UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham has urged allies to “do everything we can” and “dig into our ‌own stocks of air defence” to ‌protect Ukraine against Russian attacks at his first meeting co-chairing the so-called coalition of the willing group.

“(Russian President Vladimir) Putin is now hoping ‌he can ‌win through ⁠a campaign of terror ​using ballistic missiles against Ukrainian civilians … This can never be the route to victory, and we need to be clear in sending that ⁠message,” Burnham ‌said at ​the start of the meeting.

“It means doing ​everything we ‌can all do, and working with our ​allies as well, beyond this coalition, to dig into our own stocks ​of ​air defence … to ​protect Ukraine from the ‌missiles that are falling now.”

He also said there was a need for more sanctions on Russian oil and LNG exports ​to ramp up the pressure on ​the Kremlin.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has repeatedly pleaded for more US-made Patriot interceptor missiles in recent months as Ukrainian stocks have diminished.

It comes as Ukraine targeted four logistics hubs owned by Russia’s second-largest online retailer Ozon, widening a campaign of drone strikes on Russian e-commerce companies intended to inflict more damage on ‌the war-battered economy.

Ozon’s shares tumbled on Monday after it reported the strikes in southern Russia, which brought to six the number of its facilities targeted in the last three days.

Ukraine had until last week ‌focused on Ozon’s rival, Wildberries, in attacks on the e-commerce sector – one of the fastest-growing parts of the Russian economy, which is otherwise close to stagnation after four and a half years of war in Ukraine.

Ozon said in a statement that a logistics hub in Makhachkala in Dagestan was on fire and had halted operations after a drone attack, adding: “According to preliminary information, several people were injured.”

A fire also broke out at an Ozon logistics hub in the town of Enem on the outskirts of the city of Krasnodar, and workers were helped out from warehouses in Adygeysk, in the Adygeya region, and in Nevinnomyssk in ‌the Stavropol region although neither ‌facility was damaged, it said.

Work ⁠at an Ozon logistics centre in the Samara region was halted on Saturday after it was hit in a drone ​strike, and the company said work had been halted at its logistics centre in the Orenburg region, from which more than 300 people had to flee.

Shares in Ozon fell by almost 30 per cent on the Moscow Exchange on Monday and shares in its major shareholder, private equity firm AFK Sistema, fell more than 13 per cent.

Ukraine has been attacking Wildberries warehouses on the grounds that they are part of infrastructure underpinning Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Financial analysts said that unlike privately owned Wildberries, which has the backing of its partner, state-owned bank VTB, Ozon’s main shareholder AFK Sistema has a large debt and is ​unlikely to provide substantial support for the retailer.

In remarks before the latest attacks on Ozon, Russian President Vladimir Putin promised state help in the restoration of warehouses “at a new technological level” and asked the government to design a special program to help the sector.

The Russian finance ministry said on Monday it had prepared measures to support Wildberries and small ​businesses ​operating on its platform whose goods have been damaged in attacks.

The measures included tax ​breaks for up to one year.

Russia’s central bank has also advised creditors to support businesses ‌affected by attacks on logistics centres and warehouses.

“We keep on working,” said Wildberries owner Tatyana Kim, Russia’s richest businesswoman, welcoming the tax breaks. 

with PA

Colleagues joked Alan Jones and a radio station staffer looked like “a great couple” after the longtime shock jock allegedly groped the younger man at an event.

Jones, the 85-year-old former ruler of Sydney’s airwaves, has pleaded not guilty to 20 counts of indecent assault and two counts of sexual touching without consent against six men. 

The criminal charges relate to alleged incidents between 2003 and 2020 at locations in Sydney and the NSW Southern Highlands. 

Eight of the charges relate to a former radio staffer, who claims Jones repeatedly kissed and groped him without consent during a five-month period when they worked together. 

He alleges the former Wallabies coach sat next to him at a work event and placed his hand on the younger man’s upper thigh and groin for most of the meal. 

