Concern about inflation deepened at the Federal Reserve’s meeting last month, with several policymakers ready to raise interest rates and many saying a hike in borrowing costs would be needed ‌if inflation does not decline to the US central bank’s 2.0 per cent target, according to minutes.

The policymakers who favoured a rate increase at the meeting “remarked that ‌price pressures appeared broad-based and judged that the (policy-setting). Committee should adopt a more restrictive policy stance to meet its commitment to achieving its price-stability and maximum employment goals on a sustained basis,” the minutes of the July 28-29 meeting said. 

Failure to do so, they argued, would risk “a steeper and potentially more costly sequence of tightening moves at a later stage”. 

The Fed voted at that meeting to hold its benchmark interest rate in the current 3.50 per cent-3.75 per cent range, but with three policymakers dissenting in favour of a quarter-percentage point hike.

A larger ‌group of participants “assessed ‌that policy tightening would likely be ⁠necessary if inflation did not decline,” the minutes said.

The minutes, covering Fed Chairman Kevin Warsh’s second meeting as head ​of the central bank, showed central bankers already delving into some of the broader issues he wants to pursue as part of a possible overhaul of how the Fed operates.

Participants saw an upcoming task force review of how the Fed manages its balance sheet as an “opportunity for a comprehensive discussion”.

 However, many participants at the meeting “reaffirmed that the primary means of adjusting the stance of monetary policy should be through changes in the target range for the federal funds rate,” not manipulating the Fed’s asset holdings.

Warsh also asked for input from the committee ⁠on whether it would be better for the Fed to hold only six meetings a ‌year rather than the ​current eight, allowing for a full two months of data to accumulate each time. 

No decisions were made regarding this issue, the minutes said, and the 2026 schedule ​of meetings would not ‌be altered. 

The minutes drew little reaction in financial markets. 

An announcement earlier on Wednesday that the Treasury would double its buyback of longer-term US government debt had ​eased upward pressure on yields and helped lift stocks after Tuesday’s rout. 

Rate-futures markets continued to price better-than-even odds that the Fed will begin raising rates at its October 27-28 meeting and, failing that, a very high probability of a rate hike at its last meeting of the year in December.

There was ​no ​mention in the minutes of support for a rate cut, a sign ​of how the Fed’s policy debate has shifted over the course of a year ‌that began with an expectation that the central bank would be able to lower borrowing costs this year as inflation slowed. 

Price pressures, however, have continued to build, particularly after the Trump administration joined Israel in a war with Iran. 

Shipments of oil and gas through the strategic Strait of Hormuz continue to be constrained almost six months after the start of the conflict. 

The Fed is expected to hold its policy rate steady again at its September 15-16 meeting after recent data showed inflation easing slightly and firms unexpectedly shedding ​jobs in July. 

The data has left officials still divided over whether rate hikes will be needed to slow inflation further, but also more cautious about the strength ​of the labour market and the risks ⁠to their goal of maintaining full employment. 

Warsh has been reluctant to talk about the path of monetary policy on his ​watch. 

The death toll from a gold mine collapse in a western part of the Central African Republic has risen to more than 100, a Red Cross volunteer involved in relief efforts says.

The low-tech, artisanal gold mine collapsed on Tuesday morning in the village of Zamboye, in the Nana-Mambere prefecture, near the border with Cameroon.

In addition to the dead, several survivors were critically injured, said Gervais Ganagoroh, a local Red Cross volunteer involved in relief efforts.

The death toll is likely to rise since several people were still missing and others were trapped under the rubble, said Bertrand Be Yangué, a member of the Zamboye youth council.

“Finding them alive would be a miracle,” Yangué said. 

“We are saddened and heartbroken to see young men and women perish after coming to the mines to save their families from despair.”

An investigation has been opened to determine the cause of the collapse, identify the victims and those responsible for operating the site, and establish any potential criminal liability, the prosecutor at the Baboua sub-prefecture court said in a statement.

Footage showed miners, mostly young men and women covered in mud, pulling out a body from the pit while dozens of other miners and workers were scattered around the expansive site, some shouting for help.

