Aussies eye $30m Powerball jackpot as price change revealed, tourists flock to Pacific neighbour in record numbers, Commonwealth's major backflip
Plus Benjamin Netanyahu has doubled down on his scathing criticism of Anthony Albanese.
Yahoo's live news blog for Thursday, August 21 has now concluded. Powerball players will be hoping they're the lucky winner tonight with the jackpot sitting at $30 million. It comes as the game's operators announced it plans to hike the price of a ticket by 20c from November.
Fiji is becoming an increasingly-popular tourist destination for Australians. The island nation's tourism board says more Aussies travelled to the country last month than any previous month on record.
See all of the day's updates below.
- Tom Flanagan
Hugely-popular Cocobella yoghurt recalled
A hugely-popular dairy-free yoghurt has been pulled from supermarkets across the country after several batches of their pouches were found to have contained milk.
The Cocobella pouches impacted are available for sale at Coles, Woolworths and independent grocery retail stores like IGA across the country.
The product recall is due to the presence of an undeclared allergen, milk. The items affected by the recall are as follows:
• Cocobella Strawberry Coconut Yoghurt, 110g Pouch, Use By 12/09/2025
• Cocobella Banana Coconut Yoghurt, 110g Pouch, Use By 12/09/2025
• Cocobella Banana Coconut Yoghurt, 110g Pouch, Use By 13/09/2025
• Cocobella Mango Coconut Yoghurt, 110g Pouch, Use By 13/09/2025
Read more details here.
- Tom Flanagan
Two bodies found in water
Two bodies have been located after their vehicle crashed into a river north of Sydney overnight.
Emergency services were called to the McDonald River at St Albans at about 11.50pm after receiving reports of a car entering the water.
Police at the scene on Thursday. Source: ABCA male passenger had managed to make it to the riverbank but two people, his father and brother, remained unaccounted for.
On Thursday afternoon, NSW Police confirmed police divers had located the two bodies in the water after their vehicle was found.
- Tom Flanagan
Horror truck crash kills two
Two truck drivers have been killed after a fuel tanker and a heavy truck crash in the South Burnett region of Queensland.
A fuel tanker and a heavy rigid transport truck collided head-on on the D’Aguilar Highway at Nukku shortly before 6am on Thursday.
A man in his 50s, who was driving the fuel tanker, sustained critical injuries and died at the scene.
The driver of the heavy rigid transport truck, a man in his 30s, also sustained critical injuries and was declared dead at the scene.
Two truck drivers died in the collision. Picture: 9NewsA large fire that broke out following the collision took firefighters two hours to extinguish.
The highway has been closed in both directions.
An emergency declaration under the Public Safety Preservation Act was issued shortly after 6am between the D’Aguilar Highway and the northern end of Nukku Rd and southern end of Nukku Boundary Rd.
“Motorists are urged to avoid the area and drive with care,” police said.
- NewsWire
- Tom Flanagan
The Aussie suburb where 6 out of 10 people are over 65
With an ageing population, you can expect some of these to get even higher.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics has revealed every state and territory's top suburb when it comes to the highest percentage of residents over 65.
And the highest in the country goes to the aptly-named Tea Gardens in NSW, with a whopping 62 per cent of its population in retirement age.
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Dramatic rescue as several areas hit with flood warnings
SES crews are very busy today with varying flood warnings issued amid heavy rain in NSW.
NSW SES has shared these photos of a driver being pulled from a submerged VW van in Douglas Park and has reminded people once again to never drive into flooded roads.
The suburb is currently under a minor flood warning. Further north, the Namoi River area has been issued a major flood warning.
⚠️ A #MajorFloodWarning is current for the #NamoiRiver & #ModerateFloodWarning for the #PeelRiver including at #Tamworth, #Manilla, #CarrollGap, #Gunnedah & #Goangra. More areas have Minor Flood Warnings & Flood Watches current.
Check the latest warnings: https://t.co/wa0JF8WNWj pic.twitter.com/6ZteZniNTz— Bureau of Meteorology, Australia (@BOM_au) August 21, 2025
- Tom Flanagan
OPINION: Spotify rise has me questioning my subscriptions
Last night I got the update from Spotify my premium account is going up $4 to $27.99.
The streaming giant says it is to ensure I'm getting the "best experience", but combined with my other subscriptions which continue to rise in price, it's got me asking how long can I go on paying for all of these?
