Volodymyr Zelenskyy meets Trump envoys as US-Ukraine relations sink to new lows.

Extract from ABC News

• Topic:Unrest, Conflict and War

about 4 hours ago

Firefighters battle blaze after Russian strike on Kyiv region (Reuters/State Emergency Service of Ukraine)

In short:

Volodymyr Zelenskyy is meeting with senior US envoys in Norway amid the fallout over his spat with Donald Trump. 

The US denies deliberately delaying shipments of Patriot interceptor missiles.

Russian strikes have continued, with at least seven people killed in attacks across Ukraine on Tuesday, local time.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has met with senior US envoys in Norway as he accuses the Pentagon of failing to deliver interceptor missiles to help protect against Russian attacks.

It came as Russia continued its assault on targets inside Ukraine, killing at least seven people across the country.

Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store said talks were being held between Mr Zelenskyy, US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner — the latter taking part remotely — as well as Finnish President Alexander Stubb, on Tuesday local time.

Relations between Kyiv and Washington have soured since US President Donald Trump partially lifted sanctions to strike a diesel-supply deal with Russia's Vladimir Putin and slammed Mr Zelenskyy as a warmonger for Ukrainian attacks on Russian oil refineries.

Mr Zelenskyy has accused the United States of deliberately withholding vital intelligence and delaying military aid, saying on Monday that Ukraine received no early warning of powerful Russian missile strikes that targeted energy facilities in the capital region.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is accusing the US of limiting his country's ability to defend against Russian strikes. (AP: Efrem Lukatsky)

US-led diplomatic efforts to end Europe's deadliest conflict since World War II have stalled in recent months, as Washington has shifted focus towards the war with Iran.

"The aim is to put diplomatic efforts on a more constructive path," he said.

No 'deliberate' withholding of aid, Rubio says

Ahead of the meeting, Mr Zelenskyy on Tuesday said he held "substantive" and "constructive" talks with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, in which he insisted that the US military satellite system Ukraine uses, Starshield, "needs to be restored" and that ballistic missile interceptors "are needed to protect lives".

Mr Zelenskyy told US senators on Monday that "the Pentagon is delaying the delivery of missiles" already paid for by European countries, and that the shipment was waiting for US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth's signature.

He said several European countries were ready to transfer Patriot interceptor missiles from their own stockpiles but were still awaiting US approval.

Russian strikes are continuing to pound Kyiv and other major Ukrainian cities ahead of winter. (Reuters: Oleg Pereverzev)

The United States has denied making any changes to intelligence sharing with Ukraine, and Mr Rubio on Tuesday said Washington was not deliberately withholding supplies.

"There's nothing being deliberately denied to Ukraine," Mr Rubio said while on a trip to India.

"It's simply, it's a balance between our obligations to other partners and frankly our own … requirements for our own facilities as well."

Mr Trump has also denied ordering a reduction in speeds on the US government-owned and -controlled Starshield network after Elon Musk, whose company SpaceX developed it, said the order could only have come from the White House.

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Topic:Antarctic Research

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Topic:War

Deadly strikes continue

The diplomatic talks came on another bloody day of fighting in Ukraine, with Russian attacks causing power outages in almost half of Ukraine's regions.

The Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement that its forces carried out drone strikes on logistics centers, port infrastructure, and three cargo ships in the port of Reni in the Odesa region. It said another bulk carrier was hit at sea on its way to Odesa.

A Russian drone strike near Kyiv killed three people and wounded four others, Ukrainian prosecutors said Tuesday, publishing images showing at least two burned-out cars strewn along a road.

The attack took place in Chabany, a town located next to the M05 highway linking Ukraine's capital to the southern city of Odesa, prosecutors added.

Ukrainian authorities said earlier Tuesday that Russian strikes had killed at least four people around the country.

The Russian defence ministry made no immediate comment on the strikes in its reports on Tuesday.

The attack comes more than four-and-a-half years into the Ukraine war, Europe's deadliest since World War II.

AFP/AP

The Orionid meteor shower peaks this week. Here's how to see it from Australia.

Extract from ABC News

By science reporter Jacinta Bowler

• ABC Science

• Topic:Meteors

about 15 hours ago

The Orionid meteor shower will peak on Thursday morning, and in good conditions meteors should be visible every few minutes. (Getty Images: John White Photos)

Sometimes it's good to sit back, find a dark, quiet spot, and stare at some stars.