Artisanal mine collapses are common in the Central African Republic, where several thousand people work in small-scale extraction mining. 

A jump in Australia’s unemployment rate could show that the economy is slowing as expected and take pressure off the Reserve Bank to raise interest rates again.

Inflation is still too high and, while the economy is softening, more of a slowdown is needed to get inflation back to target, the bank’s deputy governor Andrew Hauser said on Wednesday.

Jobs figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics on Thursday will give the bank another sense of whether its forecasts of a modest easing in the labour market are on track.

“We’re not seeing in our forecasts a reduction in the number of jobs in the economy, but it’s a lot slower than Australia has known in the past and it’s a lot slower than recently,” Mr Hauser said.

Economists at Westpac expect the July labour force survey to show a lift in employment of 15,000, well down from the 76,300 new jobs added to the economy in June.

That should leave the unemployment rate at 4.4 per cent.

The Reserve Bank has forecast the jobless rate to rise to 4.5 per cent by the end of the year, so a weaker-than-expected print would add more weight to the argument that the economy is slowing as planned.

But Westpac economist Ryan Wells says the slack in the labour market is more likely to emerge later in the year.

Despite the jump in employment in June, a 0.3 percentage point bounce in the participation rate caused the unemployment rate to edge slightly higher from 4.37 per cent to 4.43 per cent.

That is a sign of a labour market that is neither very tight nor particularly soft.

“Employment and participation both rose strongly, but unemployment also edged higher,” Mr Wells said. 

“That is not a sign of an overly tight labour market, but it is not clear evidence of outright weakness either. 

“It suggests that labour demand and supply are moving broadly in step, with monthly noise determining whether the unemployment rate nudges up or down.”

A former engineering director at Meta Platforms has testified that CEO Mark Zuckerberg was responsible for a culture that may have led the company ‌to shirk its responsibility to protect children who use its Facebook and Instagram platforms from harm.

Arturo Bejar, a vocal Meta critic who worked at the company from 2009 ‌to 2015 and as an independent contractor from 2019 to 2021, said Zuckerberg was closely involved in much decision-making, and the company’s top-down culture ensured that product design changes would occur only if he ordered them.

“If Mark makes something a priority, mountains move in months,” Bejar said.

Bejar is the first witness in a landmark trial over claims brought by a coalition of states accusing the company of designing its platforms to addict young users and illegally collecting data from children under 13.

California, ‌Colorado, Kentucky and New ‌Jersey accuse Meta of designing ⁠Facebook and Instagram to hook young users, fuelling anxiety, depression and even suicide, and misleading consumers about the ​platforms’ safety.

Those states and 25 others also accuse Meta of violating federal law by improperly collecting and using personal data of children while they used its platforms.

Meta has denied the allegations and argued that Bejar’s opinions were beyond the scope of his work.

Bejar began testifying in the Oakland, California, federal court on Tuesday, when the trial began.

The trial is expected to last six weeks, and Zuckerberg is expected to testify.

Bejar helped run surveys of teenagers’ experiences as part of a ⁠team examining well-being on Instagram between 2019 and 2021.

He has been outspoken in criticising ‌Meta’s safety record for ​children, and testified before a US Senate committee in 2023 that Meta was aware of harassment and other harms facing teenagers on its platforms but failed ​to address them.

In ‌Wednesday’s testimony, Bejar said Meta used metrics such as meaningful social interactions and daily active users to reward employees, prioritising user engagement — and profit — over safety.

He ​also said a tool Meta uses that encourages users to take a break, a key feature Meta has cited in its defence, was “designed to fail” because it is not the default setting and reminders are easy to ignore.

“All roads lead to time in the product,” he said. 

“In ​that context, ​safety was always an afterthought.”

Bejar also said Meta had technology ​to flag and require verification from users, potentially in the millions, suspected to be ‌under age 13, but turned a blind eye to the problem through a “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy because it was financially profitable over the longer term.

“Where the youngest kids are is where the users are going to be in the future,” he said.