Another broadcaster at the station told the court on Monday he hadn’t seen anything that worried him at the event, describing the former radio staffer as yearning to be at the “fun end of the table”.

He recalled seeing Jones with his arm around the former radio staffer’s shoulder in a way that suggested he was talking about the younger man. 

“Some people joked about how they looked like a great couple,” the broadcaster said, later clarifying the remark had been made sarcastically.

“It wasn’t anything other than just banter.”

He said he wasn’t sure who said the pair looked like a couple, but it could have been him.

“I don’t remember anything being said that was horrible or harmful,” the broadcaster told the court. 

He will return to the witness box on Tuesday after his testimony was interrupted by a legal issue.

The broadcaster is one of multiple witnesses called to give evidence about the event at which Jones is accused of indecent assault.

The former radio staffer previously said he felt self-conscious and worried people would see what Jones was doing under the table. 

“I didn’t want them thinking I was Alan’s toy,” he told the court.

Jones’s barrister accused the former radio staffer of rewriting his history with the conservative commentator and fabricating the allegations, which he rejected. 

The former radio staffer was the second of six complainants to enter the witness box as Jones’s marathon court battle enters its fourth week. 

The controversial ex-radio host has denied all of the indecent assaults, which are alleged to have occurred during the latter part of his 35-year broadcasting career.

He rose to prominence after careers in teaching, rugby union, a failed tilt at politics, and speechwriting.  

Jones also broadcast to a national audience for years as a regular commentator on Nine’s Today show and a host of a political discussion show on Sky News.

1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732)

National Sexual Abuse and Redress Support Service 1800 211 028

A deal described as “costly” and “perverse” that hands Western Australia a larger share of GST than it needs is not going anywhere, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says.

Hounded by Western Australian journalists to lock in the Morrison-era funding arrangement, which the Productivity Commission said in a recent report should be scrapped, the prime minister was unequivocal.

“WA is a major driver of our national economy, and they deserve their fair share of the GST,” he told reporters in Perth on Monday.

“I’ve said it multiple times. I’ve signed people’s body parts, for goodness sake.”

Mr Albanese was referring to a 2024 press conference in which he took a permanent marker and inscribed “no change to WA GST” on the arm of a newspaper reporter, before adding his signature.

The reporter – Dylan Caporn – is now a media adviser to WA Premier Roger Cook, who has been outspoken in his defence of the deal.

When the Productivity Commission released its report calling for an end to the 2018 GST deal earlier in August, Mr Cook called them “east coast clowns” who don’t get WA .

Mr Albanese, who has been a frequent visitor of Western Australia since securing nine out of 15 seats in the state in 2022, “gets WA”, Mr Cook said.

“I think every Western Australian is both relieved and pleased to hear the words from the prime minister today that Western Australia’s arrangements for the GST will remain,” he said. 

“You don’t come to Western Australia on 45 occasions without appreciating that the Western Australian economy is driving the national economy, and we are very pleased that the prime minister has backed WA.”

But Nationals leader Matt Canavan said Mr Albanese’s assurance that WA would receive its fair share were “weasel words”, calling on him to get his pledge tattooed on his own arm.

“What the Western Australian people want, what businesses want is certainty that there will be no change,” the Queenslander told reporters in Ipswich.

NSW Treasurer Daniel Mookhey acknowledged that the other states were facing an uphill battle to persuade federal parliament to change the GST system.

But every state and territory bar one, including Senator Canavan’s LNP allies in Queensland, agreed that the current system rewarded some Australians more than others and that needed to change, Mr Mookhey said.

“Our proposition here in New South Wales is really straightforward,” he told News24. 

“An Australian that lives in Cairns, an Australian that lives in Cabramatta, is entitled to the same services as an Australian who lives in Cottesloe in West Australia, and that is the principle that we’re arguing for.”

The Productivity Commission’s report found that the “perverse” deal had cost federal taxpayers $23 billion in top-up payments since it was struck, with $22 billion of that flowing across the Nullarbor to prop up the WA government’s budget surplus.