This week provides a great excuse, with the Orionid meteor shower peaking on Thursday morning, showering stargazers in meteors produced by Halley's comet.

In good, dark sky conditions, experts suggest you may be able to see a meteor every 4–5 minutes.

But with a bright Moon in the sky and the shower only being visible in certain hours, you will need to pick your time to see the best of the Orionids.

When can I see the Orionids?

The Orionid meteor shower started earlier this month and will continue until early November.

But according to amateur astronomer Ian Musgrave, it's worth making the effort to get out of bed early this Wednesday, Thursday and Friday morning from about 4am.

From remote to inner city, watch the Milky Way fade from sight due to light pollution

Most people in the world live under light-polluted skies. Our interactives show you how even simple changes can bring the stars back into view.

The very best time will be Thursday morning at the meteor shower's peak, when the most meteors will be visible in the sky as the Earth passes through the thickest part of a debris trail.

Unfortunately, this year the peak in the Orionids corresponds to an almost full Moon, so earlier in the night the meteor shower will be washed out by the bright Moon.

But by the early morning, the Moon will go below the horizon and this will make the sky darker and the Orionids easier to see.

"Between 4am to 5am under dark skies, you should see about a meteor every 4 to 5 minutes or so," Dr Musgrave said.

Halley's comet intersects with Earth twice a year to create the Eta Aquarid and the Orionid meteor showers. (Supplied: NASA/SSD/Jacinta Bowler)

The debris for the Orionids and the Eta Aquarids meteor shower — in April to May — is caused by the trail of Halley's comet.

The comet orbits around the Sun but is only visible to the naked eye from Earth every 74 to 79 years. It will make its next pass in 2061.

How to see the most meteors

The first thing to do is to be in an area with as little light pollution as possible, ideally a dark sky site.

From about 4am local time on the east coast and 6am local time on the west coast, look towards the northern sky.

Meteor showers always come from a single point in the sky, called the "radiant point", so keep an eye out for meteors coming from just below Orion's belt.

Meteors will be visible below Orion's belt early Thursday morning. (Supplied: Stellarium/ABC Science)

University of Southern Queensland astronomer Jonti Horner says the Orionids overlap with another meteor shower called the Taurid meteor shower.

"Neither of them on its own is the best shower of the year," he said.

"But one shower [Orionid] has fairly swift meteors … and the other [Taurid] very slow meteors … and so they add up and put on a better show."

A better meteor shower is coming soon

Dr Horner says that the Orionids can be thought of as a warm-up act for the Geminid meteor shower, which peaks in mid-December.

"The Geminids are a better one to guarantee that you will get a good show if the skies are clear," he said.

"They are a much better bet if you're somebody who's not an astronomy tragic like I am."

Ukraine receives 'no early warning' as Russian missiles target Kyiv.

Extract from ABC News

• Topic:Unrest, Conflict and War

about 3 hours ago

One killed, eight injured in overnight Russian attack on Kyiv, emergency services say (Reuters)

In short:

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says allies gave no early warning of a Russian missile attack on the Kyiv region.

At least six people were killed, including an infant, after a strike in Kharkiv.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has denied intelligence-sharing with Ukraine is suspended as Vladimir Putin proposes a summit with Xi Jinping and Donald Trump to discuss the war.

Ukraine did not receive an early warning from allies about incoming Russian ballistic strikes that targeted energy facilities in the Kyiv region, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says, amid the growing public rift between the Trump administration and Ukraine.

Russia launched 16 ballistic missiles at the Kyiv region and over 200 drones across the war-torn country, Mr Zelenskyy said. 

AFP reporters heard air alerts and explosions ringing out in the capital.

One strike in a park in the Kharkiv region killed six people, including three children, while another 15 people were injured.

"Another Russian ballistic missile attack came in several waves overnight, and once again, there was no early warning from our partners," Mr Zelenskyy said on social media.

A Russian strike destroyed a house in the outskirts of the Ukrainian city of Dnipro. (Reuters)

He added that some vital deliveries from the United States were being delayed.

Last week Kyiv said there had been no warning from the United States of similar strikes, leaving virtually no time for residents to take shelter.  

Mr Zelenskyy also repeated his accusation that US military satellite systems were slowing down Ukrainian drones, hindering their ability to hit Russian targets.

He said frontline units had reported that the Starshield equipment "stops functioning at speeds of 130-160 kilometres (80-100 miles) per hour in various sectors of the front".