Experts have said the trial is the biggest legal test yet of social media’s effects on young users.

Meta faces thousands of similar lawsuits over alleged harm to children. 

Bejar has been a key witness against the company in three ​of the cases that have gone to trial so far. 

One of those cases, brought by New Mexico, resulted in $US942 million ($A1.3 billion) in damages and penalties ​and an order requiring Meta to change ⁠its platforms in the state.

Attacks on shipping have shut down more than 97 per cent of Russia and Ukraine’s grain export capacity in the Azov and Black Sea basin, cutting ‌off a major source of low-cost supplies and helping to drive up global prices. 

The two major grain exporters have intensified attacks on ports and shipping ‌over the past month, leaving importers in the Middle East, Africa and Asia facing the prospect of sourcing grain from higher-cost suppliers such as Australia and the United States.

Russia and Ukraine together exported an average of 7.2 million metric tonnes of grain a month from terminals in the Azov and Black Sea region last season, according to Reuters calculations based on official data and analyst estimates.

There are no shipments from ‌Ukraine’s Black Sea terminals. In ‌Russia, the only ⁠grain terminal not officially shut is a small facility in Tuapse with a capacity of about 160,000 ​tonnes per month, officials and trade sources say.

The shutdowns represent a loss of more than 97 per cent of grain export capacity compared with last season, Reuters calculations show.

“At present, civilian shipping in the Black Sea has virtually ground to a halt,” said Yevgeny Karabanov, head of the analytical committee of the Grain Union of Kazakhstan, which also ships grain through Russian ports.

Global wheat prices have risen about 6.5 per cent ⁠this month and are now roughly 30 per cent higher than a year ago.

While ‌large stockpiles and ​stronger harvests have allowed importers to delay purchases, traders say pressure is mounting to secure supplies because there are no signs of de-escalation in ​the Black ‌Sea region.

Several carriers loading or preparing to load grain at Russian ports were hit by drones this week, sources said.

Analysts at ​Rusagrotrans, part of Demetra Holding, estimate Russia’s August wheat exports at 1.8 million tonnes, the lowest level for the month since 2010.

Trade sources said major Russian grain terminals in Novorossiysk, including NZT and NKHP, were shut after a Ukrainian drone strike. 

KSK, ​Russia’s ​largest grain terminal, suspended grain deliveries and exports while operations ​at the Taman grain terminal were also halted.

Ukrainian seaports in the ‌Odesa port hub effectively ceased operations at the end of July. 

As of mid-August, no new ship calls had been recorded, Agriculture Minister Taras Vysotskyi said last week.

Ukraine is exporting grain through rail links with Eastern Europe and Danube river ports, each accounting for about 45 per cent of shipments, with the remaining 10 per cent transported by road.

“We expect that we will be able to reach 50 per cent of our export potential if the ports ​remain blocked,” Vysotskyi said.

Russia can redirect some exports through Baltic, Caspian and Far Eastern ports, though longer transport distances are likely to ​create logistical challenges and increase ⁠costs. 

The competition watchdog has raided WiseTech Global’s offices, potentially linking yet another scandal to the Aussie tech company.

The logistics software provider’s share price tumbled more than 10 per cent after the board told the market the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission had searched its Sydney offices.

“An ACCC search warrant was executed on the company requiring the production of documents and electronic data in relation to the supply of global logistics services and software,” the board said.

The warrant was issued as part of an unnamed investigation into alleged contraventions of competition and consumer law.

“WiseTech intends to fully co-operate with the investigation,” the board said.

The regulator confirmed the search took place but would not comment further on an ongoing investigation.

WiseTech’s headquarters are in Alexandria, an inner-city suburb of Sydney. 

It is unclear what the watchdog is investigating, as most of its dealings with WiseTech have related to the company’s voracious appetite for acquiring other companies.

Since 2023, the company has bought US-based cloud supply chain platform e2open, rail solution platform Blume Global and transport management system provider Envase Technologies, along with a host of smaller strategic acquisitions.