The federal budget forecasts the deal will cost $6.6 billion in 2026/27 and $60 billion in total by the end of the decade.

Instead of the current method, which means WA’s per capita GST share can effectively go no lower than NSW’s, the Productivity Commission recommended returning to a system similar to the pre-2018 method which apportions GST revenue to states based on need.

Nvidia is ‌reportedly in talks to invest in Perplexity as part of an equity ‌funding round that would value the AI startup at more ‌than $US30 billion ($A42 billion).

The funding round would increase Perplexity’s valuation by more than 50 per cent from its previous financing a year ago, according to The Information, which cited people with knowledge of the discussion.

Perplexity’s ‌annualised revenue ⁠has risen to more than $US750 million ($A1 billion) from less ​than $US250 million ($A349 million) at the start of the year, the report said.

Part of the revenue growth has been driven by Perplexity Computer, a cloud-based AI agent used by professionals to automate computer-based ⁠tasks, the report added, citing people ‌familiar ​with the matter.

Perplexity declined to comment on the Information ​report, while Nvidia did ‌not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Information reported ​in September last year that Perplexity had finalised a $US20 billion ($A28 billion) valuation.

Earlier this year, Perplexity signed a $US750 million ($A1 billion) agreement ​with ​Microsoft to use its Azure ​cloud service, according to a Bloomberg News ‌report.

Perplexity is planning to go public in 2028 regardless of how the market receives the listings of Anthropic and OpenAI, CEO Aravind Srinivas told CNBC in an interview in June.

The ​startup’s high-profile backers, along with Nvidia, include Amazon founder ​Jeff Bezos and ⁠Japan’s SoftBank Group.

Australia’s share market has begun the week on the front foot, with mining stocks providing support as banks continue to sell off.

The leading S&P/ASX200 index rose 57.6 points by midday on Monday, to be up 0.64 per cent to 9,116.5, as the broader All Ordinaries gained 58.8 points, or 0.63 per cent, to 9,328.5.

The nation’s largest company, BHP, shot to a record high of $67.72 in early trade, backed by ongoing strength in copper prices and an uptick in iron ore futures.

Battery minerals producers also advanced, after PLS (formerly Pilbara Minerals) surged 6.5 per cent after reinstating its dividend following a more than 150 per cent surge in annual revenue to $1.9 billion.

Gold miners also broadly improved, the sub-index creeping 0.4 per cent higher as the precious metal hovered near $US4,617 ($A6,442) an ounce.

Banks continued to weigh on the exchange, as CBA led its big four competitors into the red with a one per cent dip to $156.42 per share, its lowest price since May.

“Investors continued to desert the heavyweight financials sector in response to recent trading and earnings updates that highlighted the impact of the federal government’s significant taxation changes on the housing market and mortgage demand,” IG market analyst Tony Sycamore said.

The energy segment was up less than 0.2 per cent, as oil prices started the week lower as traders took profits ahead of incoming US sanction announcements against Iran, weighing on Woodside and Santos.

Softer crude prices didn’t impact Ampol, however, as the refinery operator shot three per cent higher after swinging to a $1.4 billion first-half statutory profit, up from a $25.3 million first-half loss a year earlier.

Coal miners also improved, but uranium stocks were a standout, with Paladin and Deep Yellow shares clocking double-digit gains in what has been a strong month for the commodity’s price.

Consumer staples eased as a 4.6 per cent dive in Endeavour Group, which owns Dan Murphy’s, dragged on the sector, after lower shelf prices and asset write-downs shrunk its full-year profit.

Discretionary retail stocks inched higher, on track for their first advance in six sessions after JB Hi-Fi and Temple & Webster’s soft earnings last week ignited concerns about household spending.

In other earnings news, Bendigo and Adelaide Bank shares eased despite the lender growing its annual cash earnings by three per cent to $530.2 million.

Shares in health insurer NIB tumbled by more than a tenth as group revenue rose 6.2 per cent to $3.8 billion, and as its $186.9 million profit beat expectations.

