tracking site Flightradar24.

About 250 flights were delayed at the airport late on Sunday, according to FlightAware, a website that tracks flight disruptions.

The National Transportation Safety Board said it is sending a team to Miami led by Chairwoman Jennifer Homendy to investigate.

Amazon said in a statement that it would co-operate with any investigation.

“We’re heartbroken to learn that five people lost their lives in today’s incident at Miami International Airport,” the company said.

“Our deepest sympathies go out to the families, loved ones, and all those affected by this devastating loss.”

Workers would be able to divert a portion of their superannuation to help pay for their rent or mortgage under a One Nation proposal.

Under the policy, people would be able to funnel a quarter of their super to their take home pay for three years.

Employers would still be required to pay 12 per cent superannuation, but super funds would then pay three per cent to people participating.

One Nation leader Pauline Hanson said people should have the choice for how their superannuation is used.

“That’s a real boost to help you pay the rent or the mortgage, leaving more room for groceries, power bills and the costs of raising a family,” she said in a statement.

“Your existing super won’t be touched. Not one dollar.”

Currently, superannuation can be accessed before retirement for compassionate reasons, such as for medical treatment, accommodating a disability, palliative care, funeral costs or preventing a house being foreclosed.

Tax office figures show 67,900 early super releases were approved in 2024/25, amounting to just over $1.4 billion.

One Nation MP Barnaby Joyce said a growing number of people accessing super early was evidence people needed the financial boost.

He denied people won’t be able to work out how the policy would affect them financially in the future.

“People are competent enough to work that out for themselves, and if people make that decision, people aren’t stupid,” he told Seven’s Sunrise program.

“(Super) ain’t no national asset. It’s your own money.”

One Nation in August called for a relaxation of the rules for people to access their super in times of crisis to help with the cost of living, calling the current system broken.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers said the policy would make workers poorer as a result.

“It will cut your super. This means less money and less economic security for millions of Australian workers. This will end superannuation as we know it,” he told reporters in Canberra.

“This is exactly why One Nation poses an unacceptable and dangerous risk to Australian workers.

“Every time (One Nation MPs come to parliament), they don’t vote the way that Australian workers need them to. They vote the way that Gina Rinehart tells them to.”

Social Services Minister Tanya Plibersek labelled the One Nation proposal as a bid to “raid” super.

“We want people to retire with dignity. One Nation has opposed same jobs, same pay,” she told Seven’s Sunrise program.

“Pauline Hanson’s been out there saying Australian workers are lazy and they should be easier to sack, and they haven’t backed those increases to the minimum wage.”

The communications minister will ramp up her campaign to push through a tougher social media ban for under-16s as political rivals call for even stronger measures.

Anika Wells will use the coming sitting week to encourage senators to vote for amendments to strengthen Labor’s existing under-16s social media ban.

While tech giants have introduced various age-verification measures to comply with the policy, they have been widely criticised as ineffective and easy for teens to skirt.

Under the proposed amendments, tech companies could be fined up to $109.2  million for breaching the laws, doubling the current maximum penalty of $54.6 million, which already went up slightly in July.

The changes would give eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant increased powers to investigate non-compliance after she complained of “thin scaffolding” and limited means of remedy for policy breaches.

More than five million Australian accounts had been removed or deactivated, but about 80 per cent of teenagers younger than 16 were still using social media after the December ban, according to research released in June.

Ms Wells slammed the “dawdling” of political counterparts on a strengthened ban, calling on them to help the eSafety Commissioner “hold social media companies accountable”.

The amendment, introduced in early July, was referred to an inquiry by the Greens and the coalition over concerns about its strength.

Committee members ultimately recommended the bill pass but raised concerns about the government’s approach.

Big tech would see the fine as a mere cost of doing business, Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young told reporters on Sunday.

“You’ve got to hit them where it hurts and it’s not a ($100 million) fine.

“It is robust laws that hit their business model.”

Her comments followed warnings from Australia’s human rights commissioner that simply imposing harsher penalties would not fix weaknesses in the ban, given there had been no prosecutions to date under the current laws.

A broader suite of reforms under the government’s much-anticipated “digital duty of care” will also be debated.

They include an opt-in approach to social media algorithms and a ban on potentially harmful content for minors.

The Greens said they were awaiting the draft legislation before deciding their approach, but Senator Hanson-Young has proposed her own bill, calling for an algorithm opt-out to be the default setting.

The coalition has also yet to set out a position.

Opposition Leader Angus Taylor said parents should be able to control what their children viewed on social media, but he was sceptical about Labor’s proposed changes.

He accused Labor of butchering the already implemented under-16s social media ban – which the coalition supported – and said it should focus on fixing that policy.

Taxpayer-funded pay rises for childcare workers could continue for another three years as an extension of the measure returns to parliament for debate.

A government-supported wage rise was introduced in 2024 and applied to 200,000 early educators, but the measure is due to run out in November.

A Fair Work Commission-ordered wage rise for workers in female-dominated industries had been due to kick in, forcing the private sector to pay higher staff salaries.

But the implementation was delayed over concerns childcare providers would be unable to deliver the pay rise without significantly hiking fees.

Instead, the government will move to continue funding the subsidy until late 2029.

Coalition members have concerns about the temporary nature of the multibillion-dollar scheme and its potential effect on the cost of childcare once it lapses.

Children will be the focus of critical debate throughout the sitting fortnight as Communications Minister Anika Wells encourages parliament to vote for amendments to strengthen Labor’s existing under-16s social media ban.

Draft laws to make social media companies provide an opt-out for algorithm-driven feeds are also expected to be unveiled in the coming week.

Part of broader “digital duty of care” reforms, the legislation is expected to come under fire as the coalition complains of impingement on freedom of speech and the Greens label proposed $100 million maximum fines a slap on the wrist.

Meanwhile, the Liberals will promote their newly-announced plan to criminalise flag-burning, a policy that apes a measure previously put forward by One Nation.

Opposition Leader Angus Taylor said on Sunday the plan was about defending Australia, denying it had been concocted to ward off the coalition’s right-wing rivals.

He also touted his party’s proposed 80 per cent cut to tobacco excise to discourage illegal imports, a measure he denied would lead to higher smoking rates.

Labor is expected to push the coalition to release its Parliamentary Budget Office modelling of the policy.

It is also expected to spend Question Time pushing the opposition for details of possible plans to allow first home buyers to access their superannuation to fund deposits.

The coalition took similar “super for housing” policies to the 2022 and 2025 elections, both of which it lost to Labor, and Mr Taylor said he had an “open mind” to pursuing the scheme again.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers said the opposition leader’s comments showed universal superannuation was not safe under the coalition or One Nation.

“They will decimate super and destroy the economic security and retirement incomes of Australian workers,” he said.