The commission probe comes little over a month after co-founder Richard White stepped down from his role as executive chair amid allegations that he exploited a worker’s financial and visa status for sex.

Mr White has vehemently denied the allegations, which are reported to be under investigation by the Australian Federal Police.

He remains on WiseTech’s board as an executive director and retains his role as the company’s chief innovation officer.

There is no suggestion that the commission’s action is linked to Mr White.

It has been a rough few years for the company, which has been rocked by sudden board departures and a series of scandals, many with Mr White at their centre.

In October 2025, the AFP and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission raided WiseTech offices, investigating claims Mr White sold more than $200 million worth of WiseTech shares during a blackout period.

A year earlier, in 2024, Mr White had stepped down as chief executive officer over allegations of workplace bullying and undisclosed workplace relationships.

An internal, company-led investigation into whether Mr White misappropriated company funds in the course of those relationships found no evidence of malfeasance.

WiseTech will hand down its full-year financial results on August 26.

The Middle East conflict, a deepening housing downturn and infrastructure cost overruns threaten Australia’s combined budget position, the Parliamentary Budget Office has found.

The aggregate national fiscal position, which combines the commonwealth and state and territory budgets, was broadly unchanged compared to the previous year’s outlook, the office said in a report on Wednesday.

But the states faced common risks in their efforts to return to surplus over the medium term.

Given states’ dependence on stamp duty on property transaction, the deepening national housing downturn – exacerbated by the federal budget’s changes to investor tax breaks – risked drying up the vital revenue stream.

“The New South Wales, Queensland, Western Australian and ACT budget papers noted the potential risk of a housing market slowdown on property tax revenue, particularly stamp duty, from declines in property transactions and house prices,” the PBO said.

Queensland and WA were also at risk from fluctuations in commodity prices and mining royalties, the report warned.

Higher fuel prices from the Middle East conflict still risked driving up inflation and interest rates, which would weigh on household spending, house prices, employment and borrowing costs, further weakening the overall fiscal position.

National debt levels are forecast to exceed the highs experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic, with gross debt set to rise to 58 per cent of GDP by 2029/30.

But while spending has exceeded forecasts across jurisdictions, higher-than-expected revenue has kept Australia’s combined public finances relatively stable and improving over the four-year forward estimates period.

“The PBO’s fiscal sustainability analysis shows that in 24 out of 27 scenarios, national debt-to-GDP is expected to trend downwards over the 40-year period,” the PBO said.

“This suggests that the national fiscal position is likely to remain sustainable except in the most extreme cases, where state budget balances do not improve while interest rates are high or GDP growth markedly slows.”

Australia’s fiscal sustainability was confirmed by ratings agency Moody’s on Tuesday, which reaffirmed the nation’s AAA credit rating.

The nation’s “very high economic and institutional strength, with robust government finances” underpinned the rating, Moody’s said.

Australia remained one of nine countries to hold the top credit rating with all three major ratings agencies, Treasurer Jim Chalmers said.

Referencing Pauline Hanson and Liberal senator Andrew Bragg’s criticism of compulsory super, he highlighted Moody’s finding that Australia’s fiscal strength was supported by the substantial private retirement savings held by superannuation funds.

“Labor built the superannuation system and we will always defend it,” Dr Chalmers said. 

“The Liberals, Nationals and One Nation want to destroy it and would undermine Australia’s economic resilience as well as the secure retirement of Australian workers.”

A final decision on a long-delayed $20 billion gas project in Papua New Guinea will be made by the end of the year, one of the companies involved in the massive venture says.

Oil and gas group Santos has partnered with multinational energy giants TotalEnergies and ExxonMobil on the Papua LNG project to develop two onshore gas fields, 360km northwest of the capital Port Moresby.

Papua LNG would be the country’s second operational LNG project.

The first went into production in 2014 and has provided some economic benefits, although predictions that it would double PNG’s gross national product proved vastly overstated.

TotalEnergies has been engaging with the community about the Papua LNG project through a development forum, which is the last major stage in the governmental approval process, Santos chief executive Kevin Gallagher told an earnings briefing on Wednesday.