In other news, Regal Partners co-founder and chief investment officer Philip King has announced his retirement, but will at least see out the current financial year.

The Australian dollar was buying 71.67 US cents, up from 71.4 US cents on Friday at 5pm AEST.

A major consultancy firm that has been under fire for practices in its audit business will cut its local workforce after being suspended from applying for government contracts.

KPMG, which is one of the top four firms behind Deloitte, PwC and EY, on Monday revealed its annual revenue fell one per cent to $2.5 billion in fiscal 2026.

It also warned the outlook for the new year remained difficult.

“We expect difficult market conditions to continue in financial year 2027 and beyond,” new chief executive John Sams said.

A continuation of soft market conditions in 2025/26, as well as a continued reduction in the use of consultants by governments, resulted in a 16.9 per cent decrease in revenue for the consulting business.

However, revenue for its audit and assurance and tax and legal arms rose 11 per cent and 10.9 per cent, respectively.

After reviewing its costs and workforce and the impact of the firm’s conduct and whistleblower matters, it will cut jobs by five per cent.

The reduction will mostly hit its consulting and business services arm and take out 27 partners and around 360 employees.

“This result reflects the resilience of our business and, above all, the commitment of our people in a very challenging year,” Mr Sams said on Monday.

“We will continue to monitor performance closely, act when needed and consider carefully how the firm needs to be set up for the future.”

But while revenue was below its expectations, four out of its five businesses grew, Mr Sams noted.

However, its partners won’t escape the revenue dip, with average equity partner remuneration falling by 13 per cent on the prior year.

KPMG has been banned from applying for federal government contracts until at least the end of September, when the finance department expects to have completed its own review of its conduct.

A number of state governments have also put KPMG on ice.

The firm has been engulfed by an audit leak scandal since it was grilled by a federal government parliamentary committee hearing in June.

It was revealed some executives had misused confidential board papers to win new audit contracts and mistreated a whistleblower who raised concerns.

The firm has also been referred to the National Anti-Corruption Commission by committee member and Greens senator Barbara Pocock.

The scandal has claimed numerous executives, including its former chief executive Andrew Yates and chair Martin Sheppard.

Mr Sams confirmed several internal and external reviews of the firm will be completed in the coming months.

“Their findings will inform the next phase of our action plan and help ensure we take all necessary action,” he said.

“We know there is more to do.”

KPMG has 297 active federal contracts worth $653 million.

Share markets are flat in ‌Asia and oil prices have eased as investors await details of threatened US sanctions on Iran due later in the session, while the Canadian dollar has dipped as a trade war ‌looms with its southern neighbour.

The entire tech sector is holding its breath for Nvidia’s results on Wednesday; investors are aware how hard it will be for the chip maker to meet stratospheric expectations.

Analysts are ‌generally looking for quarterly revenue to almost double to around $US92 billion ($A128 billion), with full-year earnings guidance seen in a range of $US103 billion ($A144 billion) to $US105 billion ($A146 billion).

Market participants will also be hoping for some clarity on the outlook for US interest rates when Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh speaks in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, on Friday, though his well-known aversion to forward guidance could lead to disappointment.

“There are several reasons to expect to be underwhelmed,” said Bruce Kasman, chief economist at JPMorgan, noting that past chairs have not wanted to front-run Fed decisions at the event.

“Warsh will rather likely focus ‌on aspects of his ‘regime change’ ‌agenda,” Kasman added.

“As the Fed ⁠has already been moving toward shrinking the balance sheet, and the committee gave the balance sheet some attention in the ​July minutes, that might be the most likely topic for him to expound upon.”

Markets imply around a 40 per cent chance that the Fed will raise interest rates when it meets on September 16 and are fully priced for a move by December.

The odds could change depending on what US inflation figures show this week, with median forecasts for core inflation expected to hold at 3.3 per cent in July.