President Donald Trump is accusing Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of not wanting to end his country's war with Russia. (AP: Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

'No pause' to intelligence-sharing

Both Mr Trump and SpaceX chief executive Elon Musk have denied being responsible for the Starshield speed limits.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio denied earlier on Monday, local time, that there had been any suspension of intelligence sharing with Ukraine.

As Russia-Ukraine war changes, Zelenskyy could be 'losing a strong partner'

Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine has taken on a different complexion lately, and it has shone a light on Kyiv's strained relations with the White House.

"There has been no pause," Mr Rubio told reporters in Uzbekistan when asked about Ukraine's claims, calling on Mr Zelenskyy to "focus" on ending the war with Russia.

Mr Trump, who says he has made a deal with Russia to secure fuel exports in exchange for the easing of sanctions, has made renewed attacks on Mr Zelenskyy in recent days over the war.

The US leader wrote on his Truth Social platform on Sunday that he was making "great progress" in negotiating peace between Russia and Ukraine, but claimed: "Zelenskyy doesn't care, and frankly, with all of the money that Europe is famously giving him … he doesn't want to end this war, and probably never did."

But Mr Zelenskyy hit back at the claims, in a post saying that "Ukraine never wanted this war, and we have welcomed literally EVERY attempt by our partners to bring this war to a dignified end".

Russia-China-US summit on the cards

The diplomatic tensions between Washington and Kyiv come as Russia continues carrying out strikes across Ukraine.

Two women and an infant were killed on Monday in a Russian drone attack on a village in Kharkiv region, Ukraine's interior minister Ivan Vyhivskyi said.

The drone hit a park where families were playing with children, he added on the Telegram app. Mr Vyhivskyi shared a blurred photo showing a child's body in a stroller.

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Topic:Unrest, Conflict and War

Sailors missing as two ships set ablaze in Romanian Black Sea

Topic:Marine Incidents

Broader strikes also hit energy facilities in 11 Ukrainian regions through the night, Mr Zelenskyy said.

It came as Ukraine's Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha warned that a proposed meeting between the leaders of Russia, China and the US could only serve to prolong the war.

The Wall Street Journal reported that Russian President Vladimir Putin had proposed a summit next month with Mr Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping to negotiate an end to the war on terms that would favour Moscow.

AFP/Reuters

The dark forces driving discontent across the developed world.

Analysis

By chief business correspondent Ian Verrender

• Topic:Economy

about 1 hours ago

Civil unrest over the cost of living has turned violent in France this month. (Reuters: Abdul Saboor)

Disillusion is rapidly turning to discontent and open conflict.

Over the weekend, demonstrators took to the streets across France, Spain, Portugal, Italy and Belgium, battling police, torching public buildings and looting shops.

The scenes have mirrored events on the other side of the Atlantic, as the political chasm dividing America has grown, with outbursts of public anger against authorities gaining momentum.

Across the developed world, including here in Australia, political momentum has shifted from the centre to the fringes in an increasingly bipolar world that, if it continues, ultimately will render any attempt at consensus futile.

Populist leaders, experts at whipping up fury for personal gain, are in the ascendancy despite offering little in the way of solutions.

While the catalysts in each country may differ, the root cause largely is the same: the economy.

The compact — the unwritten agreement — between workers and the democratic state is fraying.

Lower- and middle-income workers feel they're going backwards. And they're not imagining it.

Wages have not kept pace with inflation as asset prices have soared. Property ownership in many Western nations is almost out of reach of ordinary workers while rents have skyrocketed.

That has concentrated wealth in an increasingly smaller cohort of wealthy households.

Lower- and middle-income workers aren't imagining their financial struggles. (Pexels: Mikhail Nilov)

The "cost-of-living crisis" has become a transnational phenomenon.

And as prices continue to surge, central banks have responded in unison by raising interest rates, piling further pressure on those already most affected.

The cost of inequality is beginning to manifest itself.

Why you feel poor

Here's a snapshot of why workers are angry.

If you take inflation into account, Australian incomes are back to where they were in 2011.

Australian wages, adjusted for headline inflation, have been going backwards. (Supplied: Macrobusiness/ABS)

There was the post-pandemic inflation hangover piled on top of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which sent energy prices into orbit, that's now been followed by America's war in Iran.

The combination has not just obliterated income growth. It has sent it into reverse.

It's a story writ large across the Western world.

Just how intractable the problem has become is on full display right here at home.

The opposition and a large posse of economic commentators point to federal government spending. It's firing up inflation, they argue, and driving interest rates higher.