“There was a stall after a few weeks when it first got up and going. There were some challenges … those challenges were resolved, and the forum went back to operational two or three weeks back,” he said. 

“Our understanding is it’s going to plan. All the feedback is very positive.”

The forum should conclude around the end of September, and a final investment decision should be made on whether to move forward with the project in the fourth quarter, Mr Gallagher said.

Papua LNG would develop the Elk-Antelope gas fields, which hold more than one billion barrels of oil equivalent. 

The gas field was first discovered in 2006, but its development has been bogged down by various controversies.

Nearly 30 major commercial banks and export credit agencies have ruled out financing the project due to environmental, climate and human rights concerns. 

Santos said more than 60 per cent of the financing for Papua LNG was in place.

The Adelaide-based company has also been moving forward with two other oil projects, its Barossa project in the Timor Sea and its Pikka project in Alaska.

The Barossa project, located 285km north-northwest of Darwin, went into operation in October and has produced enough gas to load 12 LNG cargoes since the start of 2026, while Pikka shipped its first cargo of oil last week.

Santos produced 45.6 million barrels of oil or oil equivalent in the six months to June 30, up three per cent from a year ago.

The company on Wednesday reported a first-half net profit of $US355 million ($A501 million), down 19 per cent from the same time a year ago.

The result was driven by a lift in revenue to $US2.6 billion ($A3.7 billion), leaving Santos to pay its shareholders an interim dividend of 11.6 US cents per share.

In early afternoon trading on Wednesday, Santos shares were up almost three per cent to $8.33.

Mr Gallagher also rejected suggestions Australia had a gas supply crisis, saying the federal government’s own figures showed the current supply was adequate through to 2029.

“That does not mean there will be a gas shortage. It just means we have to invest in developing new gas supply sources now,” he said.

“What we need is confidence to invest and bring that resource to market reliably and competitively when Australia needs it. Policy settings need to support that investment, not discourage it.”

Australia’s biggest lottery operator has recorded a slump in annual earnings after its popular Powerball and Oz Lotto jackpots didn’t get the attention from punters it hoped for.

It was the first time in five years the Powerball jackpot failed to hit $100 million, The Lottery Corporation chief executive Wayne Pickup said.

And there was no Oz Lotto jackpot of $50 million or more for the first time in nine years.

“Financial year 2026 was a rarely soft year for big jackpots – a one-in-45-year outcome,” said Mr Pickup, who has been in the job for nine months.

“As you know, the math tells you jackpot runs even out over time.

“The momentum in pricing, base game participation and digital share matters more to the long-term trajectory than what happens in any single period.”

The Lottery Corp, which bills itself as a “place where Australians come to play”, made a net profit of $284.6 million in 2025/26, down 22 per cent from the prior year.

Underlying earnings – before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation – was $736 million, a little below the market consensus, with the lotteries business delivering the bulk, or $627 million, followed by Keno earnings.

Revenue fell 2.7 per cent to $3.6 billion, after the absence of those large jackpots impacted revenue by about $350 million.

But some of that impact was offset by price increases after Lottery Corp raised the cost of a Powerball game to $1.40, from $1.20, which was its second increase in three years.

Still, fewer large jackpots translated to lower retail and digital platform lotteries turnover, corresponding to a three per cent fall to $6.5 billion.

Lottery Corp had 8.3 million active lottery customers in 2025/26.

The group believes there are more than four million unregistered players across Australia, which it hopes to convert to registered, as well as attracting new customers.

“We want people to come back more often, and not just to participate when there are large jackpots,” Mr Pickup told an earnings briefing on Wednesday.

The group’s shares rose by almost two per cent ahead of lunchtime to $5.41.

Asked about the consumer environment, in a time of rising living costs and interest rates, Mr Pickup said the company’s gaming data wasn’t giving it any cause for concern.

“Lotteries are traditionally resilient through economic downturns,” he said.

“We haven’t seen anything in our data, but we’re obviously cognisant of it.

