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Jim Chalmers rules out fuel excise extension and downplays hopes for tax relief in ‘most responsible’ budget yet

US-Israel war on Iran and the associated global shock to the supply of oil and other critical commodities [such as fertiliser](https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/apr/23/fertiliser-short-supply-australia-farmers-bread-prices-strait-of-hormuz), Chalmers said the government had “a whole range of contingencies

Oil prices rise after Trump says Iranian ship seized

US ended its naval blockade. Trump had said on Friday that the naval blockade would continue until a deal was agreed by the two countries. Stock markets were mixed on Monday. In Europe, FTSE

How long can Iran survive the US’s Hormuz blockade?

open ocean, as the US Navy has also recently intercepted ships carrying Iranian cargoes. On Wednesday this week, for example, the US military intercepted at least three Iranian-flagged tankers in ‌Asian waters, Reuters reported

The cost of 76 years of US wars, from Korea to Iran

open-ended wars of choice that create more problems than they solve. “The current conflict with Iran is repeating the mistakes that led us to spending 20 years in Iraq and Afghanistan: shaky evidence

Tehran says considering plan for Iran, US presidents to sign deal

currently being considered,” he added. Speaking at the G7 summit in France earlier, Trump said he expected the agreement with Iran to be signed “shortly” without specifying the exact date. “The deal we reached with

Israel kills 16 in Lebanon, UN to probe international law violations

current hostilities. “It’s the first time that we are sending this assessment mission, and the idea is indeed to look at violations by all parties – violations of international law, violations of international human rights

‘Trapped’: Gaza patients flown to Iraq stuck in administrative limbo

opens into Egypt. ![Samah Abdul Moati, 65, an oncology patient stranded in Baghdad, lost two sons in the war and says she no longer cares about her treatment, wishing only to return to her family

Toddlers among more than 50 schoolchildren kidnapped in Nigeria

opening fire. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack, and government officials have yet to respond to the BBC's requests for comment. The kidnappings took place at the town's Government Day Secondary

Women held at much-denounced Ice detention camp sign on to hunger strike

opening, it has faced repeated accusations of substandard medical care, inedible food and neglectful guards. Multiple oversight visits by members of Congress have found conditions at the facility to match claims by detainees, according

Delcy Rodriguez calls for a ‘Venezuela free of sanctions’ amid US detente

condition for foreign investment, a priority for US President Donald Trump. “We reiterate the need to advance towards a Venezuela free of sanctions, as a means of providing institutional legal certainty to investors coming

Trump’s lack of focus on human rights in China is big departure for US diplomacy

conditions or an easing of harassment outside prison. The US’s retreat from its claimed position – even if it was always a somewhat false one – as global human rights defender comes at a time when

Russia will always be victorious, says Putin at scaled-back Victory Day parade

openly acknowledged that the security measures were designed specifically to protect Putin, an admission that underscored just how dramatically the calculus of a war Russia once expected to win in weeks has since shifted. Earlier

China arrests a U.S. scholar with a history of Myanmar activism, suspected of spying

condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the case, which they were not authorized to discuss. The sources said Min Zin had gone to Kunming at the invitation of a Chinese academic institution. Chinese

'Adenomyosis may be invisible, its impact is not'

currently diagnose," she says. "It is really surprising that we don't know more about this condition and that it's not more openly talked about in the public." Zara Dedman, 38, from Kent, says

London’s answer to New York’s High Line is scrapped

opening in 2009, the High Line has become a tourist attraction in its own right and inspired a movement to reclaim abandoned infrastructure in other cities. Oliver O’Brien, a geography researcher at University College

In Lebanon, everything and nothing has changed since 2000

openly sided with Israel, pressuring President Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam to “disarm” Hezbollah and remove a lingering threat to Israel, or else possibly face more Gaza-style destruction across Lebanon. Other powers

Advocates decry Trump’s plan to open 24m acres of federal lands to cattle grazing

US Bureau of Land Management, and would use emergency authority to fast-track grazing where it is not currently allowed. Zaccardi said it is unclear why the administration is aggressively opening up the land. While

Who are the US CEOs in China with Trump, and what’s in it for them?

currently seeking clearance from Chinese regulators to expand adoption of Tesla’s Full Self-Driving assistance system. In 2018, Tesla became the first foreign car company allowed to set up an automaking operation in China

Top five takeaways from Homeland Security budget hearings

US Citizenship and Immigration Services, testify before a House appropriations subcommittee on April 16 in Washington, D.C. **Heather Diehl/Getty Images** Heather Diehl/Getty Images Top officials from the [Department of Homeland Security](https://www.npr.org/2026/04/16/nx-s1-5785101/2-republicans-have-a-plan-to-end-the-dhs-shutdown-but-there-are-hurdles-to-clear) talked

Why Europe’s car industry is at the centre of a new US trade war

current trade deal between the EU and US? In July 2025, the US and the EU [reached](/economy/2025/7/28/eu-and-us-announce-deal-a-breakdown-of-the-trade-agreement) a wide-ranging trade agreement, capping US tariffs on most EU goods, including cars, at 15 percent