Warsh is sure to face questions about Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s surprise announcement last week of at least a doubling in bond buybacks, aimed at restraining a rise in yields that was tightening ⁠financial conditions in the economy.

His efforts have had little success so far, with 30-year yields back ‌up at 5.2760 per cent, not ​far from the recent 19-year peak of 5.3371 per cent.

Higher yields make debt more attractive compared to equities while lifting the discount applied to future earnings, highlighting the stretched nature of some valuations.

Bessent ‌is due to hold a news conference later on Monday to outline sanctions on Iran, which has shown no sign of relinquishing its control over the vital Strait of ​Hormuz.

Brent slipped 1.0 per cent to $US93.43 ($A130.33) ahead of the announcement, though that followed gains of 6.6 per cent last week. US crude eased 1.1 per cent to $US86.14 ($A120.16) a barrel.

Equity markets were quiet in early trade, with the Nikkei near flat after having fallen almost four per cent last week. South Korean shares eased 0.8 per cent, while Taiwan dipped 0.5 per cent.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan eased ​0.2 per cent.

In ​Europe, EURO STOXX 50 futures, DAX futures and FTSE futures were all ​little changed. On Wall Street, S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq futures were a fraction lower.

In currency ‌markets, the dollar added 0.1 per cent against its Canadian counterpart to 1.3784 after Prime Minister Mark Carney said his country would respond to US tariffs with levies of its own as trade talks broke down.

Canada will impose tariffs on US steel, dairy, appliances, agricultural equipment, pulp and paper and electronics, along with some products that the US previously targeted in Canada.

The dollar was on the defensive elsewhere after having lost 0.8 per cent last week against a basket of currencies at 96.832. The euro held at $1.1675 after rising 0.9 per cent last week, while the dollar was flat at 159.00 yen.

The ​dollar has been undermined as investors fret that growing US debt and policy uncertainties will erode the purchasing power of the currency, driving demand for scarcer assets including gold.

The yellow ​metal firmed 0.4 per cent to $US4,623 ($A6,449) an ounce, having climbed more ⁠than 14 per cent for the month so far. If it holds this gain for all of August, it would be the ​biggest monthly rise on record.

Oil refiner and petrol seller Ampol has seen its interim earnings jump after it managed to secure fuel supplies to capitalise on the impact of the Middle East conflict on energy prices.

Net profit on a replacement cost basis – which excludes the impact of oil prices on inventories – jumped more than four times to $857.2 million in the six months ended June 30, from $180.2 million a year earlier.

Its statutory first-half result was even bigger at $1.4 billion, against a loss of $25.3 million in the first half of 2025.

“The first half of 2026 was marked by the Middle East conflict and the consequential impact on the flow of oil and refined products around the world,” chief executive Matt Halliday said on Monday.

“While the market dislocation provided a benefit to our financial results, our supply responsiveness, trading capabilities, refinery reliability, customer and supplier relationships, as well as the progress of our retail segmentation strategy all enabled Ampol to meet its customer needs.”

Ampol said crude oil and energy product markets have continued to be volatile into the second half due to the war, although that was also helping regional refining margins.

“Overall, July 2026 earnings are ahead of the prior corresponding period, underpinned by strong refinery earnings,” it said.

Ampol is Australia’s largest transport fuel provider, accounting for about 15-20 per cent of total refined fuel needs.

Ampol declared an interim dividend of 18.5 cents.

Online fast-fashion retailer Shein will be valued at up to $US27 billion ($A38 billion) as it aims to raise ‌up to HK$13.86 billion ($A2.47 billion) in its Hong Kong initial public offering.

Launched on Monday, Shein is selling 280 million shares in a price range of HK$47.60 to HK$49.50 ‌per share, filings showed. The company will announce the final price on August 31 and start trading on September 1.

Shein will be valued at close to $US27 billion at the top of the price range, a major decline from earlier private fundraising rounds that valued Shein ‌at $US98.2 billion ($A137 billion) in ‌2022. The company ⁠was valued at $US64 billion ($A89 billion) in 2023 and April 2024.