That's not entirely true. For a start, there are huge global forces at work. But let's look at the domestic situation.

Spending alone isn't the problem. It is the imbalance between tax revenue and spending. There's not enough tax to pay for all that spending, and the shortfall, the deficit, must be funded by debt.

There are two levers you can pull here. One is raising taxes, which no-one will ever support. And the other is cutting spending, which no-one will ever support.

From 2013 to the pandemic, Australia, a resource-exporting nation, ran up deficits during the greatest resources boom in history.

The government of the day decided to throw away a resources tax, a decision that has cost the country dearly.

And to this day, we continue to sell our resources, charging a fraction of the taxes other nations apply.

The cost of putting off an economic reckoning is looming

Rising government debt, unaffordable housing and an aging population are intensifying pressure for economic reform.

In the meantime, lobbyists continually agitate for cuts to income and company taxes, even as we stare into the abyss of ongoing deficits.

Their universal fix is to raise the Goods and Services Tax, which, if you hadn't already guessed, hits low- and middle-income earners the hardest.

Remember the three-stage income tax cuts, the ones that really benefited higher-income earners?

Apparently, they were going to be self-funding. They were going to generate so much economic activity that the cuts would increase government revenue.

Instead, they've created a structural imbalance in our federal finances.

And whenever the idea of spending cuts is raised, there is an almighty burst of outrage.

Just ask Joe Hockey. His 2014 federal budget was howled down.

This year's budget, meanwhile, targeted welfare payments to the wealthy, which, given our circumstances, should have been a no-brainer.

The hugely generous discounts to capital gains tax and the loophole created by negative gearing were wound back, along with a tightening of the generous tax arrangements surrounding family trusts.

Five months later, and the outcry against the changes continues.

Tax concessions may not seem like spending, but, in essence, they are. That's because they cost the budget as revenue is foregone while the benefits accrue to a targeted cohort.

Other taxpayers, paying the full rate, end up subsidising the beneficiaries.

And it is wealthier households that overwhelmingly benefit from those concessions.

The Trump legacy: higher interest rates

Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) governor Michele Bullock has confirmed what many of us feared.

Higher interest rates are here to stay.

"I don't know if this particular level is the new normal, but what I do know is that we're not going back down to interest rates of zero or very close to zero, policy rates of that," she said after the RBA rate hike this month.

Inflation is no longer an Australian-only concern. It's rising across the developed world.

The US Federal Reserve has already raised rates once this year and, after hotter-than-expected inflation stats this month, could go again before Christmas.

In the past few weeks, bond markets have pushed interest rates on longer-term US government debt dramatically higher as concerns about US government debt continue to rattle investors.

Tax cuts for the wealthy, under Donald Trump's Big Beautiful Bill, coupled with huge outlays for the war in Iran, have sent US debt into orbit.

As you can see below, America's debt-to-GDP is now at 126 per cent, far higher than during World War II.

The interest bill on that debt is now the second-biggest expense in the US Budget and outstrips defence spending. With soaring US bond rates, that bill is now becoming ever more expensive.

As a much smaller nation that imports capital for investment, longer-term Australian government debt rates have soared alongside the greenback.

Add in the trillions of dollars earmarked for artificial intelligence investment over the next few years, and the global demand for debt funding is likely to keep interest rates elevated for years.

Higher inflation and higher interest bills eat into worker salaries.

When did the rot set in?

Some point to the global financial crisis (GFC).

Governments and central banks bailed out the culprits while workers were left to fend for themselves.

What followed was mass unemployment and an acceleration of the globalisation trends that sent much of the world's manufacturing industries to China.

Inflation all but disappeared and interest rates, in what now appears to be an aberration, plummeted.

Stock markets boomed and real estate soared, giving a false impression of rapidly rising national wealth across the Western world. The gap between the have-mores and the have-nots grew ever wider but was largely ignored.

But the GFC was merely a flashpoint when the tectonic forces that had been building for years finally snapped.

For decades, the great economic experiment of the 80s appeared a resounding success.

Reagan and Thatcher pushed through financial deregulation and allowed market forces to dominate, liberated debt markets, allowed trade to flow freely, increased wealth and raised living standards across the globe.

There was a dogmatic application of the theory of free markets and globalisation as detractors were denigrated and discarded.

For more than 30 years, it seemed to work, until it all blew up.

But even then, it appears we only paid attention to one side of the Yin and Yang of an economic revolution.

