Renowned film critic David Stratton has died at the age of 85.

"David's passion for film, commitment to Australian cinema, and generous spirit touched countless lives," his family said in a statement, the ABC reported.

He died peacefully at a hospital near his Blue Mountains home, they said.

Stratton regularly appeared on TV with Margaret Pomeranz and had long stints with the SBS and ABC.

I'm surprised police spotted this, it looks almost identical to the real thing.

One suspended female driver in Sydney's west will now have to face court after she was allegedly caught driving around with a cardboard licence plate.

"Officers stopped the driver, and it was revealed the 32-year-old female had recently been suspended by Police for exceeding the speed limit by more than 45kmh. At that time, the numbers plates on the Hyundai were seized by Officers for 3 months due to the speeding offence," police revealed.

"The female driver told Officers "But I had to drive to go see my friend" hence the reason why she made cardboard number plates for her vehicle."

A rare winter thunderstorm producing hail, lightning and rain is expected to smash parts of Queensland and NSW on Thursday.

Thunderstorm activity over the region is a rare occurrence during winter, but the right conditions have come together to create the unusual event, according to Weatherzone.

Thursday’s thunderstorm activity is expected to be more widespread than Wednesday, which saw hail strike areas between Grafton in NSW and the Glass House Mountains in Queensland.

Weatherzone meteorologist Ben Domensino said there would be lots of hail on Thursday.

“While wintertime thunderstorms are less likely to become severe than their summertime counterparts, it’s not unusual for winter storms to cause lots of small hail that can accumulate on the ground,” he said.

“Even if Thursday’s thunderstorms don’t become intense enough to reach severe warning thresholds, they can still be dangerous due to their lightning, rain and small hail."

- NewsWire

Well this is bit of a milestone when it comes to wages in Australia.

The average weekly wage has surpassed the $2,000 mark for the first time ever, the Australian Bureau of Statistics has revealed.

Average weekly ordinary time earnings for full-time adults were $2,010.00 in May 2025, according to new seasonally adjusted figures.

"The growth of 1.7 per cent in average weekly earnings for full-time adults for the six months to May 2025 was similar to the rise of 1.8 per cent in the Wage Price Index for the same period," the ABS's Sean Crick said.

Anthony Albanese has hit back against Hamas “propaganda” after the Islamist group put out statements overnight welcoming his pledge to recognise Palestinian statehood.

However, Sheikh Hassan Yousef, a co-founder of Hamas and one of its most senior figures in the West Bank, welcomed the “political courage” of the Labor government in a statement to Nine Newspapers.

He claimed the decision to recognise Palestine vindicated Hamas’s October 7 attack - the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust.

In response, an Australian government spokesperson said the decision was intended to ‘isolate Hamas,’ while implicitly criticising the media for airing the group’s views.

“Hamas always tries to manipulate facts for their own propaganda,’ the spokesperson said.

“Media have a responsibility to make professional judgements to not promote propaganda of terrorist organisations to get cynical headlines.”

The Prime Minister fired up while making this point when fronting media in Brisbane on Thursday.

“Hamas do not want a two-state solution,” he told reporters. “What they want is one state.”

Mr Albanese also cast doubt on the initial statement reported by the Nine newspapers on Wednesday.

It was attributed to Hamas co-founder Hassan Yousef, who was arrested in an Israeli raid in the West Bank in late October 2023.

“What they want is one state.”

Mr Albanese also cast doubt on the initial statement reported by the Nine newspapers on Wednesday.

It was attributed to Hamas co-founder Hassan Yousef, who was arrested in an Israeli raid in the West Bank in late October 2023.

“I notice in the statement that’s made today, they say that the alleged statement from the person yesterday is someone who’s been in prison in Israel since October 2023 and has no means of communication,” Mr Albanese said.

“What that should be is a warning to the media of being very careful about the fact that Hamas will engage in propaganda because what is happening is the international community are united about isolating Hamas, about supporting a peaceful way forward.”

- NewsWire

There was a fair amount of hail on Australia's east coast yesterday and the Bureau of Meteorology has shared photos of how the weather event blanketed suburbs in a white layer.

