Australia

Man who tried to kidnap a stranger's young son during drug-fuelled kidnapping attempt outside a suburban library has been jailed for 4½ years.

The Reserve Bank is considering options including lower interest rates to get the economy growing in a bid to drive down the jobless rate.

A baby bonus will not be the solution to a plummeting fertility rate in Australia, as MPs call for a re-examination of family tax benefits and cheaper childcare instead.

The tough-talking President lashed anew at critics in his televised remarks for accusing his administration of not doing enough to contain the outbreak.

Luke Keary says it's a shame Latrell Mitchell will not feature in Friday's Souths-Easts derby, but it would have been worse had Boyd Cordner missed another week.

Demons key backman Steven May and North Melbourne ruckman Todd Goldstein were both overlooked for the shortlist of the best 40 players this year from which the All-Australian team will be selected and announced on Thursday.

MORE than 60 hospitality workers in the ACT are losing jobs every day, according to the latest data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics. 

The data shows that the ACT’s hospitality industry has lost another 900 jobs in the past fortnight, with a total of 3670 job losses since the coronavirus restrictions began. That’s equal to 24.8 per cent of the ACT’s hospitality workforce. 

Because of this, the hospitality industry is urging the ACT government and health authorities to permit one patron per 2sq m by October.

The general manager of the Australian Hotels Association’s ACT branch, Anthony Brierley, says typically, revenue made in the October to December quarter provides sufficient cash reserves to tide the industry through the quieter months. 

Instead, he says, businesses are preparing for the financial cliff coming at the start of October.

“Costs are resuming and increasing exponentially. JobKeeper is being reduced. Many businesses will be paying payroll tax and commercial rates again. Banks will demand that loans start to be repaid. Many rent deferrals will cease,” he says. 

“Despite the resumption of these costs, patronage numbers are stuck at 25 per cent of normal. These job destroying, revenue-decimating restrictions need to be eased for the industry to survive.” 

Mr Brierley says the industry fears that failure to ease restrictions by October will mean hundreds of hospitality businesses will become insolvent at the start of 2021. 

“Our industry is covid safe and ready to open to more customers. All we are waiting on is the tick of approval. It will cost the government nothing, but will save thousands of jobs over the  next six months,” he says. 

Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif brushed sanctions aside as "nothing new" while also striking a conciliatory note.

Male funnel-web spiders have venom that is far more toxic to humans than females of the same species, and Queensland researchers finally understand why.

West Coast will play Collingwood in a cut-throat Saturday evening final at Optus Stadium after the AFL released the dates and venues for the 2020 finals series on Tuesday.

The government's peak infrastructure agency has been told 94 per cent of Australians want new projects to prepare for more extreme events such as floods and fires.

The next step of lockdown will allow five people to sit outdoors together, but some suburbs don't have enough room in their parks for proper social distancing.

Annastacia Palaszczuk's comments come after police suspended one worker over allegations of a 'failure of duty' in relation to the death of Aunty Sherry Tilberoo.

William Wall, 14, left to go for a walk on the Warburton Trail at Launching Place about 6.45am this morning and hasn't returned home.

A Bollywood backdrop has become the highest battleground on Earth. Up in the Himalayas, soldiers from India and China have fought hand-to-hand. The struggle is changing how two nuclear-armed giants see one another.

In this episode, national editor Tory Maguire is joined by senior economics correspondent Shane Wright to dissect how the baby deficit will impact the economy. 

It is the first time the DA's office, which is battling to subpoena Trump's records, has suggested tax fraud might be among the possible areas of investigation.

The man will appear in a Brisbane court on Wednesday.

With a finals rematch against Collingwood locked in, Magpie tormentor Dom Sheed concedes he does get sick of talking about "that kick".

Founders and company insiders in just five tech darlings sold more than $700 million worth of shares since the sector’s nadir in March.