And now the costs are mounting.

Cattle station 'crown jewels' in Gulf and Cape York to become national parks.

Extract from ABC News

By Crispian Yeomans

• ABC Rural

• Topic:National Parks

about 1 hours ago

The Queensland government will turn 90,000 hectares of Westmoreland Station into national park. (Supplied: Gary Cranitch/Queensland Museum)

In short:

Carpentarian grasswrens, palm cockatoos and hundreds of "ecologically significant" wetlands will be protected under a major Queensland land acquisition.

The large cattle stations will become national parks, although some only in part.

What's next?

Councils are waiting to see how the state government will manage the land.

Almost 400,000 hectares of land will be turned into new national parks in Queensland, but the state government is yet to decide how many rangers will manage it.

Three cattle stations, including part of Westmoreland and Cliffdale Station in the Gulf Country and all of Cape York's Kendall River Station, will become protected state-owned land.

The land was purchased under a deal involving the Queensland government, $21 million from the Nature Conservancy, and $3.5 million from the federal government.

A rainbow bee-eater (Merops ornatus) spotted at Cliffdale Station in the Gulf Country. (Supplied: Queensland government)

Nature Conservancy Australia executive Mike Roache said while "only portions" of the land were purchased, those sections were the "jewels in the crown" of its ecosystems.

"You've got the classic Gulf plains, spinifex and wetlands and rivers that are captured in these properties, that are beautiful to witness and now will become national parks for all to enjoy,"

Mr Roache said.

He said some land in Cape York would also become Aboriginal freehold land, while traditional owners would have "opportunities" to manage land in the Gulf.

Cliffdale Station in the Gulf Country has 174 wetlands. (Supplied: Queensland government)

Land 'well-managed' but weeds spreading

The endangered Carpentarian grasswren, the purple-crowned fairywren and grey falcon rely on Gulf habitat, while swamp mahogany, Darwin stringybark, palm cockatoo and the white-bellied sea eagle are found in Cape York.

Burke Shire Mayor Ernie Camp said protecting the "natural asset" was welcome, but he had "some concern" about the loss of ratepayer money as councils would still need to maintain nearby roads.

Westmoreland Station has been acquired as a national park. (Supplied: Gary Cranitch/Qeensland Museum)

"Those roads to the new declared areas as well as the [existing] Lawn Hill National Park are council-controlled roads, so the burden does fall onto councils,"

Cr Camp said.

The shire has an annual rate base of $4 million and a population of 550, but has to manage 550 kilometres of road across an area two-thirds the size of Tasmania.

Cr Camp said the land had also been "well-run" by previous owners but warned that those "natural values" would be rapidly lost without proper management.

He said wet conditions in the Gulf Country had supercharged the spread of rubber vine and prickly acacia since 2023 to "ridiculous" levels.

"The thickness of the prickly acacia in some of the areas had become fully carpeted, so there were no natural or native grasses under the shade cover,"

the mayor said.

Carpentarian grasswrens are losing their spinifex grass habitat to weeds and poor fire management. (Supplied: Clint Hook/Southern Gulf NRM)

Tourism, park rangers on the cards

Neil O'Brien from Gulf Savannah Development said the region could benefit from tourism, but the state government would have to keep parks and roads well-maintained.

Park rangers and traditional owners will manage Kendall River Station once it is officially gazetted as a reserve. (Supplied: Justine Hausheer/The Nature Conservancy)

He pointed to the success of the Hell's Gate Roadhouse along the Savannah Way as a "great opportunity" to become a "gateway" into the region.

"It's as simple as sealing the road, as simple as putting in concrete causeways, to break the burden that will be borne by the Burke Shire Council,"

Mr O'Brien said.

What's next for this outback cattle station turned national park?

An anonymous $21 million donation has helped with the purchase of the 352,589-hectare Vergemont Station near Longreach to create a 1.5 million-hectare "protected corridor" in outback Queensland.

A spokesperson for Queensland Environment Minister Andrew Powell said Queensland Parks and Wildlife would manage most of the land, but staff numbers were "not yet available".

"Planning for the future national parks is underway, including consideration of visitor access and infrastructure, land-management requirements and the resources needed to support their long-term management," she said.

The Queensland government purchased three cattle stations for national parks in 2024 but councils are waiting to know how many staff will be allocated to manage them.

Kendall River Station in Cape York is home to eucalyptus forests and roaring rivers. (Supplied: Justine Hausheer / The Nature Conservancy)