While the supermarkets cop the worst of the anger from Aussies, it seems just about everyone is trying to squeeze an extra dollar or two out of us at a time people are having to keep a really close eye on their budgets.
So let us know how you're faring with your subscriptions and what you plan to do.
- Tom Flanagan
Australia Post embracing viral moment
You often see customers' grumbles online about a postie's failure to knock or a parcel handled badly, but its rare to see praise for their actions.
So it's not surprising Australia Post are jumping on the viral moment of a postie who was spotted on CCTV bringing in a customer's washing in the rain.
It's fair to say they're having a bit of fun with this one.
- Tom Flanagan
Former coach sheds light on Usain Bolt's Aussie stint
Central Coast Mayor and former manager of the Central Coast Mariners Lawrie McKinna has lifted the lid on just how disastrous Usain Bolt's brief stint at the club was.
The move, widely seen as a publicity stunt at the time, derailed the club's season in 2018, McKinna said.
While Bolt had insisted he could make it as a professional footballer after his illustrious sprint career, the players didn't agree.
"I talked to quite a few of the boys, they went into that season totally underdone because at training, the training tempo wasn't as normal because he (Bolt) couldn't do it," McKinna told the Incredible Lives With Cainey podcast.
"I honestly believe the team wasn't fit when they went into the season."
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Albanese's reputation 'forever tarnished', Netanyahu says
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Anthony Albanese will be “forever tarnished” by his decision to recognise Palestinian statehood.
It comes after he earlier this weak lashed the Prime Minister in a social media post, saying history would remember him as a “weak politician who betrayed Israel and abandoned Australia’s Jews”.
Netanyahu doubled down on his comments in a Sky interview set to air on Thursday night.
“I’m sure he has a reputable record as a public servant, but I think his record is forever tarnished by the weakness that he showed in the face of these Hamas terrorist monsters,” he told the broadcaster.
“You know, when the worst terrorist organisation on Earth – these savages who murdered women, raped them, beheaded men, burned babies alive in front of their parents and took hundreds of hostages – when these people congratulate the Prime Minister of Australia, you know something is wrong.”
Read more from NewsWire here.
- Tom Flanagan
Aussies head to Fiji in record numbers
Australian tourists are flocking to Fiji in record numbers, according to its tourism board.
"Our neighbours from Australia continued to show their love for Fiji, leading the way with the highest-ever number of Australian visitors in a single month (last month), accounting for 45 per cent of all arrivals," Tourism Fiji said, revealing that number sits just shy of one million visitors.
Fiji, heavily dependant on tourism, has benefited from increased flights from its national carrier and Australian operators to and from the island nation in recent years.
"There is definitely a buzz in the air. Fiji is absolutely the place to be right now – perfect weather, outstanding resorts, unforgettable experiences, and of course, the warmth of our people," Tourism Fiji CEO Brent Hill said.
Fiji resorts are increasingly popular with Australians. Source: AFP via Getty - Tom Flanagan
Aussies eye $30m Powerball draw with big change coming
The Powerball jackpot has reached an impressive $30 million for tonight's draw and Aussies are being told to expect bigger prizes from the game more regularly.
That's because lottery bosses flagged their plans to rise the price of a ticket to $1.40 from $1.20 yesterday.
The Lottery Corporation Managing Director and CEO Sue van der Merwe said them ove would help "enable increased prizes across all divisions".
The change, which still needs to be approved, is expected to happen in November.
- Tom Flanagan
Commonwealth announces major backflip on redundancies
Commonwealth Bank has apologised to staff it was set to axe and replace with AI technology, saying they got the decision wrong.
The original plan was set to see up to 90 people lose their positions, with about half of those being replaced by a new AI chatbot designed to help customers. But CBA has announced a slight shift in that plan.
CBA has now revealed that the staff set to be affected by the AI shift have been given two options.
They can either keep their job or take a voluntary redundancy.
“CBA’s initial assessment that the 45 roles were not required did not adequately consider all relevant business considerations, and this error meant the roles were not redundant,” a spokesperson for the bank said.
“We have apologised to the employees concerned and acknowledge we should have been more thorough in our assessment of the roles required.
"We are also reviewing our internal processes to improve our approach going forward.”
Read more from Yahoo Finance's Stewart Perrie here.
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