“When I’m visiting retailers, it’s tough out there in general

“We’d just like a few more (big) jackpots.”

Mr Pickup did note the group’s scratchie games were still doing well, as were its Keno operations.

Lottery Corp wants to evolve from being a lottery operator to a digitally led entertainment platform, as more customers move online and demand more.

“We need to fill the entertainment portfolio with more reasons to engage and really build on these winning moments,” Mr Pickup said.

Lottery Corp said it was confident about its outlook after recently signing a 40-year extension of its lottery license with Victoria, where it generates 30 per cent of its lottery turnover.

Its next major renewal is for NSW in 2050.

Lottery Corp declared a final dividend of 8.5 cents, taking the total for the year to 16.5 cents.

National Gambling Helpline 1800 858 858

Coalition MPs breaking ranks over contentious gambling reforms is a sign of a “healthy democracy at work”, the deputy opposition leader says.

Jane Hume defended internal dissent after backbenchers Pat Conaghan and Andrew Wallace crossed the floor to vote against gambling ad reforms, bucking the party line for the first time in their political careers.

Ms Hume said there had been robust debate within the coalition about the reforms and welcomed the decision of her colleagues.

“When you join the Liberal Party, you don’t sign up for a frontal lobotomy the way you do in the Labor Party. We are entitled to cross the floor,” Senator Hume told reporters on Wednesday.

“That’s a good thing. That’s a healthy democracy at work … I think we’ve landed well.

“I think the balance is right.”

Mr Conaghan slammed his party for being “weak” on the reforms after his time spent on the original inquiry into gambling chaired by the late Labor MP Peta Murphy, which advocated for a total ban.

Under the proposed changes, Australians would have access to a one-stop shop allowing them to opt out of online betting ads, put limits on commissions for betting agents and restrict incentives for problem gamblers.

The Nationals MP told AAP Ms Murphy would be “disgusted” by the Labor party avoiding an outright ad ban, and felt she would have thanked him for crossing the floor.

Ms Murphy’s widower Rod Glover said the bill was a big improvement on the status quo in a post on social media.

But he admitted it still falls well short of the Murphy Report recommendations.

“The limits of the reforms reflect, in large part, the considerable lobbying power of the gambling industry, major sporting codes and media organisations,” he said.

Debate has begun in the Senate after passing the lower house on Tuesday.

The bill before the Senate has been vastly improved, opposition communications spokeswoman Sarah Henderson said.

“No longer will wagering companies in this country, be allowed to target those who are incurring very large losses, targeting those who are addicted to gambling and making their lives hell,” she said.

A partial ban on inducements has been included in the legislation, but it only applies to people during the first three months on the self-exclusion register BetStop.

The peak body for betting agencies has criticised the amendments for complicating the Australian market and playing into offshore illegal gambling sites.

Responsible Wagering Australia chief executive Kai Cantwell raised concern with the opt-out advertising register to be run by the media watchdog.

“These measures will significantly curtail our ability to advertise a legal product safely to adults,” Mr Cantwell said.

“If you push people away from the licensed, regulated market … you don’t stop them punting.

“You push them offshore, into products with no consumer protections, no support, no Betstop, and no contribution to Australian sport and racing.”

Greens communications spokeswoman Sarah Hanson-Young slammed the bill, which she said was designed to fail Australian families.

“Labor has proven itself to be captured by the industry, and the Liberal Party has proven itself to be weak and toothless,” she told the Senate.

Senator Hanson-Young said she has received countless first-hand accounts including of a widow receiving gambling inducements after their husband died by suicide.

“The list goes on and on and on. And yet, it doesn’t seem to matter how many bodies pile up on these companies’ watch,” Senator Hanson-Young said.

“What a pack of bastards! How disgusting!”

Liberal senator Paul Scarr will cross the floor when the bill reaches a vote in the upper house.

“It’ll be only the second time in the seven years I’ve served in this place that I’ve chosen to do so,” he said.

“But I think this is such a serious issue for millions of Australians who’ve been impacted by gambling harm, and this is such a flawed piece of legislation that I have no choice but to do so.”