Three luxury cars including a Ferrari have been seized after a woman was charged over an alleged money laundering syndicate across Sydney.

The 37-year-old is the 11th person to be put before the courts following NSW Police commenced Strike Force Myddleton to investigate a criminal syndicate targeting Sydney automotive financing companies.

"The investigation initially uncovered the syndicate was allegedly using stolen personal information to apply for loans through various financial companies to purchase luxury ‘ghost cars’ that did not exist," NSW Police said in a statement on Thursday.

"Ongoing investigations revealed the syndicate’s operations extended well beyond car financing fraud to large-scale personal, business and home loan fraud against multiple financial institutions."

The woman was refused bail and will front court today.

Australia and Vanuatu have agreed to a ten-year deal, aimed at strengthening security and economic ties, worth A$500m.

The so-called Nakamal agreement - the result of months of negotiations - will transform Australia's relationship with its Pacific neighbour, leaders from both countries said on Wednesday.

"We are family," Australia's deputy prime minister Richard Marles said: "Our future is very much bound together". Vanuatu's leader Jotham Napat described the deal as "win-win situation" for both nations.

The deal, to be officially signed in September, comes as Australia tries to grow its influence in the region, to counter China's increased spending and power.

Read more here.

The mystery punter who scored June’s incredible $100 million Powerball jackpot has made a costly $750,000 mistake by failing to step forward and reveal their identity. The prize money remains unclaimed despite an intensifying search for the winner, who purchased the unregistered ticket from a Bondi Junction newsagent in Sydney’s eastern suburbs.

Other than that, little is known about the new multimillionaire despite several theories emerging, including that the winner could even be a tourist.

It’s been nine weeks since the unknown player won the hefty sum. If, theoretically, they had taken their winnings and put it in a term deposit or something similar, earning somewhere around the market rate of 4.5 per cent, they would have made an extra $750,000 in the last two months alone in pre-tax income. That’s about the median price of an apartment in Sydney’s notoriously expensive housing market.

Read more about what lottery officials are doing to find the mystery winner here.

While the Albanese government has vowed to crack down on inflated supermarket prices, putting market leaders Coles and Woolworths on notice not much has changed in the past 12 months it seems.

In fact, according to Canstar Blue research, the situation is the worst its been in the past five years.

Research found the average spend on weekly groceries for a household of four had increased 11 per cent in the last year to $240.

“That’s the biggest annual jump recorded in the last five years, and likely no surprise to anyone who’s been at the checkout lately,” Canstar Blue spokesperson Eden Radford said.

Sussan Ley says Anthony Albanese is “making a real mess” after Hamas praised his decision to recognise Palestinian statehood.

Hamas, the Islamist militants behind the October 7 attacks on Israel in 2023, overnight issued statements to Australian media saying it welcomed any support to “help the Palestinian people achieve their national goals”.

The group - a registered terrorist organisation in Australia - runs Gaza, where Israel has waged a 22-month war in a bid to wipe it out and rescue hostages taken the October 7 assault.

The Opposition Leader said on Thursday the Prime Minister needed to rethink his decision.

“On the same day, a listed terror organisation calls our Prime Minister a hero, while our closest ally, the US, says that these actions are going to make peace in the region less likely,” Ms Ley told Nine’s Today.

“So it’s really quite extraordinary, because remember, the Prime Minister used justification for this decision by saying Hamas would not be involved.

“And I saw the Treasurer yesterday saying, oh, Hamas will have no role in a future Palestinian state. Really? As if we can control these things?”

Read more from NewsWire here.

A truck and a packed commuter train have collided in Brisbane’s south, sparking major delays on South East Queensland lines.

Emergency services were called to a stopping at Bonemill Rd in in Runcorn shortly after 7am on Thursday after reports the trailer section of a truck and the train collided.

A Queensland Ambulance spokesperson confirmed about 300 passengers were on-board the train at the time.

Only a single person was left complaining of injury, with a split lip and back pain.

The drivers of both the truck and the train were uninjured.

Queensland Fire Department crews attended the scene but had left shortly before 9am.

The incident sparked chaos on the state’s train network, with services between Kuraby and Altandi suspended and replacement buses arranged.

- NewsWire