Cornerstone investors ​led by Boyu, Tiger Global and General Atlantic have subscribed for about $US383 million ($A534 million) worth of Shein shares, the prospectus showed. Tencent, Greenwoods, Taikang Life and UBS Asset Management will also take stock.

The long-awaited float comes as slowing revenue growth and weaker core earnings weigh on Shein’s business, ⁠while shrinking margins have also raised concerns its expansion ‌is ​running into headwinds from higher trade costs, tighter regulatory scrutiny and intensifying competition across global ​e-commerce.

Shein, known for ‌selling $US5 ($A7) dresses and $US10 ($A14) jeans to shoppers in about 160 countries, swung to a $US99 million ($A138 million) quarterly ​loss after the US removed an import duty exemption on small packages, and a $US328 million ($A458 million) fair-value charge on convertible redeemable preferred shares following an accounting change.

Hong Kong IPOs ​have ​raised about $US41 billion ($A57 billion) so far this year, ​a record for the period and more ‌than double the $US17 billion ($A24 billion) raised a year earlier, LSEG data showed.

Shein’s IPO is the largest new share sale in Hong Kong in 2026, surpassing autonomous driving firm Momenta Global’s $US751 million ($A1 billion) offering in July. 

It is the third-largest IPO in Asia, behind CXMT and China Resources ​New Energy, which raised $US9.8 billion ($A13.7 billion) and $US3.6 billion ($A5 billion) respectively, in Chinese onshore IPOs. 

Bird flu has likely spread to a second seal, one day after the first mammal in Australia was confirmed to have contracted the virus.

Five suspected H5 bird flu cases were recorded in South Australia on Monday, including a long-nosed fur seal at The Pages Conservation Park, the state’s Department of Primary Industries and Regions said in a statement on Monday morning.

The Pages – which covers two small islands in between Kangaroo Island and the mainland –  is a haven for the endangered Australian sea lion.

The fur seal has been tested for bird flu, with results expected in the coming days. 

The first positive case of the virus in a mammal was confirmed on Sunday in a long-nosed fur seal at Beachport, 300 kilometres south of Adelaide, which authorities believed was contracted from wild birds.

Before the new case was announced, Environment Minister Murray Watt said the spread from birds to mammals was inevitable and the government was examining whether further vaccination programs were needed.

“We are likely to see mass mortalities of birds and mammals, and I know that is a very distressing thing for Australians to hear. But we also need to be realistic,” he told ABC TV on Monday.

“This is what we’ve seen happen overseas. Australia is very fortunate that we’ve been the last continent on Earth to have this strain of bird flu happen. But we are likely to see those kind of events as we have overseas.”

Agriculture Minister Julie Collins said the federal government was investigating  whether bird flu vaccines were available to be used on mammals.

“There are trials underway in North America, in California and Hawaii, and this is using a vaccine that’s been developed for cattle,” she told ABC Radio.

“There certainly is nothing commercially available, but we do continue to look at that research.”

Bird flu vaccinations have been rolled out to at-risk species, including the little penguins on Victoria’s Phillip Island.

Many were corralled into pens to receive the first of two vaccinations on Sunday night.

With case numbers on the rise, authorities have stepped in to do what they can to defend the 5000-strong colony.

The penguin’s nightly ritual of returning the same burrow, along the same path, made them ideal candidates for vaccination, said Phillip Island Nature Parks reserve manager Ben Thomas said.

Being a world-first in terms of scale, the process has taken some experimentation and fine tuning.

“We’ve had our teams out late into the night for a week now and learning a lot along the process,” Mr Thomas said.

“We started on some of the quieter penguin pathways to fine-tune the whole process and and get it working as quickly as we can, so we can process as many penguins as we can each night. 

“We’ve now moved to the western end of the penguin parade, where the larger numbers are, and it’s working really well.”

A further 600 penguins vaccinated over the weekend takes the total number having received a first dose at Phillip Island and St Kilda to about 1000.